When DJ decided to get this site rolling again, I knew
I had to find something special to put on the plate.
Everyone knew Obituary was back together and doing a
new album. I figured with the Bushmado site coming
back, why not have a band on its way back in too?
Being a looooong time fan of the band, it was the
obvious answer. This one was done with bassist Frank
Watkins. I wanna thank him for not only giving good,
honest responses, but also for being quick on the
ball. From initial contact to completion was one week
total. Bands who can't even sell 10 albums, let alone
hundreds of thousands aren't that quick about it.
Thanks Frank! Ok, I'll shut up now. Enjoy everyone, I
know I did!!!
Interview with bassist Frank Watkins
Interview by JOSH ANXT
Obituary has had some years off now. In that time
the members have done some other stuff, some high
profile, some not. Can you fill us in on these
projects as well as the current status of them?
Allen and Trevor both have bands they play in besides
Obituary. I know Trevor's band Catastrophic just
toured Europe. Allen's band Low Brow haven't really
done shit in the last few years he pretty much just
has Obituary now. Donald played with Andrew WK for
awhile but is now focusing on Obituary full time. I
started my own business. And John Tardy started his
own business as well.
Obituary has been together over 20 years. 15 with
this lineup minus the time Allan took a brief break.
How do you guys manage that?
We really love this music, its in our blood and for
some reason the 5 of us create something so fuckin
brutal and heavy its like therapy for us it lets out a
lot of aggression. I think we were away for too long
but at the same time a lot has built up and you can
hear it on this new record and in our live
performances.
What was it like working with Necro and will what
exactly did you do with him? Will it happen again?
Actually just John and Trevor did a song with Necro on
his new album. Necro is a true Death Metal fan and he
got some great people to do some parts with him on his
last record Pre-Fix for Death. The album is amazing. I
am a huge hip-hop fan and I would say its one of the
best hip hop records of all time. I hope we'll do more
with Necro but he's a busy guy so we'll see.
At the height of death metal, alot of bands changed
course to deeper bellowing vocals and ultra-fast blast
beats. Did you ever say to yourselves " lets stand out
and avoid that route" or was it totally natural to do
so and stick with the mid tempo groove?
It was totally natural for us. When we do a record we
never think of anything else but our feel. We may
write some stuff and say "yeah that's like a Motorhead
song" but for the most part we sound like Obituary.
Obituary has a sound like no other for sure. But
you can hear influences. How much of the sound is
contributed to the Celtic Frost sound and the sound of
old school hardcore?
We're total HellHammer & Frost freaks!!! We love that
shit and you can feel it in our music along with a lot
of Hardcore like Agnostic Front if you listen to
John's voice its a lot like Roger's voice from AF. We
also love Slayer and Possessed! Motorhead, Venom,
Misfits, Black Flag! So many fuckin bands it's crazy
but I can say we do have a distinct style.
For every band thats ever been on Roadrunner,
everyone has horror stories of how that label treated
them like shit. Especially the death metal bands. Yet,
I don't believe I've ever seen Obituary slag them in
the press. Did/do you guys get different treatment,
are the other bands full of it, or are you just more
quiet about the business than most?
The old record company and band bullshit is something
we hate to talk about. It sucks when you mix business
with pleasure and that's what you get in the music
business. I'm sure a lot of bands had problems with
roadrunner. We are looking forward to a bright new
future with Roadrunner and we'll see how that goes.
Do you think with some of the more high profile
stuff they've done the last couple years that they
still care as much about a band like Obituary? Will
they put the same effort into this new album as they
did your albums 10 or 12 years ago?
We can only hope they do. So far they have been very
persistent with getting press done and preparing for
the new record which is titled "Frozen in Time" should
be out JULY 12, 2005. I really hope now that they have
done so well they can put more into us now than ever
before.
When can we officially get the new album? That new
song is just amazingly old school Obituary, its
awesome!
"Frozen in Time" should be out JULY 12, 2005 may be a
week or two later were just now finalizing all the
finishing touches on the album cover and prepping all
the layout. Glad you like the new song its called
"Insane" it was the first song written for the new
record and is just a small taste of what this record
is about.
Alot of festival stuff is booked, but no full
tours. When can we see you on a full tour? And can we
PLEASE get you into Pittsburgh? This town gets screwed
on too many tours!
We are now planning a tour of the US in September. It
will be all east coast dates and later in the year
we're going to hit the west coast. I'm not sure if we
are looking at Pittsburgh, but I'll see that we do.
With this new album coming out after such a long
break, do you think maybe you used the title "back
from the dead" one album prematurely?
No way! At that time we were kind of back from the
dead we took like a 3 year hiatus and just chilled.
When we started jamming again we were like holy shit
were fuckin totally back. It's crazy when we don't do
anything for a while and then we jam out and its like
fuck we are so fuckin heavy! Also we were totally
jamming out House of Pain's new album “Back from the
Dead" at the time.
What is your opinion on the newer age of extreme
metal bands?
I like a lot of it. Just keeps metal strong. People
have so many labels but all I hear in a lot of the
bands today is just powerful metal. It's so killer
that it's still alive.
Do you listen to any of the newer stuff, and what
other music in general do you enjoy?
I like a lot of bands; Divine Empire's new album is
fuckin great. The new Red Chord record is fuckin sick.
I like a band called Ramallah its White Trash Rob from
Blood for Blood's new band they're super fuckin heavy.
The new Napalm Death record is awesome. I also like
the Reverend Horton Heat and a lot of Rock-a-Billy
type shit Mad Sin Necromantix Oh and the new Agnostic
Front album is a classic and the Disasters album rocks
too!!!
I always enjoy hearing what life is like outside
of a band. What can you share with us about what your
lives are like outside of the bands? Wives, kids,
jobs, hobbies?
We all have pretty different lives. I have a son and a
wife. I own my own mortgage company at the moment. We
all have families we need to take care of now so we
look at things a bit differently than before.
Thanks for doing this interview. Being a long time
fan it has been an absolute honor. What message would
you like to tell everyone out there? Say anything you
like, music related or other?
The one thing I want to say is its great to be doing
this again with out the support from the fans it would
not be possible…Thank you!!!
www.obituary.cc
9 OBITUARY Live Photos from 11/27/97 @ The Mason Jar in Phoenix, AZ
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