CHRIS BARNES on CANNIBAL CORPSE: “I don't know what grudge they're holding against me, but they just don't like me”
19-02-2024
In a new interview with “The Garza Podcast”, hosted by SUICIDE SILENCE guitarist Chris Garza, former CANNIBAL CORPSE and current SIX FEET UNDER vocalist Chris Barnes was asked if his replacement in CANNIBAL CORPSE, George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, is “still blocked” from Barnes‘s social media. Barnes responded: “I haven’t had him blocked. In fact, on Instagram, I follow him. And I don’t know if he follows me, but at one point I confronted him because I saw a video on YouTube where during a live performance, he’s poked at me pretty good. And I wrote him ’cause I was, like, ‘Look, man, I never have said anything nasty about you at all. I don’t know why you’re doing this on stage about me.’ And I said, ‘We met and I thought everything was cool that one time. And listen, I’ll give you my phone number.’ … I said, ‘If you wanna talk on the phone, I’ll give you my phone number. We can talk it over.’ And I sent him the link to the YouTube video, and magically it disappeared after that. But he never responded to me. He saw the message, ’cause it said ‘seen.’ But he wouldn’t talk to me about it.”
Chris admitted that he hasn’t been impressed with George‘s execution of the CANNIBAL material which was originally written and recorded during his era with the band. Chris said: “I don’t think he sings my songs very well. I don’t. I think he walks through ’em. And on this (current SIX FEET UNDER) tour, I poked back at him a little bit just because I felt like it was funny. But it was all in good humor.”
Barnes added that Fisher has said some “insulting” things about him in the press, particularly as it relates to CANNIBAL CORPSE‘s early material.
“I saw a couple interviews with him where he said that he believed that my songs that I wrote are more his now,” Chris claimed. “And that really upsets me. Because they’ll never be his. He’s a karaoke singer when it comes to my songs. He is. Those aren’t his songs. He says they’re his songs because he’s sung them more times than I have. He didn’t write ’em. He doesn’t get publishing checks from ’em. Those are my songs. Those lyrics are from my brain. And for him to insult me that way, I take that really serious. And I think that that’s so ignorant and just so — just wrong. I think it’s wrong that he even signs the CDs or the album covers that he didn’t perform on. I don’t sign (CANNIBAL CORPSE‘s 1998 album) ‘Gallery Of Suicide’. Why would I? I wasn’t on it. So, hey, if he wants to settle it, like get in a race car on a track, see who can drive better. (Laughs) But I know he doesn’t know how to drive, so I’d probably win that race too.”
After Garza opined that Barnes and Fisher should get in a room and work things out, Chris said: “Listen, man, I tried to. I tried to. I’ve got no problem with him. Like I said, when I met him, I thought everything was cool, because we got into a room. We were at an IRON MAIDEN concert in one of the boxes. (Metal Blade Records founder Brian) Slagel kind of got us all together in the same room, and I was talking to him. I was having a good time talking about video games. I’m a ‘Call Of Duty’ guy; he’s a ‘Warcraft’ guy — two different types of games.”
Barnes continued: “I respect that he’s been a great vocalist for the band for many years. I just don’t like being poked at. I’ve never done anything to the guy… “I have respect for him. It’s just I wish people had a little more respect from that camp for me, but they have their reasons not to, so. I mean, I reached out to Alex (Webster, CANNIBAL CORPSE) the other day. Me and Jack (Owen, former CANNIBAL CORPSE and current SIX FEET UNDER guitarist) thought it would be cool to have him come up when we played Portland to play bass on ‘Stripped(, Raped And Strangled)’ and ‘Hammer (Smashed Face)’. But he passed. We knew he wasn’t gonna do it, but I told him, I said, ‘Those songs are so important to us all, I thought you might want to.'”
Barnes added: “I don’t know what grudge they’re holding against me, but they just don’t like me. So, it’s okay. Like I said, I’m happier, and I’ve been happier in SIX FEET UNDER than with those guys. I mean, those songs that I wrote with them, they are really important to me. That’s why we still do a couple of ’em.”
SIX FEET UNDER was initially formed as a side project for Barnes during his final years with the band that he co-founded, CANNIBAL CORPSE. It became the frontman’s sole focus in 1995, coinciding with the release of their debut, “Haunted”. Only Barnes remains from SIX FEET UNDER‘s original incarnation, but the quality has remained remarkably consistent. The current lineup of Barnes, guitarists Owen and Ray Suhy, bassist Jeff Hughell and drummer Marco Pitruzzella make for a devastating unit.
While Barnes is the sole remaining member, SIX FEET UNDER is about more than he and Owen. The singer is thrilled with the current lineup, and what each member brings to the table. “Jeff and Marco have been with me for about 10 years,” Barnes says. “I’m really fortunate that I have probably the best musicians in metal. If you look at it, we have the same amount of original members as CANNIBAL CORPSE. Jeff is a killer bass player. Marco‘s probably the best drummer out there. Jack‘s the greatest songwriter I’ve ever been involved with over the 30-plus years I’ve been doing music professionally. And Ray is just a phenomenal guitarist who can play everything from jazz to death metal. The lineup now is untouchable.”
The chemistry between the five men is palpable; listening to “Killing For Revenge”, one could be forgiven for assuming that they hid themselves away somewhere for a couple of months and hammered it out in blessed, creative seclusion. Not the case. “We all recorded it on our own, in different parts of the country since we’re all spread out,” says Barnes. “I think the most important thing is to put everybody in a comfortable space so that they get a great performance. That’s what you want to capture. It’s really hard nowadays to afford everyone being in the studio recording like we used to back in the ’90s. It can be done just as effectively this way.”
Barnes previously said SIX FEET UNDER‘s new album would contain “some of the most intense songs we’ve done… It’s a Ripper!!! Some real killer songs on this album. It will definitely satisfy all our SFU Fans appetite. #pureDEATHMETAL'” He also said the LP was shaping up to be “incredibly fucking heavy.”
SIX FEET UNDER‘s 17th full-length album, “Nightmares Of The Decomposed”, was released in October 2020 via Metal Blade Records.
Comprised of 12 tracks, “Nightmares Of The Decomposed” was tracked at various studios, including Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, which over the years has played host to the likes of AC/DC, BLACK SABBATH and AEROSMITH, among others. It was produced, engineered and mixed by Chris Carroll, while the album’s mastering was handled by Chaz Najjar at Badlands Recording in Denver, Colorado. The finished product came packaged in artwork by Luke Hunter.
Barnes exited CANNIBAL CORPSE in 1995, one year after the release of the band’s “The Bleeding” album. Seven years ago, he told “The Chainsaw Symphony” radio program about his departure: “I just didn’t like being around them, because I was being ridiculed, and I just didn’t feel comfortable being in the same room with people that weren’t very nice to me personally. And I was part of that too, so we had all of our own type of differences, personally, and I don’t think it was gonna be able to be worked out. You know, mutual respect goes a far way when it comes to being in close quarters with people.”
Owen left CANNIBAL CORPSE in 2004, explaining in a statement that his “heart just wasn’t in it anymore, and it was reflected in my appearance on stage. Times change, and I just don’t enjoy the music as much as I used to, and the only thing keeping me in the band was steady work, and the pay,” he said. “These things makes it unfair to myself, my band members, and especially the fans.”
After Barnes left CANNIBAL CORPSE to form SIX FEET UNDER, he was replaced in the former band by George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher.
Social media