CHRIS BARNES explains why SIX FEET UNDER didn't tour the U.S. for more than a decade
23-01-2024
In a new interview with Concrete Spew, SIX FEET UNDER vocalist Chris Barnes was asked why his band waited more than a decade to return to the road in the U.S. as part of the ongoing tour with NILE, PSYCROPTIC and EMBRYONIC AUTOPSY. He responded: “Yeah, the first U.S. tour in 12 years, actually, for us. And, well, I guess the hiatus was due to just to being so expensive and so many things have changed. And we didn’t have a booking agent in the U.S. for many years. So there was a lot of things working against us. And I felt like we should really hold off and concentrate on Europe until the tide changed. And finally, with this new album, I was able to a new booking agency in the U.S. who I’d been watching for a while, ’cause how they did things really appealed to me, the guys at TKO. And so I started talking to them, and they wanted to do something. And it just seemed like the right moment. When they kind of presented this tour with NILE as co-headlining tour, I couldn’t say no. It seemed like this is the one we’ve been waiting for all these years. And we really needed to do something big like this to get our foot back in the door.”
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.
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