When it comes to creating the brutal, bone-shattering tracks that have made them icons of extreme metal, Carcass, don't rely on fancy gadgets or digital wizardry. Instead, they embrace a more organic and old-school approach that has been the hallmark of their music for decades.
In a recent interview with Oxygène Radio's "Métal Zone," guitarist Bill Steer and drummer Dan Wilding shed light on their songwriting process, taking us behind the scenes of their creative madness at last month's Muscadeath festival in Vallet, France.
Wilding revealed, "Normally, well, almost always, Bill starts with riffs or a collection of riffs and we kind of… It usually starts with me and Bill. We'll get into a rehearsal room and we just try and make a song, try and piece the puzzle together, try and add things. And then eventually we get to a point where Jeff comes in and he normally rips it apart [laughs] and changes it even more. He thinks about vocals, which we normally don't think about vocals. So that's one of the reasons why he does it, I think. But, yeah, it's quite organic, natural. That kind of in a room, figuring out in front of each other, with each other how we can move on to the next thing. It's very limited technology, which I think is quite a nice thing."
Steer chimed in with his thoughts, saying, "Yeah, that's the one common thread throughout everything we've ever done. It's based on guys in a rehearsal room. There's no other way of doing it for us. 'Cause I think our music would sound so different if we started doing it electronically. I've just got no interest in that. I hate sending an e-mail or receiving an e-mail. Never mind the other stuff. So yeah, let's just carry on like this if we could."
In an age when technology often takes center stage in the music industry, Carcass's commitment to raw, and unadulterated old-school musical craftsmanship is the real deal.
