[Shaxul]

Conducted by Shaxul on October 21, 2009

John Tardy Interview

SHAXUL: So you guys just got off of a tour right?

JOHN TARDY: Yeah, just over a month in the states and Canada.
Things have been great. All the bands were all heavy which was good for the whole package. We put over 10,000 miles on that bus.
Everybody busted their ass, but it was alot of fun and everything went really good.

S: You didn't feel upstaged by the opening bands?

JT: Hey you know, we can open for THEM if they want! We got so much material to choose from now so...we're ready to go to battle with
anybody! [laughs]

S: So you guys are going to play Mexico on Halloween?

JT: Well you know, the website says that but my computer crashed 2 days ago and I haven't been able to update the thing but the
Mexico show got cancelled. Which is too bad because the guys in Sadus are great friends of ours anytime we meet up with those guys
in Mexico we throw back some cool ones and do some jammin! But I'm not sure what happened. The promoter just sort of disappeared.
I mean everybody's been trying to contact him for like 2 weeks he's just not getting back with anybody. So we were forced to cancel
the show because we don't even know what happened to that guy.

S: Are you trying to do something else on Halloween?

JT: Probably not, I mean it's gonna be a rough time trying to line-up something...we just kinda found out 2 weeks ago [about the Mexico
show] and he was just kinda stringing things along and we gave him the benefit of the doubt and now he's just kinda disappeared. Next time
we go out will be to Australia next month.

S: Is that the first time you guys will be down there?

JT: It'll be our 2nd time to Australia. Which will be great because last time we went was when Big Al [Allen West] kinda went missing in action himself.
He didn't have enough time so we actually went over there as a 4 peice and played, which went well, but it's just nice to have a complete
line-up. But we haven't been there for a couple albums now and we have alot of new material to bring so we're looking forward to getting
back out there. Yeah it's nothing strange for him [Allen West] to kinda get himself in trouble you know he kinda...went off the hook for a little
bit there and you know, that's when we had to get James Murphy in there to play some lead. And after he [West] got kinda straightened out we stuck it out
with him for a few more years but he's got some issues he's gonna have to work out for himself first before we can do anything else with him so
we'll see what happens.

S: SOrry to hear. But on a lighter note, "Big Al" is the guy who "Redneck Stomp" is based on right?

JT: [laughs] Yeah, that's a Big Al song right there! Yeah he's definately in there under the book definition of "Red Neck." You know
we just string him up in a lake and he goes fishin and...does what he does! He's some peice of work!

S: So he's the one who DOnald was telling me did the "foot stomping" that inspired "Redneck Stomp?

JT: Yeah, that's Big Al. I mean, he's not "big" but he's got a son named Al too, so we call him "Big Al." [Laughs]

S: So sounds like you been working on your studio since you came off the tour. Do you like to go fishing as well like some of the other guys?

JT: No...I got a boat and I like to get out to the island and set the horseshoes up on the grill and uh...and hang out and just drink. I'm not
as big a fisherman but I got some friends and uh...[indestinct]...you get a stringray and it's got a hook caught in it's eye and you know...
someone's gotta get that outta there! I'm not doin that! [laughs]

S: Half your band is totally "bearded" but the other half is not. Where do you stand on the whole "beard issue?"

JT: You know DOnald and Trevor just got the beard brace goin on. I dunno my beard just ain't thick enough so you know...anytime it don't get shaven
[indestinct] it's a bit much for me. I call that shit the big red beard...the Canadian Hockey team! (laughs)

S: So looks like you guys were having alot of fun on tour. One picture on your website shows you guys playing water polo?

JT: [laughs] yeah it's actually a funny story. We had a day off we were planning on stoppin in Richmond and my mom lives right outside of Richmond. I didn't
wanna show up with 13 guys band and crew and prison guys or whatever...and she's like "Why don't you guys just come on over here?"ANd I'm like you sure you
want me to bring this bus and all these guys over there? So we go up through the windy dirt road to get to her house and stuff. So on the way some of the other
guys get woken up going over bumps and stuff. By the time they wake up and try to figure out where the hell we are I'm already out there
making Margaritas and stuff! We tried to get the Brazilian/Peruvian guys to take up on Brazilian vs USA on vollyball but they wouldn't do it!

S: Well it's funny because when I saw that picture I immediately thought of "Slowly We Rot" because there's one part where it sounds like you say
"volleyball!"

JT: [laughs] yeah, actually I've heard that before but...definately not.

S: So it's definately not "volleyball?"

JT: Definately not! I don't know what it is, you know I say shit - I dunno what it is! It sounded cool at the time! [laughs]

S: So what sort have feedback have you been getting from fans on the road? Anything of note?

JT: Well everyone's digging the new record. Alot of people are getting it which is good to see. There's alot of tours going on and lots of bands
out there playing and some of the tours have been kinda slow. So we're real fortunate that most of our shows went real well. And just for the fans to come
out and support us like that - that was awesome. They do enjoy the new album, so...

S: So you still get alot of comments on your vocals?

JT: Yeah they do - I don't really bother that...I guess on one hand it gets annoying but I still appreciate...there's people at the end of the night...
I'll be walking down the street and they start screaming at me. They're like "come on man, do a scream!" And I'm like come on man! I just got done
screaming for 2 hours! [laughs]

S: Yeah, that's legitimate! Do you have a good variety of old and new fans these days?

JT: Yeah it's a good mixture. You know it's nice the same guys been coming...some guy will be like "I saw you in '93" and that's awesome you know?
And the guys are showing up and they might have their sons with em or their buying some of the children's shirts we have up front. So it's definately
been a good mixture of old fans and even younger fans that are maybe wearing a Slipknot shirt or something...

S: DO you feel that your fan base is comprised of people that may be into Slipknot or stuff like that? Bands that don't really sound like you?

JT: We're kinda open for that you know. Back when we took that 6 year hiatus when we weren't doing much and we kinda got back into these things and we
run into some of these bands like Slipknot or Down and finding out they're huge Obituary fans...you know when you got Phil walking up to you and saying "hey
I like your style" that's fuckin awesome. It's good to run into some of those bands that are doing really well and even younger people coming up to us and
saying "your the reason I started playing guitar" No better compliment than getting it from your fellow musicians.

S: SPeaking of Phil, did you even catch Pantera in the 80s down there?

JT: Oh yeah. That's when we first met them....[indistinct]..we actually played with them just a couple months ago in Japan at the Loudpark festival- not
with Pantera obviously, but with Down. So we hung out with Phil down there and uh...really good seeing him. In fact, Slipknot played that show too.

S: But did you ever see Pantera on the "Power Metal" tour?

JT: Oh god, now you're gonna test some brain cells! [laughs] Well I've seen em 3 or 4 times and to try and remember which tour it was...[John Tardy
didn't realize I was asking about the 80s Glam era Pantera - no he hadn't seen them then!]

S: Are there any artists out there that you think is really immitating your vocal style?

JT: Yeah I get alot of people coming up to me and saying "listen to this, it sounds like you" kinda stuff. I guess nothing would turn me off more than to
hear something that sounds like something else. You know what I mean? If I wanna listen to AC/DC then I'm gonna listen to AC/DC. I don't wanna listen to
some band that's just gonna copy their sound. If that makes sense to ya? I like to go to the source. I don't like to listen to a whole lotta bands that
just sound like somebody else. I mean we were very fortunate, Donald, Trevor, and I. It's just something when we get together. It's not about how fast you
are or whatever it's not something you can immitate. We were lucky to come up with a unique sound. So I have heard alot of bands [that sound like us] and
obviously there's alot of people telling me about it. But I just...I don't like to listen to bands that you know, they just sat down and decided to sound
just like like Pantera...and they're just working it to the ground.

S: Do you think that "clone bands" are more rampant than they were say 10-15 years ago?

JT: Well when we came out there was so few bands doing it...we were fortunate to come out with that extreme kind of Metal when there weren't alot of bands
doing it. ANd now you've got so many. SO MANY bands out there! I mean it's just rediculous how many bands are out there and every one of em, unfortunately
can't be original. I think there's just so many bands now that just by nature you're gonna get more and more of that.

S: DO you think the proliferation of all these "extreme" bands kinda waters things down a little bit?

JT: Well it does and I think you see times when it just gets too much for the market. And that's when you see kids start listening to other kinds of music
because you just get kinda overwealmed with it. But you know it happens with all kinds of music. You get Country music. You get a couple big artists and
they get real popular and then all these bands start coming out that start sounding like them. Then over time starts getting little less popular and a
little less until that new band comes back and creates that big splash that brings things back up again. And I think Metal went through that for a while and
we fortunately were taking a break when that was happening. You know I think Metal just got to a point where it just wasn't real popular. And it just comes
and goes in waves.

S: Good points. You guys seem so well grounded and stable. Were you driven by different things in the past than maybe what you are driven by today?

JT: I don't know...we used to be so happy coming home off the school bus. I mean we'd get off the schoolbus, go right to my parent's garage, and we
would just start jamming. Until my mom would just finally open the door and say that's it. We never really intented that. We never sat down recording or anything.
We were just so content playing in the garage. The first album kinda came to us. Roadrunner kinda came to us about recording. We're not one of these bands that spent
years and years trying to get a record deal...and when it starts getting a little more complicated is when you wanna expand a little and play bigger shows,
like you know arena shows and with bands like Down and you know, but it all comes back to that garage and playing. Just jamming a writing interesting,
powerfull music together.

S: How would you compare your old stuff to your new stuff? How would you say you've changed?

JT: God, I guess it's kinda like looking at an old photograph or yourself. You always think you look like a dork back then [laughs] You know when I listen
back I hear all the mistakes we were doing back then...I hear the production - you know we didn't have the money to pay the rent. You hear certain things and
you think "where in the hell did we get that drum sound?" So you know you just find yourself criticle of stuff you did in the past. You just always wanna
listen to your new stuff. The production's better. I'm writing better songs now, with each album it's a different time of your life and you're doing different things.
You get alot of people coming up and saying "Slowly's my favorite album" or "Cause of Death's my favorite album." It's not always one album - we get a pretty
good mixture of people coming up and you know, they like stuff from all the albums.

S: How prominant a role to you play in the songwriting? Do you contribute guitar as well?

JT: No I don't mess with the guitar stuff. It's usually just Donald, Trevor and I sittin out there. Trevor sits there and hangs around on guitar,
then Donald starts jamming along to the chords...we been doing it for so long...they might get into a rhythm. And alot of times it comes into my head
instantly. You know, things come to my mind. Lyrics start coming to my mind. Phrases. You know, that's perfect for the chords. Or that other rhythm you're
doing, let's work that into it first because I can do something cool. And we'll play it a few times and just kinda help them peace it together. It's just
the kind of natural kind of caveman approach we have to everything. We don't struggle to write music. I mean the last few albums we put out, we spend no
time writing the stuff. When it gets time to lay the stuff down we just do not struggle, which is cool. You know I hate to think of just sitting down with
our head up against the wall trying to think of something cool. Fortunately for us, we just got tons of ideas still.

S: Sounds like you've got a rare sort of harmonious relationship going.

JT: We're fortunate you know, we still enjoy being around each other. Still hanging out and just jamming. It makes it fun, which I think shows in our music
in a way. I think the albums we're doing, you know it's still heavy and something different we're doing each time - but [we] keep that traditional style that we
have.

S: Is there any 1 person in the band who is more or less the leader?

JT: I just kinda by default uh...you know the studio's at my house. All of our stuff is at my house. Whenever we do anything, everybody comes to my house.
So alot of decisions have to come to me just because all the shit's here. SO if we have to do something I have to be here and get everything opened up. So
by default I get alot of that stuff dumped on me. But as a band we just get together and talk about things and work on things. Questions and issues
everyone has and just kinda work it all out. As a group, so...

S: Wow, it sounds really democratic.

JT [Hearty laughter] We just drink our way through everything! It's just - none of us get to that point where it's just - you get alot of bands that get all
hung up on the fact that their gonna play on a bill or they're not gonna open for this band I mean, I guess it's kind of an extreme point but to this day, I
don't care - I'll open up for anybody! I don't care. WOuldn't matter to me if that band had no albums out. The line-ups goin and they want us to play
earlier in the night? Whatever, we're just that kind of band, it's all about the fun. We don't argue a whole bunch it's just like "Hey what do you wanna
do?" "I don't care, what do YOU wanna do?" And then it'll be like, alright, let's just fuckin do that.

S: Which album would you say was the most challenging to write?

JT: The only challenging thing that ever came through was probably Big Al [Allen West]. We were almost done recording "Cause of Death," in fact Allen had even
already played most of "Cause of Death" but then he just...he went off the deep end. Then we were stuck having to bring in James Murphy to do leads right
in the middle of doing everything, which threw a wrench into things. You know and on "Executioner's Return" we're sitting there with Allen and uh...he's
got alot of dependency problems. No matter how many times I told him I mean "look Allen, we got a brand new record deal, and we gotta get this
album out and really concentrate" and you know, and he just winded up getting thrown in jail. And he was in there for over a year. So he just once again
kinda left us hanging. So we're dealing with recording the whole album and actually he didn't write any of that album. And it just got to that point...
And we just wrote the whole album which was no problem. Me Donald and Trevor did most of it anyway. But once again we needed someone to so leads. It worked
out good for us you know, Ralph was just gettin out of Deicide. He lives right here in Tampa. He's just a super talented guitarist, he can play anything you
ask him or anything he wants. So it worked out good. But that's really the only thing that comes up in the studio as far as getting stuff done. Him [Allen]
kinda coming and going.

S: Well I guess you need some sort of friction somewhere huh?

JT: Yeah but I think that's why the tours are so great. We just get along with everybody. We just go in, get the job done, and then after that we just have fun.
We don't have too much time to argue with people.

S: What directions do you wanna take Obituary in the future musically?

JT: We're trying to do what we can to sell a million records! [laughs] That's where we need to get! I don't know, I never think much about what we're gonna
do next. As far as musically I don't think any of us sit around thinking to ourselves "we really need to write a song like this" or "we never done one like
that before" we just don't get that deep into it. I mean honestly it's like "hey you guys wanna come over and jam?" And that's what we start doing. And then
we start hitting "record" and set up some mics and you know...the next day we can drink about 20 beers and hit play and remember some of the rhythms we came
up with! But for the most part we don't fret/think much about what we're gonna do. We just like to let it come out.

S: And what is "Stinkapus?"

JT: I have no idea. I don't remember where that thing came from! Just some silly name we came up with way back then "stinkypuss" I don't remember what the
hell that was to be honest with you. Once again now you're pushing the brain cells! [When I interviewed Donald, his recollection was that there were 2 bands
called "Incubus. One shitty, one good. So the shitty one they called "Stinky Puss!"]

S: You ever hear these insane grind bands or whatever and think "hmmm, maybe we aughta try that?"

JT: We like to keep it fast and slow and just keep all the meaty chunks in there. You know, rhythms that you can get into. With our new album I think we
actually wrote the fastest song we ever wrote. So there ya have it!

S: The first song is pretty fast.

JT: It wasn't the first one. I don't even fuckin remember I have to look at the CD! By the time we come out with the songs...we come up with so many damned
"working titles" But anyways, it's the fastest tempo that we've ever done on an album. But that's not really - we don't really have a problem - it's never
gonna go to a complete "blast beat." It's just like, play along as fast as you can without going into a blast beat. But like I said we like to go fast and
we like to go really slow. But if you do either one of those the majority of your time it just gets boring. To me you have to get that groove. You have to hit
those really heavy rhythms that kinda make you turn up your nose a little bit. And just get really into it. To me that's what Obituary's all about.

S: You see any newer bands that you think are taking Death Metal into new interesting directions?

JT: You know with all the recording we been doing and building the studio...we're actually starting to work with other bands. I spend so much time out there.
If I'm not doing sound work I'm out there recording bands. By the time my day comes to an end - you know working 8-10 hours or so. I haven't been listening to
alot of music just because I been working with so much that once I get away from it I give the ear drums a rest. I don't listen to alot of music to form an
opinion about some newer bands. I mean I listen to mostly older stuff. If I wanna listen to SLayer I bust out my old "Hell Awaits" and "Regin in BLood." You
know Possessed and Death and Venom and things like that. I just love all the old Metal and that's just what I like to listen to when I do.

S: DO you think the whole "extreme Metal" thing has gotten a little rediculous over the years?

JT: I think you get to a point where...you know, people were trying to "out sludge" each other. And then it went through that whole mode of "technical"
where people were just like "Hey I can play a rhythm that's harder for you to play" you know, just so technical. Don't get me wrong there were alot of great
bands but it just got to a little bit of a boring point for me just because it was super technical. And now you have these bands where it's just a complete
blast beat and just going with it and just shredding faster and faster...just going as fast as they can. Unfortunately for me, and the way we like doing
things you know with our guitar sound and just the sound of our drums we just try to make everything as big as possible. To me when you start getting into
those FAST FAST speeds it just starts sounding thinner and thinner. And it just goes back to I just want the slow and into the groovy beats that just move
you along and you can really get yourself into it. We do play fast, we're just not a "super blast" band. It is what it is. I don't fault anyone else for
doing what they wanna do. I think "go for it" if that's what you wanna get into!

S: Did you know CHuck Shuldiner at all?

JT: Oh yeah. I met him, we played shows with CHuck. He was a bit of an opinionated person. He'd come across with people that maybe there was some friction.
But that wasn't the case with us, we always got along with CHuck. He'd be the first one to tell you that. If he was sitting
here listening he'd be the first one to tell you that. He'll tell you "hey, that's just what it is." He even told us one time "you know alot of bands just
get on my nerves sometimes, but you guys are pretty cool!" [laughs] SO we always got along great with him. And that's too bad I mean he was definately one of
the originators of this style of music. When we first started out - the bands in our circle...and he was just right up there.

S: You guys gonna maybe play with bands like Morbid ANgel or anything like that soon?

JT: Actually something we're working on right now, and it's not a done deal by any means, but I got Six Feet Under and Deicide that said they would be
interested in doing a European tour with us. So we're looking forward to putting togather a Florida Death Metal package. So we're looking at the beginning of
the year. We talked to the Cannibal COrpse guys and they were into it too. But they just got so much stuff lined up that it doesn't look like they are gonna
be available for it. But we might try and do this on a yearly basis. Just a full "Florida Death Metal" kinda tour. Maybe we can do Morbid Angel and
Cannibal COrpse next year. It's good - the whole Florida Death Metal thing and most of the big players are still around and doing things and I'd be good to
get them all together before they start doing other things [laughs] I mean we actually toured with Cannibal COrpse once a long time ago. But it'd be fun to do an
all Florida Death Metal tour and I'm hoping that gets done this time around.

S: Yeah, that would be awesome for sure! So have you heard these rumors about the "big 4" tour?

JT: No, I haven't. I would imagine to get Dave Mustaine to tour with Metallica...I mean I don't really know the guy so it's just
kinda hearsay, but it seems to me he's still just a little bitter that they kicked him out of the band.

S: Just a little! [laughs]

JT: I sense a signal of sarcasm there!

Thanks to John for the interview and to Donald who's interview I unfortunately lost before I could type it up! Fuckin great bunch of guys.
_________________
“We’re Manilla Road, and apparently we’re the ultimate cult band… I’m not too sure myself I was too busy reading about some albino’s Runesword draining men’s souls”.

-Metal Archives Reviewer's interpretation of Manilla's Road's thoughts in 1982

www.shaxulrecords.com
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