Exhumed – All Guts, No Glory, Even More Laughs Part II
By: Mike Sloan
Blistering.com: You keep mentioning the word “kids.” Tonight you’re playing in a bar that’s for people 21 and older only. Obviously many of the people who buy your music are teenagers and they can’t come in to see you play legally. That must bum you out that an entire chunk of your fanbase can’t see you perform tonight or on any other night where you play 21 and older shows.
Harvey: Oh, absolutely it does. For me, when I was the most heavily into the genre as a fan, it was from age 14-17. I couldn’t buy beer legally back then so when I went to a show, all I cared about was getting t-shirts and stuff. That’s the period where the music means so much to you, more than ever. Those are the ones that we want to play for more because it does mean so much more to them and you’re, like, reaching out to them in a way. It’s not cynical like they have disposable income so we want to target them, it’s not that way at all. That’s the age where you’re living for your music, it means so much to you and it helps you through life. At that age high school is bullshit and life is tough. It’s been that way since, well, since teenagers have been around. I’d much rather play for kids. I’d so rather see a bunch of 16-year-old kids having fun and stage diving than playing for a bunch of old dudes my age standing around in the back with their arms folded talking about their record collections.
Blistering.com: The old “I used to see these guys when they only had demos and were nobodies” guy.
Harvey: Exactly. I’d just hang out with my own friends if I want to see or hear that shit [laughs] because I am that guy! I’m old, I’m jaded, and I’ve seen almost all of my favorite bands a million times. I can be as bitter and jaded as I want so it’s cool to play for the younger kids who don’t have that preconception and they are stoked to be there.
Caley: And the other obvious thing is that the kids are way more animated as far as the crowd goes. The old guys aren’t like that.
Blistering.com: Well, the older guys are smarter. They have health insurance and can’t afford to miss work due to concert-related injuries.
Caley: Exactly!
Harvey:Shit, I don’t want to go into a pit! I’ll fuck my back up and I’d be hurting for a week! Besides, I was more of a head-banging guy anyway.
Caley: Oh, I can’t do that shit. I didn’t do much of it anyway back in the day. It just always seemed so dangerous.
Harvey: When you’re playing live, it’s an energy exchange. Paul Baloff [Exodus] said it best when he said, ‘That’s how it works, man! You rage, we rage! You don’t rage…it’s hard to rage, bro!” [Caley laughs almost uncontrollably] It’s true, though because when we’re onstage and the kids are going off, it gives you that extra boost of energy to deliver your best show. We try to give it our absolute best no matter what night, whether it’s in front of 60 people or 400 people. It makes our jobs easier.
Caley: It also depends on the size of the stage and what we can get away with and we always do the most of what we can do with what we have to work with. We try to make people happy.
Harvey: And it’s not some selfish altruistic thing, either. When I see kids stage diving and moshing and hitting each other in the face and just having fun, it makes me happy. And I don’t say that to be fake like I’m just saying I want to play what you like. I’m not wearing a rubber shirt because you like it [we all laugh loudly]. I do it for real and if everybody else is having a good time, it makes everything better. Like if you invite all these people to your house for a party and nobody is having a good time even though everyone is doing what you want to do, then it’s a lame party. But if everybody is having a good time and you’re doing mostly what you want to do, then it’s a fun party.
Blistering.com: If you guys could tour alongside one band in history, either as support or headliner, who would it be? What’s the dream tour?
Caley: Well, for me it would probably be Napalm Death.
Harvey: I think Napalm would be one of the best bands to support but ultimately my dream would be opening up for Metallica because it’s my favorite band. Even though they exist the way they do today, it would be the cream dream tour. Realistically it wouldn’t be what we could get but I think Napalm Death would be ideal. Either them or Carcass. But I’d have to go with Napalm Death.
Caley: Carcass would be great but I think it would be a little too close to home for us [laughs].
Harvey: [laughing] yeah you and Michael Amott could exchange hair tips. That’d be pretty sweet.
Caley: That would be such an extreme tour. I think Napalm would be the most ideal, most insane tour for us.
Harvey: Yeah we could get really drunk every night and then corner them and tell them how great they are and they’ve influenced everything we do.
Caley: It would be so extreme and unbelievable to have us with them. It would be Napalm Death, us, and then whatever bands can fill the opening slots. That would be a dream come true.
Harvey: Me too. I know everybody says we sound too much like Carcass but I learned everything about being in a band from Napalm more than anybody else. Just in terms of their attitude and not only their music but their lyrics are intelligent and socially-conscious and they are good guys who like to have fun. They’ll just hang around and have a few beers and make great music. Their music has formed pretty much everything we do and they introduced us to so many bands like Repulsion, Siege, Master to even bands like Swans and Killing Joke to even some of the industrial stuff. So much of what Napalm Death has done has shaped us into who we are today.
Caley: Just watching those old videos where Nick Harris was talking about all those bands. That’s how I found out about all those bands. I wasn’t even from the Bay Area where Exhumed was started and I was influenced the same way as this guy.
Harvey: When I first met Wes and Danny Walker, it was like, “I know these dudes!” even though I never met them before. We were just a couple of coastal California dudes who loved Napalm Death.
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