Cattle Decapitation Interview by Tanya Harding

I was nervous interviewing veggie grindcore act Cattle Decapitation's front man Travis over the phone to San Diego, maybe because I’m an ex-Catholic and they sound like how I imagined Hell sounding. Thankfully, that's a good thing when you are signed to Metal Blade Records and putting out a scorching slab called The Harvest Floor, a harrowing ride but high calibre all the way as you would expect from producer Billy Anderson of Mr. Bungle and Melvins fame. Guitar player Josh Elmore is notably great and plenty of wicked guests like Ross Sewage, Mr. Dino Sommese, Jarboe from Swans, Jackie Perez Gratz (electric cello), and Los Angeles noisician John Wiese also lend their talents to it.
Travis, who started Cattle Decapitation 10 years ago, is the only original member and to complement his musical talent has mastered spitting in the air and catching it in his mouth. I wondered what other surprises he might have for us:

Tanya How has your sound changed over the last 10 years?

Travis: Drastically. We started out trying to do death metal as best we could at the time, but it was more of a progressive grind kind of thing. I always liked that.

Tanya With your gruelling schedule and shredding vocals, how do you take care of your voice?

Travis: I don't. Well, I drink water and I started taking these slippery elm lozenges, and I don't smoke. I quit. Also, I don't party all night before a concert.

Tanya: Cattle Decapitation's Josh Elmore is an incredibly hot guitar player and he was featured in Guitar World just recently. If you had to put a dollar value on Josh, what would it be?

Travis: Ummm 1.2 million. Well, he has kind of painted us into a corner. I could never sell him because I don't know where we could find another guitar player like that. He's got a weird quirky style. Very refreshing and he is a total natural.

Tanya: Plus he is cute to boot. What is your favourite band ?

Travis: One of the best bands of all time is a progressive rock band called Magma.

Unable to think of a question the answer to which could top Magma, we wrapped up the interview. Cattle Decapitation’s first Canadian Tour kicks off in Vancouver April 3rd after which they will be stopping in Cowtown, AB as they slay their way to TO in support of the new album. Posted: Mar 5, 2009