JEFF WALKER
Few people do dry irony like Jeff Walker. Carcass’s singer and bassist has just been recounting the tale of their 1996 album, Swansong, a record that could’ve fallen into a major label black hole if they hadn’t wriggled out of their deal. “It could still be gathering dust on a shelf,” he says. “Some people wish it was.” This arched-eyebrow view of the world in general and the music business in particular has served him well since co-founding Carcass with guitarist Bill Steer and original drummer Ken Owen in 1986. The Merseyside band’s initial trajectory saw them transform from pathology-fixated grindcore malcontents to major label death metal powerhouse, before a sudden split in 1996 brought it all screeching to a halt. Yet absence makes the myocardium grow fonder, and a 2008 reunion saw Carcass greeted like returning heroes.
While the band’s post-comeback work-rate has been slower than before – upcoming album Torn Arteries is their second since reforming – Carcass’s status as one of the most influential bands of the last three decades is unassailable. “We’re just some death metal band,” says their never-knowingly-overstated frontman. “That’s all we ever wanted to be.”
What band made you want to do this?
“Probably the Sex Pistols. They were the first band I got into when I was nine or ten. They were brilliant. I didn’t think, ‘This is a
