Transcript of an interview I recorded with Woody Weatherman of CORROSION OF CONFORMITY - 20200118. Full article here. MAL-
On the line, Woody from CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. Woody, thanks for taking the time to take my call. WOODY- Man, my pleasure. My pleasure. I'm so excited to be coming back to Australia, I don't even know what to say, man. I'm speechless. MAL- It'll be good to have you here. Now you guys have been around a while, on and off since about 82. WOODY- What are you talking about? Just a couple of years, man. MAL- I'll get to that question in a minute. But I'll tell you what, I was in the USA in 1986. And I was at the Santa Monica Civic, 2 nights in a row. I saw VENOM one night and SAXON the next night. And it seemed like (Wow) it seemed like every second person in the crowd had a COC t shirt ON. WOODY- The good old Santa Monica Civic. MAL- That was 1986, man. Right. From from way back in the day. What's your main memories of those early days? WOODY- Well, you know, talking about those those big, big shows back in LA, then I mean, they would have, they would have giant like, and they were like, you know, credit to Golden Boys and some of those promoters out there, they would have these did big shows like a Santa Monica civic and other places that where they would mix, they would have metal bands, playing with what was at the time considered, you know, hardcore punk bands, you know. And so they would have bands like, like, COC at the time of, you know, we'd be out there with the 'Animosity' record and you know, they'd have us on a bill with ANTHRAX, you know, and, you know, so at the time, we were kind of like a punk rock band or whatever, you know, and, you know, through the years, we became more accepted and we were, you know, whatever we are now I don't know Yeah, kind of run out of out of adjectives for it, but But yeah, I mean, that was that was a time and a place especially in LA man, that was that was wild. MAL- There was a bit of a a crossover thing happening back then, wasn't there? WOODY- There was man. I mean, and that's what I was what I was getting at, you know, you were there was a time just prior to that where, man if you were a metal head, you know, you didn't want to see anybody you know, you didn't want to hear about a punk rocker with a mohawk and and vice versa. You know, you're a punk rocker you were into punk rock, he didn't give a damn about metal. But that didn't live long. I mean, that was short lived, you know, it's like, I mean, you know, you had bands like VENOM, and then of course METALLICA and SLAYER. You know, bridging the gap right there like the lines became blurred and next thing you know, it was like, Oh, shit. It's heavy music. Let's go. Let's go enjoy some damn heavy rock and roll. You know, doesn't matter if it's punk rock or heavy metal or whatever, man. Let's just go have fun. MAL- It's all about the attitude, man. WOODY- Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Everybody be friendly. But damn, have a good time. MAL- I heard a saying once 'There's no strangers at a metal show, just friends you haven't met yet' WOODY- That's a good point. Yeah, it is. Well there is something about about the hard rock scene you know the heavy metal fans are some of the most accepting you know if you're friendly and they're going to be friendly right back it's it's crazy you know because you you know that everybody looks hard and you know everybody's walking around in a black shirt with a you know spikes coming out of their damn ears and their you know lips or whatever but you know, everybody's on the same point you know, it's friendly people it's nice people you know if you're there to enjoy the music, enjoy it have a good time. MAL- Right, now you mentioned the 'Animosity' album A little while ago. How did those albums go for you there in the mid 80s you know, 'Eye For An Eye', 'Animosity', how did they go for you? WOODY- Well, 'Eye For An Eye' was our very first record. And it was actually recorded like in mid 1983. It came out January 84. But, you know, we were kids. We were literally little kids, you know, Mid teenage years or whatever, never seen a studio didn't, didn't know anything. We knew that we liked JUDAS PRIEST and the BAD BRAINS and BLACK SABBATH and BLACK FLAG that was always the only thing we knew, you know, and we made a record and we actually went on tour in 1984 you know, and we played a show with SLAYER in Baltimore. They were on the 'Haunting The Chapel' tour and we were on you know, whatever the 'Eye For An Eye' tour or what it wasn't a tour but but yeah they were like hey, we're gonna go get you guys a deal, you know our dude over here Brian Slagel at Metal Blade we'll get you hooked up, We were like yeah, and you know, we were like Nah, not really gonna do it. Next thing you know we get a call you know Tom Araya turns old Slagel on to CORROSION and next thing you know, we put out that record on you know, put up the 'Animosity' over there at Metal Blade and you know, the story's done after that we just we kept on going didn't stop MAL- God bless SLAYER, hey? WOODY- Yeah, absolutely man, it all goes back to Slayer right? MAL- Now, the hiatus you might say in 2006 to 2010 What happened there? Did you need a break? WOODY- Yeah, I mean, the idea yeah, you know we've we've sort of broached that side before I think that's one of the reasons we're still still able to be a band as it is good to take a break every once in a while. And you know that was sort of a forced break. You know, in some respects there's a you know, Pepper lives down in New Orleans, there's a little thing called Hurricane Katrina that came through and just really messed up a lot of people there ruined a lot ruined a lot of people's lives really meaning it really hurt people bad but you know, we weren't out at the time with MOTORHEAD and we had just got done with the North American tour, hurricane happened and it really just threw us for a loop and it really took Keenan a few years to kind of you know, get get things back rolling, you know, and he was they were spending a little time on on DOWN which is, you know, people may be familiar with them it's so you know, Phil from PANTERA and you know Kurt from CROWBAR and some other some other guys, but it just took us a few years before COC was like hey, you know, let's you know let's get back around to it you know we spent a little time doing three piece stuff Reed Mullin, Mike Dean and myself and had a blast doing that, and when the time was right, we were like, hey, let's do some more 4 piece stuff What the hell? MAL- Now with a band that you know had started like in the early 80s, taking a break and getting back together with the way the industry is these days. How different would it be do you think for a band starting out now? Do you reckon you guys could do it or is it just too different? Or is it not that different? WOODY- Maybe with the same drive, you know, as a young man would have, I think we would probably stand a fair chance you know. Being the man of 50 plus years old as I am today, it might be a challenge, you know, obviously we don't rest on your laurels but still Yeah, I think we would I think we would stand a chance you know, I do understand that in this day and age there's there's more challenges you know, and there's more opportunities so maybe it equals itself out you know people that you know you've got the internet now you got the YouTubes you got your you know, you got your Facebook channels and all that stuff. So maybe it kind of evens out because none of that existed you know, way back when you just you went and played shows and that was it. That was your only way to get your word out. It truly was you other than like, tape trading anybody remember that? That was it. That was that was the internet tape trading. MAL- Speaking of that, going out and playing shows early February, coming down to Australia again, how did this tour come about? WOODY- Oh my lord we have been begging for it. We truly have and we've been asking for for Australia for ever. And it was just a matter of finding the right folks that wanted to bring us down, wanted to take a chance, I guess because it's been so long. People didn't know how it would be received, maybe I'm not really sure. But we found some folks and then they're bringing us down, and it looks like it's going to be a successful trip, so hopefully it leads to more trips coming down because we've waited way too long man and it's, it's been bothering us. MAL- Now, I've looked at your schedule, it was obviously put together by someone who doesn't have a map. WOODY- Tours are always put together by someone without a map. MAL- Because you're in Auckland, in New Zealand on the fourth, then Adelaide here in Adelaide on the fifth, and then all the way over to Perth. Right and then back to Melbourne up to Brisbane. Then you get a few days off, thank God and then you're down in Sydney. WOODY- So you they have pubs over there. Right? I mean, we can drown our sorrows at the pub, hopefully. MAL- Yeah, yeah, there's no shortage of them here in Australia. Trust me on that, so you'll be fine, but you will need a good rest afterwards. WOODY- Yeah, it's gonna be a little brutal, but you know, we're coming down, we're flying to Auckland, like three days early, you know, two or three days early. And so we're going to hopefully absorb a lot of the local culture like we like to do and do a bit of relaxing before the sprint to the finish, and then like you said, there's a few days there at the end right before Sydney, so hopefully we'll get get a chance to hang out with some folks and see some things and you know, tell the people that we appreciate them and so forth and so on. That's that's the that's the point of come. And you know, just having a good time and visiting with the folks down there. MAL- It'd be great to have you down here what what have you got planned for the gigs? Gonna mix it up a bit? New stuff, old stuff, how we going? WOODY- Oh, my lord, yeah, we're gonna mix it up. Anytime you have a new one, you gotta throw a couple of them in there, but we're not going to overdo it on the new stuff where people want to hear things going way back, you know, they want to hear some classic stuff, you know, Volume Dealer, Arms Of God, you know, Deliverance, Live Blood, of course, we'll be playing a bunch of that stuff. So we're going to mix it up there, we're going to make sure they hear a little bit from everything. And, you know, hopefully not shortchange anyone, you know, be a little something for all the fans from all the eras and all the stuff, you know, so and you Keenan occasionally raise his hand and, you know, say, Hey, we want to hear what? You know, take request. So we'll see. We got to keep us on our toes. Right. Well, we'll see what happens. I mean, he may do that. I don't know if anybody has any ideas, throw them all in. MAL- Yeah. That'll keep you on your toes, all right. Hey, Woody from CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. absolutely magnificent talking to you. Coming down here early February for a magnificent whirlwind tour, and we'll see you here in Adelaide on the fifth of February. Thanks so much for taking my call. WOODY- Thank you guys, and we appreciate it. And we'll see you all down there. Comments are closed.
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AuthorMetalhead who hates bad parking. |