With a long vocal activity in legendary thrash metal band Rigor Mortis and more recent act Warbeast, singer Bruce Corbitt is here to tell us a bit about the very beginning, doleful loss of guitarist Mike Scaccia, alliance with Philip Anselmo's Housecore Records and more!
pdn: Hey, Bruce! The band's name was initially Texas Metal Alliance, until 2009. What lead to changing the name and how did the name Warbeast occur to you guys?
pdn: Hey, Bruce! The band's name was initially Texas Metal Alliance, until 2009. What lead to changing the name and how did the name Warbeast occur to you guys?
Bruce: We finally changed our name for many reasons. The original name was for a one-time show when we did a benefit for a friend. We decided to keep the band going after that show and we decided to just keep the name at the time. But it still always seemed like it was a temporary name. A couple of years later we felt that it made sense to change the name. Mainly because we were about to record our first album and the band had signed a deal with Housecore Records.
pdn: You recorded 'Destroy' with Phil Anselmo, and as I understood, you were saying that the band evolved with this second album. What do you feel changed? Did joining Housecore Records and working with Phil have a significant role in that?Bruce: I think it was a combination of many things. We didn’t know what to expect when we went to record the first album and use Philip as our producer. So I think we were just more comfortable going in to record for the 2nd album. When we were writing for the first album… we were a new band and those were the first songs we were coming up with. By the time we started writing for the 2nd album we wanted to get heavier and we knew what we wanted to sound like by then.
pdn: How did this idea of collaboration/ joining Housecore begin?
About a week later he called me and said he heard the potential in the band. He said that night he was interested in signing us. That is pretty much how it all fell into place.
pdn: When did you start making music, at what age? Which are the bands you grew up with, favourite artists?
Bruce: I didn’t even starting singing until I was 19 years old. I started hanging around with this band called Spectrum. Mike Scaccia (Rigor Mortis/Ministry) was one of the guitarists. He was really young… only like 15 or 16 at the time. But he had an obvious talent and gift for playing the guitar. They weren’t really too sure about their current singer… so I just jokingly one night said that I would do it. They sort of liked the idea and so I sang a couple of songs one night with them at a lake party. I was horrible… but that was how it all started for me.
Bruce: I didn’t even starting singing until I was 19 years old. I started hanging around with this band called Spectrum. Mike Scaccia (Rigor Mortis/Ministry) was one of the guitarists. He was really young… only like 15 or 16 at the time. But he had an obvious talent and gift for playing the guitar. They weren’t really too sure about their current singer… so I just jokingly one night said that I would do it. They sort of liked the idea and so I sang a couple of songs one night with them at a lake party. I was horrible… but that was how it all started for me.
As a kid my older brother got me into The Beatles. Then when I was a teen I discovered bands like Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent etc.
pdn: Do you write all the songs? Which are your preferred topics and what are the main sources of inspiration?
Bruce: For “Destroy” I took it upon myself to write the lyrics for all of the songs. Scott Shelby wrote the majority of the music. Let me tell you… Scott is a bad motherfucker and he has reached a new echelon of greatness with his work on Destroy.
pdn: Do you write all the songs? Which are your preferred topics and what are the main sources of inspiration?
Bruce: For “Destroy” I took it upon myself to write the lyrics for all of the songs. Scott Shelby wrote the majority of the music. Let me tell you… Scott is a bad motherfucker and he has reached a new echelon of greatness with his work on Destroy.
I prefer to write about topics I think are cool or subjects that will fit with our brutal music. So that usually means writing songs about horror, destruction, violence, creatures, monsters, ancient folklore etc.
pdn: If you were to share the stage with any band you haven't played with yet, who would you pick?
Bruce: Iron Maiden… that’s an easy answer but it’s not likely that it would ever happen.
Bruce: Iron Maiden… that’s an easy answer but it’s not likely that it would ever happen.
pdn: What do the plans for the near future look like? Tours, maybe recording some new material?
Bruce: We’ve done 3 tours in 2013 and hopefully we have some others coming up this year or in 2014. We’re about to start writing for our 3rd album… so we just wanna continue to stay busy and keep the band moving forward.
Bruce: We’ve done 3 tours in 2013 and hopefully we have some others coming up this year or in 2014. We’re about to start writing for our 3rd album… so we just wanna continue to stay busy and keep the band moving forward.
Bruce: We actually already recorded a new album with the original lineup that was on our debut self-titled album. We recorded it in early 2012 using Al Jourgensen as the producer. It was recorded at his studio which is called 13th Planet Studios.
As you know… Mike passed away on December 23, 2012. So we won’t be touring anymore as Rigor Mortis. But we still plan to release this last Rigor Mortis album sometime in 2014. We don’t have a release date right now… but we’re very proud of this album. We all believe that it’s Mike’s best guitar work ever. The album will be called “Slaves To The Grave” and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.
pdn: Thank you so much for your time, and I hope to see you on tour somewhere soon! Anything you would like to add for your fans, friends?
Bruce: No problem… thanks to you and all of our friends and fans too! Hopefully we will get to tour your way sometime soon. Cheers from Texas!!
Bruce: No problem… thanks to you and all of our friends and fans too! Hopefully we will get to tour your way sometime soon. Cheers from Texas!!
Nice interview! \m/
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