Why The Rotted hate sheep...

interview with the rotted

Gorerotted was a deathgrind band that hit the scene with lots of filth and sheer pleasure. After several releases, lots of gigs, member changes and other problems the band was disbanded and two members formed a continuation with 2 guys from Screamin Daemon the band The Rotted. The founding member of both bands, Tim Carley, has spent precious time for answering couple of questions.

Please give us a short introduction of yourself so the readers know with who to deal with?
This is Tim, guitarist in The Rotted/Gorerotted. Also known in the old days as Fluffy!

Also most of us want to know who is in the band too?
The Rotted line-up has been solid for a long time and includes myself on guitar, Ben McCrow on vocals (ex Gorerotted), Reverend Trudgill on bass (ex Screamin Daemon) and Nate Gould on drums (ex Screamin Daemon). We have the classic 4 piece grindcore/punk old school set-up! Gorerotted has had so many different members that anyone interested in that should check out www.gorerotted.com and have a look at what the guys do now.

This interview is done because of the re release of "Mutilated In Minutes". So a part will deal with Gorerotted and the other part will deal with The Rotted. Agree?
Thats cool with me!

Gorerotted started in 1997. What was the cause that got you together and start the filth?
Myself and the other original guitarist were in a thrash band that had just split up. Thrash was dead back then and we were getting into extreme music and we just wanted to do something like Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, Macabre and the new music we were finding out about everyday! We were really into gore and horror films and we wanted to make some music that recreated that vibe! We wrote some songs and then started getting the other guys like Mr Gore, Mr Smith and Dave infester involved to start recording and playing shows. It just took off from there!

Was it done on purpose to try to create a shock with the gore and death? You know that the UK is utter conservative…
Yes of course it was done to create shock! At first we just wanted to make one demo and send it to magazines, shock them and get terrible reviews, then play a few shows, split up and call it a day. It was only ever meant to be a one release project to do something disgusting and piss off the mainstream fans, but people seemed to like it and it just took off and went global.

Why did you want to piss of people with the first demo? Was it a kind of rebelish statement in the scene of that time? Can you remember what you hated in that period?
We hated nu-metal and we hated the sheep like culture of the mainstream. To this day The Rotted still stands by that idea, do not buy into mainstream culture and do not be another brainwashed sheep. Think for yourselves!!! We grew up in a shitty part of London were peoples future seemed to be mapped out for them. Go to school, get a job, work hard, have kids, dont think outside the box, dont do anything different. We wanted to rebel against those people and piss them off as well as piss off the 'normal' metal heads who were into what we considered crap music.

Be honest. Are there things you do now which you despised as a teenager?
No its the other way around. I did things as a teenager that I totally despise now. I had regular jobs when I was young and tried to do the 'normal' thing. It failed and I couldnt do it and I wish I had never tried. Now days I live a weird life, I travel more, I think differently, I'm involved in underground music, I play music all the time and I think im a lot more open minded thse days. Im more of a weirdo now than I ever was haha!

Recording the material made Gorerotted quit a serious band as after the demo the albums followed. Ever thought that the band would become your life mission? Or is the fault of your wife Jo who pushed the band forward?
Jo really helped us make the band serious. She saw some talent and good songs and helped us do the album and make the most of the demo. She helped us promote the band and got us shows in Europe and record deals with Metal Blade. it went from a joke band doing a dodgy demo of sick music to a band that had records in stores across the world and playing shows everywhere!

After the demo, debut, split you threw out "Only Tools And Corpses". For me this is the best stuff of the band and very addictive to play. And I think it is the highlight of the bands career. Yes? Or do you think something else?
I would agree that 'Only Tools and corpses' was a highlight for Gorerotted. It took the same song ideas and production from the 1st album and made it even better! I wrote all most all of 'Mutilated In Minutes' and 80% of 'Only Tools And Corpses' and Im really proud of those albums. The later Gorerotted albums had stuff written by the other guys too and Im not so into it haha!! Now with The Rotted im back to writing a lot of the material and it sounds brutal, dirty and nasty again!

This album got a lot of recognition in the scene. What are the best things you remember promoting the album? And what are the most funniest ones?
This was the first time we did a big promo campaign for an album. Before this we did a lot of interviews but it was more here and there via email. Metal Blade arranged us about a  week of promo doing sometimes 10 interviews a day and it seemed crazy! i was never off the phone haha! The best had to be the Pungent Stench / Gorerotted european tour in 2003 to promote the album. That is still the best ever tour i have been on for fun and auidence numbers and the buzz was fantastic!

The live gigs were always full of booze, energy, blood and booze. Was it necessary to go drunk on stage? Remember the stupidest thing you did on stage?
The stupidest thing we did on stage was smoking bongs and drinking bottles of whiskey. We would be pretty fucked up at some shows haha! Drinking was a big part of The Rotted culture, drink all day, play a killer show and drink all night. i think it would kill me these days.....

I saw you played in Eindhoven once and at the end of the gig 2 members did the trick with putting his finger in the dick of the other. Can't remember well but do know that I cracked up laughing. You remember?
Shit like that happened a lot. im guessing it would have been Junky Jon and either Matt or Wilson! They were the main culprits for that kind of thing.

Not only party on stage but also afterwards. You must have some smelly details that can be told after all those years…
Too much too tell! Too many drunken nights, were do i start???? Many people outside the band must have some good Gorerotted stories they can tell from hanging out with us at gigs!

Now "Mutilated is being re-issued as CD and Picture Disc, do you think you will de re-issues of the complete Gorerotted discography? Maybe a DVD because you might have filmed a lot in the days.
Actually we dont have that much footage. Early tours were before people had mobile phones, let alone mobile phones with a video camera!!  I did look for some live stuff for the re-issues but it was very limited in quality and stuff that we could use. knackered old vhs tapes that have worn out, i wish I had copied some of it to dvd years ago!

After some members (had to) left Gorerotted, you and Ben started The Rotted together with 2 Screamin' Daemon guys. Why this change in style? Tired of washing the blood out of your dreads?
We just wanted a change as the band had really burnt out. We played hard and drank hard and we had worn it out fast. The Rotted is a bit different from Gorerotted. Gorerotted dealt with fantasy horror and The Rotted deals with real life horror! The Rotted is a bit more punk and bit more underground that Gorerotted.  it just felt right to have a new name for the new line-up and new music.

The style of The Rotted is open for a wider audience. Do you notice this with getting attention in the press and shows/festivals offered?
Like I said above i actually think The Rotted is more extreme and more underground than Gorerotted. Gorerotted did a lot of nasty gore but then there are a lot of very big bands doing it these days. There are not many bands playing music as extreme as The Rotted that you will see on bigger festivals and stuff like that. We are pretty unique in our mix of styles, blending old school death and black metal with dirty UK punk and grind. There are less places for us to play and no 'scene' for us. We are the under dogs of exteme music, but every dog will have its day.

The debut is released by Metal Blade. Was this part of the Gorerotted heritage?
Yes that was a hangover from the Gorerotted days. We kept the deal with Metal Blade and some big shows booked when we started The Rotted.

The EP was self released and "Ad Nauseam" on Candelight. Why a label again? Bad aftertaste from self releasing?
Having a label meant we can concentrate on writing and playing let them handle the press and distribution. We are still very DIY, we paid for 'Ad Nauseam' to be recorded ourselves. Trud and Ben handled the artwork together. We run our own webstore and book our own shows. We like it this way as we have control and connect with fans direct. Its the way Bolt Thrower does it too and it very cool. We will keep on doing albums for Candlelight but also do some EP on our own label and also Hammerheart records and Dead Beat media in Malaysia.

The Rotted is promoting the album on stage. Do you prefer club shows or festivals? Why?
I like small sweaty clubs with chaos and people going crazy. Its a great buzz. i really enjoy festivals but sometimes they are too much about money and corporate sponsorship and you dont have much connection with the people who come to see you. it all feels a bit false sometimes. There are some really cool festival out there like Obscene Extreme and Fekal Party in Czech republic. They are great, they are big like all festivals but people go crazy like a club show. So much fun to play and they arent about money, scenes and bullshit. There should be more cool ones like those!

Will you do covers? Maybe covers of Gorerotted and Screamin Daemon?
We play at least 2 Gorerotted songs at most shows. We have talked about doing a Screamin Daemon song too. We have played a Motorhead song and a Cro Mags song live too. They were fun to do but I prefer just playing The Rotted and Gorerotted stuff that we wrote.

How cool is it to have a tattoo artist in the band? Imagine all those free tattoos you can get…
Both me and Ben have some free tattoos from Trud. he did our Anarchogram symbol on my arm + he is working on the top of my arm too. Its pretty cool. he does some art for us sometimes too.

What are the plans for The Rotted? What is something you really like to achieve? With the band as well as a musician?
I really enjoy playing cool shows with The Rotted, stuff that is underground and away from corporate and mainstream shit. We have some shows in UK and Netherlands planned for end of 2012 and we are working on some cool stuff for 2013. i would love to play Asia and shows in the USA, that is the main thing I would like to achieve with The Rotted and as a musician.

Do you have another life beside the band? What are your hobbies and spare time fillers?
I work for a lot of bands as a tour manager and merchandiser. i spend about 6 months of the year on tour either playing and working so it takes up a lot of my time. its a cool way to live, outside the normal world! Apart from that i just play a lot of music and travel a lot!

Is there anything else you wanna say before we close this little interview?
Check out www.therotted.com and www.gorerotted.com and support what we do! old fans of Gorerotted check out The Rotted and new fans of The Rotted check out what we use to play with Gorerotted. im really proud of everything we have done and that we always stand against the mainstream. Please help us to continue this mission!

Thanks for your time Tim and good luck with The Rotted.
Cheers mate, it was cool to do this!

Oh yeah, one more thing. Your nickname is Fluffy. Is it the male equivalent of a fluff girl?
Its because I had terrible curly crap hair. Check out the old photos haha!
Interviewer: twansibon
Sep 15, 2012

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