History & Biography Gorerotted was formed in London in 1997 and released a little-noticed CD in 2001 through Dead Again which was the label of the band's management. The band had earlier issued a demo called Her Gash I Did Slash. A song by the same name would appear on the band's Metal Blade debut. The band was due to complete a UK tour with Nile in the autumn of 2002, but was kicked off the tour by Nile for alleged rowdy behaviour. After noticing the band at the Fuck The Commerce festival in Germany, the band signed with Metal Blade in mid-2003 and soon issued a second album. A tour supporting Pungent Stench soon followed. Disgorge (Mexico), Amputated, Sanatorium and Gorerotted toured in Europe.
Mr. Gore quit the band in the summer of 2004. The band and guitarist Matt "Robin Pants" Hoban went separate ways in early summer of 2007. Hoban would focus on his band The Agonyst instead. Gian Pyres of Extreme Noise Terror and Cradle Of Filth fame joined Gorerotted replacing the departed Matt in late 2007. Drummer Nate Gould of Screamin' Daemon replaced John Rushforth at the beginning of 2008. John would continue with Infected Disarray, Hades Lab, Detrimentum and Grindethic Records.
The band responded to all the turmoil and transformation by changing its name to The Rotted in 2008. The band believed the new name was more suitable for the material written for the band’s new album.
Reviews GOREROTTED - ONLY TOOLS AND CORPSES - METAL BLADE
It is good to see Metal Blade maintaining its pose and still signing truly underground bands. Surely Gorerotted is not going to sell too many albums. Then again, who knew Cannibal Corpse will go on to become a death metal best-seller?
The Brits are the kind of lads one would normally expect from Razorback Records. The band mixes death metal and grindgore with slow to mid-paced to fast speeds. The music is a combination of Dismember and Macabre, while the sextet lyrically travels roads traversed by Macabre, Carcass, Cannibal Corpse and Ghoul. The two vocalists trade, er spew, rotten gore at each other and the audience incessantly. The vocals tradeoffs are quite central to Gorerotted. They are not an incidental, but rather a vital part of the act's style. The guitar rhythms and sound could have been thicker, although the band occasionally does include a slapping loud bass. It is just that the buzzsaw guitar sound could have used some thicker variation here and there. That will probably not deter someone picking up an album with titles like Her Gash I Did Slash, Hacked In The Back Dumped In A Sack or Village People Of The Damned. - Ali "The Metallian"
GOREROTTED - A NEW DAWN FOR THE DEAD - METAL BLADE
After 2004's excellent Only Tools And Corpses, one can't help but have heightened expectations for Gorerotted's latest record, A New Dawn For The Dead. The problem with expectations, of course, is that intense, hypercritical scrutiny is (unfairly) placed on a product that doesn't deserve such imminent dismissal. Much like perennial Canadian indie-rock buzz band The Arcade Fire's debut, A New Dawn... isn't a bad release in the least. Sadly, it just doesn't live up to a previously established promise. That said, A New Dawn... is a potent slab of post-Carcass carcasscore, the kind of record that seemingly every Carcass clone is putting out these days. In that vein, Gorerotted follows Impaled and Aborted's lead (Exhumed and The County Medical Examiners remain steadfast Symphonies Of Sickness/Heartwork devotees) and has written an album to call its own, rather than donating musical property to Bill Steer or Ken Owens. And that's cool, 'cos many of these bands (Gorerotted very much included) have such potential; now that they're starting to reach out and carve a new niche we're all made even more aware of said potential. But, for the time being, A New Dawn's middle-of-the-road songwriting (and god awful muddy/hummed production) is a growing pain, making this a transition record that, in hindsight, will bridge the gap between Carcass and whatever future Gorerotted will eventually present us with. It will be interesting to see what the next Gorerotted effort brings. - James Tape
Interviews It is not everyday that someone called Fluffy contacts Metallian Towers. Then again it is not everyday that a band calls itself Gorerotted, writes a bunch of tunes with titles like Hacked In The Back Dumped In A Sack or Can't Fit Her Limbs In The Fridge and obtains a recording contract with Metal Blade Records. Could it be that the world has gone mad? Has Metal Blade lost it? Is the end of the world nigh? Is there a remote chance that scientists will discover actual poultry in a bucket of KFC?
Ali "The Metallian" set out to find an answer to all these questions - more or less - in a conversation with Gorerotted's guitarist, the aforenamed Fluffy Ofalstench. The gang is rounded out by Goreskin (grunting and groaning), Mr Gore (Strangulated Screams), Robin Pants (One String Banjo Strummer), The Wilson (Bass-ment Torture Screams) and Junky Jon (Skunk And Skins) - 01.02.2004
METALLIAN: Fluffy, it is good to hear from you. Only Tools And Corpses is my first encounter with Gorerotted and it would be interesting to hear a little about your background.
FLUFFY: It is my pleasure to do this interview. We have been around since 1997. We started releasing stuff in 1999. We have done pretty well in the States and in Europe. We haven't reached places like Canada and, with this album being on Metal Blade, many people haven't heard of us and the CD lands on their desks and they look at it and say, 'what the fuck have Metal Blade signed this pile of shit for?' They put the CD on and they are blown away, because they first looked at the cover and the song titles and think we are going to be a totally underground noisy band. People should check out our website to find out more about us. We update it all the time.
METALLIAN: Before digging deeper, someone was wondering whether your civil names are a secret.
FLUFFY: I think these are our real names! Well, we chose these names so we feel superior to the other children at school.
METALLIAN: The name 'Fluffy' made you feel superior to the other children?
FLUFFY: I got that name because I had this terrible, terrible haircut. It was like a kind of a poodle. It was like the 80's, like Bon Jovi or Gene Simmons, it was huuuge curly hair! Everyone used to call it fluffy and used to pull my hair. Then it stuck. It is a funny name for a guy who is playing this really extreme music. I am six feet-four and I am huge and then I've got this stupid name. It is like the monster in the Creepshow. He was called Fluffy too. He is a monster with huge teeth and dripping blood.
METALLIAN: There is a band photograph on the back of your CD. Which one of the guys are you?
FLUFFY: I am the one with the dreadlocks. I used to have curly hair like Slash of Guns 'N Roses, but put them in dreadlocks just before we did the photoshoot for the album.
METALLIAN: So what is your civil name? Perhaps I should ask what is your alias given how Fluffy is your real name?
TIM: Tim is my real name.
METALLIAN: Let us take up the story again. How did you attract the attention of Metal Blade?
FLUFFY: We put out the Mutilated In Minutes CD and started gigging and promoting it in Europe. Then our bass player and guitarist left within six months of each other. We were getting new people, teaching them the material and writing new songs which really slowed us down. Then we went into the studio in 2002 and recorded Only Tools And Corpses in November. We didn't have a label. We had no label backing and were using the money we made from the first album. We did the CD ourselves and were sending it to so many labels. Metal Blade made the best offer. Only Tools And Corpses was actually recorded when we were unsigned. We had quite a lot of money from the first album because it had sold really well. It was on a label owned by our manager in the UK. We had licensed it to Relapse and it sold really well. We did the album ourselves, did the best we could and went to the labels and said, 'you're not taking any risks. You can hear the music and know exactly what you are signing. No risks involved.' Metal Blade made the best offer.
METALLIAN: Was Relapse Records interested in Gorerotted?
FLUFFY: A little bit. They have so much going on and so many bands. We drifted away from what they are interested in. They are into the more grindy stuff and we are more death metal than the first album, so they weren't into it. We have naturally gone more towards the stuff that Metal Blade does.
We had some good offers. A couple of labels in Europe and a couple of smaller ones in America were interested. Metal Blade probably looked at the titles and then put the CD on and didn't expect the music. They probably expected a real underground sound.
METALLIAN: Do you believe that Cannibal Corpse being one of Metal Blade's bigger bands helped Gorerotted get signed?
FLUFFY: Yeah, maybe. Maybe they are thinking I read an interview with Cannibal Corpse the other day where those guys were talking about doing it for maybe another couple of years. They were talking about maybe doing another album or another two albums and then calling it a day. They were talking about how they've got one more album left with Metal Blade. They don't want to do the same thing forever, so maybe metal Blade is looking for the next death metal band to fit in once they lose Cannibal Corpse.
They are into our music as well. When you talk to the guys at Metal Blade, this is the kind of music they like. They obviously want to work with the kind of music that they like.
METALLIAN: In your case, the music features an integrated dual-vocal approach. Can you say a few words about the singing?
FLUFFY: There are actually three vocalists! The bass player has a really high voice. He does all the really high-pitched vocal lines. Mr. Gore does the mid-range stuff. He sounds punk like The Exploited. Then you have Goreskin who does the slow growls. There are three vocals that you hear. They are often singing together and it sounds like one vocal, but if you take one of them away then you will get a different sound. I love the way it sounds, the way they bounce off each other and the way they sing different rhythms at the same time. It makes it interesting and stops it from getting boring. That is the problem with death metal. So many have one singer who goes (begins to growl) and after half an hour you want to go 'shut up!' The guy has been doing this monotonous barrage of growling without any change to his vocal style. I just can't listen to it. I can listen to bands who have at least two vocalists.
METALLIAN: Does it work live?
FLUFFY: Yeah, it works really well live. The bass player is obviously playing bass and singing and is restricted. It is huge because there are six guys and two of the guys have nothing else to do but sing and jump on each other and crowd surf. It makes for a really good show.
METALLIAN: Everything you are telling me indicates that Gorerotted has some kind of a commercial potential.
FLUFFY: Yeah, probably. I am really surprised by the response. We are really extreme. I do understand how extreme we are, but we seem to get a love-'em-or-hate-'em fan base. There are people who love us and we are their favourite band and there are people who completely hate us. The people who hate us are people you would think would like us and the people you would think would hate us love us. It is completely weird. Many kids love us which is a good sign.
It is extreme music so we are never going to be a huge seller, but we are hard-working and we take a lot of pride in what we do. We never do anything half-assed. We put one-hundred percent into what we do.
METALLIAN: So has the band cultivated an image or are you guys genuinely wild, gory and brutal?
FLUFFY: We are like Motley Crue. That is the only way to describe us. We like Motley Crue and Iron Maiden and rock 'n roll. We like drinking and partying. When I was a kid, I wanted to be extreme and be the sickest thing ever. Now I just want to go to a bar and meet women. We have turned into Motley Crue it's terrible.
Mr. Gore, the vocalist, is in his own world. He does like the horror movie stuff, horror memorabilia, horror movie posters, serial killer painting and all kinds of stuff that are collectible and worth a lot of money. He spends all his money on that. He has a statue of Freddy Kruger. He has models of Freddy Kruger, Pin Head models, he bought a John Wayne Gacy painting of Snow White And The Seven Dwarves. He bought that for about $7,000. He had to take out a loan to buy it so he can put it in his house on the wall. He collects autographs of old Hammer Horror actors. He is totally obsessed by it. He just loves it. He is the nicest guy you would ever meet. He is smiley, friendly and chirpy. He talks like Dick Van Dyke! He sounds like he is out of Mary Poppins! Then you go to his house and he has piled up boxes of, what I think is junk, but it is his life's collection of stuff.
METALLIAN: Evidently he has a source of income outside the band.
FLUFFY: Yeah, he has to work just to pay for his bloody collection. He borrows money all the time to buy stuff. He goes to the bank to get loans. He sees something in a shop that he wants and he has to have it and two weeks later he's got it. He is a weirdo.
When we were on tour he went shopping once. He had some money he had made from the tour. I was taking my money to pay the rent. He goes to the shops and came back three hours later with sixty DVDs. That was all the money he had. I was telling him that we have to take this stuff onto the aeroplane to take home and he gets them on!
METALLIAN: Which one in the band photograph is he?
FLUFFY: On the CD he is the one who is punching me in the head!
METALLIAN: Where in England is the band based?
FLUFFY: We are all over the place. We started off in London. We used to all live around the corner from each other. As time went by people came and went and we are really spread out now. I live on one side of London and Mr. Gore lives near me. The other vocalist and the bass player live two hours away across London. The drummer lives in Yorkshire which is hours away. He lives in Hull. The guitarist lives in Norwich in the Midlands.
METALLIAN: How do you guys practice?
FLUFFY: We meet up for whole weekends. I have never been in one of these bands where you have to rehearse, like a job, three days a week or every Saturday. It becomes like a job and becomes really stale. We tend to pick a different place to rehearse every time. Say we pick Yorkshire and everyone comes around to me and we drive to Yorkshire and we rehearse for three or four days. Then we come home and leave it for a month. Then next time we might go to London or go to Norwich. We play in each other's flats and get really drunk. It becomes really fun and becomes something to look forward to. So you have three weeks to look forward to something. It is good fun. It beats doing it every Saturday afternoon at like two o'clock. That would be monotonous. We spread it out and rehearse in different places.
METALLIAN: Do you like living in the United Kingdom? The reason for my asking is that often metal musicians complain about the country.
FLUFFY: Yes, I like it. I travel a lot and I always come back to the UK and it feels like home. Of course, everyone's going to say that about their own country. I feel really free here. I have been to many countries and I have never felt as free. Here you feel like you have so much freedom of speech and so much freedom to dress, act, behave and to do what you want. In some other European countries the police have hang-ups about what power they have. You don't feel it is as nice in those countries, but here I can do whatever I want.
METALLIAN: What you say speaks to the general reputation of the UK as being tolerant and accepting of different life styles.
FLUFFY: The musicians who complain might live in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere and they are the only guys into metal in fifty miles! The grass is always green on the other side. I like it here, I really do. We get so many opportunities here.
METALLIAN: Speaking of doing what you like, when reviewing your album the names Macabre, Dismember and Carcass came to my mind. What is your reaction?
FLUFFY: We are just an extreme metal band. I wouldn't say we are grindcore. I couldn't think of any grind that I listen to! When people talk to me they expect me to rhyme off this huge list of underground bands, but we are into metal in general. When we travel to rehearsals we do a 200-mile drive and the singer has an Apple ipod and he has 2,000 metal songs on it. He hooks it up to the stereo and we listen to everything from, like you were saying, Dismember to Exhumed to Impaled to The Exploited to Iron Maiden. We listen to every kind of metal and punk. What we play is grind, because of the vocals and the drums, but what we listen to is metal all kinds of metal. People have started to put themselves into little categories too much. 'I am a grind fan' or 'I am into death metal' and hardly any people turn up at shows. In the old days it was just metal and everybody went to shows. That is the way we are. We go to all sorts of gigs and listen to all sorts of music.
When we first started the band I was listening to Macabre, Carcass and Cannibal Corpse. That was a big influence. I never got into Dismember too much. The first three bands were the ones I was listening to though. Nowadays our influences come from all over the place like even punk and films.
METALLIAN: Are lyrics and titles like Village People Of The Damned humourous?
FLUFFY: That song had no title. It was called The Song With No Title in the studio. Then the vocalist Goreskin suggested we call it Village People Of The Damned. Some people get it that it is the obvious combination of Village People and Children Of The Damned. Someone was asking me whether it's a political song about pollution! That's rubbish, we've got zombies who eat people!
Our lyrics I don't know we've got the vocal patterns and then we have to write lyrics that fit them. They are just little comedy horror stories. There is no political bent to the band. I do have political opinions, but I keep them to myself. They are my opinions. If I get drunk at a bar I might start ranting about them. As well, we have to all agree within the band and we have varying opinions on different subjects. I would never do a political band unless the whole band agrees. When you have six people you have six different points-of-view of the world. We just stick to what we really love which is cheesy horror films. It brings us all together.
METALLIAN: The song To Catch A Killer (A Serial Sing-A-Long) is a unique idea. Who came up with the idea of combing the stories of different serial killers?
FLUFFY: I think Goreskin came up with one song about Jack The Ripper or something, like two lines, and then he bought a pile of magazines like Murder In Mind. We sat down at rehearsals and in ten minutes picked out lines about these serial killers and what they did. It was me, the two vocalists and five magazines. We were writing down anything we could find about these killers and, bang, it came together.
METALLIAN: Can you say a few words about Only Tools And Corpses? Is it a nod to Carcass?
FLUFFY: No, it is about a British comedy show called Only Fools And Horses. It is a British institution. It was going on since 1980 or something. If you know the comedy show then it's funny; otherwise it is just a gory title.
It mentions David Bowie and Bon Jovi because it relates to one of the lines in the theme tune to the comedy show. The show is about these guys selling dodgy goods from a lorry. The way we sing that line too is fashioned after the theme tune. The show used to be on BBC 1.
METALLIAN: Another thing on my mind was the band's image. Did you get together and made a conscious decision to go with the 'bald image?'
FLUFFY: No, it's a coincidence. Over the years people have come and gone. When we started we all had long hair. Then members changed and someone shaved a Mohican off and someone got a bold head and the bass player was going bald he actually had the worst hair. He was bald halfway to the back of his head. Now that they have all done it they are acting like a little gang and they are always telling me that I should shave my head. They tell me my hair smells and so on. They think they are the five brothers of gore. I am telling them that I don't want to be in their stupid little gang (laughingly). When their heads starts to grow they cut each other's hair! They all get drunk and cut each other's hair! They are sitting at my house before we go on tour and they are shaving each other's heads. It is a ritual.
METALLIAN: I know that you have toured with Pungent Stench. With the album being out now are there further promotional tours planned?
FLUFFY: We don't have any plans to tour so far. The tour with Pungent Stench was to support this album in Europe because it was issued here in November. We have summer festivals like Summer Breeze booked for Europe. There is nothing from Metal Blade in the States yet. I guess Metal Blade will begin working for the US and Canada soon. At the moment it has just been Europe. There are some vague plans in Europe like doing a week's worth of shows with Vomitory. We are also touring with Disgorge from Mexico in the UK.
When we were touring with Pungent Stench everyone was warning us to watch out for those guys, but three days into the tour Martin the singer for Pungent Stench came up to me and said 'you guys are the biggest bunch of fucking freaks I have ever met!' He was just laughing at us. People warned us about Pungent Stench and they thought we are the biggest freaks. We have no sense of self-dignity.
We did a UK tour with Nile and we got kicked off the tour after one day! We were supposed to do five shows with them. We did the first show in London and we got completely fucking drunk and were just falling over and having a laugh among ourselves. The next day we turned up for the show and the Niles tour manager came up and said 'you guys are not playing tonight. You are too drunk.' They were standing around trying to look as hard as they could, they were trying to look evil for hours on end and we were just getting pissed and smoking dope. They did not want us around them. This was two Novembers ago. This happens a lot to us. The only other people we have met who are like us are Rotten Sound from Finland. We did a show with them in Czech Republic and we were so drunk. Everyone else was standing around looking serious. Rotten Sound and us were rolling in the mud with no clothes on. We just have fun.
One good story is Mr Gore getting lost in Hamburg in the middle of the tour with Pungent Stench. He went shopping and the tour bus moved. He came back and couldn't find the tour bus. He couldn't remember which city he was in so he walked around in the streets and found a newsagent selling Rock Hard magazine. He bought a copy, found the tour dates in the back and found some guy who could speak English and asked him which town he was in and which day it was. He found some guy wearing a metal shirt, a Man-o-war shirt, and showed him the listing and asked him for help. He needed to be at the venue in one hour. He got there half-an-hour before he was supposed to play in a taxi with this guy. Then we get off stage and he goes straight to a Motorhead party and he was smoking coke with the Motorhead drummer. He came back and he looked like he was going to die. He is a proper alcoholic. He has treatment for being an alcoholic. We stop him from drinking. He is sober now. He hasn't a drink in two months. He goes on and off the wagon. When he goes off the wagon, he goes bad! He doesn't fuck up the shows or anything though.
The next thing for us is to shoot a video. We are not sure for which song yet. I need to hassle Metal Blade about our going to the US and Canada too.
That thought concluded the interview. Fluffy wanted me to mention the address for the band's website which is at www.gorerotted.com. It might be a good idea to check the site too in case hassling the label yields results!
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