One of my first and best concert memories was from when I was about 13-14 years old and I was going to see my first death metal concert. Cannibal Corpse came to Australia back in the early 90’s when Chris Barnes was still in the band.
The album The Bleeding had just come out and was getting a lot of publicity due to the graphic nature of the material, which I absolutely loved as a young whipper-snapper.
My Mum dropped my best friend and me off at the show at The Palace in Melbourne and we met up with several hundred young metal heads that were ready to destroy in the pit. Two great Melbourne bands were opening the show, Damaged and Abramelin and I was just as excited to see them as Cannibal Corpse.
As we walked into the venue, I went to take a piss and was greeted by young die-hards carving upside down crosses into their foreheads, arms and stomachs. There was blood pissing out all over the bathroom floor. I was scared shitless.
None the less, all the bands blew me away that day. It changed my life forever and I knew I had to be in a metal band after that. I did my first ever stage dive, straight into a gap in the pit and ripped the skin off my knee cap and I didn’t give a shit. It was awesome. I still have the scar.
Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse, by Evil Robb Photography
Watching Alex Webster kill it on the bass was brilliant and I was sold as an extreme metal fan from that day… Nothing much has changed!
King Parrot just released their debut full-length album Dead Set on Housecore Records, and is on tour this summer opening for Superjoint.
MATT YOUNG