Information from Point Blank Merchandising

August, 1994

Answers to the most asked questions about CARCASS...

1. Carcass are not, and never have been Medical Students.
2. Ken Owen is the only member of the band that has been to University. He has a degree in, (are you ready for this... ) Pure & Applied Ecology.
3. Carcass (with the exception of new guitarist Carlo) are all non-meat eaters; Ken & Jeff are plain 'ole vegetarians, Bill is a vegan (which means no animal by-products whatsoever, eggs, dairy etc,). It should therefore go without saying that the band are not fans of people killing animals or indeed any violence what so ever.
4. Carcass play the following; Ken - TAMA art star kit with Sabian cymbals, Bill & Carlo - Ibanez FGM 100 and Sabre guitars with Marshall Speaker Cabs & JCM 900/SLX & Peavy 5150 heads, Jeff - 5 string Ibanez bass guitar with Ampeg SVT bass stack.
5. All Carcass albums were in circulation in one format or another until very recently. Reek of Putrefaction was only available on Cassette. 16 of the 22 tracks that make up the album however were available as extra tracks on the Symphonies of Sickness CD. Earache plan to re-release all the Carcass back catalogue on separate CD's come Sept 15th 1994 in Europe & USA. [Note: I believe they were actually released Jan 1st, 1995]
6. Carcass have eight songs that are not to be found on any of their albums, these are either one-off's or re-recordings on compilation
7. The 4 photographs on the front cover of Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious are Carcass. Clockwise from top left they are, Bill Steer, Mike Amott, Ken Owen and Jeff Walker.
8. Sheet music/tablature - lots of you write in asking if any Carcass songs have sheet music. At the moment the answer is no, but later this year Shinko Music of Japan plan to release a book of sheet music together with a band biography and photos (all of which will presumably be in Japanese). If however any of you out there might be interested in buying a copy, write us a letter or phone and we'll see what we can sort out.
9. What do Carcass listen to at home? ...everything basically.
   • Ken - Techno, Rap 'n Hip Hop, and Metal, Ice T, Thin Lizzy, Carcass, Classical music, amongst other things.
   • Jeff - old punk like Crass and stuff, Therapy?, Die Krupps, Neil Young, Zappa, Kyuss, B-52's, Bjork, Metal and all sorts of other shit.
   • Bill - Absolutely all sorts, Redd Kross, Morrissey, Alice In Chains, Tigers of Pan Tang, Nirvana, Classical music, Guitar Pop, Old Metal, New Metal, Suzanne Vega, Joni Mitchell, Alan Holdsworth, basically a lot of different things.
   • Mike Amott - again all sorts of stuff, including checking out a lot of old 70's bands.
   • Mike Hickey - a dyed in the wool metal head, anything with lots of guitar wank, Vai, Van Halen etc, and all sorts of other weird stuff probably including Jazz.
   • Carlo - Metal, and I'm not sure what else, I've never really asked him.
   The biggest surprise to most of you will probably be what they do not do, and that is sit around listening to nothing but Death Metal and the Earache catalogue all day.
10. All lyrics for Carcass songs are written by Jeff, he doesn't really talk about 'em too much or like explaining them. Preferring you the fans to make up your own mind about them, and read into the words what you will.
11. All members (including new guitarist Carlo) have been playing their specific instrument (drums, guitar, bass whatever) for at least 10 years.
12. Carcass use Marshall Guv'nor effects pedals. These sadly are no longer manufactured, if any of you out there come across some cheap or better still free, please let us know.
13. Carcass are a vehemently anti-fascist band, if you are a right-wing nazi racist - please don't bother showing up to our shows or buying our records, you are sadly missing the whole point. Get a life!

...Hope all of the above goes some way towards answering the numerous questions you ask us in your letters. Please accept our apologies that we are unable to answer all your letters in person.

[Thanks to Matthew Fischer for typing this up for the list...]

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