Cattle Decapitation: Travis Ryan
Where to begin…I honestly hate writing these fuckin’ things. I also hate people. I think Cattle Decapitation hates people too. See, we’re like connected or something. Just read the damn thing.
WTD: Hey man, thanks for doing this. How’s shit in southern CA?
Travis Ryan: Pretty fucking boring and depressing. Well, it’s alright. The weather’s nice.
WTD: Let’s get this out of the way… Give everyone a little Cattle Decapitation history and who’s in the band and what they do?
Travis: We’ve gone through a couple people. Our previous guitarist quit last year. He had too much stuff going on. So did we. There was an original guitarist/singer, but we have no idea where he disappeared to. I do vocals, Dave plays drums, Troy plays bass and Josh Elmore is on guitar.
WTD: Earlier this year you inked a deal with Metal Blade. Was it because of sheer luck, hard work, or both? And how cool is it to walk into a record store and see your CD crammed somewhere in between The Backstreet Boys and Damn Yankees?
Travis: I’m not sure how that happened, except that we have worked pretty hard, we got our shit out there and gained an audience without touring. That says something. So does the locust connection, and that 31G puts out the albums. It’s actually really cool to see our album in every store I go into considering the complaint before was that you couldn’t find our stuff anywhere. Now there’s no reason to complain.
WTD: You’re getting ready to tour with Gwar in October and right after that you hit the road with Cannibal Corpse. Any comments on that?
Travis: It’s going to be really fun. That’s all I can say. A shitload of work, but a lot of fun. We need to get on the road so bad it’s not even funny.
WTD: Have you seen eel porn?
Travis: Yes, I viewed a video once of a woman having sex with an eel. A guy in the room right now just told me he has a copy. I guess in it the woman pisses and shits on the eel and the guy cuts his head off. Nice. Humans can only be so pleasant.
WTD: Wes Benscoter did the cover art for To Serve Man, that’s some really sick shit. How many stores have refused to carry it because of the art? And would you like to use this time to say “fuck you” to those store owners?
Travis: Hahaha… No, I’ve seen it every single shit corporate store I go into. It’s bizzare. But fuck it, that’s what we want. Endless access to this information. Be it music or the text. I haven’t heard of people not carrying it because of the art. It’s really not that bad. What’s so bad about human anatomy?
WTD: What is your stance on vegetarians? Are they a potential food source?
Travis: Haha… are WE a potential food source? I would hope so. Then whoever would be eating us would have leaner cuts of meat and not so much fat from eating animal fat every day. We’re vegetarians, yet we’re not all Christian about it and we don’t preach except rather artistically in the lyrics.
WTD: If Professor X used his mind control to make you fuck a goat, would you be a goat-fucker or would you not be a goat-fucker because you were doing it while under mind conrol?
Travis: Under mind control of course.
WTD: When is the last time you punched someone in the face and why?
Travis: That would have to be with my friend Nathan. We got in a fight in my room and threw each other all over the place. It was stupid. That was years ago and I think the reason why was cause he threw a tape across the room and hit my parent’s wall. Man, that was years ago. I’m more of a pacifist.
WTD: A serious question for a second. You donated some stuff to an auction that Metal Blade is having to help support Ben Falgoust from Soilent Green. Please tell everone a little bit about that…
Travis: Well, I don’t really know the guy, but you gotta look at the death metal industry as sort of a community or a union. Sounds cheesy, but it’s hard enough being a professional musician let alone getting in all sorts of medical bill trouble when you didn’t even see that coming. So we should all help those that get fucked like this. We signed a Decapitation 7”, a rare one that’s on green vinyl, a Human Jerky LP, A Homovore LP, and I busted out with my lyric book that I used to read from while recording To Serve Man. It has a bunch of lyrics from when I’d be in my car or something, totally coming up with shit off the top of my head. I hope someone will like it. And it’s for a good cause.
WTD: Now back to the stupid shit. Name 5 bands you would like to disembowel with a twisty straw and a corkscrew.
Travis: Shit, as much as I’d LOVE to give up that info, I should probably chill since it could come back to fuck us. But there’s a few more than fuckin’ 5, let’s say that. And most of them are in San Diego.. haha.
WTD: You hang out on the Relapse forums on occasion. That board is full of fuckin’ crazy people. When I go there, most of the threads are like.., “Hey, fuck you.” and the response is “Hey, fuck you and your jew nigger mom.”. Do you not feel like slapping the shit out of some of the morons who post there?
Travis: Yeah they definitely suck. Fuck em. That’s my philosophy. Especially Zeno Marx, and a few more that are very forgettable.
WTD: Is there anything we forgot to talk about so far?
Travis: Killing. You left that out.
WTD: What CDs have you been listening to lately?
Travis: Longmont Potion Castle Vol 4 and the stuff I’m going over for Vol. 5.
WTD: I saw a press release that said “Metallica’s eagerly-anticipated new album” ... How fuckin’ gay is that? Seriously do you know anyone that gives a flying fuck?
Travis: A shitload of 30 something San Diegans. That’s who. A bunch of fucking rednecks.
WTD: Which segues into my next question… Any plans for Cattle Decapitation to collaborate with Ja Rule?
Travis: We’ve spoken to his people but it’s just not happening. There’s not enough time in the day as far as both projects are concerned.
WTD: Any idea when you’ll record the next CD?
Travis: Mid next year I think. We have a couple of songs already. Very nice.
WTD: Fuck man, I don’t want to waste too much of your time. 2 more questions, I swear. What do you do in your spare time?
Travis: Drink beer and creating new recipies a humana.
WTD: Well… can you do me a favor and just say “Methodical is a 1/8 black faggot.” below? Seriously I will send you $5 if you do… my last $5.
Travis: Who is Methodical?
WTD: That’s what everyone says… I lied, one more question. But first thanks for doing this man. Any final comments?
Travis: Gore and kill.
Link: cattledecapitation.com
| 10/04/2002