My Story As Metal Frontman #28: John Tardy (Obituary)

respect so what was in metal music that sort of like caught your attention first God you know I mean we're so young really tough to say it just it seemed like a fun a lot of energy and fun to do um and then you know as growing up we kind of grew up with the guys at nasty Savage and sabotage in our area and would see those guys you know practicing and rehearsing so it kind of got me Donald and Trevor really wanting to start jamming ourselves um but uh and then it was like that once we started doing that it really weird really young you know so in high school but it was really like that early Celtic Frost and Venom that really kind of opened our eyes into really wanting to be as heavy as we could be so uh those were definitely the bands that pushed Us in that direction so it was executioner you're like first proper yeah actually the actual the solely wrought album that album was painted and set executioner on it yeah so before the album came out we were everybody was pretty much in agreement that there's a thousand other executions around the world not very original so we were like that's fine we came up with another name and then we repainted over the top of that original executioner and you know became obituary so what made you become a vocalist what's disordered behind that um um basically Donald and Trevor started jamming at in our garage so there was nobody else around so I just kind of started singing while they were looking for a singer I always joke that I kind of assume they're still looking for ones because that would be nice so uh but that was it we just they were they were jamming so I just kind of started singing so when you started where you like already doing original songs or where do you like playing covers and doing those or I don't I mean I'll be honest when we started I mean literally Trevor just bought a guitar Donald had a snare drum that was all he had so we had to go to a friend's house that had a drum set if we wanted to kind of jam uh we were not good enough to play covers didn't even know literally just grew up together learning our instruments together so the early stuff was we we immediately started writing our own music from the get-go because we wouldn't know how to play somebody else's stuff so we're like screw it we just start making up stuff ourselves um which is fun right out of the gate we just always had fun the tape player you know play and record on a tape deck and sit there start recording uh things so we we immediately liked writing our own music more than playing covers anyway after a little while we played a few I remember I think you know we played a venom song we still played Celtic cross songs uh might play one tonight okay uh but uh just always loved writing music so when it comes to like rolling what kind of like early memories do you have do you remember like losing your voice when you started doing it and do you had like some specific vocalist that you sort of like mimicked first well I mean I mean I first fell in love with John Oliva to be honest with you but I just could never I mean he's one of the best singers I think that there is so there is no trying to sound like um uh and then it was just like I said you know we immediately started getting into that early Celtic Frost and things like that so that's why when we started writing songs I started singing heavier and heavier um Venom I remember seeing like you know a lot of Venom songs you know we're sitting there in practice and listening to um but uh but I you know I remember at the beginning you know you don't know what you're doing and you start singing too much or something like that it definitely messed you up or some of those early tours we'd take off and I know we I remember doing like 20 shows in a row one tour which was fun so uh but you learn as you go up you know you kind of learn how to control a little bit better and things that you do so when you first started doing the covers where you're sort of like mimicking the vocalist or where you like it and then trying to figure out your own way to sing the songs yeah no I mean I would think it was pretty much more mimicking uh what they were doing uh and figuring out you know it's crazy time when you first start hearing that stuff it's not like it is today where you can turn on a computer and get yourself you know you know exposed to as much band as you have you got time to sit and stare at uh it was much different back then you know I would I would not know what it was until like a friend came over with a cassette or an album of a Venom album and it'd be like whoa what is that you know and then we were saying listen to it so um a much different world back then trying to you know trade tapes and and things like that but uh but it was it was trying to mimic them sing their songs trying to do it how they were doing it and kind of feel that out so where you're rehearsing a lot in the early days where you like all the time at the rehearsal place I mean I'll be honest I mean that's all we we never thought about playing live shows okay we were old enough to do much any anyway never thought about recording an album uh we just we would get off the bus stop meet Donald Trevor we'd go right in the garage uh and we would sit out there until my mom kicked the door open and say Trevor go home time for dinner uh and we just we had so much fun really all the way through slowly we had mostly slowly already written and that was our mentality we did not plan on doing a record it wasn't a thought to tour we want to be rock stars none of that uh we were having fun with what we were doing so the first album kind of came to us uh you know we were approached by a record label like sure you know we went into the studio had to write a few more songs and slowly came out and it was like okay now what are we gonna do you know how was it with the like album recording was it like difficult for you to maintain the stamina to record the songs yeah it was terrifying um you know nowadays we record ourselves we got Pro Tools absolute luxury um you know back then uh you know you get thrown in the control room everybody's sitting there staring at you you're in a small room you got headphones on uh and it's like okay go you know and it's like I don't really feel like it right this moment but you know you kind of get stuck on the schedule and you got to do it you know uh so it was hard you know plus there was not like I said there's not Pro Tools I can go back and fix stuff and and do a lot more things in the studio um so it was it was challenging for sure so did it take a long time for you to have the kind of like stamina that you could go on and play like many shows in a row I to this day I can remember getting sick and canceling one show from when we started so that's very good yeah uh I would say you know most most nights I can kind of do what I want 60 70 percent of the time 85 90 of the time you you feel good enough to to do it and you get the small amount if you got long runs of shows maybe you're not feeling like great and you know you wish you could maybe had more that night but for the most part I've been pretty lucky um and fortunate but does it affect your voice if you're like singing like 90 minutes so for example I mean longevity affect the vocal it definitely does I mean you know that we've been really enjoying these tours we've been on here with Black Label Society um you know this tour here because we get an opening set it's like 35 minutes uh it's almost like eight songs for us I'm okay with that so like you mentioned about the first like proper tours you did how was it like vocal voice the first European tour it was crazy because that was you know that was like a lot of travel not a lot of sleep a lot of shows no off days uh I mean it was you know it was so nice so it was it was a nightmare for me you know I certainly wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today I would be like no way you know um but uh you know over the years you just kind of learn how to stay in your state you know I don't know I was actually going to ask you Nick that was that sort of like a learning experience also for you yeah absolutely you know I don't think it's anything different in a few you know maybe I don't want to start running marathons or something uh you know you certainly don't wake up the next day and go try to run 26 miles or whatever marathon is in kilometers um you know you probably start off by walking around the block a couple of times you know then you might walk and Jog a little bit and then walk and you know next thing you know you're doing three or four miles next thing you know you're jogging five miles and over time you take your time but if you think you're just gonna wake up the first day go out and Jog 26 miles you're never going to make it your legs are going to give out you won't be able to breathe you're just going to collapse so uh this it's a clear learning curve there that goes along with it so have you like routines for warming up the shows change during these years or are you still the kind of like old school guy that you go up on stage and warm up the voice during the show or um I usually go up while the opening band is on usually about the last 30 minutes of their set I'll show up um and just kind of start doing some you know humming whenever I do a little you know just stretching out the vocals a little bit while they're on stage playing um and that's kind of my routine you know I get myself I start stretching and start doing those little bit of voice exercises get loosened up and enough dude that but we also you know we saw off with a pat Traverse song every night we start off with redneck stomp every night so that gives me one song to sit there and start you know getting the voice ready to go so it gives me that that one song while they're up there without me so so but the routine isn't like any any way specific that it varies quite a lot like depending on how you feel and and that it is I mean it it seems like in the middle of a tour I don't have to sit and warm up as much okay because I don't know I'm kind of already there because we're kind of singing every night so it doesn't really take as much uh but you know even now if we go home and have three months off that I'm not doing anything I will certainly once we start jamming again I'll just sing a couple of songs maybe you're not even full volume and I'll go I'll take it easy right from the get-go once again you know I'll sing just a little bit of a song couple here and there not saying very loud or hard and then I'll start to get to the point where I'm singing the whole set but not really as hard as I can and then usually by that last practice before we leave I'm kind of getting that thing fired up to to get back to where you are and that all depends on how much time we've had off you know we've had times where we had five or six years off in between albums and that's you know near starting over again you know as far as the you know you know you're back to your walking around the block first before you think you're just going to go ahead and start running and doing it so it's a so are there like some certain kind of foods or drinks that you wouldn't rather have before the show that you feel that it either affects your vocal cords or in general you don't just wanna I usually just sip on some warm water um obviously I'm no expert when it comes to you know the thing but I I mean I just think of the voices a lot like any other muscle in your body if you're going to go work out some warm things to do with some slow stretching and whatnot to get yourself beforehand and then afterwards colder things to drink you know I don't sit and sip on ice cold drinks or ice cold beers before we go on because it's like a pitcher in baseball icing his arm down before a game yeah he always ices his arm down after the game so before the game I sip on just use the information some warm water um and then afterwards it's cold beer so obviously you have had a very long and successful journey in the band and released obviously quite a lot of albums already yeah so but are there like some certain albums that you could point out like vocal wise that you feel that you have sort of taken the step as a vocalist tough one I know and well I mean you know especially when you just get done with a new album you're always proud of it and you're really happy with it very good one you know you always feel that way but then you you go back and you know I felt the same way everybody did solely you know you're even after our first album right we had done it it gets mixed we're like oh God's the greatest thing ever you know 10 15 20 years later it's it's kind of like walking in your mom's house and seeing a photo of you from back in elementary school and like you know that's a nice belt I was wearing there you know what was I think with the hair whatever it might be so it's the same thing on the record you hear them and you're like oh you know whatever this and that but um but then you just think there's hey you know what that's what we were doing at the time that's how things went down for us and that's the way the album is you know um but I really love our new album I think it's kind of in my you know my own you know voice in particular um I think just I think it has some of the better songs that I've done some of the best lyric content I think it's kind of all the whole album for me uh production writing everything seemed to come together and just uh really happy with it so are there like some personal highlights on the dying of Everything album that you'll feel as a vocalist like most proud of some certain songs that you are like very proud of I mean right now once again we're all ganked up with the new album because we're hell it's been done for almost two years yeah and we've been sitting fine so uh that was painful enough so now to us it just came out in the 13th but we had some singles for the wrong time it was the first single that we did and the fans every night are singing it so that's good to see that they're actually listening to it it's doing well it's hitting a lot of charts uh in the US as well as here in Europe um so it's doing well um but uh the video came out my will to live I just thought that's really cool catchy lyrics um and uh and just love the way vocally it came out so those are so how much do you normally pay attention to the articulation that it's perfect on the albums and on the songs I don't I mean I I think that over the years I've pronounced things a little bit more um I'm sure most people probably still listen to it and go I can't understand anything he's saying um but uh maybe that comes with a little bit more confidence I think early on some of our albums didn't even have lyrics I've never included them in the albums and some of those early songs off of slowly it just kind of goes back to what we were doing I was just kind of we were literally just writing and I was singing along with it and just making sounds and stuff up with it you know uh but over the years I certainly take more time and thought into those lyrics all the way up to today it's been a growing process this long believe it or not for me um so I think maybe maybe lyric content-wise you get more confidence with some of the stuff that you're writing so maybe you just want to pronounce a little bit more or maybe that's just a natural progression for me but I feel like I'm sounding things out and pronouncing things more than I ever had before so so what were your parents reactions when they heard that you started doing death metal growling I you know they they probably heard it from the very beginning too so um they've been nothing but supportive you know the whole time it would be like I said we start off my mom's garage she was you know fine with us taking the cars out of the way hanging carpets up on the wall drum sets equipment all over the place and they were totally supportive with that from from day one um so uh and uh I still you know text my mom like we got some chart numbers yesterday billboard numbers I text my mom and she's like it's great kind of thing so so she's still supporting you yes yep last question any advice you would like to give to a young metal vocalist who is just about to start the journey anything that comes up into your mind well first thing whether you're a vocalist or whether no matter what you want to do even if you want to be a producer or whatever you want to be if you want to you know just have fun with your music and have a passion for it because if you're if it's hard or if it's a if you're like I don't really feel like going to practice and I don't feel like writing if that's your you know you know maybe do something else make yourself happier you know what I mean it's always been for us and to this day I mean we did not struggle to write songs when we you know we're constantly thinking of ideas wrong titles no making notes uh it could be soundtrack Trevor might walk out and you'll hear him and he'll play like a rhythm and he's like did you hear that and then we'll hum it say make note for it so when we do white we go back and we got a bunch of files and songs and ideas and stuff and we just sit down and throw it all together but we just have fun with it you know we sit and just jam it just like we would we don't overthink it we don't try too hard uh and have fun with it you know because if you know if if your only goal is maybe go out and make money or something and you don't care you just want to show up do your job and get it I guess you can do that but for us uh we have to have fun we have to have fun on stage and uh that's the most important thing man have fun with it

Channel: Chaoszine

Views: 54,837

Keywords: chaoszine, chaos zine, metal interview, rock interview, Death Metal, Obituary, Dying Of Everything, House Of Culture, Live, John Tardy, Growling

Id: vef6DNU7Sas

Length: 16min 58sec (1018 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 05 2023