Chris Barnes (musician) Quotes

I just think that it gets really, really boring doing the same vocal approach, like as some vocalists do. Fans appreciate it, I think, but its really boring [to me] as an artist to just sit there and tread water, do the same thing, and not really feel the music in a new fresh way each time. I don't fear that. [...] I want to explore something new.

I came from a time when I was listening to Slayer and Slayer was listening to D.R.I. and all of a sudden all the fans of Slayer saw that Jeff Hanneman had a D.R.I. sticker on his guitar or that Lombardo was wearing a D.R.I. shirt in a picture. And you know what, D.R.I. became one of my favorite bands and I went to see them every time they came to town. And then metal heads and hardcore kids, in 1986, 1987 and 1988, they all started coming together and that formed death metal. All of a sudden people started moshing at a Slayer concert because there were a bunch of D.R.I. fans there, because Slayer had enough respect to wear one of their shirts, and that’s how people started slam dancing and shit. That’s how it all crossed together, and to have this separation in music, in death metal, with all these people with their fucking noses stuck in the air about things and being elitist about things, they should take a step back and look in history and see how it all started.

I understand when people say, "Oh he doesn't sound like he did on that album or song." Well yeah, that's how it's always been on every album. I've had a different vocal sound and that is purposeful. I wouldn't want it any other way. I don’t like to blanket a specific sound over everything. To me it sounds stupid if it sounds like you had no imagination and you had no understanding of what music is and basically just a robot, just going through the motions. That's never been what I do. I've always kind of wanted to reach out and find more out about music than myself through what I do, what I explore through this strange form of art.

I think there's many faces of horror, and you can explore the different types of horror out there.

It just felt right to enunciate and pronounce the lyrics more clearly [on The Bleeding] because I felt the music was more clearly pronounced. [...] I think that at that point in time I wanted to prove to myself that I could still sing really heavy [...] but people could understand my lyrics more, because the lyrics [and storylines] are very important to me [...] it’s an artwork to me [...] and I want my art to be heard.

I really wasn't doing it to shock people. I just thought it was exciting and interesting and it went along with what I gained from listening to the music. When those guys wrote, it presented such a violent image to me, I felt like I had to match it with the lyrics. And I was able to pull from my imagination some sick qualities of mankind and put it down to paper. For example, "Entrails Ripped From a Virgin's Cunt" was based on a true story my friend told me and I just kind of twisted the story and filled in the blanks.

I'm not a death metal singer that sings one style or one tone throughout an entire album or sings the same way on every album. I really take it song by song and I try to adjust my vocal approach to the nuances of the music and how it feels to me and what I want to accommodate to kind of offset those things that I hear in the music to make it more closer to what I feel its related to vocal tone wise. [...] The guttural thing started for me when I heard certain things in the riff. You know, the [syncopation]. [...] So I wanted to really bring my vocals into that. You know, so [they were] like melted together with [the music].

With 'The Bleeding', those guys as musicians were really wanting to progress the band musically in a way. I could kind of [see] why — I think they were wanting to, in a way, prove themselves as well-skilled musicians. And I thought they always were, because it was always very interesting music, the arrangements and stuff in Cannibal Corpse on the first three albums. But I think they wanted to really hyper focus their skills and weren't able to do that. And I just was along for the ride, man. I can write to anything. It was really challenging to me. And I really liked 'The Bleeding' too. I liked what we were doing with Bob. I didn't want Bob to leave the band, and I didn't want him to be forced out of the band, and neither did . So it kind of was a strange thing with that whole situation.

If there are [young fans that are violent], [...] I think there's something wrong with them psychologically. I think mostly, the kids are buying this music just for the sheer enjoyment, and you know, listening pleasure. I think they're probably getting more enjoyment out of the music than they are their own lives, some of these kids, so basically it's something to make them happy, not kill each other.

They say I have died I still felt alive I won’t believe their lies…

It actually almost got me killed at gunpoint in 1994 before a show in East L.A. Some gang members came on the bus and told me they didn't like my lyrics. One of them had just got out of San Quentin, and he had a .38 stuffed into his belt lining. He said, "We're gonna kill you if you keep writing about this stuff." I just tried to talk to him calmly and say, "Hey, I respect your opinion," but it was pretty scary. Luckily, we had a really good tour manager, who somehow got those guys off the bus.

Tied tight to the bed Legs spread open Bruised flesh, lacerations Skin stained with blood I'm the only one you love I feel her heart beating my knife deep inside Her crotch is bleeding [...] Stick it in Rip the skin Carve and twist Torn flesh From behind I cut her crotch In her ass I stuck my cock Killing as I cum

I believe [cannabis] was placed here on earth by a higher power, or another being, or an alien being, or something that has a plan for us. [...] It's scientific knowledge that our systems are built around the cannabinoidal system. We need cannabinoids ingested into our bodies to build our immune systems. It's a natural benefit to us as humans. There's alot of things out there scientifically that prove this and show that it is actually a [possible cure] to cancer as well. [...] They say that, you know, basically, uh you know, used cannabis early on, as you, early man and we developed as we uh [...] as we kind of uh [...] I'd say uh I don't know. Give me a hint here, I'm having a kind of a mind warp here Gypsy. [...] But what they say now is that before cannabis was even on this planet other mammals -- other creatures -- had this system built and we developed from those, you know, other animals [...] as man went through the centuries. So it proves that this plant was actually put here for us to find. And we are actually benefitting from it. [...] What we don't need in our systems is [...] beer -- alcohol. We don't need cigarettes. We don't need tobacco. But for some reason, these things are legal to us and shoved down our throats, advertised on the Super Bowl, and we're supposed to consume these things. And they are the [deadliest] things that we consume as human beings in our daily lives and they kill more people on the face of this planet than anything else that we use recreationally. Okay? So why are these items -- alcohol and tobacco --available to us, and we use them and eat 'em up and let them kill us? Why does that happen? That's the hypocrisy [as] to why marijuana and cannabis should be legalized and it is because it does not harm anyone physically. It has been scientifically proven that it helps us and benefits us as humans and we need it in our systems -- Period.

One month in the grave, twisted and half-decayed She turned a putrid yellow, I pissed in her maggot filled asshole [...] The smell was unbearable as I unburied her I cum blood from my erection I feel it run down her throat, swallow

I was trying to [provoke] thought in some way [with violent lyrics]. Hoping someone would see the twisted dichotomy. To be sickened by it and yet entertained by it. Like watching a horror movie.