FEAR, EMPTINESS, DECIBEL: CHUCK SCHULDINER TRANSCENDS DEATH
Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…
Transcribing sucks. I mean, I know, having a job is great, and having that job entailS working for a metal magazine and not flipping burgers or being the fourth president of Egypt is even better. Interviewing legends and/or friends and colleagues of legends is by far the best part about working for a metal magazine, but — this can’t be stressed enough — transcribing the resulting exchanges sucks. We’ve yet to program Decibot to handle this most mundane of tasks, and intern slavery is more enticing in theory than practice.
The thing is, I’m not complaining about my job here — I’m complaining for Chris Dick, who doesn’t even complain at all about this stuff. He’s the mastermind behind our March cover story, an authoritative 12-page oral history of Death, which is available now. This band is, without question, our top three Hall of Fame white whales, and since Chuck Schuldiner’s passing has rendered such a piece impossible, Chris did the next best thing: interviewing 16 of Chuck’s ex-bandmates, two former producers, Borivoj Krgin from back-in-the-day tape-trading lore, and even Chuck’s folks. We’re talking 11 hours on the phone with sources, for an unedited word count of 21,000. That’s a fucking novella right there, people. So, check this thing out — if you’re not already a Chuck fan, it’s hard to imagine anything but newfound slavish devotion after absorbing this monster.
As far as last week’s Hall of Fame contest goes, congratulations to last week’s winner, Phil Freeman, who will receive a free six-month subscription to Decibel. You can tell us if you think The Jesus Lizard’s 1991 noisestepiece Goat deserves a place in our hallowed Hall of Fame.
-AB
You can buy the March 2011 issue of Decibel here, but the only way to ensure that you never miss a Hall of Fame entry is to subscribe to Decibel, so how about you get off your ass and do that?
