The drummer says he practises more than ever, still plays ice hockey, and does not know how long his body will hold up.
Paul Mazurkiewicz has been playing “Hammer Smashed Face” since 1992. He has started working out how many more years of it he has left.
The Cannibal Corpse drummer was asked by Shawn Ratches on “Laughing Monkey” how his body has coped with nearly four decades of extreme metal.
“I feel pretty good, luckily. I think that’s the key. Of course, if we don’t feel good, then it would be very difficult at this point in our lives to be up there and maintaining. I don’t wanna fool myself or feel like I’m just gonna go up and go through the motions. I wanna feel good up there. And I do — luckily I do… Of course I gotta practice — probably practice way more than I’ve ever had just to sustain and maintain. So I gotta do that more regularly than ever, which is obviously gonna be good for me, I suppose. But I think, like in anything, when I tell people, just like in life in general, you get older, you gotta eat right, you gotta stay hydrated. You gotta exercise. You gotta get good sleep. Those things are so important. Of course, genetics fall into play as well because some people might do all that, but then they got issues with their back, or they got muscle problems, or they got who knows what kind of issues. Luckily, I do got good genetics, which has kept me really healthy for the most part throughout my life. But like what I just said, these basics — as long as I can get the sleep I need and stay hydrated and eat right — I still play ice hockey, so that kind of obviously helps me a little, working out a little bit,” Mazurkiewicz replied (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
What has changed, he says, is that none of it comes free any more.
“I really gotta play more than anything,” Mazurkiewicz continued. “I think that’s the most important thing, is just still just practicing and keeping up on it in that regard. ‘Cause if I don’t, I do notice — I’m not 30 years old anymore. You don’t have that natural adrenaline flowing. Or I don’t, anyways, and I’m a hyper kind of a guy. There’s a couple of guys that I look at that are our age, my age, going, ‘Man, where do you get all this energy from?’ I still have it, but, man, it’s waning, of course, and I really gotta work on it to sustain that. So that’s the important thing, is really just keep practicing and keep pushing and doing always a little more extra, I suppose, at this point. Because, man, I’ll tell you, if I don’t, then it’s gonna be really quick where I’m gonna turn around and go, ‘Wow, I can’t do this.’ It’s harder to come back to it, harder to maintain. We’re not getting any younger. Every day is just a day older and a day closer to the end, so to say. But, yeah, man, it’s tough, man. I’ll tell you, it’s tough.”
“Am I gonna be able to do what I do right now in 10 years? I don’t know. We don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. I mean, in 10 years I’m gonna be — what? 68 years old? So am I gonna be able to go up there, 68, 70 years old, blasting, doing ‘Hammer Smashed Face‘ with conviction, with feeling like I’m able to just kind of do it — like I said, without dying or feeling like I’m about to pass [out]. Who knows? But that’s tough. Only time will tell, I suppose, in that regard. I guess I would’ve never thought I’d be doing it at this age, when we first started. You look at people, when you’re 20 years old, and, of course, a 60-year-old, that’s your grandfather,” he concluded.
Mazurkiewicz turns 58 next month. The song he named came out on Tomb Of The Mutilated in 1992, which puts 34 years of playing it behind him.
He covered similar ground in March during the “Wildman” podcast.
Paul admitted that long-term longevity was never an initial consideration. Given their young age at the time and the lack of precedent for extreme metal bands sustaining multi-decade careers, the prospect of playing in their fifties seemed highly improbable.
“Well, you definitely don’t think that you’re gonna be in a band this long, obviously, when I look back. We were just basically teenagers when we started, so your mentality is a little bit different in that regard. None of the bands around at that point — there’s no band that’s been around for 50, 60 years at that point. So you’re going, ‘Oh, well, that’s crazy to play in a band when you’re 40, 50 years old. That doesn’t make sense. How can you do that? Why would you do that?’ Obviously, you want the band to succeed, you wanna go as long as you can, but I think you’re thinking your shelf life or just your life of the band is gonna be a lot shorter than it could be,” he said at the time.
He elaborated on how his early expectations contrasted with the reality of his current life:
“I remember thinking, like, ‘Oh yeah, when I’m 40…’, which would’ve been 20 years after the fact the band started, ‘Yeah, I’ll be old. I’ll be 40 years old. Am I gonna be still wanting to play this? I’m gonna settle down, have a family, all that kind of thing. So, yeah, it’s weird that you had those thoughts, of course, back then, so you never thought that you would be still here doing it. And I’ll be 58 this year, and who would have ever thought that I’d be still playing drums in a death metal band and then [that we would still be doing] as well as we’re doing and all that. We’re still relevant and we still have, like I mentioned earlier, a great fanbase and we’re doing amazing — probably better than we ever have in those regards. So, yeah, no, not in your wildest dreams did you think that you’d be here still doing it at this point in your life. So, yeah, pretty wild.”
He added: “If you start doing this, you love it and that’s your passion and that’s what you wanna do. And then I think that’s why you become an artist in any capacity, What we do, of course, as musicians, well, that’s why we got into it. We wanted to do this. This was our passion. This was our love. And then once you get your foot in the door and you’re doing well and all that, why would you wanna stop? I mean, I’d say most people don’t. There’s gonna be some people that do, obviously, [who say], ‘All right, I’ve had enough. I wanna retire, do something else.’ Okay. But I’d say for the majority, and that’s why you got the bands still kicking it that are out there — any of these bands. The Rolling Stones or whatever, they’re 80 years old and they’re still doing it. Why would you wanna stop? This is your life. So I think you’re gonna do it as long as you can, for the most part… But, yeah, you’re just gonna take it as long as you can. I think we feel the same way. It’s just gonna come down to health and all that. Can we do it for another five years, 10 years? I mean, who knows? Because, like I mentioned earlier, we never thought we’d be doing it at this point in our lives. So who’s to say we can’t do it longer or won’t be doing it longer? So, yeah, it’s pretty wild, but it’s who you are and it’s a part of you. So you just wanna make the most of it. You only live once and you might only get this opportunity once.”
Cannibal Corpse formed in Buffalo, New York in 1988 and relocated to Florida in the mid-nineties. Mazurkiewicz and bassist Alex Webster are the two founding members still in the band, alongside vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, guitarist Rob Barrett and guitarist Erik Rutan.
Their most recent album, Chaos Horrific, came out on September 22, 2023 through Metal Blade Records, recorded at Rutan‘s Mana Studio in Florida. It was the sixth Cannibal Corpse record Rutan has produced, going back to 2006’s Kill, and his second since joining as a full member in 2020.
