This Is The Reason For The Guitarist Of The Cannibal Corpse, Rob Barrett Never Headbang Again

Rob Barrett with Cannibal Corpse (Instagram @cannibalcorpse)

JAKARTA - Cannibal Corpse guitarist Rob Barrett spoke about the evolution of his stage performance ahead of his 55th birthday.

While appearing in the latest episode of the podcast "Riffhard", Barrett said that musicians must be aware of their abilities.

"It's the same as an athlete - you don't see any championship athletes still active in their 50s at the level they did in their 20s. So you really have to be smart trying to maintain that level as long as you can," Barrett said.

"I stopped doing headbang maybe four or five years ago. I feel like I've done enough to the point where I became a grandfather and I said, 'Hey, Tony Iommi didn't do headbang.' I think if your riffs are pretty good, you don't have to prove yourself physically and look like that," he added.

"And besides that, everyone in my band is doing crazy headbang around me. So I feel like I don't need to do it anymore. And I play live better because I'm not half focused on, 'Oh, I need to headbang at this speed in this part.' It's like you're doing a stick shift You have to change teeth with a riff. Now I'm just focused on guitar and don't have to do anything else at the same time."

Barrett was then asked if he had ever hurt himself when appearing live. Here's the answer.

"I didn't hurt myself. I mean, there must have been times when I would, like,'Jesus, my neck was attracted' or'my neck hurts' - something felt out of his stable for a minute or two. But it didn't come to the point where the therapist said, 'Oh, it looks like you had a car accident.' But I've heard some people say that to them, and it's something in the end you may not be able to walk anymore. "

"I mean, it doesn't make me afraid not to want to do it again. Sometimes, if you don't do headbang at the right speed or something like that, it doesn't look right, and it looks like I've reached that point. I saw the video and I said, 'Wow, I started to look stupid doing that.' So I stopped doing it. "

Barrett then described when he decided he was fed up with the headbang.

"I think I did quite well with headbang at least until the 30s. However, once I reached my 40s, it was like, 'Suk men.' I was almost, like 'not afraid, but just, like, 'here he is. I have to do headbang again'," said Barrett.

"I still like playing guitar, but headbang is something I don't want to do anymore. I mean, when there is Corpsegrinder [Cannibal Corpse vocalist George Fisher] on my desk doing that crazy headpins movement, after all, no one looks at me... I prefer to be heard, not seen."