Rotting Corpse spent a long time as an idea with no drummer. Walt Trachsler and Jim “Moe” Mulqueen had the band in mind, John Perez had come in on guitar, and the last piece arrived the way most things did in Arlington in 1985 — in a club, by accident.
“I joined in late 1985. I met Mo at a local club called Savvy’s. We had similar tastes in music so we decided to set up a rehearsal.”
That rehearsal produced the lineup that played the band’s first show at Rascals in Arlington that December, and the lineup that cut the 1986 debut demo at Pantego Sound with Jerry Abbott engineering.
Sabbath First, Then Everything Got Faster
Gryder came to metal early and had firm views about where it started. “I personally believe that Sabbath was the first metal band and thus I would say in the mid 70’s as a child.” Thrash came later and arrived in a specific order: “Metallica — Kill ‘Em All, closely followed by Slayer — Show No Mercy.” His first real band, formed around 1982, was called Mystress.
He was also clear about what Rotting Corpse was never going to be. Asked why the band didn’t follow the late-’80s drift toward satanic subject matter, he didn’t hedge: “We all just felt that was a pretty lame choice for a topic plus none of us were into that scene. To me it’s always seemed so childish.”
What The First Tape Did
Gryder’s account of the debut demo’s reception is the blunt one, and it matches John Perez’s:
“Shockingly positive. We were constantly selling out of the demos and we were always amazed. I don’t ever remember a bad review.”
Back For The Last One
Gryder returned to the kit in 1989 and played the January 1990 sessions at Elephant Track Studios in San Antonio that produced Neck Breaking Fury — the record several members still rate as the band’s best. The tape credits him with “drums and howls.”
He is also, permanently, the reason for one of the band’s favourite details. Steve Murphy: “You can still hear at the end of ‘Evil Slaughter’ Dave puts his drum sticks down on the snare right after the last crash and you can hear it. We were going to Whataburger right after that song and he was ready to go. I still laugh about that.”
He played the band’s final show of the original run on Valentine’s Day 1990 in San Antonio, as a three-piece with Trachsler and Murphy.
On The Road, And After
His memory of touring is unsentimental. “Live gigs were good and bad. For one thing, we were notorious for having flat tires. I remember being stranded on the side of the road many times.” The gigs that stayed with him were the out-of-town ones: the Ritz in Austin with Militia, and the Continental Club with Watchtower in 1986. “We got a lot of positive feedback plus the other bands were super cool to us. Austin and San Antonio were always great to us!” See the rooms they played →
Asked what made the Texas scene worth remembering, he put it back on the music: “For me, it’s not about where the scene was, it’s about the music. Thrash was so exciting because it was a whole new genre of music. Heavy, fast and brutal — with the emphasis on ‘fast.’ It was, and is, an incredible release of pure, raw emotion.”
Gryder has kept playing since, in Archie Bunker and later in Blood of the Sun.
