Cannibal Corpse frontman George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher is a god amongst men: what other death metal singer collects cuddly toys from claw machines on tour and gives them all to charity when he gets back home?
We recently sat down with Corpsegrinder to talk about his band’s upcoming new album, the pulverisingly excellent Violence Unimagined. During the course of the conversation, he served up a killer anecdote about the time he got to hang out at Cher’s LA mansion – with the eternally youthful pop star herself in attendance.
We could tell you the story ourselves, but it’s better coming from the horse’s mouth. Take it away, big man…
George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher: “Cher’s son Elijah, who is in the band Deadsy, is a big Cannibal Corpse fan and maybe 15 or 20 years ago he wanted us to come out to LA and play his birthday party at the Viper Room. His birthday is two days after mine, so my wife and I went out a few days early: ‘Let’s just fly out there, hang around for a few days, then we’ll play the show.’
“The day before the show, Elijah invited us up to Cher’s house. When we got there, she wasn’t there – she was out shopping. I was like, ‘Yeah, of course Cher’s out shopping.’ But I didn’t know that she came back. I was talking to Elijah, and my wife starts hitting me on the arm. I go, ‘What?’ And she just whispers: ‘Cher!’ I’m like, ‘Ok, that’s cool, but it’s not like meeting King Diamond or Chuck Billy’, cos I’m in awe of those guys.
“She was super-nice. We’re there and Cher is making food for us, and stuff. She came to the show as well. I apologised to her for having to listen to Cannibal Corpse, but she was, like, ‘No, I liked it.’ I’m, like, ‘Come on Cher, do the metal sign.’ And she goes, ‘Honey, I was metal before you were born.’ I’m, like, ‘Damn – I just got owned by Cher!’”
Cannibal Corpse’s have just released a new single, Murderous Rampage, from Violence Unimagined, which is out on April 16. Sadly, it doesn’t feature any Cher collaborations.