Steve Grimmett had five operations last year and could hear them cut through the bone for first two
Steve Grimmett had five operations last year and could hear them cut through the bone for first two
Former Grim Reaper and current Steve Grimmett’s Grim Reaper frontman was recently interviewed by The Metal Voice‘s Jimmy Kay. Grimmett spoke about his relationship with recently deceased and renowned producer Chris Tsangarides as well as the operations that he had in Ecuador last year that left him without a part of his right leg.
When asked about his relationship with Tsangarides (see video below at 1:26 mark), Grimmett stated: “I have known about Chris for a really long time. We started getting in touch in 2016 and we got on really well. I talked to him about mixing the next Reaper album and I was really looking forward to it cause he was going to teach me all he knew about mixing in the process and it’s a real dam shame it didn’t happen…. When I had lost my leg, Chris got in touch with me at least once a week for the rest of 2017 and he was such a nice guy. He wasn’t interested in how the music was going or anything else. All he wanted to know was how I was doing. I did the same thing for him because he had some problems before he died and I stayed in touch and made sure he was ok. Then to hear that he had passed away suddenly, it was absolutely gutting. When I think about it or see his pictures, it really gets to me. We lost a lot of good friends over the past few years but I think Chris has affected me more than anybody else. As far as I’m concerned, we lost one of the biggest rock influences that there will ever be.”
In terms of how far they were in making the new album with Tsangarides mixing (see video below at 4:04 mark), Grimmett advised: “The deal was done. Chris was going to mix it. It was supposed to be in October 2017 but I had to put it off because we were building a new recording studio and everything was put on the back burner. What a damn shame.”
With respect to the timeline for a new Steve Grimmett’s Grim Reaper album (see video below at 4;52 mark), Grimmett stated: “We have gotten seven or nine songs written. Basically, we want to write 16 or 17 songs to then come out with 12 songs which would give us an extra track for Japan. I would like to maybe start recording in March 2018. It will probably take three months to finish after that and then the record company will get on to release it in [the summer of] 2018.”
In regard to the experience of losing his leg in the hospital in Ecuador one year ago (see video below at 7:46 mark), Grimmett advised: “When I was in the hospital, I had absolutely no one there to speak to I couldn’t even contact Millie, my wife, because when I went in the hospital, they took my phone from me because the hospital told them not to have it on me because it would be stolen. I couldn’t even talk to my wife about having these operations. The guys and the promoters disappeared after five days, so I had nobody to talk to. It was awful but I had to dig in and find that inner strength….
I had three operations, five altogether but three of them were under epidural, which numbs the body below. For the first two operations, they were sawing my leg off and I could hear them cutting through the bone. Then I got the Flesh Eating Disease. That’s when they had to cut me above knee [Femur] which is a real BIG bone. They got the saw stuck in it twice cause it was all hand saw. There was nothing modern about the techniques in Ecuador. I did not want to watch it. When they actually cut through the Femur, I could actually feel that vibration and I said to myself ‘Now you gotta dig deep — inner strength.’ I was thinking about all the veterans that came home with their legs blown to bits and who am I to sit and cry about it?”
The Metal Voice‘s interview with Steve Grimmett in January 2018:
Steve Grimmett Grim Reaper Interview- we remember one year after the tragedy
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