Eric Greif - Chats to one of his biggest fans Joe Denby!

Death manager Eric Greif talks to one of his biggest fans!

Regarded throughout the music industry Eric Greif is mainly known for being the manager of Death and best friend of Chuck Schuldiner. Today he works as a lawyer and as well as working with a number of bands he still manages Chuck's back catalogue and runs Death D.T.A. Ahead of the highly anticipated reissue of Death's landmark album 'Leprosy', Joe Denby ​life long Death fan manages to pin him down while on a brief trip to England and talk about the all things Death and what the future holds!

Music Trespass: Hi Eric, How are you?

Eric: I'm great, I'm sitting at the airport in Manchester and it's lots of fun!

Music Trespass: 'Leprosy' was a big landmark album. Not only for Death but for Death Metal in general. Was there a particular pressure with this reissue?

Eric: I think that what we were planning all along was that at one point we gonna introduce one of the reissue's with a big bang! Including LP and it just so happen's that this was the one. For me 'Leprosy' is the quintessential Death album. It came out in 1988 and it was like the Beatles of Death Metal. So I wanted to make sure it got a great production and all the time we spent which was well over a year to do it, is now going to pay off.

Music Trespass: Can you tell us what went into putting this package together? Selecting bonus material etc.

Eric: Well, I worked quite closely with Terry Butler and with Drew Juergens of Relapse Records and we just basically combed through everything we had to come up with what we thought were great live songs great rehearsal tracks to make it something special. It took a lot longer then normal, 'The Spiritual Healing' reissue was a year and a half ago and we took a break before we started working on 'Leprosy' but it took well over a year.

Music Trespass: Can you remember how you felt when you first heard 'Leprosy'?

Eric: I think I poohed in my pants! It's such a revelation, the record. It's because 'Scream bloody Gore' had a more primitive sound to it with mostly Chuck playing all of the instruments and with Chris Reifert (Autopsy) on drums. But this was really a band playing the instruments and that' why 'Leprosy' is so powerful because it's really a band effort with two guitar players who play two very different styles and different tones so that's why the combination of Rick Rozz (Massacre) and Chuck was so devastating.

Music Trespass: Lets go back to the begining How did you first meet Chuck and How did that lead to you becoming his manager?

Eric: Chuck and I met at Metal Fest 1 in Milwaukee in July of 1987 and I was struck by his charisma and I didn't really know anything about Death prior to them playing the show and it was the first show outside of Florida played by the 'Leprosy' line up and they were touring  in support of 'Scream bloody Gore' and it was an important show for Death and it was an important show for me because I knew nothing about the band. I had received a promo copy of 'Scream bloody Gore' but I'd not really even listened to it and everyone was  saying to me "you've got to hear this guy" and my jaw dropped when I saw them live. Six months later they were playing a Milwaukee show that  promoted and I started talking to Chuck and the next thing I knew I was managing Death. The Right place at the right time.

Music Trespass: Reception to Death D.T.A has been great. What's the future hold for D.T.A?
Eric: Well D.T.A. (Death to all) it was never something that was meant to be carried on purely because of demand, and I'm not going to be able to please everyone. People are complaining when we do D.T.A and complaining when we don't do D.T.A, so because D.T.A is so much fun for all of us we decided as long as there's a demand for it, we'll put it on the road and make it as true to life as we can and give the fans what we want to hear which is Chucks music. So we're doing Europe in June and we're thinking of the future beyond that.

Music Trespass: The great thing is that there is so much you can do with it. Right now you have the 'Human' line-up but you can then do the 'Symbolic' line up it can go on forever can't it?!

Eric: Exactly and all the guys are interested in playing. I just don't like the idea of doing  what we did in June 2012 which was having all those guys touring at the same time it was kind of a mess and it wasn't a mess due to anyone in particular. It was just very expensive to run that many people on the road and pairing it down to being one streamlined act similar to the original, being just four guys. That just seems to work so well.

Music Trespass: Well shit happens at the best of times, so when you've got ten people, it's amazing how Slipknot manage it really!

Eric: Yeah, it's too crazy I like keeping it at just four guys it also feels more real that way.

Music Trespass: Is there any new developments in finishing the second 'Control Denied' album?

Eric: Well, little baby steps are being taken by Shannon Hamm (Shannon Suffered a heart attack in 2009) he has now been several times to Morrisound studio working with Jim Morris. I'm optimistic, I'm not going to predict whether it will eventually get finished but the most critical part of it is what Shannon does with Jim. If Shannon finishes all of the songs that will give way to the other guys doing their parts. Tim Aymar (Pharaoh) will sing and Steve DiGiorgio (Death, D.T.A, Testament) can do his parts but Shannon is the integral guy. Without Shannon it doesn't happen.

Music Trespass: So fingers crossed!

Eric: Yeah fingers crossed I was pessimistic before but I'm definitely turned around Shannon is committed and I'm very excited about that.
Music Trespass: That really is great news that's made my day.
Eric: Yeah, and it sounds great. Chuck's tracks are spectacular.

Music Trespass: Lets clear this up. As it stands all of Chuck's tracks are finished as well as Richard Christy's (Charred walls of the Damned, Ex - Iced Earth)  drums?
Eric: Exactly, so I've had that album for a long time. All the songs just Chuck and Richard and it's great, it'll be even better when it's all put together.

Music Trespass: I bet it's the most frustrating thing for you because you've got this great album and..imagine if for example And justice for all never came out but you've heard it and you can't do anything with it!
Eric: It's not only that but some people think it's already finished and we're somehow holding it back from the public which is just ludicrous. The fact is that it's not finished and so old. The guys have to remember what they did fourteen years ago! so it's a struggle but Chuck mapped it out. He wanted it to be finished eventually so he mapped out the whole thing so it's basically connecting the dots. So finger's crossed we'll see.

Music Trespass: I know it's a bit soon but is there any plans for the next reissue? And / Or are there any other releases in the pipeline? Live albums etc.
Eric: The only thing I want to think about right now is the reissue of 'Scream bloody Gore'. Which will probably start in the summer. In the summer we'll have a meeting and talk about it. I already have liner notes from one person and another is eager to do his. I think it will come together rather quickly. It will probably include the 'Aborted', 'Scream bloody Gore' album which was done in Florida before the one which was done in California.

MP: With the collection of 'Mantas' Demo's which was released and year or two back will the Death Demo's which came out between then and 'Scream bloody Gore' ever get a proper release?
Eric: Well, we wanted to see how well 'Mantis' would do and it did well and when I say "do well" I mean see if people are interested in it because what we can get our hands on is the first generation tapes. That's the only thing I can offer is using today's technology with these tapes and some do sound awful! but all we can clean up and put them out there and that's what people want. you can get things but they are copies of copies what we have is the Chuck's own original copies so the cassettes' that he recorded on from his own personal collections but we can do it, it just depends on demand. I'd like to put out everything Chuck ever did but it has to be of a certain quality otherwise it's just a rip off.

Music Trespass: Off the back of that with all the albums being reissued through Relapse does this include 'Symbolic'? Because Roadrunner's reissue (for me anyway) wasn't up to much.

Eric: No. Roadrunner will own 'Symbolic' forever. They have gone through some changes were they are no longer an independent company they are owned by Warner Bros. None of the original staff are working for the company anymore. However if they want to do it because it's still selling so well, then they will approach us.

Music Trespass: So you will be involved.

Eric: Yeah we have a great relationship with them. It's just not ours to control, they have done a deal with us already allowing us to use 'Symbolic' if we were ever to put out a box  set. With the Roadrunner reissue back in 2008 they had good intentions they did remaster it and it did sound good. It's just Relapse had a bigger vision it was quite a leap. But as it stands I don't know. It's their record and I'm ok with that.

Music Trespass: As well as handling Death's catalogue and managing D.T.A. Are you managing any other bands?
Eric: yeah I'm the lawyer for a bunch of bands including Cynic, Massacre, Obituary a Canadian band called Anciients who are signed to Season of Mist. I'm also an entertainment lawyer for many clients.

Music Trespass: Can you update us on what's happening with Obituary's new album?
Eric: Yeah, their in the middle of recording it now. I'm not sure what label it's going to come out on but that's something we're working on right now.

Music Trespass: You once managed Motley Crue for a short period didn't you?
Eric: I was assistant manager when I was very young back in 1982-1983

Music Trespass: There's rumors of a Chuck Schuldiner biography can you shed any light on that?
Eric: Ian Christy and Albert Mudrian from Decibel Magazine have started work on it but it's a slow process because their both so busy. In the meantime I'm in no rush saying that I'd like it finished before I'm dead! so I can contribute to it. I'm giving them a chance before I let anyone else. We'll see. I'd like to see Sam Dunn do a documentary. He's a friend of mine, I like him a lot and I think he's got a great work ethic.

Music Trespass:  Do you still listen to Death Metal today? on the side of that what music are you listening to?
Eric: I flip flop between Extreme Metal and Alternative Indie. I like Brit Pop and the smiths and jangly British guitar music and Shoegaze and a lot of bands from the 90's like Lush and Suede. I'm listening the hell out of the new 'Massacre' album and I love the new album from Carcass. It's a brilliant album.

Music Trespass: What's your take on the music industry today?
Eric: I think people need to keep up with the changes. I don't think it's that much different from the past. People whine on about how it's so different and how you can't make money now and that's ridiculous. You just have to keep up with the changes one by one and I think the people are still the same. It's still all about money but it was always about money. Just keep aware of things and it's no big deal.

Music Trespass: With Death Metal coming back to the forefront and with a number of reunions at the moment, do you think Chuck would have reformed Death?
Eric: I think he would have gone the melodic route and would've saw Control Denied do several records but Death was in his bloodstream and he at one point would have done it. He was getting tired of the vocal aspect of it. He didn't want to be the frontman anymore.

Music Trespass: You look at the amount of money festival's in particular are offering bands to reform. It's inevitable that they would have offered him a lot of money today to do a Death set.

Eric: Yeah I don't even want to think about it, I think he would've seen that it was logical to carry on the Death brand with him in it but at the time as a person he was tired of being the front guy and doing that voice he wanted to concentrate on playing guitar and have a melodic guy fronting his band. Hence Control Denied.

Music Trespass: Your top five Desert Island discs!
Eric: 'High and Dry' by Def Leppard, 'Starfish' by The Church, 'Spiritual Healing' by Death, 'Split' by Lush and 'Louder then Bombs' by The Smiths

Interview and Questions by Joe Denby

Listen! to the Death classic Track 'Leprosy' Below...