RIGOR MORTIS Frontman Talks About His Brother's Passing, Upcoming Tour

Vocalist Bruce Corbitt of the reunited Texas thrashers RIGOR MORTIS has issued the following update:

"I just wanted to give everyone some updates on how I am doing after the loss of my brother and also mention some of our plans for RIGOR MORTIS in 2006.

"As many of you in the metal world already know, my older brother, Jeff Corbitt (RIP),took his own life on November 10. That was the day after I got home from the RIGOR MORTIS reunion tour. So I went from an emotional high after a successful, fun, memorable and satisfying tour… to an all-time low. He was the person I was closest to my entire life. So this is easily the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with.

"I want to thank everyone that has supported me and my family during this grieving period. I have received so many e-mails, messages and calls from people all over the World. All of them sending their prayers, condolences and offering to help in any way they can. It has helped me to know there are so many people out there that actually care. I am convinced that metalheads have some of the biggest hearts in the world and we are all like a big family when it comes right down to it.

"Jeff Corbitt was always my hero my entire life. He was the person that thought of my name Bruce… after Bruce Wayne of 'Batman'. He was the reason I got so into music as a kid. He was 6 years older than I was… so as kids I always looked up to him. When we became adults… the age difference was just enough for him to be able to always warn me of the pitfalls in life ahead of time. It was like he was always driving a few miles up the road ahead of me and was able to tell me what to expect before I got there.

"My brother had a successful career in the sound and lighting business for over 25 years, doing shows all over Texas and on the Las Vegas Strip. In the late 90s he worked with KISS… doing their 'Psycho Circus' 3-D Video and live 3-D for part of that tour.

"RIGOR MORTIS and our road crew all had stayed at his house just a couple of weeks earlier after we played a show in San Antonio. So that is what has made this even more of a shock to all of us. But, I am going to make sure he is not forgotten and use it as motivation to improve my own life to be more like he was.

"The rest of the guys in RIGOR MORTIS told me that we are going to dedicate our entire new RIGOR MORTIS CD to my brother. So I know we are all going to put our lives into this new CD.

"I want people to remember Jeff Corbitt (RIP) for the way he lived his life. Those of us that loved him are going to miss him forever. There is always going to be a void inside of us without him in our lives. But that is because he made our lives so much more meaningful while he was on this Earth. His death is simply a reminder for us that really knew him that we were privileged enough to have known such a great man during our own lifetime.

"You can view the obituary and see a slideshow/movie that was played at Jeff Corbitt's funeral at [this location]. Once you are on the site just click on 'Biography' and 'Play Movie' on the right to view this…

"2006 will be the 20th Anniversary of the original RIGOR MORTIS lineup of Bruce Corbitt, Mike Scaccia (MINISTRY, REVOLTING COCKS),Casey Orr (GWAR, X-COPS, THE HELLIONS, THE BURDEN BROTHERS),and Harden Harrison (PERVIS, SPEEDEALER, MITRA). We have confirmed that they will record a new RIGOR MORTIS CD with this lineup and we are currently setting up 20th Anniversary tours for 2006.

"Casey Orr has been working on setting up a West Coast tour that will start January 14th and should hopefully reach states like Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Washington, Oregon and Nevada. RIGOR MORTIS will also be attending the the NAMM show in Anaheim this year. The tour will conclude back in Dallas/Ft. Worth on February 4th and 5th when RIGOR MORTIS plays at the biggest horror movie convention in Texas history… Texas Frightmare Weekend.

Here are some early confirmed dates with more to be announced soon…

Jan. 14 - El Paso, Texas @ Murphys Cantina
Jan. 15 - Phoenix, Arizona @ Metal Devastatoin II
Jan. 16 - Silverlake, California @ Zen Sushi
Jan. 18 - San Marcos, California @ The Jumping Turtle
Feb. 4-5 - Grapevine, TX @ Texas Frightmare Weekend (Grapevine Convention Center)

Other tours for 2006 are also in the works. RIGOR MORTIS is also about to start writing new songs for the new RIGOR MORTIS CD. This will be the first CD released by RIGOR MORTIS in 15 years. We have had some offers from labels during our reunion tour. But, we are just now spreading the word that we are ready to talk with any record labels, management or booking agents that are interested in us. Also, due to overwhelming demand, Casey Orr is re-releasing a limited run 'Freaks' re-issue CD will be available in mid January. No extra tracks but it will have the lyrics. I have also managed to put all the pics that I have received so far from our reunion tour all together on one site. So if you wanna check out almost 350 pics from many of the shows on our tour… check out [this link]. Anyone else that has pictures or live video footage from the tour… please send them to [email protected] and [email protected]."