San Jose California death metal maestros, Exhumed, are gearing up to spend the summer on the road as part of Summer Slaughter Festival 2012 (dates below).  The band join Cannibal Corpse, Between The Buried and Me, The Faceless, Periphery, Veil of Maya, Job For A Cowboy, Goatwhore, and Cerebral Bore for the trek, which that takes them all over the U.S.  Ghettoblaster caught up with founding member Matt Harvey as he packed for the trip to find out what the band does to lend comfort to their month+ of travel.  Here’s what he told us:
What kind of vehicle are you travelling in, and what are you doing to outfit it for maximum comfort?
We are rocking a sweet ’01 GMC Savanna 12 passenger van. 2 Captain’s chairs, 3 bench seats. As far as outfitting it, we have two coolers, one for beverages, one for food, 2 sober drivers (our driver / mascot and merch guy / tm), tons of pillows, sleeping bags, including my vintage Empire Strikes Back sleeping bag from 1980 that effectively covers about 2/3 of me at this point.
 
What is the planned playlist for your travels?
When you’re playing metal every day on a tour with tons of other metal bands, you usually don’t listen to too much metal on tour. I usually listen to a lot of M83, Catherine Wheel, Hammock, Manual, Sigur Ros, Stars, Brian Eno, etc. when I’m just relaxing / sleeping / reading. When it’s time to party, I always have a killer 80s mix on hand (Blondie, Dead Or Alive, Peter Cetera, the fucking works!), a lot of Geto Boys, NWA, Eazy E, Tupac, Run DMC, Black Nasty and stuff like that. Also, we like to get redneck quite often and bust out David Allan Coe, The Highwaymen, Merle Haggard, Willie, Waylon, all the Hanks, and all that sort of stuff. The mistake I made last time was not putting enough comedy on my iPod and I will definitely rectify that on this tour. Doug Stanhope, Tim and Eric, Demetri Martin, Rodney Dangerfield, Flight Of The Conchords, and Weird Al are all mandatory.
 
Which of the cities that you’ll be visiting are you most excited about and why?
Hmmm… I think I’ve been everywhere on this tour before? I always love LA, San Francisco, and Portland, because I think I have the most friends there that come out and party with us. We’re just gonna get a tent and a mini-bbq and hang out in the parking lot and party every day we can.
Which of your destinations are you most anxious about?
Going to Florida, Atlanta, North Carolina and Tennessee in July and August is not the brightest thing. The humidity is gonna be fucking gnarly! But we pretty much manage to have fun in any weather conditions, so getting anxious isn’t really our thing.
 
What are the top three essential, must-have items that you take on the road with you?
Gold Bond. Balls get swampy in the summer when showers aren’t readily available. My iPod is my best friend, the only way to simulate alone time. I would probably say books, but now I have books on my phone which also gets internet porn, so I have to go with my phone.
 
What will you miss most about home while you are away?
The weather and the killer Mexican food. The beaches in Florida are way better than the ones we have here in Cali though, so I’m psyched for that.
 
Do you keep a diary during your travels? If so, is it public? Can we share it?
I do, but I always do it after the fact when I’m finally sober. It’s at our blog: www.gorefuckingmetal.blogspot.com My dream journal, however is personal. The unicorn on the front of my trapper keeper that says “Keep out this means YOU” actually means YOU.
 
What is the crazy thing you’ve seen on the road during this or other tours?
Ohhhhh… Dude, so many weird things. Last time we were in the Czech Republic, we had a dogpile onstage, a naked stagediver (a dude) and a chick who kept jumping onstage to try and kiss me. That was a pretty weird show. We look forward to more strange adventures this summer and well beyond. See you there!
 
(See at one of the following dates of the Summer Slaughter Festival 2012 w/ Cannibal Corpse, Between The Buried and Me, The Faceless, Periphery, Veil of Maya, Job For A Cowboy, Goatwhore, Cerebral Bore.
7/20/2012 House of Blues – Los Angeles, CA [TICKETS]
7/21/2012 SOMA – San Diego, CA [TICKETS]
7/22/2012 House of Blues – Las Vegas, NV [TICKETS]
7/25/2012 House of Blues – Dallas, TX [TICKETS]
7/26/2012 White Rabbit – San Antonio, TX [TICKETS]
7/27/2012 Pharr Events Center – Mission, TX [TICKETS]
7/28/2012 House of Blues – Houston, TX [TICKETS]
7/30/2012 The Ritz – Tampa, FL [TICKETS]
7/31/2012 Revolution – Ft. Lauderdale, FL [TICKETS]
8/01/2012 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA [TICKETS]
8/02/2012 The Valarium – Knoxville, TN [TICKETS]
8/03/2012 Amos – Southend Charlotte, NC [TICKETS]
8/04/2012 Sonar – Baltimore, MD [TICKETS]
8/05/2012 The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA [TICKETS]
8/07/2012 Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ [TICKETS]
8/08/2012 Irving Plaza – New York, NY [TICKETS]
8/09/2012 Northern Lights – Albany, NY [TICKETS]
8/10/2012 The Palladium – Worcester, MA [TICKETS]
8/11/2012 Heavy Montreal – Montreal, QC [TICKETS]
8/12/2012 Heavy Toronto – Toronto, ON [TICKETS]
8/14/2012 House of Blues – Cleveland, OH [TICKETS]
8/15/2012 St. Andrew’s – Detroit, MI [TICKETS]
8/16/2012 House Blues – Chicago, IL [TICKETS]
8/17/2012 The Rave – Milwaukee, WI [TICKETS]
8/18/2012 Station 4 – St. Paul, MN * No Cannibal Corpse [TICKETS]
8/20/2012 Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO [TICKETS]
8/22/2012 The Showbox Sodo – Seattle, WA [TICKETS]
8/23/2012 Roseland Theater – Portland, OR [TICKETS]
8/24/2012 The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA [TICKETS]
8/25/2012 The Grove – Anaheim, CA [TICKETS])