Paul Mazurkiewicz
Paul Mazurkiewicz Jr. is an American musician best known as the drummer of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse.
Musical career
Mazurkiewicz was originally inspired to play music by Kiss. His cousin was a drummer, and introduced him to the music of Van Halen and Rush. Mazurkiewicz started off playing guitar before deciding to focus on drums. He spray-painted his first drum kit black because it was “not metal enough.” Mazurkiewicz's biggest influence in his youth was Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. He said, "Dave Lombardo is my biggest influence, of course. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. He's the king of thrash, double bass and all that, so as a teenager, hearing him play in the mid-'80s, obviously I wasn't playing at that point yet — I just starting out — so that really solidified me wanting to play the way I play today, what he was doing and still is doing." Additionally, he cited band such as Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer, Kreator, and Death Angel as influences during his formative years.Cannibal Corpse
Mazurkiewicz was originally the drummer for the band Tirant Sin alongside two other future Cannibal Corpse members, Chris Barnes and Bob Rusay. The trio joined Alex Webster and Jack Owen in 1988, forming Cannibal Corpse. Mazurkiewicz, along with Webster, is one of two remaining original members of the band.Aside from drumming, Mazurkiewicz also plays the guitar, and is the group's primary lyricist and contributes heavily to composing songs; he penned the songs "Dead Human Collection", "Frantic Disembowelment", "Monolith", "Carrion Sculpted Entity", and "Worm Infested". Beginning with Kill, he began composing entire songs by himself on guitar.