Rotting Corpse was formed in July 1985 by Walt Traschsler and John Perez. Both had been searching for other musicians for over two years before they met. Soon after, Jim Mulqueen became their vocalist. Rotting Corpse has had several drummers in its history such as Dave Gryler and Randy Cook (Grib even played some bass before drums.) The new drummer who has recently been decided upon is Louie Carrisalez, formerly of San Antonio's Helldogs. After many unsuccessful attempts at finding a competent bassist, Rotting Corpse asked Steve Murphy to join (1987). Steve is a former member of Eldritch Rite, a deceased progressive power unit from Dallas.

During the spring of 1986, Rotting Corpse entered the studio and recorded a 3-track demo. Songs on the tape were "Rotting Corpse," "War on Drugs," and "Evil Slaughter." The tape sold extremely well, and it is still selling at a steady rate. In terms of live performance, seeing Rotting Corpse is pure energy on stage. The band is definitely not another trendy thrash band trying to get cheap attention. This point must be made clear. Each member is dedicated and experienced in the underground. The actual concept of Rotting Corpse was conceived in the minds of John and Walt long before the current thrash metal explosion. The name Rotting Corpse was chosen at a time when no thrash bands existed in the area (Dallas-Arlington-Ft. Worth, Texas). They needed a name that would catch people's attention and challenge the norm. Rotting Corpse is a metal band that accepts no compromise and believes in itself.

In the summer of 1987, John Perez and Jim "Moe" Mulqueen left the band and Randy Cook (drums) temporarily left the band.. Soon after, we recorded a four-song demo Fuck it - it's only Thrash at PantegoSound. The songs recorded were "Those without conscience," "Evolvement," "The Price of God," and "When it Rains, it Pours." Roger from San Antonio's Hellpreacher joined as the second guitarist, Louie Carrisalez (who would later play with Devastation) played drums and Walt became the vocalist. With this line-up, we played the infamous Dark Angel shows in Austin, San Antonio and Corpus Christi. After the shows, I quit the band and was replaced by Mark Salis Thrasher from Corpus. Louie and Roger stopped playing with Walt in the fall of that year. Randy returned as drummer, and Luke Brewer joined as guitarist. Some time in '88 I returned as well to RC. By this time I had started a metal-hardcore-punk band called Process Revealed. I did both bands for the next two years. It may sound like I was busy with both bands, but RC had its periods of down time. If Walt got a gig, we'd have an emergency practice or two and then play the gig. At this time we played with Nuclear Assault, Dark Angel (again) and Overkill.

After an extended period off from the band, Walt got me and former drummer, Dave Gryder, back together. Scott Shelby of Gammacide played the lead guitar riffs on these tapes. We played a couple shows and recorded a five-song demo at Elephant Tracks studios in San Antonio. This tape included three new songs: "Neck Breaking Fury," "Payment in Blood," and "Progressing Insanity," and two songs from the first demo: "Evil Slaughter," and "War on Drugs." The last Corpse show took place in San Antonio on Valentine's Day '89. Kinda fitting place to end with all the excitement that RC once generated in that town.