Music Interviews - rpg punk

Interview: Alexx Calise

A few months ago, Alexx Calise contacted me about possibly reviewing her new album, set to come out later this month. While I haven’t listened to the album yet, she seemed so interesting that I just had to interview her.

Alexx is a guitarist and singer out of Los Angeles who is about to come out with her second solo-record and is also in a band called, “Sound of Cancer.” She owns her own business, does pretty much everything herself, and is a great example of the DIY movement. Her views on major labels and the recording industry are interesting and should be read by any band thinking about selling their souls to one of the (dying) record labels.

Enjoy.

When did you first feel that you could really make a career and living out of music? Were you always dedicated? And if you’ve ever had doubts, what brought you back?

I’ve always been a writer first and foremost. It wasn’t actually until I picked up the guitar at 11 though that I knew I wanted to be a songwriter.

What sealed the deal for me was when I played Silverchair’s Suicidal Dream” at my middle school’s talent show. After I finished playing, I think I successfully horrified nearly everyone watching in the auditorium. I knew I wanted to instill that kind of shock in people on a daily basis, so that’s when I decided I had to become a career musician.

Sure, I’ve had doubts and serious ups and downs in my career, but I really didn’t have a choice of whether or not I wanted to be a musician. It chose me. It just wouldn’t be right or make any sense for me to do anything else.

When you write, what inspires you? Do you write an album with a specific goal in mind? Or do you work on individual songs as they come to you, until an album forms?

I’m inspired by a lot of different things: life, death, love, hate, pain, joy, the human psyche, the human condition, and existentialism.

I usually just write songs individually and see where they fit. If they’re not appropriate for my solo project, and they’re a bit too brooding, then they may fit Sound of Cancer, my other project with Dennis Morehouse, which sounds like Massive Attack had a lovechild with The Cure. Anything else that doesn’t fit into either of those projects I just end up licensing somewhere.

You grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but now live in L.A. Did you move there to pursue your musical career, or were there more or other reasons?

Well, I originally came out to LA to record a few tracks for my first album, “Morning Pill,” but I ended up falling in love with the place in the process. It wasn’t exactly a hard decision moving from Florida, because I was more than ready for a change, and it isn’t exactly the music Mecca of the world if you know what I mean. Since moving to LA, I’ve had more opportunities presented to me in the short time I’ve been here than I’ve ever had back home, I’ve started up my own business, my career has grown by leaps and bounds, and I’ve found the love of my life. While I do miss my family and the few friends I have back home very much, I’ve never once looked back, and I couldn’t be happier.

When did you decide that DIY was the way you wanted to pursue your career? What were/are the reasons to do it yourself rather than immediately seek out the support of a label?

I’ve always done everything independently because I’ve found that no one cares more about my career more than me. Being independent, and being a solo artist for that matter are my insurance policies. I know that I can always, always rely on myself, and that I can count on myself to get things done effectively and efficiently.

That’s not to say that I would be opposed to hooking up with a major label in the future, but for now, I enjoy owning my own masters and publishing, and having the freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want on my own terms. These days, you don’t necessarily need label support. Unless a label is going to latch you on to major tour or pour some serious advertising dollars into you, you can already independently distribute your own music (and make 100 percent profit), license it to film and television, and tour on a small scale. All you really need is the drive to do it.

How much of your musical development do you consider to be due to your parent’s influence? What instruments does your father play? Is your mother musically inclined as well?

I think most of my musical development can be attributed to my father, Paul. I grew up listening to him play The Beatles and the James Bond theme on the guitar and bass. I always thought he was one of the coolest people on Earth, so naturally, I wanted to be just like him. I picked up the guitar when I was about 11.

My Mom, bless her heart, isn’t what one would call “musically inclined,” but she is a proud supporter of the arts however, and the reason I’m as stoic and driven as I am.

I will also have to cite Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Silverchair as major influences in my playing and style. When I first started playing guitar, I would hole myself up in my room for hours and practice SRV and Silverchair songs until my brain went numb.

What was your very first tape/CD? (to be honest, mine was a Richard Marx tape. i was like 5 or 6, so i think i’m blameless for that)

I think the first CD that I was ever able to call “mine” was Green Day’s “Dookie” album. What an amazing record.

However, I can’t fault you for owning a Richard Marx tape. I too, fell victim to the raspy vocal styling of Mr. Richard Marx.

(Note from Tim: I did NOT fall for his “raspy vocal styling.” I just saw the cover art of a dude in a black leather jacket and a bad-ass mullet under a street light in an alley and thought, “this guy is cool!” Unfortunately, I found out just how cool Mr. Marx is when I got the tape home and listened to it)

Why the switch to a more electronic sound on the new album from Morning Pill’s more straight-up rock feel? What is the new album called, and when is it coming out?

Well, to be quite honest, I think it would be boring. What I like about working with my producer, Luigie Gonzalez is that he adds something extra (and different) to the music. It’s easy to produce a lot of my songs in a very straight-ahead rock manner, but Lu brings his dance/remix experience to the table, and combines it with my love of rock and grunge. It’s a really interesting marriage of genres.

The album will be titled In Avanti, and will be released on an undisclosed day either this month or early next. ☺

What is your greatest irrational fear?

Old age.

You seem incredibly nice, why the anger in your music?

Well, thank you! I like to think of myself as a nice person, haha.

I guess I can’t really fault anyone for thinking that my music is angry at first listen because the performance and execution of it can be pretty…aggressive. However, I think it’s quite the opposite. I always try to illustrate the importance of strength and self-preservation, and more often than not, I try to offer a positive resolution at the end of every song I write. I’m not an angry, vengeful person, and alternatively, I’m not one to wallow in self-pity or let people walk all over me.

I think that my music is a very accurate representation of my true persona in that it’s often misunderstood. On the outside, it appears to be very tough, but when you really get to know it, it’s very esoteric, thoughtful and insightful.

What is Inkabink Kids Party Entertainment?

Inkabink is kids party entertainment company that I own. When I first moved to California, I needed a flexible job to keep me afloat while I was pursuing my music career, so I got into the kids entertainment business and learned how to face paint, make balloon animals, and perform magic tricks. I worked with a few companies in LA for a couple years, and then I decided that I wanted to open up a company of my own that catered to the lower-income families here in Southern California. Before I knew it, we started booking parties like crazy. Just don’t ever come up to me after a show and ask me to make you a giraffe. ☺

You appeared in the Discovery Channel documentary, “The Science of Sex Appeal.” Do you find sex appeal to be helpful or a hindrance as a female musician? As in, while it may be easy to get noticed, you might not be taken seriously. How do you work that to your advantage?

Well, I’m certainly not offended if people find me attractive, or if that’s what initially motivates them to visit my site or listen to my music. At least they’re taking the time out to care at all. ☺

The bottom line is, I have substance and I’m a true artist. That, in turn, is what is going to bring true fans back at the end of the day.

Any plans for a national or international tour?

Yes. As soon as my albums are finished and released, I’ll be booking up a national tour. We’ve also had a few offers to play in the UK, which would be a dream come true, so here’s hoping!

What keeps you going? What drives you?

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had an insane amount of drive and motivation to succeed. I know that no one is going to do this for me, so it’s up to me to make it happen.

I always need to be working towards something, because I know that complacency equals death.

If you could beat up any musician, singer, “artist,” or band, who would it be?

I don’t know if I have it in me to fight anyone. I may talk a big game, but really, I’m a just a big Teddy Bear.

You can reach Alexx at Alexxcalise.net, on Myspace, and Facebook. You can find her music on MP3.com, Last.FM, or order it from her site.

Lackluster

Official: Lacklusterband.com
Myspace: Lackluster
Garageband: Lackluster

Jon Hayes, the singer, guitarist, main songwriter of Lackluster describes his band as being “essentially a one man project stemming from the remains of Bender, a local central Ohio band,” but I have to respectfully disagree. Bender, as I knew the group, was musically limited to a grunge/post-grunge, almost Nirvana wanna-be style that, quite honestly, wasn’t that interesting to listen too.

Fast-forward ten years and Jon has created something fresh, something new, something that is willing to take risks, and more often than not, succeeds in what it’s trying to do.

Like a lot of bands, Lackluster’s recorded music doesn’t match the brilliance of their live show. So if you don’t dig the music on the official site or the Myspace site, then you should definitely check them out live. It’s definitely worth your while. Besides, the shows are usually either free or no more than 5 bucks ya stingy bastards!

Jim Weisbarth of Verner Caliper and the unfortunately-defunct foid plays bass and Mike Shiller is on drums.

Jon managed to spare some time to answer some questions:

How many concerts a month do you play? how many would you like to play?

JH: Right now, we’re playing maybe two or three times a month on average. As far as how many I’d like to be playing? Somewhere between 27 and 31, depending on the month, would be nice.

do you still use drum samples now that you have a dedicated drummer?

JH: Right now, no we don’t. We do use a sampler of sorts for instrumentation we haven’t acquired in the human sense, but not really so much for additional drum layers. We do have another song that doe shave additional percussive elements to it, but we haven’t started working on it as a group just yet.

what was your favorite cartoon show growing up?

JH: Growing up… that’s a tough one. Snorks. All childhood cartoons have become a blur to me, so it’s not like the Snorks have a special place in my heart for any particular reason; other than, when i mention it to people, more often than not, I get a look of bewilderment staring back at me. Like the Snorks are the product of my own imagination. I question that sometimes. Have you ever heard of Snorks?

Why do you complete so many Myspace surveys?

JH: Ha, it used to be out of boredom, when I had a regular, lame-ass job. Now that I no longer have that job, it’s far less frequent.

Have you seen Lackluster’s fan support grow from people you know personally, to people you don’t know at all?

JH: It’s changing to an extent. It’s weird because I imagine however popular one might become, they are always kind of relying on the support of others. Perhaps even more than their own abilities. We’re just as dependent. Though, I’d like for it to be a symbiotic relationship. I’d rather someone come to see ebcause they get something out of it than just because we know each other. But we’ll takes what we can gets, and be thankful for it. But, yeah, it’s growing slowly. The tough part isn’t getting people to come up to you after a show and pay you compliments, or money for a CD. It’s getting them to come back. But, it’s growing. Occasionally someone I’ve never met will say they saw us somewhere, then kick me in the balls and tell us we suck. It’s kind of an honor really.

How was life in the Air Force? Did your service influence your musical taste?

JH: I can adapt to things pretty well, and I don’t have any notions that anything but my own stink revolves around me. The military, to varying in degrees, is mostly just made up of people who feel the same way. It fostered integrity, which I feel translates into different aspects of music… but I still hate Creed.

How has your music grown since you first started playing?

JH: It’s weird, because sometimes it doesn’t seem like it has at all, and sometimes it does. If I were to sit down and play something current in front of myself, from fifteen years ago, I think there would be a difference. But, I actually put some effort into lyrics now. That’s definitely changed.

Do you find it difficult to write songs, or does inspiration just come to you?

JH: I find it extremely difficult BECAUSE it just comes to you.

When did you first start playing music, and what made you start?

JH: I think I was 13 or 14, and I’d skip school to hang out with this kid. He had a guitar, and we’d pretty much just play it all day, wherever we could that would piss off as many people as possible. He told me my fingers were too fat, and I thought he was wrong. So, I played.

Interview: Mike Justian of Unearth

So what sets III: In the Eyes of Fire apart from your previous albums?
What sets it apart from our previous records is that it is a more band-oriented experience, it was a collaboration. Everybody in the band, not just a couple guys writing the bulk of the material. Everybody coming in later to orchestrate it all. It was just a raw… the word organic has been thrown around a lot for this record but it’s true it is a more organic, stripped down process where we recorded the album live and did some overdubs and a few little tricks here and there but for the most part it is a real, true record. That and I think it is a more abrasive record. The sound and the songs in general are faster and more aggressive.

What was it like making the album with Terry Date? Was it any different than using a different producer?
Of course, with different producers come different areas of expertise. Different approaches, you know you have some guys who focus on the performance and the tones. You have other guys who rework your material and pull out their tools and fix any of the problems the band has with writing music. For us, we all felt relatively confident with our scheme of writing; we didn’t need any one dictating to us what was right and what was wrong. Terry was instrumental in helping us extract good performances that were still believable and didn’t sound like they had Pro Tools all over it. And he’s just a really relaxed guy, really easy guy to work with.

III: In the Eyes of Fire performed pretty well on the Billboard charts reaching #35 based more on word of mouth than radio airplay. Since all styles of metal are gaining or regaining popularity again, why do you think rock radio is so slow to start playing what people are actually listening too?
I think that the radio is still obsessed with the instant gratification appeal of music. They want their pop stars and they want them now, regardless of what credibility they have. Metal and more agitated music, there is a certain degree of credibility because it starts with people having their ears to the soil and it goes from there. As opposed to being some big grandeurous cloud in the sky that just kind of dissipates after a while. I think heavy music will always have its place and its status, I mean, Slayer won a Grammy last night, that’s fantastic. Whether it will get all the press and radio play it deserves is yet to be determined. I think as long as it stays true to itself then it doesn’t really matter whether it’s going to get played on the radio. There is a market out there and legitimate fans for legitimate music. That means more to me than getting played on some syndicated radio program or some conglomerate.

The video for Giles was one of Headbangers Ball’s Best of 2006. What was it like making a video? I’ve always pictured it being kind of irritating.
It was especially irritating for me cause I had possibly the worst hangover any human being can possibly conceive of. It was to the degree that I apparently passed out three stories up on the ledge; the balcony. Woke up the next day feeling like someone was punching me in the side of the head over and over again. Suffice to say, the video for me was not a terribly enjoyable experience. But working with Darren Doane was a tremendously enjoyable experience cause he’s such a cool guy. He’s really focused and knows exactly what he wants to achieve and is really efficient. We spent the day doing that video, and it was us in a big studio in Burbank California. It was just us playing the song, except that we weren’t actually playing the song. It was us really performing and putting our hearts into it. We did it for 12 hours.

Unearth has had a long association with Adam Dutkiewicz of Killswitch Engage, who produced The Oncoming Storm and The Stings of Conscience. Is there a real sense of camaraderie with bands coming out of Boston?
Yeah. A lot of really talented outfits come out of Boston, and I don’t really know why it is the Mecca or the breeding ground that it is. There are a lot of talented people there, and rightfully so; there are a lot of talented people everywhere. It just so happens that a lot of the more noteworthy bands are from the Boston or Greater Boston area.

Are there any rivalries, friendly or otherwise between bands in the scene?
Always. There is always a friendly competition with other bands. I’m not afraid to say that. Everyone wants to see everybody succeed because we’re all ultimately… we all have the same common interests and the same goals. But sometimes, by having the same goals and common interests, situations were there is one at the top, you’re the one who wants to be there.

Do you think that competition makes the music better?
Well yeah, I think that it is a healthy thing to have a symbiotic relationship with your peers and other bands and musicians. That propels you to get better and grow and develop. If there is no competition there is no reason to continue to grow.

Who are your favorite bands today?
Neurosis will always be a big favorite of mine. For heavy music, the new Planes Mistaken for Stars is one of my top five. Nothing against the bands that we’ve played with, but I don’t really listen to most of the bands we’ve toured with. And I’d like to play with more of the bands that we don’t tour with.

Who do you think is the best drummer in the world today?
Best drummer in the world? I mean, there’s billions of drummers; trillions of drummers. There is probably drummers in other galaxy’s. Jon Theodore, he was with The Mars Volta for a while; one of the best contemporary rock drummers around. You have, I can’t think of the cats’ name, the drummer from Hella (Zach Hill), is just a retarded drummer. I think he is literally from another planet. Then you have guys like Abe Cunningham; just true monsters. But I can’t even begin to speculate who the best drummer is. How about not me. How about that?

What do you think about Winger reuniting with the original line-up?
I really couldn’t care less. Rod Morgenstein, there’s a good drummer. Kip, you know, maybe he should stick to ballet and composing.

What interests do you have outside of music?
Outside of music; playing, composing, listening to it… I don’t know, playing with my dog. Yeah, you know, copious amounts of binge drinking extravaganzas, which I’m trying to ween off of.

Why are drummers always the first to leave a band?
Because I think that drummers are the most adaptable. There’s fewer good drummers than anything else, so there is always a demand for great drumming. And because drummers are so adaptable they are constantly looking to expand and play with other musicians and other outfits. From a purely ego standpoint, drummers are probably the first to leave bands because they are the last to receive any real credit.

Since the murder of Dimebag Darrel, have you noticed any changes in the security practices at concerts and has security or a lack of it ever been a problem at any of your shows?
Very few times is it just right. Very seldom do you come across a situation at a venue where it’s adequate security without being overwhelming. It’s either no security, or too much security. Very few times is it solid in between.

How did you feel the first time you had your own tour bus?
Uh… I felt drunk despite the fact that I was completely sober. It was exciting; I was ecstatic. That’s a huge mile marker in the success of any band. It doesn’t have to be, but for me it was. One of the reasons why I play this obviously is not just because of the sheer fact that I want to play music, but I want to make a living out of it; I want to be able to sustain myself doing it. And like, being in a situation where you can afford something that’s as astronomically expensive as a tour bus, lends itself to the notion that you are doing well financially.

What do you think of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force “bomb scare” a few weeks ago? Do you think they overreacted?
I’m not even going to dignify that. I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous.

What was your first concert?
My first concert was two Boston bands and one band from Maryland who is actually still around and doing really, really well. Salem Black Church, Boston Treat, and Clutch. I was… 12? And I’m 27 now. Great band, and that’s another great drummer; Jean-Paul (Gaster of Clutch). Really underrated drummer.

What is the most memorable concert you’ve been
My most memorable concert would be Neurosis. Neurosis is… it’s religious. It’s like a religious enlightment. Unlike anything you’ve ever seen ever before.

If you could kick the shit out of any drummer in the world, who would it be?
Like, literally? Or musically?

Well I was going literally, but musically will work too.
Uh… I don’t know. Maybe Dustin (Schoenhofer) from Walls of Jericho. Kidding! Kidding. They call him the ‘Knockout Kid’ pretty much take your head off with one punch. I don’t know, [laughs] guitar players who play drums, how about that? Any guitar player, and guitarist that thinks he’s a drummer; I’ll fight that dude with both hands tied behind my back.

That’s actually been happening a lot lately.
Eh, well, what can you do. Besides fight him with your arms tied behind your back.

Which do you think is better, Boston Clam Chowder or New England?
… Wait; hold on, Boston clam chowder or New England? There’s a difference?
[Woman on the bus] Isn’t one red and one white?
That’s Manhattan, that’s like Manhattan clam chowder; that’s red. Boston or New England, there’s no better chowder in the world; I’ll put it that way. Seven Presidential Inaugurations cannot be wrong!

Interview: Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil

[This interview took place on Lacuna Coil’s tourbus. Jason Pearlman, the photographer who got me this interview, was with me. No other members of Lacuna Coil were visible, but their tour manager, a stern and muscular irishman (if I remember correctly) glowered at us while eating a Wendy’s cheeseburger with a knife and fork. Cristina walked up from the back of the bus wearing baggy pajamas and no make up, leading me to the obvious conclusion that she just woke up. Regardless of being woken up by an angry emerald islander just to be pestered by two dorks three hours before taking stage at the Newport, Cristina was, not to sound like I’m 85… completely charming and wonderful to speak with. -Tim 11/13]

I heard rumors that the only television you watch when in the U.S. is the Food Network.It’s not the only one, but is definitely one of my favorites, yes. I have a few favorite channels. I love, for example, Cartoon Network when it turns into [Adult Swim] as well. Food Network is… I’m food addicted. I love to eat. I love to cook. And I like to watch all the programs because American food culture is completely different from the Italian one. Sometimes I look at it just to steal some tricks or sometimes I look at it to laugh at it, you know, when they show some Italian, some Italian recipes and they are completely wrong. Sometimes I laugh at it, but it’s always good. But Food Network is not the only thing I watch.
What are your favorite shows?On Food Network?
On anything.On anything? Ah, in the U.S. you mean or just in general? Cause it depends. I’m not like T.V. addicted. I use it as a background in a way, when I’m doing something else at home. But it depends; cartoons, movies, reality shows.
[I could tell she was bored with this line of questioning, so I switched to something else]
You have an advice column in Revolver with Vinnie Paul. What do you give advice on? Is it all musical, or…No, no, no. They are sometimes musical. Sometimes, most of the time they are asking how did I start the band. Most of the time the people that write me they are really young so they are just starting a band so they want to know how did I start it, how I met my partners in the band because they have no idea how it works. So I share my experience with them. Or they ask me sentimental advices, you know, like they may have problems with their friends, boyfriends, whatever it is. I just give the woman perspective. When I started, I had no idea what it was going, what I was going to meet, with the letters, especially because the Vinnie Paul page is very, very masculine. [laughs] So I think it is cool to have on the same page a woman’s perspective, so you can have both sides.
What is the bands’ process for writing songs?It depends. Most of the time we are starting from an idea, a riff, a melody. We build the music first and then add vocal lines and lyrics. Of course there are some songs that started from vocal line an idea. We’re working all together and we’re just working for the song so it doesn’t really matter where the idea is coming from. We’re not like, ego-freak.
Being on tour constantly for months at a time with the same group of people, do you get on each other’s nerves?Sometimes yes. I think that is pretty much normal because you spend 24 hours a day together. There is no privacy. The only privacy you get is in your own bunk, so I think it’s pretty normal that we fight sometimes, like in a regular family. You can have discussions, but they are always for the good, we love each other to death, we know each other so well. We know perfectly when it’s the case to let somebody, on his own, chill out for a bit.
[Looking back, I should have asked a follow up to this question] Your vocal range is very impressive. Did you have any training?No, I wasn’t trained at all.
Have you ever met any of your musical idols?Well I believe so, yeah. Basically in the music industry, we meet so many icons in metal from Iron Maiden to Slayer to Whitesnake [laughs]. We’ve met so many bands and toured with so many we love. Type O Negative and Anthrax and Rob Zombie, P.O.D., System of a Down, Disturbed, Slipknot. We met so many artists in ten years.
You were on tour with Danzig recently…Yes, we did a tour with him right before the In Flames tour.
He’s pretty notorious for having a very abrasive personality.A what?
Um… he’s famous for being an asshole.Seriously, from my opinion and I’ve met him twice. I’m talking about the tour we did now and the Blackest of the Black we did with him a few years ago. He’s always been nice with us and been really kind. So from my point of view, it’s a lie. But then, it’s really easy for certain people to categorize, get a certain opinion of someone from one look. Maybe one day you’re sick or tired and have your own problems and you’re kind of grumpy. And someone sees that perspective and says, “Gee that’s an asshole. He doesn’t like to hang out. He doesn’t like to talk.” But that doesn’t mean they’re like that all the time. Maybe they just want their privacy. Can you imagine being a person like him being chased for years from the fans? I think it comes to the point where you just want to relax, be on your tour bus, to rest your voice, especially, because you know it’s not easy, especially for a singer. And I’m saying that because I’m the one who would love to hang out every night, but I simply can’t. Because if I start talking the day after I will be fucked up.
How do you keep your energy up between shows? Tomorrow you’re playing in Chicago right?Well first I try to sleep a lot. I drink a lot of tea. There is a special tea that is good for the voice. Now I’m trying to warm up before every show, because this is something I wasn’t really doing in the past. Not that I’m warming up now, but at least for a few minutes I try to. And then it’s the passion that keeps you going. Cause we love what we do, even when you are tired, like, one minute before you go on stage, you just need to hear the scream from the crowd. That wakes you up in a second.
Italy isn’t really well known for producing lots of metal bands. Do you see yourself and your band as being inspirational to…Of course yes. You always need a point to start from. And assuming as you say that there isn’t a rock n roll/metal history coming from Italy: we are the first export band. The first band that made something out of Italy, so a lot of new bands are looking at us as an example to follow and they see that we made it so they have much more hope than before, they can think ‘they made it, they started it, so we can follow them.’ Basically I think we are a big inspiration for a lot of newcomers from Italy cause now they know that they can do it as well. And a lot of labels are getting more and more interested in Italian bands, because before they had no idea that there was a little bit of potential.
Why do you think that is?I just think that there was no history. So due to the fact that there was not rock n roll, metal music on the charts, not a lot of people was following this music so it was pretty natural for any bands playing something different that could, maybe, give them more success in music, no matter what. I believe it is due to that, cause there are a lot of bands that are really good.
How did you come to the decision to cover Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence?Basically we wanted, in Karmacode, to include a song that everybody could know and everybody could sing along to at the shows. So it was not meant to be a single, but people released it as a single. But we knew that it wasn’t the most original song to cover, simply for the fact that it is so famous and a lot of other bands have covered it. But we just liked it and as soon as we started to practice the song in the practice room we found out that it was really similar to the Lacuna Coil style. So I mean it was perfect and picked it up, but we had other songs we that we tried, but they weren’t fitting that well.
Is it difficult being away from your friends and family?Of course. I think it is difficult for everyone but it’s a choice. There is a balancing between the two, because of course I love my family, my friends, my partners to death, but at the same time I love my job as well. I’ve been able to find a balancing of the two on tour. So I stay in touch with them on the Internet and the phone. When I see them it is the best thing in the world. It is still my job; it is the thing is chose to do.
How does it make you feel being the object of lust for millions of teenage boys?[laughs] It makes me laugh because as you can see me now, I’m not walking in high heels, I’m not… you know. To be honest, what I’m really happy about and really proud about is not to be the object of lust for the guys who have this kind of imagery about me. But what makes me really proud is that I get a lot of mails from young girls, and young guys as well, who are looking at me as a role model. Because they just see me as a person who has been able to improve herself and to give the best out of herself. Because I’m not perfect, I’m not a model. I know that you can be sexy in different ways, not just in cliché ways that you can see in Playboy and stuff. There is something special in the natural beauty of a normal person and I’m glad that people following us, following the art, just discovering that and they can be more sure of themselves, thanks to what I do and what they see about me, so that makes me really proud.

Interview: Paul Allender (Cradle of Filth)

Cradle of Filth- Paul Allender

Originally posted at musicohio.com

How’s the tour going?
Good, it’s going very well. We played in Mexico a couple days, over a couple days, which was really amazing.

How about some history first; how old were you when you decided that being a musician is what you wanted to do?
Oh, I dunno. I must have been, what, twenty? Twenty, twenty-one. I mean I started playing guitar when I was 14, but I was twenty when I started wanting to do it properly.

Do you remember what your first guitar was?
Yes I do. As a guitar, it was the biggest piece of shit going.

Sounds like my first guitar.
Well, you got to start somewhere.

When you left Cradle of Filth in 1996, you founded The Blood Divine. What made you leave that band and return to Cradle?
Blood Divine pretty much had run its course. When we wrote the first album, it was amazing, ya know. For the second album, with just the guitars and drums on there it was absolute fucking blinding. But we started having organ all over it, and I hate having organ. Big time. And then the singer, Darren, well his vocals were fine on the first album, but on the second album, he tried to sing normally and he couldn’t sing. So, I was like, you’ve ruined the fuckin’ second album by having organ and clean vocals. That’s not what it’s about. And I left and started a band called Primary Slave. I was about to sign a contract with Primary Slave, which is like some Fear Factory/Strapping Young Lad-type stuff. Then Dani (Filth of Cradle of Filth) phones me up and asks, ‘Do you wanna come back to the band?’ So I spent three or four months actually thinking about it and then sat down and had a meeting with him about it and everything seemed to be alright. So I’ve been in the band now, seven years is it?

Is there any single overall reason why there are so many line-up changes in Cradle?
Um, yeah. People just can’t handle the workload. Both myself and Dani, we really believe in, ‘This is the end. This is your one chance you get.’ And its full on 24/7 working your fingers to the bone. And if people are in the band with us, they have to do the things that we do. Cause we’re not going to carry people. And that’s why a lot of people drop out. They can’t handle it.

Have you heard of the video game, Guitar Hero?
Funny you should say that, I actually haven’t. But last week I was in NAMM and they had it there and some kid was playing it. But I’ve never actually been on it. Why, is it any good?

Well, I’ve played it, and it’s incredibly addictive. It’s, well it’s horrible. It’s kind of bad because there’s been a small uproar with guitarists over this game because it makes playing guitar seem a lot easier than it actually is.
[laughs]

Cradle of Filth has pretty much been at the forefront of the resurgence of the popularity of metal in the States of the past few years. Like VH1 has been doing a lot of metal programming and the cartoon show Metalocalypse has also been fueling metals’ popularity again. Why do you think metal is making such a comeback? At least in the U.S.?
I really don’t know, I’m just sick and tired of all this Emo shite, ya know? The industry puts together all these bands ya know? And it’s weird because first of all it was like, boy bands; then it was industry-based bands put together and they’re as bad as the bloody boy bands. So I think they’ve gotten sick and tired of it and want people who can actually play. Or not actually play, but can write their own songs and are in an actual band, with mates, for a long, long time, and not put together just to make some money. It’s cool though; I’ve been waiting for this to happen for a long time.

How did you hook up with Dani and the rest of the band?
Originally I was in, ah, I got a band together, a really bad, bad band together when I first started playing. We played our first gig in a club in my hometown, and Dani, Paul (Ryan) and Ben (Ryan) came along to watch us. And pretty much after our first gig, Paul comes up to talk to us, blah, blah, blah, this that and the other, just kinda talking. And he asked, ‘Do you want to join our band?’ [laughs] And that’s pretty much how it happened.

How do you keep your energy up on tour?
To be fair, it is tiring. But at the end of the day, you just got to try and look after yourself. But, if you’ve done it for a really long time, you kinda get used to it. Because we just got off a six-week European tour. We basically had four weeks off? Three weeks off? Something like that, before we came back out here again. So we didn’t really have time to get out of the touring frame of mind. So, we’re… we’re pretty much used to it.

What passions outside of music do you have?
I do a lot of artwork, I’ve got a thing called Vomitorium where I show my pictures. I do that… I teach martial arts. That’s pretty much it really. Martial arts and artwork are my interests outside the band.

Any particular style of martial arts?
Yeah, it’s called Yoseikan it’s an open form of karate.

Who do you think would win in a fight, GWAR or Mayhem?
[laughs] I dunno, I’d say it was GWAR if they got their costumes on, when you hit them it wouldn’t hurt cause of all the padding.

And GWAR out numbers them…
Yeah, there’s like 12 people in the band isn’t there?

On Midian, and after Midian, the band took a more melodic turn, and some fans, die-hard fans, of Cradle’s earlier work didn’t take that too kindly. Do you think those people are too stubborn to evolve with the band?
Yeah, and I never mind them as well. If you’re into a band, you’re really into a band, like what they’ve done, you’d be into them regardless of what they’ve done; what happens. That’s one thing I really hate about this industry. It’s the fact that there’s lots of these tunnel-vision people, and it’s like if a band looks a particular way they have to sound like this. Or if a band starts off playing one particular style that they carry on like that regardless whether the bands career suffers for it or not. As a band, and other musicians would agree with me, if you’re in a band, then you really like music. Therefore, as you get older, if you still want to carry on doing the band as a job, the music has to evolve. If we had stayed the same band as we were seven years ago or five years ago, I don’t think we’d be around now. Cause if we kept turning out the same stuff; fans would just get bored. At least it keeps people interested and on their toes cause we change it; every album that comes out is completely different.

On the new album, Thornography, you’ve previously said that you aren’t comfortable calling yourself a lead guitarist…
Yeah

But there is quite a few solo’s on this album; what made you decide to write more towards soloing?
Well, the previous Cradle stuff didn’t really have room for it, ya know? And I don’t believe in putting solo’s down for the hell of it. You know they have to be structured properly and therefore, cause this album, the way this album came out; as far as I’m concerned a metal album definitely needs solo’s on it. So we consciously thought to put solo’s on the album, and so lets write the rhythm parts structurally so they fit properly. And it turned out really well. Plus it lets me practice my shredding [laughs]

What prompted the move from Sony to Roadrunner?
When we signed with Sony, what happened was when it actually came to promoting the album, they didn’t have a clear idea. And the band started going slowly downhill. Because they just sat on it doing nothing. They didn’t know how to work it. So when the second album came around, we told them, we have the option; we don’t want to sign with you. Because, like, you don’t know what to do and if we stay with you there isn’t going to be a band left. So they let us go, and Roadrunner had been waiting to sign us. Which was cool. I mean, Roadrunner has been trying to sign us for, God, at least ten years.

Some of your fans that knew I was going to interview you wanted me to ask you some questions. Sarah Jezebel Deva; she’s been on virtually every Cradle of Filth album but she’s never been recognized as a full band member. Why is that?
I don’t know. She does other stuff. I suppose, there is no particular reason, it’s just stayed like that. It’s nothing to do with us, really. Just the way it’s turned out, ya know? She’s got other bands and stuff, so I think she’s got more… she’s busy with that. You don’t have to be a feel member to play with us, ya know?

Who are your musical heroes?
Judas Priest. I’m still into the Defending the Faith album. It’s fuckin’ amazing. As far as I’m concerned K.K. Downing is the best on the planet.

Do you have any other influences other than Judas Priest?
Oh, the fast stuff, early Megadeth, Metallica, ya know. Especially the stuff in the 80’s when I was growing up as a kid, listening to it. When all the good albums were out [laughs]

Where do you see Cradle of Filth in five years? Or yourself in five years?
Still doing what we’re doing basically, but getting the band bigger. I’ll still be writing music, still be making artwork. I’ve just had my guitar released, my signature series. So I’m going around promoting that.

Were you at NAMM with your guitar?
Yeah, it was good. I went up there with my signature series guitar, which comes out in March for sale at shops. So yeah, it was really cool. I’ve actually got to play there next year. Didn’t this year, but I will next year. I’m working on some stuff, some originals of some heavy metal type stuff to play at the next PRS party. Which will be good because they’ve never really had that sort of stuff there, but now I’m endorsed by them and have my own guitar. So I’ll join them onstage and play some… that’ll be fun [laughs]

Do you see Cradle of Filth as someday being as big as say, the Rolling Stones?
Ha, ha, no. [laughs]

Do you think you guys will go on for that long?
Hopefully go on for that long, but I can’t see us getting that big. Because we’re in a really good market, but it’s like a niche market. Even though we’re on top of it, it’s still small compared to the whole music industry. And whereas the Stones, they’ve completely covered the whole thing. The whole fucking industry. We’re like Kings of one particular section. But yeah, I hope it’s going to get bigger. Hope it gets a lot bigger. We’ll still work at it hard to get it bigger and take it as far as we can possibly take it. So that’s what we plan to do. But who knows? If we get as big as the Rolling Stones, that’d be fucking brilliant! [laughs] Heavy metal to the masses.

Interview: Matt Devries of Chimaira

Originally posted at musicohio.com

When I was researching for this interview, I was on Wikipedia and you are on there; I don’t know if you know that, but every person in the band does and it has zero information about anybody, just your name, birth date and how tall you are, which I found out you are five foot ten. I’ve never seen anything like this for any other band. Which brings up the question, are your fans insane?
Um, to a certain extent, yes [laughs]. You know you run into like, I guess they’re more… I can’t even pinpoint certain cities. It depends on where you are; like they are more tame in the States than in the U.K. or Europe. We’ll play in the U.K. or Europe and kids will be waiting at like 10 a.m., and you’re just waking up, wanting to brush your teeth, and they want autographs. It’s kind of crazy, overwhelming at first. It’s cool though; it’s cool to be like that, but kinda weird.

Do you think that is because they don’t get to see tours as much?
Yeah. I mean, now it seems metal is pretty huge, especially over there, but yeah, I think they just appreciate it more.

Why do you think metal fans feel the need to classify every band and make sub-genre after sub-genre?
Yeah, I don’t get that. People ask me what I play; it’s just metal. You know, people call us Metalcore, and that kind of pinpoints you. It makes people have a preconceived notion of what you sound like before they ever hear you, so that’s why I hate it. There’s a bunch of labels out there, but I don’t know, I don’t know why.

Any band that ever achieves any level of success, the base fans start calling out names like ‘sell-out’ and bullshit like that…
You’re right, there are a lot of bands out there that have been doing it for years, that have just… um… haven’t gotten the notability of other bands’ first record or what not, so maybe that’s why. Underground fans get pissed because these bands get big or whatever. I just think to each his own, some bands get bigger than others right away, and some bands have to work at it. I think the bands that actually work at it are the ones who are around much longer. Not one hit wonders or some of that, where it goes to their head right away because of one big record right away.

Your old record label Roadrunner, their press machine is saying that Resurrection may be one of the best records in 2007; which is your favorite album, if not this one?
It’s definitely this one. I think with this one, we did a lot of interviews for the last record where we defined it as Chimaira because we thought of it as Chimaira; that was our definition of who we were. But it was at the time that we think we this is the perfect line up with heavy metal back in the swing of things and we’re heavier than we’ve ever been and the album reflects that in my opinion. We had a lot of fun writing it and I think the music is a lot better, quote/unquote than the other records.

Why the switch from Roadrunner to Ferret?
Pretty much, honestly we’ve been trying to get off the label for about a year before we even signed to Ferret. And the reason being is we just didn’t think they pushed the last record enough. You know, kids were complaining that there wasn’t enough records in stores, we didn’t have the press we thought we deserved, we toured nonstop to really push that record and they kind of dropped the ball and put us real low on the totem pole so we want someone that’s going to show us the love and there is a lot of people at the label that we actually appreciated and we appreciate the label for getting us where we are and we owe them a debt of gratitude for that, but they just kind of stopped, stopped working, and there is a lot of people who tried but their higher-ups wouldn’t let them do what they wanted so Ferret approached us right away and we had already been friends with them and talked to bands on their label about how impressed they were with all the press and all the market push and uh, it was a given that we were going to sign with them.

Like you said earlier, you’re on tour all the time. Do you write songs on the road or wait until your done touring?
We pretty much wait. This record was a little bit different because we had some time off in February when we got rid of Kevin and Andols back playing drums so we had some time off just rehearsing because we still have a tour cycle to finish up. Mark, myself and Rob have Pro Tools at home so we wrote some songs, just mp3’s, sent mp3’s back and forth, we didn’t really focus on the writing right there be we did have a jump start when we did finally focus on the writing when we got back. Cause there’s twelve dudes on a bus, a lot of distractions on the road… maybe one or two riffs have been written on the road and that’s about it.

The artwork on your last three albums has been really cool; I really liked the chaos star on Impossibility of Reason.
Right on

Who decided on the direction of the album art and who makes it?
The last two was friends of ours, Todd Bell, and his buddy Garret who’s done a lot of art for us, art direction stuff like that. And um, we’ve pretty much, I don’t know, have a collective thing. They pretty much approach us with ideas, or Mark will approach them with an idea and they collaborate and we all give them our two cents. But the last two records it was like, whoa that’s the cover, you know what I mean? And this one too, we’re just thoroughly impressed with the guy. Mark and Chris actually found him online and the art was just sick and we felt that this record, just like the last two, was not too busy; was something cool, that would look cool on a shelf and really defined our record just like the last two. Yeah, we’re real impressed with the last three covers.

Does the mutant-thing have a name?
Uh, no. I don’t think anyone’s named him yet [laughs].

As a guitarist, what’s going on in music that pisses you off right now?
I don’t know, actually to be honest I think some of the best music out there could be written on four chords, you know what I mean? I think there are a lot of bands now that are really showing off; and I appreciate a lot of those bands and look up to them talent-wise, but at the same time I don’t think a lot of them are really writing songs. I like good bands who are writing good songs; you don’t really have to shred or show off. Show a little bit of your talent, show maturity, but if it isn’t a good song to back it up then it’s just kinda like “look at me, I’m shredding.” I guess that doesn’t really piss me off, too each his own, I’m friends with a lot of those bands, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

Going back to writing songs, how do you guys come up with stuff? Is it one person comes up with a cool riff and everybody adds on to it, or is it more that everyone just comes together?
Somewhat, I think it is a combination of that and just bringing the whole song to the table and everyone putting their two cents on that and building onto that. This record we kind of, for the first time ever we kind of combined songs, you know what I mean, that were already written. Usually you have a riff and then you kind of write while you’re in the rehearsal studio, but this one we kind of combined things here and there and uh, like I said before, we had a such a jumpstart on things so it was pretty much easy.

What were the differences in making Resurrection as opposed to the previous albums?
Pretty much what I said, everything else has been pretty much standard. We’ve found our formula working together so many years that it’s a good experience I think. Writing and recording is tedious to me, I’d rather be playing on stage but it was a good process and we had a good time doing it. The last record was kind of bumpy, new drummer, new voice, kind of a different way of doing things, but this record was just like, easy.

On your DVD, did you have any creative control over that or involvement in the making of it?
I didn’t, Mark had a lot of creative control like sound edits, Mark would be like “ah, take that out” but at the same time we didn’t want to do that too much with that one or on this DVD, cause we wanted to record a truthful DVD, more reality like a documentary than “we’re a cool band” type thing.

On the Roadrunner 25th Anniversary (Roadrunner United: The All Star Sessions) album, you go to play with guys like Rob Barrett (Cannibal Corpse), Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Testament), Glen Benton (Deicide), and Joey Jordison (Slipknot). Was there any disagreement on what you should play, or how you should play it, or did everything just mesh up real quick?
Everything was cool, Joey had already written everything with the exception of the vocals on both songs I did. It was just a cool experience for me looking up to these players for years; I was kind of like the young dude compared to them, they were the veterans of metal that I had been listening to as a kid. It was just awesome; the whole experience was real cool. Joey is just a good friend, we toured together in ’04 and it was just a cool experience, it was fun, and he was real accepting towards any of our, any of our two cents like “maybe you should do that different,” “ah, good idea.” That was just a fun experience; it wasn’t any work at all.

Annihilation By the Hands of God; that had the coolest title out of every song on there, and is just a kick ass song, too.
Thanks! I was really stoked on our two songs, I liked the record but was real stoked on that, that I got to be part of the real brutal songs.

Some of the songs on the new album go towards a more Death Metal sound. Was that a conscious decision or did that just come about naturally?
Uh, it’s subconscious. Like me, Rob, Andols, Mark every one; we have big influence by old, old school Grindcore and Death metal, so I think it was a given that we were going to use it more and more. You know, I love death metal and Grindcore, but I also love the fact that it has to groove. And I think that’s what we do with it. As opposed to just blast beats all the time, which I like too, but ya know.

Do you think the new Transformers movie was made to bring kids into Transformers, or for people our age to reminisce about the good old days?
I don’t know, but I’m stoked! Cause I love Transformers; I still have Transformers: The Movie at home. I’ve got the soundtrack too on vinyl. I’m wondering how it’s going to turn out, have you seen a preview? I saw one but they didn’t show anything.

There is that one and they just came out with a new one where they show the Transformers from weird angles, but there was definitely Optimus Prime.
I’m definitely stoked, I don’t know if kids are going to be like “who the hell’s that,” but I think it’ll be a big movie cause there is a shit load of people like us who grew up on it.

I asked this next question to Mike Justian of Unearth, but you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want.
No it’s fine.

Ok, is there anyone in music right now, whose ass you want to kick.
Um… I don’t start beef usually. Right now I can’t think of anybody, that’s a hard question though. We just started a tour cycle so maybe there will be someone along the lines on the tour. But I got nobody right now; I got no beef. What did Mike say?

He said, oh I can’t think of the guys’ name now, the drummer of Walls of Jericho, but then he immediately said he was kidding. Then he switched it to any guitarist who thinks they can play drums
[laughs] That’s great! Really good answer. That’s funny.

Which do you think is a better town to play in Ohio, Columbus, Cincinnati or Cleveland?
It’s Cleveland just because we have such a strong fan base. But at the same time when we come down here and play the Newport or down to Cincy and play Bogart’s, it’s always great shows. But if I had to choose, I’d have to take Cleveland anyway, only because there seems to be more of a, not a local scene but more, well, what we didn’t have growing up cause it was always hard to play. We’d have to rent out halls in Kent and the YMCA shows and anywhere like that, but now it seems like in Cleveland you can play in actual clubs, being in a band that’s unsigned, and that’s real cool. I don’t know the scenes that well, the underground scenes in Columbus and Cincy, but it seems that Cleveland supports music really well.

Interview: Michael Amott of Arch Enemy

[My first in-person interview. it really sucks, and the guy was kind of a dick]

Being on tour most of the year, traveling around the world playing concerts in Europe, America, and Japan; is it hard on your family and friends back home?
Um, well, we don’t have any friends [laughs]

Since Wages of Sin, metal magazines all over the worldgiven you all kinds of praise. Have you let that get to your head?
Oh yeah [laughs]. Um, you know it doesn’t really… see I don’t ever believe the good reviews. If you believe the good ones then you have to believe the bad ones. I definitely don’t believe the bad ones [laughs]. You know, I know more about metal than anybody I know, and any of these so-called music journalists. I know where it is coming from; I know its roots. I’ve dedicated my life to it. That’s more than a lot of these people have done. I’m pretty comfortable with what we’re doing, you know.

Do you remember your first headlining show?
Our first show was a headlining show. It was a show in Sweden.

What do you think of the response to the release of the DVD?
Oh, it’s been phenomenal. It’s been great. Which is well deserved I think, cause I’m pretty happy with it. The fan reaction is amazing, you know. It has been very, very strong. You know we made it for the fans, so it’s very… gratifying.

You’ve been all over the world. Where have you found the most responsive fans?
Well, you know fans… metal fans are kind of the same the world over. The love for this music is universal so… people react with little variation, but I’d say it’s pretty much… metal fans are metal fans.

There is a lot of elitism with metal fans…
Well they are passionate about their music. They have strong opinions.

Who are your biggest musical influences?
Well, you know a lot of older metal I grew up on. Especially bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer. I guess those are the big three. Especially when I started playing guitar. Even older metal bands now, Saxon, Judas Priest, Merciful Fate.

What made you pick up a guitar?
I just wanted to be in a band really. I guess I was the kid, the typical kid in the back of the classroom, drawing imaginary logos. Logos of my imaginary bands. I was planning my first band even before I could play. It just seemed like a good thing to be into. It just seemed exciting and uh, I ended up living the dream [laughs]. I’m still drawing logos.

Interview: Matt Byrne of Hatebreed

Note: this interview was conducted on behalf of the now defunct MusicOhio.com. It took place over the phone before Ozzfest. Which Ozzfest is a fuzzy memory. Somewhere in the 2003-2007 range.

So, how has Ozzfest been?
Ozzfest was great, it’s our 4th time doing it; first time on main stage. So we’ve stepped up our stage show a little bit. We’re playing to the seats and everything but everyone’s really receptive to our music. It wasn’t really an obstacle for us; it was a really good time.

Did you feel any disconnect with the audience going from playing smaller venues to amphitheaters?
No, not really. I mean, like I said it’s our 4th time doing it so we’re kinda used to it. We’ve played the second stage, which is obviously smaller, but you’re still playing to a huge crowd and there is barricades and things like that so it isn’t anything really new to us. It’s more just jumping from a smaller stage to a larger stage, which allows us to step up our production. You know we had some risers on the stage, a bigger backdrop, um a bigger back line all together; we just increased our stage show all around.

Who was your favorite band on the tour? Or ever?
My favorite band ever is Slayer. Definitely. We’ve toured with them a bunch so that was a treat for me you know getting to see Lombardo every night just hearing those songs. On this tour I mean there was a lot of them. A lot of the second stage bands are bands we’ve played with in the past or are friends with that we’ve come up in the scene with so you know we’re no strangers to them. Then you got guys like Disturbed and System of a Down who are huge bands but are actually really, really cool down to earth guys and it’s fun hanging with them and fun watching them jam every night. Both bands put on a hell of a show.

You mentioned the “scene.” What do you think of some of the people in the scene that say Hatebreed sold out because of your success?
Yeah well, people… we’ve catched a little bit of flak since 2002 when we did our first album for Universal Records everyone thought “oh ok, they’ve gone to a major label. They’re going to change their music and try to sell a million records and change their image and everything. Obviously that didn’t happen you know. From a business standpoint we’re out there doing the same things we do all the frikkin time we’ve been doing for 11 years you know. We play all the same clubs we did back in the day just being on a major label is opportunity. You have a bigger budget behind you and it allows you to get your music out to more people because they have that mass production where you ah, you record an album and it is in every store in every city. Whereas in a lot of indie labels don’t have a budget like that for distribution and a lot of people who are starving for your music can’t get it cause the label can’t get it to them. So you know being on the label at Universal I think was a big push for us. It let us take our music and our message and our formula that has always been Hatebreed and through a bigger medium we were exposed to more people.

So why the switch to Roadrunner?
Well we did two albums for Universal and right after we recorded the second album our team, our staff at Universal that was handling us at the label, well you know Universal cleaned house and everyone got fired. So we kinda got lost in the shuffle you know and anything we got on the album we got on our own, we got off of touring and any buzz we generated on that album we got on our own.

And you guys tour incessantly…
Oh yeah, yeah we do. Its not uncommon for us to do 300 shows in a year, you know we hit the road and we go. So Universal, we just kind of got lost in the shuffle. Roadrunner expressed some interest. And obviously we’re a metal band and them being a metal label so they understand us a little more and can handle us a little better. Whereas Universal is such a huge label not really a metal oriented, you know they got Nelly and Elton john and things like that, I mean Hatebreed doesn’t really take priority to a label like Universal. Whereas Roadrunner, look at the stuff they put out, they’re like the metal church as it goes. So yeah, it just made sense. They expressed some interest and we were definitely interested in going over to them and after the all the red tape well here we are.

Do you remember your first show you played with Hatebreed?
Yeah

What was it like? Where was it?
It was at Toad’s Place in Newhaven back in ’98, yeah ’98 I think. We were opening up for Gwar and the Misfits. I practiced with the band, actually I just tried out, played a couple songs and that was it, they were like “yeah you’re in the band we got a show next weekend.” Bam. Never practiced in between. Kinda got up there, no set list or anything, Jamey just yelled out the songs and we played them, did a half hour set. Got off the stage and it felt like we’d been a band forever you know? It was pretty wild.

Who is your biggest musical influence? You already said Slayer is your favorite band.
Oh yeah, they’re definitely a big influence, you know playing the drums, Dave Lombardo’s my favorite drummer. I think I’m most influenced by metal. I was exposed to metal first, you know, before hardcore. Hardcore came later for me. So metal bands; Slayer, Exodus, Megadeth. Anything that came out of the Bay Area scene in the early ‘80’s, mid-80’s. That stuff is the biggest influence. Testament, Sepultura. Well, they’re from Brazil but they’re from the same era.

What are your expectations for the Monsters of Mayhem Tour?
I think it’s going to be great man. Like I said I’m a big Exodus fan, so to be able to tour with them is just like a fans dream come true, you know. And then Napalm Death, we’ve done some stuff with them overseas but never in the States so to get to tour with those guys again you know in our homeland I guess. I love watching them every night man, they just rip it up. And then the other bands, we’ve done some stuff with them here and there, so we’ve crossed paths, so I’m looking forward to getting on a full-scale tour with them.

August 29th is when Supremacy comes out. What can your fans expect from that? Will it be more brutal and hardcore than your previous albums?
I think Supremacy encompasses what we did both on Perseverance and Rise of Brutality. It has elements from both albums. It’s a faster album; we’ve stepped up our playing a little bit. I don’t want to say we’ve matured, cause I hate that word. But we’ve progressed as musicians and tried a couple things that we hadn’t tried musically on our past records. Production wise I’d say the production value is that of Rise of Brutality with, everything is up front and in your face.