March 10th, 2007, 6:46 pm
Fresh off slaughtering the United States, frontman Trevor Phipps of Boston, MA based Unearth kindly offered up some of his personal downtime in between tours to answer a few questions for us. New tunes, Ironclad Recordings, beer bongs, and track and field are all covered - just scroll down.
Trevor, it’s been a while – how are you!
I’m doing just fine Aidan. I hope you are well.
Busy as all hell, but damn good.
No complaints from any of us.
I’m not going to ask you “how the Slayer tour was”, because that’s just a waste of your time, instead I’m going to grovel and beg for [one of] the best on-tour stories since the new disc hit stores last summer.
Well, the Slayer tour was not a waste of time.
It was probably the best tour we have ever done in most aspects. ANYWAY- good times always happen on the road. When people ask me for crazy stories, it is tough to single any one out.
We basically get to party every day for eight months a year. So picture your favorite party and all the good times surrounding it and imagine doing it every day for months on end. Yeh it gets tiring from time to time, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
March 8th, 2007, 9:22 pm
So the big news, of course, is that the new album, Resurrection, was finally released yesterday… how does it feel to have that wrapped up?
It’s cool, it’s a good feeling..
We’re most proud of this record, and we couldn’t be happier. I mean we’re on a great tour to push it so, it’s real good, it’s a real good vibe.
Are you happy with how the final product turned out?
Yeah, definitely… the production, the songwriting, getting our old drummer back, we couldn’t be happier.
What’s your favorite song off the new album?
If I had to pick, I’d pick “The Flame”… It’s more brutal, it’s a pretty groovy tune.
Certain parts on Resurrection are a little more experimental than previous Chimaira releases; specifically, the song “Six” is unlike anything the band has ever done. How did the songwriting process happen on Resurrection? Has it been different from previous albums?
Yeah it was a little bit different. The last record was mainly Rob writing most of it, then myself and Mark writing a song here and there and this one was pretty much equal between Rob, myself and Mark, you know, with everyone else putting in their two cents. The other big difference on this one: we took some time off in February to get Andy back in the fold and in the swing of things and up to par on the old record because we were still touring.
We all kind of sat back, got ProTools and kind of wrote full songs in MP3 back and forth to each other so we had a pretty good jump start when we did start writing so that was a little bit different. But yeah, the song “Six” is pretty cool it was a collaboration of three songs that we just put together and it somehow worked.
March 2nd, 2007, 8:36 pm
A semi-sober Kris Norris took the time to answer some of SMN s most thoughtful questions.
Whilst holed up in frosty Vancouver in the gay district, and in between beer runs to Pumpjacks gay bar behold what is know as Darkest Hour
Well as for now we re couped up with the mad scientist in Bryan Adams studio. It’s awesome I mean they ve done some killer records here I may have shat today where Christina Aguilera and Shakira did!
How fucking cool is that! But you can expect us to just, I don t know, not sing about our girlfriends, not wear make up, and not sell 200,000 records.
“Undoing Ruin” made me wet in the crotch area, and fans across the globe are itching to get their muddy paws on whatever new dastardly creation you guys can come up with up north in Vancouver – how’s the recording process been?
It’s been great. Devin is such a perfectionist he is pushing us to our boundaries musicianship wise. I have never seen Mike practice scales and solos so hard in his life and it’s awesome to see a bunch of dudes pushing themselves so hard because of one mad genius.
I’m sure it’s hard to adequately describe what the new stuff sounds like without uttering something colloquial like “our best work ever” or “louder, harder, faster”, but…give it a whirl.
Well its more epic, more melodic, more intense, and more shred but I think if you took all the adjectives the one that would apply more than anything would be tasteful. It’s metal but its tasteful, there’s no gimmicks its just music and its different but its shit we re definitely proud of.
God Forbid is a band that isn’t settling for anything less than the maximum. Their last album, the conceptual IV: Constitution of Treasonwas released over a year ago but the band is still out promoting it, and is currently headlining a tour featuring Goatwhore, Arsis and Mnemic. Lead guitarist Doc Coyle is adamant that there is still much more for people to understand about this most recent work, and I chatted with him over the phone about the band’s message right now.
SMN: How’s the tour going right now? I’m sure you guys are enjoying the diversity that each band brings to the table.
Doc: Yeah, that’s definitely what we were going for.
I mean, we’re such a diverse band that it’s actually kinda hard, but I think people are coming out and enjoying the whole show. A lot of our fans are getting exposed to new bands who don’t sound like us, and that’s way better than getting three bands that do.
SMN: Definitely.
The show here in Eugene was a big local charity show for Food For Lane County featuring a ton of local bands as well, and I was wondering if that was taking place at all the shows or if it’s just a
Doc: I think about half the shows are benefit shows put on the promoters, and it’s cool because all the local bands can show up and pass out fliers and tell their friends about the show. We don’t have a problem with it at all as long as we don’t end up playing at two in the morning or something.
All the local bands have been very nice and appreciative.
SMN: What do you expect your fans to get out of this tour? Since you guys, Arsis, Goatwhore and Mnemic are all from different parts of the metal spectrum.
Doc: It’s important for us to let people know that first and foremost, we’re a metal band. Some people try to put us in the metalcore category, and maybe they think that we couldn’t pull off a tour like this, or it wouldn’t work, but in any event we’re showing that our fans are metalheads. They’re not hardcore kids or scenesters or something like that.
We wanted a straight up metal lineup. We don’t have much in common in terms of sound, but we’re all metal bands.
Putting out yet another fantastic album, The Truth to kick off 2006 as well as touring the smallest venues to the most massive festivals like Ozzfest and Download, Bleeding Through never sees the heavy metal world as too big or too small.
The band plays for anyone, anywhere and they give 110% each time they step onto a stage. I called lead singer Brandan Schieppati during the band’s tour with Senses Fail and Saosin, and chatted with him about fame, fortune and rolling around on stage.
SMN: What’s up man?
So how’sthe tour with Senses Fail and Saosin going?
Brandan: It’s going really good.
We did Download, and Ozzfest, and toured with Unearth, and that was a lot of the same crowd. I get the vibe that they’re getting a little sick of us, so we’re getting sick of them as well! (laughs) We’re just trying something new this time and appealing to a different kind of kid.
We want to appeal to every type of kid who listens to music, not just one. We’re excited.
SMN: Yeah, you guys have been all over lately, to Ozzfest of course, and I wanted to ask you about Download.
What was that whole show like?
Brandan: That show was insane. We had no idea what that was going to be like, but we kept hearing from bands that it was the best show they ever played.
So we got up on stage in front of 15,000 people and it was crazy, because they knew who we were as opposed to playing in front of a bunch of dead faces who are all like “who is this band?” We got a great response and I can honestly say it was the best show we’ve ever played.
SMN: I saw you got into journalism recently and interviewed Glenn Danzig.
I interviewed him too a while ago and I was curious, had you done anything like that before?
Brandan: No, not really. When I was 16 I had a few fan zines I’d run and I’d interview bands, but nothing like
It was nerve-wracking at first, but he’s just a really fucking cool dude. We’ve spoken again since then and kept in contact, and he’s pretty fucking rad.
January 28th, 2007, 3:27 am
SMNnews recently had the chance to talk with Jonathan Dzwonar of New Jersey based underground death metallers EX DEMENTIA.
He gave his opinion on everything from why Rob Zombie sucks to the fact that if you don t like AUTOPSY, your opinion is meaningless. Enjoy this glimpse into the mind of one of the few people putting out death metal that s still worth listening to!
Since 99.
9% of the people reading this probably have no clue who Ex Dementia are, can you tell us a little bit about the band and its history so far?
We re a band from the smelliest part of New Jersey. Basically nothing more than 4 assholes that want to do nothing but play death metal in the vein of Autopsy, Carcass, Dismember, Impetigo, and the classics from the days where death metal was a genre of music worth listening to.
You have a new album coming out soon called Thou Shall Repulse. How did the recording of that go and are you happy with the final result?
I m more than happy with the final result, it came out a lot better than I ever expected.
Miguel at Cape Studios knew what we were looking for and took plenty of time and energy to deliver us exactly what we wanted. It s raw and heavy, but still clear and professional. It sounds a thousand times better than the artificial and bland sound most death metal bands look for nowadays.
Any word on when it will be released?
As a lot of people know, there have been plenty of delays, but as of now it looks like it will definitely be out in late February.
December 1st, 2006, 12:00 pm
Chimaira’s been through enough drama last through a VH1 “Behind the Music” special already…or two.
The Cleveland, Ohio-based band has put out only three full-length albums but went through a label battle with Roadrunner Records and hit a low point during the production of their 2005 self-titled release. With the return of original drummer Andols Herrick and a new place on Ferret and Nuclear Blast Records, the band has risen up and is ready to start over with a new album titled Resurrection and a DVD documentary that chronicles it all. I chatted with lead singer/guitarist Mark Hunter on pushing through recent struggles and getting his band back and happy again.
SMN: What’s up man? What are you and the band up to right now?
Mark: Things are going great, man!
Right now we’re just working on the new album. We’re about 95 percent done and then we’re gonna go in and master it in the next week so. Then it’ll be officially done.
We’re at a critical point and we’re right on schedule.
SMN: Awesome. Glad to hear it.
What’s the story behind the title of the new album? Usually when bands release a self-titled album later into their discography, they want to indicate a major change in their sound, but titling this album Resurrection seems to imply another change…
Mark: (laughs) We’re always evolving and changing I guess. But I felt that the self-titled record – and I still think it to this day – that we really tried to find ourselves as musicians for that album.
Things may have not worked out the way we wanted them to once the record was done, so we came up with this new title because at that point we were all pretty unhappy with being in the band. We were miserable altogether and we had to find ourselves again. So that’s where that came from.
SMN: Has getting Andols back on drums been a big part of getting you guys back and gellin’ together, as well as defining the sound for the new album?
Mark: Totally. That was the first step in the “happiness” side of making everything right again.
We can definitely tell he’s happy to be back, especially with his playing and some of the things he’s doing as well for the new record. He wants to show the world that he means business and that we’re back.
May 1st, 2006, 12:00 pm
So how has the tour been going so far?
Really good. This is our 3rd tour with Dog Fashion Disco, and they re always good tours, because both of us have similar fan bases but still a little different so when we tour together, it always goes really well. Some people, like YOU, could say why are they touring together again?
! They ve already done that! But truthfully, it s good money for us, so we can do some more daring tours afterwards.
A Dog Fashion tour means both of us want to make some quick cash.
Well, that pretty much ruined my question about touring with DFD yet again, so what are your plans for after this tour? Are you going back in the studio?
Yeah. There was a time where we didn t know if Tub Ring was still in existence. So Rob and I, who wrote everything in Tub Ring, started 3-2-1 Activate!
, but then the MTV thing came along so we asked the guys from 3-2-1 if they wanted to be Tub Ring. We did the show and everyone pretty much accepted the change a lot easier than I thought they would, so as soon as we re done with this tour, right back in the studio and next album.
Do you have any new songs written yet?
We do. The way we write, Rob sorta writes the skeleton of the song and brings it in and we all put our respective parts to it. As soon as it s for the most part done I put my vocals to it.
He just handed me a demo with like 7 songs, and when we were with 3-2-1, we actually wrote a full album of songs and we re going to take a couple of those that could fit as Tub Ring songs. We might actually release a 3-2-1 album too.
April 1st, 2006, 12:00 pm
Matt!
How are you?
Good. Good.
Doing well.
Yea, how’s the tour going with Rob Zombie?
Fine, still early days yet, 8 gone, about 9 shows in of a 7 week tour, having fun, shows are going well.
You have the chance to interact or meet the Zombie guys?
They’re very quiet guys they keep to themselves and do their thing, its always very polite, a lot of “heys”, but no bonding.
April 1st, 2006, 11:00 am
So first of all, how has the tour been going thus far?
It’s been really, really cool. We had heard a lot of good things about it when he heard about it initially. We have friends in ‘My Chem’ and The Used, who both did it last year, and they said really good things about it.
We knew that most of the production crew and people behind the scenes are all the same people from The Warped Tour. And, uh, I had a really good feeling about it going in. So far it’s been, you know, nothing but good times, good people and good bands.
So, it’s been awesome.
Well, you guys just jumped off a Fall headlining tour in 05’, and now Thrice is co-headlining the Taste of Chaos. How would you compare this tour to past ones?
I think with the headlining tour we did, obviously because it’s our headlining tour, there were maybe more people there to see us. But the reason you do a tour like the Taste of Chaos is to play in front of people who might not check you out on a headlining tour. So, it’s been cool.
I definitely prefer doing our own stuff just because we are doing smaller clubs and it’s a little more intimate. But, this is really cool because there are people who listen to the Deftones who probably don’t even know who we are, and there are people who listen to Story of the Year who probably don’t even care who we are, and you just have a chance to get your music to more people.
Branch out to different genres?
Yea, having a new record out is definitely a really good way to get that music out to more people.
So how does it feel to be interviewed by your biggest fan?
Well if you re our biggest fan, you sure don t know how to show it you son of a bitch!
I ve been plenty nice to you, Todd.
haha, I m fucking kidding. It s awesome.
It should be interesting
Well we ll start off on a kind of a low note. Since you last spoke to SMN, you were dropped by Artemis, so what happened and how did you end up on Rotten Records?
With the Artemis thing, we had been referred to them by Paul Schrader, Sam s dad, famous director.
He had a friend Danny Goldberg over at Artemis and we were looking for a label at that point since we left Spitfire. Paul Schrader reffered us and some of our music to Danny Goldberg and he was all about it and liked the band a lot and made it happen. He shortly thereafter left to run Air America liberal radio or whatever.
Once he left we pretty much got lost in the shuffle and they did the live record, which was their idea to do. We were very apprehensive about the idea from the get go, but we went along with it hoping they would put out an actual release of new material, but that never happened. So we got lost in the shuffle and got bought out of our contract because they dropped a bunch of bands on their roster and we were one of them.
So we found ourselves with no label and we had always talked to Rotten Records. They always said, if you guys ever find yourself without a label, you have a home here. So they were the first label we contacted, Ron and Rotten Records, and things pretty much worked out quickly from there.
March 1st, 2006, 12:00 pm
Ed. Note: This extremely informative and well answered interview by Mr. Antonucci was conducted via email.
Please try to ignore any glaring spelling errors and grammatical faux pas, as we want to keep the honesty, integrity, and apparent flavor to his answers as fresh as possible considering the time and effort put into doing such an interview was obviously excessive.
1. Would you agree your new sound is definitely a step in a different
- or modified - direction for the band?
Yes.. I think we have steped it up musicly.
We wanted to be better
at playing our style of music. We wanted to branch out to a diffrent
audience. We just got better.
.
2. I m inclined to say you ve moved more toward metal and rather
away from hardcore.
Agree or disagree, why or why not?
labeled anything..
We just play music.
3. Explain what the album s title means to you.
It s the begining of the new sound for sworn enemy.. The end of the
older basic stuff we did over the years.
That s what I think.. The
beging of the end means.
.
February 1st, 2006, 12:00 pm
How has the response been so far for your first U.S.
tour?
The response has been more than expected. There hasn t been that many people to each show, but the people who come out to the shows seem to be very into the band and enjoying what we re doing.
That s actually a lot more fun than playing for a lot of people that don t like what you re doing, so it s been cool.
Have you hooked up with any groupies yet?
Unfortunately no.
I don t know why. I m taking a shower everyday, and well actually I haven t shaved for a couple of days so that might be it. I ve got some time to experiment.
What type of set list do you have planned for the U.S. audiences?
Well, we have a competition going on that each member of the band, including the sound engineer, has to guess the number of merch items that gets sold every night. The one that gets closest to the correct number gets to pick the set list for the next day. I won today and I didn t tell anyone what we were playing today.
February 1st, 2006, 11:00 am
To start things off when you re fucking a chick, do you pull out or wear a rubber?
Umm I haven t fucked a chick since Limp Bizkit wasn t popular yet, and I was so drunk I don t remember. So I can t really answer that question and tell you the truth, because I don t really know.
That was just to see the mood of the interview, but now on to a serious question how has the tour been going so far, besides all your van trouble?
Besides the van trouble, the show s have been really good. We ve had people coming to each show in each town to see us, so that s always good.
How do you stay occupied on the road?
Well, we re between managers so I have to do that a lot, so I don t really have any free time. I m not a free time having kind of guy anyway, I m kind of a workaholic.
Everyone else plays video games.
February 1st, 2006, 10:00 am
To start off, you left Himsa last summer because of disagreements in the band. Is there anything you want to clear up about your leaving?
I left HIMSA simply because I realized that I was in the wrong place.
I wasn t happy being in that band anymore because I had a lot of differences with them professionally and creatively. You can kinda see what I mean if you listen closely to the record.
For example, songs that I wrote the music for like Pestilence and Send Down Your Reign have a more melodic and technical feel than the stuff the other guys were doing. The main things that I need to clear up are: 1.) I quit the band over professional and creative differences 2.
)My wife never made me quit nor had anything to do with me quitting HIMSA. 3.) I NEVER sued HIMSA.
4.)I did co-write and record on the new HIMSA album, Hail Horror. HIMSA did not give me credit for my writing or recording anywhere on the record.
Did you do anything to contribute to song writing, recording, or anything in the recently-released Himsa album Hail Horror ?
Yes I did! Like I said before, I co-wrote and recorded that record.
I wrote the music for Pestilence and Send Down Your Reign and co-wrote The Destroyer and Seminal Also, I wrote all the music for I, Possession and Waylay the End which I have been told are going to appear as bonus tracks on foreign releases. They took those two off of the American list of songs for the record after I quit.
I m not sure what HIMSA has against giving me credit for my work.
I think its absurd.
Are you still in contact at all with any of the other members of the band?
After all of the things they have done to me and the things they ve said about me in the media, I can t speak to them.
February 1st, 2006, 9:00 am
How are you doin? Have a good Valentine’s Day?
Yeah.
(laughs) A pretty fair Valentine’s Day
Good deal. So your new album “The Misery Index: Notes From the Plague Years” is set to release soon. Tell me how you guys feel about the new album.
Feel good about it, fortunately you know.
I just read today that the date was pushed back, when can we finally expect the release?
March 22nd, yea the reason is because there was a printer error.
They had to redo it all and they weren’t able to get the finished product to the distributor in time so we had to push it back.
February 1st, 2006, 8:00 am
So how’s the tour going? How far are you into the tour?
We’re 3 weeks in. The first half is just about done, we get home Saturday for Thanksgiving, stay home for 4-5 days and then head back out.
So how’s everything been?
It’s been awesome. Good times.
Well you’ve basically ‘hit the ground running’ with the album coming out, the tour, and everything.
The video for Like Trumpets actually came out before the album dropped, didn’t it?
February 1st, 2006, 7:00 am
Your new album Hail Horror is set to release on Feb. 7 and among fans of Himsa there are high expectations for the new album following the critically acclaimed Courting Tragedy and Disaster.
Do you think this new album will meet the expectations of your fans and bring newer fans to your music?
We hope so. Our direction on this record was to stay away from the blueprint of today’s standards and focus on what has inspired us since we were young, meaning the threatening music we’ve always loved.
The rebellious side of sound.
The album was first set to release sometime Fall of 2005, how come the album kept getting pushed back?
We had some legal troubles with an ex- member.
Is there a meaning or theme behind Hail Horror as the title of the album?
It means to cause the most amount of hurt and harm.
Note: Email interview due to time constraints within the band.
Demiricous, even the name spells of doom, and this band is definitely one to look out for this year with their debut full-length release One (Hellbound) set to release Jan. 24th by Metalblade Records. Coming out of Indianapolis, these old school thrash fanatics have set out to conquer the metal scene today with their straight-forward raging metal without all the gimmicks and trends.
Be sure to expect heavy riffs, blasting solos and hooks from tracks like Repentagram and Vagrant Idol which take us back to the days of Slayer and Megadeth. Finally, a band with the fuck it all attitude metalheads have long awaited.
Let s start with the name Demiricous, how did you guys come up with that name?
We made it up. We just wanted a name that sounded metal and didn t have an image pinned on it right off the bat.
You recently signed with Metal Blade Records last year after releasing your first EP, how do you guys feel about joining with such an influential and renowned metal label?
Oh shit, it s awesome. So far it s just felt like both sides of the table are equally psyched on everything. I can t believe they give a shit really, or anybody for that matter.
So the album One (Hellbound) is set to release on the 24th, are you guys excited and happy with the album?
Yeah we re excited, I can t wait to tour. The album is cool productionwise, there s always shit you wish you did different but it s cool.
I m just glad it doesn t sound too much like most of the shit coming out now.
Well, the first release date was set on October 4th of last year and has since been changed to January 24th, why the delay?
We weren t gonna get the proper promotion I guess if we put it out right away.
It was a decision Metal Blade and us agreed on. We figured they know how to do the shit right and we were down for whatever.
January 1st, 2006, 11:00 am
So your newest album Testify is set to release on Jan.
24th. Are you guys excited about the record?
Yessir, very excited, we’re really looking forward to seein how the fans enjoy the songs as much as we love writing the songs.
You guys decided to use the one-word title Testify for the new album. Does this title have any significant meaning to the band? And further, is there a theme to this album?
The cool thing is that testify is such a powerful word and I think it sums up the story of P.O.D.
and what people know us as, a spiritual type of rock and roll band. We’ve been doin it for 15 years and we think we’ve always had somethin to say. Testify is the story because we know where we come from and we know what we believe in.
You know like to testify about the struggle of a human being. It sums up what we are about.
Describe the sound on Testify.
Has your music changed from the last album?
Well, I mean the fans are gonna hear P.O.
D. obviously, but they’re gonna hear a more mature P.O.
D. sound especially with Jason Truby bein with us now. Fans are gonna hear a more shocking P.
O.D. not disregarding the last record because we really like that album too.
Testify will show fans a more sharpened and focused P.O.D.
December 1st, 2005, 12:00 pm
It s early December and it s a cold day in San Francisco. Arriving at the scheduled interview time at Slim s only to find that the club had a late load in today so the members of KING S X headed to the hotel to shower and then find some food. So I head back to my vehicle and wait for time to pass.
While listening to Ogre Tones to set the mood I notice guitar wizard Ty Tabor walking down the street back to his tour bus. I wait a few minutes for him to get comfortable then make a call to tour manager Jay to see if Ty is ready to find out he headed down the street to get something to eat but Ty had said for me to meet him at the restaurant. So I wander down the street to said restaurant to find it closed.
I then notice Ty heading back to the bus so I make my way back to the bus, knock on the door where I m greeted by Ty who invites me in for the chat. He s going to eat while we talk so we settle near the table and begin our conversation.
Q: How s it been so far being back on the road?
A: It s been amazing!
Q: Even with the bus burning down?
A: Well that was a trippy experience, a surreal moment.
A matter of one hour difference and it would have been very tragic and there would have been people dead on this bus, the difference of one hour. So when it happened it was the most fortunate moment it humanly possible could have happened in that there were a couple of people standing at the front of the bus just woken up. I had just walked off, James had just walked off (my tech).
And within a matter of minutes it exploded and went up into flames and into the power lines. If it hadn t been for the people standing right there to drag these people out of the bunk back here which is where I sleep normally I just luckily had just gotten up. Jerry would be dead.
There s no telling who would be dead!
Q: That would have been a sad day for me.
A: It was a very close call to being a major disaster.
The way it happened, was the only way it could have happened where people didn t die.
November 1st, 2005, 12:00 pm
Legendary underground rapper/producer/label owner, Necro was kind enough to answer some of our questions regarding his love of heavy metal, what it was like to collaborate with some of the best artists in the scene, and much more. The interview was conducted by E-mail and the answers are as they were given to us, caps and all.
We hope you enjoy this look into the mind of one of the most demented people in both hip hop and metal.
Most of our readers are probably unfamiliar with your music, and most of them probably don t like all the materialistic mainstream bullshit that s passed off has hip hop nowadays, which I m sure is something you d agree with. So what is it that sets you, and the rest of Psycho+Logical Records, apart from all the garbage that plagues the airwaves?
The year is 1988 and a good friend of mine tells me he just read a review of a new band from Texas in Kerrang and he wants to get the album based on the review. I read the review a couple of days later and then he puts this tape into the car stereo and I become instantly hooked on what becomes one of my favorite bands of all time, KING’S X. A 3-piece power trio that blended elements of THE BEATLES, BLACK SABBATH, and U2 into one definitive sound so unique that no other band has captured their essence, yet many bands tried.
Many bands in the 90’s admitted to being influenced and/or a fan of KING’S X and it was very evident on the Drop-D tuning that inspired a sound from the Pacific Northwest of the US.Now fast forward 17 years later and the band has released yet another album (their first on InsideOut Music) titled OGRE TONES. This album recaptures the true sound that is KING’S X that had slipped away on their last 2 albums and sounds like 3 friends who came together in the studio to jam and have fun yet it inspired some rockin’, dynamic, melodic tunes that will not only regain their older fanbase, but will definitely turn a few heads from the new demographic of music listeners.
The first single, ‘Alone’ is one that starts with a whisper but quickly explodes into a straight ahead rocker complete with Bealtlesque harmonies that should pave its way onto Rock stations nationwide.
This past Monday evening I was given the opportunity to have a phone conversation with drummer/vocalist Jerry Gaskill and find out what is going on in the world of KING’S X.
Q: Jerry, How are you today?
A: I’m alright, how you doin?
Q: I’m good out here in California, are you in TX right now?
A: I am in TX.
Q: It’s a huge pleasure for myself to get this opportunity today as I’ve been a huge fan since I read a review years ago.
A: Thank You! Where’d you read the review?
October 1st, 2005, 12:00 pm
It s good man, going good. It kinda sucks though because every band broke down but us .
So it s a little unusual because in the past it was you guys breaking down all the time right?
Yeah. We finally got a new van so, knock on wood, we re doing well.
Where you guys at now?
We re in Richmond, VA.
September 1st, 2005, 12:00 pm
You’re preparing to hit the road with 3 Doors Down, so where are you right now?
We’re on the highway, in San Antonio, Texas, tomorrow 1st date of the tour.
About an hour away.
You must be excited.
I’m always excited always excited to be on the road.
How long of a break did you take in between “Leave A Whisper” and “Us and Them”?
I’ll be honest, we got off on the road on the 5th off March, the label said they would give us a month off, and about 2 weeks in I kind of got really freaked out. I was just concerned because we didn’t write anything on the road, so there was a lot of tension building.
In 2 weeks in I wrote a lot, got with the band, we worked it out, and got the songs prepared, and we wrote 23 tracks. Then the producer came in, and we did drums and bass in Jacksonville and then I went to Orlando, and we did vocals, guitars, and the lyrics. It’s kind of funny – out first single ‘Save Me’, we only had 4 songs written at the time it was released to radio.
We never left the road though, we did festival dates, we tried to not leave the public eye which was important to us.
So you’re on tour with Rise Against, how’s everything been?
Kyle Profetta(drums): It’s been absolutely incredible.
A lot of the shows have been sold out, well not a lot, but a few of them have been sold out. And you can’t ask for anything more. There’s been really good turnouts every night.
Kyle: We change our setlist every night. But it usually revolves around the same 14 songs. Usually the same songs, different order, and we’re starting to work more from Wake The Dead in, especially for this tour because there’s a lot of newer kids.
What new songs have received the biggest reaction? Even back on the Bane tour?
Jeremy Hiebert(guitar): The title track is big, of course.
The hardcore kids know it, and some of the other kids know it because they may have got it on a sampler or something like that. If there’s one song most kids know, it’s that song.
August 1st, 2005, 12:00 pm
There was about 4 years between the release of your last CD, A Deleted Symphony For The Beaten Down, and the new one, Confrontation.
How long did the actual writing and recording process for the CD take?
It was actually from right before the accidents, through the time of the accidents, all the way into when we actually went into the studio. There was a time period where everything kind of halted from the last accident to a year and a half after that where nothing was happening with Soilent Green what so ever.
Things were kind of just in this halt mode, just psychically getting back together, and adding two new members and getting things in motion again. But the variation of songs goes from before the accidents, like three or four months before the first accident, in December of 2001 to now. So there s a variation of different progressions, even within the album.
Well the CD is finally done and in stores, are you happy with how it turned out?
Yeah, we re totally happy with everything. It was the best experience for us in the studio ever, for any album.
We actually got to leave New Orleans and go somewhere else and just focus on the album, instead of doing it at home where you re working during the day then going to the studio at night, where it would be a real stressful situation and you can t really put your full focus into the recording. So it was a good thing to be able to put all our efforts into that one thing and just leave all the situations at home behind.
How was working with Erik Rutan as producer?
He s great! He s not only an awesome musician, but an incredible engineer. He has a great ear for extreme music in general.
I know he s got this stereotype as the death metal guy, because he was in Morbid Angel and now Hate Eternal. You have to separate his band related stuff from his engineering stuff. He s very diverse as far as extreme music styles and can do other things besides death metal.
He s done the Soilent record, he s done the Into the Moat record and Premonitions of War and he s hoping that because of those records he ll be able to expand more now.
July 1st, 2005, 12:00 pm
So how’s touring? You guys just started it right?
Yeah, and it’s been amazing so far. Just lots of concerts. *laughs*.
How long’s the set?
Six or seven songs.
What are you guys playing?
We’re playing a lot of new stuff. We’re playing three new songs. But we’re pretty psyched about the new record, and the songs aren’t as long as the older songs which is weird.
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