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Dillinger Escape Plan escape to Oz as part of Soundwave 2014

1/29/2014

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Dillinger Escape Plan are no strangers to Australia, and they'll be back soon, hitting the stage at Soundwave 2014. Read about how front man Greg Puciato is looking forward to gracing our shores once more.

Hey, how are you doing?


Pretty good but it’s cold and shit here in New Jersey.

Oh, yeah I’ve been hearing all about that *laughs* how’s that going?

It sucks, there’s nothing good about it, the only good thing is that yesterday was so cold that if you went out the back for one second your face just felt like it was going to fall off and today you could go outside for like ten seconds so it actually felt warm.

So the latest album, ‘One Of Us Is The Killer’, what did you hope to achieve with it?

We have no agenda ever, we’re the worst planned band in the world, we plan nothing. We don’t know anything…when we’re going to have records out, what the record is going to be about, we don’t even know what it’s going to sound like. You just start making things, you know? We have so much time when we are on the road, pushing the old music and playing the old music, and kind of being unproductive with your day because you're travelling as opposed to being around your equipment and recording stuff. You're around the guys in the band 24/7, you're arguing with each other, yelling at each other, farting on each other and then by the time you get home after two years of that, you're just filled with inspiration and filled with creative energy, you're like 'I need to just be on the other side of things and make music and not going out and performing music, I want to make something, I want to create'. There’s always a period after touring on a record where it's very obvious that a new record is inside of us and we have to start getting it out and we just start going. It could be anything from just tapping on the microphone on your phone to just hitting a piano or grabbing a guitar. It just starts with one little noise and then the whole recording it, and you have no idea how it happened, you just have to go day by day. We never thought that we would last this long, we never thought we would even last a year.

How do you think your fans have received it?

Well I don’t know, I have heard good things about that part of the world [Australia] and that it’s been doing pretty well. Somebody called me the other day and I did some kind of a live chat I think for the Soundwave Festival or something, and someone said something about how we had some kind of charting and I said I don’t even know anything about that, I don’t even know if one person has our record in Australia *laughs* I just don’t know. I think people in Australia and that part of the world and New Zealand seem to be much more open to experimental music, it just seems to be the case, I’m pretty good friends with some of the guys from that band ‘Mr Bungle’ and they ended up moving to Australia because they enjoyed playing there so much with their music which is pretty out there and pretty weird. It was just 'wow' that they moved there and made a living teaching music just off of their success and just in that region, so it’s great to be able to tour over there.

I also hear you guys have your own label, Party Smasher? Tell me, how did this come about, and what was the reason behind it?

Well we were pretty much tied into a traditional record deal with a record label for the majority of our career ,so almost like ten years. We signed that deal in like 1997 or something like that and things have changed so much since then that it was time for us to find a new record label. It was time for us to see what’s the next move and we wanted to make sure we didn’t tie ourselves into something that wasn’t adaptable to the new world and so we decided to do ‘Party Smasher’ as a way to do it our way and not really tied to any specific label culture or formula and say 'ok let’s just keep evolving and changing how we want depending on what makes the most sense'.

So it enables you to push boundaries and things like that?

It enables us to say like 'ok let’s work with different partners in different parts of the world' you know, who gets it the most and who understands what we want to do. Let's have different label names in different parts of the world, and let’s put things out ourselves under our own umbrella and no matter what we do under our 'Party Smasher' umbrella we will still be doing it the Dillinger way. The Dillinger way has always been that there’s no right way or wrong way there’s only your own way, the Dillinger way is that we have completely changed any rules or boundaries of how you're suppose to do things, we try to do things the best way for us.

Speaking of albums and record labels do you have any new ones in the works?

Not specifically but yeah we’re writing music, we are all writing music whether it’s in side projects or just writing for the Dillinger stuff and maybe we’ll put out or have like a limited addition tour release.

After all of the studios you would have worked in... do you have a preference?

I actually just love working in my own studio like a home project studio, which is very simple and comfortable. I love being able to wake up and walk down stairs and work and just wear my underwear *laughs*. I don’t have a lot of brain cells left so even the decision of what I have to wear can ruin my day so just being able to get out of bed in my underwear and go play music is great.

Do you tend to pick the producer that you work with?

Well, we are very hands on with the production and I’ve done a lot of the pre-production and demos and a lot of that stuff ends up on our record. With the albums with normally work simultaneously alongside a producer. With the last record I had a recording rig set up in the room next door and we just went back and forth, but we do use the same producer Steven Evetts, we have used him on every single record that we have done. He’s pretty much one of my best friends, I’ve known him longer than I have known anybody in the band right now. I think that he’s been involved in the band longer than anybody that’s in the band now. I mean he really just knows us very well.

Is there anyone that you have always wanted to collaborate with?

Yeah, tonnes of people. Being a child of the 90’s Rick Ruben as a producer I always loved his stuff. I’ve always loved the diversity whether it’s a Slayer record or Beastie Boys or Johnny Cash or whatever, I mean the guy just has a really interesting ear and I would love to work with him just to hear stories *laughs*. Just to hear about the first Chili Peppers record.

From that question, bringing it back to basics, your sound does switch from rather heavy to a more jazzy instrumental sound in certain songs. When you first started the band did you sit down and discuss how you wanted this to be or did it just evolve like that? This is obviously a rather unique direction.

Ah, no well we never discussed it, all of the guys in the band were coming from different places and then we had this time where there were certain bands that just bound us together, this overlap that we all liked. At the time our drummer and bass player were more into like technical stuff and I was more into punk and hardcore and blues, kind of more feeling stuff. Then there were a couple of fusion bands that we all loved like ‘King Crimson’ and then there were some death metal bands that we all grew up liking like the band ‘Death’ or something like that. So there were a couple of bands that we all liked and then we all had our own taste as well that we brought into the mix and when it came together our only goal was just to create the CD that wasn’t there, just create the music that we couldn’t find out there. We didn’t have any intention of becoming rockstars or making a living doing this at all, we had pretty much accepted that it’s impossible to make a living being a band, it’s like a lottery. We just came up with music that we thought people would like and we just did our thing. 


As a guitarist when coming up with riffs and all of that jazz, what inspires you? Where do your emotions travel to master this art?

Well I listened to a lot of guitar based music when I was younger, when I first started playing guitar and stuff live Van Halen or even blues stuff like Eric Clapton or Nirvana. By the time of Dillinger I wasn’t really listening to guitar music anymore I was actually listening to a lot of electronic stuff, I was really actually heavily influenced by electronic music and more complex stuff.

It also seems as though you guys have had a few line up changes over the years which is rather normal for bands of course. How do you go about choosing a replacement? What’s the process like and how does it effect the band?


Well first of all we make them stand naked out in the snow and throw lunch meat at them *laughs*. If they can withstand that humiliation then they’re in, they don’t actually have to play an instrument at all and anyone can learn how to play an instrument. That’s pretty much the process *laughs*.

I do find that slightly hard to believe *laughs*.

I mean honestly we have been touring so long and we’ve met so many people along the way that a lot of the people that have been in this band are just friends that we have met along the way so we really mesh with them personality wise better than we do as musicians. Every single person had their own flavor and flair of things, they were all pretty much fans of Dillinger so they knew what they were getting themselves into at the same time but as far as our drummers go, Billy our latest drummer he’s been in the band about five years already, we found him just through a couple of YouTube videos that he’d made. I saw some potential in him and ended up playing with him a few times and he just had the right attitude more than even skill level. I just knew that he would step up to the plate and he did.


Interview by Shannen Murphy
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Mayday Parade talk Soundwave Festival 2014

1/29/2014

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Mayday Parade are set to be one of the highlights of Soundwave 2014. We chat to Guitarist Alex Garcia before they make their way Down Under.

Your amazing latest album – 'Monsters In The Closet', was there is concept behind it?


Ah, no there wasn’t really a concept, like an overall kind of common thought behind all of the songs.

Were there any funny stories when you were recording it?

I’m trying to think of specific ones, it’s hard to pin point anything specific. I mean it’s just always a great time recording in Atlanta where we record because the two producers Zack Odom and Ted Maou are good friends of ours and the band's so it’s such a great vibe and we go to shows and just party with them and have such a good time. The actual process of recording is real easy and fun.

How do you feel your fans have received it?

So far I think it’s been really good, I think all of our fans really enjoy it. I think they see a progression with the band and think that they can relate to the songs and really enjoy it. I mean, we just toured in the States off of the new album and so many times I would hear people saying ‘Oh I’m glad you played this song from the new album’ or ‘Oh I really hope you guys play a lot of the new stuff’, but so far yeah, I have been really happy with it.

I noticed that on all previous album artwork you have a man standing with an umbrella... what’s the significance of this and why did you chose to drive away from this with your latest album?

Well actually the umbrella man still makes an appearance on the new album cover; you can kind of see his reflection in the doorknob. It’s funny because originally the umbrella man had no real significance for the band, it was just kind of a design that we really liked for ‘A Lesson In Romantics’ and we originally kind of wanted to stick with it because it felt like a good image for the band. Starting with our self-titled album we started to come up with a slight back story for this character but originally there was no story behind it.

Have you got everything out of it that you hoped you would? And how do you feel you've evolved being on your forth studio album?

Well it’s funny because at the time I definitely felt really good about everything and felt like it was going in the right direction and I think it’s just something that happens with all albums. It’s happened with the self-titled or anything else where a month after we’re done I start thinking of things that I wish that I had done or different ways we wished that we had approached things and I think that’s something that is very natural. It just makes me more excited for what we will do in the future but other than that, as far as what I enjoy that has been different, I think we were continually honing in on our sound. I think also the band were starting to be more open to taking experimental directions with things and kind of stepping out side of our comfort zone, and I think that’s a really important thing to do, and I think there’s a lot of potential within Mayday Parade to really make something a little more experimental or to step outside of the box. So I think each album is kind of like a progression of that.

I’m your regular over opinionated girl, so tell me, the song 'Girls' from your latest album, what inspired you to write it?

Well Derek actually wrote that one and it’s funny because he came to us with that song during the writing process of our second album and at the time we were working heavily with Atlantic Records and producer David Bendon and for some reason Atlantic and David Bendon didn’t really like the song. They didn’t think that it was worthy of being on the album despite the fact that we loved it. It’s funny because I’d always listened to that song, the demo of that, the one that Derek had made, you know for years up until this writing process and while we were talking about songs and going over ideas I bought up, 'well hey, what about this song that’s really good and lets take another look at it', but as far as the overall meaning for the song I think… I’m trying not to speak for Derek but it’s just a very light silly song, you know what I mean, it has no deep meaning to it.

How does it make you feel knowing you have such a huge impact on young people's lives?

Ah, it’s pretty humbling and incredible and I feel like there’s a little bit of pressure there to try and recognise that. I think that the band, you know, we’ve never really.. I think that we have just tried to be a positive influence on people and I feel like so many bands kind of, their thing is to have a really big voice on politics or social issues and while I feel that it works for a lot of bands, I think that Mayday Parade just tries to be as positive as possible with any sort of message or anything and I think that it makes any sort of pressure there a lot easier because, I mean, none of us try to get too deep with our philosophical or political views or anything like that so it’s just trying to maintain a positive message and one of hope and of love really, not to get too abstract with it. I think we just want to be a positive force on people. 


What’s one inspiring thing you would like to say to your fans?

Just to be yourself and to live a positive life. I’ve come to realize the older I get that my interpretation of the world is really… it can be good, it can be a positive thing or it can be negative, I can easily be a negative person and hate or dislike certain things but I feel that my quality of life would go down with that attitude. I think if I maintain a positive attitude and focus on positive things I’ll live a more positive, happy life because I think that’s the important thing.

What’s the earliest memory you have from starting Mayday Parade and what were your thoughts back then?

Well for me where I was at I wanted to be a part of something that was serious, I wanted to be in a band that was very serious, that the goal was to tour and to really, really make a career out of it and I remember thinking that when we first started the band, the first couple of songs that we worked on and the first moments of it I remember thinking 'this is my best chance and best opportunity', I felt very confident, confident enough to drop out of college and quit my job. I felt very sure and it’s funny because back then I don’t think I envisioned exactly what the seven or eight years would be but I knew, I felt really, really good about it. If I was going to do this, if I was going to be in a band and have a career in music, Mayday Parade would be my best opportunity and my best vessel for that.

What’s one thing you would like to do in your career that you're yet to do?

Well a really basic one that I think that the band has always wanted to do is just to continually take steps up to progress and I think that, I mean I can think of venues in the world that I would love the play at some point. I’d love to play Madison Square Garden in New York or the O2 Arena in London, places like that. I think that those are my goals but I think… we just had an experience recording a song live, live as a band, instead of each instrument on it’s own we recorded it as a band together and that was a really, really great experience. I think personally I’d like to experiment with that some more and really see how that plays with the band.

Tell me what big things are to come from Mayday Parade? What are 2014’s plans?

I think that it’s just going to be a lot of heavy touring, when we will be over in Australia we will come from Europe and England and right after Soundwave we will be going to South East Asia and we are talking about doing some more international stuff and then we just announced that we are doing Warped Tour in the United States over the summer and I’m sure that we will be doing something in the Fall. Who knows where, we haven’t gotten that far yet. I think 2014 will just be pretty much touring.

Speaking of tours, I heard you guys always order two avocados on your rider? Why on earth is this?

Yeah and that sums up the band so much, for some reason at some point and time we thought, 'hey we would like avocados' and I can’t remember why… I couldn’t even tell you why. For some reason we have just never changed it, we have just forgotten about it, that’s so typical, it’s something that we notice and go, 'hey that’s weird, why is that happening?' and then we just kind of forget about it and don’t really care *laughs*. Now it’s become kind of like and inside joke and I don’t know why we haven’t changed that yet but for some reason we haven’t.  

And on that note what’s a weird fact about the band besides the avocados *laughs*?

I’ll say this, another thing that we get on our rider, actually another kind of useless thing is we’d get this baguette and that was another thing that well… no one ever touched it, if anything we would just use it to beat each other up with and get in baguette fights but that’s about it.

What’s one important thing that you have learnt in your music career?

I think to really trust your own voice and to be confident and don’t take crap from anybody. If you feel confident in it, because ultimately for us it’s our vision, it’s our music, it’s our name that’s on the album or being represented so no one else really has as much invested in it as the members do. So I think that’s the biggest thing that I think I and everybody else has learnt.



Interview by Shannen Murphy
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Baroness' John Baizley talks Soundwave Festival 2014

1/29/2014

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Baroness are certainly no strangers to Aussie shores, and they'll be making their triumphant return all too soon, coming back for Soundwave 2014. We chat to John Baizley ahead of their fourth stint Down Under.

Is there a particular story or concept behind your latest album?

Our album has been out for almost a year and a half now. The album didn’t really have a hard musical concept behind it but it was like the band airing its musical laundry. There are a lot of different sorts of stuff on the record. We are also just starting practically this week to write a new record but it will be a good little stretch before the next one is out.  

Do you at all feel like last years near death experience has impacted on your upcoming album? Or will it on future music works?

I’m sure it will, I mean it’s impacted everything else, so it will very likely impact the next record. It’s one of those experiences that is so powerful and so dramatic that it changes how you think about things, so of course the music will be reflected on that.

What’s it like having to go through a line-up change, how does it impact on yourself and on your band?

Well the thing about line- up change is that they can be very tricky or they can be very simple, it’s all about how you navigate those waters. We were very lucky because we didn’t make a big stink about it and we only spoke to a very small group of our friends who we could trust, they just made a couple of suggestions and it was sort of friends of friends. The first two people that walked through the door ended up clicking so quickly and immediately with us that I think we got very, very lucky and we spent a couple of weeks learning and practicing stuff and then six weeks getting it right. It was great, it was almost like a seamless thing.

Tell me, what else have you all been up to this year?

This whole year, all I’ve been doing is recovering from the accident or touring and we have just gotten off tour like a week ago.

I see also that Baroness is well known for their artwork… where do you draw this inspiration from? Does your music impact the artwork or the other way around?

It’s sort of a circular thing, normally we will start off with the music and that will then start me down the road to something visual. Once I have got something started that can then impact on the music that we are writing. There is that circulatory thing going on there where the artwork effects the music and vise versa. So yeah it’s weird I try to work on those simultaneously all of the time. 


Does drawing for you feel like the same process in a way as writing a song or is it different?

In many ways it’s precisely the same thing, I mean the drive and the motivation come from exactly the same place. It’s the same fire or spark inside that directs me to write music but similarly helps me to make artwork. You know when you're making the type of art that I make you start with a sketch and you refine it and think about it and critique it and it grows into something bigger than the concept or the initial idea. Similar to music, you start with a handful of ideas and you have to work on the until to come up with coherent parts of a whole, and then you’ve got yourself a song. So, you know, there are a lot of parallels between them for sure.

Did you ever think you would be as successful as you are today? What kept you going all of these years?

I never thought that I would be successful in either field and I think the only thing that’s really driven, and the main factor that’s probably gotten me to this point, is the fact that I’m not willing to stop, I’m not going to let criticism or public opinion stop me. I want to create; I am driven to create things. You know, the band wants to tour, we want to play so, we are going to stick to our guns and we are going to do what we like to do. If we put a hundred percent of our energy and our passion into what we like, record and release then just by proxy I think an audience will appreciate that. I want to see that you as an audience when listening to the music picks up on the excitement that I feel or the excitement we feel when we discovered the songs.


Is there anything in your music career that you have yet to have done that you’d like to?

At this point we have been most places and done most things, at this point the exciting thing for me is to get off the beaten path and play shows in very out of the way places. I’m interested in playing shows where our type of music isn’t predominant and a lot of times that means getting further into Eastern Europe or exploring Asia or Africa or just types of places where heavy metal and rock music aren’t a big thing and there’s not much of a market there. I tour partly because I love the adventure, I love the travel so I want to go new places and see new things and I want it to be wild.

You guys are also coming through for Soundwave Festival, what can fans expect from your show this year? 


Being situated where you are which is quite literally the opposite side of the world, when we go there we want to make the most out of it because it’s a very unique opportunity for us to get the chance to even travel to Australia, let alone travel to each city and immerse ourselves in other cultures and have so much fun doing what we love. I mean we will do in Australia what we do everywhere else, which is just, play our arses off.

What’s the best thing about touring with Soundwave for you?

Well Soundwave particularity is a very well organized, very well oiled machine. It’s a really easy and fun tour to do, it’s just easy, it’s so well set up with all of the transportation and hospitality and hotels and catering, everything is so well pre-though that it almost feels like cheating, it almost doesn’t feel like work. I mean I wish we played more because then it would feel more warranted but we play for like 45 minutes or an hour and then the rest of the day is taken care of and it’s really nice but it kind of feels like you're cheating. We get the chance to enjoy ourselves and if we are happy, healthy and well slept and we’ve had fun then our performances are going to get better because we will be in the right mindset.  

What’s the weirdest fan experience you have ever had?

Sometimes fans are willing to share more of their life with you than your perhaps willing to hear at that point. For instance and this has happened on several occasions, someone has obviously waited out the back of a venue or whatever to talk and chances are that I’ve spent the whole day preparing for a show and playing for 2 or 3 hours and we are exhausted and we are just trying to bee-line from the venue to the tour bus or hotel and then we will run into somebody and they just spill their guts and their heart and it’s all really, really personal stuff that you wouldn’t typically share with a complete stranger and whilst I absolutely appreciate that, sometimes I’m just not prepared for the depth people will reach into themselves and share with me. If my mind is focused on shower, eat and sleep and somebody wants to have a very thoroughly emotional conversation with me then fantastic, I will try as hard as I can to listen. There are moments where I have a hard time seeing how the conversation is appropriate but you know *laughs*.

Where do you see yourselves in the future?

I just see us on tour, you know? A lot of people want to know whether I predict that we will be bigger or smaller or what will happen in terms of outward success but it’s all about the tour and it’s all about writing good records and I just hope ten years from now that we are still writing music.

What words of inspiration would you give to your fans?

Well if you are in this industry and you really enjoy what you do, just keep doing it, don’t stop doing it. It’s the type of profession or passion that weeds out suckers really quickly and if you don’t love what you do then you’d better get the fuck out because there’s not enough money, there’s no security, it’s a job that takes you away from everything that you know and it just thrusts you into the chaos of what it is. We all do it because we love it so if you feel passionately about what you do and love it then stay with it because it will become its own reward.



Interview by Shannen Murphy

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All Time Low chats about Soundwave 2014

1/29/2014

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All Time Low's front man Alex Gaskarth is one of LMA's favourite musicians to interview, so when we got the chance to do so again ahead of their performance at Soundwave 2014, we jumped at the chance! Read about it HERE

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Nancy Vandal's front man Fox Trotsky

1/29/2014

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Nancy Vandal are one of the bands on SW2014 that we here at LMA are very much looking forward to. We had the pleasure of interviewing front man Fox Trotsky leading up to this. Check it out HERE

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Pulled Apart By Horses talk Soundwave 2014

1/21/2014

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Pulled Apart By Horses are one of the many acts on the Soundwave line up that we here at LMA are pumped about seeing, so when we got the opportunity to sit down with bass player Rob Lee and have a bit of a chin wag, we jumped at it! Here's how it went down.

Firstly your name, I have got to ask, how on earth did you come up with it? I mean 10 points for creativity but is there a story behind it?  

*Laughs* Well originally it’s actually a torture method which is pretty gruesome really, where four horses would be strapped to each limb of the victim and they would just run off in different directions and you can just imagine what happens next. I guess we feel that each one of us is like an individual horse and the horrible thing that happens in the middle is our music. Well that’s the highbrow version of it but actually the reality of it is our guitarist, James Brown, is a huge Radiohead fan and there is a song called 'Pulled Apart By Horses' by Radiohead. It was originally like a rare b-side thing and I think he was being a bit sneaky and  thought that nobody had heard that before but coincidentally, about a year after we’d formed the band they ended up releasing it *laughs*. The name is just something we’ve grown into really, it just suits us now, I don’t really know why but it’s like we just sort of adopted it and it seems to sum us up in some way. 

This brings me to your latest album 'Tough Love'. It's gruesome and shocking, both wonderful things we love, where did you draw your inspiration from with this album?

Well we worked with a guy called Gil Norton, he’s a producer that worked with the Pixies and Foo Fighters and he’s created some of our favourite albums, so he was a big part of creating that second one. I guess bands like the Pixies and Nirvana have always been a huge influence for us, I guess the first album was a lot more unhinged and we didn’t really think about it, it was just a collection of what we had at that point. When we first started out we were just like 'let’s just get some songs together so we can go out and play gigs'. There was not a lot of thought, the first album was just a real document of where we were at that time and place but with the second album it was like wow we can actually do this! It became our jobs and our lives. The second one was a lot more considered but what we tried to do with the second one was kind of like… after the first album people were putting tags on us and saying you’re a hardcore band or you’re a punk band or you’re a heavy band sort of thing, but we really didn’t feel like we fit into any of that, but we’ve always been big fans of bands like ACDC and Thin Lizzy, so I think with the second album we thought lets just make this a rock album! Let’s not worry about anything else, you know? 


I see you actually have a new album in the works, how do you feel about that one so far?

Yeah, it’s great! I mean we are literally working on that right now, I’m actually at home now but after this I’m going over to the studio here in Leeds. The other albums... the first album we did in a place called Bridlington and the second one we did in Wales in a place called Monnow Valley where Queen and Black Sabbath had both recorded. But this one we just wanted to keep old school and stay in Leeds where we are all from, so it’s kind of nice because every morning I get up and go into work and I will be there until the early hours and try not to get too drunk or anything. 


Are there any funny recording stories yet?

Well it was Tom’s birthday the day before yesterday and everyone bought him a lot of cakes and some champagne and James did this guitar solo…. It’s actually in an old church where we are recording, the recording studio is kind of like down in the basement of it and we were upstairs in this really huge hallway thing. We got James, our guitarist, to do some guitar solos in there yesterday 'coz it has this real natural reverb… Anyway, because it was Tom’s birthday, when James had finished the solo we popped some champagne in this huge hall and there was the huge pop…. And on the darker side of things as well it’s kind of like the rough end of town where we are recording so there’s a lot of smack heads and heroin addicts that keep hanging outside the church so we might get a few of them coming in to do some backing vocals or something *laughs*. 

I had a chance to check out some of your music video’s like 'Epic Myth' and 'V.E.N.O.M.' which took some serious creativity, did you guys sit around your cauldron and collaborate?

Yeah, well that’s the thing we are all really into horror films and big fans of cinema so we have drawn inspiration from this. We all sort of sit around and talk about the idea and come up with stuff but the guy that directed those two videos is a guy called Bob Harlow and he’s really cool, he’s a really creative guy. It’s tempting to take complete creative control and come up with everything yourself but it was cool to lend the reins to him and he really put his mark on those.


Were there any music video shoots that really stuck out for you?

For me there’s one called 'High Five'. Again, it was Bob Harlow that directed it, he has real skills with finding places to film in and for this video he found a really old school that was abandoned. It was a Jewish school in the 60’s and 70’s and for financial reasons it had to be closed and it was just like a complete ghost town place. Some of the classrooms have stuff still drawn on the chalk boards and it’s been there for decades, school books that have just been left there, and there was a library as well that was still there with all of these amazing books that have been there for 20 years. The main filing area was a swimming pool and the swimming pool was completely empty, no water in it and we just got in there and set up all of the instruments, that was really cool. I will never forget that day.

Tell me about the joint single you are releasing with Blood Red Shoes, how did that come about?

Well they have been friends with us for quite a few years, we have done quite a few tours with them, it’s really weird because before we even started Pulled Apart By Horses I was a big fan of that band anyway and I use to go and watch them play in pretty small venues when they first started out. Then when we started touring and stuff I was talking to the guys and asked if they'd heard of them. We all really go into them as a band and I think it was just through Facebook we got in touch with them and we were like 'do you want us to support you on a few gigs?' and we just ended up becoming mates with them over the years. Our guitarist, James, set us this label called Covered Records and to kick things off really they covered one of our songs and we covered one of there’s. It was just a fun thing to do really.

What’s the most important lesson you have learnt in your music career?

Wow that’s a pretty good question *laughs* the most important lesson… I think being in a band you’ve got to accept each other for who you are with all of your faults and everything. You spend so much time in really close quarters with them and you have to really learn just to accept each other for who they are. That’s the biggest thing, you have to get over your own ego and you have to realize that what you're doing, the band and what you're aiming towards is more important than the silly little strops that you might have.

You guys are coming down with us to hang with the koalas and kangaroos soon, are you excited to play Soundwave? 

Oh yeah, I can’t wait, it’s going to be so ace! We went to Australia a couple of years ago actually and did a few gigs there. That was honestly one of the coolest tours we’d every done like we really loved being in Australia. It’s a bit of a dream come true for us to go back there.

For any natives over here that haven’t heard of your music what would you say to them to get them along to your set? And I do hear you play a smashing live show!

I’d say be afraid, don’t come we are really bad, we a terrible. No *laughs* just come and have a good time and hang out.

What’s a weird fact about the band?

Well our drummer actually doesn’t have any fingers on his right hand… sorry his left hand. Which is weird for a drummer, he was born that way, he didn’t lose them or anything, his knuckles are set back in his palm and he holds his drum stick in a really sort of hard to explain way… and I guess that in a way has influenced his drumming and it’s a really big part of the sound of our band.

Interview by Shannen Murphy
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Zebrahead front man Ali Tabatabee wants to get his groove on with Biebs?!

1/17/2014

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Zebrahead front man Ali Tabatabee may have to start looking in other places for the dance off with Justin Bieber he wants to have. He tells LMA this as we sit down to discuss their Soundwave 2014 journey.

I hear you’re on your 10th studio album? That’s a huge run and success for a band how do you feel about that?

Umm, I feel old *laughs*, I’m just kidding. Umm no it’s good, I think it's great and we are very, very happy with it. We have been touring on it for a couple of months now and we have had good reception from the fans and stuff, it’s been really positive so I’m really excited about it and I’m really excited to come to Soundwave and play some of the songs and see what the Australian fans think.  

Tell me a little about 'Call Your Friends', is there a concept behind this album?

You know what… yeah… our concept usually is ah… try not to suck *laughs*. We try to follow that pretty much for every album and I think on this one we didn’t suck and I’m happy with that. So I think we don’t really have a concept, we don’t go and sit down and have like a grand concept in mind. The way we work our albums is that we come up with a bunch of ideas and we pretty much start writing any idea that we have and make a song out of it. We end up with like over fifty songs in the writing process and then start kind of weaning them out to the ones we think are the strongest. We start focusing one those and then we put all of those down and then start pre-production on all of the songs and fix parts we think need to be a little bit better here and there. So by the time we get in the studio we have the twenty songs that we usually put down and we get with the producer and he will say ‘hey, you know this bridge here could be stronger or this here needs a little work'. 

What was the recording process like? Were there any interesting stories?

To be honest with you, this album was the most prepared we have ever been. I think we pretty much had the songs done before we went into pre-production with our producer Cameron, so I think we had a pretty good foundation and went into pre-production with Cameron and he listened to the songs and with not having to worry about writing a song or structuring one he was able to say for example, 'this guitar riff is great, but what if we change it a little bit?, or he would say 'this is really good but what if you added this?', so it was more like fine touches at the very end. So I think it really helped that we were really prepared and I think we were really excited to write this album and I think it really came through in the songs, there’s like this energy in a lot of them that we are all really happy with.

How do you feel that your fans received this album?

You know, I think for me, I can always kind of tell, if it’s working playing shows live. Usually fans like you to play older songs so they request older songs, depending on what you grew up with. For this album I noticed a lot of the time when kids are screaming out songs to play, they are the newer ones. That’s always a good sign because that’s rare for the most part.

I also have to say I truly love your point of difference which is your mash ups with each member bringing your own individual personalities to the table. Does this ever get difficult to do?

To be honest with you that was the first thing that kind of set us apart with this band. So it’s always been something in the band that everybody has accepted and it’s never really been a point of contention between us, we always looked at it in more of a positive aspect and say I’m going to bring in this rap part or I’m going to bring in this pop/ punk hook… it’s been kind of our signature in that it makes us a little bit unique so we embrace it rather than have a hard time with it.

Now music videos, 'Call Your Friends', my guess would be that’s a real party right?

*Laughs* Let me just say this Shannen, Matty got so drunk by 7 o’clock at night that he…. this was nobody’s house, we didn’t know the house, he went up in one of the bedrooms, into the person’s bed, threw up and passed out. He couldn’t be in the video anymore because he was so sick, by like 8pm he was done. We had to do all of these different shots without him because he got so drunk.

What was it like filming that? Was much of it structured? And did you at all look back at the real footage and go 'oh god'?

*Laughs* We actually had to remove some of it, we had another version and we sent it to video stations and stuff and everybody wrote back telling us we had to take this out and this out… *laughs* So it’s a little bit more tamed than it used to be. I mean it was structured in that we knew we were going to get there by like 9am, we were going to shoot the scenes and by noon when everyone started drinking it just turned into its own thing. You know what I think it, turned out cool because everyone was having fun.

Whilst we are on the topic of music videos, 'Sirens', just brilliantly strange I’d love to call it. Where did the idea come from for this video clip?

Umm, you know what, I think a big concept of the video come from Ed our drummer. He goes camping a lot and he had this location where his family and friends go camping and he always told us about it. That’s kind of where it started and then someone said what do you think about us all getting weird costumes and having them in random shots, we thought, 'why not?' So again it was kind of us and a bunch of our friends. Ed and some of the guys ended up staying and camping for like three days after the clip was filmed. So it was kind of like everyone threw in ideas together, we filmed it and it turned out different. We hadn’t done anything like that before. 


How did you feel your tour went in Europe this year?

Umm, you know, it went really well and we were very lucky. I think the album again had pretty good reception and we just got home, the tour went so well that they actually added more shows and we are going back to England for a tour. It sounds like it went pretty well so we are really excited to get back there.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve heard about Australia?

You know what… I’ll tell you something, a friend of mine, she’s Australian, she was living out here and she made me a Vegemite sandwich and man that it something you really have to get used to, I couldn’t believe that, that was something you guys eat al of the time *laughs*.

Is there anything in your music career that you haven’t done yet that you’d like to?

I would like to have a dance off against Justin Bieber.

Oh good god! 

I’m a really good dancer, Shannen.

I can believe that.

Are you a good dancer?

Ummmm…. Yeah. I actually do dance.

Why did you hesitate?

I really don’t know.. that was a bit weird *laughs*. 

Are you coming to the Adelaide show?

Yeah, of course.

Well me and you are going to have a couple of beers and we are going to have a dance off.

That sounds like an idea and a half!

Out of all the wonderful people you have worked with in this industry, who has been a highlight?

You know as far a recording, I think our first couple of albums we did with Howard Benson, and he actually helped our band learn how to really write songs. When we first started out, we just kind of went at it and we didn’t really pay attention too much to the sound structure of songs or anything like that so going in with Howard at the time he really took the time to sit down and help us. That was really important for us and a really good learning experience for us. As far as bands and stuff I think … We had the chance to do a tour with Green Day and they were some of the nicest guys, they were down to earth and really cool. They gave us business advice and it was right when we were starting out and just little things like that where people don’t need to do that, they don’t need to go out of their way, you know be cool to you or look out for you in that way. Some people are just like that, we had a few time when we played shows with Dave Grohl and he is one of the nicest guys. It's stuff like that, it's unexpected and you get something out of it where you think this person doesn’t even care and they go out of their way to help you out… so we have been very fortunate with that.

Where do you guys see yourselves in the future?

Ahh, I see myself in the future in about two months in Australia having a dance off against you in Adelaide.

Ohh man you are going down *laughs*.

*Laughs* I’m going to start stretching now. 

Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans in Adelaide?

In all sincerity we have been trying to come to Australia since we started the band and the fact that they took a chance with us on Soundwave two years ago and the fact that so many of our fans came out and now they ask us back to Soundwave again, none of this would have been possible without our fans coming to the shows. So I just want to thank all of our fans in Adelaide for being so cool and supporting us. So thank you.

Well thank you so much for doing this interview with me and I will see you in Adelaide.

Yeah, yeah *laughs* I’m going to come and find you.



Interview by Shannen Murphy
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Heaven's Basement are on their way!

1/17/2014

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Heaven's Basement are not only popping their Soundwave cherry this year, but this is their first official time on Aussie soil. We spoke to them about all things Soundwave, and learned a few quirky things about the band along the way... Check it out!


How did you guys come about? Is there a story behind the forming of Heaven's Basement?

Basically me and Sid, the guitar player, met in 2006 when we were parts of a different banda, but those bandw didn’t work out so in late 2007 we started Heaven's Basement with a few other guys. Then over time a few guys had come and gone until we met Rob in 2009 and Aaron in 2010. 
Then the band was cemented. It was really just a case of the four of us meeting over the years and it’s about the band getting to know each other on the road and stuff like that, because the UK is such a small place you soon get to know all of the bands that are doing the same things you are.

So 'Filthy Empire' is your very first album, how do you feel you did with it? Do you feel you accomplished what you wanted?

Yeah, definitely, I mean we were really happy with it when it came out and when we were doing the album we put everything into it and we were just really happy with the results. All that you can hope for is that people feel the same. People are starting to enjoy it and it’s been great.

How do you feel your fans are receiving it?  Me personally, I had a listen to it last night and went, 'I actually have to buy this!' so it actually has quite a sever impact.

Oh really, nice, brilliant, yeah our fans have been waiting for it for a long time. A couple of years really so it was really nice to actually say to them that we have an album coming out. It was a big thing for us.

What was the recording process like?

It was very quick and spontaneous really, we recorded the album in the States, we actually went over there to meet a few people and we didn’t plan on doing it at the time. We actually got the album done in ten or less days because we actually had to come back to England for a festival, so we just got the songs finished very, very quickly, tracked them very quick, it was a 24 hour process really. We captured as much of us as we could in that short amount of time.

Was there a concept behind it?

Not really, the only concept was what do we want to show people about Heaven's Basement with our first album, which was an old school rock'n'roll band with a modern sound of course. We also have different sides to our sound, we’re not just about playing heavy riffs all the time, we are about playing lighter songs as well, so the album kind of shows all of the different sides of Heaven's Basement really. So come the next album people wont get surprised when we go do an acoustic song or a really heavy song because of what we have in the first album.

I noticed too that this album has a couple of heavier songs on it than what you have on your EP, what made you swing this way?

Just natural development really, the way our writing has maybe grown over the last few years, we write a lot of songs together, things like that so… there’s always a lot to choose from. We just recorded whatever we got most excited about whether it would be a heavy song or a light song it didn’t really effect our decision it was just purely based on what we felt most excited about. To be honest we don’t really over think it to much, it’s just if it feels right, it feels right, you know?

Do you always find yourself re-inventing things in your band between yourselves to stay with or attract new fans?

Not really, not consciously anyway but because we are always on tour I’m sure our live show is a lot different now than it was a year ago, or two years ago or three years ago, just doing it every night. But there is nothing we have consciously sat down and tried to re-invent.

Is there any meaning behind your band name?

It was one of the first names we actually came up with to be honest. The meaning behind the name is like every organization or everything in the world whatever it might be is the dark and seedy corner where with dirty deals are done. Bad things happen, so Heaven's Basement is about that place where whatever establishment it may be in the world… there is always a place where young people have to go to get their kicks so that’s what Heaven's Basement kind of is.

I have so much respect for creative music videos like 'Fire Fire'. how did it come about?

We picked a desert place, we decided to put all of these explosions in there, things like that and all sorts of carnage, it just kind of fit with the song and the energy of the sound but again we didn’t really over think it to much.

How do you feel about playing Soundwave this year?

Yeah, we are really excited, we have heard very good things about the festival, this will be our very first time to Australia so it's going to be a good time.

Is there a particular way that your prepare for a show? Or do things begin to become mechanical for you?

Ah, well it doesn’t really become mechanical, but we don’t really prepare but you know, it’s all a bit different every night. Every show is a bit different as well; we change around the set list. Actual preparation before the show is kind of just us hanging out, we will just listen to some music and then go on and unleash the carnage.

What can fans actually expect from your show at Soundwave this year?

Expect the unpredictable really, like I said every night is a bit different, we are just a live rock'n'roll band really, we don’t really stick to a script as such. You know things will break, things will fall over, maybe the crowd will jump on stage with us, so if people are into that kind of thing they should definitely come along and see our set.

Do you ever find tours difficult?

You know what, honestly we kind of love it all of the time. You do get in a routine a bit you know, it’s a lot of travelling and playing different places for the first time but it’s amazing that we get flown around the world to play our own music when that’s all we ever wanted. It does feel at home to us to be honest, its how we grew up.

Is there a particular experience you’ve had in your music career that really sticks out to you?

Ah, yeah there’s quite a few to be honest. Obviously getting the first album done and released, that was an achievement for us.  Also playing a festival this summer, we played the second stage which was the highest spot we’d ever played on a festival so there was about 25,000 people that came up to see us.

Where would you like to see Heaven's Basement in the future?

Always stepping up, you know, going one step further and the next album we want to make better and the next show we want to make better than the last one. We are never really happy or settled with what we have done, we always want to do more and achieve more. That’s what we aim to do, we want to take on as much as we can really, that’s why this year's started with us going out on tour.

If you could make one wish, what would it be?

One wish….to be that band that plays in space for the first time *laughs*. 
I think Muse have been trying to do it and I think Lady GaGa has been talking about doing it as well. It sounds like we are going to be a few years too early for that unfortunately… if we going take a bit of a step into the future and play on a different planet that would be good. 

Interview by Shannen Murphy
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GWAR fill us in on their plans to 'claim' Australia.

12/13/2013

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GWAR front man Oderus Urungus had some fun with the LMA interview while trying to stay focused and discuss all things Soundwave and touring… have a read, have a giggle, picture the poor interviewer's face while you do it!

Hello, oh finally I’m being interviewed by an Australian woman. I have only been talking to stupid men! Are you a sexy woman? Have you ever considered having sex with an alien?

*Laughs* No, that’s certainly not something that I have considered before.

Well, I mean, just before you completely fall in love with me, let me tell you, my penis is 3 feet long and if we ever hook up, you will die.  Maybe that’s not a good idea, maybe we should just cut it off right there, it was beautiful what we had together. I love you, I love you so much, I love you so much but I can’t fuck you because you’d die. I can't, baby I’m sorry *cries*. 

Oh my gosh…

Maybe we should just forget about the whole getting married and having a family thing….. *cries*. It’s cool, I’m sorry, people are always laughing at me, I’m not trying to be funny.
I hope you never meet me because just looking at me can kill you .

I’m not actually terribly scared *laughs*.

Well you sound fairly fearless.

So you guys are headed to Australia to hit Soundwave! How excited are you to thrust your legendary gruesomeness upon us?

We are amazingly excited, we have such a great time in Australia. Three years ago or whatever one of our group, the giant tyrannosaurus rex that we’ve got refused to come home. So he’s been over there out in the outback so we are looking forward to hooking up with him. We’ve got a very special show for you Aussies, it’s got some elements that are specifically tailored to your culture and you're going to love it and we will be playing great hits off of the ‘Battle Maximus’ album. It’s really going to be a freaking amazing experience, there’s a lot of great bands playing, I really look forward to it and you never know, you Australians might not want us to go home after this. In fact there’s been talk of digging a tunnel to Australia from Antarctica, which is not all that far. So we can just kind of pop in on each other all of the time.

I also hear you plan on claiming Australia? Bit of an invasion headed our way? Should we be prepared?

Well, yeah, I mean, I have already claimed the entire planet. GWAR rules this world, we just haven’t been everywhere yet, and we’re not so good with maps or with directions either. We managed to find Australia because it’s pretty large but we missed Japan several times because it’s a lot smaller you know? There’s a lot for water between where we are at and Australia, but then we figured all right, we just tunnel through the earth, it’s a much quicker route, more direct. You still have to invade what you rule every now and again because you have to teach the people who’s in charge, you know chop some heads off some politicians, crucify some celebrities, let your giant lizard run a muck. This must happen every now and then. Let’s face it these people love it because Australia is a nation filled with crazy freaks.

I’m absolutely fascinated by your stage image, what made you guys chose to run with something like this?

Well, I don’t know, we just did it. It’s who we are; it’s what we do. If you want the real story you’d have to talk to my human slave. He’ll tell you that GWAR are a bunch of old ass punk rockers and heavy metal musicians, who all formed together in an old abandoned milk bottle factory, in Richmond, Virginia around 1986/ 87 and came up with this crazy idea of …. Basically there was this crappy punk/ rock band and there was this group of artists making a bunch of costumes for a movie they wanted to make called ‘Scum Dogs of the Universe’. I was like, let’s combine both of these things, which was just for fun and it was just a joke but rapidly it started blowing up where all of a sudden the movie didn’t matter anymore and the band was GWAR. So we stopped doing everything else and put all of our energy into that. It’s had an incredible run and it’s had an incredible impact on culture and society. The cultural impact of GWAR is nothing less than staggering. It’s not a coincidence that after GWAR really crass humor became cool. After GWAR you get ‘Bevas and Butthead’ you get ‘South Park’, everything starts getting gross you know. There wouldn’t be a 'Metalocalypse', there wouldn’t be Slipknot, there wouldn’t be any of that shit if it wasn’t for GWAR but that really has not been acknowledged by the rock press or our peers. It will be one day because we are dead fucking serious when we say GWAR is a band that will last a million years not only because Oderus is immortal but because GWAR is musical theatre and just as sure as ‘West Side Story’ is been shown on Broadway tonight, GWAR will be playing shows a hundred years from now. 


Yeah I can believe that.

Yeah, baby you’re the enlightened one.

Are you actually having to tone down your show for Soundwave or are they going to let you run wild?

Oh no, they are encouraging us to run wild. There is no toning down a GWAR show, it only gets toned up and we have specifically tailored our show to interact with the Australian people in a new way that it’s going to blow their fucking minds. You know you can’t really play the same show that you do in America in Australia. It just wouldn’t have the same impact, you have got to include some cultural references that the Australian people can really latch on to. They want to know that the artists and musicians of GWAR went that extra mile to acknowledge the fact that they were in a different country and that’s how you win hearts and minds. When you see what we are getting ready to do… we are going to do the most awful thing ever and it’s going to be great and the fucking Australians are going to love us. We aren’t going to tell you what it is either because it has to be a surprise.

What’s the craziest show that you have ever played?

The craziest show… and I think you know at this point because I gave you some behind the scenes stuff I think your talking to Dave now, which is really weird being two people at once. When I get asked this question I always say the same thing. The craziest show we played was in East Berlin. It was just literally within a year or two after the wall being torn down and we played this metal festival and it was the first metal festival that they have had in East Berlin and GWAR played and we had to cram everything into this thirty minute set and honestly these people that had just come though 45 years of Soviet occupation… you should have seen the looks on their faces they were just so fucking blown away. They were like, “please GWAR give us out wall back!” You know we had a lot of weird shows, but the weirdest one of all was in Europe. One time we were in this abandoned meat-packing factory, we were exploring all of these rooms and we noticed it looked like all of these peoples personal possessions were still there, like they had evacuated the place really quickly. We kept finding all of these photographs of people in hazmat suits, spraying down cows and radiation symbols everywhere and we realized some kind of radioactive or some accident had happened in this place, it had been abandoned and then taken over but local punks who had been putting on shows here. We were just like … oh well whatever they got, we got. I guess the good news is we didn’t die.

You guys have just released a new record…’Battle Maximus’, can you tell me a little bit about it?

Yeah, we have, Battle Maximus rules. It’s a great fucking album and it’s our first album since we lost our great Flattus Maximus. You know a lesser band would have just collapsed because Cory Smoot or Flattus was our main song writer, kind of like the guy that lead us back into the Pantheon of metal. You know we were making all kinds of albums, playing a lot of stuff that was just all over the place and Cory was like the guy who was like look you have to stop dicking around and playing all of these funny ‘haha’ songs, we should just get metal and heavy and stick with it. We did it and all of a sudden we lost him and we were like five albums together and GWAR reclaimed its place in the metal pantheon. The making of Battle Maximus became the most important album we have ever done. It became a make or break deal. We were either going to write an album that was better than anything and stronger and show that progression or we were going to make a shitty record or not make a record at all. I was like fuck it we are going to make the best record ever and show the world the greatest fucking rock and roll band in mother fucking history. We were going to step up to the plate and knock this one out of the fucking park. We are going to use this as a platform not only to honor our fallen conrad, but also to show strength and hopefully inspire people to be able to do that same thing. 



Interview by Shannen Murphy.

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We have a chat to Rocket From The Crypt's John ReisĀ 

11/7/2013

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Adorned in flamboyantly matching attire, led by the most charismatic and energetic front man since The King himself, armed with a ferociously ska-free horn section and backed up by a legion of devout rocket-tattoo-stamped fans to boot, Rocket From The Crypt quickly became the band that you absolutely did not want playing right before you took the stage. These guys are like the band version of the hot girl that your girlfriend knew about but never wanted you to meet.

Finally, Auusie fans will get to see them in the flesh at Soundwave 2014. We got to have a chat with front man John Reis AKA 'Speedo' about the upcoming tour and what's been happening over the last few years...

How excited are you guys to head down under for Soundwave? Is this your first time playing in Australia? 

No actually we have been there at least two or three times before this. We are totally excited to come back, really looking forward to it.

Are you ready to endure our brutal summer weather?

You know what, I really hope that it is brutal. We are from San Diego, California, so it doesn’t snow here or anything like that, but there is a difference between our winter and summer. It get’s a bit cold sometimes, at least for me anyhow. So when it’s Winter here I’m really looking forward to going to a place where it’s Summer and hopefully it is quite warm. I have been there once where is has been a 110 or 115F… I don’t know what that is in degrees centigrade but it was pretty fucking hot.

What can fans expect from your stage show because I hear you have quite an amazing brass section and unique image?

Well I don’t think it’s super unique, it’s actually pretty traditional. It’s very traditional rock'n'roll kind of line up of the band with a saxophone, trumpet, two guitars and a bass, drums, a whole lot of shouting. You know, I yell at people and tell them funny things.

Out of all the many brilliant songs that you have written, tell me what’s your favorite and why?

Ah, I don’t have a favorite song really. You know that’s not to say I am totally in love with them all, but they are all my babies. I do like everything we play… you know… enough to play them, to shout it and to jump up and to share it with others. But there’s not a song where I’m like 'oh this is my favorite song'. I have favorite songs by other people but not so much my own. Sometimes things just happen, sometimes there are these cool moments as a band that you just click and things sound different to you. You know you might do something accidentally and for that moment that could actually be your favorite song. It’s kind of like a sand castle, you build a sand castle, something that you really like and then it’s just gone, the tide washes it away and then you make another one.

After you all disbanded, what was it like coming back into the scene again? Were you guys excited? How did you think your fans would respond and did you receive the welcome back you were expecting?

Well yeah, I was expecting a warm welcome back, it had been a long time and people were happy to see the band and we thought that if we got back together again and played that it would be fun for us. For me, I love the people in the band and I love the songs and playing, so for me it was an easy decision to say, ‘yeah lets play again’. The response has been good, it’s been great, to tell you the truth the years that we stopped playing kind of went by really fast and the last time we played actually seemed like a matter of weeks as opposed to years. 


Why did you disband?

Well we were a band for 18 years and we kind of did everything that we wanted to do and nothing lasts forever. We played in all of these great, cool places and made great friends and recorded thousands of songs, made hundreds of records and we just kind of had done it. We hit a point where it felt a bit like repetition and the truth is that there is nothing wrong with repetition. It was the whole lifestyle of being together and playing and when you do that you don’t really have time for anything else, you don’t have time for a family and to pursue other interests and to enjoy the things that are right at your feet. You know for me it was a conscious decision to re-connect with who I was outside of the band.

I suppose you need that break in a way, to come back fresh?

(Laughs) Well I can’t really claim to be fresh but I’m not entirely stale either.

I hear that there’s talk of you guys bringing out a new record. Is this true?

Well, it’s not true but it’s not false. It’s just that there’s nothing happening at this moment. We are just really enjoying playing shows and having fun. We haven’t started recording a new record or writing any songs or anything like that… it’s just fun to play again. That might just ruin it too. Let’s say we made a record that we really liked a lot and we feel like we were re-defining the wheel and we came upon something musically that we felt we were incredibly proud of and we wanted to share with other people …and well we only just started playing again too so people aren’t going to want to hear 12 brand new songs, they kind of want to hear the songs that they have been used to hearing and that they love. I mean some people grew up listening to us, be it not very many people but some people have been listening to the band for quite a long time. It’s one of those things where we are very happy and content to play those songs. It’s been a while since we have played them so they almost feel new to us. We are just very happy to go and travel and to hook up with friends that we haven’t seen in a long time and hopefully make a couple of new ones on the way and to just be the weirdos that we are.

What actually inspires you?

I really get off on the connection with people who have the same rock'n'roll perspectives as I do or as the band does. People who hear and look at things the same way that we do, and I hope it doesn’t seem to grand to say, but to be able to bring people together in a way. Music can do that; it can make you realize that we have a lot more in common. It creates moments for me that will burn forever, in what’s left of my mind, that’s the things I am really excited about still. It’s also the desire to just captivate people and to rub your nuts off on their ears … to rub a little bit of your stick off on them… you know I really like that.

You guys have been a band for a while now, are you happy with what you have achieved? Is there anything you would have done differently?

Well it’s still happening, I haven’t really spent any time reflecting; it’s more like what’s next. I’m always playing and I’m always doing stuff. So it’s always just about the next idea or challenge, waiting for the next voice in my head to direct me and take me to the place I need to go. You can’t have any regrets necessarily because I’m not done, I’m still doing things. If you have a desire to do something, you just fucking do it! I’m sure most bands feel the same way, it’s the on going creative process, the music doesn’t stop, it just keeps going.  

Tell me a secret I would love to know, is there anything special waiting on the horizon for Rocket From The Crypt?

Well it’s all special to me, I’m really enjoying it. We look forward to just everything that we are doing, just the newness of playing again, we are all just still in that second honeymoon stage of our band.

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