Job for a Cowboy – Jonny Davy
Posted on December 13, 2008 at 3:27 am by admin
I might not make any elitists happy, but myself and my group of friends always liked Job for a Cowboy, and Jonny has been a really cool guy to talk to every time, so it was great to see him again! This interview is a real dozy though, because likely before everyone else finds out, I got to learn a little on the process of their new album, and some big lineup changes. If you wanted to know some things you never knew about them before, here’s your chance!
Way Too Loud!: You’re working on a new album. Can you tell me what stage your in right now?
Jonny Davy: The process has been a bit slow, and this tour is sort of holding the writing process back, but its getting there. We have half the record, and after this we’re going to try and piece it all together. We hit the studio on February 20th, and the record should be out in July. Hopefully we’ll manage to make all those goals. We’re a little bit behind, just like last time, but we’re working on it!
WTL: Are you really hoping for that July date when school is out?
Jonny: We just want to have it out for the summer touring. Hopefully we’ll make it on time. I’m sure we will!
WTL: Are you hearing any differences between your new material, and the material from your first full-length?
Jonny: I think the new record has a bit of an old-school touch. I guess I should bring it up, we have a new guitar player, Al [Glassman], he used to be in Goratory, and was the main writer in Goratory. He played guitar for Despised Icon, but he never had the chance to actually write anything for them, so he really adds a goregrind influence to the band, and I think it’ll definitely show in the new record as we kind of move along with everything. It’s still hard to say what it’s going to sound like, but it’ll definitely sound quite a bit different.
[Note: Al Glassman is no longer with Despised Icon. Taking Al Glasmans place in Despised Icon is The Plasmarifle guitarist Benoit Landreville, who will officially part company with The Plasmarifle before the upcoming US Montreal Massacre tour.]
WTL: Will the songs be longer, or will there be more of them? There were those two instrumental interludes on “Genesis”, clocking it in at half an hour.
Jonny: We’re trying to write a longer record this time. We kind of have to after that last one! We’re trying to make sure we have enough material, and try not to throw in those bullshit tracks, like we did just to kill time! On the last album, we were so lost with time when our old drummer quit, we kind of put everything aside for a drummer search, so at least this time around we’re a little more ahead.
WTL: Do you have a producer planned?
Jonny: We actually did some demo tracks with Jason Suecof. He mixed the last Black Dahlia Murder record, and the last Beneath the Massacre Record. He’s an awesome dude, and he’s one of my favourite metal producers right now, so we’re really stoked to work with him. It’s an awesome vibe, so we can’t wait to do an actual record with him. What else has he done…
WTL: Trivium, God Forbid, Daath. He did a guest solo in the latest Kataklysm album [“Prevail”]
Jonny: He also did a guest solo on the latest Daath album, and he also does Capharnaum, who’s an awesome death metal band.
WTL: I don’t know if you’ll be able to tell me this yet, but are there any lyrical ideas yet? The last effort was essentially a concept album.
Jonny: I don’t know, it’s still really early in the stages of writing. On this record, I’m writing more politically, about more things that’re wrong with the world in these modern times, like Northern Korea. I’m trying to find certain parts of the world where something’s wrong and go off on it in multiple songs.
WTL: Going back in time, you’re pretty much the only original member left now.
Jonny: I’m the last one!
WTL: What was it like when you first started? Did you start playing in a band saying “Hey, let’s make a band, it’ll be fun!”? Did you joke around with everyone saying “We’ll be big someday, ha ha ha”, like most kids do?
Jonny: No, honestly I thought we’d be playing local for fun for a couple of years, and it ended up snowballing into something a lot bigger. I say this all the time, it’s weird, but we often still feel like we’re that small local band playing out of our parents garage, and we just got lucky enough to tour the world. Looking back on it, it’s fucking weird! I don’t get it! We never expected this by any means.
WTL: When you promoted yourself in the beginning, was it just a natural idea to you to sell t-shirts and use the internet to get yourself out there?
Jonny: When we first started playing were we doing local shows. We were that band that played every Friday in Arizona, so we thought “Hey, maybe we should get some shirts! Make some extra cash!” then we’d post songs on the internet, on whatever website like MySpace, PureVolume, HXC mp3 was popular for a little while there that kind of thing. We just threw ‘em up there and people just kind of caught on to it. We didn’t really do anything, people just happened to like it I guess.
WTL: So it just happened on its own? I know of people and bands that will continually add friends to MySpace, and I’ve heard of bands getting signed based on how many friends they have on MySpace.
Jonny: With us and school and everything? No, we never really spent any extra effort doing that. I think the benefit with us is that while we were in school we just tried to tour as much as we could, like California or Texas on the weekends or whenever we had a break. I think that’s what really helped us at first.
WTL: It’s sounds like you did as much as you could with what you had.
Jonny: Yeah! Exactly! With everything that we had, we just tried to get out there as much as we could, out of Arizona, and I think that’s what lit the fire and set it off.
WTL: Previously, members of Job for a Cowboy have been kind of defensive in interviews, giving short answers…
Jonny: Well I just hated doing interviews! (Laughs) I’ve done so many interviews over the last year that I just used to it, and I’m kind of ok with it now. True answer!
WTL: Was there an influence shift as you got older? Going back to your first demo, since we talked about it last time, and people are getting their hands on it, it’s very different from what you’re doing now.
Jonny: I mean it’s obvious that we were fourteen and fifteen years old at the time we wrote the demo, and when we look back we’re listening to something completely different between that four-year gap. We just grew up and got better taste in music I guess! Just like anyone else does. I think that’s the best way to put it, especially in the death metal scene. We were pretty young dudes, and our influences will probably be changing for a couple of years, however long it’ll last.
WTL: How do you feel bout the backlash now? Bands like Slipknot and Disturbed used to be hated, but they’re stilling selling millions of albums. It’s kind of like nu-metal was the thing to hate on, then emo came along and sold less than, but it was hated more, then metalcore came along and sold less than emo, but it was hated more, then deathcore and death metal related bands, and even new death metal bands came along selling less than metalcore, and people seemed to hate it even more than metalcore. I guess we just need black metalcore to come along… I do have a degree of understanding, as to the underground metal fan, you’re more visible, and you hit closer to home.
Jonny: Black metalcore is coming! I can see it coming! Elitists are out there, and they will always be out there. There’s nothing you can really do about it, especially with us. If we’re getting attacked, especially with us. With elitists, they have their underground thing that nobody else has, and when we kind of break out of that barrier, they kind of freak out about it, that other people catch on to their music that they don’t want anyone else to know about. It makes sense. If I wasn’t in a band, I wouldn’t understand it that well, and I’d be the exact same way, so knowing that position, I completely get it now. There’s nothing we can really do, because people are always going to hate you the more you get bigger. It happens with any band. You just ind of have to deal with it. But the more people that hate you, the more they’ll spread the word about your band, the more it’ll progress and get bigger. It’s a vicious circle for them, and probably helps us out in the end.
WTL: I remember talking to Trevor from The Black Dahlia Murder, and hearing about some of the things that’ve happened to them. Before their third album came out, they didn’t have a drummer, and they weren’t touring, but people were still talking to them, saying they’re fat, they’re balding and they’re emo, and he said “At least people are still talking about us!” Nothing gets that guy down!
Jonny: He’s a happy little dude! I just saw him the other day, and we’ve had that conversation a billion times. I don’t know. It can definitely be frustrating at times. I know talking to him he’s been frustrated a couple times over the past couple of years. We’re still growing and kicking, so fuck it I guess!
WTL: I know you guys get it pretty bad. I’ve heard about website sabotage…
Jonny: That’s actually never happened to us. It’s happened to The Faceless, and a lot of other bands, but it’s actually never happened to us, but I’m sure people have attempted it and failed! It’s pretty humorous. I’d probably do it too if I had a bit more time on my hands, but a lot it’s just joking around. A lot if it is usually funny!
WTL: Do people have a lot of misconceptions about how big you are? Right now you’re touring in a van, though I’m sure most kids think you’re touring in a bus.
Jonny: I really don’t know what kids are thinking about, except for the kids that talk shit on message boards. We’re in a van, making ends meet. I think a lot of kids think that as soon as you get signed, everything works out. Basically when you get signed, nothing really changes. They help put out your record, and that’s about it. I know though! We get shit! It’s not much of a rock star life, but it is really fun, and I can’t complain. It’s still an awesome job. I don’t have to have another job at home right now. It’s not much of a rock star life as people would like to assume.
WTL: When you go back home, are you going to go back to an apartment, or do you still live with your parents?
Jonny: Actually, I just moved out of my moms house! A bunch of the dudes rented a house together in Phoenix, Arizona, and we’re all living there happily together! We mow the lawn together… (Laughs), we make food, we watched TV together. We’re really stuck with each other, in a strange kind of way…
WTL: Like a big happy band family?
Jonny: Yeah! It’s working out so far! We’ll see what happens.
WTL: Just before you moved out, would your mom ask you to take out the trash, and you’d say “Come on mom! I’m in a band now!”
Jonny: I think it’s like that with anyone who’s living wit their parents. Even when you move out, they still want you to do shit… You nailed it on the head though. A lot of bands don’t care to move out of their parents house because they’re gone so often, so why bother? You could just save money. Right before I left, I was still taking out the trash and cleaning my room, the good old living at moms house lifestyle!
WTL: How do you feel about bands directly ripping you off, and even making some headway and popularity sounding like you? [bands who will not be named were mentioned]
Jonny: I don’t know. I’ve never really listened to those bands you [didn’t] mention. I guess if anything it’s kind of cool that some band has taken such a strong liking to us that we’re such a strong influence on. I don’t look down on it. I don’t frown upon it. Kind of every metal band at this point rips somebody off in one way or another. It doesn’t bother me really at all! It’s actually just kind of cool!
WTL: Now there’s been some pretty conservative tours lately with bands that are very similar, or who appeal to the same fan base going now.
Jonny: That’s the kind of thing going on now with the metal scene, it’s become really confined, and a lot of those people don’t really want diversity and just look down upon it, and they just want that one thing, and I think that’s what ended it a lot before. As far as control over tours, it depends on what tour. We don’t really have much control, ever.
WTL: I’ve heard about the list.
Jonny: Yeah, that’s usually what happens, and we get to pick ‘em out. This tour we’re stoked on. We’ve been huge fans of Hate Eternal for as long as I can remember, and we’re bummed out that they’re not on this show tonight. We’ve been friends with Animosity for as long as I can remember. Just those two bands alone, we’re so stoked to tour with them.
WTL: Do you see yourself on more headlining tours with some old-school death metal bands as support? Depending on how thing work out.
Jonny: I don’t know. This tour is really awkward, playing over Hate Eternal. Growing up, they were one of my favourite bands. Morbid Angel is one of the first bands that really got me into death metal, so it’s fucking weird to me. They’re fucking amazing live. I’m sure things like that will happen in the future, and I’ll just be weirded out, like we did that co-headlining tour with Behemoth, which was fucking weird… playing over Behemoth sucks.
WTL: I thought it was always Behemoth playing last on that tour.
Jonny: It was co-headlining, but in Canada they headlined the whole thing, but in America we flip-flopped, which was really weird. Even in Europe we flip-flopped with The Black Dahlia Murder, and that feels weird to because when we started, they seemed to much bigger than us. It’s kind of a mindfuck that goes over your hand and reminds you of where your bands at.
It’s funny too because with Erik Rutan, I could imagine him as a cocky guitarist in “Guitar World”, and you know what? He has every right to be, and I’ll back off because he’s been doing this for fucking ever, but he’s one of the coolest and nicest dudes I’ve ever met on tour ever. I was kind of anxious to see how he’d be. I honestly figured he’d be a douche, but he’s not!
WTL: I didn’t know what he’d be like either. He looks really mean in his promo pics, and he doesn’t talk normally between songs, so I thought he’d have a super deep voice and say stuff like “I’m Erik Rutan and I’m going to crush you!” but no! The first time I met him, he was eating a bag of chips and laughing it up on the Chimaira tour.
Jonny: He has a little bit of a Jersey accent to him.
WTL: Actually how do you feel about the comparisons to Morbid Angel? I few people have said that before.
Jonny: I don’t know. I think with “Genesis”, maybe. I actually hear people say that a lot. It’s weird having people talk to you about hat you sound like, because you can’t really pinpoint it yourself when you’re in the band. It’s hard to judge yourself. I have a shitty answer, and it is; I don’t know!
WTL: How did you get hooked up with doing guest vocals on the latest Landmine Marathon album?
Jonny: They’re from Phoenix, and we’re friends with them. I’ve been friends with those dudes for a couple of years now, so when they were recording their new album, they asked me to go in the studio to do that one track, about 4 months ago.
WTL: So Ravi left to go back to school?
Jonny: He pretty much went back to school. It’s kind of standard at that age. He just didn’t feel like he had much more to do in the band, so now he’s going back to school. It wasn’t a big deal. He told us one day, and we thought it was understandable, and we’re still friends with him, no falling out or anything.
WTL: Is it to be a doctor, or doing something in the medical field?
Jonny: Yeah, I think he is going back to school for something medical, but I don’t think he’s actually decided what he wants to do yet. It’s college!
WTL: What do you do to keep yourselves entertained on the road?
Jonny: I mostly just sit there and sleep, listen to our iPods and play Nintendo DS. Some of us read books. We make fun of each other in the van.
WTL: Have you been reading anything lately?
Jonny: I just read a Sam Harris book, “The end of Faith”, and I just finished reading invisible monsters. The Sam Harris is book is about philosophy and religion where he pretty much goes on about why religion pretty much sucks in the world for a good 400 pages. It’s cool because he’s not biased by any means, he’s just really smart about it.
WTL: There was a rumour that when you first started Job for a Cowboy was a Christian metalcore band, somewhere before your first demo or before your EP.
Jonny: If we were Christian metalcore band, I never knew about it! I came to the conclusion, long before that, that I was at least agnostic.
WTL: I know in few interviews you’ve talked about your faith a little. You’re an atheist aren’t you?
Jonny: Yeah. I was raised as a pretty strict Catholic, and at a pretty young, early age I was confused, so I started studying more about other religions, and came to the conclusion that I was an atheist.
WTL: Who would you like to tour with? No rules. You can always go with Slayer.
Jonny: I hate the name dropping questions! No Slayer though, we’d get heckled every night. We’d get the Slayer chant through our entire set! But that happens to everybody
WTL: How about hitting the road with Decrepit Birth, Abysmal Dawn or Necrohagist?
Jonny: We did a shot tour with Necrophagist, and it was pretty sweet. I haven’t seen Decrepit Birth live yet. I really want to. I think who I’d love to really tour with would be a lot of your Canadian bands, like Martyr, I’d love to see a Gorguts reunion tour and go out with them. Death metal in Canada always seems badass! You guys suck! (Laughs) I think I could tour with Animosity, for every tour for the rest of our life. The Black Dahlia Murder is one of the most fun bands to tour with, I’d love to go out with them again. The Red Chord are some of he funniest dudes in the world. I’d like to tour with Landmine Marathon, they’re awesome dudes, and one girl.
WTL: You can mention Poison the Well this time, I know you were afraid to mention them before.
Jonny: I’d love to tour with Radiohead, Gnarles Barkley. I’d do a fucking Fiona Apple tour! I’m fans of all those people. If you talk to any dude in a metal band, anybody they cannot listen to metal 24/7. When you’re a kid at home who doesn’t play and tour on heavy music all the time, I guess you kind of can, but when you hear it and you’re doing it every day of your life, you need a break. You can ask anyone on this tour, you can ask any huge death metal, and they’ll tell you the same thing, or lie straight to your face!
WTL: You said before that every death metal band you tour with pushes Bjork on you.
Jonny: Yeah! That’s actually true. Bjork has some pretty death-metal lyrics in some of her songs, that and it seems like she’s insane, so I think it’s kind of attractive to metal dudes.
WTL: Since bands get asked about their band name all the time, have you ever lied about your band name or what it means?
Jonny: We’re tried, but still no cool story. Sorry!
WTL: Some of my friends have a joke going where we refer to you as Occupation for a Rancher.
Jonny: I’ve heard ‘em all! Although I don’t think I’ve heard that one before.
WTL: Well, I’ve got this joke going with the guys in Despised Icon where I keep telling them that I’m going to make a band that’ll blow them out of the water called Disliked Authority Figure.
Jonny: I wonder how many they’ve had… I think their name is a lot better than ours.
WTL: With all the bands ripping you off, I don’t think I’ve seen any yet that have gone for the same theme as Job for a Cowboy yet.
Jonny: Good for them for not being as dumb as we were!
WTL: I’ve heard about some crazy drinking stories with you and Steve Marios from Despised Icon. Remember, I talk to them all the time, so I’m eventually going to get some stories out of them!
Jonny: Theres been so many, but usually when I drink with Steve it’s a blur. You’re referring just to Steve though?
WTL: Yeah, just with Steve.
Jonny: Steve’s an asshole! (Laughs) He used to steal beer and liquor from other bands, and we shared a bus together with Despised Icon in Europe, so he’d hide the beer between the crevice between the mattress and the wall, so when you opened up the curtain to his bunk, there’d be thirty bottles of beer and some liquor. And usually when he’d wake, he’d crack one open and go outside.
WTL: Is there anything else you want to add?
Jonny: Yeah! Buy our last record if you haven’t yet, or download it and see if you like it, or just check out our new album some time during the summer.
WTL: And to those people that are downloading your demo?
Jonny: Stop downloading that!
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December 16th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Yooo.. loved the interview doodes.. kinda had a chuckle at work n shit… saw you doodes out in London Ontario on the 27th of november.. love the new tracks alot….. 2nd time i see you doodes live and never a disappointed.. know how to rock it. peace and keep it grimmmy.