Way Too Loud: Lots of bands always like talking about their influences, and you’ve got yours posted on MySpace page for everyone to see, although I did notice that Rotten Sound was highlighted…

Chris Brock: I love Rotten Sound! I’ve probably played “Cycles” about 5 times a week in the van since that album came out. Its so fucking pissed and honest and the vocals are so fucking sick! “Cycles” and “Exit” have some grooves on there that are just nasty!

WTL: I swear I could hear some Morbid Angel in the song “Last Name Porter” pouring off. Can you hear the comparison yourself?

Chris: Funny that you say that, because when we were playing that portion of the song, we called it “Morbid Angle”, because it sounded like Morbid Angel and had that really angular riff at the end. Trey [Azagthoth] from Morbid Angel has been a huge influence on me as a guitar player for a long time. Every album that they come up with, his riffs are so crazy, have a ton of dissonance, speed and power in them. That dudes solos are outta control too, and the last song on our album called “City of Angels” has a solo on it that is very very very Trey influenced. I totally hear that comparison, although we’re definitely not a death metal band.

WTL: Can you tell me more about “Last Name Porter”? I know Steve Austin contributed some vocals and guitar lines to it. It’s one of my 2 favourite songs on the album!

Chris: “Last Name Porter” is actually part 3 of 3 songs. “First Name William”, “Rest”, and “Last Name Porter” are all one song. We have yet to play “Last Name Porter” live yet, or “Rest” for that matter, but someday I hope we can if we decide to get another guitar player. Steve sang on that song (he also played guitar on “Here There be Monsters”) and he basically read Makhs lyrics when we were in the studio and wrote some crazy shit on top of that riff. That riff was written with Steve in mind, because it’s a little weird, and not like anything else on the record, so I was really stoked to have him on it. He made that part really come to life in my opinion, and made it sound all fuckin’ evil! We were drinking really heavily during the recording process, so to hear what Steve was saying over one of our songs while we wasted of 10 dollar handles of whiskey was a trip!

WTL: How did the song “Here There Be Monsters” come about? And how did you get hooked up with Eugine Robison for guest vocals on that one? It was my other favourite song on the album!

Chris: That song started as a riff that our ex guitar player played at practice one day, then I started jamming over it, Dan [Sneddon, drums] started jamming over it, and then Tyler [Jenson, bass] jammed over it. We’d been listening to “Narcotic Story” quite a bit on the tours we did before recording the record, and Makh just e-mailed Eugene, and Eugene was down! We finished the record in Nashville and then Dan, our drummer, recorded him at our practice spot. Eugene was probably like, “Who the fuck are these creeps?”, but goddamn his vocals are fucking amazing on that song! And in general!

Makh: While he was recording his vocals in our practice space, Dan and I would look at each other all wide eyed and terrified and shit. It was hella funny cause we were like “What the fuck did we get ourselves into?!”, but the overall feel of his vocals definitely gave it a more eerie and emotional touch, especially with Steve Austin playing a ebow on the song. It just came together really well, and was so much of a departure from most of the record on a whole. I think it gave it a little breathing room which in turn is a good thing.

WTL: How does the writing process work?

Chris: For “We: The Guillotine” the writing process was basically me and Dan getting wasted off cheap whiskey and tall boys in San Francisco, and then hammering out riffs I would write and making demos to show the other dudes. Then Makh would write lyrics while probably drinking cheap whiskey and that was that. Its pretty simple for the most part: alcohol + riffs + alcohol + lyrics = Early Graves.

WTL: From the songs I heard from Apiary, they seemed to be pretty technical, but Early Graves comes off as much heavier, much more caustic, yet it seemed less technical, allowing the emotional power to pour off. Is that what you generally had in mind when making the transition from Apiary to Early Graves?

Chris: We aren’t anything to do with Apiary musically at all, other than we toured and played those songs for a while. Some of the dudes that were in Apiary originally are still good friends of mine, but that CD isn’t really us. I think Early Graves is just a totally different beast in general. Its faster, its more punk and grinding, the lyrics are coming from a very different place etc. When we made the transition, we were sitting in a parking lot playing a show at Thee Parkside with First Blood and All Shall Perish, and Trevor Phipps [Unearth vocalist, who runs the label Ironclad Recordings that the band is on] called and asked if we wanted to change our name. It was that simple. That night we literally flipped a coin while drinking some vodka tonics on either Early Graves or Hyenas (which is the name of a side project of ours with John from The Funeral Pyre). We were SO stoked to not have that name anymore because it wasn’t fair to us or the old Apiary to have that named attached to something So different, ya know?

WTL: How did the title of the second song come about? I’m hesitant to say the name due to a certain word… I did read about how it was related to vocalist Makh Daniels personal experiences as a minority.

Makh: The title was originally called “Sing me a Song Jim Crow” , which was a lyric from those blackface comedy shows they did in the 1800s.  The more I worked on the lyrics and the more they developed I realized the title “House Nigger” was much more fitting. The song directly has to do with racism, covert and upfront. When I first started going on tour, I realized how truly racist and segregated most other parts of the United States really were. A real fucking eye opener on so many levels. The song is about experiencing it on those levels. On one level many minorities in punk, hardcore or metal (black/latino/gay/whatever) is seen more as some kind of fucking novelty rather than seen as genuinely being into it. On another level it’s about white privilege, racism in history, how it affects the present and how institutionalized racism has become to the point of no one noticing it anymore. I wanted to use that title specifically to throw people’s racism right back in their fucking faces. “Nigger” is a word that people use in private amongst themselves and it’s kinda like “Here. I’ll say it for you. I’ll scream it loud enough so you can hear it.”

WTL: How did the title of the album come about?

Makh: It just kinda came to me one day. I wanted an album title that would be representative of us as people, and I was having a tough time trying to get an album title that didn’t sound corny or pretentious. I just wanted it to get straight to the point without it being something like “Fast Music for Pissed off People”, or some crazy bullshit like “Smash Your Head With Rocks”. I was writing down some words and eventually “We: The Guillotine” just kinda popped out of nowhere. It was to the point, rolled off the tongue pretty good and it sounds kinda fucked up too! So we were down with it! (Laughs)

WTL: What was it like recording with Steve Austin?

Chris: I was extremely depressed the whole time I was there (which had nothing to do with him) and I was basically fucking miserable. I was drinking really heavily to try and not be so fucking bummed, and just try to get this album done. It was amazing to work with him though. That guy definitely got some things out of us that I don’t think we could’ve done without him. He drinks more Pepsi than humanly possible, his family is amazing, and he let us crash at his house for the 7 days we recorded and the 5 days we had to wait for our flight back. He probably thought we were the biggest drunks ever, but that dude is fucking amazing! Thanks again to him and his wonderful family for having us. Today Is The Day rules!

WTL: The production is very different from what Steve is know for - being one of the best at doing raw production. This time it seems quite different.

Chris: He recorded that fucker, Dan mixed it, then Zack Ohren mixed and mastered it. I think it sounds pretty raw and dirty, just the reason why we went to Steve. Converge, Burn The Priest, Deadguy, need I go on? The dude knows how to make a band like ours sound like we should. He’s amazing at what he does.

WTL: Who would you like to tour with? No rules here, anything goes!

Chris: Carcass, Shai Hulud, CURSED (if they were still a band) Slayer, Tragedy, Nirvana, Hank Williams 1 or 3, Rotten Sound, Deftones, Panic At The Disco (so there’s a bunch of hot chicks there), At The Gates, Morbid Angel, TRAP THEM, Nachtmystium.

WTL: Just in case this didn’t get covered in the last question, who would you like to tour with who’s both feasible, but not obvious.

Chris: The Funeral Pyre are a blast to tour with and they party ok, but their guitar player is so loud and obnoxious that sometimes you have to drink yourself stupid so you can be down to his level. The Oblige tours we have done were amazing. The Gaza dudes fucking rule. I’d love to go out with The_Network. That band is fucking awesome and intense as fuck live. The Handshake Murders are great dudes too. I just want to tour and tour and tour and play as much as we can. Anyone who is down, we are down!

WTL: Where in the world would you like to tour?

Chris: I want to go everywhere! I’d love to see Japan. I hear it’s crazy over there, and totally different than in the States. I’d love to see South America. I love seeing new places, and I just want to play anywhere that wants to hear 4 dudes playing their ass’ off and wanting to party with said assholes.

WTL: You probably haven’t been around long enough for people to bug you about your band name means, but are you preparing any good lies for it?

Chris: We have a good reason for our name. Early Graves means we’re going to die young. I wouldn’t doubt it! (Laughs)

Early Graves at MySpace

Way Too Loud!: What influenced you into the music scene?

Charles Chaussinand: I took a different route from most of the other members of the band. When I was about 12, I started really getting into hardcore and going to a lot of youth crew shows and whatnot. Bands like Youth of Today, In My Eyes, Ten Yard Fight and the like are really what lyrically made me think “This is something I want to be a part of and involved in!” From there, I just stuck with it and 12 years later, here I am.

WTL!: Is there a theme for “Escape”?

Charles: “Escape” is really a self-explanatory theme. The album deals with issues of feeling you’re stuck somewhere, be it physically or emotionally, and you’re just not happy with it and you’re trying to get out of that situation. For us, the album deals a lot with the aspects of Florida that we don’t all enjoy. I can’t speak for all of the lyrics, as I write just music for the band, but on my end, I tried to theme the record with the structure and aggressive qualities of a hardcore record while mixing in melody and catchy hooks. I have always been a huge Fastbreak and Ignite fan, so I tried to work in that direction.

WTL!: “Festivus Yes, Bagels No” stands out both musically and lyrically, was there anything that you were going through when writing the song?

Charles: The music was something I had been sitting on for a bit and not really knowing how the song could all come together. I would have a bit of the chorus and fidget around with that for a while, then finally I was just playing something at practice that seemed to fit right in as the verse. When we got to the end of the song, we would just play up to that part and then hum what we thought would sound cool next until we came up with the part we have now.

WTL!: Do you have any way of working around writers block, or was it simply not an issue this time?

Charles: Writer’s block isn’t really something that happens to me too often. I am in a few bands of different styles so when I am not really feeling like I want to write a certain kind of song, I just work on something else. I think that conceptualizing songs in your head, just humming out parts you think would be cool, is a good way to get through anything that you’re having trouble writing.

WTL!: Why did you choose the Straight Edge lifestyle?

Charles: My decision to be Straight Edge was an easy one. I claimed it when I was 12, never having done drugs or drank before, and pretty much never looked back. I haven’t ever been curious about what drinking or doing drugs is like, I don’t understand the fascination with it. People will always tell me things like “Oh, it’s so hard to be Straight Edge” after they break, but what’s hard about it? Not drinking alcohol or doing drugs? I don’t get that mentality. It’s like saying “It’s so hard for me to walk out of the house with clothes on.” All you have to do is not do it, I think people just like to make excuses. Being Straight Edge is probably the best decision I have ever made in my life! I have had nothing but positive experiences as a result, the only rivaling decision I could say I have had is when I decided to be vegetarian. Our entire band is Straight Edge and vegetarian. It’s the first time I’ve been lucky enough to be in a band like that. I can agree that either of those lifestyle choices aren’t for everyone, but they are something that anyone consciously minded should really take a moment to look at. Being Straight Edge also used to be something that people would say and it didn’t seem to be as big a deal as it is now, not to say it is something to be taken lightly, but it shouldn’t be something that determines your friends or how you treat others. I think that the media sensationalism and metal influence into the hardcore and Straight Edge scene have really killed a lot of what attracted me to both in the first place. I’m Straight Edge for myself and everyone should do the same, not to fit a mold. Just my two cents on the issue!

WTL!: You guys seem to be all about the music with minimal information about the band available online, is there a reason you’re keeping yourselves low profile?

Charles: Haha! I didn’t really know we were keeping ourselves low profile. If there is anything anyone would like to know about the band, they are welcome to shoot us a message or come ask us at a show. One thing I know that none of us likes the way that band image gets worked into promotion more than the bands music. Everyone is wearing girls’ pants with bleached, teased up hair these days. That is not something we’re about. We dress the way we dress, with short hair and no eyeliner or whatever these other bands wear and just play songs we want to play. We seem to be getting a good response from it so far, so I would think that a doctored up image is not what is needed to get kids into a band.

WTL!: Do you guys have any other day jobs?

Charles: I run a record label called Get Outta Town Records and run a mastering suite called Stompbox Studios.  Our bass player, Jack [Vermillion], does pizza delivery. Both our drummer and guitar player were working at another pizza place, but quit before our recent tours because we’ve been gone so much. Our singer does graphic design, primarily for bands.

WTL!: Are you in any other bands?

Charles: I used to play in a few other bands including Flame Still Burns, Esteem, Make or Break and others.

WTL!: Who would you like to tour with who’s feasible but not obvious?

Charles: Within the realm of feasibility, I would say we’d collectively love to go out with Paint it Black, Lifetime, Static Radio, Rotting Out, Ignite or any other of a load of bands I could name. Finding touring pairs has to work out in a way that you want to watch the other band every night and you like them as people. All of these bands I would love to watch every night and sing along.

WTL!: Is there anywhere in the world you’d like to tour?

Charles: Pretending money is no object for a moment; I would love to tour through Asia, Australia, New Zealand (do kids go to shows there?) and South America. The other areas in the world I haven’t named are pretty obvious spots, but I want to go to obscure places. I remember years ago seeing bands like Good Clean Fun announcing they were going to Israel and Trial going to Budapest. That kind of stuff just seems totally insane to me. I would love to be able to get out in remote parts of the globe and have people want to see my band like that.

No Harm Done at MySpace

Way Too Loud!: What made you choose the album title “Continent”?

Vincent Bennett: The whole album is about distancing yourself from all the things you think you love, and peers, humanity, and basically forming your own island, or “Continent” as you will. Being part of your own world as opposed to everybody else’s. It’s all about exile.

WTL: What did you want to achieve on “Continent” this time that you didn’t get to do on “The Dead Walk”?

Vincent: I wanted to prove my extreme hatred for every living creature. I’m pretty sure I came through. The album came out yesterday [at the time of this interview] and I’m getting a lot of feedback on it with people saying “Wow. Vincent is angry. Vincent isn’t really psyched about a lot of things.” The main focus is obviously humanity, but there’s a lot of little creatures here and there that I’m not fond of, so I figured I’d include them. I can’t just single out humanity, because a lot of bands have already expressed their hatred towards humanity, so I figured I’d open up the playing field a little bit.

The entire album is about one person destroying the entire world on a grand scale so he can be by himself, and trying to find your own personal loneliness.

WTL: Were there any specific groups of little creatures you didn’t like?

Vincent: Nothing specific, I mean, I don’t want to play favourites, but on a side note, I hate cats. Housecats more than anything on the face of the earth. If I could take anything out first, it’d probably be housecats.

WTL: When I saw you live and you took your break, you talked about how the desert was a great place to drop off dead bodies, and of course there’s the lyrical content. Do you have an interest in serial killers?

Vincent: Not as much as you’d think. When people think about serial killers, they usually just think about dudes that go around and murder everybody, but there’s a lot written into it, and there’s a lot of different levels of “serial killing”. A lot of it has to do with sexual needs and stalking. I’m not really into sexual deviance, and a lot of serial killers are. But even with all the killing, most of the stuff I write about is a metaphor for something else.

The ultimate destruction of humanity is the ultimate destruction of the world. Most of the “she” and “her” I’m talking about is the earth, so it’s not like I’m going out and finding girls to stab them in the face, it’s about a quest for loneliness is what the whole album is based on. It’s not so much about the violence as it is the hate.

WTL: Are you an angry guy?

Vincent: Uh…. yeah. I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m a very angry person. Sometimes I feel like my blood is made of acid, and it’s just boiling through my veins. But at the same time, I’m not going to walk around like an angry dude all day long and take it out on other people, because they’ll get theirs eventually. I’m kind of a laid back dude, I’m not a pacifist, but I’m not an aggressive person. If I see somebody doing something stupid, I’m gonna call ‘em out, but otherwise, I’m just gonna let it slide. I don’t really care.

I have the band as an outlet for all of my anger and hatred and aggression and rage. That’s why I think a lot of people who are angry, and have road rage, and beats their wives and kids, they don’t have an outlet for that anger and hatred, so they take it out on the wrong people. I don’t really condone misguided anger. If you’re angry at a certain person, you go up to them and say “I’m fucking angry at you! You’re a shithead, and I don’t like you because of these reasons”. You don’t go “Fuck that guy!” and then choke your five-year-old. That’s why it is great to have this band, because it is misguided aggression and misguided anger, but that’s what Sam Kinison did. Instead of beating his girlfriend, he went out on stage and took his anger out as laughs, and had a good time. So it’s one of those things where yes I’m very angry person, yes I hate everything and I hate everybody, but I’m gonna find a way to funnel that aggression into positivity.

WTL: The album art makes perfect sense with what your talking about! How do things operate when your working with Paul Romano?

Vincent: It was pretty involved! We had a lot of back-and-forth on the phone. I’d call him a lot and he’d call me a lot. I had about 300 different ideas for the actual album concept before I decided on the one, and I had a lot of ideas as far as artwork is concerned, so I told him every idea I had, and I sent him the lyrics, and he came up with what you see now. There was no “Maybe we should do this or that”, he just sent me the original, and I loved that. It was the same with the last record. I just told him ideas from what the lyrical standpoint was, and he came up with his graphic version of what he thought the lyrics meant.

He did about 5 paintings for the whole CD. One is the cover, and there’s maybe 3 inside, and then there’s one in the back, but he also has all these beautiful little illustrations that he did besides the paintings, so it’s chok full! He puts down on paper what I thought I could do vocally.

WTL: What made you go with Zuess this time instead of Adam D.?

Vincent: Adam was busy with Killswitch Engage and Underoath. Adam did our last two albums, and he was obviously our first choice for this one, but it was coming down to the wire and we hadn’t found a producer. Our label wanted us in the studio by February, but that didn’t happen, then they wanted us in April, and then we finally go in around April and May. We needed to pick a producer really fast, and Zuess was always there in the back of our mind, and it turned out for the better I think because Adam is an excellent producer, but Zuess was really good for this record. He let us do basically whatever we wanted. There were no constraints on musicianship or anything like that, and we got to experiment with our sound, and Adam tries to confine a certain sound in a certain song, where Zuess says “you do what you want, and I’ll make you sound like you.” We didn’t have any other ideas as far as producers, so we’re glad that Zuess took the chance to do it, and I think the record came out as good as it possibly could’ve.

WTL: I heard some tales of torture from the studio…

Vincent: Zuess cut off my bass players pinky because he missed a couple of notes. Other than that, if I screwed up on vocals, he’d make me run around the building 70 times, and then he’d hit me with a bamboo pole. He was a good sport about everything. He was easy to work with on everything because he’s a really easygoing guy. Before we came into the Zuess world, we were totally into the Adam world. Adam is a jokey guy, and he wants to watch the food network and tell jokes all day. He’s really energetic. People ask what Adam is like, and he’s exactly the way you’d think he would be, he’s always on, and Zuess is like “Do whatever you want to do. Just play your instruments and leave me alone.” He’s really easy to work with, because as long as you know that your in the studio to make a record, and not to dick around and say “Oh, I’ve got to go to the store.” It’s was easier than I thought it would be because a lot of the bands that recorded before us like Hatebreed and Shadows Fall said “Zuess is a fucking dick man! Wait to you work with Zuess, because he’s going to be on you all the time man!” But I think they were just trying to make it seem worse than it was just to get us kind of nervous, but it was easy.

WTL: Depending on how you count it, you’ve got 5 albums. When I saw you live, you focused a lot on “The Dead Walk”. Have you left a lot of your older material behind?

Vincent: We don’t even consider those first two releases albums. As far as I’m concerned, we have three CDs out. The first couple were like demos to us. We didn’t know what we were doing, we were all really young, we didn’t have any ideas, and we just wanted to get some music. Kids want to hear those songs, but we honestly don’t even remember how they go. I haven’t listened to those albums for years. It’s kind of leaving the past behind, and pretty much every band does it, unless your Metallica, then you have to play stuff off “Ride the Lightning”. We focused a lot on “The Dead Walk” obviously because it was our last record, but we do still play stuff off of “3750”, and that’s not going to change. The sets might get a little bit longer, and when we do have to cut down the set, it’s going to be pretty even from each record.

We’re playing some CD release shows this weekend, and we’re going to focus on the new record because it just came out, but further down the line, we’ll split the set between the other albums that we have.

WTL: When your playing live, do you find it difficult to keep going without taking any breaks between songs? When I saw you play, there were almost no breaks at all, and it was very intense.

Vincent: From a spectator standpoint I do go to shows, and I do watch bands, and I do like it better when bands just play music. Every now and then it’s nice to hear what a band has to say, like a little funny story from the road that happened a couple of days ago, but in the long run, fans are there because they want to hear the songs. They don’t really care that you slept in a basement with cockroaches, or who your voting for as president. The didn’t pay for the cock, they paid for the rock, and a lot of the bands that are talk heavy don’t seem like they have it all together.

We try to put the songs together in a way that they flow, so people say “The song just stopped, but holy shit, they’re playing this now?” It surprises kids to hear these songs that all flow together. I find it’s easier for me to remember what we’re playing next if I don’t have to stop and talk.

WTL: I’ve noticed that in the music, there’s barely any stops there either, so the energy keeps moving

Vincent: We try to keep it an energy high show, because once again kids paid good money, and they don’t want to see some dude lumbering around on stage like he’s bored. They want to see action and they want to see excitement, and energy and anger, and everything that The Acacia Strain is on CD, they want to see it manifested live. Playing for forty minutes a night with barely any stops is kind of hard, but it would be even harder if we did stop. When you’re a marathon runner, and your on your second or third mile, and you slow down to walk and pick up water, starting up again is way harder. When you get that momentum going, you don’t want to let that go, because as soon as you do, your body is used to being at rest, and it’s not as energy packed as it used to be.

WTL: What do you attribute all the lineup changes to? Although this time, you didn’t add anyone to your lineup.

Vincent: The lineup changes have just been a lack of dedication. It’s never really a personality clash. The first person we kicked out of our band was our bass player, and she just wasn’t dedicated at all, and then a guitar player went. They lose the drive, and for how often that we’re touring and how energetic the music is, you have to be %100 head in the game and all about this band, or else it’s not going to work out. We’ve been through a lot of bass players that either weren’t into it, or had other ideas for other bands that they were in, and really just wanted to pursue those. Whatever it is, it’s never anything personal, because you can’t hold it against people. Our last guitar player Dan quit because he just wasn’t feeling it anymore. He said he was touring with us for five years and he didn’t want to do it anymore, it wasn’t any big deal, and we didn’t hold it against him. We’d rather have him quit the band and do something he wanted to do rather than stay in the band and be miserable and bring everything down. Now we’re about as solid as we’ve ever been. There’s not a lot of people cluttering up the airwaves with their own opinions. We all pretty much think the same way, and we’re all pretty tight knit. I think this lineup will continue for the remainder of the band. I hope at least.

WTL: Do you think you’ll remains as a four-piece from now on?

Vincent: I think so. It’s one of those ting where if need be, we’ll add another guitar player, and it’s only if we’re completely blown away by this one guy and he says “You know what? I really want to be in your band.” It’s like Hatebreed. They stayed as a four-piece forever until they found Frank “3 Guns” because he’s a phenomenal guitar player, and he meshed with the band so well. It’s like they were never a five-piece. We’re so tight together right now that if we added another person, it might muck everything up, or it might take longer to get used to. We’re so used to what we have, that unless someone comes along that we don’t even notice that it’s different, we’ll probably stay the same way. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a four-piece right now because it’s pretty consistent. We’re living up to our records, and the only thing that’s different is that we don’t have leads everywhere, but we really don’t do that anyway.

WTL: Who came up with the idea of “The Acacia Strain TV”?

Vincent: It was our manger that thought of that. We were on tour when they called us and said “We have a good idea! Let’s do some videos!” It was right after the studio update, because they said “We want to do more of this, because we want more of you guys being funny!” It wasn’t really that funny, but it was entertaining for the kids out there… I dunno really… I like to see bands that I’m into doing stuff that they normally wouldn’t do. You see a band, and then you see them on stage, and that’s it, so maybe a little peek into their everyday lives even just joking is a little funny. We also thought it’d be a good way to promote the record and keep people interested in what we have to say, kind of like a hobby.

WTL: I’ve pretty much asked the majority of my serious questions, and I know you can be pretty funny, so I’ve got some silly questions here…

Vincent: Do it!

WTL: I know you’ve been trying to achieve the brown note. Is it one of your goals to make people crap themselves at your show?

Vincent: I would love for this to happen! I watch “Mythbusters”, so I guess they busted the whole “brown note” thing, so it’s not real, which kind of bums me out. At the same time, I till think we can make some kid shit his pants during our set without even using the brown note. I see some of the shit that goes on during our shows, and I’m like “Wow, why aren’t any of these kids shitting?” I see kids with broken noses, gnashes in the heads, broken knees and fingernails gone. Why aren’t any of these kids shitting their pants? That’s all I wanna know. And to anyone reading this, the next time you come to an Acacia Strain show, fucking go to Taco Bell, load up on some triple bean burritos, eat ‘em all, and then drink a bunch of milk! Do it for me! I need to see this happen! I want to be that one band, where at every show people say “Look out! There’s going to be that one kid who shits his pants! At least!” I want it to happen!

WTL: Do you have an addictive problem to energy drinks? You’ve got one in your hand in every camera shot.

Vincent: It’s Monster! Man, it’s just good! It’s a tasty-ass drink! Have you ever tried Monster?

WTL: I actually haven’t tried an energy drink yet.

Vincent: Oh… you’re one of those guys….

WTL: I do have addictive problems though, to caffeine.

Vincent: I don’t think I’m addicted to them, because if you take them away, I’ll still be able to live. I’m not going to need to go into an energy drink clinic or anything like that. But its good! It wakes me up a little bit, and it’s there, so I might as well drink it. I just really enjoy the taste, and I’m sure that’s what alcoholics say too, but I could quit tomorrow man. I swear to god!

WTL: You mentioned in the video that a good person to buy your CD for might be a girl you met on the internet who you thought looked good, but when you met her in person, she was kind of fat. Have you had any experience with that yourself?

Vincent: You know? Well yeah. Uh… I don’t… well you see, I’m not one of those guys that picks up girls on the internet because I’m not a sad looser. I know for a fact that there’s dudes out there, and even girls out there that get their hopes up, that they met this great guy from Tennessee or whatever, and the girl is from fucking Maine, and “Oh my god, I’m going to fly out to Tennessee, and I’m going to meet this girl, and she’s gonna be so hot, and we’re gonna fall in love, and then she’ll move to Tennessee and have babies and we’ll have the perfect life.” Then she gets to Tennessee, 300 pounds, and she doesn’t look anything like her MySpace pictures, and the dude’s just bummed. And that’s what you get dude! That’s what you get for lurking the internet for a girlfriend instead of going to a show, or the mall, or meeting girls in real life. That is what you get! That’s all I have to say. And if you meet a girl like this, you might as well give her a record! As a nice parting gift, you can give her a record and say “You’re fat! See ya!” then she can fly back to Maine and meet some real people instead of doing World Of Warcraft, or MySpace.

WTL: Is there anywhere in the world you’d like to play?

Vincent: I would love to go to Japan. We haven’t been there yet, but we’re working on it. We’re going to Australia in December, which is one of the top three places. The top three places are Japan, Australia, and I want to play in Moscow. There’s so many of these bands doing world tours now, like HORSE The Band is doing that world tour, and Shipwreck A.D. is doing a world tour where they’re playing in South America and South Africa. I’m pretty sure it’s feasible, and we’re trying to work on it. We were just talking to some dudes in Brazil and Japan. I’m pretty excited. I don’t want to play in Antarctica, but I’d love to play in Hawaii, because that’s one of the two fifty states I’ve never been too. The other one is Alaska, but I never really want to go to Alaska because it’s fucking, who cares? And I’m sorry to anyone who’s reading this who’s from Alaska. We’ll make it there eventually. Don’t hold your breath though…

Tell 36 Crazyfists to bring us to Alaska, and we’ll go.

WTL: Darkest Hour actually has a couple of shows set up there.

Vincent: I saw that! They should bring us!

WTL: I’ve heard other crazy stuff, like bands playing in Greenland.

Vincent: Really?!

WTL: The way they do it, is they set up 24-hour layover where their flight stops in Greenland, and they’ll get a show planned all around that.

Vincent: Hatebreed played in Isreal!

WTL: Whoa!

Vincent: We were on tour with Hatebreed last year in England, and in between our UK tour and the US tour, Hatebreed flew to Israel to play in Tel Aviv, and I guess it was the scariest thing they’ve ever done. There’s fucking twelve-year-old kids with machine guns.

WTL: What’s the metal scene like in some of those middle eastern countries? I’ve heard if you talk about heavy metal in some of those paces, you’ll be in serious trouble.

Vincent: I have no idea, and I’m not in any hurry to find out. We’ve never been to Israel, but if we did, I would acquire some government issued bodyguard, because I’m not really down with any of the shit that’s going on over there. At all.

This is kind of a funny story, sort of off-kilter, but I saw message board thread where someone posted “I’m from Georgia, and I’ve heard that there’s some Russians around. Should I be worried?”, and someone else posted “Are you from the state of Georgia, or the country of Georgia?” and he said “I’m from Atlanta.” “No! The Georgia that’s under attack by Russia is on the other side of the world. You are an idiot.” I don’t think I’d ever want to play Georgia either.

WTL: Some of those European counties are pretty scary. Immolation told me a story about how they drove through the Ukraine, and Vader said you’re not supposed to do that, you’re supposed to just fly where you need to go in the Ukraine.

Vincent: I’m not in any hurry to play in an eastern European warzone. I don’t want to go to Turkey. We don’t need to go to Bosnia, ever. Any war torn country, we don’t need to be there.

We did play Slovakia, and that’s like central Europe, and we were like “Wow. This is where ‘Hostel’ was filmed. Not excited to be here.” but it was a good show, and we had a good time. We were just scared shitless the whole time that we were going to get kidnapped or murdered.

WTL: How do people treat shows like that over there? Did the audience know who you were?

Vincent: No, it’s one of those things where we were the second American band ever to play that venue, so kids were like “What? An American band playing this show? I’ll go see it even though I don’t know who the fuck this is.” and what’s cool about kids out there as opposed to kids out here, is that hardcore kids and metal kids will stay at a show the entire time, even though they haven’t heard of the headlining band, because lo and behold, they’ll probably like the headlining bands. Kids around here are like “Who? I’ve never heard of that fucking band. I’m leaving. I just came for one band! I paid fifteen bucks for thirty minutes and a t-shirt, and I’m out.” instead of sticking around the entire show and having a good time, and maybe listening to some new music that they’d probably like, they’re going to take off and be ignorant. In Europe, everyone stays for the whole thing. They get there before doors, and they stay until after doors, which is cool. The European tour was definitely good for us because we played a lot of places where we were the second or third American band to play in that area, so people are like “Oh cool! There’s actually music happening here?” then they come in and say “Youguysweresofuckingawesomethatimbuyingyourcdandatshirt!”

We’re at the point right now where we can take some time off from America and Canada and tell our booking agent “Hey! How about since we have this down time, let’s play… fucking… Iceland! Let’s play India!” so he’ll check and see if he knows anyone in India, and lo and behold! But it’s getting to the point where we need to branch out, because we’ve played America so many fucking times. It’s not that kids are getting sick of seeing us, we’re just getting sick of seeing the same places over and over again. We’ll always tour America, but we won’t always be able to play in paces like Chile or Uganda. I love to see the world. It’s one of the perks of being a band, where you can legitimately say “I’m going to Saudi Arabia!” “Why, are you in the army?” “No! I’m in a band, and I’m going to play in front of three kids that give a shit!”, but it’s those three kids that’ll tell three friends and they’ll tell three friends, and then later on on, people will say “We love you! You have a huge following in Saudi Arabia! Kudos!”

The future is wide, and music is international, and it’s not like there’s guidelines, unless you’re in Cuba, or communist China, but in most places, there’s no guidelines to what you can or cannot listen. With the internet the way it is, kids can go on the computer on MySpace and type in “asshole” and find seventeen bands that they love. I’m pretty sure music will be the international language of “Hey! Let’s hang out!”

WTL:Who would you like to tour with who’s both feasible but not obvious?

Vincent: Hmm… that’s a good question. So you’re talking about a genre bending tour basically? I want to tour with a band that’s the exact opposite of what we are. I want to tour with a band that’s like fucking poppy with choruses, and happy, singing about flowers. If Blink 182 did a reunion tour, I would be psyched to do that tour! Even though we would go over like a bag of dicks! Everybody would be like “What the fuck?! Get this band off the stage!” We’d play for only fifteen minutes a day, we’d sell no merch and only make $100 a day, but I wouldn’t even care, because I know there’d be one kid in the crowd thinking “Why am I listening to Blink 182? There’s actually music out there that’s original and saying something?” instead of “Oh man! I’m 14 and I just broke up with my girlfriend! I’m so bummed I’m so bummed that I’m gonna put lipstick on!” I’d love to tour with a band that sings about ridiculous shit in a poppy way.

My girlfriend listens to some of the worst music I’ve ever heard. She likes good music, but she also likes terrible music, and I found out through her, that the singer of Metro Station, who is the son of Billy Ray Cyrus, who is Hanna Montannas brother is into The Acacia Strain! He was wearing our t-shirt in People magazine, in all these pictures! When I heard about that, I said “What the fuck is Metro Station, and who the fuck is Hanna Monatana? What the hell is going on?” and my girlfriend shows me because she has those “Now!” compilation CDs.

These guys are like, if Good Charlotte shoved cotton candy up their asses or something, that’s the kind of band Metro Station is. So for some reason, my manager got it into her head it would be a great idea for me and her and my girlfriend to go to a Metro Station show with Good Charlotte and Boys Like Girls and fucking meet the guitar player Trace Cyrus! The son of Billy Ray Cyrus! I don’t know if you know this, but Billy Ray Cyrus wrote “Achy Breaky Heart”, and that’s fucking disgusting! And he has a son in a band that’s worse than “Achy Breaky Heart”! So they got it into their brain to go meet this guy, and I met him, and he’s like 19, and he’s a good kid and whatever. I’m not sure if he likes bands for the right reasons… but I have to be proud that there’s people like him doing so much for us, because he’s been in People, and who cares… They’re the worst band I’ve ever seen! I actually wanted to leave the show, and I got in for free! I didn’t want to see that band, I didn’t want to be there, I’d rather be home watching TV, I don’t want to meet this guy, and I’m so pissed off. I was mad at my girlfriend and my manager, and I was mad at anybody that was there at this sold out show in an arena. Thousands and thousands and thousands of these pre-teen girls screaming at the top of their lungs. I felt like I was in Beatle mania or something. I wanted to die! So, maybe we’ll tour with Metro Station! Maybe we’ll be the sleeper hit of the summer! Metro Station and The Acacia Strain on tour!

The only reason I would do that is so I can spit in little girls faces who are thinking “Oh my god! I can’t wait to see Metro Station!”, and then these four fucking ugly dudes get on stage in all black screaming about god-knows-what, with a singer who looks like Adam Sandler, who jumps over the barricade and spits in a little girls face, and she’s bummed out, and her life is ruined because she doesn’t get to meet Trace Cyrus. Maybe he has AIDS. Who knows! That’s what I want to do! I want to ruin someones fucking life on that tour! And I would do it every single night, and I’d be happy. I would give a shit if zero people out of ten thousand like us. If our fans are bummed that we’re touring with Metro Station, they’ll read this interview, and they’ll understand why The Acacia Strain is touring with a shitty band, and our fans would pay thirty bucks to watch me, Vincent ruin somebodies life.

WTL: Would Trace laugh this interview off if he reads it?

Vincent: Most definitely! I don’t think he even gives a shit honestly. His dad is Billy Ray Cyrus dude! His sister is Hanna Montana! He has it made! Who cares if some peasant singer from some shitty band who’s t-shirt he found in a bargain bin in Hot Topic, who cares what I think? I don’t care what I think! If he takes this interview seriously, if he reads this and says “Damn, that guys a dick!” he is wrong! I am a nice guy! This I funny shit I’m saying right now! And I think Metro Station should take us on tour!

WTL: I know you’re going to go to town on this one - have you ever lied to anyone about what your band name means?

Vincent: Oh my god! If you ask me what my band name means, I will never talk to you again!

WTL: I already know what it means!

Vincent: That’s because you use your resources! I’ve answered that question so many times, and there’s got to be something somewhere that these people can go and find out what The Acacia Strain means. So I just lie now. I either say there’s no way in hell that I’m answering that question, or I tell them the biggest fucking lie, like the Acacia family circus had a big act, which was the high-flying flaming trapeze, and one of them died, and now there’s a curse on all circuses, and that’s the “strain”. It’s such a feasible story, and I tell it with such unguarded accuracy that people will believe it. As long as I don’t hesitate, who cares?

Somebody asked me if we were a Christian band, because apparently somebody said that Jesus Christ was crowned with a crown of thorns from the acacia tree. You think that I’m that fucking smart that I can leaf through the bible? It probably doesn’t even say that in the bible! It’s probably made up, like everything else in the bible.

The internet is an amazing tool. Some people use it for the wrong reasons, like trying to find girls, or midget porn - well, midget porn IS awesome. You have this tool, this infinite tool of vast knowledge at your fingertips, and you’re annoying me with the same question that fifteen million other people are annoying me with, “What does your band name mean?”

I dunno if “Ask Jesus” still exists, but if it does, ask him “What does The Acacia Strain mean?” and about seventy interviews will probably come up with me explaining it. Use your resources! There’s probably an encyclopedia that tells you what an acacia is, and you can probably figure out what the word “strain” means, so it’s not that hard. Use your resources people!

WTL: Have you ever lied about who you are?

Vincent: All the time! We’ve learned that if we tell the truth, people won’t believe us, because they go “What? I’ve never heard of you guys.” so we tell people we’re Killswitch Engage, and that our black singer is in the van! We use Hatebreed more than anything because people go “I think I’ve heard of you guys before.” Sometimes I’ll use band names that aren’t even real, like “beach ball”, because everybody knows what a beach ball is, but everybody goes “What? Huh? Beach what?”, then I’ll repeat it, and they’ll say “Ok, cool.” Sometimes we just lie because we want to get people off our backs and not have a conversation about the pronunciation of our band name. Even with the word ”beach ball” people ask “What the fuck did you say?”

The Acacia Strain at MySpace

Way Too Loud!: Everyone loves to talk about this - what got you up to sing and scream?

Alexis Brown: My first influences are old music. I love Stevie Nicks. I love her voice and the songs she sings about. I’m also influenced by Shawni and Billy Holiday. As far as screaming and heavy music goes, I love Daryl Palumbo from Glassjaw. I love his sporadic vocals, and how different he can be, because he has an unusual voice. I have a big affinity for all music, especially from the 50’s and 60’s. That’s what I mainly listen to, which seems weird because I don’t always listen to a lot of metal.

For the other guys, they listen to everything too. It’s pretty eclectic. Our guitar player, Seth Thacker loves the 80’s, like Loverboy, and he loves Pantera too. Our bass player loves In Flames, Pat Pattison, the other guitar player loves the Boston hardcore scene and Hatebreed, and our drummer is into 36 Crazyfists and Lost Prophets. All that is probably why we come together and make some pretty weird music, because our tastes differ so much.

WTL: How do the lyrics come together?

Alexis: I write my own lyrics about lifes little experience, like what I see around me. Things that get me down, or pick me up. I write by myself because it’s a very private thing for me. I also like to write lyrics that all people can relate to.

WTL: Obviously the metalcore tag gets thrown around a lot, and of course bands hate to be labeled.

Alexis: People are going to label you regardless of whether you want to be labeled or not. We don’t care. I think our biggest thing is that we don’t want to be pigeonholed as one genre of music, because we’re not. We go from one spectrum to the other. We think our music is metal, don’t get me wrong, don’t get me wrong, we love our metal, but it also has other influences too. We want our music to be embraced by anybody who listens to it, not just people in one type of genre. I think it’s unwise that a band would try to pigeonhole themselves. I could be wrong…

WTL: I’ve been noticing some big push from your label. Is there any fear of some backlash if you become big?

Alexis: Yeah! We definitely have some fear of that! This whole thing is scary, although I can’t personally speak for the guys. Just in general I’m afraid because people saw we’re going to blow up, and when they say that I’m afraid we might not blow up, but if we do, is it just going to be for a little while? Are we just going to be that hot thing in one moment, and the next we’re yesterdays news? I mean, I want to make a career out of this, and I’m sure other bands do to, so I’m scared all the way around to answer the question!

WTL: I pick up Revolver magazine every now and then, and pretty often they have the “Hottest Chicks in Metal” issue pretty often now. Do you think you’ll have any involvement in that if someone behind the scenes asks you? I know some people will say it’‘l help promote the band, and other people just hate doing it, if at all.

Alexis: I think that’s cool! I think it’s great that women are being recognized, so power to us! But I’d like for my band to be beside me instead of behind me. You know how they push me because I’m the front person, and that’s what some audiences go for, “she’s the female, she’s the frontperson, she’s the face”, but I wouldn’t be anywhere without my band, so I wish they’d focus more on them, instead of me, as just some hot metal chick. Do you know what I’m saying? Does that make any sense?

WTL: Yeah! Sometimes I’ll look through the issue and think that people are focusing on a hot girl instead of having any focus on the music.

Alexis: That’s how I feel! Where is their band? I can’t even think of what their band members names are, because it doesn’t talk about them, it doesn’t even their music. It’s usually about them and how they look. I’m sort of torn on it, because some promotion seems cool. Me personally, I’d like the whole band to be represented as a whole.

WTL: How did you get hooked up with Raging Nation and Koch Records?

Alexis: We were on a DIY tour with some friends of ours who knew Rage and his wife, like one of the band members moms was a friend of Rages wife Kim, and they had a meeting while they were on tour, and we got to sit in on the meeting. I was like “why are we here?” I’m not going to lie, I was a little jealous because I wanted us to be doing something, but I didn’t say that, I just put my head down and let them do their thing because their my friends. Unbeknownst to us, Rage was tracking us for a year, and called us out of the blue, saying that he wanted to sign us, and it just knocked my socks off! He said that he believed we have something, so after that we kept touring and kept in touch, and then he set up a showcase with the TV News and John Freen from Koch in Virginia. We played first, got the crowd worked up, we had a great turnout. The label was interested, but they didn’t say anything, because the like to play the cat and mouse game, and then we had a video made, and when they saw that, we signed right then and there, right on the dotted line!

WTL: What else would you say that you did to get signed beyond that? There’s still a lot of people out there thinking that all they need to do is wait around for a bunch of suits in a limo to drive up and give some free money away.

Alexis: That is an awesome question, because I used to think that way! That was before I got into Straight Line Stitch, I was in another band wondering “Why? Where are the labels?” We’re playing all these shows - and of course we were just playing in our hometown - and we’re playing this shows, and nobodies around, and we’re not signed, and now I get e-mails from these bands that say “Oh, we’re so awesome! I’ll send you my demo! We’re the shit!” and I tell them it doesn’t work that way, and I had to learn that the hard way. What we did was the same thing that everybody else who gets signed does, unless they know somebody, was to work our asses off on the road, and that’s what we still do. That’s the only way you’ll get noticed, is to put yourself out there by being on the road.

Labels want to know that you can take care of yourself. That’s what labels want. They don’t want to hold your hand and baby you, that want to know that they can let you go and do your thing, and that’s what the label saw in us.

WTL: how were you able to do 200 shows on the road for so long without being signed? That must’ve been pretty hard.

Alexis: Oh lord! It was tough! A lot of that has to do with our guitar player, Seth. He’s the brainchild of this band. He’s the one that kept us moving before we even got signed to a label. He’s pedal-to-the-metal, let’s do it, and he’s a no-nonsense person, and if we’re gonna do this, let’s do this. I wanted to go out and tour, and go out of state, and he made it happen.

WTL: How much real life stuff, and fun things did you have to give up in order to play in a band? How many fun things did you have to turn down to go to practice, or play a show, or work on something that has to do with the band?

Alexis: The most important thing for me, was that I had to move away from my mom. I lived with mom, and my brother was in the army doing his thing overseas. I didn’t really have friends. I didn’t do a lot of hanging out with anybody, because all I wanted to do since I was a kid was do music and take care of my family. That’s all I ever wanted to do! To move away in order to do that was the hardest thing I had to give up. I don’t get to see her at all, maybe once in a blue moon, but we do talk on the phone.

WTL: What jobs did you do before you got signed?

Alexis: I actually had two jobs! I was a maid to clean up big houses for rich people, and I wasn’t too good at that, and rich people don’t like there to be any traces of dirt anywhere, and I can understand that. Then I had a job doing restoration for fire damage and water damage to go in and clean up and package what little stuff they have left, and some of the other guys had jobs, but we couldn’t have jobs once we hit the road, so we lost them - naturally.

WTL: Does that mean you pretty much live on the road?

Alexis: Things slowed down a little bit because we were recording this album, “When Skies Wash Ashore”, so we didn’t get to play as many shows. We pretty much lived in New York for three months. Things now are just starting to pick back up where we’re on the road, a lot!

WTL: What kind of things do you do for the band beyond playing and touring that regular people don’t see?

Alexis: We still have to go through battles to get merch, we’re till in control of all of that. When we’re not playing, we’re on the computer talking to our fans, doing MySpace, just trying to do what we can to make sure we’re well promoted, and that everyone is on top of what their supposed to be doing. It can be hard because people get agitated, they don’t want to be bothered, but we don’t want to get swallowed up. There’s a lot of new bands out there, and a lot of them are good, so we need to be on top of things. Today we might be it, but tomorrow, people could be asked “Who are you?” So when we’re not playing, we’re working to keep our name out there. One of our goals is to try and make Straight Line Stitch a household name.

WTL: How important is merch?

Alexis: Merch is our bread and butter! And every single band that we’ve toured with, merch has been their bread and butter too! With gas prices being so ridiculous? Bands get a guarantee for playing a show, but that guarantee gets sucked up in gas, so we don’t make anything from that, so selling shirts is our lifeline

WTL: How far have you played so far? Have you been outside of the US?

Alexis: We haven’t been outside! [note: at the time of this interview, Straight Line Stitch had not played outside of the US, but had a show lined up in Toronto, which they’ve now completed, as well as dates in Mexico] We’re ready to go! When they tell us that we’re playing overseas, you’re going to see a big rainbow, because I’ll be farting rainbows, because I’ll be so excited about going to Europe!

WTL: You had an EP, and an earlier album. Are those going to go by the wayside now?

Alexis: We’re actually out of those, we did those independently, so this “hen Skies Wash Ashore” is going to be our first national release through a label, but I don’t think those earlier efforts will ever go to the wayside because there’s still people who still want those CDs and want us to play songs from those albums, so I think as things progress, we’ll bring those songs back out and play them. We just had a conversation of a song that we’re recorded a couple of times, and we’re tired of recording it, we’re tired of the damn song, so we’re not going to do it anymore, but the fans like it so much that we’ll probably do it again. The old stuff that we did won’t fall by the wayside, not by a longshot.

WTL: Who would you like to tour with?

Alexis: I don’t want to sound corny or cliche, and everybody says this, but I truly mean it. I would like tour with Metallica! That’d be cool! That’s a band I was into when I was younger, listening to the black album, and that’s a band that totally went out there and made a name for themselves. You know you’ve made it somewhere when you’ve played with Metallica! I we did that, that would prove that we did something right!

WTL: Have you ever lied about what your band name means, or just completely lied about your band name?

Alexis: I think our bass player did that once when we were at a gas station, and he said we played for Kelly Clarkson! And another time when we had another member when we were taking pictures outside, and he said we were Aerosmith! People have asked about Straight Line Stitch and what it means, but I don’t lie about that, because I honestly have no clue what the hell the name means. It was there before I was in the band. I asked the guys about it just in case someone asks what the band name means, but they didn’t know what it means either, so I guess it sounds cool. What they told me, and what they could remember, was they had 2 male singers in the band before they even thought of me, and I guess the mom of the singer sewed a straight line stitch in come clothing, and they thought the name was cool, but don’t quote me on that!

Straight Line Stitch at MySpace

Way Too Loud!: I could swear I heard some “Kill ‘em All” era Metallica and even some Venom making it’s way into “Texas Medicine”. Was that just me, or is there some solid reasoning behind having some cool old-school make it’s way into Cradle To Grave?

Sasquatch: And you’re absolutely right! You see, I’m old and withered. I purchased Venom’s “Welcome to Hell” the day it came out way back in 1981 and I’ve been a fan ever since, so it’s probable that you can hear in Cradle To Grave. I also purchased “Kill em’ All” the day it came out, and it’s still my favorite Metallica album. I don’t think they were using any “Psychologist” or “Life Coach” back then….

WTL: How did the title of “Texas Medicine” come about?

Sasquatch: Greg and I had the idea of using famous song lyrics as our record titles. In 2006 we recorded a full length CD titled: “Things Just Couldn’t Be The Same” from Skynyrd’s “Freebird”. However this recording was a piece of junk so it was never released. We still liked the album title idea so we used “Mixing Up The Medicine” as a work title from Dylan’s  “Subterranean Homesick Blues” song. Our label honcho Chris “Benner” Benn liked the idea but came back with “Texas Medicine” which we liked right away. So it’s his baby.

WTL: How does the writing process work?

Sasquatch: I usually come up with the music which I bring to Matt, then we work together on it. After that Greg comes around and changes everything with regards to song structure and direction. He then retreats to the woods for lyrics inspiration. Glenn comes with his final touch and gives a second opinion on the material. It really works for us. If it wasn’t for our team effort we’d probably sound like a straight mix of Morbid Angel and Molly Hatchet. Which would fuckin’ rule!

WTL: There used to be quite a few groove metal bands not too long along ago. Do you feel like your bringing something new to the table?

Sasquatch: I’m actually always smiling when people say we are, or sound like “groove metal” cause I don’t understand what they’re talking about. Sabbath used to have breakdowns in 1972 however they’re not “groove metal”, right? I used to do the same song patterns with my previous band, Aggression in 1984, but back them we were called “thrash metal” and the breakdowns were called “mosh-parts”. I guess we’re victims of our era. Hopefully soon enough there’ll be  new terms like “mayo-part” or “the-part-that-slows-down-in-the-middle”.

WTL: Pantera has gotten some fame for their breakdowns. How do you feel about the breakdown today? It’s almost as though heavy bands in general know it as the only way to get the crowd moving.

Sasquatch: And like I said earlier, it is a very old trick and even the song “Shout” by The Isley Brothers there’s a breakdown, and that’s back in 1959, so whatever works. The funny thing about our Pantera comparisons is that I’m actually 16 days older than Dimebag (rest his soul). I grew up listening to the same stuff he did. My heroes growing up were Ace Frehley, Ted Nugent, Joe Perry, Michael Schenker, Eddie Van Halen & Brian May, so I think our influences were similar. I saw Pantera open for Suicidal Tendencies and Exodus back in 1990 and I knew they had something special. But every fuckin’ band back then had breakdown parts! Suicidal would probably be one of the best ever at it. I also remember Pantera having albums out like “Metal Magic” and another one I can’t remember. Me and my friends were more interested in Slayer, Celtic Frost and Sodom at that time. :-))

WTL: Do you feel like you’re facing some stiff competition in an indirect sense? There’s a lot of bands out there, especially now.

Sasquatch: You know what? There a lot of fuckin’ bands out there, and some are really good. Some are actually great! There’s a lot of good music available. I play music cause I like it, not cause I want a free blowjob backstage while reaching popularity. Been there done that. So personally for me, the more the merrier. As long as the music is good, that’s all I care about. Hopefully people will have room in their iPod for us.

WTL: How far have you made it on tour? Have you done any full-fledged US tours yet?

Sasquatch: We went all the way to the Atlantic ocean in Canada so 12,000 kilometers total playing 21 shows. We also played in San Diego and Los Angeles but we never had the chance to do a full fledged US tour, which would be great. We do have 8 dates coming up in two weeks. We’re stoked.

WTL: Who would you like to tour with who’s both feasible, but not obvious?

Sasquatch: I think we would be a great match for Black Label Society or Down. If it was my personal choice I would probably say Testament.

WTL: Bands always get asked about their band name way too often. Have you ever lied about what your band name means, or flat out lied about what band you were?

Sasquatch: I don’t remember any incident like this. Greg came up with the name. I know he always says to everybody that he’s a member of Pearl Jam or that he’s the actual father of Britney Spears‘ kids. So here is a scoop: K-Fed is not the dad, Greg is!

Thanks for doing these questions dude! I had some fun with your latest album, “Texas Medicine”!

Sasquatch: Anytime bro! We’re already cooking up some new demolition madness for our next CD so get some rest! You will need it! :-))

Cradle To Grave at MySpace

Paul McKenzie: We fuckin’ love it here in Toronto! We just flew in this morning and boy are my arms tired! (Laughs) The Mecca scene is happening here, it’s quite unique and I have to say that I miss it, unless you get out of it, you don’t miss it! You gotta get out of it to get into it!

Way Too Loud!: There seems to be a lack of personal information about you guys on the web, does this mean you like to keep a low profile?

Paul: Well it’s because we are so salacious and lascivious that if we were to leak one tiny little bit, it would be a law suit. If you make a personal contact with us it’s nothing but a fuckin’party! The access of personal information on the web, it’s just a protection scenario, as for me I’m true blue, but the other boys get into… other things.

WTL!: So what got you into playing music?

Paul: I’ve always been this way, from the time that I was dropped into the womb my first song was “WAAAA!” It’s always been a part of my life, all of my families’ generations, we’ve always been involved in music. To me, it’s not about money, if I can pay my rent or if I can buy cat food when I’m on tour that’s fuckin’ great. I’m not motivated by money I am motivated by my heart, I swear it!

WTL!: Your passion for the music!

Paul: Yes! I love it! We had the opportunity and we will tomorrow night to do a… “We dare you to do an acoustic show!” was more or less what it was. Because we’re an electric hardcore punk rock band, and now we have engulfed the acoustic scenario and I don’t want to go back. We don’t have to load any harsh gear, I just bring my ukulele and a couple of acoustic guitars… But you know, let’s not kid ourselves, electric punk rules. We’ll get back to it, I’m just entertaining myself at the moment. We can move around and not have to load any SVT cabs or anything, but there ain’t nothing like the sound of an SVT cab, for a bass player.

There’s a lot of punk rockers that come over to my place and I say “Dude you gotta hear this record!” and that may be something from the ‘40’s or wherever, I say bring it on! I love it all! Everyone’s different you know, like “that’s a tasty number” or “that ones not so tasty.” I’ve been there, I’ve been involved and everything evokes a blessing of energy. I’m not a hippie! But okay… one band, The Five Royales, they really inspired me. When I was a tiny boy I heard The Five Royales and they told me to be in a band, and I swear, all of you listeners and readers, check out The Five Royales; an American R&B band.

WTL!: What are your feelings on The Real MacKenzies being an influence to other bands?

Paul: How I feel is that we have very little or no control over that. All we can do is just keep on being the kind of people that we are, and if we are influential and iconic to individuals then we’ll just keep on doin’ what we do. To me, the more the merrier, and if you can be inspired then pick up that torch and run with it, all the more power to you. And perhaps we can come to the show and have a couple of free beers. More then a couple, a couple dozen. (Laughs) If I could I’d fill up my van and bring some home, ‘cuz I have this cat that loves to drink beer.

WTL!: A cat that drinks beer?

Paul: Yup, she drinks more beer than I do, well at least one on one.

WTL!: Wow, so did you teach her that?

Paul: Well it didn’t happen overnight, but for every beer I can drink, she can drink one.

WTL!: That’s quite interesting.

So let’s talk about the kilts. Is there any sort of family lineage around your bagpipe player, Matthew MacNasty’s camoflauge kilt?

Paul: It’s very interesting, when I first started getting into wearing the kilt it was a specialized thing and over the last 25 years that I’ve been involved, an obsessive diversity has ensued. There is the traditional kilt, I’m wearing a particular plaid right now, but if a guy wants to wrap a piece of canvas around himself and spray paint it, if it makes him feel more comfortable then who am I to judge? If you really want to express yourself, like it’s lucky for me to have this nice sharp, woolly, kilt that has some lineage to it. My point is that if you wanna have your balls hanging the way they’re supposed to when you walk down the street, then go for it man! I really don’t give a damn what it is, like if you wanted to do that without the kilt… cops would stop ya, I won’t! If it makes you feel better. And it’s really nice to have the sense of family, when we wear our kilts we’re family, so it goes back thousands of years.

WTL!: Your new album “Off The Leash” is coming out very soon, are we to expect anything on this one?

Paul: Yes! We’re going in a couple different directions. We got lots of interesting punk songs but we’ve also kind of gone off on another direction. Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco is where C.C.R. did their first album and we got to record in that same room! There’s two songs, “The Maple Tree” and “Guy On Stage” that instead of taking down all of the gear in the studio that we were recording with, we just flipped over to another one and it was Hyde Street Studios. Sly & the Family Stone recorded there, and here I am in the same room, I was fucked up! But our latest album is going in a couple of different directions, like if you were to pick up a Real McKenzies album from before you’ll see. We’re extrapolating on a couple of things, I like it, I’m pretty comfortable with it. On the first listen it might be repelling, but give it a chance and you’ll like it. It is punk! I mean I’m a punk rocker, I could write calypso music and it would still be punk.

WTL!: How do you guys keep amused on the road?

Paul: We’re all mad, all absolutely fuckin’ clinically mad! We fuckin’ love each other! If we didn’t love each other we wouldn’t be able to put up with each other under such conditions. For entertainment, that’s why I picked up the ukulele, we can sing songs about big fat guts, or cans that were left open in the van. It’s very important to entertain one another, because if we can’t entertain one another then how the fuck are we able to entertain anyone else!

WTL!: Considering the amount of bands you have already toured with, is there any band that you would like to tour with who is both feasible and not obvious?

Paul: Yes the Genitorturers, from Florida, they’re absolutely hardcore! I don’t think I could really describe to the listeners and readers how that band is, all I can suggest is that you look them up on the computer, it is wild! Wild fuckin’ rock! Apparently Marilyn Manson worked with them, but Manson fails as a comparison to the Genitorturers. They’re only one of many bands [we’d like to tour with], but that one comes to mind.

WTL!: I know you have toured all over the world many times but is there anywhere that you would like to tour, again or for the first time?

Paul: Yeah, Switzerland. Switzerland’s good! I’m a displaced highlander and there’s lots of Scottish people, displaced highlanders, in Switzerland, and they come to our shows, it’s fuckin’ amazing! It’s just a really, really nice place. That’s only my opinion but… well let’s ask another person on the street, (as The Real McKenzies bagpipe player walks by with a Fat Wreck Chords staff) “What do you think of Switzerland?”

Mathew MacNasty: It’s a nice place to walk!

Melanie: Nice Chocolate!

Paul: Switzerland is a beautiful place. We’re lucky to be living on such a nice planet. Not that I’ve ever been to another planet…

WTL!: The Real McKenzies have been a band for a long time now and you’re probably tired of the band name question, so I’m going to ask if you’ve ever lied about your name or what it means?

Paul: Never! A lot of people say “Oh you’re Paul McKenzie, you named the band after yourself.” But that’s not true, we named our band after the lowest quality of scotch available in Scotland. If you were to order it you could get a bottle of “The Real McKenzie”, but if you were to do that I implore you to drink it with water, don’t drink it straight!

WTL!: Well that’s all of my questions.

Paul: That’s it? You didn’t even ask me my sign!

WTL!: Okay, what’s your sign?

Paul: Caution, falling rock ahead! (Laughs) Oh sign… I’m a Libra.

Mathew MacNasty: Mine is Pyrex, I’m a test tube baby. (Laughs)

Paul: Yeah I’m a Libra, I’ve got a birthday coming up and I’ll be turning 39. Again. I think this is my 20th year turning 39, no 15th. You never get any older then 39.

WTL!: Thanks, I’ll remember that!

The Real McKenzies at MySpace

Hi, this is Thomas [Barnett] from Strike Anywhere. I’m from Richmond, Virginia, which is kind of a small big city. It’s the beginning of the historic south and it was the capital of the Confederacy in the US Civil War. So it has a lot of history and a unique part of the States. So growing up as an anti-racist Caucasian punk rocker marching arm in arm with the African American Clergy that kind of informed our experience and our politics and our sense of resistance. So a punk scene was built, but also a lot of underground art and music and probably the foundation band for all this was Gwar, who have costumes and do crazy world wide heavy metal tours and have a lot of creativity. Also there’s a band called Darkest Hour who hails from the suburbs of D.C. and Richmond and we shared a practice space with them for about two years, also our friends in Lamb Of God, who I’ve known personally for like 20 years. Randy [Blythe] used to have a skate board ramp in his backyard and my first band, Inquisition, played a big show then we had a big house party at Randy’s house after the show, and that was in 1991.

So we come to last summer, 2007, Strike Anywhere is in Sweden playing a festival with bands such as Ozzy Osbourne, 50 Cent and Lamb Of God. Randy comes out of nowhere to the backstage with bottles of wine and then comes onstage with us and sings “We Amplify/Blaze”, which is a song of ours. And we were like “Randy knows our lyrics? This is crazy!” There’s his unique voice screaming along at the breakdown of our punk hardcore song, it was really a fun time, it was really nice to see him. There’s the sense of unity we sometimes have regardless of what genre they’re in, it’s another facet of our small town, where everyone’s sharing practice spaces and buying equipment off of each other and being influenced by each other for decades. Even in American Hardcore, a documentary film that came out recently, featured Dave Brockie, who’s the singer in Gwar, and other mid-80’s, second generation punk rockers who helped build our scene. It was neat to see documented in that film.

Way Too Loud!: It’s interesting to see the links and connections between bands.

I was able to find a lot of personal information online, so I was wondering if you are a very open person?

Thomas: I guess I try to be, everyone likes their privacy. And of course being in a punk band you’re subject to people jumping on your head and singing along with you, and also just wanting to share the sense of community that goes beyond the boundaries of entertainment, and we embrace that, that’s part of why we do this. So definitely, I mean coming home off tour and having to decompress, everyone enjoys their solitude too. Plus you can’t really help what people end up knowing about you over the years you become kind of, in a very minor way a public figure within the counterculture, among peers. There isn’t a sense of “celebrity” about it, I mean we’re in your car, just hanging out, talking. That’s also another aspect of the punk community, no one needs to go through the theatre of a one dimensional typecast of a rock star. It’s about deconstructing that and having some good human times.

WTL!: So what influenced you into the music scene?

Thomas: I never really thought I was a musical person until I heard punk rock when I was 14. I had older cousins who made me mixed tapes and gave me copies of Maximum Rock and Roll, and these independent underground zines. It just seemed like another world! Then I started hearing bands like Operation Ivy, Crimpshrine and Stiff Little Fingers and these bands had vocalists who had very unique, raspy vocals but still had these melodies and this intensity and vulnerability at the same time. So I heard that and was just really happy there was somewhere you could go and didn’t have to have the clearest voice or have the most trained technical ability and you could still speak your mind and speak truth to power and scream your lungs out and sing along with people, and it was here in punk rock!

Also having a friend lend me his mandolin, I reverse engineered learning mandolin to learn guitar. I figured [the guitar] out then it was easy to put 4 chords together, then 5 and 6 and 7, then start to write punk rock and hardcore songs from there. Honestly, it started from writing poetry and prose and hearing melodies and rhythms in what you write and realizing there’s another platform for these ideas and for these words.

WTL!: You’re very vocal about your beliefs, what influenced your political and social way of thinking?

Thomas: Maybe growing up in Richmond and seeing hypocrisy and a sense of segregation, not just racially, but almost because of class, a sense of disenfranchisement and dispossession of general racist people, black and white, in the south. The illusion of progress and equality that passes for the American dream. Same with coming from a working class background and having family members living in poverty, people living in trailers in the forest or also working in a rural environment and still seeing people living in shanty towns with limited plumbing and access to health services. Then moving to the city and recognizing that it has the exact same harmonic. So trying to make sense of the punk rock counterculture that preaches unity and racial unity and trying to smash the oppressive forms of celebrated economics of our Western democracies, both of our countries. Then realizing you can do a meal service, have a meal where everyone eats, all of the homeless folks and the poor folks can come out and have a sense of community where it’s not based on assurance or the state, just you and me organizing something and having power and sharing that with everybody! I guess seeing these things happen in the punk rock world means a lot.

For unity, like I said before with the legacy of the civil rights movement. The Living Wage Coalition was a group in Richmond, me and Matt Smith were both involved in that a lot. That involved marching with a huge coalition of people; labour activists, professors, workers, students, and the Black Clergy for a living wage for workers in Richmond. So these are causes that are just a part of the culture and collective identity of… I think you need to do it on a personal level too, it’s not like being a martyr and it’s not like making yourself feel like [Mahatma] Ghandi or anything like that because everything feels so pointless like there’s this whole world out there and we stay inside of our boxes and pay money for all these distractions and make sure we have our satellite cable, our sports teams or we have a few bars we like to attend and a few neighbourhoods we know how to navigate but you know there’s all this other stuff happening and all these people with a richness of culture and ideas! We owe it to ourselves to become three-dimensional but the system doesn’t want us to, it just wants us to plug in and play and pay taxes, it’s just not worth it to me! There’s so much more to be connected to emotionally– sitting in on city counsel for the rights of the poor or for the rights of animals, doing these things in your hometown to make a difference. Then taking these ideas and taking them on the road and putting them on a record and sharing them with other people around the world who are doing these same actions and even more in Europe, Australia, Canada, California, Columbia, Brazil, Japan, where the national movement of people there are not allowing them to be divided.

WTL!: After coming up to Canada and touring up here, what do you think about the social and political differences between Canada and the United States?

Thomas: First, Americans romanticize Canada because you’re more… not just a politically socialized democracy, but more of a sense of human welfare on a street level. Education is more accessible and maybe even more government funded. And even bands, punk bands, get artists funding! Things that sound cosmic and insane to us! But after coming here for years and years I mean obviously there are many racial and economic problems and injustices that are brewing here, the same things we have in the States but the Canadian version. There’s just a laid back atmosphere that’s amazing! All the same, my band mates were in Montréal before the tour started with their girlfriends, they were at the Grand Prix and at the parties on the streets and saw Montréal riot cops beat up, gas, and arrest only the Haitians! It was insane, wondering why it was like this, up here! In places for the most part that feel more liberated and more humane than some cities in the US, then that happens. Then I go “Wow, okay, it’s still like this.”

Even the red in your Canadian flag, the red is for a group of the west, like a social democratic party, the acronym is like CCCM something…? a historical credit to the creation of Canada’s union and the temperament to Canada’s ideal by this leftist, agricultural group, I imagine like 150 years ago. I was really amazed, when you think about the red in flags you always think about the nationalistic blood, it’s always the blood of the patriots, that’s what our red means, but [Canada’s] red means something else. Something I think has a lot more humanity to it, more for the cultural health of Canada.

WTL!: So how is your time in Canada going so far?

Thomas: We’ve been to Canada a lot and we’re trying to punch into some new small towns and still spend time in the cities that we love, Montréal, Toronto. We went to Kingston for the first time and had a great show in that quaint little town at a comedy club. It was fun to have a political punk show at a comedy club, took the edge off a little bit! (Laughs) You know seeing pictures of Jim Carrey on the wall. But I can’t wait to get back to Timmins, that dusty town that claims Shania Twain and has a great history of Aboriginal Canadians. Just being around those folks and seeing that world, western Ontario. And going further west and seeing Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Banff. But we have always wanted to go to the Maritimes ever since we toured here in 2001. Just cities with names we’ve never heard of and accents that sounded like they were Irish or Scottish. Sydney, Halifax, Fredericton, it’ll be really fun!

WTL!: Do you have anything on the go with PETA?

Thomas: Not right now, we’ve worked with them on occasion, last fall we did the I Am Not A Nugget Tour with your local heroes Silverstein, and some other bands. It was cool, we’ve also worked with PETA in the past. I’m more connected to local grassroots and liberation and vegan action with different folks from city to city. They tackle problems that are in farming and fur trade and all these issues. One thing I was really involved with was rescuing animals from the pit-bull fighting industry. I rescued a dog recently who was abused and abandoned.

WTL!: Can you tell me about Microcosm Books?

Thomas: Yeah! They’re pretty much a one stop library! There was this whole atmosphere when I started going to hardcore and punk shows where there was all this literature like histories and radical histories and women’s journals– ideas that were not a part of even the most liberal university education. Things that were really important like vegan cookbooks and ways to do your own screen printing and how to squat an abandoned building and hook up the power and water so people can live. Microcosm brings together all these ideas like tres un arianism, anarchism, green ecology, women’s rights– it’s being creative; beautiful cartoon drawings of travelling punk rockers, it’s awesome having all those ideas! It’s not just us inviting all the industrial workers of the world, or vegan action, or anti-racist action, these groups that we would have at our shows, this is like a place for those ideas where people can go in, have the books and support an amazing info-shop, and [Microcosm] comes with us on tour. We’re really happy to have them. It connects people to these ideas and people come at there own pace, we’re not screaming at you to sign a petition at a punk show, this is where you can internalize the ideas and start a revolution in yourself in your own community, in what you want to apply yourself to!

WTL!: Do they have a website or anything?

Thomas: You know, they should! But they have a nice print catalogue you can pick up. They kind of do it old school.

WTL!: Word of mouth?

Thomas: Maybe, yeah. (Laughs)

WTL!: “Dead FM” was very personal and focused a great deal on certain specifics on the political world, is there a direction Strike Anywhere is going on the next record?

Thomas: You know it seems like we’re writing almost a narrative of new songs that kind of pull a story together about people organizing after an apocalypse, or the idea that some people have that there is an apocalypse constantly happening, especially in forgotten and working class neighbourhoods. What reality means for people of privilege versus what it means to people that live with black helicopters with bright lights shining in their windows and flying overheads and police sirens everyday, that’s the natural world for so many people in so many cities and not bike trails and public parks and safe walks to the store, these things that, if you’re lucky at the lottery of birth and time and place, you can have that kind of life, but for most of us it’s a struggle to try and find joy and trying to build something that liberates your consciousness and keeps you alive, it’s real important.

I just moved to south central L.A. and there’s a lot of history of resistance and just an amazing world there, and a great deal of police presence (Laughs), and segregated neighbourhoods, people starving and killing each other. I think the record is going to have a lot to do with that. So maybe it might be slightly heavier and darker, musically, and also it’ll talk about current struggles of the world and more specific things like I have a cousin who was born in west Africa, she now lives in Australia, but she’s been telling me a lot of stories about her growing up. Also I’ve been reading a lot about conflict diamonds and the Belgian colonization of Rwanda and just things that have made Africa that way it is now. So I’ve been writing from that and from the heart and my personal relationship with my family… like how many hardcore punk songs have been written about conflict diamonds? and child soldiers? so I’m just trying to introduce some new topics into this medium. It might have the same sonic qualities as a lot of our records, we still love the idiom that we write in, punk and hardcore music, but we definitely won’t be repeating ourselves.

WTL!: Will we see this new record this year or next?

Thomas: I’m thinking a year from now, we’re taking our time. We still have so much touring!

WTL!: Strike Anywhere has had only one line-up change, how have you managed to keep such a stable relationship with each other?

Thomas: We’re all just randomly really compatible and we also don’t live in the same cities, any of us anymore, as time has passed. Eric [Kane – drums] lives in Madrid, Spain; I live in Los Angeles; Mark [Miller] our guitarist (who replaced Matt Sherwood who was a founding member with me) lives in San Francisco; Matt [Smith – guitar] lives in Baltimore; and Garth [Petrie – bass] lives in Richmond, Virginia. Actually Garth was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is a Canadian. (Laughs) And he’s the one who still lives in our hometown of Richmond. We’re also still in touch with Matt Sherwood, he’s still a part of us in an artistic and spiritual way, he’s just retired from touring. He started like, an anarchist collective cooperative café in Ashville called the Firestone Café. So if anyone is ever passing by the mountains of North Carolina you should stop by and say “Hey!” ‘cuz he’ll be there!

WTL!: How do you keep yourselves entertained on the road?

Thomas: Everyone reads! We’re reading more than we ever have, which is strange. Everyone has the video game players, watching movies, passing movies around as much as possible. That’s part of the long drives which we will have to endure very soon in Canada. But we have been reading a lot and passing books around and having book time, discussions about what we’re reading.

WTL!: A Book Club?

Thomas: (Laughs) Yeah but in the most punk rock way! And sometimes we’ll just sit ‘cuz we have a box truck, like The Bouncing Souls, Black Flag, it’s like a tradition with American bands. We actually bought our truck from Québec so we’re supporting the Canadian economy there. We live in it, we have a box with a generator and power and just a living area where we don’t have to spend money on hotels or always be sleeping on someone’s floor, you know, have your own space. Also we can hang out on long drives so we’re not always staring out windows. Have a family time!

WTL!: Are you reading anything right now?

Thomas: Yes I’m reading a book called “Torture Taxi”. Written by an old Richmond punk rocker who now lives in San Francisco and writes for the East Bay Guardian. He’s like a really radical journalist who will uncover corruption at the highest level at the mayors’ office and chief of police in San Francisco. He’s an amazing investigative journalist. He went to Afghanistan and had an interview with war lords there who were on the payroll of the US government. He and the co-author of the book “Planespotters”, kind of like Trainspotters but people that look at planes going to private airfields detected strange planes that went to dummy companies that were owned by no one that were taking off out of small airfields. They discovered the trail of an extraordinary rendition of people being kidnapped in the Guantánamo Bay [and flown to] secret American prisons, the Czech Republic or Poland or Jordan of wherever. So this book has blown open the way to trace extraordinary renditions just because of hobbyists with binoculars looking at the numbers on the backs of planes, it’s a brilliant book!

We also read a lot of Cormac McCarthy, he wrote the book “The Road” which is being made into a movie with Viggo Morntensen. He’s pretty much a southern gothic novelist like in the tradition of William Faulkner. There’s this book I’m reading called “Suttree” and it’s about a man who gives up all his privilege and leaves his southern mansion in the ’40’s in Kentucky and lives on the water with all the refuse of the earth and all these homeless people building shanty towns and living their lives by fishing this polluted river. That’s people from the American southeast, writing a kind of southern magical realism literature, I don’t know how to describe it, it kind of speaks to us at like a gut level. What else… we have been reading a lot of books about the organized white supremacist movement and the anti-racist action, one book is called “A Hundred Little Hitler’s”, it’s a fascinating book!

WTL!: Is there anyone you would like to tour with who is both feasible and not obvious?

Thomas: The gentlemen in Bedouin Soundclash, we actually had a few dates with them in Europe and toured with them on the Warped Tour in 2005. They have a background and love for punk rock and we have a background and love for two-tone, rock steady reggae. We even talked about doing a mixed down dub-clash record between Strike Anywhere vs. Bedouin Soundclash. So whenever we can get our shit together and they have time that might actually happen. Other bands I’d like to tour with… there’s a lot of bands… I’d like to tour with Mos Def and conscious hip-hop artists. He even has a hardcore song on one of his records. There’s a lot of invisible threads of connection between conscious political hip-hop and hardcore punk, especially on the east coast like Philadelphia, D.C., New York, Richmond, it’s got a lot of fertility. Even folk artists would be important to tour with, and they all play like leftist, working class country music that Woody Guthrie would be proud of. Billy Bragg, Josh Small, there’s a lot. You know it’s strange that the people we don’t know in our lives, in our international circle of friends we don’t know how to get in touch with. Like Rancid would be fun, or Bad Religion! (Laughs)

WTL!: Is there anywhere in the world that you would like to tour?

Thomas: Everywhere! We’ve had the privilege of touring a lot of places, we just recently came back from out first tour in Brazil and Columbia. We would like to do a lot more of Central and South America. All of it! We were actually talking to Steve [Rawles] from This Is A Standoff and he has been to a lot of places and has a lot of connections. We’ve been through a lot of Europe and Eastern Europe and we’re willing to go further east and I think Russia is now opening up to punk and hardcore. It would be a lifelong dream to play in St. Petersburg and Moscow! But doing Southeast Asia is probable and possible. We met friends there who do a DIY touring network of Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Micronesia, Singapore– all of these places are not only possible but probable. But we have miles to go before we sweep!

Strike Anywhere at MySpace

Way Too Loud!: I’m curious about the lawsuit…

John Pettibone: It was our ex-guitar player that brought it up against Prosthetic Records and us.

WTL: Why were there 2 years of no touring?

John: Part of the reason was because of the lawsuit, and that we only had a 2 record deal with Prosthetic, so with the lawsuit pending against them, they didn’t want to push the record, or help us out with any kind of touring support. “Hail Horror” kind of went to the wayside, and I think they only made 1 pressing of that record, and that was it, so if you find it, or if you have it, that’s all there’s going to be! Century Media might go back and pick up the catalogue.

WTL: It seemed like there was a lot of attention just before “Hail Horror”, because I remember reading some big magazine articles with Himsa.

John: Yeah! Just before it came out there was a big push! But once it hit, and the guitar player did his thing, everything just went downhill. But out of that, we got signed to Century Media, we got Sammy (Curr, guitar) back, which is a lot more comfortable, as he’d been a long time friend. He was also a big contributor in the building of the band and recording and whatnot. Out of negative comes positive!

WTL: Do you plan to push “Hail Horror” at all, or will you leave that behind?

John: We actually have a couple songs in the set, and I think we’re using the success of this new record to push the other 2 records because a lot of kids see “Courting Tragedy and Disaster” and they see “Summon in Thunder”, but they never even knew that “Hail Horror” even existed, which is nice, because I think the new record is an equal of both records. Hopefully they’ll go back and find some more history of the band!

WTL: Does that leave the stuff before “Courting Tragedy and Disaster” by the wayside?

John: Maybe. There was an EP we did with mostly the same lineup, and that was kind of the change and the progression from what the band started as before the member and sound change. There was an EP called “Death is Infinite” which came out before “Courting Tragedy and Disaster”, but the record that came out before that was a completely different band. The same ideas, morals and values behind it, but musically and lyrically, it’s a lot different.

WTL: Things have changed a lot since 2003, so I’m wondering what it was like back then. A lot of important albums came out around then and 2002, and the scene was very different, and made up of a lot of different bands.

John: I completely agree! It was just before the explosion of Ozzfest, before Sounds of the Underground and other American fests like that trying to emulate the fests in Europe, which was a great idea, and it opened a lot of doors for a lot of bands. 2003 was a year where lots of small bands exploded with the industry saying “We can make a dollar”. We didn’t really take that route. All of us come from hardcore, and the value sense of it, and doing things yourself. We booked our own tours for 5 years. We were also all in bands throughout the 90’s in Seattle, and we all played shows together, so we have a nice community, and a roots base where we can do this all on our own. We were also getting older, progressing, staying on tour longer, and as we got on bigger tours, the demand meant we needed someone else helping out like a manager and a lawyer when we start dealing with bigger labels, I mean, I can’t do contracts! But we kept it between friends of ours who worked for us. The first manager was actually the guy that signed us to Revelation Records, and he’s like an old hardcore kid, and an old rock/metal fan, so we keep that moral base all the way around the band. When we were going into Prosthetic, they were an upstart label coming up that was still rooted in the DIY ethic, but they also had the background of Metal Blade and Century Media, because they had guys from both those companies. They were really organic, and we wanted to grow with that, but sometimes things get stale and people don’t see eye-to-eye, and we wanted to stay the way we were while other people didn’t want us to, so we left them behind and moved on.

Century Media came around and liked what we did and how we did things, the way that even though we were in our 30’s, we still have that late teens, early 20’s angst about us, and how we tour, and how we record, and the whole personality of the band. It’s very 1-on-1 with the people that come and see us, and we’re still huge music fans. Even though we’ve moved on to a bigger label, we’re still keeping things concrete. That’s what made that connection with Century Media. They’ve been watching us and following us for years as we did it, and loved how we did things, because it was so different than so many other bands.

Going back to 2003, we saw so many friends bands explode and turn into a business industry, which sucks, but to everyone their own, and of course I want all my friends to be successful in what they do. I think it was that year where it took the turn. The music became business.

WTL: I’m not familiar with the bands history before Himsa. Were you guys in signed bands?

John: We were on labels, but it really wasn’t about signing, because with hardcore, you can put out your own records, or your friends can put out your records. I was in a band called Undertow, and another one called Nineironspitfire. Derek and Sammy were both in a band called Trial. Kirby was in a couple of bands,1 called Bouts Of The World. Our bands always played together in basement shows, but all of our bands booked our own tours.

Actually, there was a book called “Book You Own Fucking Life” put out by this punk magazine called MRR from the bay area, that had information about people who would put on shows all over the country for punk and hardcore bands and local bands. And what was great back then was that you went on tour by yourself. There weren’t tour packages. Then you went on tour by yourself, and you played with all different kinds of bands from all over the world, and yet it was still so unique and underground and organic, and you did well! It wasn’t quite the hardships now as it was back then. It feels like a big competition now, but back then, the community always helped each other. There were kids putting on shows, there were kids feeding bands, you’d stay at kids houses, and shows were $5-6, and you played everywhere! It wasn’t just major cities or major routings. I really miss those times! All of our bands used to play together, and we’d have a really tight-knit ship in the northwest, as far as bands helping each other.

WTL: It does feel very competitive with all the new bands these days.

John: It’s just the industry. It gets so overwhelmed, and the see a market f