MUEN September 2009

8/3/2019 MUEN September 2009

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Contributors: G. Cataline, Shauna ODonnell, Jeanne Thomas (JET), Macavity, Slavewriter6,BC Blonde, R.L. Segarra, Karen Fader McBride, Yvonnes World, M Lazar, AngelDevil,

Charly Gienau, Shannon Lindsey, Tracy L. Forsyth-Lundy, Jus Forrest, Morbid Miller, Q5, RonRoosterpuddin” Isbell, Cerys, Morbid Miller, Diana Price, Metal Mike, Natalie Perez, Tina Rose,Heather Armstrong, Nik Vicious, Laya, Brittany Todd, Warren Meyers, Jori Pierson, Darcee

Brian Cade, Bianca Malise, Seegal, Eric Eaton, Chris King

Spokesmodels: Penny Layne, Saphira Spanks, Suzie Q, Jessica ShroyToy Kitten (Genocide), FluxXx Mutation, Danielle Fornarelli,

Ethel Hallow, Bianca Barnett, M Lazar, Helen Limon, Paris Inez, Kelly Chaos

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ContentBIG BLACK NOVEL PG. 18

BURN HALO PG. 55

CANNIBAL CORPSE PG. 14

CD REVIEWS PG. 124

CHEVELLE PG. 36

CHIMAIRA PG. 68

CKY PG. 94

DEAD RAGE PG. 78

DIVINE HERESY PG. 90DYING FETUS PG. 69

ELECTRICA MIAMI PG. 34

EMBER PG. 110

GLASS WOLFE PG. 60

GODSMACK PG. 4

HEAVENS BASEMENT PG. 72

INDEX CASE PG. 44

JANUS PG. 24

KENELIS PG. 84

KINGDOM OF GLASS PG. 10

LIVE REVIEWS PG. 104

LOVE HATE HERO PG. 22

OF THE WRECKAGE PG. 87OPUS DAI PG. 114

QUEENSBURY PG. 107

SAMMY HAGAR PG. 76

SAVING ABEL PG. 52

SHAMANS HARVEST PG. 74

SHAOLIN TEMPLE OF BOOM P

SUICIDE SILENCE PG. 80

TERROR PG. 40

THE CASUALTIES PG. 98

THE COLOR TURNING PG. 100

THE CULPRIT PG. 119

THEORY OF A DEADMAN PG. 2TOXIC HOLOCAUST PG. 70

WAITING FOR DECAY PG. 64

YVONNES WORLD PG. 78

Not all views expressed in these pages, are the views ofMUEN Magazine as a whole.

MUSIC UNDERGROUND ENTERTAINMENT NEWSIndie, Goth, Rock, Metal, Alternative, Punk, Electronic

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sica Shroy (Model/Actress)w.Myspace.com/jessangel2003

oto by: Rudy Stone



effen recording artists,arbage from Madison, WIeased "Absolute

arbage" on July 24 2007.ne of the 90's most influen-l rock bands put together

collection of their best.is came after four albumsd seven Grammy nomina-ns. The “best of” which in-

udes both CD and DVD!ong with the new trackell Me Where It Hurts,” Ab-lute Garbage features 17ngs of extreme and in-

nse emotion, from “Stupidrl,” “Queer” and “#1 Crush”“Special,” “Bleed Like Me”d “Why Do You Love Me.”hy are we talking about anbum released 2 yearso? Because this band has

ood the test of time, andl never be outdated :P

Myspace.com/garbage

~MUEN

M Lazar (MUEN writer)and her band SeptemberMourning have recentlyopened for The BirthdayMassacre, and is now ontour with Marilyn Manson!!The letter “M” shall not beunderestimated!!

myspace.com/mlazar

hauna ODonnell andno Cazares at this yearsayhem.

The beautiful Helen Limon... shemodels and represents MUEN inRussia. X the EC!! (translation:hell yes!!)Myspace.com/limon69



versal/Republic record-artists Godsmack are

ck!

annon Larkin (Drums)

ston, Massachusetts

space.com/godsmack

Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI SHANNONOW ARE YOU

DAY?

Im great,thanks.

MUEN: YOU GUYS AREON THE ROAD WITHMOTLEY CRUE, THE-ORY OF A DEADMAN,

DROWNING POOL ANDCHARM CITY DEVILS.IT SOUNDS LIKE ABADASS LINE-UP TOME. HAVE YOUPLAYED WITH THESEBANDS BEFORE?

Godsmack hasnt, but inmy previous band Amen,

we toured with DrowningPool and their originalsinger. Its been a pleas-ure seeing those guys,hanging out and drinkingwith them. Their newsinger is great. Charm

City Devils,the

first band, Ive known thesinger John Allen since Iwas fifteen years old. Weboth came up in the Vir-

ginia, DC, Baltimorearea, so its been apleasure hanging outwith them too. Of course,Ive known Tommy Leefor a few years, so weveknocked a couple Jagershots back.

MUEN: SO YOURE

PARTYING WITH MOT-LEY CRUE AFTER THESHOW THEN?

Well Motley Crue doesntparty, but Tommy Leeparties!

MUEN:

THATS PRETTY CTHEN. YOU GUYSWORKING ON A NALBUM THAT IS T

RELEASED SOMEIN 2010. YOU RE-LEASED ONE NEWSONG TITLED“WHISKEY HANG-OVER” FOR CRUEFEST RIGHT?

Thats right and its really well on radio.

fact, its # 2 or #1 rignow. We took two yoff, so you know thealways that thing whyou worry a little bit

people are goingremember

GODSMACK



f you are going to goof style. So its beenlly cool and its beentament to our fan

se. We love you guys!

EN: HOW FARONG ARE YOU INE PROCESS OF

RITING THE NEWBUM AND WHO AREU WORKING WITHA PRODUCER?

at is still up in the air. are talking to several

ys and Sully has al-ys self-produced ourords. We are thinking

having that fifth ear inre because we dontnt to keep making the

me record over ander again on the onend. On the other hand,cant change tooch. We are thinking of

nging someone in thise and let go of the

gns a little bit and seeat we can come uph that is fresh andginal. We have seven-n songs on the boardsically, we typicallyte the music first andn Sully goes andrks on the lyrics andlodies. So right now

ere we are at we prob-y have six songs fullwith lyrics andlodies and a bunch ofer ones that we thinkkick ass, but are not

mplete yet. We are ba-ally not even trying tomplete them until weeed get a producer so

can come in and help

in the pre-productionprocess.

MUEN: IS THERE A SETRELEASE DATE YET?

We are hoping to get itout in the first quarter,but if you want a set re-

lease date, I would saybefore summer becausewe want to be on tourduring summer. We willreally push to have it outby then.

MUEN: DO YOU STILLHAVE YOUR SIDEPROJECT ANOTHER

ANIMAL AND WHAT ISHAPPENING WITHTHAT BAND?

We had to come back toGodsmack. We did thatbecause we had a cou-ple years off from Gods-mack becauseeverybody wanted to

take a break after tenyears of touring andmaking records. Basi-cally, me, Tony and Rob-bie had a bunch of musicand so we did the An-other Animal thing. Whenwe had to come back toGodsmack full on, prettymuch Whit and Lee are

continuing on with An-other Animal with othermusicians filling in for us.Evidently, they have aEuropean, Australian andJapanese release. Thealbum was only releasedin the states and we onlydid one little tour for it. Itwasnt something we had

a lot of time for. Those

guys are going to runwith the Another Animalball and hopefully in thefuture we will do anotherrecord someday.

MUEN: LETS TALKABOUT THE IMV “BE-HIND THE PLAYER”

DVD. IT IS AN INTI-MATE BEHIND THESCENES LOOK ATYOUR LIFE AS A MUSI-CIAN. TELL US A LIT-TLE ABOUT THE DVD.

I was approached by agood friend of mine backin the day named Sean

Ian, he is part owner ofthis IMV Company. Its abrand new company.They had secured Munkyfrom Korn, its not justdrums. I had never donean instructional DVD be-fore because Im not re-ally a soloist, Im a bandguy. When he ap-

proached me the ideawas to take a coupleGodsmack songs andbreak them down slow toshow the kids how itsdone and how I playeach song. I got to pickthe two songs that Iwanted to represent. Ithought it was a wonder-

ful thing, it turned outgreat, the sound is awe-some and it has a bunchof cool features whereyou can go in and seethe footwork and hand-work. It will show youhow to play the songs athalf speed and then Iwork it up to speed. All

the kids that I have

talked to that are staout playing drums swas real helpful.

MUEN: YEAH I WAWATCHING PART ONOW YOU NEVERTOOK ANY DRUM SONS AND YOU

TAUGHT YOURSEHOW TO PLAY IS TRIGHT?

Thats right, well JohBonham and Neil Petaught me how to pl

MUEN: THATS RIGBECAUSE YOU WE

TO STORES ANDBOUGHT BOOKS ALEARNED THAT W

My sister was a couyears older than meone day she gave mRush Hemispheresrecord and said “Yogot to listen to this

record.” I wasnt a dmer yet, but that mame want to play druShe then gave me LZeppelin II and thatwhen I asked my pafor a drum set for Chmas.

MUEN: DO YOU TH

THAT BECAUSE YNEVER TOOK LESSONS YOU WEREABLE TO CREATEYOUR OWN STYLE

Well, that and the fathat I was playing baball and I jumped onbasketball and a gu

jumped on me. I hea



collarbone snap ands was in the early 80s.ck then, they put me inull torso cast, but I stilld my wrist. I had tose my snare and lower

high-hat and I couldually still play in thet. Typically, a drum-

r plays with his rightnd over his left handthat your right hand ishigh-hat and your left

nd is the snare. Now,of a sudden becausein this cast I switched

h my left hand on topmy right hand so Iuld continue to play

h a broken collarbone.en I got the cast offright hand was used

being underneath myhand, so to get back I

uld switch over withoutssing a beat. When Iuld switch over Irted swinging my arms

d thats how the style

s born, from a brokenne.

EN: THATS AOD STORY. TELLABOUT YOUR KICK

CHNIQUE ANDHAT IS THE TRICK

PLAYING A POWER-L PEDAL?

nk that you keep theel of your foot up, playthe ball of your foot

d let the pedal do mosthe work.

EN: WHERE CANOPLE PURCHASE

Online at IMV.com and atmost Guitar Centersacross the country.

MUEN: ROBBIE HASONE TOO RIGHT?

Robbie has one too, itsgreat. He plays “Voodoo”

and some cool basssongs.

MUEN: NOW, HEGUEST STARS ONYOURS, DO YOU PLAYON HIS?

Yeah I do.

MUEN: SOME OF THEPROCEEDS GO TO ANORGANIZATIONCALLED LITTLEKID-SROCK.ORG.

We do a lot of charityevents. We just played inTexas; we went out therefor free. We did an

acoustic show becauseone of our buddies gothurt really badly on aBMX bike and so wetried to hook up. Thereare so many of them thatsometimes they come tome and say “Hey, can wedo this one?” and Im like“Yes, of course.”

MUEN: I NOTICED YOUHAD A TOY TRAILERBACK THERE SO YOUMUST HAVE BROUGHTSOME TOYS OF YOUROWN.

Our toys are big HarleyDavidsons.

MUEN: I READ THATYOU HAVE A CLOTH-ING LINE CALLED“WERD WEAR.”

Well, thats not my cloth-ing line; Im an endorsee,like Im the face of thecompany. I dont have

any business to do with itexcept for I can veto artdesigns I dont like.When they get the artand shirt ready, theysend me a picture of itand I can say “Yeah,thats cool or No, thatslame.” That is about myinvolvement. Its a really

cool company that usesall organic cotton and thedesigns are real simple.Its not Affliction style witha bunch of crap all overit. Its simple designs thatI try to keep rocker/bikerheavy.

MUEN: THATS NOT

ALL, YOU ARE ALSO ABIG FAN OF HORRORMOVIES AND YOUCOLLECT THEM. HOWMANY WOULD YOUSAY YOU HAVE?

Ive got over 500 in mycollection right now.

MUEN: DO YOU COL-LECT HORROR NOV-ELS AS WELL?

Yes, Im a big reader; Ialways have a bookopen. Right now, Imreading the new GlenDuncan book, he wroteI,Lucifer. I just got it the

other day, but it

s really

good. Its about a guwho dies and is hovover his own funeradoesnt quite know hdead yet so its that of vibe.

MUEN: SO I HEARTHAT YOU HAVE W

TEN SOME GRAPHSTUFF OF YOUR O

Yeah, Ive been writsince I was sixteen have a couple novedone. I have never tto pitch them or anybecause rock and romy life. I figure a lot

my favorite authors even publish books they were in their fiffigure Ive got someand Im hoping thatsomeday when this ends, which inevitabwill, then I will just trwrite and publish myworks. Its kind of lik

song when you are ing; its very personamatter how you cut want to make sure igreat before I unleaWhen we were doinFaceless record, I wget drunk at night anput up short stories.would write them, pu

them online and getfeedback. Some of pretty hardcore stuffso I ended up puttinthirteen short storiesgether and it is like nrated by Satan so I cThe Devils Diaries.initely need more stbecause I think that

short stories should





fifteen pages or lessactuality you can havhundred page short sbut I want to keep threally short and sweewith wicked twists rigthe end. Like, the lassentence will mess yup, you know what I

mean? It

s exciting alove to write.

MUEN: SULLY HASWRITTEN A BOOK WELL CALLED THEPATHS WE CHOOSITS A MEMOIR OF LIFE.

It

s a memoir, right. Ithe actual true story his life. He had a reainteresting upbringinHe was raised poor wall the fighting andgangs. I was raised mdle class in West Virgso I really dont haveback story. Ive been

playing drums all my

MUEN: THANK YOUMUCH FOR TALKINWITH ME TODAY. ITWAS A LOT OF FUNBEFORE I LET YOUIS THERE ANYTHINYOU WOULD LIKE ADD OR SAY?

No, youve covered iThat was a good inteview and thank you fhaving me.



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nited Kingdom)

ww.myspace.com/kinomofglass

G. Cataline

O IT'S JUST THE

WO OF YOU IN THISAND? DAVIDACKMAN ANDRISTOPHER

OYD WHITE?

s, with a PC centrege as a passive

rd member - thank-y we dont have to

are any royalties

with it – although itdoes eat any profits.

WHO PLAYS WHAT?

Ok youve got us - thecomputer plays mostof it and takes none of

the credit, LOL. How-ever, we have to pro-gram each and everynote. A key ambitionwas to make it soundas well produced aspossible with a mix ofreal and electronic in-struments – whateverit needs, which has al-lowed us to explore a

wide spectrum ofmusic. Bring on thetuba!

HAS THERE EVERBEEN ANYONE ELSEIN THE BAND? ANDWHAT ABOUT LIVE

SHOWS?

Not in this band. Backin the 90s we bothformed an Industrialband call Neuronet,gigged around the UKand recorded analbum. However, thiswas in our salad daysand family life then got

the better of us.

During the last yeaweve focused on ploring our song wing abilities withouprejudice. Weve ahad to get up to sp

with the latest technologies (thats Dadepartment). Nextwell be forming a band to take on throad, however, creity will remain with

HOW LONG HAVYOU BEEN DOINTHIS?

KINGDOMOF GLASS



e been involved inusic for as long as I

an remember – or atast since late teens.ollowing a familyeak to recover, Ianaged to traceavid down through

iends Reunited lastar. After a night ofeavy drinking (byave) and re-living ouruth (or what heuld remember!), we

ecided to stop remi-scing and get back tohat we love doing –

ng writing, producingnd drinking.

OU HAVE SOMEATCHY SONGS.. IKE "SLOW DIVING"ND "TO GET BY"SPECIALLY... HOWO YOU GUYS GOBOUT THE SONG-RITING PROCESS?

he process usuallyarts by writing chordogression by what

ver means (some-mes even on a realano). However, we

ont limit ourselvesnd will use anythingn hand to keep theeative juices flowing.ven while on holidaythe US, Dave wroteme chords using hisOD (iShred), and via

mail we outlines theeas of the songs so I

uld write the lyrics.

This was our first at-tempt at writing re-motely acrosscontinents and timezones and borneMake Believe Angeland Killing Angel .Thats the way to com-

pose – on a beach,drunk! Once thechords are in place Illlay down a rough vocalline so that Dave canbuild the productionaround. This allows usto build the songs iter-atively.

HOW DID YOUCHOOSE KINGDOMOF GLASS FOR ANAME?

We hated choosing aname. Initially we triedpicking song titles outof a hat and combiningthem, however, someof them spelled out asif by an Ouija board!So, scared witless, wedumped this idea andKingdom of Glass justpopped into my head.It seemed to describehow we felt about oursongs – being a portalor looking glass intoanother reality or time.At the time we didntrealise it was a glassmaking region in Swe-den – at least theymight by the album.

WHO IS DOING THE

BACKING VOCALSON "TO GET BY"?

Id like to say we em-ployed a 30 strongchoir. However, acheaper solution wasto use a virtual choirapplication on the PC.You program the pho-netics and after many

boring hours (andbeers) fine tuning – iteventually sings. Well,sort of.





Tune-in to FM 107Southeast New Mexico and West Texas



Jeanne Thomas

UEN: You are out Mayhem tour

ght?

s. Yes thats right

UEN: Hows iting for you?

h its been the bestur ever! The crowdsve been huge and

e are making a lot ofw fans. It's the best

ur we ever did. Iean I can tell you fore its the most funur I've ever done forre. I mean its a lotferent than playing

e clubs.The smallerubs interaction withe fans is a lot closer.ere at Mayhem theage is so high andu are farther awaym the people.

UEN: Yeah its likeing God up there.

Ohyeah,

hehe Its definitely dif-ferent than being atthe smaller venues.

MUEN: Lets talkabout your latest cdthat came out earlierthis year... “Eviscer-ation Plague". Howdoes it differ fromthe past cds thatyou've done?

Well as a band, whenyou do new cds youalways strive to makea better one. We hadEric Rutan producingagain. We know himand he is also a musi-cian. So with both ofthese factors it makesit easier for us to have

him -plus working

with him on the last cdis also a bonus. We

know what to expectfrom him and he of-course pushes us tothe limit. Its hard forme to describe how allthe cds differ. Therecording process isdifferent I think. I don'tknow if this is an evil

word in the metalworld, but this cd hasgroove. It has thisdoom approachingsound.

MUEN: Well I amsure as a band youtry to evolve with

every cd...

Yes. Eric isan incredible

guitar player andsinger. So whenhe produces he

has more of an inside track than som

of these other guysHes been in the studio and hes been onstage and he knows

He understands morwhen I am talkingabout singing a certatrack. Hes been theand that definitelyplays a big part. Allour other producerswere great too, butErics lived this like w

are do. Hes beenhere done that. We a just have a better understanding of ea-chother.

MUEN: He's in thegenre and hes playing in the genre.

And this last cd is



the highest grossingone you ever had soyou must be doingsomething right.

Oh yeah sure. hehhat never hurts.

MUEN: Is this last cda concept cd?

Na na na. The titlerack is obviously a

story, but the rest ofhe songs aren't fol-owing that story of

Evisceration Plague.

They are all separatestories.

MUEN: So this cd isunique in the factthat you can get acomic book with thecd that follows alongwith all the songs.

Have you seen it?

Oh yeah we havebeen doing book sign-ngs everyday. And

you can get both for apretty good price Ihink.

MUEN: Has therebeen any talk ofdoing a series ofcomic books for CC?

We thought about itand maybe some-where along the linewe will make that deci-

sion, but right now we

are only concentratingon Mayhem. The bookis out and its doing re-ally well. Its awesomethat our music andlyrics are actually inone. I grew up collect-ing comics. So yeah

its really cool. Theartist has done all ourcd covers so hes likeanother person in theband.

MUEN: And speak-ing of artwork. In thepast your artwork

has prohibited youfrom playing in manycountries. How arethings now?

Well a lot of the cen-sorship we encoun-tered earlier on hasbeen lifted. Countries

that have banned usin the past, we can goto now. Like Germanybanned us because ofour first 3 albums - wecan play there nowthough. There was aproblem in NewZealand and Korea,

but all that has beencleared up now. Cen-sorship sucks. I meananybody in any bandcan tell you its b.s. Itsa problem thats apain to deal with. Es-pecially here in Amer-ica because people

don't want to put your

record in their stores.They are saying thatyour listeners are thepart of America theydo not want to caterto. But if that part ofthe public became themajority, those moth-

erfuckers wouldchange their minds sofast. Its all aboutmoney. And thats dis-gusting to me andabout everything that Iam against. It is whatit is. Censorship willalways be there. Now

we just ignore it. Itsbarely even a topicanymore.

MUEN: Have youever had to pay anyfines or have some-one try to arrest youat any one of your

concerts?

Oh no no. it suckswhen we can't playsongs people want tosee and hear though.But its time to moveon I guess

MUEN: Do you re-member the firsttime you set foot onstage? What was itlike?

The first show I didwith CC was in Floridawith Kreator. It was

definitely a little scary

at first, but it was asome. I was like Othis is really happeing it was so awesand now its been 15 years since the

MUEN: Do you re

member the crowreaction?

Yeah they were almiliar with the oldsongs we did, but with the new stuff.reaction was greaand people immed

ately accepted methe new singer. A15 years later yaknow? I am still h

MUEN: Yep peopstill love ya GeorWhat are the typicc fans like?

They are metal heya know? They alllook different somally clean cut somnot so much so. Bthey all extreme mheads. This tour iscrazy so many diff

ent people. We areven surprised bysome of our fans.

MUEN: Do you sethe crowds as bemore diverse tod

Oh yeah sure. Som

of these people w



st being born when Iarted out. And thene have fans fromack in 88 too. And weve them all.

UEN: What do youttribute to your

ongevity?

Well our fans. We allork hard to performell, to play well, prac-

ce, and we have alotf dedication. We bustur ass, but in the ende dedication of the

ans is what keepsands on top. Theresat drive to play goodat elevates us. Our

ans have been withs through memberhanges and every-ing. They're loyal

nd we are to them as

ell.

UEN: Are your fam-es supportive of

ou?

h yeah yeah.

UEN: Even from

he start?

Well yeah. Everyonesamilies are behind us.

they were not, wedill be doing it... But

eah they are all sup-ortive.

UEN: Is there any

particular song thatyou do that is yourfavorite to play onstage?

Hammarsmash face.The reaction of thecrowd to that is unbe-

lievable.

MUEN: Do you thinkwith the introductionof internet radio andsatellite that it helpsget you heard andattracts new fans?

Oh Sure without adoubt. The internethas made things somuch easier forbands. Now instead ofshopping a demo youcan just put it on My-space. And so manypeople can hear it

there.

MUEN: So what di-rection do you seedeath metal going innow?

Brutal! The way itshould always be.

MUEN: Theres lotsof bands incorporat-ing newer soundsinto their music now.Do you think thatscool, or do you missold school stuff?

There are lots of

bands doing oldschool death metal.There are the hybrids,and there are themore technical bandsnow. I think its allgreat. It keeps it di-versified.

MUEN: Do any ofyou have side proj-ects?

We have a few thingskicking around hereand there. All thethings we have are

back seat to CC. Ihave a few things, andAlex did a cd with adifferent band too, butlike I said, it all takes abackseat to CC.

MUEN: So what areyou doing in your

downtime?

We all have differenthobbies. I play War-craft.

MUEN: Any plans onmaking a CC movie?

Well the idea hasbeen thrown around.We would definitely beinto it. Its just gettingaround to it.

MUEN: Well thatsmore stuff you cando on your down-

time.

Yup.

MUEN: Did you really play ElijahBlues birthdayparty?

Yes we did. It was

awesome. It was aThe Viper Room wJohnny Depp owneit. Cher invited us ther place the day bfore, we had a littleparty and she treatus really well. Shewas an awesome

hostess. Elijah is agreat person and hhas a band that reakicks ass too.

MUEN: Youve bewith Metal Blade fa long time now,whats it like to ha

a label stick with like that eventhrough all the sh

Its awesome. Our album was with theThey take good caof us we have no cplaints :)

MUEN: Ok.. Whatlast words do youhave for your fans

Stay metal!





s Angeles, CA

erview by: Macavity

hough they haveen around the L.A.sic scene a shorte, they have already

ade quite an impres-n on their fans.er listening to them,anted to catch up to

e band to ask moreout them. We foundvon, Javier, Migueld Steve to chat withd saw that Devond Javier were quickanswer about thession they have for

e band.

UEN: Hi guys!

Thanks for talking tous about Big BlackNovel. Ive heard one

version already, buthave to ask where didthe name come fromand does it have areal meaning for theband?

Devon: We had beentossing around names

like “Ginger Fox,”which was a commenta boy passing by at areggae fest had calledme and “Crimson Fox,”but people kept tellingus those names were“lame.” After frettingabout a name, my

mom said hastily, “Whydont you just call the

band Big Black Novel?”It stuck! Big BlackNovel is one of the

songs that I wrote.

MUEN: You have onlybeen together as aband for a short time.Can you explain thefunny way that thetwo of you met andthen how all four

came together tomake this lineup?

Devon: I had miserablystumbled into a dingydive bar after a reallyconfusing break up onValentines Day. Thisyoung energetic, very

enthusiastic kid namedBenny came up to me

attempting to get “ac-quainted.” I really waNOT in the mood.

After he realized thatmy only topic of inter-est was musical, he rtreated to his bestfriend Javier, who satquietly in the shadownear the pool table.Javier approached,and we immediately

seemed completelycompatible on a muslevel.

Javier: She kept talk-ing, and I was afraid interrupt because I RALLY HAD TO PEE!!

Devon: We exchangenumbers and then



came the first en-counter when we hadour acoustic guitars inhand in the back roomof my house and it wasmusical magic!

MUEN: How did youknow this was theright lineup?

Devon: I had been try-ng out different combi-

nations of the perfectband with guitaristsand bassists, drum-mers etc., but withJavier it was different!

We seemed to be onhe same page stylisti-

cally, musically, men-ally, etc!

MUEN: So manybands that are full onrock dont alwayshave such a strong

ead singer to keepup with the music,but you do. Have youhad any grief fromnew fans, venues orhe music business

when they see a fe-male lead vocalist?

Devon: Even if we aren the most obscure

piece of shit hole in thewall place and not onesoul is paying atten-ion. We walk up to the

stage and upon theirst chord struck all

eyes and ears are

upon us! It is a phe-nomenon that is quite

intriguing for us. Thecrowd hushes and isalmost lulled by ourmusic! It no longermatters male or fe-male. It is the music,the voice, the song, thesolo, the emotion. It al-

ways seems that it car-ries through.

MUEN: Do you stillget “pegged” as a fe-male fronted rockband though?

Devon: We indulge inthe fact that we are afemale fronted bandand use it to our ad-vantage. Though thereare not many femalefronted bands that Idraw inspiration from,the ones that I do areincredible. I would loveto one day play on the

same stage as my fe-male counterparts,Heart, Lacuna Coil, orIn This Moment.(Laughs) ArethaFranklin!

Javier: We do not see itas a negative aspect.

MUEN: How wouldyou best describe yourmusic to someone thathas not heard you liveat your gigs in Califor-nia or on MySpace?

Devon: This is one of

those questions that Iwould go out on a limb

to say that most bandsdread answering. I cantell you who our influ-ences are but to de-scribe a sound that hasyet to be defined isnearly impossible forme. The best analogy I

used to use was “JanisJoplin is making love toChris Cornell, musi-cally of course, andthey are suddenly in-terrupted by ZakkWylde.

Javier: I dont like thatanalogy, because I findit pompous to comparemyself to the greatZakk Wylde.

MUEN: I understandsome of you playmostly shows in Cali-fornia. Do you haveany plans to tour any

other states any timesoon?

Devon: We wouldeventually like to buildup such a followingthat we could tour theworld!! We are cur-rently in talks with one

of our dear friends toventure all the way outto Sacramento yes!Still California, but it isone heck of a drive.

MUEN: Speaking ofshows, what hasbeen the most un-

usual or odd thing tohappen at a show or

while on the road

Devon: We onceplayed a show whethere were stripperdancing during oursongs, which was kof cool because we

had deemed our so“Give it Up” as an iside joke “StripperSong” because of tsexy guitar lick. It wthe after party for aplay called “Strip.” Tother unusual encoters come to mind both were wardrobmalfunctions. Oncewas a split down thback of my pants (hbutt cheeks) and thother was down thefront of my blouse.Lucky for me, I knohow to hide things fore they show to th

crowd!

MUEN: Good thinyou do! You havesamples up on MySpace from work have been performing live. When canexpect to see the

three or six song

Javier: Our six sonis available but onlour live shows. Wecurrently working omerchandise pagerelease date foriTunes.

MUEN: How were



cks decided uponr the EP and do younk they cover thel spectrum of youre performancesd recordings?

vier: We drew frome crowd response ate shows and fromr fans on our My-ace page.

UEN: Where didu record and how

d you choose theudio and producer?

vier: We found himine. We respectat he supplies be-

use it is true to ourund and he is very,ry affordable. Weetty much producede tracks ourselves.

UEN: How is theusic written for thend and by whom?

vier: When we firstarted we played thengs that Devon hadeady written. As timent on, I would bring

a riff, and Devonuld bring in the lyricsd melody.

von: Songs justme to me. For in-

ance, the morning Iote “Dead Inside,”

y mom had abruptlyke me up from a

ry deep slumber. The

words and tune imme-diately popped into myhead, “Please go awaycuz were not opentoday.” As I woke up,and my imaginationwent wild, the songcompletely took a dif-ferent course from anacute irritation with mymother to a timelessrock ballad about ro-mantic immortality.

MUEN: Do you haveany videos plannedfor the one of thetracks from the EP or

to show the band per-forming live for thosethat cannot see youin person?

Javier: Currently ourfans can see our videoon Flashrock. We defi-nitely want to do a new

video. We are consid-ering doing a darkhumor flash animationfor a song that I wrotecalled “Suicide.”

MUEN: How usefulhas MySpace been tothe promotion of the

band so far?

Devon: MySpace hasopened so many doorsfor live shows, newfans one of whichdrove 6 hours just tosee us play! And if itwerent for MySpace,we wouldnt havelanded this interview

with you!!

MUEN: What shouldwe expect to seefrom Big Black Novelfor the rest of 2009other than live gigs?

Javier: Promotion, newmaterial, merchandiseand sexeh hard bodies!

MUEN: For the fansthat think they knoweverything about you,what do you each dofor fun that does nothave to do with play-

ing/writing music?

Javier: Connoisseur offine beers and burgers.

Miguel: Beer pong and joining the marines.

Steve: Playing base-

ball.

Devon: Learning theart of making amazingribs!!

MUEN: Is there any-thing I have notasked that you think

our readers shouldknow about Big BlackNovel?

Javier: Though Devonand I did not meet untilwe were old enough tograce a bar legally, welived only blocks of

each other growing upin a quaint little town

known as West Cov

Devon: I dabbled inacting world when Iwas younger. At theage of 9, I landed thpart of “Neat BroomGirl,” little Bette Midin the feature filmHocus Pocus. Whewas in high school was mocked as “Molikely to get gonorrhof the mouth” in theyear book due to a I played as Moira, ateen who obtainedgonorrhea of the

throat, on NBCs ERam still trying to es-cape that. Sheesh!

MUEN: Wow! Gooluck living that donow that it is in intnational cyberspaThanks guys for ta

ing the time to talkwith MUEN. Lookiforward to seeing and hearing you amore soon!





VEHATEHERO

ret Music

rrick Berube (Vo-s)

lywood,

-

ace.com/love-ehero

Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI PIERRICK

ANKS FOR TALKINGTH ME TODAY.

Course.

UEN: YOU HAVE A NEWBUM COMING OUT ONPTEMBER 29TH

ALLED AMERICA UN-RWATER. CONGRATU-TIONS ON THAT.

ank you

MUEN: THIS IS YOURTHIRD ALBUM TO DATE ISTHAT CORRECT?

Yeah

MUEN: YOU GUYS SEEMSO YOUNG, YET YOUHAVE THREE ALBUMSOUT.

I know, we are going to havea hundred by the time we aredone.

MUEN: YOU MUST WORKVERY HARD.

Actually, our youngest mem-ber is 21 and Im 25, so weare not that young.

MUEN: YOU RE-TOOLYOUR SOUND WITH TRECORD. WHAT DID Y

DO DIFFERENTLY

Well, I thinkwe decid

to showso muof thesiciathe bare a

highelevel s

decided stop show

by doing realflashy solos and

type of stuff. We decidconcentrate more on wfull rock songs, big com

songs. That is basicallyWe wanted to be more cessible to a broader aence. We wrote a little bmore radio friendly son

MUEN: WHO PRODUCTHE RECORD AND WDID YOU RECORD IT?Daniel James and Leahwood at Dreamlab Prodtions in Studio City, CA their house. They have



o in the back.

UEN: I WAS NOTICINGHAT ALL THREE OFOUR ALBUM COVERSRE BEAUTIFUL. HOWO YOU DECIDE WHATOES ON THERE?

ell, that takes forever; west go back and forth withe artist. We tell him whate are trying to convey andr ideas. They usually sendsomething and it goesck and forth for a few

eeks until we are happy.

UEN: I REALLY LIKE THEONG “ECHOES.”

ank you

UEN: TELL ME WHATHE SONG IS ABOUT.

at song is about the recordd how we are trying toange it up a little bit.

UEN: WHAT DO YOUHINK MAKES YOURAND UNIQUE?

e are very talented musi-ans and I like to think myice is unique. I try to keep

y unique aspects in thecording and not sing soaight forward. Its veryp, but its got an edge to it.

s a little bit heavy at times.

UEN: YOU HAVE HADOME LINE-UP CHANGES

NCE YOU FIRSTTARTED OUT. DO YOUHINK THE LINE-UP YOUAVE NOW IS PRETTYOLID?

eah, this line-up that weve now has been for threears. All the changes hap-ned right away pretty

uch; we had never toureddone anything. We got

gned, we started touring

and one would drop off. Theycouldnt handle having nomoney or their girlfriendswouldnt put up with it. Its notan easy life.

MUEN: RECENTLY YOUSHOT A VIDEO FOR THETITLE TRACK. CAN YOUTELL US ABOUT IT?

The video is amazing. Wespent three days at Lake Mo- jave in Arizona on a houseboat. Its about a band com-ing together type of video.That is the theme of thesong, coming together, so weare just out there being bros.Our girlfriends are there andthere are just epic shots. Theshots are incredible and I

cant wait to see it. I stillhavent seen it. I saw itthrough the lens of the cam-era.

MUEN: WHEN IS IT GOINGTO RELEASE?

I hope pretty soon. It will beright around the same timeas the record or right before.

MUEN: YOU RECENTLYJOINED THE WARPEDTOUR ON THE SMART-PUNK STAGE. HOW IS ITGOING AND HOW ARETHE CROWDS?

Awesome, we are doingmuch better than we thoughtwed be doing. There are bigcrowds and we are about

right in the middle in thedraw. There are some largeracts that are drawing a lotmore obviously, but we aredoing very well.

MUEN: IT SEEMS LIKEYOU ARE ALWAYS ON THEROAD. ONCE WARPED ISOVER WILL YOU CON-TINUE TOURING?

After Warped, we are doing a

tour in Mexico. The followingmonth we are going to SouthAmerica for a tour.

MUEN: WHO WILL YOU BEGOING OUT WITH?

We dont know yet, we are inthe process of figuring it out.In Mexico and South Americawe are going by ourselves.

We went to South Americaonce, to Brazil and the tourwas amazing. We were somuch bigger down there justbecause we were an Ameri-can band.

MUEN: WHAT CAN SOME-ONE EXPECT FROM ONEOF YOUR LIVE SHOWS? ISIT HIGH ENERGY?

Yeah, we try and get a lot ofcrowd participation. Its prettyhigh energy with sing-alongsand stuff like that. Its prettycool.

MUEN: DO YOU GUYSPLAY AT CHAIN REACTIONIN ANAHEIM?

We have played there a

thousand times. You shouldcome out next time. Yeah,that is pretty much our home-town venue. We live in LosAngeles and Inland Empireso its like in the middle.

MUEN: WHAT IS YOUR FA-VORITE THING ABOUTBEING ON TOUR?

On this tour, playing for sure,the kids come out and singalong.

MUEN: HOW OLD WEREYOU WHEN YOU FIRSTGOT INTO MUSIC?

I was fourteen when I firststarted learning guitar frommy friends and coveringsongs by myself. I would play

acoustic and sing. I was inlocal bands all the way up

until I was eighteen, whwhen we started this baThats when I dropped guitar and started justsinging.

MUEN: YOU HAVE A GTAR PLAYER WHO GON TOUR WITH YOU FIFTH MEMBER RIGH

Right and I play guitar sone song and thats it.

MUEN: DO YOU REMBER YOUR VERY FIRCONCERT?

I think it was Korn and eight years old. My oldebrother was like a big hian and Korn was the h

new band. I was freakinbecause I was so younit was insane.

MUEN: WERE YOUR PENTS ALWAYS SUPPIVE OF YOU WANTINGBE IN A BAND?

Yeah, totally, still to thisThey support me in evething I do, not with mon

but with love and suppo

MUEN: THANK YOU SMUCH FOR THE INTEVIEW. I WISH YOU THVERY BEST OF LUCKFORE I LET YOU GOWOULD YOU LIKE TOOR SAY ANYTHING?

Look out for the new reits pretty awesome. Prorder it now atSmartpunk.com and thfor the support to every



ANUS

y G. Cataline

O HOW WAS THEHOW AT POINTFEST?RETTY AWESOMEOU GOT TO SHARE

HE STAGE WITHHINEDOWN, STAIND,ND CHEVELLE...

ointfest was amazing!!!05.7 KPNT (The Point)as been giving the singlelot of love so it was

reat to come down anday for all the listeners

nd show them what

e're about. I'm always

leery of daytime outdoorshows because I preferthe whole dark rock clubvibe, but these daytimegigs turn out to be someof our best shows! After-wards we got to hang outwith Shinedown, Chevelleand Aaron Lewis from

Staind. Very cool people.Everyone was really ap-proachable and modest.

YOUR SONG, "EYE-SORE" IS VERY WELLDONE, AND THE VIDEOIS OUTSTANDING! WEPUT IT ON OURPLAYER AT MYSPACESOON AS WE HEARDIT, ALSO WE NOTICED

DAVE NAVARROADDED IT TO HIS POD-CAST "DARK MATTER"RECENTLY... WHOWOULD YOU CREDITFOR ALL THE GREATPRODUCTION ON THEVIDEO?

Noah Shulman di-rected/edited the video.He did something like300+ hours of post pro-duction work on it. He'ssuch a great guy to workwith and easy to getalong with. We knewgoing into it he was goingto step up and hit it out ofthe park.

WHAT INSPIRED YOTO WRITE THE SONAND WHO IS THE MALYRICIST AND SONGWRITER OF THEBAND?

David is the sole voicethe band as far as lyri

go. The song is aboubeing yourself and theperson you become wyou allow others to infence your life. It was spired by our experienwithin the music indusand the long journey tget to this point. It acally reinforces our whodrive for making thisrecord.



WHEN DID YOU GUYSIRST FORM, AND

WOULD YOU SAY IT'S

EEN A LONG HARDOAD TO WHERE YOURE NOW, OR DIDHINGS SEEM TOOME EASY?he current lineup haseen together a coupleears now, but David and(Mike) have been mak-g music together for

much longer than that.s been a very long hard

oad of not only self dis-overy, but insight into theternal workings of thedustry. It's been years the making, but things

re really starting to pickp for us.

WHERE WAS THELBUM RECORDED,

AND WHERE DO YOUDIRECT PEOPLE TOPURCHASE IT?

We tracked drums and allthe heavier guitar parts ata studio called I.V. LabStudios in Chicago withManny Sanchez. Thenwe finished the recording,mixing, and mastering atour own studio. Therecord "Red Right Return"

will be available online oniTunes and in stores on9/22. The single andvideo for "Eyesore" areavailable on iTunes rightnow!

WHY THE NAMEJANUS?

Janus is the Roman Godof gates and beginnings

and is depicted as a headwith 2 faces, one lookingforward to the future and

the other looking back tothe past. It really encap-sulates our approach towriting music. We're al-ways looking forward tothe future to do some-thing different, but alsolooking at what we'vedone in the past to learnfrom ourselves and build

on what we've done be-fore.WHAT DO YOU LIKEAND/OR DISLIKEABOUT YOUR LOCALMUSIC ENVIRONMENT?

I really like that there areso many local clubs toplay at that have such a

long history attached tothem. They're truly leg-

endary.

WHAT IS THE NEXT

STEP FOR JANUS?

We're hitting the road the next 3 to 4 monthsSo far we've secured few dates with FraminHanley, Chevelle, andPop Evil for Septembeand should be jumpinsome longer tours in O

tober to finish out theyear. We can't wait toout in front of all thesepeople and rock! It'sgoing to be great!

www.janusmusic.comwww.myspace.com/jawww.facebook.com/jaband

www.twitter.com/janus



yler Connollyocals, Lead Guitar)

ANADAyspace.com/theory-adeadman

: Shauna ODonnell

UEN: I AM SO EX-TED TO FINALLYEET YOU GUYS.

es! Im very excited toeet you too.

UEN: HOW DOES ITEEL TO BE ON CRUE-EST2?

nbelievable, I remem-r Cruefest1 was such

huge ordeal. Being onuefest2 is pretty rad.

UEN: DO YOU GUYS

VER GET NERVOUSEFORE TAKING THETAGE?

mmm.. there is defi-ely a lot of nervous en-

gy. We did a tourrlier this year with Mot-

y Crue, The Saints ofs Angeles Tour. It was

arena tour and so itt really different. Thise is an outdoor am-itheatre, theres anch of bands and

ere is a second stageeveryday feels like a

stival. For some reasonere is a lot more nerv-s energy, you get on

age and you are reallymped. Yesterday I was

playing so hard that I cutmy hand and I wasbleeding all over my gui-tar. It was rad.

MUEN: OH! THAT ISCOOL. HOW MANY

PEOPLE ARE WE EX-PECTING HERETODAY?

Like a million, I dontknow. There is definitelygoing to be like 12,000 orsomething.

MUEN: DO YOU PRE-

FER PLAYING AT FES-TIVALS OR MOREINTIMATE CLUBS?

I guess I would sayboth. At festivals youget to play in front of alot more people andyou get to winover a lot of new

fans. There are alot of people whoare coming here

just to see MotleyCrue and will probablyeven miss our set,but there will be a lotof people who willcome to check usout who dont

know that muchabout us. On theother side, the in-timate stuff israd because youcan see thefaces and reallyget up closeand personal.

MUEN: IS

THERE ANY PARTICU-LAR CITY YOU ARELOOKING FORWARDTO MORE THAN OTH-ERS?

I dont think so, we reallylove coming to the westcoast because we neverget to. We played SanJose last night and it wasthe first time we everplayed San Jose. Thecrowd was great. It wasone of those thingswhere you are very ex-cited to be in a town that

you have neverplayed in be-

fore.

MUEN: DO YOU PAWITH MOTLEY CRUAFTER THE SHOW

Yes! Every night… Nthose guys keep to thselves. We see thembackstage all the timTommy has his partyroom with a massiverunning with subs. Hhas his party and hehangs out. The otherguys kind of lay low.They have been dointhis for thirty years.

MUEN: APRE-

SHOW UALS Y

WANT TOSHARE W

US?



oey our drummer getsaked and dancesound. Its really

crewed up and crazy.

UEN: NAKEDSOOD.

eah, we just listen to

usic and get pumpedp.

UEN: I WANTED TOAY CONGRATULA-ONS ON SCARS &

OUVENIRS BEINGERTIFIED GOLD RE-ENTLY.

eah, thank you veryuch. Its unbelievable.

UEN: IM SO HAPPYOURE ALBUM ISOING WELL!

haaa!! No pun in-nded.

UEN: NONE AT ALL,OU GUYS GREW UPOGETHER AND HAVEEEN TOGETHER IN AAND FOR A WHILEOW. WHAT IS THEEY TO KEEPINGHINGS FRESH ANDEW?

hh! Picking on ourummer. We are humor-us guys and we are re-ly low key. I really dontink we are a bunch ofpha males so we reallyst kind of goof around.here are a lot of bandsat takes things too seri-

usly. We really dont

ke things too seriously.

MUEN: WHO WAS“BAD GIRLFRIEND”WRITTEN ABOUT?

Thats about my nowwife, who is probablycalling me on the phone.That is when I met her; Imet her at a bar. She

was like this “bar star.”Every time I would go tothis club in Vancouver,she was there hangingout with her friends.Shed be doing shots anddancing on chairs. Its atrue story.

MUEN: WHICH SONG

OFF THE ALBUM ISCLOSEST TO YOURHEART?

I dont know if there isone, I mean, “All or Noth-ing” is a song about howI met my wife and howwe got married. Thats agood wedding song. We

are getting some com-ments from people onour MySpace saying howthey chose that song fora wedding song. So itspretty personal.

MUEN: ARE YOU GUYSWORKING ON A NEWALBUM?

No, were not. Wevebeen touring so muchand we have toursbooked until the end ofthe year. They are al-ready talking about nextyears tours. Im sure wewill start working on stuffnext year in 2010.

MUEN: THAT SONG IS

NOW BEING FEA-TURED ON TRANS-FORMERS: REVENGEOF THE FALLEN-THEALBUM RIGHT?

Yes

MUEN: DID YOU SEE

THE MOVIE?

I have seen the movie.

MUEN: DID YOU LIKEIT?

I thought it was great. Itwas about 2 ½ hours toolong though. Nah, they

make movies 3 hourslong now, its insane. Itsimpossible to not have togo to the restroom whileyoure watching themovie. It was good withlots of explosions and thechick in slow-mo with herboobs bouncing up anddown, so it was good.

MUEN: I LOVE THEVIDEO FOR IT ASWELL, HOW EVERY-THING MOVES FOR-WARD AND THENBACKWARDS. WHOSEIDEA WAS IT FOR THEVIDEO?

That was the director, hewrote that treatment forus a year ago for thatsong. It took forever be-fore we made it. I dontknow why. When we firstread the treatment wewere like “Okay, it couldbe cool, but you justdont know.” After it was

shot and we saw it wethought it looked awe-

some.

MUEN: LETS TALKABOUTTELLTYLER.COM.WHAT IS IT?

The label set up thisthing about how if yo

have any kind of prolems you could emaand ask “What do I dand then I would givyou advice. They hasent me any new onlately. I think its kindwrapped up.

MUEN: WERE YOU

ING OUT BAD ADV

No, I was giving out some advice.

MUEN: DO YOU HAANY SIDE-PROJECFOR INSTANCE DAMANAGES BANDS

No, Ive got nothing going on. I write son

for the bands here athere, but I really ha

just been so busy. Don the other hand, isas busy; he just goebed all day. He doesnothing, hes lazy.

MUEN: HE PLAYSGOLF.

He plays golf and vidgames, thats about Hes a ladies man.

MUEN: WHAT DO YTHINK YOU WOULDOING IF YOU

WEREN

T IN A ROCBAND?



d probably be dead.Hes kidding) Ive alwayseen into music so Idill be into music. If I wasa band Id be recording

r producing.

UEN: WHAT IS THEIFFERENCE BE-

WEEN CANADIANEER AND THE BEERERE IN THE STATES?

anadian beer gets yourunker faster. A lot ofmericans cant keep upith the Canadian beer.hats why if you live inichigan and sneak

cross the border (therinking age is like nine-en and in some placesghteen) some kids

ant handle it.

UEN: IM SURE YOUAVE A LONG ANDUCCESSFUL CAREERHEAD OF YOU, BUT

WHEN ALL IS SAIDND DONE, WHAT DOOU WANT TO BE RE-EMBERED FOR?

three inch…..Uh what?Laughing) I dont know.

UEN: MUSICALLY.

usically? I guess thate have affected peo-es lives in a positiveay. Thats what music isl about. Even thoughe have songs like “Hatey Life” I think music iserapy in a way. Weok at Motley Crue ande greatest thing about

uring with them is the

fact that they have been

a part of peoples livesfor thirty years. Thatspretty amazing, so thatswhat we want to be re-membered for.

MUEN: THANKS SOMUCH FOR THE INTER-VIEW. IT WAS GREATTALKING WITH YOU. I

CANNOT WAIT TO SEE

YOU ON STAGE. ANY-

THING YOUD LIKE TOADD OR SAY?

Its not really threeinches.

MUEN: TYLER HAS ANAMAZING SENSE OFHUMOR AND MADE MELAUGH THROUGHOUT

THE INTERVIEW. THIS

IS ONE OF THOSE

CASES WHERE ITSO MUCH BETTERLISTEN TO IT RATTHAN READ IT. BESURE TO CATCH TON TOUR AT SOMPOINT, THEY AREAMAZING LIVE.



Jessica Shroy (Model / Actres

www.myspace.com/jessangel2



DAVID ALVAREZ of

SHAOLIN TEMPLE OF

BOOMos Angeles, CA

y Shauna O’Donnell



UEN: WE HAVEAVID ALVAREZ OFHAOLIN TEMPLE OFOOM TODAY. HIAVID! HOW AREOU TODAY?

TOB: Hey Shauna!ow are you doing?

UEN: IM DOING OKND FEELING BET-ER.

TOB: Thats good!ou sound a lot better.

UEN: SO TELL US

OW DID IT FEEL TOIN THE WONKA

ATTLE?

TOB: It was twoonths of night and

ay talking to streetamers and organizingngs. When it was

one it was definitely ag help for me to beble to create moreusic. It feels great be-use there were a lotbands that were ac-

ally on the Warpedour and have manage-ent and record labelsd it was just SToB

ainst some of the la-els out there so it feltetty good to win that.

UEN: GREAT! FIF-EEN THOUSANDOLLARS CAN RE-LLY HELP OUT AOT! THATS COOL

ND CONGRATULA-

TIONS ON THAT!NOW LETS TALKABOUT YOUR MUSIC.WHAT ARE SOME OFTHE NEWEST SONGSYOU HAVE WRITTEN?

STOB: Im going to bedoing vocals for a songcalled “Always, Every-thing” which will be thefirst time I release any-thing that is just piano,vocals and orchestra.It's really kind of a de-parture in some waysbut on the same vein ofstuff I have done be-

fore. Im really excitedabout that track actuallybecause it just flowedout of me. I just want toget it out there, thatshow much I feel aboutit.

MUEN: SO IT JUST

FLOWED OUT OFYOU EASIER THANSOME OTHER ONES?

STOB: In some waysyeah, because a lot oftimes Ill start a song bycreating a beat or elec-tronics or somethingand it kind of develops

over time but this onecame out without meeven thinking about it.The piano and thewords and the melody

just flowed out of me.Then there are someother tracks which willbe full band. There is

one called “Last day of

the sun“ Its a verygrungy heavy rock trackand there is a very ex-perimental track called“After the Fall” which isa very electronic eight-ies sounding song. Ithink I am going to sur-prise a lot of people be-cause it sounds like it isstraight out of the eight-ies hip hop genre butits mixed with rock andwhen the chorus comesin it has this horrormovie metal type feel.

MUEN: HOW DO YOU

THINK YOUR FANSWILL REACT?

STOB: I think my fansare used to SToB musicbeing eclectic so Impretty sure they aregoing to enjoy this one.The way I look at it is

that I have always writ-ten songs for myself soif I enjoy it then I amhoping people out therewill enjoy it too. TheMain thing is to pleasemyself.

MUEN: YEAH, I UN-DERSTAND WHAT

YOU ARE SAYING.NOW WHERE IS THEBEST PLACE TODOWNLOAD YOURSONGS?

STOB: Right now thebest place is through uson our trueAnthem

player

(www.myspace.comaolintempleofboomwww.trueAnthem.ctob). Its free and hquality Mp3, you juyour name in and fthe little questionnaand youre good to

The great thing is ydont just have to dload Shaolin. Therewide range of artistavailable. Once yohave an account yo

just go and see whartists have put outtheir music for freeyour iPod up with.

MUEN: WELL THACOOL AND YOU GAN AVERAGE OFTWO HUNDREDTHOUSAND PLAYDAY.

STOB: Yeah. That

throughout the inteIts pretty amazing cause one of the mbenefits of this conis the music is spreeverywhere so its tbest type of promoI cant really think oother company thaa player that lets yospread your music this way. You can gthe music directly fthe widget, I think ipretty powerful piectechnology.

MUEN: NOW I UNDERSTAND YOU A

THE FIRST UN-



GNED ARTIST TOE ENDORSED BYNGL AMPS. THAT ISWESOME!TOB: Yeah. That wasetty amazing. I wasntacted by Michaelo is A & R for Engld I looked on their

ebsite and they pute in the professionalers section backen it was only bands

e Cradle of Filth andgger signed acts inat section. But I thinke best part ofchaels philosophy is

at they look at theists that have a lot oftential. But when I

as first endorsed Ias the only one thatas unsigned and un-anaged. What reallyew me away was thatey put me in maga-

es all across Europe.e main one was

ock Hard, which isd of the Rolling

one of Germany.hen I actually saw thel page ad, I felt like Ially need to live up tos. It was a huge signfaith and their amps

e absolutely amazing!lay the Powerball.eyre really huge inrope and they are

arting to make theiray here.

UEN: ARE THEHOWS GOING TO

E LOCAL?

STOB: Starting out inCalifornia. I dont wantto say L.A. but insteadCalifornia and branch-ing out from there. Butalso looking for spon-sorships and there aresome possibilities thatmight be happening

soon.

MUEN: THAT WILL BEGREAT SO MAKESURE YOU LET USKNOW. NOW, DO YOUHAVE ANY LICENS-ING DEALS?

STOB: One thing aboutmy music is that I getasked all the time byfilm studios or directorswho are starting out.There is one film in theUK actually that isusing “Evil” and a cou-ple here in the states.Lately, there has beeninterest in taking thingsto the next level so Idont want to say any-thing yet since nothingis concrete. There isdefinite licensing possi-bilities real soon.

MUEN: VERY COOL!

SPEAKING OF FILMSTUDENTS, THEREARE A LOT OFBANDS STARTING TOUSE THEM FORMUSIC VIDEOS. THEYHAVE FRESH MINDSAND ALL THESEFRESH IDEAS SO I

THINK THAT IS COOL.

STOB: Yeah, timeshave changed so muchthat film directors havemore access to musicyou may never haveheard of before be-cause you can go on-line and get introducedto a lot of bands that

are unsigned. And thereis a lot of great musicout there that is un-signed. Part of the win-nings that I just got isgoing to go to a videoeven though it is lim-ited. But I think it is im-portant because it is an

artform you know and Ireally appreciate it. Idont care that it doesntbring cash flow or thereis not as many venuesbecause for me it isabout creating some-thing that is visuallybeautiful and interestingand it is a piece of art.

MUEN: I COM-PLETELY AGREEWITH YOU AND I LIKEWATCHING THEMCAUSE I WANT TOSEE WHAT THE BANDLOOKS LIKE WHENTHEYRE PERFORM-

ING. SPEAKING OFVIDEOS, ARE YOUGOING TO BE DOINGA VIDEO FOR “IWOULD DESTROY”?

STOB: Yes, its plannedto start filming in themiddle of August I think

with a very talented di-rector by the name of

Tim Thompson thata lot of really cool videas. I want to dosomething that is atension of the music

MUEN: DO YOU HASOMETHING INMIND?

STOB: I have a couof things in mind. Twhole thing deals wmetaphorical apocalypse thing. I kind owant to have some ics to showcase in tvideo. And it will be

too since we are onreally serious budgewell have to be vercreative.

MUEN: NOW CHRVRENNA, HE MIXEBOTH “I WILL DE-STROY” AND “ENTWINED.” TELL MLITTLE BIT ABOUWORKING WITH H

STOB: Well I havenever heard anyonelike him who mixesdrums and music thway he does. I meawhen I hear his mu

have this thing whecolors come into mymind and every timhear one of his mixeither his own musilike Marilyn Mansontheres always certacolors that come tomind. I mean it is ju

perfect for Shaolin yknow. Every time a



ng was mixed in theast, I have had com-aints but the first timeeard “I Would De-

roy”, which was thest song Vrenna mixedr SToB, it was perfect!e has a long history inusic and was one ofe founding membersNine Inch Nails and

e had a lot to do withe early records. Out-de of that he haseen in Marilyn Manson

d his own musicrough Tweaker.

UEN: SO I ALSOANT TO TALK TO

OU ABOUT YOURLOTHING LINE.

TOB: Its very earlyll. Its still a baby. Itsol for me though. I

m visual artist as well

nd I like to expressyself that way and Ind of feel like it is timer me to do stuff withirts and whatever. I

mean we have a firstshirt that is up rightnow. The “I Will De-stroy” shirt. its on mywebsite. So far peoplelike that design a lot.Im going to do thingsthat are both musicaland not. So if I do apiece of art that will goon and that is some-thing that is going tohappen in the very nearfuture.

MUEN: I NOTICEDTHERE IS A LOT OFFAN ART BEING

DONE ON YOURPAGE AS WELL. WHOARE SOME OF THEGRAPHIC DESIGN-ERS YOU WORKWITH?

STOB: The main one isMikio from Silent Q De-

sign. He is a greatartist and does a lot ofCD artwork.

MUEN: I WOULD RE-

ALLY LIKE TO DI-RECT PEOPLE TOWWW.SHAOLINTEM-PLEOFBOOM.COM.TELL US A LITTLE BITABOUT YOUR WEB-SITE.

STOB: It's the first bandwebsite of its kind. Its aband website but it is awebsite that isnt justdevoted to the band.Its also devoted to fansthat make up the com-munity that is shaolin-templeofboom.com.This is about a community

type of movement orlifestyle and not just theband.

MUEN: PEOPLENEED TO DEFINITELYCHECK IT OUT ANDYOUR MYSPACEPAGE TOO!

STOB: MTV justbought Flux, if you joinshaolintempleof-boom.com you can join

other communities MTV.com and yourfile changes with eadifferent communityou join. You can ashare your blogs wall the communitiesbe featured. And yocan upload videos Artwork can also beloaded and feature

MUEN: ITS BEENAWESOME TALKIWITH AND I WANTTHANK YOU SOMUCH FOR THE ITERVIEW AND I H

ESTLY THINK YOUARE A VERY VERTALENTED GUY!

STOB: Thanks Sha



y G. Cataline

UEN: HOLA ELEC-RICA MIAMI! IT'SEEN A LONG TIMENCE WE INTER-EWED AN ARTIST

ROM MEXICO, ANDESIDES YOURUSIC BEING AWE-OME, IT'S VERY

OOL YOU POP IN

TO SEE US OFTEN!YOU DO HAVE BOTHLOS ANGELES ANDMEXICO LISTED ONYOUR MYSPACEPAGE... WHERE AREYOU BASED OUTOF? WHAT CITY AREYOU FROM?

Thanks for the inter-

view, we are very

pleased for this, and forthe attention you gaveto us.We are from Tamauli-pas, Mexico. It is a verynice part in northernMexico, very close tothe gulf, and just threehours from Texas.Sometimes we spentsome seasons in Mex-

ico City for some gigs

or to record stuff at studio.

MUEN: WHO ARETHE BAND MEM-BERS, AND I SEETHE FEMALE OF TBAND HAS LEFT?

At the present momwe are only three. I

Alex, Guss and I (V



r). For this moment,aren is doing someJ set around Mexico,t we think we areing to have her backa while.

UEN: DO YOU USU-LLY SING IN SPAN-H OR ENGLISH?

e have songs in both,glish and spanish,t generally, it de-nds on the moment,pends on how itund, if it sounds bet-

r in english we don't

sitate to sing it inglish, or vice versa.

UEN: HOW AREOU RECEIVED INEXICO AS COM-ARED TO THE U.S.?

Mexico we have a

ry good acceptance,t we do consider thatmetimes is better in

e US, as in Mexico isry hard when you

ay something that ist rock. This genre isll the most importantthe country.

UEN: YOU SEEM TOAVE A REAL TAL-NT FOR WRITINGATCHY SONGS.HAT INSPIRES YOU

O WRITE A SONG?

ell, thanks for thatmment, I really try to

my best and to find

the best moments towrite. The first material,I wrote it for an ex girl-friend, that inspired mea lot, you know, themoment, the nostalgicfeelings. Now I writeand I find inspiration on

my friends, and for thatpeople that has some-thing in common withus, I mean, people likeus, nerds, geeks orfreaks.

MUEN: WHO AREYOUR BIGGEST IN-FLUENCES?

Is hard to say, youknow, you find somemusic very good foryou, and the next yearyou prefer other kind ofmusic. Still, at this mo-ment I'm very into tele-popmusik, fedde le

grand, pornois, Yveslarock, Cassius, amongothers, but is the kindof music I hear themost right now.

MUEN: JUST AN OB-SERVATION HERE ONMYSPACE.. BUT

MEXICANS SEEM TOGIVE WAY MORESUPPORT, ANDSHOW WAY MOREENTHUSIASM TO-WARDS THEIR OWN,THAN AMERICANSDO TOWARDS AMER-ICAN BANDS... I'VENOTICED THIS INOTHER COUNTRIES

AS WELL ON MY-SPACE. IF YOUAGREE WITH THIS,WHY DO YOU THINKTHAT IS?

I don't know if it is thesame in every country,

but sometimes I feelexactly the same inMexico, I mean, as anartist, you most have tobuild a name in otherplaces to have a betterpromotion in Mexico,moreover on massmedia, such as radioand TV. Nevertheless,

we have been doing re-ally good, we have hadvery good experiences.

MUEN: WHAT DOYOU CLASSIFYYOUR MUSIC AS?

I should say electro

pop, even thoughsometimes depends onmy mood.

MUEN: WHAT ARESOME OF THE BESTTHINGS THAT HAVEHAPPENED FOR THEBAND LATELY?

As I told you before,many things have hap-pened, but I think thatwhat I like the most, isto be traveling, meetingpeople and placeswhere ever we give ashow.

MUEN: WHAT DO

YOU FIND DIFFICUTO DO?

Waking up early!!! hhaha. No, well, inmusic I wouldn't saythere's something dcult, because is thething I like the best,really enjoy it and thmakes everything e

MUEN: SO YOU HAAN EVENT COMINUP ON SEPT 19THSAN LUIS, MEXICO

Yes the show this 1of September! It wgreat!

MUEN: WELLTHANKS FOR THETERVIEW AND KEIN TOUCH!

Well, thanks a lot fothis interview, We reappreciate the time

spent and interest, we hope you like oumusic and everythinabout Electrica MiaTalk to you soon.



CHEVELLEBY SHAUNA ODONNELL



pic recording artistshevelle

Sam Loefflerrums)

rayslake, Illinois

yspace.com/chevelle

y: Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI SAM ANDHANKS FOR CALLINGODAY HOW ARE YOU?

m great, no problem.

UEN: YOUR LATEST

LBUM SCI-FI CRIMESNT OUT UNTIL SEP-

EMBER 1ST BUT AL-EADY YOUR SINGLEARS” IS A HIT. IT EN-

ERED THE TOP 20FTER TWO WEEKS SOONGRATS ON THAT.

hank you, yeah its aetty big deal to thinkat people keep coming

ack to hear more music.

UEN: YEAH, THAT ISOOL. NOW, CUR-ENTLY YOU GUYSRE ON THE ROADITH SHINEDOWN AND

TAIND ON THE “STIM-LATE THIS” TOUR

ND IM SURE YOU ARELAYING SOME OF THEEW SONGS. WHATAS BEEN THE RE-PONSE TO THEM?

s been pretty good, youow, the more “Jars”

ets played on the radio,e more people get famil-

r with it and the better itoes over. We also have

a song called “SleepApnea” which is the firstsong on Sci-Fi Crimesand it has been goingover even better. I wonderif at some point that willbecome a single.

MUEN: THIS TOUR ISREALLY SPECIAL BE-CAUSE YOU WORKEDHARD TO GIVE PEOPLEA LOT OF SHOW FORTHEIR MONEY. I THINKTHAT IS REALLY COOLOF YOU GUYS.

Yeah, its definitely a coolthing, but I wonder if it isworking or not. I guess I

would have to go out andtalk to some people.Some people are still pay-ing $50 for a ticket.Granted you are going topay more if you want to situp front, I get that, but Idont think every venuewas cool with sellingcheaper tickets. Some

venues were not cool withit, so it only happened insome places. You do whatyou can I guess.

MUEN: THATS UNFOR-TUNATE, TELL USWHAT INSPIRED THENAME SCI-FI CRIMES.

Its hard to title a bunch ofsongs as one thing be-cause each song dealswith something separate,so it was basically an arti-cle that Pete read aboutthis woman whose handswere badly burnt by whatshe claimed to be a spacecraft taking off from herbackyard. She had

shielded her face with herhands and got third de-

gree burns. It was a reallyinteresting article so thatkind of encompassed thatwhole thing, like a sci-ficrime. It doesnt neces-sarily have to do withaliens or anything, justanything unexplained. Iguess we just thought itwas an interesting title tosort of sum up what is es-sentially eleven or twelvetracks.

MUEN: HAVE YOU EVERMET ANYONE THATHAS HAD A CLOSE EN-COUNTER LIKE THAT?

Oh sure, I think we have

all met people who havehad experiences of beingover tired and driving ordrug induced, whatever itis.

MUEN: WHO DESIGNEDTHE CD JACKET?

Dean, our bass player, he

actually did an oil paintingwhich is essentially theartwork. It turned into abackdrop and t-shirt. Itsnice to have somebodywho really appreciatesbeing able to add someart to what is our art.

MUEN: “ROSWELLSSPELL” WAS INSPIREDBY A VISIT TO THEROSWELL UFO MU-SEUM RIGHT?

Yeah, we were there. Wewere out on the road andwe stopped by there toget a glimpse of some-thing funny. The real pointwas that by going to

Roswell, it confirmed theidea that if there had been

alien life on this planedid not come to Rosw

MUEN: WHAT KINDSTUFF IS IN THE MUSEUM?

There were pieces ofweather balloons. Itsally, really lame.

MUEN: AND “HIGH-LANDS APPARITIONWAS INSPIRED BY ALLEGED HAUNTEHOUSE. TELL USABOUT THE EXPERENCE YOU HAD TH

We lived there, thats

of a joke too. Everyonslept in the same bedroom and we all had lar nightmares. It felt people were touchingthem at night while thwere sleeping. It wascreepy. This woman cto the house, we werlooking at her throug

window and she wasdancing in the front yWe went out there anshe said “I grew up hmy dads buried in thbackyard.” Are you alowed to bury peoplethe yard?

MUEN: I DONT KNOEVERY STATE PROBLY HAS THEIR OWLAWS.

Its definitely not legaus.

MUEN: ITS NOT LEHERE EITHER. I DOTHINK ITS LEGAL TBURY YOUR PET. O

YOUR LAST TOURYOUR EQUIPMENT



TOLEN. I REMEMBERHAT DAY LIKE IT WASESTERDAY. SOME OFHE BANDS I KNEWERE TRYING TO HELP

OU GUYS GET YOURTUFF BACK. BUL-

TINS WERE BEINGOSTED, IT WAS COOLO SEE PEOPLE HELP-G LIKE THAT. WHATAS THE OUTCOME OF

HAT? DID YOU RE-OVER YOUR STUFF?

ah, we recovered aboutlf of it or maybe a littlemore. The stuff that

me through was fromople who said “Hey, I

ow who this belongs” and they called some-dy and let them know. Itrked out really well.ere are two sides to it.ere were a lot of peopleo wrote to us and said

ou guys are a bunch ofnsies. Open up your

allets and buy some

w gear. You guys arelionaires.” That is note and even if it weree, it is still personalms that we have donethese records with.ey have sentimentalue and no matter how

uch money someones, it doesnt give people

e right to steal fromem. Thats ignorant andats how people hide be-nd the internet. Theod news is that somengs did show up inwn shops, eBay andople let us know. Were able to either get theps to get it back for uswe were able to buy it

ck, which is fine too.e are an established

rock band; we have insur-ance to help us pay forthose things. We lost$130,000, its a lot ofmoney, its a lot of moneyto me thats for sure. Evenstill, we were grateful toget back the pieces thatwe got back. There werea couple of pieces thatwere really important tous. One of them was thisoriginal red Paul ReedSmith guitar that we didPoint #1 and Wonderwhats Next with it and wehad, had it on the road. Itwas the first nice guitarthat Pete had ever boughtand we bought it used for

$900. We had gone in halfon it and it was a reallyimportant piece to us. Wegot it back and a coupleother guitars that were re-ally important to us. It wasreally cool.

MUEN: I KNOW THEREIS A LOT OF BAD

THINGS ON THE INTER-NET, BUT THERE IS ALOT OF GOOD TOO. ITIS GOOD TO SEE WHENPEOPLE COME TO-GETHER AND TRY ANDHELP EACH OTHER.

Oh yeah, I thought thatwas amazing, I agree withyou.

MUEN: IM REALLYHAPPY YOU GOT MOSTOF YOUR STUFF BACK.SOME THINGS AREPRICELESS.

Coincidentally, we gotback the things that werereally important to us.

MUEN: YOU WROTE A

SONG ABOUT ITCALLED “LETTERFROM A THIEF.” YOUGUYS WORKED WITHBRIAN VIRTUE ON THISALBUM. HOW WAS ITWORKING WITH HIMAND WAS IT YOURFIRST TIME?

Yeah, it was the first time.Brian is great; he is a veryestablished in his ideaskind of guy. He hasworked with Janes Addic-tion, Deftones and 30Seconds to Mars. He hasdone so much cool stuffand we were really happyto work with him. It was

really nice to do some-thing different, we loveElvis, he has done all ofour other records with us.

MUEN: ONE THINGTHAT PEOPLE MAY NOTKNOW ABOUT THEBAND IS THAT YOUARE ALL FAMILY. PETE

IS YOUR BROTHERAND DEAN IS YOURBROTHER-IN-LAW.WERE YOUR PARENTSSUPPORTIVE OF YOURCAREER CHOICE?

I wouldnt say it was a ca-reer choice because hadwe come out of the box atfourteen or fifteen years

old and said “Hey, weregoing to be in a rockband,” I would imaginemost parents would be“Yeeeaaahhh.” It hap-pened gradually and bythe time we decided tomake a run for the careerin vision we had estab-lished ourselves as hav-

ing the ability to play andwrite songs. I think every-

one was in agreemenWe kept working towait and eventually it connected.

MUEN: THEY CAMEYOUR SHOWS ANDSUPPORTED YOURIGHT?

Without a doubt, mantimes there wasnt anat our shows except fily and friends.

MUEN: AT WHAT AGDID YOU START PLAING DRUMS?

I was fourteen when I

started playing drums

MUEN: HAVE YOU ETHOUGHT ABOUTADDING MORE MEMBERS TO THE BAND

Not for any real reasoonce in a while wethought it would be ni

be able to mix it up angive Pete a little morefreedom on stage. Whyou are recording youdo whatever you wantheres no reason for other musician.

MUEN: TELL US ABYOUR NEW MUSICVIDEO FOR “JARS.”

Its finished, we did it couple weeks ago anthink we got the finishedit a few days ago. Ian interesting concepdidnt know if it wouldwork. It is basically antion video. It was fun;shot it out in the dese

California. It was basiwatching someone be



aredevil.

UEN: WERE YOU THEAREDEVIL?

wish

UEN: WHEN IS ITOING TO RELEASE?

would imagine now. Iope so.

UEN: YOU HAD ARUELING TOURINGCHEDULE AFTERENA SERA. WILL YOUE DOING THE SAMEITH THIS RECORD?

eah, we will take breaksere and there, but weefinitely plan on stayingut for a while. We love toay, its what we do.hat else are we going to

o? We could go homend sit around.

UEN: DO YOU HAVE

NYTHING DIFFERENT MIND FOR THIS

OUR THAT YOUAVENT DONE ONREVIOUS ONES?

e brought out full pro-uction on it with a light

ow and everything. Itdds to the music, I think,hen you have lights andle things like that. We

ave ideas for our head-e shows, but right now

e are doing a supportow so we dont really

ave a lot of freedom.

UEN: WHAT DO YOUO TO KILL TIMEHILE YOURE ON THE

OAD?

It depends, on show dayswe usually have quite afew interviews and thingsto do. We run our ownmerch company and sothe business part of thingstakes up a lot of our time.We get our long boardsout and go skateboarding.We go to dinner and try toexperience local cuisine,things like that. We do thebest we can to have a lifewhen we can.

MUEN: I BET YOU HAVESEEN SOME REALLYNICE BACKSTAGEAREAS.

They are pretty dingy ac-tually. There is nothingglamorous about beingparked next to the dump-ster.

MUEN: I KNOW YOUSTOPPED BY THE NEWYORK BALLET.

Yeah, that was backstage.The ballerinas dressingroom was next to ours sowe went in there. Wewere going through therestuff.

MUEN: DO YOU HAVEANY WORDS OF WIS-DOM FOR YOUNGDRUMMERS OUTTHERE?

Well I can tell you thatlearning to be a gooddrummer is easily thehardest instrument youcan choose. You spend awhole lifetime learningeverything and then an-other lifetime learning it

backwards. Id say for

drummers, every single

day, practice somethingnew. As a band, Id saythe only thing that hasworked for us is play liter-ally every show you areoffered. It doesnt matter ifits a backyard party orwhat it is. The other thingis, write original music.

MUEN: THANKS SOMUCH FOR TALKING

WITH ME TODAY. IT

WAS AWESOME. GLUCK WITH YOUR RLEASE AND HOPE-FULLY WE WILL TAAGAIN ONE DAY.

Yeah, no problems a





terview with Hardcoreegends “Terror”

y Morbid Milleryspace.com/morbidmiller

error has been kickingme hardcore ass for al-

ost ten years. Scottoegel formed the bandon after leaving his for-

er Buffalo, New Yorkand Buried Alive andaking Los Angeles his

ome. Terror has touredound the world several

mes, playing with almostery band underneath

e sun. This is a bandat will continue to put out

bums despite what isoing on in the music busi-ess. They have a grassots following that crownsem the kings of the un-

erground. The followingerview is with Martinewart the bands currentitarist.

ow Did Terror Form?

rror: Well I wasn't in theand when it first formed

t I know it started with 5des that just wanted to

ay hardcore music. Not aal spectacular begin-ng, but definitely aEAL" beginning.

ow has Buried Alive in-uenced or inspired Ter-r?

rror: I would have toy not at all. That's

cott's old band and it'sst history just like anyher previous bands any-e in Terror has had.

ow has Los Angeles in-

spired your music?

Terror: I guess just thewhole vibe that Los Ange-les has comes out in ourmusic and attitudes. Kindof like Suicidal Tendenciesin the 80's; Hard, aggres-sive, pissed and all thewhile fun. That's exactlywhat our city is like.

Whats your most mem-orable show so far?

Terror: Man, that's atough one. We've beenfortunate enough to play inall corners of the world soit's hard to say. Being able

to play in Moscow, SouthKorea, being the first"hardcore" band to everplay in Venezuela. Everyshow brings about a goodmemory with us.

How did TrustkillRecords help bolsteryour career?

Terror: Well we're workingwith Century Media now,but we had a good runwith Trustkill. Threerecords and 1 DVD ispretty damn good accom-plishment, that wouldn'thave happened withoutthem I guess. I think thatlabel has a niche following

as well that maybe would-n't have heard this band ifsomeone else had beenreleasing the record whichis always good. We're al-ways trying to spread whatwe believe to new people.

What is Terror's purposeor goal as a band?

Terror: Ultimately to have

fun and share that fun withanyone and everyonearound the world that iswilling to participate withus. For us, if there's no funthen there's no band.

Whats your message tothe world?

Terror: It's very simple:You do you, we'll do usand if all goes well we'llmeet right in the middleand have some real fun.Hardcore is a place of ac-ceptance especially forthose that don't feel ac-cepted anywhere else inthe world. If you've ever

seen us live then you'veheard Scott say it beforeand that's genuinely howwe all feel as a band. Ourshows should be a placeof release and solace.Somewhere you can gowhere you're away fromthe outside world and trulybe yourself. You can re-lease all that anger andaggression that has builtup throughout your weekin a positive way bythrashing around like ananimal or doing somesweet stage dives. It's allabout stage diving man.

Give me your take onStraight Edge Hardcore?

Terror: I'm personally notstraight edge so I feel likemy take on the mattershouldn't exactly matter tosomeone who is. I see itserve a purpose to friendsof mine who come from al-coholic families or from ahistory of drug abuse. Inmy opinion it's a complete

personal choice and

shouldn't be forced upanyone. All that clichéstuff, you know?

Are any of you guysStraight Edge?

Terror: Our drummerand bass player Daviboth straight edge. Thparty harder and crazthan anyone you'll evmeet though (A couplanimals).

When Terror first staout did you think thayou guys would hav

much success as yohave?

Terror: I don't think thpopular idea of "succwas on anyone's minthis band when it wasstarted or even currenOur idea of success ireaching as many plain the world as possiband having fun and I stress that enough. Wfind ourselves blessebe able to do what wedone and have the plthat we have for the fWe've had the opportto tour with bands thadon't think any of us hever even dreamt of t

ing with. Behemoth?Come on! I've sharedtiple stages around thwith one of my favoritbands of all time. It's man.

If it was all over tomrow would you be safied?

Terror: Although ther



l places I want to go, Iould absolutely be satis-d if it all came to andd.

hat bands are some ofur influences?

rror: For me personallyy influences are alwaysanging. I listen to such ade variety of music thatwould be impossible tost stick to one thing. Oney it might be Otis Red-

ng and the next maybestament or Warzone. Ien to tons of hip-hopd R&B music and pretty

uch everything else

her than country. I wouldy that as a band as aole there's a lot ofnice style thrash and

YHC in our overall influ-ce though.

hat do you think aboutatebreed? Did theyake Hardcore main-ream?

rror: Hatebreed can dowrong in my eyes as a

nd. I love everythingey've released and I wasen really excited about

e new cover album theyt out. I don't think they

ade hardcore main-

eam in any bad sense.ey just took their gamea whole new level and In respect what they'vene.

ow has the music in-stry changed sinceu guys started out in01?

Terror: 2 words: internetexplosion. It's like where Iused to buy a record andcheck a thanks list to findnew bands, now peopledownload the record,check the MySpace andlisten the bands in theirtop friends. It's just a newgeneration. I don't neces-sarily like or dislike it, it's

just so foreign to me I justhave a hard time keepingup.

What does the futurehave in store for themusic industry?

Terror: I don't know my-

self but I know it's going tobe something very differ-ent than we're used to.Time's have definitelychanged and are still inthe process of changing.Those "360 Deals" seemto be happening a lot nowwith mainstream musicwhere a company not onlycontrols your music buteverything else involvedwith you as an artist.That's probably going tobe the new thing.

Tell me about the AtticusTour that you did awhileback?

Terror: Atticus Tour wassweet. We were a lot dif-ferent than all the otherbands on that tour but thatdidn't matter at all. It was agood experience and itwas nice to significantlysee that most people therehad never heard of us be-fore but in the end appre-ciated what we did and

had fun with us. Hopefullythose people will comeback around next time wehave tour through their cityand maybe we'll be able toopen them up to a newway of life.

Any sold out shows onthat tour?(if you remem-ber)

Terror: From what I re-member a lot of the showswere if not sold out thencompletely packed. It wasa very good tour as far asattendance goes. Everyband being so differentfrom each other made for

a large good mix of peoplecoming to the shows withminimal problems. It wasreally awesome.

What do you think ofEmmure? Are they help-ing to save the integrityof Metalcore?

Terror: Emmure is not aband that I personally lis-ten to. I can't speak on be-half of the "metalcore"scene because it's notsomething that I know toomuch about. There's a lotof new music going onthese days that I'm not re-ally familiar with.

Whats your favorite city

or venue to play at whenyou go on tour and why?

Terror: Any venue in LosAngeles because then Iget to go home after theshow and sleep in my ownwonderful bed. But really,there are cities and certainvenues all over the world

that we've become so fa-

miliar with these daysit feels like a home awfrom home.

Would you rather touoverseas or in thestates?

Terror: At this point I touring overseas a bitmore since I've seen smuch of the US so matimes now. I'm all abonew places and new eriences. Also, this banseems to get more recnition overseas so oushows are more appreated. That's a good feing.

Who twosteps/moshs/stage dbetter, the Europeanthe Americans?

Terror: Ha! moshing itaboo. We all do it butso damn goofy at thesame time. I think eveone looks weird whiledoing it so no one canally be "better" than aone else.

How come you guysnot on the Bamboozfestival? What do yothink of the Bamboofestival?

Terror: The word is thBamboozled was afrathe "reputation" that thband has. This is somthing that I don't undestand since a band likTrash Talk who is knofor pushing limits andgoing overboard is asto play. I would ratherthem just tell us they t

we suck as a band an



at's why we can't playther than that bullshit. Ient to the festival forbout 40 minutes the daye would have played andatched my friends bandye Alaska and then im-ediately left. I couldn't

et down with the wholebe. Maybe I was justssed about the whole sit-

ation, but whatever. Well had our own show that

ght with tons of ourends and I couldn't have

sked for a better night.though it would have

een cool to play, we don'teed that bamboozled shit

the end.

ow was the New Eng-nd Metalcore festival?

rror: It was a great time.l day festivals can be at hectic because thehole atmosphere is sonse and crazy but it'sll such a good time be-

ause all these bands thatou've come to know fromuring with or playingows with in the past all

ome together in oneght. It makes for a good

arty. There was a Grate-l Dead gig going on

cross the street so thereas like a hippy village set

p in the same parking lots all the bands. Don't letppies fool you. They're

ot the peaceful fun lovingeople they want you to

nk they are. They wereome of the rudest people

e ever come across iny life.

hats the Terror songAlways the Hard Way"

about?

Terror: I think the lyrics ofthat song are pretty up-front and bold, kind of selfexplanatory. It's spoken inthe words of someone thatwas never handed any-thing ever in life, telling astory of climbing out fromthe bottom and survivingwithout any help. Some-one that lives like that waywithout anyone guidingthem is going to learn allof life's lessons the hardway.

If you could only listento one album for the rest

of your life which albumwould that be? andwhy?

Terror: Infest "Slave".They're my favorite bandof all time and that was thefirst record I heard bythem. It's completely nos-talgic yet still so hard andaggressive and good atthe same time. A lot ofrecords that I used to loveas a kid didn't really standthe test of time and when Ihear them now I almostquestion how I ever likedit.

When can we expect anew Terror album?

Terror: There's alreadymaterial that has beenwritten and record asdemo versions but there'sno rush. We have a lot oftouring to do before we getback in the studio. Thereare a lot of new places inthe world that we're goingto play coming up soon.South Africa, Southeast

Asia, Eastern Europe,Alaska, and the list goeson. Once we get to allthose places then we'll getback in the studio.

Do you have a producerfor the new album?

Terror: There's no onelined up now but I'd saywe're open to ideas.

How would you describeyour band if you weretalking to someone thathas never heard Terror?

Terror: You'd be surprisedon how often I have to do

that. When you're on tourand stop at a gas stationand the cashier sees yourvan and trailer and asks"you guys a band orsomething?", "What's thename of your band?","What kind of music doy'all play?". Now I just tellthem "Loud, aggressiveand obnoxious music" andthen laugh.

What is the Correlationwith stage diving andhardcore shows?

Terror: Stage dives take agood show to a whole newlevel. It's like that ultimaterush at a gig. It shows that

people are going so wildthat they're willing to dosomething crazy. Some-times people think that it'sonly a hardcore thing but ifyou look at old punkvideos, metal videos andeven the Pantera DVDpeople have been doing itthroughout all genres ofmusic. Even Pearl Jam.It's crazy and it looks

sweet.

What is Vogelism?

Terror: Hahahahahawell...Scott just says wever he feels on stagguess. Like in this bawe all talk to each othlike idiots because weall friends. We joke nostop and say the weirstuff to each other. Wyour friends and peerfeel comfortable sayinanything and making or just letting loose wyou're having a good and saying whateveryou're feeling. That's

it is at our shows. Welook at people in the cas anything else butfriends and peers so brings a natural level comfort for us. So somone had the great idekeep track of some ofunny shit Scott has son stage and compilethem onto a website.www.vogelisms.com.ple should check it outhey haven't yet.

What advice so youfor up and comingbands looking for thbig break?

Terror: Quit looking f

big break and just docause you love musicyou want to have funyou're supposed to subecause you're a gooband and have the hethen it will happen for



dex Case: 10ong Fuckingears

: Morbid Millerspace.com/morbidmiller

a place and time whereost music endeavors noatter how unique orraculous that might bee left unseen. Fromeat local bands as what Iuld like to think as

was version of Systema down we had Heroicse, 35 Inch Mudder was

e our very own Limpzkit, Deadfront sounded

he likes of Korn,meshot was compara- to Tool, Painface was

r Sepultura andmakdab was our Kittie. Ine midst of all this raw tal-

t, only one band wasned (Slipnot). The rest

were lost only to be foundin the memories of thosewho were there in the timeand place that I like torefer to as the Midwest

Movement. I rememberthinking that every one ofthose bands would someday be touring around theworld signed to major la-bels and I would be apartof that. It was the greatesttime in my life and itseems as if it was all adream. In the same statewhere one of the most in-

fluential and successfulbands in the world wasspawned, many were leftbehind. The band that hadthe most impact on my lifewas the band were aboutto explore. Index Case istruly one of the mostunique and original bandsin the world.

When and how did Index

Case form?

Dirt Joe: Index Caseformed in 1998. We allwent to Indianola High

School in Iowa. JoshParker (Guitar) and Koreythe original bass playerwere two years older thanme and Jordan Spence(Original drummer). Noneof us really hung out inhigh school. Once I was asenior in High school Joshand Korey had alreadygraduated. I hung out with

Jordon a lot and he waslike “Hey you need tocome over to my housesometime, Im jammingwith this guy that we wentto high school with andhes really good”. So Iused to go over to Jor-dans house after schooland watch Jordan and

Josh jam. They would im-prove and shit like that. Fi-

nally one day I justgrabbed the microphoand started free stylingBefore I knew it, like alion people were comi

over after school, watcus play and hanging owith us. Eventually wwere like lets start a band we started writingsongs. It kind of wentfrom there, on weekenwe would have 20 peoover at Jordans houswatching us play.

What was the first InCase song written?

Dirt Joe: The very firscomplete song was “DYour Neighbor” off ouralbum Birth.

I love that song andalbum!

Dirt Joe: That first albu



etty hard for me to talkout. I know a lot of peo-

e like it, but its nothinge what we are like now.nd of like the Beastie

oys never claimed thatey did the album Licenseill and that was theirolest record.

d you ever want to bea rock band? You lis-

n to a lot of Rap Music.asically Index Caseas formed under the in-nt that starting a bandould be something fun

do right?

rt Joe: It was something

do. It occupied my timed it was fun. I was on acrophone and people

ere taking interest inhat we were doing. Iasnt just stuck on hip

p. I listened to a lot ofck music. I liked what-er lyrically inspired me.hat Josh was doing onitar was inspiring me.en when Jordonowed me the Deftones

bum Adrenalin for thest time, I remember Ias like man I have to geto a band, this is what

m supposed to be doing”.at album Adrenaline by

e Deftones woke me up.

hats so weird that youy that, Mitch from sui-

de Silence said thatact same thing.

rt Joe: Yea, Adrenalinewhat made me want to in a band as a vocalist

arly on in your career,ow did the local Desoines legends 35 Inch

Mudder help Index Caseout? Check these guysout(www.myspace.com/35inchmudder)

Dirt Joe: At the time I did-nt know anybody in theband. When Index Casewas first jamming, wethought 35 Inch Mudderwas like Metallica. Theywere the biggest thing inIowa for sure. We wouldgo to all of their shows.We were the little punkkids in the front row andafter the show we wouldgo back and jam and saywe want to be like Mudder.

I found out that the singerC-Bone worked at a CDshop on the south side ofDes Moines. I went to thestore and applied for a job.I wanted to work there be-cause I knew C-Bone (Vo-cals for 35 Inch Mudder)worked there. I got the joband he trained me. Heworked for Lazer 103.3 therock radio station here inDes Moines and he waslike “Im hosting this bigevent and I dont have anyopening bands” and I waslike “dude, Im in a band”and I still remember theway that he looked at me,it was like “Oh god, I dontwant to say no to this kid,

but Im sure this bandsucks”. So he put us onand we opened the show.We played like at 11 amfor like 20 people, but afterthat man he dug us andtook an interest in IndexCase. Eventually we be-came really good friendswith the guys in 35 InchMudder. Their bass playerChad Calek moved out to

Los Angeles to pursueother careers. He endedup getting some good con-nections in the music andfilm industry. Ultimately hestarted managing us andfrom there we have beenworking with Chad for thelast 10 years. 35 InchMudder put our foot in thedoor for sure.

I know that you dontwant to talk about yourfirst album Birth but itssuch a great album. Willyou tell me about howBirth came together andwhy you think that it wasso popular?

Dirt Joe: Yea, its hard totalk about, but it is who wewere. It was so long ago,we were so young. I wish Icould go back and do it allover again.

What about the track“Boredom” on the BirthAlbum, have you everthought about re-record-ing it and putting it on anew album? Its such akick ass song!

Dirt Joe: We have it. Wewant to keep “Boredom”how it was. Thats howpeople remember it, sothats how we are going to

keep it. We dont want togo back and re do it orsomething like that.

How did you get thenickname Dirt Joe?

Dirt Joe: Oh, Dirt Joe(Laughs). I was in 8thgrade and I used to wait inline to go to lunch at thehigh school. I would al-

ways be the first one wing in line just standinthere watching all thesophomores, juniors aseniors eat. Eventuall

just went in and startetalking to people, hanout and I made friendwith one of my best frto this day Paxton. Imsure you know P-Tate

Oh yea, hes a talentrapper!

Yup, he was one of thin the cafeteria that I uto hang out with. I stahanging out with thesguys. All we would do

listen to the Wu-Tangall day long. I lovedOlDirty Bastards firstalbum. Paxton aka P-Tates started to jokearound and call meOlDirty Joe. Eventuaturned into Dirt Joe annow its just Dirt. To thday I answer when soone says Dirt; I turn mhead “they talking to m

So was this before JDirt the movie cameout?

Dirt Joe: Way, way be(Laughs).

After you recorded t

Birth album Index Cgained a solid followOn your follow up toBirth you record analbum that doesntsound like your formalbum at all. You moaway from the rapcostuff, into somethingthat I cant even begexplain. One thing aIndex Case is that yo



ve always been origi-l. Tell me about yourphomore albumass.

rt Joe: Birth became ametown favorite. We

ew up in a small townuth of Des Moinesled Indianola. Birth wasthat town had, the

cord was huge to them.sh came up to me oney and said “Hey man,s record a new album”.e never even thought ofcording a new album.e were like “Yea, whyt we are a band youow, so lets do a new

bum”. Josh came to meh all this new material.

was all the stuff onass and I was like “Wowde, this sounds like we

ew up real fast in onears time”. I didnt even

an on changing ourund; what happened,ppened. Thats justat he wrote and what

wrote inspired me vo-ly to do what I did on

at record. At the end ofe album I remember lis-ning to it and thinking,s isnt even the samend. This isnt even closebeing the same band at We originally thought

at everyone was going

hate us.

id at first. I was sossed when you guyst out the Glass album.

ompletely changingur style but I later ap-eciated it.

t Joe: Yea, you knowats how it is still to this

y. New index case fans

hate us right out of thegate, but then eventuallythey will be like I get itnow. We are one of thosebands you know. Still tothis day we are working onour 5th album right nowand I have people comingup to me from all over thecountry telling me that theGlass album is there fa-vorite album.

How did things changefor the band after yourreleased the Glassalbum? Didnt you guysget some sponsorshipwith Amp Energy Drinkand play some shows in

Hollywood?

Dirt Joe: After Glass wecame out to L.A. and didsome touring with AmpEnergy Drink sponsoringus. We actually showcased the Glass album forCaptial Records out in L.A.and Capital was digging it,they really liked the song

“Living so Muster”. We dida lot of stuff after theGlass dropped. A lot ofpeople couldnt under-stand it. They couldntcompare it to anythingelse that was out at thetime. It was totally originaland I think thats whatpeople liked about it the

most.

Glass defiantly openedthe doors for you andyou started playing out-side of Iowa. Catchingthe attention of CapitalRecords and picked up asponsorship from AmpEnergy Drink as well asrecording a couple of

music videos for the

album. Now tell meabout your third fulllength album The Weakand the Wounded.

Dirt Joe: The Weak andthe Wounded is when westarted taking the bandreal serious. Thats whenwe said “Ok this is what

we are going to be doingfor the rest of our lives”.Capital Records passedon Glass which lookingback now was understand-able. Our sound at thattime was very original. No-body was doing music likethat. Everyone was listen-ing to limp Bizkit and Korn

and we werent in thatgenre. So, we were likelets get a record deal. Wedecided to do it all ourselves again. The firstthree records wererecorded DIY style.

Yea, tell me about theDex Inn were you guysrecorded your first three

albums.

Dirt Joe: It was just this lit-tle garage area that wasconnected to Joshs par-ents house. The Dex Innwas just this big roomwhere we recorded. Ourfirst three records wererecorded there all by our-

selves. We actuallyrecorded other local bandsthere as well. We had hor-rible recording equipment,but we made it sound asgood as we could andworked with what we had.

Did josh go to MusicTech in St. Paul, Min-nesota to learn how to

record?

Dirt Joe: Yea, he gradated from Music Tech Minnesota. All he did wlearn about sound andmusic. That helped usthe most use out of whlittle recording equipmthat we had at the tim

Back to The Weak an

the Wounded. You gwere started taking tband serious. Realizthis is what you wando for the rest of youlife.

Dirt Joe: Right, so afterecorded The Weak athe Wounded we start

shopping it to differenbels again. We receivsome interests from laand we had some moshow cases but everypassed. We shopped every label twice and all passed. We have athese fans that are telus that we are great. Ware playing sold out

shows, but we cant ganyone to get behind So we kind of regroupand reworked a couplthe songs on The Weaand the Wounded. Soof the songs we thougwe could make better we started writing mormaterial. We recorded

couple of demos to seto labels again. Then a sudden we get a phcall from our managerChad and hes like “Hman. their was an AmEnergy Drink Commeon KROQ and for the1seconds your song “Lten” was playing and ithose 10 seconds the

head A&R for No Nam



ecords was listening andent to AMP to find outhat band that was andund out that it was Indexase”. No Names motherbel was Elektra. Noame was the label thatgned Mudvayne andipknot. It was No Name

oad Runner for Slipknotnd it was No Name Inter-

ope for Mudvayne. Soere like all right lets goo this. If someone be-

ves in us lets go showse. So we went out to

A. again and played ate Whisky a Go Go foreve Richards the Presi-

ent of No Name. After the

ow He stood up andid “Alright lets go backthe office and signme papers; we want to

fer you guys a deal”. Imember all of us lookingeach other and sayingeriously is this happen-

g? we played once ande wants to sign us”. So itas kind of interesting totually see someone that

elieved in us who had theoney to back it up. Juste that we were signed,of our hard work finally

aid off. Thats where Theeak and the Woundedd us. The album did itsb. It was made specifi-lly for those people who

dnt believe in us. Weade the album to make

eople believe in us.

was at the Lazer Fest in004, when Cory Brownnnounced before youayed that Index Casecently signed to No

ame Elektra. You guysame out and you

cked the show. Then I

didnt here from youguys for a long time. Thenext thing I heard wasthat you guys landed atrack on The TexasChainsaw MassacreSoundtrack.

Dirt Joe: Yup, we had atrack on The Texas Chain-saw Massacre soundtrack.We also landed a track onthe first UFC compilationdisc called Ultimate BeatDown Volume 1. AfterLazer fest we moved outto L.A. for 6 months. Wewere in the Malibu arealiving in a huge multi mil-lion dollar mansion sitting

on top of the TopangaCanyon Mountains. It waspicture perfect.

So you were there for sixmonths, tell me whathappened?

Dirt Joe: Things were a lotdifferent, then what wewere used to. We wererecording 7 days a week,16 hours a day with a pro-ducer “James (Jimbo) Bar-ton”. Hes done work for alot of bands such asRUSH. He comes in andsets down and listens toall of our songs. Then wespent the first month lis-tening to all the tracks try-

ing to figure out how wecan make them better.Then recording, recording,and arguing. We were likebrothers sitting in thehouse non-stop being cre-ative. We did that for 6months and in the meantime while we were bust-ing our asses recordingthe new album. The labelwas putting us on sound-

tracks and sampler discstrying to get our names outbefore the album drops.They were also lining uptours such as Ozzfest,they had it all mapped out.We were just excited toget the album done and goout and tour like crazy. Wewere finally living thedream.

You get the album done.What happens?

Dirt Joe: We get thealbum done and go home.Two weeks after we gethome our manager callssaying “Steve Richards

the president of No Namedied from a brain tumor”.Now he had a brain tumorsince I have known him.He kind of talked with aslur and it affected his vi-sion. Steve was the onlyguy in the music industryat the time who believed inus. So the only guy whobelieved in us and had themoney to back it up isdead now. We are thinkingwhats next. Well justwhen we thought that itcouldnt get worst. Elektrahas its house cleaning andfires 60% of their staff.One of them happens tobe the president of Elek-tra. There were two names

on our contract SteveRichards and the Presi-dent of Elektra. They nolonger exist. So thereforeour contract is no longer.No record, no Nothing, wewere out 2 weeks after wegot back home afterrecording for 6 months.Our dreams are shattered.At this point we are think-

ing we are the most un-

lucky band in the worBut now we look at it something preventedfrom being on that labWe believe that everyhappens for a reason

So what happens neYou guys start playimore local shows inIowa, but you end ulosing half your members within the first months.

Dirt Joe: Yea, it was while before we eventalked to each other aall of this went down. were depressed. A lo

bands at that point in career usually quit. Wcided to go out and sttouring a little bit. Wein Indianapolis, Indianplaying the Midwest MSummit. I remember cause it was the first met the guys from theband “10 Years” and topened for us. 10 yeawas going to be the nband signed to No NaElektra after us. I rember while we were recing the A&R from NoName brought me thialbum and told me tocheck a song out andwas “Waste Land” byyears. So they were g

to be the next band oName. Anyway we finmeet these guys and connect right away. Ware still good friends tday. So we were sittindown eating and Koreour bass player just loup and he says “Mancant do this anymorecant do it and Im not

going to do it, I will sta



e band until you findmeone else” and at the

me we still had a bookingent and were out on

ur with Mushroomhead,il, and Dope for a cou-

e months. So at thisint theirs still no word onats going to happenh the album and Korey

st couldnt take it any-ore. He was done. Nord feelings its totally un-rstandable not everyonemeant to do this.

ou lost Korey yourss player. When didu lose Jordan yourummer?

rt Joe: Well when wet back home, we triedt bass players and wet Nick (Snake Head)rror. Nick was in a band

e used to play with calledathers are beautiful. Helled me up and wantedtry out for the band. Weew before he even tried

t that he was going tothe one for Index Case.

e were working onaching him all the musicd at the same time we

ere shopping the albume recorded for No Nameektra Called The L. Ats point we are good

ends with Tim King of

il. He started up andie label out of Chicagolled Mortal Records. Helled me up saying thatwants to sign us and

ants to put this albumt. Due to the fact that

e already have a fanse and have a record

ady to put on theelves. Tim signs us and

e start the whole thing

over again. We start tour-ing and promoting the newalbum immediately. Wewent out with (Hed) pe forthree months, Bobaflex,and American HeadCharge. We were touringlike crazy, eventually wewere playing a show in At-lanta,GA and at this point

you can tell that Jordanhas just had it. He canbarely make it through ourset without getting pissedoff or throwing stuff every-where. It was starting tolook very unprofessional.We get to the show in At-lanta and he pretty much

just says “I cant do it any-

more”. We assumed thathe quit, we left the tourand came home. About aweek later we get a callfrom Jordan acting like hedidnt quit. We were like“No you did quit, we leftthe tour and came home”.Jordan to this day is oneof the best drummers Ihave ever seen in my life.

We didnt click. We clickedfor several years, but youcould tell that Jordan didntlike us as people. Its hardto be with somebody whenyou feel that youre con-stantly walking on eggshells. We decided thatwe were going to continuewithout him.

Was your next drummerRyan Berrier?

Dirt Joe: Yup, we knewRyan forever. He came onto help us out. We didsome touring for about ayear with him as our drum-mer. Then it came to apoint, where we had cre-

ative differences and stuff

like that. So we asked himto leave. Then we wereback on the hunt for an-other drummer.

Surely, by now you havethought about throwingin the towel?

Dirt Joe: I cant speak for

the other guys, but for me,“No”. As frustrated and de-pressed as I get some-times about how nothingever goes our way. Stilltheres nothing in theworld like making yourown songs. Before I wasin a band, I didnt do any-thing. Even if its miserable

being in a band trying tomake it, its even moremiserable not being in aband for me.

You rebuild your bandand find a label to putout the album that wassupposed to be on NoName/Elektra. What kindof distribution did you

get for your self titleddebut album?

Dirt Joe: We went througha company calledFontana. We changed thealbum from The L to self ti-tled. They put out 10,000copies of it on our releasedate. It was in Best Buy

across the country and inma and pa stores like CDwarehouse. We were justhappy to have an albumout on the shelves thatpeople have been waitingto hear for a couple ofyears. They all sold, theydid their job, selling fine.They just never pressedanymore more records to

put out on the shelves.

That sucks; the labedidnt back you guysAt anytime in your creer are you makingmoney from the ban

Dirt Joe: No, none at aEven on tour we weremaking 100 dollars ashow. That was barely

enough money for gas

You guys also con-tributed a track to thSound Garden tributalbum around this tiin 2006?

Dirt Joe: We were onAmerican Head Charg

tour in North Carolinawhen we get a call froguy out of Minneapoliputting together a SouGarden Tribute albumall the Midwest bandsasked us to pick a sonand it took us like ten utes and “We were alwe have to do JesusChrist Pose”. Jesus C

Pose sounded like a sthat we would write already. Its a real drumented song and weincorporate a lot of tomand drum rolls in ourmusic. When we finishthe tour we went to oufriends studio in Iowaand did the song in lik

days. It was fun, still tday we play that songand people love it.

You were interviewethe award winning dmentary The ClownShort of Destiny. Cayou tell me about thaand if it was ever re-leased?



rt Joe: That was a filmut together about the Desoines Music scene as ahole. A lot of people thinkat its a bash on Slip-ot. I didnt think of it like

at at all. Its about aene. I was asked “Whaty part was to theene?” for the documen-ry. I was asked ques-

ons about how the Desoines local music sceneas like. The intention ofat film was to show peo-e what the music sceneas like in Des Moines.etty much every bandat I have ever known ine scene was featured on

at film. It was never re-ased; it won some

wards at the Sundancem festival. But I dont

now if it will ever be re-ased.

hats this Ghostunter thing that youreoing all about?

rt Joe: Chad Calek ouranager is also a filmaker. He was the oneat made Clown Short ofestiny. His friend thatorks at Yahoo tells himat they are looking for in-

ependent film makers too a web series called Thehost Hunter. He tried out

nd got the job. Theyanted to use Indexases music for the show.ur music is pretty fittingr a ghost hunting show

ou know. They ended upsking me to try out to becast member. Theyought it would be a greatea to not only have ourusic but to have the

nger on the show as

well. So I tried out and gotthe gig. The next thing Iknow Im on tour again,but Im not on tour with theband. I was touring with 20people going to the mosthaunted places in the U.S.and staying the night atthe places for 5 days and5 nights. Traveling with allthe cameramen and castmembers was pretty inter-esting and it was actuallya paying gig which wascool. It was my first timeout on tour and gettingpaid.

So whats your verdict?Are ghosts real?

Dirt Joe: Yea man, I havealways believed in ghosts.There is something outthere. Rather if you wantto call them ghosts or not.Theres something thatsnot in our dimension..Theres to much unex-plainable stuff in this worldfor nothing to be going on.People never ever believein ghosts until they seesomething that they cantexplain. In my opinion youhave go to see it to believeit. If you never see it thenyou have nothing to worryabout, because you donthave any proof. But thereare things out there that

are weird and I have wit-nessed several of them. Idefiantly believe. I dontcare to push that on any-one. I dont care if anyonebelieves me or not. Im abeliever.

I feel that your music isvery spiritual. It alwayshas connected me with

something outside of

myself. Do you incorpo-rate some sort of spiritu-ality in your lyrics?

Dirt Joe: The music thatwe make is moody. I wantto paint a picture withwords. When people heremy lyrics I dont want themto be able to understandwhat Im meaning. I want apicture or a scene to bepainted for them. Its hardto describe without sound-ing crazy. I can right an 8minute song about how I

just touched the wall. Ihave always written mylyrics that way, even be-fore I was in a band. I

have people come up tome and say “Hey I lovethat song and I know itsabout this” and I will bethinking “No, thats notwhat the song is about atall” but its cool that theythink thats what its about.

All and all its not thatbad for you guys. Index

Case is a well respectedband in the Midwest. Iwould say you are localcelebrities in Iowa. I re-member being in highschool and I was so in-spired by the Birthalbum that I wanted tostart a band. I showedthe album to my friends

and we started a band.We wanted to be just likeyou guys. Unfortunatelywe didnt make it far andwe totally ripped youguys off. Check my oldhigh school band out!(www.myspace.com/burntrapcore)

Dirt Joe: (Laughs) I love it

that people connect with

our music. When youus, we are always doparty with everyone.Thats how we like toit. People come up toall the time and be likmy god youre in IndeCase, man you must rich”. No actually werAs a musician if you c

just pay your bills andcomfortably and pay your apartment just oyour music. You are asuccessful musician!Thats how hard the intry is. Were just a welknown band that has around for 10 years. Whave been there and

about everything youdo as a band. We havbeen through the wholabel thing and done of major tours with sobig bands. We have sit out and have nevergiven up, no matter wbad shit has happeneus. I think people likeabout us, so they hold

to it.

Tell me about your nalbum that you havebeen working on?

Dirt Joe: The new albonce again, is going tdifferent. Every IndexCase album changes

we still keep or uniqusound. Its a little morbeat heavy and up tethen our previous recNot so much of the reheavies then stop stuthat we are known for

Do you guys have alease date?

Dirt Joe: We dont ha



ease date. We are righthe middle of recording

r asses off. We are hop- to have the album

ne by the end of July.ere not going to pressrd copies right away.e are going to just re-ase it all online and onunes. We are just going

igital release for thest 2 months and see

at happens. If we stillve all these fans that wenk we have and we cane that its selling good.en we are going to start

essing hard copies andart getting it out to

res.

eryday I hear bandsat just suck! I see andred bands that arerrible and have a labeld are out touring,

aying major festivals.pisses me off that and like Index Case,

ho has so much talentarve.

t Joe: Well man its justk. Its all about the righting. If one band doesll in the music industry,

en for the next couple ofars all those labels onlynt to sign bands thaty sound like that. Thatsy every time you turn

the radio everythingunds the same. I canten tell you the bandmes anymore becauseall the same. Nothing isque. If your original and

eative then you are con-ered a lottery in thesic industry and they

nt want to gamble witheir money. Labels want a

re thing. So being a

unique creative band iskind of like a curse. Somebands make it like Tool isa prime example. Tool cando whatever the fuck theywant. They have provedthemselves; they havestuck together and made itwork. Eventually they blewup from an underground

level and now they can dowhat ever they want. Weare getting to the pointwhere we dont need arecord company. We wantto get to a point throughthe underground to wherethese labels are like “Ohmy god these guys did iton their own?” We want to

be apart of it and we cansay “You know what FUCKYOU” because you didntwant to be apart of it be-fore, so now we dontneed you. Thats the ulti-mate goal. We are notlooking for a label at all.We dont need it! I thinkwith the things going onright now. We have a good

chance of blowing up onan underground level.

What do you think of theold school Iowa bands?

Dirt Joe: Smak Dab was agood band. They werefrom as era where therewasnt any female fronted

groups doing that kind ofextreme music or in ametal band. God she wasamazing as well as therest of the guys in theband!

Alexis was hot!

Dirt Joe: Yea, shes attrac-tive that didnt hurt any-

thing at all!

What about Deadfront? Ialways thought of Dead-front as Iowas versionof Korn.

Dirt Joe: Yea, Deadfrontwas my favorite local DesMoines band of all timeand still is to this day.Without a doubt they were

sweet.

What did you think ofDown The Sun (Bandsigned to RoadrunnerRecords featuring mem-bers of Deadfront, De-strophy, and Stone Sour)www.myspace.com/downthesun

Dirt Joe: Down the sunwasnt bad. I never boughtthe album. I didnt like itthat much. I saw them livebefore I heard the album. Iwas a bigger Deadfrontfan. I didnt like the wholething with the two vocal-ists.

What did you think ofPainface? (featuringoriginal lead singer ofSlipknot)

Dirt Joe: I loved Painface.I remember Painfaceshows and that shit wasscary. I remember beingterrified of those guys. It

was different; nobody inDes Moines was doing thedeath metal thing with thelow growls and screaming.A lot of people didnt get it.

Face Cage (Signed toCorey Taylors Label)they are another hugeband in Iowa. I never seeyou guys playing with

those guys. Why not?

Dirt Joe: Yea, we donman and we recently jstarted talking about dsome things together.not like we dont get aor we dont want to platogether. The opportunever came along setsomething up.

What advice do youhave for young musicians thinking aboutstarting a band?

Dirt Joe: Be prepared failure. Maybe that wathe right word. But be pared for everybody topect you to fail. No bo

ever hears there kid s“Oh Im going to be inband” and think “Oh sthats going to be succful”. Everybody thinksthats its a big joke. Ifcant handle criticism tyou cant be in a bandcause its 90% negativNegative things happeand you have to be a c

tain kind of person. Evyoure the only personthe world that believesyour music is good thethats what you got to





rgin recording artists,aving Abel

Eric Taylorass)

orinth, Mississippi

yspace.com/savingabel

y: Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI ERIC THANKSOR TALKING WITH MEODAY. HOW AREHINGS GOING?

hings are going well.

UEN: AWESOME, IMLAD TO HEAR IT.OUR SELF TITLEDAJOR LABEL ALBUMELEASED IN MARCHF 2008. IT HAS BEENOING GREAT AND WAS

ERTIFIED GOLD THISEAR. SO CONGRATU-

LATIONS ON THAT.

Yes, in March, it went gold.We are very pleased withthat.

MUEN: WOULD YOU SAYTHAT THIS IS AN ALBUMTHAT APPEALS TOALL?

I think so because wehave a wide spectrum ofsound on it. We are somesouthern rock boys, wehave some southern rock

on it, some heavier rockand some soft ballads thatseems to have done verywell so its got a broadsound on it.

MUEN: THERE ARETHREE KILLER SINGLESON THE ALBUM. WHATWAS IT LIKE WORKINGWITH SKIDD MILLS?

It was insane; it was my

first time working with him.I learned a lot from him,hes a really good pro-ducer. Hes like a little kidwith a Gameboy sitting be-hind a console and com-

puter. Hes really good towork with, hes funny andhe gets the job done. Iwouldnt want to use an-other producer.

MUEN: SO YOU WILLDEFINITELY WORKWITH HIM AGAIN IN THEFUTURE THEN?

We are working with himright now on our newalbum. Hopefully, we willcontinue to use him on al-bums to come.

MUEN: AWESOME! SOTHERES A NEW ALBUMIN THE WORKS? IM EX-CITED ABOUT THAT.

There is

MUEN: I HAVE BEENFAN SINCE THE BEGNING. I ACTUALLY HA COPY OF THERECORD THAT YOUGUYS SELF RELEAS

I AM SO HAPPY FORYOUR SUCCESS.

I appreciate it.

MUEN: DO YOU STILRUN YOUR OWN MYSPACE PAGE?

I think the label does of it. We all have our opages that have prettymuch turned into fanpages. As far as thebands page, we still gon and check all the cments and stuff.

MUEN: THE SONG ”TATTOO” IS BASEDACTUAL EVENTS

RIGHT?Yeah, our guitar playe



ent on a spur of the mo-ent, wild trip. He boughtcouple cases of beer, assays in the song and hed a friend went on a

ad trip. It is based on ae story.

UEN: AND HE CAMEACK WITH A NEW TAT-

OO.

course

UEN: TELL ME ABOUTHE SONG “18 DAYS,”

WAS WRITTEN FORUR MILITARY RIGHT?

e ended up turning it into

military song. There is agendary Sheriff close tor hometown by theme of Buford Pusser,

ey actually made theovie “Walking Tall” backthe late 70s or earlys about it. I think thee Rock re-made one

obably ten years ago.e was involved in a drive-

, he and his wife wereting on the side of thead and it killed her and

got shot in the face re-atedly. There was a doc-

mentary and there was ae in there that said “Itd been 18 days since hed looked at himself in

e mirror” because of thendages. That is what in-ired that first line in theng “18 Days.” We werecording the album anderybody in this band haslitary background as farfamily. We are really big

pporters and we startednking “Hey, when theops are deployed, after

eir deployment, they get

18 day leave.” We kindconnected it and shot

an amazing military videoout in San Francisco on anaircraft carrier. To this day,every night that we play it,we give a shout out to ourtroops. You dont have tosupport the war, but sup-port your troops.

MUEN: YOU RELEASED

AN EP CALLED “18DAYS TOUR” RE-CENTLY. TELL USABOUT THE EP.

Its a bunch of differenttakes on acoustic songs. Ithink there are some unre-leased tracks on there too.We had some time off ear-

lier this year so we wentinto the studio; everybodyin the band grabbed someacoustics, wrote some ofthe songs and gave a dif-ferent view of them. I be-lieve it is available onITunes, online.

MUEN: THE SONG “AD-DICTED” IS REALLY

KICKING ASS. I HEARYOU HAVE AN EX-RATED VIDEO FORTHAT SONG.

We have like three or fourvideos for it. We shot ahomemade video back be-fore we started touring andgot signed. We shot onethat was pretty much x-rated with a bunch ofwomen, drugs and nudity.Playboy.com premiered itand it had over a millionviews in one week, so thatwas amazing. We tried toget it on networks, but theysaid no, so we went backand shot another one thatwas more PG13. It was

shot at a house in Holly-wood Hills and Downtown

Los Angeles is in the back-ground.

MUEN: WHERE CANPEOPLE CHECK THE X-RATED VERSION OUT?

They must have it up onPlayboy.com; I know its onYouTube.

MUEN: SPEAKING OFPLAYBOY, YOU GUYSARE AN OFFICIALARTIST OF “ROCK THERABBIT.” TELL USWHAT THAT ENTAILS.

Thats true; they had apromotion going on where

they were trying to incor-porate rock music withPlayboy. They were tryingto blend them together.They got a couple bandsto design some t-shirtsand we were one of them.I think our album coverhad little rhinestone Play-boy bunnies on the pock-ets. Its been pretty cool,

we have yet to go to themansion, but we keep ourfingers crossed.

MUEN: HOW DO YOUGET PICKED FOR THAT?DO THEY COME TO YOUOR DO YOU HAVE TOSUBMIT YOUR PRESSKIT?

I think its a little bit ofboth, of course, they pre-miered our video. I thinkthat started the tie withthem and they wanted tokeep working with us.

MUEN: SPEAKING OFVIDEOS I LOVE THENEW VIDEO FOR

“DROWNING.” ARE YOUGUYS BIG NASCAR

FANS?

I believe we all are. I amyself and our singerNascar fan, but he is of a Jimmie Johnson fWe actually played thBrickyard 400 a couplweeks ago in IndianapWe played the pre-rac

and he was giving a sout to Jimmie. There wsome mixed feelings fthe crowd, some booeand some yelled. JimmJohnson ended up winthat race. We did a raout in California last yand Jared predicted thhe would win and he w

that race also. They nto somehow contact eother. Anytime there isday off and there is a on, its always on the We are pretty big fans

MUEN: THE OTHERBAND THAT IS BIGNASCAR FANS IS 3DOORS DOWN.

Its a southern thing.Weve done a coupleshows with them, theyamazing live.

MUEN: YOU ARE ONTHE ROAD WITH NICELBACK, PAPA ROAAND HINDER. HOW

THE DARK HORSETOUR GOING SO FA

Its big, there are probover a hundred peoplcluding the bands on tour. There are probabtwenty tour buses, bufun because we are ping for 20,000 peopleevery night. Nickelbac

a great bunch of guyseven down to the sma



rson on their crew.erybody is amazing, Iuldnt be on a better

ur, I dont think.

UEN: HOW HAVE THEROWDS BEEN?

ey have been really re-onsive; we are getting

r name out now. We arel a baby band and we

e trying to put a face tor music. I think its work- and hopefully we are

nning people over everyht. We are doing our

b.

UEN: REALLY? YOUONSIDER YOURSELF AABY BAND STILL?

s, compared to thends we are touring with.nder has been around

ten years. Papa Roachs been a big “A” listnd for over ten yearsd so has Nickelback.e are two years in as far

major releases.

UEN: THE KIDS KNOWHO YOU AREOUGH.

s, they do and we feelessed because of that.

UEN: DO YOU HAVENY PRE-SHOW RITU-

LS THAT YOU DO BE-ORE HITTING THE

AGE AT THESEHOWS?

, not really, some of ourys warm up. We take

e weights out and kind oft pumped up a little bit,t the blood flowing, get

rmed up, do a shot anday a show.

MUEN: DO A SHOT? DOYOU GET NERVOUS BE-FORE GOING OUT ONSTAGE?

I dont know about theother guys, but me person-ally, I have never beennervous. I love playingmusic and its what I do

every night.

MUEN: I NOTICED YOUHAD SOME PICTURESOF A BUS CRASH ONYOUR MYSPACE PAGE.WHAT HAPPENED?

Yes, that was earlier thisyear. I think we were inPennsylvania or Ohio andwe were driving, passingan 18 wheeler in a curve.The driver of the 18wheeler looked down,

jerked the wheel andslammed us over into aconcrete wall where theywere doing construction. Ittotaled our bus and threwsome of us out of the

bunk, but no one got hurt.We just heard our driverup there screaming “No,no, no, no!!” He did a re-ally good job, but it com-pletely totaled our bus.Once a year, we seem toget involved in some kindof accident. We are luckyto still be here and we arestill touring.

MUEN: WELL, THEGOOD THING IS THATEVERYONE IS OKAY.

Right, we are doing eightto twelve hour drives everynight; we get in and pray

that we show up at thenext show.

MUEN: GETTING BACKTO YOUR NEWRECORD. HOW FARALONG ARE YOU IN THEPROCESS?

We have about five or sixof them already trackedand recorded. We havebeen writing on the road,

which is fun, because yousee things out on the road.Getting the songsrecorded is the problem.On our days off, we fly ourproducer in and go to thestudio. If we have morethan a couple days off, wefly in to our studio, but wehave about fifteen morewritten and we are stillwriting them. We are look-ing at probably earlyspring of 2010 for a re-lease.

MUEN: DOES THE NEWALBUM HAVE A NEWSOUND?

Its a little bit heavier. The

ballads are a little softer.Theres a little bit ofchange, but Im sure wewill make new fans as wellas keep our old fans.

MUEN: WAS THERE ANYONE BAND THAT YOUWOULD LISTEN TOTHAT INSPIRED YOU TOWANT TO BE A BASS

PLAYER?

Actually, I was a guitarplayer up until I was sev-enteen and I got into Tool.I got their second major re-lease and realized thatwas the bass making allthose sounds. Thats whatgot me into playing bass.

MUEN: FANS GET A

CHANCE TO WIN ANTOGRAPHED SAVINABEL PRS GUITARRIGHT?

Thats right

MUEN: WHAT DO THFANS HAVE TO DO TWIN?

I know we give one oevery night on tour. Atconcerts you text a nuber and its a randomdraw. The fan gets tocome back, take pictuand hang out a little bithey want us to sign itsign it with them.

MUEN: THANK YOU MUCH FOR THE INTVIEW ERIC. ITS BEEFUN. I WISH YOU THVERY BEST AND I HOTO TALK TO YOU AGSOON.

Alright, thank you

MUEN: IS THERE ANTHING YOUD LIKE TADD OR SAY?

We have a fall headlintour coming up, so cheout our website and MSpace. Come catch ashow!



B

UR

N

H

A

L

O



URN HALOawkhead Rekords)

ames Hartocals)

ange County, CA

space.com/burnhalo

: Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI JAMES!ANKS FOR CHAT-

NG WITH ME TODAY.OW ARE THINGSOING?

erythings great, howe you doing?

UEN: IM DOINGRETTY GOOD. YOU

AYED WITH SALIVAAST NIGHT.

e did, yeah, we were inuston. We had a good

e, the show was awe-me and the crowd wasod. We were actually

ere not even two weeksfore that doing our ownow. It was good to dor own show and have anch of people comet. It was a good oppor-

nity for us.

UEN: YOUR SELF TI-ED DEBUT ALBUM

ELEASED IN MARCH.ESCRIBE THE ALBUMOR ME.

ah, it is a modern rockcord. It is a very pured organic record with

e sound. It also has assic rock vibe to it too

in the song writing in gen-eral. It is definitely a mod-ern rock album; it isdefinitely something youdhear today. I think a lot ofbands from the 80s thatare still around makingnew music forget thatthey have to appeal to

todays crowd. They getstuck with what they are

used to doing and whattheyve been doing for thelast twenty years. I think alot of that stuff is great incomplimenting a modernrock sound and that is re-ally what I wanted to tryto do.

MUEN: TELL ME WHATPART ZAC MALOYPLAYED IN THE MAK-ING OF THE ALBUM.

I met Zac in May of 2007and we sat down and dis-cussed writing a recordtogether. I went out toTulsa, Oklahoma a cou-

ple weeks later and wrotea couple songs with him,recorded a song that hehad written and then werecorded a song that Ihad written. We had re-ally good chemistry rightoff the bat. I liked theprocess of our song writ-ing so I went out there

once a week for about amonth and we ended upwriting the whole recordtogether. He ended upproducing the album aswell, which I think is agood thing. Usually, Iwould want to havesomebody from the out-side that really didnt

have anything to do withthe songs come in pro-

duce the record, but be-cause I felt the songswere already there anddidnt need any tweakingI felt like it made moresense to make the recordwith him.

MUEN: YOU DREW IN-

SPIRATION FROMCOUNTRY MUSICWHEN WRITING FORTHIS ALBUM RIGHT?

Yeah, you know, I guesssome of the ballads havea country vibe to them. Itis more so lyrically withthe story telling of it all.The guitars kind of bringout that vibe as well, but I just think the story tellingpart of country music isgreat. I think a lot of itgets overlooked by peo-ple in the rock, metal, hip-hop and pop industrybecause its too twangy. Ithink it really paints a pic-ture for the listener and

that is want I wanted todo on just about everysong here.

MUEN: HOW DID WRIT-ING THIS ALBUM DIF-FER FROM WHEN YOUWOULD WRITE FOR 18VISIONS?

It was like night and dayto be honest with you;with this we picked uptwo guitars and pieced to-gether some chords andthe changes. We wouldwrite a vocal melody overit and then just kind ofbuild off of that. It had avery natural, organic feel

to the process. In 18 Vi-sions, it was the complete

opposite. I would gethanded a full bed ofmusic and they basicwould hand it to me asay ”Here, write somecals.” It was very difficto maneuver vocalmelodies around somthe pre-existing melo

There wasnt a lot ofroom for me and I rea

struggled at times comup with good melodieand hooks. It took melot longer to be satisfior find a good place fvocals for an 18 Visiosong, whereas with thwe built it as we wentalong. It was a very sple guitar and we builguitar around the vocfelt like with 18 Visionwe built the vocalsaround the guitars a lthink that is the main ference. Obviously, itdifferent type of recorthe song writing is diffent and it is a differen

brand of rock music. think its a lot simpler I think they come acrobetter.

MUEN: WELL, YOUHAVE BEEN QUOTEAS SAYING”THIS ISTHE ALBUM YOU HAALWAYS WANTED T

MAKE.”

Yeah, its been a longtime coming for me. Ithink that when you aa band with two othersongwriters and two mopinions, it gets verytough at times. Everybody kind of has to co

promise ideas that thdo not necessarily wa



compromise becausee next person might note it or it might not bee best thing for theng. You come acrossose issues, those bat-s and feelings get hurt,os get bruised and its

ally tough. I was always

shing the band to beore of a rock band andtry to branch out andbuild ourselves as and. I got resistancere and there, but like Iid that kind of goes with

e territory.

UEN: IT SOUNDS

KE THINGS ARE BET-ER FOR YOU NOW.

hink so; I think a lot of its to do with where Imin my life too. Six orven years ago I didntt up a fight or argumentth 18 Visions. Every-ng was really carefree.

he second we got ourajor label deal withpic, thats when thingsally started to changed things needed to be

certain way. If we wereing to be on a major

bel we had to do thingse way we wanted to doem, but at the same

me we had to keep in

nd that they are tryingtake these songs todio. They didnt sign thend so that they canve us do what we haveen doing. They wantedoutsource us in differ-t ways that we hadver been outsourced or

omoted before. Every-

e had to step up theirme and things got a lit-

tle bit more intense, itwasnt as carefree as itwas before and things gotrougher. It was five differ-ent opinions on howsongs should sound,what the record shoulddo, the imaging of theband and what kind of

tours we should take. Ithink it lead to the declineof the band and themorale.

MUEN: IT SOUNDSLIKE ALL THE FUNWAS SUCKED OUT OFIT.

It seemed like it got tothat point. I know a cou-ple of people in the campwent into the record withthe mindset that they feltlike radio should be ableto do everything for usand that the song wasgoing to react at radio orits not and that we didntneed to go out and dothis tour and that tour andplay this market or thatmarket. If its a hit, its ahit and it doesnt matter. Ikind of completely dis-agree with that. I think itsimportant to go into thosemarkets, play for thosestations, play for thosepeople and do those

shows to build a fan baseof life long fans. Youhave the power to changethings to a certain extent.If youre not out there anddoing the work and doingwhat you can on your endit is kind of pointless tome.

MUEN: WHEN IT CAMETO RECORDING THE

RECORD YOUBROUGHT IN QUITE ABIT OF NOTABLE TAL-ENT. LETS SEE THEREWAS DANIEL ADAIR OFNICKELBACK, CHRISCHANEY OF JANESADDICTION ANDSYNYSTER GATES OF

AVENGED SEVEN-FOLD.

Yeah, I didnt have aband assembled at thetime so I really wanted toutilize the time in the stu-dio in the best possibleway. I think that was to goout and hire a greatdrummer and profes-sional bass player. ChrisChaney has been a stu-dio musician for a longtime and he has done alot of great stuff. He hasmade some records formy manager in the pastso that was a no brainer.As far as drums go, theguy that I really wanted toget in there was DanielAdair of Nickelback. Im abig Nickelback fan, I lovethe drum sounds, I lovethe style and I thoughtthat his style would defi-nitely compliment mymusic. There was some-body that Zac mutuallyknew that made a phone

call. We sent him arecord; he was into it andhad some down time. Hewas great. My buddyNeal Tiemann from Tulsa,Oklahoma did all thedemo work with me. Hewrote “Dirty Little Girl”and “Save Me” with usand he was actually going

to be in the band until oneof his good friends ended

up winning Americana couple years ago. Hout doing that now, bthe time we were ablhave him track the wrecord. Synyster Gathas been a good friemine for a long time awrote a song with him

well for the record. Whad him come in andtrack it and thought itwould be cool to havhim play on “Dirty LitGirl” as well. I had apretty good cast of pers.

MUEN: WHEN YOUWERE DONE RECOING IT ISLANDRECORDS DECIDENOT TO PUT IT OUTAND YOUR MANAGDECIDED TO STARHIS OWN LABELCALLED RAWKHEAREKORDS. ARE THANY OTHER ARTISON THE LABEL AT TIME?

No, its just me and thall its going to be. Bacally, we had a hard tfinding a home for threcord once the Islanthing fell apart so heknew somebody ovethe Warner Music Gr

through ILG and theyloved the record andlieved in it. We are dopretty well on our owobviously, we would to have somebody bistep in and take overrecord. We would likehave more resourcesmore behind it then w

weve had. I think thenumber one priority w



get the record outere, get the track atdio and let people knowat this is real.

UEN: HOW DID YOUO ABOUT FINDINGHE MEMBERS FOROUR BAND?

met our bass playerron in Tulsa when I

as doing the record. Heas a friend of Neals and

went down and saw himay at a country bar. Heas playing in a countrynd at the time. Hes aunger kid and I was

oking for guys that kindwere in the music in-stry that wanted to gett and tour that didntve a whole lot holding

em back. I sat downd talked to him about it,

e discussed the record,e songs, the directiond the future. He was allout it. I found Joey

ough a mutual friend ofe and my managerett. Jacoby from Papa

oach put the Joey bugour ear. We brought

m down to Southernalifornia for an auditiond he totally ripped it atitar. I was actually

own away because I

d been working witheal for the last year andas blown away by hisents. To have someoneto his standard was

mething I didnt thinkas going to be possible.ur drummer Timmyme from a friend ofne out of New York

ho knew I was lookinga drummer and he

worked out great. We re-cently added a newrhythm guitar playerBrandon, out of Tulsa,Oklahoma who wasfriends with Darin. Hewas in country bands andin a rock band for a while.We really wanted to get

back on the road and giveit one last shot.

MUEN: THE LEAD SIN-GLE “DIRTY LITTLEGIRL” IS DOING VERYWELL. WAS THE SONGWRITTEN ABOUT ANY-ONE IN PARTICULAR?

Yeah, it was written abouta girl that one of my veryclose friends dated. Theyhad this very chaotic, un-stable relationship. Iguess the song kind ofspeaks for itself on whatkind of a girl she was.The idea of the song isthat he is dating this girland she does these

things, fools around be-hind his back, hooks upwith his friends, flirts withevery guy that comes totown, shes partying it upand she doesnt have anyregards to what kind ofaffect that has on the re-lationship. For whateverreason, he just kind of al-

ways keeps her around.MUEN: THE VIDEO ISREALLY COOL. WHEREWAS IT FILMED?

We did that at the Slide-bar in Fullerton, CA. Je-remy from Lit owns thatplace with another guy. Iwas looking for a venue

that had two or three dif-ferent rooms in it so that

we could shoot every-thing there. Our budgetwasnt super high. Mybest friend has a supernice home down in Mis-sion Viejo and he let usfilm down there. I calledJeremy up and told himthat his bar would be

great for what we wantedto do with this video. Hewas all about it and supercool. They were very hos-pitable to us and it madefor some great footage.

MUEN: SO I DO NOTSEE ANY WEST COASTTOUR DATES ON YOURPAGE. WILL YOU BEHEADING OUR WAYSOON? ARE YOUGOING TO BE ADDINGDATES?

Right now we are routeduntil August 23rd andthen we are going to takea few weeks off. We arestill waiting to see what

September and Octoberare going to look like. Iguess the majority of thereason that we do nothave any west coastdates is because the majority of our airplay is inthe Midwest, the Southand the east coast. ThePacific Northwest has ac-

tually been a big sup-porter of our record fromday one so we definitelyneed to make our wayback there. We just hap-pen to be doing a bunchof support tours andthose tours for whateverreason have not beenrouted that way. Im hop-

ing within the next monthor two that we can either

find a support tour orit will make sense forto do some of our owshows in the area because I know there alot of people wanting coast tour dates.

MUEN: THE LAST T

I SAW YOU ON STAYOU WERE WITH ECAPE THE FATE INPOMONA.

Yeah, that was our firshow of that tour andfirst show in SouthernCalifornia.

MUEN: WHICH OF TSONGS DO YOU ENPERFORMING MOSLIVE?

Thats a tough one; I playing the ballads livlike “Too Late to Tell YNow” and “Here with even though its not aproper ballad. I like p

ing those songs becawhen I was with 18 Vsions, the last three abums had ballads onthem and for whatevereason they didnt waplay the ballads live. kind of get it becausewere more of a metalhard rock band, but I

not a fan of putting soon a record that yournot going to play live.dont see the point orpose in it. Singing thosongs is great and itslot of fun. Vocally, itsthere and alone for mso its a little scary attimes. If you hit a bad

note everybody is goto hear it because its



allad. If you hit a badote in a heavier rockong it goes a little bitss noticed. I love play-g those songs becauseey have a great vibe toem. I think that theree songs that if they are

ot connecting right offe bat with people whoe not familiar with thecord, as soon as they

et the record they defi-

tely will know thoseongs.

UEN: DO YOU PLAYNY INSTRUMENTS?

play a really, really baduitar. Im probably goodnough to throw togetherfew chords and write a

f or two, but thats abouts far as it goes.

MUEN: WHO ARESOME OF THE NEWBANDS OUT THERETODAY THAT YOU AREINTO?

Thats tough, huh?

MUEN: THAT STUMPEDYOU.

Yeah, are there a ton ofnew bands out there?

Thats the question. We just wrapped up a tourwith a couple bandsHalestorm and The VeerUnion. They have proba-bly been around a lotlonger than us, for sure,since we are the epitomeof a new band. We wereformed in October and

out touring in December.Those bands were great

and they were great peo-ple. Its good to seebands like that do their

thing and climb thecharts. Rev Theory is an-other cool band. Thoseare the bands we dig forsure.

MUEN: YOU WERE RE-CENTLY IN INKED MAG-AZINE. I LOVE THEPICTURE THEY USED.

PEOPLE NEED TO GOOUT AND GET IT. WASTHAT THE FIRST TIMEYOU WERE FEATUREDIN A TATTOO MAGA-ZINE?

With Burn Halo, yes, Ithink with 18 Visions be-cause there were three or

four of us who were soheavily tattooed, we were

in just about every tamagazine at the timedid a lot of tattoo ma

zine features for sure

MUEN: THANKS SOMUCH FOR TALKINWITH ME; IT WAS ALOT OF FUN.

Yeah, thank you verymuch.

MUEN: BEFORE I LYOU GO DO YOU WTO ADD ANYTHING

Keep on Truckin!



frequented by many ofLAs legendary musi-cians. I had playedthere in the early 90swith my solo projectWOLFEGANG whichturned into my soloalbum LIFEFORCEwith ex Yngwie and Im-pellitteri singer MarkWeitz.

os Angeles, CA

y G. Cataline

UEN: HOW DID THEWO OF YOU FIRSTEET?

W: We met at the FMtation in N HollywoodA, a local rock and

etal club

http://www.myspace.com/philipwolfelifeforce

I saw Maria at a tablewith her girlfriends andintroduced myself. Wegot to talking and therest is history.

MUEN: DOES MARIAWRITE ALL THE

LYRICS?

PW: Yes she has sfar... but that doesnmean that I wont wsome too.

MKG: Phil wrote slyrics on our first Cotherwise I wrote th

rest.

MUEN: I SEE THASHE HAS ALSO WTEN LYRICS FORKEITH EMERSONEMERSON, LAKEAND PALMER! TEUS, HOW DID THAOPPORTUNITY CO

ABOUT, WHATSONGS, AND WHAYEARS WERE TH

PW: I had been plain an Emerson Lakand Palmer tributeband

http://www.myspacm/theendlessenigm

and Keith Emersoncame to one of ourshows. We hit it offone day

we learned that helooking for a lyricistI recommended Ma

Within a day or twoafter getting her lyrthey had demos ofcouple songs and whave a cassette tapwith the tracks. Unnately they never g

released as ELP br

GLASSWOLFE



p and havent gotack together.

MKG: Keiths managerad told Philip that

Keith was looking forome lyrics for a new

ELP album. Philip

ave him a number ofmy lyrics and Keith im-mediately liked one I

ad called “FalseProphets”. That washe song he did theemo of. Then I was

equested to write lyricsor a song entitledCrossing the Rubicon”.

Greg Lake had comep with the title. I neverven heard the musicor did I ever get to as I

wrote the lyrics. I hadbsolutely no idea whatwas supposed to be

writing to or even howong the song was. I

ust had to wing it. I didome research and dis-overed that the title re-

erred to a famousattle Julius Caesar

ought against GeneralPompey of Rome andCaesars victory pavedhe way for him becom-ng emperor. A friendhen told me it was alson expression forrossing the line andot being able to goack. I didnt know

which of the two con-epts Keith wanted so I

ried to incorporateoth. Then we sent it

ff to Keith to see if it

sufficed. First, it wasntlong enough, then Keithwanted all the refer-ences to Caesar re-moved and I had toreplace his name with“the general” and so onand so forth until finally

I was told that Keithand Greg Lake had afalling out and sinceGreg came up with thetitle of the song, all the“Crossing the Rubicon”lines had to be re-moved. I was stunned.All that work to writelyrics around a title thatthey didnt want to useanymore. After manymonths, I heard nothingmore until we were toldKeith was in Europetouring with Rick Wake-man. A couple of yearslater, I tried the lyricsout on a song we were

working on with someplayers in our GlassWolfe project, but Iwasnt really happy withthe song. When Philipwas writing the musicfor Xotica, I decided touse the lyrics on one ofthe songs, which on the

new CD is “Rubicon”.With all the hard work Ihad done on thoselyrics, I didnt wantthem to go to waste.

WHAT SONGS DOYOU FEEL THE MOSTACCOMPLISHED BY?

PW: Mostly the new

stuff like Emerald Lady,Rise Above, Helen ofTroy and Queen ofTragedy.

MKG: I would have toagree with Philip, al-though I also really like

“The Tempest” and“Rubicon” as well. I amdoing all the vocal partson “Rubicon” with theexception of the lowvoice in the middle - in-cluding the low voiceon both verses so I re-ally get to show off myrange. The low verse

part in that song ispitched down a little,but not much. I had re-ally only recorded it togive Philip a model sohe could do thoseparts, but he liked thefeel I had on the parts.

MUEN: WHAT SONGSDO YOU GET THEMOST RESPONSEFROM, AND WHY DOYOU THINK THAT IS?

PW: We recently gotaboard JANGO radioand from their chartsand graphs it seemsthat fans of After For-ever, Nightwish andEpica seem to like ourXOTICA CD very muchand favor the sym-phonic tracks EmeraldLady, Rise Above,Helen of Troy and Rubi-con. Jango also show

that we are very popu-

lar in CA, Florida, OPA, NY and that ne40% of our listenindience is female between 14 and 45 yage.

MKG: We get grea

action from a lot ofsongs so its hard tsay. The material Xotica seems to bevery different from many of the bandsLA are playing so tin and of itself getstention. Weve plaplaces where a nuof patrons stoppedwhatever they werdoing to watch us.ing out their cellphand cameras to takpictures, etc. And had never even heour music before. was amazing.

MUEN: PHILIP ISALSO A VETERATHE L.A. MUSICSCENE AND HASPLAYED KEY-BOARDS FOR WAVINNIE VINCENT,MORE... WHILE L

TENING TO YOURALBUM, I WASTHINKING THIS ISPRETTY INTRICASTUFF... WHAT WSOME OF YOURBEST ACCOMPLIMENTS, AND WHATIMES IN YOUR CREER DO YOU CH

ISH THE MOST?



tracks in our home stu-dio in about 4 hourswhile Rudy Sarzorecorded his bass in hisstudio and gave us aCD with the audio file.Neil Citron recorded histracks in Steve Vaisstudio and gave us aCD with the tracks. Allthe keys and vocalswere of courserecorded in our studioas well as the Choirthat we got from a localLA opera company.

It was relatively easy to

comp them together inNuendo as they wereall recorded withSMPTE timecode.

But XOTICA It tookmuch longer than ex-pected to finish due tomy health problems

that resulted in my lifebeing saved in theEmergency room 3times, a major surgeryand the long healingprocess that I enduredafterwards. Thankfullymy dear friend JohnRotondi helped with themixing (and walking mydog when I was inca-pacitated with pain).

And then there was the journey into the worldof mastering. I used theTRacks software for 2months and mastered it5 or 6 times till I was

exasperated. Doubting

W: I enjoyed playingJapan at the Tokyo

ome with Impellitterifront of 90,000reaming fans and theonsters of rock Eu-pe tour with WASP ,ening up for Iron

aiden and Black Sab-ath in front of crowds

85,000

d more at venuese Donnington UK andanheim Germany.so playing clubs withs of history like the

arquee in London and

he Hammersmithdeon UK. I also re-ased the very 1stammond B3 and Mini-oog CD Rom

or sampler keyboardse the Kurzweil00XS, Akai 1000 ,

oTools, Emu etc) in94 and got a 5 star

view in keyboardagazine.

UEN: THIS THIRDLBUM THAT YOUAVE OUT NOW,

XOTICA"... FEA-URES CHRISLADE, RUDYARZO, AND MOREAMOUS MUSICIANS.AS IT HARD PUT-NG THIS ALBUM

OGETHER, OR DIDCOME EASY?

W: Chris Slade

corded his drum

my efforts I took it toUniversal Masteringand Pete Doel put hisfinishing touches on itand graciously gave methe mastering credit.

MUEN: TELL USABOUT THE ARTISTTHAT CREATEDYOUR ALBUMCOVER, ETC...

MKG: We were veryfortunate in the talentedphotographer and artistwho made the artworkof Xotica so excep-

tional. Stephen Manleywas our photographerand a good friend ofours who had been notonly a professionalphotographer at onetime but a child actor aswell who worked on anumber of shows and

mini-series in the1970s. His most no-table role was theteenage Spock in StarTrek III. Consequently,he came up with all thelocations to shoot ourphotos for the CD. Hewas very meticulousand creative and the

photos reflect that. Hereally did great workwith us. After all thephoto shoots werecompleted, we turned itover to artist Ed Unit-sky, who has done CDartwork for a number ofother bands. We found

him on myspace and

thought his artwork stunning. He incorprated Stephens photography with his owembellishments andideas. Therefore, bof their work was shcased and the end sult was nothing shoof spectacular.

MUEN: WHERE ISAVAILABLE?

http://www.cdbaby.ccd/glasswolfe3

http://www.glasswo

om ( check or monorder )

and also on AppleItunes

MUEN: WHAT AREYOUR THOUGHTSTHE POWER OF IN

TERNET RADIO?

PW: We are currentbeing played on ove100 stations - 70 intnet and 30 college stions, a few P3 statietc.

It is wonderful ... wewere being played oradio show out of Gmany and at the satime were in the charoom interacting witfans and DJs fromaround the world. Tnext show had a DJof Norway etc .



KG: It has been re-ly positive so far. We

ave a number of inter-et stations that haveatured us, inter-ewed us and sup-orted us and we soppreciate it. They areelping to get our namend music out there.

We have tried to returne favor by postingeir banners, tuningto their shows and

hatrooms, postingogs, etc. Plus, we

ave met some greatew friends along the

ay.

UEN: HOW ABOUTHE MUSIC BUSI-ESS IN GENERAL,S IT STANDSODAY?

W: In some respects it

a lot harder becauseou have to do souch of the work your-

elf instead of having abel to promote andarket you.

n the other hand youan record, mix andaster the project in

our own studio anden promote it to radio

nd market it all overe globe from your

omputer.

KG: It seems likeere is a lot of uncer-inty out there. We

ave known musicians

with label deals that gotsome of the same pro-motion that we weregetting by virtue of ourhard work and network-ing without a label. Werelated to these we-bzines, journalists, re-

viewers, etc on more ofa personal level thanan artist with a labeldoing the promotion.Plus, we never wereforced to compromiseour artistic beliefs to atrend because of indus-try pressure to make abuck. Sure, wed like to

be more successful, butnot at the expense ofour artistic integrity.Ive seen other bandsthat I have been a fanof put out a CD thatseemed like an attemptto make them morecommercial and fit into

the current trend whichin turn, to me, made theband lose its magic.But it is a lot of veryhard work, determina-tion and perseverance.

MUEN: HOW OFTENDO YOU PLAY OUTLIVE?

PW: We have been inand out of the studio(and the hospital) forthe last 3 1/2 years andhave played only ahandfull of shows dur-ing that time .But now with the re-

lease of XOTICA and

the great response wehave been getting weare looking for a book-ing agent and a tour in-cluding clubs andfestivals.

MUEN: ANYTHINGCOMING UP IN THENEXT COUPLEMONTHS THAT WESHOULD KNOWABOUT?

PW: More live radio in-terviews, a new videoand some live showsleading up to a bigger

tour.

MKG: Every week weare getting word ofmore airplay, requestsfor interviews, reviews.Soon we should havereviews coming out ofItaly and England, inter-

views out of Canada,airplay out of the Pa-cific Northwest, NewYork, etc. Our my-space site is the bestway to keep up with itsince we work that siteourselves and are on italmost daily.

MUEN: IS THEREANYTHING ELSEYOU'D LIKE TO ADD?

PW: We are already 22songs deep into thewriting and recording ofour next CD which willbe a concept album

and possibly a double

CD.

MKG: We would liktruly thank everyonthat has supported every bit helps anddefinitely appreciateWe couldnt do it w

out you!!!!

PW: We would like thank the people ancompanies that hav

endorsed, supporteand encouraged usBrian Chung fromKawai for letting me

record on their 9 Gpiano, Doug Rogeand Rhys Moody ofSounds Online for torchestra and choirsoftware, Yamaha,Steinberg, T.C.Electronics, Arturia, KorSibelius, Kurzweil,

software and key-boards, Marshall anPeavey for amps aspeakers, Mark Ludof Rode Mics, and Griffin, Rick Waite aMark Spiwak at WeLA Music (we get aof great gear from tstore).



Dirtbag Music Records)

ewayne Clifton (Vo-als)

yspace.com/waiting-rdecay

y: Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI DEWAYNE,

HANKS FOR TALKINGWITH ME TODAY.

s my pleasure.

UEN: FIRST A LITTLEISTORY ON THEAND. WHERE AREOU GUYS FROM INALIFORNIA?

We are from a town

called Hesperia in South-ern California. I live inOklahoma though andthe rest of the band livesin California.

MUEN: HOW DOESTHAT WORK?

Its actually working

pretty good, becausewhat they do is recordmaterials, send it to methrough email, I down-load it, upload it on myrecorder and we justbounce back and forthsending each other newstuff. When we get newsongs written, we meet

up and just record it. Our

management helps us

book shows, so I go outthere whenever showsare booked or they comeout here.

MUEN: THATS COOL,HOW DO YOU LIKE ITIN OKLAHOMA?

I love it, I grew up here

for about seventeenyears and then I went toCalifornia for about sev-enteen years. I havebeen back in Oklahomafor about a year and ahalf now.

MUEN: HOW LONGHAVE YOU BEEN TO-

GETHER AS A BAND?

Five years

MUEN: IS THIS THEORIGINAL LINE-UP

No, I wish it was. Wewent through so mandifferent band membI love the current linethat we have now; I w

that these could havbeen the guys in theband the whole timeJust like any other bwe went throughchanges and stuff unwe found the right pethat can travel and hthe time to be in a baWe finally got the pe

line-up.

WAITING FOR DECAY



UEN: I KNOW THATOU ARE THE VOCAL-

ST OF THE BAND. DOOU PLAY ANY IN-TRUMENTS?

ope. I can barely walk,alk and chew gum at theame time. I took guitar

ssons and found outhat I wanted to sing. Injoyed singing morend I didnt have the pa-ence to do both.

UEN: YOU TAUGHTOURSELF HOW TOING.

es, when I was a kid,hey used to make meet up in front of thehurch and sing, whichent on for about five

ears. Sometimes, theyould make me get up

here and do it by myself.got over that nervous

eeling real quick. I never

hought I would end upoing this, but it was aood starting point.

UEN: ABSOLUTELY, IHINK THAT EVERY-HING WE DO IN LIFE,EADS TO SOME-HING.

believe the same thing.

UEN: HOW LONGAVE YOU BEEN PLAY-

NG IN BANDS?

nly for about eightears. I started off in aeavy, hardcore, metaland. I ended up

creaming so much that Ihought I was going to

end up blowing my voiceout. I started doing someacoustic stuff with an oldfriend and we did somecoffee shop stuff. Istarted enjoying thatmore and more. I wasstill throwing some of thescreaming stuff in there

and that is what kind offreaks people out. Weare an all acoustic bandand then Ill just startscreaming on certainparts, but our guitarplayer kind of beefs it upwhen it comes time forthat, so it kind of has itsown unique sound.

MUEN: YEAH, AND ITWORKS.

Yeah, so far.

MUEN: HOW MANYCDS DO YOU HAVEOUT?

We have one out, but weare in the process ofrecording another one.That should happen thisyear. I think we are goingback in the studio aroundSeptember. We haveabout thirty to forty songsto choose from. We didthe last album back in

2007, so I think weredue. We have a coupledifferent producers thathave been talking to us.

MUEN: WELL YOUBRIEFLY DESCRIBEDYOUR WRITINGPROCESS. ARE YOUTHE ONE THAT

WRITES ALL THELYRICS FOR THE

BAND?

Yes, there were a couplesongs on the last albumthat each one of the gui-tar players had writtenand then we collaboratedtogether, but for the mostpart they wrote two

songs lyrically. The guythat writes most of themusic in the band now isMike, our guitar player.Whenever we get to-gether we just try to docrunch time and recordas much as we can. Itskind of a fun process, Ilike doing it like that.

MUEN: WHERE DOYOUR INFLUENCESCOME FROM?

My influences are Slip-knot, Metallica andSlayer. I cant do any ofthat stuff the way that wewrite this music. Thats

where I come in and tryto scream on differentsongs and the funnything is when people seeus when we play andthey see us put up theacoustic guitars and stuffit kind of freaks them out.They say “You know youare playing with heavy

rock bands right?” andthey say “Are you sureyou want to do this?” Wehave to convince themby saying “Its going tobe okay, just let us play.Youll see.” They alwaysinvite us back, but that issome of my influences. Ialso like Alice in Chains

and Godsmack. Theother guys are com-

pletely on a differentpage. Its a neat littlcollaboration of idea

MUEN: THATS COWHEN EVERYBODBRINGS SOMETHINDIFFERENT TO THTABLE. THAT IS W

GIVES YOU YOURUNIQUE SOUND.

Exactly, every time wa show somebody teus a different band twe sound like, so thacool.

MUEN: WHO ARE

SOME OF THE BANTHEY TELL YOU THYOU SOUND LIKE?

Weve been told AlicChains, Days of the Godsmack and everonce in a while MetaIts all over the map.

MUEN: I GUESSEVERYONE HEARSSOMETHING DIFFEENT.

They do and its procoming from their infences and what they

MUEN: I USED TO

PLAY DRUMS ANDWHEN I GO TO SHOI TEND TO WATCHDRUMMER. THAT IPROBABLY WHATPEOPLE DO WHENTHEY ARE IN THE ADIENCE; THEY WAWHAT INTERESTSTHEM MOST.

Thats what I do; Ill



ere and watch theger.

UEN: WHEN DID YOUGN WITH DIRTBAG?

e have been with themabout five months, we

e pretty new. They

ve about thirty bandsat they are working

h right now. We are re-y excited, we just had

conference call with thewner and he was telling

some of the new di-ctions that we areing to go in and whatis going to do to take

to the next level. Wee really excited abouting with those guys.

UEN: WELL THATSOOD. LETS TALKBOUT SOME OFHOSE THINGS. WEAST INTERVIEWEDOU FOR MUEN BACK

DECEMBER SOTS TALK ABOUT

HINGS THAT AREURRENTLY GOINGN NOW. HAVE YOUR ARE YOU CUR-ENTLY WORKING ONNY MUSIC VIDEOS?

e did a music video for

e of our songs calledavannah Rose.” Itned out great and that

actually how Dirtbagcovered us. After they

atched the video theynt and listened to the

usic. We have a coupleore shows we want to

sh out the year with,

are heading to Texas

and Im sure there will bemore things that willcome. We definitely wantto get the new albumgoing. I am talking to aguy right now, the sameguy that shot the lastvideo, about shooting anew video for us for the

new single. We are reallyexcited to work with him.

MUEN: A LOT OFBANDS ARE USINGFILM STUDENTS FROMCOLLEGES TO SHOOTTHEIR VIDEOS.

Thats what I heard and I

think its a great idea be-cause everyone is kind ofstruggling with money toput towards this and that.

MUEN: I DID SEE THATYOU HAVE DATES INTEXAS COMING UP.AFTER THAT YOUHAVE A MIDWEST

TOUR PLANNED?READING YOUR BIO ITSAID YOU WILL BEHEADING BACK INTOTHE STUDIO IN SEP-TEMBER OF 2009.

We put that up becausewe never know howthings are going to turn

out. We may go in to thestudio and they will say“Okay, thats going to be$25,000” and we will belike “Okay, were goingon tour.” (Laughing)

MUEN: WHO ARESOME OF THE SPON-SORS YOU HAVE

BACKING YOU?

Most of them are justclothing companies and Ihave one that sponsorsme called Darker ImageClothing and Dirtbag ob-viously. I have a sponsorfrom New Zealand whoworks with a companycalled Dead Ringer and

he sent me over all theseskull rings and jewelry.He gave it all to me forfree and he made all therings for the last Piratesof the Caribbean movie.He made all the rings foreverybody who wentdown the red carpet. Iwas shocked that he

gave me all this stuff. Wehave Dunlop who givesus guitar strings andpicks. Nothing for me, butthe rest of the band, Iguess when I got all the

jewelry they pretty muchtold me I wasnt going toget anything.

MUEN: YOURE LIKE

“LOOK, I GET ALL THECLOTHES AND THEJEWELRY AND YOUGUYS CAN HAVE THESTRINGS, OKAY?”

(Laughing) Exactly

MUEN: YOURE THE

FRONT MAN, THATMAKES SENSE RIGHT?

Yeah, exactly

MUEN: HOW MUCHTOURING HAVE YOUDONE AS A BAND?

With this line-up weve

just started. We actually

just came off of a smatour. The whole time twe have been a bandweve done quite a biWeve been to ColoraTexas and California.kind of goes with whaever time that we getdo things. We will do

or eleven shows at atime. We havent hadopportunity yet to dothirty or forty day touranything, but I think ware getting close to th

MUEN: HAVE YOUPLAYED IN OKLA-HOMA?

Not yet, you know whcrazy is when I do a lfriend requests off of Space through Okla-homa, it seems like thOklahoma, Texas andArkansas people like music the most. Ive btelling the band that w

need to be hitting somof the states where ware receiving a lot of tention. We were actugoing to do that in Setember, but then mymanager saw the emand he said “No! Youguys get back in the sdio. Stop trying to boo

these shows.” Hesdying for us to recordother CD. We are shoing so many differentpeople this new albumthat have never heardbefore. Thats the funpart, even though wethink its old, they arehearing it for the first

and it kind of re-sparkthe whole band.



UEN: HOW WOULDOU DESCRIBE YOURUDIENCE?

hats weird becausehen we were on thehone with Dirtbag, theyere trying to find ourrget age group. We

ere just in Coloradoaying a music festival.here were kids onkateboards riding

ound and when wearted playing they

ame up and before younow it by the end of theght there were hun-eds of sixteen year

ds with their parentsanding behind thematching the whole thing.was just kind of shock-g. We havent found

ur target age group yet,ecause the songs goom one extreme to an-her on the CD. Dirtbagld us they need to tar-

et an age group, soey are even trying to

gure out what ageoup to target.

UEN: OTHER THANUSIC, WHAT AREOME OF YOUR IN-ERESTS AND/OROBBIES?

ke playing on my boat.ove going to the river.hen I was in California,

would go to Lakeavasu all the time.nce Im in Oklahoma, I

o a little bit of hunting. Ike to browse on the in-rnet and find new

ings that people are

doing that involve music.I also enjoy being withmy kids.

MUEN: WHAT KIND OFMOVIES DO YOU PRE-FER?

I love scary movies.

Every year I throwhaunted houses for thepublic. I love the EvilDead trilogies. I likebeing scared.

MUEN: THE REASON IASKED WHAT KIND OFMOVIES YOU LIKE ISBECAUSE I WAS CURI-

OUS AS TO WHATTYPE OF MOVIE YOUTHINK YOURE MUSICWOULD BE GOOD IN?

Thats a good questionbecause half of the CD ismore of a hard rock styleand the other half is re-ally kind of light and mel-

low. We have had guysthat used the songs indirt bike videos and an-other guy used it in a Bflick movie in a sadderscene. There are somany different placesthat I think it would fit inwell, I guess it would de-pend on what kind of ac-

tion is going on in themovie. Im kind of curioustoo; I hope someone elsefigures it out. (Laughing)

MUEN: IT WILL ALLCOME IN TIME.

I just want to get back inthe studio, we have three

or four songs right now

that I know are just goingto surpass our previousCD.

MUEN: I WISH YOU

GUYS THE VERY BESTOF LUCK. THANK YOUSO MUCH FOR THE IN-TERVIEW, IT WASGREAT TALKING TOYOU. BEFORE I LETYOU GO IS THEREANYTHING YOUD LIKETO ADD OR SAY?

Visit our MySpace page

and listen to our musIts acoustic all the tiwith kind of like a meedge to it. I think peowill enjoy it. Its not a

combination that toomany people use, buthink it is going to besomething fresh. Wewish you the best of too!



CHIMAIRA

Matt DeVriesGuitar)

y Natalie Perez

himaira formed in 1998ased out of Cleveland,hio these metalcorerash addicts have takene metal genre to a whole

ew level after unleashinghe Infection," Expandingseries of new material to

xpress itself to not onlye old school fans but the

ew comers as well. Mattpoke to me briefly on theand's tour bus right out-de their last stop in Cali-rnia before heading outast to finish up the re-ainder of what is left is

he Decimation of the Na-on Tour.

UEN: So you must getlot of freedom to do

what you want to do withyour music?

Matt: Whats cool aboutthis record is having us asa whole grow up and beingable to combine our cer-tain favorites together to

create a style all our own.

MUEN: What are youcurrently listening to?

Matt: We kind of go backon what we grow up withIve been listening to Pan-tera lately.

MUEN: If every memberof Chimaira was lockedin a room together whatcould you all agree on tolisten to?

Matt: Whats cool a lot ofus have the same back-grounds like Pantera,Metallica, Slayer,Megadeth, any of the old

school heavy metal actswe can all relate too.

MUEN: Are you lookingforward to any specificvenues or cities on thistour?

Matt: Theres some Im try-ing to think all the Califor-nia dates I love coming out

here in the West Coast butI also like going out toAustin.

MUEN: Any tour anxi-eties?

Matt: Not really anymoreeverything is pretty muchgoing well.

MUEN: Is everyone inChimaira still sort of lo-cated in Ohio? Or havesome membersbranched out and movedaway?

Matt: Everyone is in Cleve-land, Chris moved down inFlorida stayed out there for

2 years then moved back.So having everyone

around makes the muprocess a lot easier.

MUEN: Does that mdifficult when the timcomes to practice owrite? Is the writingdone separately and

then sort of pieced tgether, or is it moregroup effort?

Matt: We write on ourat first then come togeThen we get togetherpiece it altogether.

MUEN: How do you

like "The Infection,"different than the otalbums that Chimairhas released?

Matt: Yeah its definitedifferent than anythinweve released.

MUEN: How does itmake you guys feel

hear so many otherbands trying to sort



imic your sound? Is itattering or…?

att: I think its flatteringr sure its not like some-e is trying to rip us offt I think its cool overall.

UEN: Of all of Chi-airas albums, what is

our personal favorite?r is that like asking you

try and choose a fa-orite child?

att: Id have to say thise because its fresh andw.

UEN: Any last words of

sdom?

att: Thanks for all thepport.

Nation Tour.

MUEN: Does thewhole albumcreatingprocess simplyget more diffi-cult as timegoes on? Haveyou ever feltpressure to topyourselves?

Sean: You al-ways feel pres-sure to topyourself. Defi-nitely the song-writing processgets easier but

the wholeprocess does getharder as eachalbum comesaround.

MUEN: Thatbeing said wasthere an inten-tion to create analbum which

was a reactionto “War of Attri-tion,"?

Sean: Not really it waswhat it was and the samegoes for this one comingout.

MUEN: How is the cur-

rent tour going, gettingalong with everyone?

Sean: Yeah its going greatso far weve been playinga lot of smaller places. Soits a lot more differentthan our usual standards.

MUEN: What kind ofsteps does "Descend

Into Depravity," takes in

comparison? How doyou view the leaps ofgrowth Dying Fetus tookbetween "PurificationThrough Violence," to"War of Attrition," from"Killing on Adrenaline,"and from that to "De-

scend Into Depravity"?

Sean: Im not an originalmember of the band so asfar as that goes this bandhas gone through someline-up changes so thatmakes a difference hereand there. Music wise itsgotten a lot more intense

expressing what DyingFetus Is truly capable of

doing.

MUEN: What's left apoint? Are there stilthings left to challenDying Fetus?

Sean: Yeah get back

the bus than riding in van, just go out and to

MUEN: So what do yhave going on this y

Sean: After this tour isover our next releasecomes out in Septemthen were going off to

with Cannibal Corpsethe meantime were w

CHIMAIRAPhoto by Natalie Perez

DYINGETUS

ean Beasleyass)

Natalie Perez

ne of the most brutalizingd intense acts aroundhin the death metal pool

known to many as Dying

tus. These three musi-ans combine death metalh a combo of grind andrdcore to establish axture of metal unlike any

her out right now.ssist Sean Beasleyoke to me outside theass House in Pomonaile the band was out on

e last stop in California

The Decimation of the



for the release of ouro new music videos tome out which should beytime now.

UEN: What are theggest and smallestowds you've played innt of?

an: The biggest crowds probably at Wacken02 about 40,000 or sod the smallest was 11.aughs* It was just theher band mates and their

friends standing andtching us perform.

UEN: Any last words?

an: Any last wordseck out the new albumce its released.

Joel Grindfounded ToxicHolocaust in1999 being theoriginal teammate whowrote andrecorded

everythingwithin his veryown bed room.

After a coupleof demo re-leases (Radia-tion Sickness,1999; Critical Mass,2002), an official LPwas revealed entitled"Evil Never Dies(2003). Two years wentby and after some con-stant touring hiringbackup back afterbackup Grind had goneoff to release his sec-ond attempt "Hell On

Earth" (2005) then an-other round of touringfollowed. Soon afterRelapse Records con-tacted Grind andeverything fell intoplace from that day,bringing forth "AnOverdose of Death,"

(2008) and thus thebirth Grind like's call"Nuclear Speed Metal"was born. Joel Grindspoke to me brieflywhile the band was ontheir last Californiadate before headingout East to finish off

The Decimation of the

Nation Tour.

MUEN: Tell us aboutToxic Holocaust... alittle history... a littleabout the band mem-bers.

Joel: Toxic Holocauststarted in 99 I hadstarted in high schoolwith a couple friends.We did a demo tapebut it didnt really workout they werent intothe punk thrash musicstyle. So I startedrecording my own stuffin my bedroom for acouple of years which

lead to “Critical Mass.”Then this record labelout of California calledNuclear War Now tookinterest and released itvia vinyl. So from doingthat, it lead to under-ground tours, gigs etc.

But then I would have

to travel and need t

get a backup band,heading out to Austneed to backup bangoing to Brazil backband. So a solid linup wasnt set yet. I one more demo - I lieve in 2007 and sethat off to some labwhere Relapse camout to be the best response. Since thenreplaced our old drumer, have this new along with our bassand everything hasbeen working out gever since.

MUEN: If you had describe your souto someone whatwould you tell the

Joel: I would saythrash punk basicacombining differentstyles of music sim

to sounding a lot lik

DYING FETUSPhoto by Natalie Perez

OXICOLOCAUST

oel Grind

ocals/Guitar)

Natalie Perez

hat do you get whenu combine a toxich a holocaust? Give? Toxic Holocaust!ese punk-inflectedash metallers out of

rtland, Oregon haveen kicking it oldhool since the80s. Their musicaluences had rangedm a wide variety ofts, Discharge, Hell-mmer, Bathory,nom and Possessed

st to name a few.



ellhammer.

UEN: Your debut Anverdose of Death...out. Tell us about

oel: Well its not reallyur debut album but itsur third record thatsctually received theost disruption. It has

ew songs that Id likecall “Nuclear Speed

etal” I dont know re-y but I like how thecording came to-

ether and how raw

nd intense it is over-.

UEN: Pick one songn the "An Overdose

Death...," and tells about it. How wasinspired?

oel: Well Id have tock “Nuke The Cross,”ot of people hear thee and automaticallynk its a Satanic

eme song its actuallyore about ending reli-on than the titleaims it to be when

oking at the lyrics. Imot a big fan of a reli-on or a Satanist I juste doing my own thing

nd believe what I be-ve in.

UEN: Do you haveny plans for the next

lease?

Joel: Yeah got a bunchof new songs ready torecord so everyoneshould be seeing thatvery soon.

MUEN: You guyshave been constantlytouring, what is oneof the most memo-rable places you'vebeen too?

Joel: Most memorableplace would have to bein Japan its so differ-ent than any otherplace weve been too.

Its a com-pletely differentculture thananywhere else.

MUEN: Whatare your up-coming plansfor the rest of

2009?

Joel: We got atour withSatyricon hap-pening andthen anotherwith The BlackDahlia Murder

coming upalong withheading to Eu-rope in Decem-ber sobasically lotsmore touringgoing on.

MUEN: Whatare your goals

for Toxic Holocaust?

Joel: Just get on theroad and release morerecords. I dont reallyhave any goals justmeet more fans andmake new friends andget our music heardwhile out on the road.

MUEN: What are onegood thing and onebad thing aboutbeing in a band?

Joel: The good thing isall the girls we meet,

and the interviews do. The bad thing imaking any moneyI do enjoy doing whdo.

MUEN: Anything eyou'd like to add?

Joel: Hopefully yousee us on the roadwell be coming to ytour so come checout!

TOXIC HOLOCAUSPhoto by Natalie Perez



eavens Base-ent : Knockin

n the Upstairs

oor”

n “Roosterpuddin” Isbell

assup MUEN Maga-ne Fans!? If youreading this now, thateans that we are alleady friends. Our

nchant for raw, pure,

hardcore metal hasbrought us all here to-gether. I love this stuff,man! I free-lance for alot of music publicationsbecause I am a musicenthusiast, and todayMUEN is the vehicle…Plain and simple. Youcan look me up on My-space, and see that.

Today, I want you tofocus on “Heavens

Basement”. They have

opened for someMAJOR acts in a damnshort period of time.Theres a reason. In myopinion, they stand outin todays music indus-try that is saturated witha lot of “clones”. Theirsong-writing is verytight, and theyveknocked it out in thestudio, also….but Ill letyou guys make yourown call. Make sure you

give em a listen after

you read this.

Heres what Sid shawith me.

Your browser may nsupport display of thimage.

Q) So how does it fto open for BlackStone Cherry, Shindown, andBuckcherry? That'

pretty impressive.

HEAVEN’S BASEMENT



s great, all of thoseands, plus Papaoach, are some of ourvorite bands that areound right now. It's al-ays cool to share theage with bands you'reto. Plus we had ackin good laugh with

of them!

) How did the bandrm, and how did you

ome up with theame?

e'd been mates fromarious other bands,

nd one night at a partyRichie's we started

mming some tunesut, there was a realood vibe about it soe just went with it toe how far it would go.

eaven's Basementas a name I came upth to describe theom we were in, and itst stuck.

) What equipmente you guys using

ow?

e'rebson/fender/mar-

all/ashdown/tamauys at the moment,nd I can't see it chang-g too soon. They canke a beating!

) If you could tourth any deceasedusician, who wouldbe?

Michael Jackson, itwould have been coolto be around such anintense performer.

Q) What bands areyou guys diggin' on

now?

We're getting somegood use out of theShinedown cd we stoleoff them. Pearl Jam andAlice in Chains, too.

Q) Whats thestrangest show sofar?

The last show of theBlack Stone Cherry tourwas pretty funny. Jonny

and I walked onstageduring "maybe some-day" dressed in cowboyboots and BSC hot-pants to freak them out.John-Fred had brokenhis hand in the 1st songand was still playing theset so we got a niceDutch girl to come onwith us and get topless

with "I LOVE JOHN-FRED" written acrossher to cheer him up.(Yes, Im laffin;)

Your browser may notsupport display of this

image. ( Black StoneCherry with HeavensBasement)

Q)What are some ofyour favorite foods / drinks?

Pasta, pizza, curry,Clunge, Belgian beers,fajitas, Hoegarden,tequila, Sumbuca,cider...loads really, de-pends on the job youwanna get done.

Q) Celebrity shoveltime....If you could hitany celebrity with ashovel, who would itbe?

Bill O'Reilly (Hell, Iwould, too;)

Q) What do you guys

like to do when noperforming? Whatmakes you happy?

Having as much funforeign city as posscarnage seems to flow us around moreYeah, we can't waitcome over to the stasometime and give all a taste of it.Your browser may nsupport display of thimage.

Well, there ya go, pples. These guys h

already opened for MAJOR acts in a shtime. Theres sometto be said for that, aI respect that. Im juglad I caught theseyoung men before tgo big. Make sure catch their myspacepage. They have sodamn fine spins! Imglad I could share thwith you, and am hoored to be associatewith MUEN Magazihope to bring yall mstuff to the table he

Til Next Time,

Ron “Roosterpuddinbell



ff City, MOyspace.com/shaman-arvest

: Shauna ODonnell

osh Hamlernd Drake Hunt

HANKS SO MUCHUYS FOR TALKINGITH ME TODAY.

ur pleasure.

OUR FOURTH RE-EASE SHINE

NOW

VAIL-BLE.OURUSI-AL

TYLEAS CHANGEDNCE YOU FIRST

TARTED THISAND. HOW WOULDOU DESCRIBEOUR STYLE ANDOW WOULD YOUAY THIS RELEASEFFERS FROM THE

REVIOUS ONES?

If we were forced to de-

scribe the music wewould say workingclass, blues influenced,rock n roll with a lyricalconscience. “Shine”has a sense of per-sonal growth as musi-cians.

WHAT EVENTS

CAUSED YOU TO GOIN A DIFFERENT DI-RECTION?

Well, we had lost a gui-tar player since our lastalbum and decided tofocus on the songs asa whole instead of indi-

vidual riffs. “March of

the Bastards” was amathematical, riff ori-

ented piece.

WHAT ARE YOURTHOUGHTS WHENYOU LISTEN TO THESONGS YOU WROTEFOR THE FIRSTALBUM IN COM-PARISON TO

THEONESYOU

WROTE RECENTLY?

Ouch, from a criticalstandpoint. Most of ourearly stuff began wayback in high schoolwhen we didnt knowour ass from a hole inthe ground. We can

only hope weve grown

as musicianssince then.

WHO DID YOUSE AS A PRDUCER FORTHE ALBUM

SHINE?

It was co-producedus and L. RichCriebaum @ Trailerstudios in St. Louis

ARE THERE ANYLYRICAL OR MU

CAL THEMESGOING ON

WITH THE

ALBUM?

We approached“Shine” with the intetion of creating as dverse album aspossible while stillmaintaining its fluid

I LOVE THE SONG



DRAGONFLY.” TELLS THE INSPIRATIONEHIND THE SONG.

RAKE: The dragonflyme is a symbol for

hange. Lyrically, Ied to capture the

eed for change w/ uss a band while tyinghanges happening en-ronmentally, and withe current state of

conomics in our coun-y. “Dragonfly” is one

those songs that mu-cally that came to-ether in a few hrs.

hat you hear on thebum is pretty true toe first time we playedthrough.

LOT OF BANDSHESE DAYS ARERESSING VINYL AL-UMS. IS THAT

OMETHING YOUAVE EVER CONSID-RED DOING?

e grew up listening tonyl and have thepinion music is meant

be heard on vinyl.othing beats that

armth. That beingaid, hopefully soon!

HATS THE STORYEHIND THE NAMEHAMANS HAR-EST?

RAKE: Ive alwaysad a fascination with

digenous peoples of

the world and whatthey have to offer spiri-tually. We wanted tosum up what our musicdoes for us on a thera-peutic level and justthought it fit.

HOW LONG HAVEYOU GUYS BEENPLAYING TO-GETHER?

The current line up hasbeen together since2000.

WHAT ARE THE AD-

VANTAGES AND DIS-ADVANTAGES OFBEING A BAND OUTOF JEFF CITY, MO?

Well, not may advan-tages but when yourout on the road for awhile its nice to come

home to a nice quietplace. And the peoplereally dig music.

HOW WAS IT PLAY-ING AT POINTFEST25? THERE WERE 35BANDS ON THE BILL,WAS THAT THE

BIGGEST SHOW YOUHAVE DONE TODATE?

It was fun, tons of greatmusic. It was defiantlyup there on the list.

TELL ME ABOUTYOUR LIVE SHOW.

Emotionally charged,sweaty, lots of scream-ing… All the primalityneeded to successfullycreate a dirty rockshow.

FOR SOMEONE WHOHAS NOT HEARD OFYOU BEFORE,WOULD YOU PRE-FER SOMEONE TOSEE A LIVE PER-FORMANCE FIRSTOR LISTEN TO YOURRECORD FIRST?

Its hard to pull off the

emotion in recordingsthat come naturally atthe live show. We pre-fer live.

WHAT KIND OF FANBASE DOES YOURMUSIC APPEAL TO?

Hmm… We hopeeveryone.

YOU GUYS HAVEPLAYED WITH SOMENOTABLE BANDS.WHICH SHOWSTANDS OUT THEMOST FOR YOU?

All stand out but theAlice in Chainsacoustic show in St.Louis was way cool.We had 2 days to com-pletely rework our setfor an unplugged showand some how wepulled it off and re-

ceived a standing ova-

tion from over 2000fans.

WHAT NEW MUSIARE YOU LISTENTO THESE DAYS?

As far as newer re-leases go, we listena lot of Mastodon,Clutch, Coheed anCambria, the Leo Pect, Kings of Leon,more Mastodon .

WHAT ARE YOURPLANS FOR THEREST OF 2009?

Were going to conpromoting “SHINE”our single “Dragonf

THANK YOU SOMUCH FOR THE ITERVIEW. IS THEANYTHING YOUD

LIKE TO ADD ORSAY?

Wed like to just saThank You to the pple who have goneto get “SHINE” andcontinue to help usate a buzz. This ha

been done pretty groots, so if youre incall your radio statiAnd thank you Shafor you and your tim



www.RockNation.us



www.RockNation.us



EAD RAGE: Heavyeaking Metal, Baby!

and Members:

icked D - voice

ast Willie - guitars

qua - bass

hunder Cock - drums

nce in awhile thereomes a band that defies

logic, and we ask our-elves "what the hell"?hen we find ourselvesading more about them,

ventually singing theirongs in our heads, finally

mbing aboard the band-

wagon.

In March 2007, that bandwas DEAD RAGE! Checkout this amazing story ofhow a couple of washedout, has been, wanna-be80's rock stars renewedtheir faith in Heavy Metal,and gained a loyal follow-ing in the process, newmedia style.

Hailing directly from the in-fernal depths of Cyber-space Hell, animatedrockers, DEAD RAGE,keep the flames of oldschool heavy metal burn-ing bright. The band mem-bers, 3D computer

generated avatars, con-

ceptualized by musiciansDon Harrison and WilliamScott, set themselvesapart as being the 'MEEZgenerated, live musicianpowered, heavy metalband'.

Created using the 3D I.D.MEEZMAKER, available atwww.meez.com, Don wasfirst exposed to the idea byway of Anthrax's Scott Ian,OTEP's Shamaya, and for-mer FUSETV icon, Mis-tress Juliya, all of whomhad 3D likenesses createdfrom the site. Taking it onestep further, he created afantasy band, dressingthem in 80s metal fashion

and face paint, then

placed them along wimusic he and Williamwritten, onto a Myspaaccount. The chosenname, DEAD RAGE, actually an amalgam two band names form

used by the duo in thepast, Deadbolt and WRage.

There was an immediand overwhelming womouth response the fday the band appeareonline. Hundreds of sviews, hundreds of soplays, and emails on emails wanting to knomore about DEAD RAEven the corporate bidogs at www.meez.cogot involved, launchinpress release introduDEAD RAGE to evenmore metal and Meeznatics. They also crea custom DEAD RAG

themed merch shop fuse with their 3D animicons, with Don actingan advisor as to whatshould be included. Tmost obvious items bspiked leather gauntleala Rob Halford and aDEAD RAGE t-shirt. mer Meez publicist, MMei, stated, "Hopefull

with help from Meez, Rage will be able to cgeographical bordersfind fans from all walklife."

So powerful was the bthat DEAD RAGE recan endorsement offerHalo Guitars (the ban

clined the offer), a lice

yvonne’s world



g offer from BravoNYCoduction Company tove their music featureda documentary, and nu-erous interview requestsm internet radio stationsd e-zines.

e band was

so invited torticipate ine newly cre-ed Metalyche Bandontest, top-ng all othermpetitors by

ay of popularte, winning

e contest by

sizable margin. Further-ore, a group of profes-onal animatorsproached Don with the

ea of a 3D stage, com-ete with light show androtechnics. Unfortu-tely, that didn't pan out.

hortly afterunchingEAD RAGE

on the world,video waseated for thewer balladourning Sick-ss', donempletely with

e Meez ani-ated charac-

rs set to theusic. It was an instantccess with tons of posi-e feedback. This in-ired other

usicians/Meez users toeate videos using their

wn characters. Most no-bly, hip hop artists,

ROM DUVAL, and indiecker, LINDSAY RUSH.

this day, 'Mourning

Sickness' has nearly10,000 YouTube viewswith a near 5 star rating!Not bad for a fictional bandplaying dinosaur music. Asecond video was re-leased for the song 'Dream

Killer' whichspliced to-

gether Meezcharactersand film clipsfrom the 'ANightmareOn ElmStreet' seriesof movies.

Dead Ragemay appear

to be a band making themost of modern computertechnology, but while theimagery may be newmedia, the music is oldschool, through andthrough. Inspired by thelikes of Judas Priest, IronMaiden, Dio, Scorpions,

W.A.S.P., andothers, theDEAD RAGEcharactersdefinitelyshow the in-fluence oftheir creators.Old schooldoesn't stopthere, as themusic was

recorded byway of reel to reel, passedon to each band memberto add their prospectivepart(s). William claims, "Itinstills authenticity to thealmost forgotten art ofHeavy Metal”.

The fact that Don (inTexas) and William (in

Massachusetts) live more

than 1600 miles apartdoesn't affect their partner-ship in the least. "We

used to write songs to-gether by way of phone,back in the day, when welived only a few milesapart and didn't have timeto get together in the jamroom", says Don. "This isreally no different", headds.

Despite DEAD RAGE'stargeted popularity on My-Space (over 30,000 viewsby less than 800 loyalfans) and Reverbnation(#4 on the local Houstonmetal charts), there are noimmediate plans for a CDrelease or merchandisesales. The creators had,at one time, consulted pro-

fessional animators tobring DEAD RAGE to lifewith a full blown stageshow, but negotiations fellapart at the last minute.They had also toyed withthe idea of a live perform-ing version of the band,but that was finallydeemed not cost effective.Don and William are stillworking out the details of

how to manage, markeand promote a fictionaband. For the time be

it appears DEAD RAGwill remain MEEZ genated, live musician powered!

http://www.myspace.coeadragemusic

http://www.reverbnatiom/deadrage

About the creators:

Don Harrison aka WicD, is a former touring msician and music consant. He is also aco-founder/manager oMetal Music Promotionan artist development public relations compa

for the metal genre.

William Scott aka FastWillie, is a former tourimusician and guitarteacher. He continueswork as both a recordistudio and live sessionguitarist.



entury Media recordingists Suicide Silence

itch Luckerocals)

verside, CAyspace.com/suicidesi-nce

: Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI MITCHHANKS FOR CALLINGE UP.

course

UEN: HOW AREHINGS GOING?hink we are on the 7th8th show of the Pedal

the Metal tour. Theows are amazing.

MUEN: ITS COOL THATYOU ARE FROM RIVER-

SIDE, IM FROM WHIT-TIER.

Our drummer is fromWhittier.

MUEN: OH REALLY?THATS SO COOL. IUSED TO HANG OUT INRIVERSIDE A LOT

WHENI WAS YOUNGER.

Riverside is a cool place.The whole Southern Cali-fornia area is sick as fuckto grow up in, as youknow. I feel bad for peoplewho dont grow up here.As much as it sucks ass,its badass at the sametime. You love to hate it.

MUEN: RIVERSIDE ISREALLY HOT THOUGH.

Oh God yeah! Imagineevery time we practice thesame house we have writ-ten music in, rehearsedfor shows and practiced inis in a house in Corona.Its in a garage with noventilation, air condition-ing or fans and its like 110

degrees.

MUEN: AND IT IS PROB-ABLY SURROUNDEDBY ORANGE TREES.

Oh yeah! Its all orangegroves and avocado or-chards.

MUEN: CONGRATULA-TIONS ON YOUR NEW

RELEASE NO TIME BLEED. THIS IS YOU

SECOND STUDIOALBUM RIGHT?

Yeah, The Cleansingrecord was actually instudio but we recordelive if that makes senWe just said “1234 Gevery song and kept best take of it. With N

Time to Bleed we acttook our time like amother fucker. We moto New Jersey for fiveweeks and that way whad no distractions.Everyones whole focwas just on making abadass record. We denitely liked recording way a lot better thanrecording live. Weve



ady been talking aboutoing the new record.hat we are going to dowrite and record the

ew record is we areoing to move up to Bigear, get a cabin and lock

rselves in there forree or four weeks and

st write the whole newcord. We will be totallycluded writing good ass

cking music. I think thatould be cool as fuck toet a cabin for a month. I

nk its kind of cool for aand of our style to takee writing process thatriously. To be a suc-ssful band you really do

eed to have awesomecking songs. We are one brink of discoveringe awesome and coolngs we can write as a

and. We work really well a unit so now we are

st tapping into it.

UEN: THIS ALBUM

ADE IT ON THE BILL-OARD TOP 200.

eah, The Cleansing didat as well, but Theeansing was at #93 or

94. This one debuted at32 the first week and the

cond week it debuted ine 90s so it was cool.

UEN: THAT WAS HIS-ORY IN THE MAKINGEEING AS HOW YOUERE THE MOST EX-

REME BAND TO EVEREBUT. THAT MUSTAVE FELT GREAT.

hat was a really goodeling, flabbergasted

ould be the word.

MUEN: I READ THATTHERE ARE SEVERALDIFFERENT VERSIONSOF THIS ALBUM.

Yeah, there is a recordwhich is limited; we al-ways try to make vinyl be-cause its badass. People

like to collect it, so there isa black vinyl, but thenthere is a clear red vinylwith black blood splatter.Those are limited to2,000. There is the HotTopic release which is theregular standard recordwith a DVD of a live show.I think there is also anextra song. The ITunes

version is the record plusthe Alice in Chains “ThemBones” cover and thentheres the box set. Thereare only 10,000 printedand inside the box aretrading cards, a t-shirt, aposter and an extra song.

MUEN: WHY DID YOU

CHOOSE TO COVER“THEM BONES?”

Honestly, everyone in theband is a fan of Alice inChains. Everyone in thisband is heavily into music.We have done a Deftonescover before and so wewere like “What do youguys want to cover for thisrecord?” I came to prac-tice not knowing whichsong we were going to doand they had alreadydone a rough demo of“Them Bones” in A and it just sounded so fuckingheavy. It was kind of aneasy choice.

MUEN: NOW IT WAS

PRODUCED BY MA-CHINE. WHAT WAS ITLIKE WORKING WITHHIM?

Machine is out of hismind. He got the best outof everybody in thecoolest way possible.When we were workingon vocals he really drilledme to get the best out ofme. He would say “I knowyou can do better.” and Idbe like “No, dude thatsounds fucking awe-some.” He would makeme do it again and Id belike “Whoa! That soundsso much better.” Working

with him vocally and as aproducer is definitely fuck-ing amazing. I really hopewe get to do it again be-cause the combinationand the chemistry of ourband and him togethermade it a very awesomerecord. We just want tokeep doing that.

MUEN: WHAT DO YOUENJOY DOING THEMOST WHEN IT COMESTO THEWRITING/RECORDINGPROCESS?

A big chunk of time for megoes into writing the ac-tual lyrics of the song andthat just happens through-out my everyday life. Itsall the time, I can be tak-ing a shit on the toilet,have my phone with meand just start typing ran-dom thoughts. I think thatis one of the coolest partsof my job is to be able to just sit there and unleash

my brain onto paper,

throw it out to the woand see how people spond to it. Its kind oreally cool thing aboubeing a vocalist.

MUEN: WHAT DO YTHINK SETS YOURMUSIC APART FROOTHER BANDS INYOUR GENRE?

Id say 90% of the bain our genre sound likand are just ripping uThats why with thisrecord we totally stepoutside of the box andid shit that every othband doesnt do. We

didnt soften up at all just went outside of thbox. We tried to haverecord have our sounWhen you hear thatrecord you will know Suicide Silence, it is osound. Its not just demetal, nu-metal or hemetal, its a barrage o

shit and you cant reaput your finger on it eactly. We are just a hmetal band and we atrying to make it openanyone who enjoys atype of metal to comeSuicide show.

MUEN: I WAS THERWHEN YOU PLAYEDMAYHEM. THAT WATHE FIRST YEAR WNT IT?

That was the first yeaMayhem. It was so mfucking fun.

MUEN: YEAH, IT WALONG DAY THOUGH



at was everyday, if youerent blacked out, drunkd sunburned by the

me the sun went down,en you did somethingong.

UEN: ITS TRUE, IAS, PLUS I WAS COV-

RED IN DIRT. I WENTA LITTLE SUNDRESSND SANDALS.

ou must have haduddy toes. I rememberat was our hometownow and it was one of

e biggest days of May-m and one of the most

sane days of Mayhem.

e made a video for onethe songs off Theeansing called “Unan-

wered” that day and itows when everyone is

oshing that the dudes inhite t-shirts have turnedown. They had mudgs in their armpits and

ud around their neck.

hen we were playing, Imember being on top ofy rock box jumping and Ioked down at the staged the whole stage was

anketed tan and white.ter the circle pits starteding it blanketed the

hole stage, I lifted myet up and there wasack where I had beenanding in one spot ande dust had settledound me. Those weree days when you look ine mirror and there isud piled up in theeases of your mouthst from breathing initty dirt. Your eyes are

aring with dirt and you

e like “Oh, this sucks!”

Thats a metal fuckingshow and it doesnt getany better than that. Thatis where the real energy isat, when you see peoplereally losing their fuckingshit. I remember takingshowers after that andwhen you took the shower

you could see brown justpouring out by the drain.

MUEN: I WENT AGAINTHIS YEAR.

Did you go to the SanBernardino one? Youprobably saw our dudesthere. Everyone from ourband was there except for

myself and our drummer.MUEN: HAVE YOUMADE ANY VIDEOS FORTHE NEW ALBUM YET?Yeah, we made a videofor “Wake Up.”

MUEN: I WAS WATCH-ING THE VIDEO THATSHOCKHOUND PUT

OUT. THAT IS A KICK-ASS VIDEO. IT LOOKSREALLY GREAT.

We went to the Hot TopicCorporate office and justplayed songs for them.The Hot Topic Corporateoffice is the size of twomajor shopping malls. It isfucking massive so theyhave like 500 to 600 em-ployees working there allthe time. They asked usto come down and playlike three or four songs forthe office so we did aphoto shoot and theywere just so awkwardgoing “This is just ourlunch break.” I dont know

it was pretty cool though.

Hot Topic is one of thebiggest supporters in theextreme music scene byfucking far. They do ashitload for us and theydo a shitload for a lot ofother bands.

MUEN: YOU GUYSHAVE HAD A REMARK-ABLE YEAR THUS FAR.YOU PERFORMED ATTHE GOLDEN GODSAWARDS; YOU WON ACOUPLE AWARDS…

We got lucky; we werelike “Is this supposed tobe happening?” Didsomeone fuck up?

MUEN: YOU PLAYEDMUSIC AS A WEAPONAND I BET THAT WASFUN.

Music As A Weapon wasfun, we played on the sidestage everyday and head-lined it. It was always in

parking lots or fields and itwould always get rainedout. You would be playingto kids just standing theremiserable in pouring rain.There was really goodshows, but there were re-ally bad shows too.

MUEN: AND NOW YOUHAVE JUST AN-NOUNCED A EURO-PEAN TOUR. IS THATYOUR FIRST TIMEGOING TO EUROPE?

No, it will be like our twen-tieth. The very first timewe went to Europe we didit by ourselves, we didnthave a label. We saved

up money from our head-

lining tour over here awent over to Europe. since then weve beegoing back. We tour t just as much as we tohere in the U.S. If wenot on tour here or hamonth off, we are probly over there touringmay be in Australia osome part of the worl

MUEN: IS THERE A FERENCE BETWEEPLAYING THERE ANHERE?

Its like night and fuckday. Metal is so mainstream over there. Ex

treme music over theisnt considered extremusic; its just music.fan base is massive. little more accepted sshows are bigger andshows are just insanelove touring Europe athe UK, its always a fing blast.

MUEN: YOU ARE GOTO BE PLAYING WITDEVILDRIVER, EM-MURE, MUDVAYNE MANY MORE IN THEUPCOMING MONTHAM SO HAPPY FORYOU GUYS.

Im glad you enjoy.

MUEN: YEAH, I DO. HAVE SOME MAJORARTWORK ON YOUBODY.

Im working on it, I stihave to finish parts, bIm almost done.

MUEN: YOUR UPPE



ODY IS PRETTY MUCHOVERED, WHATBOUT THE LOWERALF?

eres a lot of stuff ony lower body, but I wearans most of the time so Iid “Fuck it.” The stuff on

y upper body is moregnificant and cool be-use it is a bigger areawork on. There arerts of my arm that needbe finished and a littleof my torso. Then Im

obably going to take ae break. My body goeso shock now every timeet tattooed. I get cold

weats, chills and literallyy body just fuckingtes it.

UEN: THANKS FORHE INTERVIEW, I AP-RECIATE IT.

o worries, thanks for theerview.

UEN: BEFORE I LETOU GO WOULD YOUKE TO ADD OR SAYNYTHING?

ome out to the Pedal toe Metal shows. Weve some Californiates coming up. There is

good chunk of Southernalifornia Suicide showsming up. Two of theme headliners and two ofem are the Mudvayneows. Go to

yspace.com/suicidesi-nce for show dates.

www.Myspace.com/OfTheWreckage

www.OfTheWreckage.com



rmborough, UK

ww.myspace.com/kenelis

G. Cataline

UEN: CAN YOU TELLS ABOUT THE SEPTTH SHOW? WHERE

LL THIS BE, ANDHAT CAN THOSE IN

HE AREA EXPECT?

at the Monto Waterats, Kings Cross. We

ve a diverse, rock lovingnbase and we haven'tayed a gig since our Julyur so expect your socksbe rocked right off!ere back in the studio

after this gig so if you canmake this gig you mustcome! Buy tickets onwww.kenelis.com NOW!You have to shamelesspromote these days andI'm pretty shameless so itsnever a problem!

MUEN: LOVE YOURSONGS, "CORPORATECANCER," "GIVE HERTHE GUN," AND"DRAINED" IS FANTAS-TIC AS WELL! ... WHATINSPIRES YOU TOWRITE?

Everyday life inspires me.Corporate Cancer is aboutworking you're fucking

arse for a company thatcouldn't give a fuck aboutyou, Give Her The Gun iswarning that you shouldn'ttreat people like shit and ifyou lie and cheat you willget yours. Drained is aboutwanting someone to behappy even though you

know its hard because ourlives get drained by unim-portant crap that over-shadows what reallymatters; we all have toearn money...

MUEN: DO YOU SEEYOURSELF AS A STORYTELLER OR MORE AN

OBSERVER OF REALLIFE SITUATIONS, TO

COME UP WITH YOUART?

Observer, kind of. Its about expressing mysbecause I have tons oemotions and if I don'tor yell or talk about hoI'm feeling I just can't dwith anything. Its muceasier for me to writeabout something in a sthan explain it in a consation. Anyone can sashit but writing a songabout it is full on expresion. I love the extremit. I need it.

MUEN: YOU HAVE AGREAT VOICE. HOW

KENELIS



ONG HAVE YOU BEENNGING FOR AND

AVE YOU ALWAYSEEN A SOLO ARTIST,R HAVE YOU PLAYED

ANY OTHER BANDS?

hanks! I was never anger as a kid, I alwaysayed drums in school

ands. Then I taught my-elf guitar and these songsat I'd always written sud-

enly sounded quite good!tarted at open mic night

vel and formed Kenelishen I got a gig thateeded some more noiseehind it. Not only are myand amazing musicians

ut were all really goodends. We get along soell and that's so impor-nt because without that

ou're fucked. Or Oasisaha how can they hateach other so much? If itsctually for real?

UEN: WHAT AREOME OF YOUR MOST

EMORABLE EVENTSTHE PAST YEAR,

OOD OR BAD?

l good this year! Wereack in the studio record-g the second albumhich I'm hugely excitedbout and the most confi-ent I've ever been aboutur music (I think this ise one, seriously secondbums are always theega ones) We've played

mazing gigs, London andottingham Prides, leg-ndary London venues like29 and of course mostassively the launch of

ur debut album! Sales ex-eeded all of our expecta-

ons and getting suchood feedback for 5 years

hard work is awesome!

MUEN: WHAT IS THEMUSIC ENVIRONMENTLIKE IN YOUR AREA OFFARNBOROUGH, UK?

It used to be compared toSeattle! Reuben, HundredReasons and Vex Red areall from our local area.Then venues closed andfanzines stopped, it reallydied down. Saying thatthough all the bands stillgoing for it played Guilfestthis year, it was awesome!Spectrum7, Flame to Fire,D'raven and the Retox areall doing really well but we

all play UK wide its not aslocal anymore.

MUEN: PEOPLE DEFI-NITELY NEED TO KNOWWHERE TO BUY YOURALBUMS. WHERE ISTHE BEST PLACE TOGET YOUR MUSIC?

CD's on hmv.com and

itunes for downloads. All£7.99 and free delivery onCD's, all proceeds go to-wards making the secondalbum so very worthycause :o)

MUEN: WHAT RADIOSTATIONS WOULD YOUCREDIT FOR ACKNOWL-EDGING YOUR TALENT?

XFM, Total Rock, all thegood alternative ones.Were yet to break Radio 1but its a working progress!

MUEN: HAVE YOU EVERBEEN OFFERED A DEALFROM A RECORD COM-PANY? OR TELL US

ABOUT BLACK GRASSRECORDS?

Nothing that's better thanwhat we can do ourselvesto be honest. Were a veryhardworking band andhave great support frommy girlfriend who does aphenomenal amount ofwork getting us heard onALL mediums. We've gotourselves to a stage where

once we have a demo ofthe new album we can goto the bigger labels as areadymade product.

MUEN: OK, WHO ARETHE OTHER MEMBERSOF YOUR BAND, ANDWHAT CAN YOU TELLUS ABOUT THEM?

Andy Seabrook-Harrisplays guitar. He will some-times disagree just to lookat things from all points ofview which is sometimes atotal pain in the arse butother times completelynecessary to contrast my'yes' attitude. He's verycreative and will fly across

Europe on his own for aweek with his camera all inthe name of art. JamesChilton also plays guitarand he's very geeky butvery cool at the same time,geek chic? He rarely dis-agrees and is a very goodband banter sport. Wemock him the most but Iknow he likes it. SamFranklin is our drummerand he is the coolestmember of the band. Hehas the same temper asme, I think its called shortperson syndrome? Which Ifully endorse. Thank godbecause a non angrydrummer is just not goingto pound hard enough!

Andy Henry plays Bass.He's one of the most en-

tertaining people I've met. Music, magic, fireating bleach blocks,name it he's done it. Inot sure what he woudo to be honest! All ofband are really good none of them are wanor up their own arsesalways fun to be arou

MUEN: THEY SEEM CONTRIBUTE ALOTTHE MUSIC WITHGREAT BACK VOCAAND INSTRUMENTA

I know, and its me thadoes all the interviewtakes the credit! Haha

are spot on though alours styles complimeeach other so well, webeen together a long and gel so well togethmusically. Sam used front his old band andvocals compliment rewell. We kinda soundsame sometimes! Dothat make him girly or

boyey?!

MUEN: WHAT ARE YPLANS FOR THE REOF THE YEAR ANDTHROUGH THE NEX

Lots more gigs, lots mwriting and as much esure as possible! Feeto whore us to everyoyou know. People havpower!!!! :o)x

Next gig - 19th Septe@ The Monto Water RLondonTickets now onsale owebsite www.kenelis.watch our vids!



www.GlassWolfe.com www.Myspace.com/GlassWolfe



ww.myspace.com/ofthewckage

G. Cataline

ELLO OF THERECKAGE! SO

HE BAND WASTARTED BYIGUEL AND CHRIS-AN... HOW DID

OU ALL MEET UP,ND ARE THERENY PRIOR BANDSE SHOULD MEN-ON?

guel: We attendedarmony High School

together being theonly two death metalmusicians on the cam-pus we immediatelybegan writing musictogether.

Christian: I got onlineone day and mes-sages Toledo who wascurrently vocalist of anestablished local hard-core band and askedhim if he'd be inter-ested in doing vocalsfor a Technical/DeathMetal band

Toledo: I said hellyeah! after being ex-posed to overdosingamounts of open notechugga chugga deathbreakdowns i was def-initely ready for some-thing more interesting

Miguel: I asked Toledoif he knew any bassplayers that couldkeep up with themusic and he askedMatt who played in aprevious band withhim and he was com-pletely down.

Matt: After hearingthere single "DelugHAD to join ! :)

WHERE DO YOUALL ORIGINATEFROM?

Toledo: Matt and I from Orlando, Florwe're city folk.

Christian: Miguel aare from St. CloudFlorida, a small tow

Christian&Miguel: multaneously) THE

OF THEWRECKAGE



OUTH!!!!!!!!!!

aughter fills theom)

HO DOES MOSTF THE SONGWRIT-G, AND BEING

HAT THIS ISRETTY HEAVY ANDCREAMO TYPEETAL, DO YOU

HINK YOU WILLVER EXPLORETHER GENRES INOCK AND METAL?

guel: Well Everyonerites...Christian will

rite some shit then illme over and jam

rite some beats overthen I leave and

hristian will structuree ideas of the day.

hristian: Yeah, i basi-ally sit in my room

th my guitar andart to put together toeces to create amplete song, Duringat time the song ise a bunch a scat-red Legos that are

arting to be put to-ether

oledo: Blasphemy!e hate that screamonk :) haha well, i justait for the instrumen-s to be completed

en I write my lyrics

ccording to the mood

of the song I feel thatMusic is the sound ofemotion so in order tobetter impact our lis-teners I strive to makeall songs from myheart

Matt: We are going tostay a Death Metalband. We will defi-nitely expand our mu-sical style we have somany musical influ-ences it would bedumb to put ourselvesin a box unless in my

girlfriend was insidethat box. yum!

WHERE ARE YOURECORDING, WHENCAN WE EXPECT ARELEASE, AND DOYOU HAVE A NAMEFOR THE DEBUT?

Christian: we have fin-ished recording our 6song EP titled "Os-siriand" and it will bereleased Mid Septem-ber and will be Avail-able on ITUNES forWorldwide audiences.

Toledo: o0o0o0oChild!!!!! Mc7Records, its our homeaway from home!

Miguel: Yeahh! we areworking with twoamazing producers

Mike Chandler and Ian

AKA Slater the Drum-mer of Blessed by aBroken Heart.

Christian: Ian actuallyis featured in our song"Burn The Settlement"doing a short Synth

solo at the endingchorus.

I HAVE TO ADMIT,YOU ARE DOINGPRETTY WELL INTHE GRAPHIC DE-PARTMENT.. WHODO YOU HAVE DO

YOUR GRAPHICSFOR YOUR WEB-PAGE, AND WILLTHEY ALSO BEDOING THE GRAPH-ICS FOR THEALBUM?

Toledo: Ahh thank

you! our good friendGabe Rembartfounder of Lost De-signs created the lay-out for our myspacepage and the promoswere shot by MikeChandler of Mc7Records who is also

creating artwork forour album. If yourreading this as a bandmember currentlylooking to hook upyour page profession-ally on a Greatbudget, Hit up Gabe atLost Designs and tell

him Wreckage sent

you ! lawl.www.myspace.comost_productions

HOW MANY SONWILL BE ON THEALBUM?

Miguel: This albumhave 6 songs

1.Anchors2.Burn The Settlem(feat. Ian Slater ofBLESSED)3.The Lycan4.The Reconstruct

of Berouqe (feat. MChandler)5.Deluge6.Cowboys Kill

Support and buy oalbum!! Me and Brhave to eat!

IT SEEMS THAT YARE UPLOADINGYOUR MYSPACEYOU COMPLETETHE SONGS... ARYOU LITERALLY THE WRITINGSTAGE AS YOURECORD?

Miguel: No, instrumtally the songs werfinished and recordHowever Toledo wcome in song by sand write lyrics beone of the newestmembers we have

successfully create



n album that we are very proud of.

oledo: Haha yeaheing the n00b of theand was a struggleo I wrote the songserally days before

cording them. Nowe are awaiting theixing and masteringocess from Mikehandler because heccepts nothing buterfection in his work.

hristian: yeah, he

kes his sweet assme too! :P

nother burst ofughter)

att: But the songsame out REALLYOOD!!

HO ARE SOME OFOUR INFLUENCES,ND BEING THATOU ARE PRETTYOUNG.. WHATRTIST FROM THE970'S WOULD YOUUT IN A GOOD

ORD FOR?

iguel: Musically myggest influence isummer Derekoddy. but..as far asands go Mastodon,vine Heresy, Dying

etus, Ensiserium,

uidakra and Cel-

lador!

Christian: for me theGuitarist I strive toplay as well as areDimebag Darrell, MarkMorton, and CoreyDeaulieu. Bands

would be The blackdahlia murder, Triv-ium, Job for a Cow-boy, Morbid Angel,and Lamb of God.

Toledo:Vocally I ameternally baffled by theawesomeness of

Howard Jones, andMike Patton. My fa-vorite bands are Kill-switch Engage, TheDillinger Escape plan,The Mars Volta, InFlames, Glassjaw, andBetween The Buriedand Me but I often lis-

ten to MF DOOM, Im-mortal Technique,Nas, and Kayne Westrap music is extremelylyrical and inspires mywriting.

Matt:I love the clas-sics, Van Halen, Led

Zepplin, and KISS! butyou'll always catch meat an August BurnsRed, Attack Attack!, orBetween The Buriedand Me show. Soosick!

Miguel: First and fore-

most everybody has to

thank Led ZepplinThey played a Criticalpart of what metal hasbecome today.

Toledo: Iron Maiden!Everything you couldwant in a Metal bandis in Iron Maiden epicvocals and shreddingguitar dayum!

Christian: Black Sab-bath! They were thefirst to play in low tun-ing they are the faceof Metal.

Matt:Blind Guardianwowww they Shred,they have a songcalled "Valhalla" Howmetal is that!!? lol

HAVE YOU PLAYEDOUT LIVE YET?

Toledo: Yes we have

played out live andsuch a short time ware happy to havegrown such an enomous following.

WHAT ARE YOURGOALS AFTER TALBUM IS COM-PLETE?

Of The Wreckage:signed! MetalbladeRoadrunner, FerreMusic, Century MeNuclear Blast, etc.Hit us up!

Toledo: And tour thworld!!



By Shauna ODonnell



DIVINEHERESY

entury Media)

ravis Nealead Vocals)s Angeles, CA

ww.myspace.com/divine-resyband

y: Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI TRAVIS HOWRE YOU AND HOWRE THINGS GOING?

ow are you doing?hings are going good.

UEN: IM GOOD, JUSTNJOYING THE NICEEATHER. YOU ARE

ERE IN CALIFORNIAS WELL RIGHT?

es, in San Diego.

UEN: YOU GUYS RE-ENTLY RELEASEDRINGER OFLAGUES, YOUR LAT-ST ALBUM. I LOVEHE TITLE. WHAT ISHE SIGNIFICANCE OFHE TITLE?

he title could be mis-

ken for biblical. When Ime up with the title, ba-

cally we looked at our-lves as being antablished band, but a-invented band. To us,r new album was con-

dered like we were un-ashing our plague upone world to take over or

get into everyones ear

and devour everythingthat it comes in path with.It is us bringing to newDivine Heresy to theworld.

MUEN: WHAT KIND OFRESPONSE HAVE YOUBEEN GETTING SO

FAR?

Things have been good.There has been somenegative from the peoplewith Tommy (the oldsinger) and stuff like that.As for 89 to 99% of it, itsall good. People aredown for the change and

they love the new sound.Everything has been onthe up and up. Its timefor us to get out thereand start playing now.

MUEN: THE ALBUMHAS BEEN DESCRIBEDAS MORE BRUTAL ANDFASTER THAN THE

PREVIOUS ONE.WOULD YOU AGREEWITH THAT?

Yes, I would agree thatwhat we set out to dowas to have no bound-aries with this record. Iwanted the heavy, brutalstuff to be heavier andmore brutal. I wanted themelodic stuff to be moremelodic and everything inbetween. We didnt wantto have any set walls. Wewanted to write what wewanted to write. I thinkwe did just that.

MUEN: WHAT WAS THEWRITING PROCESSLIKE? DOES DINO DO

MOST OF THE WRIT-ING?

Im not too sure how itwent with the first record.I think Dino did a lot ofwriting with the drummer.Basically, Dino and Timlaid out all the roughs for

this record and did a lotof the hammered out. Joecame in and wrote aswell. They wanted me inthe room to work withthem, but my preferencefor writing is to have acomplete demo of thesong so I can tear itapart. Instead of impro-

vising, I can come upwith something solid.They did all the groundwork and wrote all themusic. I came in afterthat and laid all themelodies and lyrics overthe top of that.

MUEN: LOGAN MADER

PRODUCED THISALBUM; HE HASWORKED WITH THEBAND BEFORE RIGHT?

Yeah

MUEN: WAS THISYOUR FIRST TIMEWORKING WITH HIM?

Yes, well actually withDirty Icon, it was my firsttime. Logan and I workedtogether when we did theremake of the track“Bleed the Fifth” for thevideo. This was my firsttime being in the studiowith him and seeing whatthat guy is capable be-hind an engineering con-

sole. He is amazing.

MUEN: IT WAS A GOEXPERIENCE THEN

Yes, it was very goodIm really excited to hfully get back in the rwith that production t

again. They both aretastic.

MUEN: YOU HAVE AEXCLUSIVE PACKADEAL GOING ON THINCLUDES A T-SHIRWITH THE CD FORWHAT $20?

Yes, as far as I knowI think its $22 for plussizes.

MUEN: THAT SOUNLIKE A GREAT DEATO ME.

Yeah, a lot of peoplewere really excited a

that.

MUEN: THE DRUM-MING IS SO POWERFUL IN THE SONG“FACEBREAKER.”

Yeah, Tim is an amazdrummer, hes flawleIm a drummer as wemy vocals are my nuber one instrument, bthe second instrumethat I love to play isdrums. When I first cinto the band, I was tto sing their stuff andwas just watching himplay in a closed envirment. I was watchingfeet and his hands. I like “How do you do



an?” Im a well roundedummer as far as play-g all kinds of music, butonestly dont think thaty is human.

UEN: HOW LONGAVE YOU BEEN PLAY-G THE DRUMS?

ave been playing theums for twelve years. Ily played them in onend and it was just and with a bunch of

ends back in the day.

UEN: I LOVE THEDEO FOR IT AS

ELL, IT LOOKS VERYPOCALYPTIC.

ah, that is definitelymething that we

anted because of thentent in the album. Wea lot of different stuff.ere are a few songs on

ere like the last song

he End Begins” wastten around the con-pt and idea of themor of the big “2012”ng. Its trying to pre-re yourself for some-ng you cannot prepare. “Bringer of Plagues”

e track is writtenound the biblical storythe Seven Plaques,

e Four Horsemen,mine, locusts and stuffe that. Obviously,eres “Enemy Kill”

ich is more of like and all war song, fightingsurvival in the worst

se scenario. That wase beginning theme ofe record. We wanted to

te a record about the

end of all and we wantedour video to portray that.Brian Thompson and hiscrew did an amazing jobon that video. I couldntbelieve I was on a videothat was that good. Whenwe were filming it wewere in front of a green

screen. There were noprops, all the props thatwere in front of us wereadded in later.

MUEN: YOU CANTEVEN TELL. WHENYOU WATCH IT, ITLOOKS SO REAL.

A lot of people were like”Where did you get thoseprops?” I was like “I haveno idea where they gotthem from; they were notexistent when we were inthe room recording it.”

MUEN: IT PREMIEREDAT REVOLVER WHICH

IS SO COOL.

Yeah, I was reading theresponses and like I saidthere were a few on therethat were pro the originalvocalist, but most of themwere positive. Thats al-ways good. I told Dinowhen I first got in theband, I said “Look, Imcoming into an estab-lished band and Im com-ing into a band with a bigset of shoes to fill. Noteverybody is going to likeit and we are going tolose some fan base, but Iguarantee you we aregoing to gain 3xs moreback with the new soundwe are going to come up

with.”

MUEN: I AGREE WITHYOU AND TO BE HON-EST I THINK YOU AREA GOOD FIT WITH THEBAND. THERE SEEMSTO BE A GREAT CHEM-ISTRY THERE.

Thank you, I appreciatethat.

MUEN: THERE ARE AL-WAYS GOING TO BEPEOPLE THAT TALK.

You have sites like Blab-bermouth where people

are playing World of Warcraft and they get onthere and are mad be-cause they havent ex-celled. They just want todown everyone that theypossibly can. A long timeago someone made abad comment about me(at this time I was in alocal San Diego band)and I was just like “I knowit is someone in SanDiego, I want to findthem.” The drummer said“Look Travis, if you aregoing to let what peoplesay get to you, then youare in the wrong busi-ness. There is alwaysgoing to be somebodywho is going to talk shitand there is always goingto be somebody who isgoing to praise.” We dowhat we do, if you like itthen you like it and if youdont then dont listen toit. I had someone say“Oh, that guy sounds likethe singer of Linkin Park.”

I was like “Okay, Linkin

Park isnt the most mband in the world , bube compared to a froman of a band that haccomplished what thhave, I take that as acompliment.”

MUEN: IT IS A COM

MENT, LOOK HOWMANY RECORDS TSELL. I ONLY SEE ACOUPLE DATES UPYOUR PAGE. ARE YPLANNING ON DOINSOME TOURING INSUPPORT OF THE NALBUM?

Yes, right now Dino isishing up and I believhas less than a weekgo on the new Fear Ftory record. We are bcally doing a few warup shows just to get othere. I believe there stuff in the works thanot set in stone so I dwant to say anythingabout it and get peophopes up. We are hofully going to be goinon a U.S. tour this falknow for sure all nexyear we will be on touwith Fear Factory.

MUEN: DOUBLE DINHUH?

Yeah, double Dino, thguy is an animal. He play a full set with onband and get up fifteeminutes later to play set with another band

MUEN: LETS TALKABOUT YOU A LITT

WHAT BANDS WER



OU IN PRIOR TO DI-NE HERESY?

was in some unsigned,cal San Diego bands.here was a band calledother May I, but actu-y my involvement withe Swedish band The

ereaved was prior to Di-ne Heresy. A lot ofess statements say ex-

ereaved, but I am veryuch involved in The Be-aved still. It is basicallyy other band, but otheran that they have all

een unsigned, localojects.

UEN: YOU ARE ACTU-LLY INVOLVED WITHCOUPLE OTHER

ROJECTS RIGHT?

ther than Divineeresy, yes, there is oneand from Los Angelesat is unsigned and The

ereaved as well. I try toay busy.

UEN: THE BANDSYSPACE PAGE

OOKS BADASS. DOOU GUYS RUN IT ANDNSWER ALL THEAIL?

e have a designer thatesigns it, as for emails,mments and any re-onse that you get; Dino

oes a lot of that. Im get-g ready to start doing a

t of that since he haseen so busy and weave a good friend thatetty much handles it.e and Dino are prettyuch family, so anything

that comes through isgenerally answered byone of us.

MUEN: ITS GOOD TOINTERACT WITH THEFANS.

I definitely do a lot of that

on my personal page. Ikeep my MySpace IM upand when people mes-sage me, I will sit thereand talk your ear off. Its

just the way I am.

MUEN: I ACTUALLYWAS AT YOUR PAGETOO. YOU HAVE A LIT-

TLE BANNER THATSAYS YOU LOVE YOURS14. WOULD YOU LIKETO TELL US ABOUT IT?

Yes, I am a huge riceburner guy. I love my car,it is my baby.

MUEN: WHAT COLOR

IS IT?

Its like this greenish/pur-ple color that Nissan hadat that time. Its a stockcolor, but its kind of adark green, if you look atit just right it kind of turnspurple.

MUEN: IT

S YOURDREAM CAR.

That was the car I alwayswanted. Its funny, when Igot that car; I got it at anauction. Someone got itimpounded and never gotit out so I got it for supercheap. I felt like KevinSpacey in that moviewhere he got his 71 Pon-

tiac Firebird and his wifewalks in and says“Whats that in the drive-way?” He puts his handsin the air and says “Its a71 Pontiac Firebird, thecar Ive always wantedand now I have it. I rule!”That is exactly what I

said when I had it.

MUEN: YOU LOVE MO-TORCYCLING TOO.WHAT KIND OF BIKEDO YOU HAVE?

I have a 2007 KawasakiZX6R Ninja; I dont haveanything too crazy so I

dont get hurt.

MUEN: THAT SOUNDSREALLY FAST.

Its definitely good; itdoes what I like it to do.

MUEN: DO YOU GO TOTHE MOTO GP RACES?

I am a huge fan of MOTOGP, unfortunately I havenot been to any of theU.S. races. I would loveto go. This year has beentough because there isone guy that I follow andhe is no longer racingMOTO GP becauseKawasaki pretty much cuttheir whole budget.Those guys are amazing;when you watch that stuffit just blows your mind.You see guys comingaround corners draggingtheir elbows they are solow to the ground. Thatsawesome!

MUEN: HAVE YOU

EVER BEEN TO LAGUNA SECA IN MOTEREY?

No, I am planning onmoving out of Californext month, just becmoney will go farthersomewhere else. My

rides as well and wenitely want to do a traday at Laguna Secawould love to do that

MUEN: YOU MIGHTMOVE TO TEXAS?

Yeah, I was just out tbecause I got hired t

produce a band outthere. I like the area the cost of living. Gaonly $ 2.19 a gallon aa 2,200 square foothouse is $1,100 a m

MUEN: NOT ONLYTHAT, BUT MUSIC IREALLY BIG OUT

THERE.

Yeah, there is an incble local scene out thand there are a lot oftalented musicians othere that are not gethe recognition I feeldeserve. The first reaU.S. tour that I did wDivine Heresy was oin Texas. We played eight days and it wasamazing.

MUEN: THANKS SOMUCH FOR THE INTVIEW TRAVIS. IT WGREAT TALKING WYOU.

You too.



oadrunner recordingists, CKY

ess Margerarums)

estchester, Pennsylvania

yspace.com/cky

: Shauna ODonnell

UEN: HI JESS, HOWRE YOU TODAY?

ey, hows it going?

UEN: ITS GOINGRETTY GOOD, SO

OU

RE IN DALLAS

TODAY?

Yeah, its like 100 de-grees with 100% humid-ity.

MUEN: THAT SOUNDSLIKE FUN. YOU GUYSTOOK SOME TIME OFF

AND NOW YOUREBACK WITH A NEWALBUM CALLEDCARVER CITY.

Yeah, its been a funtour so far forsure. Thenewsongs

are

going over well so thatsalways good.

MUEN: THE ALBUM AL-MOST DIDNT HAPPENBECAUSE YOU GUYSALMOST PARTEDWAYS. HOW MANYYEARS WERE IN BE-

TWEEN YOUR AL-BUMS?

Yeah, its been four yearssince the last one. Wehad some trouble on

tour,ten

yearsof tour-

ing

caught up with us, Iguess you could sayended badly.

MUEN: WELL IM GYOU GUYS ARE BAAND THAT THERE INEW ALBUM OUTTHERE.

Yeah, it is interestingcause everyone thouthe band was done athe album wasnt comout. Thats when youthings pretty clear, likhow lucky you are todoing this as a job. Wpiss in the well really



UEN: LETS TALKBOUT YOUR NEWLBUM. WOULD YOUAY THIS IS YOUREST ALBUM TOATE?

eah, for sure, becausee definitely came back

om that break and itas like we were a newand again. It was reallyxciting and we took a lot

time making sure alle sounds were exactly

erfect. We experi-ented a lot which we re-ly didnt do on the lastcord. It was good to be

ack and I think we allave our best perform-nces on this one.

UEN: WHAT WOULDOU SAY YOU DID DIF-ERENTLY ON THISNE?

seems like on previous

cords we didnt reallyant to add to much stuff

nd this time we wentth it. Anything that

ounded cool, we just didThere is a lot going on,

n this new album, in aood way. There were nooundaries, before if wed something wed say

Yeah, that

s a littleheesy.” This time weere like “Dude, lets justdd everything.” In thisay and age nothing isheesy anymore.

UEN: DID YOU GUYSSE ANY DIFFERENTINDS OF INSTRU-ENTS ON THIS ONE?

Yeah, we used lots ofsynthesizers and stufflike that. We kind oftoyed around with that onour second album andthis time we really wentall out on it.

MUEN: THE THEME OF

CARVER CITY IF PARTFANTASY AND PARTAUTOBIOGRAPHY.TELL ME ABOUT THAT.

The first song we did was“The Boardwalk Body”and that was pretty mucha true story. Our singerDeron went to Wildwood,

New Jersey, which is asketchy beach town. It iskind of like a family vaca-tion type of thing, but itkind of got overrun byPhiladelphian hoods orwhatever. He was downthere, his parents let himstay out kind of late at thelittle arcade on the board-

walk, hes walking backto the hotel with his

buddy and there is just afull on dead body underthe boardwalk. Its prettycrazy when youre twelveyears old. That was thefirst song that we wroteand it kind of just builtfrom there. We wrote

about this fictional beachtown that is supposed tobe this nice, happy, fam-ily place, but in reality it ispretty terrible.

MUEN: KIND OF LIKEAMITY WAS IN“JAWS?”

Yeah, we tried to do that.We try and tell stories.

We are all big fans of oldhorror flicks and stuff. It ismore exciting for us to tryand create an audio hor-ror movie, I guess youcan say, rather than justcry about our girlfriends.

MUEN: SO CARVER

CITY IS A FICTIONALNAME.

Yeah, but in our minds itis definitely a town on theJersey shore. If you haveever been to thoseplaces you will knowwhat I mean. AsburyPark, New Jersey used to

be raging in the 50s and60s. Now, if you go thereit looks like a nuclearbomb hit it. Yeah, its re-ally crazy looking.

MUEN: WHO DID THEARTWORK FOR THEALBUM?

It was a guy namedTravis Smith; he hasdone a lot of really coolrecord covers for someold school metal bands.Its cool to have a guy ac-tually paint somethingrather than just digital art.

MUEN: YOU RELEASEDIT ON VINYL AS WELL.

Yeah, finally, I know ittook a while.

MUEN: WHATPROMPTED THE DECI-SION TO PUT IT OUTON VINYL?

It was just because a lotof people who still buy

CDs, still buy recordIts a collectible thingits really cool to havbuy mostly vinyl still,an IPod you play thesong and there is noto it. Im thirty years so I remember whenwas a kid and I woul

play records and stathe album cover forhours. It was just awsome and I feel bad kids kind of dont knowhat thats like. Its 2so what are you goindo? I love IPods becI travel all the time, bthe same time when

at home, I need a reIts something that ycan hold in your hanand be stoked that yhave it.

MUEN: I HAVE AWHOLE BUNCH OFCDS THAT ARESIGNED, LIKE SOC

DISTORTION.

Social D is a great bWe did a tour with thlong time ago. It wasTony Hawk tour withtocross and skateboing. There was us, SD and Devo was on for a little while. It wareally cool line-up.

MUEN: I SAW YOUPLAY A WHILE BACON THE CRADLE OFILTH TOUR WITHGWAR.

Gwar is good friendsours and they are co

MUEN: THAT SHOW



AS PACKED WITHEOPLE THAT NIGHT.

WAS AT THEILTERN IN HOLLY-OOD.

eah, the Wiltern is aeat venue. When Gwardone playing there is

much fake blooderywhere. They laywn carpets on the

age. I love watching theds that dont know whatwar is about and theye right up front. Theyt hosed down and they

e like “Whoa! What?”

UEN: ALSO TO LETVERYONE KNOWHERE IS A SPECIALDITION AVAILABLEOO. IS IT ONLY AVAIL-BLE AT HOT TOPIC?

o, its available every-here. There are fourore songs on there.

ere are two songs thate kind of an instrumen-type of thing. We were

anning on giving thosemovies. There are an-

her two songs that gott off the record, but Int know why. They are

ally good, kind of myvorites I think. I cantck a favorite, but theur bonus tracks are def-tely awesome. A lot of

mes bands will throwmos on as bonus

acks, but these are theal deal. They are greatngs, but we couldnt fit

em on the regular edi-n. It is definitely wortho get the special edi-n.

MUEN: YOU GUYSSELF PRODUCED THISALBUM. HAVE YOU AL-WAYS SELF PRO-DUCED?

All four of our albums wedid with Chad, our guitarplayer, producing. I think

that is how we have oursound. I have neverheard a band that soundslike us. You can tell it isus from a mile away justfrom the guitar tones andstuff. When you work witha producer that workswith a ton of other bands,he is just going to do his

thing and you mightsound just like thosebands. It is really cool tohave it all in house andwe are just doing our ownthing. I think more bandsshould try and do that.

MUEN: WHAT IS THEBIGGEST CHALLENGE

WHEN WRITING ARECORD?

We write and record al-bums really strangely. Itsnot like we hit the studiowith all these songs. Weget ideas, like two guitarriffs that sound reallygreat together; we go intothe studio and build thesong from scratch. Ittakes a long time, but itsreally interesting for us tosee a song turn into thishuge thing from nothing.We build it from theground up. Its just theway we have alwaysdone things. It is very in-efficient, but exciting tosee what it turns into.

Sometimes it doesnt turninto anything and we justabandon it.

MUEN: WILL YOU BERELEASING A DVD IN-CLUDING FOOTAGE OFYOUR STUDIO SES-SIONS?

I dont know, I think wefilmed the studio stuff, butI dont know if its goingto turn into anything. Itwould be pretty cool if itdid, I think. When we arein the studio we meanbusiness so, there is nota whole lot of crazy, en-

tertaining stuff going on.Maybe people would findthat interesting, I dontknow.

MUEN: YOU GUYS AREOUT THERE SUPPORT-ING YOUR ALBUMRIGHT NOW AND YOUSAID IT IS GOING RE-ALLY GOOD SO FAR.WHO ARE YOU OUTWITH?

We are with a bandcalled Graveyard fromSweden, which is one ofmy favorite bands rightnow. They are amazing.We are also with a bandcalled ASG, who we havebeen friends with for along time. They are onVolcom Records, whichwas a label that we wereon a bunch of years ago.There is also a band fromCanada called Fall fromGrace too.

MUEN: ARE YOU

HAPPY TO BE BACK

ON THE ROAD?

Yeah, definitely, its tobecause Deron and have families now. Itdefinitely a challengego on the road, but asame time I wouldntable to not play show

Its what I do. Takingyear off was really to

MUEN: HAS ANYTHUNUSUAL HAPPENON THE TOUR SOFAR?

Well, we got pulled oyesterday and got

searched. A friend ofhas a charge for possion of weed or something from a while agthat of course, showeup right away. The guwas like “Alright, evebody out!” The guy eup being cool and letgo. We were speedinand he didnt even gius a speeding ticket anything.

MUEN: DID YOU TRAND SELL HIM A COR ANYTHING?

No, he just looked atand went “Camp KillYourself?” We are inTexas, which is kind like the “Bible Belt” hThe guy wasnt reacttoo well to that.

MUEN: BUT, IF HEHEARD YOU, HEWOULD LOVE YOURIGHT?

Yeah, I know “Hey m



o you like hard rock?uz youll dig it.”

UEN: YOU SHOULDAVE GIVEN HIM ACKET TO YOUR

HOW.

eah, he definitely had

s game face on. So, Iont know, I didnt wantjoke with him or any-

ing.

UEN: DO YOU DO AOT OF PARTYING ONOUR?

eah, Ive calmed down a

t, I used to be com-etely out of control. Iink a lot of us were,

ence the whole break-p thing.

UEN: WELL YOUUYS HAVE MATUREDNCE THE LAST TIME

OU WERE OUT ONHE ROAD.

eah, definitely, I cantet too crazy anymore.ast night we partied withl these people in Amar-o, Texas because it wasur day off. It was cool.

UEN: THAT IS COOL, THERE ANY PARTF THE COUNTRY YOUREFER MORE THANTHERS?

bviously, because Imom Philly, I like the eastoast. I like doing Balti-ore, Philadelphia, Nework and Jersey. All thoseaces are really cool to

e. We just did a live CD

in Pittsburg and it wasawesome. We also justdid Canada, which wasreally awesome. I hadnever been to WesternCanada, like Edmontonand Calgary.

MUEN: WHAT WAS THE

RESPONSE THERE?

It was great. Ive noticedthat in Europe, Australiaand Canada, rock is stilldoing well there. In Amer-ica, it seems like it fadedout a little bit. It seemslike country and rap arereally popular. We just

did a show in Englandand it was huge. It wasdouble the size of theplaces we play here andsold them out. Im surebeing away for four yearsdoesnt help, but at thesame time Ive noticedthat there is a bigger re-action to rock musicthere.

MUEN: BESIDES CKY,DO YOU HAVE ANYSIDE-PROJECTS THATYOU ARE WORKINGON?

Yeah, I do, Im in twoother bands actually. Imreally busy these dayswith three bands andthree kids. Ive got twogirls and a boy. Its a lotof fun.

MUEN: WELL, WAITUNTIL THEY BECOMETEENAGERS.

I hope the girls dont look

like their mom because

Im going to have to kicksome serious butt!

MUEN: SO TELL MEABOUT YOUR SIDE-PROJECTS.

One of them is me, Neilthe singer of Clutch, Brad

Davis of Fu Manchu anda guy named ReverendJim from an awesomeband called Fireball Min-istry. They are heroes ofmine to be completelyhonest with you. FuManchu and Clutch havebeen my favorite bandssince I was in high school

so it

s kind of trippy to beworking on a record withthose guys.

MUEN: I INTERVIEWEDCLUTCH A WHILEBACK.

Oh really? They are oneof the best rock bandsout there hands down. Inmy eyes they are todaysLed Zeppelin. They dontpay attention to trends oranything like that. Theymake amazing rockrecords every single year,they are an amazingband. In regards to thesecond band, Im a hugefan of a band from Eng-land called Viking Skulland they have done tourswith us a lot wheneverwe go to Europe. Theylost their drummer and Ithink I had something todo with it. It was a win-win because I said that “Iwould love to play in theband and Im a huge fan.”

They get a lot of CKY

kids buying their recnow because of me in the band. They arstoked on that and Istoked to be in the bso its really cool.

MUEN: FOR THOSEWHO DO NOT KNO

THIS, YOU ARE BAMARGERASBROTHER. WHAT ILIKE BEING BAMSBROTHER?

Its definitely interest

MUEN: IM SURE IT

There is always somthing going on. Thernever a dull day inWestchester, Ill tell ythat.

MUEN: THANKS SOMUCH FOR THE INVIEW JESS. IM GLYOU GUYS ARE BAAND I HOPE TO CAA SHOW SOON. ARYOU GOING TO BECOMING OUT TO CFORNIA?

We just played The Rbut we will be cominback shortly. It was rcool, I had a blast.

MUEN: I WISH YOUGUYS THE BEST. ISTHERE ANYTHINGWOULD LIKE TO ATO THE INTERVIEW

Thanks for having m



ew York Cityardcore Punkets Its L.A. Fix:he Casualties

: Natalie Perez

aught up with The

asualties on their lat-t touring run making

eir eighth stop on theirrrent U.S. route mak-

g their mark upon theos Angeles terrain.heir new album "Wee All We Have," hasst been released on

de One Dummyecords, and it's easilyeir most aggressivebum to date. Prior toeir sold out show their

assist Rick Lopezoke to me over theone about the new

D, and their upcomingurs. DyingScenes Na-

ie Perez was able totch up with Rick con-cting a brief phone in-

rview just beforeting the stage at Hol-

woods very own Keyub. To check out thetire interview click

UEN: How, when,nd why did yourm?

ck: For the love ofnk rock music be-use there wasnt anythe time. It was all for

e music, we formed ine 90s and have been

aying strong ever

since.

MUEN: How does itfeel to play back in theU.S. and how is thecurrent tour going?

Rick: The current tour isgoing great we just re-leased the new recordand this tour is to sup-

port that record. Wereout on the West Coastright now were about oplay L.A. tonight – oneof our favorite cities toplay. Weve been havinghuge turn outs, havingkids who are into thepunk scene and punk

music come out, havinglots of energy. After this

tour, were going be

heading out to Japannext month and thenSouth American in De-cember pretty much hit-ting the road non-stop.

MUEN: "We Are All WeHave," came out thispast Tuesday haveyou gotten all the par-

tying out of the way?

Rick: Well the partyingis part of the tour andits something we do -its why its there. Wedont want to get up onstage and look like re-tarded drunks. We want

to make sure we playgood, go out and have

fun and have a coup

laughs, when peoplcome to a show. Wewant to make sure tall of our attention iscused not only on ubut the audience aswell. We dont wantsuck on stage, so wwe drink and party wsave it for afterward

because when we dplay we want to masure we dont totallysuck!

MUEN: What are ajority of your songabout? Is there anderlying theme?

Rick: We dont have



genda on what werite about we just writebout whats currentlyoing on around us ande world. What weve

een or heard about.ometimes we have po-cal themes to ourusic like our previous

bums, but this one nots much basically what-ver is the most impor-nce to us is what we

ke to discuss musically.

UEN: What are yourmmediate music ca-eer goals?

ick: Just make theest records we canake and do a lot ofuring and make sure

eople like our musicnd have a good time.oing what we like too as long as we can.aking sure the music

e make is what weant to do. Not writing

ongs on topics thatrent our thing, whats

mportant to us andhat we like doing.

UEN: What can youay about your secrethow on September7 out at the Cobaltafe?

ick: Oh yes, wereoing a secret show inA. before we head outJapan the following

ay.

UEN: What is one ofhe toughest interview

questions you've beenasked?

Rick: “What does punkmean to you?” I justhate answering that. Itsnot something that youcan really describe andwhat it means to you. I

know the answer I justcant put it into words. Isit down and think aboutit but just dont knowwhat it really means. Itsone of those questionsyou just cant answer.

MUEN: Out of all the

shows you haveplayed, on this tour -is there one thatstands out as a fa-vorite? Is so, pleaseexplain.

Rick: L.A. is one of ourfavorite places to play –the Key Club is a

smaller venue to playand normally alwayspacked, which is goodso Im really looking for-ward to playing it.

MUEN: Who are someof your favorite bandsyou've shared thestage with? Can youname some of the big-ger bands that you'veplayed with if any?

Rick: Yeah one of thebigger bands weveplayed with was BadReligion really cool guysand we pretty much fol-

lowed them growingup, so having the

chance to talk to themabout music was awe-some. Circle Jerks a fa-vorite of mine wasanother really cool ex-perience for me, to beable to hang out andtalk with those guysabout music was great.

As of right now weretouring with a bandcalled the Krum Bumstheyre an up and com-ing band from Austin,Texas, and those guysare great.

MUEN: What has been

your biggest chal-lenge as a band? Wereyou able to overcomeit?

Rick: I really think thebiggest challenge is allthe people within theworld talking down onus and talking crap.

Saying things such as“You guys cant playmusic” this and that sit-uations, you then worryabout what other peoplewill say either online orin person. So you won-der how many of thosepeople will be talkingcrap. Its a real chal-lenge from all angles.

MUEN: What advicedo you have for fanswho want to start theirown bands?

Rick: Its a lot of hardwork and you should

definitely do it, no mat-ter how hard you try

dont listen to whatother people say - dwhat you want to doScrew what everybelse has to say justout and play and dowhat you love to do

MUEN: What shou

people know abouyou? What sets yoapart?

Rick: I think what seus apart is that wehardcore and morelouder and thats wlike we have our ow

uniqueness and I

mthat as a person anof us in this band awe do what we realfeel we should do.When you see us ping were not doingfor a paycheck werdoing this because what we love to do

what sets us totallyapart from everyonelse.

MUEN: Thanks fordoing the interviewanything you'd likadd?

Rick: Our new recoout now and were ing on it, so come cout a show pick up record and come chout The Casualties



s Angeles, CA

erview by: Macavity

ot much is knownout The Color Turningt that has already

arted to change with aw CD out and touringth Stone Temple Pilots

mongst others. Weew there had to be

ore upcoming, so wet down to talk with

avid Del Fonzo (Guitard Piano) to find out

hat is next for this ex-ing new band.

he rest of the band is:eve Scavo (Vocals,uitar), Jason Abraham

ass) and Garet Powellrums)

MUEN: Hi guys!

Thanks for takingsome time to talk toMUEN today.

TCT: Hello Hello. Thankyou for having us, its anhonor.

MUEN: My usual ques-tion to start is by ask-

ing how you came upwith the unusual nameand what it means tothe band?

TCT: The impetus for theband name came from asong Steve had written.The name sounds sort ofunusual, but we like howit leaves its interpretation

sort of open ended. Inthe end, it was either

The Color Turning or“Dragons of Nazereth.”

MUEN: I understandthat you have been to-gether since before2002. How long haveyou been together tobecome this“overnight” success?

TCT: Ha! Well, successis hardly overnight andweve yet to feel likeweve earned that sort ofbravado. But its good tohear from an educatedsource that were doingwell!

MUEN: So, how did

you form the lineupthe band that inclu

all four of you?

TCT: We actually mover a Halo LAN parJason was hosting.(Laughs). No, wevebeen friends for quitsome time. There hbeen a few membercome and gone and

Garet and David wefriends of ours beforthey were in the banWe always liked whathey were doing, andthey were into what were doing, so it wakind of an easy decito get together. All inthe 4 of us have beeplaying and writing t

The Color Turning



ether since 2005.

UEN: Why are thereour of you? Have youach a special talentat makes the bandst click so well?

CT: At points we were

ctually a five pieceand. Those decisions

who and how manyeople to have in theand are really justased on what the bandeeds. All of us fortu-ately play a few differ-nt instruments, so thereally isnt a lot of

ound we cant cover ate moment. The strug-e of most bands isntusical; its the personaluff, and getting along

s people. Were verycky to all have beenends before the band

nd it makes long toursnd the long hours ofeing a band much eas-r. If theres somethingat makes us click, itsat were good at keep-g the ship together, ifat makes sense.

UEN: It does! You arest finishing up a tour

nd have been out withcott Weiland andtone Temple Pilots.ow did those comebout and especiallye opening for STP?

CT: Those tours wereetty incredible experi-

nces. We went from

lative hometownhows and small touring

to these massive stagesand luxurious back-stages. Those toursmeant sharing the billwith Black Rebel Motor-cycle Club and FrankBlack. STP obviously isa monster show, butBRMC and Frank Black

are fucking incredible.Scott Weiland has beena fan of ours for a littlewhile and actuallysigned us to his label,Softdrive Records. Heinvited us out on theroad, and its an oppor-tunity you just dont passup.

MUEN: How has thetouring been and whatis the most memorablemoment of this pastyear?

TCT: The touring hasbeen great, and the re-sponse has been reallygood, especially consid-ering wed never been tomany of the venueswere playing. We had afew days off in Portlandrecently, which was re-ally cool. We caught asecret Dandy Warholsshow out there, which

was kinda nuts. Themost memorable thingfor us was definitelyplaying the Greek The-ater in Berkeley. Theplace is legendary. Itwas the first stop on ourSTP tour. It was like, weplayed a 150 capacityvenue one night, and the

next night were playingfor 11,000 people. That

just doesnt happen tomany people. To be fair,we havent let it get toour heads. We know thatmost of those peoplewerent there to see us,but getting 11,000 poten-tial fans to give us a lis-ten is just as good to us.

MUEN: You did an un-usual acoustic set inTucson. How was thatexperience and whatmade you think to dothat?

TCT: WeLikeItIndie.comasked us to do an

acoustic set and theywanted to film it. Werebig fans of the guerrillastyle band performancesof things like La Blo-gotheques “Take AwayShow” and saw this asan opportunity to dosomething similar. In-stead of samplers, weput loops to cassetteand played them out ofan old clock radio, andperformed acoustic in anart gallery. Later thatnight we took a brokenguitar we had and set iton fire. We used it tolight the alleyway where

we performed moresongs. Were fans ofwhat Ruben and Lynettefrom WeLikeItIndie aredoing right now.

MUEN: We see genretags about you. Buthow would you de-scribe your music to

someone that has notheard it?

TCT: Its pretty harddo really. I think somone said something“Writing about musilike dancing about atecture.” I think thapretty accurate, espcially your own musAnd being so close

the music I, my destion is going to be moff from what someoelse might say. Givethat, Id say were aeclectic mix of instruments with some eletronic and ambientsounds playing our pretation of a rock s

If you like Eno, TortoKent, and Elbow; yomore likely to easilyout where were comfrom than say, a Nicback fan might.

MUEN: The video f“This Is How ThatFeels” give us a taof your live performances from your EAre there any newvideos planned toshowcase more sooff of your latest C“Good Hands BadBlood” or to showyour live talents m

TCT: Actually, whensummer touring is aished, were going ta few videos for thealbum. We have soreally talented friendwho have wanted towork together on amusic video or som

thing similar. Our friRobert Marshall ma



rt of documentaryout the recording of

e new album. Youtubehe Color Turning” andu should find it. Itsetty incredible. Heme in with some old

m cameras during ourcording of the album

d his footage reallyt the bar for what wede to accomplish visu-y.

UEN: Speaking ofur CD, you have pre-

ously released twoPs and a CD. Has theuring and time spent

gether changed whatu placed on this

ost recent one?

CT: Yes, being to-ther more has defi-ely influenced how weote. This album has

uch more of a bandel than say an albumat a solitary songwriterght come up with.th that, many of thesengs came togetherile we were signingh the label, and

eres nothing likeusiness” to make and closer. We were

epping into what wasus, a very big pond.e really looked out forch other in ways thatected our lives andr music. That close-ss comes through on

e album.

UEN: Was the record-

g and production ofs CD done any dif-

ferently to make thegreat sounds on thereand why?

TCT: We had access toa proper studio and ourproducer really helpedus work out any of thekinks we had along the

way. Really, the things aband shouldnt have tothink about while record-ing an album were takencare of. All the cablesand equipment worked(laughs)! So basicallywhatever we came upwith, we could prettymuch get it done. It was

daunting and prettyscary for a first album tosuch freedom, but thechallenge was good forus. Limitations can becomforting, you havesomething to blame if itgoes wrong.

MUEN: Also one strik-ing distinction of theband is the passionnot only for musicalartistry but also visualthroughout. What moti-vates that visual artis-tic side so much?

TCT: Were all very vi-

sual people. Even whenwe talk to each otherabout music its often invisual terms. So whenwe see something thatturns us on, we gravitatetowards it and often tryto incorporate it into ourmusic or in some in-stances the artwork.

MUEN: Is this how the

amazing original artcame about for the CDcover?

TCT: Yeah, actually itwas originally a photo-graph I took on a trip toMexico. The imagery ofMexican religious and

cultural arts has alwaysturned us on. Were re-ally sensitive to the kindof imagery thats beenpoorly co-opted by sub-urbia to represent dark-ness and angst. The useof Day of the Dead art isa play against that. Asort of lightness and cel-

ebration that ironicallytouches on what this socalled “dark imagery”has come to mean.Being from SouthernCalifornia its almost im-possible to not let all ofthis influence you. JennaGibson, an incredibleartist, recreated thephoto in watercolor forus.

MUEN: Should get youa couple of free mealsnow on the road! So,how useful has My-Space been to theband?

TCT: Social networkingmakes the spreading ofmusic a lot easier, butthe cost is that its be-come so easy that thesheer amount of infor-mation out there makesit hard to be noticed. My-Space and Facebook

have helped bands getup and running way

faster than ever befowhich is pretty incredble. Its really not a thwe feel its safe to reon though. Theres renothing that comparehitting the road and ging flesh and bonesfans….and friends fo

that matter.

MUEN: Who writes songs and how arethey written?

TCT: Were all contrtors to the music, al-though someone migbring in an idea or oc

sionally a completepiece. We tend to ruthrough ideas over aover until they takeshape. Add, Add, AdSubtract, Add, SubtrIts kind of a constanevolving process. Evwhen songs are “fin-ished”, theyre only afinished as we feel liat the time. Well taksongs and turn themtheir head, almost reing ourselves. Werefans of flipping thingsaround live.

MUEN: Has the

process of writingchanged since the ginning and you hatoured so much?

TCT: Touring has denitely given us the opportunity to write as agroup, since were together so much.

MUEN: Changing a



ou have a base inermosa Beach. Areere any plans toove or is there a

ompelling reason toay there?

CT: Well, were actu-y based out of Santa

na. We like it quite a. Its not quite Los An-

eles, and its not com-etely Orange County,t its close enough toher, which is impor-

nt. We definitely feel atome there. Weve got

me good friendsound us and some re-y great music too like

ocal Natives, Livinguns and Union Line.heres a lot of goodork coming out of theea.

UEN: What shoulde expect to see fromhe Color Turning fore rest of 2009?

CT: Lots of touring stillthe works. We really

ant to push the albumd get out on the roadmuch as possible.

nce winter sets in,ere going to start

orking on some videosd possibly another EP.e have a lot of material

ed still like to get out.

UEN: And, what ise most exciting thinganned for 2010 and

eyond?

CT: Touring again.ext year we hope to be

doing more festivals likeSXSW and CMJ. Thereare some plans for tour-ing with some biggeracts as well. A newalbum? Well see.

MUEN: With all thetouring and playing

such high energyshows what do youeach do to relax?

TCT: We cant really getaway from music toolong but if we had to listany non musical hobbiesId have to say golf, cy-cling, reading (a lot onthe road), and exploringthe towns were in. Likemany bands, were intophotography. Oh, also, iftheres a swimmablelake, well be in it.

MUEN: Is there any-thing I have not askedthat you think ourreaders would like toknow about The ColorTurning?

TCT: Were foodies. Itspretty serious, and weveeven considered startinga food blog basedaround our travels, finds,

and tips. In every townwe visit, we have to findthe best local thing andget into it. It turns mun-dane touring into thisweird road trip whereyou get to look forwardto a town for more than just a show. If you wantMexican in Portland then

go to Por Que No.Lebanese in Brooklyn

then its Bedouin Tent. Itmakes visits and revisitsworth the trip, for sure,especially when theshow may not be up topar.

MUEN: Thanks guysfor taking the time totalk with MUEN today.

We look forward toseeing and hearing a

lot more from you ithe future.



HatebreedBashes theNationwith hisComrades

: Natalie Perez

hen it comes to any typetour, during any time ofar there is one thing toin a time like this,

oose Your Mind!" This isactly what the 900 peo-

e scattered about theomona Glasshouse did

the night of August 1809. A sea of black t-irts and long hair cov-ed in sweat ran up andwn if not all around theass House, screamingd shouting throughoutlf the night. The night it-lf having had started off

st and heavy, with an in-ntion that wouldnt fade

way anytime soon.

As the crowd slowlyformed background musicbuzzed - playing numer-ous tracks as the fansstood waiting for the nightof the Decimation of theNation Tour lead off to atoxic start? Britney Spears“Toxic” filled the air as the

stage darkened lights shin-ing on/off a blood shade ofred. Until the song haddrawn to a close, utter si-lence cluttered the air aseach member of ToxicHolocaust walked uponthe stage. Each of the 3musicians grasping a holdof their instruments as theset started off without hesi-

tation. Lasting for a mere20 minutes total, dishingout “Nuke The Cross, WildDogs and Endless Ar-mageddon,” thrashing andbashing was all that couldbe seen.

Toxic Holocaust Set List:

1. Wild Dogs2. Gravelord

3. War is Hell4. 6665. Nuke the Cross

Nothing more or nothingless could come of thealmighty Toxic goers Toxic

Holocaust. Next up was adifferent type of thrashingone consisting of puredeath metal aggression bynone other than DyingFetus. Another 3-piececombo that put brutality tothe test, the whole roomerupted in chaos every-where you looked. Gui-tarist John Gallagher

enraged the crowd growl-ing and shouting with allhis might getting everyonein an adrenaline rush.Nothing but madnesscame out of the 30 minuteset up that Dying Fetushad thrown out doing any-thing they possibly couldto get the crowd up in heatand utter rage. Musicallyspeaking the instrumentalwork Dying Fetus playedwas fast and brutal nothingbut heaviness came out ofthem in the end roundingoff to being intensely bru-talizing for all to see.

Dying Fetus Set List:

1. Homicidal Retribution2. Your Treachery Will DieWith You (New Song)3. Justifiable Homicide4. Pissing in the Main-streem5. Grotesque Impalement6. Praise the Lord (Opiumof the Masses)

You shall soon believe the

brutalizing fate, when it

comes to Los Angelescals Winds Of PlagueWho kept the enragedcrowd impacted and rto mingle? Fans did juthat, jumping onto oneother shouting along w

the lyrics and rocking to the beat of the musThe musicians themswere going right alongit. When it was all saiddone, several vocalistcluding their keyboard

jumped in on all the fuOne of the vocalist lite

jumping onto the crowholding the microphon

out as the fans held hhigh in the air, while o

jumped in to share thespotlight. What could better than to have unknown strangers standon top of you singing theart and soul into themusic they so love. Itcalled weird but enterting fun!

Winds Of Plague Set

1. Decimate the Weak

2. Origins and Ending

3. New Song 1

4. Angels of Debauche

5. New Song 2

6. The Impaler

But the weirdness notmention fun doesnt ethere, the night ragedward wrapping up withtwo headliners Chimaand Hatebreed. After t

ing their sweet time C

VE REVIEWS

HATEBREED



aria came on to showe crowd why they hadken their time. It waserely because they hadanted the audience toear witness to the may-em within. Thats exactly

hat had happened, may-em that kept flowing wayto the night, Chimairast warming it all up with

uch memorable tunes asResurrection, “ and “Iate Everyone.” As the so-

alled night was drawinga closing point, last but

ot least was of courseatebreed!

himaira Set List:The Venom Inside

Ressurection

3. Secrets of the Dead

4. The DehumanizingProcess

5. Destroy And Dominate

6. Pure HatredThe almighty conclusion ofthe night life, that couldn'tbear to turn away such a

warm welcoming. Playingfor only an hour Hatebreedthrew together a set listcontaining the old, new,and latest material thatwould last late into thenight. Jasta shouting “Thisdoesnt even feel like aweek day it feels like theweekend”. Adding “You900 people make it feelslike 9,000 people.” Not to

mention “At the end of thisshow you will leave with asmile on your face, this iscalled "Perseverance".Jasta had said a handful ofcatchy remarks that leftthe audience begging for

more. Clearing out thnight with some covetunes taken off their acovers album “For ThLions,” Jasta saying “is a tribute to Slayer, “Ghosts Of War,” alon

VE REVIEWS

DYING FETUS

CHIMAIRA

TOXIC HOLOCAUST



h Black Tides cover ofhirsty and Miserable.”

hen it was all said andne though, Hatebreedd the rest of the Deci-

ation of the Nation Toure-up had proven a pointat night. That this night

s a night Pomonasass House would neverget but cherish to re-

ember walking away withmiles slashed upon their

ces.

tebreed Set List:

To the Threshold

Live For This

I Will Be Heard

Doomsayer

This Is Now

Proven

Perseverance

You're Never Alone

Defeatist

. Destroy Everything

11. Last Breath

12. Before Dishonor

13. Ghosts Of War

14. Thristy and Miserable

over Southern Cali-fornia since 2005.Recently, their tal-ents were discov-ered by NeuroticRecords and theband has decided to

join forces with themto take their music tothe next level. Like

the band says “Ei-

ther get out of theway or prepare toTHROTTLE Up!”

THROTTLEHOUSE OF BLUES, ANA-HEIM

By: Shauna ODonnell

I attended the Inland

Empire Metal Inva-sion at the House ofBlues in Anaheim,CA tonight. Theplace was packedwith people so muchthat I could barelymake it through the

crowds at times. Thevenue was hot fromall the bodies as Isearched in despera-tion to find a seat.Seven bands played,but for me, the onethat really stood out

was THROTTLE.The band movesabout the stage as ifthey owned it as thecrowd yelled “Throt-tle, Throttle, Throt-tle!” THROTTLE is aband out of Whittier,CA and has been

playing on stages all

VE REVIEWS



rdiff, Wales U.K.

erview by: Macavity

elsh-based Queens-ry has hit the musicene in the UK very fastd very noticeably withme great hard rocking

ows at some of theajor festivals and ven-s. Many more of theme is planned for this

ust watch band so wet down to talk with

areth (Gump) Ed-ards, Deian Elfryn, Edeszko and Dewilliams to find out more

out them.

MUEN: Hey Guys!Have to start with theobvious question.Where did the namecome from and does ithave a particularmeaning for the band?

Gump: The name unfor-

tunately doesnt reallyhave much of a mean-ing! We were toying withQueensbury Rules, how-ever we dont wanna justsell records to boxers.Its so hard to find aband name that no-oneelse has used alreadywe were just happy to

find one which was am-

biguous enough not topigeon hole us into onetype of sound.

MUEN: You have onlybeen together as aband of the four of yousince 2008. How didyou meet up and de-

cide that this was THEband for you each tobe in?

Gump: Myself and Deianthe drummer metthrough MySpace whichsounds straight forward,however we had alreadymet on MySpace two

years previous but lived

too far apart. AmazinDeian had moved toCardiff two days befocontacted him whichmade us believe thewhole thing was just“meant to be.” Fromthere Ed and Dewi winvited to join us for a

jam and it just kickedstraight away. This isTHE band for us be-cause we all fit perfeinto the framework awe all love what comout when we write anpractice.

MUEN: What other

bands have each of





hear a fusion of powerd melody.

UEN: How is theusic written for the

and and by whom?

ump: Its written by allus! We write most of

r songs in the practiceom after someonemes in with a single. We build the song

om there and loveing it this way. Itssy when we are all to-ther as there are no

GO clashes duringactice and we are all

ling to try whatever itkes to improve theng. Most songs takeound ten minutes toite. The lyrics are gen-ally left to Gump.

UEN: Do you have adeo planned for the

ne of the tracks frome EP or to show thend performing live

r those that cannote you in person?

ump: We have a videoanned to come out ineptember time for theack “CUT IT UP. “

UEN: You have sev-al sponsors listed onur MySpace. How

d those come aboutd what help are theyyou?

ump: The sponsors arenerally friends of ours,

ey believe in the bandd we love their prod-

ucts. We even have ourown official tattooist!Free tattoos? Thatsfuckin cool right?

MUEN: How useful hasMySpace been to thepromotion of theband?

Gump: We believe that ifit wasnt for MySpacethis band wouldnt exist,its the easiest way ofpromoting your music onthe web. Although thereare some competitorsnow, we still use My-Space for our sole online

presence.

MUEN: Changing a bit,you have a base inCardiff, Wales. Arethere any plans tomove or do want tostay based there?

Gump: I think we allwant to move to thestates as soon as wecan, to live the rock androll dream two doorsdown from Tommy Lee.In all seriousness wethink America would bethe best place for us andour music to really thrive.

MUEN: What moreshould we expect tosee from Queensburyfor the rest of 2009other than a largeamount of live gigs?

Gump: You should ex-pect more tattoos, a hell

of a lot more songs anda huge amount of dry

bars after gigs. We reallywant to sign with a solidrecord label who willtake us forward.

MUEN: What do youeach like to do whennot playing/writingmusic other than drink-ing and tattoos then?

Gump: We cant reallytell you as we arewanted by several au-thorities around theglobe for our extra cur-ricular activities.

MUEN: Is there any-thing I have not askedthat you think ourreaders would like toknow about Queens-bury that wont get theattention of those au-thorities?

Gump: We are four of

the nicest guys youcould ever meet! We al-

ways have time for ofriends and fans. If yowant to contact us attime I guarantee we wreply to you ourselveThanks very much foletting us talk with yotoday, we are now goout to get drunk andwatch a burlesque sh

MUEN: Thanks guyfor taking the time bfore the burlesqueshow to talk withMUEN. We look for-ward to seeing andhearing the nameQueensbury and yomusic a lot in the future. Have fun tonig





MBERstin, Texas

erview by: Macavity

mber has burst on toe music scene in awn with many many

ented bands. Butey have alreadyade an indelibleark not only on thaty but worldwide witheir touring and visit-g the troops to bringl on rock to them as

ey defend our free-

ms. Their live per-rmances, music andmost constant showsd touring caught ourerest to find out

ore about this bandat has a debut CDming out Octobert. With their hectic

hedule we had theod fortune to catch to Deuce to speakhim about Ember.

he full band is: Chrisartinez-Vocals,euce Wanier-Guitar,red

uyck-Guitar, Chewynton-Bass and Dustyaxton-Drums

UEN: Hi Deuce!hanks for talking toUEN today aboutmber.

euce: Thank YOU for

having us.

MUEN: Your base or“home town” isAustin now butwhere are each ofyou from and howdid you all get to-

gether and how longhas this lineup beentogether?

D: Im from BakersfieldCA but did most of mygrowing up in San An-gelo. Matt (Chewy) isalso from San Angelo.

Jared is from San An-gelo/Lubbock. Chris isfrom Canyon andDusty is from Waco.This line up really so-lidified in Austin abouta year and a half ago.

MUEN: While you all

seem very differentin personality youseem to work greattogether. Has this al-ways been the caseand continues to be?

D: (Laughs) We're allvery different crea-tures, however thiscreates an amazingdynamic both on andoff the stage. Dusty isthe quiet intelligent, Imthe outspoken "sales-man" and Chris is thereserved "VOICE."Jared is the guy withthe biggest heart butonly a tad bit more

than my man Chewy.

MUEN: How bestwould you describeyour sounds as youlistChristian/Rock/Alt asyour genres but I did

not hear anything butgreat rock with somealt thrown in?

D: Everyone in theband has a strongChristian foundation.We are real dudes in areal rock band talking

about real issues fromthe heart, soul, androad.

MUEN: You havetoured in July I be-lieve to play for thetroops in an effort tobring Rock music to

entertain the troops.Was this part ofCharlie Robisons ef-forts to get bandslike yours and Edi-son there?

D: Its about the re-spect and love being inour blood. We LOVE togive back, to lookthose in the face thatfight for our freedomand ability to rock.

MUEN: When thisissue comes out youwill have returned toQatar and beyond toentertain again. Why

do you feel sostrongly about pling and supportinthe troops other twhat the obviousAmerican feels inwanting to suppothose that fight fo

us?

D: Again, speakingmore to the previoanswer. Most of ushave or had friendthat serve or serveFamily ties, not tomention the "good

boy" factor they arFAMILY!

MUEN: How was experience tourinthere and what myou decide to ret

D: Touring for the

troops left most of speechless. You cimagine the look othe faces of the meand women who snothing but desertguns, and cammo years; to a rock bain jewelry, hair proand guitars. Seemmost like a pre-Madonna referencbut it's more aboutmusic, the rock, thsweat, and the chaof scenery.

MUEN: I have seelot of bands thatwork hard but aft



eeing you live youally work hard evena show. Whatives an unsigned

and to play almostghtly and how do

ou pull somethingke this off as you

rely have a day off?

Every time we stepn stage could be ourolden ticket. Youever know whose life

u may touch, whoay be watching, orho may be judging.

ot to mention it is aassion much like aother to a child or aldier to his or her

un. This is OUR mes-age.

UEN: I noticed thatou often dont have

n opening band butther play differentyles with differentembers of the bandact as opening

cts that are acousticnd thenectric/acoustic.ow did you decidepon this unique ap-oach to a show?

I dont know thats is really a decision it is a necessary

vil. We'd prefer toay our stuff, give our20 percent" for 50nutes versus spread

ver three hours. But

sometimes openingbands are hard tocome by. We dontmind the extra work.

MUEN: Hard questionbut which show orevent has been the

most fun to play andwhy?

D: We played a BoyScout show some timein 2004. Eighteenwheeler trailer, all thePA gear we owned,sunset, and about 800

Boy Scouts plus par-ents and troop leaders.Half way through theset Chris announcedthat merch would befor sale at the side ofthe stage and withinten minutes we'd soldEVERYTHING we had.

There were eight-year-olds running around inXXL's because it wasall we had left.

MUEN: In addition tothe tours and all theshows you are doing,you have your debut

CD about to comeout October 1st. Howwill people be able toget your CD otherthan at shows?

D: HOPEFULLY (fin-gers crossed) we'llhave some way forfans to buy online thruBestBuy, Wal-Mart,

and Target. If not,they'll still be able tobuy on CDBABY andthru iTunes.

MUEN: You have oneof the most fascinat-ing and unique debut

CD in that it is all liveperformances butwith a very differenttwist. How did therecording processhappen?

From the floor! It wasrecorded "live" and in

just 3 short days.Where most albumsare recorded take aftertake and overdub afteroverdub we plugged inand all played to-gether. Just like you'dsee it live. It takes aspecial kind of band to

do that, one that hasplayed together forquite some time and iscomfortable playing toa click track and hasgood gear that doesntrequire much tweak-ing.

MUEN: Who writesthe songs and howare they written.

D: We write all the jams and more oftenthan not they are byaccident. We'll writesong after song, andnot like it. Next thingyou know someone ac-

cidentally puts threfour of the parts to-gether and things fain to place. Unique say the least.

MUEN: What may expect to see from

Ember in the rest 2009?

D: Cant go much indetail, but there arequite a few things inthe works. And if alelse fails we'll havemore music, more

love, and morefriends/fans to sharour ongoing dreamwith.

MUEN: What is thmost exciting thinplanned for Embe2010?

D: REALLY?? Im nsure I could tell youmuch more than whour first show in Ocber will be much lesnext year. (Laughs)

MUEN: You have a

great performancevid of “Blind.” Is tgoing to be your f“single” to be re-leased or is this juto showcase themore ballad side othe band?

D: Blind is an oldersong and somethin



e'd decided to put todeo a long time ago.e have not decided

n a release yet butave a few ideas in theorks for the nextmber video.

UEN: Are there anyore videosanned?

: Nothing in concrete.ut we're working on

UEN: What advice

ould you give to theany other young

ands that are start-g out with little or

o money and a lot talent?

: Make sure you havee heart. The rest you

an beg, borrow, and...ell... ask nicely.

UEN: One thing Ioticed that mostands seem to oblivi-us to is that youeed to “sell” theand offstage as

ell. I saw each ofou approach oldnd new fans tocapture” them on aersonal level by justlking to them. Whatade you decide to

o this as mostands usually es-

ape from fans tost rather than sell?

D: I don't understandbands that DON'TSELL! Each of thesepeople staring back atus on stage PAIDmoney, are giving theirattention, and aresticking around for US.

We'd be rude to notsay hello, to say"Thank you", and toget to know them asbest as we can for the20 or 30 min we haveon break.

MUEN: Loaded ques-

tion, but do you thinkyou will lose that per-sonal touch with fansas you make it big?

D: Its inevitable; we'rea group of five guysand lets say we aregreat at keeping in

touch with 500 fans.When we've got 5000fans it wont be soeasy. We find thateven now we arestretched thin but I canpromise that each ofus gives every ouncewe have back to those

who support us. Thankyou to all of you evenreading this interview,and for the chance toput it out there!

MUEN: You seem tohave a huge follow-ing of fans on My-

Space. Howimportant has that

been as a promo-tional tool for theband?

D: MySpace has be-come more spamful (isthat even a word?)than helpful. However

there are still REALpeople using MySpaceand as long as it is anavenue to keep intouch we'll continue touse it. People still havehome phones dontthey? I might be wrongon that one. (Laughter)

MUEN: For those thatdo know you well orthink they do, canyou tell them onething about each ofyou they may notknow?

D: Well, I love dogs,play piano and have ahigh heel fetish.Chewy has the sickestcollection of videogames. Jared watchesmore movies than any-one should and Chriscan quote more

movies than Jared haseven dreamed ofwatching. Dusty hasthe ability to grow theBEST afro on theplanet but wont do it. Ikeep asking.

MUEN: Is there any-

thing I have not cov-ered that you think

our readers wouldlike to know aboushould know abouEmber?

D: My brain is TOAat the moment. Westarted setting up a

3pm. After soundcheck, MySpace,Facebook, Twitter, Lo-Carb Monsters,pizza, and enoughloud music to deafevillage I am glad I sthe light at the end the... interview.

MUEN: ThanksDeuce for taking ttime to talk withMUEN. Know we wbe seeing and heaing a lot more fromyou in the future alook forward to th

CD being releasedOctober first.

D: Thank you SOOmuch for having usbeen a pleasure kning you, and cant wto grow the friendsfurther.



Opus D

i Opus D

i

By Macavity



OPUS DAI

w.myspace.com/opus-

s Angeles, CA

erview by: Macavity

any have seen orard of Opus Dai inrious forms and theye breaking newounds by with a new

P and upcoming artd music shows ando a tour of Japan.

e sat down and

ked with Jagger whoone of the foundingembers (and drum-er) for Opus Dai tod out more about thend.

e full band includes:sushi Miyamoto (Gui-

s), Tim Neighborsocals) and Michaelhn Adams (Bass)

UEN: Hi Jagger!anks for sittingwn and talking to

UEN today.

pus Dai: No prob!anks for having us!

UEN: I understandat you have beengether for some

me. Have long haveu been togetherth this currenteup?

OD: The Guitarist At-sushi and I go backsometime; we were in afew other bands beforethis one. Together werebuilt Opus Dai afterall the touring for thefirst album, starting withTim sometime near the

end of 2007. Murv jumped on board justbefore we recorded“Touch the Sun” andwe immediately wenton the road with Fair ToMidland for a short tourso that would be some-time around summer of

2008. So, we have

been with this line upsince then. Its all goneby so quickly when Ithink about it.

MUEN: Most bandswould have foldedwith a lead singerleaving yet you seem

to have thrived. Whathas been yourbiggest inspiration torise yet higher?

OD: Its just what we doI guess. I couldn't reallyimagine stopping or let-ting something hold us

back when we have to

power to fix it with tle work and effort.was still excited abthe chance to takenew material to a nlevel and really whseemed like a set bactually turned outbe a great addition

the band. At first itseemed like it woua tough transition. really after the firstdition with Tim we wexcited to have thechance to start oveand create with a fnew perspective. I

ally dread the audit



ocess, especiallyhen it comes to audi-

oning vocalists butuch to our luck, Timas the first person weuditioned and we hite ground running withm. Its been a reallyeat experience ande are fortunate toave found one an-her when we did.

UEN: You have over00 shows that includelot of touring to youredit and just finished

nother tour. What

ives you to tour ando live performanceso much?

D: The live contextveals a completelyfferent side to thecorded material; re-ly its a more honest

ndition of the songs.s where the musicarts, being played

ve. No over dubs, noolish. Its raw, its live,s real and its loud.s also a great way to

one in. When we aren tour, each day re-

olves around that 45in set. Its like youve your self over

ompletely to theusic. From the time

ou choose to sleep, tohat you eat and when

ou eat it. It all comesown to making thatne set the best it can

e. There is a certain

ritual to it all that feelsgood to us, like a laborand reward aspect. Itsnot always pleasant,but the struggle is partof growing as an artistand person. The roadis a great environmentto really challenge our-selves and test our lim-its and night after nightthis process reallyhelps us bond with thesongs and with thepeople who come outto hear it.

MUEN: You have

toured with the likesof Linkin Park, Sys-tem of a Down andSevendust just toname a few you haveshared the stage. Put-ting you on the spotbut what band do youmost like to have a

show with and why?

OD: Well that may be abit misleading. Atsushiand I have been play-ing together in differentbands around LA sincewe were kids. In theearly days we were for-

tunate enough to be apart of the whole "Nu-Metal" scene that cameout of LA round the late90's so, while we werestill just kids learningwhat it was to play in aband in LA, we had thechance to play aroundtown with some great

artists from that scene.

Snot, System of aDown, Static-X, LinkinPark (they were calledXero back then) Seven-dust, Machinehead,Hed-Pe, Papa Roachto name a few. It was alot of fun and an excit-ing time to be in a bandin LA. Looking back Ithink it really made ustake being in a bandand making music quiteseriously early on inlife.

MUEN: How has thetouring been recently

and what is the mostmemorable momentof this past year?

OD: Touring has beengreat! Its a bit of a blurwhen I try to thinkabout specifics... somany people and

places. But SXSW wasa highlight for sure, SOmuch fun to be outthere! There was ashow in Atascadero,CA where we actuallybroke the stage duringour set. It literally camedown while we were

playing "SleepingGiant." There is somefootage out there, youcan actually see itcome down but we keptplaying though. Thatwas pretty exciting. I'veheard since then thevenue has a gottennew stage, I think we

are stopping through

there again next moso maybe we can dsome more damage(Laughs)

MUEN: You had amemorable touringthis spring withSXSW included. Hwas that experiencto play such a largmusic festival withsome impressivebands?

OD: Yeah it was greThere is SO much eergy there and its A

about the music! I ssome amazing showFair to Midland, DreMetallica, SilversunPickups, Nothing MValiant Thorr, Soundand Shape all in thesame day! Its prettinspiring to see wha

the other bands aredoing around SXSWand I always walk awith a new favorite.Also it allows us tocome back to Texaswhich we love. Texaas a whole has beereally good to Opus

Dai, but during SXSits out of control anSO much fun to be to get back out to thother cities! There tons of other indiebands doing the samroute so we end upplaying with bands fall over the country

our way there and



ack. That state is souge we always end uppending half the tourere.

UEN: Speaking ofuge. You havehows coming up inovember in Japan.reat crowds! Howd you decide to play

apan and will any-ne tour with youere?

D: We are playing outere with a kick ass

apanese band called

ggressive Dogs. Thisur came to us as asult of the venue / anagement owner in

apan. He owns sev-ral venues out therecluding the ones we

re playing are inokyo and Osaka. Ba-

cally he missed oneour LA shows while

e was in the statesst month and decidedbook us in Japan

retty much so that heould be able to see us

ve! Apparently he wasmpressed enough by

e turn out and reac-on of everyone at ourhow that he bookeds on the spot withoutven seeing us live. Al-ough he was a fan of

ur music sometimeefore then. We areEALLY excited to getut there for sure! We

ave toured the states

several times over butthis will be our first runoutside of the country.

MUEN: We see differ-ent genres associatedwith you. But howwould you describeyour music to someof the very few thathave not heard it?

OD: Hmmm, its toughto say. Within the bandwe all have a prettywide range of musicaltaste so Im sure thatshows in the music.

Im not one to limitmusic to genres, but forus we have a lot of du-ality in the music. Itsboth hard and soft, ag-gressive and tender,fast yet moody. Simul-taneously there aresome edgy, more con-

temporary influencesas well as a healthydose of the classics.Ultimately we try tokeep an honest qualityto the music and hopethat it takes the listenersomewhere they wantto be.

MUEN: The video for“Sinking Ship” giveus a taste of your liveperformances fromyour EP. Are thereany new videosplanned to showcasemore songs?

OD: Yeah, that was

made with a compila-tion of raw footage shotover the course ofnearly two years oftouring the west coast.It was really about thelive show and being outon the road. We planto do some more videoblogging and I think thenext video goal is toshoot a more formalvideo maybe some-thing a little more con-ceptual, but we aren'treally there yet so itstough to say at thispoint.

MUEN: Speaking ofyour CD, you havepreviously releasedtwo CDs. How hasthe music changedother than the obvi-ous singer changesfor this newest one

“Touch the Sun”?

OD: I think the lineupchange was just part ofan evolution for us. Be-fore the first two re-leases we hadn't donenearly the amount oftouring that we now

have. That was a biginfluence for us and agreat way to test outthe old material overtime and see what wedid and didn't want todo with the new mate-rial. In some cases theolder songs flourishedwithin the live setting

and in others we felt

they could have helup better. So havinthe chance to get reintimate with thosesongs live and learnwhat we wanted to plore and what wewanted to do differethe next time arounplayed a big roll in tnewer songs in addto the new band mebers. Working with Twas great too, caushe could do all thesnew things, we suddenly had all these options to work with

was like getting a ntoy as a kid and findout all these cool neways to tinker arounThere were countlehours in pre-produc just exploring with TIt was really a lot ofIn a way it gave us

chance to really askourselves what is ODai and what do wewant it to be? I guethose are questionsthat we never stop aing really.

MUEN: How much

use has MySpacebeen to the bandthroughout?

OD: Its been greatEspecially in the benings of it, now thera lot of spam andeveryone seems tohave some kind of

music page up but,



ven today its a hugeol for us to use keeptouch with fans and

eople we meet whene are away fromome. Its been huge in

owing us to reach outother bands and

ake friends with someeat artists that live inher parts of the coun-

y and even the world.many ways its like

e new "scene".verywhere we go,ands and people saye same thing abouteir town "oh, the

cene is dead here" butally its alive. Itsve everywhere and

s not limited to stand-g in front of your localck venue or musicore handing out flyersth other bands andns. SNS sites like

acebook, MySpace,witter, etc. keeps us

together in one bigcene!

UEN: Who writese songs for the

and and how areey written?

D: Its mainly a col-borative process be-

ween Atsushi, Tim ande. There isn't much offormula in fact we

void getting to formu-c about it. The last

P was written a bit dif-rently then the otherleases as we were

recording demo tracksconstantly as we wrote,so in a way it made usapproach the songsmore from the perspec-tive of a producerrather then a musician.That kind of distance

was really helpful. Also,we worked with pro-ducer Jun Murakawaon the EP and hadmuch more of a chanceto explore our "sound"than we ever had be-fore. It was such anawesome experienceto work with someonelike Jun and have thechance to learn fromhis experiences andfeedback.

MUEN: What shouldwe expect to see fromOpus Dai for the restof 2009 other than the

touring to Japan andthe other dates set al-ready?

OD: There are somenew songs in the worksand we should bepulling them out for atest run at some of

these up comingshows. And also somenew video blogs. If youare in our mailing list,there are some promothings coming up thatwe do exclusively forour mailing list sub-scribers (things like se-cret shows, free songs,giveaways etc.)

MUEN: And what isthe most excitingthing planned for2010 and beyond forOpus Dai?

OD: SXSW 2010! Pre-production on a new

album and possibly avideo. Definitely moretouring in California upuntil the end of theyear.

MUEN: For all thefans that follow youand think they knoweverything about you,

can you tell us some-thing that will sur-prise them?

OD: Tim has 3 testiclesbut I guess thats notmuch of a surprisethanks to the internet(laughs). Hmmm, sur-

prise them? Well, ourfirst tour van caught onfire while on the free-way! We were 6 hoursinto the first day of ourfirst tour and we myste-riously started gettinglight headed. Turns outit was from the fumes!

Eventually one of ourroad crew, Joe...opened the door whilewe were sitting in traf-fic. He saw a hugeblanket of flames com-ing from underneaththe van! This was justafter breaking the onlykey to the ignition off inthe door lock and loos-

ing a tire earlier thaday also while drivinon the freeway. To tday that was our m"Spinal tap" momenand the perfect follyfilled way to kick offtour. Im glad to say

have come along wsince then in terms organizing our owntours and we have much better vehiclenow.

MUEN: Is there anthing I have not asthat you think ourreaders should likknow about OpusDai?

OD: Ill be showingsome of my art worthe Third Eye Gatheing festival we are ping Sept 22nd. Art w

I've done both for thband as well as othart pieces.

MUEN: Sounds likwill a great combintion of visual and sical art and perfefor you guys! Than

guys for talking wMUEN today. We forward to seeing hearing a lot morefrom you in the future.



ratford-Upon-Avon,nited Kingdom

erview By: Macavity

he Culprit is a bandat many have alreadyen and heard in theS. but have manyore fans to conquer.e had a chance to talkth Tommy, Russ andke recently after theyished a summer tourpart of the states andt some great and veryfinitely witty answersour interview from theys that matches their

eat music very well.

MUEN: Hi guys!Thanks for talking toMUEN today about TheCulprit!Have to ask the obvi-ous question. Wheredid the name comefrom and does it havea particular meaning?

The Culprit: The bandwas initially put togetherby ex members of vari-ous bands of the localarea, but we kept it a se-cret at the time as towho was involved. Peo-ple have always had afascination with mystery

and anonymity. Very

often it can freak peopleout to have secrets keptfrom them and from thatthe name came about.

MUEN: You have onlybeen together since2008. How did you de-cide on who was going

to be in the band andactually who startedthe band?

The Culprit: The originalline up included a differ-ent rhythm section uponconception, but that was

just early stages andlocal shows. June 2008

was the start of what we

call the real line up wwhom we have recorthe album and touredtensively with.

MUEN: What otherbands have you beein and do you still wwith any others eac

you?

The Culprit: Russ is another metal band fwhere we live called terVertigo, but other small session roles ethe Culprit is the maicreative outlet for therest of us.

The Culprit



UEN: How would youest describe youround to someone thatas not heard you live

on MySpace?

he Culprit: We havead a number of descrip-ons; electro rock, multi-

edia metal, alternativenth rock. Basically ourg line is six stringseets sawtooth. It is a

eavy modern rock bandrmat (guitars, bass,ums, vocals) plus elec-

onic sequences (loops,bs, synths etc) with

e live show incorporat-

g film samples etc. Itsuite an interactivehow! If anyone frompple read this, Can weave some free stuff?ost people who listenour music or those

ho have seen us livecently have related usgroups like Deftones

nd Thrice, but with aancy Electro side. Isually describe it aseavy Electro Rock.

UEN: Who influencesou most in your writ-g and playing?

ommy: Tough one. Well

be honest, betweens we all listen to such aariety of genres thatis would be a some-hat vague response. Iork outside the band asproducer, and so amscinated in all types ofusic; Rock, Dance,assical, Hip Hop, any-

ing! I would like to

think we try to cherrypick the hooks from arange of styles. I havealways thought thatbands who only listen totheir kind of music canbecome stale fairlyquickly. Russ: My origi-nal roots are soul and

funk, so Im really fo-cused to creating groovebased music. But asTommy said I thinkeveryone has a broadtaste in music! Anythingfrom The Police to WeirdAl Yankovic! Luke: Allmusic is an influence. It'sall around us everyday,

everywhere. I find it diffi-cult to be able to pinpointa specific group or genrewhen writing music. It al-ways should come natu-rally and from the heart.

MUEN: You haveplayed many gigs andseem to have toured

more than most newbands which is a greataccomplishment. Howdid you get a SXSWslot and also mainstage at Bulldog Bashfor this year?

The Culprit: A carefulbalance of hustling and

back scratching.

MUEN: You just cameoff a tour of the U.S.that included mainlythe Midwest and Texas.What made you decideto do those particularplaces for this tour?

The Culprit: You gotta

start somewhere! Ourbookings management isbased in Texas, so itmade sense to start andend the tour there androute a months touringaround that. We hope tohit the East coast next,and then West coast/Cali

areas after that. The USis so damn big we gottabreak it up into chunks!To give you an exampleof how different it is forus, you could fit the UKinto Texas twice!

MUEN: You have beento the states before.

Where did you go ontour then and why didyou choose thoseplaces?

The Culprit: We wereover in March doing theSouth by South Westfestival in Austin, Texas.It was just a week, but

those shows opened upa lot of other opportuni-ties!

MUEN: It is not easy toget an in store sessionwith Hot Topic and youdid many on this latesttour. How was it play-ing in a mall and

acoustic?

The Culprit: Very weirdat first. Until now we hadnever played our stuffacoustically. However,we have been calling itAcoustic, as weswapped the electric gui-tars for acoustics, but

continued to maintain

the live sequences,swapping the modersynth sounds etc forchestral instrumentsworked quite nicely.

MUEN: That is a greoutlet to be heard brock fans. How did

playing at Hot Topicome about and arethey to now carry ymerch and music?

The Culprit: It was abooked as part of thetour. We did somethlike thirty odd showsabout twenty-five da

as we played twice iday sometimes. TheTopic shows were agreat way to promoteevening concerts, anreach a wider potentaudience. They seemto go well with the stpromoting the albummerch should be arr

soon!

MUEN: Glad it wentwell and speaking otouring, what has bthe most unusual omemorable thing tohappen at a gig or otour?

Tommy: Ahem…In nparticular order…inspink limos, firearms,theme parks, stuffedfalo, jaw dropping hebreathtaking views, atude sickness, stripppolice, pool parties,Donky Tonking, Eveclear, 6th St, Swine ffast food, VIP privileg



stival appearances,odeo bulls, tutus,REAT AUDIENCES!ke: Ha-ha, amazing!at's everything I can

member. Russ: Weirdople dancing on thevement whilst wavingSALE sign and Big

hns (our tour man-ers) laugh.

UEN: Sounds like itas very interesting toy the least! You havemples up on My-

pace from your EPhe Stable Sessions.”nderstand you have

w recordings?

e Culprit: Well that EPnow kinda old as weve now released thew full length album.e have re-recorded thengs that now include

e electronics etc.

UEN: How is theusic written for thend and by whom?

mmy: It comes to us ineams, or on the backcereal packets. No inseriousness, Luked I wrote most of thengs on the album to-

ther prior to Russ andcott joining, but we are

w writing altogetherr new material! Luke: In't wait to write again.e've come together so

ell as band and it'sing to be really excit-

g to see what we caneate together.

MUEN: When are youreturning to record thenext full CD?

The Culprit: Well weveonly just released thenew full length, and weare now going back intothe rehearsal room to

write new material. Wewill put up new demosas they happen so all wecan say is watch our My-Space page!

MUEN: Do you have avideo planned for theone of the tracks fromthe EP other than the

live performances youhave on YouTube?

The Culprit: Yes hope-fully being completedover the next couple ofmonths.

MUEN: How useful hasMySpace been to the

promotion of the bandor what outlet otherthan live has beenmost beneficial to theband?

The Culprit: Vital. Partic-ularly in the U.S. market.It is a fantastic tool inthat it enables anyone inthe world to access yourmaterial for free. Youcant ask for better pub-licity than that. In theU.K.I think it has becomea bit last season as au-diences there can besomewhat more fickle,but it is still a massiveculture here in the U.S.

MUEN: Changingsome, you have a basein Stratford-Upon-Avon. Are there anyplans to move or dowant to stay basedthere?

The Culprit: We are des-

perate to move to theUS. So if theres anyonereading this that can findus all a wife or a job thenhit us up! We are allhousetrained! Jokingaside, we do feel that thenature of our soundpushes us more natu-rally to an American au-

dience.

MUEN: Do you thinkyou have more fans inthe states or at home?

The Culprit: The USnow!

MUEN: What more

should we expect tosee from The Culpritfor the rest of 2009?

Tommy: New video, newshows, new tracks, pos-sibly even a progressionin direction. Same hairthough. Russ: And ourChristmas single, Santa

Clause is Coming(smirks). Luke: Hah!

MUEN: For your loyalfans that think theyknow all about you, tellus something thatmost dont know abouteach of you.

The Culprit: That is the

point. Its a secret anup to you to find out! it takes is a few drink

MUEN: Is there anything I have not askthat you think ourreaders would like tknow about The Cu

prit?

The Culprit: We workvery hard with a DIYethos. We take care everything within theband; production,videos, graphics andwebsite. If you get intouch with us on the

you can be sure that will come straight to Anyone who gets intouch, we aim to maitain communication psonally. Check out thMySpace for a seriesblogs from our recenU.S tour.

MUEN: Thanks guyfor taking the time ttalk with MUEN. Welook forward to seeand hearing a lot mfrom you in the futu

Tommy: Our pleasureRuss: Thanks. Luke:Goodbye MUEN!







JANUS“Red Right Return”

Janus looks beyond thestatus quo of modern rockmusic of today. This albummarks the start of whatsome believe is sure to bethe beginning of a new

and changing modern rockworld of tomorrow. If youlike the Deftones, PerfectCircle or Earshot you willbe blown away by Janus.Every track on this albumis infectiously melodic.One can only describe this11 track song collection asa very well crafted, re-de-fined and re-designed ap-

proach to the genre.

Track one “Six LettersSent” starts with poundingdrums that you can feelright in your chest. Thechorus is an amazingdemonstration of the abilitythat the lead singer holds.Towards the end of thesong they break it downbefore building it up intoanother explosive Chorus“If you keep running, willyou know my name”. Theending riff reminds me ofsomething straight of aDeftones album. “Eyesore”is the bands first single. Ithas a Breaking Benjaminvibe but in a good way.

These guys really havesomething special here.

Some other tracks thahave to check out aremelancholy fueled ang“Maybe Its You”, or thcatchy hooks of “Say as well as the hard hitsong “Skin Deep”. ReRight Return is a mushave. I feel its one of tbest albums I have hefrom an independent asince the Destrophydemos. This band haswhat it takes to go to tnext level. They recenplayed with Sevendusthere home town ofChicago. They have abeen road tested and in it to win. Drummer J

Salazar has already bthrough the ringer withmusic industry with hismer band Relative AsThey were signed to Iand released a classicalbum “Our Time withYou”. Unfortunately thwere dropped due to tchange in the musicscene. His new projec

destined to surpass thformer and bring greato thousands. For morformation check thematwww.myspace.com/jaband orwww.myspace.com/mbidmiller

~Morbid

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MUEN MagazineP.O. Box 11446

Whittier, CA 90603



TEEL PANTHEReel The Steel”

arely do you get aance to review a CD

at you already know isoing to be totally killerthout even hearing a

ote. But such is the caseth Steel Panthers “offi-

al” debut CD “Feel Theeel.” From the very firstfs and screams of vocalsere is not one note orne that disappoints ony level of this kick ass

bum! Many things can beid of parody style of

etal rock but the oneng that cannot be ig-ored is that you have toave extraordinary talent

pull it off well and theyORE than deliver the

oods on this album.

ithin this legendary apti-de lies amazing guitarfs that make you listen

er and over to try yourest to air guitar theirnes since you could

ever match that level ofent! The same can beid of the chameleon vo-ls that rivals Roth,

overdale, Tyler andeine at their best voice.ommunity Property” and

tripper Girl” are two bal-ds on the CD that really

showcase the true vocaltalents and the versatilityof the musicians whilecrossing parental advisoryperfectly and most of allhumorously. “Panther”pleads for you to drum onwhatever surface close byin an attempt to match themind-blowing drummingand bass line. “Turn OutThe Lights” and “Death toAll But Metal” will be run-ning in your head for daysafter listening to thesegreat performances.

With a true homage to

eighties hair metal androck sounds, Steel Pan-ther has managed to turna CD of that genre in tosomething that is so rele-vant and entertaining thatyou can NOT stop listeningto the album. Anyone thatenjoys supremely talentedmusicians with a heavydose of humor in raunchy,

explicit lyrics is going tolisten to Steel Panthers“Feel The Steel” and belaughing and in awe simul-taneously! This is one ofthose albums that you willnot want to buy just one ortwo tracks because youdont want to miss onesecond of the brilliance oftheir collection of talents!Run, dont walk, to buy theCD and laugh, head-bangand most of all appreciatethe incredible talents whileattempting to match thevocals singing along wher-ever you are.

~Macavity

POP EVIL“Lipstick on the Mirror”

“Lipstick on the Mirror” isthe latest and definitely thebest that Pop Evil has of-fered in the way of a com-

pilation of theirmind-blowing music. Whatmakes this compilationtruly unique and entranc-ing is their music hassomething that transcendsgenders and genres withtheir multiplicity of tracks.But with this diversity,within the CD, not onetrack sounds out of place

and all implore to be lis-tened to many times overto hear what true rock issupposed to sound like inthe digital age. It would befar too easy to try andcompare them to anotherband but they have provedwith this brilliant CD theyare incomparable! Theirstellar rock vocals, full onversatile musicality andexpressive lyrics and,most of all, raw emotionflow throughout and withinthe music and the lyrics of“Lipstick on the Mirror” andindeed provides the lis-tener with a need to hit re-peat many times toappreciate every nuance

this band offers.

After many plays it is to pick just a few stansongs since all seem stand equally strong otheir own merits and ividuality. If you must pfew tracks to listen to fore you buy the CD t“Breathe” is certainly This song has some obest rock vocals to beheard and enough of catchy lyrics to have yhooked into singing aAll of these qualities aencased in truly incremusical talents with incate changeups and v

tions. Their skillfuldistinctions and varietcan also be heard so fectively in the subtle vocal bridge in “ReadNot” and the passionaslower tempo raw emtions heard in “RomeoJuliet” not just with thecals but also within thtounding guitar work.

If you think this is goinbe a pure emotional rcoaster without substthen you would be wrPop Evil has given a gtheir musical talents iCD that is unparalleleany other rock CD ounow. They have stretc

the boundaries to givemusic lovers a wide vto entice them with evsong on the album foown individuality and subtleties that make yrock your way throughalbum over and again

~Ma

CD REVIEWS



HE DARLINGSelf Titled”

his self-titled EP by Thearlings shows that exactnsideration to everynute detail can produce EP that is nothing shortperfection and a delightlisten to many timeser. They convey this

wareness throughout theP with killer music thatas the greatest of atten-

n to writing and songructure along with amaz-g performances by thetire band.

s within those perform-ces that it is difficult totract one element that

ands out more than an-her. They have every-ng so well mixed andht that it all makes for arfect balance of punkd rock performed to ex-eding levels. One fea-

re that must beentioned is the brilliante of stellar basslines to

ake the backbone of theelodies and truly make

their tunes rich, full andergetic punk with a

eat dose of rock. This isst revealed in “Lacerate”

here the unbelievable vo-

ls, together with the gui-rs and amazing drums,

produce a retro track. Thebass anchors the songbeautifully to make it crossthe line to rock retro with afresh flavor. “Captivated”is aptly named as it is an-other tune that does in-deed captivate you tolisten to every articulatelyric that is exceptionallysung and again perfectlymixed with amazing musi-cal performance. Within allthis high energy punk is arock ballad, “Love Story,”that would make most anyartist envious of the qual-ity. Once again the atten-

tion to detail tells this storywith an outro of acousticguitar that ends the EP ex-ceptionally well.

This entire EP is so per-fectly done that it leavesyou looking for the repeatto play it over and again.The Darlings displaysounds that are completely

fresh and quite uniquewhich makes it impossibleto compare them with anyother band. They havemastered a way to com-pletely own their individualtalents and sound con-summately.

~Macavity

SUICIDE CITY“Frenzy”

“Frenzy” is an appropriatename for this full lengthfirst offering from SuicideCity. They have that in-deed and much more in

this mind-blowing album.The CD also containsheavy dozes of rock, numetal and alt to make abrilliant masterpiece ofwhat these genres mixedtogether should sound like.

They could easily be com-pared to early Faith No

More but they have takenthat sound many levelshigher. With such cleanand articulate vocals thathave great range and vari-ation combined with adroituse of programming andinstrumentation they couldeasily make FNM wishthey sounded as good onan album as this one is.

They use the dexterity oftheir sound to make trackssuch as “Painted Horse”and “Not My Year” standout with their frenetic highenergy that makes youwant to headbang yourway through both tunesand sing along at the topof your lungs to match theremarkable vocals. “Un-done” and “Cutter” are two

more tracks that are sply incomparable in thtalent. Both exhibit therange of vocal talentsshows how far they castretched and still remclean and clear. Alongand equally as import

is the melodic instrumtion and performancethese talented musiciexecuting stellar comtions that have you howith each note heard.

This great tight produperformance and writyou will make you wo

why you have not listeto them before when yhave been listening tohazard and 36 Crazy But once you do listenthe catchy tunes and zied music you will wayet more from SuicideHeadbang to these fifkickass tracks and eaawait their next CD to

what gifted things coupossibly top this astouing album.

~Ma

CD REVIEWS



OBINThunder & Speedumb”

he latest offering, and thest U.S. release, forobin is a kickass rocksychobilly album that is aust have for all fans of

is genre. They utilizeeir collective talents to

ut forth a CD that thatixes punk and rock withuches of metal and

nough southern rock fla-or to make if truly uniquend stand up to their genrexceptionally well.

owever, a unique use ofvariety of basses com-ned with fantastic gui-rs, drums and vocals,hich are found through-ut this CD, set it apartom their peers andakes a statement tooss genres. Each ele-ent has a standout trackithin the album to high-

ght the individual talentsthe band. This is partic-arly notable in “Vul-

anus” which incorporatesto the punk some grind

ore and metal compo-ents through amazing vo-als and shredding riffs. It

the longest tune on theD and worth every sec-nd to hear all their talents

ork together superbly.

“Flying High” brings in ele-ments that are reminiscentof The Sex Pistols only farbetter with their clever useof the bass and vocals thatdemand to be heard.“From Hell” is anotherstandout track that trulybrings to light their psy-chobilly sound with a defi-nite southern rock with aharder edge feel to themusic.

This may be there first re-lease in the U.S. but willcertainly not be their last!They are a great punk

band that utilizes all theirtalents so well to maketheir music cross genresand grab fans that wouldnormally turn away from atag such as punk or psy-chobilly. For a fresh takeon compound genremusic, this album that is amust have for anyone thatwant a new and com-

pletely rocking out soundwith intriguing compositionand performance added.

~Macavity

CD REVIEWS

THE CROSSING“Chemical Gods”

The Crossing has donemore than one thing differ-ent with their latest CD“Chemical Gods.” For oneit is a compilation of 40

tracks. However, the moststriking difference aboutThe Crossing is that theyhave blown all genres tohell and just created theirown called VERSATILE!With this versatility thoughand the amount of tracks,quality of sounds do notsuffer nor get diluted inany manner!

They have managed togarner talents that pull inpure rock and add ele-ments of alt, blues, grind,clean metal and still throwin to the mix some of thegreatest mid-centurysounds that harkens toballadeers such as J.

Frank Wilson. “357” andthe title track both standout as stellar examples ofthe range of talent dis-played by the band mem-bers both musically andvocally. Both are full onrock tunes that showcasean amazing set of vocalrange and versatility andalso some mind-blowing

guitar and drum talent.

“Chemical Gods” alsosome of the smoothecals that cleverly placedginess to them whneeded to match the cal changes. “Baby Bis bluesy to the core wretro, almost analog,

sound that takes sucturn from the rock yetseems to fit perfectlywithin the rock trackscause of its use of moprogramming techniq“Rot” is yet another sthat stands out for mothan just the remarkasounds that are found

throughout. It makes astounding amount ostatements with well ten lyrics that leave thtener to derive theirinterpretation if they apolitical, world or socstatements. This atteand adroit use of lyricfound throughout andcrosses all their song

make each an ear-caing tune no mater thetempo of the music.

Although the easy wawould be to say theysound like this band oit simply cannot be doThe Crossing have thown sounds that are tricate and Technicolotheir album art and sothing that should not passed by. This is onthose rare CDs wherthere is something toplease any music fanappreciates quality ahighest form!

~Ma



APERBACK FREUDl In A Days Work”

e sophomore offeringm this Swedish rocknd shows how far thend has come to express

eir electric live perform-

ces on disc. It is alwaysrd to beat a great debut

bum but Paperbackeud has blown theirbut album out of the

ater with this mind-blow-g CD.

mehow they have cap-ed the bluesy boogie

uthern rock sound andade it their own uniqueyle of pure rock and rollat has no hint of the tra-ional offerings from

wedish rock bands. “Higheed Rock and Roll” is arfect example of thisique musicality with theirht performance and pro-ction exhibited with a

ellar balance of shred-ng kickass riffs, beatsd vocals. These talents

e found, impeccablyne, throughout the CDmatter what tempo the

ne has. “My Frequency”d “Bad” showcase theirrsatility to fuse boogieh full on rock and addough of a blues flavor to

ake you play them over

and again to catch eachdrum beat and guitar lick.“Anthem” and “Killers” slowthings enough to catcheach lyric sung and per-formed and give yet an-other view of this bandsoutstanding abilities.

It would be very easy tocompare them to Aero-smith meets ZZ Top andStevie Ray added in butPaperback Freud are in aclass all their own. They dohave the elements of thesebands and yet have takenthem to a higher level with

their kickass fusion of allthree influences. This is aCD that all rock fans musthave to complete their col-lection of what modern dayboogie blues rock shouldsound like when writtenand performed brilliantlywell!

~Macavity

FRIGHTDOLL“Assimilation Illusion”

The music of Frightdoll iswritten, performed,recorded and producedsolely on her own. It is adark mix of transgressional

type goth executed in anelectronica and industrialmanner, complete withbold synth tracks andmetallic beats. Frightdoll,out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL,is the entire deal, not shyof provocative, and notafraid to lure you with se-ductiveness.

Ironically, the disc startsout with what sounds likean acoustic piano in thevery lightweight sounding,"Lost". After this lullaby of astart, track 2 swiftlyswoops in with a more an-ticipated goth/industrialtone, "Alone In This" and isfollowed by the same with

"Caused," containing up-tempo synth beats andelectrically charged vocalsthat are becoming a staplein the Frightdoll sound. It isnow safe to say, you mayfind yourself slipping into atrance, while the vocalparts and synth becomemore and more fixed in agothic landscape, as in thesong "Evolution," which is

rapidly becoming a favorite. Do you like EdSissorhands? Well thyou should like "Contverse." "Distant" desweightlessly back intmore mellow realm awith a mix of both "acsounding" and electrokeys, followed by theier "Leaving You".

The later part of this is good... songs like "erate" and the sombe"Endings," which hasinteresting programm

Lastly, "Sweet Serenwraps things up with of the same... but evemore twisted acoustipiano accompanied bsome insanely soft twvocals, which conjurevisions of Frightdoll cup in a corner down icold damp cellar, plother next album. Her

release includes muccolor and attitude, noin the music, but alsoartwork of Synthestruand photography ofJanette Valentine. It four-panel fold out coplete with all the lyricvarious Frightdoll imaA professional produ

throughout. There arof ways to describe ither own words: "a sefor a sense of self witmedium in which the tinctions between thehuman mind and digiprocesses have becoblurred."

G. C

CD REVIEWS





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MUEN September 2009