Were you cool/hip in 2008?

Were you one of the 1 million American's who bought Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III in it's first week of release?

Did you cheer on Michael Phelps and his tiny speedo as he broke the olympic record for most gold medals?

Did you or your gothic teenage daughter have 'Twilight' Fever?

Surely by now you have a Facebook, right?

Did you vote Megan Fox as the hottest woman in the world?

Did you see 'The Dark Knight' one or ten times?

Did you discover Twitter?

Did you vote for Barack Obama?

Did you replace your weekend movie with browsing YouTube?

Interview with Cassie Ford of The Vincent Black Shadow

1. How are you and the guys liking being an independent band now?

It is great. We make all our own decisions and I don't have to deal with people trying to dress me anymore.

2. What are the bands upcoming tour plans?

We are doing a fall 2008 tour of the west coast of the USA. There are 12 dates I think. We have Nim Vind (Chris and Tony's other band) opening the show.

3. How do you feel about the current state of the music industry?

I don't really care for the music industry.

4. Are there any crazy things that fans have done that have weirded you out? 

I can answer this in the form of a tip, messaging me on myspace and asking me out doesn't work- nor it will ever work. And come to think of it, has it ever worked? I guess I just feel that if you like our music, that is great, and we will write you back to normal questions on myspace or whatever, but that's where it ends. 

5. If there were only two albums that you could listen to for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Fantomas- Directors Cut
Boyz II Men- II

6. I googled you as I was preparing these questions and I found that someone had submitted you for some kind of "sexy geeks 2007" poll. Do you consider yourself a geek and do you consider yourself sexy? (If this one if too invasive feel free to skip over it.)

It's like She's All That all over again.

7. Would you say it's more difficult being a woman in the music business than it is for a man? If so, why?

Yes. Just look at any MTV video. Women are expected to be sluts, or lesbians or sluts pretending to be lesbians to please 15 year old boys. The annoying part is that most girls will happily oblige to be like that for some fame, so I doubt anything will change anytime soon. Good thing I don't really care!

8. How would you describe The Vincent Black Shadow's sound to someone who's never heard the band? 

I would just give them our myspace, www. myspace. com/tvbs, and in like 3 seconds they could find out what we sound like. It isn't 1980 anymore. Technology 4eva.

9. In your new video on the bands myspace page you say that you like El Monstruo better than Fears In The Water. What about El Monstruo do you like better than Fear's In The Water?

The songs are way better. I still like Fears but this time our songwriting got a stronger and more focused. 

10. Are there any plans to make a music video for any of the songs on El Monstruo?

yeah we just did a really interesting idea that involves stop motion photography, with a great photographer Albert Normandin. We hope to have it out soon. Not sure what song it will be for...

11. Is there anything else you would like to say to people who may be reading this that I didn't cover in my questions?

Thanks to everyone who has supported us on our new album so far. To anyone who wants to get El Monstruo, the only place to get it is at our online store:

www. tvbsmusic. com

You get it digitally and we will send you an album in the mail! We rule.

Interview with Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying and Austrian Death Machine

Here is my interview with Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying and Austrian Death Machine via my other site (Christian Hardcore News).

Interview with Tim Lambesis from As I Lay Dying and Austrian Death Machine

1. You have your hand in everything from being the vocalist of one of metal/hardcore's biggest bands, producing the new War of Ages album, managing Destroy The Runner, and doing your side project, Austrian Death Machine, do you have any other talents you haven't shared with us yet?

There are definitely days that are crazier than other where I wonder what I'm doing, but for the most part I've learned to balance things pretty well. I'm a pretty calm guy most of the time, so my attitude is to just do the best I can and that's all I can really do. With the release of Austrian Death Machine coming up I am no longer managing Destroy the Runner. They've actually done their past tour on their own and have decided that they won't be touring as full time after the summer, so it just seemed to make sense to split. We all still live in the same neighborhood and hang out recording stupid fun stuff in my studio though. I'd say that the recording side of my life is maybe one of the talents I haven't shared fully and will hopefully be doing more records when I get time off between tours.

2. Please tell me about Austrian Death Machine, How did this project come about, how will it sound, and what is it about Arnold Schwarzenegger that inspired you to do this project in his honor?

Well, I finally got a full song up online for people to hear after teasing them with the preview for a while. The sound is much more trash oriented than As I Lay Dying and is an awesome outlet for the goofier side of me. The lyrics are 100% based on Arnold Schwarzenegger one liners in his movies, so part of the fun is that everyone already know the lyrics to the big sing alongs. The idea came up when talking with friends and impersonating those great one-liners. Then I started thinking how amazingly fun it would be to have a bands where that was every chorus.

3. Will you be playing any shows as Austrian Death Machine or is this an album only project?

At first it was supposed to be an album only project, but then friends of mine kept telling me they would join the band if we played some shows. There won't be any crazy touring plans, but I want to put together enough shows to do the "Preda-TOUR."

4. Did you play all of the instruments on the Austrian Death Machine album?

Yeah, I played all of the original studio version of everything except for the guitar solos, but then as time went on I had friends come in to help me get things a little tighter and sounding the way I want. I'm a perfectionist and the truth is that I haven't been playing guitar enough regularly to play as tight as I wanted to on a lot of the fast parts.

5. With As I Lay Dying having a new album out and touring plus your other projects, where did you find the time to record the Austrian Death Machine album?

Every time I was home between tour I would record a little more. The whole recording process was about a month when you put it all together, but it was spread out over about three months.

6. When As I Lay Dying began did you have any idea that it would become such an important band in the metal and hardcore scene?

Definitely not, but I also didn't think that metal would become an important genre again either. I just wanted to help write the best music I could for the genre which I thought I was very underground at the time. In the big scheme of things metal is still very underground when you compare it to radio junk or hip hop, but it's still crazy to think that some bands in our genre have gold records even though they scream and stuff.

7. What musical artists would you say have unfluenced you the most, personally?

I love the energy from punk and hardcore being so fast paced all of the time, but I like to combine that energy with stuff influences that are rhythmically intense like Living Sacrifice was. I'm really stoked they're back together. The melody side of our music can be influenced a little by At the Gates to name one.

8. What will the schedule be like for As I Lay Dying this summer and for the rest of 2008? 

We're finishing up Van's Warped Tour and then going to Europe for a bunch of festivals over there. Hopefully we can start writing a little after that, but that doesn't mean our touring plans will stop. They'll just slow down a little.

9. How do you feel about the current "christian" hardcore and metal scene? Is there anything about it that you think needs to change?

Just because a bunch of dudes grow up in a Christian home doesn't mean that need to call themselves a Christian band or Christians in a band, or whatever the trend is. Either Jesus matters enough to all five members that He influences all of their lives (including music), or that band should just admit their faith is cultural and doesn't affect their lives. I guess what I really wish I could change has to do with all of what we call Christianity in modern times. There are so many people that call themselves Christians that it really means nothing. It should be hard to make the Christian claim because it means that you actually believe what Jesus said and want to be held accountable to it. That's pretty gnarly to think about because Jesus said more about people giving up their riches than He said about being born again. It's comfortable to say we're born again because that idea is so vague in our society, but how many of us can really say we've sold all we have to give to the poor or that we turn the other cheek to our enemies. Those ideas still challenge me as a US citizen where even the poorest of us are rich compared to most of the globe. I've done very little in my lifetime to bring justice to the poor and oppressed the Jesus loved so much, and I feel challenged to start meaning what I say when I call myself a Christian. Of course I would never be ashamed to associate myself with Jesus, but I am ashamed to associate myself with the Christian majority in the US because it seems they care less for following Christ's teachings than they do for following the so-called culturally Christian empires of our time.

10. Would you call As I Lay Dying a "christian band" or would you say you are "christians in a band"?

We are a Christian band because my beliefs influence everything that I do.

11. What has God been teaching you lately?

"Whatever you've done unto the least of these, you've done unto Me."

12. Is there anything you would like to say that we haven't covered?

I tend to come across very serious when you get me on the right subject, but I also want people to see the other side of me just trashing around and having fun. Hopefully Austrian Death Machine will help get that across while it also gives me a chance to play a lot of the instruments I had to give up when I started singing in As I Lay Dying.

Interview with ZacK McKim of Take It Back

Here is an interview with Zack McKim of Take It Back! via my other site (Christian Hardcore News).

Interview with Zack McKim of Take It Back Here is my interview with Zack McKim, vocalist of the awesome new Facedown Records band, Take It Back! This is Zack, I do vocals. 1. How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your band?  Fast, fun, punk rock with some worshipful parts. 2. You guys, just got signed by Facedown Records, how did that come about? We've played with a lot of Facedown bands in the past and I guess they all kept putting in good words for us, we talked to Jason for a while and then he told us he wanted us on the label, we prayed and fasted about it for a while and then decided that's where God wanted us. 3. When are you guys hoping to have your Facedown debut out? Hopefully by the end of the summer. 4. What role would you say christianity plays in your band? We are a ministry first, a band second. We want kids to know that there's more to life than hardcore, or the problems of everyday life. There's a much bigger battle going on, a battle for lost souls. But, we love what we do. It's a lot of fun. We love to hang out and meet new people. God is good. 5. You guys are a straight up hardcore band, so I'm just curious, how do you feel about metalcore? (I know this is a strange question, but I know alot of hardcore bands aren't fans of metalcore, so I was just curious on your take on it.) I'm not really even sure what that is. I try to stay out of the sub-genre thing but, I guess if it sounds good and it's sincere i like it. 6. You guys have some big events coming up, such as playing Facedown Fest and getting to share the stage with MxPx at an upcoming show. That's got to make you feel at least a tad bit nervous, right? We're always nervous about big shows, it's more stressful. But we're really excited at the same time. Mxpx has always been one of our favorite bands so it's gonna be sick to play with them. 7. Is there anything else you'd like to say to the people reading this? God is good all the time, no matter where you've been or what you've done, He will meet you where you are.

Interview with Travis Boyd of Sleeping Giant

Here is my interview with Travis Boyd of Sleeping Giant via my other site (Christian Hardcore News).

Interview with Travis Boyd of Sleeping Giant 1. Who is answering these questions and what do you play in the band? Travis Boyd- Drums 2. How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music? Shoot, i don't know, heavy metal, heavy worship, heavies....I think they might get the idea if i say heavy enough times. 3. You guys are on Facedown Records, what is it about them that made you decide to sign with them? Well we have always admired what facedown does, we were looking to put out an album, and they were super interested. So we prayed about it for a while and decided we should do it. 4. What does the new stuff you're working on sound like in relation to your debut album? Well the new stuff goes along the same lines I guess, when we wrote "Dread Champions of the....titles way to long" we wanted to write everything for The Lord, regardless of what it sounded like, not really trying to fit anything specific as far as genres go.  This next album has the same type of feel, we are writing some heavies, and some seriously good worship stuff, same as last time, just more extreme those two different directions. 5. When can we expect the next album to come out? Um, hopefully it will come out before Jesus comes back, which should be sometime this summer. The album coming out, not Jesus coming back of course. 6. Would you consider Sleeping Giant a ministry? Funny you should ask, thats pretty much all we consider it to be, we just started a ministry myspace like a week ago, a place for everyone to go and get stuff they need, don't know how successful its going to be, buts its there. We started Sleeping Giant to glorify the Lord, and to worship him and better the Kingdom. If we can do it full time as a ministry, reaching and strengthening the bride, consider it done. 7. Why do you think some "christian bands" almost try to hide the fact that they're christians? (I know this question is kinda strange so if you don't want to answer it I understand.) Haha no its not a crazy question, the basic answer is that Jesus doesn't sell records. Secular music scene hates being convicted, or hearing someone tell them the truth. so why would they want to go out, purchase an album, and go see a band thats going to tell them stuff what they don't want to here, stuff like, God exists, he deserves to be loved by you, and so on. They don't want to hear that, they like the way they live and they don't want to change. So "Christian" bands know that if they want to actually make it as a band, they need to sound as much like secular bands as possible. Which means hiding the fact that they love or should love Jesus, and live everyday for him.  Sorry for being blunt, but This in turn is why a lot of Christian bands just aren't that good. They try more to follow what is being successful in the secular scene, instead of relying on the Holy spirit to lead the way on the whole earth with worship for the Lord. 8. Are you guys going to be playing any of the summer festivals this year? Yes we are. 9. Is there anything else you'd like to say to anyone who may be reading this? Ephesians 5:8-14  I'd write it here but then you wouldn't have to open up your bible and read it.

Interview with Chris McCaddon

This is my interview with Chris McCaddon of The Famine and formerly of Embodyment and Demon Hunter via my other site (Christian Hardcore News).

Interview with Chris McCaddon of The Famine!

This is my interview with Chris McCaddon, vocalist of new Solid State band, The Famine, and former vocalist of Embodyment.

1. Who is this and what do play in the band?

Chris McCaddon and I am the vocalist.

2. How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?

I would have to say metal with a heavy southern and death metal influences.

3. What bands are your biggest influences?

Being from Texas, Pantera would be at the top. You might not really hear it but I can say without that band we probably wouldn't be playing music. Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Sepultura, Human Remains. Personally I listen to a lot of early Napalm Death, Assück, His Hero Is Gone, and Death.

4. When is your Solid State debut due out?

We don't have a date set yet. Before the summer of 2008.

5. Are there any plans for a tour yet?

Absolutely. I can't confirm anything as of right now. It's all still being worked out. You will most likely see us touring frequently in 2008. 

6. You guys used to play in Embodyment, how long after things fell apart with Embodyment did you guys start playing together again?

Well, a few years ago Andy and I began entertaining the thought of playing in a band again. Andy and Mark started writing again and it wasn't until a year ago that we actually tracked some stuff.

7. Since you guys were all together in Embodyment the metal and hardcore scene has gotten more popular and more mainstream. Did the fact that you guys will have the opportunity to play for potentially more people than you could have five to ten years ago have any part in you deciding to start playing again?

For sure. It definitely wasn't the sole reason but the timing was right. There is a better opportunity for us to be successful at it and to play to a lot more fans.

8. How did you guys end up back with Solid State Records?

Those guys are family to us. We didn't want to go the whole "shop the demo" route again. The label loved what we were doing and from the start got behind us.

9. What role would you say christianity plays in your band?

I wouldn't say it plays a "role." That's like deciding when it is appropriate for your faith to take the stage. It is embedded in the fabric and is who we are.

Interview with Jimmy Ryan from Trenches

Here is my interview with Jimmy Ryan from Trenches and formerly of Haste The Day via my other site (Christian Hardcore News).

Interview with Jimmy Ryan from Trenches Here is my interview with Jimmy Ryan, vocalist of Trenches and former vocalist of Haste The Day. 1. How did Trenches form? -Joel, the guitarist, and i had been wanting to do a band together for years, it was finally time, so we just found people that were interested in playing, and it has worked out great. 2. How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your band? - I would say a very heavy version of Pink Floyd. 3. Surely you guys are at least negotiating with some record labels, are there any details you can give us as far as that goes? -I am not at liberty to comment on that, sorry. 4. When do you guys expect to have an album out? -Hopefully by late spring. 5. You used to be the vocalist for Haste The Day, are you still pretty close with them? - I am still very close with them, right before they left for the As I Lay Dying tour my wife and i went over to Devin's (the drummer) house and watched the Colts dominate. I love those guys and always will. 6. Haste The Day was an openly christian band, what role does christianity play in Trenches? - Christianity will always have a "role" in the things i pursue in my life because i am a Christian, but we are by no means a "Christian band". Some of us are Christians, and some of us are not. We are just playing music to play music. 7. Will you guys be touring in the near future? - We are focusing on building a fan base in the mid-west for now, IN, IL, OH, KY, WI, MI, MO. Those are the states we are going to hit for now, we plan on branching out at some point, but we would like to stay close to home for now. 8. Trenches are influenced by bands like Mastodon and isis and your former band was obviously more influenced by bands like Zao and Killswitch Engage. What artists have been the biggest influence on you, personally? - Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Deftones, Team Sleep.  Thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions, Jimmy!