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"She don't care about books or school. No, she just wants to rock and roll. Baby, she's no fool. You're so cool" - Will Hoge
"You choose a path in life, and when you do, sprint. Don't stroll down it." - Kevin Lyman

Showing posts with label april. Show all posts
Showing posts with label april. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Halestorm, The Pretty Reckless, & Starset Iron City Birmingham, Alabama 4/28/15

Halestorm always puts on the best live shows I have ever seen and tonight in Birmingham was no different. 

The first band of the evening was Starset. I was not quite sure what to make of them and I am still not entirely sure now. They were very astronautical. I think that is a word. 

They played

First Light
Rise and Fall
Down with the Fallen
Carnivore
Antigravity
Telescope
My Demons

Following Starset was Taylor Momsen's band, The Pretty Reckless. They are a great live band. I just wish Taylor liked photographers more. Her hair was in her face the first three songs and that made our jobs a little bit more difficult, but we managed. 

They played

Follow Me Down
Since You're Gone
Miss Nothing
Sweet Things
House on a Hill
Heaven Knows
Make Me Wanna Die
Going to Hell
Fucked Up World

Then, it was finally time for the almighty Halestorm. 

They played

Freak Like Me
Scream
Mz. Hyde
Amen
Dissident Aggressor (Judas Priest Cover)
The Reckoning
Rock Show
I Am the Fire (Double Neck guitar)
Dear Daughter
Drum Solo (Arejay)
Mayhem
Apocalyptic
I Miss the Misery

I Get Off
Sick Individual
Here's to Us

Before Dear Daughter, Lzzy told a story about her mother calling her one day and asking if she did a good job raising her kids. That conversation inspired her to write the song. That story made me cry like a freaking baby and then I wanted to call my mom. 

The evening was perfect and I cannot wait to see the band again at Rock On The Range in a few weeks.
















Sunday, April 26, 2015

Take The Power Back Green Bar Tuscaloosa, Alabama 4/25/15

Take the Power back is a Nashville based Rage Against the Machine tribute band.

Oh, and they are all girls.

The group has gained approval from hardcore Rage fans and casual music listeners from all different aspects.

Tribute bands are a popular concept, but there are very few that can leave their mark and have a crowd screaming for an encore, which was the case tonight at Green Bar.

Singer Katy Lyles has the unique, identical energy and vocals shared by RATM’s frontman Zach de la Rocha. Her raspy voice and astounding stage presence are what make this band different than other tribute bands.

During the show, Lyles spoke about the self-titled Rage Against the Machine album and agrees that it still resonates today.

As of now, Rage Against the Machine is on an indefinite hiatus. So if you want to hear the musical stylings of the band, check out Take The Power Back. Their performance is as close to the real RATM audiences can experience.

The set-list:

Testify

Year of the Boomerang

People of the Sun

Bulls On Parade

Bullet in the Head

Bomb Track

Vietnow

Down Radio

Settle for Nothing

Snake Charmer

Tire Me

Revolver

Born of a Broken Man

No Shelter

Freedom

Township Rebellion

Killing in the Name

Wake Up

It takes a special band to put an original spin on a band’s music, while staying true to the original but Take The Power Back does it with poise and grace.









Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Interview with Will Hoge in Birmingham, AL April 2015

Never in my years of doing music journalism did I ever think I would get to interview one of my all time favorite musicians.

I have listened to Will Hoge since I was eight years old. In September, I will be 20.

I cannot explain the happiness that came over me in that moment.

So here it is, my interview with Mr. Will Hoge. 

How has the response to Small Town Dreams been?

Really good. It’s been a pleasant surprise. You never know when you put out a new record what the response is going to be. I feel like with this one, I tried to really push myself to do some things that I’ve not done before or that I haven’t done in a long time and so there’s a part of you that thinks “This may push people away, but it’s still the record I wanna make,” but that hasn’t been the case at all. It’s been completely opposite.

What’s your personal favorite song on the album?

“Little Bitty Dreams” is the one I always come back to. I mean, I like lots of things about all of the songs, but that one, even just from the recording process, that is all one take. It’s the scratch vocal. We just went back and added one little pedal steel part and one part on the lead guitar track and everything else is exactly how it went down in the studio, there’s no click track. So it feels real alive, which I like.

Is that your favorite to play live too?

No, I don’t have a favorite live yet because some of the songs we haven’t even played live yet. It’ll be 6 or 8 months of playing the stuff before I can decide.

How is this one different from other albums in the past? I mean, aside from obvious reasons.

I don’t know, I feel like this one is… I’ve kinda done, I wouldn’t say concept records, that makes them sound so heavy, but records that have a theme through them. I’ve kinda done it with political records with the America EP and with Modern American Protest Music, but I don’t know that I’ve ever done it just on a regular album and I feel like maybe this one, even though I didn’t intend when we started to be that way kind of ended up being a real concise snapshot of this one little thing whereas I think all the other records are a snapshot of kind of the moment in time of where I was making the record, this was a snapshot of a whole theme.

How was the recording process for this one different?

Well, using a producer. For the last 4 recordings, I don’t think I’ve used a producer. I’ve just done them all myself. Using Marshall [Altman], I learned a lot from him because everybody that I’ve worked with, I tend to glean something off of production wise if they’ve got a different micing technique or a different way of doing something and there was some of that with Marshall but more importantly, I didn’t have to worry about the ins and outs of how we were doing things. I just had to worry about being the singer and the songwriter, which was really liberating in a lot of ways.

So the ACMs were this past weekend, let’s talk about that.

It was fun. It’s always fun to get to hang with those people, so many of those folks have become dear friends so it’s a great moment to catch up with all of them, but it wasn’t nearly as much fun as when they did it in Las Vegas. Las Vegas was way cooler, so hopefully they’ll go back next year.

Going back to the album, I know you’re friends with Vince Gill, but he was on “Just Up the Road”, right?

Mhmm.

Talk about that, how did that come about? That’s one of my favorites.

Vince is foolish enough to answer the phone when I call and always says yes. [Laughs]. It’s hard for me not to abuse that because I feel like I could just call him with every song and be like “Could you add anything?” because he’s so incredibly musical and well versed, way more than he gets credit for. You could take him a salsa record and he would find something awesome to put on it. I mean really, it’s amazing.

I believe that!

I knew the solo needed to be really big and epic in a way and there’s a lot of the cool guitar players that are afraid of that because they don’t want to do something that feels that way I think and I know that lead guitar players that are also lead singers play very differently because they think like a lead singer and not just a guitar player. It’s one of my favorite things about Vince. So when I called him and told him that I wanted him to stretch out and do something that was more of a rock guitar hero country solo and he was excited about it and he kills it everytime so it was great having him onboard.

So when people like Lady Antebellum and Eli Young ask you to cover your songs, I know it makes you feel great, obviously, but how does that come about or what’s your reaction to that? Have you ever turned anyone down?

I have never turned anyone down. I can’t imagine the situation, unless it were for like a product for something… the morning after pill or whatever [laughs] I mean I don’t know, I don’t want my song involved with that or you know, a tampon commercial. But artist wise, there’s not anything that I would not let somebody do. I mean one, they don’t really even have to ask, they can legally just go and register the song and do it. But in those situations where it’s happened, it’s always been something where I’ve gotten phone call. Charles from Lady Antebellum called me to ask if it was okay if they did it, and the Eli Young guys have always kind of communicated with me and I see them all the time. They didn’t even call to ask, they just sent word that they were going to do it. It’s just one of those things, ya know there’s a point where there’s this incredible feeling when you hear your own record on the radio and it’s really special. It never gets unspecial. And it’s a very similar thing in that situation. Ultimately in radio, there’s a program director who's taking the chance. He hears something in your record and goes “I think people in my city will like this and I’m gonna play it.” It’s the same kind of thing, I mean somebody that’s an artist or somebody that’s an A&R person at a label is hearing something you did and going “I believe that I can bet on this song for so and so to sing or for me to sing” and that’s a huge compliment.

So what’s next?

I mean for all intents and purposes, the tour for this record really kicks off tonight. We’ve kind of done some warm up shows and one offs, and this is gonna kind of ramp up a little bit throughout this week and then we just start getting busy with the road and we start getting busy with planning the European release in June and the tour over there in September. The rest of our summer tour will get announced I think May 5th or something like that and that takes us through fall. And post-Europe, we’ll come back and probably headline and there’s some co-bill things we may do and just writing a bunch. There are some songs that are getting recorded by other people, Craig Morgan just cut something last week. Two or three other things are kind of laying around from a writing standpoint.

Is there anything you want to add? It could be anything, like words or wisdom or…

I don’t have any of those!

[We both laugh for a few seconds.]

If I could I would, but no, I’m just excited you’re still doing this. It means a lot.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Interview with Digital Summer at Welcome To Rockville

I had the opportunity to interview Digital Summer. The band is made up of brothers Ian and Kyle Winterstein, Guido, and Austin Rios. This interview is definitely one of the most fun interviews I've ever done and I hope you are as entertained reading it as I was giving it. Enjoy!

Any updates on new music?

Ian - We are smack dab in the middle of our tour with Volbeat and Trivium. When we get back to Phoenix in mid May, we are going to sit down for awhile. We've already started the writing process for the new record. We have a few songs demo-ed out. We are going to finish that up, do some more touring and hopefully hit the studio.

Kyle - We are taking our time on this one. Recently, about six months ago, put out an acoustic album. It was more to appease the fans with something between album cycles because we are still riding off Breaking Point, our last album. The title track from that album is our current single on Octane. We are still pushing that cycle and we don't want to jump the gun. We've kind of decided that our next record is going to be with a named producer. It's going to be like we are swinging for the fences with this one. It's going to be the biggest and best that we've ever put out there. We are not jumping the gun. We would rather take our time and make sure we've got exactly what we want. It's like a new identity for the band. We've gone through a lot over this last year and a half to two years and we are being real picky with what we're putting out there this next time around.

Talk about the acoustic album please because I really liked it.

[The whole band mutters responses, such as That's Great, That's awesome, and Thank You. The look on their faces was very appreciative, too.]

Kyle - We always do acoustic stuff with our fans after the shows. Even on this tour. Right now we are out with Volbeat and Trivium. Almost every night after the show, we do a little VIP acoustic session on the bus with 10 to 12 fans. We do a few songs. It's something we started doing a few years back on tour just as "Hey, we're hanging out" thing. It's an experience they really enjoy. It's a different side of the band. Normally, we throw down pretty heavy on stage. But we like doing the softer side of things. We talked about doing [an acoustic album] and we started working on it and we really liked how it was coming together. It was one of those things to where once it started moving, we were like "Shit, yeah, we gotta do more with this. So we did. On a personal level me and Ian, our mom passed away suddenly last August right when we were finishing up that album. That was always her favorite thing that we did. So it was like we had to get it out there as a tribute to our mom and it was that simple.

Aww. Stop! I'll cry! Ok, now I'm just going to free-ball it here. I only had a few questions so I don't really know what else to ask.

Band - Just like all of us, don't worry. [laughs]

Ian - CAN I INTERVIEW YOU?!

Sure! Go for it!

Ian - What's your favorite superhero?

I don't like superheroes. But...

[The whole band gasps]

If I had to pick it would be Captain America because

Austin - Because he's hot?

Ian - Easy, Bud!

No. Because Pearl Jam, in 2003, Pearl Jam is one of my bands, by the way, I follow them around, they used the Captain America shield on one of their t shirts and that's my favorite Pearl Jam shirt.

Kyle - That's a good reason. I like that.

Ian - If you had to choose between a free pony or a new car, what would you choose?

Well, I hate ponies, but my car is ok.

Kyle - Man, she's got this shit down!

[Someone asks Ian what kind of car]

Ian - A Chevy Aveo

I don't know what that is.

Band - We don't either!

I'd take the car because I hate ponies

Ian - What if the pony was going to be murdered?

I don't care. I hate ponies. Ponies are asses!

Band - OHHHHH!!!

Kyle - PETA is coming after you!

I don't care! Screw PETA! I like steak. [laughs]

Ian - (Digital Summer does not endorse that!) I'm Kidding.

Kyle - HOLD ON A SECOND. We are about to add to this interview. If you could sum up Digital Summer in 10 words or less, what would you say? Rick Dejesus from Adelita's Way!

RD - In 10 words or less? You mother fuckers are intense. That's really it

Kyle - We are camping in tents.

[I high five him. Everyone else laughs]

RD - You've never seen a band earn their fucking shit more than these guys. One day you're going to have a firm and people are going to walk in and be like "So, tell me about the music business" and they are going to be like "OK, here's page one.

Ian - Let me tell you about everything we've gone through! The greatest story in rock and roll!  

Kyle - [cuts in while the other guys are talking] Just so you know Dog On A Leash, Adelita's Way, out now!

RD - Alright I'm not going to fuck you guys's shit up. You guys gonna eat after this? What are you guys doing? [laughs]

Ian - We have our own whiskey brand called Head-banger's. drinkheadbanger.com

RD - [walking away] - That shit fucked me up last night! Hey! let's catch up later ok?

Ian - We played with Adelita's Way and New Medicine last night in Destin, Florida. We let them be the taste testers of the new whiskey and needless to say, they are feeling it today. They enjoyed it

Fun fact of the day, my favorite band, don't judge me, is Hanson. They have their own beer and it's called MMMHops.

Ian - They are old enough to have beer now?

Guido - Hold on a minute... MMMHops?

Kyle - That was a lot to take in at once. What did you just say?

[everyone around us is intrigued and laughing]

Kyle - Ok, your favorite band is Hanson? Let's just process that for a moment.

Yes

Ian - I thought Pearl Jam was your favorite band?

They are. I have 13 favorite bands.

Kyle - They are old enough to have their own beer?

Two of them are in their thirties, one is almost in their thirties and between the three of them they have 11 children.

Band - HOLY SHIT!

Kyle - They're Mormon! 11 children?

They are not Mormon.

Ian - They're rabbits!

They are still together, just saying.

Guido - I'm going to check them out and go to a show.

Please do.

Ian - She really just said, "My favorite band is Hanson and they have eleven kids and their own beer."

I don't drink, but their beer is disgusting. But I thought the name was clever.

Ian - MMMHops? Yeah, that is pretty clever.

Kyle - How old are you?

18

Ian - Look at you out here interviewing bands. I want to shake your hand!

Kyle - How did you get here?

Guido - What's your story?

I don't have a freaking idea.

Ian - Well, way to be lost!

Lost in the world!

Ian - Lost in the right place

Austin - Lost In The Echo!

AH! Linkin Park!

Kyle - Are you doing this for school?

Nope. Myself. My blog.

This interview just took a turn for the weird. [Laughs] This is actually one of the most fun interview I think I've done. For the newspaper, we have a certain style we have to follow and it drives me bananas.

Ian - That shit IS bananas.

Kyle - B-A-N-A-N-A-S

OK, Gwen Stefani

Band - That shit is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Ian - Well, thank you very much, Kinsey. This was fun.


Of course!



Interview with Craig Owens from Chiodos at Welcome To Rockville

I had the opportunity to interview Craig Owens from Chiodos at Welcome To Rockville about their new album Devil. There is some really good information in here and I hope you enjoy it!

How has the response to Devil been?

CO - The response to Devil has been crazy, really overwhelming. I think we're reconnecting with a lot of old fans. They enabled us to make music in the first place. It's really amazing, but we've got a lot of work to do because we have some high expectations for ourselves.

How has the tour been for the new album so far?

CO - Devil's Dance Tour is what we're on right now and it's been crazy. We're two weeks in and it's the same as the record: overwhelming. There are so many people coming out. It gives us a chance to really reconnect and see face to face and present our new music. We've, more importantly, have been solidifying our relationships and having fun on stage. It's amazing. It's a blessing that people really care about this band.

Aww! You're going to make me cry! Stop!

CO - [Laughs] I don't want to make you cry.

It would be happy tears. OK, what is your favorite song on the new album?

CO - Right now my favorite song is probably 3 a.m. It's about the fact that you can always do better. I love that track. It's heavy. It's got hints of great dynamics. I think it's really well structured, lyrically and it means a lot to me.

Did you write it?

CO - Yeah. Of course. We write all of our music. There is no song that I did not have a big hand in writing on that record. I won't say I wrote it all, but I did have a big hand in all of it.

You just released a new music video. Tell me about that.

CO - Uh, it's a video? [Chortles]

Yeah? [Laughs]

CO - I'm not very excited about it to be honest. It isn't what we wanted it to be, originally. But, I still stand behind it and I still back it because there were people that worked hard on it so I'm not just gonna diss it. I can just say that it wasn't exactly what we had envisioned for it. But I have nothing but respect for the people that worked hard for it.
  
What was your favorite part of the recording process?

CO - Definitely the writing part. I know that the landscape of rock music has changed. It used to be that you write and record for two years and you go out and tour for six months. Now, it's you tour for two years and you write and record for three months tops because that's what pays the bills right now.

I enjoy that.

CO - I don't. I think it hurts rock music. I think people are so focused on winning over live that they haven't focused in on what the art is itself. I would like to see that evolve a little bit more. So the creation process is my favorite. I love writing music.

Anything else you want to add?

CO - Yeah! For any fans out there that check out Kinsey's Blog and enjoy us, I just want to thank you so much for your support. I know that we've been inconsistent throughout the years: our ups and our downs but I want to let you know right here that Chiodos is back!


Monday, April 28, 2014

Interview with Rick Dejesus from Adelita's Way at Welcome To Rockville

I have listened to Adelita's Way since 2009 when their first album came out. I have now seen them four times since then, counting this weekends show. I had the opportunity to interview Rick Dejesus, their singer. I was the most thrilled about getting to talk to him about my favorite AW song, which I never thought I would get to do. I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I enjoyed giving it!

What can we expect with the new album?

RD - I don't want to use the phrase "chip on my shoulder", but I really came with the mentality of where I wanted to be as an artist and I want to be at the top. I want to be headlining all these festivals. I don't want to be on the main stage opening. I want to be the guy at the end. So I came in with the mentality of making this record of knowing what I'm capable of and what we're capable of and we really pushed ourselves to do something so special. That's what people can expect from the whole record. It's all of us, man, it's everything I have in me for rock music right now.

How will this album be different than the previous two?

RD- I like the previous two.

I love the previous two.

RD - You know what? We're Adelita's Way and we didn't change that. What we did was we made sure we made an album and that there were 13 songs that people could get lost inside of.

Thirteen?

RD - That's what I gave them. I delivered 13 tracks.

Usually albums now are too short. It drives me crazy.

RD - We made it a long experience. There is something for everyone on there. There's songs where we jam for seven minutes and we just fucking rock. Then there are songs when people are going to listen and they are going to be like "Oh my God. This is my song. This is the song he wrote for me. I'm sure."

Backtracking to Home School Valedictorian, Somebody Wishes They Were You, that is my song!

RD - Yeah, man!

That is my "I'm in my car, screaming my guts out, crying my eyes out song."

RD - I wrote that. Whenever I start complaining about the littlest things, I catch myself, and I remember that I am so blessed to even be in America. I'm so blessed to have the family I have. I try to go back to the roots. Somebody Wishes They Were You is a song that takes you back to the roots of the good in your life. Somewhere out there, there is someone who is really having a hard time and it's not us, you know?

How has the response been to your new single, Dog On A Leash?

RD - It's been good. I think people get shocked when they hear something new, but they don't know what to expect. They try to do too much digging and figure out if this is the whole tone of the new album. No! it's just one song!

People do that with Linkin Park and it drives me crazy. They are one of my favorites.

RD - It's just a song. We made a song. We released a song. There will be another one coming. And another one and thirteen more to follow. Do I think it's the best song on the record? No. I love our record. I do think that people feel like a dog on a leash. Everybody. Whether you're married, you're in a relationship long term: boyfriend or girlfriend, whether you have a job, you always have to ask somebody "Am I allowed to do this? Can I do this?" Everybody's a dog on a leash. It's you. It's me. It's every man that walks in. When people connect to the song, it's not a song that's like this pop song that you listen to one time and you're like "Oh, that's a pop song." No. You have to be deep with me. You have to listen to the lyrics. You have to understand what kind of guy or woman writes that.

Unless you're Top 40 and you don't write your own songs.

RD - You have the same chorus, you don't have verses or bridges. You can't even really sing it, honestly. If you're a pop person, you don't even really sing they just give it someone and say "This is it." That's bad.

I'm kind of hesitant to ask this next question...

RD - Don't Be.

How has the band adjusted to Derrick leaving?

RD - I LOVE him. I love the experience that he was on this journey with me. But the band is alright. I feel like we're better than ever. Music isn't what it once was. It's not the rewards it used to be. You don't sign million dollar bonuses. You've got to love the music. You've got to come out here and you've got to love the fans and love the music. That's the only reason you come out here. The glory is all but gone. For us, nothing is going to stop us continuing forward. If other people don't continue or however it goes down, I love music. I'm going to go until the day that I decide people are going to get the last Adelita's Way record.

NEVER!

RD - [Laughs]

Anything else you want to add?

RD - I just want to thank the fans and thank you, and thank every body, for supporting us: keeping rock alive. It's all about the community right now that is still here. The rest of them are running. People who said they love rock are now changing their radio stations to Alternative. People who used to love Rock on TV, now they aren't playing any rock on TV. We're the ones that are still here. Everyone else is bailing. Thank you to everyone who is still united with us.

Roll Tide!

RD - Roll Tide, baby!  [High Five] Just don't say that in front of our merch guy. He is a Vols fan.


Well not everyone is perfect. 


Interview with Matty Mullins from Memphis May Fire at Welcome To Rockville

My second interview at Welcome To Rockville was with Matty Mullins from Memphis May Fire. Enjoy!

How has the response to Unconditional been?

Mullins - Incredible. I don't read too much into online as much as I just really enjoy one on one interactions with people at shows. When they come up to me and tell me if they like the record or if they don't, so far so good, no one has said anything negative and it's been such an incredibly positive, impactful record for the people who have dove into it.

How does it differ from Challenger?

Mullins -This record is just really personal, lyrically. It's all about the experiences that I've had over the past year and a half, things that I never thought would be introduced into my life, things I never thought I would go through. And ultimately how some of the worst times of my life led to a much deeper and more intimate relationship with God and how that is the foundation of my life at this point.

How do you deal with negative criticism?

Mullins - You have to take it with a grain of salt. It doesn't matter what kind of band you're in, what music you write, or how good your record is, there is always going to be criticism. We have peace knowing there are so many other bands you can listen to. Just go listen to them if you're not stoked [laughs]

Do you have a favorite song on the album?

Mullins - The song called "The Answer" is probably the song I would choose. It kinda sums up the whole Bible.

Favorite moment from the recording process?

Mullins - Every single minute working with Cameron Mizel. That guy is one of my favorite people in the world just to hang out with. So, I love having the excuse of doing records and spending months on end with him?

Anything else you want to add?


Mullins - Thanks for listening and love y'all. Go pick up Unconditional! 


Interview with Matt McCloskey from Rev Theory at Welcome To Rockville

My first interview at Welcome To Rockville was with Matt McCloskey from Rev Theory. Enjoy! 

Can you give me any details on the new album? What can expect from it?

MM - We tried to go a little outside the box on this. We came off the road and weren't really sure what we were doing. There were a lot of things going on and there was a lot of tension so we kind of infused that into our writing. Julian and I are the main leaders in writing and we told everyone to fuck off and we just wrote all the music we wanted. I got into production and we had the tools to do things on our own. So, this whole record is about DIY and going in and making music we want without some label guy telling us "Oh, this song should be this way and this song should be this way. It's where we've always wanted to be as a band and we hit a chord with this new evolution of our sound. We are infusing some electronic elements and just brutally heavy guitars like drop tuning super low and B-tuning. We just got some new bear atone guitars and we geeked out on those. We wrote whatever we were feeling. It's pretty gnarly. That's been the word of this recording: gnarly. Everything is super 'gnar'. We even had the guitar settings on super high. That's what it's been all about. It's been fun. We can do whatever we want. There's no restrictions.

How will the new album differ from Justice? I know you said it's DIY and gnarly, but elaborate.

MM - Justice was, well, we were still on Interscope Records and we had an A&R guy. We always felt that there were too many people putting their hands on, okay, maybe not that, um, too many chefs in the kitchen. We'll put it that way. Everyone has their two cents. They're like "Oh well I like this song" or "You should do this." And the managers are like "You should do this thing." We were writing with different people and we felt like it got convoluted. We went and worked with Terry Date who is a huge producer. We spent a shit ton of money to record it at Henson studios and we just got in a room and jammed and made what we thought we wanted. We made a really raw, natural record. It came out great but for some reason we felt like the reaction wasn't what it should have been. This time we went a little more modern and infused a little more electronic type influences like Nine Inch Nails and got super heavy because we like Deftones. It's just ballsy and fun. We played three new songs off the record today. One was called Blow It Up. I had friends in the crowd and they told me that once we kicked in that song, they felt a wall of people just smack into them. It's just hard hitting, bouncing, and really heavy guitars.

I loved that song. It was my favorite.

MM - We wanted to limit ourselves on lyrics and take them out and just play the song. The chorus is a little repetitive but it gets stuck in your head and it's so hooky. That was a theme when we started recording this.

Anything else you want to add?

MM - Other than my voice is shot from playing the pre-party last night, nope!