HM Exclusive: The Showdown Interview
Back in the Fall, when Carey Womack interviewed some of the guys in The Showdown, he did what we sometimes ask our writers to do; and that was to keep the raw transcription of the interview saved, so we could share it later at hmmag.com. Here it is.
Carey: Okay, I think we’re recording here. Let me make sure. That ought to be alright. Okay. Y’all doing alright this evening?
Eric: Oh yeah. (CW – Awesome)
David: Heck yeah. (CW – Good deal)
Carey: Hey, would you guys mind if we started with a word of prayer?
David: Yeah, that’s killer.
Carey: Okay, cool. Dear God, we come before You in the name of Jesus, and I thank you so much for David and for Eric and, Lord, our time to talk together. And even though we don’t really know each other, Lord, we have a brotherhood we sure in You, and we thank You for that. And we pray that we would have a good time talking and that You would guide our conversation bless our conversation, and that, Lord, You would help it be a blessing to each of us this evening. And, Lord, that You would use the results of, and fruit of, this interview for Your glory. And we give it to you in Jesus’ name. Amen. Alright, guys. (D&E – cool) Alright. I’m a little bit new to the interview thing. I’ve been doing some of these for Doug for awhile. But just, I guess, a little bit of breaking the ice questions, or whatever. I notice you guys are based in Elizabeth-ton. How do you say that?
Eric: Eliza – beth –ton.
Carey: Eliza – beth – ton. Okay. In northeast Tennessee. Is there anybody in the band that’s, like, a pretty major Vols time.
David: (E-no) Yeah, we’re pretty into, like, football season; like, I definitely have a Vols shirt.
Carey: Say that again.
David: Yeah, I definitely have a Vols shirt. We’re, like, into football season.
Carey: Okay, cool. I’m a big Texas Longhorn fan, ‘cause I’m a displaced Texan in Memphis, Tennessee. So everybody’s been telling me the last few years that I don’t know what UT really means and my color of orange is wrong. (D&E – laughs) But we own the last national championship compared to you guys, so I don’t know when you’re going to come back and do the thing there.
David: We’re just trying to play halftime at a Vols game.
Carey: Are you?! That would be awesome.
David: Yeah.
Carey: That would be cool. So, who’s the biggest sports fan in the band?
David: None of us are really sports fans.
Carey: No real sports fans. Okay. That’s alright. So what do you like to do
outside of music? What floats everybody’s boat, in terms of having fun, or just taking stuff in, or whatever?
Eric: What do we like to do? I’m into, I like outdoors stuff. I go camping often.
I like four-wheeling. I’ve got a big jeep and a big truck. I like to hit the weights, and I like to eat.
Carey: (laughs) Yeah, that’s pretty common hobby there that we all have.
Carey: Do y’all use a van or a bus? How do y’all usually tour?
Eric: Usually, usually in a van.
Carey: Okay, I’m familiar with that. So you’re in the van, you’re on the road…. What’s the cd that each guy puts on in the van that makes everybody else go, “Oh man, not that!” Tell me each guy in the band and the cd he puts on that aggravates everybody else?
Eric: Nobody gets to play music, except for me and David.
Carey: Oh really!
Eric: Yeah. Everybody else has to listen to their iPod if they want to hear
something.
Carey: So just you two guys. So how come y’all get to rate that?
Eric: ‘Cause I drive all the time.
Carey: You drive all the time and so you get to put on whatever you want. That’s pretty cool.
Eric: David copilots (CW – cool)
David: So we’re always jammin’ something loud. (CW – laughs) Obnoxiously.
Carey: So what do y’all put in that annoys everybody else?
Eric: We try and, I mean, there’s definitely, like everybody in the band likes
different music and stuff, but there’s enough music – I mean, I think that we all try and play stuff that’s isn’t going to annoy everybody else, honestly. (CW – Good deal, alright, fair enough) If there’s something that one person likes and everyone else hates, or something that one person hates and everybody else likes, I think everybody, like, everybody does not jam that up at insane volumes.
Carey: That’s pretty kind. I appreciate that. Mighty Christian of you guys.
Definitely, from the two of you, but if you know anybody else’s, tell me favorite action movie ever.
David: Hulk Hogan, “No Holds Barred.” (CW – ooo!)
Eric: If I could pick the same one, I would, but since I can’t I’m going to say the
original “Die Hard,” (CW – the original “Die Hard,” that’s a good one) and Terminator 1. (CW – laughs, “Terminator 1”). Let me go with Terminator 1, actually.
Carey: Okay. Which guy are you? I’m still learning voices, here.
Eric: I’m Eric. “Terminator 1”
Carey: Okay. That’ll help me pick it out when I’m trying to transcribe this thing later. As I pick the voices apart. But if you do perchance read something later and all of a sudden David’s saying something that Eric said or Eric’s saying something David said, you’ll know what happened. Okay? (D – okay, cool). Just checking out some of the stuff that I found on the Internet about you guys, and reading some of the reactions to your shows at Ozzfest, last year, even from a lot of mainstream blogs and publications and stuff, a lot of the response to The Showdown was really positive. What was y’all’s experience like on Ozzfest?
Eric: It was definitely like 95 to 99% positive. We were really shocked at how
well it went over. And I think at the very beginning of the tour there was a little bit of tension with us and the other bands. Like, people didn’t know what we were going to be all about. But we definitely got along awesome with every other band on the tour, and the crowd responses were just amazing. So it was cool; it was really, really killer that people on the tour and people at the shows respected us that much.
Carey: Cool. Very good. So what kind of touring have you done since then, over the last year, and what’s coming up for you guys ahead?
David: We did The Cult, we toured with The Cult a while after Ozzfest, not too
long, maybe like a week or so. We did probably 3 or 4 weeks total headlining dates after Ozzfest, and then we started writing the new record, working towards recording it.
Carey: Sounds good.
Eric: … Shadows Fall and All that Remains right after Ozzfest.
David: Oh yeah, that was really quick after Ozzfest.
Carey: What happened, you said, right after?
Eric: We toured with Shadows Fall and All that Remains right after Ozzfest,
and then we toured with The Cult (CW – gotcha) and then we did a headlining run to finish out the year.
Carey: Okay. Awesome. So, as you get ready to release this new record, what kind of things do you have planned in terms of touring? And are you going to do any of the festivals this summer? What’s coming up this year?
Eric: I don’t think we can say yet, can we, David?
David: I don’t know. We’re definitely going to be touring hard in the fall. (CW –ok) So we’re really excited about that. About when our record’s coming out, probably fall. (CW – sounds really good) As of right now, the only thing we have, we’re doing Purple Door Festival and doing a headlining show in Pittsburg, up there. But right now, that’s really all we have. All the (unintelligible) that we’re doing. Just kind of hanging out, and waiting on the record to come out, and then it’s hitting the road pretty hard. (CW – sounds good)
Eric: We’re enjoying the chance to not be on the road for a minute, you know?
(CW – yeah, yeah, I imagine) But we’re definitely doing a big tour in the fall that people are going to freak on. (CW - Sounds great) We just can’t say really what it is yet. But it’s definitely the bomb, for sure.
Carey: Alright, sounds great. I’ll not try to press for any details. Not as if I could break you down anyway, but if I were to get answers, who knows if I would be able to control my pen or something. So we’ll leave it at that. We’ll just look forward to it. When I read some of the stuff about Ozzfest from some of the mainstream sources, y’all were quick to say in interviews and stuff, “Hey, we’re just out as The Showdown to make good music that everybody’s going to enjoy and put some masculinity back into rock and roll” and all this stuff. And yet you were also really up front about your faith, both as band members and about the fact that your faith had an expression in your lyrics. What’s the current role of faith in The Showdown?
David: I would say it’s a really important part. I mean, well I guess, definitely,
(unintelligible) I think our lyrics and the content of our songs, you know, we may go with that. (CW – ok) It’s a big part of the songs, I mean not every single song (CW – sure) but I think it definitely plays an important part of our music. (CW – ok)
Eric: I mean, I think we’re a Christian band, and that tells that we’re Christian dudes, and it obviously is going to come out in our music the same way as if we were doing any other job, or if we were doctors or lawyers or plumbers or carpenters, that it would come out. You know? (CW – yeah) We’re definitely not like the typical CCM type band that preaches from stage and plays a lot of churches, or only Christian-based events. You know? (CW – right) It’s just kind of, like, for us it’s something that is personal and we really hope that people want to know about it. Not something that is like….I don’t think that any of us feel like the mission of The Showdown is to preach and give altar calls and stuff. (CW – ok)
David: It’s just like – our band playing its role, and other people do their thing their way. I mean, we just, I don’t know…. I guess it took us awhile. I mean, we definitely - We’ve been a band since, like ’99. So we definitely, like, found our way, how we connect with people. I don’t know, it’s pretty cool for us to just hang out and throw our music out there and just (unintelligible) I get encouraged just from our music. Honestly, it’s just really ridiculous to think of. I mean, it’s definitely excited on that.
Carey: I was planning to ask it a little bit later, but you’re really kind of, brought it right to the point, and that is, I like to ask bands and artists that I interview, “What is your purpose as a band? And you’re sought of referring, David, to having been through a process to find that identity, and to find out what y’all’s role is. So, if you could put it in a sentence or two, what is The Showdown’s purpose as a band? And maybe a little bit about, what was that process like as a band, in terms of finding that, or arriving at that together as a group?
David: I mean, I don’t know. It was kind of, whenever we did Chorus and we
went on tour and kind of dropped everything. I think that the band, definitely, like, made up of all different people, like just throwing us out into a completely different experience that we’ve never…. We were just completely moved from one place in life and thrown into another place. I think that definitely shaped us into who we are. So I think the band is just like – I think that the band is the band. And some people, it has a purpose, and for others it doesn’t. I think, like, I don’t know, like…
Eric: Yeah. Like, for some people at Ozzfest, our band is nothing more than a
hard rock and heavy metal band. And, I mean, I think that we’re in a place, where, if that’s all The Showdown means to that person, then we’re cool with that. (CW – yeah) I think for some people, The Showdown is a band that’s helped them through a hard time, or a band that they really take something from the lyrics. And for us, that’s even better. But I think that more than anything, we’re in a spot where we want people to let our band speak to them, whatever they want, if that makes sense.
Carey: Yeah, I kind of do. But, I mean, if you were to say, if you were to have a purpose statement as a band. I don’t even know if you might have had a concrete discussion around that, but whether you have or not, what would something like that look like, do you think?
David: Our purpose statement would just be, like, I think maybe it even goes
more than, further down than us making the decision what the purpose of our band is. I think just us guys fighting, sticking together, getting through all the crap that we’ve been through (and there’s a lot that goes into just being a band, and being on tour), and just our band and our group not giving up, and keeping it alive, and just not giving up. I think that is the real purpose of our band. It’s just like, to show people hope, to show people they don’t have to give up. You know what I mean? (CW – ok) And I think that people, I don’t know, I mean, we’re all fighters, every one in our band is a fighter. (CW – chuckles) And I just want to encourage people with our band and our music, and hopefully, every single second of our life can’t be a positive influence on people, but I don’t know, …. We love to just hang out. We get just as much from touring and hanging out as I hope other people do, or probably more. I don’t know.
Carey: Okay. To have a group of guys who have made a commitment to each other, to hang together, and to fight through …
Eric: That’s what heavy metal is all about. (all – knowing laughter)
Carey: Yeah. And to make it, no matter what comes against you, and to provide people hope by doing so.
David: Yeah. I wish people could just get stoked on taking chances, and just
jumping outside of what makes them comfortable. (Carey – ok) Hopefully, our music makes people uncomfortable, ‘cause it’s so uncomfortably heavy.
Carey: Uh-huh. You know, the reason I asked that question is partly to understand bands better and partly just as an encouragement. Especially some bands, that maybe don’t have a handle on what they’re all about, you know? (D& E – yeah, yeah) And it sounds like you have come to a place where you do know what you’re all about. Because it’s sort of like you said, that there’s so many other possibilities for what a band could be, besides maybe, what you’re supposed to be. That, maybe, if you’re not being who you were meant to be, then you could be pretty miserable. If you were a CCM band, and you felt like people were compelling you to preach from the stage…. And, you know, I’ve heard of bands that have done that even though they didn’t feel like they were supposed to be doing that. And, on the other hand, for bands to be, you’ve heard of the pressure put on people to be less vocal about who they are, or whatever. And so, if you guys have a good understanding about where you’re at, that’s awesome.
David: Yeah, I mean, or at least, you know, even if we do it next year, we’ll be
like, “Oh, we were supposed to do it this way,” (CW – laughs) I don’t know….
Carey: When you look at how things are going in the band, how do you know if you’re being successful? Do you measure it completely in terms of merch sales and fan response, and record sales, and downloads, or whatever? Or how would you all evaluate whether or not you were in a successful season in the band?
Eric: I think it’s, I mean, it’s hard to not evaluate it by how much money your
band grossed on the last tour, and what kind of merch numbers you’re doing, and how many ticket sales you’re worth in whatever city. But I think for us, we’ve definitely been there, and we’ve definitely spent a lot of our time as a band, and a lot of our career, worrying about those kind of things. And I think, for us, it hasn’t ever done us any good, and it hasn’t ever made us any more successful. And I think that when we started judging our success by making the kind of music that we’ve always wanted to make, and making sure, that above all else, we’re putting out music that we love and we’re happy with, and it’s for us and not for anybody else, and also making sure that we’re happy doing what we’re doing. I think that as long as we’re happy and positive about what we’re doing, then I think that we are successful. You know, no matter if we’re on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, or if we’re playing a crappy show in a tiny little town, I think that, hopefully, all of that is immaterial compared to our general…. (CW – yeah) I don’t think it matters, as long as we’re happy doing it, is what I’m trying to say. (CW – right, yeah)
David: I mean, if we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing, and we’re happy doing it, I think that it’s going to be more honest, and I that think more people, hopefully, will get something out of it. (CW – uh-hm) I mean, even as far as just coming to a show, and hopefully, we’re just stoked to be there, and we’ll all be like, all night playing, playing music that makes us happy and doing what we want to. Just like the overall attitude of everything….
Eric: Yeah. I guess it’s about being happy as people before being a successful
band, I guess.
Carey: Okay. I’ve seen the artwork for Backbreaker, on Solid State, and it looks awesome, kind of a different cover, but one that stands out. And, just kind of looking back at y’all’s previous releases, Chorus was noted for the riffage, and the musicianship, and the screams, and the Old Testament epics, and producer Bruce Fitzhugh, while Temptation gets noted for groove, and southern-inflected metal vocals, bigger hooks in the choruses and stuff, more personable and relatable lyrics, and producer Paul Ebersold. So, when this new record, Backbreaker, comes out, what are going to be the things that stand out in people’s description of Backbreaker?
Eric: I think it’s definitely, I mean, it’s for sure [southern: four shore!] the heaviest record we’ve ever made.
David: Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I think, (I mean, I think,) it’s just like
such a different, it’s like, it’s just like us taking all of our experiences from the first record, and on the second record, and just putting it all together. We just jammed it out, and it’s what we came out with. (Carey interrupts David, then says, go ahead)
Eric: I think it’s like some elements from Chorus, and some elements from
Temptation, just on freakin’ steroids!
Carey: Okay. So the new element would be that “turn it up to 11” kind of thing?
(Eric -Yeah!) The steroids business?
Eric: Everything that people loved about each respective record, I definitely
think it’s those things, just completely magnified.
Carey: So the people that loved the screaming on the first record, they’ll hear some more of that than on Temptation?
Eric: Definitely. I mean, there’s screaming, and singing, all over the record!
Carey: Cool.
Eric: And there’s guitar solos – all over the record, and there’s double bass – all over the record. There’s a couple of slower songs, that are still really, really aggressive and really, really heavy. There’s some of the fastest songs we’ve ever done. So, I mean, I think in a way, it’s kind of another complete, 180, turn, (CW – ok) as far as style goes. But I also think that in a way it kind of falls right in line with what the next record should be, you know?
Carey: Yeah. What’s the meaning of the Backbreaker title, if it’s got a particular meaning to you guys? And how does it relate to the theme of the record, if that’s something that’s present in it?
David: "Backbreaker” is the title track on the record; the record is kind of tied in to some, like, Greek mythology theme. (CW – alright) So some…, like, Josh, our guitar player, writes the lyrics, but it’s kind of like, I don’t know, it’s almost like a mix of the first two records. It’s like how Temptation was stories from like, basically, us dudes, and Chorus was stories from Old Testament Bible stuff. And it’s almost like telling personable experiences, but relating it, telling it, kind of tying it with the mythology stuff. I don’t know, it’s …. You know, the record is just very “Battle!” You know. Very heavy metal themes. Like, talking about kicking some butt (D – laughs), pretty much. (CW – ok)
Carey: Who is this dude on the cover? He’s wild looking!
Eric: That’s Dugdale [sic], is his name; he’s a pro bodybuilder.
Carey: Okay. Cool.
Eric: Very killer dude.
Carey: Sounds good. What was the writing process for this album like, and is it any different the writing process has been for you on other projects?
Eric: In the past, when we wrote Temptation, we rented a rehearsal space. (CW
– ok) And we just kind of came into that rehearsal every day like it was a war, you know? (CW – un-huh) And we set a time every day, and we would just go in and really, we didn’t really bring anything in. We kind of formed everything all together, from the beginning. (CW – un-huh) And this time wasn’t really all that different. We just kind of got together. But Josh, the guitar player, he would usually come in with several different riffs and ideas, sometimes with a verse and a chorus that he already knew would go together, and sometimes just with a bunch of different riffs that weren’t significant to each other at all. And we just kind of really jammed through stuff, you know. (CW – un-huh) And Josh writes – has always written – a ton of the riffs, and we just kind of start playing ‘em, and start…. We’re very jam oriented with our writing, I guess.
Carey: Okay. Yeah. Sounds good.
Eric: And then Josh writes the lyrics, and him and David get together, and once
a song is pretty much all the way done, they start figuring that out, and what’s going to go where, and what the delivery is going to be like. The only thing we really did different this time is we actually had all of the music and all of the vocals completely finished before we went in the studio. (CW – Wow) We spent like a couple weeks, you know, a week or two weeks before we went in playing the songs as a whole band, with the vocals, and with the arrangements really, really close with the way they were going to be on the record. We’d never really done that before. You know, last time, we spent so long in the studio, and a lot of the stuff on the record was arranged and some of it even written in the studio. So there was a lot of stuff, like when we came out of studio, that we had never even played as a band. So I think this record is the closest possible thing to the way we are live. (CW – alright) I guess, as far as the writing process, and jamming [us/riffs?], this record turned out the truest. I mean, it really is what…. There’s no, like, [unintelligible] production. We did the record with one of our friends, who’s an engineer, who engineered Chorus, and he helped shape the record. So really, it was just the four of us and one other dude, so…
Carey: So this album is self-produced, or do you have somebody as a producer?
David: Jeremiah Scott did it with us, I guess. He was a big help. Like, with the
vocals…
Eric: (unintelligible) he was really involved.
David: He was really involved in, like, helping us get all the tones and all that
stuff. He’s a really cool dude. We’re on the same page with him…come from the same places we do musically. So, I don’t know, he was just really involved with me and the vocals. I had a lot of ideas that I wanted to do, and he had a lot of ideas, so we would come together and just start working on the vocals. And we would just spend so long on ‘em, and we didn’t really say “no” to any idea. We explored everything, and just had a lot of fun doing it. And I think that that’s also another thing: we had fun doing the record.
Carey: Okay. And he’s the guy that engineered Chorus, you say?
David: Yeah, yeah.
Carey: Okay.
David: I don’t know. It’s just cool, ‘cause no one was like, you know, wasn’t
really anybody’s…. Nobody was really worrying what Eric was doing when he was tracking, or no one was worried about what Josh was doing, or the beats that AJ was playing. Everybody just let everybody be their own, and, just put their own into the record, and just let it be what it is. And, I don’t know, sometimes….
Eric: It was kind of like the most that we as band members have all…. I think
this is the record with the most input from all of us.
Carey: It was a lot more collaborative than, maybe, some other situations?
Eric: I mean, yeah, just like what David was saying. Everybody really…. In the
past, every note that was tracked on any of our records before, every one of us were nitpicking it apart. You know, no matter what is was, how small it was? But on this record everyone…. Now, we’re in a place where musically, I think we all just really, really trust each other enough to know, whatever drum part AJ’s going to play, I know that it’s going to be friggin’ awesome! And whatever David does vocally, I know I’m going to like it. ‘Cause we all know each other so well, and I think everybody really gave each other more freedom on this record.
Carey: And it seems like, maybe also, the fact that you mentioned of having completely written the songs beforehand, and really rehearsed them together and played them together as a group that combined with the deeper relationships and added trust probably…. Those two things working together probably made it a really great situation.
David: For sure. And it’s just one of those things, whenever you can just let go
and not worry about what anybody else is doing, and just worry about your part, have fun, and just know that everybody else’s part is going to be cool, it’s just… it made it a whole new level of fun for our band. I don’t know, I’ve just never had that much fun tracking a record, ever. It was almost like a vacation for me.
Carey: That’s pretty wild. It can be awfully hard work in there.
Eric: It’s killer. I think we’re finally in the place we’ve always wanted to be
with our band. You know? (CW – cool) And so that’s like…. I think to be able to say that, and to know that everybody else feels like that too is a killer accomplishment. We know that we just made the best record we’ve ever made, and we know that we all completely trust each other, as musicians, and live, and in the studio or whatever. So I think that just having that is, for us, is something that we’ve never ever had before. And I don’t think that we ever thought that we would ever really get to that place, you know?
Carey: Yeah. That’s awesome. What are some ways that individual guys in the band really grew or shone as players and performers on this record? As fans that have heard the first couple of discs listen to you guys, what are things that people will say, “Wow! I can’t believe that he’s doing that now.”? What performances really stand out and shine, for each of you as you’ve grown as musicians?
Eric: I think, I mean, me going on everybody else. I definitely think…. (You
know, this is the first record that AJ has ever recorded for the band. Our original drummer, Andrew, played on Temptation and Chorus. Most people think that it’s AJ on Temptation, but it’s Andrew.) And, so I think, that just that brings a whole different element to this record, because AJ plays so different. That really shaped the songs a lot. And I definitely think that David’s vocals on this record are true to life, true to his own style and the way…. You know, it’s no one in the studio telling him, or even really giving him suggestions. It’s definitely like all…. All his personality really, really came out on this record, way more than it did on either of the other records. So I think that, I think people are going to be really, really surprised at his vocals, because I don’t that people have heard one hundred percent of David’s style on the last two records.
David: It’s cool, ‘cause, I don’t know, I just had a lot of fun. ‘Cause I was able to take my experience from Chorus and live (We played like 250 shows last year.) (CW – wow) We were just like, definitely know how I do things live, and just working with Paul Ebersold, he’s so good with vocals. I mean, he’s so good and he helped me so much. Just taking the tricks I learned with him, like how we did vocals on Temptation, just taking [axe/acts??], all those experiences and just trying to put them into the record. We just really tried to do a lot of fun stuff to, just make it…you know, we said it was a live record. The tones are really live and we tried to do the vocals, you know, make parts people will catch onto, and have fun, you know gang vocals and stuff like that. I don’t know, it’s just a really live record. I can’t wait to tour and play a lot of songs from it! We’re just pumped on it.
Carey: Sounds great. You ought to be, just winding things up. I remember getting the email that y’all were just now getting mixes down and stuff. Have those finished and have y’all heard ‘em?
Eric: We’re still working on it. We’ve been listening to mixes all week, so
hopefully – I think – in maybe in four or five more days we should be done.
Carey: Sounds great.
Eric: Yeah, we’re stoked.
Carey: The album artwork, and the concept and packaging and everything, you mentioned the bodybuilder, how involved are you guys in doing that? And guess, really I ought to ask this question first, my wife wanted me to be sure and ask, why’d you guys switch from Mono vs. Stereo to Solid State?
Eric: We got bought out by Solid State right after Ozzfest last year. We just
came in, and I mean, we’ve been, generally been talking with them since right after Chorus came out, so really for about 3 or 4 years now. We’ve kind of had a relationship with them and stuff. And they definitely made efforts in the past to get us over there and stuff and it just finally worked out. I think Gotee and Mono vs. Stereo finally realized and agreed with us that that wasn’t the place for us. I mean, we’ve kind of really felt like that since right after the first record came out, that that just wasn’t where we belonged. So it just worked out; it’s been something that’s been a few years in the making, and it all kind of finally lined up. And everybody kind of said, “Okay, let’s do this,” right at the same time, and we’re really, really excited.
Carey: Good deal.
David: It’s definitely like one of those things where, definitely there’s so much
history with that label, and a lot of the bands that we used to listen to, whenever we first got into punk music and stuff on the label: Slick Shoes, and Craig’s Brother, and MXPX, they’re still jamming. Just to be a part of that family, for us to just to be able to make our mark in there. I don’t know; it’s just kind of cool.
Carey: Absolutely.
David: Definitely like stoked, being there.
Carey: Cool, cool. How do they approach things differently with you guys?
Eric: I don’t really, I mean, honestly, I don’t even really know. It’s just a bigger
machine than … (CW – um-hmm)…was. We just hopped on a bigger machine.
Carey: Taking the next step, and taking people that really, obviously, do a lot in the metal scene, as well as other kinds of heavy music and stuff.
Eric: For sure. They’re definitely good at what they do.
Carey: So, now, let me come back to that. How involved, were you guys
involved, in the album concept and artwork and stuff? Or did you, did Tooth and Nail, and Solid State, come to you and say, “Hey this is what we’re thinking. Do you like it?” (laugh) How did that work out for you guys?
David: Yeah, we had a really different idea for the packaging, and Invisible
Creature, like, Tooth and Nail, they just kind of had a different idea, so we let ‘em go with it. And honestly, it turned out, we love it. They definitely, they know what they’re doing over there, and we’re just really like…. (Laughs to himself) And that Mark Dugdale, he’s killer. We’re just really stoked on every aspect of it. We’re just really glad we trusted them, and it just worked out. (CW – sounds great) I mean, what do you think, Eric?
Eric: I mean, Invisible Creature is the same design company that did the layout
for Chorus. And they did some stuff for Temptation, and it just didn’t work out, and just wasn’t what we wanted. And so this time, when we started talking about using them again, we had – like David said, we had a really, really different idea of what we wanted, and we had a whole thing that we wanted, and they were just kind of like, “Okay, cool. Here’s an idea that we kind of already had. Are you guys cool with it if we run with it and…? Let us show you the idea; we think you’ll like it.” So we were like, “Cool. Let’s see it. And so that’s basically what they turned in – almost the finished cover. And we were just like, “God, this is awesome.”
Carey: It’s very cool looking. So what was y’all’s original concept, just out of curiosity?
Eric: We might use it for the next record. (CW – ah, okay)
David: You never know.
Carey: So you going to keep it in the pocket, huh? Alright. From talking to David earlier today, you were mentioning about when somebody goes into work, or somebody gets off work, so I take it that you guys are not yet completely full-time? Is that the case?
Eric: Well, we were.
Carey: Yeah. You were, for most of the past year it sounds like?
Eric: Yeah. I mean, this is the first break we’ve had since…. We started touring
in October of 2004. (CW – Wow!) So we’ve been pretty much just straight on the road. So none of us have really had jobs since then, since the fall of 2004. But we, kind of like David was saying earlier, it was kind of like the situation where we either take time off now, or don’t really take time off for at least another year, year and a half, ‘cause once Backbreaker’s out, we’ll be on the road constantly again. (CW – right) So, I think some of the dudes are just hanging out at home, chilling and enjoying just sitting around and stuff. And, then, some of us have jobs and are doing other stuff, too, in our time off.
Carey: Okay. So, who’s doing what, just out of curiosity again?
David: I work at a coffee shop, and I work at a Mexican restaurant, so I have two jobs. (CW – alright, okay) So I definitely like working in some food. (laughs)
Eric: I work at a furniture store. (CW – ok) Yep. It’s kind of fun to just “regular
Joe” it for awhile, honestly.
Carey: Yeah, back in the day, when I was in a band and me and my wife got married, that first year, when we did a fair amount of traveling, it was kind of like, this is a strain on the young marriage. And it got to the point she was saying, “You either need to quit, or we need to go full time,” kind of thing. And you definitely get into that situation, if you’re out all the time, it can be hard, and it’s like, when do you get to be a regular Joe, or whatever? So y’all have enjoyed this little bit of a respite while you’re waiting for the next season to start up? (D&E – yeah, I’ve been having a good time, for sure)
Carey: Sounds good. Alright. I think most of the questions that I sort of had planned to ask, I’ve asked. But I would ask you guys, what’s something you’ve never been asked in an interview before that you wish you’d been asked? (Pause) If you can think of one…. And while you’re thinking on that one, is there anything I should have asked you this evening that I haven’t yet? My wife is hollering from the other room, “I know one.” Do you ever remember playing with an all-girl band, or, at the time they may have had one man in it or not, a band called Silhouette AD? At something in Alabama.
David: Probably so. That was probably earlier, like early on, when we were
touring, it kind of seems like.
Carey: They were asking because it’s one my two teenage daughters are in. So that’s where they came from. They remember playing with you guys back in the day or whatever.
Eric: Chick rock lives. (CW – laughs)
Carey: Well, they’re kind of a screamo, hardcore metal band, you know, with all chicks. So that’s pretty cool. (D – cool)
Carey: So, anything that I needed to ask you or that you needed to say that I haven’t covered?
David: I think that’s it, dude. I don’t know anything else.
Eric: Preach [unintelligible] man.
David: Or ‘til we die.
Eric: I think you covered it.
Carey: Yeah. A long interview. And then…I’m going to learn how to do shorter interviews, because they’re easier to transcribe. But you guys definitely gave me a lot of good information and conversation, and I’ll have a lot to work with – hopefully come up with a good piece for Doug and for you guys.
David: Cool.
Eric: People don’t realize that when they get The Showdown going, dude, we
don’t stop talking. (CW – laughs)
Carey: That’s cool. Well, you told me you like hanging out with people after the show and everything, so there you go. Well, sounds great. Guys, I really appreciate the time, and blessings on what you’re doing. And I look forward to hearing the new music, and I hope great things are ahead for you. Appreciate y’all’s forthrightness and being real with people, and being full-on metal, rock-and-roll, and being full-on in living out your faith, and fighting hard and giving people hope, too. So…that’s cool.
Eric: Heck yeah, man.
Carey: Alright. Y’all have a great night.
David: Alright, man. Dude, take it easy.
Carey: You, too. Goodbye.
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