muen magazine july 2009

- MUEN Magazine JULY 2009

Shauna OʼDonnell (MUEN) and SteelPanther during the interview at The Key Club.

www.MUENMagazine.netwww.Myspace.com/MUENMAG

Also See:www.myspace.com/shaunasbandpage

www.myspace.com/gcatalinewww.myspace.com/jetxx

www.myspace.com/morbidmillerwww.myspace.com/yvonneaddicted

www.myspace.com/slavewriter6www.myspace.com/artist5formelyknownasq

www.myspace.com/407143833www.myspace.com/bc_blonde2002

www.myspace.com/ravenwoodofmuenwww.myspace.com/angeldevilsex

www.myspace.com/metalmikemusicnewsMore..

Next time you fill up at the petrolstation, ponder this figure - ittook over 23 tons of plants toproduce each and every litre ofpetrol you pump into your tank.

Excuse me but fuck you andyour oil. Your "finding new waysto reduce greenhouse gases"and continuing to burn fossil fuel.Fuck your car companies whocontinue to produce nothing butshit. You should have been ex-ploring the ideals of using newenergy sources long ago, espe-cially since the technology wasthere the day that the first modelT was built! Should have beenbuilding an economy based onthe future, instead of helping todestroy it as a result of your own"instant" wealth and greed. Fuckyour wars and your downwardspiral, fattening your wallets in-stead of your children's educa-tion, widening the roads insteadof making them longer; cloudingthe skies instead of washingthem. All this alternative technol-ogy known for years, but some-how suppressed and veiled.History grows a little more pale...eyes open in the wake of yourfuture explanations and farfetched tales. Now hurry catchup! Is there time? No one reallyknows do they?? ..lol:P Justyour occasional MUEN out-burst... ~MUEN

MUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

FluxXx Mutation (MUEN Model)A night out on the town. Her visit to New YorkCity. Mc Sorleys Old Ale House

Shauna OʼDonnell (MUEN) andRev Theory at The Gibson Showroom

The Leo Project Voted “Band OfThe Month” for June at 525 PowerTracks. Also listen in to MUEN Talkevery Friday at www.525Power-Tracks.com where Shauna OʼDonnellhosts audio interviews with top talent!Again, thatʼs every Friday 12 Noon Pa-cific / 3pm Eastern time!

CONTENTAbigail Williams Pg. 6AC/DC Pg. 49Airrace Pg. 49American Anti-Gravity Pg. 8Atom Smash Pg. 63Bloodsoaked Pg. 55CD Reviews Pg. 94Close Your Eyes Pg. 131Dredg Pg. 31Dynahead Pg. 102Evans Blue Pg. 34Exilia Pg. 91Hemoptysis Pg. 119Hillbilly Herald Pg. 110Hurt Pg. 72I Am Ghost Pg. 47Jeff Beck Pg. 51Jet Black Stare Pg. 38Judas Priest Pg. 12Lazarus A. D. Pg. 43Ledaswan Pg. 103Lethargy Pg. 42Luna Mortis Pg. 116Middle Finger Mob Pg. 14Modern Day Slave Pg. 71Mongrel Pg. 113Municipal Waste Pg. 57My Evolution Pg. 80Nonpoint Pg. 122Papercut Massacre Pg. 86Rev Theory Pg. 98Shirayas Dream Pg. 67Sick Of Sarah Pg. 17Steel Panther Pg. 128Stormzone Pg. 50Testament Pg. 26The Burn & Cry Pg. 104The Dreaming Pg. 48Tular Pg. 22We Are Fallen Pg. 8

EDGES OF SEVENCanadaMyspace.com/edgesofseven

Edges Of Seven basedout of Vancouver, Canadaare planning live showson the American westcoast soon, so look forthem in California!

With airplay on Vancouverʼs CFOX, plus numerousshows in and around Vancouver, the band started cre-ating a buzz as early as 2006. Producing gravitatingsongs like “I Hide” and “Future Truth” is what contin-ues to grab our interest. Someone said, “ImagineTrent Reznor armwrestling James Hetfield, with RobZombie as referee.” Truly a sound all their own!

KRISTIN ERRETTMyspace.com/kristinerrett

If you are ever in the moodfor great acoustic pop, youneed to get familiar withKristin Errett! This pianist,vocalist and songwriterfrom Connecticut couldeasily perform along sideartists such as SarahMcLachlan. Songs like “Ifyou Fall,” “Big Fish” definesit all, no question about it.

CHEYENNE DOLLFranceMyspace.com/thecheyennedoll

We know her as Mel, andfirst caught on to her acouple years ago whenshe recorded and postedthe amazing ballad, “Blood

On My Hands.” CheyenneDoll recently did a shorttour of the U.S. just thisMay and June that in-cluded shows in New YorkCity as well as on the westcoast.

LAVEYCowley, WY

We were recently scolded byMarc Flowers of Lavey for notcompleting a CD review. Al-though we have not the CD inhand, we do remember taking in-

terest in the computer noise generated at the LevayMyspace page and will follow up next issue. For now,take a look at this great profile shot at the mic:)

Myspace.com/laveyband

- MUEN Magazine JULY 2009 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••PIECES OF THE MUEN

MAILAGermanyMyspace.com/mailaband

Female fronted, Maila touring now throughout Ger-many. Bold powerpop rooted deeply in western stylesong sung in German. One to keep your eyes andears on in the coming year.

SAMUEL VENTURAmyspace.com/sammyvmusic

New album "BeautifulTragedy" is getting rave re-views. Travis McCoy of theGym Class Hereos ap-proves it and AlternativePress (one of the biggestmusic magazines in theworld) is running a two-page feature on it! Be sureto check out the music andread about how you canpreorder the new albumand get an autographedcopy for only $15!

but superb sound produc-tion. Vocals, strings, andpercussion blaze at fullthrottle! Live datesthroughout July and Aug.in Texas and Oklahoma,check their Myspace!

Myspace.com/sikband

SIKDallas, TX

Hailing from Dallas, TX,this band have preciselynamed themselves. Yes,Sik is right - this is tight,heavy, metal aggressionsmoothed over by nothing

EVIL BEAVERFrom Los Angeles, EvilBeaver has shared thestage with Chevelle,Shellac, The WhiteStripes and more. Fea-turing only bass anddrums for instrumentsand the ferocious fe-male vocal of Evie Evil,the band is not short ofa great punk rocksound made of theirvery own. All you haveto do is listen to"Handz of Fate,"

"Cherry Master" or "Honey Pump" to come to the real-ization that this is not your ordinary band. Evil Beavertours locally and internationally.

Myspace.com/evilbeaver

PIECES OF THE MUEN •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••MUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

LEGION WITHIN: One of Seattleʼs best gothic industrial with thought provoking,politically inspired tunes, recently release “Mouth Of Madness.” The previousalbum, “The Empty Men”, was a co-production with members of KMFDM; JulesHodgson, Steve White and Sascha Konietzko. LW performed at Bar Sinister inHollywood this June. With the albums consistently receiving club and radio playlocally and internationally, Legion Within's distinctive sound sets them amongthe best in their genre. Myspace.com/legionwithin

Photo by Bianca Malise

LEGIONWITHIN

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS(Candlelight Records)

Ken Sorceron (Vocals, Guitar)

Myspace.com/Abigailwilliams

By: Shauna OʼDonnell

MUEN: YOUR FULL LENGTHRELEASE THROUGH CAN-DLELIGHT RECORDSCALLED IN THE SHADOW OFA THOUSAND SUNS WAS RE-LEASED IN OCTOBER. THEALBUM PROMISES 10

TRACKS OF PURE AMERI-CAN BLACK METAL. TELLUS ABOUT THAT.

Itʼs like symphonic, extrememetal. It has fast paced riffs anddrumming with symphonicsound over it. There is somepiano playing, synths, shreddingguitar solos and extreme vocals.

MUEN: ITʼS AWESOME! WHATHAS BEEN THE RESPONSEFROM YOUR FANS?

Itʼs been pretty good. I get a kickout of reading the bad stuff too.

MUEN: OH YEAH, LUCKILY,THERE HASNʼT BEEN A LOTOF IT RIGHT?

Youʼd be surprised, no uh, itʼsbeen pretty good. The best thingis playing live and seeing thecrowdsʼ response.

MUEN: YOU WROTE THE MA-JORITY OF THE SONGSRIGHT? WHAT DO YOUENJOY DOING THE MOSTWHEN IT COMES TO THEWRITING/RECORDINGPROCESS?

Yeah, my favorite part is playing

guitar. I played most of the gui-tar on the album as well.

MUEN: WHAT IS THE WRIT-ING PROCESS LIKE FOR YOUGUYS?

With this album I pretty muchwrote every single song, but ona couple of the songs I collabo-rated with our keyboard player.We kind of went back and forthon a couple of songs, but for themost part I wrote everything onthe computer. I had every partwritten out with the drums, bass,guitars, keyboards and every-thing. The vocals are the last


ABIGAILWILLIAMSBy Shauna OʼDonnell

thing I do.

MUEN: SO YOU DO A LOT OFTHE PRODUCING AS WELL. IKNOW YOU HAD JAMESMURPHY DO THE PRODUC-ING, BUT IT SOUNDS LIKEYOU HAD A LOT OF IT DONEPRIOR TO GOING TO JAMES.

Yeah, we actually co-producedit. I was at his house when werecorded and I tracked it myselffor the most part. The mainthings that he did was mix andcome into the room sometimesand say “Yeah that soundsgood.” I produced the EP beforethis one by myself. It wasnʼt likehe had to waste his time toomuch because I was alreadydoing it. He was able to do otherprojects at the same time. Ilearned a lot from his as well.

MUEN: ARE YOU INFLU-ENCED BY EUROPEAN ANDSCANDINAVIAN METAL?

Definitely, I donʼt think we havetoo many American influences inthe music to be honest. Thereare American bands that Iʼminto, but none of it really workswith our sound. I donʼt really in-corporate much of it in themusic. We are not as atmos-pheric sounding as some of theEuropean bands and I think thatis one thing that makes ussound more American. Itʼs moreaggressive in some ways.

MUEN: WHO ARE SOME OFTHE BANDS THAT YOU AD-MIRE THAT ARE EUROPEANAND SCANDINAVIAN?

Emperor, Dissection and somemore of the extreme black metalbands. That is where we tookour influence from and kind ofjust ran with it until we got ourown thing. Our keyboard playeris actually playing keyboards forCradle of Filth right now.

MUEN: I WAS GOING TO ASKYOU ABOUT THAT. IS ASH-LEY ELLYLLON STILL IN THEBAND? I NOTICED HERNAME WAS NOT LISTED ON

THE MYSPACE PAGE.

We took her off the other day.She quit a while ago. She could-nʼt handle the kind of touring wewere doing because we rough it.Cradle of Filth rides on a busand they have catering and shit.To be honest, she quit right be-fore things started getting betterfor us. Iʼm not entirely worriedabout it; we have a new key-board player.

MUEN: HOW LONG DID ITTAKE TO COMPLETE THERECORD?

(laughing) It took a while be-cause I was always recording itand making final touches. I wasworking with a drummer in Nor-way. The drums on most of thesongs were handled by TrymTorson (Emperor) and so he didthose in Norway. A lot of it wasme hanging out waiting forthose tracks and there was aproblem with the mail. It tookforever and we finally receivedthem. The whole thing spreadout took six months and that in-cludes tracking in Norway,Florida, New Jersey, New YorkCity and Arizona. It was spreadout and that is why it took sometime.

MUEN: HOW DO YOU FEELTHIS ALBUM DIFFERS FROMOTHER BLACK METALRECORDS OUT THERE? ANDWHAT DO YOU THINK SETSYOU APART FROM OTHERBANDS?

There are not a lot of deathmetal bands at our level, wherewe live in the U.S. and we tourconstantly. We are taking a dif-ferent approach to it. There arenot too many bands that I knowof, although Iʼm learning of moreof them all the time, that live inthe U.S. that have a similarsound to us. I recently checkedout a band that is on the samelabel as us called Sothis that isbased out of L.A. They totallynailed that sound as well, whichis cool. For the audience that wehave been reaching it is defi-

nitely a lot of those peoples firsttime hearing stuff like that.

MUEN: FOR THOSE WHOARE NOT FAMILIAR WITHTHE NAME ABIGAILWILLIAMS CAN YOU PLEASETELL US A LITTLE ABOUTHER AND WHY YOU CHOSEIT FOR YOUR BAND NAME?

Abigail Williams was prettymuch the accuser at the SalemWitch trials. She accused a lotof people of witchcraft and a lotof people died. We were tryingto figure out a name that wastaken from American lore. Iʼveseen other bands, specificallyEuropean bands that will takenames from their history or lore.I was trying to think of some-thing American that we coulduse and for some reason thatnames stuck out as being morewicked than the other ones. Wejust kind of went with it.

MUEN: ITʼS DEFINITELY AGREAT NAME. I LOVE ITWHEN THERE IS A STORYBEHIND IT, A REALLY COOLSTORY.

I am surprised by the number ofpeople that donʼt get it.

MUEN: SOME PEOPLE PROB-ABLY THINK ITʼS A FEMALESOLO ARTIST.

It didnʼt help that we had a girl inthe band.

MUEN: WHAT OTHER BANDSHAVE YOU RECENTLYTOURED WITH IN JUNE?

We did shows with Goatwhore,Daath, Abysmal Dawn and aband called Success Will WriteApocalypse Across the Sky.Thatʼs a mouthful. I have hungout with all these bands.

MUEN: WHAT DO YOU THINKIS MOST IMPORTANT WHENPUTTING ON A LIVE SHOW?WHAT DO YOU FEEL THEFANS ENJOY THE MOST?

Weʼve done tours in the past, for

instance the last tour that wedid, where the support bandswere a lot different from whatwe were doing in terms of whatkind of fan base was into them.So, the people that came out tosee us were really complainingthat we were playing on thattour. That is why we are doingthis tour. We were trying to thinkof all the bands that are in theU.S. that are kind of at our level.Bigger bands were not taking usout yet so we had to do our owntour.

MUEN: WELL, I HOPE ITGOES REALLY WELL FORYOU GUYS AND I HOPE YOUSELL OUT EVERY SHOW.

Thanks.

MUEN: BESIDES WRITING,RECORDING AND TOURING.WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO FORFUN?

That is what I do for fun. I listento metal, work on music, Iguess, everything I do is forwork. When you get home andyou have nothing to do exceptdrink beer with your friends andhang out. Thatʼs cool, but I canonly do that for so long.

MUEN: CONGRATULATIONSON YOUR RELEASE!! I WISHTHE VERY BEST FOR YOUAND IT WAS GREAT TALKINGWITH YOU. IS THERE ANY-THING YOUʼD LIKE TO ADDOR SAY?

Everybody should go buy ourCD!


June 22, 2009Los Angeles, CA


A press conference washeld today to introduce anew band to the masses.We Are the Fallen is afive piece rock band out ofLos Angeles with the origi-nal members of Evanes-cence and a new singerby the name of CarlySmithson. Some of youmay know Carly fromAmerican Idol. Their debutsingle “Bury Me Alive”proves to be a power-house hit that will rock theairwaves soon. BenMoody states “First of all,we were really lookinghard for someone whocould not just come andsing and hit the notes. Wewanted someone whowould actually be part ofour family because wewanted to do it right thistime. Carly just had acharisma and was friendswith my roommate. Shecame over and we spentabout 4 ½ hours talkingabout music and it justwas very clear.” The nameof the band encompassesall of the fans that theyhave had with the previousband and invites all of thefans to come in and be apart of something. Theband eluded the press forso long by keeping theirlips tightly closed and lyingabout what they havebeen up to. Ben said “Iʼm

very, very good at lying. Sowe just lied to everyone.Lying can work.” Carly ex-plains “It was really hardbecause we were so ex-cited and we wanted to telleverybody. It was hard tokeep it to our immediatefamily.” The band plans onreleasing two songsroughly every eight weeksfor a year and a half andtour the entire time.


AMERICANANTI-GRAVITYON THE NEXTALBUM...

Update by G. Cataline

MUEN: How is the nextalbum coming along,when will it be out?

VIRGIL: Between me andJross, we have aboutthree albums worth of ma-terial, but so far we haveonly officially tracked twoof them... they are aboutfinished so we move on tothe next couple tomorrownight - we are kinda han-dling two or three at a timeand then on to the next.

You know man it's aprocess it is gonna takesome time, but the firsttwo songs have only takenabout two weeks so at thisrate we are looking at win-

ter......MUEN: How do youthink it will differ, com-pared to the pastalbum?

The record is definitely dif-ferent - more mature. Sofar I feel like the songs aremore “band written” andnot just me sitting in myroom writing everything.Everyone is pitching in sothe changes seem a littlemore dramatic. Not asheavy metal, but stillheavier in a deep way.

We still have some elec-

tronics in there, but I thinkit comes off a little morelike later Depeche Modeor Massive Attack and alot less like Linkin Park orinsert whoever your aver-age new age electronicheavy metal band is.

We have a much betterdrummer than we did on“Find A Cure” and our se-quencing skills have de-veloped alot more. Thetwo together changeseverything.

Last night me and Jrossgot together and put down

American Anti-Gravity

We Are Fallen

the roots of a new tuneand it is a bunch of pluck-ing on a violin with a dirtyhouse style hip hop beat.It reminds me of EmilyWells a bit (if you haven'tchecked her out, pleasedo. it is crazy shit)

I guess what I am gonnasay next will seem a littlecliche, but this timearound it is much moreexperimental andrecorded song orientated.But don't get me wrongthere is still a couple oflive rock songs that wehave been playing in ourlive sets for the last fewshows that will blow someheads off - just not all ofthem.

nothing more gratifyingthan seeing a seriousrecord label take interestin legitimate new talentsuch as Destrophy.

Other bands recentlysigned to Victory includeCaliforniaʼs Chase LongBeach (Ska) formed in2002, and Otep, with theirlatest album, “Smash TheControl Machine” due outAug. 18.

Myspace.com/destrophy

Destrophy signs to VictoryRecords! Great news es-pecially for those of youwho have known of theband, and have been fanssince their formation in2003. MUEN interviewedthem 3 years ago, and wehave to admit there is

TIM RIPPER OWENSTour Mexico 2009

Tim Ripper Owens (IcedEarth, Judas Priest) withfriends, John Comprix ofBeyond Fear/Ringworm,also Mandarina and Co-hetica. New album “PlayMy Game” out now!

Myspace.com/timtheripperowens

Our longtime metal favʼsfrom London, Biomortal willappear at BloodstockAugust 16th at Catton Hall,Walton-On-Trent, Der-byshire, DE12 8LN, Eng-land. Lots more includingEntomed, Tribe, Godsized!See Bloodstock.uk.comfor more info!


Aug. 14, 15, 16

FEISTY PIRANHASCaliforniaʼs Feisty Piranhasare opening for Blue OysterCult for the second year ina row Saturday July 18 onstage at 8PM

Canyon Club28912 Roadside DriveAgoura Hills, CA(818) 879-5016www.canyonclub.netDoors 6PM (All Ages)

THE LANDLORDSGermanySomewhat like The Stooges, or perhaps TheCramps, or.. letʼs just appreciate them for what theyare, and that is The Landlords! Check them out atMyspace.com/landlords1234

DESTROPHY


KLIK, Floridaʼs melodicindie pop duet, and onceRolling Stone Magazineʼs“#1 Unsigned Band InAmerica” will begin their“The Bare Bones Tour” onJuly 16 in New PortRichey, FL. The tour willconsist of acoustic setsdone at area Hot Topicstores throughout Florida.Their latest release,ʻAmerican Girlsʼ producedby Sylvia Massy is set tobe released soon!

Myspace.com/klik

FREE SPIRITFinland

Free Spirit play timelessmelodic hard rock with asound that brings you tothe roots of nature and itsmighty scenery. Theirmusic reaches out to lis-teners of all ages with itscaptivating melodies.Massive choruses andguitar sounds are thebrand of Free Spirit.

The band's first full lengthalbum ʻPale Sister OfLightʼ includes 11 tracks.Together these songsform a journey to free-dom, whilst performingstrongly as singles too.

ʻPale Sister of Lightʼ isproduced by Carpel Musicand was released viaEdel Records Finland thispast Feb. 2009.

Free Spirit was the winner

of the Garage Countdowncontest with their video"Until the Night". It wasviewed over 82 000 timesover the internet and isnow running on The VoiceTV - channel that hostedthe competition.

FREE SPIRIT is:Sami Alho (vocals) VesaYli-Mäenpää (guitar) PasiKoivumäki (drums) MarkoHaapamäki (guitar) SamiHämäläinen (bass) TimoAlho (keyboards).

Sami Alho and PasiKoivumäki are the originalfounding members, andthe current line-up wasformed in 2006 when agroup of like-minded mu-sicians with a similar mu-sical goal found eachother.

Myspace.com/freespiritrock

IN THIS MOMENTʼs “The Dream - TheUltra Violet Edition” featuring “Call Me,”the breaking bandʼs latest single andvideo! Maria Brink and the band pull thiscover off with astounding skill, and haveadded a new trait to their growing legacyof keeping ambient rock lodged in themetal blender.

Donʼt miss them on WARPED TOUR2009!

Myspace.com/inthismoment

OTEP“Smash The Control Machine” InStores Aug. 18Chicago’s Victory Records has signedLos Angeles recording artist OTEP!The highly anticipated “Smash TheControl Machine” will be in storeseverywhere August 18. A huge victoryfor one of L.A.’s most up and comingrock bands of the year.

Myspace.com/otep


KILLOLALivestream.com/killola

Look out! It will soon be Killola TV24 hours a day with new videochats and skits onwww.LiveStream.com. This is NoDoubt with a shocking sense ofhumor, Cyndi Lauper on her ninthpot of coffee, or Wendy Williamsreinvented by aliens from anothergalaxy who actually drink waterfrom our cities? .. you be thejudge.

Catch them live @ The KnittingFactory in Hollywood, JULY 18

Myspace.com/killola

MMIISSSS DDEERRRRIINNGGEERR

INTERNET TV

Emerging fast, is Californiaʼs Miss Derringer! Powered by astrong shot of Rockabilly mixed with a pinch of Goth, Countryand solid rock and roll, MD are gaining more attention by theminute. On tour now! Myspace.com/missderringer

WWW.ROCKNATION.US

WWW.ROCKNATION.US Pg. 13

Myspace.com/middlefingermobband

By Metal MikeMyspace.com/metalmikemusicnewsMyspace.com/fullmetalreview

Some of you may remem-ber the ʻ77 punk tributeband we interviewedawhile back called Holly-wood 77. They broughtsome killer flashbacks tosongs of old and were asolid Punk tribute band tosay the least. Now Thecore of this band Holly-wood 77, featuring ourgood friend Freekshow,has recently set out to dosomething different. Thatbeing an original musicband by the name of MID-DLE FINGER MOB. Hear-ing some brief clips on

their myspace page at My-space.com/middlefinger-mobband, I was reallywanting to know moreabout this group andFreekshow was onceagain only too cool to talkmusic.. so here it is!

MUEN: WHEREDOES HOLLYWOOD77 FIT INTO THEPICTURE NOWTHAT YOUʼVE NOWFORMED MIDDLEFINGER MOB?

FREEKSHOW : Actu-ally Middle Fingermob IS Hollywood77... formerly I guess.

We are all the sameguys from Hollywood77. What happened,is our bassist Matty Dhad to leave the band,so we got D.J. Cruise,but... then our drum-mer Juanny Rottenhad to leave shortlyafter. It had been dis-cussed many timesabout playing originalmusic, and the revolv-ing door of memberswas getting ridiculous,we have had over 20different members inthis band in 4 years!!!So we decided to pull

the plug. Fil Caponeresumed playing withhis band "Lamour"and is currently work-ing on a record. Therest of us enlistedDanny "Boy" Virus ondrums and moved onto form Middle FingerMob.

MUEN: THAT IS ANINTERESTINGNAME, MIDDLE FIN-GER MOB. SHAREWITH US THESTORY OF HOWYOU CAME TO USETHIS NAME FOR


THE BAND.

FREEKSHOW : Ha!The story behind ourname is an interestingone, if not a long one!In short..... it has to dowith the war betweenthe French & theBritish (The battle OfAgincourt/ One Hun-dred Year War) Wherethe French Were cut-ting off the fingers ofthe british, in an at-tempt to win the war.The story goes onand like I said... It's aninteresting one. Also, Ithought That a bandname associated withthe middle finger, orthe word fuck wascool too, lol.

MUEN: DESCRIBEFOR US THE DIF-FERENCES IN ROU-TINE YOU NOW GOTHROUGH WITHMIDDLE FINGERMOB AS OPPOSEDTO YOUR COVERBAND HOLLYWOOD77, OR IS THERE ADIFFERENCEOTHER THAN ORIG-INAL MUSIC?

FREEKSHOW : Well,everyone in Holly-wood 77 came fromoriginal bands. I basi-

cally put the band to-gether in an attemptto find compatiblepeople to work with inan original project. 4years and 20 mem-bers later... I finallyfound the people I canplay music with.There is no changeexcept for the fact thatweʼre doing all originalmusic now.

MUEN: HOW LONG

HAS YOUR ORIGI-NAL WORK WITHMIDDLE FINGERMOB BEEN IN THEMAKING? ANDHAVE YOU HADOTHER ORIGINALPROJECTS, OR ISTHIS THE FIRSTFOR YOU?

FREEKSHOW : Assoon as ShawnSmash joined Holly-wood 77 it seems like

we started talkingabout doing originalmusic constantly.Shawn presented mewith some material hehad written, and webegan working on itas soon as it wasclear that Hollywood77 had run it's course.I have some materialfrom previous originalprojects that I've beenin that might bethrown into the mix


when we start record-ing again, but whoknows. D.J. Cruisehas some stuff he'swritten and Shawn'sbox of tricks seemsnever ending!

MUEN: AS MIDDLEFINGER MOB IS ANEW BAND ANDBASICALLY UNDE-FINED, I WAS WON-DERING IF YOUCOULD SHAREWITH US WHERETHE BANDʼS FOCUSLIES IN DIRECTIONAND STYLE? WEHEAR THE GLAMPUNK AND ROCKSOUND, BUT WILLTHIS BE A GEN-ERAL FOCUS, ORWILL YOUR SOUNDAND DIRECTIONCHANGE OVER-TIME?

FREEKSHOW: Whoknows! We just loveplaying good rock nʼroll and enjoying our-selves, I don't thinkanyone has thoughtthat far ahead to behonest. Some peoplecall it glam, some callit punk or maybe rocknʼ roll... But, our musicis just an extension ofourselves, which is

what music is..... anextension of the peo-ple who create it,right?

MUEN: AS THEBAND IS FAIRLYNEW, I WAS WON-DERING IF YOUCOULD TELL US ALITTLE ABOUTEACH MEMBER?

FREEKSHOW :Hmmm, where do Istart.... Shawn Smash(guitar) also plays inTotal Chaos withDanny "Boy" Virus(drums) Danny hasalso done a stint inBulletboys... D.J.Cruise (bass) hasknown Shawn Smash,Lenka Danger & my-self for a few years...and Lenka Danger isMY rock nʼ roll nurse!!

MUEN: SO WHATSHOWS HAVE YOUDONE RECENTLY,AND WHAT SHOWSDO YOU HAVELINED UP?

FREEKSHOW : Weplayed a warm-upshow at some speedinfested bar in River-side back in April.Surprisingly.. It was

packed! As for othershows booked, weʼvehad a very busyschedule starting withour CD Release partyMay 21st. After thatwe played the KeyClub, then took off fora mini tour to NewYork. When we re-turned from New York,we played Club Vodkaw/ Circus Of Power,then Shawn & Dannytake off on tour withTotal Chaos to do theWarped Tour. I will betraveling with them aswell... as themerch/roadie guy.

MUEN: NOW IS THISBAND SIGNED ORARE YOU INDE-PENDENTLY PRO-MOTING THE BANDWITHIN?

FREEKSHOW: Istarted up FreekshowRecords as a vehicleto put out Middle Fin-ger Mob and otherbands that I am inter-ested in, so I guessyou would say we'reon an "indie" label,right? We have distri-bution with CM Distrofor the Middle FingerMob release so far...As for promotions, I

am handling every-thing in-house. Weare servicing the cd tocollege/commercialspecialty loud rockradio nationwide injune.

MUEN: TOP THIS IN-TERVIEW OFF WITHANYTHING YOUMIGHT WANT TOADD FREEK ANDTHANKS FOR THETIME OUTBROTHER.

FREEKSHOW: Rockon mike, I enjoyeddoin' this interview. Ijust wanna let yourreaders know to go toour myspace page @www.myspace.com/middlefingermobband,purchase the recordfor only $6.00 & sup-port this band!!! Also,like mentioned in theabove question....Weare servicing radio injune , so call yourlocal station and de-mand that they playMiddle Finger Mob



SICK OF SARAHBy Q5

Myspace.com/artist5formelyknownasq

I am proud to announcethe arrival of an all female,indie rock band with asound that crosses over alltypical boundaries set inthe stone of rock criti-cisms. Sick Of Sarah havemanaged to create a debutLP that I proudly grant mypick to as, indie rock, “FeelGood” album of the year!(2008 Adamant Records).This riot grrrl quartet from

Minneapolis, Minnesotabrings together an array ofsounds that seem to bedefinitive of our popularculture. A pop rock soundthat has an attitude andsimplicity friendly to theears without losing thefeeling of desperation andguilt; Sick Of Sarah is es-sentially a band that cre-ates radio friendly songs(one after the other) on alevel that surpasses mostin music today. The smart-ass rebel in all of us willrejoice in the sing along,stick your tongue out feel

that Sick Of Sarah guidesthe listener on. Garnishingmention in magazinessuch as Spin, Marie-Claireand Venuszine; I knewupon one listen that it wastime to introduce Sick OfSarah to the readers ofMUEN magazine.

Sick Of Sarah not onlybring a knowingly, person-able feeling to their musicbut gave me a feeling ofpersonably knowing themwhile I recently talked to;Abisha Uhl (vocals, guitar),Jessie Farmer (guitar, vo-

cals) and Jamie Holm(bass). Sick Of Sarah alsoconsists of Brooke Svanes(drums) and Katie Murphy(guitar, vocals). The play-fulness and brat sister feelthat creates music as ifeach song is a distinct per-sonality in a storybook,dysfunctional family of2009, also gives ourMUEN readers a person-able and very entertainingglimpse into the heart ofthis energetic and talentedband on the rise.

Check out more of Sick

SICK OF SARAH

www.SickOfSarah.comwww.Myspace.com/SickOfSarah

Of Sarah on the bandsMySpace page at:http://www.myspace.com/sickofsarah

MUEN: HOW ARE YOULADIES TODAY?

Jamie: Can I ask whatday it is? We just got backearly this morning fromour latest run, which wasamazing, but I have noconcept of time. It couldbe Tuesday. It could beChristmas. All I know isI'm ready to go out again!

Abisha: I feel like Jamie.A little out of it and want-ing to go out and toursome more. We are allhaving an amazing time!Experience of a lifetime!Jessie: recuperating.

MUEN: HOW ARE THELIVE SHOWʼS GOING?

Jamie: The live shows aregoing great! We've hadsome crazy amazing fanscoming out so it's superfun to play. I definitelythink we've stepped it uplately and like to getsweaty!

Jessie: we are having agreat time rocking out allover America .. Getting allcrazy with the fans.... it'sa good work out!

Abisha: They just keepgetting better and better.

MUEN: I RECENTLYSAW A SHOW ATECLIPSE RECORDS IN

ST. PAUL AND THEOWNER WAS TELLINGME ABOUT SICK OFSARAH PLAYINGTHERE? I FOUND IT IN-TERESTING THAT ABAND OF YOUR CAL-IBER, NOT TO LONGAGO WAS PLAYING ALOCAL RECORDSTORE? WHAT AREYOUR EARLY MEMO-RIES OF PLAYINGSOME OF THESESMALLER VENUES?

Jamie: The venue size al-ways varies. We play bigvenues, small venues andeven bathrooms whenwe're in the mood. The in-timate settings are some-times the most rewarding.It's great to be able tohave a more personalvibe sometimes. Sick ofSarah, coming soon to abathroom near you...

Abisha: We play everyshow we can get ourhands on. It's about work-ing on your craft at thispoint. We have a lot ofwork ahead of us and sobasically no venue is toosmall for us! Plus, it's funto eat a small venue forbreakfast! hmm?

MUEN: WHEN DOINGTHE CONSTANT TOUR-ING THAT SICK OFSARAH HAS BEENDOING, WHAT DO YOULADIES DO FOR FUN?

Abisha: Oh you don'teven want to know, itspure insanity. Seriously.

Jamie: On the home-stretch of our drive lastnight, Katie was takingpictures of herself at-tempting new sitting posi-tions in the van. We havelearned to use our imagi-nations...

Jessie: Well, usually imake up some stupidvoice and make the girlslaugh until they cry... re-cently i created an Italianguy named, Mario... hehas a catch phrase, butthe humor would nottranslate over print..

MUEN: YOU CANʼTMAKE SNOW ANGELSALL THE TIME. (NOTE:Q5 MADE THIS COM-MENT IN REFERENCETO SICK OF SARAHʼSVIDEO FOUNDTHROUGH RESEARCHON YOUTUBE:HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=_TN0KSEU3NW)

Abisha: I know it's horri-ble.

Jamie: Can you? I wantsome of what you have...



Jessie: hmmmm... nocomment

MUEN: HOW WOULDYOU DESCRIBE THESOUNDS OF SICK OFSARAH?

Abisha: Uh, fucking awe-some! (smiling)

Jamie: I would describe itas indie pop rock, how-ever, I hate having to de-scribe it as I feel itsometimes gives peoplethe wrong vibe.

Jessie: Guilty pleasurepop rock that doesn'tsuck!

MUEN: COULD YOUNAME SOME OF YOURRECENT AND PAST IN-FLUENCES? WHAT IN-FLUENCES DO YOU ASINDIVIDUAL THINK,COMES OUT THE MOSTPROMINENTLY IN SICKOF SARAHʼS SOUND?

Abisha: I love the Cardi-gans, recent and past.Weezer has always beenthere for me. So many...

Jessie: Joan Jett and thesounds.

MUEN: COULD YOUTELL OUR READERS ALITTLE ABOUT YOURRELATIONS TO GIRRRLROCK PIONEERS,BABES IN TOYLAND?

Abisha: Jessie got meinto them. They helpedpave the way for bands

like us. Thank you ladies!

Jessie: I was their bassplayer for a Europeantour about 9 yrs ago.

MUEN: IS THE NEWRECORD COMPLETE?HOW HAVE YOUFOUND TIME TORECORD WITH YOURBUSY LIVE CALEN-DAR?

Abisha: Our second fulllength should be ready inabout a year... well, atleast it better be! I likemusic.

Jamie: We have a lot ofnew material in the worksbut no plans to recordanytime soon. We are fo-cusing on touring in sup-port of our debut albumright now, but are alwayswriting and expect somenew material in our up-coming shows.

MUEN: I HEARDABISHA DO ANACOUSTIC VERSIONOF AUTOGRAPH AND IREALLY DUG IT.

Abisha: Awwww, Thanks!(Smiling)

MUEN: Is that one of thenew songs? Can you leakme any more song titles?

Jamie: It is one of thenew songs, as for song ti-tles, we don't have any-thing solid yet. I can saywe are working on sev-eral new songs.

MUEN: HOW DOES THESONGWRITINGPROCESS WORK FORSICK OF SARAH?

Jessie: Our song writingprocess is pretty organic.Either Abisha, Jamie, ormyself come up with anidea and we just jam itout. Let the song form it-self.

Abisha: We just work itout once and idea isbrought to the table. Likepure sweetness... heh.

MUEN: THE SUCCESSTHAT YOU HAVE HADSEEMS TO HAVE COMEQUICKLY AS OPPOSEDTO OTHERS THATWORK TEN-TWENTYYEARS TO REACH THEPOINT THAT YOU HAVEALREADY REACHED INTHE MUSIC BUSINESS.WHY DO YOU THINKTHAT IS?

Jamie: I think it is a lot ofdifferent things coming to-gether. We are able toplay, can write music peo-ple like and also have funand invite our fans to re-ally get to know us by re-ally interacting with them.

MUEN: YOU DEFI-NITELY COME OFF AS AVERY FRIENDLY ANDPERSONABLE BAND.

Abisha: We came to-gether and developed amagical potion. It's nothard to make. Just a littlelittle vinegar and rose-

mary mixed and grindedwith a hint of fairy dustthat can only be found inthe northern parts of Min-nesota. In all seriousnessI think it's the connectionwe share with our fans,music and all.

MUEN: HAS THE RAP-IDLY GROWING STAR-DOM BEEN HARD TOHANDLE?

Abisha: No, That's the funpart. Traveling for 20hours in a van is the hardpart! We are having sucha great time!

Jamie: It was really fungetting out to the eastcoast. We had peopledrive an entire day to seethe show. That is amazingin itself and makes mewant to pinch theircheeks! It really is just areminder of why we dowhat we do and makes uswant to work harder.

MUEN: HOW DID YOUALL MEET?

Jessie: Through mutualfriends.

Abisha: EHarmony.

Jamie: I personally metthe girls when my oldband Hazel Strangeplayed a show with themat 7th Street Entry in Min-neapolis. Later that yearthey called me and askedme if I wanted to playbass when Jessie movedover to guitar.

MUEN: COULD YOUTELL THE MUEN READ-ERS WHERE THE NAMESICK OF SARAH CAMEFROM?

Jamie: Abisha's old room-mate one day told her shewas just plain sick of hername... she was sick of'Sarah'. There is also astory floating aroundabout an Armadillonamed Sarah eatingsomeone's underwear, soletʼs go with that one.

MUEN: LET US GETPERSONAL. I IMAGINEIT MUST BE DIFFICULTTO SUSTAIN A SERI-OUS RELATIONSHIPBETWEEN ALL THETRAVELING ANDRECORDING. ARETHERE ANY RELATION-SHIPS?

Abisha: Ha,Ha. Iʼm nottelling!

Jessie: Well, my cat getsmad at me every time Ileave, but we make upwhen i get home.

Jamie: Yeah, I have a se-rious relationship withCheetos and Svedka!

MUEN: HOW DO EACHOF YOUR FAMILIES AC-CEPT YOUR CHOICEOF CAREERS ANDHOW INSTRUMENTALHAVE THEY BEEN INYOUR SUCCESS?

Abisha: They are veryproud.

Jamie: My family hasbeen great. My dad andbrother are both very mu-sical so they are the rea-son I play. I have beenvery lucky to have thatsupport. I love you family!

Jessie: My parents arehappy that i am happy.They have been nothingbut supportive and nurtur-ing the entire time, as wellas my brothers and sis-ters. I love them dearly.And I may or may nothave promised my fathera corvette?

MUEN: WHAT ARE YOUPLANS FOR THE FU-TURE AS FAR AS ANEW ALBUM BEINGRELEASED AND DOINGLIVE SHOWS IN SUP-PORT OF IT?

Jessie: When we do de-cide to go back into thestudio to record our follow

up record, we will tour tothe ends of the earth topromote it.

Abisha: We will releaseanother album and morevideos to come.

MUEN: WHAT COULDONE COME TO EXPECTOUT OF A SICK OFSARAH LIVE SHOWTHAT THEY CANʼT GETOUT OF YOUR DEBUTCD?

Abisha: I might acciden-tally spit on you... if youare into that, I donʼt know.Ha. We have a good time.Curiosity killed the cat,come on out and have agood time. You know youwant to. I feel like Iʼm flirt-ing right now... hey... so,what are you wearing?

MUEN: UM… YA,CLOTHS. CAN WEFLIRT WITH OUT ME

BEING SPIT ON IN THEVISUAL?

Jamie: Sometimes I slowdance with Katie. I don'tdo that on the Album. Ithink our personalities re-ally come out at the showand there is a lot of en-ergy behind it.

MUEN: SERIOUSLY,SICK OF SARAH HASOPENED UP FOR MANYCOMMERCIALLY SUC-CESSFUL GROUPS, IN-CLUDING EN VOGUE?WHAT WOULD YOUSAY HAS BEEN YOURCROWNING ACHIEVE-MENT AS FAR AS PLAY-ING LIVE, UP TO THISPOINT?

Jamie: There have been afew and that show wasdefinitely a great show toplay. We have several inthe upcoming few monthsthat I am really excited to



play such as Rock on theRange in Winnipeg. It hassome amazing acts onthe bill!

MUEN: YOU ALL SEEMTO HAVE VERY UNIQUEPERSONALITIES THATMESH TOGETHER,BEAUTIFULLY. DOESHAVING SO MANYUNIQUE PERSONALI-TIES IN THE BANDEVER CREATE FRIC-TION?

Jamie: I think every bandwho has their heart com-pletely into a project withfour of their best friendswill have friction. It be-comes your family andmost days are really goodbut of course sometimesyou disagree. At the endof the day no one messeswith my girls!

MUEN: DO YOU HAVEANY INTERESTINGSTORIES IN PARTICU-LAR OF BAND SQUAB-BLING THAT YOUʼDLIKE TO SHARE WITHTHE READERS OFMUEN?

Abisha: What are youdoing, trying to kill me?My band members wouldkill me. However, therewas this one time...

Jamie: I plead the fifth.(laughing)

MUEN: WHERE DO YOUSEE SICK OF SARAHTHREE YEARS FROMNOW?

Abisha: In jail.

Jamie: Touring, touring,touring!

MUEN: HOW ABOUTTEN YEARS FROMNOW?

Jamie: I see us stillrecording writing andtouring, and maybe someside projects. I think we

will be around a longtime. (Smile)

Abisha: Iʼd like to think bya poolside or somethinglike that.

MUEN: I LIKE TO ENDALL MY INTERVIEWSWITH A Q5 LASTQUOTE, KIND OF ASTAMP ON THE CON-VERSATION THAT WEHAD, WITHOUT THESPIT JOKES…. ORWITH THEM. COULD IGET A LAST QUOTEFROM EACH OF YOU?ABISHA?

Abisha: I don't likequotes, they make menervous.

MUEN: JESSIE?

Jessie: I do apologize for

bein' such a wiener theother day" and I love youall and thank you for suchoverwhelming support!

MUEN: JAMIE?Jamie: Just watch ourYouTube videos. Thereare plenty of good quotesthere.

MUEN: THANKS FORTAKING THE TIME OUTOF YOUR BUSYSCHEDULE TO TALKWITH US. WE REALLYAPPRECIATE IT ANDLOOK FORWARD TOHEARING BIG THINGSFROM SICK OF SARAHIN THE NEAR FUTURE. IPERSONALLY CANNOTWAIT FOR THE NEWL.P.!

Abisha: Thank You somuch! We love you!

TULARFrancesca and Emanuele

Written Interviewby G. Cataline

MUEN: HOW ARETHINGS IN ROMA?

Francesca - We adore it.Rome is our city, and is afantastic city, but things arenot so good here. Unfortu-nately musicians are notgratified and there aren't alot of chances if you are notin a cover band. GenerallyArts in Italy are put aside to

prefered TV reality showsand artistically poorermusic, but we go on be-cause we feel us as citi-zens of the world... step bystep we are heading to thegoal

MUEN: WHEN DID THEBAND FORM, AND WHATIS IT ABOUT THE GENREOF MUSIC YOUCHOSE THAT MADE YOUWANT TO PURSUE IT?YOU CALL IT SYM-PHONIC ROCK?

Francesca - When I met

Emanuele, we blended fourpersonal passions com-pletely different amongthem: Flamenco and Metalfor him and Pop and Operafor me and then the resultis our music.

Emanuele – We call ourmusic “Symphonic” just forthe mix between Rock andSymphonic orchestration,but I know we are justTular... I hate definitions.

MUEN: IS YOUR LATESTCD OUT CALLED, "BOR-DERLINE," YOUR

DEBUT? OR ARE THEREOTHER ALBUMS PRIORTO THIS ONE?

Emanuele - Borderline isfor us our debut album be-cause we have an eccen-tric adventure with anAmerican label but we pre-fer to not talk about it! Bor-derline has beencompletely produced,mixed and mastered in ourstudio, the Muse's studio inRome and I guess we did avery good job.

MUEN: YOUR MYSPACE

TULAR - MUEN Magazine JULY 2009

PAGE IT SAYS THAT YOUWRITE SONGS BASEDON THE THRESHHOLDBETWEEN THE "REALWORLD" AND "FAN-TASY"... COULD YOU EX-PLAIN MOREON THIS?

Francesca - The truth isthat we love to talk aboutsocial things and personalexperiences but we don'tlike to do this directly. Welove to make parodies, ineffect the word Gothic (asmany call our music)means the Arts of hiddentruth.

Emanuele - Try to listen toour songs with an openheart and you will find thereal meaning.

MUEN: FRANCESCA'SVOCALS ARE QUITE OP-ERATIC... HAS SHE HADFORMAL TRAINING?

Francesca - Wow pleaseanother one can answer atthis?

Emanuele - Yes she begunher path as a sopranosinger with a great Italianteacher, Luciana San-toianni.

MUEN: WHO ARE THEOTHER MEMBERS INTHE BAND? AND TELLUS A LITTLE ABOUTTHEM...

Emanuele - We haveMichele Raspanti at thebass, that is always therewith his wise suggestions,but even if is the older oneis a kid inside and is a very

funny guy; David Folchitto,the greatest metal drum-mer of all and a very goodperson that serves as avolunteer to disabled peo-ple. Last but not least mybrother Alessandro Iacobel-lis that is a bass playergone guitarist just to playtogether. Even if I still callhim “Rookie” I'm very proudof him.

MUEN: DO YOU PLAYLIVE VERY OFTEN INITALY, AND DO YOUPLAN TO TOUR OUTSIDEOF ITALY ANY TIMESOON?

Francesca - Beautiful ques-tion see above! LOL ^__^yeah, between festivalsand concerts of benefi-cence we play so much!We have some beautifulRoman fans, I mean, theyare with us at every gig, butmany other fans follow usin northern Italy. Our futureis to go outside, beginningwith UK (we are planning acollaboration with Raven-heart Music an Englishlabel) and then we'll con-quer the United States withour show performances.Another great goal is toplay in Mexico where wereceived many many listen-ing and consents.

Emanuele - So gig organiz-ers don't waste your time,Call Tular to make venuesexplode!

MUEN: HOW MANYVIDEOS DO YOU HAVEOUT, AND WHICHWOULD YOU SAY BESTREPRESENTS THE BAND

TODAY?

Francesca - We have twoVideos out: “Witch”, ourfirst single and the secondone “Chained to You” (bothsongs are contained in theCD “Borderline”). I wouldsay both, I mean there areparts of us, the first onerepresents our Gothic sideand “Chained to You” ismore mature (personally Iprefer this one), is our lovestory with our lover: themusic! Among tragedy andromanticism between bit-terness and glories we willalways be chained to her!

MUEN: WHAT DO YOULIKE MOST ABOUT LIFEIN ITALY?

Emanuele - Our past andour foods and Italian joy forlife but nothing more... Isuffer talking about this, butItaly is not sailing good wa-ters in last years! We hopebetter for the future.

Francesca - I'm sure... any-way is the cradle of culture,the land where we wereborn Leonardo Da Vinci,Caravaggio and CristoforoColombo.

MUEN: IS THERE MUCHSUPPORT FOR YOURSTYLE OF MUSIC THEREIN YOUR LOCALAREA?

Francesca – We have alarge variety of fans follow-ing us and even if the mainpart follow bands as La-cuna Coil or Within Tempta-tions, many other arelisteners of pop or extreme

metal such as Cradle OfFilth: Borderline is ourname in Etruscan so youcan understand that livingon the line we are a traitd'union among manystyles.

Emanuele – There is muchsupport and I guess theycame not only for ourmusic, but for our showperformances too. A liveshow of Tular is somethingamazing, and Francesca“Keeps the flag” as we sayin Italy... sometimes we areso fascinated by her mov-ing and singing that we riskto make mistakes playingto watch her.

MUEN: WHAT ARE YOURMUSICAL PLANS BE-FORE THE YEAR ISOVER?

A bunch of awards! Ok, se-riously we want to reachthe place that we deserveinto the international musicscene.

MUEN: IS THERE ANY-THING ELSE YOU'D LIKETO ADD?

Yeah we are the greatestItalian rock band of all time!

MUEN: THANKS FORTHE INTERVIEW!


‘SEE IT THROUGH’OUT NOW!OUT AUGUST 2009!

Myspace.com/otep

‘SEE IT THROUGH’OUT NOW!Myspace.com/thesammustheory

(Nuclear Blast)Eric Peterson (Guitars)Oakland, CA

Myspace.com/testamentle-gions


MUEN: NOW IT HASBEEN ALMOST A YEARSINCE YOU RELEASEDTHE FORMATION OFDAMNATION SO HOW ISTHE ALBUM DOING?

Eric: Um, itʼs been re-ceived really well! It basi-cally did what we werelooking for it to do. Wehavenʼt had a record outfor about nine years sopeople could just say “ahthey havenʼt got it any-more” but that wasnʼt thecase! We came back evenstronger adding all the ele-ments that we have hadthroughout our career butkeeping it more modernand more towards theheavy side. Since thenweʼve been pretty luckytouring live and got to joinall the festivals last sum-mer in Europe and we gotto play with some of my fa-vorite bands like Whites-nake and even did a showwith Def Leppard. Andplayed with some heavierbands like Morbid Angel

and bands like that. Thenwe got hooked up with areally cool American tourwhich is the Metal MastersTour with Judas Priest,Heaven and Hell, Motor-head and Testament. Thatwas through all the arenasheds through the summerand it was pretty cool. Weonly got to play a half anhour and we went on firstwhich kind of sucked be-cause people were walk-ing in as we were playingbut I think it helped theband out a lot becausewere playing to started theset with three to four thou-sand and then at the endof the set we were playingto ten to fifteen thousand anight.

After that it brought us in

to Japan and Australiawhere we did really goodand then we started thisyear out going out withJudas Priest andMegadeth in Europe andjust finished about a weekago. That was all arenasin Europe and when weusually go to Europe weusually play theatres orclubs that are 500 to 1000seaters and only in Lon-don and maybe one othersmaller town north. Butthis time we got to playabout twelve to fourteenshows in the U.K. all theway up to Scotland andthen down to London andall arenas which was cool.We did about sevenweeks over there. Now weare getting ready to go ona U.S. tour finally headlin-

ing! We have been open-ing up and playing shortersets.

MUEN: HOW WAS THATPLAYING WITHMEGADETH?

Eric: It was really cool youknow. I really got a newfriendship with Dave. Iʼvealways known him as anacquaintance and we havehung out a couple timesback in our youth and par-tied a little here and therebut this time around I gotto spend some guitar withhim you know. And get anew friendship!

MUEN: HEʼS A NICEGUY! YOU KNOW HEJUST WON AN AWARDTOO AT THE GOLDEN


TESTAMENT

GOD AWARDS. HE AC-TUALLY WON THEGOLDEN GOD AWARD.

Eric: Yeah Iwas supposedto be a presen-ter down therebut I was al-ready sup-posed to go toGermany anddo this NAMMkind of thing,but then it fellthrough so Iwasnʼt able todo the repre-senting thing,but Chuck wentdown there sothatʼs cool.

MUEN: IT IS ABIG AWARDSHOW SOTHATʼS COOL.SO, THISALBUM IS A FOLLOWUP TO THE GATHERING.WHY WAS THERE ANINE YEAR SPAN BE-TWEEN STUDIO AL-BUMS?

Eric: Um, a lot of stuff hap-pened you know. Themain thing is Chuck Bil-liard, our singer, got can-cer. He kicked itʼs buttpretty quick and we wentthrough all that but I thinkafter that he wanted a littletime to figure out life andwhatʼs important to himand stuff like that. So wekind of toured but it wasmore weekend warriorstuff.

MUEN: SO HOWʼS HE

DOING? IS HE DOINGBETTER?

Eric: Heʼs doing great! Icanʼt believe how long hishair has grown already!Within the first year it wasdown his back already.

MUEN: GOOD! THAT ISGREAT HE IS DOING SOWELL!

Eric: Yeah well there wasthat and then a healthissue-wise for me. I brokemy leg pretty bad andeverybody knows this bynow. And then just touringand different memberchanges and then westarted to write a recordand it wasnʼt vibing rightwith the right membersand Paul was actually inthe band at that time when

we were doing that and hekind of jumped ship to Ex-odus. But it was just me

and him writing. Our bassplayer at the time wasSteve DiGiorgio and henever came in to jam withus. It was just me andPaul and Chuck wouldshow up once in a whileand it just didnʼt feel right.The band was just kind ofdefuncting at the time youknow. So we ended upgetting the original lineupback together.

MUEN: YEAH THAT WASWHAT I WAS GOING TOSAY. YOU HAVE THEORIGINAL LINEUPBACK THEN?

Eric: Yeah, since 2005 wehave and it started takingoff from there and it lead

up to this record.

MUEN: DID IT FEELGOOD TO GETBACK IN THESTUDIO ANDRECORD AGAIN?

Eric: Oh yeah defi-nitely! Especiallyhaving thesesongs, it was a lotof fun. We actuallywent back to ourold studio that weused to record at,Fantasy, which islike the older stylestudio as opposedthe expensive bigcorporate studios.Which we havenʼtdone in a while, weusually record atour own studio, butit was cool to havethat vibe and to goback there to get

the drums done and thenget back to our studio. Sothat was cool.

MUEN: WHAT PART OFTHE WRITING PROCESSDO YOU TAKE PART IN?DO YOU WRITE EVERY-THING LIKE THE MUSICAND THE LYRICS?

Eric: Iʼm pretty much thecaptain of the music. Ipretty much oversee mostof the artwork for albumcovers, tee shirts and stufflike that. But most of thearrangement and writingthe music is like 90-95percent of it is me. Chuckhandles the lyrics and heis more of the businessguy. He handles a lot of


our business affairs. Thatis why we have stuck it outpretty good. We both han-dle things and not miss abeat on that end.

MUEN: NOW, WHENYOU ARE WRITING DOYOU FEEL YOU HAVETO KEEP THE MUSIC OFTESTAMENT HEAVY? INOTHER WORDS, HAVEPREVIOUS MEMBERSTRIED TO TAKE IT TO AMORE MAINSTREAMLEVEL? HAVE YOUEVER HAD THAT KINDOF A CHALLENGE?

Eric: Um, well the main-stream thing happenedwith the original lineup.We had toured so muchand you know each recordcame out a year later, TheLegacy, The New Order,Practice, Souls of Blackand The Ritual. It was likeif we werenʼt recording orwriting music we were ontour. So by the time TheRitual came out Alex andLouie in particular weremore into blues and reallyinto The Cult. Alex was re-ally in to his jazz stuff andhe really wanted to play adifferent kind of music.Now it seems so easy howto deal with that, but backthen we didnʼt know howto deal with it and just said“You canʼt do that or thisyou know.” That is whenthe band started to fallapart because I wanted towrite fast, double bass,crazy death metal stuffand we just kind of col-lided at that point. Thatʼsthe outcome of Low. The

good thing about workingwith different people is thatwe have had the opportu-nity to jam with some ofthe best drummers in rockand metal from John Tem-pesta to Gene Hoagland.Paul Bostaph was in andout and he lended a hand.

MUEN: IʼVE MET JOHNQUITE A FEW TIMESAND HE IS WITH THECULT NOW I THINK?

Eric: Yeah he is still withThe Cult and we had allthese drummers thatwanted to be heavier so itwas perfect for me. What itdid was add a whole newflavor each time we had adifferent drummer playwith the band. For me, Iwas excited to write be-cause it was always withsomeone that I did nothave to compromise how Iwanted to write to keepthe peace. Once you havea new member in a bandthere is like a year longvibe where they are justhappy to be in the bandand they are excited to dowhat you want to do andplay your style of music soit was perfect for me. Sothat is why The Gatheringcame out so killer becauseIʼve got Dave Lombardoand Iʼm going to take allthose elements and moldthem in to Testament andthatʼs why that record is sosuccessful with the way hebeat the shit out of thedrums and with my writingstyle. That is kind of what Iwanted to achieve on theearly days, but Louis was

a great thrash drummer,not the fast double bassdrummer. All the differentmembers brought moreexcitement into the band.Now that original memberslike Alex and Greg andPaul have come back intothe band they see and ap-preciate how we got hereand Alex loves playingheavy stuff now.

MUEN: YOU GUYSWERE ONE OF THEFIRST THRASH METALBANDS TO EMERGE INTHE EIGHTIES ANDHAVE WANTED TOKEEP IT THRASHMETAL AND I REALLYRESPECT THAT YOUGUYS HAVE STAYEDTRUE TO YOUR MUSIC.

Eric: Oh yeah thanks! Wecould have dabbled morewith the commercial stuffand did with The Ritual.We compromised a littlebut still kept it heavy still Ithink. I love epic, crazylong songs.

MUEN: WELL, BECAUSEYOU HAVE STAYEDTRUE DO YOU FEELTHAT IS WHY YOURFANS HAVE AS WELL?

Eric: Oh definitely! It ishard for a band to keeptrue because a fan will geta record and can get sickof it after a week and thenyou rediscover it a monthlater and you go see theband live and you “ohYeah!” But the band isplaying the stuff everydayfor the next ten years. The

way we look at it is “This isso old.” Just think if youwere a fan and you had tolisten to an hour of Testa-ment everyday and go tothe concert every night. Itwould get old too.

MUEN: YOU HAVE BEENALL OVER THE WORLD.SO DO YOU THINK YOUHAVE A STRONGER FANBASE HERE OR IN EU-ROPE? WHERE WOULDYOU SAY YOURSTRONGEST FAN BASEWOULD BE?

Eric: I think our fan base ispretty much strong every-where! People thinkmaybe we are stronger inEurope, but Europe justhas better festivals. Everycountry has a festival sothat is like every statewould have one here.They would have killerbands at every festival.But we donʼt have coolstuff like that in everystate. But the fans herelove metal just as much asthey do in Europe. Theyjust live it more there Ithink. They are used todoing it, they will go fromfestival to festival.

MUEN: WHAT IS YOUROPINION OF THRASHAND METAL THAT ISBEING PUT OUTTODAY? WHO ARESOME OF THE NEWERBANDS YOU ADMIRE?

Eric: Um, funny, because Ihave been listening to a lotof old school stuff. I likethe Swedish genre of


metal. They have definitelybuilt what they have doneand are legendary in theirown way. The bay areawas pretty much the birthof thrash, we had ourscene here. Thatʼs kind ofhow the Swedish scene isin Stockholm. I know thereare somenew bandshere like Mu-nicipal Wasteand there isan amazingnew bandfrom Francecalled Gojira.They are areally goodband! Mixingthe heavinesswith themelodic andthe girl singer,I like thatstuff.Nightwish iskiller! I loveNightwish.There is an-other bandthat is killer called WithinTemptation that has asinger named Sharon thatis amazing.

MUEN: THE VIDEO FOR“MORE THAN MEETSTHE EYE” IS ONE THAT ILOVE. I LOVE ALL THEBATS FLYING AROUND.VERY COOL VIDEO.

Eric: Yeah, well those batswere a little bit annoyingyou know. After the scenewe were like “Cut! Bats getback in your cells.” It wasa lot of fun.Hard to getthem back to their han-

dlers.

MUEN: WELL, START-ING IN MAY YOU WILLBE HITTING THE ROADWITH REALLY GREATBANDS THAT I LOVEUNEARTH ANDLAZARUS A.D. I HAVE

TALKED TO BOTH ANDJUST LOVE THEM.

Eric: Yeah, they are thenewer breed and havedone pretty good for them-selves. Iʼm not really famil-iar with them, but ofcourse Iʼve heard theirmusic. It should be good!

MUEN: A SPECIAL VIPPACKAGE IS GOING TOBE OFFERED. WHAT ISTHAT GOING TO IN-CLUDE FOR THE FANSTHAT BUY THAT?

Eric: Basically it gives

them the opportunity tomeet us before the show,hang out and I think thereis a raffle and some spe-cial stuff like a shirt. Theraffle is going to be cooland not sure what will beon each. I have a new sig-nature guitar through

Dean and it is called theOld Skull and I think weare going to be raffling oneof those off. Some qualitytime with the band andalso sound check possiblywill be part of it. It costs alittle bit more but you donʼthave to wait around for usfor an hour to come out inthe dark and the rain. Itʼs alittle more organized.

MUEN: NOW YOU GUYSARE WORKING ONSOME NEW MUSICRIGHT NOW. WHAT CANWE EXPECT FROM THENEW MATERIAL?

WHATʼS IT GOING TOSOUND LIKE? MOREOLD TESTAMENT ORMORE MAINSTREAM?

Eric: Um. It will be morelike The Gathering. Weare shooting for that for-mation or vibe. We will be

mixing up allour elementsand we willhave a coupleof real fastsongs, a cou-ple of songsthat Chuck issinging, somemore melodicand someheavy. Theone thing wehavenʼt donesince Low willbe a slowersong, whichpeople call aballad. Wehave beenworking on thisfor a while andwere going to

put it on the last record,but we didnʼt want to rushit. The music is so killer, itreminds me of somethingoff Lovedrive by the Scor-pions. Itʼs just pretty, butitʼs heavy still too. It is aballad that starts out reallyclean and then goes intothe heavier sound at theend. It is killer! It does notjump all over the place. Itis kind of like “Stairway toHeaven” where it takesyou from beginning to endbut does not sound likethat song. Itʼs the ideologyof it. I canʼt wait for peopleto hear that as it is proba-


bly one of my favoritemusic pieces that I havewritten. For me, thatʼs thehighlight, I might even geta string quartet to come inand do some strings.

MUEN: WHEN DO YOUTHINK IT MIGHT BEREADY FOR RELEASE?

Eric: I would like to startwriting and get everythingprepared by September,October and November,put it together and thenhave the record releasedby June. Maybe it wonʼthappen, I just donʼt wantto compromise it by rush-ing and putting somethingout we are not completelyhappy with and feeling. Soif it is not feeling right itcould be longer. Therewere some fans that senthate mail wanting a recordout and not wanting to waitand then we get a lettersaying it was worth thewait and sorry for theangry letter before so it isworth it to not compromiseand put out what we thinkis the right thing.

MUEN: ARE YOU STILLIN THE BAND DRAG-ONLORD?

Eric: Yep! We actuallyhave a couple of showscoming up in California.Check it out on our My-space.

MUEN: YOU ALSO SINGIN THAT BAND. HAVEYOU EVER CONSID-ERED SINGING FORTESTAMENT?

Eric: I thought of it wayback but with Chuck he isthe singer of singers so.For this type of music heʼsprobably the best of thebest. Dragonlord is awhole different style ofmusic. Itʼs a modern, at-mospheric, black metalmixed with that thrash kindof vibe. At the shows I ex-pect to see Testamentfans and thereʼs not, itʼsjust people that I havenʼtseen from my city. Iʼm like“Where did these peoplecome from?”

MUEN: YOU TOUCHED ABIT AGO ON YOURDEAN SIGNATURE GUI-TAR. WHY DONʼT YOUTELL ME ABOUT IT?

Eric: You can check it outon our MySpace page andalso on the Dean website.Itʼs this V that I have beenplaying for a long time andI put some art on it. I didnʼtwant to go too nuts withthe art and take away fromthe guitar so I put thelegacy skull, which issomething that has beenwith Testament since thebeginning. It plays greatand it is going to be at areasonable price but hasthe quality that some Vʼsdonʼt have. I wanted tomake something that hadthe quality and lookedbadass but was still afford-able.

MUEN: I READ THATYOU WERE SELFTAUGHT. IS THATTRUE?

Eric: I took a little bit oflessons when I was a kid,but the teacher was theguitar player on I LoveLucy and was older andmore in to jazz. He taughtme the basics and somechords in seventh grade. Ihadnʼt played guitar yet soI hadnʼt even discoveredwhat I was about. Whatended that relationship is Igot this “Draw the Line”Aerosmith song book forChristmas in eighth gradeand I brought it in there.He was reading the notesand playing it more jazzy. Igot in a fight with himabout it. I was like “No, itdoesnʼt go like that.” Hewas like “Yes, it is and hewas slapping my hand.” Iwas like “Okay, Iʼm done.”But really the rest was lis-tening to music and tryingto figure out the riffs froma turntable in the frontroom of our house and thespeakers in my room.Whenever I needed tohear a riff again I wouldhave to put the guitardown and go to the frontand change the turntableand restart and run backto my room to try it again.So that is how I learnedmost. It wasnʼt as easyback then as it is now.

MUEN: YOUʼRE FIRSTBIG SHOW WAS WITHSLAYER.

Yeah, we were calledLegacy before Testament.Willie Lange who is thebass player of LAAZROCKIT and Chuck Billywere best friends through

high school. Chuck was ina band called Guilt at thetime. They came to ourfirst show that we playedwith a bunch of punkbands because none ofthe clubs knew what to dowith us because of oursound and our image. Weused to wear priest collarswith upside down rosaries.We kind of wore a little bitof corpse paint back thentoo. We were pretty weirdlooking. My cousin Derekand I went into a shop tobuy priest collars once andthis guy was helping usand he said “Oh, you guysare such nice boys.” Hethought we were doingsome clergy thing. Wewere like going “Yeah, weare going to go play oursatanic music tonight.”Willie was pretty im-pressed with us and said“Hey, we are going to playwith Slayer next weekendif you guys want to open.”We only had four songs,but they were pretty longat the time. We got upthere and played them. Itwas a lot of fun playingwith Slayer; we were prob-ably like nineteen ortwenty years old.

MUEN: WELL I WOULDLIKE TO THANK YOU SOMUCH FOR THE INTER-VIEW. I HAD A GREATTIME TALKING WITHYOU!

Eric: Yeah me too! Thankyou!


dredgMUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

DREDGGuitarist Mark Engles

Written Interview by G. Cataline

MUEN: SO TELL US,HOW WERE THESHOWS IN EUROPE?

Europe was great. We'vebeen doing shows overthere for 6-7 years and thefollowing has grown. Ger-many has been especiallywonderful to us.

MUEN: GOOD TO SEEYOU ON THE WESTCOAST AND THE NEWALBUM IS AMAZING! INYOUR OPINION, WHATIS DIFFERENT WITHTHIS ONE COMPAREDTO THE PAST ALBUMS?

I think we've really movedpast the pigeon whole of'alternative rock' with thisone. There were no ruleswith the production and in-strumentation. We builtevery song from theground up instead of ap-proaching them with a for-mula. Very refreshing.

MUEN: WHO ALL WASINVOLVED IN THE PRO-DUCTION, AND DIDN'TTHIS LATEST PROJECTORIGINALLY STARTWITH INTERSCOPE, THESAME LABEL YOU'VEBEEN SIGNED WITHFOR YEARS? WHY DIDYOU LEAVE INTER-SCOPE?

We produced the albumwith Matt Radosevich. A

very talented young manwho would never give us"no" for an answer. If wehad an idea, he would lis-ten and go with it. He alsohad more musical skill andinstinct than producers inthe past. We wrote for along time, mainly becausewe knew we had so muchin us. Once we startedrecording, the sessionswere split in two, with aEuropean and U.S. tour inthe middle. This made fora long wait.

MUEN: HOW DID YOUCOME UP WITH THETITLE OF THE ALBUM,"THE PARIAH, THE PAR-ROT, THE DELUSION"?

Gavin coined it for the firstsong but we all thought itencompassed the entirerecord.

Pariah= religious/socialoutcast

Parrot= a follower, mim-icker, one of the flock

Delusion= a symptom ofbeing human at times

MUEN: I READ WHEREYOU DON'T ACTUALLYLIKE THE NAME OFYOUR BAND. SO JUSTOUT OF CURIOSITY,WHAT WOULD YOUCALL THE BAND IF ITWERE SOMEHOW EASYTO CHANGE?

We don't like the name.What would I name it? Noidea. Anything but ʻDredg.ʼ

MUEN: BEING THAT

YOUR MUSIC IS SO DI-VERSE, IT WOULD BEINTERESTING TO KNOWWHAT YOUR INSPIRA-TIONS ARE. WHO ARESOME ARTISTS THATHAVE INSPIRED YOU INTHE PAST, AND WHATMUSIC OUT THEREPRESENTLY, KEEPSYOUR INTEREST?

I think as four individuals,we have various inspira-tions and influences

MUEN: WHAT ARESOME OF THE UNIQUEINSTRUMENTS YOUHAVE USED ON THISLATEST ALBUM AND ONTHE TOUR AS WELL?

We used a lot of differentsounds on the record, but Idon't know how 'unique'they are. We just madesure the tones we cameup with sounded uniquefor the part and madeeach song stand alone.The keyboard sound onthe 'Stamps of Origin' isone of my favorites. It's aWurlitzer Electric Pianothat has been run througha myriad of effects andtape effects.

MUEN: ARE YOU GOINGTO TELL US HOW MARKGETS THAT AMAZINGGUITAR SOUND? OR ISTHERE ANY NEW AC-CESSORIES THATYOU'VE RECENTLY DIS-COVERED THAT YOUCAN SAY YOU LIKE?

Over using delays and re-verbs. In the studio I useda lot of old combo amps

like Magnatones. Lovethose things.

MUEN: WHAT ARE YOUUSING FOR STRINGS INTHE SONG, "BRUSH-STROKE - AN ELE-PHANT IN THE DELTAWAVES"? ALSO, WHO ISDOING THE BACKINGVOCALS?

Greg Ellis recorded Ham-mer Dulcimer on that onefor us. The vocals weredone by Azam Ali. Theywere in a group called Vasfor some time and we re-ally loved their sound.

MUEN: YOU ALSO HAVESOME GREAT PHOTOG-RAPHY. WHO DOES IT?AND BEING THATHAYES AND ROULETTEARE ARTISTS AS WELL,IS ANY OF THE ART ONTHE ALBUM COVERSOR POSTERS OF YOUROWN WORK?

We have used variousphotographers throughoutour career. Our newestpromo shots were done bya fellow San Franciscannamed Merkley???. Hehas a very unique and rec-ognizable style.

MUEN: DO YOU MISSTHE 90'S AT ALL? THEATMOSPHERE IN MUSICAT THAT TIME? ONETHING FOR SURE IS,DREDG HELPS BRING ITBACK TO LIFE! ONEREASON I ASK IS BE-CAUSE YOUR MUSICSORT OF REMINDS MEOF THE GREAT DI-VERSE BANDS THAT


WERE COMING OUT ATTHAT TIME…BANDSLIKE THE AFGHANWHIGS, TRAGICALLYHIP, OR WIDESPREADPANIC.

I just wish people boughtrecords like it was the ʻ90sagain.

MUEN: WHAT SORT OFSTAGE SHOW ARE YOUGOING WITH THIS TIMEAROUND? ARE YOU IN-CORPORATING ALOTOF ARTWORK LIKE YOU

DID ON PAST TOURS?

We have 3 backdropswhich incorporate thealbum art. We are limitedby budget to a minimalproduction.

MUEN: WHAT DO YOULIKE TO DO IN-BE-TWEEN SHOWS WHILEON TOUR? AND WHEREHAVE BEEN SOME OFYOUR FAVORITEPLACES TO TOUR ANDWHY?

Well...we have friends liv-ing in various places in theworld...so there alwaysseems to be someonearound. We love food anddrinks. Maybe the occa-sional museum.

MUEN: WHAT ARE YOURPLANS AFTER THETOUR?

Sleep and see family andfriends.

MUEN: IS THERE ANY-THING ELSE YOU WANT

TO ADD?

Thanks for the support.

MUEN: THANKS FORTHE INTERVIEW!


Dan Chandler (Vocals)Toronto, Canada

Myspace.com/evansblue


MUEN: HOW ARE YOU?

Iʼm doing really good.

MUEN: I FOUND THEMEANING BEHIND THENAME EVANS BLUE TOBE QUITE INTEREST-ING. SHARE IT WITHUS.

Obviously the name wasthere before I was, but itcomes from a medicalterm. Evans Blue is thedye that they shoot intoyour blood to measurethe plasma. I believe thatis where the name origi-nated from.

MUEN: YOU ARE RE-LEASING YOUR THIRDFULL LENGTH ALBUMON JUNE 23RD. THISONE WILL BE SELF TI-TLED AND IS THEFIRST ONE THAT YOUAPPEAR ON.

Right

MUEN: HOW LONGHAVE YOU BEEN WITHTHE BAND?

I started talking to themaround October andshortly after that I flew upto Toronto. It was aroundNovember that I was offi-cially in.

MUEN: HOW DID ITCOME TO BE THATYOU JOINED THEBAND?

A friend of mine told me

that they were looking fora new singer. I went totheir MySpace and sentthem a message askingthem how I go about get-ting looked at. They hit


EVANS BLUE

me back with a couple oftracks; I sang on themand sent them back. Theysent me the original trackthat I believe was justParker with guitar andthen I wrote to that oneand sent it back. Theyliked it and it just kind ofwent from there. I flew outthere and met the guys. Idid a live audition be-cause you want to meetthe people, obviously. Weimmediately becamefriends, it was really cool.

MUEN: SO YOU GUYSJUST CLICKED RIGHTOFF THE BAT THEN?

Yeah, it couldnʼt havegone any better actually.

MUEN: WERE YOU AFAN OF THE BANDPRIOR TO THE AUDI-TION?

Yeah I was, actually. I did-nʼt know all of their stuff,but I knew the songs thatthey had out. Evans Bluehas a pretty good namearound St. Louis whereIʼm from. A lot of myfriends were big fans ofthem so the name was al-ways around. When theopportunity came aroundI wanted to jump all overit.

MUEN: WERE YOU INANY BANDS PRIOR TOEVANS BLUE?

I was in a band calledSwitch 30 in St. Louis.We were a local band

and I was in it for aboutfive years. We moved outto L.A. for about a yearand tried our best outthere. We obviously didthe musician strugglingkind of situation. We allcame back with somegreat experiences and weall grew as musicians.They are all great friendsof mine still, but we kindof all went our own ways.I really got into the writingpart of it and looked intowriting for other artists.This opportunity cameand I had to jump back onthat one.

MUEN: IʼM GLAD YOUDID. DOES THE BANDSTILL LIVE INCANADA?

They are still in Canada,Iʼm in St. Louis andHoward is in Houston. Alot of times we wonderabout the writing situa-tion, like how do wewrite? What will happenis someone will come upwith an idea, whether itʼsmusically, and I will writeto them. We all have ProTools and we can manip-ulate songs and do whatwe need to do. I will sendthem back and it seemsto come together waybetter than it sounds likeit would. Every time Iʼmout there I sit down withthem and we go throughdifferent riffs. It helps tosit down with them, but itis really smooth actually.

MUEN: WELL WITH

TECHNOLOGY TODAYTHERE ARE A LOT OFTHINGS THAT AREPOSSIBLE, BUT WHENIT COMES TO RE-HEARSAL THEN IWOULD ASSUME YOUWOULD ALL HAVE TOBE TOGETHER.

Yeah, definitely.

MUEN: DO YOU THINKTHERE WILL COME ATIME WHEN YOU ALLHAVE TO MOVECLOSER TOGETHER?

I donʼt think so, as of rightnow, we have showscoming up so I will go upa week early and go toour rehearsal space andpractice non-stop. Every-body can keep theirchops up when we arenot together, but when weget together that is whenwe have to bear downand spend as much timerehearsing to make surewe are as tight as possi-ble. As far as living to-gether, I guess itʼspossible, but itʼs not reallyin the plan right now.

MUEN: HOW INVOLVEDWERE YOU IN THEWRITING PROCESS OFTHIS ALBUM?

I write the melody and thelyrics and in a couple ofsituations I write the gui-tar lines. Most of the timeit is a group effort wherewe all have the sametastes so if one of themwrites something itʼs

going to be that everyonelikes it.

MUEN: WELL IʼMHAPPY THAT THETRANSITION WENTSMOOTHLY FOR YOUGUYS. I THINK YOUGUYS ARE A GREATBAND AND IʼM HAPPYTO SEE A NEW ALBUMCOME OUT.

Thank you very much, Iʼmhappy to be a part of thisone.

MUEN: ARE ALL OFTHE SONGS ON THISALBUM NEW MATE-RIAL OR ARE SOME OFTHEM SONGS THATWERE WRITTEN WHENKEVIN WAS STILL THESINGER?

The songs on this albumare all new material. Ihave written the lyricsand melodies to everysong and they are comingup with new guitar tracksand riffs all the time.Everything is pretty fresh.

MUEN: THE BAND HASUSED THE SAME PRO-DUCER FOR ALLTHREE ALBUMS, AGENTLEMAN BY THENAME OF TREVORKUSTIAK. HOW DIDYOU LIKE WORKINGWITH HIM?

He is an awesome guy.When I first met him heseemed to be one ofthose guys you can be-come immediate friends


with. When you work withsomeone enough on adaily basis you will be-come friends with them.He is easy to get alongwith and he is openminded. He listens andgives awesome direction.He is a great producerand a great friend.

MUEN: IS THIS THEFIRST CD YOU HAVEPUT OUT PERSONALLYOR DID YOU PUT ONEOUT WITH YOUR PRE-VIOUS BAND?

In the band prior to thisone we did do a couple ofEPʼs, but they never wentinto distribution. Theywere just for live shows.

MUEN: HOW MANYSONGS ARE ON THISONE?

There are eleven songsand we may have a cou-ple bonus tracks. We arenot exactly sure how weare going to do that yet,but that is what we aretalking about.

MUEN: IS “SICK OF IT”THE ONLY SONG YOUWILL BE RELEASINGUNTIL THE RECORDDROPS OR WILL YOUBE RELEASING MOREGRADUALLY?

What I think is happeningis we are going to have acouple more songs thatwe will put out on ITunesand on the MySpacepage in the next week.

We will get some moresongs out there and getthe fans some more stuff.

MUEN: TELL US WHATTHE SONG “SICK OFIT” IS ABOUT.

I think the song can easilygo a bunch of different di-rections. It can be about arelationship between agirl and a guy or a friend-ship relationship whereyou are tired of dealingwith peopleʼs stuff. Nomatter how much youwant to believe them andtrust them it just seemslike they could easily letyou down or you could betaken advantage of. Itʼsconfusing kindness forweakness a lot of times.

MUEN: ARE YOUGOING TO BE FILMINGA VIDEO FOR IT?

We are talking about that,but it is in the really earlystages for us right now.We are looking at a cou-ple ideas for it, but we re-ally donʼt know which oneis going to happen.

MUEN: WHAT IS YOURFAVORITE SONG ONTHE ALBUM?

My favorite song rightnow would have to be asong called “Bulletproof.”Itʼs just because it goesso many ways. Itʼs got akiller introduction andgood, meaningful lyrics toit. It has a powerful cho-rus and itʼs up and down.

Itʼs really just all over theplace.

MUEN: I KNOW YOUHAVENʼT TOUREDWITH THE BAND YET,BUT HAVE YOU DONEANY SHOWS WITHTHEM?

No, not yet, we have ahandful of dates startingon April 29th in Ohio. Itwill be my first show onstage with those guys.

MUEN: ARE YOUGOING TO BE HEAD-ING OUT SOON TOSUPPORT THE NEWRELEASE?

Iʼm hoping it is this sum-mer. We are hoping forJune or even sooner. Itshould be anytime, weare adding dates con-stantly. Hopefully, we canbuild up a busy schedulefor the summer and seehow it goes from there.

MUEN: WHAT AREYOUR PLANS FOR THERELEASE OF THEALBUM?

We want to have a CD re-lease show of some sort.We are not sure wherewe are going to have it.Thereʼs talk of having ithere in St. Louis ormaybe even Houston. Wedefinitely want to comeout with a bang in some-oneʼs hometown.

MUEN: WHAT ARE YOULOOKING FORWARD

TO THE MOST ABOUTGOING OUT ON TOUR?

I look forward to it be-cause obviously it will bemy job. To be able to playmusic every night onstage as an artist is prettymuch what itʼs all aboutreally. I think itʼs going tobe great. I couldnʼt ask foranything better than that.Touring, seeing differentplaces and being able tomeet our fans is what Iʼmlooking forward to.

MUEN: WHO ARESOME OF THE BANDSYOU WOULD MOSTLIKE TO GO ON TOURWITH?

I know the guys havetoured with a lot of bandsthat I like, such as ThreeDays Grace, Seether andBreaking Benjamin. I loveIncubus, I donʼt know howthat would fit, but Iʼd workit out. I love HURT and aton of bands. I couldnʼtreally complain aboutgoing out with anybodyright now.

MUEN: WHO ARE YOULISTENING TO THESEDAYS?

I have been listening to alot of Nonpoint lately. Iʼma really big fan of theirs. Idonʼt think they are outthere as much as I thinkthey should be, but I thinkthey are a really good,strong band. Iʼve been lis-tening to HURT; I think In-cubus is still my all time


favorite.

MUEN: DO YOU PLAYANY INSTRUMENTS?

I play a little bit of every-thing, but I would say gui-tar would be myinstrument. It would by nomeans be a lead guitarist,but I can play pretty muchhow I write. I write on gui-tar.

MUEN: DO YOU GUYSHAVE A WEBSITE?

I think we just have theMySpace up right now.

MUEN: A LOT OFBANDS ONLY HAVEMYSPACE PAGESNOW.

Right, it seems like theonly way to go right now.MUEN: DO YOU GUYSANSWER EMAILS THATTHE FANS SEND?

Yes, we try to keep intouch with everybody. Weare getting a lot of greatsupport and I want every-one to know that Iʼmthankful for that.

MUEN: IʼD LIKE TOTHANK YOU FOR THEINTERVIEW. IT WASGREAT TALKING WITHYOU.

It was great talking withyou too.

MUEN: THANK YOU,BEFORE I LET YOU GOIS THERE ANYTHING


YOU WOULD LIKE TOADD THAT I MAY HAVEFORGOTTEN?

Keep your ears out forthis album. I think peopleare going to be in for agood surprise. I think thisalbum is really going todo something.

JET BLACK STARE(Island Records)Myspace.com/jetblack-stareband

Dan Swinimer(Drums)Vancouver, Canada


MUEN: HI DAN THANKSSO MUCH FOR JOININGME TODAY.

Anytime, thanks for havingme.

MUEN: NO PROBLEM,ARE YOU AT HOME INCANADA TODAY?

I am, yes.

MUEN: I WANT YOU TOKNOW THAT I THINKCANADIAN BANDS

RULE!

Aww! Thank you.

MUEN: SOME OF MY FA-VORITE PEOPLE AREFROM THERE.

Mine too.

MUEN: HOW ARETHINGS GOING WITH

THE BAND?

Things are actually reallyexciting for us right now. Iwould probably say that fora lot of bands, writing isone of the most excitingtimes and that is what weare doing right now. Wehave been on a little breakfrom the road so we justdecided to get things hap-


pening on some new ma-terial. So far, I canʼt sayenough about the results,itʼs really exciting for usright now.

MUEN: HOW LONGHAVE YOU BEEN TO-GETHER NOW?

Jet Black Stare is a reallybizarre story. The bandstarted with just two writ-ers, which was Rod oursinger and another Van-couver writer named JeffJohnson. They wrote acouple of songs and werepretty well connected inthe Vancouver scene.There is a pretty big scenehere from an industrystandpoint. One of theirconnections was a guynamed Chief, who is nowour manager. He wasmanaging for Nickelbackat the time and had justgotten into the full man-agement side. His firstproject was a band namedHinder, which became re-ally successful and soChief started to sign a fewother bands on the man-agement side. We wereone of those bands andbased on those two songswe got a deal with Is-land/Def Jam. Iʼve knownRod for a long timethrough the Vancouvermusic scene and we havebeen good friends. Heasked me to get involvedjust as the shoppingprocess was going on andit was a great opportunityfor me to involve myselfwith a good friend andsomeone I had a lot of re-spect for talent wise. There

was another guy by thename of Shane Hayeswho was a good friend ofRodʼs who came on boardafter the shoppingprocess. That was theoriginal version of JetBlack Stare; it was basi-cally the three of us. Thenwe got the deal and westarted bringing in peopleand the band was formedin that way. The originalsongs of Jet Black Starestarted about two yearsago now and we havebeen touring now for a lit-tle over a year. Itʼs a hardstory to say in a short pe-riod of time. Itʼs a bizarresituation; weʼve all playedmusic and toured in otherbands. Jet Black Starewas a writing project thatjust kind of out of nowheregained a lot of attention.

MUEN: IT HAS BEEN AL-MOST A YEAR SINCETHE RELEASE OF YOURDEBUT ALBUM IN THISLIFE. WHAT ARE SOMEOF THE THINGS THATHAVE HAPPENED SINCEITS RELEASE?

Yeah, itʼs probably beenthe single most exciting,bizarre and crazy year inmy life. Once things starthappening, they happen ina big way. Being on the in-dependent side for theyears that I was, you hearstories of what itʼs likewhen something actuallyfinally happens. You workand work and work withlimited success, but peo-ple always say that whenthings happen they hap-pen fast. It really did sur-

prise me how there reallyis this snowball effect thatgoes on. That could not betruer in our case. Onemonth I was touringCanada with an independ-ent band I was playingwith at the time. We wereplaying small clubs anddoing what we do. Canadais a massive country with-out a lot of cities in it so itʼsa lot of driving betweenshows. Itʼs a real grind, es-pecially in the winter. Youare driving through moun-tains and blizzards. I liter-ally did that tour and I washome for a month and allof a sudden Iʼm in the stu-dio recording Jet BlackStareʼs record, Iʼm signedto a major label and every-thing is catered. We weredoing interviews just as wewere starting to record ourrecord. We had interviewrequests because therewas a buzz surroundingthe band right from the getgo.

MUEN: YOUR MUSICWAS FEATURED ON THESHOW “SONS OF ANAR-CHY.”

Yeah, that was very excit-ing for us. We have oneAmerican in the band.That show isnʼt as easilyavailable up here as it is inthe U.S. We were familiarwith the show because wehad spent so much time inthe U.S. but our Americanguitar player Dave wasvery excited about it. Wewere all excited about it,but he has been a fan ofthat show for quite sometime.

MUEN: WASNʼT ONE OFYOUR SONGS FEA-TURED AT THE SUPERBOWL?

Yeah, “Ready to Roll” ourfirst single seems to havefound a home in sportsarenas everywhere. Thenature of the song is suchan energetic rock songthat a lot of sports teamshave utilized it in all sortsof applications for theirsports teams. At the SuperBowl it was played just be-fore the National Anthemto start the game. I thinkthere are three NHL teamsthat use it as they skateonto the ice. Currently, De-troit Redwings are using itstill as we speak in theplayoffs. Of course, we areCanadians so we are re-ally big hockey fans. It wasthe theme song for theWWE Summer Slams andincluded on the Nascar2009 Xbox video games.NBC has used it for a cou-ple of athlete profiles forthe Olympics. It just seemsto be the energy of thesong. It is kind of perfectfor sports type atmos-pheres.

MUEN: THAT IS KIND OFA STEREOTYPE THAT IFYOU ARE FROMCANADA YOU MUSTLIKE HOCKEY.

We wear that stereotypewell. We are all big hockeyfans up here, what can Isay?

MUEN: NOW YOU HAVETWO SINGLES FROMTHE ALBUM, THE LAT-


EST BEING “IN THISLIFE” RIGHT?

Yes.

MUEN: WHAT WAS THEINSPIRATION BEHINDTHE SONG “IN THISLIFE?”

It was inspired by ourtroops. Specifically thisstory was inspired by Rodwho was watching thenews. If you know Rod heinternalizes other peopleʼspain like no one Iʼve evermet. If you have had thechance to meet Rod, hecanʼt have just a surface,small talk type of conver-sation. He is so genuinelyinterested in what otherpeoples lives are like andwhat they go through. Hewould be doing this inter-view right now except forthe fact that he is on aplane right now. If he wasdoing the interview youwould have a tough timetalking about him becausehe would be asking morequestions about you thanyou would about him. Hereally has a special heart.He was in the U.S, at thetime and he was watchinga feature on the troopsand the war. The perspec-tive was more on the fami-lies at home because it isobvious that the troopsthat are fighting have a lotof courage and devotion toa cause. People seem tooverlook what the familiesare going through and theamount of courage andfear they go through won-dering if their family mem-ber is going to make it

back. This news piece thatRod was watching waskind of tackling it from bothsides. I think Rod just hadsuch an explosion of emo-tion at that time. Hestarted writing down whathe was feeling andmelodies started cominginto his head. That is theinspiration for the song, itʼsrelated to that momentwhen he watched thenews story that they didabout the troops and theirfamilies.

MUEN: ITʼS A BEAUTI-FUL SONG AND THEVIDEO IS SO AWESOME!I LOVE ALL OF THE OLDFOOTAGE, WHERE DIDYOU FIND IT?

We have to thank ourvideo producers for that.We talked a lot about thekind of footage we woulduse and they had sug-gested using a lot of olderstyle footage from WorldWar I and II. We are musi-cians, we donʼt makevideos so we put our faithin our video productionteam and they were fan-tastic. When you watchRod sing the song I reallyfeel that you cannot mis-take his passion for thetopic. The old footage hada texture to it that suitedthe song.

MUEN: ITʼS BEAUTIFULAND I LOVE THE STAIR-CASE.

Yeah, that building is in-credible. Itʼs been used fora ton of movie and videoshoots. It seems like it is

permanently under con-struction. That is one ofthe things that makes itlook so different and origi-nal when you see it onscreen. They do haveplans to finish it and theydo have plans for what itʼsgoing to be. Iʼm surprisedthat they even want to fin-ish it because of theamount of money it gener-ates.

MUEN: YOU HAVETOURED WITH A LOT OFMY FAVORITE BANDS.WHICH OF THE TOURSWAS YOUR BIGGESTCHALLENGE AND DOYOU ENJOY LIFE ONTHE ROAD?

We definitely enjoy life onthe road, not to say itʼs aneasy life, but itʼs exactlywhat we have alwaysworked for which is to beable to make a living at itand not have to save ourmoney for long stretchesof time to be able to affordto go on the road. Thebiggest challenge cameright off the bat becausewe did a really short Cana-dian tour. The band hadnot played a show beforeand our agents had a tonof big shows and toursbooked. We told our agentto put us on the road withsome really low key showsso that we can make of allof our mistakes without toomany people watching. Wedid that and got the chem-istry together and then thevery first tour we didstarted in Texas which wasas far South as you cango. Our first experience on

the road was drivingstraight with no stops fromVancouver to Texas. It tookus 60-65 hours. We endedup getting there about fourhours before our soundcheck. We got there andwent to a hotel for a cou-ple hours to try and get alittle sleep in 1,000 de-grees because it was sum-mertime. The tour was withSaving Abel, we got there,set up and played our firstshow. That started a stringof nine shows in ninenights with all kinds of longdrives in between. Thatwas nothing that we hadexperienced. We touredCanada as an independ-ent band. You are lucky toget four shows in a week.We were like “Wow! This iswhat we wanted all thattime.” Once you get usedto it, if you have too manydays off you donʼt knowwhat to do with them. Itwas particularly hard forRod, if you are singing thatmuch, we have almost hadto put a gag on him aftershows. He just wants to goout, meet and talk to peo-ple for hours. As a singer,you cannot do that, espe-cially if you are on tour.

MUEN: YOU GUYS GETA LOT OF RADIO PLAY.WOULD YOU GUYSCREDIT SOME OF THATTO THE FANS CALLINGIN AND REQUESTINGSONGS?

We always talk to themusic and program direc-tors at stations when weare in certain markets. Wewill come in, do interviews


and do some acousticstuff. We always love tohear the program directorstalk about the people thatcall in for us. I know it iskind of a cliché thing tosay but we really believethat we have the best fansin the world. Everywherewe go we get a commentfrom the program directorsthat tell us people donʼtjust call in, they call in andthey are so passionateabout getting us played. Iguess this is a good op-portunity for me to saythanks because it meansthe world to us that peopleare cheering for us somuch. I love being able toheap the praise onto thefans of Jet Black Stare be-cause they have made ahuge impact on what wehave been able to accom-plish so far.

MUEN: WHAT ARE YOULISTENING TO THESEDAYS?

Thatʼs a good question.When Iʼm not touring andplaying in bands I run astudio here in Vancouver.Usually, what Iʼm listeningto is whatever band Iʼmworking on at that mo-ment. Iʼm listening to themnon-stop coming up withparts and melody lines.That is usually taking up90% of what I listen to.That being said, the onerecord I cannot seem topull out of my recordplayer is the Shinedownrecord. I absolutely lovethat record front to back.They are finally getting ex-actly what they deserve,which is their CD is flying

off the shelves. Itʼs one ofthe most passionate, wellwritten records. Brent as asinger is just incredibleand they are amazingguys. We have toured withsome amazing bands andtheyʼve all treated us sowell. Shinedown treated usfantastic and being able tosee them perform on anightly basis was reallyspecial for us. It startedwith us having the recordin the tour vehicle and lis-tening to it all the time. Icant stop listening to it, it isalmost like an obsession.

MUEN: WHAT ARE YOURPLANS FOR THE RESTOF THE YEAR?

We will continue writinguntil about mid July whenwe go back out on theroad. This has been a re-ally long break for us rightnow. We are happy to bewriting, but at the sametime we are anxious to getback on the road. Iʼmguessing we will be touringnon stop for the rest of2009 and much of 2010.We are hoping be the timewe are done touring thisrecord will have the nextrecord pretty much written.We travel with a small protools so that any ideas thatwe get we can get themdown. We have recordeddemos in hotel rooms sowe are getting good atbeing very efficient in thatway. It is going to bemostly touring and writing.

MUEN: THAT SOUNDSGREAT, I CANʼT WAITUNTIL YOU COMETHROUGH HERE.

It wonʼt be long.

MUEN: IʼD LIKE TOTHANK YOU FOR THEINTERVIEW. IT WASAWESOME TALKINGWITH YOU. BEFORE ILET YOU GO IS THEREANYTHING I MAY HAVEFORGOTTEN?You know Shauna; I thinkyou covered all the bases.It was great chatting with

you.

MUEN: IT WAS GREATCHATTING WITH YOUTOO!

LETHARGYUnited Kingdom

Update by G. Cataline

Lethargy were signed byA&R legends, Derek Oliverand Dante Bonutto, to theirlabel, Grind That Axe. Onthe 14th of October 2006,Lethargy ventured toMwnci Studios in theforests of west Wales forthree weeks to record theirnew album. At the produc-tion helm was legendaryproducer David Prater)whose resume includessuch artists as Dream The-ater and Firehouse. Praterthen went onto mix thealbum with the assistanceof Javier Bassino in Santi-ago, Chile, South America.The product of this record-ing session, “Purification”is the bands first officialgeneral release which hastaken what seems like for-ever to get out! But Itʼshere now! Donʼt miss outon one of the best rockbands out of the UK today!

MUEN: TELL US ABOUTTHE NEW ALBUM, “PU-RIFICATION”… WHEREWAS IT RECORDED,AND HOW DID YOU GETDAVID PRATER (DREAMTHEATER, FIREHOUSE)TO PRODUCE IT?

PHIL: David Prater wasour first choice as pro-ducer but we neverthought weʼd get him fromthe US to make our first of-ficial album. We knewDerek Oliver and DavidPrater had worked to-gether on two Dream The-ater albums (Images &Words, A Change of Sea-sons), so at least the con-nection was there. We gotin contact with several pro-ducers, some we couldnʼtget for this or that reasonand some we didnʼt agreeon with the label. Derekcalled us one day and saidDavid Prater loved ʻRoad

Out Of Nowhereʼ andwanted to come over tothe UK to do our nextalbum. So we were in reg-ular contact with Davidfrom that point and hecame to Wales in October2006 and spent a monthwith us recording the CDin Mwnci Studios, WestWales. He later went backto mix it with JavierBassino in in a studio inChile that he was fond of.They finished in December2006 and sent it back over.

ANDY: It was great to workwith a producer such asDavid. It was our first ex-perience of ever workingwith a producer and it wasa real eye-opener. Muchwas learned in the monthwe spent with Prater andwill put us in good steadwhen constructing futuresongs.

MARC: David Prater madeseveral phone calls to usin Wales and seemed asexcited as us to work onthis project. David was agreat help and a real inspi-ration in the studio andtook the overall sound ofthe record far past our ex-pectations of how it couldsound, crafting all the as-pects and dynamics wedesired and then some!

GAZ: This album is thefirst one I have everrecorded whereas theother boys have had quitea few experiences in arecording studio. To havesuch a big producer asDavid for this album wasgreat as I learnt a tremen-dous amount about actu-ally recording an albumand also how to approachdrumming in many differ-ent ways as David is adrummer himself.


Lazarus A.D.By Jeanne Thomas (JET)Myspace.com/Jetxx

MUEN: HOW ARE YOUDOING ALEX?

Good good! I have aslight hangover, but other

than that I am doing fine.

MUEN: YOUR PREVI-OUSLY RECORDED CD"ONSLAUGHT" HASBEEN REMIXED BYJAMES MURPHY. HOWHAS HE IMPROVEDTHE OVERALL QUAL-ITY OF THE CD IN ITS

RELEASED FORM THISTIME AROUND?

A lot of people have theoriginal and they love thisnew version. The originalwas actually mastered byJames as well though.Everyone loved the origi-nal one, but when we got

the remixed back it waslike 10 times better, justamazing. Itʼs extremely inyour face

MUEN: ARE YOU EX-CITED TO HAVE THISRELEASED ON METALBLADE?



Yes. Itʼs nice to have alabel that supports youand stands behind you.

MUEN: I HAVE READSOME OF THE RE-VIEWS ON "ON-SLAUGHT" AND I HEAREVERYTHING FROM "ITMAKES ME WANNASQUEEZE THECHARMIN" TO "FUCK-ING SICK AS FUCK" DOYOU THINK THERE IS AGOOD MARKET FORTODAYʼS THRASHBANDS?

Hahaha. That's a littleridiculous, Itʼs getting big-ger... itʼs hard to say thatitʼs a good market now.Metal has always been alittle here and there andthrash hasn't beenaround for awhile. Rightnow there's a lot ofemerging thrash bandslike Warbringer and thelike. So there's a lot ofgood stuff coming outnow. Itʼs good to see aresurgence of this stuff.

MUEN: DO YOU DRAWANY INSPIRATIONFROM SOME OF THEOLD SCHOOL THRASHBANDS?

Definitely I would have tosay our main influencesor some of our top oneswould be Metallica, Testa-ment, Slayer and Pan-tera.

MUEN: YOU WEREORIGINALLY KNOWNAS JUST LAZARUS.

WAS THERE SOMESPECIAL REASON WHYYOU LATER WENT ONTO ADD THE A.D.? It was a legal issue.There was another bandout there that had thename and we had askedthem if we could use it orbuy it and their reactionwas a letter to each of ussaying if we use it theywill see us in court. It waspretty bad - we justwanted a yes or a no notall that trouble.

MUEN: LAZARUS A.D.SOUNDS MORE BIBLI-CAL.

It does, but it fits though.People hear the nameand they think its pretty

cool. And the big thing ismost people still refer tous as just Lazarus so re-alistically the A.D. wasthrown in there, but peo-ple still look at us asLazarus ya know.

MUEN: IS THE NAMECHRISTIAN INSPIRED?

I can't say that any of usare Christians really. HaDefinitely not!

MUEN: DID YOU ALLGROW UP IN WISCON-SIN?

Yeah for the most part. Icurrently live in Illinois,but its only like a halfhour south of there, so Ivisit quite often. We have

known eachother for along time and we playedin local bands together.We knew eachotherthrough the local scene,so when we got togetherit really worked good, be-cause we knew what weall liked and what wewere dealing with.

MUEN: WHAT DIDYOUR PARENTS THINKOF THE FACT THATYOU ALL WANTED TOBE MUSICIANS IN ATHRASH BAND IN-STEAD OF CHEESEMAKERS? DO THEYSUPPORT YOU?

Ya know what, I have tosay that my parents actu-ally helped me personally

Photo by Shauna OʼDonnell

get into music. I was lis-tening to music when Iwas like 2 years old. Iwould watch old TomPetty videos and I wouldlike dance around. Andbasically imitate him andwant to be that. And as Igot older Metallica turnedme on to the thrash. AndIʼve been doing that eversince, so my parentswere a big influence. AndDan's dad also. He sup-ports us 100%. All of ourfamilies do. All our fami-lies are extremely cool.They all support us andfund us with some of ourprojects.

MUEN: SO ARE ANY OFYOU PROFESSIONALLYTRAINED IN MUSIC?

Honestly no. I did someaudio engineeringclasses in college as anelective, but that reallyhad nothing to do with myplaying. I never wasschooled in music. Danactually took lessons.That's why heʼs so good.He would go to his les-sons and spend the restof the day playing hisguitar. We don't reallyhave the time to do thatnow. So that's basicallyit, everyone is prettymuch self-taught.

MUEN: HAVE YOUEVER PLAYED IN ABAND OF ANOTHERGENRE?

No, I would have to say ithas always been metal.

Maybe a little Swedishdeath metal stuff.

MUEN: AS FAR AS THENEW CD GOES, HOWDO YOU GO ABOUTCHOOSING WHATSONGS GO ON IT, ORIS THAT THE PRODUC-ERS JOB?

Actually we had alreadydone all the songs andwe decided to put all ofthem on the cd.

MUEN: WHO DECIDESTHE SINGLES FORYOU, OR WHAT SONGSGET SENT TO RADIO?

Basically everybody hasa say in it. The label lis-tens to it and tells us“hey this song or thatsong can be a single.”With this one we had 3 ofthem on the board. Weended up going with thesong we did, because itwas basically a straightup thrash song. It has allthe qualities of goodthrash. I think we will bepushing another singlesoon.

MUEN: SO ARE YOUWRITING ANOTHER CDNOW?

No, we are just going toput another single outand get a video done.Right now we are just rid-ing with what we haveand we are touring likecrazy. No means torecord anything new rightnow.

MUEN: WHEN DO YOUGET A BREAK FROMTOURING?

We get a break soon andthen we tour with BisonB.C. and Woe OfTyrants. A 3 week tour - abig one through the US.We might have Augustoff, we don't know yet. Ithink it will be lots of tourson the road for quitesome time. Itʼs greatpromotion and you makea lot of money from themerch on tours. We justgot off a tour with AmonAmarth and Skeleton-witch, and their crowdalso bought our merch.

MUEN: WHO DOESMOST OF THE WRIT-ING?

We all do collectively. Weall go out and write ourpieces. When we get to-gether we bring it all tothe table and we mess around with it, or throw itthe hell out. We are notafraid to criticize ea-chother.

MUEN: WELL THAT'SGOOD YOU CAN DOTHAT WITHOUTPUNCHING EA-CHOTHER OUT.

Well its been close attimes. But we can get to-gether and do it collec-tively.

MUEN: SO WHENYOU'RE RICH ANDMORE FAMOUS, WHAT

DO YOU WANT TO DOWITH YOUR LIFE?

The same thing that I amdoing now. I really don'tcare to make tons ofmoney. Well I guess itwould be great to buy my-self a house and a car.A studio maybe? I wouldlove one of those! Like Isaid, I took that class incollege and I would loveto be able to utilize allthat in my own studio. Itwould be awesome. But Ireally don't want to besome big huge famousguy.

MUEN: IS BEING OUTON TOUR WITH ALLTHESE BANDS LIKE ADREAM COME TRUE?

Oh for sure for sure.When we were told thatwe were going to playwith Testament, my mindwas lost. These guyswere a huge influence onme. I was like “what isgoing on?” Playing withthem every night andhanging out with them isa bit surreal.

MUEN: DO YOU STILLGET STAR STRUCK?

No, not any more now.People come up to meand say “OMG Its apleasure meeting you!,”so itʼs weird, but I am notreally star struck any-more. I know where itʼscoming from ʻcause I feltthat way as a kid meetingbands. Now itʼs cool


meeting people. But Iʼdrather just sit around andshoot the shit.

MUEN: SO WHO DOESTHE ART FOR YOURMERCHANDISE?

We get to pick the artistsourselves. I actually dosome of the work myself.We have a T-shirt outnow that has a snake onit. I drew that and I have afew more designs on thetable now that we willprobably use. And wehave some friends thatdo a lot of t-shirt designs.If we need help, we justsay hey we need somehelp with this, and peo-ple send us stuff. We ei-ther use it or not. Itʼs cool

MUEN: WHEN YOU AREON STAGE, WHATʼSYOUR FAVORITE SONGTO PLAY?

Itʼs hard to say, becausewhen we wrote the albumeverything was basicallya good song. So itʼs apleasure to come out onstage and play them all.Actually there is a newone if you come out tosee us you can hear it.There's no name for ityet. I mean we been rid-ing on the old ones forlike 3 years now, so thenew one is fresher andreally fun to play becauseof that.

MUEN: THIS SONG HASNO TITLE?

Heh yeah itʼs true there'sno title. The no namesong. We don't even an-nounce it, we just go fromone song into it. Itʼsfunny! You can seeeveryone singing all thesongs and then all of asudden we play this oneand they are all like notsinging and like hey thismust be a new one. ILove doing this, itʼs agreat time and I wouldn'ttrade this for the world.

MUEN: HAVE YOUEVER RUN INTO ANYCONTROVERSY WITHANY OF YOUR MUSIC,OR ART, OR ANY-THING LIKE THAT?

Um no not necessarily.We have not, which is aplus honestly. Like I said,we are fairly new and wedon't really want anythinggoing off track.

MUEN: I THINK YOU'REPRETTY SAFE WITH ANAME LIKE LAZARUSA.D., LOL... WHAT AREYOUR VIEWS ON CEN-SORSHIP?

As far as art on the coveryou have to take that intoaffect. You have to re-member there will be alotof younger people lookingat that cover. Now a daysitʼs a much youngermetal crowd. To a certainextent you have to kindawatch it. You don't wantto corrupt these kids righttoo early in the game.

MUEN: SO IS THATWHAT YOU THINK RE-ALLY? DO YOU THINKCONTROVERSIALLYRICS OR ART COR-RUPTS THESE KIDS?

I think there are a lot ofkids who know whatʼsgoing on out there, but Ithink there might be somethat don't. So itʼs hard tosay.

MUEN: SO MUSIC IS ABIG INFLUENCE?

Oh definitely! People ingeneral for sure. I thinkpeople listen to it andmake it a very big part oftheir lives.

MUEN: LIKE WHENTHAT WHOLE THINGABOUT JOHNNYKILLING HIMSELFOVER A PRIESTSONG?

Well I wouldn't say that.That's pushing it. If some-one does that, then theyhave issues before listen-ing to this music for sure.

MUEN: AS FAR ASPROMOTION AND ALLTHAT, HOW VIABLE DOYOU THINK THE IN-TERNET IS?

Oh itʼs huge. Its a mas-sive network. Myspaceis a huge networking toolfor sure. Everyone isusing it. A huge thing forpromotion and marketingfor sure.

MUEN: DO YOU RUNYOUR OWN MYSPACEOR DOES SOMEONEELSE DO IT?

We and our managerboth do it.

MUEN: HAVE YOUSEEN ANYONE WITH ATATTOO OF YOURBAND YET?

Not yet. We are not thatintense yet. We actuallyhave a friend that I metthrough the band who isgetting one soon, so thatwill be pretty cool. If any-body is that into my musicitʼs cool with me. I don'thave the band tat on mebecause I think it is kindof a curse.

MUEN: IN CLOSING ISTHERE ANYTHINGELSE YOU WOULDLIKE TO ADD? ANY-THING YOU WANT TOSAY TO YOUR FANS?

Listen to good music.Come to the shows.Enjoy some thrash.

MUEN: OK GUYSTHANK YOU VERYMUCH FOR TAKINGTHE TIME OUT TO DOTHIS FOR US:) WEWILL BE KEEPING OUREYES AND EARS ONYOU.


TThhee RRoocckk nn'' RRoollllBBrraawwll ooff DDaayybbrreeaakk EEnnddssVVSS.. II AAMM GGhhoossttBy: Natalie Perez

It's a night for rock n roll!According to the entiremusical line-up of tonight'sevent taking place at theKnitting Factory in Holly-wood, California. First upis Los Angeles' very ownhard rock heavy metalsensation DAYBREAKENDS dishing out a 30minute set list of 9-tunes tobang your head too; mix-ing old "Perfect Tragedy"with a new "A Self Un-seen," gettingthe crowdinto highgear. Fromjumping upand down tothe pulse ofthe rhythm tobanging your headjust to keep up withthe rest of the crowd,everyone here was en-tertained! Concludingthis night in Hollywoodwas another Los Ange-les based act from Long

Beach known as I AMGHOST. Frontman,Steven Juliano formed theband in 2004 leading themfrom numerous magazinecovers to the music charts,I AM GHOST have han-dled all the press and

media that have beenthrown at them and whatelse can they do, but playthe music they've created.In doing so, they played an

hour long set con-sisting of oldand newtunes from

all their

albums. Half way throughtheir set, Steven shouts “Idonʼt care what type ofmusic you listen to -whether itʼd be punk,grunge, reggae, hip-hop orheavy metal... we playrock music and we don'tbelong to a music scene.”The crowd shouted withagreement as the bandcontinued to rock and rollthe rest of their set con-sisting of "Civil War andIsolation Thirst," "OurFriend Lazarus Sleeps,""Saddest Story NeverTold," "Those WeLeave Behind,""Bone Garden," toa much older tuneoff "We Are Al-ways Searching,"(2005) EP entitled"Pretty PeopleNever Lie, Vam-pires Really

Never Die,"which

was

Photos byNatalie Perez

played as their final encorefor the night. Throughoutthe set, the crowd inter-acted in every way possi-ble from jumping in pace topushing and shoving oneanother and screamingtheir hearts out. I AMGHOST put on an enter-taining show thatʼs hard toimagine unless youʼveseen them in person. Theenergy is strong and fun...it brings out the inner beinghidden inside of you... theone that says "let me outto live my life!"

LIVE REVIEWS MUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

sing it one more time Iʼllput a bullet in my head.”The Dreaming were attheir best as the crowdwatched in amazement,cheering for their new be-ginning which will come topass soon.

THEDREAMINGLive At The RoxyBy: Natalie Perez

The night is cold with acomforting warmth fillingthe air, and thecrowd waiting insidegrows impatient.Here we are at TheRoxy, one of themany clubs that linethe famous SunsetStrip located in Hol-lywood, Californiawhere all the fun andexcitement occurs.Tonight is a night ofspecialties, becausethis night is the lasttime we will be see-ing rock sensationTHE DREAMING forawhile, since theywill be working onnew material for ourlistening ears toenjoy. The Dream-ing combine a rawintensity of energy intheir performance,displaying hypertonic mat-ter within a 35 minute set.Playing loud and clear,their greats, such as “Deadto Me,” “Sticks andStones,” "Bullet," "Ugly(Beautiful)," "Let it Burn,""Disconnected," "Make ItGo Away," and "Send Mean Angel." Just a handfulof songs that got the audi-ence begging for more!During the set frontmanChristopher Hall (formerlyof Stabbing Westward)mentions “Iʼve beensinging “Dead to Me,” over7,000 times, if I have to

Photos by Natalie Perez

LIVE REVIEWS

LIVE REVIEWSAC/DCTuesday April 21, 2009MEN Arena, Manchester,United Kingdom

By Jus ForrestMyspace.com/jusforrest

Stand-by to board a full oncrazy train of simple rock 'n'roll cuts. On observing thewonderfully hilarious introvideo tonight, what can wesay - keep shoveling the coalboys, and that's exactly whatAngus Young and Co havebeen doing for a number ofyears. Riding the highway tohell is after all what hasgiven them tonight's grandprize - an arena packed withdedicated livewires, wearingglow in the dark horns, all seton a good old sing along to abrand rock that's as basic assteak and ale pudding.

The guys are as ready asever tonight, throwing a partythat boasts a professionaland well rounded sound.Malcolm's rhythm cuts arecrystal clear, and AngusYoung's lead parts soar togreater heights than most,and that's all before his flirta-tion with the audience duringa brief strip-tease and achance fling with the giant in-flatable named 'Rosie'.Shortly later see's Angusspinning on his back, like agiant skittle taking on yet an-other famed solo spot ofcrowd pleasing entertain-ment.

To enjoy such a night, theshrinking violets may be wiseto have a few beers before-hand, in fact a notableamount of the said liquid de-scends from somewhereabove me. However, as far

as a musical challenge goes,AC/DC is no marathon.Largely predictable, they dowhat it says on the well oiledtin, and they do it well, evenif Brian Johnson's edges arebecoming tainted with rust. Ifyour looking for some variedcuts steer clear - this is muchabout one of the same, evenif 'Black Ice' is a new record.

AIRRACEThursday June 18, 2009Islington Academy, Lon-don, United Kingdom

By Jus ForrestMyspace.com/jusforrest

Photo: Josh Monaghan

Wounded Bird Records re-cently presented a re-issueof 1984's 'Shaft of Light' -Airrace's only album, henceit's no surprise that a reunionof sorts was is order. Origi-nally featuring Jason Bon-ham on drums, son of lateLed Zepplin drummer John,tonight he is replaced bySimon Dawson. Sadly Jasonhas other commitments rightnow, however he is set to ap-pear on future dates. Ex-Samson bass man DaveBoyce completes the rhythmsection and Dean Howard (T'Pau/Ian Gillan/Toby Jepson)has also been recruited onsecond guitar, alongside orig-

inal members Keith Murrell(vocals), Laurie Mansworth(lead guitar) and Toby Sadler(keyboards).

Getting off to a tricky start,vocalist Keith Murral is givena dysfunctional mic beforeexpressing discontent withthe amount of water that'sbeen spilt on stage. "There'sbeen a huge f*ck up" he an-nounces. However, beingthe well seasoned profes-sionals that they are, theband refuse to let such minormishaps phase them - they'regetting right on with the job inhand - to maximum effect.

Dishing up a helping ofmelodic, powerful, preciseand interesting material,they prove this current shaftof light is blinding - and itsnot about to get any dimmer.Right now they're showingthis audience exactly whatthey're made of and thegrowing enthusiasm confirmsit's most welcome. Musically,they're driving the kind ofhard bargain that tells methey should really be headlin-ers - the time allocated hereis not nearly long enough toappreciate such a technicalmaster-class. The charis-matic Dean Howard is hittingsome great chops on his SG,complimenting original leadman Laurie Mansworth whoshines from stage left at allthe right moments. SimonDawson's drums are as tightas a coiled spring - he doesthe job exceptionally well.

The verdict? Most definitelyone to catch while their en-thusiasm and freshnesskeeps beaming in on venuesand festivals up and downthe country. I'll be backfor more.


LIVE REVIEWS

STORMZONEThursday June 18, 2009

Islington Academy, London, UKby Jus Forrest (http://www.myspace.com/jusforrest)

All photos courtesy of/copyright to Les Linyard(www.genialhost.co.uk/linyard/concert.html

Front man John Harbinson suddenly makes an entrance viaʻThe Secret Gatewayʼ and despite a modest crowd, he's notsettling for anything lightweight. Within a couple of secondshis huge stage presence has captured everyoneʼs attention.Stormzone donʼt have long tonight, so no time is wasted.Second number in, 'The Immortals' belts out making it easyto understand why some moments later, we're enclosed inan area of ferocious electrical activity.

Drummer Davey Bates is grinning like a cheshire cat,connecting with each and every one of the audi-

ence and clearly the guys are having a ballsupporting Tesla. Looking distinctly like

Steve Harris, vocally, Harbinson offers aflashback to Bruce Dickinson - not a bad

thing at all.

Despite a short set, Stormzoneprovide a great warm up for thisevening with their own twist on amelodic fun loving rock 'n' roll ex-travaganza, plus a humble offeringof vintage trimmings. Closing with'Death Dealer' you can't help likingsuch a pleasant bunch of guys fromBelfast, and the best bit - music thatfuel's the production of a never end-ing typhoon of pleasing sound-waves. Catch this storm if you can. Myspace.com/stormzoneuk

LIVE REVIEWS

JEFF BECK at Carling Apollo, Manchester, UKJune 27, 2009

Ever the creative innova-tor of texture and feel,crafting of some of themost heartfelt sounds tocome out of a Strato-caster, Jeff Beck providesa sparkling jazz slantedinstrumental master-classtonight.

Instantly, he takes control,backed up by the excel-lent musicianship of JasonRebello on keyboards,plus one hell of a slickrhythm section - enterbassist extraordinaire TalWilkenfeld, and drummerVinnie Colaiuta.

The music ranges fromdelicate splashes to moremuscular waves, beforethere is a brief infusion ofreggae styled rhythm.Later comes some heavyguitar chops and juicyriffs, all played with a strictpurpose by the axe mas-ter who is so often under-rated.

In summary, itʼs a superbnight of jazz rock fusion,the band clearly on topform, interacting well, andenjoying the creativity ofwhat comes across asfree-flowing progressivestyled bouncy jamming.

Jus Forrestmyspace.com/jusforrest

Photo by: Steve Brinkman


LIVE REVIEWS

SwedenRocks2009!!!“Sweden is our secondbiggest market after Ger-many,” Lemmy - on why hekeepscoming back for more.

“…this is what makes ushappy and getting back to-gether has been very spe-cialfor us..” Ronnie James Dio- sharing his thoughtsabout the formation ofHeavenand Hell during this after-noons press conference.

Sweden Rock Festivalboasts yet another year ofrecord-breaking atten-dance withjust over 35000 visitors.Armed with a ʻSwedenRockʼ waterproof itʼs timetowelcome the weather withopen arms – or maybe not,but with plenty of hard rockhell itʼs certainly a case ofʻcharge forward - all um-brellas blazing.ʼNow, fresh from a journeyto the cool shores of theBaltic, MUEN presents thefinest picks from biggestand best rock festival inEurope….

ZZ TopThe Swedes certainly

know how to rock, onehundred and ten percent,but thatʼsnot to say that this famedTexan trio canʼt get awaywith injecting somesmoother grooves into theproceedings tonight.

The sharpdressed guys onstage certainlygive off a ratherplacid feel duringthe first half ofthe set, however,as we get mid-way, theyʼre tak-ing things upa notch. They revup those enginesand continue withall guns blazing -weʼreloving their Texan charm.

A celebratory moment forthe bearded duo - it hap-pens to be their 40thanniversary. With a set offavorites – ʻGimme all yourLovinʼʼ, ʻSharp DressedManʼ and the like, itʼs avery fun set, constructedfrom the magic touch of anauthentic Texas recipe. Ahighpoint has to be arather groovy renditionof ʻFoxy Ladyʼ. As the pinkfury guitars come out forʻLegsʼ the guys indeedlook as loud as those pol-ished exhaust pipe themedmic stands.

Johnny WinterItʼs great to see such a

legend of the blues take tothe stage – and not onlythat, Johnny displays anunderlying passion to bringhis music to the fore. Arock blues explosion fol-lows. Was this a wise deci-sion? Absolutely. Johnnymay look quite frail as he

remains seated on stage,but thankfully this is nottrue of the music which isincreasing in strengththroughout the set. Heʼs aman with the blues in hisheart, singing with devo-tion, while his music windsitʼs way through the night-time crowds, inducing in-stant smiles of joy.The audience seem quitehappy to jig to the groovesand ʻRedhouseʼ is aninstant hit, as is most ofthis fluent and expressiveset. Johnny is no doubta pioneer of the blues tra-dition with the audiencethat looks happy to followsuit.

InFlamesMost definitely a hot glow-ing body of energy, watch-

ing InFlames make theirstance on the main stagetonight and itʼs easy towonder how much moreauthentic can it get.

Their heavy sound con-tains all the traditional in-gredients evident with

mostmodernSwedish rock-ers today, in-cluding all theclassic flash-backs theythrowin. The musicposes in pro-gressive form,borders ondeath metal in-fluence,complete with

some heavy riffage andsearing twin leads. Theirperformance isextremely strong – the vi-suals are equally appeal-ing. On the downside,thereare far too many gaps be-tween songs, AndersFriden filling them withlengthystage banter and sadly in-terrupting the flow of theset – when clearly themusic could do the talking.

Plowing through a set withearth shattering volume,and one hell of aspirited approach, thereʼsan appealing edge to InFlames. A band who havenotyet reached their full po-tential, however theyʼre nottoo many rungs off thetop of the ladder and no


LIVE REVIEWSdoubt theyʼre set to keepclimbing.

RiotAre you ready to causeone? You better be. Excit-ing, enticing and damnhardenough to cause way be-yond what their titlesuggests, Riot hailfrom New York –theyʼre fiercely inde-pendent and un-tamed. They havethe usual frequentoutbursts of energy– always ready formore action – asif your not gettingenough already.

Theyʼre playingwith tremendousintent this after-noon, mind numbing vol-ume,their manner is upbeat anditʼs certainly welcome.Thankfully itʼs not rainingright now, but even if itwas, nothing is gonnadampen this lot down – notachance! Playing with noto-rious intensity watching itwill sure make you sweat.

JourneyArnel Pineda soundsstrangely like Steve Perryand yes, he canʼt half beltitout– infact right now I dobelieve he rocks. His vo-cals and image give theband quite an exciting

edge. Sadly this may notbe everyoneʼs cup of tea,anew vocalist can alwaysbe a bitter pill to swallow,however, on the plus side,heʼs an energetic frontman.

Receiving the warm wel-come much deserved by

Journey, the set as a

whole is notlife changing,but it is quitefresh and heavywhile remainingmelodic anduplifting. Theydo enough toentice an enthu-siastic audiencehere at Sweden.Hot off the racetrack, theybreeze throughthe earlyevening withtuneful rockthatʼs fastenough to putan interestingspin on theirwheels.

Heaven andHellItʼs that cold right now, Ifeel as if Iʼve spent theweek in a freezer. Atapprox eleven thirty pm, afew flames from hell arewelcome. Sadly Iʼm notnearly close enough to get

my toes warm, how-ever I docatch ablast of heatasHeaven andHell flare upand openerʻMob Rulesʼ

belts out.

Supporting the recentlaunch of the latest albumʻThe Devil You Knowʼ –observed as a relativelysafe approach for suchgodfathers of heavymetal, ʻBible Blackʼ is im-mediately thrown open toreveal a more menacingappearance, so chilly thatfingers will become toocold to turn the pages.Presenting the songs inmore weighted form thanwhat can be witnessed onalbum,Dio demonstrates strengthin voice and Iommi ap-pears to have upped his

We've all heard ofthe one-man bandbut do they actuallyexist? Or just someside show attractionwe've seen inmovies and televi-sion programs? Inthis case, this is thereal deal. Going offas a solos projectafter trying to formata full line-up butfailed, this soloistproved the unbeliev-able. Establishing asource of deathmetal everyone canfind enjoyable. Themain creator spoketo me about howBloodsoaked cameinto full effect andwhat plans to be-come of the bloodyfrenzy.

MUEN: THE NAMEOF THE BANDBLOODSOAKED, IS IN-TERESTING TO SAY THELEAST AND SOUNDS ASIF THERE IS A STORYBEHIND IT. WHERE DIDTHE NAME COME FROMAND WHAT IS THESTORY?

The name Bloodsoakedfrom when I did Blood-soaked Promotions, a webzine sort of from about1996 to 2004 and duringthat I also started Blood-soaked Records and had 3releases before I decideda label was not for me. Sowhen I started forming myband in 2005 the bandname of Bloodsoaked justfell into place.

MUEN: CAN YOUBRIEFLY SUMMARIZEHOW THE BANDFORMED AND WHATYOU DO IN BLOOD-SOAKED?

Bloodsoaked formed in2005, I looked for memberfor about 6 months andcould not find anyone thatwanted to do what Iwanted so I decided to doBloodsoaked as a soloproject. I do just abouteverything in Bloodsoaked(guitar, bass, vocals). Ihelp write the drum pat-terns but have ShaneMcFee do the actual pro-gramming.

MUEN: YOUR LYRICSARE INFUSED WITHHEAVY DETAIL ANDRAW EMOTION. WHAT ISIT THAT NORMALLYGIVES YOU INSPIRA-TION WHEN WRITINGLYRICS AND IS THERE ACONCEPT BEHIND THEMUSIC YOU CREATE?

For such extreme music Ifeel you need to have ex-treme lyrics so my lyricsare the normal blood andguts or anti-religion basedones. Brutal and extremelyrics just work for DeathMetal music.

MUEN: YOUR NEWALBUM "SADISTIC

DEEDS... GROTESQUEMEMORIES," IS COMINGOUT HOW HAS THE RE-ACTIONS BEEN THUSFAR? WHAT CAN FANSEXPECT WHEN THEYLISTEN TO YOURMUSIC?

The feedback on the newCD has been great, gettinggood reviews and themedia and more importantthe fans are really into it.Death Metal fans can ex-pect 10 songs of pureDeath Metal, nothingmore, nothing less. Solidand pure Death Metal forfans of Obituary, Pesti-lence, Six Feet Under andMalevolent Creation.



MUEN: HOW DO YOUTHINK YOU WILL EF-FECT THE MUSICSCENE YOU ARE PARTOF? WHAT ARE YOURTHOUGHTS ON THEGROWING POPULARITYIN IT AS WELL?

While extreme musicmight be getting more pop-ular Death Metal is not.Death Metal is an under-ground form of music andalways will be. There is alot of nu-metal that is get-ting more and more popu-lar but true Death Metalwill never get to that point.

MUEN: YOU HAVE AMUSIC VIDEO FOR THESONG “ROTTING INFILTH,” CAN YOU GIVEA BRIEF SUMMARY ONHOW IT ALL CAME TO-GETHER.

I always wanted to make avideo for Bloodsoaked andI am so happy with thenew CD that once I hadthe chance I took it. It wasfilmed in a abandonedwarehouse and the cut inscenes were from the di-rectors independent horrormovies. It was a great ex-perience and has beenone thing that has broughta lot of attention to Blood-soaked.

MUEN: MANY OF YOURSONGS ARE SO HARDAND INTENSE THAT IAM SURE THEY TRANS-LATE WELL INTO A LIVESETTING TAKING ON AWHOLE NEW LIFE INFRONT OF A LIVE AUDI-ENCE. HOW DOES IT

MAKE YOU FEEL WHENTHE EMOTION ANDPOWER THAT YOU EN-VISIONED IN THERECORDING STUDIO,COME TO LIFE WHILEPLAYING IN FRONT OF ACROWD?

Playing in front of a livecrowd that is totally intoyour music is one of thebest feelings in the world.Having a great DeathMetal crowd in front of youcompares to nothing else.

MUEN: WHAT ARE THEUPCOMING PLANS FORBLOODSOAKED?

At this point I just finishedan 18 day tour and I havea few festivals and showscoming up as well asdoing what I can to pro-mote the new CD, thatshould take me thru therest of 2009.

MUEN: HOW HAS MY-SPACE AND THE INTER-NET IMPACTED YOURBAND AND DO YOUTHINK DOWNLOADINGHELPS OR HINDERSTHE ARTISTS?

Myspace has been huge ishelping bands of all stylespromote themselves andget noticed. I think down-loading helps bands morethan hurting, I would ratherpeople download mymusic even if illegally thannot listen to it at all. If theylike it is a good chancethey will buy the CD andtell other about it, it canhelp with work of mouth.

MUEN: What is thetoughest lesson youever learned in the stu-dio and on the stage?

In the studio, be prepared.On stage, leave an im-pression.

MUEN: WHAT BANDSWOULD YOU LIKE TOTOUR WITH AND WHOHAS BEEN YOUR FA-VORITE TO TOUR WITHTHIS FAR? ANY PARTIC-ULAR REASON?

I have only toured withAtrocious Abnormality sofar and we had a blast andthe 11 day SlaughteringThe South II tour. Bands Iwish I could tourwith….there are just somany big and small andfor different reasons.

MUEN: EVERY BANDHAS ITS MUSICAL IN-FLUENCES. WHAT ARESOME OF THE OTHERBANDS AND ARTISTSTHAT HAVE GREATLYINFLUENCED YOU GUYSAND YOUR MUSIC?

Old School Death Metalbands like Obituary, Pesti-lence, Deicide, Sepultura,Malevolent Creation andmany.

MUEN: WHAT'S YOURREACTION WHEN/IF AFAN TOLD YOU A VERYMEANINGFUL STATE-MENT SUCH AS "YOURMUSIC CHANGED MYLIFE?" HAS THIS EVERHAPPENED TO YOU?

They have never told methat it changed their lifebut I have had a goodamount of fans say theylove my music and thinkmy CDs are great. That isa great feeling when acomplete stranger comeup to you at a show andtell you that was the bestshow they have seen in along time and then want tobuy both CDs and all dif-ferent shirt designs, it iscrazy!

MUEN: ALL OF THATPASSION THAT YOUPLAY WITH MUST BETOUGH ON YOU PHYSI-CALLY. HOW DO YOUPREPARE FOR THEPHYSICAL DEMANDSOF A TOUR?

It is tour but I donʼt domuch except eat at Wafflehouse and try to get too faton the road…LOL I am anold and lazy dude.

MUEN: ANYTHING ELSEYOU'D LIKE TO ADD?

Thank you for the inter-view and keeping DeathMetal alive!

MUNICIPAL WASTE

By: Natalie Perez

When the waste bin getsfull what is left to do? Dis-pose of it right? Well that'sthe proper solution when itcomes to these thrashminders known as Munici-pal Waste from Richmond,Virginia. Unleashing ahandful of various EP'sand LP's so far into theirmusical career that startedin 2001; Municipal Wasteplans on going strong with-out a care in the world onwhere their careers takesthem. With the upcomingrelease of "Massive Ag-gressive," their newest ad-dition, Municipal Waste

plans on invading the U.S.and all other parts of theworld more than we know,destroying everything thatgets in their way. VocalistTony and drummer Davespoke to me about theband's upcoming plansand what is to become ofthe town trash.

MUEN: THE NAME OFTHE BAND MUNICIPALWASTE IS INTEREST-ING TO SAY THE LEASTAND SOUNDS AS IFTHERE IS A STORY BE-HIND IT. WHERE DIDTHE NAME COMEFROM AND WHAT ISTHE STORY?

Tony: Well I guess itʼs on

the side of a dump truckand the name MunicipalWaste was really big, andRyan was riding throughtown in D.C. and saw thename on the side of thetruck. Thought it would bea good name for a thrashband. Which I think it isand fits our band reallygood dirty guys.

Dave: The town trash.

MUEN: Can you brieflysummarize how theband formed and whatyou do in MunicipalWaste?

Tony: I sing, we startedNew Yearʼs Eve 2001 so

weʼve been around for along ass time, switchedup the rhythm section.

Dave: I played drums andjoined later on in 2004.

MUEN: YOUR LYRICSARE INFUSED WITHHEAVY DETAIL ANDRAW EMOTION. WHATIS IT THAT NORMALLYGIVES YOU INSPIRA-TION WHEN WRITINGLYRICS AND IS THEREA CONCEPT BEHINDTHE MUSIC YOU CRE-ATE?

Tony: I donʼt know we tryto write, the last recordwas a party themed


album so the last recordwas about drinking andpartying. So we try to cre-ate our own storylines.There are certain thingswe sing about like fantasystuff relating to the 80ʼshorror themes and socialissues that piss us off.

Dave: I donʼt write thelyrics but read the lyrics,weʼre not a political bandby any means, shovingdown anything down peo-pleʼs throats just rant onwhat we want.

MUEN: "SADISTIC MA-GICIAN," IS YOURNEWEST MUSIC VIDEO,CAN YOU GIVE A BRIEFSUMMARY ON IT?

Tony: We did that like ayear ago, here in L.A. thisguy Jeff approached uswith a video idea and wedidnʼt even know the guyand he came up with aconcept. A lot of our stuffis influenced on 80ʼs hor-ror. He really dug ourband and he reallywanted to create it thatʼswhy there is a lot ofcheesy acting on it.

Davie: I think it was hisidea, to do an 80ʼs metaltype of theme sci/fitheme.

MUEN: HOW DID THISFREE SHOW AT THEKNITTING FACTORYCOME INTO EFFECT?

Dave: Scion contacted us

theyʼve wanted to do itwell over a year now butour schedule is too in-tense that we hadnʼt re-ally commit to it so wefinally had a time to get toit and they have a greattrack record of putting ongreat shows like that andit should be really excitingitʼs maxed out to capacitylooking forward to it.

Tony: Should be a rowdyone, there is going to bea lot of people there….

MUEN: YOU GUYSWERE ON THE NOFEAR TOUR WITHLAMB OF GOD, AS ILAY DYING, GOD FOR-BID, CHILDREN OFBODOM, WHAT WASTHAT AND WHAT WERETHE REACTIONS TOBEING THE OPENERSEVERY NIGHT OF THESHOW?

Tony: It was awesome wehadnʼt done a 6 weekerfor a while, made somefriends on it. We played abunch of places weʼvenever been too either.Played a parking lot of aflea market, rondo rink,so many crazy places weplayed while on that tour.Chicago and Canadashows were awesome.Seriously the hockey are-nas playing music therethrew wood over the iceand had a rock show.

Dave: We would rotateon/off with God Forbid

each night.

MUEN: "MASSIVE AG-GRESSIVE," IS THE UP-COMING ALBUM, WHATCAN FANS EXPECTFROM THIS ALBUM INCOMPARISON TOYOUR OLDER MATE-RIAL?

Dave: They can expectpretty much I wouldnʼtsay the same thing thelyrics are well written andhave a lot of energy tothem. So fans shall notbe disappointed.

Tony: I think itʼs my fa-vorite one I know I saythat about every recordbut I really do believe be-cause I listen to it all thetime and I donʼt do thatwith anything.

MUEN: WHAT ARE THEUPCOMING PLANSFOR MUNICIPALWASTE FOR THE RESTOF 2009?

Tony: On tour, TOUROUR ASSES OFF!

Dave: Weʼre going to bebusy, on tour, over thenext 2 years. Do anothervideo.

MUEN: HOW HAS MY-SPACE AND THE IN-TERNET IMPACTEDYOUR BAND AND DOYOU THINK DOWN-LOADING HELPS ORHINDERS THEARTISTS?

Tony: I think downloadingmusic helps as far as get-ting music out to othercountries. It doesnʼt helpon if you plan on playingmusic and makingmoney. I never reallythought Iʼd make moneyby playing music anyway.So it doesnʼt really botherme. But I think it helpsgetting your music inThailand and other crazyplaces. Like South Amer-ica, people there wouldnot know who we are, weget mail from people fromMexico and all over Asiaand places I wouldnʼteven expect to see. Peo-ple love our band thatrules it helps. It doesnʼtbother that people down-load music.

Dave: I think itʼs a greatoption and be able tocheck it out our band andif they want to go out andbuy the record.

Tony: Think about whenyou were younger whenyouʼd go and buy arecord and it would suck.Or get music by tapetrading stuff like that.

MUEN: WHAT IS THETOUGHEST LESSONYOU EVER LEARNEDIN THE STUDIO AND ONTHE STAGE?

Tony: To not drink in thestudio, not this bandthough one of my firstbands I was really drunkand I was really nervous,


I would listen to it andclench up and hate howbad it sounded.

Dave: I guess for me tolearn from the studio is topractice and make thesongs stronger and Iʼvebenefited from that.

MUEN: WHAT BANDSWOULD YOU LIKE TOTOUR WITH AND WHOHAS BEEN YOUR FA-VORITE TO TOUR WITHTHIS FAR?

Tony: I have a list; Iʼd takeCannibal Corpse, Suffo-cation, because I thinkthey rule they are awe-some. Iʼd like to tour withDinosaur Jr. who elsewould be really cool I gota list just canʼt think of itnow probably Slayer, Mo-torhead the no brainers ofcourse.

Dave: I have long list.

MUEN: EVERY BANDHAS ITS MUSICAL IN-FLUENCES. WHAT ARESOME OF THE OTHERBANDS AND ARTISTSTHAT HAVE GREATLYINFLUENCED YOUGUYS AND YOURMUSIC?

Tony: Itʼs hard to list, midto late 80ʼs and then allthe 80ʼs all the wayaround.

Dave: I donʼt think thereis a main band; itʼd haveto be a music categorythan a band. I think there

would be a time framefrom the 80s.

MUEN: WHAT'S YOURREACTION WHEN/IF AFAN TOLD YOU A VERYMEANINGFUL STATE-MENT SUCH AS "YOURMUSIC CHANGED MYLIFE?" HAS THIS EVERHAPPENED TO YOU?

Tony: Iʼd punch them inthe face. It is amazingand then you punchthem.

Dave: Itʼs an amazingcompliment. When youʼre

presenting it like that itʼsamazing.

MUEN: ALL OF THATPASSION THAT YOUPLAY WITH MUST BETOUGH ON YOU PHYSI-CALLY. HOW DO YOUPREPARE FOR THEPHYSICAL DEMANDSOF A TOUR?

Tony: I ride bikes a lot,ride my ass off every day.My knees are shot thoughman.

Dave: I drum a lot doing alot of extra playing but

have gotten a little lazy.

MUEN: ANYTHINGELSE YOU'D LIKE TOADD?

Tony: Come see us ontour we shall be playingsomewhere near anyonelives who reads this….

Dave: Itʼs exciting for usweʼve been playing a lotof stuff for a very longtime, plan to play the newstuff very soon.


MUNICIPAL WASTE front-man TONY FORESTAloves tearing up stagesaroundthe world with his band-mates, but the singer hasanother passion whichyou may not know about -art.

Join TONY FORESTA ashe takes you around hisapartment in Virginia,showing you his favouritepieces of art that he'sbought and collectedover the years:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB18OJFogVw

MUNICIPAL WASTE areset to release their brandnew album, MASSIVEAGGRESSIVE, throughEarache Records on Au-gust 24th in Europe andAugust 25th in the USA.Check out a new trackfrom MASSIVE AGGRES-SIVE,titled "Wrong Answer", atthe band's official My-Space page athttp://www.myspace.com/municipalwaste

MASSIVE AGGRESSIVEwill be released in a vari-ety of formats,including a special editionfan box with the album onCD, a MUNICIPALWASTE logo sweatband, aMASSIVE AGGRESSIVEpatch and three pinbadges.The album is also avail-able on limited edition vinylLP in black (1000made), white, clear, red,green (only 100 of each)and ultra-limited

edition purple (sold out).

Pre-order your copy ofMASSIVE AGGRESSIVEnow in the USA athttp://earache.com/usweb-store/index.php/cPath/667_671_75 or in Europeat http://earache.com/web-store/index.php/cPath/667_671_75

Catch MUNICIPALWASTE spreadingthe aggressionthrough Europe thisSummer at the fol-lowing shows:

16 Jul 2009 - Svo-jsice, Czech Republic- Obscene Festival

17 Jul 2009 - Ham-burg, Germany -Hafenklang

18 Jul 2009 - Lottum,Netherlands - Weis-tock Festival

19 Jul 2009 - Frank-furt, Germany - ElferClub

20 Jul 2009 - Munich,Germany - Feierwerk

21 Jul 2009 - Kranj,Slovenia - IzbruhovKulturni Bazen

23 Jul 2009 -Pinarella Di Cervia,Italy - RockplanetClub

24 Jul 2009 - Gen-zano di Roma, Italy -Init Club

25 Jul 2009 - Lorca,Spain - Lorca Fest

26 Jul 2009 -Barcelona, Spain -Apollo

12 Aug 2009 - Oslo,Norway - Oya Festi-val

14 Aug 2009 - Derby,UK - Bloodstock Fes-tival

28 Aug 2009 - Leeds,UK - Leeds Festival

29 Aug 2009 - Read-ing, UK - ReadingFestival

30 Aug 2009 - Eind-hoven, Netherlands -Dynamo OutdoorFestival

31 Aug 2009 - Biele-feld, Germany - AJZ

02 Sep 2009 - Athens,Greece - An Club

03 Sep 2009 -Cologne, Germany -Werkstatt

04 Sep 2009 -Antwerp, Belgium -

Trix

05 Sep 2009 -Bischofswerda, Ger-many - East Club

06 Sep 2009 - Brno,Czech Republic -Faval

08 Sep 2009 - Vienna,Austria - Chelsea

09 Sep 2009 - Bu-dapest, Hungary -Durer Kert

10 Sep 2009 - Bel-grade, Serbia - LivingRoom

11 Sep 2009 - Zu-panja, Croatia - MKC

12 Sep 2009 -Helsinki, Finland -Tavastia

14 Sep 2009 - Zurich,Switzerland - Dy-namo

19 Sep 2009 - Lisbon,Portugal - Cine-Teatro de Corroios


FOR ADVERTISING & PROMOTIONALINFO EMAIL:

[email protected]

ATOM SMASHSergio Sanchez(Vocals)Miami, Florida

Myspace.com/atomsmash-music


MUEN: NO PROBLEM,HOW ARE YOU DOING?

Iʼm doing great, just record-ing some songs.

MUEN: I LOVE THE NAMEOF YOUR BAND. TELL MEA LITTLE ABOUT IT, WHOCAME UP WITH THENAME?

Believe it or not, it was ourmanager who threw thename out there. We had somany different names andwent through so many differ-ent phases developing theband. You wonʼt believe it, henever threw one name outthere, the only one he didwas Atom Smash. We were

like “Oh Wow!” We werelooking into the whole AtomSmasher, Atom Acceleratorand Geneva stuff. He foundthat really interesting and sodid we. He ended up send-ing me a text that said “Hey,what about Atom Smash?” Ithas an explosive quality to itand it brings energy andstuff. We thought it was avery appropriate thing andsaid “Letʼs do it!”

MUEN: LETʼS TALKABOUT YOUR MUSIC.WILL THERE BE ANALBUM AVAILABLE FORPURCHASE SOON?

Yes, we finished the recordabout a year ago. Itʼs kind ofa crazy story. We finishedthe record and thought wewere going to be releasing itimmediately. We decided topush a single and go back tothe way they used to releaserecords back in the 70ʼs and80ʼs. We decided to releasea single, push the single andsee how it goes. We wanted

to develop it before webrought the record out. Wehave been doing that sinceDecember of last year whenwe released the “Sacrifice”EP. The record is going to beavailable this fall. We havenʼtset a release date yet. Weare still in the process of fig-uring out exactly who we arereleasing with, what label weare going to go with and howwe are going to manage todo that. Itʼs definitely going tobe released in the fall oneway or another.

MUEN: ARE YOU GUYSSHOPPING LABELS RIGHTNOW?

Yeah, itʼs interesting becauseout manager is actually theowner of Doghouse Records.They have The All AmericanRejects, Meg & Dia and SayAnything on that label. Origi-nally we thought we weregoing to be releasing it onDoghouse, but what endedup happening is we decidedto try and find a more appro-

priate label, take his knowl-edge of the industry and takethe approach of how he de-veloped indie bands with ahard rock band. Itʼs workedout really great. We wentthrough radio, released anEP through ITunes and wehave been touring as if weare on a major, but we havebeen doing it on our own. Atthe moment, if we can re-lease it on our own withmajor label distribution, thatʼsgreat. If we are going to justgo with a label, thatʼs greattoo. Itʼs just a matter ofweighing out the optionsright now. We have a couplethings in the works.

MUEN: HAVE YOU A NAMEFOR THE ALBUM YET?

Since we finished the recordwe have been adamantabout doing it self titled. Wewere thinking of a Welcometo Atom Smash kind oftheme. We want people toknow that this is us, this isthe first record and this is the


- MUEN Magazine JULY 2009real thing. We are thinking ofself titling it until for whateverreason the idea of naming itsomething else comes up.

MUEN: DO YOU KNOWHOW MANY TRACKS WILLBE ON IT?

There will be eleven trackson it and we will have someB sides. We may have somebonus tracks for later re-leases.

MUEN: WHAT IS AVAIL-ABLE RIGHT NOW FORTHE FANS?

We have a three song EPavailable called the “Sacri-fice” EP. It has “Sacrifice”which is the track thatʼs onradio now, “Bed of Nails” and“Sunburn” on it. You canpick it up on ITunes or at ourshows.

MUEN: WHAT IS THEWRITING PROCESS LIKEFOR YOUR GUYS?

I think itʼs like a lot of otherbands. I come up with thegeneral idea, Iʼll have thesong pretty much ready, Iʼllpick from a batch that I haveand I will give it to Z our gui-tarist. He makes it better andcooler. He brings his qualityto it and takes it to the nextlevel. For this particularrecord, we worked with PaulTrust, who is an up and com-ing producer. He knows howto make a big sound. We willwork with him on a track andhe will take it even further.

MUEN: FOR THOSE WHOARE JUST NOW HEARINGYOUR NAME, HOWWOULD YOU DESCRIBEYOUR MUSIC?

Itʼs kind of like an early 90ʼs

sound. It does have thatSoundgarden, Stone TemplePilots, and Pearl Jam kind ofquality. Also, going furtherback, our guitarist brings thatlarger than life, stadium rockkind of quality. He is a bigclassic rock fan so he bringsthat element. I would de-scribe it as straight aheadrock and roll.

MUEN: YOU HAVE ABEAUTIFUL VOICE; DIDYOU HAVE ANY VOCALTRAINING?

Thank you. No, not really,when I started I kind of dab-bled in some guitar lessons.It kind of led to a couplevocal lessons, but not really.My training comes from all ofthe different bands Iʼve beenin that include death metalbands and really poppybands. I just try to combine itinto what Iʼm doing. No train-ing, just years of destroyingit. (Laughing)

MUEN: TELL ME ABOUTTHE SONG “BIANCA”. ITWAS WRITTEN FOR AFRIEND WHO DIED OFCANCER RIGHT?

Absolutely, itʼs a song thatmeans a lot to us and isgoing to be on the record.We are obviously in a posi-tion by not releasing therecord. Since we were fin-ished with the record it washard not to release a coupleof the tracks, at least on My-Space. We put “Bianca” onthe MySpace and it seemslike it touches a lot of peopleand it is definitely a meaning-ful song to us. I actuallydidnʼt know the person,Bianca that it was written for.I donʼt think I have actuallyever mentioned that to any-body as far as in an interview

or anything. Our guitarist Z isfrom Austria and his guitarteachers daughter wasBianca. For years they werefriends and they were close.He called me at some pointwhen we were getting readyto record the record andmentioned that one of hisbest friends had passedaway. First, he called me totell me that she was diag-nosed with Leukemia and lit-erally two weeks later hecalled to tell me that shepassed away. It was unbe-lievable; she was onlytwenty-eight or twenty-nine.It just hit me kind of hard,how fast it happened. I kindof in a way wrote the songfor Z to make him feel better.

MUEN: NOW, ALL OF YOUHAVE DAY JOBS.

We had day jobs. We had toedit the MySpace, we hadday jobs about a month ortwo ago.

MUEN: OH, SO NOW YOUARE A FULL TIME BAND.

We are full time, practicallyhomeless musicians, yes.We love it; we wouldnʼt wantit any other way right now.

MUEN: YOU WERE RUN-NING A BELLY DANCINGSTUDIO RIGHT?

Yes, I still technically runthat.

MUEN: WHAT ARE SOMEOF YOUR JOB DUTIES?

Itʼs kind of like coming upwith ideas for the business.

Photo by Oliver Regueiro

We have people that man-age it. I have no other way toput it except that I critiquewhatʼs already happeningand try to make things better.Four or five years ago I wasdating a belly dancer and wedecided to open up a studiowhere she can teach. It blewup and it was just amazing. Itenabled me to make mymusic and chase my dream.It worked out great. It was arisk I took on one end for herand now itʼs like she is doingme the favor.

MUEN: THAT IS SO COOL.I SAW YOU HAVE SOMETOUR DATES ON YOURPAGE. DO YOU TAKE OFFON JUNE 5TH?

We were going to take off onJune 5th, but we ended updeciding to play Miami ourhometown. We rarely playhere. We felt like we neededto get to the Midwest andthatʼs what weʼve been doingso youʼll notice a lot of ourtour dates are there. We doplay the Atlanta area and thesoutheastern area quite a bittoo. They are really receivingus well in the Midwest.

MUEN: IʼVE BEEN HEAR-ING LATELY FROM BANDSTHAT THE MIDWEST IS AGREAT PLACE TO PLAY.

They just totally get it. Iʼmsure different genres click incertain cities. Iʼm twenty-fivenow and I have been touringsince I was fourteen, but Inever went to the Midwest.This year in February westarted touring with AtomSmash and it was the firsttime we had got out therewith this band. Letʼs say weplayed with a band and thefans didnʼt like that band, thepeople in these cities are

going to let you know. Theyreally take pride in rock androll. They are not looking forany kind of trend, they justwant to hear rock, how it wasmade and how it is going tocontinue to be made. Thereare a lot of great venues andradio stations also.

MUEN: IT LOOKS ASTHOUGH YOU HAVESTARTED YOUR RADIOCAMPAIGN. HOW IS ITGOING?

Itʼs been remarkable really.We decided to work with aradio promotional companythat does send outs. Ourmanager said “Hey listen,letʼs run the band as if youare on a label. Letʼs do it!”We pushed it and I donʼtthink any of us thought “Sac-rifice” was a single. I think itwas one of those situationsfor whatever reason wherewhen we got the final mixesit was the song within thefirst ten seconds we werelike “Wow that sounds reallygood. I think that is going tohit people.” Itʼs not that itʼsthe catchiest song; it just hasthis raw energy that wethought would be fun to re-lease since we donʼt have alabel or anyone crackingdown on us. We released itand I think at one point wewere in the top 100 for ActiveRock. On radio we havebeen in the top 10 or top 20of Sirius XM Octane. Itʼsbeen amazing; we havebeen on full rotation on a lotof stations across the coun-try. As an unsigned band Iam very proud to say that wehave been able to do thatand sit next to bands thathave mansions and drivearound in big tours buseswhile we are sleeping in Wal-Mart parking lots in a van.

MUEN: IʼVE HEARD YOURLIVE SHOW IS AMAZING.

Thanks, our whole thing isgoing out there and makingsure the show is as unpre-dictable as possible. Wewant to make sure you haveabsolutely no idea whatʼsgetting ready to hit you.There are a lot of bands Igrew up watching and younever knew what was goingto happen. We always try toplay as tight as possible, butat the end of the day we tryto make sure that when yougo watch us, you can see usten days straight and still feellike itʼs a different night.

MUEN: WHY DO YOUCALL YOUR TOUR VAN“TWINKY?”

We joke around and say allkinds of goofy reasons forwhy we call it that. We hadthis thing where for a whilewe would call girls pop tartsand guys twinkies. It waskind of funny. For some rea-son Z looked at the van andsaid “Yeah, this is Twinkie.”This was the day we boughtit and I donʼt think any of useven questioned it. We juststarted calling it that. Itʼs defi-nitely a spin off the fact thathe had just eaten his firstTwinkie. He is from Austriaand had never eaten aTwinkie. I guess thatʼs whyhe called it that, but itʼs hardto analyze what goes on inZʼs head. It definitely gives itcharacter.

MUEN: I CAN TELL BYREADING YOUR PAGETHAT YOU GUYS HAVE AGREAT SENSE OF HUMORTOO. I LOVE THAT.

Oh thanks, I donʼt know whatit is; Iʼve never been in a

band that wasnʼt full of abunch of goofballs. I think itʼsa bunch of guys doing some-thing that they are very pas-sionate about. They are justreally excited to be able todo so. I think out of excite-ment they just kind of actout.

MUEN: TELL ME ABOUTTHE ATOM SMASH BOMB-SHELLS. I WAS SNOOP-ING THROUGH YOURBLOGS AND IT WAS FULLOF HOT CHICKS PIC-TURES.

Okay, yeah, youʼve got mecornered. Atom SmashBombshells started about ayear ago. Here is how thestory goes, we finished ourrecord and instantly startedto shop it trying to get amajor deal. It didnʼt quitework out that way and webegan to realize that weneeded to develop the band,no different than a lot of theindie bands our managerpushes. Some of these kidsare getting 200,000 plays aday. I realized we needed toapproach this in an indiestyle and come up with aunique way to draw attentionto our MySpace. How itstarted was there was thisplaymate locally here inMiami, I noticed she had oursong on her page and I no-ticed that our plays went up.I thought that was really in-teresting. In all honesty, Idonʼt try to dress anythingup. We basically decided tohit up a lot of the girls on ourMySpace to put up our songon their page. We told themif they did we would put themup as a bombshell. It startedlike that and it did really well.Something happened I thinkat the beginning of the yearwhere we began realizing



that anybody can be a bomb-shell. So what we do is weleave it open and if you sendus photos, they look reallyrock and roll, it doesnʼt mat-ter what you look like or howold you are, as long as youare a girl (we have had a fewsubmissions from guys) wewill put them up on a page.Itʼs a weekly blog that we tryto update it every week. It isbasically kind of a treat for allthe people. Itʼs nothing revo-lutionary, but it has attractedquite a bit of attention. I thinknow it is starting to really be-come something where amother of two, who lovesrock and roll and just wantsto have nice photos put upand be appreciated can dothat.

MUEN: NOT ONLY ISYOUR MUSIC SEXY BUTYOU GUYS ARE PRETTYNICE TO LOOK AT ASWELL. IʼM SURE THATALSO BRINGS A LOT OFCHICKS TO YOUR PAGE.

Yeah, thanks, what can Isay? We are a bunch of mu-sicians that when you throwus in front of a camera, if youcan get the right shot, youcan get some good ones.Doing those photos shootsand getting into that wholeworld is so out of our ele-ment. If you could see thephotos that were taken justbefore the photo that is actu-ally up. We couldnʼt get ourdrummer Mark to keep hismouth closed and wecouldnʼt get our bass playernot to cross his legs all femi-nine, it was really funny.

MUEN: IʼM WILLING TOBET YOU HAVE A LOT OFCHICKS AT YOUR SHOWS.I BET THE WHOLE FIRSTROW IS ALL GIRLS.

Yeah, I would say dependingon the city, that is definitelythe case. If I were to say“Where are all the ladies at?”on stage, there are definitelya lot more ladies yelling thenguys. We definitely have ourhardcore guy fans, but wehave a lot of girls that comeout.

MUEN: I SAW YOU HAVEPANDEMIC IN YOUR TOP.THOSE GUYS ARE AWE-SOME!

Yeah, Pandemic is amazing.We just recently did somedates with them and it waslove at first site. We definitelyhave a romance with themas well as Pistol Day Parade.They are just amazing; theyare everything that we arenot. Everywhere that we lackon a bill, they are going topick up.

MUEN: I HEARD FROM AFRIEND OF MINE,HEATHER, THAT YOU RE-CENTLY GOT A NEW TAT-TOO.

Yeah, she was there actually,she is the head of our streetteam in Detroit.

MUEN: WHAT DID YOUGET?

I got Too Old to Die Youngtattooed across my collar-bone. It was actually some-thing that was on a vintageshirt that I wore in the “Sacri-fice” video and in the originalpress photos for the band. Ireally liked what it said andwhat it meant. Iʼve alwayskind of felt old at heart. Weall got tattooed that day thatHeather was there. I had tokick her out of the roomwhile I was getting minedone because I couldnʼt

laugh or move. I had thisbeautiful girl tattooing meand it was so nerve-wrackingthat I kicked everyone outrudely. I couldnʼt move and itwas such a tender spot. Itwas a lot of fun and itʼs allabout the pain. I canʼt be-lieve that there are peopleout there that are willing totattoo us for free. We are justeating it up.

MUEN: I LOVE TATTOOSON GUYS.

I like tattoos on girls, so Iguess we are seeing eye toeye here.

MUEN: THATʼS RIGHT,WHAT ARE YOUR PLANSFOR THE REST OF THISYEAR?

Our main goal right now is torelease the next single “KillMe.” We just did a re-mix ofit and I think it sounds ex-actly how we want it. Wewant to push that for a cou-ple months and then releasethe record. We just signedon with a bigger agent, whois going to have to go un-named until something issigned. We are going to beworking with a bigger book-ing agent who can definitelyput us on tour with some big-ger bands soon. For the re-mainder of the year weshould be on some majortours through all the cities inthe U.S. That was prettymuch the biggest thing thathas happened to us. It is def-initely crazy at this point thatpeople are so into the bandwith just the little bit that wehave given them.

MUEN: I WOULD LIKE TOBRING UP THE FACT THATIF PEOPLE WANT TOCHECK OUT VIDEOS ON

YOU THEY CAN GO TOMYSPACE.COM/ ATOMS-MASHTV AS WELL.

Yes, we have tour blogs thatwe will be putting up too. Weurge people to go check outRock Posse; it is somethingthat just started. All I can sayis it is a support system ofbands. Itʼs a bunch of bandsthat we really care about andwe want people to knowabout. It is on the top friendsof our MySpace page.

MUEN: THANK YOU SOMUCH FOR THE INTER-VIEW SERGIO. IT WASWONDERFUL TALKINGWITH YOU AND I WISHTHE VERY BEST FOR YOUIN YOUR CAREER.

Shauna, we totally appreci-ate it, Iʼm a huge fan of themagazine.

MUEN: THANK YOU, BE-FORE I LET YOU GO ISTHERE ANYTHING YOUʼDLIKE TO THROW OUTTHERE?

Yeah, keep posted and stickwith us even though wehavenʼt released the recordyet. We are telling everybodyto keep their eyes open andeyes out for what we aregoing to be doing this year.Hope to see you guys at ashow and send us a mes-sage on MySpace, we wouldlove to hear from you.

Operatic vocals deliveredon top of a mix of Classicaland Goth (or Alien Pop asthey like to call it) is notvery common, but thanksto this German duo com-prised of Anna Aliena andplain Oliver, not extinct!

COULD YOU DESCRIBETHE CURRENT MUSICCLIMATE IN BERLIN?ARE YOU PLEASEDWITH IT?

Berlin offers a rich clubscene and plenty of ambi-tious bands. Artists from allover the world pour intothe city to be creative andto accomplish their goals.However, as an under-ground newcomer bandyou are forced to struggleto get gigs. In these timesof economic crisis mostclub owners are afraid offinancial loss. In conse-quence, there is a ten-dency not to booknewcomer bands for liveshows. Of course we arenot very pleased with thissituation...

WHEN DID YOU FIRSTBEGIN THIS MUSICPROJECT? ARE YOUSTILL CALLING IT SHI-RAYAS DREAM?

ShirayasDream is still thename of our band. In fact,Oliver had started it as a

solo project. When I joinedhim in August 2008, wedecided to keep the nameas we think that it fits ourmusic perfectly.

HOW DID YOU FIRSTMEET OLIVER, AND IS ITJUST THE TWO OF YOUFOR THIS PROJECT?

The band only consists ofOliver and myself. We firstmet in the virtual world ofMySpace. At that time Iwas still the singer of myex-project Fairy's Garden.One day in July 2008Oliver sent me a friend re-quest because he likedmy voice. To be hon-est, I had not beensatisfied with Fairy'sGarden for quite awhile. So I askedhim if he wanted towork with me be-cause he waslooking for asinger. Thatwas the bestthing I haddone forages!

TELL USABOUT THE ALBUMS...WHERE AND HOWWERE THEYRECORDED, AND DIDANYONE ELSE HELPYOU ON THEM?

Our albums are called

“Magic Carpet Nights“ and“Floating in Space“. “MagicCarpet Nights“ is focusedon ballads, world music el-ements and stories aboutnaughty girls like theQueen of the Night, theWitch or Chastity. On“Floating in Space“ wemainly present you alienpop for the dancefloor, e.g.the titlesong“Float-ing in

Space“, “Nibiru“or “Spaceman“.Many of thetracks dealwith crea-tures fromouterspace andjourneys toextraterrestrial

spheres. Thus, both al-bums invite our listeners toescape from reality. Themajority of the songs wasrecorded in my cellar, butnow we prefer working in areal studio. At the momentwe don't collaborate withguest musicians.

WHERE IS THE BESTPLACE TO ORDER?

Our MySpace page!Please contact us directlyif you want to order our al-bums. You can also askMUEN Magazine for myemail address.

DO YOU HAVE FOR-MAL TRAINING INVOICE? OR MUSICIN GENERAL?

For several years I'vetaken voice lessons

based on opera andlied. When I still lived

with my parents, I alsolearned to play the

church organ and sangin a choir. Oliver inher-ited his musicality fromhis grandfather whowas a composer. Nev-ertheless, he taughthimself to make musiccompletely on his own.That's absolutely amaz-ing!

WHO WRITES THELYRICS AND WHAT IS

of Shirayas DreamoMUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -


THE OVERALL INSPIRA-TION FOR YOUR MUSIC?

I'm responsible for thelyrics which are eitherdrawn from thehiddendepths ofmy brainor in-

spired by certain people.Oliver's instrumentalarrangements are theoverall inspiration for mymelodies. I could not bethat creative without his

fantastic musical input.Oliver absorbs ideasby listening to a vari-ety of different artists.

DESCRIBE WHATALIEN POP IS?

Alien pop is an al-ternative to main-stream pop whichhas not offeredany innovative el-ements for a verylong time. That'sboring! In con-trast, we com-bine manydifferentstyles likeopera, pop,

darkwave and worldmusic. Thus, alienpop is a blending ofgenres. You cancompare us with ex-

peri-

mental cooks who mix dif-ferent ingredients thatdon't fit together at firstsight. However, in the endthe meal tastes delicious...or at least interesting.Music is always a matter oftaste! ;-)

WHAT TYPE OF VENUESDO YOU PLAY, AND HOWOFTEN DO YOU DO LIVESHOWS?

At the moment our liveshows are concentrated onthe Berlin club scene. Forexample, in April we had agig at the well-known un-derground club K17 as asupport band for VicAnselmo. Nevertheless,we also plan to play at fes-tivals. In October 2008 wewent to the Netherlands togive a concert at the gothicfestival “Nox Obscura“. Ofcourse we would bepleased if they invited usagain this year... It's ouroverall aim to do liveshows as regularly as pos-sible. Our next gig takesplace at the Kato club inBerlin on September 18th.

WHAT OTHER MUSICARTISTS ARE YOUR

BIGGEST INSPIRA-TIONS AND WHY?

As a teenager Iwas addictedto Queen. I

don't be-lieve I

would

do what I can do best! Weonly live once and in mynext life I might be rebornas an ant. Who knows...

WHAT IS THE MAIN-STREAM MUSIC IN GER-

MANY RIGHTNOW, AND HOWWOULD YOU SAYIT DIFFERSFROM AMERICANMAINSTREAMMUSIC?

On the one hand,German main-stream musicmeans boring popsongs with boringmelodies and bor-ing German lyrics.On the other hand,it is strongly influ-enced by theAmerican market:Britney Spears,Miley Cyrus orKelly Clarkson areexported to Ger-many where theyare top of the popsjust like in the U.S.We also have“German Idol“(“Deutschland

sucht den Superstar“): Inthe latest season therewas a girl who looked andsang almost exactly likeLady GaGa! In my opinionGermany and the U.S.have plenty of things incommon... ;-)

IS THERE ANYTHINGELSE YOU'D LIKE TOSAY?

Love in outer space savesthe human race...

have become a musicianwithout their influence al-though they have not in-spired me musically. Fromtime to time people com-pare me with Klaus Nomiwho essentially widenedmy musical horizon. Simi-lar to myself, he worked onthe borderline betweenclassical and popularmusic, doing interestingexperiments with his voice.In fact, he was the true in-ventor of alien pop, wemerely defined the genre.

Besides these artists, I lis-ten to almost all kinds ofmusic. In my opinion inspi-ration can catch youeverywhere!

Oliver has a crush on ori-ental music. There aremany traces of it on thealbum “Magic CarpetNights“. One of his musicalrole models is b.deutungfrom the former bandInchtabokatables. Thecello parts of our song“Last Day of Paradise“ arecertainly inspired by him.

We've recently discoveredthe nightmarish dream-world of Sopor Aeternus.The imaginative instru-mentation of the “fabulousgoddess“ Anna-VarneyCantodea will definitely bea source of inspiration onour third album...

DO YOU HAVE OTHERINTERESTS RATHERTHAN MUSIC, AND IFSO, WHAT ARE THEY?

I love painting and travel-

ling to foreign countrieswhereas Oliver writesgreat poetry.

HAVE YOU DONE ANYVIDEOS, OR ARE THEREANY BEING PLANNED?

We have notdone anyvideos yet eventhough weknow that theyare essentialnowadays. Ofcourse we plansome videos forthe future, butthey cost lots ofmoney...

WHEN DIDYOU FIRSTGET INTER-ESTED INGOTH? WHATATTRACTSYOU TO THEGOTHGENRE?

Oliver and Iboth have amelancholicside which at-tracts us togothic music. I first got in-terested in the genre afterhaving discovered DeineLakaien, one of myfavourite bands. Thus, Istarted attending goth par-ties to get to know moreartists from the scene.Some years ago Oliverused to frequent the sceneregularly, but now he doesnot consider himself as“goth“ any longer. Neitherdo I because we both tendto cross stylistic borders.

WHAT ARE YOUR FU-TURE HOPES FORYOUR MUSIC? WHATWOULD MAKE YOUFEEL MOST ACCOM-PLISHED?

It is our common goal tobe able to live on ourmusic in the future. Wewant our alien pop to crossborders and to reach peo-ple all over the world. Aswe both love travelling,we'd like to play on differ-ent continents and be-come damn famous! ;-)Well, I personally wouldfeel most accomplished if Icould sing and write songsfor a living. I haven't gotmany talents, so I want to


MUEN: WHAT'S ITLIKE (MUSIC WISE) INGREENVILLE, SCRIGHT NOW?

The scene in GreenvilleS.C. is not really hittingon much. We have tonsof talent hiding in thesehills. Most of our localvenues make it to hardto get a gig. Not every-one can pull 500 peopleto their shows. It seemsto be all about money tothe venue owners. Iguess we all gotta eat.

MUEN: HOW DID THECD RELEASE GO AT

THE HANDLEBAR?

Our CD release showwas an amazing experi-ence. To look out andsee that many MDSfans screaming ournames, and singing oursongs back to us was amoving moment. Ourfans are just so down toearth. We always lookforward to meetingthem, and hanging outafter the carnage.

MUEN: HOW LONGHAVE YOU BEEN'MODERN DAYSLAVE', ARE YOU ALL


MODERNDAY SLAVE

ORIGINAL MEMBERS?

We formed in 2004 withNick On the drums.Dustin was new on thebass. He never knewwhat he was gettinginto. I was the only gui-tar player in the begin-ning. We were originallya nasty death metalband. We were lucky ascan be to recruit Niles in2007 to add that extraelement to the music.We lost our singer inlate 2007. Dustin's exgirlfriend was in cosme-tology school at thetime. She sent Fontaineour way. Fontainewalked in and lit a bon-fire under our tails. He isthe one that changedthe sound of MDS. Nowwe don't scare off theladies.

MUEN: I HEAR A KIDROCK/EMINEMSOUND IN ALOT OFYOUR SONGS, AREEITHER ONE OFTHOSE ARTISTS ABIG INFLUENCE FORYOU?

I've yet to hear that one.I've been told we soundlike a wide range ofbands. we are influ-enced by all kinds ofmusic. I like to use mylife situations to influ-ence my music.

MUEN: WHO WRITES

MOST OF THELYRICS?

Fontaine writes all of thelyrics. Sometimes, oneof us may suggest a lit-tle something.

MUEN: WHY DID YOUWRITE "UNEX-PECTED" WHATPOINT ARE YOU TRY-ING TO MAKE IN THISSONG?

The song Unexpected isexactly that. Fontainehad no lyrics for thetune. The rest of uswere dead set on usingthe track. We trackedthe song behindFontaine's back. He re-turned the favor bydrinking a bottle ofJager, putting on hisblack cat burglar glovesand ripped that song anew ass. In all reality,our whole record dealwas unexpected.

MUEN: HOW WEREYOUR LATESTSHOWS IN NYC ANDELSEWHERE?WHERE WILL YOU BEPLAYING NEXT?

NYC was exactly whatwe needed. Alexa set usup like kings of NYC.We had people shootingpictures of us while wewere doing our photoshoot. We stayed at theLondon of NY. Chef

Gordon Rhamsey fromHells kitchen cooked ourchicken fingers for us. Inall. We have enjoyedourselves at about everyshow we've played.How could you not loveliving your dream?

MUEN: WHERE IS THEBEST PLACE TO GETA HOLD OF YOURALBUM "JUSTIFYYOUR EXISTENCE"?

On line shopping isprobably the most popu-lar way to purchase ourrecord- we will be upsoon on Itunes. Wehave the songs for saleon MySpace/modern-dayslave. Cds & more,and Earshot records willbe carrying our cd in ourhometown of GreenvilleS.C. Yep we're countryboys.

MUEN: WHAT ARESOME OF THE MOSTCHALLENGINGTHINGS FACING THEBAND RIGHT NOW?

The biggest challengewe have had is dealingwith our local radio sta-tion. We are a signedact. We own our ownlabel. We have a recordrecorded in Edwin Mc-Cain's personal studio.We are also selling therecord nationwide. Theradio boys just love kick-ing artist when they are

at their breaking point.When you say we can't.Modern Day Slave willsmack yer ass, & showyou we already did.

MUEN: WHAT DO YOUFEEL YOU HAVE THEMOST GOING FORYOU RIGHT NOW AS ABAND?

As a band, we are prob-ably the luckiest S.O.B'sin the world. Our man-ager Alexa signed ourband on a whim. Talkabout jumping in headfirst. We also have amagical chemistry be-tween all of us. We arealways scratching eachothers back. You don'tfind that every day.

WHO WOULD YOULIKE TO GIVETHANKS TO, FORTHEIR SUPPORT INMODERN DAY SLAVE?

I want to thank TiffanyHowle for pushing mefor all of these years.Alexa Ammon for takinga chance on five red-necks. Also my familyand friends for showingup to every MDS showwe do in town. Thanksto all of the Modern DaySlaves in this scatterbrained world.

Page 70 - MUEN Magazine JULY 2009 MUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

J. Loren Wince (Vocals)Los Angeles, CA

Myspace.com/hurt

Interview by ShaunaOʼDonnell

MUEN: HOW HAVE YOUBEEN?

Iʼve been pretty well. Iʼmjust getting my day startedwith a little Jameson andcoffee. We are going to hitrehearsal in a couplehours.

MUEN: AWESOME! THATSOUNDS LIKE A LOT OFFUN.

Yeah, we practice every-day.

MUEN: YOU GUYS ARENOW IN LOS ANGELESRIGHT?

Weʼve been practicing inBurbank, I started off in Vir-ginia and lived there forquite a few years. I donʼtthink Iʼm still quite well ad-justed. Iʼm definitely not anL.A. guy. We kind of just fo-cused here and set up abase camp because weused to be on Capitol

Records and thatʼs wherethe headquarters was.Thereʼs really not a wholelot of point in us being herenow. Itʼs a simple matter ofbeing expensive to move.

MUEN: HOW LONG HAVEYOU BEEN HERE?

Off and on for five longyears.

MUEN: REALLY?

Yeah, couch surfing andeverything.

MUEN: IF YOU LEAVE, ITWILL BE TO GO BACKTO VIRGINIA THEN?

Yes, I love Virginia. I lovethe rocks, trees and humid-ity. There are nicer folks,nothing against the L.A.folks, but they do have theproclivity to be a little bitdisingenuous.

MUEN: YEAH, I HEARWHAT YOU ARE SAYING.WHAT DO YOU THINK OFTHE MUSIC SCENE HERETHOUGH?

Itʼs hard to tell because Idonʼt really get out muchbelieve it or not. If Iʼm at aconcert, itʼs usually onethat Iʼm playing. Iʼll see thesame three or four bandsand Iʼll see their sets so Icanʼt say that I have an ed-ucated opinion on thewhole L.A. music scene.There is definitely a wholelot of music going on, al-most every night Iʼm invitedto somebody elseʼs concertwhich I subsequently canʼtmake because Iʼm usuallypracticing or keeping upwith my regimen of violin


HURT

practice or whatever Iʼmdoing. Iʼm trying to keep mycrazy mind busy.

MUEN: WELL ITʼS GOODTO BE BUSY; I LIKE TOBE BUSY TOO.

It is, I tend to destroy my-self when Iʼm not working.

MUEN: DID YOU ATTENDTHE GOLDEN GODAWARDS?

No, actually I didnʼt. Therest of the guys did. Istayed in and practiced vio-lin. Iʼm sorry I missed outon one act in particular thatI wanted to see with a newlead singer. I heard theirnew album and it was fan-tastic.

MUEN: WHICH BANDWAS THAT?

Killswitch Engage, I reallywanted to see them, but Ijust didnʼt have time. Iʼmjust not good around peo-ple for long periods of time.I canʼt do it. Iʼm just beinghonest.

MUEN: ACTUALLY, ITHINK YOUʼRE A REALLYNICE GUY.

Thank you very much.

MUEN: YOUʼRE WEL-COME, YOUʼRE LATESTALBUM RELEASEDTHROUGH AMUSEMENTCALLED GOODBYE TOTHE MACHINE IS NOWOUT.

Yes, itʼs actually doing sur-prisingly well. Amusement

is my managerʼs label sobasically itʼs a self release.It seems as though we aredoing a comparable if notbetter job than CapitolRecords so even the title ofthe album was pointing thefinger. Iʼm not going to saywhich finger I was pointingat Capitol Records, but weare trying to get enough al-bums to the stores. In thefirst weeks I was surprisedto find out that all the al-bums had sold out. Appar-ently there was someinterest in my band and Iwas very flattered at that. Iknow that everybody saysthis, but in my personalopinion we have THE bestfans in the world. I actuallygo on to our messageboards and post and talkwith them. They send meemails and things. We haveour little community thereand I listen to what theyhave to say. That is how wefound out about whatstores were out of what andthen we re-shipped stuff.Our fans were like “Hey,looked for you in Huntsvilleand couldnʼt find it.” We getdirect feedback from ourfans.

MUEN: WELL, IʼM ONEOF YOUR FANS.

Are you? I didnʼt know that.

MUEN: YEAH, DEFI-NITELY.

So youʼre not just readingthe MySpace page and thefactoids.

MUEN: NO, I REALLY AMAND HAVE BEEN FOR A

WHILE.

Thank you very much. Wetry so hard to make thebest music possible. I wisha lot more bands would dothat. Not every band that issuccessful seems to put inthe effort or the time andthatʼs a damn shame. If youare going to do one thingfor a living, you better begood at it.

MUEN: THATʼS VERYTRUE.

Hey, I have not forgottenwhat it was like. I was astucco and stone masonwhen I was young. I havedone so many professionsand kept quitting them todo music. I have not forgot-ten what itʼs like to work.Now, I work harder thanever because I realize howfar weʼve gotten. I am notgoing to forget how lucky Iam. So to all those guysout there who say that Idonʼt know how lucky I am,yes I do. You know what,you might have a betterband than I do and I wishyou the best of luck. Keepworking hard to all the folksout there that are bustingtheir butts and wishing thatthey get a chance. It tookme six years before I got achance at all and that wasthrough a small off shootlabel called HybridRecords. It has been justone long battle and itseems like today musicianshave to be a marketing ex-pert, paralegal and a musi-cian at the same time.Thatʼs not really fun, thankGod for managers.

MUEN: SOME BANDSHAVE TO BE ALL THATAND HAVE A DAY JOB.

Right, to tell you the truth,Iʼm broke. Iʼm really, trulyflat broke. I spent all of ourmoney on the last albumjust like we did for the lasttwo albums. We could havethrown up a couple micro-phones and made a grungysounding album, but thatʼsjust not what we do. Youhave to do the best thatyou possibly can, otherwiseyou canʼt live with yourself,at least I canʼt.

MUEN: I RESPECT THAT,THIS IS YOUR FIFTH RE-LEASE RIGHT?

It is, a long time ago wehad a self titled albumwhich no one has and Ihope you donʼt have it be-cause I recorded it myselfwhen I was just learning. Itwas horrible, the songs arealright, but I was just hav-ing a tough time learninghow to do things. The sec-ond album was The Con-sumation and thatʼs when Iquit my job. I was making alot of money in the aero-space industry at the time.Like I said, Iʼve had a lot ofjobs and I dedicated my lifeto it at that point. I came toa dark place in my lifewhere most of my friendspassed away within a shortperiod of time. I said “Whatdoes all of this matter?”This endless pursuit of thealmighty dollar did notmake me happy. So, I tookoff work and did not sleepfor about six months be-lieve it or not. I worked on it


and it sounded better thanthe self titled by a goodmargin. I gained a little bitof interest off that albumand that is what got itstarted. The album wasforetelling that this wouldbe the beginning of some-thing. I was lucky enoughto get to make Volume Iand then fans started latch-ing on and supporting us.We were lucky enough tomake Volume II with theirsupport. Capitol Recordsstopped helping us duringVolume II, in fact they toldus we couldnʼt do certainthings under contractualobligations and things likethat. They printed 50,000copies of Volume II thatpromptly sold out and theywouldnʼt print more. As amusician who truly wantshis music heard, that isabout the last thing that youever want to hear. Theyowned the rights to themaster recording and Icouldnʼt reproduce my ownmusic and they wouldnʼt.So at this point itʼs like“What are you doing tome?” I became furious andwe asked to be let go. Afterseveral months of squab-bling we were off and madeour own album and wemade it our way. We actu-ally went so far our ownway that we did somethingstrange and recordedGoodbye to the Machine inanalog. The reason we didthat is because I have beenpromising people that thisalbum was going to be dif-ferent. Otherwise it wouldbe named Volume III. Idonʼt know if anybodyknows what a pain in thebutt it is to record to ana-

log, but it gives it a differentkind of sound. Basically, wewere shunning the newgeneration of music that isusing a very powerfulmusic tool called ProTools.As someone who workswith these things everyday,Iʼm a proficient user of Pro-Tools. I know how to use itwell and I think it is beingabused. People are copy-ing and pasting the cho-ruses of their songs andpeople are singing half-assed and then gettingtuned. By tuned I mean youcan be off pitch and draw aline through your voice andall of a sudden you aresinging on pitch. You aregoing to be hearing a lot ofthat and I would like the lis-teners to be keen to that.The next time you hear asingers voice sound some-thing like a flute where allthe high tones are gone,that means that he prettymuch half-assed it andsomebody drew a linethrough his voice and madehim sing the right notes. Ontop of that, you have drum-mers who play sloppily anduse a device called BeatDetective where they arelined up on a quadrant andthere you have youʼre pic-ture perfect song thatsounds exactly stale andblah. We didnʼt want to dothat so we just laid it downpretty much exactly how itis live. I think that a lot ofpeople appreciated that. Itʼsa huge difference in thesound, we are going tocontinue to do somethingdifferent every time we dosomething, otherwise Idonʼt really know what thepoint is. Some people donʼt

like it and some do. Iʼmgoing to quote P.T. Barnumhere “You canʼt please allthe people all the time.” Wecertainly donʼt make popmusic so that kind of givesyou a little insight. We careabout making music that af-fects people. If itʼs only fivepeople that still matters theworld to me.

MUEN: DO YOU USU-ALLY DO ALL THE WRIT-ING FOR THE ALBUMS?

I had before, but on thisone we did a complete col-laboration. We wrote therecord in a month with theexception of two songs andwe recorded it in a month. Iwas in one studio at thetime. I was working andhad a work queue of songideas from the other guysthat they had been workingon. I would send them songideas and basic tracks. Wedid a round of demos andsent them out to the personwho was going to be ournew drummer, Louie Scian-calepore. He got to hearthem and didnʼt get muchpractice in. We said “Letʼssee what we can get.”

MUEN: SHAUN MORGANOF SEETHER APPEARSON THE SONG “WORLDAINʼT RIGHT.”

Yes he does, I houndedhim about that when wewere on tour. If you haveany Seether fans out there,Iʼve got to tell you that thisguy is one of the coolestguys on Earth. I hung outwith him just about everynight and you wouldnʼt be-lieve how similar we are

even though he is from Jo-hannesburg, South Africaand Iʼm an American. Weʼreboth not strangers to hardtimes and sometimes youneed someone to talk tothatʼs been there. He wasthat for me and I think tosome degree I was that tohim sometimes. When Iasked him for a favor hesaid yes, he got in his car,drove up and sang on thesong. That was it and Ithink he did a wonderfuljob. I also think his voice isreally cool because I lis-tened to it every night onthe Seether tour. We sup-ported them for a couplemonths.

MUEN: DID HE HELPWRITE THE SONG ORDID HE JUST SING?

He came in and sang. Iʼmsure he could of written it,but I didnʼt want to take toomuch of the guys time. Incase you havenʼt noticedthe guy is hot right now. Ac-tually, I just listened to“Careless Whisper” eventhough that is a cover, thevocals are really good.

MUEN: NOTHINGAGAINST GEORGEMICHAEL, BUT I LOVESEETHERʼS VERSION SOMUCH BETTER.

I like Seetherʼs version a lotbetter too, nothing againstGeorge Michael, bathroomstalls or anything.

MUEN: I READ A QUOTEBY YOU WHERE YOUSAID “SOME PEOPLECOULD MISUNDER-STAND SOME OF THE


SONGS.” WHAT DID YOUMEAN BY THAT?

Normally, I donʼt explainmyself on songs. The rea-son I do that is not becauseIʼm an arrogant prick, whichI possibly am. The reasonis, people will come to meand tell me about a part oftheir life. I hang out with thefans after the shows. Theirexperience is obviouslyquite different than mine,but it truly goes to theirheart. If I tell them exactlywhat the song was to me, ittakes away from that a littlebit. What I was afraid ofhaving a misunderstandingwith was our current single“Wars.” I was working inaeronautics and the de-fense industry and I wasbusting my butt ninetyhours a week to try to makethe most infinitely wonder-ful weapons possible sothat our boys would do themost proficient job possi-ble. I made planes thatwould blast the crap out ofpeople. Traveling aroundthe world as a musician, Isee all these people andpeople are people. If youdonʼt think itʼs a damnshame that people die , es-pecially people that forwhatever reason are willingto die for what they believeis right, then there is some-thing wrong with you. Ourbest, our brightest and ourbravest go out there andthat also stands for othercountries. Whether or notthey are misinformed thesepeople are idealists that goout and they could haveperhaps cured cancer, butthey get killed becausethey are taking part in a

war. No matter which wayyou cut it, it comes down togreed on somebodyʼs side.“Wars” is not about the Per-sian Gulf conflict, it is aboutwhat we have done throughthe centuries with ourgreed, lust, and lack of pity.I ask for a moment of si-lence. Please close youeyes for the millions of livesthat died in the wars. Ididnʼt want our soldiers tomisunderstand that be-cause they have 110% ofmy support. I busted my tailpersonally to make surethat you guys donʼt die be-cause I really care a lotabout you.

MUEN: I LOVE THE OLDTYPEWRITERS ON THEBACKGROUND OF YOURMYSPACE AND WEB-SITE. DO THEY HAVESPECIAL MEANING?

Actually, what had hap-pened was I was workingwith the artist through ourdistributor and I told him Iwanted something thatpopped. I used an illustra-tion like the CampbellʼsSoup can, so he took thatto mean mod art. That ishis personal typewriter thathe took a photograph of.That wasnʼt really what Iwas going for, but it wascool so we kept it. I stick tothe audio and let other peo-ple do the visual. For in-stance, our guitarist is atattoo artist, heʼs a trueartist. I can sketch some-thing and make it look likereality, but it takes me fivehours to do it. I donʼt reallycall that art; itʼs a matter ofconstant improvements.

MUEN: THE ALBUMCOVER IS REALLY COOLTOO.

Itʼs a nice calming blue. Iwanted an iridescent blueon the cover.

MUEN: IN 2003 YOUR RE-LEASED “THE CON-SUMATION” AND THENIN 2008 YOU RELEASEDA RE-MASTERED VER-SION CALLED “THE RE-CONSUMATION.” WHYDID YOU DECIDE TO RE-MASTER AND RE-RE-LEASE THIS ALBUM?

What had happened was Igot some help back in2003, a gentleman who be-lieved in my band offered toprint 1,000 copies and sellthem in his shops. He hada string of pawn and CDshops. So I said sure andthen he asked how muchmoney I wanted. I told himif he was putting up themoney to print them that Ididnʼt want any money. Itold him to just get them inthe stores, get them outthere and thatʼs what hedid. Years later, Capitolowns these compositionsand stuff. Dirty things aregoing on because he is stillselling these CDʼs, butwhat really broke me was, Iwas talking to fans after ashow and someone said hegot The Consumation buthe had to pay $120 for it. Iwas like “What?” The guysaid that he thought thatwas wrong that I would dothat to him. I said “I didnʼtdo that to you. I wouldnever do that to you.” Istarted hearing it higherand higher. People were

paying bidding war pricesspawned by EBay. It turnsout this gentleman mighthave been continuing toproduce the album andthen charging my fanshigher and higher prices onit. So, what I did was re-work the album myself sothat no one could say itwas sub-standard or any-thing. I tightened the se-quencing a little bit andtook out some pops andclicks. I put in two files thatI had saved in case I everneeded to re-release it andthatʼs what I did. We re-mastered the album andthere it is. It is available atour website. I have notbeen pushing the album orpromoting it. I just want itavailable so that the fansdonʼt have to pay $120 toget it.

MUEN: THAT MUST HAVEMADE YOU SO MAD.

It did because we donʼttreat people like that.

MUEN: YOUʼLL BE OUTON THE ROADTHROUGHOUT MAY SUP-PORTING YOUR LATESTRELEASE. WHO AREYOU GOING OUT WITH?

Well, we will be doing astring of dates ourselvesand I think it has just beenconfirmed that we will bedoing a co-headlining tourwith Sick Puppies. That isgoing to be really fun, theyare a great band if youhave not heard of them Iencourage you to checkthem out. Their live show isamazing. They are alsovery good friends of mine.


Iʼd have to say that the leadsinger was nice enough tobe the only one to evengive enough of a crapabout me to spend mylonely birthday night withme on my bus drinkingJameson Whiskey. Theyare the band with the chickbass player Emma. That isprobably what people no-tice first. Iʼve seen themplay seven or eight timesbecause we play festivalswhere there are ten bandsthere. Iʼve seen them do allkinds of crazy things. Any-time you see someone witha shirt that says Free Hugsthat is a Sick Puppies thing.Those dates will be re-leased very shortly.

MUEN: I REMEMBER THEFIRST TIME I SAW YOUPLAY. I REMEMBERBEING BLOWN AWAY BYYOUR TALENT.

Thank you, Iʼm a littlestrange on the word talentbecause I really donʼt thinkit comes overnight. There isa reason why I stay in thestudio overnight to play andplay and play. Itʼs work, itʼsnot all “Oooh check me outIʼm all badass!” Thank youanyway. Iʼm sure if anyoneputs their mind to it theycan do anything. That ispretty much what I believe.

MUEN: IF YOU HAVE THEDRIVE TO DO IT. THAT ISSOMETHING I TELLBANDS, SOME THINK IFTHEY HAVENʼT MADE ITAFTER A YEAR THENTHEY SHOULD GIVE UP.THESE THINGS TAKETIME AND DEDICATION.

Yeah, itʼs like we are com-ing up on year ten. Folksare just now hearing aboutus thanks to folks like you.Itʼs a long slow road andguess what, I hate to bustanyoneʼs bubble, but richand famous do not go handin hand. I am very, verypoor. For instance, I havenot eaten since the day be-fore yesterday. The onething that is wonderfulabout fans is that they buyyou drinks, but the bad partis they donʼt buy youchicken strips. So youpretty much by necessitybecome an alcoholic. Itʼsnot something Iʼm reallyproud of, I donʼt think Iʼm ahabitual alcoholic, but justby nature everyday I endup hanging out becausesomeone will buy me adrink. Calories are caloriesand Iʼll take them. It helpsme maintain my girlish fig-ure.

MUEN: WHEN I SAW YOUPLAY IT WAS AT THEHOUSE OF BLUES INANAHEIM AND YOUWERE OPENING FORARMY OF ANYONE.

Oh man! I miss that band. Ijust saw Ray Luzier, theirdrummer, heʼs doing Kornnow. He is doing great, Imiss that band, and thereare rumors that they mightbe getting back together.That will be greatly antici-pated by me because Ihave to say we have touredwith a lot of cool bands, butthat was definitely thecoolest band. I ended upwith pneumonia on the lat-ter part of that trip. Wewere doing it in a van in the

dead of winter. I basicallywent into shock after ashow and I couldnʼt move. Iwas running a really highfever and the last thing thatI remember was RobertDeLeo and I donʼt know ifyou have seen him in per-son, but he is a very largeindividual. He was pickingme up and pouring codeinedown my throat. He wasshaking me and saying“Wake up J, youʼre going tomake it, youʼre going tomake it.” I was sitting therein this delirium. That is farpast the line of being cool.These guys were bringingme medication and trying toshake me so I donʼt die.

MUEN: THEY ARE ALLSUCH NICE GUYS. I RUNINTO RAY LUZIER ATSHOWS EVERY ONCE INA WHILE.

Heʼs a great guy. I talkedto Richard Patrick the daybefore yesterday and he isout of the country at themoment. I think he is get-ting a little family time in,but we keep in contactevery chance we get.

MUEN: YOU'RE PLAYINGROCK ON THE RANGETHIS YEAR. IS THISYOUR FIRST TIME PLAY-ING THE FESTIVAL?

We have played in the re-gion, but I donʼt believe itwas called Rock on theRange. I would say techni-cally, no. We have donemany festivals in Ohio. Itshould be a great time. Iknow that it is going to beone of the greatly antici-pated shows on the tour.

MUEN: TO ALL THEFANS OUT THERE, IFYOU SEE J, BRING HIMSOME CHICKEN STRIPS.

(Laughing) Thatʼs the won-derful thing about playingthese festivals, they actu-ally give you food. Itʼs usu-ally not very good, but itʼsfood. The standard thing isyou usually get this reallybad meat or veggie burger.Iʼm not a vegetarian, but Iget the veggie burger and Ihighly recommend you dothat too.

MUEN: HAVE YOU MADEANY NEW VIDEOS FORTHE NEW SINGLES YET?

No, there are not a lot ofoutlets for videos anymore.Nobody plays them andthey are expensive. Thatʼsnot really a luxury we get.In the video for Ten TonBrick, I was strongly op-posed to showing my face.Some people think Iʼmhandsome, some peopledonʼt. I donʼt think Iʼm hand-some. That doesnʼt reallymatter to me becausewhen I started to makethese albums I didnʼt evenwant my name on them. Ijust wanted the music outthere and I wanted it tomean something. CapitolRecords said “You have10,000 dollars to make avideo. The video will be alive shoot done with CVSweb cameras.” This is whatyou get for 10,000 dollars.They were like “Do youwant a video or no video?”We were like “I guess wewant a video.” So, thereyou go. We got to talking toour good friend Ryan


Smith, who is an awesomevideo director. He just didthe last Shinedown videoand he tried to do a videojust at cost for the love ofthe band. We couldnʼt af-ford that because we justcanʼt. It sucks because I re-ally wanted to do a videowith this guy. He is quitethe artist and if you guyshave funding out there andyou want to make a video,you are going to need tolook this guy up. Iʼm just sosorry we couldnʼt work withhim.

MUEN: I NOTICED A LOTOF BANDS ARE START-ING TO HIRE FILM STU-DENTS.

The return on making avideo, for instance, if wemade a video that cost tengrand, I would have to sellseven thousand extra unitsto pay for just that. Thereʼsno guarantee that it wouldget played or seen any-where. That doesnʼt reallyadd up and you have to besmart about what you do.You have to make yourmoves carefully, especiallywhen you live every daynext to the red line.

MUEN: A LOT OF BANDSARE MAKING LIVEVIDEOS AND PUTTINGTHEM ON YOUTUBE.

Right, if I had more time Iwould make a video sagawith all of the songs.Maybe someday we will dothat. A lot of fans havebeen crying for a live DVDand we havenʼt done thatyet. We do have a lot offootage. With this album we

did a behind the sceneDVD, which is not to beconfused with a live per-formance DVD. It has clipsof us playing takes, usmessing around at the stu-dio, it has some of the origi-nal drafts to some of thelyrics and it also has thedemos I recorded. It givesyou an idea of what wentinto the album. I did it withthe fans. They did it free ofcharge for the love of theband.

MUEN: YOU WILL FINDTHERE ARE A LOT OFPEOPLE OUT THEREWHO ARE WILLING TOHELP FOR FREE.

I know and that reallymakes me happy. I donʼtlike to not be able to paypeople.

MUEN: I KNOW AND I UN-DERSTAND. IT MAKESYOU FEEL GUILTY.

They are like “Dude, I donʼtmind, itʼs an honor.” Talentdeserves to be paid for. Iused the word talent on thisguy and itʼs actually hardwork.

MUEN: AT WHAT AGEDID YOU BEGIN TOWRITE MUSIC?

I think my first compositionwas at age ten. I had writ-ten a couple things beforethat, but they quickly endedup in the garbage recepta-cle. I was a classical musi-cian so the first thing that Idid was a march for brassand strings. It was actuallypretty good. It was a littlesimplistic. I kept on writing

and I wrote in variousstyles to push myself.Whatever direction I felt likegoing, I went that way. “Co-incide” was the first rockstyle tune that I did, if wecan call it rock style. I didthat when I was fourteen. Ilaid that down at a record-ing studio because Iwanted to know if I hadwhat it took. I wanted hon-est feedback and I wentthere and the guy said “Youhave a great voice. Let mehook you up with WarnerBros. Records.” Iʼm talkingto this guy from WarnerBros. when Iʼm fourteen. Atthe time I was a very goodlooking young man and hewas like “Dude, letʼs face ityouʼre a good looking guy,you can sing great and wewant to sign you right now.”I was like “Okay, hereʼs myrepertoire, these are thesongs I wrote.” And he waslike “No, no, no you wonʼtbe doing your songs.” I waslike “What? I think you haveme mistaken with Hanson.Have a good day.” Myband at the time is like “Youidiot.” There is not a singlemember left from thatarrangement. You have todo what you do for the loveof it. This road is so hardand there is a reason whywe work twenty hour days.What we are doing is whatwe are blessed to be doing.Iʼm blessed to be able towrite a song and have it beheard. That really helps mewith a lot of things. Itʼs adream everyday, some-times a bad dream, but anexperience.

MUEN: YOU ARE ACLASSICAL VIOLINIST.

Yes I am, I actually learnedto sing and play at thesame time. My band kind offorced me to do it. I got inso many fist fights as ayoung man. I am a guynamed Loren; first off, it isan Irish/Scottish name, butnot very common in theUnited States. Some peo-ple would call me Lauren,the girlʼs name. Iʼd have myviolin with me, first thingyou know, big old fist fight. Iwas a pretty scrappy youngguy. I had a little sore spotabout playing rock and rolland having violin mixed inthere. I practiced everyday.I wanted to be the best vio-linist on Earth, but Iʼm not.

MUEN: YOU ARE VERYGOOD THOUGH.

Thank you that was eight totwelve hours practice everyday that went into that.They said “Can you singwhile you play violin?” Isaid “That is almost an im-possibility. Let me try.”Sweating bullets Iʼm up onstage trying to pull it off andwe finally worked out thefirst tune where I could pullit off and it was “DanseRusse.” A lot of fans wentbuck wild when they seethat because they hadnever seen that before. Iknow there are bands likeYellowcard where you cansee a violinist on the stage,but you donʼt hear it. To tellyou the truth a lot of thesecompositions were writtenon a violin and thatʼs why ittranslates so well. I think Ihave now gotten a little bitbetter at playing whilesinging.


MUEN: IT IS GREAT TOSEE YOU PLAY LIVE.

Thank you, my band hasthis elusive chemistry andIʼm so proud of that. Weare not playing some pre-programmed sequence ofevents. We are definitelynot playing to a taperecorder which some bandsdo, Iʼm sorry to tell you. Alot of famous bands get upthere and they have thetracks played for them. Wedonʼt do that. There is acertain level of spontaneityand that is the reason whypeople go to shows andsee people play. There willbe similarities betweennights, but similarities arewhere it ends. Iʼm proud ofthat, I love it. No gimmicks,no tricks, we just get outthere and play. It really de-pends on the night as towhat is going to happen.Variety is the spice of life.

MUEN: IʼD LIKE TOTHANK YOU VERY MUCHFOR THE INTERVIEW. ITWAS SO GREAT TALK-ING WITH YOU.

Well, thank you for an ex-cellent interview. Like I saidthe average person, whenIʼm on the phone with themare like “Howʼd you namethe band?” “Where are youfrom?” They ask a series ofquestions where I could re-ally, truly be half asleepwhen I answer them, butyou gave me a chance toreally talk about things thatare important to me. Yougave me the chance to tellour soldiers that I wishthem well and wish them ahappy return. You gave me

the chance to say a lot ofthings that I really wantedto say, so thanks for thegreat interview and I will bemore than happy to talk toyou anytime.

MUEN: WELL THANKYOU, IʼM A REALLY BIGFAN OF YOURS.

Well, thanks we are goingto try our hardest to stay

around and keep playingmusic. God help us, fanshelp us and God Bless.


MY EVOLUTIONWritten InterviewBy G. Cataline

MUEN: SO THE NEWALBUM, 'THIS IS REALLIFE' IS OUT! HOWLONG HAS IT BEEN INTHE MAKING, ANDWHO HELPED YOUWITH THE PRODUC-TION AND ENGINEER-ING THIS TIMEAROUND?

Juzwick – This album hasbeen in the making since

I joined the band. Fromday one writing beganand the process neverceased until the albumʼsrelease in May.

Micah – This CD took awhile to make due tomany factors includingchange of bass players,writing style, many gigsand the making of ouracoustic EP Truth BeTold, which occurredwhile we were recordingʻThis Is Real Lifeʼ. I pro-duced and engineeredthe CD and did the key-

board/elec-tronicsounds pro-gramming as well. Alot more time was put intoprogramming and produc-tion on this CD than in thepast….we felt that ourmusic and the band ingeneral, had evolved somuch since All Eyes OnMe that we really had toelevate all aspects of ourCD starting with the writ-ing, to the recording, edit-ing, production, mixingand mastering. We wereabsolutely determined to

blow every-oneʼs expecta-tions away andone of the ways

we ensured being able todo that was working withlegendary producer JayBaumgardner (311, Gods-mack, Papa Roach,Drowning Pool, etc.). Jay,as you would imagine, isa very busy man but hegraciously made time toaccommodate mixing ourCD. We met him througha mutual friend and askedhim to mix our CD back inNovember of 2008, when


Micah

we were getting close tocompletion of the record-ing. He said then that hedidnʼt have the time andwe were BUMMED! Wedidnʼt give up on himthough…after WayneStatic (Static-X) sang onour first single, “SoHappy” we asked Jay ifhe could find time tosqueeze us in to mix onesong that we wanted torelease the first week of2009. This time he saidyes! The experience wasgreat and he seemed tolike working with us asmuch as we liked workingwith him! Then when itwas time to mix the restof the CD, we gotlucky….his schedule hadan opening and we wereable to fit our mix right init! The rest is history.

MUEN: WHAT ELSECAN YOU TELL USABOUT THE ALBUM?

Burgos - It's a great rep-resentation of what we dolive.

Juzwick - Every song hasgone through some kindof metamorphosis or de-velopment. We havedozens of rehearsal andlive recordings that showthe songs at differentstages of their growth. Ifyou go to our Youtubepage(youtube.com/myevolu-tionmusic) youʼll findsome live vids that showthe infant stages of thesesongs. The super-fan in

me knows how exciting itis to find background infoon my favoritebands/songs so I think itʼsan interesting thing forfans to experience.

Micah - Every song trulywent through tons of rear-ranging, editing and addi-tional production….insome cases literally up tohours before being mixed!As I said, we were veryaware of really needing tobring every element to thehighest level possible andwe did all we could toachieve that. It also fea-tures our awesome newlogo…. WOOT-WOOT!!

MUEN: HOW MANY AL-BUMS DO YOU HAVETOTAL?

*M. Lopez* - We havetwo. The recently re-leased in early May "ThisIs Real Life", 2007's "AllEyes On Me" and what Iconsider to be our firstdemo entitled, "GettingClose To Something". SoI stand corrected....wehave two and a halfCD's!!!

Burgos - I'll agree with 21/2. As you can see, welean towards 2 as thatfirst one was us in an in-fant stage.

Micah – Yeah, two plusour acoustic EP, ʻTruth BeToldʼ….and as they men-tioned, the demo ʻGettingClose To Somethingʼ.

MUEN: HOW DID YOUGET WAYNE STATIC OFSTATIC-X AND DANNELSON OF ANTHRAXTO DO GUEST VO-CALS?

Juzwick – We told themthat our favorite bandnames ended with an“X”…. they couldnʼt turnus down after that.

Micah – Wayne and I metthrough my roommateand have become friendsin the past year or so. Hewas over at our studioone night while I wasworking on OrdinaryWorld and he was veryimpressed with our ver-sion – in particular withBurgosʼ vocal perform-ance. We got to talkingabout the new Static-XCD that they were work-ing on (Cult Of Static) andhow he was excited tohave Dave Mustaine(Megadeth) play a solo onit. From there it was anatural to ask if he wouldbe into singing on a songon our CD….and he saidhe was into it. He alsosang live with us atHouse Of Blues-SunsetStrip in January, wherewe performed ʻColdʼ andʻSo Happyʼ. Dan Nelson(Anthrax) and I have beenfriends for over ten yearsand we were in a band to-gether in NY called Un-broken in 2000-2003.Weʼve remained goodfriends since I moved toLA in 2003. When Dan

and I discussed him com-ing to LA to visit, I asked ifheʼd be into singing onthe new CD and maybeeven live with us. He saidhe was into it and whenhe visited he joined us onstage at the Key Club –singing Wayneʼs parts inʻSo Happyʼ - and sang onSolid 15 in the studio. Itwas great working withhim again and I canʼt waitfor the world to hear whatan awesome singer he ison the new Anthrax CDcoming out in October. Iwish him all the successin the world….he de-serves it!! Tommy Vext(formally of Snot andDevine Heresy) also sangwith us at that Key Clubshow on a cover of Slip-knotʼs ʻDualityʼ! It was anAMAZING night!!

MUEN: TELL US ABOUTTHE LIVE SHOWS WITHSTATIC-X THIS PASTMAY?

*M. Lopez* - They wereINCREDIBLE!!! The fansin the Midwest are BAD-ASS!!! They show upearly ready to ROCK andare not jaded at all. Weplayed in front of 800 to1000 people each showas the opening act, soldlots of merch signedeverything imaginableand took many a pic withfans!!! It was too cool. Itwas great being out withStatic. Wayne and Teraare great and the bandand crew are the coolest


of people!!!

Juzwick – The crowdswere great. They werereally receptive to us andwe made a lot of newfriends. The Static-X crewwere beyond helpful andreally made us feel wel-come. A huge thank yougoes out to KonstanzeLouden, Erik Fincher, andWill Hunt ….. and ofcourse Mr. & Mrs. Static!The Fort Wayne showwas definitely a highlightfor me because my momand a bunch of friendsfrom Cincinnati drove upto see us. It was theirfirst time seeing My Evo-lution in action!

Burgos - I agree the Xcrew were fantastic andgreat to us. We weresuccessful and for a newgroup that's not as Metalas Static-X, it was atremendous accomplish-ment. Each city broughtus new fans and a reasonto buy more Sharpies.

Micah – The response wegot from Static-X, theircrew, the other bands, theproduction crews at thevenues and of course thefans, was AMAZING! Itreally confirmed what wefelt about our new musicand was a great way tointroduce it to the world!!

MUEN; WHAT INSPIREDYOU TO DO A COVEROF "ORDINARYWORLD," WHICH WAS

ORIGINALLYRECORDED BY DURANDURAN?

*M. Lopez* - I've alwaysloved the song and everytime it would play on myiPod I would think that wewould sound great doingthis song. So I came intorehearsal and told theguys let's cover "OrdinaryWorld". I knew we couldgive it the same powerthat we do our own songswhile keeping Duran'sspirit and beautifulmelody. I didn't have to domuch convincing to theguys and it came togetherfairly quickly. Playing thissong live is AMAZINGand it's definitely a crowdpleaser!!!

Juzwick – Iʼm a sucker forballads. Mike brought theidea to the table and Icouldnʼt say no.

Burgos - I wasn't inspiredto do it...Mike was. DuranDuran are a hugely suc-cessful band and thatsong is loved by many dif-ferent types of musiclovers. So, even the hardcore rockers like our ver-sion because it has thatME bite to it.

MUEN: LET'S TALKMORE TOURS... WILLYOU BE DOING MORELIVE SHOWS IN SUP-PORT OF THIS ALBUM?AND ARE THEREOTHER BANDS IN-VOLVED FOR SOME OF

THOSE SHOWS?

Juzwick – We canʼt waitto get back out on tour!We havenʼt announcedany new dates yet but wewill be very soon!

Burgos - I'm just waitingto collaborate with Timba-land.

Micah – We will definitelybe touring a lot more tohelp spread the word andmake new fans andfriends all over the place!We are a great live bandwith amazing energy andpeople need to experi-ence an M.E. show tofully appreciate what wedo on every level. We willdef try to hook up withsome other great bandsas we put tours together.People wanna see greatbands play together sothey can enjoy anevening of music not justone band and we willkeep that in mind and dowhat we can to make thathappen!

MUEN: WHAT IS THISTRUTH BE TOLD'ACOUSTIC EP? WHENWAS THAT PRODUCEDAND WHERE IS ITAVAILABLE?

Juzwick – ʻTruth Be Toldʼwas released in Novem-ber 2008. It can bedownloaded for FREE onour website: myevolu-tionmusic.com

Micah – We had playedacoustic sets a few timeslive and thought therewas something specialabout the way our songstranslated to acoustic ver-sions. We had talkedabout putting out somesongs acoustically afterhearing some acoustic re-hearsal recordings andwhen we realized thatʻThis Is Real Lifeʼ wasnʼtgoing to be ready for awhile, we decided to re-lease ʻTruth Be Toldʼ totide fans over and getthem excited for the newmaterial. So we actuallyreleased a few songsacoustically BEFORE wereleased them with fullproduction. One of theunique elements of theway we perform acousti-cally is that I donʼt justplay a shaker or tam-bourine, I play a Djembe,hi-hat, cymbal and otherpercussion on mostsongs. I often approachthe percussion very ag-gressively and that com-bined with how theacoustic guitars areplayed really makes itmuch more high-energythan most acoustic per-formances. People aresurprised by how aggres-sive it is and yet still moremelodic than the full pro-duction versions becausethe vocals have so muchmore room. You reallyhave to check it out to un-derstand….oh and did wemention…itʼs a FREEdownload at www.myevo-


lutionmusic.com!!

MUEN: I REMEMBERYOU HAD THIS AWE-SOME ACOUSTIC ONYOUR PLAYER ONCE, ICAN'T REMEMBER THENAME OF THE SONG,BUT THE VOCALSWERE AMAZING! ANDTHAT IS WHAT FIRSTATTRACTED ME TOTHE BAND. I NOTICEYOU NEVER HAVE THESONG UP ANYMORE.WHY IS IT ALOT OFBANDS TAKE DOWNSOME OF THEIR BESTSONGS OFF MYSPACE,HAHA! IT'S FRUSTRAT-ING TO ME:)

*M. Lopez - I understandyour pain. The reason it'sno longer up there is thatMyspace only allowsbands (unsigned bandsthat is) to have 10 songsup at a time. Actually, 10songs is a new thing. Itwas originally 4 and thenbecame 5 and is now 10which is cool because wecan have the entire newCD posted and not gothrough the headache ofpicking certain songs.The CD is meant to beheard in itsentirety...choosing favesis the fans job!!! I thinkthe missing acoustic songyou mentioned is "TimeFlies" from the "All EyesOn Me" CD. It does suckthat it's no longer postedbut it lives on in CD formand can be purchased oniTunes or heard on ourwebsite myevolutionmu-

sic.com so it's not a totaldowner!!!

Burgos - I hate it too. Buteverything's available....for a price! HA HA!!

MUEN: ARE YOU ALLORIGINALLY FROMTHIS AREA? AND IF NO,WHERE ARE YOUFROM AND HOW LONGHAVE YOU BEEN INTHE HOLLYWOOD/L.A.AREA? *M. Lopez* - I am from LAbut the others are fromsome other far off mysti-cal lands.

Burgos - Born and raisedin Arizona and came toHollywood to find My Evo-lution. How funny that Ifound them... twice!

Juzwick – Born andraised in Cincinnati but Ilike to claim Pittsburgh asa second home since mydadʼs side of the family isfrom there. Iʼve been liv-ing in Hollywood for 3 ½years.

Micah – Born in DaBronx, NY. Lived inQueens, NY my whole lifetil Nov. 3, 2003 when Imoved to LA. I canʼtimagine living anywhereelse….I LOVE it here likeI knew I would!!

MUEN: IN YOURWORDS, HOW HAS THEBAND EVOLVED OVERTHE PAST YEARS?WHAT SORT OFCHANGES HAVE YOU

UNDERGONE, ANDWHAT ARE YOURHOPES FOR THE FU-TURE?

Burgos - changed ourlook, changed our logo,honed in on our sound,changed bass players,changed our promo pic-tures, changed the waywe record, changed re-hearsal studios, damn,what hasn't evolved?That's the beauty of ourband's name: it's true tolife, constantly growingand changing.

Juzwick – I think the mostobvious changes are:Mikeʼs switch from ablack Ibanez Iceman to awhite one, Micahʼs loss ofrack toms, Daveʼs shorter

hair, and my face in thepromo pics and onstage.

Micah – Letʼs see….I hadshort, spiky, bleachstriped hair (bleach byMike), then black hair witha red stripe up the center,then a faux-hawk withhighlights, then a mo-hawk, then shaved it bald,then let it grow out towhat it is now. Thatʼs alot of change! Hope forthe future….that it doesnʼtfall out!!

MUEN: WITH THEMUSIC OF MY EVOLU-TION, WHAT IS YOURMAIN OBJECTIVE WITHTHE SONGS? WHATMOSTLY INSPIRES YOUTO WRITE WHAT YOU

WRITE?

*M. Lopez* - Life experi-ences, passion for musicand self-expression aremy reasons for writingwhat I write. I always takeinto consideration whatthe others guys do bestand I do my best to matchmy strengths with theirsto create the proper syn-ergy.

Juzwick – I like to keepthings simple and tight. Idonʼt need someone topat me on the back forplaying a great bass solo.Iʼd much rather fill up thelow end and leave roomfor everyone else.

Burgos - Bad music. It in-spires me to write bettermusic to give everyonesomething good to hearand feel. I always thinkwe can write better songs

than most of the drivel wehear on mainstreamradio. I can be inspired towrite a song by a simplephrase heard in daily life.It can really be anything.

Micah – I feel like one ofthe main differencesabout the music we putout is that it is very bal-anced (yep, Iʼm a Libra!)It is very aggressive andhigh-energy though notmetal and it is also verymelodic. We also try tostay away from the clichénegativity that is soprevalent in heavy music.


MUEN; WHAT DO YOUFEEL IS THE MOST DIF-FICULT ASPECT OFBEING IN A BANDWITHOUT MAJORLABEL SUPPORT?

*M. Lopez* - To this pointwe've done everythingentirely on our own. Ofcourse we've had helpfrom friends/businesscontacts introducing us tothis person or that personbut at the end of the dayit's been our own driveand determination thathas gotten us this far. It'sobviously difficult fundingeverything on your ownas well as making difficultbusiness decisions whiletrying to live life but it's anecessary evil to get tothe next level. If it wereeasy everyone would do itand as cliché as thatsounds it's absolutelytrue. That's the reason wenamed the new CD

"This Is Real Life"...be-cause to us the musicand the grueling (but sat-isfying) process of makingit was exactly that, RealLife.

Burgos - Yeah, the hard-est part is having to PIY. Imean, we're fucking awe-some... we should be get-ting paid for this.

Juzwick – No yen, pesos,or lira.

Micah – We believe in themusic we are putting out100% and sometimes itʼs

a bit frustrating with howslow the growth is withoutthe big machine behindus. As we expose ourmusic to more people wesee how many of themget it immediately and re-ally love what weʼredoing. We know that withthe exposure that havingthe machine behind uswould afford us, we wouldbe able to grow so muchmore quickly. All in goodtime!

MUEN: WHAT DO YOULIKE MOST: PERFORM-ING LIVE, OR RECORD-ING NEW SONGS INTHE STUDIO?

Burgos - I'd actually loveto meet the dingbat thatanswers "in the studio".It's cool and all butc'mon..it doesn't evencompare to rocking peo-ple live.

Juzwick – Performing live.I spend the least amountof time in the studio sorecording songs makesme antsy…I want to getout and rock people.

Micah – There is ab-solutely NOTHING thatcompares with the feelingof performing music livein front of an audiencethat digs what youʼredoing! I experienced itfirst when I was 11 yearsold and have been ad-dicted to that rush eversince. It really is thegreatest high ever!! Thestudio affords me some

really great creative out-lets and a sense oftremendous pride andsatisfaction when arecording is released butnothing compares to live!

MUEN: WHAT OTHERINTERESTS DO YOUTHINK YOU'D BE MOREINVOLVED IN, IF YOUWERE NEVER A MUSI-CIAN? OR IN OTHERWORDS, IF THERE WASNO MUSIC, WHATWOULD YOU BE DOINGINSTEAD?

*M. Lopez* - I'd be tryingto create some unknownthing called "Music" andI'd surely be trying to in-fluence people into dig-ging it much like I do now.

Juzwick – I like to createand share so cooking hasbecome a second outletfor me. Iʼm always look-ing for excuses to havepeople over for dinner. If Iwasnʼt more involved inmusic Iʼd want to open myown restaurant.

Burgos - I'd continue writ-ing. There's a novel inhere somewhere, I just

know it.

Micah – Iʼm going over toJuzwickʼs for some food!If I were never a musicianIʼd probably be in the fieldof psychiatry or science.Iʼm fascinated by humanbehavior andphysics….then again, Ilike SCUBA diving a lot

too so maybe Iʼd open adive shop…somewheretropical….ya man!

MUEN: WHAT WOULDYOU LIKE TO SAY TOTHE FANS THAT SUP-PORT YOU?

Burgos - Tell everyoneyou know about us andspread the love/music.

Juzwick - Domo arigato.See you soon!

Micah – Thanks for rockinwith us! Donʼt steal ourmusic….weʼre poorenough as it is, so buy aCD or download fromiTunes or sites where weactually get a little some-thing for our hard work!

MUEN: IS THERE ANY-THING ELSE YOU'DLIKE TO ADD?

*M. Lopez* - Yeah,2+2=5.....

Juzwick – I love my mom.

Burgos – Peach.

Micah – More hours tothe day…. PLEASE!!Oh… and thanks to Gregat MUEN for supportingM.E. and making this in-terview possible!!


(Wind-Up Records)

Joey Culver (Vocals)Jackson, MS/ Memphis,TN

Myspace.com/papercut-massacre


MUEN: HOW ARE YOUDOING?

Iʼm doing fantastic, enjoy-ing the sun out here inMemphis, Tennessee. Itʼsa hot and humid day.

MUEN: IʼM IN CALIFOR-NIA AND ITʼS RAININGTODAY.

Thatʼs actually kind ofweird. Iʼve been to Califor-nia many times and I donʼtthink Iʼve ever seen it rain.

MUEN: LETʼS TALK ALITTLE ABOUT THEBAND. HOW LONGHAVE YOU GUYS BEENTOGETHER?

Itʼs actually a really inter-esting story. I was signedabout seven years ago onWind-Up Records in aband called Atomship.After the album sales ofAtomship started to fall,we were let go from thelabel and I was signedback up as a solo artist inlate 2006. Ever since then,Iʼve been writing for this

album off and on. Uponcompletion of the album,the studio drummer that Ihave been working with fortwo years decided hewanted to stick with theproject. We found twoother guitarists and therest is history. It was abouteight months ago that I gotthe final members put intothe band. That is howlong we have been play-ing; we are basically abrand new band. Thatʼsthe exciting part about it.

MUEN: ABSOLUTELY,

SO YOU ARE THE ONETHAT WROTE THE EN-TIRE ALBUM THEN?

Yes, pretty much, me andtwo different producers.One of which was SkiddMills, he has worked withSaving Abel and 12Stones. I also worked withBob Marlette, who isknown for Saliva, MarilynManson, Black Sabbathand all kinds of people. Iʼmnot too amazing on theguitar so I do need somehelp. The label wanted toreally focus around me,

my song writing abilitiesand the direction I wantedto go in with my song writ-ing. At first we didnʼt knowwhich direction we wantedto go in as far as the styleof music. Iʼve done every-thing from metal to pop. Itcame down to sitting in thestudio and writing monthson end to find what soundI wanted to stick with.Thatʼs why when you lis-ten to the whole album itʼssuch an eclectic bunch ofsongs. Some songs soundlike they shouldnʼt be onthe same album.


PAPERCUT MASSACRE

MUEN: I LISTENED TOTHE ALBUM AND ITHINK ITʼS GREAT.

Thank you so much. Ispent a really long time onit so I hope people like it.

MUEN: THATʼS GOODYOU ARE WITH WIND-UP. ITʼS A GOOD LABEL.

Wind-Up Records is anamazing label. Iʼve beenwith them for seven yearsand if you listen to thealbum you will probablyget the idea that Iʼve neverbeen to popular with thein-crowd. For Wind-UpRecords to have this muchfaith in me and keep meso long, is great. I havenever had someone be-lieve in me as much asDiana Meltzer. She is anamazing lady.

MUEN: HOW ARETHINGS GOING WITHTHE ALBUM, “IF THESESCARS COULD TALK”SO FAR? YOU JUST RE-LEASED IT MAY 19TH?

Itʼs strange I have beenwaiting three years for thealbum to be released and Igot a phone call fromsomeone saying they sawmy album. I didnʼt know itwas out there. (Laughing)Iʼve been too concernedwith getting this tourbooked.

MUEN: WHERE IS THEALBUM AVAILABLE? ISIT ONLY ONLINE?

Right now it is available at

all online retailers. Appar-ently, the music industry isgoing into these dropcards. You can buy it on-line and most stores aregoing to be carrying thedigital drop cards. Theyare like a credit card. Youenter the information onthe internet and you down-load the album. Iʼm stillpushing to get physicalCDʼs because at a lot ofthe shows that we areplaying, when you try andhand people the dropcards, they think you arehanding them your busi-ness card. They walk offwith it, but they want a CD.I think it is definitely the fu-ture of music retailing, butat this moment I donʼtthink baby bands like Pa-percut Massacre need tobe bringing it to the masspublic.

MUEN: HAVING AN AC-TUAL CD IS COOL BE-CAUSE YOU HAVE ALLOF THE ARTWORK ANDTHE LYRICS.

First and foremost, Iʼm afan of music and I alwaysbought the album. Hope-fully, the lyrics are going tobe in there and you get tolive vicariously throughtheir thank you credits.

MUEN: DO YOU DAB-BLE IN GUITAR OR DOYOU ACTUALLY PLAY?

I actually do a lot ofacoustic stuff. If you wantme to get up and shred asolo, thatʼs not me. Iʼmdefinitely a good rhythm

guitarist. Iʼm not bad at allon that, but lead, I canʼthandle that. On a lot ofthese song ideas, I cameto the producer with abasic three or four chordsong. I was like “Here, thisis what I got. This is themelody I worked up andhere are some of thelyrics.” I would say “Whatdo you think?” He wouldgo “Okay, give me the gui-tar.” Thatʼs basically how ithappened.

MUEN: IS THERE ANYONE SONG ON THEALBUM THAT MEANSMORE TO YOU THANTHE OTHERS?

“Curse of the BrokenHearted” because to me, itis one of my most lyricallystrong songs. A lot ofsongs start off with a topicand then kind of expandon it. At the end of the day,the song is not really whatyou originally wrote itabout. With “Curse of theBroken Hearted” I stayedon point with all of thelyrics from one verse tothe chorus to the nextverse. It all has this onemeaning. It is basicallyabout this bad relationshipthat I went through. It talksabout that one relationshipand then it talks about allof the bad relationships. Itculminates to the pointthat more than likely Iʼmjust cursed and Iʼm neversupposed to be happy.That is a heavy emotionIʼm feeling today.

MUEN: FOR REAL?

Yeah, I might go back inand listen to that song. Itmight make me feel better.Iʼm just kidding, Iʼm notDebbie Downer. Itʼs abeautiful day in Memphis,but I have a horrible run-ning with girls. I shouldstay away from girls orthey should stay awayfrom me. All you listeners,if youʼre a girl, and yousee me, just run.

MUEN: WHICH OF THESONGS IS GETTINGRADIO PLAY?

“Left 4 Dead” is the single.We got a phone call yes-terday and it is number 40on the Active Rock Charts.We finally broke the 40 soIʼm really excited aboutthat. We are leaving onJune 28th for Los Angelesto shoot the video for “Left4 Dead.” Everybody is re-ally excited about it. Iʼvebeen out that way before,but the rest of the bandmembers havenʼt reallybeen out that way. It willbe interesting because thisweek we will be going toNorth Carolina. We will goand swim in the ocean inNorth Carolina and then atthe end of the month weare going to California andswim in that ocean.

MUEN: THATʼS COOLYOUʼRE COMING HERETO SHOOT THE VIDEO.

I heard something aboutJoshua tree, which Ithought was a U2 album,but it turns out it is an areain the desert.


MUEN: THERE IS A PIC-TURE AT THE TOP OFYOUR PAGE THAT I AS-SUME IS YOU.

That is me.

MUEN: WITH A MEDICALMASK ON YOUR FACEWITH THE WORDS NOSWINE IN RED ON IT.TELL ME A LITTLEABOUT THE PICTURE.

The no swine picture wasnever supposed to be partof the band thing. Theweek before the photoshoot, I broke my toe rid-ing a mechanical bull. Iwent to the hospital to getmy toe checked out and Igot a couple of those sur-gical masks because mydrummer and I thoughtthey were funny. The bigswine flu epidemic wasgoing on. We were in a lit-tle town right outside ofMemphis, it was kind of“Deliverance” scary. Ithought it was funny, ofcourse I already lookweird, and I wore the sur-gical mask around townand told everyone I wastrying to avoid the swineflu. All the rednecksthought it was really funnyand so when we went tothe video shoot, I still hadthe mask on me. I thoughtit would be a great face-book photo. After thephoto shoot, I was like“Hey, take a picture of medoing this.” I wanted it forpersonal use and was un-aware they were going tosend it to the label. Thelabel loved it and ended

up using it as a promo pic.There was no thought be-hind it other than my stu-pidity. The label loves it,the radio stations love it,Iʼm glad everybody likes it;I hope they change itsoon.

MUEN: I LOVE THENAME OF YOUR BAND.

Papercut Massacre is justone of those names thatcame about from me actu-ally getting a paper cutand bleeding all over theplace.

MUEN: I FIGURED THAT.I HATE PAPER CUTS.

I was actually trying to gothrough band names. Thelabel wanted to know whatband name I wanted tohave and I was goingthrough sheets of paperthat I had written bandnames on and I cut my-self. They were asking mewhat I was whining aboutand I told them I cut my-self and Iʼm bleedingeverywhere. It was thedeepest paper cut I hadever had. Two hours later,I called him up and Iʼm like“Hey man, Papercut Mas-sacre, letʼs use it.” Ithought it was really origi-nal until I YouTubed theband name to see if any-body had gotten any livevideos of us. There was akid who made a PapercutMassacre something thathas nothing to do with theband. So apparently, Iʼmnot so original.

MUEN: YOU KNOWWHATʼS WORSE THANA PAPER CUT? I USEDTO WORK IN A MEDICALOFFICE AND WE DEALTWITH XRAYS. ONE DAY IPULLED AN XRAY OUTOF AN ENVELOPE ANDIT CUT ME JUST LIKEPAPER. IT WAS HORRI-BLE.

I can imagine. I was aphlebotomist before Istarted the music deal. Iwent to nursing school andI was working at a hospitalbeing a vampire.

MUEN: WELL, PEOPLEHAVE ONE HELL OF ATIME DRAWING BLOODOUT OF ME. I HAVETINY VEINS.

Oh, everybody says that,they call me one stick Joe.I could get it. If I ever de-cide to be a hard druguser, Iʼm going to beamazing at it.

MUEN: WELL, IʼLL KEEPTHAT IN MIND FOR THENEXT TIME I NEED MYBLOOD DRAWN.YOUʼRE OUT THERE ONTHE ROAD SUPPORT-ING YOUR RELEASERIGHT NOW?

Yes, we actually have twodays off right now and weare spending some time inMemphis. We just wentdown to Mississippi andplayed a couple of shows.We are heading to NorthCarolina tomorrow andafter that we will be goingback into Florida. We will

head back into Mississippiright before we head outfor the video shoot. Assoon as we are done withthe video shoot we will begoing into Michigan andMinneapolis. Iʼm going tobe going to Honduras for aweek in the middle of Julyto do some mission workwith my church. It will beone of the most excitingsummers Iʼve ever had.

MUEN: IS THERE ANYONE PLACE YOU ARELOOKING FORWARD TOGOING MORE THANTHE OTHERS?

I would have to say Min-neapolis, Minnesota be-cause they were the firstradio station to add “Left 4Dead.” They have been sosupportive of me for thepast seven years that youwould think I was fromMinneapolis. There arepeople leaving messageson the website alreadysaying that they canʼt waitto see us in Minneapolis.Theyʼve been spinning thesong for about two monthsnow, longer than anyoneelse. Minneapolis is reallyready to see Papercut andI canʼt wait to get back upthere, it is beautiful coun-try.

MUEN: WILL YOU BEADDING DATES AS YOUGO?

Yeah, most definitely, rightnow if an outsider was tolook at my tour schedulethey would see that we arebooked every single day


until the end of August.

MUEN: WHO ARE SOMEOF THE BANDS YOUHAVE ENJOYED SHAR-ING THE STAGE WITH?

The two best bands that Ihave ever shared thestage with were Seven-dust and Cold. I was luckyenough to do that on thesame tour. Every singlenight those guys wereamazing. They nevermissed a beat and thefans were so supportive ofthem. Sevendust is hugefans of their own fans. Itwas amazing to see therelationship between themand the crowd every night.I was a fan of Cold longbefore I even knew Iwanted to be in a band.We did a lot of one offshows and radio festivals.The coolest band I haveever met, we didnʼt sharethe same stage, was Slip-knot. I got to watch themplay and hang out on theirbus. For me, that was mylittle rock star moment. Igot to see their faces; Ididnʼt know what any ofthem looked like.

MUEN: YEAH, THEY AREA COOL BAND. WHAT ISTHE MOST IMPORTANTTHING YOUʼVELEARNED SO FAR INYOUR EXPERIENCES INTHE MUSIC INDUSTRY?

Trust no one! No Iʼm justkidding. Keep your headon your shoulders; keepGod and your family first.Thatʼs the only thing Iʼve

really learned. The firsttours I went on, I kind ofgot wrapped up in every-thing. There are a lot ofbad things on the road. Itʼskeeping your head fo-cused on what you aredoing, which is providingmusic for people, playingmusic for people, express-ing your true emotions andtrue feelings. For a bandwho just writes songs justto sell the music, it mightnot be hard for them to doit everyday. I found it reallyhard to go out and be hon-est and forthcoming withall this music when Iwasnʼt living what I waspreaching. Keep focusedon the road because youʼllget lost. You can getcaught up in the wholerock star thing, gettingdrunk every night andhanging out with randomgirls. Itʼs not worth it.

MUEN: ITʼS EASY TOGET CAUGHT UP IN IT.

Oh yeah, most definitely,everything youʼve heardabout the road as far assex, drugs and rock n rollis pretty much true. Itmight not be quite as elab-orate as they show on TV.When youʼre a small band,you are lucky if you canfind food everyday, muchless drugs. You are defi-nitely exposed to a lot andfor somebody from SouthMississippi; like I am itwas a complete cultureshock for me to go to NewYork and Los Angeles.

MUEN: THAT IS GREAT

ADVICE. 3 DOORSDOWN IS FROM MISSIS-SIPPI.

Yes, Iʼm actually from thesame little town that theyare.

MUEN: OH REALLY? DOYOU GUYS KNOW EACHOTHER?

Yes, we all went to schooltogether. South Mississippiis not that big of an area.Everybody pretty muchknows everybody. We areall related in some way,shape or form. We went toschool together or some-one is dating my cousin.Growing up I was in aband called the DogwoodConspiracy and 3 DoorsDown was a three piece.The singer played drums,there was one guitaristand one bass player. Theywere still a local band andevery week we traded offopening headlining spots.Iʼm trying to get on thephone with them now tosee if we can arrange thesame deal, but itʼs notworking. No, thatʼs a joke,3 Doors Down is not goingto let me headline forthem. Thatʼs not going tohappen. Saving Abel, 3Doors Down and Elvis areall from Mississippi. Wehave a lot of local, regionalguys that go out and tour.

MUEN: I REMEMBERWATCHING A VIDEO OF3 DOORS DOWN ANDTHEY WERE OUT ON ABOAT ON THE RIVER.THEY WERE LOOKING

FOR GATORS.

Thatʼs right, on a boat,looking for gators, thatʼsus! (Laughing) The daybefore I flew out to show-case to get the record dealwith Wind-up, my old gui-tarist and I rode around ina boat hunting alligators.That was our way to relax.Thatʼs what we do downsouth; we go on the river,go four-wheeling and rid-ing.

MUEN: IT ACTUALLYSOUNDS NICE, ITSOUNDS RELAXING.

We ride about 20 mphslower than just abouteverybody else. Itʼs notthat were dumb, we justtake our time.

MUEN: THATʼS GOODBECAUSE WERE ALLSTRESSED OUT OVERHERE.

Exactly, we take our time; Ijust never get anythingdone.

MUEN: I WOULD LIKETO THANK YOU FORTHE INTERVIEW TODAYJOEY. IT WAS A LOT OFFUN. IS THERE ANY-THING YOUʼD LIKE TOSAY BEFORE I LET YOUGO?

Just make sure you checkout the music at Papercut-massacre.com, itʼs reallyeasy to remember be-cause itʼs the name of theband plus .com. That wasmy idea. Please go buy


the album; Iʼd really like tomake another one. It isvery helpful when you ac-tually buy the album. Idonʼt care if you buy thealbum and burn one for abuddy. Just donʼt give it toeverybody.

MUEN: I RECOMMENDIT, IT IS A GREATALBUM.

What is your favoritesong?

MUEN: I LIKE “LEFT 4DEAD.”

Everybody go buy thealbum and please find uson the internet. We actu-ally respond to the mes-sages and love hearingfrom the fans. We loveseeing what they expectfrom us the next time theysee us.

MUEN: YOU APPRECI-ATE THE FEEDBACK.

Oh yeah, most definitely, Idonʼt know if we are doinga good job if someonedoesnʼt tell us.

MUEN: HAVE FUN OUTON THE ROAD AND BESAFE.

Yes, maam.


Milan (ITALY)

www.exiliaweb.com www.myspace.com/exilia

Interview with MashaMysmane (vocals)

By: AngelDevil Myspace.com/angeldevilsex

MUEN: LETʼS TALKABOUT YOUR NEWALBUM, ʻMY OWNARMY.ʼ HOW WOULDYOU DESCRIBE IT?

MASHA: I would describeit as something more di-rect, more deep and moreheavy as well!

MUEN: YOU WORKEDWITH DAVE CHAVARRIAS THE PRODUCER ONTHIS ALBUM. WHATWAS HE LIKE TO WORKWITH? WHAT DID HEBRING TO IT?

MASHA: It was really spe-cial, he is a great drummerwith very cool ideas and agreat person full of pas-sion for music! Basicallyhe tried to open up moreof our melodic chorus -working very close withdrum and vocals!

MUEN: HOW DID YOUGET SIGNED BY AFMRECORDS?

MASHA: We had differentproposals and AFM wasthe one offering us distri-bution in the USA, so wedecided for them! Itʼs veryimportant for our kind ofmusic to be distributed in

the USA.

MUEN: YOU HAVE CHO-SEN “ARE YOUBREATHING?" TO BE-COME THE VIDEO.WHAT ABOUT MAKING

VIDEO APPEAL TOYOU?

MASHA: “Are You Breath-ing?” has a heavy lyric inthe song, and it was quitedifficult to reproduce the

EEXXIILLIIAAMUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

meaning of the lyrics intothe video, but we tried tomake it clear that this guyhad no chance to forgivethe woman after what hadhappened in the story.

MUEN: LOOKING BACKAT THE OTHER ALBUMS"RIGHTSIDE UP", "UN-LEASHED" AND "NO-BODY EXCLUDED"...WHAT DO YOU THINKOF THOSE 3 ALBUMS?

MASHA: We love them,they are part of our evolu-tion as a band and as peo-ple. We are what we arenow because we werewhat we were in that pe-riod!!

MUEN: WHAT DO YOUHOPE PEOPLE GOAWAY WITH AFTERTHEY'VE LISTENED TOYOUR ALBUMS ORSEEN YOU LIVE?

MASHA: We hope they willfollow our music and theycan feel the energy we putinto our songs.

MUEN: FROM A PER-FORMERS POINT OFVIEW, WHAT HAS BEENYOUR MOST MEMO-RABLE CONCERT ANDWHY?

MASHA: Russia, Moscowwith Rammstein. Thearena was full, almost20.000 people in front ofour eyes! What more canyou ask?

MUEN: DURING THESEYEARS, WHICH IS THE

GREATEST SATISFAC-TION THAT YOUʼVE EX-PERIENCED?

MASHA: To see that thepeople were following ourmusic, singing our songsand that everything we didwas just coming from oursacrifice - that is a greatsatisfaction!

MUEN: WOULD YOUWANT TO TELL MEMORE ABOUT THEMEMBERS OF THEBAND..

MASHA: Alien is the guitarplayer! He is almost abrother to me. We startedtogether years ago and sowe have a very specialfriendship!! And he is sotalented and full of greatheavy riffs! Ale Lera is thedrummer and he is fromLivorno in Italy - a place onthe sea. He loves surfingand swimming and he isfull of energy. He is a bril-liant drummer! Marco Va-lerio! Full of tattoos, full ofmetal in his head and areal rock bass player!

MUEN: WHAT TYPE OFMUSIC DO YOU LISTENTO? WHAT'S THE LASTALBUM YOU BOUGHT?

MASHA: I listen to allmusic!! From Slipknot toTori Amos, from Mozart toMetallica everything thathas that special feeling in-side! Everything thatcomes from the soul andnot from the business!! ;-)

MUEN: WHAT ARE YOUR

PLANS FOR THE RESTOF THE SUMMER ANDTHE REST OF THEYEAR?

MASHA: We will do an-other tour in Europe in Oc-tober, and we will releasethe new single in Octoberas well. We are alsopreparing some acousticshows and we will try toschedule some shows inthe USA!

MUEN: IS THERE ANY-

THING ELSE THATYOU'D LIKE TO SAY TOYOUR FANS OR SOME-THING I MISSED?

MASHA: Support themetal scene by buyingoriginal records! Andthanks to all the peoplewho are supporting EX-ILIA! Cheers!

www.Myspace.com/MLazar


CD Reviews

MOMMY S3Z NO“HOTWATERBURNBABY”

I found more than thename, Mommy S3Z NO, tobe interesting upon closeinspection, listen and au-topsy. Three determiningfacts about Mommy S3ZNO and their sophomorerelease, entitled “HOTWA-TERBURNBABY”, whichwill lead one to either loveor hate this Minneapolis,MN band. Mommy S3ZNO has a sound reminis-cent but unlike many clas-sic punk rock bands thathave staggered, pukedand flipped the bird to theestablishment while mak-ing their presence know inthe music industry are:

One, Mommy S3Z NO hasa punk horror sound unlikeothers of the same rareand interesting genera.There is a pure sweetnessin its dark humored in-fancy. Mommy S3Z NOhas a defiance in their atti-tude that can be heard insongʼs like, “Ghoulette”(my personal favorite). Asong that has ever lastingpossibilities in itʼs rise topopularity among the leg-ends of un-dead, deadpunk lovers that creep in

the shadows of the main-stream.

Two, “HOTWATERBURN-BABY” has a rare sound-ing guitar tone; that is outof tune but in key, with adynamic that keeps the lis-tening ears absolutely en-grossed by every solo,chord, and note played. Aderanged genius type ofmusical decision that re-sultʼs in disaster ninety-nine percent of the time,but plays out like the brideof Frankenstein inside ofFrankʼs arms on “HOTWA-TERBURNBABY”. Like acar accident ahead on theroad that one cannot helpbut look at, songs such as“Cannibal Girl” cannot, notbe listened to a secondserving.

Thirdly, Mommy S3Z NOhas a fascinating andsometimes utterly disgust-ing love for the dead. Withforeign lyrical linesthroughout “HOTWATER-BURNBABY” (Japanese,Latino), all done sinisterlyin nature yet tasteful in de-livery. Mommy S3Z NO isa three-piece band with in-ternational sickness.

Other stand out songs ofinterest on this dead mustdance punk L.P. include:“Pass Out” and “MongoChuppa” which interest-ingly enough has a guestvocal spot featuring, AriLehman, who played theREAL Jason from the veryfirst installment of the cultclassic, “Friday The 13th”.

Ari is also the front man ofhis own horror rock bandby the obvious name, FirstJason.

If punk rock with a hu-morist dark twists, is whatyou are looking to shakeyour coffin to, thanMommy S3Z NO is theband for you!

For your own sneak peaklisten and for ordering in-

formation on Mommy S3ZNOʼs debut punk rock hor-ror CD, “HOTWATER-BURNBABY”, zombie clickyour way to the bandʼs My-Space atwww.myspace.com/mom-mysezno

~Sinfully, Q5

HOLLOWAY "Illusions"

A visual masterpiece at firstglance with haunting coverart by renowned artist,painter, Susan Van Sant,Hollowayʼs debut L.P. enti-tled “Illusions”, does notdisappoint. With melodi-cally structured songs mas-saging ones heart andrearranging deep darkthoughts on the surfacethat hide within us all, Hol-loway delivers a tastefulprogressive rock soundfashioned through precisequality instrumentation.

Ross Morgan (guitars, vo-cals, drums) deliversbreathy vocals that bringnew life to a typically oversaturated rock soundthrough a deeply personalfeel that screams, “Do ordie”. I listened; wonderinghow, Ross Morganʼs mindworked it out so diligentlyand patiently to incorporatethe never lifeless timechanges in the drummingwith the offbeat but utterlymatching guitar and vocalwork. Perhaps losing hismind while writing and ar-ranging “Illusions” lead himto the ample name ofwhich we the listeners are

given in “Illusions”, a titleworthy of the magic thatHolloway creates on thisreal life concept album.

A haunting over all tonelingers throughout on thisdebut that sounds nothinglike the stereotypical debut.The surgically precisionthat Josh Morgan (Bass.,Programming, StringArrangements) and ShawnJulien (Guitars) bring to thehighly emotional sounds ofRoss Morgan, make “Illu-sions” an enriched mon-tage of rock dramatics,usually not within the trans-lation capability of a bandcreating their freshman L.P.

Written and recorded atSeaway sound Studios inMuskegon, MI. Hollowaynever stray far apart musi-cally. With arrangementswritten and delivered with awhole backdrop of dra-matic sounds, mixed andmastered at FascinationStreet Studios in OrebroIan, Sweden, by metalsound Jedi, Jens Bogren(Opeth, Soilwork and Kata-tonia).

“Illusions” is a musicaltransplant of hurt, pain andhope that often destroysthe artistsʼ that attempt tocreate so close to theheart. “Illusions” is an un-typical album by an untypi-cal band.

Check out Hollowayʼs pureexpressive rock sound onthe bandʼs web site at:www.hollowayband.com oron Hollowayʼs MySpace at:

www.myspace.com/thehol-loway. I suggest a listenand look at the bandʼs firstsingle, “The Visitor”, avail-able in newly releasedvideo format, for a closerlook on what makes thisone of a kind conceptalbum an ear catcher thatis rapidly on the rise inmany radio charts.

~Sinfully, Q5

CD Reviews

STAR OFF MACHINE"Burn This"

This disc consists of 12highly produced songs thatfit tightly within the dimen-sions of your typical radiorock, complete with ambi-ent guitar, tasteful bass riftsand heavy hitting (at timesthrashing) drums preciselyon beat. What the firstsong "Disaster" lacks inmelody, the second, "Lost"and most of the remainingsongs on this album morethan make up for it all. "In-side Out" is a heavy blastof both melody and hard-driving drum, bass andrhythm guitar. As rhythmguitars and drum dominatemost of the songs, it wouldbe fitting to say that StarOff Machine has managedto create a solid wall of

melody and aggressiverhythm with some prettysatisfying song content.The vocals of frontman,Erik Holloway are solid on,and the backing vocal ef-fects do the leads justice.This is pretty much just"good time" rock and rollwith nothing extraordinarilyunique or out of the ordi-nary except for maybe thesong, "Almost", which doesseem to venture into areasoutside the beaten path.With that being said, StarOff Machine are definitelyradio friendly. And everysong is under 4 and a halfminutes. Here's what I like,the line in the title song, "Iwon't believe what's in themagazines" ... now there issomething I feel I have incommon with this band.

By the time you get aroundto song 11, "Bastard"things start sounding morethe same than different,and the chords begin tosound similar to previoussongs... Luckily "NothingFor Free" does resparksome interest again withit's catchy hook and highenergy assault. Bringingon the ending is "NinthFloor" which would havedone good in an earlier sloton the album if you askedme. A well written songthough!

Overall, this is a great pro-duction! Star Off Machineis definitely a rock band tobe taken seriously.

G. Cataline


TIME AND DISTANCE“Gravity”

“Gravity” is the second fullalbum from Time And Dis-tance and shows that theydefy gravity and are actu-ally moving upward as aband. This album provesthat a band can be com-mercial and yet anythingbut common. Althoughthey list many bands as in-fluences and they havebeen compared to othersthey have a sound that isall their own. If the contentof the music must be com-pared, then it would be inthe genre of All AmericanRejects and Tokyo Hotelbut with their own flavor ofexperiences by the bandmembers found within thewell written lyrics andmusic. This is best illus-trated in “Living In Fiction”where much is said withinthe context of great lyricswrapped in clean vocalsand great harmonies.

Their music has a definiteretro feel but with a decid-edly 21st century sound.They go back to roots ofgreat pop and use littleprogramming and insteadrely on pure talent and a

wide range of vocals andunadorned instrumentationfor their songs to standout. The album is well pro-duced but not over pro-duced so that theseelements can be clearlydistinguished. “Anyway WeGo” and “Gravity” bothshow these talents particu-larly well with tight songstructure and retro musi-cality with the drums andguitars. “Sell” is perhapsthe best track on the CDand shows how the bandhas stretched to achieve ahigher level of versatilityand innovation. It is fasterpaced than some of theother tracks and yet showseach band members tal-ents with individual high-lights throughout the tune.“Gravity” is a must havefor anyone that appreci-ates having a full CD filledwith great vocals andequally talented guitarsand drums represented ina mix of rock and pop thatis completely enjoyablefrom start to finish.

~Macavity

PAUL TOAL (Self-Titled)

Hailing from Dublin, Ire-land Paul Toal has deliv-ered a debut self titled EPthat packs all the goodsand more for any purebredrock fan. There is no mis-taking this for Irish folksinging but rather showswhat collaborating anddedication to the talent youpossess will engender.The contributors of writing,production and actualplaying are all world classin their own right with JoshFreese (drums for Weezer,Guns & Roses and toomany to name), PaulBushnell (Bass for Daugh-try, The Commitments andagain too many to name),Laura Creamer (Vocals forThe Black Crowes, etc)and especially RichMouser and Jimmy Coupwho both have written,produced, and played withmany of the best of rock allplaying a part in this. Onceall these play on onealbum, lead by Toal, youarrive at an EP that morethan displays the talents ofthis rocking Irishman thatis a delight to the ears ofpure unadulterated rock

fans.

“Never Be The Same” and“Where You Belong” showjust how rock is supposedto be played with strongclear vocals, intricate gui-tars, including some oldschool guitar soloʼs, andprominent basslines anddrums that complimentand balance each otherperfectly. “New World” isthe track that highlights allthe elements contributedfrom each person but trulyshowcases the writing andguitar playing of Toal andthe amazing vocal rangehe is capable of withoutever leaving a comfortlevel or clarity to his voice.The EP is tightly written,produced and, most im-pressively, executed byPaul Toal.

If you want to return tounadulterated rock andhave a collection of songsthat are a must listen toover and over then this isthe artist and EP that is amust-add to your anthol-ogy of favorites.

~Macavity

CD Reviews

BREED MACHINE“Renaissance”

The French Alps have ahidden treasure to metalfans in the form of BreedMachine and their secondCD “Renaissance.” Eleventracks of full on metalmusic are found on thiswell produced and well en-gineered offering. Theyhave taken a hint of thebest of Scandinavianmetal sound and put theirown distinctive writing andinstrumentation to make ita CD completely sepa-rated from other metal cre-ations available worldwide.

They make no mistakes byoffering a CD full of metalwith little filler and certainlynothing that would be adeparture from their genre.This is shown throughoutthe CD with thrash vocalsand intricate drummingand shredding guitars tomatch expressive lyrics.They even throw a smallpolitical statement in withthe track “Hypocrites.” Therest of the lyrics follow avariety of themes and feel-ings. It is their vocals andmusic though that standsout and shows that Breed

Machine has perfectedmetal for American audi-ences. “Toujours” is a trackthat highlights their head-banging thrash at its best.Another tune, “Un DestinTrace”, showcases thebands abilities with someof the best metal guitarwork with a unique anddistinctive use of guitartechniques and changes tocompliment the thrash vo-cals. The best track on theCD is “Riviere Blanche.”This song by far illustratesthe mix of tempos, vocalranges and tight songstructure the band is capa-ble of and a drum bridgethat will have every drum-mer wanting to emulatethe tune.

“Renaissance” is indeed arebirth of metal but thistime from a French bandthat bears listening to andwatching closely. The restof Europe seem to knowabout them so it will onlybe a short time before theyhave a loyal fan base inAmerica also.

~Macavity

ALIEN SKIN Donʼt Open Till Doomsday

This debut offering fromGeorge Pappas, formerlyof Real Life, is one thatupon first listening youthink you hear hints of thatera gone by. Fortunatelythe complex simplicity ofeach of the ten tracksgives you pause to listenover again and listen wellto realize this is nothing ofthe any past era but ratherthe future. The minimalismof the lyrics and seeminglyso of the music is a façadeas there is a much greatermessage found throughoutwith repeated listening ofthe CD. There is a multi-faceted purpose to the CDwith its lyrics and musicalcompositions that is notjust “Alien Skin” deep.Much is said and left to in-terpretation with sparelyrics and amazing musicalcomposition.

This album shows what atrue artist can do withknowledge, experienceand most of all talent in theworld of alternative elec-tronica. The silky vocalsthat accompany many ofthe tracks lure you to the

truly listen to the darklyerotic and sensual tranceof lyrics and music foundin “Saviour” and “For Al-ways.” Both seem todelve elaborately, both mu-sically and lyrically, into thelove hate correlation foundnot only in relationshipsbut life as well all the whileseeming to be much moresimplistic. A similarly se-ductive message can befound in “Dust To Ashes1945” which may be thebest track on the CD forthe innovative and cleveruse of programmingsynths and vocals thatmake you once again thinkyou are hearing aboutdeath and find you wereactually seduced again byastonishingly clever consti-tution of soft percussionand smooth vocals. TheCD provides tracks thatPappas has also left wideopen to interpretation andare easily taken for thebest dance music for anyclub in “The Spirit Is Will-ing” and the second half of“Burning In My Hands.”

A CD that is definitelyworth buying and listeningto in order to prove that afirst listen to any music butespecially Alien Skin is notalways what it appearsand can often be an intel-lectual as well as an auri-cle intrigue.

~Macavity

CD Reviews MUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

REV THEORY

Rich Luzzi - VocalsMatty McCloskey -Bass, VocalsJulien Jorgensen -GuitarRikki Lixx - GuitarDave Agoglia – Drums

New York, New York

Myspace.com/revthe-ory


MUEN: HEY GUYSTHANKS FORTALKING WITH ME.SO TELL ME WHATIS ABOUT TO GODOWN HERETONIGHT.

We are recording anEP for “BrokenBones.” It will becalled the BrokenBones EP. We aregoing to chill thingsout, strip them down

and do themacoustic.

MUEN: YOU GUYSHAVE BEEN GIVINGAWAY SOME GUI-TARS LATELY. TELLME A LITTLEABOUT THE GUI-TAR YOUʼVE BEENGIVING AWAY.

Rikki Lixx: Itʼs a LesPaul Custom EX, itʼsactually a Epiphone

Prophecy. I was luckyenough to be given agazillion Propheciesby Jim Rosenbergfrom Epiphone. Wehave been giving lotsof them away for var-ious contests for awhile and thereʼsplenty more.

MUEN: YOU WILLBE GIVING ONEAWAY TONIGHT TOA VERY LUCKY

REV THEORY - MUEN Magazine JULY 2009

WINNER.

Yeah, thatʼs right, youknow it. It could beyou, not really, itʼs al-ready done. Weknow who the winneris.

MUEN: CAN YOUBELIEVE IT HASBEEN A YEARSINCE YOURALBUM “LIGHT ITUP” RELEASED?

It has? Awe man! Icanʼt believe it, itʼsbeen a crazy yearand we have beendoing a lot. Weʼvebeen doing a lot oftouring, seeing somany bands andplaying a lot ofshows. Itʼs beengreat. Itʼs a long roadfrom here; we are noteven close to finish-ing this album cycle,so look out for uswhen we comethrough your town.

MUEN: WHAT HAVEBEEN SOME OFTHE HIGHLIGHTSFROM THE PASTYEAR?

Some of the high-

lights have been thatwe just played RockFest in Kansas Cityand there were 40 to50,000 people therewhen we played. Wewere opening on themain stage this yearand that was defi-nitely a highlight.Rock on the Rangewas great and theAvenged Sevenfoldtour was amazing.One of our favoritetours to date was theAvenged Sevenfoldtour and we had agreat time with thoseguys. Hopefully whenthey come back outon their next recordwe will be out withthem again.

MUEN: HOW MANYSINGLES ARE OFFTHE ALBUM?

So far there are threeand possibly more.Its ten singles, thewhole record, so getit!

MUEN: “BROKENBONES” HAS BEENTHE FEATUREDSONG ON THECLEANER FOR THEPAST MONTH

RIGHT? THAT IS AGREAT SHOW. ISTHAT OVER NOW?

Rich Luzzi: They useit for all of theirpromo, but we justfound out that itworked so well thatwe are going to beworking with them alittle bit more. We willbe trying to do someexclusive stuff withthem and possiblyinto next season. Weare excited becausethat show is amaz-ing. The story ispretty uplifting andthe song to us is avery personal song.We are happy to giveit to a show that hasso much meaning.

MUEN: DO YOUGUYS WATCH THESHOW?

Rich Luzzi: I actuallydid start watching itonce the songstarted getting used.I watched last sea-son and I saw thefirst episode of thisseason so I like it alot.

MUEN: YOU GUYS

PLAYED AT STUR-GIS THIS YEAR.HOW WAS THATSHOW?

We were supposedto, we were thereand we partied. Wehad a barbeque. Wewere supposed toplay, but it kind of gotbotched.

Rich Luzzi: I hadsome vocal difficul-ties, I got very sick.We had a couple re-ally big shows afterthat and I felt that if Iplayed I would havehurt myself. Some-times you have tobow out gracefully.The barbeque wassick. We had steak,elk meat, chickenand it was our tourmanager at the timesbirthday so Dee Sny-der from Twisted Sis-ter came over to singhappy birthday tohim.

MUEN: WHAT ARESOME OF YOURPRE-SHOW RITU-ALS?

Rock out to our fa-vorite music, a lot of


stretching goes on,warming up thevoices and we do alittle head banging.Matty has a drink thathe calls “The May-hem.”

MUEN: WELL,LETʼS HEARABOUT THAT.

Matty: The “MayhemCocktail” is Jager-meister, of course,my favorite. It alsohas Monster Energydrink with a MonsterHit man shot to top itoff. That is the fivehour energy shot ofMonster power, crackin a bottle.

Rich Luzzi: Letʼs justsay he is about tenminutes from a heartattack the whole en-tire show. So itʼs re-ally, really good.Kids: Try it at homekids. Itʼs called thehighwire and RikkiLixx has actuallymastered it.

MUEN: TELL MEABOUT THE REVTHEORY HUSTLE.

We have a Rev The-

ory hustle?

MUEN: YEAH,WHERE YOU SELLYOUR CDʼS AFTERTHE SHOW.

Rich Luzzi:Ooooooooohhhhh!Itʼs not a dance; Ithought it was likethe Superbowl Shuf-fle, like the Rev The-ory hustle. Maybe weshould write a songcalled the Rev The-ory Hussle. We allhussle, we startedthis band in 2002 andwe hit the road onour independent EP.The only way that wecould stay on theroad is if we wouldsell CDʼs. Basically,after were done play-ing, we get out in thecrowd and hand tohand sell CDʼs to outfans. We got signedto a major label anda lot of bands thinkthat once that hap-pens, you can sitback and relax. In ac-tuality, thatʼs whenyou have to workharder. We still dothat after every singleshow, we each take abox or two boxes of

CDʼs, we walk intothe crowd and wehand to hand sellCDʼs. In the first yearof touring we soldmore than 35,000CDʼs on the road,hand to hand. Webroke every Inter-scope and UGA roadsales record. Andthatʼs the Rev TheoryHussle!

MUEN: DO YOUEVER HAVE CON-TESTS AMONGSTYOURSELVES TOSEE WHO CANSELL THE MOSTCDʼS?

Rich always sells themost hands down.

MUEN: YOU WEREALSO ON JIMMYKIMMEL LIVE. HOWFUN WAS THAT?

It was really nerve-wracking. You areplaying live on TVand you canʼt screwup. They donʼt giveyou a re-do. Thatʼs it,you get one shot, butit was a great experi-ence and we had alot of fun. We had alot of fun at the after

party. Britney Spearsand Jamie Foxx werethere. The Maloofbrothers threw aparty for us at theirmansion. It was withEA Sports so PhilMaloof had flatscreens set up allaround his houseand outside by thepool. He had Xboxespreviewing the newMadden, because weare on the sound-track, so you couldplay video games.When Kimmel cameon, they put Kimmelon all the televisions.

MUEN: WAS THATYOUR FIRST NA-TIONAL TV AP-PEARANCE?

Yes

MUEN: I WENT TOTHE JAGERMEIS-TER SHOW IN ANA-HEIM WITH HINDERAND TRAPT. YOUGUYS WEREN'TTHERE. IʼM SORRYTHAT I MISSEDSEEING YOU PLAY.

Rich Luzzi: Thankyou for coming to seeus and were sorry.


MUEN: THE VIDEOFOR “LIGHT IT UP”LITERALLY KICKSASS!

Yeah, literally.

MUEN: WHO CAMEUP WITH THE CON-CEPT FOR THEVIDEO?

It was a collective ef-fort of what wewanted to do. The di-rector had a prettycool vision for it.

MUEN: WHO WERETHE TWO CHICS?

A couple notches onmy bedpost! (Laugh-ing) No, they are justfriends; we haveknown one of thegirls for a while.

MUEN: AND THEVIDEO FOR “HELLYEAH” WAS THEFIRST EVER VIDEOTO PREMIERE ONXBOX LIVE. DOYOU GUYS PLAYONLINE?

Rich Luzzi: No, youknow what, not onthe bus. Itʼs kind ofhard because you

are always moving. Ihave friends that ac-tually play online athome. Itʼs kind offunny to see grownmen berate twelveyear olds, but itʼspretty cool. I wouldget my ass kicked.Matty is probably theonly one that wouldstand a chance on it.Those guys that wearthose head sets arethe real deal gamers.

MUEN: WOULDYOU SAY THAT“HELL YEAH” ISTHE SONG THATGETS THE CROWDGOING? DO YOUUSUALLY OPEN UPWITH IT?

No, actually, itʼs ourcloser. We would liketo open up with it andwe hope we have an-other song as kickass as it so we canopen with it one day.We are openingtonight with it for thefirst time.

MUEN: WHAT DOYOU THINK YOUARE MOST WELLKNOWN FOR?WHAT DO YOU

THINK PUT YOUGUYS ON THE MAPSO TO SPEAK?

Rich Luzzi: I defi-nitely have to say ourlive show. It is a re-ally great experiencewhen you come tosee us play. We arenot just the band thatis going to sit upthere and play oursongs. We performthem and give 110%every single night.Every piece of emo-tion, angst and angerthat we are feelingthat day comes outon stage. We areproud of that.

MUEN: I WANTEDTO LET EVERYONEKNOW THAT YOUWILL BE APPEAR-ING LIVE ON NEWMUSIC INFERNOON JULY 9TH.EVERYONESHOULD TUNE INTO SEE THAT. PEO-PLE CAN GORIGHT TO YOURWEBSITE ANDTUNE IN FROMTHERE RIGHT?

Yes

MUEN: WHAT DOYOU GUYS HAVEPLANNED FOR THEREST OF 2009?

We have a big Mon-ster tour that we aregoing to be announc-ing next Tuesday,July 7th. Check outMySpace, itʼs a hugetour. We are very ex-cited and we areproud to be a part ofit. We are going totour our asses off forthe rest of 2009 andinto 2010.

MUEN: WHO AREYOU GOING OUTWITH ON THE MON-STER TOUR?

We canʼt tell you, itʼsa secret. Itʼs reallybig.

MUEN: OKAYWELL, IʼD LIKE TOTHANK YOU GUYSFOR TALKING WITHME. I HAD A LOTOF FUN.

Thank you for havingus.


YYVVOONNNNEE’’SS WWOORRLLDD

DDYYNNAAHHEEAADDBrazil may sound like adistant place, but thatʼsonly for those who arenʼtacquainted with the best ofunderground music in re-cent years. From a scenethat is famous for bringingsome of the most innova-tive acts in music, Dyna-head released their debutfull-length ʻAntigenʼ, analbum that manages tosound intriguing and origi-nal, even in a world whereeverything seems to havebeen done before.

Formed in the dry back-lands of their country, theband brings an unex-pected level of intelligenceand sophistication to thebrutality that Brazilians areknown for mastering. Theirmusic embraces so manygenres that they sound likethe most natural choice toshare stages with acts asdramatically heteroge-neous as Ill Niño, Anath-ema, Omen, Angra, SteveGrimmett and Ratos dePorão.

Hailed as “a new Brazil” bythe French zine Progres-sive Area, and occasion-ally dubbed a“Testosterone Dream The-ater”– but “far more ap-proachable in theirsongwriting” (The MetalObserver), they honed

their music in a way thatʼsconfusing to those who ex-pect sameness, but fasci-nating for whoʼs looking fordifferent sounds not nec-essarily related to exag-geration. “Dynahead donʼtgive a fuck what you think”(MetalSucks) but “forthose who are into heavi-ness with occasionalmelody who are not log-gerheads, there is a lot todiscover.” (Stormbringer)

Mastered by the metal leg-end James Murphy (Testa-ment, Death), “Antigen”received an excellent pro-duction, taken care by theband themselves. Writtenand recorded in the bestindependent fashion, thealbum gathered an amountof positive feedback by themedia and fans that

signed bands rarelyachieve. The band is look-ing for labels that “dignifythemselves to look at theirwork and give them a dis-tribution that matches theirtalent.” (Music Waves),taking care in the mean-while of their own market-ing and distribution, withindependent partners suchas DigMetal World andFree Mind Media.

“A seducer of the great art”(Ragazzi Music), “a vis-ceral, catchy, functionaland diversified album”(NovoMetal), “direct, exu-berant, and honest in theirintentions” (Flight of Pega-sus), “a theatrical sym-phony of deep emotionsspawning from the soulspear headed by true mu-sical geniuses” (Das Hard


Rock Radio) “like the workof a lifetime trying to writethe best Brazilian metalalbum of all time”(Whiplash).

Find out more athttp://www.dynahead.com.brwww.myspace.com/dyna-head

DYNAHEAD 2009

Caio Duarte Vocals

Diogo Mafra Guitar

Pablo Vilela Guitar

Diego Teixeira Bass

Rafael Dantas Drums

LLEEDDAASSWWAANNSan-Antonio based rock bandLedaswan produces andrecords their own music,

which paid off with Verse ofTruth, Trash and Beauty. Thebandʼs debut album won BestAlbum of 2007, as voted byreaders of the San AntonioCurrent.

The band is led by EricaGutierrez, whoʼs vocal rangevaries from ethereal to

haunting, which led to herwinning the 2007 San AntonioCurrent Best Singer-

Songwriter award.Ledaswanʻs deeply texturedmusic is rounded out by broth-ers

Jaime and David Monzon onguitar, Jackee Flores onbass/backup vocals and


Delrick Colwell on drums.

Ledaswan came together over an urgentlove for the Jesus and Mary Chain's

echoed-stoned "Psychocandy," the frac-tured bass melodies of Joy Division's"Day

of Lords," the sinister charm of MazzyStar's "Halah."

Opening for such artists as catch the Um-

brellas, Jim Ward, JeremyEnigk, and Indie RockersLydia, catch them this summeras they tour the West Coastthis July 2009.

Interview with Mike Marco- Lead Vocals for The Burn& Cry

Eric Eckelman / Salt Pira-nha / DrumsPancho Garza / Etherwulf/ GuitarKevin Mackall / Vapor-worm / Bass %26 BackingVoxMike Marco / Lead Lumi-nous / Lead Vox

(Mike Marco also happensto be the Director forMTV2 Headbangers Balland has worked with andinterviewed everyone fromOzzy, Phil Anselmo, Testa-ment, Lamb of God, Dime-bag & Vinny, Zakk Wylde,Dave Mustaine, Metallica,Killswitch Engage, Heaven& Hell ... and many manymore! He was also re-cently out in LA for the Re-volver Golden Gods wherehe filmed & interviewedjust about everyone there!)

MUEN: HEY MIKE, HOWARE YOU?

Great, whatʼs going on?

MUEN: WELL, LETʼSTALK ABOUT THE BURN& CRY!

Love to, great!

MUEN: HOW LONG HAVEYOU GUYS BEEN TO-GETHER?

The band formed as TheBurn & Cry in 2004 andweʼve been going at it eversince. We have had oneline-up change since then.We replaced our friendMike on guitar with anotherfriend of ours, PanchoGarza.

MUEN: HOW DID YOUGUYS ALL ORIGINALLYHOOK UP?

Well we were all friends. Imean, I work as a directorand writer for the promodepartment for MTV inNew York City. My friendKevin, our bass player, isalso my boss. So westarted jamminʼ and gettingtogether with our friendEric, he plays drums, who

also works in our depart-ment, so weʼll hangout atwork, weʼre all musicians. Iwas between bands at thetime, they were betweenbands and we thought itwould be a good idea toget in the studio and playsome tunes one afternoon.

MUEN: SO TELL US HOWYOU CAME UP WITHYOUR VERY INTEREST-ING STAGE NAMES.

Well, that would be myfriend Kevin (Vaporworm)Heʼs heavily into the Al-chemical Theory. He is allabout the balance andunion of opposites. Itʼskind of heavy for a lot ofpeople, even myself in-cluded, but I definitely dig

taking things and seeingthat they are so different,such as people, you know,one guys is one way, oneguy is the other way and itseems like we are so differ-ent but yet we are not thatfar apart.

MUEN: SO IS THIS THEWAY THAT YOU GUYSCAME UP WITH THEBAND NAME AS WELL?

Absolutely, The Burn andCry is a play on words, italso means fire and water,again itʼs the union of op-posites, you canʼ have onewithout the other. Itʼs likethe balance of life typething.

MUEN: WHEN YOU


THE BURN & CRY

WRITE LYRICS FOR THESONGS ARE YOU WRIT-ING THEM FROM PER-SONAL EXPERIENCES INYOUR LIFE OR WHEREDO YOU DRAW YOUR IN-SPIRATION FROM?

Certainly personal experi-ences I have been throughjust going through life,meeting people, experienc-ing different things, situa-tions that happen thatreally either completely flipme out in a good way or abad way. Also the things Isee that are happeningaround me like things thatare going on in the worldright now. I mean thingsare not the best in theworld right now but thenagain, I always try to lookat the upside of things too,you know where there isdark, there is light. Youcanʼt be all doom andgloom, I always try to findthe sunnier side of things.

MUEN: YOU GUYS HAVEA SELF TITLED ALBUM,IT CAME OUT IN 2007.WHO PRODUCED THAT?

A friend of ours, his nameis Britt Myers. Heʼs a reallygood producer, he is a mu-sician himself, heʼs got astudio called Great CityProductions here in NYC.Heʼs not really a hardrocker metal guy, I wouldsay heʼs a guy who knowshow to take a band and re-ally bring the best out ofthem. He will really behonest with you and chal-lenge you. Heʼs a guy thatwe really trust and he reallyknocked it out for us We

were really blown awaywith what he did.

MUEN: YOU GUYS JUSTRECENTLY FINISHEDYOUR FIRST VIDEO,TELL US A BIT ABOUTTHAT AND WHAT SONGIT WAS FOR.

Sure, it wasfor the songFaith Molesterand we didthis in an oldchurch in NewJersey and atone time it hadto be a RomanCatholicChurch, itlooks likeevery bit of it.The fellow thatdirected thevideo, AnthonyCupo, hisbuddy is thepastor at thischurch, PastorRay, whatʼs upPastor Ray!They do somegay marriagesthere, so theyare very opento certainthings andwhen we hadthis idea about bringing theband into the church, thisperformance is half narra-tive and the narrative isabout this evil, wickeddude, the faith molesterhimself, kind of like, youknow, pretty much leadingpeople down a false road,whether it is religion orgovernment or a teacher inschool, or someone youtrust, and they feed you all

this stuff and you are takenwith it and believe it. Thenyou find it to be completelyuntrue and you wake upone day and you are lostand just canʼt believe allthe lies. Itʼs really aboutgetting through that stuff.

MUEN: WELL I SAW THEVIDEO AND YOU GUYSDID A REALLY GREATJOB.

Thank you very much, itwas fun as hell to do. Itwas a two day shoot andall of our friends came outto be involved and to bepart of the production andwe canʼt thank everyoneenough for doing that. The

whole congregation camedown on their own as well.It was a blast and I amlooking forward to doinganother video real soon.Whether it is with the bandor, we also have this friendwho does a lot of clayma-tion, animated type of work

so maybe wewonʼt even be inthe video thisnext timearound.

MUEN: THATCOULD BEVERY COOL!

Yeah it could bevery cool. Youknow as muchas we all want tobe a working,touring band, weall work for MTVin NYC and itʼs agreat gig but itsnot without itsproblems forbeing a full timeband. We cer-tainly donʼt getpractice in oftenenough and wehave a wholeother recordready to go tobe recorded. Iʼd

say more than half thesongs are done and thensome that are still skele-tons of songs and thensongs that are kind of doneand we have performedthem live but there issomething that is just notquite there yet. Itʼs alwaysa work in progress for us,itʼs never a done deal youknow? We just keep chal-lenging ourselves as per-


formers and songwriters.The thing we love to do themost is play live. We wantto get on some larger bills,some festivals, possiblyeven going to Europe be-cause I know there is awhole other world andscene waiting for us overthere.

MUEN: NOW YOU HAVEHAD THE OPPORTUNITYYOURSELF TO MEETAND INTERVIEW TONSOF BAD ASS PEOPLE,BEING THE DIRECTORFOR MTV2 HEAD-BANGERS BALL, WHATIS THAT LIKE?

Itʼs the best. I mean I getto talk and hang out withand come up with a cre-ative way with the bandsand artists and really get toknow these guys and reallyput some cool things downon paper and film them andsee it come to life. For meif I canʼt be in a full timetouring band, this is thenext best thing, itʼs the bestof both worlds for me if Icanʼt be in a full time tour-ing band, itʼs the next bestthing. While I am hangingout with some of theseguys, I am also talkingabout my own band. Andthey are interested. Theyare genuinely interested. Ithink a lot of people outthere have a misconcep-tion about guys in metal.Most of them are the mostgenuine and nicest peoplearound. You can have abeer with them or talkabout sports or whatever.So working with theseartists, you know, I grew upwatching Headbangers Ball

since I was 15 years oldyou know. It was alwayssomething I was takenwith, I was drawn to it. Imean if I couldnʼt be inJapan with Ozzy, theybrought Ozzy and Japan tome. Hanging around on aSaturday night with friends,stealing a bottle of liquorfrom one of our parentsliquor cabinets or whateverand just hanging aroundand getting hooked onmetal. Today there is awhole new generation ofkids sitting around on aSaturday night looking forsome shit to get hookedinto and we are trying tobring that aspect of the Ballback to MTV2.

MUEN: OUT OF ALL THEPEOPLE THAT YOUHAVE INTERVIEWEDAND MET, IS THERE ONETHAT MAYBE STANDSOUT AS THE MOST MEM-ORABLE FOR YOU?

I would have to say ab-solutely Dimebag Darrell. Ilove Pantera so much. Ialso love Metallica andwhen I met James andthose guys they were justfucking awesome youknow. But when I metDime, he came into theroom and I didnʼt knowwhat to expect. Some-times people are differentin person than they are onTV you know? When heand Vinnie Paul came intothe room, the room just litup. These two guys wereso amazing and such downto earth people. They justthrew their arms aroundyou and they put a beer inyour hand, give you a shot

of crown and they were justlike “Whatʼs up brother”.Dime was just the mostbeautiful guy and I got tointerview him on two differ-ent occasions and he wasjust amazing and I got toalso sing a song with JoseMangin from Sirius XM Liq-uid Metal. I got to sing anacoustic version of MouthFor War by Pantera withJose on guitar Vinnie Paulon bongos and I sang it, itwas totally ridiculous, and itwas live on the air. Thatwas a dream come true.But yeah I mean Dime wasjust the best.

MUEN: YOU RECENTLYWENT TO THE RE-VOLVER GOLDEN GODSAWARDS, HOW WASTHAT? I AM SO GLADTHERE ARE METALAWARDS NOW, ITʼSABOUT TIME.

It was great in every way. Iheard about this about ayear ago at work that Re-volver was going to do thefirst ever heavy metalawards show and I told oneof my bosses, I have to beon that. It was like theheavy metal Oscars.Thatʼs really the only way Ican describe it, I mean in-stead of a red carpet, therewas a black carpet, it wasnuts. And being a fan andbeing able to do that as myjob, I mean it was work butit didnʼt feel like workingyou know. It was so muchfun to be a part of it and Ithink that more things likethis will happen in the fu-ture and Revolver is al-ready talking about doing a2nd annul heavy metal

awards show next year.The whole vibe was cool. Imean, I turn around at onemoment and there is fuck-ing Lemmy! LemmyKilmister is standing rightnext to me and Iʼm like“Whatʼs up!!!” I mean thatdude is a trip! That dudehas been there! He hasbeen there and back. Thecool thing about Lemmy,not only that Motorhead isan awesome band andheʼs a great front man, thewhole thing, but he used tobe one of Jimi Hendrixʼsroadies back in the late60's. It was him and an-other guy, they used tocarry Hendrixʼs rig and justset him up. They used toget him acid, fucking pot,whatever Hendrix needed,he took care of it andLemmy was the guy.

MUEN: WELL IT SOUNDSLIKE THE AWARDSSHOW WAS PRETTYKICK ASS, TO SAY THELEAST.

Yeah and Iʼm really proudof it. To be able to bringdifferent interviews andheavy metal moments topeople. But I am alsoproud that there is a littlemore of a light now beingshown on the heavy metalscene. I think metal is asstrong as it has ever beenand I think the powers thatbe in the corporate worldthat I work for are moreopen to it now, I donʼt thinkyou can have a band likeLamb of God come in num-ber two on the billboardcharts and beat out thefucking Jonas Brothers andnot pay attention to it.


Metal is bubbling up againto the top. I am happy todo my part.

MUEN: NOW I HEARDYOU ARE ALSO A BIGTIME GOLFER.

Yes I have a big problem, Icanʼt stop playing and Iʼmnot that good!

MUEN: YOU DONʼT JUSTGO PLAY A ROUND OFGOLF, YOU PLAY AROUND OF GOLF WITHCHUCK BILLY.

Yeah I have played a cou-ple of rounds with ChuckBilly and he is the nicestdude and he is a lot of funto hang with. He lovesgolf, I mean for a hugedude, heʼs like 6'6 and 230pounds, he hits the ball re-ally well. Heʼs smooth,heʼs got finesse. Heʼs gothis hair tied back and thegolf hat on, the golf poloand shorts and shoes andtats all over the place andeveryone on the course islike “Whoa!”. I certainlyenjoy playing golf withChuck. I am having agood time and am happyto be a part of everythingand if I can take The Burnand Cry along for the ridethen I think one day wewill just run into eachother. Itʼs strange itʼs like Iam already there but notwith my band. But youknow I donʼt want to everbe like hey hereʼs my bandjust because I work forMTV. I want them to likethe band because theytruly like it, nit because Iwork there. I feel stronglyabout that. As much as I

love MTV and I love work-ing there, as much as theyget behind music, they re-ally should get behind itmore. I mean, you callyourself music television,play some fucking music.

MUEN: RIGHT.. I THINK ALOT OF PEOPLE HAVEBEEN THINKING THATFOR A LONG TIME.

I think they are realizingthat more and more. Youhad a pretty solid brand fora long time and it was greatin its day and MTV2 is aplace where we can getback there for sure.

MUEN: I AM HERE INTEXAS AND ALI SAIDTHAT THERE IS ACHANCE THAT YOUGUYS ARE COMINGDOWN HERE FOR RIDEFOR DIME SO IF YOU DOWE WILL DEFINITELYHAVE TO HOOK UP!

Absolutely, I think that is apretty strong possibility. Iput it out there into the uni-verse to try to do a littledouble header that week-end. Mayhem Festival onSaturday and Ride ForDime on Sunday. So weʼllcome down and weʼll hangout and have a good time.Rita texted me about it acouple of hours ago and isinviting us down to hangout, have some beers andbarbecue and I mean I amtrying to stress to the peo-ple I work for, they are invit-ing us down and rolling itout for us. Letʼs go downthere and cover it and showeveryone what is happen-ing. It is important for peo-

ple to see. I hope wecome down to Dallas in Au-gust and have some fun!

Iʼd like to say hello to myfriends in The Burn & Crybefore we go, Pancho,Kevin and Eric and ourawesome manager AlisonRoberto for dealing with usand all of our crap, myfriend Jose Mangin fromSirius XM Liquid Metal andall our friends out there!

MUEN: ABSOLUTELYAND THEY CAN CHECKYOU GUYS OUT ATWWW.MYSPACE.COM/TH

EBURNANDCRY

Yes that is correct and ourvideo is on there, our mer-chandise and our record aswell.

MUEN: WELL THANKSSO MUCH MIKE FORCALLING, IT WASGREAT TO TALK TOYOU!

Thanks so much Holly andhopefully we will see you inDallas in August!

MUEN: YOU DEFINITELYWILL!


North Hollywood, CA

We had the good fortuneto catch up to HillbillyHerald to get a few an-swers about this unapolo-getic rock band! Theydeliver great rock musicto their fans and have alive show that is a site tobe seen with their dy-namic energy. We talkedwith Jimmy Herald, thelead singer of HillbillyHerald, and he gave ussome of that honesty welove to hear from greatrock bands!

MUEN: Hi Jimmy.

Thanks for sitting downand talking to MUENtoday about Hillbilly Her-ald. So, the usual ques-tion, but where did thename come from anddoes it have any correla-tion to last names andnicknames?

Jimmy: The hillbilly partcomes from my family.Theyʼre from West Virginiaand Indiana and Herald ismy last name.

MUEN: Now would prob-ably be a good time toclarify and dispel misun-derstandings aboutwhat “hillbilly” really is.Can you explain that forour readers?Jimmy: Hillbilly to me is

family, friends and beingtrue to what you set out todo. Theyʼre the hardestworking people Iʼve evermet. Itʼs not just somedude sitting on a mountainwith one tooth playing thebanjo. My family movedfrom West Virginia and In-diana and went through alot of hard times. Theyworked their asses off toget to where they aretoday. So to me itʼs one ofthe most important wordsin my vocabulary.

MUEN: Speaking ofnicknames, can you ex-plain where the one like“Cat” came from?

Jimmy: Itʼs all about Mark.Heʼs the quietest guy in

the room, but the loudestguy on stage. He writesgreat guitar riffs and with-out him, this band wouldnot be what it is today. Heearned the name while hewas crashing on my couchin L.A. when he firstmoved out there. Hewould just curl up like acat and you wouldnʼt evenknow he was there.

MUEN: How did youform the band andwhere did you form it toget this original andgreat sound?

Jimmy: Begging andpleading… and believing.It took a lot to prove toeverybody how seriousand how much I believed


HILLBILLYHERALD By Macavity

in rock nʼ roll and wantedto get it out there. I thinkthe shit thatʼs out theretoday is all bullshit. Ameri-can Idol can suck a fuckindick. Tell those fuckin id-iots to get in a fuckin vanin 115 degree fuckinʼweather with no fuckinʼfood, maybe a banana ifyouʼre lucky to split be-tween 8 fuckers and puton a great show in 115 de-gree fuckinʼ weather with-out any backuptracks to help youout. Thatʼs whatrock nʼ roll is allabout and thatʼshow we get ourfuckinʼ sound. Itʼsreal! It comes fromour souls.

MUEN: How didyou decide on thelatest lineup andhow does it fit tohave Adam play-ing bass now?

Jimmy: These arethe only fuckers that hadany balls to do it! What doyou mean how did I findthe fuckinʼ lineup? Theybecame the lineup be-cause they put everythingthey had on the line. Thisis for real. Weʼre not insome studio or some real-ity TV show. Weʼre out onthe fuckinʼ road kickin assevery night.

MUEN: How would youbest describe yourmusic and sound tosomeone that has notheard you live at a showor on MySpace or your

website?

Jimmy: I would say itʼsrock nʼ roll. Itʼs real. Itʼsthe best record youʼveheard in 20 years. If youlike rock nʼ roll and Iʼmtalking real rock nʼ roll andnot Kings of Leon, notfuckin Chris Dorkay orwhatever his name is. No-body gives a shit! Thenyouʼre gonna love us.Weʼre real. And if you

donʼt like us we reallydonʼt give a fuck.

MUEN: You have a greatset of influences likeAC/DC and a philosophyabout how the bandshould sound. Who de-cides on the final writ-ing, recording andperformance tunes andhow they are presentedto the public?

Jimmy: Yes. AC/DC rocks!Thatʼs what itʼs all aboutand itʼs real rock. If itdoesnʼt feel good then wedonʼt do it. Weʼre not a

sappy fuckinʼ band. Weactually have things towrite about and talk about.The lyrics are things thathave really happened tome in my life. Iʼm notafraid to open up and tellthe truth, even if it gets mein trouble. I think mostpeople are just trying to berock stars and weʼre justtrying to play rock nʼ rollmusic.

MUEN: You have playedmany shows and are inthe middle of whatseems to be a neverending tour. What drivesyou to play live andwhere do you mostlyplay?

Jimmy: Yes, this tour islong and weʼre only 2weeks into it. Itʼs been thelongest 2 weeks of my lifeand Iʼve had the most funIʼve ever had in my life. Ittakes a lot to travel acrossthe country and spreadthe word of rock nʼ roll.You have to stand up

there and scream it, andscream it, and scream it.But itʼs the fans that comeup to us afterwards andsay thank you so fuckinmuch for playing real rocknʼ roll music and keeping italive. It makes it all worthit. And with that beingsaid, we will not stop.

MUEN: What has beenthe most unusual ormemorable thing to hap-

pen at a showor just on tourin general sofar?

Jimmy: Tittiesand Lone Star.We loooooveTexas! (laugh-ter)

MUEN: Youjust releasedyour debut CDin May. Howwas thatprocess ofputting the

music together?

Jimmy: It was pretty sim-ple because we stuck tothe basics. We didnʼt try tobe something that wewerenʼt. We didnʼt try tocreate something. It wasalready there and it allcame out in the music. Itʼsthe truth. The lyrics thatyou read in the CD haveactually happened andthatʼs what sets us aside.

MUEN: I understand thatyou worked with BrianCarlstrom of Mad DogStudios to produce this


debut. Are you happywith how the musiccame out and do youfeel you accomplishedyour musical goals?

Jimmy: First of all, itʼstransformer studios. Weare more than happy. Ofcourse weʼre alwaysgonna criticize ourselves,but the reactions of thepeople that have heard itor are hearing it is the finalsay. And that speaks for it-self.

MUEN: How is the musicwritten for the band andby whom?

Jimmy: Itʼs mostly myselfand Mark.

MUEN: Do you have avideo planned for one ofthe tracks from the CD,or to showcase theband? Especially thelive performances forthose that cannot seeyou live?

Jimmy: We have a shit-load of footage already

from the “Full ThrottleTour.” We want to put to-gether a live video for rocknʼ roll which is our first sin-gle.

MUEN: How useful hasMySpace been to thepromotion of the band?

Itʼs absolutely useless.

MUEN: What moreshould we expect to seefrom Hillbilly Herald forthe rest of 2009 otherthan touring constantly?

Jimmy: Work work workwork work. Weʼre gonnawork our assʼ off to bringrock nʼ roll back. We be-lieve this current genera-tion got robbed and weʼretired of sitting arounddoing nothing about it. Sowhatever it takes, weʼll getit out there.

MUEN: Do any of yourelax and not play musicever? And if so, what doyou do?

Jimmy: Yeah we relax. As


long as Kevin ainʼt fuckinʼdriving. We like to watchmovies …“Planes, Trainsand Automobiles” everynight.

MUEN: For your loyalfans that think theyknow all about you, tellus something that theydonʼt know about you.

Jimmy: Tell ʻem to come tothe show and theyʼll learnall there is to know aboutus.

MUEN: Is there anythingI have not asked thatyou think our readers

would like to knowabout Hillbilly Herald?

Jimmy: Weʼre on our way.And if you donʼt like whereweʼre going you donʼthave to fuckinʼ come!

MUEN: Thanks Jimmyfor talking with MUEN.We look forward to see-ing you a lot more andhearing even more fromyou in the future.

MONGRELDanvers, Massachusetts

Interview by: Macavity

After hearing from theirmultitude of fans about theCD review we did earlierwe thought we would sitdown and talk with Adamfrom Mongrel. We wantedto find out what made thisband so charismatic andmade them such a stand-out especially with theirloyal fans. We found thatout and more!

MUEN: INTERESTINGNAME BUT SEEMS EF-FECTIVE FOR THE BAND,WHERE DID IT COMEFROM?

Adam: Our original singer(Matt Rowe) who I startedthe band with, actually pro-posed the name since wewanted the band to be amix of styles and influencesright from the get go, butwith an aggressive edge toit. Mongrel just seemed likethe perfect name since it isa mixed “breed” of musicalstyles. When he left theband he gave his blessingsto continue using the nameand itʼs been a perfect fitfrom the get go.

MUEN: HOW DID YOUFORM THE BAND ORIGI-NALLY AND NOW HOWHAS THE LINEUPCHANGED SINCE MATTLEFT?

Adam: Originally I waslooking to do a side projectwith Matt (Rowe) at the tailend of both our prior bands(summer of 2003) and as

our main bands imploded,we put our efforts into Mon-grel. Matt and I found adrummer and bassist andstarted playing out shortlythereafter. That originalrhythm section was goneand replaced within a fewmonths and Matt left theband to focus on other as-pects of his life about 6months into the band. Therewas an assortment of otherbassists, drummers, andanother singer before Drewjoined the band in early2005, Rev (bass) joined atthe end of 2005 as did ourdrummer Andre with whomwe recorded our full lengthCD “Fear, Lies, & Propa-ganda”. Andre left the bandon good terms in 2007 andwe got Ed that summer andthe core four of us havebeen together ever since.We had a couple of secondguitarists for a while, but inthe end we were better offand truly meant to be a fourpiece band. So thereʼsbeen a fair amount ofchanges in band members

over the years but Drewʼsbeen with us for four yearsnow, Rev for three years,and Ed almost two yearsnow.

MUEN: HOW WOULD YOUBEST DESCRIBE YOURMUSIC AND SOUND TOTHE ONE OR TWO THATHAS NOT HEARD YOULIVE AT A SHOW OR ONMYSPACE?

Adam: Hah hah. Well Iʼmsure there are more thanone or two people not famil-iar with us yet, but hopefullythis will help to change thata bit. Our music is mainly amix of old school hardcorepunk, hard rock, and metal.Somewhere in between theMisfits/Black Flag/Fear,Guns Nʼ Roses/ Pearl Jam,and oldMetallica/Anthrax/Slipknot ifthat makes any sense.Weʼre also influenced byand into bands like NIN,(old) Marilyn Manson,Amen, System of aDown/Scars on Broadway,

Wednesday13, TrashlightVision, The Bronx, PublicEnemy, NWA, Mindless SelfIndulgence, The Doors, etc,and Rev brings a litany ofunique influences rangingfrom old school SunRecords era Motown, toPrimus, and The Residents.Ed is very into old schoolthrash and metal, and Drewenjoys some more commer-cial rock and metal as well.

MUEN: YOU HAVEPLAYED ALMOST CON-STANTLY SINCE FORM-ING AND TOURED WITHSOME IMPRESSIVEBANDS SUCH AS KORN,THE MISFITS, ALL THATREMAINS AND GWAR TONAME A FEW. HOW DIDAN UNSIGNED BAND GETTO TOUR SO EXTEN-SIVELY AND WITH SUCHBIG NAMES?

Adam: Weʼve definitelybeen very fortunate in thataspect. Itʼs definitely been acombination of luck andhard work that helps create


some situations where luckcan play out in that regard.Weʼve been called “thehardest working band inBoston” in Metal Edge mag-azine for a reason andthankfully now and thensome opportunities like theshows with Korn, The Mis-fits, GWAR, FEAR, etc payoff.

MUEN: YOU HAVEPLAYED SHOWS ALLOVER THE STATES ANDARE IN THE MIDDLE OFWHAT SEEMS TO BE ANEVER ENDING SET OFDATES. WHAT ABOUTPLAYING LIVE DO YOULIKE MOST AND WHEREDO YOU MOSTLY PLAYSHOWS?

Adam: We mostly play inthe New England area (MA,NH, CT, RI) but we try to getout to Pennsylvania, NYC,NJ somewhat regularly atleast. Weʼre definitely look-ing to branch out more oftenand to more places thoughwhen our new album comesout. As for what I like mostabout playing live, it woulddefinitely be connecting withthe audience, that ex-change of energy whenpeople get into what youʼredoing, hanging out withpeople there, and of coursehaving that outlet for thefrustration and aggravationsthat we all face. The othergreat thing about our showsis that weʼve seen a lot offriendships made amongthe fans, especially theones who come out toshows regularly, itʼs beenreally cool and rewarding tosee new friendships andthat sense of community

and family develop aroundthe shows and around themusic we play.

MUEN: SPEAKING OFTOURING, WHAT HASBEEN THE MOST UN-USUAL OR MEMORABLETHING TO HAPPEN AT ASHOW OR JUST ONTOUR IN GENERAL SOFAR?

Adam: Getting involuntarilycrowd surfed the first timewe opened for the Misfitswas definitely unexpectedand memorable. Finding outthat Jerry Only really liked anew song we played at ourmost recent show with theMisfits was really cool tooas was having Lee Vingfrom FEAR tell us he likedus and enjoyed having usas an opener for them.Weʼve even had Dr Chudfrom the Misfits and MichaelGraves (ex-Misfits singer)join us on stage at differenttimes which was really cool.For less positive stories,thereʼs always a 10 hourdrive taking 20 hours be-cause all the highways inPennsylvania we need areclosed due to a blizzard orgetting a flat tire in front ofthe funeral home from themovie Clerks and having tofight to get the tire off, evenborrowing an axe from anearby house to beat thetire with and thinking weʼrenot going to make it to thevenue on time. Actually thatwas kind of funny lookingback at it.

MUEN: YOUR DEBUT CD“FEARS LIES AND PROP-AGANDA WAS MAS-TERED BY GRAMMY

AWARD WINNING JAYFRIGOLETTO AND RE-RELEASED IN LATE 2008.WHAT SOUND CHANGESDID HE MAKE TO YOURMUSIC AS HE HAS AVERY IMPRESSIVECLIENT LIST THAT ISVERY VARIED INSOUNDS?

Adam: Actually the greatthing about Jay is that hedidnʼt make any drasticchanges to our music, heappreciated our vision andsound for what it is, and justworked his studio magic tohelp bring it out and soundbetter. When our album gotpicked up by ScreamingFerret Wreckords and re-re-leased in 2008, we wantedto make some changes tothe artwork and add abonus track (our cover ofthe AMEN anthem “ComaAmerica”) so we went backto Jay for that as well.

MUEN: HOW DID THATASSOCIATION WITH JAYCOME ABOUT?

Adam: A friend of ours hadsome live recordings thathis band had re-masteredby Jay and when we wereinvestigating places to gofor mastering we got therecommendation. Jay wasvery cool to work with. I wasthere for the mastering ses-sion and heʼs genuinely acool guy who loves musicand enjoys what he does,and is obviously quite goodat it.

MUEN: SEEMS ASTHOUGH YOU HAVE ALOT OF POTENTIAL MA-

TERIAL READY FOR ASECOND ALBUM. WHENMIGHT WE EXPECT ASECOND ONE AND WILLYOU USE THE SAMESTUDIO AND JAY?

Adam: Actually weʼre almostdone recording our new fulllength album and a new EP.Weʼve got 20 tracks almostdone in the studio and justneed to finish up backingvocals and some minorodds and ends before itʼsfinished. Then itʼs off to mix-ing and mastering for it.Weʼre using a different stu-dio this time since this timewe are putting the albumout with Screaming Ferretfrom the get-go so weʼrerecording it at the labelʼsstudio where bands like Nu-clear Assault and MeliahRage have previouslyrecorded. Mixing is going tobe done by Jeff Wallace(who has worked on albumsfor Biohazard, Pro-Pain,End of an Era, etc) at Entro-lab Studios in NJ. Wehavenʼt made a final deci-sion yet as to who will bedoing the mastering for thenew recordings yet though.

MUEN: WITH ALL THELIVE SHOWS AND EXPE-RIENCES YOU HAVEHAD, WILL THE SOUNDCHANGE ON YOURSOPHOMORE CD AND IFSO HOW?

Adam: I think weʼre a tighterband now, particularly withEd behind the kit as heʼs aVERY solid and consistentdrummer and he has a dif-ferent style on drums thanAndre did which haschanged the feel somewhat.


I think weʼre all a bit betterat what we do, weʼve takenwhat we do as Mongrel andexpanded it and made itbetter Iʼd say, but it still at itscore is that mix of punk,rock, and metal so itʼs notlike weʼre all of a suddengoing to put out somescreamo-prog-metal corealbum or something. I thinkweʼre also capturing a bitmore of that live energy andpower in the studio thistime, incorporating more ofthe backing vocals we dolive in the studio. No, Iʼmnot going to say “itʼs heavierbut more melodic” or “itʼsthe greatest CD you'll everhear” or any of thoseclichés…but weʼve beenplaying a bunch of the newsongs live and theyʼve cer-tainly been going over wellso I think people will likewhat weʼre doing on thenew album.

MUEN: HOW IS THEMUSIC WRITTEN FORTHE BAND AND BYWHOM?

Adam: Typically, Iʼll write thelyrics and the basics of thesongs (music for theverses/choruses) and bringthem into practice. Thenweʼll jam on what I broughtin and decide what worksas is, what might need anintro, a bridge, how we wantto end the song, do I needto bring it home and tweaksomething that doesnʼt quitework, etc. There are someexceptions, such as one ofthe songs on the upcomingEP Drew wrote the lyrics for(he also co-wrote the lyricswith me for Attribution/Retri-bution on the Fear, Lies &Propaganda album). So es-

sentially we work onarrangement aspects as awhole and Rev and Ed willwrite their own parts re-spectively. In the end I thinkeveryoneʼs influences andstyle come through.

MUEN: DO YOU HAVE AVIDEO PLANNED FORTHE ONE OF THETRACKS FROM THE CDOR TO SHOWCASE THEBAND ESPECIALLY THELIVE PERFORMANCESESPECIALLY SINCE YOUARE DESCRIBED ASBEING CONSTANT MO-TION IN LIVE PERFORM-ANCES?

Adam: We have a coupleof videos that our friendAngus Van Zant put to-gether for “Bound to Crash”and “No Gods No Masters”off of the Fear, Lies & Prop-aganda album but wehavenʼt figured out anythingdefinite yet for the new CDas far as videos. Thereʼsdefinitely performancefootage available onlinethough for people to checkout in the meantime though.I suppose we really shouldstart giving it some thoughtthough. LOL

MUEN: HOW USEFULHAS MYSPACE BEEN TOTHE PROMOTION OF THEBAND?

Adam: It definitely has, itʼsbeen a great way to meetnew people (such as your-self) and to allow our musicto get out to people both lo-cally and around the world.We sell CDʼs and shirts tofans in the UK and Ger-many because of the con-nections weʼve made on

there so obviously itʼs work-ing. Itʼs always a great wayfor us to keep in touch withthe fans as we are verygood about writing back toanyone who wants to dropus a line.

MUEN: WHAT MORESHOULD WE EXPECT TOSEE FROM MONGRELFOR THE REST OF 2009OTHER THAN THE MAS-SACHUSETTS SHOWS?

Adam: Weʼre looking to re-lease the new EP entitled“Revenge” sometime thisFall, with the new full lengthalbum “This Means War” tofollow either in late 2009 orearly 2010. I know weʼredoing at least one showwith the Misfits this Fallhere in MA, and weʼre cer-tainly looking to get backout to NY, NJ, PA, CT, etc atthe very least before theholiday season.

MUEN: DO ANY OF YOUEVER RELAX AND NOTPLAY MUSIC AND IF SOWHAT DO YOU DO TOJUST CHILL?

Adam: I handle most of thebandʼs internet presenceand management/bookingat this point so that keepsme quite busy. To makesure I stay busy and out oftrouble I actually play in asideband as well and go tosee local shows when Iʼmnot playing out. Rev alsohas a side band and is biginto horror movies andcomics, Drew is our resi-dent video game player andyou tube junkie, and Ed justloves to play all the timeand is in several side bandsto keep him busy and to

keep his chops up.

MUEN: THOSE LOYALFANS THAT THINK THEYKNOW ALL ABOUT YOUMAY, BUT TELL USSOMETHING THAT THEYDONʼT KNOW ABOUTEACH OF YOU.

Adam: For me, itʼs probablythat my “day job” is being aschool psychologist/coun-selor.

MUEN: Is there anything Ihave not asked that youthink our readers would liketo know about Mongrel?

Adam: Well we have freeringtones and an onlinemerch store on our page atand we can also be foundon Twitter, Face Book, Re-verb Nation and like I said,weʼre more than happy totalk to fans so your readersshould feel free to hit us uponline or at a show and sayhi. Also if anyone wants toget our current album “Fear,Lies & Propaganda” yourlocal music store or BestBuy store should be able toget it for you. If not, you canalso get it online at any ofthe links on our sites.

Thanks Adam for taking thetime to talk with MUENtoday. We look forward toseeing and hearing a lotmore from you in the future.

Adam: My pleasure. ThankYOU for the support and in-terest in what weʼre doing!!


Interview with Mary Zimmer of Luna Mortis

By; Slavewriter6Myspace.com/slavewriter6

MUEN: HEY MARY HOWARE YOU?

Good I am glad we were fi-nally able to get this to-gether!

MUEN: ME TOO! NOWYOU GUYS ARE DEFI-NITELY PROOF THATKICK ASS METAL BANDSDONʼT HAVE TO COMEFROM LA RIGHT?

Very true, very true. I reallylove LA but Wisconsin isdefinitely not LA.

MUEN: YOU GUYS AREFROM MADISON AND ITHINK IT IS REALLYCOOL THAT YOU AREABLE TO BRING SOMEMORE ATTENTION TOTHE MUSIC THERE.

Yes, itʼs been really good.There havenʼt been toomany metal bands to comeout of Wisconsin but re-cently there have been a lotmore so itʼs really great!

Now with this lineup, the

band has been together fora little over two years right?

This lineup has been to-gether probably about threeyears.

MUEN: YOU GUYS HAVESOME PRETTY COOLHISTORY HERE. YOUAND BRIAN ACTUALLYWENT TO MUSICSCHOOL TOGETHERRIGHT?

Yes. We went to the samecollege and were studyingmusic.

MUEN: YOU BOTH ACTU-

ALLY HAVE YOUR MUSICDEGREE WHICH ISPRETTY KICK ASS.

Yes we actually do, itʼspretty crazy. And we choseto play heavy metal!

MUEN: RIGHT! AND YOUSTUDIED CLASSICALSINGING?

Yes, I am a classicallytrained singer. I did thatfor like 5 years. I just de-cided that I like metal bet-ter!

MUEN: HOW HARD WASLEARNING THE CLASSI-


LUNA MORTIS

CAL SINGING?

It was really tough. It isvery difficult. If peoplethink the judges on Ameri-can Idol are harsh, theyhave no idea, letʼs put itthat way! You get a thickskin from doing it but it wasfun, it was good.

MUEN: ON TO SOMEMORE HISTORY OF THEBAND, WHICH IS ALSOREALLY INTERESTING,TALKING SPECIFICALLYABOUT YOUR GUITARPLAYER, CORY, THEYOUNGEST ONE, HEWAS ACTUALLY BRIANʼSGUITAR STUDENT WHENHE WAS YOUNGER?

He was, yes. There is an 8year age gap betweenthem. Heʼs 21 and Brian is29. So when Cory Wasyoung, like 14 or so, hestarted taking guitar les-sons from Brian. Eventu-ally we had an opening andhe wanted to audition. Welet him audition although Ihave to admit we wereslightly skeptical becausehe was so young but heblew us away, he wasamazing.

MUEN: WOW SO HE WASPLAYING GUITAR IN THEBAND BEFORE HECOULD EVEN LEGALLYDRINK!

Yeah he just turned 21 inJanuary and heʼs been inthe band almost 3 yearsnow so yeah he was thebaby and we definitelyhave picked on him.

MUEN: I BET! SO THE

BAND NAME, LUNAMORTIS, MEANING DEADMOON IN LATIN, ITʼS AKICK ASS NAME. ISTHERE ANY PARTICU-LAR REASON YOU GUYSCHOSE IT OR WAS ITJUST BECAUSE ITSOUNDED BAD ASS?THERE REALLY DOESNʼTNEED TO BE A REASONBECAUSE ITʼS TRUE, ITJUST SOUNDS KICKASS!

Yeah and you pretty muchhit the nail on the head.Also it was on the short listof names that werenʼt lameand werenʼt taken.

MUEN: SO IS THAT WHATIT SAID ON YOURPAPER? THE SHORTLIST OF NAMES THATARENʼT LAME ANDARENʼT TAKEN? TOOFUNNY.

Yeah basically that is how itwent down.

MUEN: KICK ASS. NOWYOU GUYS WERESIGNED TO CENTURYMEDIA LAST YEAR, CON-GRATULATIONS ONTHAT. TELL US A BITABOUT HOW THATCAME ABOUT. YOUGUYS MUST HAVE BEENSO EXCITED!

We were very excited!Century Media is a terrificlabel and the people thereare amazing, the staff isamazing, everybody thereis just so great and I am re-ally glad that we ended upwith them. I donʼt think thatwe could have found a bet-ter home. Itʼs sort of a long

story how it all came aboutbut you know we wereshopping a few different la-bels and Century Mediawas probably the third onethat came along. Theywere interested and wewere definitely interested. Imean we have loved a lotof the Century Media bandsfor years and now to belabel mates with some ofthese people is just incredi-ble.

MUEN: I ACTUALLYHEAR THIS LOT ABOUTCENTURY MEDIA FROMOTHER BANDS ASWELL. I AM REALLYGLAD TO HEAR THATYOU GUYS ARE SOHAPPY WITH THEM.

So far so good, everythingis great, they have beendoing a great job for us andwe are very happy.

MUEN: YOU GUYS RE-LEASED YOUR DEBUTALBUM FOR CENTURYMEDIA IN FEBRUARY OFTHIS YEAR CALLED THEABSENCE AND I AM TO-TALLY IN LOVE WITH IT.THE MUSIC IS GREATAND YOUR VOICE IS IN-CREDIBLE. YOU HAVE AVOICE THAT GOESFROM BEAUTIFUL TOWICKED JUST LIKETHAT AND I LOVE IT!

Thanks you so much.

MUEN: YOU WERENʼTREALLY EXPOSED TOMETAL AT ALL UNTILAFTER HIGH SCHOOLRIGHT?

Yeah I mean, I graduated

high school kind of young.I think when I moved to thedorms I was still 17. I didnʼtget much exposure, not be-cause it was being pre-vented or anything, myparents were rock n rollfans. I just didnʼt have anyfriends that were into metalor anything and it was pre-MySpace you know? Butwhen I came to college Igot approached by theseguys that were in a differentmetal band, not the one Iam in now, asking me to bein this band with them be-cause they needed asinger. So these guys justshowed me the world ofmetal. From that day for-ward there was just nogoing back. Once I dis-covered it, I was one hun-dred percent in love. Ihave done nothing but playin metal bands since.

MUEN: WAS IT HARD TOGO FROM THE CLASSI-CAL SINGING TOSINGING METAL?

No not really, I think be-cause I had all the trainingand all of the technique itwas easier for me to workwith all the different stuff Ihad going on.

MUEN: AND YOU PROB-ABLY KNOW, FROM ALLOF THE TRAINING YOUHAD, A LITTLE BIT BET-TER THAN MOST HOWTO TAKE CARE OF YOURVOICE.

Oh yes, I wouldnʼt be ableto do the things I do in theband without it. I am reallyglad I had the classicaltraining before, otherwise I


thing go that isn't absolutelythe best that you are capableof.

MUEN: YOU RECENTLYWENT TO THE REVOLVERGOLDEN GODS AWARDS,HOW WAS THAT EXPERI-ENCE?

It was amazing, it was so fun.We went with some peoplefrom the Century Media staffand there were so manymetal icons in one place. Yougot to see so many people,talk to so many great musi-cians and see some greatperformances. It was justamazing to be there and be apart of it.

MUEN: WHAT ADVICE DOYOU HAVE FOR BANDSOUT THERE STILL TRYINGTO GET SIGNED?

Work ethic. Donʼt get discour-aged. Work as hard as youpossibly can and donʼt turndown any opportunities. Youhave to work extremely hard.

MUEN: THANKS FOR THEINTERVIEW MARY. IT WASGREAT TO TALK TO YOU!BEST OF LUCK TO YOUGUYS!

Thanks Holly, I really appreci-ate your support.

Myspace.com/lunamortismu-sic

donʼt think I would be doingwhat Iʼm doing, I donʼt think Iwould be as good at it or beable to do it without injury. Iam lucky, many people donʼtrealize they need to work ontechnical things until afterthey already have a problem.

MUEN: THE NEW ALBUMHAS BEEN OUT FOR A FEWMONTHS NOW, WHAT KINDOF FEEDBACK ARE YOUGUYS GETTING?

Really positive. The reactionsand the reviews have all beenreally good. Things are goingreally well and progressingwell.

MUEN: YOU GUYSWORKED WITH JASONSUKOFF AT HIS STUDIO,AUDIO HAMMER PRODUC-TIONS IN FLORIDA ON THISRECORD. HE HASWORKED WITH TONS OFGREAT BANDS, WHAT WASIT LIKE WORKING WITHHIM?

It was awesome, Jason is bril-liant. He is one of those peo-ple that likes to have fun andis absolutely hilarious. Butwhen you go in the studio andactually get down to brasstacks, he works really hardand he is really brilliant musi-cally and as a producer he isphenomenal. He reallypushes you, especially if heknows you are good at whatyou do and he really puts hisbest effort into making thealbum sound as good as itpossibly can. I have to say Ireally enjoyed working withhim, he put me through theringer a little bit but it wasawesome. He wonʼt let any-


Masaki Murashita - Vo-cals/GuitarJack Fliegler - Lead GuitarSunao Arai - BassTravis Thune - Drums

Riding high off the releaseof their 5 song EP, "WhoNeeds A Shepherd?", He-moptysis appear poised toconquer the Metal realm.The band continues to re-ceive both internet and ter-restrial radio airplay,garnering plenty of mediaattention, and have beenDubbed 'METAL ARTISTOF THE YEAR' by ThePhoenix Music Awards!Even more recently, gui-tarist Masaki Murashita re-ceived an endorsementthrough Krank Amplifica-tion.

Formed under the deadlyheat of the Arizona sun in2007, Hemoptysis has per-fected a unique and pureMetal sound, distilling oldschool Thrash, modernDeath Metal, and otherglobal influences. Gui-tarist/vocalist MasakiMurashita, drummer TravisThune, bass player SunaoArai, and lead guitaristJack Fliegler have not justrooted themselves in theclassic styles of Metal; He-moptysis brings the futureof Metal!.

"Hemoptysis have what ittakes to hold their own

among the elite of heavymetal. Throw Who NeedsA Shepherd ? in yourstereo, then kick back andwatch it all burn." -The-SaltyPirate.comPivotal Rage Lite: "Theseguys are brutal akin toArch Enemy and Carcassand the chords, solos andriffs are memorable andmelodic not too far re-moved from Megadeth.The result is a extraordi-nary merger of melodicdeath metal and Bay Area

thrash. Who Needs AShepherd is a solid collec-tion of furious, venomousthrash metal that will haveeven the most seasonedmetal veterans take notice.Are you listening NuclearBlast, Century Media andMetal Blade? Listen toWho Needs A Shepherdand Iʼm sure youʼll concur."-Ruben Mosqueda

MetalBite:"Who needs aShepherd?" is by far thetruest form of the metal

spirit I have come acrossin many years" -JD

Extreme UndergroundMetal Coven: "Hemoptysisis a great example of a hy-brid of modern Americanand European death andblack metal fused with 80'sera thrash...this metal en-tity has a bright future inthe genre." -Chris Rhynardhttp://www.myspace.com/hemoptysismetalhttp://hemoptysis.metal-musicpromotions.com/

HHEEMMOOPPTTYYSSIISSMUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

www..DarkerImageClothing.comwww.Myspace.com/DarkerImageClothing

Elias (Voice)Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Myspace.com/nonpoint


MUEN: HOW ARE YOUDOING?

Iʼm good, Iʼm happy tobe home and it is actu-ally one of the first daysthat Iʼve been home thatit hasnʼt been raining soI have had the opportu-nity to see the sunnyFlorida sky for a little bittoday.

MUEN: WELL, ITʼSRAINING HERETODAY SO I TOOKOVER FOR YOU.

I sent it up to you.

MUEN: THANKS! YOUGUYS ARE IN THESTUDIO RIGHT NOWRECORDING SOMENEW MUSIC RIGHT?

Yes we are, we are inthe writing process. Wewent to Phoenix forabout a week to laydown a three songdemo to start playing forrecord labels becausewe are about to sign a

deal. Yeah, itʼs all good.

MUEN: DID YOUWANT TO TALKABOUT WHO YOUARE GOING TO SIGNWITH?

Itʼs kind of up in the airright now. We are get-ting offers from every-body. Everyone isasking for music. Wefinished up with theMudvayne tour andwent directly to Phoenixto record some tracks.Were excited, itʼs beena very fresh feeling writ-ing for our fans.

MUEN: HOW MANY

SONGS HAVE YOUWRITTEN FOR THEALBUM?

So far, we have eightsongs complete, but wehave close to twenty-two that are still gettingworked on. Itʼs going re-ally good.

MUEN: RUMOR HAS ITYOU GUYS HAVESOME OLD FRIENDSWHO HAPPEN TO BEBIG NAMES IN ROCKWORKING WITH YOUGUYS ON THIS NEWRECORD. WHO ISPRODUCING THERECORD?

Chad and Gregg, theyare the singer and theguitar player from Mud-vayne. They are startinga production companywhere they will start pro-ducing bands. We arekind of their first crack atit. We like their writingstyle so much and theyhave had such greatsuccess with it. Wehave never really, trulyworked with a producerother than our last man-ager. On this record, wewanted to get that out-side ear, especially anear that we respect somuch. They have theirthumb on the pulse ofwhatʼs really rockin right


NONPOINT

now. Those guys arestellar to work with inthe studio.

MUEN: WELL THATʼSCOOL THAT THEYARE HELPING YOUGUYS TO TAKE YOURMUSIC TO ANOTHERLEVEL.

Absolutely, they arehelping us take what wehave and to quote Chad“Help re-invent us a littleand bring new light tothe band.” He is doingjust that, itʼs great.

MUEN: WHAT IS DIF-FERENT ABOUT THISRECORD? WHAT AREYOU DOING DIFFER-ENTLY THIS TIMEAROUND? I READTHAT THERE IS A LOTMORE SOUL IN YOURVOICE.

We have gotten a lot ofcomments where peoplehave really enjoyed a lotof the songs that I singmore than scream onlike “Alive and Kicking”and “Past it All.” We de-cided to play with that alittle more and to reallystart playing withmelody and vocal lines.With Gregg and Chadinvolved, some of theideas are so outside ofwhat I would of thoughtof, but work so well formy voice. We are takingthose steps a little more

often than we normallywould.

MUEN: HOW IS ITWORKING WITHGREGG AND CHADOUTSIDE OF TOUR-ING?

They are great guys towork with. We are allbusinessmen and I thinkthat is why weʼve keptthe relationship for theten years that our bandshave been friends. Wehave known Mudvaynesince their very first tour.They actually brought usout way back in 2000.We are old friends andwe like to be out thereand put on a good show.We like to enjoy our-selves too, but we allunderstand that we areout there to put on agood show. They appre-ciate the show that weput on and we feel likewe compliment our-selves. Its business andevery once in a whileyou have some time tolet your hair down andhave a good time on theroad. The writingprocess is a completelydifferent ball game, weare best friends. Notthat we arenʼt on theoutside, but youʼre work-ing when you are out onthe road. In the studio,these guys are just soopen minded and nur-turing. I would say to

any band that is thinkingof working with them, itis definitely somethingthat you want to pursue.They are great guys towork with in the record-ing situation.

MUEN: THATʼSGREAT; IT SOUNDSLIKE YOU GUYS HAVEA GOOD HISTORY TO-GETHER.

I have actually beenbent over a bar, com-pletely hammered off ofthirteen shots of Jagerand I would have I loveChad sharpied on myback from him with a bigheart around it. I wokeup the next morning withthis huge patch ofsharpie. It was a littleChad tattoo.

MUEN: THATʼS AGREAT STORY, ATLEAST IT WASNʼT AREAL TATTOO. AL-THOUGH SHARPIE ISREALLY CLOSE.

I would have kept it Ithink though. It wouldhave been a good story.

MUEN: WHATʼS A DAYOF WRITING WITHNONPOINT LIKE?

We wake up at thecrack of noon, we figureout what t-shirt we aregoing to be wearing, wego into the rehearsal

space and normally I willhave a vocal line or theirwill be a guitar riff or abass line. We start withone part and then every-body starts building onit. We let the nature ofwhere itʼs going take usthere and hope for thebest. We hope that it willsoon become one of ourmany song children.Everyone puts in theirtwo cents on everyoneʼsparts. Obviously, wehold things dear, espe-cially when you are writ-ing or creating. You putso much heart into itand try to be as nurtur-ing as you can to theparts and peopleʼs feel-ings. It is all driven andfueled by emotion, feel-ings and moments. Youkind of want to stay inthose moments andallow people to expresstheir feelings withoutputting them out. Youwant to let those firesbuild because eventu-ally they turn into amaz-ing songs.

MUEN: WHEN CANWE EXPECT TO SEETHE NEW ALBUM RE-LEASED?

We are shooting for theend of this year. We aregoing to be having thesingle hit the radio de-pending on the deal andwhen the record labelwants to release. No


NONPOINT

later than early of nextyear. February is proba-bly going to be the very,very latest.

MUEN: ZACH BROD-ERICK IS THE ONLYLINE-UP CHANGEYOUʼVE MADE IN THEBAND IN OVER TENYEARS. HOW DID ITCOME TO BE THATZACH JOINED THEBAND?

After ten years, Andy re-ally didnʼt want to be inthe music business any-more. It was sad to seehim go because we hadbeen together for solong. I guess he had hisfill of this side of thebusiness and wanted tomove on. We are notready yet to move on soour drummer Robbreached out to a couplefriends in the scene andZachʼs name came up.One of our friends fromSoil and Dan from Dis-turbed said he was agreat choice. At the endof one of our last tours,right when Andy wasabout to leave, we metup with him and jammedwith him. He must havelearned six Nonpointsongs in three days. Itwas amazing and hewas playing them withsuch vigor and rhythmthat it immediately feltright. We said “Hey, thismust be a sign. Letʼs

give it a shot.” It hasbreathed a new breathinto the band. Itʼs like abrand new band.

MUEN: SO THE NEWBLOOD IN THE BANDIS FEELING PRETTYGOOD THEN?

Oh yeah, itʼs pumpinghot and good. Zach is agreat guy and he has agreat heart. He is a verypositive person thatbrings another friendlyattitude into the mix ofthe four of us. It bal-ances out our band. Wehave very aggressive,opinionated people andwe have the very calm.They balance eachother out, which makesfor a great union.

MUEN: YES, GREATCOMPATIBILITY, HEUSED TO BE WITHMODERN DAY ZERORIGHT?

Yes, he was actually to-wards the end of thatstill kind of working withthem. He kind of put thataside and decided hewas going to do us fulltime which was a bless-ing for us. I wish hecould have done bothfor the sake of ModernDay Zero, but Iʼm gladhe is part of our band.

MUEN: NOW YOUGUYS RECENTLY DID

A SHOW WITH STEELPANTHER. ARENʼTTHOSE GUYS GREAT?

Those guys are funny.Itʼs good to see that rockis putting a smile backon its face and that thefans are really gettingback into smiling androckin out. It was a funshow to watch, they didthe funniest intro. I donʼtknow if you know howthey got to the stage.They had professionalparachuters, parachutedown dressed like them,land behind the stageand then the guys camerunning on the stage likethey had just para-chuted. It was the funni-est thing I had everseen. The guitar playerdid this long kind ofsolo, tribute kind of, mixof songs where he wasplaying the kick with onefoot. The wigs, thespandex pants, theleopard scarf, every-thing is exactly where itneeds to be with thatband. They are hilariousand Iʼm glad to see somany people takingsuch a liking to them, itsfun.

MUEN: THEY ARE HI-LARIOUS AND SEXY.

No doubt

MUEN: WHATʼSGREAT ABOUT THEM

WHEN THEY PLAYHERE IN L.A. IS THATA LOT OF CELEBRI-TIES SHOW UP TOTHE SHOWS ANDTHEY GET UP ON THESTAGE AND SINGWITH THEM. YOUNEVER KNOW WHOYOU ARE GOING TOSEE. THEY PLAYEVERY SINGLE MON-DAY NIGHT.

Iʼm glad that the sceneis supporting them too.

MUEN: YOU HAVETHREE DATES COM-ING UP IN FLORIDATHIS SUMMER, IF YOUGUYS ARE IN THATAREA I ENCOURAGEYOU TO CATCH ASHOW. ARE THEREANY PLANS TO ADDANY MORE DATES ATTHIS TIME? OR ANYOTHER CITIES?

We are trying to not playas many shows as oftenas we normally do. Wewere out for eighteenmonths non-stop on thislast record and we reallywant to focus on writingthe record. We aredoing one-offs and radiostations have called usto do radio shows hereand there. We just didthe one in Phoenix andnow were doing one inOrlando at the House ofBlues. Then we haveone in Ft. Lauderdale


and another one in Day-tona with Buckcherry.We are going to do acouple one-offs just tohave some fun and toplay those spots wehavenʼt played in aminute with just us. Asfar as booking a lotmore shows, Iʼd say thatyou are not going to re-ally see us again untilearly fall just so we canget this record done andget it into the hands ofpeople again.

MUEN: YOU JUSTENDED THE MUD-VAYNE TOUR. WHATWERE SOME OF THEHIGHLIGHTS OF THETOUR?

The whole tour wasamazing. To be mainsupport of a band of thatmagnitude is flatteringand at the same time itʼsfun because we wereout with family. We had-nʼt done a tour withMudvayne for a fewyears so it was nice toget that call. We got tohit some of our favoritespots like Madison, Wis-consin and Orlando. Ithink we did 2 ½ weeksin Texas, which is hardto tour because of theheat and distance. Itwas a perfect tour. TheIn This Moment peoplewere great people.Maria and all of the boysare such cool people.

We hung out at leastevery other night if notevery night.

MUEN: DO YOU THINKYOU MADE A WHOLEBUNCH OF NEWFANS?

Absolutely, it was agame changer for uswithout a doubt. We hada lot of hits on the web-site and record saleswent up. A lot of thethings that you hope tohappen with a tour allcame to fruition and itwas a blessing.

MUEN: WHEN YOUGUYS ARE ON TOURDO YOU HAVE A SETOF RULES THAT YOUALL ABIDE BY? FORINSTANCE NO DRINK-ING BEFORE THESHOW, ETC.

We donʼt like to gethammered before theshow; our first concernis the show. Thatʼs whatpeople are there to see.I donʼt want people to gohome going “God, hewas wasted. I couldbarely understand aword he was saying, hewas slurring so much.”Throughout the show Imight get a little tipsy bythe end of the show. Youcan do whatever youwant as long as long asit doesnʼt affect theshow.

MUEN: THATʼS AGOOD “ONE” RULE.

That should be every-oneʼs rule. Itʼs sadsometimes when you goto see a band and it is adisappointment whenthey let their personallives interfere with theshow. It shouldnʼt be likethat.

MUEN: IʼVE SEEN AFEW LIKE THATWHERE YOU WALKAWAY FEELING KINDOF EMBARRASSEDFOR THEM.

Yeah, exactly, we donʼtwant to put on that kindof show. Now, after theshow, you will definitelyhear some slurring andyou might see somepuking. I rememberZach having to stand ona pair of shoes that Ihad to run into the busto get because it wassnowing outside and hewas throwing up in hisboxers. So I had to liter-ally grab my hoodie andgrab a pair of shoes sohe wasnʼt standing onice and freezing todeath. It was funny man,it was a good time. Thatnight was a good time; itwas like six bars that wejumped from one to theother to.

MUEN: WELL, WHAT AGOOD FRIEND YOU

ARE.

Hey, Iʼll hold your hairback when youʼre puk-ing.

MUEN: THANK YOU, IWILL MAKE NOTE OFTHAT (LAUGHING) BE-FORE STARTINGTHAT TOUR YOU HADPARTED WAYS WITHYOUR MANAGEMENTAND LABEL. WHATKIND OF AN IMPACTDID THAT HAVE ONTHE BAND JUST BE-FORE A TOUR?

You get two feelingsfrom that, it was scarybecause you are kind ofby yourself and there isnobody really takingcare of you. At the sametime, itʼs liberating, itopened our eyes toshow us that we couldreally do this on ourown. We got the Mud-vayne tour through ourconnections and wefound new managementfor us. Izzy at SplitMedia now takes care ofus whoʼs an amazingmanager. He has man-aged some of thebiggest bands. To havesuch a hungry, youngand idea filled mindleading the ship rightnow makes us feel like itwas the right decision.The Bielerʼs were greatfor us for ten years, butwe just got to a point


where we felt like wewanted to move on andgo in a different direc-tion. We felt it was bet-ter that we separate andwe would do our thing. Itwas a great relationship,but sometimes thingsdonʼt work out the wayyou plan. You move on,try to stay positive andtry to look forward.Thatʼs what we aredoing, we are lookingforward and it is a brightfuture for us.

MUEN: WELL SPLITMEDIA IS PROBABLYA BETTER FIT FORYOU.

Yeah, we love thoseguys there. They are agreat managementteam. They are workingon having an amazingroster. It is the attentionthat we get that we aremost excited about.They donʼt let things fallthrough the cracks andtheir attention to detail isinsane. Itʼs a great mar-riage.

MUEN: WHAT ARETHE BIGGEST CHAL-LENGES YOUʼVE HADTO OVERCOME INYOUR MUSIC CA-REER?

I would say internetsales and radio in gen-eral. Iʼd say just thebusiness side of the in-

dustry is the hardestthing to get through andovercome. You try not tohave your head in thatbecause our job shouldbe the other side of thejob, the creating, touringand putting on a goodshow. Thatʼs what welike to concern our-selves with. Unfortu-nately, eventually youhave to put your foot inthe business. Its dog eatdog, thatʼs the best wayto put it. Everyone islooking out for whatʼsimportant and you trynot to sway away andlet all those other busi-ness sides of the indus-try take you away fromwhere youʼre heartshould be and thatʼs inthe music.

MUEN: DO YOU CON-SIDER YOURSELF A“NU-METAL” BAND?

I think after the first yearjust because there wereso many new metalbands out, peoplestarted realizing that wehad a different soundand that is what theywere considering “nu-metal.” Iʼd say that weare the quintessential allAmerican band. Youʼvegot two Puerto Ricansborn in New Jersey andin New York. Youʼve gota Scottish/German fromJersey and a kid fromChicago. We are the

melting pot of the rockworld with a sound thateach one of us letʼs ourown personal influencesgauge whatʼs happeningwith our instrument. Ithink because we leteach other do that, thatis why we have thesound that we do. Mydrummer is an old metalfan. My bass player isvery hardcore, but onthe opposite side heloves Pink Floyd. Zachloves Pantera. I listen toJourney, Kansas, BadCompany and at thesame time too, the firstKorn record was reallythe record that made mewant to do this for a liv-ing. You get influenced,but I think you try tomake your own sound. Ithink that is what de-fines you in your music.

MUEN: I WISH YOUGUYS THE BEST OFLUCK WITH YOURNEW RECORD COM-ING OUT. IʼD LIKE TOTHANK YOU FORTALKING WITH METODAY. IT WASGREAT TALKING WITHYOU. BEFORE I LETYOU GO WAS THEREANYTHING YOUʼDLIKE TO ADD?

Our new single is proba-bly going to be called“Miracle” and it has aguest singer on it. Chadwas really digging the

track and we asked himto sing on it. He gave ita swing and it came outamazing. We believethat he will be on outnewest track, which weare excited about.

MUEN: THAT IS AWE-SOME. CONGRATULA-TIONS ON THAT.

Thank you, Iʼm excitedfor both of us. Even if itnever gets released, thefact that I had the oppor-tunity to sing with one ofmy best friends is great.

MUEN: AFTER ALLTHESE YEARS HUH?

Thatʼs the big dreamcome true, after tenyears look at the circlethat weʼve made. Whowould have thought thatwe would not only beworking together, butsinging together? Itʼscool, man.

MUEN: WELL, I CANʼTWAIT TO HEAR IT.

Coming soon!


www.myspace.com/toxxxicfluxxx

STEEL PANTHER

Michael Starr (Vocals)Satchel (Guitars)Lexxi Foxxx (Bass)Stix Zadinia (Drums)Los Angeles, CA

Myspace.com/steelpan-therkicksass

By: Shauna OʼDonnellMyspace.com/shaunas-bandpage

Iʼm hanging out in thedressing room of L.A.ʼsvery own Steel Panthertonight. This band is

known for their outrageousstage presence and hugeguitar riffs. They are L.A.ʼslongest running heavymetal show on SunsetStrip and once you seethem play, it is obviouswhy. With their between-song banter, they havebrought the fun back inmusic.

MUEN: FIRST OFF,WERENʼT YOU GUYSCALLED METALSKOOL BEFORE?WHY DID YOUCHANGE YOURNAME?

I think we have alwaysbeen Steel Panther, wejust didnʼt know it. Wejust spelled it differently.

Michael: It was weirdbecause one day I wokeup and I was watchingthe History channel andI switched over to Ani-mal Planet. There wasthis panther and I waslike “Fuck thatʼs cool. Ifonly he was steel, itwould be bitchin.” Then Irealized that steel wasreally heavy.MUEN: HOW LONG

HAVE YOU BEEN AP-PEARING ON MONDAYNIGHTS AT THE KEYCLUB?

The band started in1981 and we started toplay in Los Angeles onMonday nights in late1985. We had to quit re-ally quick and then wecame back and startedplaying in 1999. Whatʼsreally cool is when weall got our stuff togetherand we decided thatheavy metal was goingto take over, it was cool


PANTHERSTEEL

because no other bandsare on the Strip. So, werule the Strip. Therewere a bunch of othercrazy bands that wereharder. We said to our-selves that we would putthe record out in fifteenyears and none of theother guys will bearound. Itʼs like regularschool was hard andsummer school waseasy. Right now we arein summer school or likea continuation school forbad kids.

MUEN: YOU WILL BERELEASING YOURDEBUT ALBUM ONJUNE 9TH THROUGHUNIVERSAL REPUB-LIC RECORDSCALLED FEEL THESTEEL. WHY DID ITTAKE YOU 20 YEARSTO RELEASE YOURFIRST ALBUM?

Satchel: Itʼs hard to writekiller songs. For the firstten years of this band Ionly had one set ofstrings. I had to keepcleaning those stringsand keep boiling them.

MUEN: YOU ALSOPERFORM IN VEGAS ACOUPLE DAYS AWEEK IS THATRIGHT?

We do, twice a week,every week.MUEN: DO YOU GUYS

DO ANY TOURING?

We do what they call flydates. What that meansis, we will fly to a dateand then we will do it.Then we fly back, itʼsreal easy. Every nowand then we do promo-tional tours, which areall fly dates. The fly datetook away the bus, sortof how the cell phonetook away the pager.There will be dozens ofreaders who read thisand I think everybodywho reads this interviewshould go out and getthis record because thisis the culmination ofthirty years of song writ-ing.

MUEN: WE HAVE TWODOZEN READERS.

Two dozen? Thatʼs awe-some; maybe we cansell a record to one ofthem. This is eleven ofthe fucking best (out oftwelve) songs that wehave written over theyears. Theyʼre good,nothing but the best. Didyou listen to the wholething? What was yourfavorite track?

MUEN: I LIKE THEMALL.

Awwww! Thatʼs bullshit.Whatʼs your favoritesong? You know whatthat means? You looked

at the picture.

Michael: Hereʼs whathappened.

She looked at the pic-ture and said “Theseguys are so fucking hot;I donʼt even need to lis-ten to them. I want to in-terview them.”

Satchel: Iʼll tell you ex-actly what she said “Iwant to interview thatfucking guitar player be-cause he looks fuckingslammin.”

MUEN: I LOVE THEVIDEO FOR “DEATHTO ALL BUT METAL.”SARAH SILVERMANMUST BE ONE OFYOUR MANY FANS.

Thank you. Our album islike Chinese food. Youdonʼt remember it whenyouʼre done so you haveto listen to it again. Alsoyou get hungry rightaway and you want tohear it again. Plus, apanther is a cat and Chi-nese food probably hascats in it. When you lis-ten to our record youdrink so much that youget a little bloated. Yougotta drink to listen to usman because itʼs scaryand people freak out.

Lexxi: and then youhave to take your cardown and get it washed.

MUEN: YOU HADQUITE A FEW GUESTAPPEARANCES ONTHE ALBUM. WHOWERE THEY? WHICHSONGS DID THEY AP-PEAR ON?

Do you like tapes orCDʼs better?

MUEN: CDʼS.

Can I cassette them onyour chin? Do you likeWendyʼs?

MUEN: NO

Are you into fitness?

MUEN: YES

Fittin these nuts in yourmouth?

MUEN: NO, OKAY,WHAT WAS THEWENDYʼS ONE?

Wendyʼs nuts in yourmouth. Do you knowwho is on our record?

MUEN: COREY FROMSLIPKNOT.

No, Corey Feldman.Corey Feldman fromSlipknot (Laughing) youcanʼt tell because theywear masks. Yeah,Corey Taylor and CoreyHaim are on it also.Corey Taylor from Slip-knot, M Shadows fromAvenged Sevenfold,


PANTHER

Scott Ian from Anthraxand the lead singer fromThe Donnas. Do youknow who Kip Wingeris?

MUEN: YEAH

Heʼs into fitness too.

At this point someoneburps very loud into themicrophone and it is notme. Josh Richman, oneof the longest runningpromoters and MCʼs inHollywood history, en-ters the room. There is aknock at the door andwe are told Stryker fromKROQ wants to comein. The band says “Tellhim to fuck off, he canʼtcome in. Tell him he isnʼtcoming in until ourrecord is being played.”They are obviously kid-ding and he comes in.

MUEN: I ACTUALLYDRANK A LOT BE-FORE I CAME HERE.

Yeah you did, are youdrunk? Do you guyswant a drink?

MUEN: NO THANKS,YOU WILL BE PER-FORMING AT THEDOWNLOAD FESTI-VAL THIS YEAR.Yeah! We are so ex-cited.

MUEN: IS THIS YOURFIRST TIME GOING

OVER TO ENGLAND?

Itʼs our first time goingover and itʼs our firsttime playing a stage in aparking lot. We are theband that plays whilepeople are driving in.The stage will be rightnext to where you buytickets so pretty mucheveryone will see us. Itʼscalled foot traffic and weare literally playing allday long. Officially weare not really on the bill,but we are just going toset up. You shouldcome. Do you wannago? We are taking aboat for seven days.

MUEN: YOU GUYSARE FRIENDS OF KATVON D AND YOU HAVEA TWO PAGE SPREADIN HER NEW BOOK.

We do? Check out mytattoo from Kat.

MUEN: THAT IS AMAZ-ING. HOW LONGDOES IT TAKE YOUTO GET READY BE-FORE A SHOW?

Lexxi: It takes me a longtime. I have to tan andsome tans donʼt get allthe way so I have tohave Satchel or Stixspray tan me. It is awe-some to look tan, thegirls think itʼs foxy. ThenI start putting my foun-dation on and then

blush. It takes about 5hours. People forgetwhat it takes just to getready to rock. It reallydoes take time. Wrinklesarenʼt foxy so we getthem done.

MUEN: YOU DONʼTHAVE WRINKLES.

Thatʼs because we useRotox. Itʼs new and onlyfor rockers.

MUEN: I NEED TO GETSOME OF THAT.

Yeah, youʼre a rocker.Itʼs cool because youget to keep your expres-sions, but you alleviateall the lines on yourface, its killer.

We now enter a conver-sation about gettingBotox injected into theirtesticles. Apparently, itmakes them smooth assilk, like if you shavedyour cat.

Pros: It is easier toshave you nuts afterthey are Botoxed.

Cons: After you do this,when you sit down onthe toilet, they dip intothe water. J

Sound like fun? I donʼtrecommend trying this athome kids. They assureme that what chics arechecking out on stage is

how big their privatearea is.

MUEN: WHERE DOYOU GUYS SHOP?

They are custom madeor from thrift stores.

This erupts into a littletiff over who does eachothers custom work inwhich, Satchel con-fesses he does his own.This is why he carriesthimbles in his guitarcase.

At this point I decided tolet them go and thankedthem for the wonderfulinterview. I have neverlaughed so much in allmy life as I did tonight.These guys are a MUSTsee. Be sure to catchone of their shows if youhavenʼt already. One ofthe great things abouttheir show besides thetalent displayed on thestage is the fact thatthere are celebrities thatshow up and sing withMichael. You neverknow who will show up.


Shane Raymond-- Vocals

Brett Callaway -- Guitarand Vocals

Andrew Rodriguez --Guitar

Sonny Vega -- Bass

David Fidler – Drums

Abilene, TexasMyspace.com/closey-oureyesmusic


MUEN: IʼVE KNOWNYOU GUYS FOR AWHILE NOW AND ITHAS BEEN EXCITINGTO SEE YOUR PRO-GRESSION AS ABAND. TELL ME A LIT-TLE ABOUT WHATHAS BEEN HAPPEN-ING WITH YOUR GUYSLATELY.

Brett: Well, we have re-ally just been playingshows as much as pos-sible and writing likemad men! We are trying

to get a pretty large col-lection of songs so thatwe can choose what wefeel to be the best of thebest for the full lengthalbum we will be record-ing soon! We are also incontract negotiationswith a record label thatwe are very excited tobe working with! We re-ally feel like this label isgoing to be a great fit forus in furthering our goalsand desires as a band.

MUEN: WHAT IS THE

MEANING BEHINDTHE NAME CLOSEYOUR EYES?

Brett: Well, I was actu-ally reading quite a bit ofapocalyptic literatureand a lot from the bookof Revelation. CloseYour Eyes is really just areference to the spiritualworld, and how what wesee is not our true reality- we have to close oureyes to the world to gaina true understanding.

CLOSE YOUR EYESMUEN Magazine JULY 2009 -

MUEN: LETʼS TALKABOUT YOUR FULLLENGTH ALBUM.WHAT IS ITS TITLE?WHEN WAS IT RE-LEASED? WHERE IS ITAVAILABLE? WHOPRODUCED IT?

Brett: Haha, well wehave only released a 6song EP so far. We aregoing to go into the stu-dio soon to start work onour first real full length!The 6 song EP is avail-able on iTunes, our on-line store, and of courseat shows! The EP wasproduced by ChristopherGoodwin, and we will beworking with him againfor the full length. We re-ally enjoy working withhim, our ideas just seemto bounce back andforth, and the work flowsextremely well with him!

MUEN: YOUR LYRICSARE EVIDENT THATYOU ARE CHRIS-TIANS. WHO WRITESTHEM AND ARETHERE ANY MES-SAGES THAT YOUARE TRYING TORELAY TO THE LIS-TENERS?

Brett: Shane and I writethe lyrics, with Shanewriting the great major-ity. There are definitemessages we are tryingto portray. One of thehuge things that we tryto do is just leave people

with the hope of love.Specifically Godʼs love,and however that love isexperienced. There areother messages that arevery clear such as in thebridge of "Song for theBroken" where the lyricssay, “This is my worship!This is my life! To bringhope into this brokenworld!”

Shane: Brett and I writethe lyrics. When we firststarted out as CloseYour Eyes, I think thatboth of us definitely didnot choose to hide ourChristianity in our lyrics;however, we did notwant to be labeled as aʻChristian bandʼ. Wesaw how lots of kids inthe music scene hadsuch a bitter reaction tomany of the people whoclaimed to be Christians.We didnʼt want to findourselves as Close YourEyes being associatedwith something that wewerenʼt a part of. In ad-dition, I was very inexpe-rienced when it came towriting songs. Becauseof this, and also becauseof the sound we weretrying to go for at thetime, I felt somewhatforced to write in a cer-tain way. Itʼs not that Idonʼt think that I con-veyed my emotionthrough those lyrics - itʼsjust at times that when Igo back and listen tothose songs, and re-

member the experiencesI was writing about, Ithink to myself, “Therewas a better way to saythis…” It could be thatall lyricists experiencethis form of regret, but Icanʼt speak for anyonebut myself. With thepast few songs that wehave written, I havebegun to really divedeeper into the personalaspects of my faith andbring them forward lyri-cally. I have alwaysbeen open to sayingfrom stage that there ishope… but never reallyexpressed where thathope could be found.Lately I have found my-self in a place in lifewhere that hope that Ispoke of so much hasseemed to disappear.Out of this sentimentCYE has written some ofour most heartfelt songs.I want the kids who hearour music to know thatwe as a band are no bet-ter than anyone in theaudience. I am a humanbeing; I hurt, I cry, Ilaugh. I find joy in cer-tain things in life and findgreat struggles in others.And that is somethingthat all people, Christianor not, can relate to. Itʼsin these times of strug-gle, those dark anddreary days when my lifemakes no sense at allthat I choose to say thateven though I am hurt-ing, that there is a to-

morrow, and that I canchoose to let the strug-gle win, or I can hopethat things will get better.I choose to hope, and Ihope that my lyrics allowothers to do so as well.

MUEN: ARE YOU AL-WAYS WORKING ONNEW MUSIC?

Brett: For sure! Haha Iam constantly writingnew songs! Sometimes Iam writing too fast towhere we donʼt evenhave enough time to getthrough all the new stuffin practices.

Andrew: For as long asI can remember we havenever stopped the flowof new music we write.We always try to top thelast song we have writ-ten and make every newsong twice as good, andI think that is one thingthat sort of sets us apartfrom other up and com-ing bands.

MUEN: A LOT OFHARDCORE BANDSTEND TO BE POLITI-CAL. DO YOU SEEYOURSELVES THATWAY?

Brett: Not particularly.We donʼt try and pushour political views or re-ally our views in generalon people. We donʼt hidewhat we believe by anymeans, but at the same


time, we are not evergoing to disrespect oth-ers or be intolerant oftheir personal beliefs.

Andrew: We don't seeourselves as much of ahardcore band anymoreneither do we see usbeing political. We baseour message on valuesof much more impor-tance to ourselves per-sonally. We try to trulyexpress ourselves in ourmusic which seems kindof rare nowadays.

MUEN: WHAT DO YOUTHINK SETS YOURBAND APART FROMOTHERS IN YOURGENRE?

Brett: We are so diversein the music that wewrite that I could noteven nail us down into aspecific genre. I wouldsay what sets us apartfrom other hardcorebands is that we havevery melodic elements inour music, and we getinto some pretty com-plex chord structures.We listen to A LOT of dif-ferent music, and it re-ally shows in our writing.

MUEN: WHO ARESOME OF THE BANDSTHAT HAVE BEENYOUR BIGGEST IN-FLUENCE?

Brett: For me, some of

my biggest influenceshave been MxPx andStretch Arm Strong. Ihave been listening tothem since I was proba-bly in 6th or 7th grade.Other more recent influ-ences for me have beenWith Honor, Life in YourWay, and HillsongUnited of all bands!Then there is the ran-dom stuff I find creepinginto our music like all theLouie Armstrong I listento. You can hear some ofthe jazz chord structuresin our music at differentpoints.

MUEN: HOW WAS THESHOW WITH SWORNENEMY?

Brett: The show was alot of fun! They weresuch nice dudes, and wehad a great crowd reac-tion! Kids were reallyinto it and going crazy!

MUEN: IN REGARDSTO THE SHOWS THATYOU HAVE PLAYED,WHICH ONES HAVEBEEN THE MOSTMEMORABLE? WHATHAS BEEN THEBIGGEST CROWDYOU HAVE PLAYED INFRONT OF?

Brett: The biggest crowdwe have played for wasdefinitely the main stageat Cornerstone last sum-mer! There were 25,000

people in attendance atthe festival, and weplayed the second nightof the week long festivalwith Flyleaf, Skillet,Family Force 5, and Dis-ciple. Then some of themost memorable showsto us have been thesmall venue showswhen the place is com-pletely packed and kidsare just piling on top ofeach other and allsinging along!

MUEN: IF YOU COULDCHOOSE ONE BANDTO GO OUT ON TOURWITH, WHO WOULD ITBE?

Brett: Man, that is atough question! Thereare so many bands wewould love to go outwith! Someone like RiseAgainst would be awe-some, or even someonelike Four Year Strong Ithink would be really fun!

MUEN: WHAT HASBEEN THE HARDESTPART OF TRYING TOMAKE IT IN THEMUSIC INDUSTRY FORYOU?

Brett: It has been a longroad. Finding the rightline up and chemistryhas probably been thehardest part for us as aband. Shane and I arethe only original mem-bers of this band! I think

we have found a verystrong line up with theone we have now andthe chemistry is GREAT!When we are writing wecan just sit there andplay, and sometimes en-tire songs will just flowout in minutes!

MUEN: ARE YOUGUYS SHOPPING LA-BELS RIGHT NOW?

Brett: Well, we are a littlepast the shopping stageright now, I think. Wewere just offered a con-tract from a label out ofCalifornia last week.We're discussing theterms and deciding if wewant to go with it or not,and our attorney is look-ing it over as we speak!

MUEN: IS THERE ANY-THING YOUʼD LIKE TOADD OR SAY?

Brett: Thank you! I lookforward to talking to youmore in the future! Andeverybody look out fornew music and big newscoming very soon!

MUEN: THANK YOUSO MUCH FOR THE IN-TERVIEW. I WISH YOUALL THE VERY BESTOF LUCK IN YOUR CA-REER.


www.MUENMAGAZINE.NET

MUEN MagazineP.O. Box 11446

Whittier, CA 90603

www.Myspace.com/AbigailWilliams

muen magazine july 2009

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