Digital Diversion

If you’re a regular reader of Digital Diversion, you’re probably already aware of Volbeat.  If you’re new to the site, let me boil it down for you … Volbeat is a Danish rock band that turns an unlikely mash up of punk, metal, country and rockabilly into something truly unique.  Having already reached rock-star status in Europe, they have their sights set on conquering America in short order.

Returning to the Bay Area for the first time since their  latest release (Beyond Hell / Above Heaven) with a Friday night show at the historic Fillmore, I had the honor of sitting down with Thomas Bredahl (guitar) and Jon Larsen (drums) before the show to discuss their progress towards domination.

Enjoy the interview and check back soon for live photos from the show.

Let’s start out by talking about your latest release which is arguably the most diverse Volbeat album to date.  Was that what you set out to do or is that how it came out at the end of the process?

TB:  [During the recording process] At one point Jon is like, “we need more hard hitting songs.  Like more metal, more riff oriented,” because there was a lot of those songs that we do … like more punk, plain rock songs.  We need a few of them so maybe at that point you had something that was a little bit more “together” and then we actually tried to add something that was different to give it that perspective as well.  That’s all we do, blend everything. [laughs]

I think that part of what makes it diverse is that you brought in a number of guest musicians.  I look at songs like Evelyn and 7 Shots … I think that those are vocal parts that Michael could do himself yet you chose to bring in some guests.  Were those songs written for those people in particular or did you record the songs and say “he would be perfect for that?”

JL:  Evelyn was definitely written for Barney [Greenway ,Napalm Death] with his voice in mind.  It was definitely written for him.  I’m not so sure about 7 shots, though.  Evelyn was definitely based on what Napalm [Death] would do if they would sound like us.  I’m not sure about the other one though.

TB:  I think the other one, 7 shots, was written and then because we’ve had for a long time an idea of Mille [Petrozza, Kreator] play guitar or sing or something like that because we hook up with him every once in a while.  We got this kind of old school part that we thought, “wouldn’t it be cool to have Mille sing something on top of this.”  So I think actually that song was written without him in mind.  But then again, I’m not sure.

JL:  I’m not really sure because he [Michael Poulsen] kept on saying, “well, I got this riff that may suit him,” but if that ended up being the riff I’m not really sure.  Maybe the song was already done and, “oh yeah, that’s the part for him,” but I seem to recall that Michael said, “I got this, this would be for Mille to do.”  Was it guitar or vocals I really don’t recall.

TB:  It was even before Guitar Gangsters that we talked with Mille … it was a couple of years ago.  Three years ago we played the same festival up in Norway and we were like, “we should do something together one day.”  And he was like, “yeah, just give me a call.”  And he always drops by our show whenever we play on his home turf if he’s home.  We knew we were going to do it at one point so it was basically waiting for the right part or the right song.

How often have you been playing those particular songs [Evelyn, 7 Shots] live?

JL:  Evelyn was actually played throughout the whole European tour last year in Scandinavia because we brought out Entombed as a support act and we asked LG if he wanted to do it.  I think he at some point really regretted saying yes because he was so nervous and so scared the first few nights that he did it.  So that was played.  I think 7 Shots was only played a couple of times … we played it on the Danish part of the tour.  Michael Denner joined us for that.  And I think we did it in Dusseldorf which is close to Mille’s home and I guess that was basically it.

TB:  I don’t really remember.

JL:  I think that we did it a few times and decided it take it off because …

TB:  … it just doesn’t work.  There’s only one Michael Denner and we can’t do what he does and make the guitar sound that way.  Some vocal parts can be … I did Mille’s part which is doable.  It’s also a short thing [the vocal part] but that signature sound you gotta have it to actually play that song.

Have you thought about touring with any of those bands?

JL:  I think definitely Napalm Death could be fun but, especially in Europe, they are way too extreme for the crowd that we pull in now.  Maybe we could do it in Europe but in Scandinavia they are too extreme.  Kreator … ah, I don’t know … maybe.  It could be done, but who knows.  Maybe.

Never say never, right.  The new album came out in the U.S. about three months after Europe.  What was the delay?  I know people were anxious to get it here and were ordering from Europe.

TB:  Well it’s a normal thing that you don’t have the same release dates, it’s just normally the other way around so we gotta wait over in Europe.  So we basically just wanted to give you guys a hard time.  [laughs]  I think they have to set everything straight with the label … we’re not a household name band yet over here so there’s some thoughts back and forth about which label to use.  So I think that’s actually the main reason.  And then also our touring activities … you know we can’t be everywhere at the same time.  So for us touring-wise, it’s cool to release an album, tour one part of the world and release it somewhere else so it’s still new and fresh, instead of people having to wait another half year or something to have the band playing.  Well now a days everybody gets their music from that big free library.  [laughs]

For the record I picked mine up at a show in Munich.

TB:  You’re okay.  But the stupid thing is, of course, that people are ordering it through Amazon or something from Europe and they pay 10 or 15 Euros and then the same amount of money for shipment.  So it’s actually UPS and Fedex who make the most money out of our albums.  We’ll see next time … hopefully they can align the release schedules a little bit more.

That Munich show was a sold out … I was told 7000 people.  About a month later you were out doing club shows in Denmark.  Do you like going back and forth between the big shows and the club shows or do you have a particular preference?

TB:  As musicians and human beings, it’s like one night you want a blonde, one night you want a brunette.  [laughs]  That’s how it is with shows as well.  For us, if you do just those big arena shows it becomes a routine, and I wouldn’t say you don’t appreciate it … it’s just another day at the office at one point.  And when you play in front of 10,000 people and it’s just another day at your office, that’s when you start thinking something’s a little bit wrong here.  So you want to do something that’s different.  And that was why we did that Danish tour.  We said, “instead of just playing the major cities, let’s play like 12 cities,” and I think that 500 was the smallest place and 1500 was the biggest one.  So basically the same venue capacities as we do over here now.  And then playing cities that you don’t normally play as well.  Some of them are places that you are like, “is this a city? Where is it?”  You gotta Google the city yourself to find out where you’re going.

Now that you mention that, I have a Danish friend that had a question for you.  He noticed that you went from playing in Nakskov straight to New York.  Was that a strange adjustment?  Apparently Nakskov is one of those small towns that you talked about.

JL:  Not really because we went home for a week or something before we flew to New York so it wasn’t really a difference.

TB:  One thing is the city that you actually play but that’s not what you think about when you’re on stage.  It’s not like, “we’re in the middle of Manhattan” or “we’re in the middle of nowhere.”  It doesn’t really matter because you’re on stage, you got your crowd going, you got your crew going, you got the gear … so that’s what you focus on.  I don’t really think about that, but it might be a little bit weird … I’d say more weird just flying into New York and you’ll be on European time and just start playing.  That’s weird.

So you’ve been touring here in the U.S. for about two weeks or so.  I understand that this is your fourth tour of the United States and your second headlining …

JL:  Yeah

So I’m curious how the U.S. crowds developed over the course of those years and their reaction to Volbeat?

JL:  Well they’ve gotten slightly bigger because now we’re playing bigger venues than we did the last time.  But apart from that, it’s basically the same I think.  They’ve just gotten bigger … there’s just more people.

Do you find that people are more familiar with the music as well?

TB:  They might be more than when we first started out as a support act.  We supported Nightwish, Finnish whatever band, on the first tour of course there are some people there for their music.  So of course they didn’t know the band [Volbeat].  But I think that already at that point we had people singing along, wearing t-shirts even though they weren’t available over here.  But of course now you have a full crowd that knows all the songs and sings along.  People seem really conscientious about it… but you know we haven’t been here that much.  I think it’s still a fresh thing and a new thing for them.

I think that this tour has maybe 2 or 3 times as many dates as your last headline tour that you did in the summer [2010].  Are there any particular cities that you’ve been really looking forward to on the tour?

JL:  I don’t know because it’s still a new thing even though we have played here before … not in this venue … but we’ve been here before.  We’ve played in Los Angeles and New York before but it’s still kinda new.  So to say, “oh, I’m really looking forward to this and that city” … not yet.

TB:  After doing California we’re going to do Arizona and Texas and Florida … places we haven’t been at all.  And we did the same on the way over here which is stopping in Montana or something like that.  Places you’ve never visited so are there going to be any people?  Especially that Montana show … that was insane.  It was one of the best shows on the tour.  You roll into a city and to a state you’ve never been before … excuse me, but probably never even heard of that city before it’s on your tour schedule … and there are 1500 people rocking out and one of the most intense shows we’ve played in a long time.

I’ve heard the same thing about Missoula Montana.  Whatever it is, it’s a great rock town.

JL:  Well, it seemed like it was, actually, because that was really a surprise.  Because, again we said, “what is Missoula Montana?  Is it gonna work?”  But it definitely did.

Do you see a big difference between the U.S. crowds and the European crowds?

JL:  I think that they’re a bit like central European crowds because, here in America, now we’ve got the mosh pits going again and stuff like that.  We haven’t seen that in Europe that much on the last tour.  Some places yeah, but it’s more like it was 3 years ago when we toured Europe.

TB:  Of course you play to 10,000 and they’re not all really used to going to shows and moshing out and crowd surfing and all that.  There’s a lot of, let’s say, normal people in the crowd as well [laughing] so that’s also one of the good things for us over here.  The crowd we got here is so much into it.  You don’t really have anybody just being there to see the thing.  They’re there because they like what we do and they know the music.  So that’s a difference.

How do you tailor your setlists between those different audiences, or do you?

TB:  Not really.  It’s a crowd and we’re Volbeat and there are certain songs that we know people wherever we go want to hear.  Actually this time … normally we are just dictators and we play whatever we want …. but this time we actually used Facebook or something and put up, “what do you guys want to hear?”  We put up a list of songs that we wanted to play, or know how to play, and people could choose from that so that got us an idea about what people like to hear over here.  But I think it’s not that much of a difference what we actually play.  There are some songs that you gotta play but we also left a few out.  We left out … for once in like five years … we left out The Gardens Tale which we can’t do in Europe, they’ll kill us.

JL:   Well we could but, we figured that the Garden’s Tale wouldn’t mean anything over here because of the Danish lines but actually a lot of people have been asking, “why don’t you play that song?  That’s what got me into you guys!”  Well we didn’t think it would mean anything … “What, are you kidding, it does!”

TB:  Every night when we play a show we always go out and have a beer if the venues don’t throw people out right after the show.  We normally hang out with some of the fans and everybody’s like, “why didn’t you play that song, that song, that song …” and we’re like, “sure but we’re playing one and a half hours.  Which song tonight did you not want us to play?”  And they’re like, “well you should just have more songs!”  [laughs]  So every once in a while you get to pick something and it’s also for us, let’s stick something in that we didn’t play for a while.  But we get a good idea about what works and what doesn’t.

One last question before I let you guys go.  Why do you think Denmark is the happiest place in the world?

JL:  I’ve never lived outside Denmark so I don’t know.  I have no idea.

You’re aware of the surveys, though?

JL:  Yeah. Yeah.

TB:  It’s like a small hobbit society or whatever.  We’re five and a half million people living in a country and we got our own weird language and weird customs.  I don’t know, but it’s a totally different thing.  Our whole welfare system we’ve got going … all that stuff that a lot of people over here that we talk to say, “how can you guys live like that?”  I think it’s kind of like one big family actually that you kind of take care of each other.  I don’t know, it’s hard to make it to the top because we don’t really have any top.  But there are a lot of middle class people that are doing good and I think that that makes people happy instead of having a too divided society.  Let’s not talk politics…

I was going to say it was because they have Volbeat …

TB:  That could be, that could be.  But now you guys are having it.

DD:  Right now San Francisco is the happiest place on earth … Well thank you both, I’m looking forward to the show tonight.

© 2011 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook for access to exclusive photos.

London, Ontario-based metal band Baptized in Blood first got my attention when they released their song Last Line Lady as a free download.  Their self-titled debut Baptized In Blood features pummeling double bass, melodic leads and enough crunch to get even the most discriminating head banging.  Skeptical?  Scroll to the bottom and listen for yourself.

When it was announced that they would be hitting the road with Cancer Bats and DevilDriver, I made it a point to get there early to check these guys out live.   I later learned that BiB took an unusual approach to putting together their set list …  six tunes selected from the comfort of their tour van based upon the shirts people in line were wearing.  Unfortunately I must have been wearing the wrong shirt because they missed a couple of my favorites, but I was certainly not complaining after being blasted by a band I am sure that you will be hearing more of.

I caught up with front man Johl Fendley after their set to learn a little more about the band.  Hit the play button below to hear the interview which includes  their connection to metal legend Dave Mustaine.

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© 2010 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook for access to exclusive photos.

If you haven’t checked out the latest from the self-ascribed World’s Greatest Horror Rock Band,  bookmark this page, go buy Calabrese III They Call Us Death, check it out and then come back and read on.  I had the opportunity to throw brothers Bobby and Jimmy a few questions and here’s what they had to say …

The new album has a heavier feel than your last two releases. Did you have a vision for what it was going to sound like before you started or did it just come out that way?

Jimmy – We knew we wanted something darker and heavier. In the studio, we just kept tweaking knobs till the music felt “right.” Our biggest fear was making the same CD as the last two.

Bobby – I was listening to a lot of faster, skate punk type stuff at the time, so I guess it was pretty inevitable we’d sound a bit more energetic! Who knows what the next record’s gonna sound like? As long as it doesn’t suck, we’re safe.

I really dig the lyrics on this album. How does the writing work between the three of you?

Jimmy – Since Bobby and I both sing, we each come up with our own lyrics for our verse then we help each other tweak it. On the chorus, we either tag team the lyrics or just make small changes to each other’s ideas ’til we agree.

The subject matter of the songs are pretty dark and not campy like other horror rock/punk bands can be. Where do you get your song ideas?

Jimmy – I think this third CD reflects the rough times the band went through at the time we wrote the songs. It also reflects the current state of world affairs — volcanos, ecological disasters, social unrest. How COULD this CD be anything but dark?!

In person you guys don’t come across as serious as your lyrics. Do you think people are surprised about that when they meet you?

Jimmy – People are always surprised when they meet us — since we steal their soul.

Bobby – I think people don’t realize how tall Davey and I are, if anything. I’m gonna look like Godzilla when we tour Japan!

Jimmy brings back the Theremin on Deep In The Red which gives the song a cool horror movie vibe. How does one learn to play a Theremin?

Jimmy – One must first join the Secret Order of the Theremins.

Bobby – Secondly, you wing it. Helps if you drink a bit, too.

One of my favorites, Blood Of The Wolf, stands out on the album as a pretty hardcore song. Who wrote that one?

Jimmy – Bobby’s the main song writer on that one. Actually, he’s the main riff master on all songs from They Call Us Death.

Bobby – Hey, I do what I can do! The way I write songs it usually based around a riff, or a neat guitar part. That particular song, we were emulating some Black Flag riffs I really liked and couldn’t stop playing. Just kinda put our spin on it and wham! You got yourself a Calabrese song. Every song is based off another song by another band I like…it’s pretty sick.

Will you ever run out of horror-themed songs to write? When that happens will you start writing love songs?

Jimmy – It’s a sick, sad, horrible world. How could we ever run out of song ideas?

Calabrese takes a very DIY approach to its music including self-producing all three albums. Would you ever consider working with an outside producer and who would it be?

Jimmy – Of course, nothing is ever out of the question. I have no clue who that producer would be, but I wouldn’t mind if Glenn Danzig or Rob Zombie wanted to help craft the sound of the next album.

Bobby – If we could get Danzig to just simply strum a guitar once, put it on the album, hidden deep within a song…we’d be GOLDEN.

Part of that DIY attitude means you are shameless self-promoters and merchandisers. In fact, I’ve never seen so many t-shirt designs outside of a Metallica concert. Where do all the design ideas come from?

Jimmy – We usually toss ideas back and forth with the artists we work with. I like to think the devil has an unseen hand in the process.

Bobby – Sometime we base a lot of shirt designs off of song titles (Zombie I, Death Eternal, Saturday Night of the Living Dead) which, in turn, helps us when selling them. Who individually names their own t-shirts? Calabrese does!

What do you guys do when you’re not in a band?

Jimmy – Shamelessly self promote.

Bobby – It’s like an addiction. Quit your job and start a band!

Jimmy recently broke his wrist. How did that happen?

Jimmy – You know those signs at the aquarium that say do not pet the sharks? Yeah, there ya go.

What are your touring plans for the rest of the year (2010)?

Jimmy – We play it by ear, our schedule is pretty fluid. We are always adding shows, so I suggest getting on our mailing list to stay up to date!

Bobby – Cross your fingers for a possible Japan invasion! ‘Cause I certainly am. HARD.

If you could tour with one band, who would it be?

Bobby – Danzig, ACDC during their hay-day, Black Sabbath, fuckin’ Motorhead, man!

Jimmy – The Misfits during the Danzig era, maybe Black Flag with Henry Rollins….or Lady Gaga.

© 2010 Alan Snodgrass | www.digitaldiversion.net. Please do not use without express permission (contact). If you like what you see, leave a comment below and subscribe so you can be notified of new posts. You can also become a fan on Facebook for access to exclusive photos.

Hot on the heels of their debut release on Roadrunner records, Love Is Gone, goth rockers Dommin hit the road with HIM. Before the San Francisco show I caught up with bass player Billy James to talk about the new album, touring and the future.

Congratulations on the new album.

Billy:       Thanks.

How’s it feel to finally get it out?

Billy:  It’s been amazing.  We’ve waited way too long.

I understand that it was originally supposed to come out last spring.

Billy:  It was supposed to come out almost a year before it did come out.

What was the reason for the delay?

Billy:  It was a bunch of different reasons, mainly for marketing purposes and for our benefit we pushed it back.  Some felt that they weren’t doing enough for marketing so we wanted to have a proper release.  We wanted to do enough promotional things in between that time and do enough touring before it was properly released.  All the way around I think it was a better decision for us even though we were just waiting for it to come out.

And it was basically sitting in the can for a year?

Billy:  It was done, mastered, artwork was finished.  Yeah it was just sitting waiting for a release.  It actually got pushed back three different times … accumulated a whole year [delay].

Some of the material that went on to this record was actually on an early demo from 2006…

Billy:  Yeah, we had a self-titled release, Mend Your Misery, and there were only about one to two thousand of those in circulation.  And those were in circulation right up until the time where we had signed with Roadrunner and then Roadrunner cut them off, obviously, for their own reasons.

Do you still have boxes of them sitting around somewhere?

Billy:  We got rid of about all of them.  We just didn’t have to re-order basically.

How has being on a major label changed things for you?

Billy:  It’s done a lot for us.  It’s opened up a lot of doors for us.  One of the major things that it does for us is it gives us a big financial backing for proper tools that we need whether it be a really great produced music video or a great produced album.  They have distribution; they have every tool that a band needs to be successful these days.  And these days you need everything you can.  It definitely put us on a new level and I don’t know if we would ever be released to such a big audience if we were to do it on our own without a label.

In terms of influence, I know Kris has talked about Type O Negative being a big influence for him …

Billy:  Me too.

Thoughts on Peter Steele’s passing last week?

Billy:  It was a sad day.  Me and Kris just couldn’t believe it because we played with Peter Steele before.  We opened up a show with him at the Galaxy Theater years ago in a previous band.  We also toured with Seventh Void which is Kenny and Johnny the drummer.  We’re not only huge fans but we know them and so it was a huge loss for us.

Have you thought about covering a Type O Negative song?

We’ve thought about it.  I don’t know if we’ve just never agreed on one or just have been working on other things that have come together in a better way.  Or it might possibly be since a lot of people compare us so much to Type O Negative, I don’t know if it would be such a total new, innovative thing to release a Type O Cover song.  I don’t know if we ever will.  I would like to, personally.

Which one would you choose?

Billy:  Cinnamon Girl or Black No. 1

A cover of a cover.

Billy:  Maybe I Don’t Want to Be Me.  I relate to that song a lot. [laughs]

Why is that?

Billy:  It’s tough sometimes.  This tour has been really tough for us.  When you’re away from home for five months at a time it’s repetitive and it’s a lot of work.  Every day we’re loading, every day we get minimal rest and after a while, traveling takes a toll on your body.

You guys have been pretty much on the road non-stop for the last 9 months.

Billy:  Yeah, we’ve had a month break here, a month break there.  The European Lacuna Coil tour, which the day after we started on the European H.I.M. tour.  Now the H.I.M. tour is back here [in the U.S.].  After the H.I.M. tour’s finished we’re going to see maybe a three week to a month string of small headlining gigs.

Where are those going to be?

Billy:  In the U.S.  We’re going to start East Coast and work our way back to West Coast … work our way back home, basically.  And after everything is said and done, it’s going to be probably a total of about five months that we’ve been on the road.  So this is the longest one.  It’s tough.

How has your live performance evolved over that time?

Billy:  Well, when you’re performing every night you start to streamline your live performance very well.  I think it’s always been good but now it’s even that much better.  We have a different set this time.  From what I’ve been told by people around us and by people that go to our shows, our live performance has always been amazing.  The sound, actually from what people and fans say, sounds almost better than the production of the album does which is cool to hear.

How have the Lacuna Coil and H.I.M. fans reacted?  A lot of these people come to see them and have never heard of Dommin.

Billy:  The whole idea that a good booking agent wants to do is to book their bands with bands that they think have similar fans.  So Lacuna’s fans were amazing.  They took us in right away.  They’re really open, one of the most open fan bases out of any band that I’ve ever toured with.  H.I.M.’s fans are just … like I said earlier, this has been a super tour for us.  Their fans are loving us and we’re loving them.  They’ve been giving us such an amazing reaction every night.

The band has had to cancel a few dates because of Kris’ voice.  Has that been a strain on you guys?

Billy:  It’s not cool for any band that’s on such an amazing tour like this.  We’re trying to suck up every bit that we can on this tour and when we lose a few shows it’s like losing a few shows of the best tour that we’ve ever been on in our careers.  We’re really disappointed but on another note, if it [Kris’ voice] could get any worse or if we push Kris’ voice, it could turn out that we would just cancel the whole tour because he could get a bad case of pneumonia.

Do you get a chance to hand out with the other bands when you’re on the road?

Billy:  Yeah.  We’ve hung out with the other bands excluding H.I.M.  Me personally, I haven’t had a great opportunity to hang out with them too much other than just passing each other between dressing rooms.  They’re pretty busy and they don’t like to go out and party.  They’re not that band.  They kind of like to keep to themselves which is cool and respectful.

What do you do when you’re not touring?

Billy:  I have a dog which I miss a lot right now [laughs].  Hang out with family and friends as much as possible.  I own a skate shop in a surrounding city outside of L.A.  Me and another business partner run that.  He takes care of it when I’m on the road.

Does he take care of the dog too?

Billy:  No, my girlfriend is taking care of the dog right now.

When you guys get off tour do you not want to see each other for a while?

Billy:  It’s not that we don’t want to see each other, but we don’t make too much of an effort to hang out every night [laughing].  We don’t get sick of each other.  Like I said, this has been the longest tour so far …   the longest couple of tours all bunched up to one … 5 months … and there haven’t been any arguments or anything.  Everybody’s been really cool, amazingly.  Everybody’s been getting along really great.

And you guys don’t have a big fancy tour bus, you’re in a van.

Billy:  Yeah, we have a van.  We’re saving money because ultimately those expenses, they come out of us.

So what’s next for Dommin?

Billy:  We’re going to do a lot of touring.  After this tour we’re going to do a small string of headlining shows.  That’s going to run all the way to about May 22 or May 24 and then we’re home for about eight days and then we go off to do all the summer festivals in Europe.  We’re doing Rock Im Park, we’re doing Download and we’re doing Sonisphere.  Those are some of the major festivals.

Any particular bands that you’re excited to play with?

Billy:  The Download Festival is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We’re playing Sunday on the main stage and I believe that we’re the first band that day.  Later in the evening is Aerosmith, Stone Temple Pilots, Ratt … I’m excited to play with those bands.  And on Friday, which is one of my favorite bands growing up, AC/DC is playing and I’m going to be there for that.  Definitely, that’s going to be awesome.

Is it going to be the largest audience that you’ve ever played for?

Billy:  Yes, I’m sure it will.  I’ve been told 100-110 thousand people are usually at Download.  And at which time when we’re playing at noon … in theory everybody’s going to still be there because it’s kind of like a campout thing and everybody spends the night and goes in the morning … I’m hoping there’s between 20 and 50 thousand people at that time that we’re playing which is going to do us some good.

Are you going to video tape it?

Billy:  Yeah.

You guys have made roses a big part of your stage presence and your image.  I noticed that upstairs a lady was cutting the thorns off the roses.  Wouldn’t it be more hardcore if you left the thorns on?

Billy:  It would be more hardcore but I don’t know if our fans would appreciate it [laughs], that would be an unpleasant surprise!  We take them off because we give them to our fans and when we give them to our fans they take home something that they can remember the show by.  When somebody has a physical item to bring home with them, whether it be an album or a t-shirt or a rose or a signed flyer, it gives them something to remember the show more.  The whole rose theme … you know roses are a symbol of love … and [in] our music Kris writes about a lot of past love relationships and past experiences that he’s had so that’s where that comes from.

I just figured that given that a lot of the themes in the music have to do with the more painful sides of love that leaving the thorns on might be more appropriate.

Billy:  Yeah [laughs], I get your point.

Given that the album that was just released is many years in the making and a year in the can, have you guys been working on new material and when do you expect to get that out?

Billy:  Well, we do have a lot of new material.  We have years and years of material.  And we have a lot of new stuff that we’re working on currently.  It’s basically whenever we get the green light from the label that’s when we’re going to start recording.  We’re definitely prepared for the next album.

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