Digital Diversion

I sat down with with Taking Dawn front man, Chris Babbit, backstage at the Warfield in San Francisco before the first night of their tour in support of rock legend, Slash. Only months past the release of their Roadrunner debut, Time to Burn, Chris comes across as amped for the show, but not nervous, despite lamenting about their lack of sufficient rehearsal time.

With Slash’s sound-check echoing through the back-stage halls, I hit the record button as Chris unleashed his unrepentant and irreverent views on musical influences, touring and pretty much anything else that came to mind.  Watching Chris doodle away with his guitar while talking, it was clear that this guy possesses more energy than your average human.  Originally intending to type this interview up, after listening to it I decided that without the full, unedited audio in all its glory, you will not be able to truly appreciate the whirlwind that is Chris Babbit.

Check out the interview here:

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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.

Calabrese, the self-appointed “World’s Greatest Horror Rock Band” recently put out their third full-length release, They Call Us Death – Calabrese III.  Full of death, depravity and big sing-along choruses, They Call Us Death is sure to please fans both old and new with a notably heavier, punk edge.  Rather than write a full review of an album that you can (and should) buy, I fired off a bunch of questions to the brothers.  See what Jimmy and Bobby have to say about the making of They Call Us Death …

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A self-described “dark rock” band out of Los Angeles, Dommin combines the deep, soulful vocals and textures of Type O Negative mixed with the pop sensibility of Depeche Mode. I first crossed paths with Dommin last summer while they were opening on Lacuna Coil’s headlining tour of the U.S. Since then they have toured the U.S. with the 69 Eyes, criss-crossed Europe supporting Lacuna Coil and H.I.M., and are now back in the U.S. with H.I.M.  I had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with bass player Billy James before their performance in San Francisco to discuss their rise to super-stardom which, based upon the audience reaction to their set, is imminent.

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Phoenix-based metal band passed through San Francisco supporting Sevendust on their nation-wide tour. With the sounds of Drowning Pool pumping through the floor boards, I crammed into Drowning Pool’s empty dressing room with brothers and founding band members, Kyle and Ian Winterstein, for a great talk about Digital Summer, stories from the road and what it takes to make it these days in the music business. Not surprisingly you will hear C.J. Pierce (Drowning Pool guitar) bust into the room in the middle of the interview … thankfully he was kind enough to let us continue.

Click the play button to listen:

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© 2010 www.digitaldiversion.net

We’re not your average metal band.   We’re just a bunch of regular guys that play metal in a metal band.  We love doing it so we want to share that with the people that come. – Chris Clancy

In anticipation of their eponymous release on Roadrunner Records (out February 23), Mutiny Within are joining Exodus and headliners Arch Enemy on their nationwide tour. I had the opportunity to sit down with the band in San Francisco on the second-to-last stop on their tour.  Bass player and only original member, ‘AJ’ Jacobs, tells me that he’s always wanted to be in a band.  But whatever book is out there on how to accomplish that landed is his trash bin a long time ago.  Laser-focused on their goals, Mutiny Within is one of those bands that doesn’t do things the way other bands may do them and that’s just fine with them.

When it came time to find a singer, AJ took to YouTube searches where he locate singer Chris Clancy who happened to be located in the UK.  Ever the salesman, Jacobs convinced Clancy to drop everything and relocate to New Jersey in advance of having a record deal.  While a huge risk for everyone involve, they can now look back and joke that they did it before Journey famously found current singer Arnel Pineda online.  Joined by AJ’s brother Brandon on guitar, Drew Stavola on keyboards, Bill Fore on Drums and Dan Bage on guitar, the group proved to be both potent and prolific in their songwriting.  Drawing on influences including Finish metal band Children of Bodom, progressive rockers Dream Theater, Metallica and everything in between, the group spun some 50 tunes out of their writing sessions.

Securing a record deal, the band whittled those 50 songs down to 20 and headed into the studio where they approached the recording process with a critical eye that makes for a diverse and easy listen.  AJ says of the selection of songs on the record, “they were songs that had the biggest parts of feeling really, or the biggest, most impressive parts.”  While all technically proficient musicians, the band was careful to focus on the song.  Chris says of the recording process, ”after we’d recorded the initial demo we’d all sit there and press play and then the moment someone lost interest, then something had to change. So we’d go back in and think, ‘why did you lose interest at that point?’  If you’re working on a song and it’s not the best it can be, then you have to admit it and change it and do it right away.  That’s something that we had to learn to do.”  AJ adds, “it’s not about trying to impress all the time.  It’s not about that, it’s about certain people shining in certain parts and it’s about songs.”

The resulting effort blends highly technical riffage and double bass drum blasts with electronic ambiance of the keyboards, singer Clancy’s melodic vocals and solid harmonies.  But it doesn’t end there … time signature changes launch songs like the album (and show) opener Awake into blasts of furious thrash and Chris demonstrates his vocal range by breaking into a guttural roar on Lethean that will please the blackest of metal fans.  The music has a maturity that you would never guess upon first listen to be a first release;  it’s tailor-made for a big stage and a big crowd.

With the recording complete, the band’s first national tour came last fall when they hit the road with Cattle Decapitation, Prong and Soulfy.  In getting ready for their first tour Chris explains, “the more you practice the easier it gets, and the easier it gets, the less time you have to dedicate to thinking ‘I’m playing this or I’m singing this.’”  ”We’d all watch DVD’s of all our favorite bands and we’d always watch what to do and what not to do,” adds Bill.  Aside from learning from the best, Mutiny Within brings to their live performances that same introspection that they brought to recording process.  ”We tape every show and watch it afterwards.  That’s a huge thing.  I think probably most bands don’t do that.  We have a video guy on tour with us filming every show for us since that first Soulfly show.  He’s filmed every show until now and he will continue to.  We watch nightly and we analyze it,” explains AJ.  With regards to his role as frontman, Chris goes as far as watching fan YouTube videos to observe crowd reactions so that he can fine-tune his performance.  Watching that night’s performance, it’s clear that their efforts are paying off, surely winning some new fans in the process.

These little dreams we have are starting to come true. – AJ Jacobs

The CD release is only the beginning of things for Mutiny Within who acknowledge that they have a lot of work to do to build a fan base.  Bill explains, “Nobody knows who we are, really, so we pride ourselves on putting on a good live show and being able to pull off what is actually on the record. Everything on the CD is real and we play it every night.”  Connecting personally with the fans is also an important to Mutiny Within.  ”We’ll chill with the fans and talk to them for a while and try to get to know them a little bit.  Probably most of the time we’re the only bands walking around talking to the fans.  At lot of bands just hang out back stage … I don’t think we ever have any intention of doing that,” explains AJ.

With the Arch Enemy tour wrapping up, Mutiny Within heads back East for their CD release party at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, New Jersey on February 23.  From there, the band heads out on another nation-wide tour in April and May, this time providing direct support for Sonata Arctica.  Beyond that, the band’s goal is to spend 2010 on the road.  ”By hopefully January 2011 we’ll have a real nice fan base following us around,” says AJ.  Having met these guys and seen how they have gotten where they are today, I am willing to bet that AJ will be happy come January 2011.