SuburbanHorror: So you're out with Dragonforce & Killswitch Engage on a tour sponsered by No Fear right?
Matt DeVries: That's right.

SH: How did you guys wind up on this tour?
MD: Basically we've been friends with Killswitch for many years, you know we've toured with them for a long time, and what's cool about that band is they're blowing up, they're fantastic! So we're filling great big rooms and what not, then they originally approached us to see if we wanted to tour because they knew our record had just come out and it just so happened to be sponsored by No Fear, which is a great backer ya know? They're really doing a fantastic job with promoting everything and pushing everything so it was a no brainer ya know? To tour with our friends? Sold out shows? Big venues? We jumped on it right away. It's cool.

SH: So let's start with your new record. You guys just released "Resurrection".
MD: Yup, correct.

SH: Why "Resurrection"?
MD: Honestly it's because now we feel like have a rejuvenation in the band, almost a rebirth, getting Andols Herrick back playing drums, trying a new label, trying a new producer, kind of a new outlook on things. I mean when we wrote the record we didn't have a label so we didn't have to worry about members or impressing anyone, unlike our last record, we just kind of went with it and had fun ya know? When you first start a band you're just jamming with friends and not even worrying about how much money you're going to make, or how many records you're going to sell. You're just having a blast doing it, it's just kind of a rebirth of the way it used to be and if people don't like it, fuck um type attitude ya know? So we figured that title was perfect for the record in general, and pretty much that period of our life.

SH: Did you guys feel the need to go out and find a new producer? It seems as though every bands is using the same 5 or 6 producers now.
MD: True, true, no we really didn't. Mark was just really impressed with Jason Succov, working with him on the Roadrunner United DVD, and he likes a lot of what he pulled out of him vocally, and we were impressed with his other productions as well, so we tried him out, and demo tracked with him and we just love the laid back atmosphere at the studio. Personally I hate recording, I think it's tedious, I'd rather be on stage jamming, but I enjoyed it for once, it was cool, we just kinda lucked out. Basically we were just looking for something new, you know, let's look at every angle, try a different angle.

SH: Are you a band who writes your record in studio, or do you write it in bedrooms, on porches, in tour busses etc?
MD: No, with the exception of one or two riffs we've never written anything on the road. Just because with 11 or 12 guys on a bus, there's so many distractions and it's kinda hard so we write a lot at home. Whether it's in our bedroom, recording with pro tools or just a shitty little microphone recorder or if it's with everyone, and just saying "Hey here's a riff" or saying "Here's a full song" to the guys at the rehearsal studio. We've always been that kind of band.

SH: With all the drama involving the RIAA and music piracy, did your guys record leak?
MD: It did, and it was unfortunate, but we always expect it to leak. I mean it happens with every record, usually a month before the record comes out, what sucks is that ours leaked about 3 months before the record came out. I mean it's kind of a bummer, but it's expected now a days, it's expected to the point where even labels are like "Well that sucks but what are you gonna do?" When it does come out there's going to be people downloading it anyway, so it's kind of just something you can't really stress yourself out over.

SH: Were you offended or feeling cheated at all? I know bands put so much into their records, would you rather have someone who's never heard you download the record just to check you out, or have them flat out buy it and run the risk of hating it?
MD: I'd rather have them flat out buy it to be honest. Even if you're buying it on iTunes for your iPod, $10 for a record is not bad at all, I buy cds just because I like having the package (Matt if you read this, you totally said 'I like having the package'), especially if it's a band I'm friends with, you know, to support them. At the same time I'm guilty of maybe ripping a cd off of someone else's iPod onto mine, so it's kind of one of those things where I can't be a hypocrite and say "Fuck that, don't do that", because to an extent...I am. I'd rather it not be like that but it is.

SH: How do you feel about the records that have the "copywrite protection" where you can't burn it onto your computer or iPod and can only burn 3 copies?
MD: I hate that. (laughs) I mean I guess it's good in the long run, but I love my iPod! Ever since iPod came out, especially being on the road, you don't carry around 300 cds in this huge case. I have my iPod, so yeah I hate that.

SH: You were talking about the package, you like having a cd because of the inserts and artwork and what not and you guys also released a special edition of "Resurrection" right? What made you guys put out both a special edition and a regular cd?
MD: I don't know if it was our idea initially or the labels but we had the idea of it coming with a DVD, film us during the recording process and some debauchery and stupidity just like on the other cd and DVD, and our videos included, but I'm not sure who decided to make it a limited. What's cool about it is it's only $3 more than the regular cd, so I don't know why anyone would buy the regular cd at this point, it's just the cd, but I guess to save a couple extra bucks if you don't want the DVD. I'm not sure who came up with the idea though.

SH: The single you're pushing is the title track "Resurrection" and the song had to be censored before it could be released. (They took "God damn" out of it.)
MD: Yeah, certain sites, and certain channels, that always happens.

SH: Does that bother you?
MD: Oh definitely! I think it's ridiculous almost to see certain things get edited and certain things that don't. I can't believe it. There's a scene in the "Nothing Remains" video for our live cd where at the end someone gets stabbed and blood goes everywhere, MTV cut out all the blood, and it was fake blood....that went all over a piece of paper....not real blood that went all over someone's body. If you turn on any channel and 8:00 at night you'll see bloody murders, on the news you see way worse, I don't understand it, I wish it wasn't there. When we think of doing a video we think of what we shouldn't do so maybe they WILL play it, and to get it edited beyond that is kind of a kick in the ass. It sucks.

SH: Do you feel like you kind of have to hold yourself back at times, in respect to your artistic vision??
MD: For a video, yes, I think you can in the long run. Like I said, you kind of look at it like "Ok, who's going to play this?" but with the music, no. We could give a fuck less about that type of thing. You can make a video that's just the most brutal fucking thing, showing whatever you want and it's going to end up on your web page and that's about it. Which kind of sucks because you put so much money and effort into something it's unfortunate.

SH: At least with metal fans they tend to go the extra mile to find things like that.
MD: You're right, our fans especially, that's a good thing.

SH: Do you guys ever listen to the radio at all?
MD: Personally no, Andy's always listening to Serious, and that's pretty much it. At home back in Cleveland we have a Sunday night metal show, so I'll listen to that if I'm out driving, but other than that I listen to cds or iPod.

SH: I hear you guys are really big horror movie fans?
MD: Big time.

SH: How do you guys feel about this non-stop barrage of shitty horror movies coming out.
MD: I think it's unacceptable. I'm a huge Clive Barker fan, I love Hellraiser, I just got a new Pinhead tat on my shoulder, and I've got the puzzle box on my back and the Chaos symbol, so I'm like a big freak about those movies. I hear he's doing a remake and I'm kind "uggghh" the first one was so perfect, but at least he's hands on with it so...I think honestly as far as the new horror movies go, the only thing I'm really a fan of is Saw.

SH: Saw is fuckin awesome!
MD: I think they did a fantastic job on all three of them! It's a movie I can watch and still be like "Aww Jesus!" I love shit like that!

SH: I'm wondering how they're going to continue that (WARNING! SAW 3 SPOILER AHEAD!) with Jigsaw AND the girl being dead?
MD: No idea, I just hope they don't continue it too far, like some other movies have and ruin it by going to part 10 and going straight to DVD.

SH: Like Hellraiser?
MD: Yeah like Hellraiser, 5 & 6? There may even be a seven out there now who knows?

SH: There's actually 8, there's one where he's on the Internet.
MD: Shut the fuck up. (laughs)

SH: Seriously man he gets on the Internet. The evil of the box has made it's way to Myspace.
MD: (laughs) Oh shit. I hate 3 ya know? One and two I stopped at. Actually, I enjoyed 4.

SH: Three was my favorite.
MD: The cd Cenobite?! I mean, I just couldn't get passed it. Come on.

SH: Seriously! The scene in the church alone! He stands at an alter, takes fuckin nails out of his head, crucifies himself and says "I am the way"?!?! That's the shit! Some of the most blasphemes shit ever!
MD: That's bad ass, you're right, we actually sampled that for an old cassette demo in my old band years ago.

SH: Well let me ask you this, being in a metal band AND being a horror fan, how do you feel about Rob Zombie and his Halloween remake/prequel?
MD: I'm worried, I don't know. It's hard to say. House Of 1000 Corpses I wasn't a huge fan of, Devil's Rejects I thought was fantastic! Love that movie, every part of it. The soundtrack, every part of it was awesome! So he has potential, but at the same time who wants to remake such a fucking classic?! I mean if you're gonna top that movie? I dunno. I'm worried.

SH: You know about the Friday The 13th & Nightmare On Elm Street prequels? Or how about the Escape From New York remake? The dude from 300 is playing Kurt Russel.
MD: No shit?! Our singer reads up on all that, he keeps me posted, I just watch the movies, I don't really read up on them too much but that's awesome. I mean it's cool, prequels are awesome, but I don't know. We'll see. I actually saw and enjoyed the first, haven't seen the second newer version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I like that one.

SH: Oh yeah, the prequel, really delivers on the gore, but the story like kinda fucks it all. I mean basically the whole chainsaw massacre was made out to be because the chainsaw was the nearest thing to Leatherface when he snapped.
MD: I'll still rent it and check it out.

SH: Gore alone is worth it. So when you guys aren't watching movies how do you kill time?
MD: Mainly we watch movies, but we play video games, a couple of the guys in the band work out.....fuck, drink? I dunno. Sometimes it can be boring but we can go to sleep....or practice. (laughs)

SH: You guys into the Guitar Hero craze?
MD: Oh yeah! I actually just got it right before this tour, we haven't busted it out in a while, I don't know why but we've had some late night parties on that thing, fuckin fun.

SH: You know about the Guitar Hero 80's Edition coming out in June?
MD: Shuuuut the fuck up! I'll buy that one!

SH: Cool man well that's about it for me.
MD: Ok, that's cool man, I appreciate it.

SH: Have a good show and a great tour.
MD: Awesome man, thanks a lot!

-Boss Anjo