interview
By antiGUY

RNW: The albums only been out a few weeks but debuted in the top 100 and is selling really well, MTV is all over the video for Bodies. 

C.J.: they are, it’s awesome. 

Stevie: Yeah MTV is giving us a lot of love I didn’t expect that. 

C.J.: Definitely not. 

Stevie: We’ve gotten a lot of radio support, it’s just been awesome, like you said we debuted in the Top 100, we are at #59 right now [at the time of this interview. Since then they have gone on to break the Top 20 and the album has gone Gold] so things are looking really good. 
 

RNW:I heard that you guys got some pressure to go Gold from Dimebag? 

Stevie: Hahahaha.  Yeah. 

C.J.: You weren’t there. 

Stevie: No I wasn’t. 

C.J.: Actaully Dave and I, Dave our singer and I were at Dimebag’s house New Years Eve, we did a show with him and his side project band called Gasoline and we winded up going over to his house that night and getting totally trashed. He just happened to have a big stack of their gold records, their latest album Reinventing the Steel, they were sitting there, I guess he was going to give out that Gold record for Christmas or whatever to his friends and family. Before we left his house the next day, we were still totally hammered, he pulled one out and gave it to us. We were like “Man we can’t take this” and he was like “Take it and give me one back next year of yours.” That was kind of cool for him to have that kind of faith in us. 

Stevie: That kind of love.

RNW:  If anything you guys stand out from the pack. No one could accuse you of being a limp bizkit or alice in chains rip off. 

Stevie: Thank You! 

RNW… or all the other bands out there.  When you guys formed how did you decide on what musical direction to take? 

Stevie: I think the big advantage is that all of us we have a lot of influences. I think you put enough stuff in a gumbo pot and mix it up man..

C.J.: Yeah it comes out all your own.

Stevie: I think that’s the best advise to give to any musicians is try to be influenced by a lot of bands. 

C.J.: Yeah if you only have one or two you end up sounding just like them.

Stevie: We were just so into the heavy bands like Pantera, Sevendust and stuff like that but also at the same time we were so into Motley Crue and Ratt and bands like that it just kind of fell together for us, somewhere between the two.

C.J.: And there is a lot of cool stuff you know Korn and Limp Bizkit, there is a lot of cool stuff that they have done that influenced me also but you know, you put all of that together you get something new hopefully. 

RNW: How was the experience of working with Jay Bumgardner

Stevie: It was a wonderful experience, I feel like a better musician coming out of that studio. 

C.J.: Yeah we just kind used to play all over each other and Jay showed us how to play more to the song I guess. 

Stevie: Yeah learned to play for the songs instead of the individual musicians and I think that made the songs tighter. They way we have it now is pretty much the way we began but we really tightened up on it. …. There are some hot chics in Southern California… 

Laughs

C.J.: I’m telling you man, Christ! 

RNW: Yup we are lucky! I thought about moving away but those California girls kept me here. 

Laughs

RNW: Not to change the subject but I read somewhere that the song and album title “Sinner” came from a knee-jerk reaction to zealous born again Christians preaching to you? 

Stevie: We’re pretty much very anti-religious establishment. As far back as I can remember I have been that way. Always, even as I child I was disgusted by the whole thing, you know. Dave our lead singer felt a lot of the same way, we came from a small Texas town where church on Wednesday and Sunday is what everyone in the town fricken lives for. It’s all you hear so it was that like Blauuugggghhhh [makes a vomiting sound] Can you spell that? 

C.J.: That’s two of the guys in the band, me myself I have a different view on it. I went to Catholic school my whole life and played in some Christian metal bands and then for some reason switched over to playing in death metal bands, I don’t know what it was that clicked. I’m not anti-organized religion but I don’t think that I am going to go to hell for having a good time drinking and playing rock music. I don’t think I’m going to hell for listening to Motley Crue, I’m just listening to them having a good time. 

Stevie: Yeah the hypocrisy is really the main issue. I can tell you a funny story. Yesterday at the Ozzfest there was this big hill and there were a bunch of religious protesters and Dave was out there yelling s*** trying to rile them up and finally he got one of them to flip him off. 

Laughs

Stevie: that was damn funny.

C.J.: Yeah that was cool. 
 

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