It Dies Today Interview

Summoning an impressive display of power and melody on their pummeling Trustkill Records release "The Caitiff Choir", It Dies Today are an even more deadly weapon live in concert. It's no wonder that IDT are a part of the most massive concert tour of the summer, Ozzfest 2005. Erin Fox chats with vocalist Nicholas Brooks about their touring adventures and gains insight as to the direction of this raucous band's next effort.



The Gauntlet: The opening riff of "I Promise on The Caitiff Choir as well as the verse riff bears a strong resemblance to Pantera. In what way do traditional American metal bands influence the music of It Dies Today?

Nicholas Brooks: Well, we grew listening to bands like Pantera, Metallica, and Testament. So, we definitely try to draw inspiration from bands like that without wearing it on our sleeves too much.


The Gauntlet: Even more often, a distinctly European style is imparted in your melodies. Where does this sound come from?

Nicholas Brooks: It pretty much comes from Gothenburg or as we like to call it Stalingrad style. No but seriously we've always looked up to the Euro bands. Swedish ones in particular whereas I'm more partial to a lot of the black metal from Norway. Long live Count Grisnackh!!!


The Gauntlet: The chorus to "Severed Ties Yield Severed Heads" is very tuneful. Do you find that your metal influences limit the degree of acceptance that you would otherwise enjoy from those music fans that might be drawn to the more accessible side of the group?

Nicholas Brooks: No, to be honest we write what we like; we try not to worry about what we think metal fans think or if our fans are going to accept something. It's all heavy music to us and that's the way it will always be we try not to limit ourselves with labels or any one particular style.


The Gauntlet: When I saw you play with God Forbid and Caliban in Detroit, the band seemed much more raw and in-your-face than you come across on record, where your sound is sleeker and more polished. Do you feel that The Caitiff Choir is a good representation of what the group sounds like in a live setting?

Nicholas Brooks: No, I think you get so much more out of seeing us live. Number one we're way more brutal and two you get the visual of us going completely out of our minds. So I think everyone can get a lot more out of our live show than just listening to our record.


The Gauntlet: Did you feel that the tour went well overall? Speaking of that recent tour, what was it like for you to perform after Caliban, who has such an enormous following in Europe?

Nicholas Brooks: The tour was all right, some of the worst things that have ever happened to us happened on that tour so some might call it a disaster. Considering everything we owned was stolen and we ended up missing several shows. But I think that we really held it together and showed the strength of our band by busting our asses and jumping back on the tour. We actually flip flopped with Caliban and it pretty much went the same either slot we played I think our fans and their fans are basically the same people.


The Gauntlet: Please articulate for our readers the types of emotions that are behind a song like "A Threnody For Modern Romance". That track contains one of your catchiest melodies. When the band performs live, you have a lot of fans that sing right along with the group. Are parts such as the acapella breakdown before the lead out designed to get the crowd singing along with the band?

Nicholas Brooks: That's what we were hoping for when we wrote the song, we love having fun with the crowd and I think that part definitely a good time. The emotions behind that song are just based on my thinking that romance and chivalry are dead in today's society. Most people are content with being scumbags and to me its far more depressing sleeping with whomever rather than finding someone you truly care for. Also that song is sort of a retort to some personal things going on at the time I wrote it basically telling someone it was their last chance.


The Gauntlet: How do you determine what type of vocal style he will utilize during specific parts of a song? Does the band decide that a certain track is going to be heavier than another before the vocals are put to the music? Do you tend to say, "Here, we're going to hold back a bit" or "During this song we're going to really let it loose"?

Nicholas Brooks: Mike and I generally get together and write the melodies we never said hey lets make this a radio song or something. But at the same time if we're going to write a melody our aim is to make that melody stick in your head for days.


The Gauntlet: The Caitiff Choir has been out for a while now. How would you gage the response to the record? Do you feel that this record still has legs or are you more focused on the next studio project?

Nicholas Brooks: The response thus far has exceeded our expectations for sure, we honestly had no idea how it would go over with people. We're still pretty focused on this record we have a few more tours lined up for the fall then next winter I think we're going to begin writing and recording.


The Gauntlet: What type of direction can fans expect the next album to take? Are there any specific changes that you have in store for the next record?

Nicholas Brooks: We've talked about where we want to go with it and our fans can expect a much darker, layered and heavier sound while still maintaining our "signature sound". We've also been talking about incorporating more electronic parts on the next record. I really want everything to be more epic sounding while still being catchy.


The Gauntlet: What types of things have you learned while on tour that you feel might have an effect on your forthcoming music?

Nicholas Brooks: We've learned what goes over well in a live setting and what doesn't. I think that will effect how we write a lot more now.


The Gauntlet: What has been the most difficult obstacle that you have managed to overcome in the past year? Why do you feel that you were able to successfully overcome this opportunity?

Nicholas Brooks: As I said before the van and trailer being stolen with everything else we own inside of it was the worst thing that's ever happened to us. We overcame it because we're fucking metal warriors and we're not going to run home and cry cause of something like that and I think people need to realize that you can't make us go away so better luck next time fools.


The Gauntlet: Looking back on your career as an artist, what is the one thing that you would go back and change if it were possible?

Nicholas Brooks: I wouldn't really change anything because who knows if we would be where we are if anything was different. However I would like to have had a little more time to write the record because I think we could've written an even better record.


The Gauntlet: What changes do you see on the horizon for hard music in general and how do you think these changes will affect It Dies Today?

Nicholas Brooks: It's just going to keep getting bigger and better and hopefully we won't get chewed up and spit out I can only hope we have lasting power you know? But yeah, we'll be here for a while I think.


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Tags:  It Dies Today  , Nicholas Brooks, interviews

EF    July 28, 2005