It Dies Today Interview

It Dies Today, fresh off a successful run on this summer's Ozzfest, have become one of the shining stars of the metal-core scene. Offering a blend of brutal riffs and driving melodies, the band will embark on their third national headlining tour in November.

It's early evening and the light is falling fast. I begin what is to be a loose and easy interview with two members of the band It Dies Today -- guitarist Chris Cappelli and bassist Steve Lemke. We're seated on the tailgate of my truck (a location I picked), parked in the lot behind a very dilapidated and spooky looking, two-story house in Downtown Los Angeles. This is the location where the band will be shooting a video. As we talk the film crew and workers build the set the set where this Bludgeoning band from Buffalo will soon get immortalized onto film, even if It Dies Today hahaha! D'ya get it? I'd be the first to admit that this house would have scared the hell out of me as a kid, and it's only for reasons like noise, too many crew members and lack of space in the house that I chose the parking lot for the interview. Honest. It had nothing to do with ghosts, wandering spirits or any nonsense like that. I figured you know, that we'd get some air oxygen for our discussion, if you will. This dwelling of doom appears to have been vacant for quite some time, but on this Autumn night it is being used, quite appropriately, as the setting for the new It Dies Today video: the once very popular, now classic Depeche Mode song "Enjoy the Silence", that the band tastefully laid down for the Masters of Horror soundtrack.

The sizzling soundtrack of Masters of Horror is a 2 CD set of brand new and previously unreleased material from 30 top metal, hard-core, punk and rock acts, including Mudvayne, Buckethead featuring Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Thursday, Shadows Fall, Mastodon, In Flames, Alkaline Trio, Avenged Sevenfold and many others. The 13-episode anthology directed by today's most renowned horror directors will debut October 28 on Showtime.

Horror movies are sooo metal.

The Gauntlet: Chris, you look familiar. Is this your first band?

Chris: Yeah, this is pretty much our first serious band. We were in bands when we were younger, but they never really went anywhere.

The Gauntlet: What have you guys done recently, as far as touring goes?

Chris: We did the Ozzfest tour on Second Stage.

The Gauntlet: The San Bernardino Ozzfest show was great. It was hot and it was dusty. It was like one continuous duststorm being stirred up by the crowd, the whole time. And, of course, the whole egging and Sharon outburst afterward.

Chris: I missed it.

Steve: I watched it (laughs)

Chris: That was like the one night I didn't watch Iron Maiden.

The Gauntlet: It was nuts.

Steve: It was pretty crazy.

The Gauntlet: This is your first band and The Caitiff Choir is your first recording, right?

Chris: This is the first band we've actually released anything on a record label and done any touring with.

The Gauntlet: On the Masters of Horror soundtrack, which is a two-disc album, It Dies Today is sharing the tracks with bands like Mudvayne, Shadows Fall there are some pretty heavy bands on it. How do you guys feel to be in there with the heavyweights?

Chris: It's awesome.

Steve: It's awesome to work for stuff and actually see things happen finally so we're real stoked about it.

Chris: We heard about this [Masters of Horror] a few months ago. We're all into horror movies and stuff, too, so it was kind of cool to be part of it.

The Gauntlet: Who is the real horror film freak? Is that you, Steve?

Steve: Yeah. I like old, cheesy, horror films.

The Gauntlet: Like, from what era?

Steve: Not so much old, just really cheesy.

The Gauntlet: Evil Dead?

Steve: Yeah, Evil Dead is awesome.

Chris: I love the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The Gauntlet: Did you guys see House of 1000 Corpses?

Chris: I liked Devil's Rejects a lot better. House of 1000 Corpses wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as Devil's Rejects.

Steve: Devil's Rejects was a lot better.

The Gauntlet: Right now are you guys recording?

Steve: We have about a week off right now and then we go out for another two months supporting Every Time I Die and then Fear Factory. Then we'll headline in November.

The Gauntlet: In terms of metal bands: who do you like?

Chris: I don't play too much metal anymore, just because being around it all the time you want to hear something else when you're off the stage something a little more relaxing. When you play with metal bands everyday for the last year and a half straight. I'm still into it I just won't listen to it as much.

Steve: I'm listening to the new Darkest Hour and the new Soilwork.

The Gauntlet: Steve, in terms of bassists, who inspired you to pick up the bass?

Steve: We ended up losing a member and I switched from guitar to bass -so I only started playing bass about a year and-a-half ago.

The Gauntlet: You don't get to be a glory hog as much when you're playing the four-stringer, huh?

Steve: I got a bigger thing to sling around (laughs).

The Gauntlet: How long are you guys going to be on this video shoot? Just tonight?

Chris: Yeah, just tonight. Then we'll fly back home.

Steve: We're going to be here for a couple hours, just rockin.'

The Gauntlet: The Depeche Mode song [Enjoy the Silence]? I heard it, man. I love it.

Chris and Steve: Thank you.

The Gauntlet: It was dark and down when I heard it in 1985, but the way you added that edge to it kicks ass. Who picked it?

Chris: Nick, our singer, actually suggested it. We were originally going to cover Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone"

(laughs)

The Gauntlet: Well, I can't see that, but I wouldn't have expected Depeche Mode, either.

Steve: We're all super stoked on how it came out.

The Gauntlet: So that is what you're going to be synching to on this video shoot?

Steve: Yep.

The Gauntlet: Good. Any cameos, anything happening on the video?

Chris: I think they ordered like two-hundred, or is it two-thousand super models that are going to come here tonight?

Steve: (laughs)

The Gauntlet: Two-thousand. That's not really enough, but it's a good start.

Chris; The budget wasn't as big as we wanted it to be. We were shooting to get, like I don't know at least ten to fifteen thousand girls, but two thousand's not bad.

The Gauntlet: Hey, just think of all the girls you'll get on the back-end after this video's been shot. They'll say "Oooo, those guys in It Dies Today, yeah ", when you play House of Blues in Hollywood or wherever, they'll just be throwing their bras at you up on the stage.

Yeah! (laughs)

The Gauntlet: Is anyone in the band married? Are you family men?

Steve: Yeah, I have a girlfriend, but everyone else doesn't.

Chris: The rest of us are pretty much single. We're all young early twenties.

The Gauntlet: Early twenties? I feel so fuckin' old.

(laughs)

The Gauntlet: This is cool. So where is your hometown?

Chris: Buffalo, New York.

Steve: Go Bills!

The Gauntlet: Yeah, go Bills. My favorite team-- I swear to God and I'm from Los Angeles. Well I don't know what the proper saying would be for your video shoot break a leg, or don't fuck up (laughs). Do you want to say something to the President?

Chris: censored

Steve: censored

The Gauntlet: censored



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Tags:  It Dies Today  , Christopher Cappelli and Steve Lemke, interviews

Charlie Steffens    October 03, 2005