SILENT CIVILIAN Interview

The Gauntlet: What's going on.

Jonny: Not much man. Just been busting it on the road. Touring and touring and I don't see it stopping. We are in LA right now for two shows.

The Gauntlet: Is it nice to sleep in your own bed when you come home?

Jonny: Yeah, I got very little sleep though. We got in from Phoenix at 6am. I got to sleep in my bed for about an hour. It was worth it. It was very nice to be able to sleep in my bed.

The Gauntlet: This tour with Bleed the Sky is ending in a couple days, what's next?

Jonny: We will be going out with Ill Nino, God Forbid, Eyes of Fire, and Bleed the Sky again. I've known the Ill Nino guys for a long time. When I was in Spineshank we took them out on their first US tour. I think there is a certain friendship that we have developed over the years. It is in a way not just being cool, but also returning the favor. It's just kind of how it works. It's all about knowing people. After the Ill Nino, we have some Static-x dates. I am still really good friends with Wayne and I called him up before we left with Nothingface. It is a really helpful tool to have friends like that to get us out in front of sizeable crowds. I want to get on as many big tours as we can right now. I want this band to be a headliner. Spineshank was never a headliner, that's one thing we weren't. We only did three headline tours as Spineshank. I am already planning two headline tours for Silent Civilian, one at the end of this summer, and another in the Winter. I really want to solidify this band as a headliner.

The Gauntlet: What are the plans for the album overseas?

Jonny: We haven't licensed the album overseas yet. The label and management really want to wait for the record to come out here so we have more to negotiate with overseas. Europe and Australia are both pretty big markets overseas. Spineshank did considerably better overseas than in America.

The Gauntlet: "Rebirth of the Temple" is out May 2, 2006. How has response been so far?

Jonny: It has been really, really good. A lot of great reviews have been coming out. I did a interview with Indie 103.1 today and the DJ was from a radio station that was the first station to play Spineshank. One of the biggest things I hear from people is it's not what they expected from me. To be completely honest, I think there were a lot of low expectations of me. It's kind of cool to be the underdog though. People aren't expecting a lot. A lot of people wondered why I would leave a Grammy nominated band that had radio success, FUSE and MTV success, etc. But this makes me happy. I think me fans out there will really see that. They see through the bullshit. Then there are some people saying I am trying to gain more credibility in metal. I have been a metal head since I was nine years old! Some bands are influenced by Metallica songs, we are influenced by Death Angel songs. It's not like I just fell out of the sky, this is what I want to do.

The Gauntlet: The guitar solos and riffs, drums and vocals on the album are amazing, they really stand out.

Jonny: You don't hear solos anymore. Some bands through in maybe 3 seconds of solos. I wanted like a minute and a half. I am not saying from the listeners point of view, but from my point of view I wanted to make an epic record, something timeless. I wanted something that if this is the last record I were to ever make, I'd be fine with that. Everyday I live to get up on stage and play and see people who haven't heard the band get so excited. That's a really good feeling. It makes everything worth it more for me and I appreciate it more than I did in the past. I work a lot harder than I used to. Before I used to have the freedom to run around the stage. Being a frontman with a guitar strapped to you is not as easy as people think. Guys like James Hetfield and Tom Arraya have to be more of a persona. It is a hard thing. It has been challenging, but I'm not afraid.

The Gauntlet: The songs on the album are quite lengthy. Most songs average 5 � minutes with some over 7 minutes in length and there is no filler.

Jonny: I was given complete and total creative control on this record. It kills us with radio. That was a problem Spineshank always had. We always needed 30 secs before we hit the hook and the songs had to be 3:30 long. I wanted to fit so much. I was told to cut some riffs, but I didn't want to cut the riffs, I didn't want to cut the guitar solos. "�And Justice For All" has great songs that are 9 mins. It is the longest metal record. If the album took off and radio wanted to play some radio edits, I guess they could, but I'd be against it. That is not what this band is about. We aren't about compromising the integrity and creativity of this band for Total Request Live. It is not in me.

The Gauntlet: What guitarist do you like?

Jonny: My biggest guitar hero is Slash. You can hear the difference in my solos and his solos. You can tell the difference in my solos and his solos. My solos are more waaaa pentatonic oriented. Kirk Hammett, Randy Rhoads and Slash are my heroes. I think there is a good mixture of old thrash metal with modern twists to it. There are a lot of metalcore bands out there and that's fine, there is a scene for that. Other than the greats like Testament, Kreator, and Megadeth, there really aren't any new bands carrying the thrash flag. To me thrash is metal riffs over punk beats. Nobody is really doing that. Another favorite band of mine is Sacred Reich. I listened to a lot of that stuff when making this record. I pulled out all the Death Angel records. We even covered a Death Angel song. A lot of people don't even know Death Angel. To me they were one of the greatest thrash bands of all time. They were a different type of thrash band. I am really proud to fly that thrash flag. I think the next record will be more thrash.

The Gauntlet: In January you hit the road for a tour with four people. A few weeks ago, you were down to two.

Jonny: Some people made some really poor decisions. This life is right for some people and not for others. Out here you can't be selfish. You are not going to make money right away. You are going to suffer, sacrifice and bleed if you want to pay your rent on time. This is something you do because you love to do it. Our theory is if you don't want to be here, kick rocks and go. Chris and I are basically where we started. We got two great guys now. Marcus Rafferty is am amazing guitar player, great heart and great soul. We also got Stanley Derby from Florida. He is a childhood friend of Marcus. I want to throw a shout out to bleed the sky for keeping the band on the road.


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Tags:  Silent Civilian  , Jonny Santos, interviews

Jason Fisher    April 29, 2006