Jacknife Interview

The Gauntlet caught up with Jacknife in the middle of their national tour with It Dies Today, Bullet For My Valentine, and Still Remains in support of their debut album 'Moments of Reckoning' out now on Zero Sum Records.

The Gauntlet: Jacknife has a new album out titled 'Moments of Reckoning' on Zero-Sum Recordings. How has the touring been going in support of the new album?

Joe: It's been going pretty good. This is our first big tour that we have been on. We are touring with It Dies Today, Still Remains, and Bullet for My Valentine. It's been going really well and there actually are a lot of people that say they already bought the album and it's kind of cool as we are out of state and a lot of the kids already know the words not a lot of people, but a few people. It's really cool seeing people that we don't know singing along with us and coming up after the show saying 'hey I bought your album'

The Gauntlet: You are playing a lot of new venues you never have been to before, how has the crowd been receiving the band?

Joe: I have noticed a lot of kids being turned onto us as we do a lot of self promotion like through Jacknife.net. We spend a lot of time talking to a lot of kids this way from the US and outside the US who say they just got the album or are going to get the album. We are also playing for a lot of new faces.

The Gauntlet: With your current tour, you are playing predominantly for more hardcore fans and Jacknife is a straight up metal band.

Joe: It's a little more of a hardcore/metalcore tour with a lot of the heavier breakdowns, some more notey stuff with some singing and heavy vocals. It's cool because we aren't that at all. We are mostly a metal band with heavy vocals, heavy guitar, heavy drum parts, just straight up metal. We still fit in. There are still kids that just dig it and really get into it.

Yupps: It's one of the things that set us apart. I think every band on this tour really compliments each other. We go on first and do our thing and set the tone.

The Gauntlet: What do you think about playing for the near sold out crowds on this tour?

Joe: Were getting a great opportunity to play for a lot of new kids on this tour. The clubs are packed so whether they want to listen to us or not, they are going to.

The Gauntlet: Jacknife has been a band since 1999. You have released a couple of EP's in the past. Is 'Moments of Reckoning' all new material?

Joe: Everything that is on the new album is from the EP's, and then we did 6 new songs to put on the album. Two of the songs were from a EP before that. It's got a lot of old to new and you can watch us grow in this album. You hear those songs from 2 EP's ago, then the last and the new material. A lot of our older material we modernized for the album.

The Gauntlet: One of the songs you perform live on stage is 'Tears Fall Endless'. This is a personal song to you about the death of family members and grieving. Was there ever any hesitation in putting this song into the set list?

Joe: No, honestly, it sounds cheesy to say but we are up there expressing our emotions. There are times, people don't really notice as I'm so sweaty on stage, that I have been crying onstage. You play your music. For me it's painful. It touches me to have people listen to what I'm saying. That was a very personal song that had to do with my parents and losing somebody. People take the song the way they want. It can be taken as losing a boyfriend/girlfriend, a dog, a loved one. If you have ever loved someone. I never thought about not putting it in due to the emotions it brings. I keep it in for that for me anyway.

Yupps: Joe is a really heartfelt lyricist. For me, if you are going to be in a band, you have to really believe in what your vocalist is singing about. It's so essential. If you aren't into the lyrics or vocals you are basically there for just the money and fame.

Joe: We aren't here for the money that's for sure.

Yupps: yeah, exactly. There's none.

The Gauntlet: Jacknife put its' new album out through Zero-Sum Recordings. What led you to put your trust into a new label and be the only band on the label?

Joe: The president is Paul Bassman who manages Damageplan, Drowning Pool, and Walls of Jericho. He's a great great guy. We talked to him a lot before going with him. It's kinda weird that someone of his caliber took interest in us. He brought us to the table and wanted to start his label with us. We wanted to put out an album and play shows all over the country and he makes that happen for us. When we succeed, he succeeds. We have a really good relationship with him and talk to him daily. He is really interested in how we do every night. Not many bands and labels have that kind of relationship. They just get an email. But us being the first band on Zero-Sum we get all the attention. We are all just friends helping each other out.

The Gauntlet: Being a metal band from Texas, there are certain expectations that you guys must live up to. Do you feel any of these pressures?

Yupps: Coming from the same state as Pantera, there's a legacy pretty much. We are from the same home town that Pantera is from. I notice a lot as Dimebag was my favorite guitar player growing up. You really have to separate yourself and be as original as you can. And at the same time show your influences. Texas has a lot of metal in it and not a lot of national exposure. There are a lot of great ass bands in Texas that not a lot of people have heard of. Texas isn't like the New England hardcore scene with its exposure or the Bay Area thrash scene. It's really hard to make a name for yourself in Texas as there aren't a lot of bands coming out of Texas.

The Gauntlet: How did the Killith Fair Tour with Crisis and MOD compare to your current tour with It Dies Today and Bullet For My Valentine?

Joe: Two totally different tours. That tour got booked by Paul at our label Zero-Sum. He called us up and asked if we wanted to tour with MOD. I put my hand over the phone and said 'hey guys do you want to do this tour with MOD?' and Mike and Steve were like 'What!!! Billy Milano? Yeah!!! Dude!!' Stuff like that is awesome. Certain things get each of us excited. The MOD/ Crisis tour was very cool. Billy Milano is a great guy. He really took care of us. He liked us. His band, MOD, is old school, Crisis is just awesome with their own sound. Then we are just really heavy. After watching Crisis and MOD every night, I never got tired, even after 7 weeks. We drank with them every night. The guys in MOD were all great. We just went to whoever's hotel room and just drank. They would tell us you got to watch out for this, you got to do this. They were just big brothers telling us about everything from experience. Now with this tour, everyone is around the same age. These band are getting a lot more exposure. It Dies Today is all over MTV, selling lots of albums. We are all just really goofy, grab ass guys. The Bullet For Valentine are just ridiculously funny. They are from the UK with these crazy accents. We have a great time with everyone, just laughing and goofing off.

Yupps: Going back to the MOD thing, being able to tour with Billy Milano was a check mark on a personal goal of mine. He is just a really good guy that helped us out a lot. He saw the position we were at. He just really took care of us.

The Gauntlet: If you guys could put together an all star tour, who would be on it?

Yupps: Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Metallica, those three.

Joe: All That Remains, Himsa, Glass Casket. It's harder for me to say who influences me because I am a volcalist. I just write down how I feel. I write down poems. I have been in 2 bands before this as a bass player. I like the way certain people sing, their vocal styles or their lyrics. I don't write about what someone else feels. The other guys have certain guitarists and drummers they wear on their sleaves. For me Glass Casket is super heavy and I really like that. I also like a lot of other heavy stuff and also light guitar stuff. But I don't hold anyone up on a pedestal and say I want to sing like they sing or write like they do. What comes out just comes out. Some people might say I sound like a certain singer, but it doesn't bother me.

The Gauntlet: Do you prefer being on tour or in the studio?

Joe: For where we are at right now, I'd rather be on the road. We are new. Jacknife has been a band since '99 but this is our first album. Zero-Sum Recordings has gotten us into stores all over the US and Canada. We need to be out here building up a good following. We would like to be in the studio as we have a lot of new stuff to record. 'Moments of Reckoning' is half new stuff. We have a bunch of great ideas for the direction to take the next one. We want to define ourselves on the next one. With this album we fit into many genres from metal, metalcore to hardcore with our breakdowns and leads and chants. The next one we want to really define ourselves. I want to define this band with our next album.

Yupps: For me it's half and half. I like to be on the road. Like Joe was saying we are constantly evolving as a band. A lot of these songs are a few years old. Definitely we are looking forward to writing the new album. The music that we play we all love. We have been playing these songs for years. We are going in a more metal direction with the new stuff. I am looking forward to getting into the studio to lay down the new stuff.

The Gauntlet: You just shot the video for 'Glimpse of Hell', what was the concept of the video?

Joe: We had this great concept. None of us are actors. What we had got changed though. Stan shot the video and he wanted this modern day family. The video would be shown out of sequence but things just got too complicated. But this middle class guy murders people and stores there bodies in this shed where the band would be playing. That's the part that stuck in my mind. This world going on around this band playing in a beat down shed. Just us in a beat up shed, busted out windows, a torn down place. 'Glimpse of Hell' is one of my favorite songs. It describes us. It's fast and driving, really fast guitars, harmonies, fast guitars, heavy vocals, cool lyrics. It's got a little chant, that old school cool stuff. It's really driving. Hopefully somebody will pick it up and just play it. Even if it's just one time. That kind of exposure does wonders for bands.