Destrophy Interview

HELLO ARI, THANKS FOR TALKING WITH ME TODAY. HOW HAVE YOU BEEN?
Very well, how are you doing?

I'M DOING REALLY GOOD. IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I TALKED TO YOU LAST.
Yeah it has, was it the last album?

YES IT WAS, YOU ARE LOOKING GOOD THESE DAYS SO THAT HASN’T CHANGED.
Thanks, I’m trying to get back in shape for the road so I can avoid the pitfalls of all the crap food. It makes the tour hard believe it or not, ingesting all that crap. It’s hard to battle back everyday and have your wits about you.

IT MAKES YOU SLUGGISH.
Exactly! I don’t know how these bands do it with all the alcohol they consume. I can’t take it.

I HEAR YOU HAVE A NEW ALBUM COMING OUT ON APRIL 26TH. THAT IS SO EXCITING!
April 26th, yes it is nice to have it in the can as they say and be done with the creative process. It is always kind of draining. It is a lot more fun to play it for people than it is sometimes to create the thing. I’m excited to see what people think of it.

IT IS TITLED CRY HAVOC. IS THAT A TITLE THAT YOU CAME UP WITH?
Yes, it is the first track on there. I can’t remember the exact circumstance that came around, but I think it was something that I was saying. I do a lot of gibberish lyrics when I’m coming up with parts and something I said sounded like that. I started to think about what if that was the title of the song and where would I go with it? The song had something to do with a rebellion or almost a military kind of thing. Cry Havoc, being a Shakespearean quote from Julius Caesar, it kind of tied in with that as well as it led to where the album kind of lives in this theatrical area. A Shakespearean quote seemed kind of appropriate.

LYRICALLY, WHERE DID YOU GO WITH THIS ALBUM?
It ended up being about love, life, death and acceptance. I went pretty personal and talked about more things that maybe normally I would make bigger and more dramatic. That way I could avoid it being about my personal situation. I decided this time to talk about some things that were happening to me or that I was thinking about. So there is a personal aspect of it and there is also the idea of making this big production. Cry Havoc almost being like a play or an opera. It’s about staying true to the things you believe in and staying true to your way of life. Those were the two subjects that define the album.

THE ONLY SONG I HAVE HEARD IS “CLOSER.” I REALLY LIKE IT. IT IS A HIGH ENERGY SONG WITH A VERY CATCHY BEAT.
Cool! I’m glad you like it. The other ambition for the album, I forgot to say this and it is really important. I wanted an uplifting, energetic album. A big experience for me and the entire band is being on the road for the last couple years with some very dark, brutal and evil bands. We were out with OTEP a couple times, Bury Your Dead and Through the Eyes of the Dead. Even Type O Negative is certainly not the happiest band in the world. Being out with these bands, I guess, it will draw you into that or it will polarize you and make you figure out what you are about in context of the bands that you play with. For me, it was that these bands and even some of the ones that were opening were just brutal, demon possessed, deathy, killer people. I really enjoy that and I appreciate it, but it’s really not what I am. I always say that Periphery kind of ruined it for me because they did it so well. They did what I had a little bit of an ambition to do, which is take a little bit of that Meshuggah stuff and make it more melodic. I think they cornered the market on that, so it is not really interesting to me anymore since they have already done it. It left me in the spot where I was like “What do I have to offer?” One of the things that I have always been able to do is sing and play over modulating core progressions. That is where I started with this album and a lot of it ended up being written on acoustic. The whole album actually can be played on acoustic and sound pretty cool. The ambition for the album was to make something uplifting, positive and after you listen to it hopefully you have a smile. It goes to some pretty dark places, but I always try to bring it back to something positive.

I WOULD DEFINITELY DESCRIBE IT AS MELODIC METAL. DID YOU USE ANY DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES, SOUNDS OR INSTRUMENTS ON THIS ONE?
I kind of abandoned the seven string, in a sense; I still did play a lot of it on seven string. I tried to keep everything in the sixth string key range. I think it led itself to less of the low Meshuggah influenced riffs to more back where I started in the beginning with more hard rock bands I was influenced by. That is maybe one of the primary things and in general trying to get a more open sound, less of the stock metal mix and maybe more of a rock sound.

I KNOW THAT YOU ARE A PRODUCER, SO DID YOU PRODUCE THIS ALBUM?
I did, I was the cheapest sucker that we could find.

ARE YOU STILL PRODUCING FOR OTHER BANDS?
I sure am, I was kind of hoping to work with my buddy Slim from Bury Your Dead on their last release, but it ended up falling through at the last minute. I just worked with Warner Bros. artist Big Sean who was coming through town and needed a studio real quick. We did a verse on one of his tracks that will be coming out. I'm always working with local bands or doing remixes for bands that send me tracks from afar.

ARE YOU STILL ENJOYING DOING THAT?
Oh yeah I love it! It brings a lot of life to my own music when I hear these other bands and I think it is a really cool thing they are doing or I should experiment with that myself. I’m always learning.

WHAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT THING FOR YOU WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING A NEW RECORD?
Finishing it! When everything is not due the whole thing is a beautiful easy process, but when everything is due and you have a deadline it gets very real very fast. The pressure is good because at least for me it tends to bring out the best work. As the deadline draws closer the better the song starts to come out. I'm really proud of how it turned out.

I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR THE WHOLE THING.
I'm excited for you to hear it too.

IS THE SINGLE "WE ARE ALIVE" OR IS IT "CLOSER?"
Well, that is a great question. At one time the single was going to be “We Are Alive,” but our record company Victory did some testing and decided that “Closer” had a better shot at doing better on radio. I like both of the songs, so it wasn’t a tear jerker for me. We ended up shooting the video for “Closer” and honestly playing the song “Closer” thirty times in a row for that video, I’m glad we did that song. There was something that felt really good about that one, so I’m glad it went that way. With ITunes there is a lead in time that you need to release a song as a single, so “Closer” was chosen the day before the video shoot. All that stuff happened pretty fast. “We Are Alive” for the past three or four weeks was the single, so that is why the confusion. If there are two songs that people are familiar with and I couldn’t be happier.

WHEN IS THE VIDEO COMING OUT?
That is another good question. We did what they call the performance part and then there is a story that they film after that without us. Thank God because we are terrible actors. They are working on that right now, so I don’t know when they are going to release it. I certainly hope it is as soon as possible to help build up the excitement about the release.

HAVE THEY TAKEN "CLOSER" TO RADIO?
It just got added to Sirius Octane. I’m really excited about that because Octane is a big part of the success of the previous record. To think that we are hanging on with the active rock heavyweights like Disturbed, Stone Sour and all that type of stuff. Amongst the darkest tales of stripper poles there is a song about philosophy and self evaluation. I’m really proud of it.

TELL ME ABOUT THE "CRY HAVOC" T-SHIRT THAT WAS DESIGNED BY GODFINGERS. IT IS BASICALLY THE SAME PICTURE THAT IS ON THE CD COVER RIGHT?
It is funny how that developed. The CD was done by Colin from Rain Song Design who is in London. He and I came up with CD cover where I wanted the stage to be part of it so you got the idea that it has a theatrical element. He had this model that he wanted to do something with, so we came up with the idea where she is sitting in this chair, she has this knife and she is scratching in Cry Havoc into the stage. It has this piano and this flaming stuff, it was really cool. Then Victory wanted to do a t-shirt and I was sent this thing that looked like a zombie lady. I was like “Well you know, I’m sure there are people that like zombies.” I didn’t see what it had to do with my CD, but we figure if we made it look more like the lady on the CD cover then it had this cool tie in. It was almost like a twist on the Phantom of the Opera. I really liked that so you were right on about those being related in that way.

WHAT ARE THE IMMEDIATE PLANS AS FAR AS TOURING GOES ONCE THE ALBUM DROPS?
We are still figuring that out, but the chances are that we will be going out with OTEP believe it or not. That sounds like it will be May/June. We are talking about a CD release in our hometown or somewhere close at the end of April just to coincide with the actual CD release date.

I KNOW YOU HAD SAID YOU WOULD LOVE TO TOUR WITH SEVENDUST. HAS THAT HAPPENED YET?
No, some day, but the cool thing about the Sevendust thing is that there is a track that I flew to Atlanta and worked with Corey Lowery on. That is Clint Lowery from Sevendust's brother. We worked on a track called "Still Bleeding." It was a song I had a little trouble finishing over the last three years. We played the unfinished version live many times and a lot of people liked it. I was never happy with it, so he heard it and thought there was a possibility to do something with it. We worked on it for a while and it came out great. While we were down there I was having trouble with the solo, we were sitting there for a while fiddling with it and he was like "Hey! Let's just call my brother and have him play the solo on it." I was like "That sounds fine with me." So Clint played a solo on that one and then we were like "Do you want to play another solo on the opening track "Cry Havoc?" He was like "Sure!" He did both tracks and we are privileged to have him on the album. That was the first time ever having anyone else hit the record button for me, which is pretty cool.

THAT IS COOL! HAVE YOU TOURED OUT OF THE COUNTRY YET?
We are still just locals. I would love to go across the pond at some point. It is an expensive thing. We have talked with Victory a number of times about it. Who knows, we may just do it. We will find a ferry, stick our van on it and see how far we get.

YOU CAN PUT YOUR DRUMS IN A SUITCASE.
Exactly! We are a crafty band; I think we could do it.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE INTERVIEW. IT WAS GREAT TALKING WITH YOU AGAIN.
Thank you Shauna! Hopefully not too long before this and the next one.

BEFORE I LET YOU GO WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD OR SAY?
We are trying to see what's next for us and hit the road again. We’ve been off the road for so long working on this music and I’m definitely ready to get back out there and see everybody.