NYS Music 20​14

Category: Regions

  • The Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival is Coming to the NY State Fair

    Uproar-2014The 5th Annual Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival is coming to the NYS fairgrounds August 22.  This year’s festival may be the best yet with names such as Godsmack, Skillet, These Raven Skies, and many more performing. The full afternoon and evening event begins at 2PM.

    Beginning in the afternoon on the festival stage will be Escape the Fate, Redlight King, 3 Years Hollow, Tattered, and SuicideGirls. Also performing will be UPROAR 2013 Battle of the Bands winner, Sons of Revelry.

    Headlining on the Rockstar Energy main stage will be Godsmack. They are touring in support of their sixth full length album, 100hp, which debuted August 5, 2014. The metal legends have sold over twenty-million records since their start in 1995. This will be their second time at UPROAR.

    Joining Godsmack on the main stage will be Skillet and These Raven Skies. Ranked as one of the top five hardest working bands in 2011 by songkick.com, Skillet has sold over two-million records in their eight years together. They are touring to promote their new album Rise, which was released in 2013. These Raven Skies is the band formerly known as Dreams of Reason; They are touring to promote their debut album as These Raven Skies.

    Don’t miss your chance to attend one of the hottest tours of the summer! Buy your Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival tickets here!

  • Dopapod Fall Tour 2014 Announced

    Brooklyn’s Dopapod announced yesterday an extensive 2014 fall national tour that includes several dates in Upstate New York.

    Early fall will find them headlining a show in Saratoga Springs on September 27.  They play Rochester on October 2 with supporting act Consider the Source opening.

    They come back through the state later on in October to support Umphrey’s McGee at Niagara Falls on the 23rd and in Binghamton on the 29th before finishing up with Space Carnival at the Oneonta Theatre in Oneonta on November 1.

    Check out the entire tour graphic below and mark your calendars for some Dopapod rage!

    dopatour

  • Interview: Korn’s Brian “Head” Welch opens up

    Back in 1993, ‘nu metal’ was barely a thing in the musical landscape. But five young guys from Bakersfield, California started a band that would become the powerhouse metal band Korn. From their debut self-titled album which gained instant success, to the slew of consistent chart topping albums for the last 20 years, they have been a lasting force in the heavy music scene.

    The members remained constant until 2005 when Brian ‘Head’ Welch decided to leave the band because, in part, to his addiction to drugs. He then found religion, cleaned up, wrote books and started new bands. In 2013 he officially rejoined Korn, bringing the guitar double team of Brian and James ‘Munky’ Shaffer back to full strength. At the recent Rockstar Mayhem Festival in Saratoga Springs, I got to sit down with Head and talk about what the road back to Korn was like, and how it feels to be back.

    Brian ‘Head’ Welch: Life is good, man. You know there is always something to do on this tour. We wake up, eat and then we are busy like crazy. I am also working on a new book, and I am way behind on it, so it takes any free second I have. There are other bands we want to see, on the small stages too. Then we have meet-and-greet, and after the show we are doing after parties. So we have like an hour to shower off, and then we meet like a hundred people every night and then it’s bedtime.

    Jeff Ayers: How are those after parties? We heard that some are thrown by other bands.

    BHW: Ours is more of a one with our fans kinda thing. We hang out, play some music, take pictures. It’s like a meet-and-greet, but you can buy drinks and hang out in a different atmosphere. There is a Q and A too.

    JA: That sounds cool.

    BHW: Yea, I don’t really like it. It’s a cool thing, but I was under the impression it was going to be the whole band there. Jonathan [Davis] has his kids out [on this tour] so he is never there. So the vibe is always, “Where’s Jonathan? Where’s Jonathan?” So I am not going to do it again, unless he signs an agreement that he is going to be there. I mean, I understand, he has his kids. But you know, I got a different impression about these after parties.

    JA: What’s the new book going to be about?

    BHW: It’s about my eight years away from Korn, and my road back to Korn. So it is about me, trying to be the normal person, trying to be dad, and getting my life together while breaking apart a few times a year. I was always wasted the whole time before, and I couldn’t run to that stuff anymore, but I wanted to. A few times. I went through a lot of stuff, and I am writing all that stuff down. It’s flowing out of me, so I think it’s meant to be.

    JA: It has to be cathartic, too, to be able to get that onto the page. I am a writer myself, and getting hardship, pain, and loss written down can be helpful and help with the healing

    BHW: Yea, you are right. But it is hard too, I mean, I’m feeling it too. I had this episode with my daughter, during the time we [Love and Death] were fighting with this label. They were stringing us along, and they had done it a few times before that, and then they were like “We are going to pass”. So I said “I’m done!” and threw my phone and broke it, but I had this episode with my daughter because she got hit by the phone on accident. It was the worst day, I felt like I might lose her. It has been hard at times, too.

    JA: In that eight year recovery, is there a defining moment? That pinnacle moment that smacked you in the face and made life clearer?

    BHW: I’d say when I finally hit the day, well I don’t know if it was a day or a time period, but when you hit a place in life where you step back and go, ‘Everything just changed right now’ whether it is a new a career or something. When I went through my bankruptcy, I hit a place where I realized ‘I just went through all of that for a reason.” I faced every fear that I had in life, I faced every emotion that was caused by my drug addiction, every bad thing that I could face, I did, and made it through. Facing those things actually cleansed me from them, so I am new man. It felt like for a time there was a curse on my life. I wrote my first book, and that was cool, but I then started a label, which failed, then I lost my house, then people were trying to sue me left and right. Then I moved to Nashville, I started a new band that wasn’t successful, and it was just like ‘C’mon man!’. But [looking back], it was all a process to make the person I wanted to be, this new man. Then I entered into peace right there, and I have been good ever since.

    JA: Can I ask what happened recently in Europe? You guys, Love and Death, were just on tour and you had to cancel dates, didn’t you get sick?

    BHW: Yea I had a kidney stone, and had surgery. I was in three different hospitals, called the paramedics twice, once in an airport, once in a hotel. Right in front of the Russian fans, it was just bad. I didn’t know what was going on, because they initially told me I didn’t have a kidney stone, but then my gall bladder started failing. Then my kidneys started hurting really bad. The doctors were just messing around, and I ended up having surgery. I had to Google translate with my surgeon. I asked, “I still feel like I am going to die, we had the surgery, what’s wrong?” Then he would Google translate back to me, it was rough.

    JA: Wow, that sounds crazy!

    BHW: Yea, remember how I told you everything got better after that certain day? Well that was challenging. But, after going through everything I had before, when I faced the kidney stone I was O.K.. Even though I was in extreme pain, I was fine inside, I knew I could get through it.

    JA: You took those eight years off from Korn, now that you are back for a little over a year, how has it been?

    BHW: 2014 has been great. 2013 was a little challenging. I came in from running the show at Love and Death. Even though it was a tiny show, it was my show, so I was making all the business decisions, saving tons of money on flights, and hotels and stuff. So I came back here, and I was all about trying to do things different, business wise. I talked with the guys, and was like “Why is this happening? You know how much money we could save, etc?” So I would let it eat me up inside. I was treating the tour manager pretty bad, and he’s been doing this for fifteen years, and he has his ways. He doesn’t work on the things that save nickels, he works on the things that save lots of money. I was sitting there worrying about the nickels, so it took me awhile to balance that. I had a conversation with him eventually where I apologized, because this was a big change for me and had to adjust. Once I got past that though, I have had a good year.

    JA: Your new record, The Paradigm Shift, is doing great. You just came out with that the end of last year, what is the plan for after Mayhem Fest?

    BHW: Well, I wish I had confirmation to tell you about this thing we are working on, but I can’t say it yet. We are looking to do a really nice tour in the fall. I thought it was just going to be a few shows to close out the year, festivals and stuff like that. But this thing came up, and I am really excited for it to come together. So big tour in the fall, and then I don’t know about next year. We haven’t really gotten that far yet. I think it would be good to take a couple of months off [from touring]. You know, do a couple of cool shows, but everybody just go away for a little bit. Give everybody a break, the fans a break, the band a break, and then start writing the next record. We will see what happens.

    JA: Do you guys write music individually and then bring it together or is the writing process a collaboration?

    BHW: The big thing with Korn, is we like to get into a room, and flesh it all out together. But we also write at home to bring ideas to those sessions. Definitely have to do that, because the famous thing we like to talk about is when we are holding our guitars and staring at our feet on the floor, and we try to do stuff and it sounds like we are beginning teenagers all over again. Looking around the room asking, “Is this cool?” [laughs]. That’s desperate, so playing on our own helps to stop that.

    JA: You guys have been playing now for a long time, and being on the road with the same guys over and over again, it can put strains on dealing with each other. Do you guys handle that pretty well as a band?

    BHW: Obviously, humans are humans. Even the people you love will get on your nerves, and it will happen out here on the road too. But you learn to just walk away, and then come back. That’s all is. There are some days, like four weeks into the tour, and you have a great night with everybody and you are on the bus just laughing. On the hard moments, you just walk away and try and go refuel by yourself. At this point, we all know how to do that really well.

  • Trey Anastasio Band Taping PBS Special at Brooklyn Bowl

    photo by Andy Hill
    photo by Andy Hill

    According to Relix, The Trey Anastasio Band will be taking the stage at The Brooklyn Bowl on Sunday, August 17 for a the taping of a special PBS broadcasting of the series Front & Center.

    This is a very small venue for the band to be playing and should be quite the show. The Brooklyn Bowl has been used as the setting for this show before. Aaron Neville was recorded there in the fall of 2012.

    Tickets go on sale Friday, August 8 at 10 a.m. with a two-ticket limit per customer.

    No tickets will be available at The Brooklyn Bowl box office.

    This is sure to sell out in moments notice, so if you want to be at the taping, make sure to act quickly.

  • The Grapeful Getdown is the Place to be This Saturday at Willow Creek Winery

    Buffalive Productions and Willow Creek Winery team up one last time for the summer with a full day and night’s worth of Grateful Dead music. The all day event will be celebrating the music of Jerry Garcia, who would have been 72 years-old this past August 1 and Saturday will mark the 19th Anniversary of his passing. No better way to honor the legend with The Grapeful Getdown, which will take place Saturday, August 9 at the winery and will feature bands from the western, New York area.

    Workingman’s Dead, one of Buffalo’s premier Grateful Dead tribute bands will headline the event with two sets. The band is a must see as they replicate the sounds of ‘The Dead’ with precision and proving why the group is very sought after.

    HOGAN

    Joining Workingman’s Dead will be Groove Force, who will also be playing 2 sets. Groove Force is a jam/blues/funk driven machine that has an influence of Grateful Dead music and will be on display at The Grapeful Getdown. Grateful Dan’s will play two sets as well, the five-man band is a top Grateful Dead Tribute act in New York state and will surely take everyone back to the sounds of the Dead. Little Mountain Band will also share the stage for the event, the band heavily influenced by Garcia and can definitely be seen in the bands playing.

    A late night set will be played by Adam Bronstein and Paddy Donnelly performing the music of Phish as Adam Bronstein and the Watchful Hosemasters.

    An added benefit to the event is the free camping, so plan accordingly and stay for one final night at this must-see event. It’s going to be one strange trip!

    Tickets can be purchased here or at the gate. Advance $20 and $25 at the door.

  • Locals Only Festival at Oswego County Event Center Saturday

    Sixteen bands. Ten bucks. The exchange is in your favor, people. Syracuse’s 95X has put together the Locals Only Festival, a one-day fest hosted by the Oswego County Event Center, to take place Saturday, August 9.

    From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. the playbill promises a load of hard-rocking talent who dares people to call them anything buy “local” – If Hope Dies, Era, Stone Soul Foundation, Nasty Habit, After Earth, Snapmare, The Afro Nips, Ohne Ka & The Burning River, One Step From Falling, Ah! Ethernauts, Department, Feast of the Superb Owl, Human Lanterns, Bridge Under Fire, Damon Larus, and Civil Servants.

    “The boys in Era and I just wrapped up an awesome jam session,” said Barry Huribut last week through the event’s Facebook page, “and we are gonna be debuting some BRAND NEW brutality at this event.”

    Era, who earned Syracuse’s Sammie Award for Best Heavy Metal band back in March, is among the headlining acts from a quickly emerging music scene.

    “The local music scene in Syracuse is rich with talent,” said 95X radio personality, Scott Dixon. “We have a plethora of amazing bands in a multitude of genres.  From straight forward radio ready rock like Cry To The Blind and Jeremiah’s Razor to post rock stalwarts like How To Disappear Completely and Ohne Ka and the Burning River to hardcore from Thoughts In Reverse and Snapmare to college/indie rock standouts like Department and Feast Of The Superb Owl.

    And, those are just the bands that fall into an easy category.”

    Dixon is a veteran to the scene. In his 20 years, he proclaims having booked more than 2500 shows. He has seen almost every local band over each stage of their existence. He name drops Nathan Angell as an example of the “hard work pays off” idiom, but explains there are dozens of locals who have persevered and reaped the benefits from a strong work ethic over the years. Dixon finds inspiration in such examples.

    “That is what inspires me, seeing things move forward,” he said. “The better the scene gets, the more inspired I am to do more shows.”

    Labeling a band as “local” often times presents a limitation; watering down each complimentary adjective that follows, because it seems to suggest the band is only adequate for local audiences. But, the Locals Only Fest turns that moniker into something equivalent to “VIP”.

    “The goal of 95X Locals Only Fest is to demonstrate to the listeners in our area that we have a very talented and diverse local music scene,” said Dixon, “and that they deserve their own festival. … In a self-serving way, it’s also a chance for me to see 16 bands that I adore on a big stage with big production in front of what will hopefully be a big crowd.”

    Dixon also suggests that the festival provides an opportunity for these bands to network and collaborate on ideas to help each one succeed, a chance to establish a community.  A far different environment from the competitive scenes other locales endure.

    Wagner 3000 Out for Locals Only Fest

    Named on the original list of headlining acts, Wagner 3000 is a scratch from the Locals Only Festival’s playbill due to an accident that has left the band’s lead singer happy to be alive.

    “So, I got injured pretty bad,” stated Dan Wagner, on the band’s Facebook page on August 1. “[I] shattered my heel, fractured my pelvis, and shattered some back bone.

    No other details were released on the nature of the accident, or when it took place.

    Wagner 3000 is an alternative rock band that formed out of Syracuse back in 1997. They are known for providing a unique blend of music inspired by Cat Stevens, AC/DC, Nine Inch Nails and King Crimson.

    “We will be performing later on in the fall,” stated Wagner. “Really bummed to not be able to perform, really glad to not be dead. Be safe, Dan Wagner.”

    Damon Larus, a four-piece jam band that focuses on a wide variety of genres – blues, metal, funk, classic rock, alternative – was announced as a replacement on July 28.

  • Massry Center for the Arts Announces 2014-2015 Season

    The Massry Center for the Arts announced their schedule for the Premier Performances series for the upcoming 2014-2015 season that kicks off in September.

    Premiere Performances is a series of musical presentations that reflects the mission of The College of Saint Rose and calls attention to the importance and the position of the Massry Center for the Arts and the College in the cultural life of the Capital Region.

    The schedule showcases a number of gems that include a Grammy Award winner and a number of internationally recognized talent.

    John Pizzarelli, the world-renowned jazz guitarist and singer, takes to the stage September 27. On March 14, 2-time Grammy Award winning artist, Terrance Simien, brings a taste of Louisiana Creole to Upstate New York. Russian guitarist Anton Baranov has earned numerous accolades in the world of international guitar competitions, including the Koblenz Guitar Competition, Andrés Segovia Competition, Agustín Barrios Competition, Robert Vidal Competition, and Pittaluga Guitar Competition – and he plays to a local audience on April 12. And, come December, Albany can celebrate the holidays with The College of Saint Rose as they present It’s a Jazzy Christmas! A Celebration of Vince Guaraldi’s Holiday Jazz Music, an unforgettable, family friendly evening of Guaraldi’s signature style of jazz made famous in the “Peanuts” holiday specials.

    The Massry Center for the Arts, provides a showcase for music and the visual arts at The College of Saint Rose. It is located at 1002 Madison Avenue in Albany. More than an academic facility, the Massry Center is a 46,000 square-foot “cultural focal point” to establish St. Rose’s mission as an engaged urban campus.

    Featuring the Kathleen McManus Picotte Recital Hall, the Esther Massry Gallery, and the William Randolph Hearst Music Wing, the Massry Center for the Arts serves as the primary venue for concerts and exhibitions by the college’s students and faculty each year, and a performance and exhibition space for talented artists, musicians, vocalists and orchestras from around the world.

    To purchase tickets to any of the performances listed below, please visit the school’s website.

    Premier Performances 2014-2015

    massry

    Mehregan – Celebrating Women of the Middle East:  9/12/2014 | 7:30pm | $20 / $10 Student |

    Saint Rose Camerata: 9/20/2014 | 7:30pm | FREE

    An Evening with John Pizzarelli Quartet: 9/27/2014 | 7:30pm | $30 / $15 Student

    Mary Lambert with Howie Day: 10/17/2014 | 7:30pm | $30 / $15 Student

    The Weight – Playing the music of The Band with Sean Rowe: 11/14/2014 | 7:30pm | $25 / $15 Student

    Saint Rose Camerata: 11/15/2014 | 7:30pm | FREE

    It’s a Jazzy Christmas! Massry Center Family Concert: 12/5/2014 | 6:00pm | $20 / $10 Student/ Free for Children 5 and under (ticket required)

    An Evening with Tim Reynolds Solo Acoustic: 1/29/2015 | 7:30pm | $25 / $15 Student

    Gleb Ivanov— Solo Piano Recital: 1/30/ 2015 | 7:30pm | $20 / $10 Student

    Saint Rose Camerata: 2/14/2015 | 7:30pm | FREE

    The Bridge Jazz Fest Presented with the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall: 2/27 & 2/28/2015 | 5:30 | Massry Center for the Arts and the Troy Music Hall | $40/ $30 student per night or $60 / $40 Student for both nights

    NOLA FEST with Terrance Simien: 3/14/2015 | 7:30pm | $20 / $10 Student

    Saint Rose Camerata: 4/11/2015 | 7:30pm | FREE

    Guitar Foundation of America Concert with Anton Baranov – Presented with the Classical Guitar Society of Upstate New York: 4/12/2015 | 7:30pm | $20 / $10 Student

    The Funky Meters: 4/16/2015 | 7:30pm | $45 / $20 Student

  • Road to Backwoods: DoomF*ck

    The 8th annual Backwoods Pondfest, held in beautiful Adirondack Region of Peru, NY only a short drive from Plattsburgh and neighboring Canada takes place this coming weekend of August 8th and 9th. The 2 day festival will feature live music, art, yoga, hooping classes and new this year, a Disc Golf Tournament. Backwoods Pondfest attracts people from all over the East Coast every year, looking for an intimate festival experience that is family friendly yet knows how to party. The festival offers a large range of musicians, supporting both national and regional acts with this year’s lineup featuring The Manhattan Project, Chali 2na and The house of Vibe, Twiddle, Alan Evans’ Playonbrother, Aqueous, and many more. This “Road to Backwoods” piece will highlight the local improv band, Doomf*ck.

    BACKWOODSPONDFEST

    Doomf*ck hails from Plattsburgh, NY with Backwoods Pondfest being right in their own backyard to rage the Tent Stage first thing Saturday morning. There is a consistent rotation of band members with main stable member and bassist Catherine-Harrison-Wurster leading the heavy improv band. The diverse lineup creates a unique show experience each time with a fusion of jazz, punk, funk and simply noise. Doomf*ck will be performing tonight Aug 4 at Club Metronome, located above the historic Nectar’s in Burlington, VT as part of Metal Mondays with RAIL, Mac Swan and Black Holly. Doors are at 9pm with a charge of $5 for 18+ and $3 for 21+ event.

    doomfuck

    Tickets are still available for Backwoods Pondfest on their site or at any show with Lucid, The Garcia Project, Capital Zen and North Funktree. The last day to purchase tickets online is Tuesday Aug 5th but will be available at the festival at the gate. With early bird tickets already sold out, don’t miss out on your chance to experience Backwoods Pondfest. Be sure to like on Facebook, twitter and Instagram for Backwoods and all your festival coverage.

  • Brantley Gilbert Turns the Turning Stone Bottoms Up

    Brantley Gilbert certainly brought his ‘A Game’ when he visited Central, New York July 10 at the Turning Stone Casino. This Georgia born entertainer, recently awarded the coveted ACM 2013 Top New Male Artists award, has certainly been busy over the last few years cranking out hit songs for himself and other Nashville artists. Touring with the likes of Willie Nelson, Eric Church, Toby Keith, and Tim McGraw.

    Recently in Upstate, New York as one of the many top-notch country performers at the Taste of Country Music Festival at Hunter Mountain, concert goers got a small taste of the no holds barred artist that writes and plays from the heart sharing from real life experiences. This young man makes no excuses for who he is, what he believes in, or how he looks. He’s been labeled a bad boy of country music, however his polite persona shines through to give you a hint that there is so much more to this artist than what’s on the surface.

    Opening for Brantley was newcomer Brandon Lay who took over the stage and warmed up this audience; winning over new fans left and right.  Covering original songs of his own and covers like a pro, it was our honor to give him a warm CNY welcome to our neck of the woods, with the hopes of returning again one day soon on his own headline tour.

    I was really looking forward to seeing this rebels full show, having seen Brantley just a few weeks prior at the Taste of Country Music Festival, and he absolutely didn’t disappoint. As a performer, it’s great to have hit songs to belt out to an audience, but it’s the delivery that makes the show. It’s the opening number that pumps up the audience and begins the evening, it’s the interaction with the audience as the performer is singing, and it’s the momentum that builds as each song plays into the next one. Brantley has an innate ability to deliver these critical aspects that hook his audience and reels them in number after number. His opening number and accompanying video totally delivered this one-two-punch that hooked the audience, built them up to an expectation of greatness, and delivered from that point on. No matter how much of a showman this young man is, you cannot mistake his talent in songwriting. It’s his songwriting that truly shines bright amongst the chains and tough exterior, as he shares in each number a piece of who he is and how he perceives his life experiences.

    Brantley Gilbert - Turning Stone Casino
    Brantley Gilbert – Turning Stone Casino

    Surrounded by some of the top-notch musicians in the business, his band perfectly accompanies Brantley on each number delivering the ambience in one killer set. With Patrick Stevens on guitar and background vocals, Jonathan Waggoner on bass and background vocals, Ben Sims on drums and percussion, BJ Golden on the mandolin ,acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards, and background vocals, and Noah Henson rounding them out on rhythm guitar and background vocals, these guys commanded the stage meshing perfectly together to bring the show all together and build up that electric feel that delivers this show over the top.

    Brantley Gilbert - Turning Stone Casino
    Brantley Gilbert – Turning Stone Casino

    Brantley Gilbert is a force to be reckoned with as country music switches tides to deliver an eclectic sound that mimics a mixture of country, bluegrass, and rock and roll. Perhaps it’s this mixture and the fact that Brantley doesn’t sway away from his goal to deliver his sound his way that has hooked me as one of his BG Nation members. Coming back through NY August 22n to the Watertown Fairgrounds, it is my suggestion if you love the new direction of country rock you definitely need to take the time and the ride up north to see Brantley.

    Brantley Gilbert - Turning Stone Casino
    Brantley Gilbert – Turning Stone Casino

  • Interview: Suicide Silence’s New Lead Singer, Eddie Hermida

    Suicide Silence has made quite the name for themselves over the years, starting in 2002 in Riverside, California.  They have worked hard to produce quality deathcore music, and have received many accolades because of it, such as Revolver Magazine’s Most Innovative Band in 2009 and a song on the motion picture soundtrack for SAW IV.  But in 2012, tragedy struck when lead singer Mitch Lucker died from a motorcycle accident.  Morning their fallen brother, the band vowed to push on, and hired All Shall Perish singer Hernan “Eddie” Hermida a year after Mitch’s death.  I got to sit down with Eddie and talk about the transition of joining the band under such unfortunate circumstances, and how their new album You Can’t Stop Me on Nuclear Blast Records is tearing up the charts.

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    Jeff Ayers:  So is this your first time on Rockstar Mayhem Fest?

    Eddie Hermida: No, this is my second time, just my first with Suicide Silence.

    JA: You did it with All Shall Perish?

    EH:  Yea we did Mayhem in 2011 with Suicide Silence.

    JA:  Did both bands meet on Mayhem?  Or were Suicide Silence and All Shall Perish friends before that?

    EH: We met in 2005, at a California metal fest.  All Shall Perish drove down south the day before, and it was actually Mark [Heylmun] and I who met.  We were just bull-shitting together, talking about how both our bands should do a tour together.  So in 2006 they were headlining a tour and we were brought on as direct support.  We did about 56 shows in 60 days.

    Jim Gilbert: Oh my god.  You guys were probably in a van right?

    EH:  Yea it was my first major tour.  We were both in vans with trailers.  It was crazy, we all became really close.  They have been my homies since then.  Then in 2011, it just made the bond stronger.  All Shall Perish was in an RV for Mayhem, instead of sharing a bus with Suicide Silence.  It was ten dudes packed in an RV, and it was brutal.  So I ended up sleeping on the Suicide Silence bus a lot, because it was easier.  They would stay late and party, and it added an extra two or three hours to my night to hang back, so i did it, because they allowed me to.

    JA:  So, obviously with the tragedy that fell on Suicide Silence, that must have strengthened the camaraderie between the bands.  When you were finally announced as taking over for vocals for Suicide, how have the fans been, have they welcomed you?

    EH: It’s been absolutely overwhelmingly good.  A lot better than I thought it would be.

    JA:  It’s always tough, with a transition like that on the heels of a death in the band.

    EH:  That’s the thing.  Mitch [Lucker] always meant so much to his fans, and the fans meant so much to him.  Stepping into that role, I was very concerned with how that would be perceived.  But coming into it, and seeing how lovely everyone has been, and how fired up the fans are to see the band again, it is such a good feeling.  Being able to go out there, do what I do, and have no one judge me for it, and everyone just go nuts, is great.  There is a lot of trust involved, and there is also a lot of welcoming too.

    JA: You guys just came out with a new record.  How has the response been on that?

    EH: We just found out that we hit number 16 on the Billboard charts for our first week.  We sold 16,000 copies, and it’s the highest charting record for Suicide Silence ever.

    JA: That has to feel great.

    EH: For a death metal band, it’s so amazing.  The number really doesn’t matter anymore, because there isn’t the cd sales that there once was, and there is a huge drop off in numbers from the top five to everything underneath that.  We are talking about hundreds of thousands of records difference.  But it still feel great. To be in the history books as hitting number 16 on the charts for this week, for the rest of my life that is a good feeling.  It is also a statement to where the music industry is.  I mean a death metal band can chart in the top 40, and that is ridiculous.

    JA:  It’s happening more and more with your contemporaries.  Cannibal Corpse helped pave the way for this, for many years with only underground recognition, and now bands like you and them are hitting top 40 on Billboard.  You can talk of a lot of bands that can and have charted now.

    EH:  Exactly.  Whitechapel is charting, Volume has charted, even All Shall Perish has been up there.

    JA:  So what’s the plan for Suicide Silence after Mayhem?

    EH:  Headline a tour.  We want to go out there and play as much as we can.  We are working on a tour that hasn’t been announced yet, but we are finalizing details on it.  It will be a U.S. tour.

    JG:  You will be back up through this area though

    EH: Absolutely.  Saratoga Springs, Albany, Syracuse.  Upstate New York has a lot going for death metal.  I’d like to hit Upstate Concert Hall when we come around.

    JG: We were just there covering Gogol Bordello.

    EH:  I got to see them recently and they are incredible.  We were in Europe, and we played this festival called Rock am Ring, and it’s all like Europe bands that top charts, and we were thrown in there on a stage with Crossfaith, Battlecross, Mastodon, and Ghost.  We got to see Gogol there, what a great show.

    * I was wearing my trademark Boba Fett hat, and Eddie and I had a mutual moment admiring each other’s fandom, because he has a tattoo of Luke and Leia on his leg.  Which led the conversation this way:

    JG:  Going back to Ronnie James Dio, with science fiction, and fantasy, they relate to metal and death metal.

    EH: They go hand in hand for sure.  I mean, Star Wars, it’s the battle of good and evil.  It’s the oldest story there is, the story of Jesus, or the Matrix.  It’s one guy, who is the good, but doesn’t know it, and has to go through the trials to figure it out and win in the end.  It just goes to show you can adapt that story in many different ways and it’s still going to be an interesting story.  To me, that is even a bigger middle finger to the bible story, and to christians and people who are so close minded and would turn an ear from music like ours.

    JG:  Back to the new album, You Can’t Stop Me.  Did you write for this album, how was the contributing process?

    EH: We worked a hundred percent together on this.  I locked myself in a dingy, hot garage for four months with these dudes, and producer Steve Evetts [The Dillinger Escape Plan, Sepultura] would come out and oversee the songs, and make sure it would all fit.

    JA:  How was it working with Steve?

    EH:  Amazing.  He is such a genius.  He is one of those dudes that wants you to understand that you don’t need all the electronics and digital bullshit to make a good sounding record.  He knows how to take analog sound and make it sound huge.  This record is huge.  Drums are 100 percent natural, as well as guitars save for punch ins and edits.  You can hear the flavor of each drum hit, you can feel the lick of each guitar strum, I love it.  The mixing and the mastering is how he got such a big sound.  He would run my voice, clean, through effects pedals and manipulate them as I recorded.  The whole record is fluid and natural like that.  I am really proud of the record, and I think everyone is really gonna like what we did on it.