LUCIDMEDIA

3) How has the band evolved and changed over the last few years?

Musically I think we are more focused now than in previous years. Our writing is based on a song rather than a riff. Before this album we wrote as individuals and brought songs together from what one person had started. During the writing process for this album we discovered our own abilities to jam. The dominant number of tunes on Deaf Leading the Blind came from rehearsals where no member had come in with a riff or song, rather we crafted each song together from start to finish.

4) What were your goals with this album?

We made a decision before our first album was recorded to take matters into our own hands. We weren't going to do the "lets make a demo and hope we get signed” thing, but rather pay for an entire album, and start our own record label to protect ourselves and learn the business. We did quickly hit a wall with the four of us having to work full time and practice in our spare time so we started hiring on like-minded individuals to assist us in our goals and increase the number of man-hours working for the band. Our decision to sign with indie label Voodoo Records was based entirely on a shared work ethic. We were not willing to sign our life away to someone else in hopes they would give us a career, but rather sign on with a company we knew would believe in us and work as hard as we do toward our final goal.

5) What were the differences in the making of Guilty of… and Deaf Leading the Blind?

When we started pre-production on our first album we hit the studio with about 16 songs. The 10 that made the cut were good, but in retrospect we weren't happy with the product. When we began working on this new record we took an almost different approach to writing and, with the help of a professional producer, a completely new approach to recording. When we started pre-production on Deaf Leading the Blind we had completed writing about 20 songs. The producer then asked us to come back in a month with another 20. This was daunting considering it had taken us almost 2 years to write the first 20. Interestingly, of the 15 songs included on Deaf Leading the Blind, two-thirds of them come from the 20 songs written in a month. I think the reason behind that was that we had matured as songwriters and more so that we had become intimately aware of each other’s influences and styles. This made for perfect jam sessions and great music – we plan on continuing that mindset for the next album.