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After participating in last year's Ozzfest, Detroit's The Black Dahlia Murder have been on a rocket ride to the top of the metal world. This year, they will be tearing it up on the Sounds of the Underground tour.
Phil: What are your feelings about the upcoming Sounds of the Underground tour?
Brian: We're stoked to do it. From a personal standpoint, it's a very demanding kind of tour to do, just being outside all fucking day in the middle of summer takes a lot out of you. But we're excited. It's going to be cool to be a part of the total metal onslaught on the tour, alongside Behemoth and Cannibal Corpse, both of which are bands composed of sweet dudes that we've toured with before.
Phil: So are you expecting it to be a little bit better than Eggfest last year?
Brian: Eggfest? (pauses) Oh, Ozzfest? (laughter) I don't want to necessarily say better, it's just totally different. The people who put it together come from a different place and they bring in classic acts like Cannibal Corpse, but for the most part it's a pretty fresh-faced, start to finish, tour, which is pretty cool.
Phil: Plus getting paid to play instead of having to pay to play is always nice.
Brian: Oh well, they're giving us a little cash, which will help us fill the gas tank. It's not necessarily a profitable thing to do.
Phil: Okay, I have a question about this tour - now, initially, the press was that you were supposed to be headlining the shows, at least in the local ads. I was really surprised to see that things got changed to Throwdown headlining. What was the reason for that?
Brian: It's a co-headlining bill and I'm kind of surprised whenever we close out a date on this coast, simply because they've been touring around here for six, seven years. So it's not a big surprise to play under them. We headlined most of the shows on the East Coast and, for the most part, that's kind of surprising, you know. I mean, I used to go see Throwdown shows before we had a band together, so that's kind of weird, but they're cool dudes. Both bring pretty much the same sort of thing to the table as far as people that we'll bring in to the show. It's a pretty split crowd, people who are just into Throwdown and people who are just into us, but there's a lot of people who are into the whole thing, too, so that's cool.
Phil: How exactly difficult was it for the band to recover from the dual loss of Zach and Dave late last year?
Brian: We knew it was going to be a pain in the ass, but also, you know, we were in a position where we could have serious people come and deal with trying out for the band. The hardest part, really, was recognizing the fact that we weren't going to be able to continue as we were and having to ask the two of them to leave was probably the hardest part of the whole thing. We found Bart and he actually did some engineering on "Unhallowed", so we've known him for awhile and he stepped in on bass duties and he's killin' it. Then we found Pierre who's playing drums for us now and he's definitely the sickest drummer that I've ever played with. So things are going good; we've cut our problems ten-fold.
Phil: When is the "Cold Blooded Epitaph" EP going to be reissued? I've kept hearing that the reissue is coming and coming and coming for like the last year and a half.
Brian: It's over that, actually; it's over two and a half years. But I can't really tell you, 'cause I don't know. (laughter) It's something that keeps getting rehashed on how we should do it, but it's gonna come someday. For the most part, it's not a top priority for us simply because as a band, you want to keep going, keep writing new songs and to really be worried about earlier stuff, it's not the first thing on the plate, you know?
Phil: Alright, I do have one question and it's probably not one you're going to like a whole lot…
Brian: Bring it!
Phil: It's one a lot of people have complained about when they've gone to see you live; a lot of people don't like the way you talk to the audience, basically demanding the moshing… like most of the bands on Ozzfest were doing last year. But I was talking to a lot of people and they were into you until that started, then just said "fuck this band!"
Brian: I don't know. When we're on stage, we're there to have a good time and if people are paying attention to us, we want them to break out of their shell and have a good time too. There's so many people that come to shows and they're very reserved, because they want to look cool to the people they're around and shit. I don't know. (pauses) I don't know what to say to people who had that to say. I don't recall any Trivium style shit like "I wanna see you going crazy left, right and center," so I'm not really sure what they're talking about to be perfectly honest with you.
Phil: Okay. How is it to you guys, just looking around and seeing where you started out, just how greatly your fanbase is expanding? How does that feel to you?
Brian: It's cool, you know, the most important thing is we write this music to please ourselves and the fact that there's other people that are into is fucking awesome. To be a band in one of those rare positions where a lot more people are getting turned onto your sound… it's weird, but it's cool. It's fulfilling.
Phil: Alright, I just have one last question; now as zombies are the living dead, is it technically necrophilia if you have sex with one?
Brian: Um… Hmmm… I don't know, man; that's something I wouldn't want to comment on because I haven't had sex with a zombie yet. In which case, though, I'm all about doing a follow-up with you and really delving into the subject, but until then I wouldn't feel comfortable making a solid statement on the matter.
Phil: Okay then, what if two zombies were having sex with eachother? Would that be necrophilia?
Brain: No, I think that would just be heterosexual sex.
Phil: Okay, cool! (laughs) Thank you very much!
Brian: (laughing) No problem, dude.
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