Mark - You know, to tell you the truth, that's kind of the black and white of it. I remember we were playing, and literally, someone dove off the stage while we were playing, 'cause it was just insane, it was nuts. We were only playing for twelve to fifteen minutes and there were people diving constantly. A kid fell, he didn't get up, they tried to move him and he couldn't; then security came and eventually made us stop and then the paramedics came and carried him out. We got word later that he'd passed away. It was kind of intense because we didn't know at the time, but it sucked because we didn't get to continue playing, but at the same time I feel bad about that. But it was the first and only time we'd played Seattle for any of the three albums, it was a sold out show and we had to stop dead in our tracks, so it was kind of anti-climatic.

Mark - I had a great time. Again, it had been so long since we had and we actually got to play a complete set. You know, it got our foot in the door here and I think we made some new fans, people who hadn't heard of us before and I think tonight's going to be even better, because the actual pre-sales for this show are actually bigger than the Metal Fest in general last year.

Mark - Oh, right on! We had an amazing time last night and a great set, so we want to keep carrying on with that and we just love to play live; I mean, that's just kind of our forte. We've always been a live band; we like the release of it and the connection with the crowd.

Mark - With that one, we were approached by the people doing the album and asked if we wanted to pay tribute to them, and I figured, you know, "hell, Kirk's helped us in so many ways while we were young" and still, he's a very good friend of mine and had to look back and said "fuck, well yeah, let's do one." And to tell you the truth, my favorite album of theirs to this day is Ride The Lightning. I just think Trapped Under Ice is a fast, brutal song; I love it. The first time I put that album on, the production and everything when I first heard it, I was floored. I figured that was just a good way to pay homage, definitely. Put our little touch to it, 'cause that's what we do.

Mark - It was our choice.

Mark - Yeah, me and Dennis actually chose them. Me and Denn are friends with their bassist Jesse. And the singer, actually, he's from Indiana and he was a Death Angel fan growing up. It's cool; I like their music. I think it's more straight ahead and to the point. We like that hardcore stuff; Discharge, Cro-Mags, early GBH, stuff like that. We really just like the energy. I think they're great at what they do.

Mark - (laughing) That was an odd one, that was definitely an odd one; I'd never been in a situation like that, that's for sure. They flew journalists out from as far as Canada, countries all over Europe, and it came together really well, much better than I thought it would. I spoke before and in between songs, giving them the rundown of kind of what to expect. Mind you, I was drinking sake during the whole entire thing, but I had a good time. But it was definitely a bizarre setting. Bizarre. (laughter)

Mark - As far as the unreleased material, there's one song that's pretty much just us jamming in Andy's garage, which was recorded in a box with a blanket over it. Demos up through Ultra-Violence, demos for Frolic, and demos for Act III; songs that never made it. Not demos of songs that were on the albums, but literally, songs that never made it. And some of these songs, when people hear them, it's going to be like, "what the hell is this?" because they're just crazy, some of them are absolutely insane. Just way too experimental. Some of them have heavy parts and what not and some are just all in all out bizarre. (laughs) But it's definitely us and it kind of captures a time of us goofing around and writing stuff. I know when people listen to it, they'll know why certain tracks didn't make it onto the albums. As far as the DVD, it's going to be the video from Voracious Souls, the video for Bored, and early live footage of us and early interview footage of us just kind of goofing around.

Mark - (laughs) You know, it's odd; I have a love/hate relationship with that whole time. I'd say what I love about that era is that if it wasn't for Geffen, we would've never created Act III. They definitely gave us the time and the budget to write as many songs as we did for that album and they gave us the budget to work with Max Norman who helped our writing and song structure immensely. That amount of time in the studio, he helped us grow as studio musicians, too. So for that, I love them. But they didn't know how to market a metal band like us; they had nothing like it. They had Guns 'N Roses and at that point, Metallica was peaking and I think at that point, major labels were kind of grasping in San Francisco for their Metallica. And all these Bay Area bands started getting signed to major labels almost like what happened ten years later here in Seattle, the whole grunge thing. Nirvana broke and all of a sudden major labels started trying to grab their grunge band of the moment. I think that's what happened there, but metal's definitely a much less marketable beast, especially in that time. (laughs) Grunge had more topics that were more palatable for the masses.

Mark - Pretty much demand from the crowd, demand from the fans, and our absolute love for playing together. I mean, we almost forgot the high of the chemistry that we all have, especially us four core members. That was the first time we'd been on stage together with Dennis, me, Rob, and Andy since 1990. Immediately it just clicked. We'd all been playing music together and apart from eachother since then. As a musician, you want to grow and you want to play, but nothing matched that intensity level and pure connection that we have.

Mark - There were rumors of the tour and it had been discussed, but at that point everyone was in such disarray, wondering whether they were going to be together or not. I would imagine at this point, and nothing's ever been discussed, that with them coming out with a new album and us coming out with a new album, us being label-mates, Testament's writing, I would definitely say, might not even be on their tour for their album or our tour for this album, but I definitely see in the future there will be some sort of Exodus/Death Angel/Testament bill. It just seems obvious. Not only obvious that a promoter would want to do it, it would be a great package for the fans and it would be a great package for the bands. So I think it doesn't take a brain surgeon for a promoter to go "this would be a great package." So, it just seems like it would definitely happen, but nothing's been discussed. (laughs)

Mark - Each and every day. (laughs) The strange thing is that people have become the road mutants, originally that song was written about us. We were the mutants, we became the mutants by the Ultra Violence tour. That was the main thing in that song; the trials and tribulations of the Ultra Violence tour. The punk rock U.S tour; we bought a van for $2500, piled in and played where anyone would let us. (laughs) That van broke down everywhere, we'd be stuck everywhere with nowhere to shower, nowhere to sleep, no money. It was the most difficult while it was happening, but looking back on it, it's still to this day probably the funnest tour we'd ever been on.

Mark - Wow. Tell ya the truth, who probably spear-headed it was Rob. We always loved music when we were young, always. Rob's mom and Denn's mom took us to go see Kiss in '79 and it was our first concert. I was ten, Andy was seven. It was me, Rob, Andy, and Dennis. We were just floored. I mean, Kiss before they'd broken up, before they'd taken off the makeup, so it was mind blowing and we just kind of knew from that day that that's what we wanted to be. Rob was the first person to pick up an instrument and start playing. I remember he was really young, he'd be playing his guitar with his little combo amp and I'd be saying "play Whole Lotta Rosey again!" Then eventually, he got sick of playing by himself and he'd would always stay at Andy's house, because they have the same grandmother. He'd start telling Andy, "you play drums!" It literally started off with Andy beating on pans, to eventually a toy drum kit, to a cheaper drum kit, everything escalated. Eventually, everyone got involved. Dennis was originally a stand-up vocalist. Everything just kind of evolved in such a bizarre way, but things happen for a reason.

Mark - Right on, thanks for taking the time.