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Oct 08, 2010
PLUG’D IN The Hard-Rock'n Bi-Weekly Magazine Exclusives you wont find anywhere else!
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Inside This Issue This Is: The Devil Wears Prada, On Tour: Bryan Crouch of Hail The Villain, The Mind Of Jim: Jim Root of Stone Sour/Slipknot, The Breakdown w/ Bandi, and introducing Dear Dead Abby.
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On Tour: Bryan Crouch of Hail The Villain Interview and Photos by Curt Ridall Their official Bio states : “They say the singer should calm down,” says singer Bryan Crouch. “But it‟s not enough to just be a good band. It‟s about putting in the extra effort. It‟s saying to the audience „I ain‟t quitting so you better not quit. You better shout and scream because that‟s what makes the show better.‟” Hail The Villain is a band with big ideas. They aren‟t satisfied with writing songs, making an album and going out on tour. They want to create an entire Hail The Villain universe that includes not only the music, but a dynamic live show, animated videos, a comic book, a unique interactive website, and maybe even a movie someday. “Most people are going to aim for what‟s attainable,” says Crouch. “For us, it‟s aiming for what‟s unattainable.” Hail The Villain attack their career with the same hard-nosed approach you‟d expect from growing up in Canada‟s automobile manufacturing town of Oshawa, Ontario. From the moment they finished recording their debut album, they have been pain-stakingly involved in all creative elements that connect to fans in their vision.” I got to sit down with Bryan at a recent Uproar Fest in Virginia, to talk about his demons, the album and the world spawned from Population: Declining. PI: How has UpRoar been treating you so far? BC: Better than I expected by far PI: Bet you were excited when you got that call? BC: Blown away, our band is on its first record, coming from where we are from in Canada, it‟s unbelievable to get this opportunity. PI: Originally it was just you and a solo album, how did Hail the Villain become what it is today? BC: I was always in bands before I did the solo record. I never wanted to do a solo record, it was just at that time I had nobody. I was at a point where I just wanted to make some music. I‟ve know my bass player since we were in kindergarten so I called him and asked what he thought of the record. He said it sounded good and joined forces. We met up with Joe at a bar by accident. He was working at a huge studio in the country working on Rush Records and Simple Plan stuff. He said that he played guitar and that he would love to be in a band‟, we just went from there. PI: Were there any major changes from the solo album and what it became? BC: 100%. I was running more of a punk rock thing because of where all of my influences come from. Joe was a big metal guy so that‟s where a lot of the rifts come from. We are a rift oriented band with a really dirty, punky vocal. PI: Your album has a lot of dark tendencies but your music is very upbeat to listen to, was that by plan? BC: I don‟t necessarily ever write happy things. I think I made the mistake on a couple records trying to write for radio. Trying to write things that were about girls and things that people could easily relate to. For this record we didn‟t have a plan to make it on the radio, so I just thought lets get as dark and make it about where I really come from.
Lets try and really dig in there and that‟s what happened. The music stayed with where you could kind of bop your head and sing along melody wise as well. But as far as lyrical content I dug as deep as I could and got something I could never imagine. It‟s fun to me because I sing that back every night and I can feel it on stage just as real as the record sounds. The records not rigged up. It doesn‟t have auto-tuners slapped on the vocals. This is a nasty sounding record and I think that the only thing that could compliment that, is nasty lyrics. PI: One of my favorites on the album is “Social Graces”. What‟s that all about? BC: I say every night to the crowd that this song is about getting drunk and fighting. One, because it feels good to get the reaction from the crowd, but two, it really is about getting drunk and fighting. It‟s one of those nights where I was pounding back the good old Canadian beer, which its a lot thicker and heavier than what we got down here. I think I was 6 beers in and I just felt like I was going to throw up. So I went into the washroom, I puked my guts out and I got to the point where I felt I just wasted 20 bucks, cause our beer is expensive. I was like I cant have this and I went back out and just acted like a retard. I just went crazy and the next thing I knew I was fighting. For me it was a fun song to write because of what that night meant for me and how I went through it. I think one of the things that makes me most excited to be in this band, is that they let me do what it is I gotta do, to feel comfortable up there on stage. For me the best response I‟ve ever gotten from a crowd is when I humiliate myself and they feel like there‟s nothing they cant do in the crowd. PI: You‟ve managed to create this entire world around your album, that not too many people do. Characters, comic books, movies. What inspired you to create this unique environment for your fans? BC: We did not want to have the cover look like every other band‟s cover. The kind that gives it you one visual, where once you see it, that‟s it. We wanted to give people a plethora of visuals. The characters are going to have an influence on you whether you are watching a live show, listening to it on the radio or whether you‟ve got the cd. Our reason for doing it was to make sure we had something that was a never ending creative cycle. PI: Do you see yourself in any of the characters? BC: When it comes to the lead character, there‟s a lot of me in him. Basically I feel like I am a good guy and I always want to make the right decisions. It just seems like I always make the wrong ones. This character is the type of guy that has the best intentions but what he ends up doing is always the wrong thing and he cant find a happy medium. It‟s either one extreme or the other and I think that‟s the way I am. PI: When is the comic book available? BC: The 1st comic book is out, it explains the first video and what‟s going on on the website. The “My Reward” comic book is finished. “Runaway” we just shot a video for, it‟s the next episode out. PI: Can we expect any new music? BC: Yea. We have written 6 new songs for the next record, but we are going to be a little too busy to record for awhile. PI: Is that going to have a whole new universe around it? BC: Yes, because I have too much ADD. I cant stay on the same thing for too long. We are waiting to find out if Trevor Spencer wants to make the movie a full 3D movie with dialogue and all that good stuff. The whole thing is just written, the movie is written, so hopefully that happens and we can leave the story in his hands to have our creators make it. Then we are on to the next bigger and badder angle. PI: What‟s next for you guys? BC: We are going to finish this tour then jump on one with Disturbed and do that for a little while. We just got back from Asia and I think we are going right back to Vietnam actually, to do a couple more dates over there. Then we gotta finally hit Canada at some point, maybe something in November, December or January. We are pretty much booked all through the end of the year.
PI: Thanks for letting us get Plug‟d In with Hail the Villain! BC: Thank You Guys! I can‟t even begin to tell you how much of a breath of fresh air, Hail the Villain is. Spanning their explosive, high energy, animated (sometimes a little deranged) live show. To a whole new expedition in music management, fan interaction, story-telling and global domination. Hail the Villain is taking over this planet, one show at a time. You can‟t help but to embrace the dark lyrical genius that derives from within Bryan‟s cranium. His musical expression is one in a million. If you walk away from Any show that these guys put on, not liking them, then you weren‟t watching. You weren‟t listening. Writing from deep inside, Bryan has managed to reflect back all the demons that makes him the artist he is today. You‟ve got to be a little bad, to be good and not everything is rainbows and sunshine in your life. But even on the darkest of days, there is a puddle somewhere to be played in. We should all be grateful that Bryan decided to take back the fear from his life and share it with all of us. Thanks for making us feel your music and taking us into the dark corners of your mind. For all things Hail the Villain Go to the coolest fucking band website/world ever created :
www.hailthevillian.com Please check out our good friend Curt Ridall‟s music blog with news and photos @
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This is: The Devil Wears Prada Exclusive Interview w/ Mike Hranica and Jeremy DePoyster
Interview and Photos by Michael Demos and Liana Marie Getting to hang out with The Devil Wears Prada was a real blast for both Liana and myself. We both are huge fans and the guys are so down to earth. They were cool enough to sign a limited edition vinyl album which we will be giving away in an upcoming promotion. The show @ the Croc Rock kicked ass and so did their interview. We got to sit down with vocalist Mike Hranica and guitarist Jeremy DePoyster. Here‟s how it went. (MD) PI: How has the “Back to the Roots Tour” been? TDWP: (J) Long and Good. We are currently in week 10 right now and it feels like 15. It‟s been a long run, but it‟s been good. We‟ve done a lot of multi-night shows in different cities, so we kind of dragged it out. It‟s been all small clubs and in your face so it‟s been nice. PI: What‟s your favorite city you‟ve played so far? TDWP: (J) New York was really cool, but that wasn‟t “Back to the Roots”. (M) There‟s been a lot that have been really good. We‟ve been trying to measure which show was the hottest, at one point it just went off the scale. For a while it was Des Moines, and then Raleigh was the hottest. The first night in Philadelphia was bad. It‟s been a long tour. We‟ve played a lot of places. To me, only one place stood out as a bad crowd reaction…the rest have been so good. PI: You guys are getting ready to go to Australia next right? TDWP: (J) Yep, we‟ve been there once before...Maybe in 07‟ or 08‟. We were headlining there and had never been there before. Now we‟re going there with the massive Parkway Drive. We‟re really excited about it. The Ghost Inside is on it as well. It should be a sick tour. PI: When you‟re over in a beautiful country like that, do you get a chance to do any surfing or sightseeing? TDWP: (M) The last time we did it, it was pretty much back to back shows. This time around I think we have a little time. I think we go to New Zealand first and we have a day off there, so we get to hang out a little. Last time we were there we got to go to a Koala farm. That was pretty cool. We didn‟t get to do too much sight-seeing though. PI: You just released your new album “Zombie”. Was it everything you thought it would be? TDWP: (J) It was more than everything we expected. (M) We didn‟t just put out something new for the fans or to just have fun with this project. It‟s been a lot more than that. Going into it, I was like “I dot care if it only sells 5,000 records, whatever…it‟s going to be fun”. We aren‟t going to lose any money, business is good, and it‟s going to be fun. The fans have loved it. We haven‟t heard from 1 fan saying it was bad. Everybody seems to have lost their mind with it. It seems to have started a “Zombie” cult. It‟s awesome, and we‟re really stoked on it. The presale #‟s have been fantastic and the feedbacks from the fans have been great. It‟s been wonderful. PI: You guys are with Warner Music Group. How has it been having label support? TDWP: (M) Originally we signed with Ferret which was partially owned by Warner. About a year ago Warner bought out Ferret completely, so the team got switched around. It threw stuff off a little bit, but it‟s been good now. We haven‟t been too involved with the label because we haven‟t put out a full length, but lo and behold the label got really involved with the Zombie EP. So far the relationship has been good. Being more under a major now than before is scary because you hear all the horror stories about being under a major label. We really don‟t have any problems. (J) I think anymore it‟s if you‟re selling records then they‟re not telling you what to do. They have a hard enough time selling records anymore, but they really let us be us.
PI: You guys have Rockstar supporting you on this Tour…that has to help you as a band right? TDWP: (J) Chelsea and the people from Rockstar Energy Drink have been really cool with working with us and letting us do things our way. We don‟t want to do the whole “commercial” thing or ride the “sell-out train”. They have been cool with giving us some financial backing and wrapping our bus and they haven‟t really asked for too much in return from us. PI: If there‟s one Artist whose album you could cover, who would it be? TDWP: (J) That would depend on who you would ask. (M) We‟ve always talked about covering Slipknot, but I don‟t think we could do them just. It would just be a bad Slipknot. It wouldn‟t be different enough. We‟ve also always wanted to cover Rage against the Machine. If we did one of the Rage albums it would be pretty sweet. We talked about doing a whole Rage cover set, but it would be so stressful. If we were able to sit in the studio and do it then it would be pretty sweet. PI: What about something from the Hip-Hop Genre like when you guys did “Still Fly” by the Big Tymers? TDWP: (J) I know like almost every band in existence has done a rap cover after that. It kind of happened because our manager came to us and said “What do you think, it Punk goes Crunk”? It was such a crazy idea at the time. We had a hard enough time finding a song to do. Rap songs are pretty much the same riff all the way through. There might be a little change up, but it‟s pretty much the same thing, just the lyrics change through it. It‟s a lot different than the music that we play. Even if we did another song, it would be hard to change it up enough that it‟s not monotonous. (M) We thought it was a cool idea because the only band we really knew of to do a rap cover was Throwdown who did “Baby Got Back”. They did it a long time ago when we were kids. Nowadays it‟s like Punk goes Pop. It seems like every band in this “scene or genre” is covering Lady Gaga or Katy Perry. (J) I highly doubt we‟d ever do another “Radio” cover. It seems like band put more attention into doing that and making cool MySpace‟s rather writing a solid EP. (M) Some bands do that to try to get fans and its really lame. (J) I remember when they did the old “Punk Goes Pop” It came from an established artist doing a cover, not a new band trying to get attention. PI: What about another “Spongebob Grindpants”? Would you do something along that line, maybe like a cartoon theme? TDWP: (J) We tried that and it turned out too serious. We just don‟t have that touch anymore. (Laughs) PI: What cartoon or sitcom best represents you guys as a band? TDWP: (M) Seinfeld. (J) Curbed. Either one. We always have the most random, horribly awkward situations, just neurotic crazy messes between him, Anthony, and I. (M) I don‟t really know what show would really describe us though. (J) The Osborne‟s. (Laughs) (M) Maybe Jersey Shore because we‟re idiots. PI: What can we expect to see from you guys in the future? TDWP: (J) Musically, I think the next record will be a judgment record. I think a lot of eyes will be on it, wondering
if we can do it again. It will be a combination of the best elements from “Zombie” and the best elements from our older stuff. As we move along musically we find out what works and what doesn‟t. It‟s a lot different playing songs in a practice space or a studio than it is “live”. We are very much centered on being a “live” band. That‟s always been our main focus. As we find out what works live and what doesn‟t that‟s the direction our sound travels. We‟ve gotten heavier and heavier on each release because that‟s what‟s fun live. I think we‟ll still be experimental in some ways, but I think bringing that heavy sound, that metal sound, and making it melodic…which is such a stupid cliché, but I think we really take that stuff and make it good. I think Slipknot‟s a band like that. Even if you don‟t like heavy music, you‟ll listen to it, because it‟s such a well written song. We are trying to still be good song writers. I think that will shape our future. PI: Can we expect any video support for this new album? TDWP: (M) We haven‟t really talked to the label from the political aspect of things. We‟ve pretty much come up with every aspect of this album like the comic book and the art. We just put the ideas out there and forced the label to pay for it. (Laughs) We made a new contract for this EP and added it to our existing one. Pretty much everything they‟ve done has been a favor, so we‟re not really pushing and saying “C‟mon, pay for our music video”. It would be interesting though, everything about this new EP has so many things that you could do with it. There‟s the opportunity and the possibility. We are really proud of it. PI: How does being Christian affect your life as a band? TDWP: (M) Its tough because we aren‟t just a band, we are normal people. That‟s pretty much how it‟s always been. We kind of get put on a pedestal by particular fans. They will be like “I read this press release and you said a curse word”. It‟s not like we do whatever we want like we‟re some kind of lack of disciple, completely immoral band. Sometimes people will hold the craziest things against us. They‟ll tell us the name of our EP “Zombie” isn‟t very Christian. We get that stuff all the time and it‟s a bummer. We‟re the same stupid kids we‟ve always been. We are not a bunch of priests on a bus playing heavy music. It‟s tough but it‟s worthwhile because we stand behind what we talk about. People being harsh and judgmental come with the territory. PI: People can be so quick to judge, do you think if God were to come to Earth today, would he judge us by what‟s on our bodies or our faces or by what‟s in our hearts? TDWP: (M) Obviously it‟s about our intentions. A lot of our closest friends are agnostics or atheists and I‟m fine with that. I feel like if you don‟t take the Christian message from our music at least you will get the message of good intentions. Even if you don‟t believe in the same God as me, I would hope that you‟re making a positive impact on the planet and doing something good. If Jesus would come to Earth, that‟s what he would come for. It‟s important for us and what we stand by. (J) Intent is the perfect word. Why do you do what you do? We do what do because we like music, W like making it and playing shows, and we like to do it with a good attitude. We try to treat those that we‟re on tour with well. We try and put something good in the world. A lot of people get mixed up on why they do what they do. Rather than look at “He said this” or “He said that”, try looking at the fact that he‟s trying to put good in a filthy world. I think that speaks more of a Christian mind.
PI: How does being in a band affect your personal lives in general? TDWP: (J) You have a personal life when you‟re in a band? (Laughs) We don‟t really think of it. We‟ve been doing this since we got out of school, so we don‟t really know what life is like without it. (M) Getting older and becoming more of “adults”, even though we are immature, we do feel the effect of not being home and being able to grow with the people you want to grow with. I‟m happy to be doing what I‟m doing. Everything about the band and what I‟m doing with the band I feel called upon to do so. It‟s what we do. It‟s not easy and it‟s not glorious. PI: When you were younger, did you dream that you would be where you‟re at today or did you have other plans? TDWP: (J) I did, but it was Nu-Metal in my dreams. (Laughs) (M) I came from a family that liked music a lot, so I started playing guitar and I was really bad at it. I kind of ended up accidentally doing vocals for this band. I don‟t know, I just ended up want to do this coincidentally and it came together. (J) I‟ve been playing guitar for years so I wanted to make it! I wanted to make $! No, I‟m just kidding, it‟s never been like that for me. (M) We listen to Rock music, but we don‟t play it, so it‟s never been much of a dream to make it. Kids will say to us “My bands playing with you guys next week, maybe someday we will be able to tour with you”. I think, I don‟t want to tour. (Laughs) Just go to college and be productive. (Laughs) PI: Thanks for sitting down with us and giving us a chance to get Plug‟d In. TDWP: Thank you guys for everything.
www.twdpband.com www.myspace.com/tdwp Top 10 Hard Rock Albums on Billboard.com 1) Linkin Park– A Thousand Suns 2) Disturbed– Asylum 3) Serj Tankian– Imperfect Harmonies 4) Avenged Sevenfold– Nightmare 5) My Darkest Days– My Darkest Days 6) Stone Sour– Audio Secrecy 7) Nickelback– Darkhorse 8) Five Finger Death Punch– War Is The Answer 9) Godsmack– The Oracle 10) Iron Maiden– The Final Frontier
Dear Dead Abby Meet our newest contributor, Abigail O‟Malley, known affectionately as Dead Abby. Abby was born and raised in the coal regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest of eight, she constantly had her younger brothers and sisters asking her questions about everything from how things work to why that boy threw dirt on her. She‟d try to steer them straight with her advice, though sometimes she could be a bit sarcastic. Abby also had an uncanny ability to see the truth in people, despite what they tried to portray with their lies. Unfortunately, this led the locals to believe that she was with surrounded with dark forces. The summer before her final year of school, Abby was sentenced to death by hanging, without a proper trial, simply stating that she was a witch. Abby can‟t recognize the faces of her family through death, but she answers questions, thinking it might be one of her siblings needing her guidance. Q. My boyfriend doesn‟t really spend time with my son (from a previous relationship) although we live together. We've been together 4 years and my son is now 7. I've tried everything I can to get them to bond and spend time together, but nothing works. I‟m really thinking of leaving him. What should I do? M.H. A. Your boyfriend is constantly reminded by your son that you've had another dick in you. Yeah, it's common knowledge that no one's been with only one person, but seeing him everyday is very hard for some guys. It's basically a giant case of penis evny, and if your son has anything to do with his bio dad, it'll just keep bringing up the mental image of that guy having his dick in you. Leave him if you want, but if you want to avoid this problem in the future, turn lesbian. Q. I play the lottery every week, but never win. What can I do to increase my odds of getting that big payoff? D.A. A. Drive down to where you play the lottery, smash your vehicle through the window, and load up all the lottery machines into the vehicle.
Q. If you are really dead, how can you talk to us and help us with our problems? R.R. A. You're a moron. Q. I cheated on my girlfriend with one of her friends. The problem is I really like her friend now. What should I do? C.H. A. Does the friend feel the same about you? Look at it this way, when you cheated, why did you cheat? Was it a spur of the moment? Were you angry with your girlfriend? I think cheaters are lowlifes to begin with, regardless of the reason, but this other girl will see that you cheated on your current girlfriend with her, what's to stop you from doing it to her? In my opinion, this other girl should come clean to your girlfriend, and they should both head for the hills and get away from you.
deardeadabby@centralpapluggedin.com
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The Mind of Jim: Jim Root of Stone Sour and Slipknot Interview and Photos by: Nicolle Marie My second Interview at The RockStar UPROAR Festival was with Jim Root. He is the lead guitarist in both Stone Sour and in Slipknot. Talking to him was really a double interview considering he shared with us information and details about both his bands. While Stone Sour is currently on top of the charts with their new album Audio Secrecy and gaining much positive media and fan attention, Slipknot has taken a major step back to morn the sudden tragic death of their amazing bassist Paul Gray, who passed away this summer. Jim Root graciously sat down with Plug'd In and gave us both a brutally honest and very emotional look into his life and the current accomplishments and setbacks of Stone Sour and Slipknot. PI: Jim, How is the tour going so far? JR: It‟s goin‟ awesome, really awesome. Fans have been great. Crowds have been awesome. Umm you know a little bit of a logistical nightmare with all the big giant rock sets that are going on here, with the Avenged set and the Disturbed set. Not really a festival vibe but everything‟s cool. PI: How do you feel about the bands you‟re playing with? JR: They‟re awesome. We‟ve done a lot of touring with Disturbed, and a little with Avenged, and everybody‟s really cool. It‟s like a summer camp vibe ya‟ know? Haha. We have parties after every show and on days off we always end up running into everybody at the restaurants and everything. PI: Can you tell us about the meaning of the new album “Audio Secrecy”? JR: Basically, um we didn‟t have a title for the record and you know, it‟s always kinda a pain in the ass coming up with a record title because we really don‟t do “themes”, you know what I mean? We didn‟t have like a theme for the record per say, and everybody in the band writes, so essentially what happened was Corey (Taylor) likes to do metaphors and plays on words, so Audio Secrecy came out of a play on words that he came up with, which was idiosecrecy. You know, everybody has these weird little idio-secrecies, and then he made that into Audio Secrecy. And then out of that, we were kinda like oh shit we can do all this stuff like with secret societies, Angels and Demons, kinda weird you know, all that kinda stuff, and kinda go off this theme of trilateral commission and skull and bones, and all that kinda stuff. We kinda based the videos off that a little bit and some of the album art work and shit like that. So it was all from a ridiculous play on words. PI: So, the release date of Audio Secrecy will be September 7th. How do you feel about this? Are you excited? JR: Yess I‟m excited! But I‟m a little nervous too, you really never know what to expect, especially in this day and age where nobody is buying CD‟s anymore, and you‟re always a little nervous, you know. But yeah, I‟m excited, we‟re going to be on this tour when it comes out so that should help a little bit. I really don‟t put a lot of weight into the album coming out, because I really focus more on playing and doing live shows and things like that. That‟s kinda what I‟m more interested in right now. PI: The new album was described as being very melodic but also really dark, way darker than the first two albums. Is this true? What makes it darker? JR: Well, I think it‟s just how everything came out. It‟s like the stuff that‟s melodic is more melodic and the stuff
that‟s heavier came out a little more heavy. Um, I don‟t know why necessarily it would be called darker, because I mean, Corey (Taylor) writes all the lyrics and all the vocals and melodies, and honestly he‟s really happy right now…. (as Corey rides around us on his motor-scooter).. haha. Some of the songs were, you know, were a little to syrup-y for my taste too haha, I‟m a little bit more,.. I like to play the minor, more moody kinda shit like that. Like, when I listen to punk rock music I‟d rather it be something like blur 13 or something like that, that‟s kinda more my vibe, and he‟s more of a “goo goo dolls” kinda dude,.. and well,.. whatever, it works haha. We al kinda put our flavor into everything that goes on so the “darkness” I don‟t really know where that‟s coming from, maybe it‟s because I always go to aminor or d.. or things like that as far as the music is concerned. But Corey is really sing-songy and happy,.. you know, he‟s a ham, haha. PI: I was going to ask, do you usually share in the writing process for both bands? JR: Oh yea! Yep. I‟m actually writing, and I know the new album isn‟t even out yet, but I already have 3 songs written for the NEXT album haha. PI: If you were to write a song, how would you decide what band would do it? JR: Well it‟s very difficult. I had like 14 songs written when we started recording “All Hope is Gone” for Slipknot and um.. PI: 14? Holy shit haha, that‟s more than you guys even put on that album.. JR: Haha I know! But no, they were just like demos and stuff like that. I didn‟t write lyrics for them or anything, I just more so structured the music, and I had 3 songs in particular that I was looking to bring over to Stone Sour and well, we didn‟t really have many tunes for “All Hope is Gone” and our drummer Joey from Slipknot came over to my house he brought his drum set over and 2 of the songs I had intended for Stone Sour went on that “All Hope is Gone” record, so, I don‟t really, or I can‟t really say, here‟s a song I‟ve written and it going to be for this band, you know, sometimes I do sometimes I don‟t. It just really depends on the particular song. But like right now I have a song that sounds like very Slipknot-ish and it‟s kind of really heavy and dark and drudgy, and I‟m thinking of pulling it into the stone sour world because I want to see what we would so with the song, we really haven‟t had the opportunity to mess with anything like that,…yet. Haha. PI: In the line up of Stone Sour, you‟ve only had 1 member change. Do you consider yourselves as very tight group? JR: Yeaa, absolutely! When we‟re not on tour with Stone Sour, we all talk to each other, we all keep in close contact, I mean we do sort of separate into our own worlds, but not as bad as Slipknot. Like when we‟re on the road with Slipknot, and the tour is over, everybody just goes like pshhhhhh, gone, haha. Kinda like when you flip the lights on and all the cock roaches run away, haha, that‟s just how we are. And with Stone Sour it‟s a little bit different, we all are always in contact with each other, and we bullshit about what we‟re doin‟ next or just about random crap that we‟re interested in. Josh has his baseball cards, Shawn‟s building an R-2 d-2, haha, and not just a stupid thing, like an actual fuckin R-2 D-2 with full on stainless steel, big giant batteries and shit,. Haha, yea, we‟re nerds. PI: I know the band name came from a drink and… JR: A HORRIBLE drink haha PI: Whisky, orange juice and sour mix or something? JR: Ughhhh yea PI: Haha I guess you never drink those? JR: Nooo. God no! I only had one once, it was right after the first album went gold, we were with the record label, in New York, and I don‟t know why, just to be smartasses they had a party for the band and had stone sours made up all over for us and ugh, its just SO fucking terrible… PI: Haha I believe you! Doesn‟t sound good to me either. JR: And when the band was formed in like ‟93 ‟94, the original drummer came up with the name, and it was basically by looking at a drink menu. PI: Oh really, didn‟t know that. JR: Yeaa so it wasn‟t anything where there was any great thought that went to it or anything… PI: Was there a reason for that or..? JR: Well we were all a bunch of drunks back then, haha, we were all in that phase, drinking and doing whatever. Now, personally I hate the name. I think it‟s fuckin horrible, but what‟s in a name, ya know? I mean look at Korn‟s name,
haha, after a while the name just comes secondary and nobody cares. At first we all tried to change the name, and we had all types of cool names.. PI: And they wouldn‟t let you change it? JR: Ehh, it wasn‟t that they wouldn‟t “let” us. It was more everything was already taken. Superego was one on top of our list, and that‟s the Einstein kinda theory of the Superego and we really wanted to push for that but somebody already had that band name. PI: Well obviously they aren‟t any good, haha, you should just take it from them… JR: Haha! I wish! That‟s kinda what we went through with Slipknot, some Grateful Dead tribute band was called Slipknot and we literally had to pay them off so we could keep the name. I guess they were like touring in Massachusetts for 12 years and making a living of it so we had to make some kind of deal with them to take Slipknot as a name. So, we won that battle, but we wouldn‟t wanna get into something like that again for Stone Sour, we don‟t have the time or budget for if. Even though we came up with all these cool names like Tarantula Bomb and Section 8 and Superego.. PI: Tarantula Bomb? Haha JR: Wellll… I‟m in to Queens of the Stone age and STP and all those different bands, Mastadon,… I thought Tarantula Bomb was kinda cool.. PI: Nooo,.. I like it! Haha JR: Good! But yea, we didn‟t want any more fights, so we stuck with Stone Sour, oh yea and by the way, I FUCKING HATE IT. Haha, for the record. PI: If you HAD to pick, which band do you like playing for more? JR: Well, it‟s kinda hard, like choosing between your children. But you know, I‟m a fickle moody motherfucker, ask me one minute and ill say one thing, and then 20 minutes later ill have a completely different answer. I mean right now it‟s Stone Sour, because, well, that‟s what I‟m doing right now. But you know, with Slipknot it‟s cool, we all wear masks, and we‟re all wearin the same thing on stage and the mood on stage is different. There are no inhibitions, or worry about how I look or any of that fuckin shit. It‟s just straight up “Here I am with my mask, and fuck you because you can‟t see me in it anyway, so I can act like a fuckin dick, and whatever, fuck with people in the crowd, and it‟s all good. I‟ve kind of brought that mentality over to Stone Sour a little bit more because ill always have that that hang up, it‟s like getting up on stage and playing naked almost, there‟s nothing to hide behind, its just fucking who you are, and in that way I kinda prefer playing with Slipknot, but at the same time playing with SS is more open and free, and that‟s the type of guitar player I am, and I really draw some of my inspiration from classic rock guitarists like David Gilmore or Jimmy Page, they never played the same thing the exact same way twice, and I think that‟s edgy and kinda cool, you never really know what to expect when you see a band like that live. All these new bands come out and they have the ripping guitar players, but they play the same thing note for fucking note and it sounds exactly like the fuckin record, and ya know, they‟re probably playin‟ to the track anyways. You might as well just stand up there and play the fuckin record behind you through the PA and act like you‟re playing. When I‟m up there, if I fuck up, then I fuck up, it‟s real. PI: So what‟s next for Stone Sour and Slipknot? JR: For Stone Sour we‟re pretty set right now with touring and our new record coming up. You‟ll see a lot of us
this year. But for Slipknot, not so much, and you know, we don‟t have a bass player anymore.. and the way I see it, I think Slipknot should take a break and heal some wounds, and think about what our future is going to be. This is why I‟m thinking Stone Sour will have 2 back to back albums coming out soon. We will have more time to sit down and think. PI: I was going to ask if it‟s Ok with me asking about Paul Gray? (Slipknot‟s bassist who passed away during the summer). JR: Yea, sure. Paul was a great guy, a unique individual. It still really hasn‟t hit me that he‟s gone. Some days I wake up and wonder what he‟s doing, because we always kept in contact, like when I‟m on tour with SS. I mean, I still have text messages from him in my phone. It was a big surprise, nobody was ready for this. And now, his daughter October was just born and Paul‟s wife brought her to one of our shows and the baby looks just like Paul, his face, his lanky fingers, ugh its hard to even think about. I wish he was around to see her. But the family is getting a lot of support. From family, friends, us, our fans, everybody is helping out. The support means the world to her and us. PI: Well Jim, thank you so much for sitting down with Plug‟d in. It was wonderful talking to you. JR: Oh you‟re vey welcome. Anytime
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Jokes
We apologize if you found any of the jokes to be crude or offensive. We also apologize for you not having any sense of humor and for being so damn uptight. Jeez, they’re only jokes.
Two little kids are in a hospital, lying on stretchers next to each other outside the operating room. The first kid leans over and asks, "What are you in here for?" The second kid says, "I'm in here to get my tonsils out and I'm a little nervous." The first kid says, "You've got nothing to worry about. I had that done when I was four. They put you to sleep, and when you wake up they give you lots of Jell-O and ice cream. It's a breeze." The second kid then asks, "What are you here for?" The first kid says, "A circumcision." "Whoa!" the second kid replies. "Good luck, buddy. I had that done when I was born. Couldn't walk for a year." A guy went to a psychiatrist because he was having severe problems with his sex life. The psychiatrist asked him a lot of questions, but didn't seem to be getting a clear picture of the problems. Finally, he asked, "Do you ever watch your girlfriend's face while you're having sex?" "Well, yes, I did once." "Well, how did she look?" "Oh boy, she looked VERY angry!" At this point the psychiatrist felt that he was really getting somewhere and he said, "Well that's very interesting, we must look into this further. Now tell me, you say that you have only seen your girlfriend's face once during sex; that seems somewhat unusual. How did it occur that you saw her face that time?" "She was watching us through the window." A beautiful woman loved growing tomatoes, but couldn't seem to get her tomatoes to turn red. One day, while taking a stroll, she came upon a gentleman neighbor who had the most beautiful garden full of huge red tomatoes. The woman asked the gentlemen,"What do you do to get your tomatoes so red?" The gentlemen responded, "Well, twice a day I stand in front of my tomato garden naked in my trench coat and flash them. My tomatoes turn red from blushing so much." Well, the woman was so impressed; she decided to try doing the same thing to her tomato garden to see if it would work. So twice a day for two weeks she flashed her garden hoping for the best. One day the gentleman was passing by and asked the woman, "By the way, how did you make out? Did your tomatoes turn red?" "No", she replied, "but my cucumbers are enormous." A chicken farmer went to a local bar, sat next to a woman, and ordered a glass of champagne. The woman perks up and says, "How about that? I just ordered a glass of champagne, too! " "What a coincidence," he said, "This is a special day for me, I'm celebrating." "This is a special day for me, too, and I'm also celebrating!," says the woman. "What a coincidence," says the man. As they clinked glasses he asked, "What are you celebrating?" "My husband and I have been trying to have a child, and today my gynecologist told me I'm pregnant!" "What a coincidence," says the man. "I'm a chicken farmer. For years all my hens were infertile, but today they're finally laying fertilized eggs." "That's great!" says the woman, "How did your chickens become fertile?" "I switched cocks," he replied. She smiled and said, "What a coincidence!" A husband was asked: Do you talk to your wife after sex? His answer: Depends, if I can find a phone
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The Breakdown w/ Bandi On Friday, October 1st, King‟s X and Accept were at the Silo, courtesy of Sam, U Walk Ent., and Driving Metal Entertainment. The show started at 8 with King‟s X taking the stage, for there were no opening bands. King‟s X consists of three men, playing a bass, drums and guitar. They‟ve been together for over 20 years, releasing about 15 albums. They have almost a blues/rock sound to them. The sound quality was great, and the smoke that constantly blew across the back of the stage was a nice touch to the show. Their songs varied in subject matter. Some were on a lighter note, a pure rocking song, and others had a darker tone to it, but all were great. It was definitely a good performance. Up until this point, I had vaguely heard of King‟s X, but have since been added to my music collection. Accept is a heavy metal band from Germany. It was a very high-energy show right from the start. The sound quality was great and the vocals were stellar. Accept had a great bass line. Mark Tornillo, the vocalist, has only been with Accept since 2009, and had very large shoes to fill after the departure of Udo Dirkschneider. He was small in stature, but packed a very mighty metal punch. He had so much energy, and filled the stage. His versatility as a vocalist was proven throughout the show. From their latest release, Blood of the Nations, Teutonic Terror is an absolutely amazing song. It hit # 5 on the worldwide video charts, beating out Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber. The instrumental pieces individually were an absolute pleasure to witness. Accept had some heavy riffs, awesome chorus lines and impressive solos of both guitar and bass. Accept left the stage briefly, but came back on to do four more songs, finishing out the night with their most famous -to-date hit, Balls To The Wall, that had the crowd singing along. I‟ve listened to some older Accept, and I‟ve listened to the latest, and I‟d definitely say that Accept is back with a vengeance and ready to kick some serious metal ass! The crowd was decent, had some young, some not so young, but everyone present was rocking out. It was a great show, but the lights that kept flashing out into the crowd left for driving home seeing spots. Accept and King‟s X treated the Silo to one hell of a rocking show. Put them on the to-see list.
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Plug’d In’s Certified Blast From the Past
You just got to respect Chuck Norris. Seriously, if you don't its your ass. Here’s some funny reasons why Chuck Norris is the “Man”. Accept– Balls to the Wall 1.Balls to the Wall 2.London Leatherboys 3.Fight It Back 4.Head Over Heels 5.Losing More Than You've Ever Had 6.Love Child 7.Turn Me On 8.Losers and Winners 9.Guardian of the Night 10.Winterdreams
Chuck Norris doesn't worry about changing his clock twice a year for daylight savings time. The sun rises and sets when Chuck tells it to. Chuck Norris only masturbates to pictures of Chuck Norris. Filming on location for Walker: Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris brought a stillborn baby lamb back to life by giving it a prolonged beard rub. Shortly after the farm animal sprang back to life and a crowd had gathered, Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked the animal, breaking its neck, to remind the crew once more that Chuck giveth, and the good Chuck, he taketh away.
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Chuck Norris was the fourth Wiseman. He brought baby Jesus the gift of “beard”. Jesus wore it proudly to his dying day. The other Wisemen, jealous of Jesus‟ obvious gift favoritism, used their combined influence to have Chuck omitted from the Bible. Shortly after all three died of roundhouse kick related deaths.
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Chuck Norris used live ammunition during all shoot-outs. When a director once said he couldn‟t, he replied, “Of course I can, I‟m Chuck Norris,” and roundhouse kicked him in the face.
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From the Throne of the Rock God Rants, Raves, and , News for the Minions I'm writing this week @ the last minute..tired and drained, just having come from the Godsmack, Five Finger Death Punch, and Drowning Pool show last night in Camden, NJ. The show was absolutely amazing and a credit to Rock N Roll performances everywhere. It‟s a hell of an experience to share such an amazing show with thousands of other fans. At the end of the show every last fan was on their feet screaming for more. In my opinion...that's what matters. Its all about going to a show, seeing your favorite bands, getting your money‟s worth, and having a great time. Music serves a lot of purposes in our lives, but the live concert experience is the one thing that can never be truly captured on an album, video, or on the radio. Kind of like the old saying “You had to be there”. Case in point….the dueling drum solos between Godmack vocalist Sully Erna and drummer Shannon Larkin. It was something you just had to see for yourself. The timing between the two musicians, the lightshow, and the crowd reaction made for a truly memorable experience. You cant get that off a “live” DVD. I guess my point is this…..Music plays an important role in our lives, but its not until you experience that music live in concert do you truly start to feel transformed. When you get to see your favorite artist play your favorite song in a way that you‟ve never heard before….that's when you start to live the true musical experience. Have a great one and until next time…..
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Toil Records Fest 09/18/10
Sweet and Spicy 09/21/10
Sweet and Spicy 09/21/10
My Ticket Home 09/22/10
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