How many current projects are you working on now? (LS, Soul Embraced, We Are The Fallen, any more? Any not any more?)
I also play drums in a band called Machina but that’s pretty much it, that’s all I have time for really. I will always do those bands, all my friends are in those bands so really it’s like hanging out with your buddies and new music happens to pop out of that.
How do you balance all the time between bands without being burned out? How does your faith fit into all of that?
I try to do each band when another band is not busy so its not really juggling each one as much as going from band to band when there’s time and some are on drums and some on guitar so you never really get burned out.. The faith part doesn’t figure in to balancing things but I bring my faith with me from band to band.
What kind of fan reaction are you getting for We Are The Fallen?
The fans have been amazing, we have some haters but that will happen with the situation were in and we deal with it appropriately which is shake it off and pay attention to the ones that care. Were on tour with H.I.M. right now and of course most of their fans have never heard of us but we still manage to squeeze some reaction out of them. Its been a great tour so far and it keeps getting better with every show.
How did We Are The Fallen get formed? Are any of the other members Christians?
We Are The Fallen was formed when my old pal Ben Moody called while I was filling in with The Killer And The Star and asked if I’d be interested in starting another band and I said of course let’s do it. He called guitarist John LeCompt who we had played with before in our old band and Marty O’Brien who had played bass on most of the stuff Ben had been producing and a friend of Bens told him he should talk to a friend of theirs, Carly Smithson who was on American Idol about joining us and when he asked she said yes and we went on from there and its been a really great experience for all of us. John is the only other Christian in the band.
It is hard to not hear the similarities between We Are The Fallen and Evanescence, was that intentional?
It was our intention to write the best songs we could and make them sound like what We Are The Fallen sounds like and I believe we did that.
Are you allowed now to mention what really happened with the Evanescence split?
No.
There are no plans for you taking an extended leave of absence or possible leaving Living Sacrifice is there?
I will not be leaving Living Sacrifice. I love those guys and they totally understand the situation. I will do all the shows I can, although quite limited right now cause my schedule is pretty tight for the rest of the year but I will be doing all the records with them for sure.
Are you still part of Soul Embraced; is Soul Embraced still a band? If so, when might we get some new music?
Soul Embraced IS still a band. We got a new guitarist, Ed Collins and have completed 4 songs for the new album and are still writing. The new stuff is quite different but in ways even more fast and brutal than before. I’m loving all the new stuff we have. It will be next year before we can get into the studio most likely. Maybe a demo or two will leak in the near future.
Word is you are a great drummer as well as a great guitarist, which do you prefer playing more?
I’m only playing guitar for Living Sacrifice now and playing drums for everything else. Id have to say I love them both but spend more time behind the kit so that’s where I’m most comfortable.
If you are playing guitar on a record, do you give advice on drums or vice versa with drums giving advice on guitars?
I do offer ideas for guitar stuff if I’m on drums and drum ideas if I’m on guitar. Lance Garvin is the same way, he can play both instruments and has great ideas for both, and we work great together like that.
Any chance of you ever tracking some drums on a future LS album?
No way. I only want to hear Lance on drums when I listen to an LS record.
Of all the records you have recorded in your career, which is your favorite?
I really love all the records I’ve been blessed to be a part of. Some highlights for me was Soul Embraced Dead Alive and LS’s The Hammering Process. Those records happened in special places of my life and Ill always have those records as reminders of them.
Whatever happened to Kill System?
Kill System in some ways turned into Mourningside. John LeCompt and I kind of took that sound we started with Kill System and improved on it and got a few friends to work with us on it but essentially its the same thing.
Will you and Jon ever get Mindrage back together?
No.
When will Machina release their album?
That’s still up in the air, we wanted to have it out already but its been a struggle to get it to happen but it will be released eventually.