E-mail interview with Missi Avila, vocalist of death metal outfit Your Chance To Die. Get to know the band below & don’t forget to download a brand new track from their forthcoming album, Suscitacio Somnus, here.
First off, since you’ll be new to most of our readers, can you give a short back story of the band?
YCTD started four years ago this month with founding members Missi, Coca and Daniel. After changing the lineup several times we have settled in with our current lineup and have been progressing ever since. We are from a small town in South Carolina which presents some problems in getting our music to the masses so we rely heavily on the internet and our fans to tell others about us. We work really hard to play shows all over the SE including driving up to 6 hours for a show, just to come back home the same night. We love our music with such a passion that we can’t wait to be doing this full time. We have been privileged to share the stage with lots of national acts and meet many great people along the way.
Who are the various members of the band and what instruments do they play?
Coca Avila-guitar
Chase Crouch-guitar
Daniel Todd-drums
Jeff Edwards-bass
Missi Avila-vocals
Is there any significance to the name Your Chance To Die?
Our name means a lot to us. We see so many people (both ‘religious’ and non) who live a very selfish lifestyle with no consideration of others. We believe that in order to have a fulfilling life you must ‘die to yourself’, and for us, this also means to be reborn and live life not for our own selfish desires, but to honor our God the best we can.
You guys are from Columbia, South Carolina. How is the overall music scene there?
Well.. We have met some very wonderful people and bands from SC. Unfortunately, we don’t have the benefit of a really large city nearby that would help bring in more diverse people. There aren’t a lot of venues that will host shows of our genre so it’s a struggle for all of the bands in this area. The ones that have become our fans, though, have been very supportive and we will always be proud to call this our hometown.
Describe your overall sound.
Melodic death metal
Who are your bands biggest influences musically and lyrically?
Our band is very diverse with our influences, yet we all have the same ideas of how we want our music to sound. Its cool how you can combine so many influences to create something totally new. We have a guitarist who is classically trained and also brings power metal influences into his song writing. Our drummer and bassist bring more death core influences and love a good breakdown. The lyrics are pretty straight forward; my most powerful influence is my relationship with Jesus Christ and all of my lyrics revolve around verses from the Bible. To me, there is nothing else in this world that matters and it is pretty much all I write about.
You self-released an EP back in 2009 and recently wrapped up recording your new album right? Can you give us more details on that?
Yes we did. The EP was fun recording and reflected a certain period of our band, but we have progressed so much as a band and the new album is something we are really proud of. The songs are much more technical, my vocals have gotten stronger and the overall sound is much tighter than on the EP ‘Verdict for the Gods’.
What can we expect with the new album?
This is a full length entitled ‘Suscitacio Somnus’ A lot less ‘core’ and a lot more ‘metal’. We have some teaser tracks available on the Myspace and Facebook pages. I can’t express how proud we are of this album.
Where did you record the newest material? How did the recording process go?
We recorded with renowned producer Jamie King (Through the Eyes of the Dead, The Human Abstract, For Today, Between the Buried and Me, etc.) We were so privileged to be able to work with him. The recording went very smoothly as we had practiced our faces off before we went up to NC to record. It was a lot of fun and Jamie was great to work with.
Let’s talk about your songwriting process. Is there a main songwriter or is it a group effort? What about the lyrics?
I, Missi, write all of the lyrics and Coca and Chase take care of the music. It can take months for us to prepare a song for performing (and we practice twice a week!) simply because we take so much pride in what we write that we won’t just throw a song together for the sake of having another song. Each song we write is really special to us and something we are proud of. It’s a tedious process but something we all enjoy doing together.
Would you do YCTD full-time if the opportunity presented itself?
Absolutely, it is our main goal right now.
Any upcoming tours / tour dates we should take note of?
Be on the look out this summer for a tour. We are looking to go up the east coast as well as hit up the Midwest. We’ll be touring 2-3 times this year.
Pick 3 current bands that you’d really like to tour with.
Wretched, Becoming the Archetype, and our long time friends Divulgence.
Do you consider YCTD to be a ministry or more so Christians who happen to be in a band?
This is a touchy subject with a lot of people, but we really hate to be tagged ‘christian band’ we don’t believe that our beliefs should be a part of our genre of music. A genre is a genre and just that. What we do or believe has nothing to do with the type of music we play. We are Christians and do our very best to life our lives in that respect; now, that creates a lot of criticisms from both sides because we don’t always do a great job at it and we get talked about, and then some people just have a problem with God to begin with so we get bashed for our beliefs. The way I see it is, if you can’t get over what I’m singing about and enjoy the music, then stay home and don’t come to a show. To me, YCTD is a chance to change the world and we all have to agree that the world needs changing.
What are a few things that you would like to accomplish with the band?
We want to get on the road full time with the support of a record label. We have worked really hard and are ready for this next step. I used to live overseas and I can’t wait to get back out into the world doing what I love. We all feel the same way and are working to promote the band the best ways we can.
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Thanks to everyone who has given us a listen, and to all of our fans who have supported us the last 4 years. We are excited about what the next few months hold and keep a look out for our new album. In the meantime listen to the track on the Facebook and Myspace page and let us all know what you think. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for our fans and we thank you all!