MTV2 HEADBANGERS BALL THE TOUR
Press Conference
11/06/03
Vic Theatre
Photos: Erika Kristen Watt
Transcriber: Sharita Lumpkin

Press Conference Attendees:
Randy Blythe – Lamb Of God
Howard Johnson – Killswitch Engage
Brian Fair – Shadows Fall
Trevor Phipps – Unearth

Brian: Brian from Shadows Fall, vocals.
Trevor Phipps Howard Jones Randy Blythe Headbangers Ball I (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)
Randy: Randy [Blythe] from Lamb of God, vocals.

Howard: Carl Weathers, Rocky II and III. (laughs)

Brian: He died in IV man.

Howard: But hey, I came back. I’m like Black Jesus! (laughs)

Trevor: Trevor [Phipps] from Unearth, vocals.

Press: This is the first ever Headbanger’s Ball tour. This is a big thing for you guys. How does it feel to be a young group of artists on this tour? Just give me your thoughts on the whole tour itself.

Brian: The tour is amazing, but it’s funny. We were setting it all up ourselves before MTV2 got involved. All of us our finishing our album cycles right now, and everyone is going to take a break to write. So we were trying to figure out the best metal tour we could put together. It was a no brainer for like us, Killswitch, Lamb of God – we’re all good friends and we’re all at the same point. So it’s perfect. When we talked about openers, Unearth and God Forbid were the two names that everyone through out. It worked out amazing. MTV2 found out about it and wanted to hop on and support it which is cool. I mean they could have gone the easy way and done the Godsmack and like whatever tour. That would have made them more money. But they wanted to support some underground bands. It’s killer man. We’re just stoked.

Randy: It hurts. (laughs)

Brian: Yeah, this tour hurts.

Press: How many dates into the tour are you right now?

Randy: We’re in day nine I think.

Brian: It feels like day fifty already. (laughs)

Randy: We’ve got like four more weeks or something like that.

Brian: We’ve got a long way to go.

Trevor: We have seven more shows left because we had to split it with God Forbid, but it’s been a good time. We’ve been happy doing the tour.

Howard: Everyone answered everything. I’m going to drink my water now.

Press: Are you guys surprised that MTV sponsored such a heavy tour?

Randy: Not really.

Brian: The Headbangers Ball has been amazing. They’ve actually been playing videos by underground bands on indie labels. So it’s perfect. You’ve got to think about how the first ever Headbangers tour actually was Helloween, Anthrax and Exodus. So those weren’t exactly your big sellers at K-Mart back then either. So it’s cool to be involved with that. If we had to pick which band we could get to be, we’d be Exodus because it seems like they had a lot of fun.

Howard: Considering how huge all those bands are now… How cool is this that Headbangers Ball is backing us? (laughs)

Brian: Is this the final nail in the coffin? (laughs)

Howard: Oh yes, we’re screwed. (laughs)

Press: Aside from Lamb of God, none of the bands involved in this tour have released a full length for a little while anyway. Would you guys rather have gotten an album out before you went on this tour to do promotion on and everything?

Brian: This is the end of the tour cycle, so it’s perfect for us to end it on a bang. And then we’re gonna go make another record. We would tour with Art of Balance for another year of Century Media didn’t want another record. (laughs) I hate having to write and record. It sucks.

Howard: Pretty much same here. We’re right at the end of this album. We’ve pretty much beat it into the ground so it’s time to record again.

Trevor: Same thing for us, too. We just signed to Metal Blade, and we’re going to record in January and put it out in the spring.

Press: The Headbangers Ball show and the tour are the first activities in awhile that are pushing good metal music to a mainstream audience. Do you think that indicates a potential swing back to the popularity of “real metal” in the mainstream?Brian Fair of Shadows Fall at Headbangers Ball Tour (Photo: Erika Kristen Watt)

Brian: There’s definitely going to be some attention paid as it becomes a little bit more commercially viable. But the bottom line is that this is extreme music, and it’s underground music. It’s not going to be any Top 40 shit. We challenge listeners. We’re not trying to make it easy on them. We’re trying to make it hurt. A lot of people don’t feel like getting beat up when they put on their headphones. So fuck ‘em.

Randy: I don’t think any of these bands will ever be like Britney Spears or anything, you know?

Brian: I’ll be as hot! (laughs) I’ve been working out.

Randy: But right now is a good time for our stuff. A lot of people are interested in it. I think it has to do with the economy and the political climate. Everyone is pissed off. You don’t want to listen to the Backstreet Boys while the shit is hitting the fan. (laughs)

Howard: Hey, I’m black. We’re gonna go for the rap now. (laughs) Dope beats and rhymes…big ass pants… I’m gonna like cover my face now and be like, “I’m feeling angst, man! I’m feeling angst!” (laughs)

Trevor: I’m going to agree with Randy.

Howard: You’re not going to agree with me? (laughs)

Trevor: I was going to tell them I was black. (laughs)

Press: Kind of along the same lines, you can tell there is a mixed crowd outside. There is a lot of people who have probably been listening to you guys for a long time, and there is a lot of people who are just sort of coming in because this is an MTV thing and they probably saw your videos a couple of times and are just now getting into it. When you see the crowd, how is the reaction from the old fans and the new fans?

Brian: It’s been crazy. It’s definitely a mixed up audience. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that all of us have toured with so many random bands at this point. Between us and Killswitch doing Ozzfest and I know Lamb of God has gone out with bands like Mushroomhead and Anthrax – random bands like that. We’ve done back to back tours with like King Diamond and Glassjaw. So the audience right now is just like schizophrenic. (laughs) You got the forty year old dude in denim who saw you with King Diamond and the thirteen year old Hot Topic kid who saw your video and the emo kid who got sucked in at the Glassjaw show. It’s just a mess. That’s why there’s so many fucking fights. (laughs)

Randy: I can’t see because I take my glasses off. I have no idea what’s going on. I just hope they catch me when I jump. (laughs)

Howard: To me it’s like we’re the Jefferson’s and they’re all the neighbors. And you’re like gonna walk on my back and make me feel better and, um, never mind… I don’t know where I’m going with that.

Brian: Nowhere.

Howard: Dude, it’s the Jefferson’s, come on!

Trevor: Those shows were all great… We’re happy to all be here. It’s an awesome tour for us. It’s the biggest tour we’ve ever done.

Erika (FourteenG): You guys said earlier that, “it hurt.” What made it hurt?

Brian: It actually hurt. I’ve been coming up and singing a little part of “11th Hour” with Lamb of God every night. Usually I get a little excited and try to dive in the crowd. I was on my way back over from the crowd last night when the bouncer decided to throw me to the side as I rolled my ankle. Of course we had to play twenty minutes after that happened. I had to do the one foot hop.

Randy: Hop along Cassidy.

Brian: I was like karate kid.

Randy: It also hurts… Howard doesn’t drink, but we’ve been drinking a lot. A whole lot. Every night. I broke my knuckle the other night. I punched a wall like an 18 year old idiot. I was pissed when I got off stage. It hurts. Throwing yourself into the crowd every night – none of us are exactly calm front men. (laughs) There are no real sedate moments in our set. When you freak out every night for 45 minutes hard, it wears on you. Plus you aren’t in your own bed; you aren’t in your own town. I’m not complaining though.

Brian: Yeah, you just get hurt. I’ll pull a muscle in my arm just holding the mic too hard.

Howard: (laughs) Honestly, our job is better than yours (talking to press). We have the coolest job in the world, but stuff happens. “Where did I get that cut?” “Why is this swollen?”

Brian: Yeah, the shower after the set is always amazing.

Howard: You’re rubbing soap and you’re like, “My god, why does that burn?” But still seriously, there’s no better job in the world.

Trevor: Best job in the world definitely. Tons of shin bruises from jumping on the barricade.

Brian: We ain’t about to sit down and lollygag. We’re gonna try and set it off. It’s part of the job.

Trevor: It ain’t about sitting around. This is aggressive music.

Brian: I might be sitting down a little tonight. (laughs) Bring my Lazyboy and my smoking jacket….

Randy: Your wheelchair…

Press: Earlier someone asked a question about the current state of heavy music and later you guys commented that it’s sort of schizophrenic that all these different styles, whether it be hardcore or metalcore or the labels that people put on it… And all these things are changing. Do you think with all this mix of genres that it’s going to help the general course of heavy music to get better and stronger in the next couple of years?

Randy: I think there are a lot of bands right now that are coming up out of the underground that are very good and talented. Everybody’s good players. There’s no slop. So I think all of us kinda push each other. If I see like Shadows Fall or Killswitch or Unearth, and I’m like, “Damn that part is killer…” we’re not gonna go out there and put some weak stuff out. I mean, yeah I think it’s coming up really well you know.

Brian: The thing with metal – it’s always been such an experimental genre. There are so many types of metal. If you look at a list at like the Wacken Outdoor Festival and you can gave The Gathering and Cannibal Corpse play on the same festival, and it’s still metal. And they couldn’t be any more different. And even like a label like Century Media that puts out Krisiun and then like Moonspell because they’re all metal. The boundaries are just gone…

Randy: Blurring…

Brian: And that’s the whole thing between hardcore, metal and grind core… It doesn’t even matter any more. You can put fifty prefixes in front of the word metal and it still doesn’t make it any different. There’s only two kinds – good and bad. The good shit is gonna rise to the top, and all the bad shit will probably actually get signed to major labels and sell a million records and be huge. (laughs)

Howard: I wanna bring the Weird Al element back into metal.

Press: I agree, man. I agree.

Trevor: I think there are fewer gimmicks with bands today than in the last ten years with people wearing masks and makeup and doing kind of horseshit music. But I think the real stuff is back like it was in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

Randy: Ugly and sweaty.

Brian: Yeah, ugly and sweaty.

Sharita Lumpkin (FourteenG): I wanted to ask if you feel there’s going to be an 80’s metal resurgence. I’m actually a child of the 80s, so I lived through Poison and Bon Jovi and everything.

Randy: Hopefully not. (laughs)

Howard: Hey, hey, hey… (laughs)

Brian: If you see Randy’s new pink leotard with the spandex… He’s looking hot in that shit. He lives a little hole for the patch on the back. He looks hot in that shit. You can see the whole package – it’s amazing.

Howard: Hey, I am Mama’s fallen angel. (laughs) It’s kinda cool because they were good musicians and everything. I mean some of their music was a little cheesy…]

Brian: Some?

Howard: Ok, they hit the strings – it was cheesy. They ended – it wasn’t cheesy anymore. I don’t know. Just right now, music’s changing. There are so many bands out there right now that are getting exposure. It’s just a really cool time right now for heavy bands. Everything goes in cycles. It’s like the pop-punk thing was pretty big and now it’s falling. There was the ska thing for awhile. And god, the rap-metal was just… (laughs) I love rap and I love metal, but man that’s…

Randy: The twain shall never…

Howard: You just don’t mix that. That’s just bad.

Brian: It’s hits what I call the trickster stage of every genre of music. When you have a band coming out with the teen pop version of whatever genre it is, it’s over dude. (laughs) It’s been driven into the ground. It happened with grunge with Silverchair and pop-punk with Good Charlotte and all that shit. And soon there’s going to be a boy band metal version playing In Flames rips. It’s coming.

Randy: I didn’t tell you about my boy band? All-4-Satan. (laughs) I’m gonna look really good. I’m going to get big and fat and manage them and make millions. The first song will be called “Satanity.” They’ll do dance moves, but they’re all gonna be in black singing about the devil and shit.

Brian: It’s on.

Press: Well, I’ve got a good question that kind of follows up where we were going. Lamb of God just got signed to Epic. Unearth moved up to Metalblade. Is there any apprehension with you guys coming from the background of extreme metal and extreme hardcore and having so many major labels and cable television like MTV paying attention to you? Is there anything in the back of your head that’s kind of like, “how do we take this – do we just kind of go along?” Do you guys have any personal stories regarding that?

Trevor: For us, we just wanted to continue writing music that we wanted to write, and that’s why we chose Metalblade because they’re not going to stand in the way of anything we want to do. If the band wants to write pop songs, we will. But I can tell you right now we’re not going to. This next record is going to be the heaviest thing we’ve ever done. That’s the freedom we wanted to have.

Howard: To me it’s the nature of the beast right now. I’ve been in bands for like ten or eleven years, and I remember it was a big deal if you got music on a tape because you put everything on 7”. And then it was a big deal if you had a CD and it wasn’t just on tape. And it’s just progressing. It’s like everybody has got a video now. It’s like not a big deal to shoot one of those things. Everything is just changing now. You can really say anything bad about that. It’s just what it is. If we can go out and come home and pay our rent because we were on the road for five or six weeks, then sweet! (laughs) That’s awesome. That means I don’t have to go to Burger King and flip a couple of burgers to keep doing what I love doing. Hey, more power to it.

Randy: With us, we just signed to a major. I don’t think Epic really understands what we do, but I think they know not to screw with us. Hatebreed signed with Universal, and they’re still doing the exact same thing. They just got a bigger budget. If they try and tell us to write a single or whatever for the radio, we’re just going to be like – no. (laughs) You know? No, it’s not going to happen. We’re just going to write exactly what we want to write. I think it will be a good thing for the underground depending on how they handle it. If we get some exposure and sort of the mass populace starts accepting it, then it will open the door for the other bands. I know that’s what Hatebreed was hoping when they signed with Universal. I talked to Jamie a lot about that.

Brian: It changed the whole game when they signed.

Randy: Completely. It kind of opened the door. That’s what we’re trying to do – just kick it open wider.

Trevor: And in a way right now with the major labels just completely lacking, it’s obvious everyone really wants quality over quantity. You’re looking at MTV right now. You’re starting to see that the labels and MTV are actually starting to give people what they’re really looking for instead of giving them the usual bullshit.

Brian: That’s the whole thing. I know everyone sitting at this table… We’ve been through this for so long…

Randy: Yeah…

Brian: We’ve figured out how to run this thing. So if you just look at a major label as a financer… We keep doing what we do. It’s in-house. We’ve got it all figured out. If we can use their money to push it to another level that we just couldn’t get to before because of that, then that’s just amazing. We’re not stupid. We watched bands that have signed to majors right out of the practice space spend their entire budget and all their advances in like a month. And there were bands at Ozzfest that couldn’t even finish because they got their tour support yanked. I’ve never gotten tour support ever. (laughs) That was like a foreign term to me. I hear that they’re going home because they got their tour support cut. I’m like, “Pussy, get in the van and finish the tour.”

Press: You guys were like the two breakthrough bands on the second stage. I mean, come on – let’s face it.

Brian: The bands that were getting the response on Ozzfest were all the heavier bands like Chimaira, us, Killswitch, Sworn Enemy, Cradle of Filth… People were sick of the redundancy and clone-style of all the nu-metal shit. It’s just done. Those were the bands where I would hear what they’re paying their techs and hear what they pay for their bus and hear what they took in their own money, I’m like, “Well, no wonder you’re going home in two weeks. You just spent 400 grand in a summer.”

Randy: None of us are kids. We’ve been doing this for a long time. We’re not 16 year olds with wide eyes, and we aren’t going to get all excited.

Brian: We’re bitter fucking assholes. (laughs)

Randy: We’re a bunch of bitter old men. We’re going to play the game the way we want to the play the game.

Brian: But shit, I’ll roll the dice with their money.

Randy: Exactly. Word. (To a press member) Do you work for Epic? (laughs)

Press: I lead the dual life – the college radio and the other…

Randy: I don’t really give a fuck. (laughs)

Brian: They’ve already signed a bunch of loudmouth rednecks. It’s all good. (laughs)

Press: Speaking of Ozzfest, both Shadows Fall and Killswitch were on it… Now you guys are touring again with each other. It seems like there’s a real brotherhood. Is that what you guys feel right now?

Brian: We hate those fucking guys. (laughs) We’ve known each other for so long that it’s ridiculous. Before Howard was even in Blood Has Been Shed, my old band used to play with his old band…which I still have the demo for and could play for everyone. (laughs)

Howard: Whoa… (laughs) Horrible.

Randy: Oh yeah.

Brian: Me and Mike D from Killswitch were in a band together for eight years. Matt and John went to school with Adam and Joel. We’ve known each other for too long. We’ve been playing with Unearth for as long as I can remember – ever since the Overcast days. Lamb of God – as soon as I got into Shadows Fall it was one of the first bands we played with. We’ve just all been friends since. It’s a small enough scene that you just try and make friends. The bands that get along support each other. The bands that you feel like are doing it for the wrong reasons, we don’t give a shit about and we leave them behind. That’s why when set up tours, that’s how it always ends up. Just all our boys…

Howard: Dude, I remember when you guys put out your first demo CD…

Brian: With all the tools on it.

Howard: Buzz tried to give it to me, and I bought it instead. That’s support bro. You suck, give me my five dollars back! (laughs)

Brian: Been spent a long time ago…

Press: This one is kind of for you Howard. I know the last time I heard you guys were scheduled to record in December and do mixing in January. Is all your stuff written and ready, and what does it sound like?

Howard: Most of it is written. It sounds like Killswitch… It’s a little heavier; it’s got more melody…eh, you’ll see. (laughs)

Randy: Killswitch squared.

Howard: It is honestly a little bit heavier. It’s a little more chaotic. It’s got a lot more melody in it. But it still sounds like Killswitch. (To Randy and Brian) Hey, what are you doing down there?

Randy: He (Brian) said it’s a little darker. (laughs)

Howard: It’s kind of like the thigh on the chicken… (laughs)

Randy: That’s fucked up. (laughs)

Press: There’s been all this uproar with RIAA suing 12 year olds, lots of other shit like that. I know a lot of smaller bands have really benefited from online music trading to help them get a fanbase. What’s your take on the climate and the situation that is going on with that right now?

Brian: I think it’s good that it’s shared between people. But if you really like a band, honestly go buy their record because SoundScan is the only measure of success in the music industry on that end, like on the business end. So if you really do like someone, you should want to get the artwork and you should want to get the lyrics. You should want to go a step further and support them. But at the same time, if that’s how you found out about my band (because someone sent you a file), then that’s great. And if you didn’t like it, don’t buy it. But if you liked it, go and buy the record. I’m guilty of it. But I usually go get old stuff that I already had on tape, so I don’t feel that bad about it.

Howard: Let’s be honest. Hardcore kids are the cheapest kids ever.

Brian: They get mad when you’re t-shirts are $10. It’s amazing.

Howard: They’re like, “Dude, I came and saw your old band six years ago, can you put me on the guest list?” No! (laughs) Damn. (puts tape recorder to mouth and chew a chip) (laughs)

Randy: We went to number one on http://www.mp3.com when we were Burn the Priest. I think that drew some label attention to us. Like he’s saying, like I’ll check out music on the Internet and so forth, but I make a conscious to go and purchase it from a store that does SoundScan. I mean, because I do this for a living. You know? Like I went and bought the new Hatebreed record the other day.

Brian: The day in came out, yeah.

Randy: It’s like, Jamie I know would have given it to me. But he’s got a kid and shit; he’s got bills to pay.

Howard: That’s why when I was in Japan, I bought the Justin Timberlake CD. (laughs) I want to support him because he of all people, he needs the money.

Randy: HIM and Metallica.

Brian: You think he’s kidding. I saw him buy it. (laughs)

Howard: Yeah… That shit’s pimp. (laughs)

Press: What kind of stuff do you guys spin on your own free time when you have a chance to listen to something?

Brian: Since I’ve been on metal tours for the last however many years, I rarely listen to something that heavy after the show or even during the day. I’ve been listening to more Brit-pop space rock stuff like Spiritualized and old Spaceman 3 and even a little bit of Radiohead. But also a lot of reggae and hip hop just to try and mix it up, to take a step back. Usually when a new band comes out with a new record, I’ll check it out a couple of times and get into it. In my spare time, I also promote metal bands. So when I’m at work, I’m listening to metal bands. When I’m on tour, I’m listening to metal bands. When I’m on my headphones, I’m listening to Simon and Garfunkel. (laughs) My ears are ringing right now, so that last thing I want to hear is Deicide at 4 in the morning.

Randy: Yeah…I’ve had this Jill Scott infatuation. I’ve been listening to her a lot at night. There’s a lot of good hip hop coming out of Virginia in my hometown. There’s The Clips from Virginia Beach, a lot of stuff like the Neptunes do… I too listen to a lot of reggae and 70s stuff.

Brian: I’ve been playing The Smiths a lot, too. (laughs)

Howard: Pretty much four things… I listen to H.I.M. before anything. I listen to H.I.M. more than anything else. Coldplay, Deftones and Ludacris. Done deal. (laughs) That’s one of the funniest men on the planet.

Trevor: We listen to a lot of the Beatles and Nirvana and some Dave Matthews band as well.

Howard: (laughs)

Trevor: Don’t look at me like that. (laughs)

Randy: They used to play every Friday night in Richmond for $5 at this club called The Floodzone. He’s from our area.

Trevor: Oh really. Have you seen them?

Randy: Regrettably, yes. (laughs)

Brian: If you raided my CD collection, you’d probably be pretty disappointed. I man, I’ve got The Grateful Dead boxset in there. (laughs) But you know, that’s what I’ve been listening to.

Howard: For years I’ve been ripping on you for that.

Brian: Whatever dude… (laughs) I’ve been going to hardcore shows since I was 13, and the best show I’ve ever been to is The Grateful Dead.

Howard: You are so fired. (laughs)

Randy: Please delete this part of the interview. (laughs) I don’t want to be associated with this guy any longer.

Trevor: I think each guy in the band has different taste in music. To keep a band getting along, everyone has to be patient with each member’s personal musical tastes.

Randy: And have their own Walkman.

Howard: Oh yeah.

Brian: I remember back in Overcast I used to take the nightshift to drive just so I could listen to my music finally because no one would let me for the entire day. They’d all go to sleep, and I’d listen to some Spiritualized or Radiohead.

Press: You guys are definitely on a combination tour that’s really heavy. And you guys have already gone through these Ozzfest and package tours. You guys have probably done some festivals. What is like another dream tour? Because to some fans, this is definitely a dream tour. What is the next step? Do you guys maybe want to play with Hatebreed? Do you want to play with Slayer?

Randy: We’ve all played with Hatebreed, and I’ve played with Slayer.

Brian: Honestly, for right now this is the perfect tour I could think of. If I could do another tour after this, it would be Iron Maiden. (laughs) That new record is incredible, too. That would just be great. We were lucky enough to play Castle Donnington with Iron Maiden this year, and it doesn’t get any better than that. Metallica snuck in and played a set on the old stage of all old material. It was the greatest day ever. And The Darkness played, too. I mean it was Castle Donnington in the UK. The Darkness is going to save rock and roll.

Trevor: You think so?

Howard: Dude, they already have.

Brian: You’ll hear them all night tonight. That’s the only thing we play over the PA. (laughs)

Press: (to Brian) How many people did you play in front of?

Brian: Seventy thousand or something ridiculous. We played at like 10 am and there were tens of thousands of people there. I have to give Stampin’ Ground from the UK props because they did the first double wall of death that I’ve ever seen. There was like a barricade splitting the entire crowd into two. We’re talking tens of thousands of people. They split both sides into the ultimate double wall of death. Stampin’ Ground gets props for that.

Sharita (FourteenG): I had a question for Howard actually… I was reading up on your other band Blood Has Been Shed and I just wanted to know how they felt about you doing material for them as well as Killswitch.

Press: (in the background) Please tour… please tour…

Howard: They’re pretty cool with it. Actually the drummer from that band is now the drummer in Killswitch. So, hey what are they going to do now? (laughs) They have no choice but to accept it. But no, they’re real cool. Everyone else has got their jobs and families and everything else. So it works out ok. When I get some downtime with Killswitch, I’ll do stuff with them. It’s just that Killswitch does tend to take a bit of time.

Brian: I’ll give this kids props. In his only few weeks off from touring with Killswitch, he came out with us with Blood Has Been Shed for his two week vacation. I was like – you’re fucking insane.

Howard: And got in a van accident… (laughs)

Press: For Killswitch and Shadows Fall, this is the last time you’ll tour on this album. What is the vibe on both of your new albums sounding like so far?

Brian: We just added this DJ and a choir section and percussion. It’s going to be ridiculous. And we have a stylist working on a new look; it’s going to be hot. (laughs) We play fucking thrash metal, and we don’t do anything else. We’re too old to try and do something new. So it’s going to be an extension of what we’ve always done, hopefully with better songs. John has more riffs that we possibly know what to do with. We’re just going to sift through all that shit and try and write the best songs we can.

Howard: It’s just metal slash hardcore with a sprinkle of gay melody in it. (laughs) It is what it is.

Randy: A sprinkle? (laughs)

Brian: It’s a blob of gay.

Randy: It’s firehose gay. (laughs)

Howard: It’s like Iron Maiden mated with Wham. (laugh)

Brian: Wow, Jesus Christ. (laughs) That’s too good.

Press: Randy, this one is for you. You recently hosted an edition of Headbangers Ball. I didn’t actually see it because I can’t fucking afford that TV station. But how was that experience in general?

Randy: Actually Killswitch and Shadows Fall were on it with us as well. We did it the same day as Killswitch. I was in New York the week before on business, and I was there when Shadows Fall did it. And they were drunk.

Brian: We were drunk.

Randy: I hung out with them and drank a lot, and they did it. And we hung out with them the day we did it. I mean Jamey is my friend. It’s cool. It’s funny watching all the TRL kids. (laughs)

Brian: We were taping in a room right next to the TRL taping.

Randy: It was kind of a mess though. It was fun.

Howard: How are you going get asked, “Are you famous?” What does that mean? If you don’t know me, I’m not. (laughs)

Brian: I love when Jamie asks the questions that we know he already knows. But he asked to ask them. He’s like, “How does it feel coming from playing a place like the Fat Cat to something like Ozzfest?” I’m like, “Well, how did it feel going from the Hanover House to Ozzfest?” (laughs)

Howard: Yeah, really.

Brian: Been there, done that already. You’re the reason most of us can now, so thank you.

Press: What was the first concert you guys went to, even non-metal? Be honest.

Brian: Lionel Richie “Dancing on the Ceiling”. It was amazing.

Randy: ZZ Top.

Howard: It was this bad rock band called The Allies. You never heard them; you don’t want to. (laughs)

Trevor: “Clash of Titans” was actually my first concert.

Howard: (To Trevor) You win. He’s like the kid whose first tattoo is awesome. It’s not some piece of crap.

Randy: Like mine.

Brian: He doesn’t have to cover his up like we had to. (laughs)

Howard: Exactly.

Trevor: Well, I guess I’m going on stage now. (exits room)

Everyone begins to mull around and take pictures…