When I got here today the first thing that caught my eye was the new shirt design for this tour. I’ve noticed there’s a theme in all of your merch that is grotesque, writhing, malformed creatures. Who does the artwork for your band?
James: His name is Mark Riddick. When we did the first album for Willowtip he was one of the first artists that Jason recommended us to work with. I guess Jason thought we needed a new logo and Riddick sent us over the logo that we still use today on his first draft. He also already had most of the artwork for A Celebration Of Guilt pre-done already and yeah, we’ve stuck with him ever since.
Noah: Now he’s got his own t-shirt design company and he’s been pushing that. It’s riddickart.com. We’ve been sporting his stuff for awhile he does amazing work.
Do you tell Riddick to go with a central theme for all the album covers or just let him have at it?
James: The only layout that I really ever had anything to do with conceptually was A Diamond For Disease. I wanted a bizarre twist on a tarot card actually and it was mostly graphic art (computer done) for that album. For United In Regret I just told him to do whatever the hell he wanted to. The album was going to be called Lust Before The Maggots Conquest so maybe some of that bled into his ideas.
I saw your music video ad for the Ballet Deviare on Headbanger’s Ball. When I first saw it I thought it was going to be a video until I realized it was a commercial. Is there going to be a real music video in the future for Arsis?
James: Actually that’s not a commercial. It was something that was paid for by MTV2. They have what they call “sharts”, which is supposed to mean short art. I put together A Diamond For Disease for the ballet company and one of the guys, I don’t know exactly where the fuck he was from in MTV2 but he was at the performance. I guess he thought it was really nifty and wanted to work with the ballet company and he offered them this promotional thing and they said they wouldn’t do it without us. For the next album we do have a video budget I’m sure.
Noah: We’re talking about different people to do it with. We’ve been talking a lot to David Brodsky who did Hillary Duff, God Forbid, Trivium, Goatwhore, a bunch of great bands. We’re waiting to see how that pans out but it should be cool.
On A Diamond Disease the title track and The Promise Of Never have lyrics that weave things together. For example A Diamond For Disease says “the promise of never” and in the song The Promise Of Never the first line is “to celebrate the guilt.” Is this intentional, are these songs meant to be connected?
James: Yeah they are, kinda sorta. Also, I don’t know if we reprinted the lyrics for Roses On White Lace (the Alice Cooper song, and no they weren’t printed - Ed) I kind of twisted some of the lyrics to fit in with the other two songs on the EP. I liked Dio a lot growing up and Dio always seemed to have themes running through rainbows and whatnot. (laughs)
What inspires the prose of your lyrics? Not the message behind them but the way the actual words are structured. A Celebration Of Guilt has some lyrics that seem classically influenced. Are there any books or texts out there that you use to base your lyric writing from?
James: When I was in high school I was in a magnet school for the literary arts and I had to read Ana Korinina and all that bullshit. It was like Nazi English class for hours a day and I guess some of that rubbed off on me. Getting critiqued on your writing that heavily does that.
While the lyrics are abstract they all seem very personal. Is there a message that you want to convey with songs like Oh The Humanity, United In Regret, and Maddening Disdain?
James: That girls suck basically. While they are abstract in a sense they do mean certain things to me. I kind of write my lyrics in a way that while they are personal to me other people can listen to them an interpret them in their way and not just mine. I don’t exactly want people to know what it is precisely that I am talking about I want people to not just read between the lines and come up something on their own. They’re personal to me and that’s all that matters. They’re therapeutic for me.
With United In Regret Noah was the first person to record with Arsis that wasn’t you or Mike. How did he come into the picture?
James: Ultimately it was my decision. I don’t think Mike was thrilled with the idea necessarily. The guy that produced United In Regret, Eyal Levi, suggested to get Noah to play on it. I really didn’t want to play bass like I did on the first album so I put my foot down a little bit and he wound up playing bass. Plus Noah’s so cute and his hair was so curly that I had to.
On the cd he was credited as a session musician. How did he make the transition into full member?
James: Alot of begging.
Noah: (laughs) Yeah a lot of begging. It was a lot of phone calls and then me tying up loose ends with other stuff. Whenever we talked about working with each other it was sincere and this is how it turned out and I couldn’t be happier.
In addition you’ve done session work for other bands, Dark Empire and Suspyre as well as being a previous member of Blood Promise. What was your best remembered session out of these?
Noah: I really enjoyed the Suspyre session that was fun. I ended up sight reading off a crapload of sheet music. It was fun and I really enjoyed the music especially the production because you can definitely hear me (laughs). I do a lot of shredding on that album.
How is the European reaction to Arsis? I know you guys are growing in the underground but what is it like over seas? Any chance of seeing you at a European festival soon?
James: The first album was licensed by Earache and released by them in Europe. The press was good but since we haven’t ever been over there we can’t accurately gauge our popularity.
How has the writing been for your upcoming third album? Many people find that United In Regret has upped the technical aspects of the band while leaving behind the melody. Will the follow up continue the slide towards technicality?
James: By all means United In Regret is the latest Arsis album. But the newest material that we recorded was the song A Diamond For Disease. Most of United In Regret was written before A Diamond For Disease. The material that was United In Regret was written right after A Celebration Of Guilt. Our progression would best be indicated by the A Diamond For Disease material. What people don’t realize is that I wrote a lot of the songs on A Celebration Of Guilt as young as sixteen, it’s old stuff. Even when it was recorded it wasn’t exactly fresh material. It’s really hard to put yourself back in that mindset of being a teenager and just getting into extreme music. The new album is going to be different but I think there’s parts that are just as catchy and melodic as A Celebration Of Guilt and there’s some stuff that’s more technical than we’ve ever been so I will write what comes to me.
What about your personalities would someone find odd if they were to just be exposed to your graphic album art, merch designs and your angry sounding music?
James: I sit alone a lot and listen to The Cure. I’m a pretty quiet and reserved person. Very introverted.
Noah: I’m addicted to the internet. Bad. If there was a twelve step program for that I would be in favor of it. I’ve been in thirteen car accidents, caused two of them but been in thirteen. People just like to crash into me.
James: And I guess they were all everybody else's fault?
Noah: Hey I can show you the only two tickets I got. Like I said, I only caused two.
What is your least favorite aspect of the music industry today? At the end of the day what part do you hate dealing with when it comes to Arsis business matters?
James: I really don’t like dealing any of it honestly but it’s a necessary evil to be a professional musician. It’s nearly impossible to do on your own without support of some kind. That’s the reason you’d be obligated to sign with a record company which is essentially a bank for you. When you put the business in the music it stops being fun but that’s kind of the way it is.
So what keeps you coming back every day?
James: I don’t want to work at a call center (laughs). Playing music, and everyone in the band would agree on this, playing music has been our interest for so long. The idea behind it is still so awesome, “you mean I play my guitar and people pay me?” It’s such a cool idea that that’s what keeps you going when so many things potentially can and often do, suck.
What advice would you give to an up and comer today?
Noah: Have a goal. Even if it’s something as simple as having a cool band name. That alone is hard enough for a lot of people. If you want to get signed to a label, send your music to every single label you can think of. It’s like asking out girls, one is bound to say yes.
Iron Maiden has Number Of The Beast, Judas Priest has Breaking The Law. Does Arsis have a trademark song yet and if so, what is it?
James: It’s either The Face OF My Innocence or A Diamond For Disease.
Noah: I would say The Face Of My Innocence. That one’s actually in this issue of Revolver (the Hottest Chicks year two, June 2007. And actually the song was Lust Before The Maggots Conquest - Ed). It’s got a cute picture of us in it.
James: That’s the one everyone seems to know. It has psuedo breakdowns that appeal to a lot of different people.
Is there a particular reason why songs from United In Regret are not making it into the live setlist?
James: I don’t really like those songs. (laughs) Maybe it’s a bad idea but I just don’t think there’s any one song on there that can be a “hit.” I think there’s so much stronger material on the other albums at least for a live setting. Maybe not necessarily all the way around but for a live setting I think that there is more appropriate songs to play form the first two albums.
Was United In Regret a rushed album?
James: Yeah. No I’m not gonna lie. I wish we could have taken more time with the album but our touring schedule at the time, and the person we recorded with had to fit it in with their schedule as well so it just really didn’t add up to us taking a whole lot of time on it. For A Celebration Of Guilt I got to take my time with the guitar parts. I would go down to the local studio and record four hours here, some there. It gets a little difficult when you’re touring and have so many other obligations. I think some songs are strong but I could have definitely tried harder in some aspects. It was basically scheduling and it was up in the air if Mike really wanted to continue doing the band also. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we could have tried harder all the way around. I definitely can understand why people like the first one better.
Now that you are signed to Nuclear Blast, what are your expectations for the band and your hopes for Arsis in the future?
Noah: I want to go to Japan and visit Scott and crash at his place like we always do (laughs). I want to get overseas and play a lot of great festivals, the more people to hear us the better. I want to look out in a packed arena… and see people flicking me off. I would rather have twelve thousand people be flicking me off rather than fifty.
What about you Jim? From the inception of Arsis you are now signed to a pretty respected and big label for the metal scene. Do you still have hopes and expectations or do you feel like you have made it with your band?
James: I’ve done everything I wanted to do at this point. I’m not going to say I’m going to stop doing Arsis at this point but it definitely has surpassed all expectations. Nuclear Blast, for metal anyway unless you’re on Roadrunner… but then in Europe Nuclear Blast is bigger if not at least the same size as Roadrunner… well for what we do this is as good as we can get. There’s been a ton of trials and tribulations along the way. The band is great now there’s so much talent now, getting a full lineup was the best decision I could have made for Arsis. I just want to continue growing and be great. We shall see.
