James: I didn’t have to do everything. On my end creatively though I didn’t do anything differently except I let Darren write his drum parts. Ryan contributed his part too which meant I had to contribute less, which was cool.

James: It was cool, that’s something I’ve always wanted to do it just took a couple of years to find. What a lot of people don’t realize is that Arsis signed to Willowtip Records after playing only five shows. So it wasn’t like we had a solid line up or anything fully developed. Everything seemed to happen all overnight. I look at the Willowtip days as basically like the local band stage. It’s not like we had a year to play local shows and get a solid lineup and get things exactly right before recording anything or touring or anything like that. It all happened very quick. So yeah, it felt really good with this one to have another guitarist that is more capable than I am. I just say “Do your thing” and it’s awesome.

Ryan: I honestly didn’t really think too much about it. I just kind of went for it. There were some things that I came up with that I thought “Eh, this isn’t going to fit.” What did come out though, when you put the vocals on it, it comes out.

Noah: There were also actually two other songs that didn’t make it to the album. During our pre production and listening to the songs we thought that the drum parts were a little off and different than what James or Ryan envisioned. Anything can happen in the last minute when you’re putting something like this together.

James: Actually Ryan and I both play leads on all the songs, however on the ones that he wrote he played all the rhythm guitar and so did I on my songs. That was done for time’s sake. If we had to sit there and teach each other the songs we would have been there for another month.

Noah: Correction, I played all the guitars on the album,.

James: I thought it was Zeuss actually. (the producer)

Noah: No wait… it was Darren.

James: Yeah you’re right it was (laughs).

James: Oh yeah. It is a world of difference. Just look at the amount of promotion that Nuclear Blast has done compared to what Willowtip did. We Are The Nightmare Sound Scanned as much in its’ first week than United In Regret has in years. Everything has been phenomenal from not only taking out ads but taking out the ads in proper places, in the right press and making sure the cd is available to people.

Noah: They also set us up with Hot Topic through JSR Merchandising. They shipped out I guess, thirty cds to each of the thousand stores in the United States and a lot of them sold out. This is the stores that carry actual cds though, the Hot Topics that are actually cd stores. So yeah, if you go to Hot Topic you should be able to find our cds. They also ordered shirts from us, and also a second shirt design so I guess that means they’ve sold well. We’re looking at multiple shirt designs at Hot Topic and other retailers and that’s just a huge step. That’s a market that was previously untapped so we’re doing well there. We’re doing good on the internet, the MySpace page has way more plays than before. Of course that has to do with the new album, everyone’s MySpace blows up when they release a new cd. And eventually all that winds up reflecting on album sales.

James: As much as we may wish sometimes that he had normal jobs and normal lives, I think we all would be terribly bored with a desk job somewhere. I think that being on tour all the time is the best thing for our personalities.

Noah: I’ve been traveling all my life, since I was like two. It’s nothing new to me. When I’m home I am lazy as shit! This is the best job for me, spending the money I make as it comes to me…which sucks. But that’s how it is for a lot of bands. It’s how it is with everyone we are on tour with, except for Jeff Tenney (laughs).

Footnote: Tenney had some shenanigans on tour that involved him getting money in unscrupulous ways from his former band Winds Of Plague. Fun times were had at the cost of the band.

James: It kind of just happened by accident. I mean van Dyne and I did do shows, we did do little tours even though we didn’t make it out very far west. We took time off after Celebration of Guilt, a year and a half where we didn’t play any shows. We then got an offer to play that first Necrophagist Carving Up North America tour in 2006 in spring, early summer. We did the album, did the tour and the tour was so successful that the booking agent we have now who was the one that booked us for that, came out on the road with us for a little bit. Because we were so well received he picked us up as a client and it progressed from there by accident. Everything in Arsis happens by accident (laughs). So he picked us up and before I knew it we were going to do tour after tour after tour. I think Mike did it for a couple of months and then decided that it just wasn’t for him. For me however I knew it was, I was stuck into it after that and I decided to keep going with it. I met Noah at that time and Ryan. I then thought I could really make it with at least us three in the band together.

James: I came up with that riff awhile ago. I remember jamming that out with our original drummer. I wanted to play fast, Motley Crue meets Zakk Wylde riffs I guess. I just get so bored with technical stuff all the time and I love the eighties glam probably rock more than anything else. Maybe it might just amuse myself but I think it is kind of clever to find a way to put that into a “technical, melodic, death / black metal band” and make it work. It’s like a puzzle.

Noah: How does a painter get into painting? It just kind of happens. I guess for me growing up I would watch my father play. My mom played guitar a little bit, a little piano. From an early age I just saw all that and along with my dad being a painter and my mom an art teacher, I learned that these things were creative. People who do these sorts of things are known as being creative and as a kid that was the thing to do. It wasn’t a conscious decision. I didn’t think “Oh this allows me to show people my inner self.” It really didn’t start out that way but I guess it kind of turned into that.

James: I’m just a social retard I guess. I have trouble talking to people and I feel comfortable, especially with myself, when I’m playing music.

Ryan: I grew up with my mom always playing piano, there was music around the house all the time. My best friend’s sister used to baby sit me and she got me watching MTV at a very young age.

Noah: Oh! I also started playing guitar when my friend had this crappy little Wal Mart guitar with a speaker in it. Me and my best friend Jake would borrow this all the time and the strings broke so we had to go around the neighborhood and we found someone else who played guitar and we bought strings from them for like five dollars. When those broke we had to find another friend who played guitar and we were planning to steal his guitar and amp from him (laughs). I cornered him at his computer because he was kind of a computer nerd and Jake was upstairs lowering this fifteen watt amp out his bedroom window. It was terrible! I was really a messed up kid (laughs).

Sean: Oh c’mon man they’re a dime a dozen (laughs). In sixth grade we had the choice to do electives or music. I was like, “ehh I’ll learn to play an instrument I guess.” My dad was real into Metallica so I started going that way. Then I saw Morbid Angel play with Pantera and that made me want to play like them. That was right when Gateways came out and I was way impressed with his double bass. I went back and got Covenant, Altars Of Madness, Domination and all their stuff and that was what I wanted to do. I’ve been playing like that since then, trying to find the right band.

James: … I never gave that much thought since I was always stuck writing the lyrics.

James: I almost buy exclusively best of albums of seventies and eighties superstars like Stevie Nicks, Heart, Journey and shit like that. I buy that because…

Noah: …because they’re cheap and sell them at truck stops (laughs).

James… ha, yeah because they’re cheap and I buy em at truck stops. I’m sure it annoys everyone else to no end to hear Stand Back ten times a day in the van.

Noah: I don’t mind the Journey or the Heart but man that Stevie Nicks, I think she sounds like a lamb with AIDS. There’s a couple of songs I’ll take.

Ryan: When it is a band I really like, and I really care about them, and I like their shit, I will buy their stuff. Like I will buy the new Cynic album when it comes out. There’s not too many bands I’d say that about. I’ll go to a bunch of shows though.

Sean: I’ve always bought cds so I have this huge collection and I still buy albums that I really think are good. I do try to find good new bands to help support the scene.

Noah: That’s a hard question. I download lots of music. I’m in a band and I’m broke and I’m on tour all the time. I have to have new shit to listen to in the van. I can’t go out and play music and still be able to buy cds full price. That’s a very hard thing to say. If I am on tour and I really really want something that I can’t find to download on the internet then I will go out and buy it. That sucks because obviously I would like people to buy my cd but that’s just me being honest. I’ll download a lot of music, especially music I can’t just go out and buy or music that isn’t readily available. Like I can’t find the new Cipher System cd anywhere. I can’t find a Mors Principum Est cd anywhere. I’m sure I can order them but I’m a lazy American. Either that or it would be music that’s out of print and hard to find.

James: I’ve always been into metal. When I was five I got Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry for my birthday. So I’ve always been into metal and always been a social retard. Maybe the two do go hand in hand. I did tell myself I would never date another girl I met at a show because they usually have problems. Maybe every metal head has problems.

Noah: I used to always make everybody around me listen to heavy metal. All my friends, everyone around me I made them listen to metal. When I was four years old I discovered Origin and I’ve been into metal ever since… (laughs) Could you imagine that? A four year old sitting around listening to Origin?

Sean: I’ve been more into the music rather than lyrics. I like how aggressive and in your face it is. Like Noah, I try and find something that’s awesome and impressive and really brutal and then I show all my friends. I turned all my friends in high school on to metal.

Noah: I never really thought that it made me an outcast or if it even fueled my being an outcast. Metal was always something that I liked and I liked sharing it. I felt like an outcast for other reasons but it wasn’t because of metal.

Ryan: I didn’t get into metal until I was seventeen or eighteen. I grew up mostly with punk rock. Going from punk rock to metal is a pretty easy thing to do because both are fast styles of music. Both shared a lot of the DIY ethics and shit. A lot of my friends were into the same stuff so I didn’t feel like I was an outcast or anything. I actually used to pitch in baseball and was part of many all star teams.

James: I was the star quarterback at my high school.

Noah: I was a band geek in high school. What about you what did you do? (to Sean)

Sean: Nothing. Absolutely nothing, I skimmed by. I just wanted to get the fuck out of there.

James: I really wasn’t the star quarterback (laughs). That was a lie.

Noah: It is really rewarding when you finish an album. When you’re hanging out in the studio and drinking and… I’ll go ahead and say it, when you’re “bro-ing” down. Just getting trashed with friends and you’re making something that feels awesome and ridiculous. It’s a lot of fun and you feel accomplished when it is all finished. You feel like you’ve really done something, that you’ve left something behind. That would be my favorite thing. My least favorite thing? There’s a laundry list of that. I hate being away from home, I hate always smelling like dirty dick and not being able to sleep in my own bed. Being away from the things which you are familiar with makes you miss them. Even watching TV. I actually miss watching TV. I miss being able to go to a grocery store and come home and eat my food.

Sean: I’m a bit new to this but I do hate the four billion hour drives. All the downtime on tour sucks too, having to keep trying to find something to do with yourself. We go play for twenty five minutes then sit for a decade. “Hurry up and wait.” Playing live is always fun and hearing the finished final product of an album you’ve been working on is cool too.

Noah: I don’t like not having money. That’s the worst shit ever. Knowing you’re in debt and you have a long time to go before you get in the positive and actually make some money sucks. There’s so much that come from our funds that goes into other peoples’ pockets. There’s so much shit that we have to pay for before we even start to make money. As an artist you are the last person to make money off your product. As soon as you make a product other people start making money off it and in the end you get what’s left over. So why would anyone want to do that? Because we’re lazy assholes and we want to do this as a job which is rewarding to us in other ways than money. But at the end of the day… I guess I just like hanging out with Ryan Knight.

Noah: I think what would be really cool is if they could figure out how to track and utilize torrent downloads before an album comes out. The week or month before We Are The Nightmare came out there was like a thousand downloads of the album from one site. That’s just from one site. And like, if those counted towards Sound Scan or something, we’d be fucking touring with Iron Maiden already. Although I guess that would be every band with a million downloads.

James: I have no control over it either way. As a long as I can keep doing what I’m doing I’m fine.

Ryan: I expect in the next ten or twenty years record labels won’t exist. Or they will but it will be more like a glorified bank more than anything else.

James: I would like to think that the music we play appeals to somewhat intelligent people or at least computer savvy most of the time, and they usually know straight where to go to download our music. Maybe we should play country and rap because I hate to say it, those people still buy cds (laughs). Unfortunately, I guess we play music for people who are good with computers. Sucks to be us.