T3M: We heard that Adam had to leave the tour because of his back; do you have any updates on his situation?

JF: His back got messed up again, so he had to go home and get it checked out, and since this is home... I'm pretty sure he's in his car right now heading over, but I don't know if he'll be able to rejoin or not.

T3M: What made you finally agree join the Warped tour?

JF: We thought we'd really stand out in the wrong way on this tour and never wanted to do it. Finally got talked into it, and I'm glad we did, it's been really good. The crowd's been way better than we ever thought.

It's been really long, but other than that it's been good. I'm glad we did it.

T3M: Touring with bands like Slayer, on the 2nd stage of Ozzfest, and now the Warped tour, are you getting the same vibe from the crowds?

JF: It's kind of similar. This one's much younger... all the little girls... we usually scare them off. They're very similar vibes, this feels kinda like an Ozzfest... a little bit different.

T3M:Which city has shown you the most love during the Warped tour?

JF: The Detroit and Chicago shows were really awesome. For the most part, there really hasn't been a bad one yet. They've all been good.

I have a good feeling that today will be pretty sick.

T3M: Have you been impressed with any of the other bands on the tour?

JF: Underoath has only been here for about two weeks, but they're definitely very cool. I like the new record a lot so it's been fun to watch.

I've been fun to watch Coheed and Cambria, with Chris Pennie on drums for them. It's pretty cool.

Those are the guys I've been able to see the most.

T3M: What are your plans for after the Warped tour?

JF: We're probably going to be going overseas again, then if we have time at the end of the year we'll do another U.S. run. All that's still up in air. We trying to work out what we can fit in by the end of the year.

T3M: Any wild and crazy things happen yet?

JF: I don't know. Since Adam went home it's been a little quieter (laughs). Nothing too insane. We really just play our shows and hang out.

Most of the vibe on this tour is really young. A lot of the bands on this tour are ridiculously young, and we're so much older than them. If we were young we'd be going out and doing 'whatever'. We're just not really into into it. We'd rather hang out on our bus. I know it's boring.

T3M: Do you still have Pat from Damageplan playing guitar for you while Adam's out?

JF: There's two songs that we're having Josh, one of our techs, play the other part to, and for the other songs we're just going four-piece.

T3M: How was it having Pat around, did things click right away?

JF: Yeah it worked out fine, he's cool to hang out with. Nobody can replace Adam, but Adam doesn't really play his parts anyway. Pat was actually playing guitar which is kind of weird to get used to... Just running around and doing everything except playing guitar... once we got used to that it was cool.

T3M: Are we ready for a black or woman president?

JF: Maybe. It looks that way. We'll see. A long way to go...

T3M: Can you explain the Holy Diver video? Did you guys get to choose your characters?

JF: It was kind of Adam's idea. We really wanted to do an old-school metal style video. So we though it would be cool to have crazy... we knew we needed a castle of some sort... all that stuff. So the treatment came back, and Adam thought it would be a great idea to put us in the parts. Adam would be the princess, which was perfect. Howard would be the 'black'-smith. Perfect. It really just came together really well. I hope it's funny.

T3M: Do you feel that your album As Daylight Dies stands out more than the others you've put out?

JF: I don't know. It seems to be doing really well. I guess people like it. We play the songs, and kids know the songs and they're singing the words. When we do those they get a good reception. When we do the old ones they get a good reception. It seems like it's going like we hoped.

T3M: Which song means the most to you on the album?

JF: I think my favorite song is the last one, Reject Yourself. It has the most blended elements of everything that we do. It's a little different than the rest of the record. That riff Adam wrote is a really sick riff. Your pinky finger needs to be about [6 inches] long to play the riff. It's pretty cool.

T3M: Did you approach your setlist differently because [the crowd]'s a bunch of kids... not really metal?

JF: Not so much. Basically we only have a half hour, so we had to approach it that way. We figured we'd just play the videos. Once we decided to do the videos, we added up the video time and we were at a half hour. We really didn't have many choices so we figured we should play whatever the kids might know. We ran out of time after that.

T3M: With bands like Shadows Fall, All That Remains, Unearth, and yourself, do you feel that Massachusetts has made a big contribution to heavy metal?

JF: I think it's kinda hard not to make that assumption. I don't know why. A lot of bands out here are good bands. I don't know why that happened. It's cool to see every body that we've played with forever. When either these bands or different bands get to be at that level, it's a pretty awesome thing. To go home and see everybody from this area is pretty cool.

T3M: What can we expect on the special edition CD of As Daylight Dies?

JF: It's got a few bonus songs on it. It's got Holy Diver on it. It's got the song we did for the wrestling compilation, and it's got the videos for the songs off this record on it. It's got all that stuff... hopefully enough for people. I think Mike [D'Antonio] did the artwork, but I'm not actually sure.

T3M: I saw that if you order it online you get an autographed copy.

JF: Oh yeah? Sweet. (laughs)

T3M: You didn't know about that?

JF: No, I didn't know about that.

T3M: So you haven't signed any?

JF: I haven't seen the new one yet. Once I see them I'm sure I'll sign a stack.

T3M: The video for The Arms of Sorrow is doing really well on YouTube and MySpace, how do you feel about that?

JF: Pretty good. We thought it was the best video that we've done at that point. It looked really cool... the slow-mo effect looked really neat. I thought it was pretty good.

It got dropped from MTV pretty quick, I'm bummed about that. I guess the song is doing alright aside from that. Like you mentioned, on MySpace the video seems to be doing pretty well. Yeah, we're pretty psyched about that. It was an easy one to do too. We showed up and played for a few hours, and that was it.

T3M: How does it feel to be in a band that can combine so many different elements of heavy metal?

JF: It's a neat feeling, because we all have a lot of different influences, so when your in a band that allows you to get a lot of them out... like you have a desire to play this, you have a desire to play that... and you can release all of those in one band it's nice. You don't have to go and try to do other stuff.

We all love heavy riffs in music, we all love melody also. We can get both of those, a version out, in this band.

T3M: Is there any band you haven't toured with that you'd like to?

JF: I've toured with a lot of bands. Um, I would say Meshuga. We did a show with them once, but that's not enough. I'd like to go tour with them and watch them play every night.

T3M: At this year's Download Festival, did you play on the same stage as Iron Maiden headlined?

JF: Yeah, we played two or three bands before them.

T3M: How was it?

JF: It was crazy. They had a tank onstage. We tried to call them to find out what we could do production-wise with backdrops and whatever. They said that we couldn't do anything because Iron Maiden has a tank taking up the whole stage.

T3M: How was it being able to share the stage with Iron Maiden?

JF: Insane, especially there. It's pretty unbelievable to think that we played there.

Their show is great. They're so good, at their age. Even at Ozzfest, they were so incredible to watch, and to think how long they've been doing it and to have that much energy, it's really inspiring.

T3M: Do you see yourself doing the same thing?

JF: No. No way. You see something like that happening, that's very rare. Most bands just go year to year. I can't imagine that I'll be doing this in fifteen years. I don't think anybody is going to be into that.

They've kept themselves going, which is pretty remarkable.

T3M: Mick Jagger said 'I'd rather be dead than singing Satisfaction when I'm forty-five', and look at him now.

JF: I guess you really do never know, but that the last thing we ever think about. We're not even thinking about, at all, the next record. We're thinking about this show, and this tour. What happens is what happens... but it's not going to happen.

T3M: You guys have a few side projects going on; can we expect anything from the side projects?

JF: I know that Mike recorded with Overcast a long time ago. They're still trying to get that out. I don't know the latest. Someday there will be a new Overcast recording. Mostly the old songs... I think there are a couple new ones that they did... but it's mostly old stuff that's done with a higher budget and better quality recording. Hopefully that will be out soon, but again, I don't know when.

As far as Blood Has Been Shed... maybe something will be written... I hope so. We've been talking about ideas for getting something out, but it's hard to it done, but hopefully we'll be able to do it. I'd love to do it.

Playing live, I can almost say with one-hunderd percent certainty, will never ever happen again. But getting something on record is very possible. I hope so. It would be a lot of fun.

T3M: Do you feel that Howard Jones is a real good fit in replacement of Jesse Leach?

JF: Yeah. He's been in the band almost twice as long as Jesse at this point.

T3M: Do you still get people asking 'what happened' or 'we want Jesse'?

JF: Yes, but it's always going to happen. That record did really well. People really loved the songs on there. And there's a different guy singing, so it's only natural that it happens.

On the same point, who's to say things would have gone to the same as they are now if he was or wasn't in the band. Maybe we would have gone farther, maybe we wouldn't have gone as far. You never know. All you can say is that it is what it is now. And [Howard] is in the band now. You know, there it is.

T3M: You talked about going to Europe after this; when do you expect to come back home?

JF: Hopefully by the end of the year, if we can fit it in. But again, we're not really sure. I'd be surprised, if by the winter, we didn't have a U.S. run at some point. We haven't gone out on our own since Spring, so by then it will be a really long time.

T3M: We're looking forward to seeing you guys again.

JF: Well, I got a set I've got to go play.

| 08.09.2007 | Interview by J. Pierson and others |