Lets start from the ground up and trace back your steps in All Out War. How did you join the band originally, was it because Joe quit or better yet because your skills were infinitely more proficient (an obvious fact)? Tell me about how everything came together during your entry to the All Out War fold in the mid to late 90s.

When I joined All Out War it was after one of the many breakups. Mike called me and asked me if I wanted to do it and of course I said yes. All Out War had been one of my favorite bands for a few years. At the time my skills were nowhere as proficient as Joe's. Joe is a great drummer. It took me a few months to learn all of the songs and I practiced everyday until I was ready. Jim was also a great help to me by giving up a lot of his evenings to help me learn the songs. I think Joe's departure from the band was more for personal reasons rather than anything musical.

It always interests me how select drummers with skill learned their trade. Your patterns seem to be mostly traditional metal and rock beats with a small degree of modern influence. Are you a self-taught drummer and if so, which drummers served as points of reference?

I took drum lessons for a few years when I was a kid, but I just leared basic stuff. I pretty much taught myself how to play metal. Growing up, I was in a band with my brother playing mostly Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax covers. From when I was 15 to when I was 18, I played in a few metal-core bands. At that time I was more into bands like Merauder, Sheer Terror, Darkside and Starkweather. I learned a lot from listening to those bands.

Help me get more precise here Jesse, because around 1999-2000 you quit All Out War shortly after the band had heaping mounds of cash and merchandise stolen from its van in Chicago while on tour with Buried Alive. A statement from Victory Records at the time cited your increasingly negative attitude as explanation for your departure. Certainly if I was in that position I would be far from optimistic, as you were cited to be. Could you polish the edges of this miserable story and clarify the reasoning behind you originally leaving All Out War?

I don't know where that statement came from, but it's not entirely accurate. I guess you could say that I had a negative attitude, but there were a lot of things that helped develop my negative attitude before leaving the band. Getting robbed in Chicago was the start of it. After that, we were supposed to do the "Victory Tour." That was with Hatebreed, Blood For Blood, Skarhead and Shutdown. We got stuck playing first every night, and we felt like we kind of got screwed so we dropped off of the tour after the second or third show. After that, we decided to start writing new songs and I was very unhappy with what we were writing, plus Mike hadn't showed up to practice for about two months. At that point, I had enough.

When you left All Out War, you joined Death Threat to replace Jamie Pushbutton who I believe had been sent to prison at that point, correct me if Im wrong. You even went so far to record the track Mizery with them, effectively putting your trademark beats on tape for a band other than All Out War. How was that experience? Death Threat was only starting to rise in popularity at that point, so how many shows did you play with them? What were the circumstances behind you leaving that band so abruptly?

I had a lot of fun in Death Threat. I played with them for about six months. I'm not sure how many shows I did with them. Probably somewhere between 10 and 20. I left the band for a lot of reasons, none of which had anything to do with Death Threat. I was going through some personal problems at the time. I had just broken up with my girlfriend of three years, I got arrested a few times for some stupid shit and I got kicked out of my house all within a few weeks. I had a lot of bullshit to deal with all at once, plus Death Threat practiced in Connecticut, so I had an hour and a half drive to get to band practice. All of that together was just too much for me to deal with at the time. I felt really bad about leaving the band on those terms. I screwed them over pretty good and I still feel bad about it. They were really good friends of mine.

You were replaced by Matt Byrne if memory serves me correctly, although All Out War was no longer a full-time band at that point. The band still managed to participate in the CMJ Showcase 2000 which ended up being released as two individual live albums by Victory with All Out War starting off Volume 1 with four tracks, on which Matt Byrne played drums. His drumming style differs from yours significantly, and although he spiced up your drum parts and displayed quite a bit of flash on that release, the drawback was that the band sounded somewhat loose and messy because his drumming was too active. One could say that he added too much flavor and too many unnecessary fills to the songs. If you heard the release or saw All Out War with Matt on drums, can we see eye to eye on this point? Furthermore, a new song was featured on that release, Hypocrite For The Revolution (I believe the title has changed slightly for Condemned To Suffer) on which Matts energetic drumming style was evident. Since that song is on All Out Wars new album, to what degree did you use his drum parts as a point of reference? Did you compose entirely new patterns to the song?

Let me start by saying that Matt is a good friend of mine and a great drummer. I've been friends with him since long before All Out War. He used to play in a death metal band with my brother many years ago. He definitely has a different style than I do. He's much more technical and flashy. It was weird for me hearing him play the songs that I had played for years so differently, so it's hard for me to say if it was better or worse. I think that heavy parts sound heavier if the drums are kept simple, but I think there was definitely some room for a little bit of spice in my drum parts. I liked some of the changes that he made, and I hated some of them. I tried not to change "Hypocrites" too much when we re-recorded it, but it is a little bit different. Most of the drum beats are the same, but the fills are different.

Both then and now, fill me in on to what degree you contribute in the songwriting department. Do the songs develop around a drum framework, or do the guitars write the songs completely for you to just come in and lay down drum tracks that fit? How has the band chemistry changed since you returned, compared with how turbulent things were before you left?

I contribute to song writing a lot. We write the songs together with the whole band there. Most of the guitar parts are written by the guitar players, but Mike and I have written a few riffs. I generally write all of the drum parts, but I get a lot of input from the rest of the guys, and we all help arrange the songs. You can have a song with five great parts in it, put if the parts aren't arranged correctly, the song is going to suck. The band chemistry has changed a lot since I have returned. We were much more comfortable writing this record because there was no pressure. We didn't have any long term plans to do anything. We just wanted to play and have fun. There is a lot less pressure now. We didn't have any deadlines to meet or anything like that. Once we had enough songs to record, we called Victory and had them set up the studio time.

Other than the band, how has life been for you generally in recent months? Do you have a full-time job, if so how will it be affected by your recent re-entry into All Out War? Are you looking forward to the tour that was just announced where you and Dying Fetus will be sharing the stage with metal legends Six Feet Under? It would be great if your agent could find a slot to book a show in Montreal, it would definitely be well-recieved. Dying Fetus just came through with Misery Index and Skinless and the venue was sold out.

Other than the band, life has been good for me. I have a full time job working as a Hazardous Materials worker. My job hasn't really been affected by me re-entering the band. They are pretty cool about giving me days off when I need them. We are not doing the Six Feet Under tour. We were offered the tour but turned it down. They didn't offer enough money for us to go on the road for a month and be able to pay our bills when we get back. I would have loved to do that tour, but I'm not going to let the band ruin my life again. It already did that once. I think Victory is pretty mad at us for not doing the tour. It's understandable because the tour would probably help record sales, but it seems like they don't care if we're starving and homeless as long as they make money. It's not that we need to make money, but we need to be able to pay our rent while we're gone. It was different six years ago when we all lived with our parents. We could tour all the time and it wouldn't matter because we had no bills.

I heard that recently All Out War went to Europe. How many shows were played and what was the general reaction? More importantly, how does it feel to be behind the kit for the band in which you established yourself so many years ago, is there nostalgia, appreciation, enjoyment or a combination of the three?

We did six shows in Europe. One in London, Two in Belgium, Two in Germany and one in Holland. The tour happened to be during a week of record breaking temperatures in Europe, and nobody in Europe owns an air conditioner. It was really hot. The shows in London, Belgium and Holland were awesome. Germany wasn't bad, but just not as good as the others. It feels good to be playing in All Out War again. This time, it's a lot more fun. Six years ago, we were concerned with making new fans and reaching new audiences at any cost. This time, we just want to play and have fun without letting the band run our lives.

Are there any bands or specific types of tours that you would like to tour with/on? What are the general plans for touring, is the label putting much pressure on you to get on the road and drop real life for the time being as most bands are told when a new record comes out and grassroots exposure needs to be achieved?

I'd like to go on tour with Slayer or Bolt Thrower. There's no specific type of tour that I'd prefer to go on. Any tour is guaranteed to be an interesting experience, no matter who it's with. We don't have any definite plans for touring right now. We plan to tour but it has to be on our terms. We will probably do a lot of weekend shows and mini-tours instead of one huge tour. It's better for us to do it that way. Victory is definitely putting pressure on us to tour, but fuck them. They don't give a shit about us. They just want to make money.

What have been some of the most memorable All Out War shows and why? Also name the bands that you developed a brotherhood with since touring over the years, any bigger bands? How about the worst touring experiences (minus the Victory Tour that you mentioned fell apart)?

The most memorable All Out War shows were some of the shows on our first European tour in 98. The shows were packed, and the kids were crazy. The best shows were in Belgium and France. I remember at the show in Paris, a few kids got taken away in ambulances. Another show that I will never forget is a show that we played in New London, Connecticut a few months ago. About three songs into our set, a huge brawl broke out. We just kept on playing. The kids that were fighting kept fighting and the kids that were moshing kept moshing. Then the fighters started fighting with the moshers. We got through four or five more songs until the cops showed up. It was pretty crazy. There are countless other All Out War shows that ended the same way. That was just the most recent. We've met a lot of bands on the road that we have become good friends with. Some of them are Blood For Blood, Hatebreed, Ringworm, Buried Alive, Congress (from Belgium), theres so many. I've already told you about the worst touring experiences I've had. All the rest have gone pretty smooth. Any tour is going to have good times and bad times.