Winds Of Plague interview

It's good. Snow sucks. We've had a few shows that have been snowed out this tour – there's been, like, 400 presale and 150 show up.

Yeah. It's only been a few occasions, but it's still really weird.

Yeah. The last one was the primary markets.

Well, it's our first headliner, but we did that Hatebreed/Chimera ["B" markets] tour. We actually played this exact venue.

It's always good.

It's been, uh – [pauses] it's been weird. The way we play our set is half new stuff, half old stuff. There is a huge difference in how much better the old stuff goes over. I don't think our new CD targeted our fan base.

I'd say simple and fun. People want to come out, say ignorant shit, and jump off the stage, I guess.

I just feel like we tried to write a more mature album.

Well, before that, we were metalcore. I don't think we sound like Whitechapel or Suicide Silence, but I imagine we could be compared to them because we came up at the same time.

Well, our band definitely shouldn't be compared to a [death metal] band like Hate Eternal. I think we're two completely separate entities. I don't think there should be any separation, though. I'll go see a band like Hatebreed. I'll go see Hate Eternal. I'll go see Behemoth. It's all music to me.

I don't feel like we have an obligation – we do whatever we want. But we are learning that our old songs that are maybe not as well-written are more enjoyable to play. We have way more fun. It's not so technical, so you can move around a little bit more. There's more participation. When it comes down to it, we're out here to have a good time. When we're playing the new stuff, I find myself just waiting to get to the older stuff. It kind of [reminds] us of why we're on tour, I guess.

Yeah. I feel like the hardest thing about this [market] is staying current. We watch bands that come up and go so quick, but then there are bands that come up and stay. You've got to dissect what they did – figure out what works and what doesn't work. I think a big part of that is taking a step back from your band and seeing it for what it is. Right now we're doing okay, but by no means do we have a career.

Well, when we did that Hatebreed/Chimaira tour, it definitely was a lot of that Ozzfest/nu-metal crowd. As far as a support tour, it's the best we've ever done! We sold more CDs on that tour than ever before. I feel like we can control that kind of crowd better than we could a black metal or death metal crowd.

Our stage is sweet, I can say that. I don't know. Lamb of God – I'm stoked on them. It's always cool to get to say you played with Korn and Rob Zombie, I guess. You talk to some random-ass dude and he says, "you're in a band?" You can say, "yeah, I'm on tour with Korn."

Yeah, it was alright.

Wasn't stoked on that tour.

That's probably the worst we've gone over. I don't think it was devastating by any means; it just wasn't a very fun tour – for us, anyway. Playing after Dying Fetus is kind of rough.

Yeah.

Well, now we have a drummer who's sober, which is nice. Our old drummer was drunk from the time he woke up until the time he went to sleep or passed out drunk somewhere. Now we have a drummer that is not only sober, but is capable of playing and writing. It was definitely for the better. It sucks that we lost a bunch of money, but hey – it worked out.

No, not at all. Never will.

I am.

I think so. If I drank, I'd be out of my mind. I already kind of am and I'm sober. Right now, I want to stay focused. When I was younger, I guess I had some temptations – all my friends were partying and having fun. Now, I don't even care. I'd rather just chill.

Oh, I love talking about this. Sincerely, I do. What do you want to know?

Well, I guess we'll start with my brother [Chris Cooke]. He moved to Japan. That's when Kristen [Randall] came along.

To Bleeding Through, of course.

Fucking retard. She is a miserable person. But whatever – she's out of my life.

To be honest, we used her to overshadow the Kristin thing. We know that Kristin was popular within our fan base, so we needed to find a way to overshadow that. Our friend Lisa Marx filled in for us for that Australia tour. That's all it was – she was just filling in. When we got home, we found [current keyboardist] Alana [Potocnik]. She's awesome.

Yeah, definitely. [Alana] is a very happy, positive person, and that's what we need. It's like a dark rain cloud has lifted and there's sunshine on the other side. I would be surprised if [our line-up] changed again.

We're doing direct support for Fear Factory. It starts March 22nd, and it's a pretty quick three-week tour. We're pretty excited because it's a big reunion tour for them. It's pretty awesome to be invited. They were one of the first bands to blow me away with how fast they played.

I actually haven't seen venues yet, but I'm going to guess it's, like, House of Blues-type venues – [a capacity of] 1000 to 1200. Something around that, I'd imagine.

We're planning to record as soon as we get home.

We've got about half of it.

It's probably a happy medium. It's a more well-written fun record.

Always.

Stick to Your Guns is putting out a new release. I got to hear a little bit of it – sounds pretty good. Really good, actually.

Honestly, nothing. Nothing at all. On tour, we get so sick of listening to hardcore and metal. We just watch movies – that's it.

Shit. Influences? I can honestly say the only thing that has influenced the new record so far is Danny Elfman. Oh, and Dexter – the TV series. We've been watching it a lot. I guess Hatebreed would always be one. Nile, I guess, is a pretty apparent influence on some of our songs.

How many is that? Four?

We were listening to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack and looked him up on some search engine, then downloaded all these different soundtracks. We sat there and we listened to it, then as soon as it was over, we picked up instruments and started writing.

I don't really take any of it seriously.

Uh, that Kristen's hot? Yeah, that's the worst thing I've read.