Q: First off I want to say you guys totally fuckin ROCK! It's hard to find bands these days that are great musicians and also have their own way and style Tell me how you guys came about recording with Mark Lewis and how did you guys meet?
A: Thanks for the props! Really, we think that its cool that people even care. It seems these days that any douche with a credit card can go to a local guitar center and buy a guitar and start a band and get a myspace page. So we have been working our asses off to set ourselves apart…..and its nice that people are responding to this positively.
As far as meeting Mark, we met through my homey Eyal Levi in DÅÅTH. My band had played with DÅÅTH in 2006 before the release of the Hinderers. We had just kept in touch since then. Their bass player Jeremy actually wore our T-shirt at the 2007 Ozzfest in Indianapolis. So that was a killer homage. At the time of meeting Mark, Eyal had just worked with Jason Suecof at Audiohammer studios on the Concealers, and had worked with Mark being the sound engineer. At the time, Eyal was working with Mark on he and Emil's side project, Avalanche of Worms. And then basically hooked me up with him. I sent some demos to Mark, and he called me up, said he was stoked, and then we did an EP. It was a great experience, and we would TOTALLY work with him again. Look forward to working with Eyal a bit as well in the future too. We recorded our most recent EP with Mark in January. It was a GREAT experience.
As far as how we met, at the time, I was jamming with my bass player friend Jon Munnier. He actually was the person who recorded our first record. We had just been messing around with stuff and were looking for guitar players and a vocalist for around 7 months. Another friend of mine, Andrae Stevens, was working at the same place as John Matheis, or lead player. One night, Munnier and I were talking, and he had mentioned that it seemed that we would never find someone to fill the position of guitar player or singer. I was in college at the time, so I had to wake up early the next day. I got in the shower and when I got out, I heard someone playing Battery by Metallica on guitar. It was weird because I was the only person that I knew of that knew how to play that song in my group of friends. I got dressed and went down stairs, and Matheis said, "I heard you needed a guitar player". He busted into eruption by Van Halen, then we jammed Domination by Pantera…….and we had a great sense of chemistry. We still play Domination in our local set to this day. We started as a three piece, a power trio…haha! Munnier playing bass and doing Vocals. Munnier actually proposed to his current wife at one of our shows, and at the time, Jeff Thomas (bass) and Brent Vaughn (vox) were both interested in joining the band. When Munnier got engaged, he decided to leave the band, and the others came together to make the current lineup.
I was also playing writing in another band at the same time called Secretariat, and filling in for several cover bands when they needed me. Matheis and I also jammed in a cover band for a bit…..mainly to make some extra cash, and met all the local venue owners and managers.
Q: You guys changed your Rhythm guitar player, how did that come about and why did you pick Chris Yokel?
A: Chris was supposed to originally be in the band as our rhythm guitar player. He jammed with us for a bit in 2004, but then joined the airforce. He served a 6 year term that took him to Korea, California, then Ft. Meade in Maryland. A few years ago, I spoke to him over the phone when he was still in Korea. He said that he was interested in joining the band. So, we talked to our homey Mike VanBibber (who used to be in a band with Jeremy Spencer….drummer for 5 finger death punch….who was a local boy at one time here in Indiana…..now plays in the band Stolen Remains), and asked if he would be interested in jamming with us until Chris got out of the Military. He agreed very enthusiastically, and for the last year and a half, Mike played shows and wrote a few songs with us. We love that dude to death, and it was hard when the day that Chris came back and we had to say goodbye to Mike. But now, the band is in it's state that it was always meant to be in, and we are overflowing with inspiration.
Q: Being from Indiana, how is the metal scene there? I have never been there so it's good to know :)
A: You'd really be surprised. Whenever I talk to people from most bigger cities, they say, "The scene here sucks dude…..no one really digs metal, the venues aren't supportive, blah blah blah." But when we……and other bands go to these local places now, we usually get a really good response. Even though we live in the middle of nowhere, there are some really good bands. Not only in metal either, but in blues/classic rock type stuff as well. There's nothing better than going out and seeing a band you've never heard of totally kill it. No matter what genre…….and our area is def a place to do that. And people love to drink and party. And we ALL know how to have a good time. Since there isn't much to do, people are either drunken drug addicts, or the rest have become more creative. And some are a little mix of both. Haha! And there are a lot of good people here. More "real" type survivors than I have experienced in other big cities, and I have been to most of them here in the US, and quite a few in Europe. And when I say survivors, I mean that some are lucky to be alive……and work their asses off. This area has a work ethic to be reckoned with…….as far as the productive people that live here go.
Plus we have a lot of corn and cows……..If your into that kind of thing.
Q: You guys are touring with DAATH, how did the come about and how are the shows going?
A: I booked 4 dates with them to get them from Atlanta to Chicago. It actually happened to go really well. It was totally last minute too. Since they were playing with Chimaira on the Blue Collar Brawler tour…..(side note, I shot the photo on that tour poster)……we had some rules and regulations to go by to keep our mini tour from affecting the turnout of the bigger tour. Which was no problem. I booked from Tennessee to Illinois, and we got them there with some cash in their pocket, had some really good nights…..considering two of them were monday and tuesday, and the shit really turned out to be a party. We also did a shoot when they came to my small town of Princeton Indiana to stay at my house and party down with some crazy indiana folk. There is talk of us doing another stint together very soon. Those dudes are good friends of mine. Much respect their way as far as musicianship. And we get along together really well. I think there is a relative mutual respect. And those guys are some true players for sure. It's two different things of just being "metal" and being a badass motherfuckin musician. And those dudes are all of the above.
Q:Metal is always a huge part of a metal heads life. Knowing that, what is the message of your music and what do you want to accomplish?
A: This is a pretty deep question. I hope your ready for a lengthy response.
Basically, the DELIVER US FROM EVIL name came about very early of the bands development. It pretty much sums up our local area. We live in Southern Indiana. Basically, the rock stuck in the toe of the cowboy boot. The conservative bible thumpin' armpit of america. An area that is pretty much totally off the radar of pop or underground culture. A place where it can take 5 years for a East or West coast trend to settle into a mainstream sedation. And this is the general public I speak of. Not the other artist types……or the type of people that reach out beyond the norm to find what THEY love. It's not really that bad now, but at the time of the bands conception, the area was riddled with cover bands, uneducated close minded "religious" people, and no real outlet for local for original music. The town we are based in is Evansville Indiana. At first, there was a slight pun that DELIVER US FROM "EVIL" stood for "DELIVER US FROM EVANSVILLE". But that was just kind of an inside joke. My guitar player and I were raised catholic…..something that we respect for the insight, but don't actively practice at this time in our lives. Nothing against it. At the time of the bands conception, I had just had a very tight group of friends split up because a massive wave of Crystal Meth that devastated our area. It was HUGE here. People that you would never have thought that would try it were getting hooked on it. Parents, friends, school teachers…..even cops were using and becoming addicted to that drug. Some are still hooked. Some recovered and are back to trying to recover their lives that they had before they started using. That drug is totally the devil incarnate. It will literally reach into your soul, rip it out, and burn it in the street. I've seen it happen with my own eyes. Not that I hate the people that I know that used it. Although I did experience some of them turning against me in a way…..mainly because I didn't use. Luckily, I never became an addict, but I still personally felt the effect that the drug had on my best of friends. And many of us lost contact. To be honest, the only reason that I decided to join a band is because of the fact that 50% of my best of friends were using that drug, and I just couldn't relate to them at the time. So I started to play the guitar….constantly. (Although I am known as being a drummer). And that just led me back into playing music again…..and got me behind a drumset again. DELIVER US FROM EVIL basically stands for, "Please keep the people in our band from doing what others want us to do. (Such as having to play covers to be able to play a venue that has a decent enough sound system that will properly represent what we are trying to achieve.). Deliver us from having to constantly do something other than what we want to do in order to make money such as work a dead end job…….or Deliver us from the addictions that so many others endured through the time of what I would formidably call "the wave of the midwestern plague."" It was a very dark time from 2001 to around 2005 for myself. And recently, I have been able to make amends with some of the friends that I lost through those times. But some never made it……..and that is something to remember, understand, and make sure that we do not make the same mistake. I love the people that I am mentioning…….even though they may be cloaked in a shadow of vagueness. I wish them the best of course. But for myself, this band has a very deep rooted meaning. And it is not religious. It is more of a personal philosophy. We have been a relentless force in our local and regional area. We do not take no for an answer. Original bands were not known for playing the major venues in our hometown when we first started playing in a coffee shop…..then a very small bar called LAMASCO's. All the die hards here used to come out to our house gig in 05 and 06 EVERY WEDNESDAY and support us. Now we have played almost every major venue. And have been consistently touring a 350 mile radius for the last 5 years. We want to tour in Europe and Japan. We want to tour with bands that will inspire us to push ourselves musically. We want to kick some ass.
Q: You are also a pretty bad ass photographer! tell me a little about how you got into that?
Well, when I was younger, I spent ALOT of time with my cousin Mike Hartley (the closest thing I have to a brother) and his best friend Chris Capo, which I consider one of my best friends…..which were both photographers. I would help my cousin in his garage dark room from time to time. After that, I learned that knowing how to take a good photo and being able to work in a dark room could get me a hall pass and out of other classes to help put together the high school news paper and yearbook. I have been shooting weddings since I was 19. Whether I was doing it myself, or with someone else. It was just something that came naturally and that I fell into. I don't know why. I actually have a degree in Graphic Design, and a double minor in marketing and English (both minors by accident). But in 2006, I saw the french band, GOJIRA's "the link alive" DVD, and thought it was one of the most intriguing things that I had seen to that point. And still holds that status for me today. I was shooting shows from time to time, and got the opp from my friend Brenden, to shoot Gojira with Lamb of God and Machinehead. Yes. That show was retardedly amazing.
But before the show, I was sitting on the steps of City Hall (venue in Nashville) and I saw this guy, and I asked him what time it was. He said "I'm sorry, but I am not very good at english. Can you please speak more slowly?". And I asked, "Gojira?". "Yes" he replied. It turns out that I was sitting next to Gojira's manager at the time……and someone that has turned out to be a great friend to this day, Richard Gamba. He since helped me organize shoots with the band in St. Louis, and even France in Arras when Gojira opened for Metallica for the first time. I also did 9 dates with them and In Flames and 36 crazy fists, and shot 3 dates of their latest Metallica tour in 09. That actually led into me working with DÅÅTH for the Concealers record. After I did the St. Louis shoot with Gojira, Eyal Levi called me up and said that he was interested in me shooting the photos for their release with the Concealers. If you own that album, you may notice that I shot all of the portraits in the booklet. It was a really big deal for me at the time working with those two bands. And I'm stoked to call them my friends. Another highlight was to be flown to Tampa to work with Cannibal Corpse. Those dudes rule, and were super cool to me. Workin with Chimaira this summer at Mayhem was killer too.
I also photograph weddings, babies, models, Stunt Bike Motor Cycle riders (check page 20 of the current issue, January 2011, of Motor Cyclist Magazine and the cover and feature of Stunt Rider Magazine), skateboarding, other bands, and all my travels thus far. You can check my work out at www.alexmorganimaging.com
send me an email if you found my website from this interview. I'll reply to ya no problem.
I used to go by my first company, STRYCH 9 PRODUCTIONS, which I still have plans to make my multimedia company….ie, web design, video production, photography, creative networking…..and other ideas.
Q:Did your photography help you develop new relationships in the music business and who have you worked with?
A: Absolutely. There are a lot of heavy hitters out there that probably wouldn't have given me the time of day if I hadn't worked with some of the people I have worked with. Just because the band is unsigned doesn't bother us a bit. We have figured out our own system. Which we are ready to take to the next level of course. But we are going to write our next record in the comfort of our homes…..which is nice to be able to do. But the only thing that is different is the fact that we have an audience eagerly waiting the next release. And we are very pleased in the direction we are headed.
As far as who I have worked with on a personal level, Gojira, DÅÅTH, Cannibal Corpse, Chimaira, Skindred, most of the pics on Kevin Talley's website, Savage Lin, Nick Apex, and Ernie Vigil in the Stuntrider game,
Q:Explain what DELIVER US FROM EVIL means to you and why you guys chose that name?
Give me your idea on the metal industry today? As a musician, what are the needs your band and many other has that needs to be taken into consideration?
A: To all involved in the metal industry today, it is very obvious that it is going through a massive reform. But this isn't the first time that this has happened. The Myspace revolution put the music industry into our own hands. It destroyed Artist Development. It created many ways for random people to convince new inexperienced artists that they could help them "promote" their bands and work. The internet has led to the formation of many "fake" labels and there has been a major influx of false hope created in this business. Many people out there starting websites, or just having myspace pages saying that they are "labels" and signing small bands with the promise of helping them succeed. When in all reality, they are just doing what the band never took the time to learn how to do themselves. This has led to these bands signing contractual agreements, that really wouldn't even hold up in court anyway, and have detoured smaller bands into thinking that they are stuck……because the "fake" labels end up becoming uninterested in doing anything for that band…..or anything else for that matter. Then you have a lot of small unheard of bands going around saying that they are "signed". Which, in reality, they are just on a website that they could have designed themselves…..and had control over. The more "help" you have, the less control you have. This is is what I can the market of "FALSE HOPE". And if you let your band buy into this market, then you are already finished.
But now the myspace revolution is almost over. Many of the bands with fake numbers and all the spam have pretty much all broken up. They thought it would be easy. And it is not. Quick success in todays music industry….especially metal, is usually the recipe for failure. It's nice to make a quick buck, but if your not established and respected in this genre, your career is pretty much still born. It all depends if you want to be an artist that makes an impression, or just make a quick buck to move on to do something else. It usually takes 4 records to become established. We aren't there yet, but we are young……..and still pissed off enough to follow through.
As far as my bands needs, we just need the tours and promotion, and some financial help with getting our second full length recorded. We are very efficient in the studio, and know exactly who we would record it with. We pretty much have everything else covered.
The metal industry to us is something that is individually created to suit that particular bands needs.
Q: What are future goals of the band?
A: To take over the motha fuckin' world of course. And if that doesn't happen, at least travel most of it together and enjoy life as much as possible and do the best possible job that we can. To perfect our skills to their utmost degree, and gain the respect of our peers. To get the opportunity that we deserve. And execute with utmost precision.
Q: Tell me about your music video and everyone involved in it?
A: Mitch Massie shot and directed it…..and co-produced it with the help of myself. I would rather let the "making of" Documentary explain who was involved and how we did it. We are self made midwestern crazy people. We just take things into our own hands and make sure the shit happens. We're not messin' around here. We are relatively trapped in our area. So we do whatever we have to do to make our concepts reality. We are in this to do what we want to do. We are in this to kick your ass live, and to preform up to our standards on the recordings. We are our own worst critics. And for all the bands that play music for all the wrong reasons, we're comin' to get ya. And for all the bands that write and play music for all the right reasons. We salute you.
Sanaz: Thank you so much for your time and I really hope we get to meet face to face soon.
Alex: Thanks for the interview and the help on your end. We really appreciate your support and the fact that you have found us all the way out here in the Midwest. We look forward to touring on the west coast asap.
I want to give a shout out thank you to Mike VanBibber, Mark Truxal, Billy, and Les, our girls, our families, Jon Munnier, the Duck Inn here in Evansville, Raven Ebner that does our artwork, Trick Drums, Kramer Guitars, Dungeon Bonnie, 103 GBF, and anyone else who has supported us along the way. You all totally rule.
Metal Sanaz
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