Killswitch Engage

Interview mit Howard Jones (Vocals)

How do you like Germany?

Oh, I love Germany! Germany has always been very good to us. I always enjoy visiting here. Well Cologne is one of the places I had a little bit of sightseeing before, y’know? I didn’t have the opportunity on this trip, but I’ve been here several times. We all love Germany! Why? Because it’s just… good people, good food… I love the bread… great bread great cheeses here, that’s very important to us. (Schmunzelt)

Alright, and you like the beer of course…

That’s more of an Adam-thing. I’m not a drinker, but… oh… wow, he has gone nonestop. I just don’t understand how he can be drunk, go to bed, wake up and drink a beer before noon. I was like „How do you do that??“ (lacht)

Okay so a very likable guy. Congratulations to your knew album.

Thank you.

A question that really burns in several heads, what does it sound like?

Hmm, it sounds like a Killswitch album, only thing is all the elements that are part of it y’know, we just kind of took a step further. We’ve got more fast parts, the heavy parts are heavier, there is more melody… yeah it is fine album, but I think out of all of this it is definately a heavier album.

Alright I’m longing for it. Next question is where do you get all the influence from? Do you have any bands, you hear and say „well that is a cool part“?

No I can’t say we really do that.I mean I listen to a lot of Metalmusic. I don’t know… well we do have some influences, especially musically, but for most part we have kind of gone into our own thing. We sound like Killswitch. It’s like you hear a song from us and you immediately know that it is us. So I don’t know. That is a tough question.

Then let’s step forward. Speaking of Killswitch Engage. How would you describe the musical development of the band?

It’s definately still metallic, y’know. There’s metal-aspects to it and there’s a little bit of tiny splash or thrash thrown in there. And then there’s tons of melody and there is almost like… pop elements in there, I mean, usually we have clean vocals in every song and that’s something we enjoy. But yeah, we are just a different sort of band now.

2 in 1 question. What do you prefer? Concert or festival? Studio or stage?

I prefer concerts. Festivals can be really fun but they are slightly impersonal, just because it is big. That doesn’t bother me… oh I mean it does, ‘cause I just get really nervous around crowds, but the part that sucks is that the first row of kids are like 15 meters away and that’s no fun.Y’know? That’s kind of a bummer.

As far as studio or stage… damn I mean… stage… we get the cup of love and have fun but man I love the challenge of trying to create something from nothing. I think this was the fun thing with this album. We took some time of and then spoke with the recordlabel like „Hey, you guys wanna do an album? We’d love to have it out by a certain time“ and we were like „Wow, we can give it a shot. If it is not ready then, it is just not ready then.“ Alright that’s fine. Sooo we started writing and all the sudden it’s like „Wow we have an album out of our material“. I love the challenge of that.

Do you remember the most embarassing thing ever happened to you on stage?

Beside standing next to Adam every night?? I don’t know…(lacht)Oh wow… thing is stuff just always happens y’know? I’ve spring my ankles on stage, I’ve fallen down… I’ve pretty much destroyed myself on stage.To me it is all part of the concert experiance. You can never really say it’s embarassing. I’ve slipped on water on the side of the stage and fell flat on my face and just layed there laughing because it is funny y’know. You never know what’s gonna happen. So yeah, I think the most embarassing thing is realy being next to Adam. (lacht). It’s like we never know what’s gonna happen on stage but man, you really never know what he’s gonna say or do. So that’s got to be the best answer.

Yeah I rememeber watching the DVD and I was wondering about that curtain thing on his back.

(lacht) He is just an interesting sort of guy.

Now that you have mentioned Adam. I read he had a surgery. Is he doing okay?

He is doing fantastic. A surgery was necessary. Some of the bones in his spine were compressed and so he definately needed surgery. He was out of comission for about a month after that but yeah, he is doing fantastic now.

That is good to here. Now I’d like to say a few words and I’d like you to say what comes first to your mind. Starting with Killswitch Engage?

Okay that one got me. I was not expacting to hear that. Okay Killswitch Engage… Hmmm… fun.

Life?

Food

Fans?

Life!

Last word. Music?

My beautiful mistress.

Wow you are a poet! Next question is, what are the band’s plans for the future?

Tour, tour, tour. The Album is being mastered right now and let’s see… we are playing a show in Alaska in a few days. Then we are doing Japan, Australia, New Zealand and playing in Hawaii. Then we are touring the states and then we will be back overseas for four European tours at the beginning of the year.

Do you already know when you come back to Germany?

It’s being booked right now. I probably know it in a week. We will be doing a full European tour and play more then two shows in Germany. We will spend some quality time here.

That is good to here. Well, already last question. Is there anything you wanna say to your fans or some other people?

Ahh you wonderful, wonderful Germans you. You guys have been unbelievably supportive for this band from day one! I mean we don’t even deserve it but you guys have been awesome to us. And we are definately looking forward to coming back and enjoying your beautiful country and saussages and your wonderful women, well I probably won’t enjoy one but they are definately nice to look at.(lacht) We will be back shortly, come out and have a good time with us

Dana Wessel & Nico Pottgießer

von Dana Wessel | 10.10.2006 | Kommentare (1) | Kommentar schreiben