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CONFRONT: So how has your day been so far?

Ray: Fantastic!

CONFRONT: Yeah?! Enjoying any shows?

Ray: Yeah, I checked out…. Who’s that band – Oh! Airbourne! I’m a huge AC/DC fan and they remind me of them.

CONFRONT: It’s true, I was with a friend who actually said the exact same thing.

Ray: Yeah, I’m gonna go check out Avenged Sevenfold in a bit. My friend Mike Portnoy, from the band Dream Theater, is the drummer today. So definitely going to check them out. But, yeah, it’s good to bring ‘Mayhem’ out this way because it’s only been in the States. This is the only out of country thing we’re going to be doing.

CONFRONT: Oh really?

Ray: Yeah!

CONFRONT: What would you say are the major differences between touring at festival shows like this compared to venue shows?

Ray: This is like a big brotherhood. Everyone knows everyone. We’ve all been on the road forever so when you’re out here like this, it’s cool because the turnouts are amazing. We sold out 5 shows in the States and all the others are borderline sold out. We did a Jagermeister tour a couple months ago and it was great because the intimacy was there. We were doing theaters and small arenas and it’s awesome to have people right there in your face. I like big crows but I also love smaller shows too.

CONFRONT: For sure. That’s good. Just going a bit deeper into everything, the music industry has really been changing these last few years and it’s kind of going away from record sales. How does that affect you and your band?

Ray: Well, I’ve only been in this band for 3 years now, but they’ve been very successful. Having a longevity of a career like they have- 17 years and having sold almost 40 million records- that’s quite an accomplishment. To keep that going in a day and age where kids don’t even know they’re stealing stuff; they rip a record and they’re like ‘what?’ It’s kind of cool that they want it and still want to hear it, but they don’t understand that we’re working very hard to give the music. And it’s not that much! 12 or 13 bucks is not that much if you see how much blood and sweat goes into it. It’s crazy. So, to me, I really hail the people that go out and buy records. I’m a music fan, I go out and buy records every single day or I download something on Itunes, no problem. I know what the artist has gone through, but in return, they come to the shows which is great. Just today we signed 400 KORN CDs at the roadrunner booth.

CONFRONT: That’s amazing

Ray: Yeah it’s awesome that someone can hold the CD in their hand. Of course it’s affecting sales the way things are ripped, but at the same time I look at it in a positive way, the fact that kids still want to hear it and they come to the shows. If I can say anything about it though, it’s to support the bands that you love because they’re working hard for you to bring you music. Maybe they’re even altering your life, I mean I go to these meet and greets for Korn and girls are just crying in front of John. People are like “I survived because of KORN”. When music has that much power, to change and alter a life, that’s worth 12.99, I’m sorry! *laughs* But we’re going through changes. It’ll never die, though. People keep saying the industry is going to die but it’s not dying. Yeah, we’ve lost a lot of record stores but it’s the evolution of it. We’re going to the digital world, we’ve been in the digital world now for a while… But someone has to do something to make it so you’re not necessarily stealing the record. I don’t know whether that’s going to happen because it’s so easy and accessible,  but we’ll see.

CONFRONT: So you don’t download records, or anything like that?

Ray: I have never ripped an illegal record in my entire life, not one.

CONFRONT: That’s very impressive

Ray: I mean, I’ve had buddies give me CDs… but I actually feel guilty like I cheated on my girlfriend or something! So I go out and I feel so bad and just go to Best Buy or whatever and just buy it. It’s weird.

CONFRONT: But you just really understand what it’s about

Ray: Exactly. This is all I’ve been doing professionally for 22 years. Sometimes an album comes about so easy but sometimes it’s such a long process… but to buy the song it’s just instantaneous. Everybody wants it NOW, FASTER. That’s great and all, but when you go to the doctors, is it free? When you call the plummer is it free when he comes to fix your toilet? No! And that’s way more expensive! I understand both ways though, I don’t downplay people who download stuff, I just say acknowledge what you’re doing.

CONFRONT: Definitely. Well just kind of in light of all of that, what advice do you have for up and coming bands who are trying to make it out there?

Ray: GO TO LAW SCHOOL! *laughs* Just kidding.

CONFRONT: Can you imagine…?! *laughs*

Ray:  You have to be so passionate and it has to come from so deep in your heart. You have to be willing to sacrifice your family… Everyone gets into the business for wrong reasons sometimes. They think they’re going to be rich rock stars tomorrow and that’s not always true. I’ve had every extreme: I’ve played a Bar mitzvah, a wedding and a stadium… and everything in between, and I never took it for granted. I’m very fortunate to be able to make a living playing music. But up and coming bands need to go out and network, meet people and they have to really be on top of the game. You can’t just sit around and wait for something to happen. You’ve got to go after it, you really have to dive in. I don’t care if you’re playing a club in front of 20 people on a Tuesday night at 8PM. Somebody might see you that could spread the word to another person, that could take that gig to another level. The networking is so much of it. Also, having a good producer to work on your songs and maybe take them up to another level… There are a lot of musicians out there that want the same thing and do the same thing. So what’s going to separate your band from the other  Joe Shmoe’s, you know? *laughs*

CONFRONT: For sure! So, in your opinion, live shows are really important?

Ray: Yeah absolutely. Right before we did this massive tour I played the Viper Room in front of 100 people and I just love it. I helped out a friends’ band called The Binges from LA, they’re a great up & coming band who lost their drummer and I’m such a fan of their band that I knew all their music. They were like “I can’t afford you!” and I was like “But I’m not even going to charge you anything!” I’m a music lover and I played the show because I love them and wanted to help them out. It was just awesome because some of us out there are like that. There’s no time for egos and attitudes and all that crap. If you have an ego or an attitude, get the hell out of the music business because there is no time for that anymore at all.

CONFRONT: Definitely. Do you have any regrets so far in your career or anything you still hope to achieve?

Ray: I don’t think I have any regrets. There’s a lot of things that I wish the path had been a little bit more guided into a better direction, but you don’t really know that. Any move you make or any choice you make, you don’t know if it’s going to lead to the right direction. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes, dive in and hope that it’s going to be all good. There are some decisions that I made that I should have been a little bit smarter about business-wise but they got me to where I’m at now so I can’t complain.

CONFRONT: That’s true, that’s a good way to look at it. How do you think the metal scene has evolved in the past few years?

Ray: The metal scene…. I don’t get a lot of stuff to be honest with you. There’s a lot of bands out there that are trying to be pissed off and they’re writing these crazy lyrics and singing like cookie monster and trying to be so…. Well, I mean I’m not naming names or anything but I just don’t feel it.

CONFRONT: *laughing* oh for sure!

Ray:  I don’t care if you’re playing jazz or metal or whatever, music has to move the individual. It has to make sense. It has to be something. Don’t just do it because “hey, the sound like this? We can do that too! Check this out!” you know? Have something to say and really mean it. To me a lot of the stuff has been serviced. I’m not saying there aren’t any good bands out there, there’s a lot of great talent. We’re on tour with a lot of good bands right now. I’m good friends with Five Finger Death Punch and I’ve never been exposed to Lamb Of God before, they’re really kicking my ass out here. Some bands are still around because they’re the real deal. I don’t know how it evolved, but I guess it comes in weird circles. It’s okay to emulate your favorite band or to have influences off them and inspirations, but don’t try to sound exactly like them… that’s so ‘cookie cutter’. The record labels look at it like ‘yeah, you’re that and we’ll try to put you in that category’ but it doesn’t always work that way.

CONFRONT: Yeah definitely. Well, I guess you were kind of talking about it just now, but do you have any pet peeves in the industry?

Ray: *laughs* Yeah, there’s a lot of snakes out there, like anything. You’ve got to watch your back. People are always trying to take advantage of you in some shape, way or form. Unfortunately if the world couldn’t tell lies we’d all be dead right now. It’s just the way it goes. That’s my biggest pet peeve though. Idiots in the business, people with egos or attitudes. There’s really no time for it. People come off like they’re better than someone else even though their career could be over in… 3 weeks!

CONFRONT: You literally never know.

Ray: Exactly, you NEVER know. It’s like, you’re living in your mom’s basement thinking “Awwww, what am I going to do?!” Those of us that are lifers like myself, that have done everything in between – like, I’ve taught drum lessons, played on movie soundtracks or whatever and I’m fortunate enough to be in KORN now which have been one of my favorite bands since they came out – to see someone like them, coming from such a small town, all they knew is what they played and what they had in front of them. They just played from the heart. It’s so amazing to appeal to that many people and to change lives, that’s pretty powerful.

CONFRONT: So what’s next for you guys once you’re down your current tour?

Ray: Well we’re pushing this new record right now, KORN 3: Remember Who You Are, which just came out on RoadRunner Records… We just did this crop circle thing in Bakersfield which is going to come out on DVD. HD.net and MySpace Music you can watch it, but like I said it’s going to come out on DVD. It’s got about 6 new songs on it which we’re trying to promote as much as we can. We’re also going to Europe to promote the record over there. Also going to Japan, Australia, South Africa… all those crazy places we went to in 2008. This band really doesn’t stop.

CONFRONT: Yeah, seriously!

Ray: We’re really hungry and passionate. I mean, everyone has families now so it’s not as crazy as it used to be but everyone is still into the music and we all still really want to play which is awesome.

CONFRONT: You were just talking about the new album which you guys just recently released, right?

Ray: Yes, exactly.

CONFRONT: What would you say makes it different from past work of the band?

Ray: Well the original producer Ross Robinson is back into the folds, hence the name Korn 3 – it’s his third records. So the original Korn members, it’s like a family reunion. Korn owns a very prestigious studio in Hollywood and the drum room is like a gymnasium… and Ross, the producer, was like “you guys are way too comfortable, you’re going to go in the guitar booth” which is only like 13 x 12, it’s this little closet. He shoved us all in there, literally instruments overlapping instruments, and he was just jumping around screaming and punching symbols and it was brutal. It wasn’t comfortable at all. If you looked comfortable, he’d make you uncomfortable. He wanted to bring KORN back to the core roots – not to sound like the first 2 records, but just the way they did it. Hungry, in that small garage, no record deal. Drummers mostly use click tracks in the studio and I couldn’t use the click track. We went back to 2 inch tape, very old school. Personally I’m tired of all the perfect sounding records out there.

CONFRONT: I know exactly what you mean!

Ray: You know what I mean, like the guitars are all perfectly tuned and the drums are perfectly fixed and everything is just so damn perfect… and then you see the band live and you’re like “that’s sloppy as hell”… This record is like 4 guys in a small room who wrote a song all together and then 45 minutes later track it to the record. There was no drum punches, no fixes… If I played something to clean he would literally be like “let’s try that again, I don’t have goosebumps yet. If I don’t completely have chills, we’re doing it again.” It was brutal because I couldn’t stop in the middle of the song and I would BEG Ross to let me fix things. I would be like “Please, let me do this again I can do this part better” and he would be like “I don’t give a shit about your parts, you’re not going to top the attitude you just gave me on that take”. I had never thought of that because I’m kind of a perfectionist in the studio. I mean, that CD outlives us all. When we’re all dead and gone that CD is going to live on, and that just freaks me out. For someone to say: “I don’t care about the instrument in front of you. If you’re not pouring your soul into this then it’s not a keeper”. You can really hear the intensity on the record.

CONFRONT: Are you happy with it, though?

Ray: I wanted to kill him the first 2 week, but now I’m ecstatic, I love it. I’m quite proud of it.

CONFRONT: Good, I’m really glad to hear that! On the deluxe edition there’s a DVD that comes with it, that Sebastian, our photographer, actually – I don’t know how he did it- but he crammed himself in a little ball and he filmed us- so with every song you can watch the DVD with it from inside the studio.

CONFRONT: Oh yeah?! That sounds awesome

Ray: Oh yeah, it’s pretty cool!

CONFRONT: My last question for you- For the magazine we don’t often interview metal bands so we’re kind of doing this huge feature on it and we’re curious as to what bands think of how there’s a label placed on the artists who play metal and fans who listen to it. How do you feel about that?

Ray: What kind of label, do you mean?

CONFRONT: Well, just how people judge this music a lot more than any other genre that’s out there. Like, even if you look out in the crowd today, everyone is wearing black, you know?

Ray: *laughs* Oh yeah!

CONFRONT: There are certain labels that come with this type of music!

Ray: Oh yeah, for sure. Not a lot of church groups in the audience I don’t think!

CONFRONT: No I don’t think so! *laughs*

Ray: You know, definitely. It’s very rebellious, it’s a release. It’s kind of scary sometimes, and I’ve been doing this my whole life!

CONFRONT: Really?!

Ray: Oh yeah! I mean, in LA I’ll play jazz, I play whatever, but I’m a rocker and a metal head at heart. But yeah, you see these crowds and the looks on their faces and their lifers. When you think about it, if you wake up in the morning and you hate your job and you’re like “Aw man, I have to do this crap again?!” and you put that band on, and that band just takes you somewhere else in your head, and you’re just in a whole different head space, there’s just this release of exertion. It takes you away from your every day normal life. The live stuff is that, but times 10. Because now you’re getting it in your face. The musicians that you’re envying or liking are right in front of your face and they’re playing this for you. I think it’s like no other style of music. You don’t just put on some country record and go “Oh this is pretty cool”… These people MEAN it. We just did a signing and the KORN fans are psychotic. This girl had KORN so big across her chest, and Jonathans face- the most beautiful portrait of his face on her back – and she’s crying her eyes out and I’m like “Wow, really?! That’s your BACK! Jonathans’ face on your BACK” and he was just like *Ray drops jaw to show astonishment*

CONFRONT: Speechless?

Ray: Completely speechless. These people are seriously lifers. They aren’t like “oh I kinda like that band”. No, it’s really on. In retrospect, that’s what it’s all about.

CONFRONT: For sure. Well thank you very much!

Ray: No problem, it was very nice meeting you!

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CONFRONT: So how was your show today?!

Nick: It was awesome! Biggest crowd we’ve ever played in front of

CONFRONT: Ever?!

Nick: Yeah, ever! There must have been like 10 000 by the time we got on stage, it was crazy.

CONFRONT: Wow, that’s amazing!

Nick: Best day of the summer I’ve been saying so far.

CONFRONT: How would you compare the touring of festivals like this type of thing compared to venue shows, what are the pros and cons of it?

Nick: Let’s see here… Well the pros to a festival like this is playing in front of so many people and meeting so many bands. I mean, Slayer and Megadeth are playing tonight along with Alice Cooper… and hopefully get to meet some of them. I love meeting new people and doing interviews- we don’t get to do that at venue shows! Club shows are a lot more intimate and closer to the crowd though. They’re both awesome in their own ways I guess.

CONFRONT: Definitely. Are there any bands that you’re for sure checking out while you’re here?

Nick: I am wishing I was going to be watching Testament and I wanted to watch Mastodon which is… Oh! There’s the drummer! *points to the drummer walking by us* and Slayer, Megadeth & Alice Cooper! As soon as I’m done here it’s bands for the rest of the night!

CONFRONT: That’s sick! So just to get a little bit deeper into everything, the music industry is changing a lot these past few years, how does that affect your band personally- the fact that it’s not really based on record sales as much anymore?

Nick: Good question. I think it’s more based on selling yourselves as individuals- not individuals but as an individual band and you’re not so relient on a record or an album cover. You need to gain a reputation of putting on a good live show and rocking out and entertaining. That’s one of the big differences I would say.

CONFRONT: For sure. How important would you say it is to interact with your fans and just be overall more personal with the whole twitter and Facebook thing?

Nick: We do that all the time. I think that’s really important to do. We’re always updating twitter, Facebook, Myspace and with technology it’s really easy to do. It’s easy to gain that one on one interaction with a super fan of your band and that makes their day. To talk to someone like that on a monthly, weekly or daily basis is really cool. It’s definitely really important.

CONFRONT: How do you think it’s going to affect your band personally as the music industry continues to change over the years, if it continues to go in this direction?

Nick: Well I mean, when I’m a really big fan of a band I’ll go out and buy their record, bands I’m kind of into I’ll check them out on MySpace or sometimes download it but I think you have to keep on doing something different or gain a reputation of being a great band to see live, or even connecting with your fans with Twitter and stuff like that. I think that’s the way every band is going to have to do it in the next couple years.

CONFRONT: Do you ever take offense to people who might download your album instead of necessarily buying it?

Nick: No, never. I can understand how bands would have felt that way back in the days of like… Metallica with the whole Napster thing because that was the first thing to happen like that. But times have been changing and it’s going to continue like that. As a new band, our debut album with RoadRunner Records is coming out in October. Our first major label album… So we want people to download it, we want as many people as possible to hear it. It’s good for us, right now.

CONFRONT: For sure, I can see that. In light of all of this & moving forward in the industry, what advice do you have for up and coming bands?

Nick: I’ve had this question a few times and I keep giving the same answer, but I think it’s just playing as many shows as possible all over, booking shows all over or getting a booking agent if you can and just playing all the time, no matter what. Even if it means you’re getting 3 hours of sleep and you have to wake up at 7AM for work the next morning. Just go play and halfway through the day at work you won’t even know the difference. Just keep playing and write songs that you’re into, don’t write songs that are going with the trend of whatever band is hot at that point. If you’re passionate about the music that you write I think that’ll be translated to the rest of the world. Those are the two biggest things I would say.

CONFRONT: Do you have any regrets so far in your career, or anything you really hope to achieve?

Nick: Regrets… I have NO regrets with this band at all. I think we’re doing everything the way it should be done. As for things I want to achieve, I want to go to Europe REALLY badly!

CONFRONT: Yeah?! That would be so cool!

Nick: Oh yeah! *laughs* I want to go on tour with bands over there. I’d love to go to Japan, Australia… Tour all over the world and have fun and hopefully be able to do this for a long time. As long as we can get some longevity to it and get a solid fan base, that would be a definite goal for me.

CONFRONT: Definitely. How do you think the metal scene has changed in the past few years, in your opinion?

Nick: That’s a good one. I think there’s a lot more technical bands out there these days and with all the stuff like Guitar Hero and YouTube and all that stuff, people are getting insanely good at instruments. I’m not saying they’re the best songwriters in the world but there’s talent… So much talent and I think with the technology we’re finally all able to see that talent and it’s going to cause a big boom in the metal industry at some point. There’s going to be all these young bands just ripping it up. Hopefully that happens, I would love to see that happen.

CONFRONT: For sure, for sure. Still sticking to the whole metal scene music industry, what are your pet peeves about them?

Nick: Pet peeves about the industry itself? Let’s see… I don’t know, it’s a tough one. I’m still kind of new to it so I haven’t been around long enough to really voice my opinion on anything like that. I just say it’s just music in general – and I guess it kind of comes back to the technology thing and people can gain access to music so fast- but I think bands are hot and then they’re not. Hot one year and then done the next year. The pop world has always been like that, you get a big pop record one year and the next year it’s all over. Metal is kind of similar I think, but I think metal fans are a lot more loyal and are willing to give other things a chance and realize that bands have to evolve and create in different ways. I don’t know what my pet peeve would be, I guess that would be one of them. Other than that, I don’t know…

CONFRONT: You’re not at the point to have any other ones? That’s good!

Nick: Yeah exactly, I’m really not jaded about the whole thing yet, I’m just having a good time.

CONFRONT: Has it ever crossed your mind to NOT play metal, where you guys ever going to do anything besides that?

Nick: That’s a good question actually. I was in high school with Josh, our other guitar player… we played in punk bands. We grew up to a lot of the Southern California, fat records & epitaph bands… NOFX, Strung Out, Bad Religion and all those guys, and we always played punk, and then it kind of turns out that I went to school and Josh kept playing and joined Baptized in Blood before I did and kind of got into all this metal stuff – I needed to find something more aggressive or heavier, so I got into some of the Swedish bands that got me into super heavy stuff.

CONFRONT: What attracts you to the music, to that genre?

Nick: I think it’s actually playing the instrument. Playing guitar, writing cool riffs and challenging things. Some things we wrote in the studio- I mean we can play them, but to be able to play them live we really have to practice to pull it off. I think that’s a really cool aspect of it.

CONFRONT: Definitely. What is the biggest challenge so far in your band?

Nick: Biggest challenge so far in my band, or me in the band?

CONFRONT: Either one works! What about you personally?

Nick: Just making sure I’m there, doing my job at all times. That’s not just playing guitar, it’s out on the road, doing merch… Which isn’t really a challenge, but it’s easy to just get caught up hanging out, sitting with the band and sometimes you want to go home but you just have to stick with what you’re supposed to do. That can be a challenge on the road. As a band, just working alongside all these other bands making sure we’re up to par, trying to gain a new fan base.

CONFRONT: Definitely. So what’s next after all your summer touring?

Nick: We finish off this Fear Factory tour in a couple days and then we’re home for the month of August. We have to do some promo stuff, photoshoots and the video for the album and then we go out with HateBreed to do an East Coast thing… With HateBreed, Amur, Dead & Divine and Stitch I believe. That’ll be like the East Coast of Canada, Ontario and into Quebec. So we’ll do that for a couple weeks and then the album will be out in a couple of weeks and then we’ll just keep touring. As long as we can really!

CONFRONT: What can fans expect from your album?

Nick: just like a real mixture of heavy music. Like we were talking about the Southern California punk stuff. That’s in there in places, then our singer Joel is a really die hard hardcore fan, sick of it all and blood for blood and cool hardcore bands. So those two styles as well, and I’d say there’s kind of some American, new (not new) but new Metal like Lamb of God type of stuff. It’s really a big mixture of everything I would say. There’s something there for everyone, for sure.

CONFRONT: Awesome! My last question for you… At our magazine we don’t often get to interview Metal bands so we’re kind of doing a big Feature on this whole festival. We’re going to base the whole article on the fact that metal bands often get this label put on them compared to other types of music. How do you feel about that?

Nick: Like different types of metal, you mean?

CONFRONT: Yeah, but also the people who listen to metal compared to the people who don’t and who judge the music or who just don’t understand it

Nick: I would just say, too bad for those people! *laughs* If you’re not into it, you’re not into it. I mean, there’s music  that I’m not into. There’s rarely music that I’m not into, but there is… And it’s not for everyone but I’d say give it a chance. If you have any sort of interest in aggressive music or just rock n’ roll, really… You can find something you like in any heavy metal band. Just look at the line-up here today at Heavy MTL. There’s bands for everyone. You might not like the heaviest metal band or the fastest metal band but you could like some other metal band. There’s such a wide variety. It’s one of the genres that there are just so many different facets to it, it’s almost universal. Anyone could like it. You just have to give it a chance!

CONFRONT: Great, well thank you very much!

Nick: Thank you too!

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CONFRONT: What are some of the pros and cons of playing festival tours compared to playing in venues?

SHAWN: There’s more pros then cons. You’re getting to expose your music in front of a ton of people and these are people who may not necessarily be into your band. With all these different bands playing hopefully they’ll stick around for our show and if we can get kids to dig us then it’s a good thing. The only thing that’s a little trying for our crew is that everything is a fast pace. There’s no sound check, it’s basically just technical stuff but we’re so used to that stuff that we don’t think of it a whole lot. We just go up there and do our thing. It’s basically just pros. There are so many kids out there having a great time. How can that suck?

CONFRONT: What’s it like to headline a show like this?

SHAWN: It’s great.

CONFRONT: Especially since you’re from Montreal?

SHAWN: I’m really proud. I’m glad something’s finally being done. I know this is the second installment of it. It makes me proud to see all these kids out there and they’re really loud and the bands are taking notice of that. Hopefully this will blossom into a yearly festival.

CONFRONT: You have lots of experiences as well.

SHAWN: Yes!

CONFRONT: Do you have a favorite one? Is there one that stands out in your mind?

SHAWN: Oh yeah god there’s so many good festivals. Probably Download festival in England. That would probably be my favorite. I’ve done that festival three times now and the average amount of people is anywhere between 80 and 100 thousand. They’re just rabid fans that go nuts when we play. We always have a great time. It’s always been a really good festival for us. I really enjoy it, I dig this. You get to see a bunch of your friends in other bands.

CONFRONT: Is there anyone you’re looking forward to seeing?

SHAWN: I missed Anvil and that kind of sucked. We drove up and they were playing their last song. I know a lot of these guys. There’s also Rob Halford, I haven’t seen him yet. Once we’re done here I’ll go catch a few tunes. Testament played before, Mastodon is coming up. We’re out on tour with Slayer and Testament and we’re all playing on this bill. I’d like to see Alice Cooper and he’s playing tonight. We try to see as much as we can in the time frame that we have to rehearse and do interviews. I try to see as much as I can.

CONFRONT: The music industry has been changing drastically lately, have you seen an affect on your band?

SHAWN: It’s affected every band because of internet piracy. It’s a fact. This is the third interview today and it’s all we’ve been talking about.

CONFRONT: Yeah it’s a huge subject now.

SHAWN: The whole industry is down about 50%. Well I think it is. I could be wrong; it could be a little lower. It’s crap. It’s a drag. It’s like going into a lot and taking a car. You’re just going to drive off in it without paying? It affects everything in the music industry. It affects the record labels which say “Okay you’re only selling this amount of records instead of what you did 5 years ago. So now the tour budget has to be lower”. It affects everything. It affects the production of a record, “Oh we can only give you this much money because you only sold this amount of copies.” So it really affects everything and that’s a real drag to me. I hope someone fixes the problem. When I was a kid we rode a train for an hour to buy a record, that’s just what we did. Our fans support us greatly and it’s not the fans that I’m talking about it’s the ones that say “Oh yeah I’ll get the new record from a buddy or iTunes or a torrent site.” It’s not just affecting music; it’s affecting DVD’s, movies & games! My son has all the Play station and Xbox and he’s like “I can get the new game off a friend” and I’m like “How can you do that? How can you rip all that information off of a game?” It’s amazing. That affects that industry. People have been downloading music many more years then they’ve been downloading movies or games and they’re going to suffer too and that sucks. It affects all of us. We keep plugging away and doing our thing and we’re trying to stay positive. That’s the truth.

CONFRONT: What advice do you have for up and coming bands with all of these changes?

SHAWN: That’s a hard question to answer. Try not to get disgruntled by the fact that it’s going to be harder for you to get signed, it’s going to be harder for you to get any type of tour budget, it’s going to be harder get any decent type of recording budget. Try and stick in there and make it happen. It can still happen and there’s still bands that are successful but it’s just on a bit of a smaller scale. Success is relative too; you don’t need to sell 8 million records to be a success. You can sell a fraction of that and still make money and tour successfully. All your fans are going to come and see you live and your records sale isn’t a reflection of your fan base because we have tons of kids at all our shows so we know they’re there. We have a whole new generation of kids at our shows and we’re grateful for that. For the scene as a whole just support the bands and I know it’s difficult because times are tough with the economy but times have been tough in the past too and people still support the bands.

CONFRONT: On top of that CD’s really aren’t that expensive anymore.

SHAWN: Exactly, they’ve all come down in price to try and get people to buy them. It’s a difficult thing to talk about and a lot of people are scared to talk about it. I’m not because I know it’s the truth and I’m not being an asshole about it and that but it’s affecting the industry right across the board from the most successful artist right down to that young metal band trying to get a deal. It affects so many different areas that so many people don’t even realize. That’s the travesty. It’s not just “Okay I got the new record from this band and I got it for real.” It just snowballs into this giant snowball of doom. It’s a drag but I’m hopeful that it’ll change and become better. I say we go back to vinyl.

CONFRONT: We’re writing a feature article on metal and we’ve noticed that a lot of people judge metal music and they put bands and their fans into a category…

SHAWN: Right.

CONFRONT: Are you trying to send a particular message with your music?

SHAWN: I don’t know if we’re trying to send any kind of message. We just make a record of the best tunes we can and we hope that our fans will buy it and dig it. Our track record is very good and a quarter of a century later we’re still doing well so we must be doing something right.

CONFRONT: Well from here there seems to be a lot of metals fans, even here in Montreal.

SHAWN: Well Montreal has always been a great city for Metal. I think it’s one of the best cities in North America, if not one of the best cities for metal in the world. I grew up here so it’s not a surprise to me or Megadeth. Our track record here has always been great and now we’re headlining this amazing festival. I don’t necessarily think we’re trying to relay any message except for the message of music. We’re trying to write great tunes in hopes that we’ll get more fans. I think that’s what every band wants to do. Maybe other bands have different messages which are great but we don’t have a specific message to be honest.

CONFRONT: How has your music evolved over the past couple of years? With the metal scene evolving so much how has it affected your sound?

SHAWN: It’s cyclical. It took a nosedive in the 1990’s. How old are you?

CONFRONT: I’m 20.

SHAWN: You’re 20 so you’re still young. It was so successful in the 80’s with the MTV generation. There was so much great stuff happening in the 80’s and so much success so it had to take the inevitable nosedive in the 1990’s when grunge kind of obliterated anything associated with metal.  A lot of bands split up because of that which really sucked but here we are in 2010. Every year really since about 1999-2000 it started to slowly creep out again and resurface. Every year it seems to be getting more and more powerful again. With us touring for the last 6 years that I’ve been in this band, I’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of fans coming out to shows. These fans are so true and so hardcore to this music that even though it kind of took a nosedive the core of the fans always stayed there and now we have a whole new generation of young kids, such as yourself, who dig this type of music. We’re grateful for that. We see 14 and 15 year old kids who are kids of people who dug Megadeth in the 80’s. We’re real happy to have a new generation of fans and not become this nostalgia act because that’s not who we are. We’re about presenting new material and being valid, again we must be doing something right.

CONFRONT: It’s great to watch fans at these types of shows, I’ve never seen a fan base have so much fun. Metal fans in general.

SHAWN: Right! It’s band after band of great bands playing. I’m really glad that this is happening here. This is such a great city to do this; it’s amazing that nobody thought of this 15-20 years ago. They’re doing it now and obviously it’s a success and I hope this happens every year.

CONFRONT: Do you have any regrets about your career? Anything you’d like to accomplish that you haven’t yet done?

SHAWN: Nope. I’ve done everything and more in the six years that I’ve been in this band. I didn’t join Megadeth until I was 38 years old and by then I was well into my marriage with two growing kids so I never really thought that I was going to be successful at this level. When I got the call to join Megadeth it was such a thrill for me that everything has just been icing on the cake. I’m able to make a living and support my family doing what I love to do. How many people can say that? There’s a small percentage of humanity who can actually say “Yeah I love my job and this is what I was put on this Earth to do.” It’s kind of had to grumble about anything.

CONFRONT: So you’re just grateful about everything.

SHAWN: I am, yeah! I’m a happy person. I’m happy to be doing this and to be successful at it.

CONFRONT: What are the upcoming plans for the band after this festival.

SHAWN: We’re in tour mode basically until the end of this year, on and off. We’re talking into things. We don’t have anything etched in stone. We’re set up until mid-October with Anthrax and Slayer. After that we’re just talking about what we want to do and I know there will be more touring involved. I think next year we’ll be finished the world tour and take a break and write the new record and start all over again.

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CONFRONT: Is there any news on a third album yet for you guys?

ANTOINE: You can go ahead…

ALEX: Well we’ve been working on it for awhile but we’re not the type of band that just goes into the studio for two weeks and does everything from start to finish. We like to work on the sounds, on the effects, on the samples and everything. We take our time and we won’t release it until we’re 100% satisfied.

CONFRONT: Okay so you’re in the process of working on it?

ALEX: Yeah.

CONFRONT: How would you compare it to your other two albums?

ALEX: Way better. The first one was pretty horrible and I’m proud of the second one but this is going to be a full length album as opposed to an EP. It’s going to be better because we’re older and we have more experience and it’s more mature.

ANTOINE: It’s a lot warmer in terms of tones and sounds. It’s less cold then the other industrial mechanical albums.

CONFRONT: What are the pros  and cons of playing an outdoor festival like this instead of an indoor venue show?

ALEX: It’s pretty much all pros because you get so much exposure playing in a festival like this with so many great bands. The con is that we have to play in the daylight so we don’t have our light show and we play pretty early and not a lot of people get there that early. Considering all these facts it was great and it’s great exposure and it’s a great experience all around.

ANTOINE: It’s really great but the only bad thing for us was Hail the Villain started about 15 minutes after we started. It was two big sounds clashing against each other but we played great and it was awesome and we got the chance to meet lots of people.

CONFRONT: Do you guys have a lot of experience with festival shows?

ALEX: Yeah pretty much. We only play the shows that we want to play as opposed to lots of bands that just jump onto any show that they can get even if it’s crappy. This summer the only shows that we did were festivals. Most of the time we play more festivals then club shows. It’s always fun to play outdoors on big stages instead of small sweaty clubs. I guess lots of bands like that but we’re more of a big stage band I’d say.

CONFRONT: Are there any bands that you’re looking forward to seeing?

ALEX: Korn obviously, we’re friends with them and Munky, the guitar player, played on our upcoming album. He was on the side of the stage to catch our set and he had to get up early to come see us which was great. Rob Zombie is also a really great guy and he puts on a really good live show. Plus he’s touring with Joey the drummer from Slipknot now. I’m looking forward to seeing Alexisonfire. We played with them at Rockfest but I didn’t catch their whole set. That’s who I’m looking forward to.

CONFRONT: What about you guys?

ANTOINE: Pretty much the same. I’ve never see Rob Zombie so I’m kind of curious and Lamb of God probably and also Avenged Sevenfold.

CONFRONT: What made you guys lean more towards the metal scene and a metal sound?

ALEX: Actually I don’t consider our music to be metal. We’re trying to get away from that. Obviously we don’t play classical music but it’s towards heavier music. I don’t think we’re metal.

CONFRONT: So how would you describe your sound?

ANTOIINE: It’s more of a question of intensity. We’re really intense on stage but it’s not the typical metal songs that we play.

ALEX: On the Infected EP the guitar riffs were more industrial metal oriented but on the new album there’s more of a rock and roll feel.

ANTOINE: It’s mixed with weird electronics and old analog sounds. It’s really different.

CONFRONT: What’s one thing you guys have learned about the music industry so far?

ALEX: It’s all about contacts basically. Even if we’re the best band in the world if we don’t have the right contacts we won’t get anywhere. You have to talent, even if you have all the contacts, if you suck you won’t get any gigs. It’s a mixture of different things. One thing I’ve learned is that you really have to just jump and go ahead because lots of bands have these illusions that they’ll play 1000 times in this shitty bar in front of two people and there’s going to be a miracle and some A&R guy is going to show up at one of those bars. That just isn’t going to happen so you got to go get these people, they won’t come to you.

ANTOINE: That happened to The Doors! They were signed at club.

ALEX: Yeah 30 years ago.

CONFRONT: Do you have any regrets about your career or anything that you’d like to accomplish that you haven’t done yet?

ANTOINE: I should have played guitar *laughs*. I don’t have any regrets. I went away from music for quite awhile to study but I don’t regret it. It was for a couple of years to concentrate on visual effects and cinema but I don’t regret it because it was a part of my life and it’s still a part of my now. I’m a really big fan of visual effects and movie making. I don’t regret it.

ALEX: I actually have regret. I regret not setting on fire our last guitar player because he sucked. We should have done that before we fired him, I regret that. Maybe someday?

CONFRONT: What’s one of the biggest challenges of being in your band?

ALEX: Getting along together. *laughs* I have a big ego and Antoine has a big ego.

ANTOINE: Nooo that’s not true.

ALEX: I don’t really see it as a challenge. It’s a lot of work and you have to pay for everything and it’s a big commitment because nothing comes easy and it’s a lot of work and it takes time. There’s tension but that’s normal and at the end of the day I think we’re still a tight organization and it’s pretty cool.

CONFRONT: What’s up next for you guys after this show?

ALEX: This was our last festival date for the summer and we’re going to focus on our album which will hopefully be done in the fall. Then we’re going to look at how we’re going to release the album, which label we’ll choose, since the industry is so messed up right now with people not buying CD’s. We’re just kind of looking at different options. We have great friends and fans helping us out like Munky from Korn who has been really supportive. We’ll see when the album is done and we’ll take it from there.

CONFRONT: I was going to ask you guys, how have all these different changes in the industry affected your band?

ALEX: When we first started out I had these illusions, these bands that are just going to get an A&R guy out of nowhere, and I just realized “what’s the point in getting a record deal if no one buys records anymore?” I sat back for awhile and watched what was going on and try and take a breath and analyze everything. I think a record deal is important for other aspects of your career like for getting on tours and festivals and just the whole marketing aspect of reaching the masses as opposed to be independent where you can’t reach everyone.

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CONFRONT: What are some of the pros and cons of playing a festival like this?

RYAN: Well today for instance the load on is different. You play your own show you get as much as time as you want to set up your gear. Today, and festivals in general, you have to load on fairly quickly and it brings on technical problems. We had no monitors or fallbacks for the first song today so we couldn’t hear anything and you hope to God it sounds alright in the front. You’re also trying to win new audiences over as opposed to a venue show when all those people are there to see your band. There’s also the weather and playing outside which makes a difference on stage. There’s lot of different things.

CONFRONT: It must be a good thing though; you’re exposing yourself to a lot of people who might not necessarily be fans to begin with.

RYAN: Yeah exactly that’s why festivals are so great. It puts a lot of people in one spot to see a lot of bands. For the rest of the year those different bands will come through town and those people will disperse and go to different shows.

CONFRONT: Is there any band you’re looking forward to seeing?

RYAN: I saw Alice Cooper and Megadeth were on yesterday. I would’ve liked to have seen them. We’re good friends with Five Finger Death Punch and basically we’re just having a look around.

CONFRONT: The music scene has changed drastically over the past couple of years, how has it affected your band? With illegal downloading and everything…

RYAN: The thing is we never really cared about that. When it starts to affect touring that’s when it starts to be a problem. I will be honest; it does get to be a bit hard because it costs a lot to tour especially these days. We’re going to continue going at it and we’re going to keep playing.

CONFRONT: Have you had a favorite festival tour in the past?

RYAN: There’s one I wouldn’t mind doing in Australia again. It’s about 6 shows in 16 days with after parties in between every day in between. That was a long time ago and one of the first festivals we ever did. We just did a bunch in Europe which was all fantastic. Download was very interesting in England. They’re all great.

CONFRONT: Do you have a favorite band to tour with?

RYAN: Probably Motorhead and Aerosmith.

CONFRONT: Wow you’ve toured with Aerosmith?

RYAN: And the Stones actually!

CONFRONT: What advice do you have for upcoming bands?

RYAN: If you’re doing it for the money then stop now and start doing something else. *laughs* If you’re doing it for the passion then no matter what anyone else tells you, as far as I’m concerned these are exciting times and there will be a movement!

CONFRONT: That’s great advice. What made you lean more towards a metal sound?

RYAN: I don’t know I guess we just play hard as we can but we’re also very much an old school band. When we get up there we act as if it’s our last show and in turn I think that comes across quite heavy.

CONFRONT: Have you noticed a difference between metal fans as opposed to other fans? They seem to be more intense and always look like they’re having a good time.

RYAN: It still holds dear to them no matter what the rest of the world thinks. The metal fan will stay true to what they believe. It’s great and it’s good to see all those circle pits and people having fun.

CONFRONT: Do you have any regrets in your career?

RYAN: Nah, not at all.

CONFRONT: Is there anything you’d like to accomplish that you haven’t yet done?

RYAN: I wouldn’t mind having sixteen semi trailer trucks with all our stuff in it one day. Other then that just keep moving forward and just keep playing. We’ve seen a lot of the world now and I want to see more of it and experience more cultures and taste more different foods. I want to see where the music industry is going because it’s interesting. Technically you could say it’s at an all time low which I think is great because you can only go up from there. I have heard some stuff that is going on that’s pretty exciting so we’re just going to stick around and keep playing because we love it and we see what does it people when we play.

CONFRONT: Do you have one pet peeve about the metal scene or the music industry in general? One thing that really sticks out for you that you dislike?

RYAN: Not really, nothing that comes to mind. I really do enjoy it the way it is. There’s not a lot of money so to put a band on the road it costs a lot but we find ways and we get around and we get out so that’s fine. If you think we make money we don’t and that’s the truth. That’s not why we do this though. We do love what we do.

CONFRONT: What’s one thing you learned about the industry that you didn’t know before you started with Airbourne?

RYAN:  I guess one thing that I’ve learned is that it’s a very small community. It’s not as big as everyone thinks. Everyone knows everyone. The old saying it’s not who you are it’s who you know is very true. It’s a very small amount of people.

CONFRONT: That must make it easier in a sense though.

RYAN: Oh yeah. Once you’re in the game then it does help because you can make a couple of phone calls and reach whoever you want.

CONFRONT: What’s one of the biggest challenges of being in your band?

RYAN: Biggest challenge would probably be to deliver the show we want to deliver every night. We always want to make sure it’s high energy and some people might say what we do is a bit of a work out. We’ve been living in a house together. In Melbourne we lived together in a house for 3 years on welfare so to be honest this is good and it can’t get any better and it gets better and it keeps getting better. It’s what we do and it’s who we are. We haven’t been home since January 5^th. We’re playing a show in Australia for the first time in 2007 in October. We’ve pretty much lived overseas since those kind of times and before that we were in a band house. For about 6-7 years we’ve been a family, 4 brothers. Any challenges don’t exist because we fix our own things in our inner group without thinking about is subconsciously.

CONFRONT: What can people expect from your live shows?

RYAN: High energy, lots of beer and lots of people around you are going to be drunk. It’s going to be a lot of fun and very loud and maybe my brother will go do a stunt. Just a lot of fun.

CONFRONT: What are the upcoming plans for the band?

RYAN: We’ve got the Canadian tour starting in 2 days which goes all across Canada and then we do Uproar for the US and then in October we do Australia. November and December we’re in Europe and I think we’ll do another Australian tour in 2011.

CONFRONT: Wow you guys are really all over the place. Not a lot of bands can say that they’re known worldwide.

RYAN: Yeah, from the start of the year we started in Europe and then we did America and we went back to Europe. It’s non stop but it’s what we do.

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