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| w/Trevor Strnad |
| Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: How does it feel to have Nocturnal, which was just released last month to enter the Billboard Top 200 charts at #72, as well as 4 other Billboard charts? That’s quite impressive!
Trevor Strnad: We never expected anything. We never go into the records “expecting” something huge to happen. We just want to make records that we love to listen to. So, that’s kind of just icing on the cake. Anything that happens above and beyond us being happy with the record, we’re very excited about. So, we’re pretty pumped on that one, believe me. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: One of the first things I noticed upon listening to the CD was the recording and then I looked at the credits and knew why. (Laughs) I think Eric Rachel (Trax East Studios, NJ) did an exceptional job at capturing the band at its best. Would you agree and what do you feel he brought to the table for Nocturnal? Trevor Strnad: Working with Eric, he’s probably one of the easiest engineer’s to work with. He doesn’t try to put his own sound on anything. He’s very open to any ideas the artists have and friends of ours like, Life Once Lost and The Red Chord have recorded there as well, and they say the same thing. He’s such an easygoing guy that’s so good at his job, that you could trust him with anything. He’s kind of like one of us. It’s great and that’s the best part about it. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: What was your outlook going into Nocturnal and did the band face any new challenges, especially, considering the success of Miasma? Trevor Strnad: I think the main challenge that we had was the loss of one of our drummers, Pierre. When he left, we were in a limbo situation. It was a super bum out. Brian (Eschbach) just took the reigns and would just shred, write and record all the drums in Pro-tools. So, we were in kind of a limbo place, where we didn’t know what was exactly going on with the band until we found Shannon, the new drummer. He learned all the songs very quick and we went into the studio with that. So, there’s a little time between Miasma and Nocturnal because of this. But, I don’t think we suffered because we have Shannon now and everything’s going great. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: He sounded like an excellent replacement. How did you find him? Trevor Strnad: He just left a band called All That Remains and through people that we knew, they suggested him to us. The stuff that you hear on Nocturnal is a lot different from the All That Remains stuff, so we were a little skeptical at first I have to admit. (Laughs) He’s just unbelievable. He surprised us all and we’re very happy that he’s in the band. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I think it was a nice transition. Maybe not an easy one, but it was nice one. (Laughs) Trevor Strnad: Yeah, it’s so difficult when people leave. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Sure, it upsets everything. It upsets the chemistry and then you have to go find a guy that’s not only going to fit musically, mentally and personally because that’s a big part of it. Why the name Nocturnal and how does it relate to the rest of the album? Trevor Strnaud: On this record, I went back to the writing style more along the lines of Unhallowed, the first record we did. Which apart from Miasma, I talked about my views on real life and people. On this one, I go back to writing songs about the stuff I love. There’s a song about Castlevania. I was inspired by Castlevania on this one. I think Nocturnal is a great title to describe everything on the record. It’s a little darker. It’s a little more evil. It’s kind of back to metal. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When writing the lyrics, what inspired you for this album or did you have a specific visual or theme in mind already when approaching the lyrical aspect of it? Trevor Strnad: It’s funny, I’ve actually gotten that from a couple people. Some people have asked me if it’s a concept record, which it isn’t. For me, it was just coming up with songs about things that I haven’t really touched upon before and just getting back to the roots of the whole thing, like on Unhallowed. I went back to writing about werewolves, vampires and evil, more than personal experiences, which I covered on Miasma. It was easy to write on this one, defiantly, because I didn’t any put pressure on myself to really have to dig deep down inside and come up with real personal stuff. It was more fun and I hope everyone gets that out of it. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: How did the hiring of Kristian Wahlin who’s done artwork for so many classic records come to be and how you feel his artwork signifies the band, because you were quoted as saying in Beat Route Magazine that “it’s the first record cover that we have that really represents what the band is about”. Trevor Strnad: Yes, it’s true. You can listen to the record and look at the cover art and it just translates so well. Just the name Nocturnal, and then you listen to the record and stare at that page and it’s like, wow, this was meant to be. It’s almost as if we wrote the record around the cover art. We’ve been fans of his forever and it was through management who asked us who we wanted to do it and he was on the top of our list. I never thought we could get him. We got him and we couldn’t be happier. To us, it feels like the real classic death metal record and to have a classic death metal cover on it that was great. We love it. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The band recently completed a video for the track What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse, which I truly liked because it didn’t have the “bells and whistles” that a lot of the Headbanger’s Ball bands have nowadays, but yet it gives the fans a great interpretation, showing that the band can still remain grounded and have fun, despite being successful musicians. There was a lot of goofing around in there too! (Laughs) Was that the intent? Trevor Strnad: We’ve been on tour with bands that seem like they take themselves too seriously and I don’t think you should take yourself seriously if you’re in any band, especially a Metal band. In general, Metal should be fun, a little silly, and that’s the way we approach it. We’re very serious about what we do, but, at the same time, you can’t be a “rock star” about anything. You just have to have a lot of fun and hope people will understand and get that, although the music sounds a certain way, your still a regular person that enjoys being able to do what he gets to do for a living. So, we hope that translates in the videos and interviews. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Sure, once it becomes not fun, it’s like, what’s the point? Do you know what I mean? (Laughs) Trevor Strnad: You know, I could be working at a bank or something. (Laughs) Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, that’s just it. There’s so many of these guy’s and I’m not going to name names, you can if you’d like. (Laughs) When it stops being fun, it’s time to like, hang it up, I believe. Trevor Strnad: It’s true. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Being that this is the last date of the tour with Cannibal Corpse, are there any good or bad tour stories that you would care to share with your fans? Trevor Strnad: Last night was the final Cannibal Corpse date and tonight we’re doing one last show with The Red Chord. What can you say about a tour that’s five weeks where you get to see a band that you grew up listening to every single night, along with The Absence, which we’ve never met before and toured with. All five bands on the tour we really got along with. But, as far as stories, of course, every night ends in a drunken debacle and people are just ridiculous. It’s just a lot of fun. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, that’s good to hear that there’s no bad, normally there’s a couple of those in a tour. (Laughs) Trevor Strnad: Yeah, I know. That’s the funny thing, is that you have five bands that all get along and enjoy hanging out at the end of the night. It’s so much easier and the tour flew by because of it, which is great. Sometimes you’re on a tour with a couple bands that think their king shit and the tour takes awhile to get over with, you know what I mean? (Laughs) Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I know what you mean. I’ve talked to several bands and I here all these things about going tour with this one and they act like a prim donna. I had spoken to Johan from Amon Amarth and I’m not going to name who he named, but, he was saying how they went on tour with this one band and some countries don’t have running water and sometimes these are things you have to deal with, and this one band got all uppity and caused a lot of problems and made for not a nice night. (Laughs) Then you also have the egos. Trevor Strnad: (Laughs) Yeah, which makes no sense. You get to do what you want for a living, you shouldn’t be a jerk-off about it. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Trevor, thanks for taking the time to interview. With that said, do have any final words for The Metal Web!? Trevor Strnad: Stay brutal. Stay Metal and please have fun. OFFICIAL SITE "THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER": http://www.myspace.com/blackdahliamurder HOME |