Interview With Chris Spicuzza Of Chimaira
I’ve been doing interviews for a long time and every time this Ohio band steps up to the plate and delivers It’s always something gut wrenching, pounding and in your face aggression. That is who CHIMAIRA has been since the beginning. But on their latest release RESSURECTION, the band wrote like they were back in that little garage in 98 with no pressure and no worries, they just wrote to make themselves happy and this album probably tops anything they have done thus far. They made a record that is the heaviest music and also staying true to what they love and what CHIMAIRA is all about. Having a “group effort†in writing this time also took the album to a new level.
So 2007 has been a good year for the Cleveland boys and just recently the ESP announced releasing signature CHIMAIRA guitars. So if you think 2008 is going to be a lay low year for the guys your wrong. Touring with ALL THAT REMAINS and causing havoc on the road is where the boys will be. I caught up with the guys when they played in
HAVE YOU DONE A LOT OF INTERVIEWS?
You know what not really, well not in a while.
WELL I’M EXCITED, SO I AM GOING TO START OFF WITH GETTING TO KNOW YOU FIRST!
Yea sure, ask what you wanna ask
IN THE BEGINNING OF CHIMAIRA’S CAREER WHAT WAS YOUR INTENTIONS GOING INTO THE BAND?
I just didn’t like what my previous band was doing, I thought it was getting goofy and stupid and I really liked what CHIMAIRA was doing, they had this aggressive metalcore sound that I was really interested in cause I was never into any heavy bands prior to that. I was in bands that did weird stuff like Mr. Bungle on crack, some really stupid stuff. I had no intentions of making a career out of this it was really to just have fun and then once I realized there was a possibility to make this a career, then I pursued it and we got more serious about it in general. So we basically put our game faces on and got signed and here we are.
WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE BROUGHT INTO THE BAND TO TAKE IT TO THIS LEVEL?
Charm, internet skills…help Mark…what do I bring into this band?
(Mark) Witt
Sonically I might make it a little more interesting then your average metal band by creating an atmosphere but I don’t think I am like a make or break of the band I just kind of make it a little extra cool. Plus my hands are real deep in the merchandising and the website and all that. I’ve been doing that since the beginning. That is probably why they keep me around, cause I’m so useful.
WHY DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC AND WHY THE INSTRUMENT OF CHOICE?
I’ve always been around computers and all that stuff and I use to toy around with just making stupid remixes and toying with loops and really weird stuff so it just sort of evolved into trying to make it work with a metal band. It was kind of random cause I never really did this cause in my old band I played bass, so I wasn’t doing this the whole time and with these guys they wanted to add that extra element to see where it would take it. I kind of learnt on the fly and it really sucked in the beginning. I don’t think I really got a hold of it until the self titled record and on this current record RESURRECTION and that record I think I really blossomed
WHO’S YOUR BIGGEST ROLE MODEL?
Probably Trent Rezner I’m just into his layering and all that stuff and I think he is brilliant the way he comes up with ideas. Besides him I’m really into soundtracks from movies. I’m more inspired by movies than anything else.
BEST MOVIE?
My favorite movie has nothing to do with what I do as a career but it is Ghostbusters. The soundtrack isn’t that great
ONE THING NON MUSICIAL EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOU?
Mark you can answer this one.
(MARK) Sorry dude get back to me on that one
Ok ummmm I don’t know there really isn’t anything to know about me I’m just a dude who plays video games, lifts weights and complains a lot.
YOUR ORIGINAL DRUMMER IS BACK?
He’s been back for two years now
HE WROTE FOR THIS ALBUM?
Yep
DO YOU GUYS SEE ANY CHANGES IN HIM?
I think he’s more focused than ever where before, near the end, his mind wasn’t with us, it was with this curly hair thing
(laughing)
So, yeah he’s just more focused and driven and he’s enjoying himself now where near the end he wasn’t enjoying himself before. He hasn’t shown any sign of break, ya know, being weird again. It’s just like a sometimes when you break up with someone, you take time away and you realize that was the right thing, ya know, he just came back to us and it feels great. The writing process was so much smoother and I think the finished product was better than it would have been with any of those other drummers. He is CHIMAIRA, he’s part of the beginning lineup and he’s where he belongs.
DID YOU SEE YOU GUYS AS A BAND CHANGE SINCE HE CAME BACK INTO THE BAND?
Of course, we’re the happiest dudes ever, he’s like our brother, it’s like when someone goes to jail and then they finally get released from prison.
ALL RIGHT, NOW, ON THIS RECORD THAT YOU GUYS JUST DID, WELL, ALMOST A YEAR AGO, DO YOU FEEL THE WRITING PROCESS WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THE LAST TIME YOU WROTE?
This time, yeah, because Mark, Rob, Matt all wrote a bunch of songs on their own, complete songs from beginning to end. What they did was take all the songs, threw them in a pile and basically went through each song and what they liked and didn’t like, ya know, some songs actually made it through untouched and then some, ya know, they took pieces here and there and then once it becomes a song, they send it my way and I do my thing but that was the difference this time where everyone was involved with the Self titled it wasn’t that way, it was more one guy just doing things.
SO ARE WE GOING TO SEE THAT IN THE FUTURE?
I think we should stick with this formula because it was very successful, I’m happy and I’m sure everyone else is happy with the record.
HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN WRITING FOR ANYTHING?
Nah. There’s no reason, we are in tour mode, we don’t like to mix. I don’t know if you have ever noticed but bands that write on the road, it never comes out good, they’re not focused on the road. They just throw shit together, the best albums come when you’re at home and you’re completely focused on that.
HOW LONG IS YOUR TOURING LASTING FOR 08?
It depends….I think we are going to try to stay out until the end of summer at least.
OK. SO THERE’S NO LOOKING INTO GOING HOME TO WRITE?
Well, yeah, I can see if we have a lot of down time or say we don’t find a good summer tour, we’ll start to write and take time off. Don’t mark my words because things always change.
OK. FERRET RECORDS THAT YOU’RE ON NOW, HOW DO YOU COMPARE THIS LABEL TO YOUR PRIOR LABEL YOU WERE ON?
Just the whole totem pole thing, at Roadrunner we were at the bottom, Ferret we are at the top. Ferret is a small group of guys that all care, where at Roadrunner was like, forty employees where one of them cared. That’s really it, they all care, and they try their best to care about everything.
SO THEY’RE NOT GIVING YOU ANY PRESSURE TO GO IN AND WRITE ANOTHER RECORD?
No, Ferret rules, actually they want us to push this record as far as it can go before we stop. What they think we should do a few more tours because we were off a lot last year, we took like four months off which we should have done, ya know, like Rob got married, then we got worn out so we had to take two months off, so right there was three and a half months that we wasted. So, we owe it to Ferret to tour a little bit more on this record and we’ll probably take a break around the end of summer. Ferret is so laid back, they signed us without even listening to one demo, they didn’t care, and they just knew they wanted the next CHIMAIRA record and that’s great, they had that much confidence in us.
HOW DO YOU VIEW THEIR ROSTER, DO YOU LIKE THEIR ROSTER, DO YOU LISTEN TO THE OTHER BANDS?
I like Every Time I Die and Every Time I Die. That’s probably it. Oh yeah, I forgot. OK, I like In Flames, Every Time I Die and I like Poison The Well, the rest I don’t know. Unless you can name something, maybe I have heard of it.
YOU DON’T LIKE 36 CRAZYFISTS?
Oh, yeah, I like them; I didn’t know they were on the label.
THEY ARE ON THE LABEL!
Oppps! So yeah, I like four bands on the roster.
OK. HOW’S THIS TOUR GOING?
Second night, first night sold out, really good and everything ran smooth.
ARE YOU EXCITED TO BE IN WORCESTER?
Oh yeah
(laughing)
(laughing)
Worcester’s like a mini Manhattan (makes a big burp)
(laughing)
(laughing) OH, MY GOD! ALL RIGHT, IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW, ARE YOU GUYS DOING ANY NEW VIDEOS? ANYTHING EXCITING LIKE THAT?
Matt and I have a sex tape coming out this year
HOT, OK.
Should be out around June, it’s called Corkscrewed
(laughing)
(laughing)
What else?
(Matt) That’s all I would talk about.
(laughing)
Besides that, no, that’s it.
THAT’S IT, OK, ANY FAMOUS LAST WORDS?
Don’t cross the streams
Live Videos & Music Videos of Chimaira on UVTV: http://www.uvtv.info/chimaira.php
