Interview With Throwdown Vocalist Dave Peters
THROWDOWN always destroys on record and in a live atmosphere. Their music & lyrics give you honesty and hope for the future. 1000 of hardcore fans can vouch to that and after having the pleasure of seeing them and most recently speaking with singer Dave Peters I agree whole heartily that this band has that kick ass, don’t take shit from anyone attitude. Their latest album blows away older discs and is showing the ever evolving progress this band is making.So like I said I had the pleasure of talking with Dave before there show in Worcester, MA. I found out what he thought of the comparison of them to Pantera, the world of THROWDOWN tattoos and his thoughts and how he views his hometown Orange County and the reality shows that portray it.
We aren’t writing yet but my guitar player and I have been writing some songs and exchanging stuff to each other but we haven’t decided when we are going to buckle down and go into the studio to do a new record. I am thinking probably early next year. We will probably spend the rest of this year going out and doing some international stuff. We really want to go to Asia and South East Asia and those places. Especially places we have never been like Russia.
We are not really like a Jam band. We usually go in as a group and we have our own ideas that we bring in with us. Like with VENOM our guitar player had some riffs and I would have something and he would be like yea I don’t know what to put here and I would help him in that aspect. Then once the whole album is written musically then I can start over and write again lyrically. I never write lyrics, I always have ideas of subject matter and things that effect me on a daily basis and I usually don’t have to write them down because its something that is effecting me that I won’t forget. But I never write lyrics without having songs first. I might start some vocal patterns and establish what kinds of words belong where, what kind of vowel sounds and then it evolves from there.
Lyrics for me is just like when I was growing up being a fan of music. Granted these days’ people rarely even buy CDS anymore, although I can’t blame them but I was always excited to get the real CD with the artwork and the lyrics on them…That is what really shaped who I am today. It’s very important to me with the lyrics. Personally I think music and lyrics go neck and neck. I have played guitar a lot longer then I have been a singer and writing lyrics. So just for getting something out whether it’s through a guitar riff or content of our lyrics is really important to me personally. It’s flattering for me to those tattoos and what we have done for the kids who get them. Without naming names there is a lot of bands in every genre that just shoot from the hip and will really write whatever they think will, what I call making it sticky, its for the kids to say that is cool its not a reflection of who the band is. I don’t even try to avoid that I just write lyrics with a bit more substance. But again those tattoos mean the world. It means they took the time and thought about what we are saying through the songs.
I don’t actually. I just have my arms, it looks like I have a lot of tattoos but I just really have my arms and my wife’s name on the back of my leg. So I don’t really have a ton of stuff. I don’t even have and I hate saying this but I don’t even have the bands name on me anywhere. I am going to get it. My good friend that I hang out with all the time just started up tattooing and is really talented so I am fortunate enough to go watch TV at his house and get tattooed.
We really never set out to do any one particular thing for a record. People change over time and like I said we experience different things to shape you. Each record is a reflection of occurred in our lives in the past couple of years. Maybe something that has been deeply rooted that we never written through before or what not. But we never try to apply any expectations on our records. We just really want to get in there and do really what is natural for us at the time. So whatever comes out that is what people get, so they are going to love it or hate it. All we can do is be honest at the end of the day with ourselves and our music.
Well,Ummm to be honest I don’t care (laughing) Pantera as much as Sepultura and Slayer and Metallica, Machine Head and a million other bands are the bands that got me excited about music which initially got me involved with the heavy music. Those bands were always important to me and I think that with VENOM AND TEARS we were returning to our roots in a way and it was like hey we didn’t write any solos on this one cause we didn’t want to make someone mad but I mean like I said this album it was more of us being honest and writing what we wanted to. It’s hard to make a generalization of what people overall think about the record. A lot of people wrote us and say they were so blown away over the evolution of this album vs. the last album and they look forward to the next one cause of that. NOW, that is what we really looking for. If we are looking for anything that would be it because we put a lot of hard work into what we do. But I have no qualms with being compared to Pantera at all. I think in my opinion they were the best metal band ever. Obviously they are going to influence us. Its like any bands though you take what you know and love and you project yourself into that and you have what you write. I’m not too worried about it.
Yea, what is funny too is on HAYMAKER it has a sepulture thing cause our former guitar player was writing a lot at the time. So that album has that more thrash metal sound like Slayer and no one picks that out at all. Then the newest record where we got everyone saying Pantera this and that meanwhile no one noticed that we ripped off a Nailbomb riff. While we were driving we had the play list on random and heard the Nailbomb song and was like holy shit that is already recorded. Oh well it’s too late now (laughing) people choose to focus on what they want, it’s cool
I could walk away tomorrow and be satisfied. I mean I am on your with the Cavalera brothers right now. I sang a song with them (a Sepultura song) at Download festival. I have had the time of my life. I have the opportunity to do what I always wanted to do for a living which is kind of the whole goal for people. So yea I couldn’t really ask for anything more. Anything from this point on is just amazing. We are just happy to be playing and touring and seeing the world for free. But we never take it for granted, like when I am in New Zealand I’m never like oh yea I am here whatever (laughing) I take it all in.
I never had that thing where I wanted to be an Astronaut, I never had those things. I sort of was forced into playing piano and I did that for a while and then I was like I want a guitar. So my dad made the regretful decision to get me a guitar. I just started a band with Ken (Eighteen Visions) I’ve known him since I was 2. We just started playing in bands and then started doing shows and then touring. So I just sort of fell into playing but I love every second of it. I’m glad I learned how to play guitar, but now a lot of bands have keyboard players but I don’t see myself playing keyboards.
I would play that!! I would wear the piano necktie!!!
Its funny with tours that are this short sometimes it comes to the last week where you start to really know everyone. The first few days it’s like a shit storm trying to get everything together. I have known Greg from Dillinger for a little while I will see him in Cali. So I knew him already and I know the Bury Your Dead guys but I just met the other Dillinger guys yesterday and they are so cool they are the kind of guys that you feel like you have known forever. We have toured with Soulfly before so I have hung with Max and that was a mind blowing experience. It’s cool to be out with them. Even talking to Mark who is in the Conspiracy band and also Soulfly I just said to him its crazy to be on tour with Max and Iggor and he was like How do you think I feel I play guitar and I look back and I’m like what am I doing here (laughing) But its cool and I hope everyone on the tour is cool and everyone gets along.
You mean how do I keep from killing them all? (Laughing) I think that is how most people would answer that question. Oh gosh I don’t know.
There is a lot of that (laughing) To keep your sanity like say if your driving through the dessert and your van is overheating so you have to put the heat on to keep it from cracking your engine block, you got to keep your sanity somehow and we just let go and lose your mind. Mark our guitar player is a decent freestyle rapper so we will put on some kind of backbeat like an old Wu Tang record and turn up the bass and let him flow and that keeps us all sane. I try to catch it on video but he is like Yeti, once he sees you he clamps down. Otherwise an I pod with a movie on it is a must.
It’s funny I have people tell me all the time how they can’t stand someone at work. I’m like you see them for maybe 8 or 6 hours a day and I often have to sleep in the same bed with people I work with. There is a whole level of intimacy in the workplace you have to acclimate to and I don’t know but that changes you! (laughing) you have to learn to be a tolerant person cause everyone has there own ways of doing things and you want to try to bring with you your own personal space and your own personal life so you can be a normal human being but at the same time there is only so much you can do when there is 6 or 7 other dudes in a van or even a bus. You got to create a headspace for yourself.
Honestly I kind of go on auto pilot before we go onstage so I’ll be singing along to songs that are kind of in my range when I’m warming up and then I’ll think about anything at that moment that I would walking down the street. Like I want to get a burrito and sometimes I’ll do that during like one of the guitar solos. If I’m really hungry and they will be playing and ill be like I’m going to get a Jim’s Philly cheese steak (laughing) or thinking about the cheese steak I had before the set and how it’s effecting me at the moment. Yea its really just stupid irrelevant stuff if I think about more then that then ill psyche myself out and my voice will squeak and it would suck.
It didn’t happen to me but our old bass player Matt, we played Ozzfest and we were onstage and he jumped really high and it looked awesome but when he landed he ripped his pants from asshole to belt buckle and he had no underwear on and so his shit was in the wind. I didn’t realize what happen until 3 minutes after because he was back behind his rig and I was like what the fuck where the hell is matt? So we had friends in Every Time I Die and Bleeding Through behind the rig and they were like just keep playing. So we went into another song and Jordan from ETID took duck tape and made him a duck tape diaper. So he played in that and I didn’t even know what happen and walked up to him and was like what happen? And he was like Dude I don’t even want to talk about it. That was a classic moment for me. Especially since over 1000 people were watching us.
We played download in 2006 in the UK and it was the first time we ever played it. Before we went on there is this massive stage you play on and I was on one side with mark and we look out into the crowd there is people throwing water bottles, huge water bottle war and then there was this chant starting from like 5,000 people and we were trying to figure out what they were saying and they were actually saying our name which was much to our surprise because we were like why the fuck are they cheering for us? The set was insane especially for Download cause people come from all over the world. From Europe, Japan and it was awesome to look out and see the flags of there countries and us playing songs that got everyone excited about. It was a challenge to create a dialog with the crowd and keep it personal and that is the challenge when you actually achieve that and it happen that day so it was awesome.
NO!!! (Laughing) I mean every county, town, city has there fair share of idiots and those are the ones that make these TV shows. So there happens to be more in Orange County then anywhere. It makes it to be like its all about tanning salons, bleached tips, assholes and unfortunately for us its not the case. Its funny cause there is a lot of culture in Orange County. There is tons of especially in music there is a lot of rock music everything from Bad Religion, black flag, Offspring, No Doubt then you have a whole other slew of bands like our band and Eighteen Visions, Bleeding Through and Thrice there is so many different bands that come out of there. There are also so many really talented artists from graphic artists to painters. Then the skateboarders there are just so much that comes out of the OC and unfortunately what is shown is pointless. We use to get together and watch the OC and it was so funny. Again there is a lot of money coming out of the OC and that is where the focus is but there is also a massive middle class as well and there is a lot more going on that I would rather watch (laughing)
Thanks for any of our fans who come out on this tour. Thanks for interviewing me.
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“Holy Roller”
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“Burn (live)”
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July 21st, 2008 at 6:09pm
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