Interview

Pictures

On October 23rd I headed to Washington, DC’s 9:30 Club to catch Chiodos on The World Champions Tour with Atreyu and Every Time I Die, and to have a sit-down interview with frontman Craig Owens. Unfortunately, a mix-up at the venue prevented the interview from taking place, but Craig was kind enough to answer a few questions through e-mail for me.

EP: You’ve just re-issued a deluxe version of All’s Well That Ends Well with 3 bonus acoustic tracks and a DVD of behind the scenes footage. Has the band been working on any new material? If so, when are your plans for your next release and what direction do you think your next album will head in?

Craig: We have definitely been working on new material, and plan to write the rest of the record once this tour that we are currently on is over. As far as direction, I would just say that it will be a much more mature record. We don't like to pigeonhole ourselves or stick ourselves with a ‘genre’.

EP: I saw you play this summer at the Starlight Ballroom in Philly with Between the Buried and me, The Number 12 Looks Like You, August Burns Red, and One Dead Three Wounded- and you guys obviously were the lightest band but still had a lot of fans there. Your sound is so different from many bands, what’s it like often being the “black sheep” on tour?

Craig: I think that were just used to it. Luckily our fans always seem to shine through and the open minded people that haven’t heard of us before just have a great time.

EP: How has The World Champions tour with Atreyu and Every Time I Die been going? I heard that you offered to sing for From First To Last after Sonny hurt his voice again, but then Atreyu decided to kicked them off the tour anyway. Why did they do that?

Craig: Its going good, thanks.

EP: Your new video for “Baby, You Wouldn’t Last a Minute on the Creek” was posted last week, what was it like to shoot that, and what's the deal with the giant toucan and rat?

Craig: It was a great time! We had our friends from Popcore in town all the way from Sweden, and we really just had a great time. We were playing shows every night, so we had to do most of the shooting during the day before the shows. Haha, I have seen a lot of confusion about the ‘bird and rat’. Which totally just blew my mind. I think that it has one of the most simple plots of a music video that I have come across recently. We just decided not to use a cute ‘scene’ kids for the characters, and wanted to hide there images by using masks and costumes. We went more for the ‘artsy’ appeal I guess you could say, as opposed to just making a video that was 5 minutes of us trying to look as cool as possible.

EP: What’s the news on your side-project Cinematic Sunrise? Are you releasing an album soon? What inspired you to do this?

Craig: We will release an album.

EP: You also sang on the new Sound of Animals Fighting album that came out in May. How did you get involved with that project, and how did you manage to make time for that on top of Chiodos and Cinematic Sunrise?

Craig: Rich Balling and I had met a few times. One day he just gave me a call and asked me to do the record, after listening to Alls Well That Ends Well over and
over.

EP: How was your Warped Tour experience? Will you do it again next year?

Craig: It was amazing! By far, one of the most fun tours that we have ever been a part of. Lets hope that we get the opportunity to do it again next year!

EP: What music has been playing on your ipod recently?

Craig: the cranberries, counting crows, and the cardigans.

EP: What’s your opinion of today’s music scene and bands like Panic! At The Disco etc. who get huge before they even spend time touring?

Craig: I don’t really have an opinion on bands like that. I say, best of luck to them and I am glad that they are doing as well as they are. Who am I to say a human being doesn’t deserve what they have? Or even to criticize others?

EP: I know you like horror movies, but what's your favorite one (besides Killer Klowns From Outer Space)?

Craig: I really enjoy tons. I could never just narrow it down to one. I will tell you the last three that I have watched though, which are High Tension, The Shining and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre- The Beginning.