THROWDOWN INTERVIEW
June 2, 2005

Ed Martin for Prophecy21.com: Are you looking forward to getting startedon the Sounds of the Underground tour?
Dave Peters Vocals for Throwdown: We're pretty happy to be home; we'reon a bit of a break right now. The tour itself is going to be awesomethough and we're getting excited to start it up and going out with some ofour friends and stuff. It should be cool.

P21: What do you like about playing festivals like this over a smaller tour?
DP: Something like this is really cool because there are so manydifferent kinds of bands on it. It's also an opportunity to play topeople that wouldn't otherwise show up at your headlining club shows. Itscool on a lot of levels. As a fan of heavy music, which I am, I'm excitedto get to watch a lot of bands on the fest. It's cool at all ends, we getto hang out with a lot of good friends too all summer. Its hard to saywhat I really like better in the way of tours, but if I had to say I guessI'd lean towards the multi-band festival packages.

P21: Is there anything that you don't like about playing tours like this?
DP: This is only really our second tour where it's been this kind ofthing. I mean we did Ozzfest last summer, but I'm not really a veteran inthat world I guess. I can't really think of anything I didn't like aboutOzzfest though. I mean I got to watch Slayer and Sabbath everyday, itskind of hard to bitch and moan about that. No, I don't think there'sreally anything I don't like to be honest.

P21: Are you guys planning on playing a lot of songs from Vendetta onthis tour?
DP: Yeah, we're gonna kind of try to feel it out. We're going into itwith then intent to play four maybe five songs off the new record, but wealways keep in mind that we're not just playing for ourselves, so we'llask the crowd what they want to hear. If they really want old stuff thenwe'll give them old stuff. If they wanna hear new stuff then we'll havethat ready too.

P21: What can fans expect the new album to sound like in comparison toHaymaker?
DP: The new album, one thing that separates it from Haymaker a lot isthat we really considered what we were doing for the whole album frombeginning to end. We considered what kind of dynamic we wanted betweensongs. I mean we definitely considered individual songs, of course, butwe really thought about the album as a whole. As far as the actual musicon each song, it's got a lot of diversity on there. I don't know... we pulledout some tricks that we hadn't on Haymaker, but maybe kind of wanted to.I don't wanna scare anybody. I don't sing pretty on it and our drummerdoesn't sing either. So, nothing to worry about there (laughs). We wereinfluenced by a whole lot of bands from the hardcore and metal worlds andyou'll probably pick up on a lot of those influences from the sound onthis record. It's our favorite record we've ever done and we're realproud of it so hopefully the kids that supported us up to this point willfeel the same way.

P21: What's behind the title Vendetta for the new album?
DP: We sat back and thought about what the band over this past year withall the struggles we have gone through what the words have grown to meanto us. There's a title track on the record that kind of speaks to thateffect. Its just about the struggles and obstacles that we've had to gothrough over the past year. The band has almost kind of grown to be ourway of taking revenge on things that have gotten in our way. It's aboutthose things we've had to overcome and those enemies we've had to face,whether it be people, broken vans, or whatever. It kind of defines whatthe band means to us at this point. So that's why we went with that onefor the title.

P21: How did you guys decide to put out a DVD with the first pressings?
DP: Its funny you mention that because I actually just finished watchingthat in its entirety for the first time about twenty minutes ago. We feltlike there was a lot to be explained and a lot to be said between the DVDwe put out after Haymaker and now because we've had some member changesand we've had a lot of other things change and we left a lot of questionsunanswered I guess. We kind of just wanted to let all the old fans andthe new fans know about us and where the bands coming from and kind of ourhistory. Also, to show kind of everything that we put into the record, wewanted to give that perspective that not everybody gets to see as far aslike what we feel about song sand what went into them and inspired them.We thought it would really be a fun way to kind of make it a cooler thingfor when you hear some good music and have questions about what went intothat. So we answered those questions for the people that are curious.

P21: Did you guys decide on your own what song you wanted to put on theSounds of the Underground compilation album?
DP: Yeah we picked that track we already did the video for Burn and weall kind of agreed that that would be a good one to throw on there and Iguess it worked out because Josh felt the same way. I dunno if maybethere's one he really would have liked better and he just didn't tell us, Idon't know, but we definitely picked that one because we felt it would bethe best first single. Its going to be the first video released for thealbum so it just made sense that it be the one we put on the comp too.

P21: What bands on this tour are you must looking forward to getting tobe on the road with?
DP: Actually it's kind of cool because we have a lot of friends on thistour. We're really close friends with Every Time I Die and I think we'resharing a bus actually with Norma Jean, so that should be interesting inand of itself. We've done a number of tours with Lamb of God and they'reawesome dudes also. There's also a lot of bands I'm looking forward tobeing on the road with because I want to watch them. Like, I really wannawatch Opeth on this tour. I really wanna see what Gwar is gonna do andwhat kind of mess there gonna make. I'm really looking forward to gettingto hang out with some friends again. Like All That Remains, I'm lookingforward to hanging out with them again. I might be forgetting someone,but they're all good dudes and we're stoked to get to hang out.

P21: Where are some of your favorite places to play?
DP: We love Orange County because it's our home and we've got a ton offriends here and good fans also. We love Texas; actually, we love SanAntonio. I'd say the reason why is because we love Mexicans and there area ton of Mexicans at those shows. Honestly they are some of the best fanswe've got. When we play places that are close to the border a lot of fanswill come over from, I think its Monterey. The fans down South, Mexicanand otherwise, are all awesome. There's a general vibe down there, youdon't find everywhere in the states or everywhere else in the world, ofjust being very excited and eager to hear new music and to see live musictoo. It's not something that they take for granted and I really respectthat and enjoy playing those places every time.

P21: What's your favorite song to play live?
DP: It's probably Speak the Truth which is the second track on the newCD. We just started playing it live on this last run we did in Australiaand we did it a little bit on the tour we did with As I Lay Dying. It'scool because for me at least a lot of the songs we play are kind of longwinded, I'm cramming a bunch of words in there, I'm losing my breath and Idon't always get to enjoy those songs as much as other songs where I getto kind of lay back a bit. I don't always get to enjoy playing it as muchwhen I have to be screaming my head off into the center vocal. It's acool song to play, it's a cool pace, and it's got some cool dynamics inthere and its fun to play a new song. I mean we've been doing some ofthese songs for six or seven years, some eight years that we do live so it'salso one of my favorites just because its new.

P21: What do you usually do to kill time on the road?
DP: Crossword puzzles, I do that. I'm a big recreational eater.Whenever we're bored we just go eat, I'm surprised we're not all obese. Idunno what the hell else do I do. I sleep way too much, I got to get overthat. I play gameboy a lot, I love game boy. I think that about coversit; video games, crossword puzzles, and eating, that's about it.

P21: Thanks, is there anything that you want to add?
DP: We'll be on Sounds of the Underground all summer so if we're comingto your area, come check us out. I encourage everybody to come out earlyand catch the bands that are playing at the beginning of the fest. I hopepeople come out and stay for the whole fest and appreciate that they'regetting a lot of different great bands for a pretty cheap ticket price.Hopefully the tour will pan out as good as everyone expects it to andhopefully we'll see you all this summer I guess.