The views expressed in the interviews and reviews are solely those of the individuals providing them and do not reflect the opinions of BacStagePass.com!

All photographs are the property of www.BacStagePass.com.  Please do not use without permission!  All photos taken by Becky unless otherwise stated!

Barbara chats with Dave

June 22, 2005

Telephone Interview

Throwdown is currently on the Sounds of the Underground tour. Dave was a lot of fun to interview, he had me laughing during a good portion of the interview.

Barbara: For our readers that don’t know about Throwdown, tell us a little bit about the band.

Dave: We’ve been a band for about 8 years. It wasn’t until probably a couple years ago that we put an album out, “Haymaker” that kinda drew a little bit more attention than our first few releases. We just started up as a full time band this last year and had the opportunity to do some cool tours like Ozzfest and went out with Lamb of God. We’re a hardcore band from Orange County.

Barbara: Saturday is the start of the Sounds of the Underground tour. How are you preparing yourself for this outdoor festival?

Dave: Um, gosh, I can’t even remember how hot Ozzfest was so I can only imagine how bad it’s gonna be this summer. I don’t know, we’re I guess trying to develop a bass tan, trying to eat a little healthier that way I won’t look too fat walking around with my shirt off. Bought a pair of swimming trunks, got a good beach towel, I don’t know we’ll probably pick up some water guns maybe.

Barbara: *laughs* I heard something about BMX bikes too.

Dave: Yeah, I’m sure somebody will end up bringing one of those ATVs or something.

Barbara: There ya go, you’ll have fun. Sounds of the Underground has 18 bands on the bill, how does Throwdown plan on standing out from the others?

Dave: We’ve always been a band that’s been defined by our live show so we’ve never had much of a problem standing out. I think our biggest challenge is translating what we’ve got live onto CD, we’re pretty comfortable with what we did with our latest record. As far as this tour goes we’re a pretty different band in itself, not as different as maybe Gwar is from the rest of the bands but there’s not a whole lot of hardcore bands on the bill. Actually there’s not a whole lot of any particular bands on the bill. I don’t think that anybody is going to have too much trouble. It’s a really diverse package of bands, I think everybody has something to offer and they’re all kinda different from one another so yeah, we’re just gonna get up there and do our thing like we always do and we’ve got a live performance I think that any audience can appreciate in their own way.

Barbara: I think that will do it! For people that have never seen Throwdown, can you tell us a little about what we should expect?

Dave: Like I said we kind of define ourselves based on our live set. We’re really big on getting the audience to be a part of what we’re doing up there. Kinda trying blur that line between the stage and the floor. It’s hard for us to get up there and be energetic if the kids in the crowd aren’t on their toes and stoked to be there as well. We’ve always been pretty good at getting them to that level.

Barbara: You’ve just gotta do your thing!

Dave: Yeah exactly. I guess as far as what to expect, I don’t know I guess it’s not really safe to be anywhere near the stage for like 50 yards radius.

Barbara: *laughs* On festivals like this, most bands dread the time slots. What would you say is the best time slot for a non-headlining band to perform?

Dave: We’re pretty excited to be where we’re at, it’s hard to say whether that’s the best time slot. It is in the middle of the day so it might be a little hotter than say when Unearth plays for example. I think that’s pretty good, we’re kind of right before the 2nd half of the day. We’re excited to be there I think it’s a great time to be there. Kids are already on their toes. They’re all alive and awake but at the same time not like burnt out because they’ve been there for 10 hours or whatever. But yeah, I think anywhere you know, somewhere in the 2nd part of the day is a pretty decent time to be playing. For all I know the first couple slots of the day might be great too it’s just we played Ozzfest and there were days we played at 9am and it was still off the hook.

Barbara: You can’t ask for more than that, It might have been early but everybody was happy. With this being an outdoor festival how are you adjusting your regular stage to accommodate with the outdoors?

Dave: Pretty much our performance is just the 5 guys you see on stage. I know a lot of bands have to worry about that and I feel for them it’s a bum-out cause I know that a lot of bands have a serious light show or pyro that might not come out the way they’d like it to in the middle of the day. I saw Dimmu Borgir play on Ozzfest before sundown and that had to be kind of a weird thing for them because there’s a lot of lasers and lights and whatever. We’ve never relied too much on the lights and flashy, I’m not knocking bands that do. I wish we could afford lights. I think the only weird thing about adjusting to outdoors is for me, singing. It’s a little weird, especially when we’re playing in places like Denver where the altitude is a lot different than California for example. I run out of breath really quick and it’s kinda weird because there’s definitely more oxygen outside than there is playing in those little clubs where it’s like sweaty and everybody is gasping for air. I don’t know maybe I’m just kind of accustomed to that. When we play outdoors now it’s sort of a change for me. We usually adjust, it takes us a few days. I think all the bands will take a few days.

Barbara: Who are you looking forward to watching on this tour?

Dave: We’re stoked to see, well most of our friend’s bands. The cool thing on this tour is it’s kinda like a class reunion for us, you know we’re going and hanging out with a bunch of our friends that we’ve toured with before. Lamb of God we’ve done probably way too many tours in their eyes with them *laughs* we’ve gone out with them, I think this is going to be our 4th or 5th time or something. We became friends with them on Ozzfest. So we’re stoked to see those guys, I’m stoked to see our friends of Everytime I die, as both a fan and a friend. I really can’t even name all the bands, probably 16 out of 18 bands are bands we know pretty well. We’re sharing a bus with Norma Jean. I wanna check out Opeth because I’ve never seen them, I kinda got turned on to them by a couple friends. It should be cool, I think every kid coming out to the show has something to look forward to. I just hope that they stick it out through the whole day and check out all the bands and not just go and spend 25 bucks to see 2 bands. It’s kind of the whole purpose I think to be able to check out some new music.

Barbara: Well is there any band you feel should have been put on the bill?

Dave: Well I would say As I Lay Dying because they are good buddies of ours but they’re on Ozzfest. Let me think, god there’s so many, all of our favorite bands and friends are either already on Ozzfest, Sounds of the Underground, or Warped tour this year so, gosh, Hatebreed actually. They’re good friends of ours and they’re an amazing band and I think that they bring a whole lot to a tour like that. Maybe next year, I think that they are busy doing some international stuff, maybe some record writing right now, I’m not sure.

Barbara: With this tour you are performing with bands that you are friends with and have toured with. Does it ever get competitive? Like who is going to get the pit going bigger and better. *laughs*

Dave: There’s always that friendly competition there. I don’t think it gets too competitive because each band is kinda different with regards to that. That’s something that we’re huge on, we want to see the kids go nuts that’s a big reward for us. A lot of bands get up there, they’re getting up there to perform and they’re not about that. That’s cool, we back that and respect that they are different from us in that regard. Yeah, there will be some friendly competition just so everyone can go dude, who has the craziest pit of the day? *laughs* no one gets too silly about it I think that everybody’s friends on there and they’ll be supportive if one band has the best response of the day. So it will be cool.

Barbara: You have a new CD coming out on June 28, 2005 titled “Vendetta”. Can you give us some background info on this CD?

Dave: We recorded it with Zeuss who has done such small acts such as Hatebreed and Shadows Fall, some of the more known and respected bands in metal. He’s also working on the new Madball right now, which we’re really excited to hear. It’s the first time we’ve really gotten to work hands on with a producer so we were really stoked on that. He was a great dude, and great at what he does. It’s been 2 years since our last record came out and it’s kind of a big time gap but it’s new and exciting for us and we spent those last 2 years gathering a lot of material together, then spent a month or 2 before we went in the studio sorta taking all those backbones and whatever for songs and putting them together. With any record, with any performance we do, we pour our heart into this. All these songs really come from the heart and it’s an important record to us on a personal level as well as on a professional level. We’re just really excited to have it come out, a lot of great records have come out over the last year and a half and we want to try to be among those ranks and this the best stuff we’ve ever done so hopefully we’ll get there ya know.

Barbara: Oh yeah! During The Sounds of The Underground, can we expect to hear some new stuff off of “Vendetta”? And what is your favorite song off of “Vendetta?”

Dave: Definitely gonna hear some new stuff. The record will be coming out I think 3 days into the tour. We’ll be mixing it up with “Haymaker” and even a couple of older songs from the ancient records. We should be throwing probably if I had to guess I’d say 4 songs in there, I’m not sure how long our set time is everyday. If we could pick 3 or 4 songs off of it we’ll end up doing that. My favorite song on the record is, let me think, I have a few favorites, I like the song “Discipline” a lot, it’s track 5 on the CD. I’m a huge riff guy, I love a good guitar riff, even if I’m not a huge fan of the singer of a band and they’ve got just monstrous riffs I can still appreciate a band which I think says a lot because I sing for a band myself and usually that’s something I hear right away, that everybody hears right away. We all liked the riffs in “Discipline” and it’s something that’s a little outside of what we’ve done before but in a good way. I’d say that’s probably my favorite song on the record.

Barbara: Okay. After this tour, what’s next for Throwdown?

Dave: We’re gonna try and do some of those smaller cities that you don’t always get a chance to hit on those bigger runs. We’re gonna go out and do a headliner, we’re gonna be taking out The Agony Scene, Remembering Never, and Sinai Beach. We’re gonna go out and do that headlining run and hit a lot of smaller towns and kind of get back to those kids in those smaller towns that always drove so far. I think it will be cool, hopefully after that we’ll land a cool support tour and go out with a band we’ve never been out with before.

Barbara: Okay, enough seriousness, let’s have some fun. If you were a fly on the wall of a celebrity, whose wall would you be on?

Dave: Oh man, um probably Scarlet Johansson just because I’d like to see her naked.

Barbara: *laughs* If you were a cartoon character, who would you be and why?

Dave: Oh man, I’m trying to think of my favorite cartoons. Grape Ape because he’s got a lot of self-confidence. Everything he does, every time he does something cool he just says his own name. I never had it in me to be that cocky so maybe I could stand to be purple monkey for a few days. *laughs*

Barbara: *laughs* What is one item that you never ever leave home without?

Dave: I’d have to say my hair clippers because I’m like neurotic about having my head shaved if it gets even like a quarter inch too long I freak out and just feel like I’m kinda confined you know. I’m really neurotic so, yeah, my hair clippers. I just cut my hair like 15 minutes ago so I guess that made me think of it.

Barbara: *laughs* Okay, If you were to be put on a deserted island for 1 year and could only bring one CD, one piece of clothing and one drink, what would you bring?

Dave: One drink, can it be a smoothie?

Barbara: Absolutely.

Dave: Alright, cool. I’d bring a jamba juice, that’s our favorite smoothie place around here. It would be a razzmatazz with no bananas and extra raspberries. One CD, I’d probably have to say Tool – Aenima, because it’s real long, if you’re gonna listen to the same fuckin CD over and over again it might as well be good and real long so you won’t get too bored. I love Minor Threat and Madball, but they’ve got 2 and a half-minute songs and I think I’d get sick of their songs probably in like 3 days or 4 days if I listened to it non-stop. One article of clothing, probably my flip-flops. The sand gets hot and your feet are gonna get fucked up and I saw Castaway and his feet got wrecked so I figure it’s good to have a pair of flip-flops. I’d rather make a fuckin loincloth out of palm trees and have some flip-flops to wear than have a good pair of Adidas shorts and no shoes and wreck your feet. No point in looking cool if you’re there by yourself.

Barbara: *laughs* That’s true! What is the best and worst thing about being on tour?

Dave: Actually the best thing is that lack of real responsibility *laughs* I mean obviously you’ve got to be professional and try and show up as close to on time as possible. I don’t know, I mean you sleep in, you get up onstage, you yell a bunch of people for a while then you go eat at Denny’s with a bunch of your friends it’s like, it’s shit I would otherwise not be getting paid to do if I were at home.

Barbara: It sounds like you just love what you do!

Dave: Yeah exactly. We get up there and have a good time and we have a good time in between and then all the downtime we’re just hanging out and eating and sleeping or whatever. The worst part I think is leaving the people you love at home for 10 months out of the year. I definitely admire my girlfriend for her level of tolerance I don’t know that I could have. For me when I leave I’m immersed in that whole thing and I’m going and doing something new and exciting. Well not new, but going out on a new tour and doing something that’s real fun. You get lost in that and it kinda helps take away from those people being back at home. But I think it’s harder for parents and siblings and loved ones. It’s tough I guess, so that’s definitely the worst part.

Barbara: Okay, one more thing. A message for your fans and anything you’d like to say about Throwdown, the Sounds of the Underground tour, or “Vendetta”.

Dave: Message for the fans, aside from we love you and please come out to the Sounds of the Underground tour and hang out with us and watch us and bring us cookies and baked goods. Probably, shameless self-promotion we’ve got a record coming out the 28th and for those of you that downloaded it already, that’s cool. First of all they got the unmastered version so it’s gonna sound like shit compared to the one that we’ve got. If you really wanna support us go out and buy that thing on the 28th even if you’ve already got a copy. Thanks for the support!

Barbara: Alright! Thanks for talking to us and good luck on the tour!

Dave: Cool, thanks a lot!

A big thanks to Dave! Best of luck guys we’ll be looking out for you!