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Unearth Interview November 5, 2005

Barbara chats with Slo, bassist of Unearth

Barbara: For our readers that don’t know who you are, please introduce yourself and give a little background on the band.

Slo: I’m Slo from the band Unearth, a metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. We’re out on tour with Slipknot right now, that’s about it.

Barbara: Okay, how did the name Unearth come about?

Slo: I think the band was titled before I even got in. We wanted a one word title that kind of symbolized what we do as a band and to us the word Unearth, an archeological term if you will, we wanted to dig up classic metal sound and rehash it in a new way. Unearth to us means just that.

Barbara: Which do you prefer, the writing process, recording in the studio or playing live?

Slo: I can say I thoroughly enjoy all three. I can’t really pinpoint a favorite, I really enjoy hanging out with the guys and writing, I like the heatedness of that. We have a great time when we record in the studio; we get along with all of the producers and engineers we’ve worked with in the past. Live shows obviously we just have a great time, sit back with a bunch of whisky before we go on, then go out there and let loose.

Barbara: *laughs* Who is your favorite bassist of all time?

Slo: My favorite bassist of all time at this point would be Geddy Lee from Rush.

Barbara: Alright, what artists did you listen to growing up? Who were your main influences?

Slo: Growing up, again Rush was the very first band that I was introduced to by my older brother, he’s 10 years older than me so he had a lot of classic rock influence on me. I listened to Rush growing up, Iron Maiden, old Metallica, Black Sabbath.

Barbara: There ya go! How old are you?

Slo: I am 28 as of 2 days ago.

Barbara: Okay, describe your music in one word.

Slo: *laughs* One word to describe our music, um, good times.

Barbara: *laughs* I like it! Describe each of your band members including yourself in one word.

Slo: All of them and myself in one word, um, drunk *laughs*

Barbara: Drunk *laughs*, all of you?

Slo: All of us, as a collective unit we’re drunk.

Barbara: *laughs* What was the first concert you ever attended?

Slo: The first concert I ever attended, I believe it was Guns N’ Roses and Metallica.

Barbara: That’s a good first one! If you could take only one item with you on tour, excluding family, friends, and pets, what would you bring?

Slo: Um, a deck of cards.

Barbara: If you weren’t in a band what would you be doing right now?

Slo: Gambling *laughs* that’s what I do on the side, I’m a professional black jack player.

Barbara: Alright, what do you think about the state of music at the moment?

Slo: The state of music, kind of approaching a pentacle of upheaval. There’s no real big type of music right now. I think a lot of people are growing into a more open-minded state of mind when it comes to listening to music. Even metal for example is in a world of upheaval, you know 10 years ago I think it was at a point where it was almost non-existent. Now bands have gotten big again, bands are falling off, new bands are coming up. So it’s kind of in a whirlwind right now, especially with all the different sub-genres of music within metal, I actually hate all the terms *laughs* to me it’s all metal.

Barbara: I agree with you, there are too many terms.

Slo: Yeah, it’s ridiculous. I think that there’s just a lot going on and a lot of kids and a lot of bands have so many different influences from their older brothers and sisters to what’s going on now that there is no one band that sounds like another that’s actually really doing something right now. Every band is just formatting their own sound and doing their own thing.

Barbara: Who is on the bill of your ultimate tour?

Slo: It would be Rush opening up for Jesus and the Beatles *laughs*

Barbara: *laughs* that would be ultimate there! If you could be a cartoon character, who would you be?

Slo: I would be Deputy Dog *laughs* for no reason at all, that’s the first thing that came to my mind.

Barbara: *laughs* If you could be a fly on the wall of any celebrity, who would you pick and why?

Slo: Um, I think that I would be a fly on the wall in a room where Johnny Depp is preparing to play a certain role in a movie.

Barbara: That’s a good one! He’s definitely one of my favorites.

Slo: Yeah, he’s a great actor. He spends a lot of time preparing for his roles. “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is a perfect example. He actually went and lived with Hunter S. Thompson and learned all of his mannerisms, I would have definitely loved to be a fly on the wall in that situation.

Barbara: Where do you see Unearth in 5 years?

Slo: In 5 years, I see us still drunk probably eating pizza, attempting to write a better album than we did the last time and probably being very unsuccessful at it *laughs*

Barbara: *laughs* Awww, no.

Slo: *laughs* No, I see good things. Granted we can still keep doing this, we’ll still be working hard and living humbly and having a lot of respect for the people that have allowed us to do this and just trying to have as good of a time as we possibly can.

Barbara: Okay, how about a message for your fans?

Slo: Thank you so much, we are having the time of our lives and we never would have expected when we were kids growing up and doing this that we would be playing in front of thousands of people every night and having such a great time and gotten to know the people that we work with and that we’re in the band with so well, and the friendships we have because of it.

Barbara: Thank you so much! One more thing, happy birthday two days ago!

Slo: Thank you!

Barbara: And good luck to you! Thank you for taking out the time to talk with us.

Thanks once again to Slo for taking the time to interview with us at Bacstagepass.com! We look forward to more great music and lots of success from this band!! ROCK ON!!!