How’s this new tour going?

This is only the 3rd day but that’s really good, perfect! The first shows have been great besides the fact that this stage looks like it’s fucking in the clouds, the show will be really good.

And compared with the 2 previous tours, as it’s your 3rd European Tour this Year after the one with Blacklisted & Donnybrook, and the “Sound Of The Underground” tour ?

Both tours are really different from each other. The Blacklisted & Donnybrook tour was amazing, that’s one of my favourite tours I have ever done in my life. Those are 2 bands I really like as people and as music, and the shows were really good. And obviously the “Sound Of The Underground” tour was a lot different, different crowds, with more baricades and a lot more metal but we really enjoyed it and I think it really helped the band out. And Madball is like my favourite band ever so... that always helps!

The line-up change a bit this year. Now you have Buske (Bass Player) and Martin from Donnybrook. Why did you finally add them into Terror?

We’re lucky enough to have the same line-up with Frank and Carl for 3 or 4 years solid, and for any band it’s pretty hard to keep a solid line-up sometimes with all the touring and bullshit... Those 2 just wanted to do other things so... And the 2 people we found were very natural and it works out great, everything’s been smooth and I couldn’t be happier. The new line up is I think the best we ever had and even offstage things feel a lot smoother, we’re just having fun and playing shows!

How will it work with Donnybrook as Martin plays in both bands?

It really worked out smoothly because Donnybrook is one of our favourite bands and some of my best friends so we wouldn’t never got Martin in the band if it was gonna affect Donnybrook, but it just happened at the same time they kind of stepped back and stop touring. They’re not breaking up, they still gonna do their thing but they’re really slow and down so we’re just so happy he has a lot more free time. We’re on tour a lot so Donnybrook gonna do what they can when he’s free.

You’ve released a new record called “Always The Hard Way”, what was the response in general about it ?

Hum... (Laugh) I don’t know, I don’t really pay attention but most people I talked to really like it. I’m not the type of person that goes around talking about how good Terror is but I think that’s the best record we’ve ever done. I love everything about the music, the lyrics, the recording, the layout, the artwork, everything about it I love! But I don’t really go out and read reviews and stuff like that but I really haven’t heard bad things about it so... (Laugh)

You worked with famous producer Zeuss for “Always The Hard Way”, why him and how was it?

We chose him just because he’s a hardcore kid or maybe a hardcore man (Laugh). He knew that we wanted a sound like Killing Time and Leeway and he knows how to get that sound. And from listening his recordings like Hatebreed, Throwdown, Shadows Fall and Agnostic Front and Madball we knew that he could get the sound the way that we wanted to. And it was great, it was easy, it was comfortable, it was calm... I couldn’t be happier with the recording, it’s really what we wanted.

Do you plan to work with him again in the future, maybe for the next record ?

We haven’t even got to think about this but I definatly wouldn’t be opposed to it.

I read on the booklet that Carl (Schwartz – ex Terror’s bass player) recorded all guitars and bass, why didn’t you ask Doug, Martin and Buske to record ?

(Laugh) That’s a great question that’s noone’s ever asked!
Well Buske and Martin weren’t in the band yet. Our drummer Nick wrote all the guitars but he can’t play it tight enough in the studio and Doug didn’t know the songs... Another reason is that Carl is a really amazing musician, and he’s still our friend and take the best recording we could it was best to ask Carl. But now you know, Martin is an excellent guitar player too in the studio so it’s not gonna be problem...

Still about the booklet, the artwork was done by Buske right?

No, Buske did the layout and he mistakenly didn’t credit the painter who’s called Peter Hall Rubens, which really sucks that he forget to do that so if we do a second pressing of the record, we’ll definitely add his name on there.

The artwork is a lot different for a hardcore record. Is there a special message behind it?

We wanted a really different layout from the previous albums. They all kinda looked quite similar . we also wanted something that really caught your eye and stood out. We also wanted something to look at when you read the lyrics and you know, a lot of our songs are about survival and fighting through a lot of problems and knowing you enemy and just try to get through the hard times in life and enjoy life. All the pictures are kind of “man vs. animal”, it’s not obviously like a vegetarian thing but it’s all about struggle and survival of the fittest... That’s kind of what it is about.

And that paint was it made especially for the record ?

No, they’re old paintings from hundreds years ago...

Inside of it, you wrote a few lines to explain the lyrics of each song. Were you frightened that people understand them in a wrong way ?

No but lyrics can be interpreted in lot of ways. I’ve never been straight-edge but there are certain straightedge songs I can totally relate to. I can twist those lyrics and others things in my life. I wasn’t afraid they wouldn’t understand exactly because I think with lyrics you can take’em for what they’re worth but I also think that in 2006 in hardcore a lot of the communication’s been lost and a lots of bands don’t have anything to say. So I just wanted people to know that our lyrics are about something and that I’m trying to say something. If you agree or not, that’s fine but I think hardcore is a lot more than music and you got to have some brain in it.

Before its release date the record was available on the web with 15 tracks as an unmastered version without the track called “Dibbs and Murs Check In” but with 2 other tracks called “Dead End” & “Back At You”. Do you have any explanation of the reason that this version of the record was available ?

I can’t explain why the record was available before. I have no idea! Someone that we gave it to must have put it up and that really sucks. We recorded 15 songs, we put the 13 we thought were the best that made a complete record and about the other 2, one of them got released on the japanese version and the other song got released on a Trustkill compilation. We knew we were gonna put only 13 on, we had 15 and we wanted to record them all. You can write the songs but ‘til it’s not recording you don’t know exactly how it’s gonna sound.

I’m going to give you some songs’ names and the thing is just to tell us more about them :

“Let The Past Be The Past” (Ghost Track on “One With The Underdogs”)

We kind of the record because it’s so long and we never have a song that long. Actually a lot of people told us that they like that song but I don’t think we ever played it live. Nick our drummer has a studio and he’s been remixing it so I don’t know, we’ll see...

“Dibbs and Murs Check In” (Hip Hop interlude on “Always The Hard Way”)

A lot of people in Terror are really in hip hop and we got some hip hop artists we really respected to do that and it’s just the interlude to show people that hip hop and hardcore have a lot of things in common and we’re not afraid to push the boundaries and work with other artists and it was a pleasure. If you don’t know any of their tracks you should check out about those guys, they’re really good guys.

“So Close To Defeat” (Feat. Eddie Suton - Leeway)

That’s a song from the new record with Eddie from Leeway, that was amazing to have him, to meet him and hang out with him. I don’t what to say much, that’s a good song! (Laugh)

“You Can’t Break Me” (Feat. Aaron Butkus – Death Threat)

It’s with our friend Aaron from Death Threat and we just hang out with him a couple weeks ago in California, he was there for chilling. Death Threat is Nick’s favourite band ever and a band most of us really love. He lives close to the studio so he came in and did it.

“Overkill” (“Overcome” Remix by Enduser from Threat Motion Picture Soundtrack)

I’ve never heard it! Is it bad? I’ll check it out when I’ll get the chance...

“Heavy Metal Kings” (Remix of Jedi Mind Tricks’ song Feat. Ill Bill & Terror)

You make me feel I have a great life because Jedi Mind Tricks... Do you like hip hop? Well Jedi Mind Tricks called us up and asked us to do a song and we did it and hung out with them, and now we’re friends and we hope to go on tour with them. And it features Ill Bill also, he’s friend with Madball, I met him a L.A show with Madball. I can’t really tell you too much about the guy, I met him once.

“Back At You” (Available on Trustkill Takeover compilation)

A generic Terror song (Laugh)

“Dead End” (Available on “Always The Hard Way” japanese version)

Same thing!

You also release a DVD earlier this year (“The Living Proof”). Can you talk a bit more about it, about the special features...?

The main part of the dvd is a live set in London, we always have great shows in London, we played there yesterday and it was fuckin’ awesome. In between that there’s like dumb interviews and us just hanging out and stuff from the studio... And then there’s a section with videos from live shows from everywhere, in Japan, in South America and all over... To tell you the truth I made a Terror show everyday and in between I don’t really go and watch our DVD (Laugh) but I flipped through it, I think it came up very cool.

Last week I’ve seen Hatebreed in Paris with 2 previous Terror members, Carl and Frank, do you have any special feelings to see them with Hatebreed ?

I hope everyone’s happy and having fun...
From Paris I love Kickback! They’re good! Were you at the show we played in Paris last week? It was fucking awesome! It was a great show for Paris. We never had a really great show in Paris before, but this one was fuckin’ awesome!

What’s your plans for the next month ?

We go home from here and then we go to South America and then we have a little christmas break and then we’ll tour the US...


... and no plans for a new record? (Laugh)

Oh no, not yet my friend! Holy shit! It just came out a couple month ago. No I think in 2 years we’ll have a new record...

And do you still hate Dipset? (Laugh)

(Laugh) Yeah! Did we talked about that to? Hum I wouldn’t say “Hate!”, it’s just kind of corny. I like the new Jim Jones’ record, it’s pretty good. Nick and Frank love Dipset I’m waiting for the new Nas record that comes out this month I think...


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