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www.myspace.com/lordsoflouisville
Q: Hey guys how are you? Are you looking forward to your upcoming Canada and European tours?
Chris Owens: -Yeah, Canada always rules and it's been several years since we've been to Europe so we're all excited to go be going back to both places.
Q: Curious out of all the past tours you been on which comes to mind as being one of the most memorable and why?
Chris Owens: -Well, the last Canadian tour we did was probably the most memorable for both the good and bad extremes...aside from our booking agent who fucked up everything he was responsible for and then tried to extort money out of us, I also got to pet a killer whale...that shit was rad. The two tours we did with Ed Gein were also especially fun...you know, technically Lords broke Ed Gein's edge...Tony Bailey got them all high on duster one night in Boston.
Q: Will you be producing any live video footage of your upcoming tours?
Chris Owens: - We had not planned on it...but if someone wants to do that for us then we'd be down.
Q: Can you tell us about the collection of songs on your recent release "FUCK ALL Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS" through Metal Blades Black Market Activities? What motivates or pisses off the band to write such songs are they based on experiences the band members have gone through or do they stem from societies greedy attitudes, and corruption?
Chris Owens: - Musically, I just put my fingers places on the guitar neck and hit the strings until I think it sounds cool...that's the end-all be-all of it...we're not trying to compose some thought provoking riffs that are going to stir your inner "homotions" or whatever. Lyrically my art is a reflection of my life...in both figurative and literal ways (depending on the song I guess)...it's more venting on personal experiences than social commentary, although sometimes the two are one and the same.
Q: Do all the band members contribute to the song writing process?
Chris Owens: - I write the majority of the music and all of the lyrics, sometimes I have specific ideas for the drums and sometimes Eric does whatever his Rumplemintz soaked black Irish brain can come up with. I once forced Tony Baily against his will to contribute musically and it turned into the song "why I don't give a fuck".
Q: I really dig the kick ass art on "FUCK ALL Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS" who is the awesome Artist that designed the cover for this Album?
Chris Owens: - With that record I had full creative control, so I made a stick figure drawing of what I wanted, gave it to Stan Doll (the original drummer for Lords who as done all of the CD and vinyl layouts) and said "make this look cool"....which in my opinion he did.
Q: Do all the band members share the same influences for their music and do they like to experiment and try new things to their sound?
Chris Owens: - We all share most of each others core influences, if anything Eric and Brian Davie (our new bass player) have broader musical pallets than I do...they both appreciate a lot more contemporary music that I don't really give a fuck about....but yeah, we all like Black Flag, Megadeth, Kinghorse, Slayer, the Pixies and late 80's / early 90's white hating gangster rap...so everything's cool.
Q: This brings me to my next question your recent release "FUCK ALL Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS" has a catchy punk metal vibe has there been any challenges in laying of the song tracks down to the recording of this Album? Who helps with the mixing and the mastering of all Lords music production?
Chris Owens: - I have recorded all of the Lords records here in Louisville at my studio "Headbanging Kill Your Mama Music", and John Golden mastered "fuck all yall....". I was shooting for a "surfa rosa" meets "south of heaven" sound for that recording...I like a lot of harsh, abrasive 80's hardcore recordings like Rollins Band "Lifetime", where it kind of hurts listening to it...but I wanted it to sound bigger and less processed.
There is no artificial reverb on that record at all, 80% of the drum sound is from 2 room mics on the floor....which required some whip cracking, stick breaking, wall punching and screaming "FUCK!" a lot until Eric got a whole take with every hit sufficiently hard.
Due to time constraints I was forced to record all of the guitar tracks in one 22 hour session.
When I was mixing there was a kind of funny incident...the guy I rent the building from for my studio occasionally books some stuff there, we had gone over the time I had blocked off for us to finish the record so I was still mixing on a day when he had scheduled this church choir to come in for an hour and do some shit.
All of these old black church lady's start showing up, so I step out to go get something to eat while he did that stuff....and as some people reading this may know, my studio isn't exactly the kind of environment you would imagine a church choir in...anyway, as I'm walking out to my car I see a couple of them walking up...and they're staring at my car kind of funny (I drive a wrecked green ford Taurus that does look pretty shitty on the out and inside). I introduced my self to them as I'm getting in the car, I said:
"Hi, my names Chris...this is my place, I'm going to run out for a bit but I'll probably see you all back inside later..."
...and the lady's just give me these grimacing death stares without responding...one grabs the others arm and says "come on"...walking away while still giving me dirty looks. I think maybe they're racist, or don't like long-hairs or something...so I'm thinking "fuck those old bitches" to myself while I drive down the street to Kroger. When I get out of my car I look at the back and see what the lady's had been staring at:
Drawn in the dirt on the trunk of my car were two large Swastikas with the words "Fuck My Ass" written between them.
I can only assume that the church choir lady's assumed that I was too cheap to buy a bumper sticker and so decided to advertise my homo-nazi world view by drawing it in the dirt on my car. It makes sense that they would think that...I mean they go to church so they have to be pretty dumb anyway.
Q: Will the band be producing any music videos from the song tracks of "FUCK ALL Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS"?
Chris Owens: - Absolutely, if someone volunteers to do or pay for such a thing....we're not exactly raking in the royalty checks you know.
Q: What is the music scene like in LOUISVILLE, Kentucky United States is metal music popular in your area? Curious because we have extreme metal heads here that love metal and can't get enough of it.
Chris Owens: - Louisville has a very strong and diverse music scene, especially for a city this size...I think it's a safe bet to say that there are more good bands per-capita in Louisville Ky than anywhere else in North America...aside from the current punk metal crop of LORDS, Coliseum and Young Widows, the city has also produced past and present punk and indie heavy hitters such as: Endpoint, Slint, Rodan, Shipping News, By The Grace of God, Guilt, Kinghorse, My Morning Jacket, VHS or Beta, Will Oldham ("Bonnie Prince Billy") just to name a few.....uh and we apologize greatly for Days of the New and Tantric.
Q: What's the band goals for 2009 isl the emphasis on touring to promote "FUCK ALL Y'ALL MOTHERFUCKERS" or will the band be writing new material for another album?
Chris Owens: - Both, or that's the idea anyway...we'll see what happens.
I want to thank Lords and Metal Blade Record Black Market Activities for this interview. Horns High You Rock. HMTV Canada
