1.The latest and final album Stormchaser is out and
being hailed as your best work to date. From the
outset of the writing for this amazing work did you
feel that it would be the bands finest moment?
I definitely felt that it was the most mature, and
progressive album we ever wrote. The inclusion of
Ryan and Jon definitely played into that pretty
heavily. Ryan just came to us with riffs and
structures that blew our minds, and we had to learn
how to play them! Jon had some really cool ideas as
well, and he comes from a slightly different musical
background than say me or Laura. As soon as the songs
started coming together I knew that they were the best
we had ever done. We were finally able to have real
rippin¡¦ solos, and heaviness that we had never
achieved before, as well as melody that I feel we were
really striving for years ago.
2.How long did it take to create this album from the
start to the final recording?
We wrote it in two months, in January and February of
2008, and we went into the studio in mid-March. It
was a really exciting process, but we were in the
practice studio for 8 hours a day, about 5 days a
week. It was definitely intense¡K The previous albums
were just written for months on end during high
school, etc. We had a lot of time to relax and let
things breathe. There were deadlines on this one and
we had nothing to do but tour and write, so the vibe
was different. It felt more like a job, but not
necessarily in a bad way.
3.Tell our readers about the special guests on the
album. How was the experience working with these guys?
Well, John Strachan from the Funeral Pyre has been a
friend of ours for years. We always stayed with him
when we played in the Los Angeles area, and him along
with all of the Funeral Pyre/Antagonist dudes have
always been close, close friends. We have also done a
few tours with them. So basically, when we wrote this
song we could totally hear his tortured, black
metal-esque vocals combining with laura¡¦s to create
something really awesome, and it did! Chuck Billy
on the other hand was a complete stranger prior to him
hangin with us that day in the studio, and it was
totally surreal. I came outside to meet him and was
just stunned, he¡¦s huge, and he¡¦s the king of thrash.
Having him there was a dream come true, and his vocals
were perfect, just perfect¡K
4.Now on a bitter sweet note, Light This City will be
no more after this release. I have read the
explanation on your website and certainly understand
the bands position. So let's go back a few years. When
the band first formed did you ever believe it would
grow to this level?
I always hoped it would, but I was never certain. I
knew we were onto something special, but even at the
point of when we called it a day, we weren¡¦t anything
huge on anyone¡¦s radar. In the big scheme of things,
we weren¡¦t much. We definitely had a large impact on
a lot of kids which meant the world to us, but the
reality is, we weren¡¦t selling hundreds of thousands
of records like our deathcore/myspace-trend riding
contemporaries. We always wanted to write real metal,
that we would actually want to listen to. We never
tuned to Z sharp or wrote mind-numbingly boring
breakdowns to please any asshole in the crowd, and a
lot of people didn¡¦t appreciate that, haha. But to
answer your question, we have definitely experienced a
lot that we never thought we¡¦d get to.. I never
thought we would have been touring with Vader or Death
Angel for example, that was amazing to watch those
bands every night..
5.As the band continued to grow in popularity what
were the feelings among the members, did it ever seem
surreal?
No it didn¡¦t really seem surreal because as I said
before, the band never got THAT big. It was a tad bit
funny and a little weird when kids stuck around after
shows to get autographs and stuff like that, and the
hype surrounding Laura and seeing her in magazines was
a bit surreal, but other than that, we knew our place
in the scheme of the metal world, we knew what we were
doing wasn¡¦t gonna explode over night like a lot of
the bands we toured with.
6.Amongst other reasons touring was named as a cause
for the break up. I have asked many bands about this,
and the answer varies. When does it become too much?
It¡¦s not necessarily that touring was too much for
Laura and I, it¡¦s the fact that I couldn¡¦t handle
being a part of the touring ¡§scene¡¨ anymore. Touring
with a lot of bands that I couldn¡¦t relate to, and
really just not feeling the passion and drive to
become this metal-god anymore¡K When I was a bit
younger it felt like this amazing life to live,
touring and being on buses and what not, but it¡¦s
really not like that at all. We weren¡¦t burnt out on
touring, we were burnt out on making the music our
entire lives and breathing it 24/7. A lot of it
seemed to become artificial, and Laura and I couldn¡¦t
stand that feeling. We still loved our songs and
writing them, but to be a fulltime touring
professional band, you have to sacrifice your entire
life to the cause of metal, and we were kinda tired of
it¡K Also, we both wanted to go back to school before
we were too old, and explore other musical outlets.
We are the only original members of LTC and I¡¦ve been
doing it since I was 14, it was time for some change..
7.I have often wondered, when playing a long tour how
can you keep your voice in shape night after night,
and how does the constant change of atmosphere, food,
and being trapped on a tour bus everyday affect a
band?
Tour bus Definitely not¡Kwe were never on a tour bus.
This is more of a question for Laura, but I witnessed
it can answer it somewhat.. Riding in a van and doing
overnight drives every night definitely took its toll
on her, and she¡¦d have some nights where she was
drained, totally dead, but she got through it.
Really, if you eat OK and try not to party too much,
you can keep your voice in relatively good shape, but
there were definitely times we either had to cancel a
show or take it really easy because of the dangers of
having these kinds of vocals in your music. As for
the rest of us, we were constantly tired, and eating
terribly. That¡¦s really the only option if you AREN¡¦T
on a bus, especially given the ridiculous routings of
a lot of tours. A lot of the times we¡¦d have a week
straight of overnight drives where we¡¦d all start to
get sick. It wasn¡¦t too fun, but the shows made up
for it.
8.Not only must it be physically taxing but
emotionally as well. You have the rush of the
performance and the adoration of the fans, but
certainly you must miss family and friends back home.
I know Laura missed her family a lot more than I did,
haha. But, emotionally it is taxing. I actually had a
great deal of performance anxiety having to do with
the ridiculous competition that a metal musician feels
when touring with tons of bands with amazing drummers,
guitarists, etc. It is a cutthroat competition out
there, especially in death metal. We were never a
death metal band, but we toured with them, and that
takes a toll on you. You constantly feel inadequate,
or at least I did. You are absolutely right though,
being away from home for a long period of time can
take a toll on you and make you question what you are
investing so much time and energy into, especially if
you aren¡¦t doing so hot on a certain tour¡K
9.Now I am sure there are many great times as well.
Looking back over your time together, what would you
say are some of the bands proudest moments?
Man, there are so many¡K the tours that really stick
out are the first two- month US tour we did after I
graduated high school w/ Suicide Silence. That was our
first sense of real independence and trying to conquer
the country, one step at a time. Later in 2006 we did
a US tour with Through the Eyes of the Dead, which was
amazing as well, the shows were huge! Every tour we
did with All That Remains was insane because of the
size of the shows, and the responses we got. For a
minute we actually felt like rock-stars! The Edguy
tour was amazing, as was the Death Angel tour, which
was the last one we did before we called it quits..
Releasing ¡§Facing the Thousand¡¨ was really fun for us,
because we were so proud of it, and it was our
breakout kind of album that would see us on tour in
support of it for two years. There are too many good
times to list, but it was definitely all worth it. I
don¡¦t regret much¡K
10.Will we see the members of Light This City in any
new projects in the coming year?
Sometime in 2009 Laura and I will record the first
record of this new punk band we are starting. More
info on that soon¡K I know Jon and Ryan are starting a
new band as well, probably pretty similar to LTC,
super metal, super-shred. Should be amazing. Those
guys are just such amazing musicians. That¡¦s all I
know of so far!? But yeah, definitely be on the
lookout, you haven¡¦t even begun to hear the last of
us!
11.As individuals what would you say is most
important to you about writing music?
To me it¡¦s that feeling of being so ecstatic about a
song after writing it. Or even a riff, anything.
There is nothing that beats that. It¡¦s not about
record sales, moving units, or selling merch. It¡¦s
about creating something you are really really excited
about, and proud to have made. Surprising myself with
the music I write is the most exhilarating thing I
have ever experienced.?
12.In closing, I would say that Stormchaser is a gift
to the fans, and is something you can forever be proud
of. What would you like to say to your fans out there,
and what is something you would like them to know
about your time together?
Thanks so much man. I am glad it has received such
praise so far, and really, every idiot band-dude says
this, but we couldn¡¦t have done the 6 years of LTC
without the fans. You guys rule, keep headbanging!!
