“Being a new band, I just can’t think of a better way to get your name out to all of the Hard-Rock crowd than playing with twenty of the biggest Hard-Rock bands in the world.”

We learned a lot and made a lot of good friends.

You have to make sure that your assets and your back is protected before you make any big decisions.

I really didn’t think about song writing.

Whether you like another bands music or not you never know who is going to take you out on tour or who you are going to be friends with and that is just something that is important to us.

Lyrically we tried to just not be the same as a lot of the other crap that is out there right now.

You don’t want the biggest record deal as far as money goes, you just want to make sure that the people at the label really support your band and the music and stuff.

We really try to make sure that the band writes the songs, not just one person.

A lot of big labels will just sign bands like a write off.

So you have to just be really careful and make sure that when a deal comes along, that it’s like the right deal for you… not necessarily the most money, because you have to pay the record label that back in like record sales and stuff.

Being on Ozzfest has been a great way for us to break out and show metal fans that we have a heavy side.

We’re definitely not a metal band, but we’re a band that focuses on meaningful lyrics and melody.

Actually, we got signed in November of 2000 with Dreamworks which is the most amazing label.

Hopefully people can look at our band and see that we’re a heavy rock band.

That was our first major tour and we got a chance to play in front of like 5000 people every day so it was like a Rock and Roll boot camp for us really

We knew that we wanted to play heavy music but I hadn’t gotten into melody and things like that.

Musicians don’t respect a lot of the stuff that is on TRL and a lot of musicians think that stuff on the radio is not good musically so when musicians say that they like us it obviously feels good.

One of my pet peeves is that sometimes the talents of my band get overlooked because, and it was the same problem that Frank Zappa had, with a lot of groups that use humor, people don’t realize there’s a lot of craft behind the comedy.

I’ve been saying for almost 20 years that I need to do a jazz project and it ought to be either big band or I should do some jazz songs with a trio or quartet.

THE LAW OF THE CONTRACTION: A brand becomes stronger when you narrow its focus.

When I got to university, I played in bands and did sketch stuff and it was always about coming up with material, which is why I never really practised and have no chops!!

Our label is very digital-friendly. We try to provide some free stuff to get interest in the band, but we have to pay our artists. They have to get paid.

When I was growing up, we had all these crazy bands on the Top 40. Today, if Pink Floyd released “Money”, it wouldn’t even get played.

I got my influences from 70s bands – Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, blah blah blah.

Punk rock really influenced me, the basic metal bands, Zeppelin, Stones and Floyd, and Southern rock bands. I think I was pretty well-rounded.