You guys always seem to be on package bills when you play Las Vegas. What are the chances we might see you do a full headlining set one of these days?
A lot of the tours out there these days just seem to be more about the package thing, to just kinda give more to the people coming to the shows as far as a variety of bands. But we’re gonna be doing a co-headlining tour, hopefully in the fall, where we’ll be able to do a full headlining set, the hour-plus set. It’s been a while for us, so it’ll be cool to finally get back to do that full time. But I gotta tell ya, in the summer heat I’m enjoying the half-hour sets.
Speaking of package tours, as an Ozzfest alum yourself, what did you think of their decision to turn that into a free-to-the-public tour this summer?
It’s a pretty cool thing, a crazy thing to try to pull off. I think they just have enough corporate sponsors with enough confidence in the Ozzfest entity, which draws so many people. I know there were some hoops people had to jump through [to get tickets], but at the end of the day it’s free, and you can’t complain when you get, like, eight hours of free music. And the venues will make it back on the $30 beer, so they’re not worried about it [laughs].
You guys have been with Atlantic Records for about a year now; what’s been the biggest difference about being with a major?
The support they’ve given us ... to be able to go to LA for almost two months to record a record the way we’ve always imagined being able to record, was pretty amazing. Also, to be able to take that much time off from the road and not worry about how we were paying bills was a huge difference. And some of the doors they opened—getting us onto things like the ESPN Ultimate Highlight Reel, which for me, as a ridiculously hardcore sports fan and ESPN junkie, was pretty amazing. But the day-to-day working is really similar. Most of the big companies have trimmed down to where they’re about the size of some indies as far as staff, so it’s really not that different.
On Sounds of the Underground tour with Chimaira, Every Time I Die, Necro, Job for a Cowboy, Amon Amarth, Darkest Hour, The Acacia Strain, Heavy Heavy Low Low, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, The Devil Wears Prada. August 6, 2:45 p.m., $25. House of Blues, 632-7600.