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![]() Take This Oath |
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By Travis Tutwiler |
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“I’ll sum it up in one word, ‘Nonsense,’” chuckles Killswtich Engage frontman, Howard Jones, as he advises what fans could expect from the band on the hottest metal tour of the year which featured Lamb Of God, KSE, Devildriver and Soilwork. “We’re gonna make noise, jump around, Justin’s gonna hit his drums really hard, I’m gonna sweat a lot, and Adam’s gonna curse at people. You know, everything you’ve known and grown to like about Killswitch,” he adds. As for being on the road again with longtime friends Lamb Of God, Jones slyly states: “Ah, you know, it’s always fun to see the guys again. They bring the heaviness, and we bring the silliness. It’s a fun combination.” Joining Howard were band mates – Justin Foley (drums), Joel Stroetzel (guitar), Mike D’Antonio (bass) and the recently sidelined Adam Dutkiewicz (guitars) – who had to sit out the past few tours after undergoing back surgery. “A couple of surgeries, lots of recuperating and he’s back in business,” explains Howard. We’re just happy he’s back with the family.” KSE are currently supporting As Daylight Dies, which was re-released as a Special Edition package last summer. Included are three videos and four bonus tracks, including the killer remake of Dio’s “Holy Diver,” originally recorded for a Kerrang magazine compilation CD. “Kerrang had a list of influential rock and metal songs,” Howard explains. “There were a couple of (Dio) songs on there and we’re like – ‘Wow! Let’s choose Dio!’ But then we said — ‘Hey, “Holy Diver’s” not on here.’” After agreeing that it “would just be a fun one to do,” the guys got a hold of Kerrang and said, “This song’s not on the list, but would you mind if we did ‘Holy Diver?’ And they said ‘Sure.’” Not only is the cover of “Holy Diver” stunning, the video is a classic in all its goofiness. “The director (Brian Thompson) basically had the concept for it and all these different characters and everything,” Jones says. “But when we were looking at the treatment for the video, Adam just looks at it and says ‘Hey, what if I played the princess?’ And we just started rolling with that. It’s the director’s idea for the video, but we just twisted all the characters around. It came out better than any of us thought it would. It’s a good representation of our sense of humor.” Along with the reissue this past summer, another unexpected milestone occurred. The band’s 2004 release, The End Of Heartache, was certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 copies. “We didn’t really expect that,” Jones says. “It’s not something that we were gunning for or anything like that. It’s definitely a nice thing but, at the same time, hey, we’re back on the road, so it’s business as usual.” Although it happened over the summer the news has surfaced in the music world as of late. “It happened a while ago and they (Roadrunner Records) were wanting to present us with out plaques,” Jones states, “but we’re a little busy, so what could you do? We finally got together with everyone at the record label. It was nice.” With their growing legion of fans, KSE created the Take This Oath fan club. “So far so good,” explains Jones. “It’s been really cool. If you’re in a fan club, you get in (to concerts) early; you get some signed stuff. But we’re trying to do a few more things to get involved — like Adam had a chat on there,” Jones elaborates. “We’re trying to think of other things to make it feel like it’s worth it. Hopefully we’ll be able to come up with some other ideas soon.” As for spotting fan club shirts at shows he advises, “You can get a hold of our shirts on line from merchandise companies, but when you see that someone’s actually joined the fan club and everything — that’s just kind of special.” KSE began a winter tour in January, hitting the road with Dillinger Escape Plan, Everytime I Die and Parkway Drive. “There are definitely some places that we haven’t played in a while,” Jones notes, “so we decided go ahead and do another run and we had the pleasure of picking the bands we wanted.” Jones invites fans to their shows with, “Come on out, and we’ll do our best to put a smile on your face and hopefully sweat on you.” How can you pass that up? |
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