The-Voices.net

Miranda: How long have you guys been together?

Shannon: The band has been together as a whole for about 6 years. There has been a few member changes over the years but this is seems to be it, it feels very solid.

Miranda: How did you guys choose the name "The Black Dahlia Murder"?

Shannon: Um actually that was our singer Trevor's decision, When the band was forming in the late teenage years. I guess any time a bands forming and they go "Oh we need to think of a name" you're constantly going through what's left, you know what hasn't been taken. I guess Trevor had heard about the stories of The Black Dahlia Murder and was very intrigued by it, it's a great story it's creepy and chilling and it sounds cool and nobody has it.

Miranda: Who influenced you to play the instruments you chose?

Ryan: man, that could be a long answer but um, I don't know just people like Bad Religion in the early days, Slayer, and guys like Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, Eric Johnson really made me want to play the guitar. I saw him on Austin city limits one night when I was like 16 or something and I said WOW! That's how you play guitar, so there you go.

Shannon: Um, I played guitar actually before I played drums, and um it seemed like when I was real young I kept trying to start up my own little band and we always needed a drummer. I played drums on the side for fun, but I had no intention on being a drummer in a band. So every time I tried to start up a band we couldn't find a drummer or we would find a guy and I would be trying to show him the parts, being over picky like " Oh play it like this, play it like this" so then it became "why don't you play the drums?". I really didn't want to but, I did any ways and it seems like I grew with that instrument far more then I was growing with guitar and it just turned out to be my thing. So I stuck with it and now I love it. But I was also influenced by most punk rock bands in the beginning, and then I moved on to other bands, like Slayer was a huge influence on me, and as that grew Cannibal Corpse. So bands on this tour where huge influences for me of growing as a drummer in my younger years.

Miranda: How would you describe your music to someone that has never heard it?

Shannon: Well I mean if it was someone that was familiar with metal sub genres it would be fairly easy, we could say "oh were like Swedish Death Metal, or like Swedish American Death metal." Were Swedish influenced by like the mid 90's American Death Metal. Someone who listens to that type of music would get it right off the bat. Or you could tell someone "oh there like Swedish Death Metal bands like "At The Gates" or maybe "In Flames". And people could also say "Oh their influenced by Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, and Suffocation and bands like that". But to someone that doesn't listen to metal really it's extremely hard to explain because they don't understand. It all kind of sounds like noise to them.

Miranda: My next sub question was for Trevor but you could probably answer it for him. Can he talk after your shows? And What does he do to prepare for that type of singing?

Shannon: Yes, he can talk after the shows, He's been doing this for many years. He has his warm ups down to a science, like his breathing exercises and stuff. He also drinks warm/hot warm to help loosen up everything in his throat before he goes on stage. When you train yourself to do that properly it's not like if me and you would go out and scream our heads or for that time we would be hoarse afterwards.

Ryan: there's a technique to it

Shannon: There is definitely a technique to it.

Miranda: You guys have a new album coming out soon can you tell me alittle bit about the new album?

Ryan: Well it's called Deflorate, To start with it's the first album I'm on. I'm the new lead guitar player.

Miranda: It's your introduction

Ryan: yeah it's my introduction to the band so um, I mean the solo's have a different feel. The writing has some different stuff going on but it's still a Black Dahlia record.

Shannon: it's still in the vein of Black Dahlia, kids want to hear something new but not something that is so different. Different seems to scare people sometimes, it's basically the same approach we took when we did the last record Nocturnal pushing forward with our writing and growing and musicians and our playing. Just trying to take it up another level, were not trying to be like the fastest band on the planet. Obviously some of our songs are going to get faster there going to get a little more technical, and maybe a little more brutal. Its definitely the first album which we had solos of this magnitude and level in which we are extremely excited about. It's like a huge step for us, He's raised the bar for use in main ways as a guitar player. He is writing alongside our other guitar player Ryan who has also done all or mostly all the song writing. So there was more input on this record, we took a little bit of a different approach while tracking the record we waited the record to have a very real feel. Lately it's been a issue or a standard to hear a record that sounds like it has been processed, or almost fake because you can do anything in the studio you can fake anything and it's not real, And we don't want that. We want people to be able to feel it and go this what the band sounds like live, but this is a record.

Miranda: How has the tour been so far for you guys?

Ryan: Honestly, this is the best American tour I've done. It's put together well, cool bands on the tour, great line up, there's a lot of friends on the tour. A lot of people at the shows, and people seem to be having a good time.

Shannon: Yeah it's a good response. It's all metal bands on the tour but it's all type from different extremities. It seems like the kids are here to have a good time and it like they don't have a hard time adjusting to the different types of bands, there just pumped to be here and they are pumped for all the different bands that are playing. So it's a very very good friendly vibe on the tour.

Miranda: Final question, do you have anything to say to your fans?

Shannon: I just want to thank them for being as awesome as they are. We see kids with Black Dahlia tattoos and there enthusiasm is what brings us here. I want them to remember that we're here because they're here. So we owe it to them, So we Thank Them. September 15th is when the new record Deflorate comes out be watching for it.