Well I can't complain, just enjoying this time at home before we start touring for our new record.  Our first show is the Stillborn Fest in Connecticut, which starts the day after Christmas actually.

It's not the most convenient show to play especially since I'm down here [in Florida].  It's obviously more convenient for the rest of the guys who live an hour away from the venue, but for me I'm just excited to be doing what I'm doing in HATEBREED. We've accomplished so many ridiculously awesome things, and I'm just excited to get back on stage.

Yeah it is, we've toured with them both before in years past.  They are all great guys, and we're really looking forward to going out with this tour package in support of our new album which will be released here in the US on January 29.

Our last few album covers have been pretty edgy, but this time we really wanted to take a whole new approach.  The music on the record is, I would say, more stripped down compared to our last record; it's more in the vein of our older material which was more "meat-and-potatoes."  As far as the album artwork is concerned, we are very happy with the way it stands out even though the concept of a painting might sound old-fashioned.

Well that's more of a question for Jamey [lead vocalist], but we generally have the same positive overtones to our lyrics. We are firm believers in sticking with what works, not trying to change who we are at our core, and our lyrics are definitely part of that.

Well we don't like to get caught up in the genres.  I don't even know what all that's about at this point.  We've been doing this since '95, we are one of the few huge hardcore bands who broke into the metal scene and was readily accepted too. We encompass both sides, we are honest in the music we put out and have been accepted by fans who like all different genres of that heaviness.  We've been doing this for nearly 20 years so something must be working!