What exactly are you talking about? Do you expect all Amercians to have names like Smith and Johnson and stuff like that? My name is Italian and Adrian's is Mexican and Angelo's is Italian. The only American names that are truly american are sitting bull and Geranimo and stuff like that. So, we're about as American as they come, we're just not all English/Irish/German. Actually, I'm half Irish and German, so my name could just as easy be Nixon. That's my mother's maiden name, and that's as american as they come. This is an interesting question, I've never heard one quite like it. Gregg Haa is a weird name, it's Danish, and John Cobbett is French, but their families have been in America for generations. Interesting question.

Well, it is mainly because of MAIDEN, PRIEST, SABBATH etc. Back when the band formed, in 1990, I wanted to sound just like those three bands. The Irish/Celtic stuff was sort of by mistake. I just wanted to sound like MAIDEN, and then I tried writing riffs in major keys, and next thing we knew we sounded like THE POGUES! I had read some books on Irish mythology and liked it, so I adapted some of the stories to my songs. That's it, it's that simple.

Oh, I don't know, there have been a couple of great reviews, and then a few fans seem to like it. And then I read one which said it wasn't as original as our last albums. Perhaps he's right, it sounds like a 70's Rock album and not as much like a 21st century Celtic Metal album. But I don't care, cause it's what I wanted to do at the time. Everyone seems to like it overall, and it's the right step for the band right now. It's a pretty 'involved' album, that is, it's not as much like a 'punk' (ed. note: ???) album as Atavism. Atavism hits you over the head right in the beginning, but Hardworlder is a little more abstract, it takes a little more attention, it's sort of more mature, but once you listen there's more stuff in there to hold your attention. I'm happy with it.

I'm not sure actually, to be honest. I don't remember, but I must have started writing riffs right after we finished Atavism. The songs were in my head for a long time, while we were touring and I was doing a bunch of other stuff as well. I was teaching philosophy as I worked on a Master's Degree at San Francisco State all last year, and this sort of got in the way of writing the music and lyrics, but it also influenced the sound of the album I'm sure. Now, I'm not teaching and the music I write will change as a result. The more new things you try the more interesting your music will become, I think.

It just sort of came out. I was thinking about the phrase Heavyworlder, which means a person or creature form a planet with more gravitational pull than earth. When they come to earth they are stronger and can jump further than humans because of the lower gravity. well, a hardworlder would be the sort of the same thing, because of something more dense, or hard would be heavier. In fact weight is the same thing as density, so 'hardwolrder' just sounds interesting I think. It would also just mean a person form a really hard or tough world.

Yes. It always takes to long and often goes over budget. I don't think the answer to this question wold be very interesting to the reader if I go much further into technical bullshit though, cause you've heard it all before. We did it until we got it right, and that always takes time. And no, there is never enough money. If we had more money we cold do an incredible album, but we don't, so we do the best we can.

I 'm glad to hear that, because I think Atavism was catchy, and a little more easy to get into on the first listen. Of course Hardworlder features ingredients from the other albums. There's really not much to say about it. It's up to the listener. The process of song writing and recording the album was exactly the same as Atavism. We wrote some songs and went in a recorded them. Nothing special.

He's not really responsible for the tempo changes. I worte all that stuff. He fits in well, and plays a little more simply than Greg did. He came into the band about a year and a half ago. I knew him for years and just called him up when Greg left. I knew he was capable of doing it. Not too interesting actually, I just called him and told him to come down to our rehearsal room and he did, and he performed quite well and that was that.

Well, he has a full time job and two kids. That's REALLY why he quit. He was going back and forth on it for a long time, but didn't talk about it much. Then suddenly, after our last string of European shows, he just didn't return my phone calls or emails for months, and I figured that was his way of quiting. I finally got a hold of his wife, and she was surprised he hadn't called me. Then he finally emailed me after months, after we had already been looking for a new drummer, and told me eventually he would like to come back and play again. We had a tour coming up so I got Rueben to do it, because I couldn't wait around for Greg, and then when we got back from the tour Greg upset that we had done things without him. He got mad.

There were some money issues as well that I won't get into between Greg and then band. He's unable to go on long tours because of his family, which I understand, but he didn't communicate well, or at all, with us towards the end. It's difficult to stay active in a band that doesn't make a lot of money, especially into your mid-thirties. It takes a lot of time that you might otherwise be working a job that pays much better. If you have a family to support, it become close to impossible to dedicate the time to a band that doesn't support you financially.

Yes. We are narrative, but I think mostly because of the style and sound of the band, but necessarily the lyrics. Most of the lyrics of Hardworlder are not that developed or thought out, I wrote a lot of them at the last minute, or even in the studio. So it's the music that sounds narrative. That's just the way I write. I grew up listening to and seeing a bunch of musicals live. My father gave me a very good musical education by taking us to performances regularly; very traditional stuff, but some of it was great. He also let me listen to whatever kind of music I wanted to growing up. My mother didn't want me to listen to stuff with swearing or satanic stuff, but my father, who was otherwise very strict, let me listen to whatever music I wanted, because he believed in creative and artistic freedom.

He never understood Rock 'n' Roll, he was born in 1930, so he was into big band stuff, but he always wanted me to play music, and make me take piano lessons when I was very young. When I switched to guitar he was supportive, but he didn't like the electric guitar as much. He made me play an acoustic guitar until I was 15. So, the narrative aspect of our music may be because of all the musical I saw as a kid, or maybe just because I think music is best when it tells a story; that's an ancient tradition.

NO, no hidden message. It's a weird cover. It's supposed to be a representation of Alfred Bester's character Gully Foil from the book Tiger!Tiger! (later known as the stars my destination).

Yes. They do fine. I have no complaints actually. They're a very small label and have limited money, so I understand how they operate.

Yes, probably in a few months.

We'll do some more US shows in the fall, probably around October. I'm writing new stuff now, and we'll probably write until about October, do some more shows all over the US and then record some stuff around Christmas, and then maybe go to Europe in the spring. Just expect more form us, we'll be doing a lot more. I want to branch out into even more different kinds of music, perhaps not even in Metal. I'm pretty into theatrical/dramatic/traditional stuff. Anything that has imagination to it. The older I get the more I want to play stuff that sounds like MUSIC, SONGS!!! I'm into songs, not noises.

It seems a lot of bands these days, underground and popular, want to just make noise, they're into the guitar sounds, drums sounds, whatever, they just care about the way stuff sounds, and not about the music itself. I find this totally boring; some of the greatest songs were recorded with terrible sounds, and it never mattered (the guitar sound on Sergeant Peppers... is aweful, but did anyone notice?). So, we'll become more and more musical as time goes by; but also more and more HEAVY!!!

Yes, of course...

Eh, it won't die until Dio dies. Then it's over. HAHAHA!!!