As the second to last act of the evening to close out Warped Tour 2011, we gathered back stage with Metal/Reggae ensemble The Expendables before their set. Coming off their latest and highly received album “Prove It” we wasted no time to find out when these guys would head back to the studio to bring the fans more ear candy. They let us in on a little insight to a possible acoustic album and how their infamous nearly 17 minute long “2 inch Dub” track came to fruition. Enjoy!….
The Pier: Alright Adam, “Prove It” debuted at #30 on the Billboard Heat Seekers Chart among ranking well in other charts. How did these impressive numbers affect the attendance at your shows?
The Expendables: Well, I guess in the last year we’ve had a steady increase of people at our shows. I feel it’s partially because we did a big tour with 311 and with Slightly Stoopid last year and just touring a lot anyways so that always helps to go with all that but that’s the big reason why.
The Pier: Yeah, well you guys had big success with “Prove It” in 2010. Are you guys planning on riding the coat tails of that or do you plan on getting back into the studio soon?
The Expendables: Yeah! We’re gonna definitely get back into the studio but we want to make sure we have the content first, obviously, so we’re just writing music right now. We have no official plans on getting into the studio yet but there’s talks of maybe an acoustic album. We have some stuff definitely in the works. We’re going to be putting something out early next year.
The Pier: Ok, great! You guys embarked on a European tour with the Mad Caddies in the fall of 2010. How was that experience for you guys and do you guys have the same numbers across the pond as you do here in the states?
The Expendables: Um no. We haven’t been over there aside from then so we don’t really have that many fans over there, but we do have some. There’s people over there who know our music with the internet but it was amazing. The Mad Caddies really have a big following over there. They’ve been doing it for years. We’re really stoked that they got us over there and got our foot in the door so hopefully we’ll be doing it again. Who knows when, but soon
The Pier: On your latest record, you guys recorded a, roughly 17 minute song called “2 Inch Dub”, in which you guys took the listener on a hell of a dub ride. Was that something you guys rehearsed, was it a jam in the studio or what?
The Expendables: We had jammed on that song before. That wasn’t even a song. That was definitely a jam and the reason why it was 17 minutes long is because we recorded on 2 inch tape, 24 track, two of them actually and that’s why it’s called “2 Inch Dub” because the reel was 17 minutes long. Our producer, Paul Leary, just said “I’m gonna let the whole thing play and you guys just jam out”. We were just going to take like 5 minutes, but he said “Lets just put the whole thing on there, we got time”. He dubbed it all out and we were stoked. We always wanted to do something like that. It was a little less serious, more fun and we got a little drunk, a little high and you know, enjoyed it!
The Pier: That’s great! You guys have a song “Sacrifice” on Guitar Hero World Tour. My question is, which one of you guys can play that on expert?
The Expendables: None of us actually! I personally can’t get past the drums on medium. I don’t know what the hell. Raul, I think has played it on expert, and I think he’s passed it once. As the guitar player, he felt he had to or he wasn’t a good enough guitar player to be in our band. (Laughs)
The Pier: Well you guys tour with Slightly Stoopid, you’re on their label, and Kyle and Miles have said that you guys are the best thing to happen to metal since the 80’s. That’s a huge compliment! How do you guys feel about such accolades coming from such a band in the scene?
The Expendables: I think that’s a huge compliment! I don’t know about metal but maybe more to the reggae rock scene you know? There’s some really kick ass metal bands out there. We’re just trying to throw some metal out there and do what we can but there’s some really bad ass metal bands out there that are probably doing it better than us.
The Pier: At your core, you’re all metal heads. Am I right?
The Expendables: We all enjoy metal. I wouldn’t call us metal heads. We definitely grew up on Pantera, Metallica, Slayer, you know, even Iron Maiden. We all grew up on that but we’re not huge metal heads, metal nerds or anything, but we like it.
The Pier: Well you guys are a reggae rock band. What’s another extreme genre that you listen to that people wouldn’t expect?
The Expendables: Well me, I actually like a lot of jazz, kind of crooning stuff, a lot of Sinatra, Michael Buble, or Norah Jones. Also, we’re really into country music sometimes. Good country you know?
The Pier: Yeah! Right on Adam. Thanks for talking to The Pier!
The Expendables: Thanks!
The Expendables Links:
The Expendables Facebook
The Expendables Twitter
Interview by: Chad Hillje and Kyle Hillje
Photos by: Kit Chalberg
