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There comes a time when songs are being written at odd
hours of the days; vocals, guitar and bass are being recorded
either in the back of the bus, hallways in buildings, hotel rooms
with mattresses placed against the walls; endless touring; life
changing events; meeting thousands of friends and living the
dream, that creates one of the best albums of the year. When we
last spoke with RED back in May while at Rock on the Range in
Ohio, we heard a little bit about the processes going on and what
the band was going thru. Almost 10 months later, their new record
“Innocence & Instinct” is released, a headlining tour is announced
along with picking up another tour with Trapt in later March. We
catch up with Mike and Randy before the show and get a little
insight as to what’s been going on since May. Trust me, it’s always
a blast talking to these guys, you never know what you’ll walk
into….
hours of the days; vocals, guitar and bass are being recorded
either in the back of the bus, hallways in buildings, hotel rooms
with mattresses placed against the walls; endless touring; life
changing events; meeting thousands of friends and living the
dream, that creates one of the best albums of the year. When we
last spoke with RED back in May while at Rock on the Range in
Ohio, we heard a little bit about the processes going on and what
the band was going thru. Almost 10 months later, their new record
“Innocence & Instinct” is released, a headlining tour is announced
along with picking up another tour with Trapt in later March. We
catch up with Mike and Randy before the show and get a little
insight as to what’s been going on since May. Trust me, it’s always
a blast talking to these guys, you never know what you’ll walk
into….
M4M: WELCOME BACK! YOU JUST RELEASED A NEW ALBUM “INNOCENCE & INSTINCT.” WHAT WAS IT LIKE
PLAYING THE NEW MUSIC AT THE CD RELEASE?
RANDY: We took some time off and being able to get back and play the new stuff was great. We had a bunch of friends
and family there along with a lot of Street Teamers there, so it was awesome.
MIKE: Yea it was a lot of fun. We’ve been touring a lot in the past year so being able to headline and play the new songs
was really exciting. It’s good to be able to play newer songs and headline at the same time (everyone laughs).
RANDY: After touring as much as we have, people were getting tired of hearing the same songs, and we were getting
tired of it too (laughs). So it turned out even better cause there was a new set list.
M4M: IT’S ALWAYS EXCITING TO HEAR THE NEW TUNES ALONG WITH BEING ABLE TO HEADLINE SHOWS.
M4M: ON THE NEW ALBUM, THE BAND WAS ABLE TO WORK WITH BENJAMIN BURLEY OF BREAKING BENJAMIN ON
THE SONG “SHADOWS.” HOW DID IT COME ABOUT AND WHAT WAS THE PROCESS LIKE?
RANDY: Jasen mostly got to work with Ben and it kinda happened through a mutual friendship and touring. We
collaborated with him on the idea of the song awhile ago. Jasen started working on the song and sent it over to Ben. Ben
worked on it and sent over some ideas. So they collaborated back and forth and finally got the song the way they wanted
it. “Shadows” actually almost didn’t make the record. We had a list of songs that we wanted on there, so when it came
time to make the decision for the final list, it was basically the last to get picked and finished so it could make the record.
It’s actually one of my favorite songs on the album so I’m happy it made its place on the album.
M4M: “SHADOWS” IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE BEST SONGS ON THE NEW ALBUM. IT HAS A LOT OF DEPTH TO IT
THAT MAKES IT A GREAT SONG.
M4M: TWO SONGS, “FIGHT INSIDE” AND “NOTHING AND EVERYTHING” ARE EXTREMELY SIMILAR BUT ARE ALMOST
OPPOSITES WITH ONE BEING AN INTENSE HARDCORE SOUND TO A MOVING BALLAD. WHAT MADE YOU GUYS
DECIDE TO DO THAT?
RANDY: We just wanted to do a remix of the song, we didn’t have a meaning for having both songs on there other than
doing a remix. We wanted to strip it down a little bit and keep with what we did on the last record with “Already Over Pt 1
and Part 2.” We just wanted to do what we did and keep the same idea with the last record. It was something different
and goes with the Deluxe Version of the new CD.
M4M: THE PROCESS OF RECORDING FOR THIS ALBUM WAS DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE TO THE BAND AS A WHOLE.
THE ACCIDENT YOU GUYS HAD BACK IN NOVEMBER 2007 HAD A LOT OF IMPACT ON THE SONGS FOR THIS
ALBUM. WHAT WAS THE PROCESS LIKE BEFORE AND AFTER THE ACCIDENT?
RANDY: The writing this time was a lot different in general. We had Rob Graves, our producer, come out on tour with us
for weeks at a time, recording and such on the bus, in hallways, the hotel rooms, wherever we could set up and record.
Overall, I think the collaborating had an impact on everything we did. Mike and Rob would work on vocals with the
mattress put up against walls; I would record parts on the bus as would the rest of the guys. We had a lot of expectations
and our fans had a lot of expectations that we strove to give them. We wanted to meet them and hopefully we did that
(laughs). We think that we put out a better record this time and hopefully everyone thinks the same.
M4M: I DON’T THINK THERE’S ANYONE OUT THERE THAT CAN’T DENY HOW AMAZING THIS ALBUM TURNED OUT.
YOU’VE MET AND EXCEEDED THE EXPECTATIONS FOR “INNOCENCE AND INSTINCT.”
M4M: THE LOOK OF “INNOCENCE AND INSTINCT” HAS A WHOLE NEW LOOK AND MEANING BEHIND IT WITH
“DANTES INFERNO.” HOW DID YOU GUYS COME UP WITH THE IDEA TO USE THIS?
MIKE: You’ve seen “Dumb and Dumber” right?
M4M: I DON’T THINK THERE’S ANYONE THAT HASN’T AT SOME POINT. (Everyone laughs).
MIKE: There’s the part where Harry and Lloyd are at this restaurant, eating hot chili peppers. The restaurant they’re in,
was called “Dante’s Inferno.” (Mike now has a smirk on his face while Randy is looking anywhere but at me.)
(EVERYONE STARTS LAUGHING AS I GET THE JOKE.)
M4M: NICE!
Mike: (Still laughing) that’s the first time we’ve actually gotten to say that to someone. That was awesome!
M4M: IT WAS, I’LL ADMIT IT, I HAD TO THINK ON THAT ONE FOR A SECOND THEN REALIZATION HITS. NICE WORK.
(Everyone laughs again.)
MIKE: It was worth the shot (smiling).
RANDY: We actually had the name of the record before anything else. Rob came to us with this idea and we talked
about it for a couple of weeks and decided it worked really well with what we wanted to say. Rob’s got a lot of art hanging
up in his studio and every time we go in there, we’re like “We like that! And that one and that one…” (laughs). They were
all from this artist he knew so we were able to get a hold of him to do the artwork for the album. We really liked the look
and in the end, it tied really well into everything about the album. “Dante’s Inferno” is basically about Dante’s trip to Hell
and everything that he experienced. We experienced a lot after the crash so it fit in even more with that.
M4M: THE FIRST VIDEO OFF THIS RECORD IS “DEATH OF ME.” WHAT WAS THE PROCESS LIKE FOR YOU GUYS
TO DO THE VIDEO?
RANDY: We got in the night before from a 10 hour drive to the location and we were miserable from it and just did not
feel like doing anything, not to sound like a cry baby or anything (everyone laughs). Nobody really had any expectations
for the video other than what the director and his eye had in mind. So we got there the first day and did all of the
performance portions and then the second day, we did all of the action/role playing shots for the story board. It ended up
that the second day of shooting became the best part for us. We actually got to do a lot that we’ve never been able to do
before like climbing on top of buildings and such. We actually shut down an entire block to do the running parts and
people would stop and watch us basically run from nothing (laughs). We chased each other, climbed on ladders, beating
each other up (everyone laughs) and just really getting into the process of making the video. It was cool though, we had
a good time doing it.
M4M: WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU AND YOUR BROTHER ANTHONY TO SCREAM AT EACH OTHER?
RANDY: That was actually ah, pretty natural really (everyone laughs).
MIKE: Yea, they’re used to beating each other up (laughs).
M4M: YOU WERE IN THE BLACK RIGHT?
RANDY: Yea, the concept went with having a dark and light side to everything so I wore the dark clothing while Anthony
wore the light clothing. So it was about beating this other part of you off for awhile until it returns later on. It was cool
being able to watch Mike and his “twin” go at it. It’s different when you do it but watching someone else do it is kinda cool.
M4M: IN THE DELUXE VERSION OF “INNOCENCE AND INSTINCT” THEY SHOW YOU BEHIND THE SCENES OF MAKING
THE VIDEO. HOW DID THEY FIND SOMEONE THAT LOOKED ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE YOU? THAT’S CRAZY!
MIKE: He was actually a friend of the directors. I thought it was really cool because Randy and Anthony got to fight one
another and I got to fight a complete stranger. It was really intense too because you’re pushing on somebody and then
they’re really getting into it too. He was getting into it and then I got into it, so I got really excited because he was really
pushing me.
RANDY: It was easy for Anthony and I, we kind of have a heart for the dramatic so we pour that into our music and
performance. It gave us the opportunity to kind of act a little bit and play the part. I had a lot of fun. We totally weren’t in
shape for running around as much as we did (everyone laughs). We were sore the next day; my brother had bruises on
his chest from fighting with me.
MIKE: I had them too; it was from pushing each other so hard.
M4M: I GUESS NEXT TIME EVERYONE’S GOING TO BE PREPARED TO PUSH ONE ANOTHER FROM THE SOUNDS
OF IT (everyone laughs).
M4M: WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO HAVE “FIGHT INSIDE” AS THE FIRST SINGLE VS DOING “DEATH OF ME” AND
DOING THE VIDEO WITH THAT SONG?
MIKE: I think we just went through the whole record and thought “Fight Inside” would be the best choice for the first
single. It has all of the elements of what RED is and it had a lot of what we wanted to have as the first single. So it just
made more sense for that and having “Death of Me” as the second single and as the video just continued what we were
shooting for with “Fight Inside.” “Fight Inside” just had all of the hard, heavy elements with the strings, pianos that signify
us as a band. It comprises of everything that RED is and what we were with the first album.
RANDY: “Fight Inside” was actually our first active Rock single so it went well with marketing it and everything.
M4M: WHAT’S BEEN THE RESPONSE TO PEOPLE HEARING THE NEW SONGS BEING PLAYED AT SHOWS,
ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU JUST STARTED A HEADLINING TOUR TO GO ALONG WITH THE NEW ALBUM?
MIKE: Some people are amazing even with it being the first week of the album being out, they know every word to every
song. And then you get some people who basically mouth something to make it look like they know the words (everyone
laughs). It’s still the beginning so we’re hoping everyone likes the album as much as we love it.
M4M: WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU GUYS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE NEAR FUTURE?
RANDY: We kind of just want to do what we’ve done before, play a lot of shows, headline a lot of them. No matter where
we are, we’re just happy to be able to play music.
MIKE: We have this little run of headlining shows now and we finish it up around the 20th then we get a couple of weeks
off. Then we head off on tour with Trapt. The first show is actually here (Maplewood, MN) on March 29th so we’ll be back
to see you!
M4M: THAT’S ALWAYS A BONUS!! WE APPRECIATE YOU GUYS TAKING SOME TIME TO TALK WITH US AGAIN AND
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT ELSE YOU GUYS COME UP WITH! WE’LL SEE YOU HERE BACK IN MARCH!
MIKE AND RANDY: Yea, thank you! We always like talking to you! See you soon!
PLAYING THE NEW MUSIC AT THE CD RELEASE?
RANDY: We took some time off and being able to get back and play the new stuff was great. We had a bunch of friends
and family there along with a lot of Street Teamers there, so it was awesome.
MIKE: Yea it was a lot of fun. We’ve been touring a lot in the past year so being able to headline and play the new songs
was really exciting. It’s good to be able to play newer songs and headline at the same time (everyone laughs).
RANDY: After touring as much as we have, people were getting tired of hearing the same songs, and we were getting
tired of it too (laughs). So it turned out even better cause there was a new set list.
M4M: IT’S ALWAYS EXCITING TO HEAR THE NEW TUNES ALONG WITH BEING ABLE TO HEADLINE SHOWS.
M4M: ON THE NEW ALBUM, THE BAND WAS ABLE TO WORK WITH BENJAMIN BURLEY OF BREAKING BENJAMIN ON
THE SONG “SHADOWS.” HOW DID IT COME ABOUT AND WHAT WAS THE PROCESS LIKE?
RANDY: Jasen mostly got to work with Ben and it kinda happened through a mutual friendship and touring. We
collaborated with him on the idea of the song awhile ago. Jasen started working on the song and sent it over to Ben. Ben
worked on it and sent over some ideas. So they collaborated back and forth and finally got the song the way they wanted
it. “Shadows” actually almost didn’t make the record. We had a list of songs that we wanted on there, so when it came
time to make the decision for the final list, it was basically the last to get picked and finished so it could make the record.
It’s actually one of my favorite songs on the album so I’m happy it made its place on the album.
M4M: “SHADOWS” IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE BEST SONGS ON THE NEW ALBUM. IT HAS A LOT OF DEPTH TO IT
THAT MAKES IT A GREAT SONG.
M4M: TWO SONGS, “FIGHT INSIDE” AND “NOTHING AND EVERYTHING” ARE EXTREMELY SIMILAR BUT ARE ALMOST
OPPOSITES WITH ONE BEING AN INTENSE HARDCORE SOUND TO A MOVING BALLAD. WHAT MADE YOU GUYS
DECIDE TO DO THAT?
RANDY: We just wanted to do a remix of the song, we didn’t have a meaning for having both songs on there other than
doing a remix. We wanted to strip it down a little bit and keep with what we did on the last record with “Already Over Pt 1
and Part 2.” We just wanted to do what we did and keep the same idea with the last record. It was something different
and goes with the Deluxe Version of the new CD.
M4M: THE PROCESS OF RECORDING FOR THIS ALBUM WAS DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE TO THE BAND AS A WHOLE.
THE ACCIDENT YOU GUYS HAD BACK IN NOVEMBER 2007 HAD A LOT OF IMPACT ON THE SONGS FOR THIS
ALBUM. WHAT WAS THE PROCESS LIKE BEFORE AND AFTER THE ACCIDENT?
RANDY: The writing this time was a lot different in general. We had Rob Graves, our producer, come out on tour with us
for weeks at a time, recording and such on the bus, in hallways, the hotel rooms, wherever we could set up and record.
Overall, I think the collaborating had an impact on everything we did. Mike and Rob would work on vocals with the
mattress put up against walls; I would record parts on the bus as would the rest of the guys. We had a lot of expectations
and our fans had a lot of expectations that we strove to give them. We wanted to meet them and hopefully we did that
(laughs). We think that we put out a better record this time and hopefully everyone thinks the same.
M4M: I DON’T THINK THERE’S ANYONE OUT THERE THAT CAN’T DENY HOW AMAZING THIS ALBUM TURNED OUT.
YOU’VE MET AND EXCEEDED THE EXPECTATIONS FOR “INNOCENCE AND INSTINCT.”
M4M: THE LOOK OF “INNOCENCE AND INSTINCT” HAS A WHOLE NEW LOOK AND MEANING BEHIND IT WITH
“DANTES INFERNO.” HOW DID YOU GUYS COME UP WITH THE IDEA TO USE THIS?
MIKE: You’ve seen “Dumb and Dumber” right?
M4M: I DON’T THINK THERE’S ANYONE THAT HASN’T AT SOME POINT. (Everyone laughs).
MIKE: There’s the part where Harry and Lloyd are at this restaurant, eating hot chili peppers. The restaurant they’re in,
was called “Dante’s Inferno.” (Mike now has a smirk on his face while Randy is looking anywhere but at me.)
(EVERYONE STARTS LAUGHING AS I GET THE JOKE.)
M4M: NICE!
Mike: (Still laughing) that’s the first time we’ve actually gotten to say that to someone. That was awesome!
M4M: IT WAS, I’LL ADMIT IT, I HAD TO THINK ON THAT ONE FOR A SECOND THEN REALIZATION HITS. NICE WORK.
(Everyone laughs again.)
MIKE: It was worth the shot (smiling).
RANDY: We actually had the name of the record before anything else. Rob came to us with this idea and we talked
about it for a couple of weeks and decided it worked really well with what we wanted to say. Rob’s got a lot of art hanging
up in his studio and every time we go in there, we’re like “We like that! And that one and that one…” (laughs). They were
all from this artist he knew so we were able to get a hold of him to do the artwork for the album. We really liked the look
and in the end, it tied really well into everything about the album. “Dante’s Inferno” is basically about Dante’s trip to Hell
and everything that he experienced. We experienced a lot after the crash so it fit in even more with that.
M4M: THE FIRST VIDEO OFF THIS RECORD IS “DEATH OF ME.” WHAT WAS THE PROCESS LIKE FOR YOU GUYS
TO DO THE VIDEO?
RANDY: We got in the night before from a 10 hour drive to the location and we were miserable from it and just did not
feel like doing anything, not to sound like a cry baby or anything (everyone laughs). Nobody really had any expectations
for the video other than what the director and his eye had in mind. So we got there the first day and did all of the
performance portions and then the second day, we did all of the action/role playing shots for the story board. It ended up
that the second day of shooting became the best part for us. We actually got to do a lot that we’ve never been able to do
before like climbing on top of buildings and such. We actually shut down an entire block to do the running parts and
people would stop and watch us basically run from nothing (laughs). We chased each other, climbed on ladders, beating
each other up (everyone laughs) and just really getting into the process of making the video. It was cool though, we had
a good time doing it.
M4M: WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU AND YOUR BROTHER ANTHONY TO SCREAM AT EACH OTHER?
RANDY: That was actually ah, pretty natural really (everyone laughs).
MIKE: Yea, they’re used to beating each other up (laughs).
M4M: YOU WERE IN THE BLACK RIGHT?
RANDY: Yea, the concept went with having a dark and light side to everything so I wore the dark clothing while Anthony
wore the light clothing. So it was about beating this other part of you off for awhile until it returns later on. It was cool
being able to watch Mike and his “twin” go at it. It’s different when you do it but watching someone else do it is kinda cool.
M4M: IN THE DELUXE VERSION OF “INNOCENCE AND INSTINCT” THEY SHOW YOU BEHIND THE SCENES OF MAKING
THE VIDEO. HOW DID THEY FIND SOMEONE THAT LOOKED ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE YOU? THAT’S CRAZY!
MIKE: He was actually a friend of the directors. I thought it was really cool because Randy and Anthony got to fight one
another and I got to fight a complete stranger. It was really intense too because you’re pushing on somebody and then
they’re really getting into it too. He was getting into it and then I got into it, so I got really excited because he was really
pushing me.
RANDY: It was easy for Anthony and I, we kind of have a heart for the dramatic so we pour that into our music and
performance. It gave us the opportunity to kind of act a little bit and play the part. I had a lot of fun. We totally weren’t in
shape for running around as much as we did (everyone laughs). We were sore the next day; my brother had bruises on
his chest from fighting with me.
MIKE: I had them too; it was from pushing each other so hard.
M4M: I GUESS NEXT TIME EVERYONE’S GOING TO BE PREPARED TO PUSH ONE ANOTHER FROM THE SOUNDS
OF IT (everyone laughs).
M4M: WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO HAVE “FIGHT INSIDE” AS THE FIRST SINGLE VS DOING “DEATH OF ME” AND
DOING THE VIDEO WITH THAT SONG?
MIKE: I think we just went through the whole record and thought “Fight Inside” would be the best choice for the first
single. It has all of the elements of what RED is and it had a lot of what we wanted to have as the first single. So it just
made more sense for that and having “Death of Me” as the second single and as the video just continued what we were
shooting for with “Fight Inside.” “Fight Inside” just had all of the hard, heavy elements with the strings, pianos that signify
us as a band. It comprises of everything that RED is and what we were with the first album.
RANDY: “Fight Inside” was actually our first active Rock single so it went well with marketing it and everything.
M4M: WHAT’S BEEN THE RESPONSE TO PEOPLE HEARING THE NEW SONGS BEING PLAYED AT SHOWS,
ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU JUST STARTED A HEADLINING TOUR TO GO ALONG WITH THE NEW ALBUM?
MIKE: Some people are amazing even with it being the first week of the album being out, they know every word to every
song. And then you get some people who basically mouth something to make it look like they know the words (everyone
laughs). It’s still the beginning so we’re hoping everyone likes the album as much as we love it.
M4M: WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU GUYS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN THE NEAR FUTURE?
RANDY: We kind of just want to do what we’ve done before, play a lot of shows, headline a lot of them. No matter where
we are, we’re just happy to be able to play music.
MIKE: We have this little run of headlining shows now and we finish it up around the 20th then we get a couple of weeks
off. Then we head off on tour with Trapt. The first show is actually here (Maplewood, MN) on March 29th so we’ll be back
to see you!
M4M: THAT’S ALWAYS A BONUS!! WE APPRECIATE YOU GUYS TAKING SOME TIME TO TALK WITH US AGAIN AND
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT ELSE YOU GUYS COME UP WITH! WE’LL SEE YOU HERE BACK IN MARCH!
MIKE AND RANDY: Yea, thank you! We always like talking to you! See you soon!
| RED LINKS |
