Image by Concert Hype


This interview might have been the hardest we've done yet, just for the simple fact that it was done in the media tent backstage at Ozzfest. Imagine different bands, different media, and altogether different workers running in and out constantly as you're trying to focus. It made things interesting, that's for sure. We talked with frontman Gil Bitton on the band's "evolution" since their last album, insomnia, meditation, and more.

How has Ozzfest been going for you guys?

Ozzfest has been quite a dream come true for us. Just playing with all these great bands on the second stage as well as Korn and Disturbed is just, like, kind of overwhelming at times and very fun and just, like, a great experience so far.

Have you gotten a chance to hang out with any of the other bands on the tour?

Everyone on the second stage, pretty much, but we have six off-dates with Korn which we’ll get to meet them, I guess. And we have two off-dates with Marilyn Manson, who I really want to meet. I like him a lot. I like his work, his theatrics, his music. So, yeah. Hopefully, soon.

You guys have so much energy onstage.

Cool.

What’s going through your minds when you’re onstage?

I don’t know. It’s just, like, the music and the beat and the guitars and everything. Like, just the music drives me crazy. It’s like a different animal up there. You know, just the music drives and I’m sensitive to the intensity of it. So, that’s what happens. I just turn into something else…

[Enter Tommy] Tommy from Nothingface! Everyone say hello!

Tommy: Hello! My ballocks are all up in a rustle. I must go. [Laughing]

[Laughing] Anyway, you’ve toured with everyone from Foo Fighters to Static-X, Stereomud and now Ozzfest. What has been your best touring experience so far?

This, so far, is probably best. Why is it the best? I guess it’s the crowd is amazing, it’s just one of the biggest tours of the summer, so everyone comes out. It’s just a great tour to be on. We’re happy to be on this tour.

What are your goals at each show? What do you want to accomplish?

I just want to accomplish people just walking away just stunned. Just going, you know, ‘Wow. That was fucking explosive. A lot of energy and it was great.’ And hopefully, you know, they’ll be looking forward to seeing us again in the future.

Alright. Since your ‘Evolve’ release in 2001 you guys seem to literally have evolved with ‘Songs for the Restless. The new album is much more melodic.

Yeah. Yeah, it did.

Was that something you planned or did it just naturally occur?

It was totally natural. It was a natural process. ‘Evolve’ is like four years old, so we grew as people. We grew spiritually, emotionally…so, you know, I listened to a lot of different types of music and so did the boys and we just came up with something really natural, just, if you hear it, it totally sounds real. It doesn’t sound contrived in any way, so it’s a good record.

What do you say to your fans who have been around since your ‘Evolve’ release who may think you guys have sold out with the new disc?

Right on. What I say to them is that we know we didn’t sell out, so if they are true fans, then they will open their minds more to a more melodic, darker, seductive sound. And if they like it, I hope they do, but if they don’t, you know, the music comes from the heart, so…

Are there many songs that didn’t make it onto this album?

Yeah, actually. There were at least six or seven.

Any plans on releasing those?

Maybe on the next album. Yeah, hopefully on the next album.

What was it like working with David Schiffman?

Yeah, David is just a really laid back individual. [Holding borrowed Kleenex] This is gross by the way! [Laughing] Very laid back, very smart guy. He just knows his stuff, great engineer. He made our record sound, like, very raw, just bass, drums, vocals, guitar. No smoke and mirrors, no effects, no bullshit, you know? We just wanted something organic sounding.

‘Songs for the Restless’ is, the perfect title. You’ve been waiting since November or December of last year to release the album. Now only 3 days away from release, what’s going through your mind?

Hopefully selling 5 MILLION RECORDS! [Laughing] But, besides that, you know, you never know in this business, you never know what could happen one minute or the next. You know, we could be sitting here and then a plane could crash, God forbid. You know, you never know, so I take it one step at a time to where if it happens it happens, if it doesn’t it doesn’t. I’ve had a great ride and I’m really envisioning shit happening, like a lot of really good things.

You suffered from severe insomnia in the writing and recording process of ‘Songs for the Restless.’

Yeah.

As you listen to the record now, would you say it’s almost therapeutic in a sense?

It was therapeutic writing it. Listening to it, sometimes I’ll go really deep in the record, but writing it was definitely more therapeutic than listening to it. And now that I listen to it, I love it, but it was definitely therapeutic writing it and the issues I was going through lent themselves to everything on the record from the lyrics to the artwork. So, it’s a record of experience.

There are a lot of different emotions in your new album. Where did they come from?

There are a lot of different emotions in all of us: anger, jealousy, hate, whatever. So, it comes from every emotional aspect of what a human goes through and you can hear it in each song.

Would you say being an outcast in school caused you to become the person you are, or is that irrelevant to the way you turned out?

I’m sorry, repeat that again. I couldn’t hear you. [To Eli (Guitarist)] What is that? Can I have some? A sip?

Eli: It’s like Juicy Fruit. He stole my drink.

Sorry. One more time.

Do you think being an outcast in school made you the person you are, or doesn’t that matter?

You’ve done your homework, haven’t you? Wow. Very impressive. Like, before you even before you saw me, like, ‘I know everything about you!’ [Laughing] An outcast in high school? I don’t think I was fully conscious in high school. I was like, ‘Why am I fucking here?’ You know, it sucked. I hated high school. I hated waking up in the morning. I hated classes. Not that I didn’t want, not that I wasn’t like, well, actually I wasn’t motivated at all. I mean, it was, I think high school for me was totally irrelevant and totally retarded. I always kept going for my dream: music, music, music, music and it got me this far so I’m happy that I’m just here and I read a lot of books and a lot of things you don’t learn in school. You know, when am I going to fucking need geometry? Or, Jesus, American history? I mean, it’s good to know these things, but there are certain things that life can teach you that’s a lot more important than what school can teach you. But, STAY IN SCHOOL. Work hard.

There’s ‘Evolve v.3.0’ and ‘Evolve.’ Is there really a difference between the two?

Version 3.0 was, like, the whole theme of it was more computer age, more industrial, more like apocalypse.

So Version 3.0 was released later than ‘Evolve?’

Version 3.0. Yeah.

Okay. Your former drummer Joel is now in a metal band School For Heroes. In an interview he mentioned that the band was at somewhat of a standstill when he left. Care to elaborate on that?

No, actually, it was great. I mean, when he left we went on great tours and everything started happening when he left. [Laughing]

So, he just wanted to go on to other stuff, or what was the reason?

I don’t really know what he wanted to do, and I don’t really care, honestly. So, next question. [Laughing]

You guys have been in both the Dracula 2000 soundtrack and the Daredevil soundtrack and now recently in the ‘Headbangers’ commercial campaign. It seems like Columbia is doing everything in their power to promote you guys. What has your experience been like with Columbia so far?

Well, I don’t know if they’re doing ‘everything in their power’ but so far it’s been, like, you know, everyone’s burning records, no one’s really buying records anymore so it’s kind of a tough business right now. But they’re doing good for us, you know, I mean, it’s all about the music. They’re listening to this record and they like it a lot more, because it’s more melodic and stuff, so we’ll see, I mean, if they can push it to where, you know, we want to be then great.

So, what do you think about downloading music off the internet?

What do I think about it? You know what? I’ll download music if I have to, you know. I don’t really care, you know. I mean, music is music. Really, it’s a touchy subject for me. I could sit here for hours contending against myself, you know. I’m a sort of split personality, split views when it comes to that.

‘Simple Lies’ hits airwaves July 29th. Are you guys pretty excited about that?

We’re excited. Again, it’s like when a song hits the radio you never know will this song make it? Will it not make it? You know, will it happen? Will it not happen? It’s like, you never know. It’s a weird world we live in. So, hopefully it does well. I’m excited for it to go on the radio, though.

Are you making a video for ‘Simple Lies’ right now or have you?

We will be soon. But, we haven’t made it yet. Hopefully, soon.

You all come from very diverse backgrounds, how do you think that’s become apparent in your music?

Apparent? It’s just like, I listen to different styles, everything from, like, The Cure to, like, you know, classical music, you know. The other guys listen to a lot of different styles of music so we’re all very diverse. So, we seem to bring it all together and it works, the chemistry works.

Where does your respect for artistic value in music come from?

Where does it come from? It comes from intuition. It comes from my soul. It comes from my heart. It comes from God. GOD!

You all agree that your message is a positive one. Why the positive attitude when the majority of the genre focuses on hate and pain?

Well, through hate and pain comes love, I think. So, everything that we go through in life obviously from our down points, from our lowest points to our highest points it’s just, like, you just have to know as a human that these things shall pass. You know? And we’ll all get through them somehow, someway, so at the end it’s all positive. So, through pain comes a great record.

Good answer.

Thanks.

When did you know that Endo was something special?

When did I know…

When did you know that you were cut out for something more than just a small band. When did you know they would be able to do this?

I wasn’t conscious of it. I just did what I did and people came along and they were like, ‘Wow. You guys are great.’ I probably unconsciously saw it, you know, but I never knew it would get to this point and hopefully it will just grow.

You are a very promising rock band. What do you see for yourselves in the future?

I see DRUGS AND ALCOHOL! [Laughing] No, I see, just, huge things like, you know what I want to do? My dream would be, like, to win some sort of recognition, like some sort of award, you know, and just thank my parents up on the podium. That would be, probably, the best thing for me. Yeah.

Can you tell us something about Endo we don’t already know? Any pre-show rituals or anything?

Yeah. I go through this really meditative state. I do a little yoga before I go on. I just try to look within a little and try to get myself really psyched. Breathe, which is very important. DON’T FORGET TO BREATHE! Honestly, some people don’t realize it but they don’t breathe normally, you know? And, the practice of yoga teaches you how to breathe normally. And the reason people have so many anxiety and panic attacks and certain things happening to them: stress is because they are not breathing right, you know? So, what was the question again? [Laughing] Sorry, I went off on a tangent.

Can you tell us something about Endo we don’t know?

Oh, alright. Rituals, little meditation, a little yoga before stage, a lot of love and just go out there and explode.

Well, I think that’s all of it for us. You guys did great.

Thank you! That was a great interview!

Thank you, Gil.

Interview By: Gabby and Nicole