Cellador play heavy fucking power metal that takes no prisoners. The musicianship is top notch all across the board, and vocalist Mike Gremio has a great high pitched sing. This interview went down during their tour with Trivium, on October 7, 2006 at The Palladium in Worcester, MA, after completely tearing up the stage.

1. State your names and something interesting about yourselves.
V: We're Cellador. My name is Val and I play bass. We've got a lot of variety of people in the band. For example, I'm from Russia.
M: My name is Mike, and I'm the singer. My heritage would be English, Cuban and Irish.
D: I'm Dave, the drummer. I'm 17 and I've been playing drums since I was 4.

PL: Do you think casual listeners put much stock into the ages of band members?
V: I think, for casual listeners, if there's something extreme about the age, I think it'll be more of a novelty kind of thing, but if everyone is the average 24 or 25 in the band, than it doesn't play into effect as much.
M: I guess that pretty much covers it.

PL: How do you feel about being the opening band on a tour of this magnitude?
M: Actually, its pretty awesome. Not too long ago, we were playing shows to way less people, and after that we've been jumping pretty quick here. Its awesome going from nothing to something big pretty quick.
V: Some of us probably didn't know what to expect being the very first band and something thats really different.
M: Any theories we could have possibly had that were negative have been disproved at this point.

PL: Why do you think metal has had a surge in popularity in the past few years?
V: People are tired of the bullshit, I think. Bands are trying to have more fun with their music than go back to the gloomy stuff. People just want to go out there and have some fun, and what better way to have fun than to play some heavy fucking metal.
M: Mainstream acceptance between mainstream and the media and the public is something that steps in and out over time. You have hair metal and early metal, grunge metal with Alice in Chains, but overall, its eternal; the rise and fall is going to keep happening.
D: Everyone is gonna run out of ideas. Metal has a lot of varieties. People are finally starting to appreciate metal for what it really is.
V: I think there's so many people out there doing this and the way the internet has been involved. Basically, the musicians, because there's so much competition out there, they really have to start pushing the envelope. Shit is getting faster, more extreme and more technical, and more melodic even. Everything is just really getting more thick. Extreme music is on the rise.

PL: Does it seem like musicians are better now than they were ten years ago?
M: Technical wise, yes. Throughout the course of time, good songwriters, given to whatever the had to work with and whatever ideas were available, they've been able to stand the test of time, but the technicality has definitely taken a jump up lately. People are playing at speeds and doing shit on drums and guitar that were never even there ten years ago.
PL:: And they seem to be doing it at a younger age.
M: Yeah, very young. Everyone is just getting more competitive.
V: You've always had the guys like Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen and all the greats: the Jeff Becks and even if you go back to the Richard Blackmore's; all those guys have been around, bit I think these days, kids are more apt to want to progress themselves more. They want to push themselves and they want to show off their skills. Now, people want to push the envelope more with what they're playing.
D: Actually, I have to disagree with them, especially when it comes to drums and rhythms. They've been around for a long time. I grew up around drums and older stuff because my dad always played blues. He'd play heavy rock and he'd play a little comedy set. I know those drummers: they've all created techniques. People make them their own little techniques, but everybody has their own style. It depends on what you like. If you like blues, there's technical blues people. I wouldn't say there's a lot of technical blues people now, but the people who originated the techniques are usually better at it, I think.

PL: What are some of the things you do to battle fatigue while on tour?
V: We try to take care of ourselves. We all try to make the effort to stay away from stuff like pop and everything and taking vitimins and getting in shape before we go on tour. We always try and get a good's night rest.
M: And a good old Red Bull.
V: Yeah, a good old Red Bull will kick you in the ass.

PL: If you could wipe one band off the face of the Earth, who would it be and why?
M: I'm gonna have to go with Dashboard Confessional, and I don't think I have to give a reason why.
D: I'd have to say Panic at the Disco!. What the fuck are people thinking.
PL: I would go them over Dashboard.
M: I guess its more of an up and rising problem.
D: Its getting even worse.
V: I don't know. You're talking shit about bands that, especially for me, would kind of be in my own genre, I would have to go with Godsmack, because you can't make one song with one chord, and its the same song over and over and over again, and they're playing to 40,000 people. Pretty much, its repititive bands I can't stand.

PL: Whats a little known fact about Nebraska
M: There's a lot of little known facts about Nebraska.
V: Home of Arbor Day? I don't know. There's really not that much unique about it. We've got the College World Series, and thats pretty much it.
D: I'm pretty sure, Cliffwood Country, which is where we live, has the highest STD per capita. I think it might be herpes.

PL: Name one album, besides your own, you think all kids should have in their collection.
B: Soilwork Natural Born Chaos.
M: I'm gonna think about this for a second.
V: I couldn't boil it down to one. For me, it would probably be Appetite for Destruction, just because, even if that came out today, it would still sell the same 15 million copies. There is nothing about that album that isn't worth it for me. I could listen to it over and over and over again and never get bored with it.
M: Skid Row's self titled.

PL: End with a joke.
V: Oh no. I can't think of any jokes.
M: What about the iHOP joke?
V: Whats the iHOP joke?
M: Spell it out loud, and then add ness.
PL: I-H O P NESS.
M: We were there the other night and somebody told us that joke. We were pretty fucked up, so we all laughed.

PL: Is there anything else you want to say?
V: Our CD, Enter Deception is out right now, so pick it up at your local record store or buy it on the internet. Then come out to the shows and we'll kick your ass.
D: That covers all the bases right there.
M: Even if you come just to boo us.

Interview by: RF

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