This interview with Brian Eschbach of The Black Dahlia Murder took place in Worcester on September 24, 2005. He wanted to do the interview in the balcony of the club so he could get a drink, but I thought that it might be too loud with the music, so I suggested the bar across the street, which led to car bombs and an empty room with Fox News blaring about Hurricane Rita. He was a real cool guy who has an undenial passion about music and a genuine concern for other bands. Check out Miasma on Metal Blade if you haven't already.

PL: State your name and an interesting fact about yourself.

BE: I'm Brian Eschbach from The Black Dahlia Murder. Well probably one of the most interesting facts-well, I wouldn't say that its all that interesting, but I spend a lot of time at home eating cereal.

PL: How does a headlining tour compare with being a supporting band?

BE: There's a little less pressure. When you're in a band, there's bands out there that, when you're on a tour, you don't start out headlining. You're supporting and opening and shit like that. A lot of tours you have to make sure that you're pleasing the headliners. You have to make sure that you're on time with your set and all that bullshit. To be the headliner, we make sure that everyone on the tour-like, if there's a buyout for dinner, where they give you cash instead of feeding you-we want to make sure that everyone's getting at least ten bucks. Other headliners don't do that. They'll take a catering budget and say, "We want this, this and this," and they don't necessarily care whats left over to take care of the other bands. For us, yeah we're headlining, but we recognize that every other band on this tour-Between the Buried and Me, Cephalic Carnage and Into the Moat-are all amazing bands and we're all contributing to the bill. Its important for us to make sure that everyone's super happy. We've been there and we're gonna be there again, you know? This just happened to be a tour where we're the ones that are headlining, but there will be lots of other instances where we're gonna be supporting people. For us, its just thinking "how do we want to be treated as a supporting band?" To be able to headline and having a say in a lot of things is really cool.

PL: Do you think getting signed to a large, reputable label, automatically garners interest in a band? People may not have heard of a band, they get signed to a big label, and all of a sudden people want to check them out.

BE: For some people, its like that. For some people-especially something that comes to mind is people I refer to as "Relapse Kids." A band gets signed to Relapse, which is a respectable and renowned metal label, and at the same time, they always go for bands that have something really unique about them. So, for that, I can instantly see that someone would want to hear a band that recently got signed to Relapse Records. I'm sure its like that with other labels, but I don't think that the label you get signed to makes or breaks the band. It depends on what you're willing to do as a band; if you're willing to work hard and make the right decisions about where you work and when you work.

PL: Is writing a follow up to a successful record more stressful than writing the initial successful record?

BE: It wasn't necessarily more stressful. When you're in a band, every minute that you spend playing together is more experience, and that effects everything you do. /for us, we're always learning and observing whats going on around us. I'd never expect to put out the same album twice, so its kind of weird to have that first album out there and know that something about the sound has changed. But, to the band, its usually just the refining of the sound, but its weird to think that there are people that are gonna want to hear you do the exact same thing, and you're gonna be disappointed no matter what. Its weird to think about that. To answer your question, it wasn't super stressful.

PL: Will the high cost of gas raise your guarantee, which in turn will raise ticket prices?

BE: I don't think so. Whats going on right now with gas prices and the fluxuation of it doesn't necessarily have to do with a consistent market. Its just disasters and shit thats happening to this country right now because of the hurricane season, and thats something thats just happening right now. To be perfectly honest with you, we're making more money on this tour than we've ever made on a tour before, so we're really not worried about having to spend a few extra bucks on gas. We love playing, and to think that we could go out there and people would give us a certain guarantee is cool. Its not like they're paying for us and our egos or something, and its not like we feel that we're necessarily worth a certain amount. We try to keep it based more on the kinds of kids we're bringing to the shows, but its definitely not gonna have a long term effect and its not gauged in the guarantee.

PL: Whats one movie everyone should see?

BE: "True Romance." Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino. The name of the director escapes me (Tony Scott). Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette star in it. The whole class is fucking bad ass: Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken together. Its a great movie.

PL: If you sold your soul to Satan, what would you ask for in return?

BE: To be able to do this for like 30 more years. That'd be bitchin.

PL: Name one album, besides your own, that you feel all kids should have in their collection.

BE: I'm gonna give you the left field answer. Made in Japan, the live Deep Purple album. Its one of many live Deep Purple records, but this one stands out specifically. Its the one album that has done what I call magical things to me. Its just fucking five amazing musicians playing on stage, and its the perfect capturing of what they are capable of as a band. To me, thats-what more do you want from a CD? You want good tunes and you want to hear specific people doing all they can together. Thats one album for me that I've always felt that way about.

PL: Do you have any final comments?

BE: It would have been way quieter in the balcony. Seriously, I hope that the trend of chicks tucking their pants into boots is over, because it sucks. Its not attractive and its not flattering for you or the boot-maker. Stop. I'm not into that. I'd rather see a chick wearing a skirt.

Interview by: RF

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