San Diego’s finest, As I Lay Dying, are currently touring with Rockstar’s Taste of Chaos tour, promoting their new album Oceans Between Us, and are enjoying high popularity over here in the UK. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with them before they played Carling Academy, Birmingham.

Rock3: You’ve been given the honour of San Diego’s ‘band of the year’ for the last three years running. Has that made much difference for you as a band?
AILD: I think our type of music isn’t normally popular so it’s cool to know that people know and respect us and enjoy hearing our music.

Rock3: The lyrics in your music are quite inspirational and optimistic.

AILD: Yeah, Tim writes the lyrics and they definitely come from a spiritual standpoint, but are something that people, even if they aren’t Christians, can relate to without being like super evangelical. I think it’s better to be that way than to be ramming a message down your throat which would turn people off.

Rock3: Do you put the arrangements of your songs together as a band?

AILD: Yeah, someone will write a riff and we’ll go like, ‘let’s do something like this’ and they come together, with the lyrics added at the end.

Rock3: What about the artwork on your albums and merchandise? It’s awesome. Do you have much control over it?

AILD: James Banner, Converge’s lead singer is a graphic designer with a real human skull that he owns and so all his designs have like a skull on it. Its sweet artwork though.

Rock3: As a band you are well travelled. Where have you most liked playing?

AILD: We liked Australia where we played with a crazy bunch of bands and got to stay on the beach for a few days and the crowds were good and the scenery really nice. The worst gig was in Eastern Canada somewhere and it was so hot in there people were passing out and our clothes had to be wrung out afterwards we were so hot.

Rock3: Are you enjoying the Taste of Chaos tour?

AILD: Yeah it’s great, we know the bands and have toured with them before, and the crew we know too so it’s like seeing old friends. We share a bus with Story of the Year and we’re like one big happy family

Rock3: What will the band do after the tour has finished?

AILD: We’re going to Japan and Indonesia after the UK and then back to San Diego to shoot a DVD and play lots of small venues. We have another year of touring and festivals to do to promote the record.

Rock3: What’s going on the DVD?

AILD: It’s going to have like biographies and footage from our tours and festivals. Hopefully it will not too painfully long but there’s a lot of history to put on there.

Rock3: What are the band’s future ambitions?

AILD: We understand we could be finished next month or next year because of the industry changing all the time, but we’d like to be doing this as long as we can. We want to stay true to writing the music in the way we like without succumbing to pressure to change. We want to still be on stage when we’re old, like ACDC!

Rock3: Finally, how would you summarise As I Lay Dying in one sentence?

AILD: Handsome, strong and brutal.

Who can argue with that?

©Meriel Flavell 2008