{"id":9846,"date":"2022-05-13T09:12:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T14:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.modernfix.com.php72-4.lan3-1.websitetestlink.com\/uncategorized\/feature-21\/"},"modified":"2022-05-13T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T14:12:14","slug":"feature-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernfix.com\/interviews-2\/feature-21\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Diecast"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This interview originally appeared in Modern Fix issue #16 – 2005)<\/em><\/p>\n

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\n– interview by bushman<\/b><\/p>\n

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\nMetal, hardcore. Metalcore. Boston has been a breeding ground for progressive heaviness before the words were even tacked onto the genre specializing in brutal guitars and even more brutal outlooks towards loyalty, life, and music. Previous early hardcore bands of note from the region seemed to trade musical proficiency for a mentality of focused aggression… meaning what they lacked in skill, they made up for in attitude. But over the last few years, the kids that were weaned on the speed and thrash of 80’s metal started to appreciate the depth and commitment of the hardcore scene. Diecast is a shining example of this environment. A beacon of American metal that still follows the path of loud fast rules. New school with enough hardcore edge that the kids can hang with it, and embracing enough of the 80’s thrash to cramp any Slayer fan’s fist into a devil sign for hours. The general sound the band embraces seems most at home on the East Coast where punk and metal have always taken the less commercial, more streetwise path to creation. <\/b><\/p>\n

And even though the lyrical force behind this band actually came from the rural woods of Connecticut, it was in Boston that Colin Schleifer found a voice in Diecast. <\/b>
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Describe the Boston Hardcore scene.<\/b>
\nColin: Boston has a pretty good scene. A lot of good bands have come out of Boston. It goes through phases though. Sometimes, it will be on a upswing where there will be a lot clubs that are available to have all ages shows at, which is really great because a lot of bands come out the woodwork and get a lot of big shows. And then there will be downswings, like where we are at right now, where there are not many clubs to play at and a lot of all ages clubs are shutting their doors to hardcore shows because of dumb fights or people suing the clubs. It’s difficult right now to get a show in Boston. If you can get one, it’s probably going to be an 18+ show.<\/p>\n

How does Diecast represent there?<\/b>
\nWell, Boston is our home so we always draw a pretty good crowd when we play there. Unfortunately, our crowds are a little on the rougher side than most bands.<\/p>\n

Are you one of the bands that lent to the shutting down of some of the clubs due to fights at your shows?<\/b>
\nWe’ve never actually had a…. huge problem….<\/p>\n

I hear a ‘small problem’ in there?<\/b>
\nI mean, we’ve had fights at our shows. When we start playing, we probably have one of the roughest pits in Boston, so stuff is bound to happen every once and awhile.<\/p>\n

Why do you think your music can incite that type of behavior?<\/b>
\nIt’s tough for me to answer that because I’m not a listener to our music. I know when I listen to a band like Hatebreed, I get that. It’s just something about the music that is just intense. It makes you start moving around. Especially if you are into the lyrics.<\/p>\n

But there is such a line between ‘moving around’ and beating someone up?<\/b>
\nYeah, yeah. Some people just go a little bit too crazy. Plus I definitely try to get the crowd as riled up as possible. I dont tell people to go fight the guy next to you. But Ive said stuff to get the crowd moving, to get something started.<\/p>\n

Hardcore has become a generic label. Break it down for the un-initiated.<\/b>
\nFor Diecast, what we try to do is take the elements of hardcore and the elements of metal that we all in the band like the best, and try to combine them and make it into our own thing. When I was growing up, I started going to hardcore shows a lot after I started going to metal shows. I was always into metal since I was very young. The difference between a metal show and a hardcore show, hardcore shows have more energy and crowd participation. The audience is as much as part of the show as the band is. When I was younger and the first time seeing that, it really struck a chord in me. It just made the show a lot more fun because everyone was participating. We just try and involve the audience as much as possible. In terms of how hardcore relates to Diecast, its more our attitude about how the show should go and what we think what elements of hardcore translate well with the elements of metal that we put into our music.<\/p>\n

Its been about a year since I last talked to you. What have you learned as a band in that year?<\/b>
\nWe’ve learned a lot about touring. We’ve learned a lot about releasing an album and what goes into properly promoting an album. As opposed to some labels that kind of half-ass it. Now Or Never did a great job (with Day Of Reckoning). This was the first release we really didn’t have it half-assed. Not to say our EP was not promoted well, it’s just that when it came out, it was on a very small label, and it was their first release and everything was really DIY. We were very new to everything. We really didn’t understand what goes into promoting a record. So this time around we had a little more experience, and more experienced people working with us. Especially in terms of like interviewing and radio promotion, because our first CD didn’t have any of that.<\/p>\n

What have you learned as a person?<\/b>
\nI’ve learned that I really love to tour. And I hate the business side part. I wish I could just play music and not have to worry about lawyers and money and stuff like that. But unfortunately, if you are going to do this full time, which is what we would like to do, a lot more aspects come into play as opposed to like a weekend gig.<\/p>\n

So is this a full-time endeavor for you?<\/b>
\nWell, Diecast doesn’t exactly pay all my bills yet, but I don’t have a job, if that’s what you mean. And I’m not the only one in the band that can say that. We’re pretty much all unemployed.<\/p>\n

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What has been the most unexpected part of your experience in this band?<\/b>
\nThere’s been a lot of things. Like I said before, we didn’t know anything about radio promotion, and when “Day Of Reckoning” came out, it hit #1 in the college music charts. At the time, I thought that was great but I really didn’t understand that and had to have it explained to me. And people were telling me that means we got the most requested CD in college radio in the whole country. And that was amazing and very unexpected. Some of the bands we’ve gone on tour with this year has been amazing. We got to tour with Napalm Death for a couple of weeks. I’ve been listening to those guys for like 12 years. And I’m only 24, so I’ve been listening to them since I was like 12. So it was really cool to end up on tour with them, not on like equal footing, but like they became colleagues, as opposed to just this band I’d been listening to forever. We got to open the Alice Cooper tour, and that was cool.<\/p>\n

Did you see the VH1 behind the music on Alice Cooper?<\/b>
\nI did actually see that the other day. That was really cool for me to see that because after this tour, I got to meet him and hang out with him some.<\/p>\n

He’s totally sober now huh?<\/b>
\nAs far as I can see, yeah. The thing about him is, he doesn’t like hanging out with people a lot. We didn’t even meet him really until the end of the tour. He’s got like 40 people on his crew. Three Mac trucks and two tour buses and it gets there at like 6 am to set up. He was really nice when we met him. We were playing one of last shows in Clearwater, FL. The whole tour, we were wondering if we’d meet him. We met his whole crew, his whole band and his daughter even.<\/p>\n

His daughter is on tour?<\/b>
\nHis daughter is in the show actually. She’s like the girl in the background that whips things. She dresses in leather. And in this one part she dresses like Britney Spears and Alice Cooper cuts her head off. It’s pretty funny. But after that show, we were all chilling back stage. And this is like a unique experience for us, because we actually got dressing rooms and food and all sorts of stuff.<\/p>\n

Your rider actually gets filled out. <\/b>
\nIt wasn’t even our rider though, it was like the leftovers from the Alice Cooper rider. Which was so much better than any rider we’ve ever had.<\/p>\n

(A “rider” being a list of demands for food and drink that big rock stars demand to pamper their overindulgent asses. You wish you could be so cool.)<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

So, we’re sitting there in our dressing room, just kinda chilling and stuff, and Alice Cooper just walks in like, “Hey guys, what,s up?”. And he was real cool and signed all our laminates and we got our pictures taken with him. He bought a bunch of our merchandise too. He liked us, so he bought our shirts. Hopefully one of these days, Alice will be on television with his golf hat and a Diecast shirt.<\/p>\n

How did this Alice Cooper crowds react to you guys.<\/b>
\nBelieve it or not, we got really good response. We started the tour on Halloween night in New York at the Roseland Ballroom. I don’t know if you know anything about that club, but it’s huge. Slayer’s played there. Metallica has played there. I think it’s the biggest venue in New York before an Arena. That was our first experience with this huge tour machine thing. It was totally different than any show we had ever played.<\/p>\n

How did that feel walking out on stage right before that first chord is struck?<\/b>
\nI’ll be honest with you, that was the first time I’ve ever been nervous on stage. I’ve never been nervous about one show in Diecast history, ever. Even when we played in front of thousands of people, even our first show, I’ve never been nervous. That was the first time I was ever like, “Man, I wonder if I’m gonna get a bottle thrown at me tonight?!” Because all these people are like 40 and 50 and some of them are bikers and stuff and not really our usual crowd. We came out to a Halloween song, and the crowd went crazy and we were like, “Well, that’s a good sign!” We didn’t get that much time, only like 5 or 6 songs. But it was really great. And we did a special cover for the older audience. We did, “I Wanna Rock” by Twisted Sister. That actually saved us every night. We got good response on our songs, but every time we played that, the crowd would go nuts. Some of the other bands on tour got shit thrown at them and we never did. Not one thing the whole tour. That was amazing.<\/p>\n

What makes you feel “Singled Out”? <\/b>
\nWhen I wrote that song, it’s about me, but it’s also about… in general growing up. Being alienated by a group of people. It’s about holding it in. And eventually if you hold that stuff in, it will destroy you or you’ll explode. It’s about what you feel like when you become unsure of yourself because so many people have ridiculed you for so long, that you are not sure of your value as a person. It’s got some basis in my life, but it’s also… in general because there are a lot of people that have stuff like that.<\/p>\n

“It’s about holding it in. And eventually if you hold that stuff in, it will destroy you or you’ll explode. It’s about what you feel like when you become unsure of yourself because so many people have ridiculed you for so long, that you are not sure of your value as a person.”<\/em><\/h3>\n