ION INDIE MAGAZINE August 2014, Volume 3 | Page 77

Rock Titan: Well with this band right now are you writing new stuff? Carfax Abbey: (Gary Billings) We are. That's one of the first things we did. Like you said, John was on a ten year hiatus. I went on a bit of a hiatus myself, and we all just pretty much came back together. I reached back out to John probably in September 2013, and said, ‘Hey man, why don't we get back in to the rehearsal studio, put on some instruments and see what happens?” Timing was perfect. He was getting out of a gig he was no longer digging, I guess, and we just took it from there. Things have definitely been on fire since then. We just had a great show tonight. There was a lot of passion, heart and enthusiasm, and just something I will say has been lacking for a little while. So, it's nice to have that back. Rock Titan: Now what direction are you going in? Carfax Abbey: (Gary Billings) We are going in whatever direction I guess we feel we want to go. That was one of the things I always loved about Carfax from the beginning. We didn't like to be pigeon-holed. You can call us Industrial. You can call us Goth. You can call us Rock. But, just don't call us late for dinner. We try to go the way we feel our hearts are trying to tell us how to write, and we try to follow that direction and we try to bring it to the stage. Rock Titan: And how do you feel about coming back, John? Carfax Abbey: (John Ruszin) Sore. Rock Titan: What are your plans for this band coming back in to this whole scene again? I mean not to touch on anything, but Gary's been sober for what? 6 years now? Carfax Abbey: (Gary Billings) Since 2008. Yes. Rock Titan: That's great. It's amazing. I knew you back then. Carfax Abbey: (Gary Billings) When I wasn't. Rock Titan: Right. Exactly. So what directions do you want this band to go into? Carfax Abbey: (John Ruszin) Well I did some work and had the pleasure of working with SINGLE BULLET THEORY on their four records. MATT DIFABIO is a real good buddy of mine. We did some really fun things with that. I think one of the things I'd like to see in Carfax is to make it a little bit heavier than the last two records. Let's get back to putting foot to ass like we did in the early days. I never really felt like Carfax's music required a lot of guitar soloing, like I was able to do in Single Bullet Theory. But, I always like bringing a lot of pain on the guitar. I always thought it should really almost be like a rhythmic instrument in Carfax. It's not like they haven't done a good job with that since then, but you know I'm biased. I'm the best. But, no. They've had some amazingly talented people working with them during my hiatus. I loved the new record they had put together, and I was real excited to hear it. It was definitely a little more back to Carfax roots than “It Screams Disease”, which was the album that came out right after I left. So, it's just exciting. I'm really happy to be playing with the guys again. These guys are like family. Like family you argue. You get pissed off and don't talk to one another for a lot of years, and then you see one another and you do a lot of man hugging. But no. It's been great. It's just a real good time, and excited to be doing it again. Rock Titan: Very cool. Very cool. (to David) Now what about your side projects? I think you had BRAINCLAW? Carfax Abbey: (David Giuffre) Brainclaw! Yeah. Well that's obviously taken a bit of a back seat to Carfax right now