ION INDIE MAGAZINE November 2015, Volume 18 | Page 73

Ted: Yes it was extremely clean, and we wanted something a little bit dirtier. Bringing Ryan in the band
was probably the biggest change for us over all. Just his style coming in. He can slap, pop--he can do a lot of
the tapping stuff; kinda LES CLAYPOOLISH. He brings that element to the band and gives it a little more
life. It’s been kind of like slowly adding the ingredients over time…“I don’t know what it’s gonna be, but it
may be really cool.” So here we are…
Jeff: I had been recording with my other band, X YOUR EYES, in WHITEHOUSE STUDIOS with MARTY
CHEYKA, and I gave Ted a sample--and I could see the gears turning.
Ted: We met with Marty a couple of times, I could tell right away Marty knew where we were coming from.
We started tracking some demo stuff--we were really happy with it. We came in and in two days, we
recorded a song.
Jeff: Yeah, I joined the band and the next week we were in the studio.
Ted: So we had Jeff do some lead slide stuff and that was basically it. But once we had Jeff and Ryan in the
band, Nick and I talked and we decided we wanted to scrap the earlier stuff. We wanted everyone in the
band to have a stake. So we started over. We went in and rehearsed for about 2 weeks, and Marty just
listened…really absorbed what we were doing. I think it helped him get a sense of what we were going for.
CW: Let’s back up a bit--tell me a bit about the history of the band members…
Ted: Well, in Minneapolis around ’95, I played in a band called DRUEL. I remember we started and the
biggest goal was to play at SEVENTH STREET ENTRY. We ended up playing a party with the band FLIP.
Eric, the drummer for FLIP was a friend of mine, he came to see us. Eric was blown away! He was like, “Oh
my god--you guys are actually a real band!” He had us play this party, and there were a lot of big local
rockers. RUN WESTY RUN…they were a pretty big band in the area. They liked us and offered us the
opening spot for their annual Thanksgiving show. It was, like, a “big deal”. That was our first show. It was
a show all the bands in the area wanted, and we ended up making a lot of friends. After we played the show,
we never had to book anything, people were calling us. We ended up playing with a lot of bands that became
big--STAIND, SLIPKNOT, and CHEVELLE. All those bands started getting signed. We played VANS WARPED
TOUR in 97’ and put out a record of our own. LIMP BIZKIT really liked it. We were invited to come see them
with PRIMUS at FIRST AVENUE. We talked with the guy that owned FLIP RECORDS--which was an imprint
on INTERSCOPE, the label Limp Bizkit was on. We were dealing with them for a while. We were on the cusp
for about two years--nothing really happened. I got a bit restless and moved around and played in several
bands…came back to M inneapolis, played in a band called ALTAR OF ROCK. We put out a record and after
a while, I just called it quits. I sold my gear except one guitar, got my degree, moved to Wausau for a job. I
really didn’t think I would be playing anymore. Then about 6 months later, I ran into Nick.
CW: How ‘bout you Jeff?
Jeff: Guitar has always been part of my life. My sister had a Sears plastic nylon string guitar that she never
played, and when she was gone, I played it. My first real band was STONE NOWHERE--we did a record.
That was my first recording session experience. Fast forward a couple years to SIX POUND SLEDGE--which
was my first real band that did something. We created quite the phenomena in the area…six guys in the
band, a lot of energy…and it unraveled as fast as it formed. It can be so hard finding chemistry with guys
and have the same goal. Then Six Pound Sledge became LED DEVIL. We played with some big bands: BLACK
LABEL SOCIETY, early MUSHROOMHEAD. We got a lot of buzz, but then again, that chemistry thing--it
unraveled.
Ted: I think the thing to say about Jeff--he really made a name for himself around here. Some people asked
if we were looking for a guitar player. They said you really need to meet Jeff. When I saw him play, I was