(December 22nd, 2006 at the 418 Project in Santa Cruz, Ca., the last official show of the year for All Shall Perish before taking a break for the Holidays to be with friends and family. I managed to get ahold of Matt, Chris, and Ben Shall Perish and touring fill in guitarist Ian Webb for a round of Q & A's. Here's what they had to say about headlining, touring, and videos featuring cocaine on a whore's ass....)

Loudside.com: Ok, so getting right to it, you guys have pretty much been on tour non stop since the album dropped, and the albums sales are at about 10,000 now which is pretty good for an extreme band. Has that also carried over into the live shows, where you're noticing more and more people coming out to the shows?

Matt: Yeah, definitely. We just did about a month of headlining, and they were definitely the biggest headlining shows we've done outside of California. It was like a little over a month of headlining, and the shows all had really good turn outs, and we were really surprised.

Ben: The shows we did with Throwdown, and shows we did with Suicide Silence, all of them were packed. Good reaction too!

Matt: Chain Reaction! (laughs)

Loudside.com: Yeah, I was just about to mention the recent tour with Throwdown. I know that next year you guys are hitting the road with Terror. But for this show specifically, was this something that was put together by you guys?

Matt: No, this was put together by this dude Arthur, who I guess books around this area contacted us and just asked us if we wanted to play. This was even before we had booked the tour with Throwdown, and we were like 'Sure' ya know. It's a local show.

Ben: We've never really played that much out here.

Matt: We've never played Santa Cruz. Ever. They don't like us here. (Laughs)

Loudside.com: And this is definitely the last show of the year for you guys right?

Matt: Yeah, this is the last show. We've all been on tour for so long, we wanna be home for the holidays.

Loudside.com: On the subject of tours, are there any Summer Festivals that you are hoping to be a part of like Ozzfest or Sounds of the Underground?

Matt: All our people are pushing us on the big festivals, but uhhh, we're not gonna get our hopes too high. We'll see how it goes though.

Ben: I just wanna tour with GWAR, so it would definitely be Sounds of the Underground over Ozzfest.

Matt: Yeah, we're shooting for 'Sounds'. Are they for sure on it this year?

Ben: They're on it every year.

Matt: There's only been two of them.

Ben: Well that's all of them. (laughing)

Loudside.com: Ok, you guys have gone through a line up change with Caysen and Craig leaving and Chris and Eddie stepping in. Did Chris and Eddie have 100% involvement in the writing of the new album?

Matt: Yeah, 100%. We were all there, and like we had maybe a few riffs. But they brought just as much to the table. Everything was completely even on the writing. And Chris put some sweet solos on the record.

Ben: And Eddie....his voice is obviously crazy, so he was a perfect fit.

Matt: Yeah, definitely....we went right in, no problem.

Loudside.com: Now Ben, you're also leaving the band to pursue something else, correct?

Ben: No, no. Contrary to popular belief, I just have Ian filling in for some tours this year, because I just had a child. Greyson Orum, my 5 month old son at home right now.

Matt: So here's our replacement, Ian. No, he's just gonna do some tours with us, and hopefully Ben will be back with us soon.

Ben: I'll be doing the European tour though, with Bleeding Through and Caliban.

Loudside.com: I'm just going by the post that I read not too long ago.

Ben: That's not 100% correct.

Matt: See that post that you wrote confused everybody.

Ben: (Laughing) Well, sometimes I need to post thing really quickly and I don't spell check.

Loudside.com: Ok, well I was gonna ask about your involvement in handling the merch for the band, and if you were still gonna be involved with that.

Ben: Yes, of course. We print all our own stuff, so it's all sweat and blood in every piece of clothing we create. 

Matt: Yeah, and he forgot the fucking military hats! What kind of a fuckin.....you idiot.

Ben: What were you doing all day? NOTHING!

Matt: SHUT UP! (laughing) FUCK YOU!

Ben: I can't think of everything.

Matt: Yeah, like lunch. When I asked you if you had all the merch together you were like "OH MY GOD!!" (laughing) I didn't even see them! I just wanna see it. You know how many hardcore kids are out there? We would have made a killing! (laughing) Alright, next question...

Loudside.com: (Laughing) Ok, on the song "Wage Slaves", you kick it off with some cowbell and a total "Cowboys From Hell" scream. Was that an ode to Pantera?

Matt: Definitely 100% Pantera!

Ben: Well, the cowbell actually came out of nowhere. That was studio magic there.

Matt: Cowbell? Keigel? Ok, how about Cowboys, Cowbell......COWBELL FROM HELL! (Laughing)

Ben: Man we gotta go like Saturday Night Live or something.

Matt: We do man, let's do it.....COW FROM THE BELLS! (laughs more)

Loudside.com: Ok, Stylistically speaking, you guys have ALOT going on with the new album and the sound overall. Whereall do you guys pull your influences from?

Matt: Every Weird Al record, Harry Belafonte, Michael Jackson, and ummm...Rusty Cooley. (laughing)

Ben: And fuckin Thug Ass Three Six Mafia! (laughing)

Matt: No seriously though Opeth, GWAR, Dissection, Dimmu, Carcass, Pantera.

Ian: Underoath, Every Time I Die (laughing)

Ben: Everything on Relapse, Nuclear Blast, and....

Matt: From Autumn To Ashes, and Mars Volta!!

Ben: Yeah, Mars Volta for sure.

Matt: Oh, and Justin Timberlake's new cd. (laughing....as he breaks into his own parody of a song) It's so good, we dig it.

Loudside.com: Well that pretty much covers my next question, because I was going to ask if you had any unexpected or odd influences on the new album.

(laughs all around)

Ian: Very much alot of Dio and Tenacious D. Tenacious D is definitely high up there. (laughing)

Loudside.com: Ok, so videos. You currently have the video out for "Eradication".

Matt: We do? (laughs....) It's 'On Demand!'

Ben: Yeah, it's available on 'On Demand'.

Loudside.com: And the video is apparently pretty graphic, correct?

Matt: Well, it was graphic, but not as graphic as the Bleeding Through video that looks just like it. (laughing) For the record, we recorded ours first.

Ben: But theirs is more brutal.

Matt: Yeah, they can get away with more shit. Because it's like sub politics. Like the bigger you are the more you can get away with. I mean, all videos have to be approved before they air, but they're more lenient with bands that are bigger.

Ben: It's like if you sell ten thousand, they're like 'Hell yeah you can have some booty in the video'. (laughing)

Matt: Yeah, they're like 'More boobs!'

Ben: You sell  even more and they're like 'Sure, throw some coke on that whore's ass!'

(Laughs all around)

Loudside.com: So are there any plans for another video, and if so, are any songs being considered specifically?

Matt: It would be between "Wage Slaves" and "....Dead Planet". But I don't know which one. Probably "Wage Slaves".

Chris: We don't have enough money to pay Matt's mom to be in the video....(laughing)

Matt: Ha, Ha, Ha.....she's gay too, and she's a jew. (laughing)

Chris: She said we would have to film it....(laughing)

Matt: Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah....inside the fucking temple. (laughing)

Loudside.com: In regards to the graphic nature of the video, were the ideas for that based solely on the lyrical content, or were there ideas taken from elsewhere?

Ben: We plagiarized the whole thing.

Matt: I don't know. That one's like a weird song that's not very specific in the lyrical content. So like, it was kinda from lyrics, and from whatever Eddie was thinking at the time. Cause Eddie happened to write that one.

Chris: Did you ever see the X rated version?

Matt: The only difference is that is has a syringe in it, cause you can't show a syringe on MTV.

Ben: Unless you sell a hundred thousand records, then you can put a syringe on a whore's ass. (laughing)

Chris: And the X rated one has a big black dildo in it! Double Dong!! Like two chicks get it, and get on it, and they meet at the lips. (laughing)

Loudside.com: (laughing) Ok, what is the one band that is currently active would you guys want to tour with more than any other?

Matt and Ben (simultaneously): GWAR

Ben: Not only would I wanna tour with them, but I'd wanna be like involved in their set. Even if they like shaved my head, or shit on me or pissed on me or something. (laughing)

Matt: What if you had to be the guy in the G-string, one of the slaves?

Ben: No dude, no g-string.

Matt: Oh c'mon! For GWAR???

Ben: Alright, G STRING ALL THE WAY BABY!!!! (LAUGHING)

(Laughs all around)

Matt: (imitating Oderus Urungus) 'Another Slave? Sure!'

Loudside.com: Ok, Matt who aer your biggest influences in regards to drumming?

Matt: John from Origin, Kevin from Dying Fetus, Pete from Morbid Angel, and Flo from Cryptopsy. Yeah, that's all the people that really made me wanna play.

Loudside.com: Ben?

Ben: My first influences that got me into guitar were Kurt Cobain, Billy Joe from Green Day, Max Cavalera from Sepultura, and Dimebag from Pantera.

Loudside.com: Chris?

Matt: Storey.....talk about how you used to like Reel Big Fish and fuckin....Blink 182. (laughing) Who were your influences?

Chris: Like 'Haunting The Chapel?' (Imitiating the scream from the intro to 'Reign In Blood').

Matt: It was that guy from 'Murderfest' that was doing the sweeps, and you were like "Oh my god, look at this guy!" And then all of a sudden you went on a guitar crusade.

(laughs all around)

Matt: No seriously though, who influenced you. And don't mention the name Rusty Cooley.

Chris: Well that's why I do it now. (laughs)

Matt: Ok, before Rusty Cooley.

Chris: I didn't have a whole lot to do. So I usually played guitar.

Matt: No, but who made you want to play?

Chris: Some dude that was banging my sister.

(laughs all around)

Chris: He played guitar, and he could play like a motherfucker dude. He was fucking my sister, and he gave me this guitar. He sold it to me for a hundred bucks, and taught me Nirvana songs and shit, and I learned how to play Green Day.

Matt: You forgot to mention some horrible tragedy that was involved.

Chris: I used to wonder if I would ever be able to play a Tool song....

Matt: And now you just are a tool. (laughs) Alright, alright...next question...

Loudside.com: One last question specifically for Ian...How exactly did you get the gig as the fill in for the tour?

Ian: Well, I seen the posting online. It just so happened that they're my favorite band. So I made a video of myself, and posted it on YouTube, contacted the band and sent them the link. They got in touch with me, and basically here I am. Sometimes things just work out like that I guess......