(Interview with Jordan Mancino, As I Lay Dying’s drummer, in the most beautiful Sounds Of The Underground backstage: Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheatre ‘provençal garden’.)

Loudside.com: Hi, would you like to start by presenting yourself as well as the band?

Jordan: Yeah, my name is Jordan Mancino. I play drums for As I Lay Dying.

Loudside.com: As I Lay Dying is one of the headliners of this tour, how do you feel about it?

Jordan: It’s an honour for us. There’s a lot of amazing bands, and a lot of bands we grew up listening to, you know what I mean. They’re on this tour, and we never toured with before. For us, it’s an amazing honour to headline this tour, we feel… I don’t know. It’s scary too, you know what I mean, very scary!

Loudside.com: You’ve become some kind of a reference nowadays. You started as a more hardcore band, and then you got metalcore, and now it seems you’re moving more and more into metal. How do you feel about this change?

Jordan: I think for us, we’ve always been like a metal band, definitely with hardcore influence. But I mean for us, the hardcore influence is not necessarily like what the music is, but more like the mindset behind it, like a hardcore attitude. Standing up for what you believe in, doing something because of passion, not like because you want to make money. Being successful, it’s not about that. It’s about doing something that’s meaningful to you and to other people. I think that’s the hardcore part that we honour, you know. Our music is always going to evolve, maybe it’s going to change indifferent ways. But I think the hardcore part, like the influence, is just the mentality, the respect we have for other bands, the passion that we have behind our music.

Loudside.com: Do you mean metal bands don’t have this respect?

Jordan: No, I mean you know, on this tour everybody is awesome. Everybody has this mutual respect for each other. We’re all on this together, we’re all helping each other. For instance, earlier today, our bus broke down and In Flames came to pick us up, you know what I mean. Like, this is just the kind of the mentality on this tour, we’re all helping each other, everybody is in this together. We’re kind of like, bring metal to the masses, we’re helping each other out. Everybody’s like that, the same respect and mindset.

Loudside.com: How’s life on the tour?

Jordan: It’s awesome, it’s really good. It’s been very busy, but it’s been great. The show has been amazing, and the crowds were just like… unreal, the responses were great. All the bands are amazing, It’s been all fun.

Loudside.com: The audience is getting younger and younger every year, not only for metal, but also for hardcore and even for rock styles. How do you feel about this trend? What’s your response?

Jordan: I think it’s great because it’s like, for us, you know, we have a very young fan base. I think it’s from 16 to 20, or 21. It’s a pretty young fan base. For us it’s like an amazing opportunity to share with people, help people to grow. At that age, everybody is still growing, I think it’s a great opportunity to be a positive influence on these kids you know.

Loudside.com: How about you’re last album? How was the recording? How was the writing process?

Jordan: It was good, it was really quick you know. We wanted to record an album, we pretty much rolled the thing in two months, put it in and sent it out you know! It went by really quick. It was good, it was fine. We just got in there, and tried to do what we had to do, you know.

Loudside.com: Was it like some unused stock from the preceding album, that you used in that one?

Jordan: Yeah, yeah. You know there is an old song that we recorded a long time ago. I guess he old recording didn’t give the song justice, we found, you know, so we wanted to rerecord it and put it on this album. And along with that, we actually just released… re-released our old songs, because we wanted people to see the new recording and the old recording, so you can tell the difference. This is why spent time recording that.

Loudside.com: I read that you were having some hard time at the beginning with the drumming as it was getting more speed, metal stuff. How did you cope with that?

Jordan: Just practice… (laughs)

Loudside.com: Ok. How do you feel about your future? The future of As I Lay Dying, the forthcoming album?

Jordan: We just want to continue what we’re doing. We’re still doing what we love, that’s the most important thing for us. It’s not like we’re still selling our records, playing shows. For us, it’s just that we love playing music.

Loudside.com: Nowadays, the melodic metal and hardcore blend is overused. Many bands are like, just useless because it’s something you’ve already heard before. Are you afraid of that? This mass of bands that may suck you into it?

Jordan: Yeah. I don’t know. We can say we just want to do…

Loudside.com: You just try…

Jordan: Yeah.

Loudside.com: Do you make a living out of this band or do you have another job?

Jordan: Oh, no, we do this full-time.

Loudside.com: So, is it good? Is it enough?

Jordan: Yeah, definitely. It keeps us really busy, I’ve never been busier in my life. A lot of touring, and even when we’re at home, we’re still doing stuff like interviews… We’re still like it keeps us very busy.

Loudside.com: You guys live together  …

Jordan: Oh no! We all live separately!

Loudside.com: …on tour.

Jordan: Oh, right.

Loudside.com: So are there some moments of tension?

Jordan: Yeah, definitely. I mean, if you put five people in any confined area for 24 hours a day during a month, you’re gonna have, like, disagreements or whatever. But we’re all very honest to each other, we’re having really good communication.

Loudside.com: You’re open.

Jordan: Yeah, it’s like we love this band, we want to continue to do this, we want to keep everybody involved and we always work out our differences.

Loudside.com: What do you think are your influences for drumming?

Jordan: I guess, for me, my favourite drummer is Vinnie Paul. I love Vinnie Paul, he’s a very very big influence on me. Yeah, I’m just thinking for me, anything I listen to influences me. I like taking any idea that I hear, using it somehow I guess.

Loudside.com: No pop music?

Jordan: No! I mean, not necessarily! But, if you look at my Ipod, you would find like an array of styles of music you know. I love a lot of things.

Loudside.com: So you’re not exclusively metal?

Jordan: No. I would say metal I the main, it’s my passion, but I love all styles of music.

Loudside.com: What are the influences for the rest of the band?

Jordan: Ah, it’s different! It’s really different. I always see metal influence.

Loudside.com: Surely the Swedish melodic death metal…

Jordan: Yeah, definitely. Even, a big influence for us would be a band like In Flames. We’ve been for a long time heavily influenced by that band, and it’s like, for us, it’s an honour to be on tour with them. Definitely influence like At The Gates…

Loudside.com: Has there been any personal evolution as a being, you know, for being in that band for so long? How do you feel it has influenced your own being?

Jordan: I’ve learned so much. When I started this band, I felt like, joining has been like really good, like playing music everyday. But also like you said, growing as a human being, learning like about other people and about myself. The greatest thing I learned on tour is patience, you know. I think that’s something everybody can take with them, for any career. Patience is so… like people are different, are raised differently, have different have different views on life. I think the best thing to do in any environment, have patience with people. I say I still struggle, obviously sometimes you don’t want to be patient. But something very important that I learned is patience.

Loudside.com: How do you like it on the stage? You’re the drummer, and the drummer is the one person that you don’t usually see that much on stage. You’re behind… How is stage for you?

Jordan: It’s great you know, and I think for me, my approach to drumming is much like straightforward, more like an upfront approach to drumming. I like to be very energetic as opposed to like most drummers are just playing their part. For me, I like to be very like, I guess…

Loudside.com: Headbanging?

Jordan: Yeah, exactly. I think a lot of people like, I like to enjoy watching drummers like flip their sticks or whatever, you know, like more theatrical. I love, while playing my parts tight and right or whatever, I like to have a more theatrical feeling. Give the crowd a show!

Loudside.com: Is there any interaction with the band on stage? Because, when I watch a concert, I feel that the drummer is really apart. Do you feel the link or do you feel really apart from the rest of the band?

Jordan: Most of the time, my hair is going around, I can’t see anything, so I’m really almost in my own world. I mean, obviously I’m hearing what they’re doing. Being the drummer, they follow me in a way, you know what I mean so I have to be almost in my own to concentrate so much on my own playing that it doesn’t affect their playing because if I’m off, they’re gonna be off, so I’ve go to stay on constantly. For me, I like to stay in my own world, feed on the crowd, the energy of the crowd and also concentrate.

Loudside.com: You’re on Metal Blade Records, how is it going with them?

Jordan: It’s going good, very good. They’re a very legendary label, a lot of amazing bands have come out of this label. It’s been a real pleasure for us to be with them. They’re all like honest passionate people, they love what they do, they love music and they give us the freedom to do what we want to do. I guess it’s great. They’re not trying to change us.

Loudside.com: So you don’t feel any pressure?

Jordan: Yeah, no pressure, we have the same ideas, where we want this band to be and how we want this band to be, so it’s been really good. No complaints.

Loudside.com: Is it better than the one before? You’re a rather young band, three albums two record companies. How do you feel about changing?

Jordan: Our first label was Pluto. It’s a smaller label, it was great for us at the time up to a certain point. Then we felt like it was the next step. Metal Blade has taken us to where we are today, it’s been great for us.

Loudside.com: During the recording process, did the producer influence you, bring new ideas, or are like, on your own?

Jordan: We self-produced it. Tim, our singer, is constantly in the studio, the engineer helps a lot, we haven’t really worked with an outside producer yet. For the next album, we’re going to. We haven’t figured out who yet, but we definitely want to. It’s something we always have done ourselves so working with an outsider is something that’s hard for us to do I guess but… for this record I think we’re going to try something new.

Loudside.com: Is there any DVD planned?

Jordan: Yeah, yeah. It’s already in the works, it should be out approximately next year some time. I’m not sure when, definitely sometime in 2007.

Loudside.com: Did you ever try another instrument?

Jordan: Yeah, actually, before I started playing drums, I played trumpet for a while. I played for about four or five years. I love playing you know, I played in jazz bands, concert bands.

Loudside.com: Do you still play drums in other styles?

Jordan: Yeah definitely, I’ve been in rock bands before, I played drums in jazz bands before. But this band keeps me busy, I don’t have much time for anything else. But I like playing a lot of styles of music, but metal is my passion.

Loudside.com: A lot of people make a distinction between the screaming metal and the singing metal. Do you feel it’s like two different styles, one being more accessible than the other? As a drummer, you might have a different view?

Jordan: A think it’s all about the approach. Some bands want to sing more because they want to be more radio accessible. Some bands sing because that’s the way they want the band to be. For us, we’re a screaming band, we have occasional singing but, we do it where we feel like it fits. We’re not trying to put singing so we can get on the radio. For us, we’re a screaming band, and we’ll always be a screaming band. If radios try us to play, radios try us to play, but we’re not tying to get on radio. We do what we want to do.

Loudside.com: But if your songs air on the radio, it’s not a problem for you?

Jordan: Some bands it does well for them, some bands it doesn’t, for us we just do what we want to do, if people like it, they like it. For us, it’s not important. For us, I think the most important thing is like touring, being personally involved with our fans.

Loudside.com: You shot some videos. Videos are really focused on style, attitude. Some people say that they’re for posers. What’s your opinion?

Jordan: It’s kind of similar to radio. Some people watch MTV, some people go to the record store and find music. It’s just another way for people to learn about your music and band. I think that’s it. Videos have representation of the song in some cases but…

Loudside.com: It’s just promotion…

Jordan: Yeah, it’s just a way to get people to see your band, to hear your band, you know. It’s the main reason.

Loudside.com: To reach more people?

Jordan: Yeah.

Loudside.com: How’s your interaction with fans? You’re getting more famous some obviously it’s not as easy to talk to people like normal people.

Jordan: Obviously we understand the way that is. For us, because that music means so much for us, we want to make sure that our fans do understand that there’s more to it than just the music. For us, we just want them to know how much we appreciate them.

Loudside.com: Great. Do you have anything to add?

Jordan: Yeah, just we like to thank everybody who has supported us, our fans. We obviously have some special connection with people. We are so passionate about what we do, I think they can feel that same passion about what they listen to. I just want to thank everybody for supporting us. I really appreciate that. We wouldn’t be here without them.

Loudside.com: Ok, thank you very much.

Jordan: Thank you, it was a pleasure.