Loudside.com had the chance to sit down with Chimaira frontman Mark Hunter during this year's Sounds Of The Underground to get some insight into their latest release, 'Resurrection', amongst other things. Here's what Mark had to say about the album, the tour, and what Chimaira has planned in the not too distant future.....

Loudside.com: How's it going man, how you guys doing?

Mark: Doing really well man. We're in the middle of about....eleven weeks right now,
in a row. It's pretty grueling, cause we went straight from Europe to here for Sounds of the Underground. The tours, both Europe and here have been excellent, but I would be completely dishonest if I didn't say we were ready to go home right now. (laughs)

Loudside.com: And as far as this tour goes, how's it going so far in terms of the crowd response?

Mark: I think we've had an excellent response every night. I think there's only one show that stands out, like it was kind of mediocre maybe. But otherwise, every show has been fantastic. No complaints whatsoever.

Loudside.com: Ok. Now do you prefer being one of the rotating headliners, or does it make a difference at all to you?

Mark: Well I enjoy playing later in the day, I'm not gonna lie. Ya know, like when we did Ozzfest or when we played festivals in Europe where it's early in the day, man, your day just does not end. So I prefer to sleep really late, then get some food and hang out, and then play the show and almost be ready for bed by then. I like that better.

Loudside.com: So you guys don't do any after parties or anything like that?

Mark: Ummm, I like to party before the show. And then like I'm usually so drained from having some drinks and then I'll eat my food right after we play, and it's like a binge and purge thing or something (laughing), then I'm just ready to crash.

Loudside.com: (laughing) Ok. Now the new album, lyrically there's alot of stuff that's on the extreme negative side. Umm, what was it that influenced such extreme negatives?

Mark: Well, life in general. Music usually determines what I'm gonna sing about, ya know. What I feel from it, like as far as emotions and how the instrumental makes me feel. And I went through some pretty tough times and I needed to get alot of demons out. We went through alot of bullshit with the labels, this and that, and didn't wanna be in the band anymore and all that stuff, so I had alot to get out, ya know.

Loudside.com: Well, I'm glad you guys didn't fall apart.

Mark: Yeah me too.

Loudside.com: Now vocally, you guys brought back the clean vocals, which definitely adds another dynamic to the album, whereas on the last album, there weren't really any at all. Was there a specific reason for bringing them back?

Mark: Well I always try to do what I think is best for the song. I mean, with the self titled album, I wasn't really feeling it. Just like on 'Salvation' and 'Lazarus' I felt it, and little bits here and there. But for the most part, I just thought it was more of a musical album, and more or less relied on the riffs and things like that. And I just didn't feel it was necessary. This time when I was working on it, I was working on alot of it at home, and I was just, not really afraid to try different things that I wasn't used to. And also working with Jason Suecof, I'd say something like, 'I have this idea, does it sound stupid?' And he'd either say yes or no. And he made me a little more comfortable to try things that I wouldn't probably normally have done. Because normally in the past, I think that I would try to impersonate I guess, for lack of a better word, my favorite singers. And this time I felt like I really came into my own, and he kind of helped me with that. So instead of doing the thirds and fifth harmonies like Layne Staley would do or something, he would open my mind to trying different things and stuff like that. And it made it a little more natural for me to bring out my own voice, so I appreciated that. And it was all those things combined.

Loudside.com: As far as working with Jason, I know ALOT of bands have recently been bringing him on as a producer, and he's produced alot of phenomenal albums in the short time that he's been doing it. Was there a specific album that made you wanna go with him, or did you know him personally?

Mark: Well, you know, when I first met him, I thought he was the most annoying piece of shit on the planet. I hated him, honestly. Like he would just come into our dressing rooms when we played in Florida, and I'm like 'WHO IS THIS FUCKIN GUY?!' Like I don't have to be nice to him just because he's a cripple or something, do I?? ya know, like who is he. Who's friend is he? No one's, ya know. Get him out of here. And then I had to record the Roadrunner United track with him, and I was like, Oh man this is gonna be a nightmare you know. And I was so prepared when I went in, cause I just wanted to get in, and get the fuck out, you know. Like a half hour vocal session and get the fuck out of there, ya know. But I liked working with him so much, and he made me laugh so much, and I really started to understand his sense of humor, and really kind of became friends with him right there. And I was so pleased with how natural my vocals came out, raw yet powerful. So I was really interested in working with him, and I thought like, maybe he could bring that out of all of us. And as far as the records that he did, I really liked his......he has a project he does called Crotch Duster, and it's so all over the place that I was thoroughly impressed, like man, this guy is just out of his mind, and I think it would be fun to work with someone THAT deranged and see what happens. But I think he does really good work with alot of the other bands that he does, but those bands sound that way because they're those bands, so we can't expect to go in and do anything but what we do, ya know.

Loudside.com: Well I know that he's also a really accomplished guitarist. Does he play anything on the album, any guest solos or anything?

Mark: Well on the  track 'Worthless' he did some death metal vocals. Like at the last
minute I was like Go In. Cause he just kept begging the whole time to do SOMETHING on the record, so I was like 'Go in there' ya know, and just do some death metal backgrounds. But he was kind of funny. With the guitars he doesn't do much. I mean, he's a SICK guitarist, one of the best I've ever seen, but he was pretty much not there when we tracked the guitars. But every now and then he would roll in and be like, 'Rob, change that note'. And Rob would be like 'You haven't even heard the song', ya know. 'You're just telling me to change the note'. And he's like 'Just do it.' And Rob would try it and be like, oh that's kinda cool. And there would be a big argument for probably an hour before that, then he finally would try it, and it would be like, how the fuck do you know that when you just came in here for like a second, ya know. But not too much influence. More on the vocal side, he really shined.

Loudside.com: In relation to that, I noticed the incorporation of what is largely considered to be the 'Deathcore' vocal style, basically just the layered vocals. Was that inspired by where the scene is at right now?

Mark: No, I've always tried to do some low...I think like with 'Impossibility of Reason', I really started doing more like with the Glen Benton gang vocals, where you do the low with the high. And I think I just got better at them, and with alot of touring, I would just throw it in while we were touring. Like alot of times, I'll do alot of shows in a row, and my voice will hurt a little bit, and it's easier for me to do the lower vocals than it is the higher, so just doing that so many times I was like man I'm just gonna throw it in a little bit more. Because it's more comfortable for me to do, it's easier for me to do, and I always liked the sound of it.

Loudside.com: Well yeah, you've got your signature vocal, which is easily recognizable, and you do the low gutteral vocals as well. But it was just really cool to hear the incorporation of both.

Mark: Well yeah, like I said, it's just trial and error, and how I felt. And sometimes Jason would be like....he liked it so much, he kept pushing me to do it, and sometimes I would be like Man that's overkill, I'm doing it too much, I'm not doing it this time. But yeah, he  liked it alot, and he'd be like 'Do that again.', and it's like Alright. And then other times I would be like 'No I'm not doing it again, it's too much.'

Loudside.com: Right now in a live setting, is that a combination of you and Chris, or is that one of the guitarists?

Mark: Chris. On this album, Chris recorded alot of the....like if I was gonna go in and do a low part, I'd have him go in and do the high part. Just so it will sound accurate, and I never really understood why we didn't do that before. Because anytime I have a part where there will be overlapping vocals, or the high/low thing, he does it live anyway. So it was like, just go in there and do it. So, tt's gonna sound the same on stage now, ya know.

Loudside.com: Now I know in the past Rob was the main songwriter for the band.....

Mark: Yes and No. On our first...on our ep, I wrote a couple of the tunes, and 'Pass Out', it was like a half and half of me and Rob. And 'Impossibility' had a couple songs by Matt, and then me and Rob. And on the last album, Rob kind of took over with alot of it. I think Matt wrote one tune, and I wrote two, and then Rob wrote the rest. And on this one we kind of, I would say it's as split as it ever has been. It was me, Matt and Rob writing alot of the songs. But on the last album, Rob really had alot of ideas, and he already had them recorded on his computer. So it was more like, I could concentrate more on lyrics, and I don't have to worry about writing tunes, and Matt was into the stuff. And alot of the stuff was a little more complex than what we were used to doing, so it was more for Matt to practice than worry about writing. But this time, all of us came to the table with ideas. I think I got everyone started. We had time off in February 2006, and I just wrote three songs and sent them to the guys, then Matt wrote three songs, and Rob said Fuck, these guys already have tunes, I better hurry up and start writing some shit. So I think we had like twenty two ideas written, and then we finally got together, and some of the ideas worked, some didn't, some we wrote together in the practice space. And some songs just happened. But it was the most fun we've had, writing albums with this one for sure.

Loudside.com: Now as far as Andols, with his drumming...just from reading stuff about the band online or in magazines, it's almost like, not that he was just following the music, but it was geared toward what was already written. With the new album, did he have more input in terms of what he wanted to play?

Mark: Yeah I mean, Andols always wrote his signature cool stuff that makes him who he is, but alot of times when you're a guitar player and you write a riff, you already have the drums envisioned. And it's kind of difficult to see it any other way. And if he doesn't have an idea to express it, then it's just gonna go the way we say it goes. But this time around, I think that he was so excited to be back in the band, that he came up with ideas to help arrange the song, or write stuff. But I would say it's probably fifty-fifty. With some of the songs I came to the table with, I would be like here's the beat, but it would be so generic. And he would do whatever he felt necessary to it. But I think he was the most enthusiastic about what he did on this album than any other before.

Loudside.com: Now musically, the album covers a multitude of styles, but remains cohesive throughout. And I'm sure just like most bands, you guys aren't metal 24/7. So where do all the influences come from?

Mark: I think it's because, exactly like you said, not everyone's metal 24/7. Some dudes are I guess maybe in a way. But I'm not anymore. I got to that point in my life where I was like.....I don't know if it's because I'm older now, but I hate new bands, I don't wanna hear anything new. It sucks, but I like what I grew up listening to, and I don't wanna go there anymore. I don't wanna keep doing that. So when I come to the table, I'm either in the Nine Inch Nails world, or I'm in the Portishead world, or I'm in the Rap world, or I'm in the Cannibal Corpse world, ya never know. It doesn't sound that way so to speak, but that's where it comes from as far as my writing. And I think like when Rob writes, the way it seems that he does it, he just likes to have a riff or a guitar part, or a song that makes him feel good about writing. I don't think he really grabs from anything. And then there's Matt who just wants to be fuckin Balls out brutal, like I wanna destroy people kind of riffs. So I'm more of the experimental guy, and Rob's kind of straight forward, and Matt just kills people, and Chris is all over the place. Andols wants to be in fucking Aborted or something like that ya know, (laughing) and we gotta tone him down just a bit. But I think it's just that everyone has so many different influences and goals as far as songwriting, that it works when we combine ya know. Throw it all over the place.

Loudside.com: Well this album compared to all the others, is rather impressive.

Mark: I can honestly say that I'm proud of everything that we've ever done, but this is the most proud I've ever been. And the songs don't feel old to me yet, even though we've played them 150 times or whatever, ya know. We're still excited about it. And there's probably three or four songs on the album that we haven't played live yet, and we're really looking forward to getting into the rehearsal space and hammering those out. It truly feels like an album that we can play every single song, whereas the last album...I think we've played every single song on the last album live at one point, but some of them man, we're just like 'Fuck, I don't wanna play that song live', ya know. That just bores the hell out of me. I like listening to it on a record, but man it just has no vibe, ya know. There's nothing cool about it live. (laughing) But what are you gonna do.

Loudside.com: (laughing) For sure. Now you guys have been touring for quite some time now in support of the new album....

Mark: Six of the past Seven months.

Loudside.com: Ok....are you or rather have you been filming at all, for a future DVD?

Mark: Yes and No. We do have an idea for what we wanna do for a DVD. And I don't think that we're going to go with the documentary style that everyone is used to. I haven't talked to the label about it yet, but we'd really like to do an actual live DVD, ya know. Quite possibly, it could happen or it couldn't, but we'd like to record our annual Christmas show this year that we do in our hometown. And we're always known to play fifteen to twenty songs, and really try to cover as much of our catalog as we possibly can. And I think that would be the best thing that we actually haven't done yet. So that's in the works right now, and we'll see if it comes to fruition.

Loudside.com: Cool. Now in regards to videos, so far you guys have the video for the title track 'Resurrection'. Has there been any discussion about another video, and what song, if any?

Mark: Yes. That's in the works right now, and we plan to film as soon as we get home from this tour. As of now, we are doing one for 'Pleasure In Pain'.

Loudside.com: Any reason for choosing that song over the rest?

Mark: We felt that we wanted to do that one because, people might not know, but it's always a fuckin hassle when it comes to picking video songs. Because if there's alot of swearing in the song, you gotta cut it out, and this and that, and it's such bullshit. But with this song, we don't have to change a thing. I mean, some bands are huge, and they don't have to make those kinds of sacrifices, but even with a band like Tool, they have to cut their song in half or something like that. And it's like, man I wanna hear the whole song, how it's supposed to sound. And there's some songs that are like five and a half minutes long, which would be a cool video or something, but you're gonna spend 'x' amount of dollars on it to not be played, so what's the point, ya know. I'd rather spend that money somewhere else, doing more promotion on the internet or something like that. But if we're gonna do a video, let's do the easiest song, that's not gonna cause a problem. But the way the video world is running now, it seems more towards internet, so it's almost like you can do what you wanna do. So that's kinda what's gonna be discussed in the next few days. Do we do something that's totally crazy because it's probably not gonna get played anyway. I don't know, it just seems like everything's going towards YouTube now, so fuck it. Just do something off the wall, ya know. The video we have in mind, is pretty out there. I don't think it will be really based on performance.We have a story written that me and the director have been working on that kind of goes along with what the song is about. But we think it would be cool to do a something like for the song 'The Flame', and just have something totally brutal and disgusting and not cut anything out. But it's if the label wants to take a chance like that, ya know. It's really not up to us at the end of the day, unless we had an extra twenty thousand to forty thousand dollars to blow, which I don't. (laughing)

Loudside.com: Yeah, as far as videos go, yeah sometimes they play it on Fuse or on Headbangers Ball, but with the whole advent of YouTube and Myspace, and even some of the other metal websites, there's plenty of potential for you guys to do....

Mark: Whatever we want, yeah. That's why we wanna discuss it. The owner of our label will be out on the tour in...I wanna say two days. And that's when we're really gonna kind of hammer out these ideas. DVD and next video and things like that. And we'll have some definitive answers by then.

Loudside.com: Cool. Now following this tour, what can fans look forward to from Chimaira for the rest of this year, and into the next?

Mark: Well, we're gonna take some time off after this tour and kind of re-group. Like I said, we've been out for eleven, it will be almost twelve weeks straight, by the time we get home. And everyone's just kind like 'Let's go home'. And like I said, work on the video, hammer out these DVD ideas. Then we go on a headliner at the end of the year, and probably do markets that really don't get alot of concerts. And we want to play at some places that we haven't been to in a long time, ya know. So that's all being worked out right now as wel, and picking the bands and everything like that. And we'll probably do another month or month and a half of touring, and start all over again next year. And go overseas and things like that.

Loudside.com: Aren't you guys doing the Eastpak....

Mark: (laughing) Don't ask that question....we just cancelled that, but no one knows yet. It will be public next week sometime. (laughing)

Loudside.com: Ok, and as far as touring goes, how much say do you guys have in picking the bands?

Mark: We have quite a bit of say, but this time, we're kind of trusting the judgment of our booking agent. Because alot of the bands we wanna tour with are either doing something or not available. We wanted to tour with Gojira, we wanted to tour with Decapitated, we wanted to tour with Job For A Cowboy, and even Cannibal Corpse. And all these bands are already either doing something or can't do anything. Meshuggah was another one, and they don't wanna tour or something like that. So we're just like, 'Well, all the bands we love are not available at the moment, so why don't you pick some bands, and we'll tell you if we like them or not.' So that's kind of where we're at with that. And like I said, we're a little bit out of touch.....(laughing)....So I was like 'As long as they don't dress like chicks I'm cool.'