Loudside managed to catch up with the one and only Dave Peters of metalcore/hardcore heavyweights Throwdown, to ask him about thier latest album and tour, illegal downloads, metal/hardcore sales figures rising in spite of cd's not being in demand, and his upcoming marriage......here's what Dave had to say about what's going on in Throwdown's world.....

Loudside.com: Hey man, how's it going?

Dave: Awesome man.

Loudside.com: How have things been going on this tour in terms of crowd response?

Dave: It's been amazing man. The reaction from our current fans to us playing the new stuff....It's the first time we've really had the opportunity to play the bulk of the new songs from the record, and so it's been insane. I mean, you never really know what to expect as far as the live reaction to new songs. But it's been really rewarding for us, really cool. And yeah, the kids that come out to see Machine Head have been awesome. We've had alot of great shows. Like in Cleveland for example, and umm....there's been a handful of "best shows ever" as far as certain areas of the country, ya know. So that was really awesome, especially when you've been touring as long as we have. But yeah....the guys from Machine Head are just fucking great. They treat us with alot of respect, and they're a pleasure to tour with. And I've said it over and over again, but aside from obviously our really long time friends that we've had the opportunity to tour with time and again, they're probably one of the best bands that we've ever gone out with in terms of just personality and talent. They're just great!

Loudside.com: Cool. And obviously you guys have your own set of fans that have been showing up to the shows despite it being a mostly "metal" tour, right?

Dave: Yeah, it's been cool. I think a big part of that is that we have our fans coming out, and kids that don't know anything about our band see the way our current fans react to our the way our live show is with them. Our current fans are just as big a part of turning heads as when we're standing up there and playing, ya know.

Loudside.com: Ok. Now as far as the crowds go, over the past few years, there's been a pretty big rift between the hardcore/metalcore kids and the metal kids, with fights and whatnot in the crowd/pit. Have you seen any of that going on at all on this tour?

Dave: No, I mean...I think that the hardcore kids (laughing).....the hardcore or punk rock kids or whatever that are coming out to the show....it's obviously a predominantly metal tour, and I think the hardcore kids that are coming out don't wanna pay $20 to stand there and cross their arms or start a fight, ya know. And I'm glad they don't. And on the flipside of that too, when there are kids that maybe saw us on Warped Tour or maybe long time fans that are just strictly fans of hardcore music....when they come out to the shows we appreciate the level of respect that the metal kids maintain for them too ya know. So for the most part it's been real cool ya know. There haven't been any problems, especially on this tour. And I really feel like that's kind of chilled out for the most part as far as the headbutting and whatnot between the two genres. And it's just so ridiculous (laughing) to think about, ya know at least musically, two genres that have SO MUCH in common, despite what they wanna believe, and they can argue with me all they want, but umm....there's a ton of kids out there that will swear by Earth Crisis, that they're the best hardcore band that ever lived. But they turn their nose up in the air at maybe Sepultura, which is kind of funny (Laughing). And vice versa ya know. I interviewed Max not that long ago, and he told me about how stoked and excited he is about the borrowing and the sharing between hardcore and metal. And they were a band that's kind of always rode that line, and got respect from both ends. But yeah, it's been pretty good, at least from what we see. I mean we're a band that, ya know, for a long time and still sometimes, you'll see a couple of fights a night on a tour. And this tour's been pretty cool about that. But it's still been an intense crowd, ya know.

Loudside.com: For sure. Now the last time I talked to you guys was at the beginning of the Warped Tour, and you guys had JUST gotten the confirmation for this tour. Being that you guys are fans of Machine Head, what was the reaction when you guys got the news?

Dave: Umm, we were ecstatic. I mean....just to even find out that Rob was I guess....I don't wanna put words in his mouth, but I'd call him a fan, ya know. Probably not as big a fan as we are of Machine Head, but uh....yeah, just to find out that he was a fan was really cool, and that he wanted us to be a part of this. We kicked the tour off at the Glass House in Pomona, and I think that might have been the first place I ever saw Machine Head play. I'd been listening to them for years, but I hadn't seen them play until like the late 90's at the Glass House. I was telling him the first day, after he came right up and introduced himself and he was really cool. And I was like 'Yeah man, the first time I saw you guys was at this venue, and it's pretty awesome to be playing here'. And he was like "Yeah, it's a pleasure to have you," ya know. So we were really stoked. And they're a band that's influenced us, and influenced the shape of the genre in general. And it's definitely an exciting thing to be a part of.

Loudside.com: Right on. Now also in regards to this tour, it stirred up a bit of controversy with the whole Disney/House Of Blues cancellations. What's your take on that, and with Disney doing that across the board basically for all the metal shows?

Dave: It's kind of funny. We've been banned from a couple of venues over the years. And actually that House Of Blues in Orange County was one of 'em. There was a small scale riot that broke out when we played there one time, and some higher ups in the staff got assaulted by......(laughing) and I'm not talking just security guards, I mean GM's and whatnot...and it spilled out, the cops came and it was a big mess. But I just think it's funny that after that we were able to come back and play again. And then out of nowhere, they kind of decided to have this "No Metal" policy. And I don't know if they're receiving pressure from more of their right wing christian conservative shareholders or.....I don't know what it is to be honest with you. I don't know if there's a new guy in charge down there.....But you know, I do respect their right to.....I mean it's their place, and if they wanna have whoever the hell they want to have play there, and they tell everyone else they can't come in their house, then that's their right to do it. And I wish they would have done it with a little more tact, and with a little more fair notice than a day, ya know. That'd be nice. But it is what it is. I don't think that Metal or Hardcore needs Disney to do anything. We've been doing just fine for years (laughing) without Mickey Mouse in the mix, so I think we'll be alright (more laughter).

Loudside.com: (Laughing) Ok.....Moving on to the new album, you guys had a rather stellar first week with over 8,000 copies sold and landing on Billboard at #81. With record label execs living in constant fear of online leaks and illegal downloading, what do the numbers for your first week's sales and chart positions mean to you?

Dave: Well I think that as far as a reflection on our band in particular, and given the state of the industry....and also a reflection of our genres and the fans that are involved in it, our first week numbers says....while record sales are far from the most important thing or reason why we do this....I think those numbers speak volumes about the aforementioned. Because, I mean....to give you an idea....cd sales have declined around 20% overall, over this past year. And from 2005 I'm not sure how much it is, but it's been ALOT. We had our highest selling first week ever, and this record is one of the most rapidly selling ever in a climate in the industry where cd's are not selling. And it's funny actually to think about it....on 'Vendetta', we sold a couple thousand less in the first week than we did this time, and I think we were about a hundred spots down from where we were this time. And we only sold a couple thousand more this first week, so it kinda gives you an idea of how unaffected our world of music is by all this. And as far as downloading and file sharing goes, I've gotten myself in trouble or whatever for saying this before.....but at the end of the day, that's not why we do this. And if a fan wants to support us, we suggest that they come out to our show and that they pick up a tee shirt, and if nothing else, learn some of the words and sing along and have a good time with us. And you know, if they are concerned about hurting the label's pocket book, then they can buy the cd (laughing), for them. But otherwise, if they're hard up for cash, and they say "You know I gotta wait a month to buy your cd," I'd just as soon grab their iPod and put it on there for them, or burn them a copy myself. Because at the end of the day it's just about having what you're doing actually get to people. And if you can't do that, and if there's going to be a roadblock in the way of that, which is inflated cd prices in a time where there's no demand for cd's, which is still beyond me and I don't think is the real solution to this problem. But if you ask the labels they'll tell you it is. But yeah, I encourage kids to get their hands on our music and go from there I guess.

Loudside.com: Right on. Ok, now on top of the first week's sales and a spot on this summer's Warped Tour, as well as this tour, you guys also had a song featured on the soundtrack for the latest Resident Evil film. And obviously it's all on the positive side for promotion and helping to get the band's name out there to more new people. What else is in store for Throwdown in that sense, if anything?

Dave: We kind of just fly by the seat of our pants, which is sort of just the nature of the job and this business. But I don't know. Things like that, ya know, it's awesome to be a part of that, and the Resident Evil movies are really cool. I actually haven't seen the latest one, which is kind of funny.....(laughing).....but yeah, all that stuff's cool. It's just kind of icing on the cake for us, ya know. Billboard features and soundtracks and those things....and I'm not trying to downplay them at all....but it's the kind of thing that when you first pick up a guitar or when you first join a band, you aspire to do those things. The irony of that is that as time goes on, it's easier to attain those things, and you care less about them in alot of ways. And it's not that I don't care. I mean when we found out that we were gonna be on our first soundtrack, and we've been a band for almost ten years, we were like 'FUCK this is awesome!', ya know. We were super stoked. But I mean, at the end of the day, for us it's just about working our asses off writing songs that really mean alot to us, and just having that communication with our fans and the people that speak to us and tell us what those songs mean to them. And having the opportunity to play it live. Those are the biggest things to us. We never set fiscal goals for our band and we never aspired to......(laughs) I read an interview with some other band, and they were asked what their goals were for the future, and they actually said "To sell a gold record in the United States". It was a band from England, and umm, they're somewhat in our world, or genre, despite where I'd rather them be (laughing). But I just read that, and I kind of throw up in my mouth a little bit ya know. Because if that's what you're picking up a guitar, or a microphone, or drumsticks for, that's what you're goals are.....you're thinking backwards, ya know. Your goals should be to inspire people in the way that people inspired you, ya know. There's a reason you picked up a guitar the first time, ya know. And ya know, maybe some people got their reason because they saw a 'Cribs' episode. But ya know, 'Cribs' wasn't around when I picked up a guitar, and I never really cared a whole lot for glam rock. And I wanted that feeling of.....when I went to shows and even smaller club shows and watching dudes play and going 'These dudes must feel like they're on top of the fucking world'.....let alone your Metallica's and the guys that are playing arenas and stadiums. And I'd still maintain that.....in a perfect world, I would do that for free! (laughing) If I didn't have to put food on mine and my wife's table, and I didn't have to pay the bills......then fuck man, it's something that you can't really put a price on, ya know.

Loudside.com: Cool man.....(laughing). Now you guys have videos for 'Forever' and 'Burn'. I personally don't recall seeing anything about a video for a song off the new album, though I may have missed it along the way (laughing). Are there any plans in the works, and if so, for what song?

Dave: Yeah, actually we shot a video for "Holy Roller", which is the opening track off 'Venom & Tears'. We shot the performance part of it, I think a week before this tour started. And there's another component to the video as well, that was being shot. I think that they're going into the editing process really soon. And to be honest with you, I'm hoping that.....because we sweated our asses off playing in that hot room.....but ya know, that element that we always try to capture in our videos, even if there's more of a symbolic element to it that supplements the video or compliments the performance part, but we always try and get across the intensity that we have when performing live. So umm, I can tell you that that part should be there, as long as they got everything on tape. So we're excited to see it, we haven't even seen a preliminary edit yet, so hopefully in the next week or two. It's been kind of a slow process getting it out there, but hopefully we'll have it done in time for the new year. It would be nice considering the record came out in the summer, ya know (laughing).

Loudside.com: (laughing) Ok.....now getting back to the new album, it's gotten tons of great reviews and critical acclaim, and of course, with that came alot of comparisons to Pantera. During the writing and recording of the album, did you guys get that vibe at all?

Dave: Oh yeah....(laughing).....you're phrasing it in a very kind way (more laughter). Yeah umm, we will never deny that we're huge Pantera fans. And I don't know what it is with this record, but there's some material in there where I feel like we should be sending royalties to Sepultura before Pantera. But people tend to pick out Pantera. I don't know if it's just because of the nature of their band maybe, or maybe it's the opening track which has more of a Pantera feel than perhaps the third or fourth track. But yeah, we're huge fans, and for me that's a band that changed alot for me. And when people backtrack to the bands that got them into hardcore for example....I would look to a band like 'Unbroken', that was a little San Diego band. But the truth of the matter is that I probably would have turned a deaf ear to hardcore if I hadn't been exposed to a band like Sepultura, or Pantera....or even a band like Machine Head. Obviously this falls somewhere in the middle, and all three of those bands have helped to shape so much of the hardcore world as much as they have the metal world. And yeah, unfortunately I never got to see Pantera....I saw Sepultura from a hill about 300 yeard away at Ozzfest in 1997 or so. And I don't know.....we've always been inspired by those bands as players, and we do what any band does, which is taking what inspires us and we put our own unique spin on it, and what you get as a result is what our records are. We got no shame in our game with that (laughing).

Loudside.com: (laughing) Right on. Now lyrically, there's more of a broad range of topics this time around. The signature Throwdown content is still there, but this time out there's definitely some more raw anger with songs like 'Holy Roller', as well as 'S.C.U.M.' and even 'I, Suicide'. What exactly was the catalyst for songs like that, and more specifically for a song with an anti-religious slant like 'Holy Roller'?

Dave: Umm, I should say first and foremost that it's hard for me to call 'Holy Roller' and anti-religious song. I've got a handful of friends that are religious, in fact one of my best friends is a christian. And I have no problem with people's own unique perspectives on life. That's what makes it all interesting, is that the way I see things isn't the way that my friend, or my family, or a perfect stranger sees things. But that song in particular was inspired by Ted Haggard, who obviously is a voice for and a figure for Christian life in general. And he was an advisor to even George Bush at one point. And then we found the story out, just things about him that were completely backward and a total 180 from the way he was truly telling people to live their lives. And that song was inspired by him and people like him, that I guess I should say just so happen to be christian. When anybody's gonna tell you that same-sex marriage is inherently wrong and evil, and then will pay a man to sleep with him.....I don't care if they're a buddhist or they worship satan, they're fucked up and they've got some issues, and they're hypocrites. And that song is basically an attack on hypocrites like that. People that don't have self security to accept others and to embrace differences. And really it's not even so much of an attack, as it's almost sympathetic to that, because that's a sad fuckin way to live man, ya know.....when you can't even be comfortable enough in your own skin to recognize people that are doing the exact same thing as you as being ok, ya know. So there's that song.....and I'm not gonna get into the entire lyrical content and bog you down with a bunch of long answers, but there's alot of things that really got under my skin and alot of thigs that really kind of just.....being on the road, being away from home, through self exploration, through people I've met, through encounters with old friends and new enemies or whatever. It's kind of just a new chapter for me lyrically, because I write all the lyrics. And each album is kind of just a new chapter that's comprised of those two years in between records of my experiences and things that I've encountered. And I guess this time around there was just alot of.....I didn't really....it's kind of funny, because I didn't really have as many.....2004 and 2005 were some rough years for me in alot of ways, which is funny because if you listen to the lyrics on 'Vendetta', you might not see that. But I just think that, and I'm not tooting my own horn, but I just think I got better at really communicating the things that I was thinking and feeling. Which is why it kind of opened up in that way. And I'm stoked on that because it's very cathartic for me, and I can remain SANE when I'm able to do that, ya know (laughing). But yeah, it makes me happy to hear you acknowledge that and see that, that's very cool.

Loudside.com: Thanks! Now another song, 'Cancer', was quite a surprise. Was that something that came along early on during the writing process, or was it more of a last minute thing?

Dave: I had that little guitar line, I've been playing it for a few years actually. And it just made me feel a certain way, and I didn't think for a minute that I would try and throw any lyrics over it or anything. It just felt very cool, cause it was just this stripped down bare song that was just instrumental. And I was just playing it, and I kind of wanted a little segue or an interlude sort of, within the record, to maybe kind of break it up half way. And so we thought that might be a good place for it. And it was something that we'd never done before, and we never thought.....we were like, 'Can Throwdown do a two minute instrumental, with just guitar in it'. And we just kind of decided that 'Well, we're Throwdown.....we're the band, so I guess if anyone can answer that question it's us.' So we just said Fuck it, and we just kind of did it. And it was cool. It's a simple thing, it was real organic, and I just got in there and I think I just played one take of it. And we just slapped some stuff on there.....we went and put some mic's out in the streets of L.A. and just kind of left them out there for a half hour.... with somebody watching them of course, cause you need 'em (laughing). But yeah, it was a fun thing too, and I think it's cool cause it's got it's own place on the record, and it kind of makes for a better dynamic. There's alot of hills and valleys in the record, and that's definitely one of those valleys where it kind of brings everything down a little bit, ya know.

Loudside.com: Well it was definitely a nice surprise!

Dave: Thanks man!

Loudside.com: For sure. Now a few years ago, you guys released the 'Together. Forever.United' DVD, which was a great way to get a history on the origins of the band and the progression over the years. But with the changes since then, are there plans to put a new DVD together anytime soon? Maybe a live concert type DVD as opposed to the documentary style?

Dave: Yeah, actually that's exactly the kind of DVD we want to do. We've had an insight, you know, kind of just a "Fly on the wall" type of view of our touring life. But we've also had like a live show in mind, because I think that one of the things that we really succeed in is turning heads and getting people's attention with, is at our live show. And we've always kind of prided ourselves on that, so we would LOVE to put that on DVD. And for kids that have never had the opportunity to see us before, they may go 'Oh shit, this is a band I should maybe go see'. So yeah, we would love to do another DVD, but there's just SO MUCH WORK that......and I mean I'm not saying we don't have time for it, because we love that kind of thing.......but there's just so much that goes into it, and just to even have that DVD finally come out, which is just like years and years and years, ya know.......which is why when it finally came out, people were like "who the fuck are all these guys??" With all these member changes now, ya know? And it's difficult, ya know. It's really difficult, and especially for us like I said, since we have alot of member changes. I mean, find a guy or a girl that's been with the same one person for the  past ten years that's in their early or mid twenteies......and you'll probably find just as many, if not less, bands or musicians that have been through the same stuff with the same people for ten years.....since they were a teenager, ya know. So there's always trials and tribulations, but we've always managed to remain on the friendliest and best of terms with people that have come and gone over the years. And yeah, that's why the DVD is still really cool for us, ya know.

Loudside.com: Ok.....now what does the band have going on after this tour? What can we expect from Throwdown for the rest of what's left of this year, and into next year?

Dave: Umm, we're actually gonna head down to Brazil and Chile' in the first week of December I believe....or second week of December. And it's our second time in South America, but our first time in Chile'. So we're excited about it. We're gonna just go down there and.......We've got a little bit of a break before that, just taking off all of November. I'm actually getting married, so I'm really excited about that.....

Loudside.com: Well CONGRATULATIONS man!

Dave: Thank you man!

Loudside.com: For Sure!

Dave: And yeah, I know that's been a burning question in all the females minds as to whether or not I'm getting married (Laughing). So yeah, I'm getting married in November, and we're gonna hang out and chill a bit. Then head back out in December. Hopefully in January, we'll be able to make our way out to the U.K. We're not sure who with yet, but we got a couple of ideas. And hopefully sometime early next year we'll hit the ground running in the States again. And we'd like to do a headlining run this time. Like I said, this tour's been awesome for us. When you're on a tour that's kind of a co-headlining situation where you've got two bands that are playing an hour.....it's difficult to find time to be able to play a comprehensive set, ya know? So we play....and we're not complaining by any stretch, ya know. I mean, it's cool sometimes to get out there and bang out your songs, and having kids go 'Oh shit it's already over' and wanting more, ya know. That's kind of part of the excitment. But on the other end of it too, we have three records which we play material off of, and the number of covers that we always have fun doing. And it's difficult to pick what you're gonna play for half an hour or forty minutes even, ya know. We're looking forward to being able to sit down and say 'Hey, let's fucking play everything we wanna play," and play for an hour or an hour and a half on a headlining run. So that will be cool, and I think it'll be cool from a band perspective as well. Just like it is for me, being a huge fan of Machine Head and watching them from the side of the stage for an hour, and then looking and going 'Oh shit an hour's already gone by' ya know. So yeah, we're really looking forward to that for sure........