Several months ago, Loudside.com managed to catch up with Winds Of Plague's main madman, vocalist Johnny Plague, to discuss all manner of things WoP related, from the band's beginnings and early name change, to the premise behind their Century Media debut, 'Decimate The Weak', as well as what band Winds Of Plague would want to tour with the most. Here's what Johnny had to say about what makes Winds Of Plague tick........
Loudside.com: So tell me how this tour's been going for you guys in terms of the crowd response.
Johnny: Well, we're only a week into it, but it's been a very solid tour so far. We've been seeming to do very well, and everyone's taking the new material well. So we're pretty happy about that.
Loudside.com: Ok. Now you guys have been doing this for a few years. Were you already friends with or at least familiar with the bands on this tour?
Johnny: We're from the same area as Impending Doom, so we've known them for a little bit. With Dead Hands Rising, we actually did our very first tour ever with them. There's no original members left in that band, but we've kept in contact with them, so we've been friends with them for a long time. And Dead To Fall, we've done a few shows with them as well, when we were a younger band.
Loudside.com: Cool. Now you guys previously went under the moniker of "Bleak December", before changing over to Winds Of Plague. Was there any specific reason for the name change?
Johnny: We ran into some copyright issues with another band called Bleak December that's from the East Coast. And we were signing with a label called Life Sentence at the time, so we had to change for that reason as well. And I'm pretty glad we did. It kind of seems to fit us a little better.
Loudside.com: And coming from an Unearth song, was that just a matter of them being a favorite band or something to that effect?
Johnny: We were haivng a really hard time at the moment finding a name, so.....that EP 'Endless' had just come out, and uh, yeah...we just took it from that.
Loudside.com: Right on. Now in regards to the new album, what made you decide to use some of the material from 'A Cold Day In Hell', as opposed to writing an entirely new album?
Johnny: We felt we had to get an album out as soon as we could, before all our hype died out. So we picked a few old favorites off the old record and decided to give them a new recording, or a new life almost. And we went with that just so we could get a cd out.
Loudside.com: So those songs were redone completely?
Johnny: Umm, they're pretty much the same songs, just spiced up a little bit here and there, but yeah....same songs.
Loudside.com: No I understand that, but I mean you guys actually went in and re-recorded them entirely, or did you just.....
Johnny: Oh no, yeah we definitley re-recorded them completely.
Loudside.com: Ok. Now in regards to the cover art, what does the Samurai signify in relation to the album title?
Johnny: It's through two songs, "Origins and Endings" and "Decimate The Weak", kinda explains the story a little bit. It's about somebody that was born into a world of like, being underpriveleged and dealing with strife and everything. And then the portrait of the Samurai is basically him growing up and pretty much forging his own place in the world. Making....well, he's standing over a bunch of dead bodies in the picture, so he kind of took over and made everybody adapt to him.
Loudside.com: Ok.....and was that a concept that you've had for some time?
Johnny: .....Yes.....it was just an idea at the time, but we really kind of worked on it and developed it.
Loudside.com: I mean, as far as working with the artist.....
Johnny: Yeah, I pretty much told him that we wanted this Samurai that looks like he's just taken over the world pretty much, and left nothing standing in his way. (Smiling)
Loudside.com: (Laughing) Ok, that's cool. Now the last press release made mention of a new keyboardist, whom was obviously not present on stage tonight, Matt Feinman. He's not listed on the band's Official Myspace page, so what is the status of the keyboardist in Winds Of Plague?
Johnny: Umm, Matt Feinman had some personal issues, and he wasn't really working out too great with us, so we decided to part ways. And as you noticed, we now have Kristen Randall, who was formerly in the band Abigail Williams. And she is now a full time member of Winds Of Plague, and she's working out great.
Loudside.com: Right on. Now tell me a little bit more about the album. You guys have elements of different styles of extreme metal, and I'm sure you all bring different influences to the table. So what was the goal in terms of the musical direction of the album?
Johnny: We don't really start out with a plan of what we want to sound like, or when we do, we just...when we sit down, whatever we had been listening to obviously has a direct influence on what we're gonna do. And umm, so we sat down and we just played some music that we thought was cool. Didn't matter if it was hardcore, metal, classical, anything. We just threw it together, and 'Decimate The Weak' is the mess that turned out. (Laughing)
Loudside.com: (laughing) I'm sure in terms of personal influences, you guys have.....
Johnny: Oh yeah, it's a mess in the van on the iPod. Nobody can agree on what to listen to, because you got everbody with different tastes. But I think with as much of a mess as it is in the van, it really turned out well for our band.
Loudside.com: For sure. Now what are the plans for Winds Of Plague after this tour?
Johnny: Ummm, pretty much just alot more touring. We've got two more U.S. tours lined up, and we're hoping to get over to Europe and a few other countries. But yeah, pretty much just touring and seeing what happens with this record.
Loudside.com: Cool. Is there any want from the band to maybe get onto a U.S. Summer Festival at all?
Johnny: Umm, we kind of already have plans on a smaller festival. Nothing crazy. But right now I think we just need to keep doing small tours like this to build a really strong foundation, instead of jumping on bigger things and just hoping it works out.
Loudside.com: Yeah. And as far as touring with other bands goes, what one band would you want to tour with right now more than any other, if you had the chance?
Johnny: DIMMU BORGIR!!
Loudside.com: Ok....any particular reason?
Johnny: I Love them, and I love everything they do. I think their music is so.....so out of the box. Nobody's really doing the epic thing in the way they do it. It's a big influence on us, and our whole band loves that band. I don't think we're metal enough for them, but we'd love to tour with them........
