An Interview with Mike of The Agony Scene
By Robin Steeley
Rising out of the Tulsa, Oklahoma is metal outfit The Agony Scene who after a brief stint on Solid State are now signed to heavyweight Roadrunner Records. The band is touring in support of their latest release “The Darkest Red” and the albums title fits the bands dark metal image The agony scene is a diverse and powerful sound that has its roots firmly set in the metal and hardcore arena. . Today I got a chance to chat with Brent and Mike as they are out traveling on this years Road Rage Tour which celebrates the label’s 25th anniversary and features fellow RR bands Trivium, Still Remains, and 3” of Blood.
Crave: So where are you at today and how is the tour going so far?
Mike: We’re in West Dundee, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The tour has been great so far, it’s the first time we’ve ever been Canada, we played Montreal and it was a little weird for us we have never been out of the country at all, and Montreal is a very French part of Canada. It was hard to get to the venue and get directions, and the border was crazy we had to pay $900 to get in the trouble. We were told not to claim it as merchandise, just as promotional give away and we forgot to do that so they charged us the tax on it. But other then that, the shows were really good.
Crave: How are things going with Roadrunner as opposed to the smaller Solid State label?
Mike: Very good, we have our record coming out May 10th called The Darkest Red, they have been really pushing this tour and they are treating us really good, they’re pretty stoked on what they have heard on the record. It’s so much better then our previous situation.
Crave: Do you still play Rolling Stones “Paint it Black” live?
Mike: It’s more of like a special occasion thing because it was really overshadowing our set. People were paying more attention to that then to our actual music so we don’t play it as much anymore live. We’re gonna play it probably at our hometown show. We’ll probably play it in Japan when we are their.
Crave: Who would you say are your major influences?
Mike: We’re such a mess of different people from different backgrounds that it’s hard to pinpoint the influences directly, because we are from so many different bands. Probably Pantera, Mid 90’s like Fear Factory and Machine Head. I listen to basically like nothing but the Dead Kennedy’s, the Misfits, older hardcore punk rock stuff.
Crave: What’s your favorite track off the new album?
Mike: To be honest with you I don’t think I can even pick one. I think “The Darkest Red” maybe from a lyrical level, its such a personal song that its probably my favorite, it kind of sums up the last two years of my life. As far as having a baby, and the band breaking up and getting back together, and all the struggles. That’s probably my favorite song.
Crave: Is there a theme behind the dark lyrics, who writes them?
Mike: I write all the lyrics. I wouldn’t say it has a theme, but every song kind has something going on, like personal stuff, past relationships, current relationships, day-to-day stress and situations that we get in. It’s basically me ranting and raving on a piece of paper and then putting it to music.
Crave: If you could tour with any band in the world, who would it be?
Mike: The Glen Danzig tour with Doyle probably, where they are out doing some of the old Misfits stuff. Probably that for sure. It would be amazing to hear those songs performed. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. Probably Bleeding Through too, because we know those guys really well and we’re all friends but we have never toured or played together so it would be cool to finally get a chance to do go out on the road with them.
Crave: What was the first album you ever owned?
Mike: It’s probably too embarrassing; I don’t even want to tell you. But the first album I ever bought that my parents disapproved of was Plastic Surgery Disasters by the Dead Kennedy’s. I was proud to own that one.
Crave: What CD have you been listening to or bought lately?
Mike: Lately, geez I hear so much crap recently. The new Jimmy Eat World, I know I’ve listened to that front to back at least four times since we’ve been out. It’s really good. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, I was listening to that today.
Crave: What’s your favorite city or venue to play?
Mike: San Diego or Corona, besides from home which we only do once in awhile, we like to keep that really special.
Crave: What would be a perfect day off for you?
Mike: Encinitas, California at the beach. We ended up staying there for a whole day and it was probably one of the best days in my whole life. It’s pretty close to San Diego.
Crave: Do you have any advice for new artists looking for a career in music?
Mike: Work your ass off, because it never gets easy. You just have to keep working really, really hard. It will feel like its never going to pay off but just keep doing it anyway. If you get it appreciate it as much as you can because it might be gone tomorrow. I think I’m the luckiest dude in the world to be able to put out records and go out on tour. Work really hard, and then be happy when you get something. It’s a struggle but it’s worth it if you want it.
Crave: So tell me what’s in the future for the band?
Mike: We’re on the Road Rage tour now, we’ve got Strapping Young Lad next month for about five weeks, then there’s talk of Europe the beginning of July. Nothing really set plans yet, aside from the SYL tour. We just shot a video, which will be out in the next month or so for our first single called “Prey”. That’s really it, probably tour all of 2005 and part of 2006. We will be keeping busy.
For more information about the band go to www.theagonyscene.com.
Or if you want to check out the Road Rage tour yourself, go to www.roadrunnerrecords.com/roadrage where if you buy a package of four tickets you will get after show passes to meet the bands backstage. What a deal.
