Interviews

Between The Buried And Me

Interview with Tommy Rogers on Apr 1, 2008 by

By: Wade Rice

About a week before Between the Buried and Me's Colors was released I had the chance to talk with the frontman of the band while he was feeling the exhaustion of writing what many critics have called a masterpiece.

Could you please introduce yourself and what you do in the band?

Tom Rogers: My name is Tom Rogers and I sing and play keyboards in Between the Buried and Me.

You guys are one of the most talented metalcore acts out there as far as skill with your instruments. Have any of you guys had any classical musical training or vocal training, or anything like that?

TR: The only real training that any of us have had is that our bassist went to school for music and our guitarist, Paul, as well, but the rest of us pretty much learned it by ear. You know, kind of just went with it, but that's all of us got.

So, for the new album Colors, you guys recorded what I would say is your most eclectic and experimental album yet. Did this just come naturally or did you guys want to experiment a bit more?

TR: It was definitely a natural progression. When we start writing these records we never really plan out what we're going to do. I think with Colors we definitely took influences from all of our records and put it into one record, and you know even beyond that. The only thing we had planned out for this record is that we wanted it to be one piece of music. When we started writing it like that I think that it naturally kind of came out with more prog-rock type elements. I don't know, the writing process this time was a lot more natural then it was other times on our other albums. When you bring together five different people, you get a lot of different things coming out. We're not a band that is opposed to trying new things. I think on this record we really found our sound, and found a way to use syncopation in a good way. We were just patient and made a record that was thought out.

Also, did the recording of The Anatomy Of have anything to do with it? That cover album had several different songs on it other then metal songs.

TR: Well, we've always been into other things other than metal. When we recording that album we really got comfortable being able to play other sounds and we never really got the chance to expand on it. I definitely think that had an influence on that part of our record. That was a big reason why wanted to do that cover album, to get that second feel. We just wanted to get the creative juices flowing I guess you could say. So yeah, I definitely think that that influenced our new album.

You guys have talked about all of Colors just being one long song that you guys have just broken down into convenient songs. Do you want to expand on that? Like, is there a concept to it, or any underlying connection to all eight of the tracks?

TR: We've always talked about doing that. We wanted to write an album and we feel that people now-a-days write random songs and sort of put them together. We've fallen victim to that before on our other records. We felt like we wanted to write a piece of music rather than a bunch of songs thrown together. I think, though, stuff like that takes a little bit longer to get it the way you like it. It was definitely the most rewarding album that we've done. I think it definitely has that feel that a lot of 70's prog-rock records do like Dark Side of the Moon and stuff like that because it just flows and flows, but lyrically it's not a concept record. We talked about that and decided not to do that because it's hard to pull that off and not be cheesy. We jut tried to make it flow and we definitely recommend that you listen to it all the way through.

I definitely agree that the album makes more sense if you listen to it all the way. You have a side project called Giles, which is your solo electronic project, and you released a full album on Victory in 2005. Do you have more material for this project?

TR: We've been super busy because right after Alaska we've been touring and then we did the cover record and then we did more touring and then Colors. Now has been like the only time I've had to sit down and write and honestly I've just been trying to relax.

Yeah I'm sure the success of Alaska took a toll on you guys.

TR: Yeah, I plan to write more in the future. I definitely want to experiment with different sounds, maybe like some more rock stuff... I don't know it's going to be weird as hell. I don't think that it will be a straight electronic record.

How was the recording for Colors? Did you guys work with Jamie King again?

TR: Yeah, he did everything.

I'm assuming studio time went smooth since you guys have worked with Jamie before, but how long would you say it took you guys?

TR: It took us, I guess about four to five weeks for tracking, mixing and mastering.

You guys have had an extremely impressive list of bands that you guys have toured with over the years. Are there any bands that you personally or the band would like to tour with that you haven't had the chance to do so with all ready?

TR: Yeah, we'd love to tour with Opeth. That's always been a band that we've wanted to tour with. Dream Theater is definitely a band we've always wanted to tour with. There are so many bands out there. We're down with whatever; we've always liked diverse bills. We've always had pretty good feedback with playing with other crowds. So it's kind of challenging and fun at the same time.

When did you guys start writing Colors?

TR: It took us about 5 or 6 months to write the new record. Yeah, we always try to take our time with writing, sometimes bands rush through writing and it just comes out forced. That's something that we stressed to Victory, because you know labels are always pushing for bands to put stuff out. We told them that we needed to take our time in order to put something out that we approved of. We felt that after Alaska did really well, that we needed to write a really amazing album, you know do something better than what we've ever done before. I think that it shows too, this record sounds like the record that we've put the most work into.

Is there something else that you personally would be interested in doing outside of music?

TR: Not really, that's always been my goal really, to play and write music. As a band we've always talked about making movies, but obviously music based.

On the song "Prequel to the Sequel" is there guest vocals? Some of the screams don't sound like you.

TR: Yeah that's guest vocals in the end, that's the guitarist for Fear Before the March of Flames.

He normally does the clean singing in Fear Before doesn't he?

TR: Yeah, he does both singing and screaming at the end of the song. He did a phenomenal job, and we have never had a guest on a CD before. Ever since their latest CD came out I always thought that he had such a unique voice, a very distinct voice. I hate when bands have guest vocals and they sound like the singer.

Yeah exactly, the first time I heard it I knew it was someone else because it didn't sound like you.

TR: Yeah exactly that is what's awesome, the second he comes on your like "Whoa, who's that?" He just did a great job, like when he came in I just gave him a lot to do and he's a very talented and creative person. I couldn't have asked for anything better, it was amazing.

Is there anything that you guys are planning to do like a Between the Buried and Me DVD?

TR: I don't know, it's definitely not something that we just want to put out there, to get it out. We'd like a really good live show, but unfortunately that costs a lot of money. Money is always a factor and we don't want to make some ass-half DVD.

The last question I have is more of a personal one. I play Guitar Hero and I think to myself, this game would be a lot better if there was a Between the Buried and Me song on it. Have you guys considered doing something like that?

TR: We'd love to do something like that; we're not really sure how to get something like that done. Actually Victory talked about trying to do something like that, and I don't know if we have the means to do something like that because we pretty much do everything ourselves.

Wow, you guys seem like a pretty big band to still be doing it all yourself.

TR: Yeah, we haven't really found the need yet to have anyone help us other then a booking agent. We've been doing this for a long time and we kind of know how everything works and, I don't know, we don't want to give anyone else our money (Laughs).

That's a good point. Anything else you want to say?

TR: Go check out Colors, hope you dig it.

Thank you to Tommy for talking to me and being cooperative with my lack of cell phone service and also thank you goes out to Victory Records for getting the interview.

www.victoryrecords.com

www.betweentheburiedandme.com

www.myspace.com/betweentheburiedandmeband