"…It's really hard to trust a lot of people. The longer I live, the more I realize a lot of people kinda suck so you kinda got to pick your friends wisely!"

No truer words could ever be spoken in which Jon Hunt, frontman to Chicago's very own, Dead To Fall, uttered this wonderful phrase. DTF, one of hardcore's hardest working bands, is one of those bands that have been coined by many as a van band. Well lo and behold that is exactly where my interview was conducted right before the band was about to pack up for the evening and journey on to the Compassion Over Fashion Tour's next city and final destination.

Hunt, was nice enough to grant us this interview despite the fact it was quite late (after their set) and in the middle of a nasty snowstorm, not to mention it was probably one of the coldest night of the year. He discusses a host of topics, the band's newest release entitled Villainy and Virtue, his influences – musical and non, the status of hardcore, why one of the vans on the tour got a ticket for some "handy" artwork which was none to appreciative by that state's police… Read on, more than likely this is an interview you will soon not forget. See Jon Hunt, like you've never seen him before!

Karma: First off, I would like to thank you for doing the interview!

Jon: No problem.

Karma: You guys have a very unique sound: mixing Swedish Metal with hardcore (successfully I might add) Please describe Dead To Fall to someone who has never heard of your band before.

Jon: It depends on the person, like if an older person asked me what do you guys sound like I'd just ask them to tell me what's the heaviest thing they could think of. So I would go off of that and try to compare it to something that they're familiar with. Like my dad or somebody that age. But with a younger person I'll just try to say I guess I'll say Swedish influenced metal then we could throw some hardcore breakdowns in a little bit of everything.

We try to take all aspects of metal, a little bit of doom metal, a little black metal. There's American Metal but it really doesn't have their own style. It's like all of the other countries have their own specific style and we just try to take it from everything. We have a couple of Southern metal riffs but we try to create our own sound a little bit out of everyone else's! [laughs]

Karma: Please explain the concept behind the title Villainy And Virtue.

Jon: Villainy And Virtue was originally it was just a song title about there should be a balance between good and evil within each person. Through my experience growing up, there's a lot of need to go one way or the other with especially more towards villainy. Virtue is within and stuff like that; there is a balance with the negative aspects that make you who you are. If everybody was perfect we'd all be the same. Nobody would have qualities that make them "perfect" by society's standards, I guess.

The album just started to sound like there was a darker song and a lighter song. The lyrics just went back and forth and the whole album kinda goes that way. It's not necessarily a concept that the whole album or each song deals with it but as a whole it just kind of worked out that it kind of goes back and forth between villainy and virtue. Like there would be a negative song then a positive song, a darker sounding song, a lighter sounding song. Then we tossed in a little bit of those environmental, ambient noise type things between a couple of the tracks. I mean I don't know if it kills the momentum or not, we haven't really decided yet, but it kinda just tosses it up something different. Because if you just listening to straight brutality for an entire CD you kinda get a little burnt out! [Erika takes a quick shot of Jon as he looks into the camera]

Erika: You're not suppose to look into the camera! It's suppose to be a candid shot!

Jon: [laughs] Sorry, I couldn't help but pose! [we all laugh]

Karma: Love your website, it is split - one side villainy and the other virtue. Who came up with that concept?

Jon: That was the guy who does the website. All of the artwork is from the CD. So they guy that does our website just took the artwork from the CD and made a villainy and a virtue side. He actually didn't even run it by us, he just put it up. It was awesome. We just pretty much gave him full control to do whatever he wants with that.

The guy that did the artwork, his name is Paul Romano and we talked at length where the album was going and I sent him all the lyrics. He created album artwork I think goes along with the album. I really like that the artwork accents the album. A lot of times artwork will just be random pictures thrown together and it really doesn't make any sense. I think the way it just all pieced together it fit perfectly. It was pretty much exactly what we wanted. So it really turned out great! He's an amazing artist!

Karma: That's awesome! Judging from what I have seen so far, he really is!!

Jon: I've got to throw a plug in for him www.workhardened.com

Karma: Plug away! So how has your songwriting changed since Everything I Touch Falls To Pieces to Villainy?

Jon: The first record we started writing when we were in high school and it took us four years from when we started the band till the record came out. We didn't really write for a record, we wrote a song to finish a song. This record was more like, "Hey, we have to finish the record!" We had to think about songs as a whole and then with the other songs try to make everything make sense together as opposed to individual songs pieced together. I think this one is more of a complete album as opposed to the last one.

The songwriting is more about structure and more about repeating choruses and stuff like that. The things that are on other songs, it's more about that than just, "Oh, this part sounds good…" There was more thought put into this one I think.

Karma: What's your favorite song off of Villainy?

Jon: "Bastard Set of Dreams" That's definitely the best crowd response and I think it's my favorite song on the record too.

Karma: Okay, how has the tour been going for you so far?

Jon: This tour has been just incredible! All of the bands that we're out with is just really…like someone said earlier intelligent [that would be Mean Pete, frontman for Remembering Never] Everyone has something to say, and everybody's really into the music for the right reasons! And I think every band is talented as well. There's been a lot of kids at every show; it's a very, very strong package. Everybody's had a blast in all of the tour; it's been one of the better tours that we've done so far!

Karma: That's awesome and tomorrow's your last show!

Jon: Yeah!!

Karma: Glad we caught you tonight!

Jon: It's strange because it's only a three week tour and it takes about a week or two for everybody to start to get to know each other on the tour. We're just finally starting to get along really well and having a good time and tomorrow's the last show…so it kind of bums me out! It's going to be fun [referring to the final show]

Karma: There's always next time and you've made some cool connections/friends as well!

Jon: That's true!

Karma: How was it working with producer Eric Rachel? He's worked with some pretty cool acts: Atreyu, Dillinger Escape Plan, God Forbid.

 ..

Jon: He's amazing! Definitely, he's got an amazing set of ears and amazing ideas that he just throws at you but at the same time he's not very… aggressive! He doesn't chop your songs up or change them around or anything like that! However you wrote the song, he'll throw in little ideas to help accent the way the recording of the sound would accent that song. As oppose to changing the entire song.

There's a couple of parts where he was like, "Once you record this, it sounds good now but once you record it this is what's going to happen sound waves or whatever…but it won't match your notes! Those notes sound bad! Let's try to change it…" Something like that, so it wasn't anything drastic. At the same time he is very talented producer and even better at mixing I think! Just the overall sound of the record sounded good after he mixed it, I think!

Karma: You were cited as your musical influences including classic metal acts like: At The Gates, Slayer, Coalesce…. Any more?

Jon: Every metal band ever I guess? [laughs] People always ask us that question and when Victory wrote our bio they were like what 3 bands? I was like, "I don't know!" A band with breakdowns, a band with fast parts, and a band with kinder slower parts/thrashy parts. Take a little bit of everything but at the same time, Matt [Matera] barely listens to metal, one of our guitar players that wrote a lot of the record, he listens to more like indie rock stuff! When you listen to metal all day at a show you don't really want to listen to metal in the van. I just listen to mainstream rap!

Karma: So whom do you listen to?

Jon: I just bought the new Eminem record and I just bought the Jay-Z Black album. I suppose those have been my two CD's for the tour.

Karma: How does your song writing process go, going back to that from a little earlier?

Jon: Each song is different; Matt will come in with some riffs, Antone [Jones], who wrote the record who isn't our guitar player now helped to write the record. I mean, line-up problems have been a whole different thing in the past [laughs] but everybody just kind of arranges together. Usually guitar players write the riffs, we'll write a riff in practice, or I can try to sing a riff that I can hear in my head I can't play guitar for crap! We do that and we try to arrange around that, I mean it's usually a group process. Sometimes they'll come in and be like, "I've got most of the song done, what do you guys think?" And we'll all just be kinda like, "Well let's try this part there or change a harmony there"…or something like that.

Karma: Jumping back again, what are some of your non-musical influences?

Jon: I'd say my family as far as life goes like my life influences. My parents are pretty amazing! I love my parents and they definitely influence me quite a bit just in the way that I was brought up and they way I look at life and in the way I treat other people.

Karma: That's awesome!

Jon: Yeah, they are pretty awesome! Non-musical pretty much anybody that's stabbed me in the back or people who just piss me off. We've had some problems with ex-members and you just realize there are a lot of people that you just can't trust! It's really hard to trust a lot of people. The longer I live, the more I realize a lot of people kinda suck so you kinda got to pick your friends wisely! And I think those are pretty strong influences on me too. You just have to realize that most people are out to get you. Everybody just kind of thinks of themselves first…

Karma: And that's a sad thing!

Jon: Yeah, it sucks!

Karma: It's a sad state of affairs! Who's your favorite band in the scene right now?

Jon: I want to look at my CD book…I don't know!

Karma: No cheating allowed!

Jon: [smiles] Honestly, when we go on tour with a band we'll get really hyped on a band like Martyr AD. We just toured with them a couple months ago and I thought they were amazing every night. I was just blown away! And It Dies Today, Remembering Never and Most Precious Blood. We've been listening to those records in the van.

It's weird, the more I listen to it every night the more I want to listen to it in the van. I think Mastodon is pretty amazing too!  A band that we haven't toured with but hope to tour with soon! We're possibly doing 4-7 other Midwest shows with them. We hang out with them every time we bump into them. They're great dudes! The bigger they get, the more awesome they are! We saw them on the same night we played Dallas and they were like, "Oh we got this extra hotel room, you guys want it?" And when we show up it was like a $150 hotel room! We were like, "What! They just gave it to us?" They're amazing dudes and they are still looking out for younger bands…I'd really like to tour with them again. Yet they are amazing! Their new album's pretty rocking [Leviathan]

Karma: And that it is! What are your views on fans that would like you to stay underground especially now that you audience has gotten larger?

Jon: It's kinda like the state of hardcore right now. There's movement to keep hardcore underground because I think people view it as their little club that they found first and as soon as somebody else joins their little club, they get upset; and they put up the sign in the tree house, "No Girls Allowed!" or whatever and that's just not the way I see it. Sometimes it's really sad because they resort to violence. They're just like, "Let's mosh as hard as we can!" And let's try to beat these kids up!  Everybody has to remember at some point you weren't always listening and that you were a brand new kid, and it was your first show. That doesn't mean, I mean grant it, there are a lot of kids that don't understand the ethics to hardcore and they just see it as a concert. But beating them up isn't going to change that!

People get old, and they stop going to the shows, eventually the scene will die if you don't have any people. I am totally for it getting bigger and obviously, I don't mind if my band gets bigger. As far as the scene goes, the more bands get to come through, the more bands get to go on tour and the more access everybody has to it. Right now, it's the biggest it's ever been, I think as far as the scene goes and I have no problems with it! I think at the same time, instead of reacting violently, people should kinda go, "Oh, I've never seen you at a show before. What's your name?" Try to introduce themselves and realize, I think the difference between like I don't go to see Slayer or some band like that, like a typical metal band. There's the band on stage and the people in the crowd! There's a HUGE difference, there's a huge barrier. At a hardcore show, it's like I'm the same as those kids out there and I'm going to flip out when I see blah, band next, you know! [smiles] I'm just gonna go jump around and go nuts!

On this tour, there's been a group called Counterpoint touring with us that has a lot of educational material with them. Not just animal rights, but human rights like women's rights, and the A.R.A. (Anti-Racist Action). They have a whole table of information that people buy. They have all these books that are ½ off and people can just go by and pick up a book and read it. It's for donations pretty much even if you don't have money to buy the book. I think it's a lot of information that people wouldn't receive in their families, their schools or the mainstream media. That's what I've always loved about hardcore when I first started going to shows and there were tons of tables everywhere. We've kinda lost it a little bit since so it's been kinda cool that he's been on this tour doing that.

Karma: What would you like to see change in the Industry?

Jon: The politics of it. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours! But people are gonna look out for their friends and that's gonna happen regardless. If we get bigger, like if we get huge, obviously we're going to try to take our friends with us. And it's like that throughout the Industry. When people have done something for you, you are going to do something to help them back, that's just how it should work, I guess. At the same time, it really sucks to break into that. I don't even know if it's breaking into it… It gets frustrating at the same time, but let's just be grateful for where we are! We're on a decent tour right now, we're selling some records and kids are really into us. We're just grateful because we get to do more than 99% of bands ever get to do. Every kid I knew in high school was in a band and none of them ever even left the state and I've toured the country 15 times and that's pretty awesome! We're going to Europe in February…

Karma: Congratulations!

Jon: [Smiles] Yeah, I'm really excited because it's something not a lot of people get to do and I'm pretty grateful for it. 

Karma: Who are you going with?

Jon: We're going with Martyr AD and The Haunted.

Karma: What a great bill! What would you say has been the most valuable lesson you've learned in the Industry?

Jon: Ha…[smiles] Don't count on anything,

Karma: Here's a quick Speed Round of Questions for you.

Jon: Okay

Karma: As your best friend, how would you describe yourself?

Jon: Hopefully he would describe me as intelligent, thoughtful and respectful! [laughs]

Karma: What's your mantra?

Jon: Uhhh, hang loose!

Karma: What's your favorite quote?

Jon: I don't really have a favorite quote. I don't know! I'm trying to think of my favorite… I usually have one but my favorite quote of this tour is the trailer lights kept going on and off and Matt Matera goes…how did he say it? He kept saying it the entire time, "I thought there would be a reasonable explanation for this, I don't want to hear about no fucking ghosts in the trailer!" [we all laugh] He just says some amazing things! He gets drunk and…

Karma: What pisses you off?

Jon: A lot of stuff! People who have no regard for life, for each other and the world around them.

Karma: How 'bout your guilty pleasure song/CD/artist?

Jon: Björk, The Postal Service and what's another one…I listen to crap music [laughs] I'll definitely say Björk and The Postal Service, they are definitely ones I listen to a lot.

Karma: Your all time favorite CD's - Top 5?

Jon: At The Gates Slaughter of The Soul obviously [smiles] I think the new Postal Service is probably one of my favorite CD's. I don't ever have all time CD's because it changes as you go. The Beatles, they have Best Of (the red one and the blue one), they combined both of those onto one CD. Slayer Reign In Blood [and as soon as he delivers his answer, Jon's cell phone rings, can you guess the artist? Slayer! We all laugh hysterically]

Karma: That answers my next question, your ring tones…

Jon: I have one for every occasion, like if anyone in the band calls, it plays In Flames

Karma: Which song?

Jon: The first one off the one with the flame on it [then he starts to hum the melody] I think it's Colony. I don't know the name of it, I only know the names of our songs!! [laughs] Then when Victory calls, it plays Taking Back Sunday. I've got…now they're drawing a penis on the windshield! [at this point his tour mates start to draw a very large penis on the windshield in the freshly fallen snow] [the van fills with uncontrollable laugher] [as Jon shakes his head]

Erika: You have that look like you knew it was coming!

Jon: They got a ticket 'cos we drew penises, vaginas and pentagrams all over their van and they got pulled over and got a ticket!

Erika: You're kidding!

Jon: [laughs]

Karma: For indecency?

Jon: No, for speeding! They got pulled over for going 1 mile over the speed limit since they had all that stuff on their trailer.

Karma & Erika: Wow! Oh cut it out!

Jon: We got pulled over in S. Carolina because we had a giant pentagram on our trailer. SC hates us! We got pulled over 3 times in one day! [as look of shock fills Erika & my countenances]

Karma: Now it's…cumming…

Jon: Oh it won't stop!

Karma: Not judging by that overly generous load they just drew…[hysterical laughter ensues] If you could be a cartoon character, which one would you be?

Jon: Hopefully Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, because he's ridiculous!

Karma: If commissioned to do a cover tune of any band, which one would you do? 

Jon: Iron Maiden "Number of the Beast" would do [then he yells across the band to Matt] "Hey, which song would Iron Maiden cover of ours?

Matt: "Master Exploder"!

Jon: Says Matthew Matera!

Karma: Thank you Matthew! Introvert or extrovert?

Jon: Extrovert.

Karma: First thing, you do when you get home from touring?

Jon: Hang out with my girlfriend usually, but now that she's in Europe studying piano, I've been playing video games. I changed my mind, putting all of CD's back in the rack in alphabetical order! [laughs]

Karma: Live or dead if you could host a dinner party of 5, whom would you invite?

Jon: Napoleon, Jon F. Kennedy, Adolf Hitler…I'm going to have an interesting dinner party here, Bruce Dickinson, Kerry King. Pretty much all famous people ever. I'd definitely invite those who had a beef with one other. The reason I said Adolf Hitler is that I really want to see and meet and talk to him because he's such an evil, horrible person. I'd want to just talk to him seriously. I'd either want to punch him in the face or try to kill him or just realize…I mean how does that happen? How does your mind get to that point? I don't think that's something that anyone will get but you surround yourselves obviously with people who think the same way they do. But how does a mind get to that point? So I think that I've explained that one! Because I saw that shocked look on your face

Karma: No, believe it or not I have heard that answer before and can completely understand your reasoning!

Jon: He's probably one of the world's most famous people and he's probably done one of the world's most horrible things.

Karma: First job?

Jon: I was a newspaper boy, but that was my first technical job. I've had way too many! I worked in the mall every winter and Six Flags every summer, but paperboy was my first technical job.

Karma: If not music then what?

Jon: I don't know, my life would cease to exist! 'Cos even before I was in hardcore, before this band started touring as much as it did, I was a music major in college. My dad's a music teacher and my entire family is all in music so I don't think my life would exist without music!

Karma: If you could take a bath with anyone, whom would you take a bath with?

Jon: I'd have to say my girlfriend and the soundtrack would be made up of mainstream rap, again. [One of his band mates enters the van to request Jon's assistance, so the interview was cut at this point] Sorry, but I have to take care of some business.

Karma: I appreciate you talking to us! Please go and handle your business.

Jon: [smiles] No problem, it was my pleasure! Thank you!

I'd like to thank Jon for granting the interview to me, best of luck on your European tour with The Haunted and Martyr AD

Speaking of tours, wanna view pix from

tonight's show? Click here!