Q: What does "Guernica" mean?
A: 'Guernica' is a painting by Picasso of a town in Spain that was completely wiped off the map by the Germans during World War II. They basically used it for target practice to test weapons. We weren't really too preoccupied with trying to get a name, it just fit, and we liked that you can't tell our style of music from the name.

Q: How did the members come together?
A: The funny thing is that none of the members are original. Lance, the singer came first and people came and went. Steve, our guitarist was around for our first show, and Derick, our other guitarist played drums for a while. Then in April, 2003 Derick moved to guitar and we got Mike, our drummer and Scott, our bassist from another band, and this has been the line up ever since.

Q: What are you aiming for with this band? Do you have a goal?
A: We are basically trying to get signed but under our own conditions, meaning not changing our style. We feel the ultimate goal is to make a living doing what you love and not having some record company pulling your strings like most do. This is the greatest job in the world to us and if we can accomplish getting signed and supporting ourselves with music it will be the ultimate reward.

Q: What are your thoughts on the current hardcore scene? Is it evolving or on the brink of repitition?
A: We think the current metal/hardcore scene is amazing. There are so many great bands but the problem is there is not enough support. This metalcore genre or whatever you wanna call it has been a huge influence on us. Like usual the underground scene is alive and well but the commercial public is too dumb to appreciate intelligent, original music. People want to feel comfortable therefore they want to hear the same music over and over. We would love for our style of music to explode but people just aren't ready to accept it, the scary thing is they may never be.

Q: What is the local hardcore and metal scene like in your area?
A: In our area there is an over saturation of bands - there are a lot of good bands though, but our area is mainly into rap and club music. It makes it difficult to stand out with so many bands and not a lot of people are into our music. The good thing is all the hot spots are around us like New Jersey, Massachusetts, etc.

Q: You have a different sound - what influences do you have as a band?
A: We have such a huge range of influences, we try to combine everything that we listen to, sometimes even into one song. We are all into heavy music but it is the types of bands that are our favorites that come into these songs. All of our members are into different bands as far as favorites go.

Q: What do you think the key to sounding different in such a repetitive genre is?
A: There are a lot of bands that sound the same. You have to really dissect your songs and give them all a different flavor. All our songs are heavy but each one brings the listener somewhere different either lyrically or musically. The mistake bands make is in structure meaning choruses, verses, breakdowns, etc. are always in the same areas of songs. We try to put them in different spots, for example, breakdowns are usually placed in the middle of songs, we have songs where they are in the beginning or end. We are constantly discussing what we can do when we write a new song that we haven't done in the others. Also lyrical content is all over from political to personal to fantasy that is also different instead of writing every song about a heartbreak.

Q: Who is your "target audience"?
A: Our target audience is anyone who wants to give us a shot. There is nothing better than someone enjoying your music who doesn't necessarily listen to metal or hardcore, that means that we are reaching out to them in a different way. But of course we love our scene and the crazy kids in the pit.

Q: What do your lyrics reflect throughout your album What's Lurking Inside?
A: The lyrics on the album are about anything that strikes up an emotion. Politics, human behavior, relationships, etc. it is all in there. However our singer is feeling at the time usually finds its way into songs.

Q: What are your favorite songs off the record and your favorite songs to play live?
A: Our favorite songs off the record are probably "Frailty", "Exposed", and "Playing God", at the time that was the up to date stuff. But actually we don't play any of these songs live anymore. We have a whole new, different sounding set list now of brand new material.

Q: What would you like to achieve within the next year?
A: Within the next year we will have a new album coming that will blow people's minds. We are going to work our asses off, push the hell out of it, and hopefully get signed. We feel like we are getting close and something is bound to give.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: In closing we have a brand new album coming out early next year, the drum tracks are down. The album will be called A Collapse For The Underneath, and it will contain 9 brand new songs. It is our full evolution as a band, it is what we are about. Our last album What's Lurking Inside was us evolving, it wasn't quite there yet. We were still trying to define our sound on the last album. Some songs on the last one are over 3 years old. That last album was like a timeline of this band, we were growing through those songs. These 9 new songs that we have now are 'Guernica evolved'. They are more focused and more defined. Our life-force went into these songs, they are more brutal but yet more melodic. Metal riffs with hardcore breakdowns but with the Guernica trademark style of tempo changes. This new album will dwarf any of our previous work, I promise you. Make sure you pick it up when it comes out. For any info on us check out www.myspace.com.guernica Thank you.

REMEMBER - METAL IS A WAY OF LIFE, IT IS NOT JUST MUSIC, IT IS A LIFESTYLE. YOU HAVE TO LIVE IT AND BREATHE IT OR IT IS USELESS, AND SO ARE YOU. FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS AND REALIZE THAT MUSIC IS A PASSION, AND ONCE YOU LOSE THAT PASSION IT NEVER COMES BACK.
 

Click here to access a review of Guernica's CD