Throwdown Interview

Interview
Dave Peters
Throwdown

Lineup:
Vocals: Dave Peters
Guitar: Matt Mentley
Bass: Dom Macaluso
Drums: Ben Dussault

6/3/05
Email Interview
Interview & Photo: Sharita Lumpkin

Throwdown, a band out of the hardcore heavy west coast, are ready to release their follow-up release of Haymaker, called Vendetta. They're also about to embark on the Sounds of The Underground Tour with the likes of The Red Chord, Nora, and Chimaira. In this interview, Dave talks about an interesting teen memory, what band he thinks is truly hardcore, and he has a joke about John Pettibone of HIMSA too. Read on!

Tell me the history of the band and how you got started?
Nah, that's boring, man. You can read that on a website. Let me tell you a story about sleep-crapping. I got up late one night when I was sixteen to use the bathroom and there was shit on all four walls, the sink, cabinet, and the shower door. I was in awe to say the least, but I traced the trail of poop back to my seven year old brother's room and called him out. He woke and stood up, looked at his poopy pants and started laughing. I showed him the bathroom and he didn't remember any of it. We tried to figure out how one shits at three hundred and sixty degrees in their sleep, but to no avail.

What is the best word to describe your music?
Phat.

Throwdown comes from the hardcore heavy west coast, what were your influences growing up as well as now?
We've listened to Unbroken and Undertow a lot. Had we known then what we know now and realized John Pettibone would be wearing women's pants at age forty-seven, then we might have started a rap group in 1997.

Is the new album, Vendetta, different from the last release of Haymaker?
Definitely. It's got two different members, eleven different songs and a totally different name entirely.

How was it working with legendary producer Zeuss?
It ruled. However, when you find out that a dude with a Greek God moniker is really named Shane, it kind of spoils it all for you. He was awesome, though, and is an amazing producer and engineer. Hopefully we get to work with him on the next record if he doesn't find out we hid a duke behind his mixing console.

What bands do you think are truly hardcore?
No Warning, they've got it all figured out.

"Burn" was filmed by Chris Sims who worked on Forever with you and the press release says that it would make Beavis pretty proud, elaborate.
We light a lot of shit on fire including our friend Kirk. He's fine, though, and will be out of ICU in no time.

Are you self taught or did you take lessons?
A little bit of both. I started off with lessons but every instructor I had managed to up and leave on me, so I started teaching myself. I think it's good because you develop your own style that way and don't rely so much on theory or what someone else thinks is right. There is no right or wrong...

How did the band get signed with Trustkill?
We were in a mall and this guy with bleached hair, a twenty-four hour fitness polo and suspicious footwear beckoned us over to his kiosk. Gave us some spiel about a group rate or something which would save us tons of money...I don't know it's all a blur, he talked real fast. Long story short, our lawyer says we don't have a leg to stand on.

Who came up with the album cover?
Ryan Clark of Asterik Studios, artistic and musical genius, singer of Demon Hunter and all around good dude.

What made you decide to do a bonus DVD?
We're big fans of bonuses, ourselves. We like kids cereals and the prizes contained therein, we like when you buy shampoo and get an entire second bottle free, we like Snickers that say "forty percent more FREE!" on the wrapper, and the word "bonus" is pretty awesome. It's kinda like bone - us. We're confident that our fans are on the same page and will appreciate all the aforementioned just as well.

Thanks to Dave for answering all the questions and entertaining us as well and to Jensen over at Adrenaline for making it all possible!