As I Lay Dying bass player Josh Gilbert, who joined the band in 2006, recently talked with the StarPhoenix.
StarPhoenix: Describe As I Lay Dying's latest album The Powerless Rise.
Josh Gilbert: (Lead singer) Tim Lambesis wrote most of the lyrics, so the whole album centres around how he thinks, and we in the band agree with him, that people in general place a lot of importance in having material possessions or money. The album is kind of offering a solution to that. That way of thinking just dooms yourself to unhappiness. I guess it's just about having a more community-centric view on the world. Most of the problems you think you have are definitely due to financial reasons. It's not the deepest, most philosophical concept. It's pretty simple. But the record focuses on viewing simplicity as a positive thing.
SP: So do you think that's an attitude your fans can get on board with?
JG: We don't want to be a political band because, first and foremost, we want to be just a metal band that is musically entertaining and that other musicians can respect. But we really encourage fans to really read the lyrics and be aware of the message. At the same time, we don't want to ram that message down their throats. If they are just there for the music that's cool too. There's a lot of bands that I don't care to read the lyrics of because they're probably not something I'm interested in. I love Cannibal Corpse, but I'm not actually into slaughtering people. (laughs)
SP: How is the new album different from previous ones?
JG: It has been a slow growth. I've been a fan of the band since before (2003's) Frail World Collapse. But every record is pushed a little more toward cohesive songwriting. It started out as a more spastic, chaotic sound and every record it articulates a bit. This record, over the last record which was my first one with As I Lay Dying, we definitely spent a lot more time writing songs.
All around the details are a lot more thought out. We wrote a lot more songs and made cuts. I think about 40 songs were written. It was definitely a record where we would get an idea and really experiment with it.
SP:What has been your weirdest fan experience during your time with the band?
JG: There's actually not many weird ones. But there are these two girls, and I actually know them now because they come to every show anytime we're around Philadelphia. They bring gift cards and food gift certificates. It's just insane that these two girls are so stoked on our band and know all our songs. It's not weird at all, it's just crazy.
SP: What was your most memorable gig?
JG: We played Sri Lanka last December, which was the first time a band had played there in like 15 years because they had a civil war. The last person to play there was Ricky Martin before we played. The promoter said he was expecting 3,500 people, which is crazy. We can't even really draw that where we're from. We get there and this guy had bought pyro for us. And I guess Sri Lanka is famous for jewels, so they took our album for An Ocean Between Us to some jeweler; he made a mosaic out of jewels of our album cover. Then during our show a serious monsoon starts, so probably half the audience leaves, which was definitely nowhere near 3,500. But it was still a huge show; we were stoked.
SP: How does the band spend its time on the road?
JG: I think exploring is one of my favourite things, especially now because I'm into this hobby called Geocaching. The object is to use some sort of GPS and basically people hide these things called Geocaches, which is basically a small object with a log with it. You basically hide it somewhere and you give the co-ordinates but you try to make it hard to find. They are in every urban area in the world. There are literally like two million of them.
People make them really hard to find. There's been times where I've looked for one for like two hours and not found it. It sounds super nerdy, but if you have nothing to do it's great.
SP: What's your favourite album ever?
JG: It's between probably Deftones' White Pony, Andrew W.K. I Get Wet and At the Drive-In Relationship of Command. I do have a Deftones White Pony tattoo, though, so maybe that means it's my favourite.
Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/entertainment/Dying+Josh+Gilbert+stresses+simplicity/3601742/story.html#ixzz11Nu5Ddpf
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