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Sean:
So… I know you don't know who we are or anything, so just ask what
you wanna ask! I'm Sean, I play bass for The Autumn Offering, I talk to
people, laugh at people…Tina:
[laughs] Oh yeah, I'll have this transcribed and posted on my site later.
Sean: Oh yeah, in some foreign language?
Tina: What?! No, in English! [laughing]
Sean: Oh right, sorry. Oh yeah, we're
in Toronto! We played Montreal last night and nobody spoke fuckin English.
I dunno, it's all Canada man! [laughs]
Tina: Yeah don't worry, it'll be in English.
Sean: That would fuckin rule! Anything
you can do would be great cos nobody knows who the fuck we are.
Tina: Okay well, where are you guys from?
Sean: Daytona Beach, Florida…
fuckin Nascar calendar, we might as well be… we killed Dale Earnhardt
- if anybody in Canada knows who Dale Earnhardt is…
Tina: I don't
Sean: He's the famous race car driver
and he smashed his fuckin head into our wall!
Tina: WHAT?!
Sean: Yeah, he died at our track!
So I guess that's our claim to …err…?
Tina: That's a horrible story!! [laughs]
Sean: [laughing] Yeah it is, but it's
ironic in a way.
Tina:
Okay, how long have you guys been around?
Sean: Umm, we've been a band probably
- originally we started like, me and our other guitar player (who just
left us on this tour because he couldn't fucking take it or whatever)
and -
[another guy walks into the room]
Sean: This is Nick, our drummer.
Tina: Hi Nick!
Sean: Nick, say hello.
Nick: Hi!
Sean: What's your last name? Bonham?
Nick: It's Nick Gelyon actually. It's
French, believe it or not.
Sean: There ya go! So anyways, we
started out with him - he left us for whatever the hell reason - but me
and him started this when we were umm… I was like 13, turning 14.
It's been about five and a half, six years.
Tina: Wow, that's young!
Sean: Yeah, yeah, we're just now getting
our record out and getting tours and shit… so it's been a while.
I just turned 20, I'm still young!
Tina:
Are you guys signed to a label?
Sean: Yeah, we're on Stillborn Records
- it's Jamie [Jasta] from Hatebreed's record label. We're on that and
they're pushing it, so we're just touring our fucking asses off!
Tina:
How did you guys get signed to that label?
Sean: It's a weird story, but I'll
tell it quick! Went to New York for my birthday and Hatebreed was playing
the next day or on my birthday or something like that. And we saw them
and gave them a demo - I was probably 14 at the time. I think I had just
turned 15. Talked to them for a while, kept in touch, Jamie kept sending
out stuff. Sooner or later we were like, "Put us on your shows when
you come into town!" and the next thing we know, he's like "Alright,
we want to sign you." And that was pretty much it. It was just years
and years of talking and passing -
[Another
guy walks in]
Guy: Hey guys! All three of you!
Sean: Dude, I'm not having sex with
you again!
Guy: No, no, no… in Phoenix,
I've got a call - Northside Kings is going on after you.
Sean: Hell, fuck yeah!
Guy: So it's both bands alright, it's
a done deal!
Sean: Hey, tell them only if they
knock out Danzig again.
Guy: Okay, fair enough! I'll let you
go fuck with yourselves now.
[Guy leaves]
Sean:
Anyways, so long story short, over the years he kept us in mind and sooner
or later he heard something he liked and said "Hey, you wanna get
signed?" and that was it. So it was weird, it was really weird.
Tina: Were you surprised?
Sean: Yeah it was weird because we
wanted to give him our press pack and he's like, "Don't worry about
it, consider yourselves signed." We're like, "Aaaall right…?"
And I wasn't even there! I was looking around for him because I'm always
the guy giving shit out - so I come back downstairs and the other guys
are like, "DUDE! He said we're signed!" I'm like, "What
the fuck?! Alright, I'm going to the bus and make sure this is real, that
they're not fucking with me." So I went to the tour bus and Jamey's
there - he's like, "Don't worry about it man, everything's good.
Good to go!" I'm like, "Fuck! Cool! Let's go party!" And
that's pretty much it! [laughs]
Tina:
Okay, for people who haven't heard your music, how would you describe
it?
Sean: [thinks] Umm… hey Matt!
How would you describe our music? Carnival tunes?
Matt: Err…?? [mumbles something…
random screaming and laughter from other bands in the background]
Sean: Okay, do you want us to list
similar bands?
Matt: It's metal with a southern kind
of edge to it, but still kinda like In Flames kinda stuff, Pantera meets….
Sean: Yeah it's like thrash metal,
rock n roll, southern…asshole! It's like Pantera, Slayer, Hatebreed,
Shadows Fall, Motley Crue, Guns n Roses, Alice in Chains. Those are our
influences and we try to just take that with our own ideas and make what
we can. I just call it heavy metal/rock n roll because that's the only
two genres that I really love that much. Heavy metal rock n roll - there
ya go!
Tina:
How long have you been touring?
Sean: We left home on December 15th
and we haven't seen home since. But what we do is… every show we
do, the next day the next one starts, and you just keep going.
Tina: Has it been just North America so far?
Sean: Yeah, we've done like four or
five US tours non-stop, so it's been about 120 plus days non-stop.
Matt: We've been touring before for
two years
Sean: Yeah, we did a bunch of self-booked
tours before we got signed, you know, before anybody paid attention. I
used to call promoters, call kids, we'd play basement shows, have shows
in shitty bars, pretty much anywhere that would have us really. So we
did that, I think I booked about six or seven or so - somewhere between
six and nine, those type of tours. Where it's pretty much us failing miserably,
coming home broke, coming home early cos we couldn't live, cos we were
starving to death. We kept doing that, lived in a fucking van - we still
do! But we did that for a while, we toured for years. But like… touring
for "real", for the past year, two years - we've been out like
120 plus days now. We're not going home till late May - it's like what
now, March?
Tina:
What kinda reactions do you guys get from crowds who don't really know
you?
Sean: Overall it's been pretty fucking
cool actually! We did some shows with Ill Nino, that went over really
well. We did Stillborn Fest, which was the record label's 5 day thing
- that was really great. I'm not sure if it's before or after, but we
did some off dates with this band called With Passion, who are on Earache
Records.
Tina: Oh yeah, I saw them recently!
Sean: They fuckin rock!! [laughs]
Their singer is Satan! YEAH! So those guys were really cool, we did like
some smaller shows to fill in the days and then we played with… Then
we played the Hatebreed tour. Hatebreed, Agnostic Front, us and Diecast
and Love is Red. That was fuckin awesome! I mean it's Hatebreed for chrissakes,
it's a pretty big band! And the reaction was really good there too and
then we did umm… After that was Otep, and Candiria and American Headcharge.
And for the most part that was really good. And then we did Cryptopsy
- and that was kinda like in-between because they're waiting to hear like
extremely fuckin death, like mass grind metal! And we're not that at all.
So it was kinda hit or miss every night, but we still gained a few friends
and fans, whatever you want to call them. And now we're doing Kreator,
and Kreator fuckin rules! This tour's been awesome because it's more our
style, and kids seem to catch on and they like it.
Tina:
Awesome! So you said you had a demo, right? Is that a full CD or just
a demo?
Sean: Yeah, yeah, the demo was actually
just the old shit we recorded actually in Matt's (the guitar player's)
room, like upstairs in his grandma's house! [laughs]
Matt: We got signed though! So we
did pretty good.
Sean: Yeah! [laughs] So it was cool,
it came out pretty good for what it was. It was a couple of songs and
an intro. We were just trying to get something out there, give people
a chance to listen to it. But we have our debut album out on Stillborn,
it's called Revelations of the Unsung, band name's called The Autumn Offering.
We recorded with Zeuss, who did the Hatebreed record, Perseverance, and
the new Hatebreed record, Rise of Brutality, and he also did the two previous
Shadows Fall albums, God Forbid, all those bands. So we got to work with
a guy we wanted to work with, and then it came out. I'm really proud of
it, and we're all pretty happy with it. It's 10 songs, and it's five years
of songs combined. New shit, old shit, it's all on there!
Tina:
Yeah, congrats on that! Now, what's your website and do you have any last
words for us? (I've gotta run back to the photo pit for Kreator!)
Sean: www.zipperspalace.com [laughs]
Matt: No!
Sean: [to Matt] Mind if I add that
in there?
Matt: [laughing] No, feel free
Sean: Okay, our site's hosted on Matt's
father's porn site. I shit you not. So definitely check out www.zipperspalace.com
for err chicks with like clits that are like penises cos they're so big
(am I allowed to say this??)
Matt: It sounds funny but then I have
to go home and live with this!
Sean: [laughs] Our website's www.theautumnoffering.com
not autumnoffering.com, not autumnSoffering.com, not augustanything -
www.theautumnoffering.com
Tina: Okay, it'll be in text!
Sean: Cool, then they can't fuck it
up! And go on there, there are two songs off the record. Please listen
to them both, please sign the guestbook and say what you think. And if
you like it, we'll keep in touch when we come through, and if not, we'll…err..
never bother you again!
Tina:
[laughing] Thanks guys!
Sean: Yeah I appreciate the interview,
thanks!!
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