Scott: Me and Nate have been skateboarding forever. We knew Ben back in the day skateboarding too. We hadn't really talked in a long time but we would take trips and would rage out to the same music and all kinds of shit.

This started around skateboarding.

Scott: Yeah, yeah.

Nate: Then we skateboarded for years and years and at least I was like "what I am going to do?" I started to go to this school and then he started to go to the same school and that's where we met our drummer. Then he was all into the same kind of music we were and so we decided to start this band. Then we putzed around for six months and just came up with stuff but it didn't really feel whole. Then we just came up with the idea that we'll invite Ben because he was with this band Upheaval and they had just broken up. We thought maybe he wanted to do something else. Then he agreed and we started practicing with him and this became serious. We started writing songs that I thought were actually pretty okay. Then we came up with demos and now here we are doing this.

So this all started around skateboarding. That's interesting. Where does the name Demiricous come from?

Scott: We just made it up. We didn't want a name that meant anything. We didn't want anything that was sticking with an image so we just made a word up that sounded metal.

Nate: We don't really have a stance on anything. Or at least I don't feel like I do. I don't know anything. I just wander around trying to have fun. That's my only goal.

Scott: None of us are super political one way or religious one way. It's just whatever. We don't want to steer anyone in any direction.

I don't blame you for that. I've noticed lately that things have gotten a little political. That's cool. I like to go down the happy road myself. What do you feel makes your band different from other bands that are out there?

Nate: An older style. It's an older style. Nobody's really doing older stuff. They're doing more melodic singing and stuff and I can't fucking sing so that didn't happen. We're just doing what we wanted to do when we were 16. We're just being the band we wanted to be when we were 16 or 18.

Scott: The music that I listened to in middle school and high school, all the old thrash bands, that's stuff that really stuck with me. There are some bands out there that are playing it but not a whole lot of bands are playing that now. They're doing the whole metalcore thing. Genre mixing and whatever. That never really hit a chord with me at all. I've been listening to the same five albums for 20 years and I can't get over that kind of style. Everything I would write would sound just like that. I can't get in to a lot of the stuff that's happening today. I think all of us are on that same page. We just wrote the stuff that we wrote. It's got a lot of '80s influence and early '90s influence too. If we're different it's probably because of that.

You guys have played with bands like Exodus which is probably one of your main influences and Malevolent Creation and King Diamond. What was it like to play with some of those bands?

Nate: Exodus was the best. The other ones, we never really even talked to them but it was for one show.

Scott: The King Diamond thing was in a round about way.

Nate: That was a fest.

Scott: I couldn't say about anybody else. Malevolent Creation, we opened up for them.

Nate: Yeah, that was another fest but it was at home.

Scott: Yeah, it was an at home thing.

Nate: Exodus was really cool because they hung out and stuff.

Scott: Gary Holt had us on stage and that was back when we had one demo out. We weren't trying to do shit. That was a good ass show.

Apparently he must have really appreciated that stuff. You guys are coming out or have come out with an album called One. Tell me a little bit about it.

Nate: I don't know, the thing's been written forever. It just took forever to get it out. It's old fucking fun thrash.

Scott: Old '80s, early '90s inspired thrash metal. Maybe a little bit of modernity to it I guess. With the drums maybe and then maybe with a little bit of the vocals and stuff. It's like party music to me. It's an album that you can just go home and drink a bunch of beers with your buddies and then break something that you like and then the next day you're pissed off.

People writing music that's fun is a rare commodity these days.

Nate: I don't take it too seriously. Songwriting yeah but as far as playing live and shit, it's just a good time.

Scott: Like we were saying earlier, there's no political crap or religious crap or anything that's getting in the way.

You're not pissed off at your parents or the world.

Nate: Everybody got their lunch money stolen. Everybody got made fun of. We're not thinking about our ex-girlfriends. It's just party time. A lot of the songs, for instance "Hellraisers", is about our hometown and just raging with our buddies. Just having an amazing time. Going to shows and drinking beer and just having the best time ever.

You recorded and mixed your record at Planet Z studios with a guy named Zeuss.

Scott: Yeah, he's done some Shadows Fall records.

Nate: Metal Blade had real good luck with the Red Chord album right before we went in. When we went to sign the deal, we thought somebody else was going to record it but we were going through these weird negotiations like money and this and that. We could only give so much and they wanted more. When we got there, we got this guy and they had good luck with the Red Chord so we were like okay. We'll do it. Let's get it done.

How do you feel about his participation? Do you think he did a good job?

Scott: I think he did pretty good. The main goal was to make the record that didn't sound like everybody else's as far as production goes. We didn't want so much kick drum in the recording. Fuck all that. We wanted it to be a good mix that sounded kind of older but still as powerful as today's shit. I think we accomplished that. I don't think all of us were able to give our best performances in the studio because it was just stuck. There was confusion between communicating with him. Sometimes things would be like "what's going on?" The main goal is accomplished.

It was your first experience with something like that.

Nate: Yeah, we really didn't know how much say we had so we didn't really speak up that much. It was the first time to work with somebody that never heard us ever before. Usually we record with our friends who just come to shows all the time and shit like that. It was cool. It was fun. It was an experience, that's for sure.

How has the tour been going so far?

Scott: Pretty good. We got robbed right away. They took everything we had as far as money goes and shit.

Nate: We had 3000 bucks and a really nice digital camera that our roadie had.

Scott: Took Ben's medicine for his diabetes. Took our food.

That's really nice to take someone's diabetes medicine.

Nate: It was a pretty ridiculous part of town so they probably saw needles and said "yeah!" It's been all right. The show response has been hit or miss. Every once in a while people won't know what the fuck is going on at all. They're young. They've never even heard Metallica.

Is that possible?

Scott: A lot of it is the tour we're on. We're on tour with some of our good buddies. Like Still Remains, they're under the same manager. This is our first headlining tour and they asked us to go and we said of course. Hell yes. They're a different genre than we are totally. Totally aimed at a different core audience. The West coast has been pretty awesome but on our way there, for instance Boise, Idaho, we're playing to a bunch of 14 year old kids with haircuts who have no idea what the hell is going on.

Nate: They just sat down. They were like this is boring. They don't know where we're coming from at all. They're just like what the fuck is going on.

Scott: Some of the shows have been like that but not lately. Last night we played a raging show in Lubbock, Texas. That was insane. It was awesome. Probably the best show we've had since our home show for sure.

Not a lot of shit happens in Lubbock. You were the best thing that could come along.

Nate: We'll bring it to Lubbock every time. It was awesome.

Scott: Yeah, it's hit or miss but it's fun.

Nate: We're doing some shit with Dismember. Not that this tour sucks because it doesn't, it's awesome and we're having a great time. I think we'll get better responses when we're actually on a tour with metal kids going. Pulling people out of the woodwork. Like that 35 year old guy who has a wife and kids who works at Lowe's or a steel mill.

Or that 38 year old who works at Wal-Mart and loves her shit hard and heavy.

Nate: Probably when we get on those tours, there will be some people there that will actually be interested in hearing us.

It's interesting because I think it's cool sometimes when different types of bands get together and mix it up a little bit. One thing that it does is that it introduces people to different things. Maybe the next time you come around those kids will remember you and come check you out again.

Nate: Yeah, you're totally right but at the same time too, we might be having a good time and it might piss a kid off. I really don't care but it's just a difference between the two. It's the tour.

Scott: I know I'm not a bad person. So fuck you.

I like this. "I'm an old school motherfucker and I miss the rage." That is cool.

Nate: Like I told you dude, I buy album after album after album. I buy everything. I have 10,000 at my house. No, I don't. I probably have 2,000 albums. Usually what I'll do is I'll buy five albums at a time. I'll put them in and I'll spend a half hour doing that. Listening to a couple of songs and then I'll put Rust In Peace back in. I try but nothing hits me as hard as some of that old shit. I don't know if that has to do with me just being old and not understanding what's going on now in metal or me being a kid back then and being so impressionable. That's just the way I am.

With me the older I've gotten, the more open my mind has gotten to shit. I've really gotten into black metal and shit. I absolutely love that shit.

Nate: I'm open minded but at the same time I've been able to pick out bullshit. When you see somebody with all these gimmicks playing and you feel they're so fucking half assed. You don't even need to do all that shit. Just play your music.

Scott: Just save your money on a hairdo and a belt and just go up there and sing. All is cool. Look at this. I spend a lot of money on my clothes. I bet this whole outfit was under three or four bucks.

You guys have hair. I love that. I am so tired of that shaved head convict I just got off Death Row look. That is the one thing I can't handle. When they're 50 years old and they don't have a damn hair left on their heads, they are going to regret the day they could grow hair.

Nate: When I used to wait tables and I had hair, the only people that ever mentioned it were old dudes and they thought my hair was wonderful. I'd tell them that's hilarious because they're the only ones who think that. He was like "grow that shit. It's awesome." I used to have that happen to me at least three times waiting tables.

Well, grow that shit. It's awesome. How much longer is the tour for?

Scott: It's a six week tour. We're dead center in the middle of it either today or tomorrow. We'll be in the exact middle.

Nate: It's a six week tour here in the U.S. and then there's two days off we'll be at home. Then we're going to the U.K. That's a different bill but Still Remains is taking us over there. But this tour is six weeks.

Have you been overseas before?

Scott: No, this will be the first time.

You guys did a video for "Vagrant Idol".

Scott: That was awesome actually. That was a ridiculous experience because that was our first. We didn't even know what we were getting into. Our manager tells us we're shooting a video. We're flying out to New York and we're going to shoot it in Queens. We're like okay. We flew out there and they had this whole crew set up and they were all working on it and we're just standing around doing all this shit for hours and it was amazing actually. They let us destroy a car. There was supposed to be a narrative but we only had 12 hours to film it. The narrative is hilarious. The lyrics were about a character that has nothing to lose so it's hard to hurt him. All these people with all this rich bullshit, you can waste their stuff and they'll be so pissed. We had this narrative where these rich people just look down on us like a motherfucker while we're walking through.

Nate: They taunt us.

Scott: We're like "we'll waste something that you care about." I feel like if somebody wasted my car right now, I'd be like okay. It's the worst pile of shit car ever. You can have it. But that was the narrative. Let's waste something that these people shouldn't care about. It really didn't come across too well. It just looks like we're assholes. There's a lot of hair and then we just smash somebody's car for no reason but it looks awesome I think. It was filmed in the most amazing part of Queens. It was this one strip and it's all these ridiculously huge factory buildings but they would rent out spaces to all these graffiti artists so it was just huge pieces all the way down. The video is in black and white so you can't really tell too much but when you were there it was like holy shit. There's so much good shit there.

Oh so you did it in black and white.

Nate: It's black and white but it's called color wash. It's black and white but certain things are in color.

That's fucking cool. I used to really love horror movies they did before color television. They did them in black and white and they looked more creepy. They do them all in color now and they don't have the same creepiness. Any other thoughts or comments?