Paul: For the uninitiated, please give us a brief history of the band He Is Legend.
HIL: A few of us were in a band together all thru high school… a couple of the others were in other bands and we all just kinda joined up. that’s basically it.. we just wanted to play rock music… its what we love.
Paul: How would you describe your sound to someone yet to hear you?
HIL: We usually say Pantera meets Stone temple Pilots. But a little more southern rock…
Paul: How did the name ‘He Is legend‘ come about? There are many books with this in the title, is there a specific reason behind the name?
HIL: We got it from the Richard Matheson book. Its about vampires…
Paul: I read in one review someone described you as ‘Foo Fighters meets Every Time I Die‘. A fair description?
HIL: I dont think we would agree with the every time i die bit. i think they share a lot of the same influences that we do. so maybe that’s why their name and ours are tossed around in the same sentence. great band though.
Paul: Emo/post-hardcore/screamo. Genres classifications – good or bad?
HIL: I’d say bad, then id say rock n roll. that is the only one we want… classification wise.
Paul: How did you wind-up on Solid State? Was there interest from a number of labels?
HIL: We had a few, but we are really good friends with a number of bands on the label.. so it just seemed right…
Paul: Many reviews of the new album suggest there’s a big leap in sound since the EP. Was it a conscious descision to move the HIL sound on, or have these subtle changes come more naturally?
HIL: We’ve always changed record to record. even from our older days under different names.. we are already working on our next record and i think people will be surprised when they hear it. i think progression is a great thing. if we kept writing the same way it would soon get bland.
Paul: Having never been, what exactly is wrong with Hollywood?
HIL: We didn’t really write the record around the city itself.. a lot of people just assumed that. i think its more of a story book.. about people who live their lives unrealistically. wether it be with your job, or relationships, or your vices… a lot of people live life like they are in the movies.
Paul: Where did you get the idea for the video for ‘the seduction’?
HIL: We were just shooting around a bunch of ideas with our director, and with the budget we had we knew that some of the things wouldn’t work.. so we figured it would work if we used puppets.. they came to us with the scenario and we flipped… i love our video.
Paul: Who came up with the concept and art for the new album? It’s rather funky…
HIL: Funky is a good way to put it.. Our friend Ryan Clark at Tooth and Nail did it. We told him a few things.. specifically not to have it look like anything that would come out in our “scene”
Paul: If there are three bands you could take on tour with you (that are active touring bands), who would they be and why?
HIL: More like take us out… I’d love to go out with Cave In, or Codeseven, both really incredible bands.. our dream is to tour with the foo fighters. maybe some one can call dave and set that up.. Turbonegro would be so much fun and we love that band.
Paul: Any plans for a trip over to the UK to tour during 2005?
HIL: Yes, we are headed over with Norma Jean and Atreyu in April.
Paul: Do you have any pre-conceptions of how well the record will do here in the UK when it’s released at the end of the month?
HIL: Not really at all.. we are so new to this whole deal..we’re just a couple of rednecks from the states… nothing phases us yet.
Paul: Do you enjoy the media side of being in a band? Does answering the same old questions frustrate/annoy you?
HIL: Not really… its all fresh and new right now so we like it.. but i guess it wears off… im still having fun right now though. Haha
Paul: If you were an interviewer asking He Is Legend a question, what would you ask and why? What would the answer be?
HIL: Favorite cheese? because i love cheese, and the answer would be cheddar. However pepper jack goes well with crab dip.