Did Somebody Die Or Something? | Whatever you do, don’t smile. There’s no room for smiling in metalcore. None.
As I Lay Dying
w/ Misery Signals, August Burns Red. May 3rd (8pm). Starlite Room (10030-102 St). Sold out.
Since their 2003 debut album Frail Worlds Collapse became a bestseller for Metal Blade Records, the San Diego metalcore quintet As I Lay Dying has made a point of exposing their music to different fanbases, a mission that has taken them as far away as Japan and Australia. Talking to guitarist Nick Hipa, it’s apparent that playing live and connecting with fans in the international metal community is one of their main priorities.
“Playing live is more the fun of what we do,” Hipa says. “There’s not as much at stake in playing live as when we’re recording.... When things aren’t perfect, you’ll stress yourself out until you get it right. When it works out, it is quite gratifying but there is this whole stressful part of it that makes [recording] less appealing than touring. When we’re in different parts of the world, things are kind of the same, but there are some differences in cultures. Like in Japan, for instance, it will be extremely quiet between songs, whereas in Germany they’re screaming all the time and going crazy. We love both. If some touring musician ever has the time and intelligence to do it, you could probably come up with some interesting anthropological study of this stuff.”
Within the North American circuit, As I Lay Dying had been one of the standbys on the roster of heavy music tours. But even in the middle of a headlining tour, Hipa recognizes the major fests as part of the reason their fanbase has grown so quickly. “We could have stayed on the OzzFest/Sound of the Underground circuit and just never branched off from that,” he says. “But because we had the opportunity to do Taste of Chaos and the Warped tour, the people who are into Deftones and their heavy parts see us play and get stoked.... It’s been a big reason as to why a lot of bands like Killswitch [Engage], who have a lot more to offer than one style specifically, are gaining new fans still.”
An Ocean Between Us, which came out last August, is Dying’s commentary on Western society’s traditional notions of success, and what Hipa and his bandmates deem to be worthy lifestyle choices. “You don’t have to conform to the norms around you,” Hipa says. “It may sound clichéd, but it’s true. You don’t have to live a life other than a life on your terms, as long as you feel passionate about it.... And I think the reason that we have people coming to shows and buying our stuff is that we’re a pretty real band. We don’t try to yell at kids and talk down to them. I think that in a live setting, that translates into a stronger love and respect between us and our fans.”
