As I Lay Dying: "whether they’re a Christian band or a Satanic band. We want to play with those bands"
June 9, 2008 by Scott
Way Too Loud recently interviews As I Lay Dying’s Drummer Jordan Mancino. They discussed everything from his new handle bar mustache, shooting videos and touring with satanic bands such as Behemoth. Here are a few excerpts.
WTL: Well, since the first new thing I’m noticing is the handle bar mustache, you’ve got to explain that. It’s huge! You look like a Hell’s Angel!
Jordan: (Laughs) I was growing a beard in December, and then we had a photo shoot for DW ( the drum company), and I didn’t want a beard for that, so I shaved it into a moustache just for fun, and it just kind of grew on me for a couple of days. They were digging it, so I was like “Sweet!” Then they said they wanted me to do a commercial too! It’s been cool because it’s getting me work!
WTL: The video for “Nothing Left” debuted recently. What’s it like shooting a video, especially from the position of the drummer? And does Tim scream or lip-sync?
Jordan: Sometimes he screams, sometimes he doesn’t. We’ve got to run through the song so many times that he’ll blow out his voice if he screams the whole time. Usually you just play along with the track, nothing is miked, and no sound is coming out. As far as I’m concerned, I could not shoot another video, ever! If I could do that, I’d be happy! I just don’t like shooting videos, I like the end result product, because it looks really cool. I have to play the song so many times, and I get so exhausted after the 15th run-through. Being the drummer, I’m always in the background, even if they’re doing a close-up of the guitar player or the singer, I’m always in the background while everyone else gets to take a break, because even if no one else is in the shot, I’m always in the background. Those are my cranky days. I’m usually in pretty good spirits most days. I might not like it, but I’m not going to complain about it too much!
WTL: You’ve toured with Satanic bands before, more specially Behemoth twice, and I’ve heard you’ve had a good time hanging out with them, and they even put you on the thank you list in the back of one of their albums (more specifically in “Demigod”). Do you think you’re sending a different kind of message, a good message, by touring with bands who have such different religious views?
Jordan: Yeah! I think we’re sending the right message, whether or not it’s different from what other bands have said, I don’t know. I think there’s a portion of the Christian community that’s very un-accepting to that kind of stuff. They’ll say don’t touch it, don’t get near it, don’t be involve with it, don’t affiliate yourself with it , but as a band and as Christians, it doesn’t matter to us. They’re a band, whether they’re a Christian band or a Satanic band, it doesn’t matter to us. We want to play with those bands, we want to become friends with those bands. If we happen to create a friendship, that’s awesome!
Me personally, I’ve had several very good conversations about Christianity, and what they believe, an anti-Christian viewpoint from Nergal. We’ve talked a lot, and as far as philosophies of religion and life go, I don’t think there was much progress on either of our ends, but we were able to understand each other, and where we were coming from. I understand his viewpoint a lot more, and I understand where he comes from, and at the end of the conversation, we still had a mutual respect for one another. We come from opposite ends of the spectrum, but we still have respect for each other, and we still want to play music with each other.
You don’t necessarily have to agree with someone to be their friend and accept them. As a Christian as well, what good does it do to preach to the choir? And the same thing with them. If they were to go around and play for instance, only in Satanic churches every day, what good would their message be? They’re passionate about what they do, so they want to go play to a different audience, where they can express what they believe to that audience. It’s up to the audience to whether or not they look into what their beliefs are, and the same thing with us. They’re looking for opportunities to look out for what they believe in and share what they believe in, and they’re passionate about it, the same way we are.
That’s kind of a long answer!
Read the rest of this interview here.
Image Source: Newscom.com
And yes, I know the picture is not Jordan Mancino, but it was the best pic I could find that I can legally use.
Man, if only more people had this same view toward beliefs other than their own. As I Lay Dying just gained major respect from me.
I hear you, Steve. AILD is a great band but they get a lot of flack and I really don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because they get a following of Christian fans that don’t quite fit the metal image and get labeled as Mallcore kids. I say, if it’s some kick ass metal who gives a shit about what their personal views are unless they are totally left field.
I think a lot of the “Satanic” bands go a bit overboard in speaking their
gimmickmessage, but overall it’s some cool heavy, hard hitting, brutal music and in the end that’s what I really like.People who say that there is no such thing as “Christian Metal” are just wrong. There is no reason why christian teens have to listen to the Praise and Worship stuff instead of the stuff that most of us like. AILD are christians who sing mainstream stuff which is awesome.
Well said, Alex.
I love this band!!!! As a christian myself, I’m into all kinds of Rock/Metal bands including Slayer and Dimmu Borgir. The music is awesome, I just don’t pay full attention or “preach” their lyrics
I can respect christian metal bands as long as they’re not ALL ABOUT their religious affiliations. The same really goes for “satanic” bands too. Bands like Creed, who constantly created songs with overtly christian messages, but who always tried to deny it, or say that some song or another wasn’t really about God, when it clearly was, don’t get any respect from me. The same goes for P.O.D. after their first album.
For example, Zao was a pretty cool band, and had someone not told me they were christian metal I never would have known the difference really. That may be because most of their lyrics were unintelligible anyway, but my point still stands.
In the end it’s just good business sense to not try and deliberately alienate people who might find your music attractive just because they don’t share your religion or ideology.
To the owner of this blog, and people who reads this:
I don’t know your status or opinion about God, but I know He loves you… maybe it’s something that it’s getting old for you, but it’s true, and He won’t get tired of saying it you. With all his heart He wants you with Him. Pray and ask Him that you can find Him, because He has already been looking for you.
(If anything, you could write me)
All i have to say… is that when i was not a christian i ran accross AILD and i was amazed by there music and style. I thank god that AILD is getting the respect they deserve. I understand the some of the worship music is just so blah.. whatever if you will… im glad that christians with the musical ability to express the glory of god into a metal sound for all people who only listen to metal music to get the message of what god is and what he can do. So with that being said… let AILD be blessed.
i like all about metal music, everything what i need there’s in metal..! metal are my blood and my stars…! bring me the air to breath…!
I 100% agree with AILD point of view. Fellow Christians are always asking me why Christian bands tour with non-Christian bands. Because of all the “partying/sex/drugs/etc” that non-Christian bands do. It is just stupid. My point of view is, if you want to lead people to Christ, don’t wait for them to come to church to do it. You have to go out to THEM! I also like that a lot of Christian metal bands (AILD, Zao, Demon Hunter, etc.) don’t blatantly sing “Jesus loves you” with their lyrics. Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter said it best. “My relationship with God is a very personal thing. It would be very impersonal to go up on stage and preach to a crowd when there might be someone who doesn’t want to hear it. I believe in talking 1-on-1 with kids after shows while hanging out.” Praise and Worship is really blah, as already said. Nothing wrong with the words, but the music is just so gross. And Alex, don’t even get me started on people saying that there is no such thing as “Christian Metal”. Those people drive me to violence.