January 16, 2004

Interview: Roy's Brian Cook

Considering how much of a change Roy is from your other projects, how has reaction been from fans of your other bands? Shocked? Offended? Still under your hypnotic spell to accept anything you do as automatically brilliant?

The pie throwing hasn't begun yet anyways. I think that our previous bands, though much heavier, attracted a lot of music fans that don't cater to strictly heavy stuff, so those people are interested in what we're doing with Roy. I don't think that there's anybody at the shows waiting for the mosh part.

Was there a point of realization where you decided, 'let's do Roy?' What was that point? Was it an album? Was it wanting to just do a complete 180 from your other bands?

It might have been in 2001 after a string of Botch and Harkonen tours playing shows with a bunch of other heavy bands. Maybe we just temporarily burned out on that stuff. Roy felt really refreshing when we started to play together. I think all of us in the band have always been really into the kind of stuff that we play in Roy.

How has Roy affected the songwriting process for your other bands? Has it

Not really. They remain totally different gigs. It's kind of cool to play with roy and then play with harkonen and kind of change gears.

Wish you'd started Roy a long time ago, or is Roy something that couldn't have happened without going through your past?

Probably not. If we tried to start this band when we were 16 it probably would have had a totally different feel than it does. The fact that we're musicians from a heavier background trying to play more melodic catchy stuff gives the band a novice feel that I think is more interesting. There are too many people that are good at playing that kind of stuff.

Thanks, Brian!

--Joseph Kyle

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