Everyone into metal should check out Premonitions of War This is a metal band that is able to break away from the pack of bands also making an attempt at this style of music. This interview was done with their vocalist, Brad, who, if Lambgoat is correct, is no longer their vocalist, as Nate Johnson from Deadwater Drowning has reportedly taken over.

PL: State your name.

POW: I'm Brad from Premonitions of War. I'm the vocalist.

PL: When you guys signed with Victory, it seemed like they were signing new bands every day. Do you feel that you're going to get lost in the promotional shuffle? Why or why not?

POW: Not really because, when we signed with the label, that was one of the reasons that we decided to go with Victory. They are a well known independent label, but they were still smaller and paid a lot of attention to the bands. We've had a great response to our record so far and everyone's been there, as far as promotionally speaking. They've all been doing their jobs exceptionally well, so I don't think we have any kind of fear of that at all.

PL: Why do you think Victory signed you to their label?

POW: As far as I know, its because they really enjoyed the True Face of Panic EP. I know that Stephanie, who is the girl that was responsible for signing us there, got a copy of the EP and passed it around the office and everyone was really excited about working with us. They came out to see us live a couple of times and like our sound.

PL: What do you think Victory is going to do to help you guys progress as a band?

POW: Basically just help us out. Giving us tour support and allowing us to write music full time. Just letting us get to that point where its a self sufficient kind of thing. Just do music all the time. Now we don't have to juggle music through jobs and other responsibilities.

PL: Did you know that you'd be able to quit your jobs and focus on music once you signed to Victory?

POW: We've been a full time band since January. Now that our record is out and we have quite a few gigs lined up; as far as touring goes, we're on the Morbid Angel, Suffocation tour in April; things like that are coming around for us so its enabling us to take it to the next level.

PL: There's a ton of bands out now with the "metal-core" sound. What do you think separates you guys from them? Every band has their own niche, what would you say your niche is?

POW: I think that the thing that separates us from a lot of those bands are that our songs don't tend to go on and on and on. We don't throw a breakdown in for no reason or a singing part. We only want to do, as far as the song goes, what we can do and then just leave it there and not take it any further. We finish the song and then just let it go instead of piling things on top of it. There's no riff for the sake of riffs and there's no incessant noddling on guitars. Its just straightforward and thats what separates us from other bands.

PL: Do you write any of the music?

POW: No, I just write the words.

PL: Is there anything applying to playing in a band that you would consider being a burden?

POW: My personality is definitely not suited to be on the road a lot. For me, personally, its kind of hard to be in a van all of the time with six other dudes. I'm the kind of person that really enjoys spending time by himself; kind of an introspective person in that way, so being out and not really having any alone time and not being able to kind of relax or read a book or fall asleep without five people snoring. Its all things that everyone's used to and everyone's learned to deal with, but I'm pretty new to this, so I'm still trying to adjust. I just have a really weird personality sometimes. For me, its just dealing with not being able to be away from people. Thats kind of a burden for me.

Traveling is a lot of fun. We all love playing music and we all like seeing new places and new people, but we all have to kind of deal with each other's personalities in closed quarters.

PL: How long ago did you join the band?

POW: A year ago last January (2003).

PL: Are there any band goals or personal goals that you're hoping to achieve with this record or just in general?

POW: I think that right now, our only goal as a band is to play as many shows as possible and do as much touring as we can. Thats the way it was presented to me: right now we have the equivalent of three solid months of touring. We have the Morbid Angel tour, and then as soon as we're done with this tour with Burnt by the Sun and Breather Resist, we're going out for two weeks with Macabre. We're gonna play to most places that we haven't been yet and I think we plan on trying to go to Europe in the fall and we're trying to get to Brazil sometime in the summer. I'm not sure if its going to happen or not.

PL: Any personal ones?

POW: Personally, not really. Just trying to see places that I wouldn't normally be able to see and just doing things that I wouldn't be able to do if I was still going to school or working a regular job. Thats been my goal and that all comes around with me while I'm in the band, so I'm all set.

PL: Do you feel that your life is a sort of routine or does the band keep that from happening?

POW: I do, actually. As far as routines go, and settling in to things like that, I feel that that's something that I'll never be able to escape. When I first joined the band, I felt that doing this would get me out of that, but, especially now since we've been out for two months, its just getting to be the same exact thing. Its getting to be like it is a routine every day. It is a routine, just like everything else. It wasn't before because we were only going out for a couple of weeks every once in awhile, it was a break in what I was doing, but its definitely taken the place of a job.

PL: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

POW: I guess it depends on who you'd ask in the band. It can be good and I feel very priveledged to be able to be able to do this, but at the same time, its a long while to be out. Its interesting; its no way like a bad thing, but it can get old. Its not something I'm bummed out about doing because, like I said, I'm very priveledged to be able to go out, drive around and be with lots of people, play shows and just enjoy myself. I wouldn't be able to do this if I were stuck in a job somewhere, but, at the same time, I really would like to be home. Other people in the band probably would answer differently. Thats my own personal opinion as of right now.

PL: What would you like to be different about the music industry?

POW: One of the guys from Terrorizer asked me if we thought, the way we were handled by Victory, if it was closer to being like bands in the 70s where, when you were signed, you were allowed to artistically develop and bands were cultivated in that respect. Record labels picked you up because they knew you had promise. They would let you artistically develop as opposed to today where bands are picked up and they're expected to sell however many records or their contracts are axed. I really wish that it would go back to that. I was around for that; I was born in 1979 ?, so I wasn't listening to music in the 70s and I wasn't really aware of the music industry back then, but if it ever really was like that, then I'd prefer it go back to that: labels looking more to nurture bands and provide them with an environment to expand their creativity. That'd be a better way to approach things then tell them that you have to sell this many records or you're done, or you have to look this way or you're done.

PL: Do you have any final comments?

POW: We're touring with Morbid Angel and Suffocation in April. Its a full U.S. tour. That tour is coming up and its gonna be really fun. Thats the next really big thing we have going on. And the record is out too.

PL: Thats pretty much all I got.

Interviewed by RF

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