DIECAST Vocalist Discusses Lineup Changes, SEVENDUST Tour

In a recent interview conducted by Greg Maki of Live-Metal.net, DIECAST vocalist Paul Stoddard discussed the band's many lineup changes over the years, the band's recent tour with SEVENDUST and more. Excerpts follow.

Live-Metal.net: Over the years, DIECAST has had a bunch of lineup changes. What effect do you think that has had?

Paul Stoddard: "The sound. You listen to the first DIECAST record and you listen to the new one and they're nothing alike. I don't think that's 100-percent why because [guitarist] Jon [Kita]'s been here since 'Day of Reckoning' [2001], which was the big DIECAST record, when it first started moving for them. He's been a part of it. He's just matured over time. And that's what happens, I think. You gotta remember that people see three albums, but over three albums is seven years. And you think of how much you yourself have probably changed over the last seven years and the things that you've done. Seven years ago, I wasn't even singing in a band. I was tooling around on drums until I finally got sick of dealing with my old lead singer and I thought, 'I could probably do it.' A lot happens and people just change over time. It develops into something different, something new and I think that's important. You've gotta stay true to yourself with that and let that come out 'cause if you just try to recreate the same thing every time, not only is it going to get boring, I consider that selling out. I consider that doing what you think people want you to do and you're not being true to yourself as an artist."

Live-Metal.net: How long did it take for the current lineup to get tight and feel like a band?

Paul Stoddard: "Not long. Right now we feel more, I think, unified than we ever have. I take nothing away from the older guys that are finally gone — [bassist] Jeremy [Wooden] and [drummer] Jason [Costa] — but they had a mindset of what they wanted because they had been doing it for so long. And here we are all of a sudden, all these guys that weren't there in the beginning — we love DIECAST and we want to maintain what DIECAST has, but we're not afraid to go outside the box. And that's one thing we really wanted to push on this record: Don't care what the box is supposed to be. Let the album be what it's gonna be and as long as you give your heart to it, it's gonna be something great, and whether nobody else thinks it's great, you're gonna think it's great. But fortunately, that hasn't been an issue. It's been going over amazingly well."

Live-Metal.net: Did you know the guys in the band before you joined or did you just go to an audition?

Paul Stoddard: "I did not know any of them personally. I had met [guitarist] Kirk [Kolaitis] once, and this was before he was even in the band. But, yeah, it was basically a situation where my old band played with them, with DIECAST, and it was a good opportunity for us. It was a ticket buy-on that the promoter did, we had to sell a bunch of tickets to get on the show. We finally got to the situation and played the show. They came up to me, it was kind of secretive at first because nobody was supposed to know. So I was asked to audition for Jon and Jason's side project, to sing for their side project, at which point I was very flattered, but I wasn't ready to give up my dream, which was my band, which was what I was pushing, for somebody's side project always being on the wayside and waiting. I wanted to just try and do it. If it was full force, I would've been interested, but it wasn't. So time went on and I think it was about two months later I heard they were actually looking for a singer and they couldn't announce it at the time. They had auditioned, like, 30 different guys they had flown in from across the country, and they could either sing and they couldn't scream or they could scream and they couldn't sing. I figured I'll just go down there and I figured worst-case scenario I'll make a couple new friends, we'll see what happens. And I went down there and after two rehearsals, I got offered the gig. And that was the scariest moment of my life because you're just sitting there like, 'My entire world's gonna change now.' You've gotta give up all your security and everything you're used to, to go and nickel-and-dime it on the road. I don't regret it one bit."

Live-Metal.net: I saw one of the shows on the SEVENDUST tour. I thought that was a really great bill, with you, INVITRO and SEVENDUST. How was that tour for you?

Paul Stoddard: "Amazing. Every night you're playing in front of a couple thousand people at least, sometimes it's 3,000 or 5,000. It was good for us because one the biggest phrases we got out of that tour was 'I never heard of you guys before.' And that's what we want. We want to win over a new fanbase. We want to just pound on it and pound on it and tour and tour, and the more people that are into our music, the better it is for us because that means we can do it a longer. We're not all about just writing music for slamming and going crazy. We've got messages. We've got stories in a lot of our stuff and it's impacted a lot of lives. I've definitely been talked to by different people that told me that this has helped them get out of drugs, this has helped direct where I need to be. It's an amazing feeling and I hope I get to keep that feeling for the rest of my life."

Read the full interview at Live-Metal.net.