KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Frontman: 'It's Hard To Have An Ego When You're Broke'

Lydia Clare of Virtual Festivals recently conducted an interview with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE frontman Howard Jones. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Virtual Festivals: It's been a hell of a year for you guys. What's the one experience you'd like to rewind and do all over again?

Howard Jones: "Wow, um, is that a music question or a life in general question? Anything? Well I did ride a roller coaster with Corey from SLIPKNOT and I think I'd quite like to do that over again and get some more pictures because it was really funny. I don't know what made me think of that but it was pretty amusing. It was one where you go down the hill and they take the shot and it's just one of the funniest pictures I've ever seen. There's just the two of us laughing and drooling everywhere."

Virtual Festivals: You toured and recorded "The End Of Heartache" pretty much simultaneously. Do you prefer touring or recording?

Howard Jones: "Touring's terrible. There are cool parts to it but it is very draining. For me though it's not the recording thing, it's much more the writing part, just actually creating something out of nothing. On the record it does usually sound a little different but just getting to that stage is really cool. Touring is just not fun sometimes. I mean this is a decent bus but I don't tend to sleep too well on buses. But then again there have been some great shows so I make the most of that."

Virtual Festivals: Do you find that with Roadrunner there's almost a family situation, especially recently with the 25th anniversary stuff and the 'All-Star' album?

Howard Jones: "Everyone gets along and I think that album wasn't too difficult. Getting the schedules and everything else was awkward but if you were asked to do something you were just like ‘sure' and then all of a sudden there it is. There's not a lot of ego in heavy music, at least not at the moment which is nice. Well, I'm sure there is, as there is with anything."

Virtual Festivals: A lot of people say that metal bands do tend to be a lot more friendly.

Howard Jones: "Maybe it's because we don't make any money. It's hard to have an ego when you're broke."

Virtual Festivals: Going back to this current tour, are there any differences between tours in different countries?

Howard Jones: "No not really, it's pretty much the same, just young girls who are frightened of me, that's pretty much it. I've actually seen girls crying at meeting some of the other guys on tour, including THE USED and FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND. We've done pretty well on the tour though; all the guys have done ok. It's been different for us because it's been a different kind of ground. Generally at our gigs we have big sweaty men but because of Taste Of Chaos there's a whole different kind of crowd that gets to come and see us. There's always been a sense of melody to our music and people are getting to see that. It really didn't happen too much before. The shows themselves have had a pretty young crowd."

Read the entire interview at www.virtualfestivals.com.