LIFE OF AGONY Frontman: Band's Decision To Carry On With UGLY KID JOE Singer 'Infuriated Me'

Cleveland, Ohio's "The Metal Show" conducted an interview with LIFE OF AGONY frontman Keith Caputo last week. An excerpt from the interview follows:

The Metal Show: When [the other guys in the band] came out with the guy from UGLY KID JOE [Whitfield Crane], they should not have called that LIFE OF AGONY. It was always your attitude, more than your voice, that made LIFE OF AGONY work. Were you insulted that they tried to do that?

Keith Caputo: "I was not insulted, but I was very proud that I followed my heart because it was decisions like those that infuriated me and I had no control over. There wasn't a common ground. The range of communication were closed. Alan [Robert, bass] and Joey [Z, guitar] made a lot of decisions in the past that I kind of...I didn't agree with a lot of decisions that were made in the band. I felt like I had no voice, and I felt like I was role-less. I felt like that. It was a very ego-driven thing when we were kids. I was very different than the other guys. Yeah, I wear my emotions and my heart on my fuckin' sleeve. I bleed every night to sing these songs. Nothing against UGLY KID JOE and that whole thing. I would never put anyone down creatively, but UGLY KID JOE is a joke rock band. It's a spoof. To have that guy, or to have those guys think that he could replace, which he couldn't, replace the blood-thirsty determination of what I'm saying and how I'm saying it; it was things like that that really infuriated me. I knew I did the right thing. When I heard, I was like, 'Oh my God.' I know they had nowhere else to turn. You can't find another guy like me, and that's not sounding presumptuous. There's not a lot of singers out there like me. There's a lot of singers that plug in every night that don't know how to tap inside their own heart and soul and bleed for the music and for the people. That's what I do. I serve. I live to serve. It was decisions like that that actually made me feel good about leaving the band. I'm like, 'These guys still aren't learning.' They aren't learning about a lot of things — about themselves, about brotherhood. It was just a really weird time for all of us. I respect the fact that they wanted to carry on, but it was only a matter of time. I knew it. Everyone else knew it. People know where it's coming from. I'm not fucking around. I'll die poor in a box of my music, covered in life. I know I can't take anything to my grave with me, and I sing every fucking show like it's my last. That's my attitude."

Keith Caputo's entire interview with "The Metal Show" will air on 92.3 FM WXTM Sunday night (June 26) between 10:00 p.m. and midnight or online at www.themetalshow.com starting Monday morning (June 27).