SOIL Guitarist: 'Even On AJ's Worst Day, He's Better Than Our Former Singer Ever Was'

Linda Ode of RockMyMonkey.com recently conducted an interview with SOIL guitarist Shaun Glass. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Rock My Monkey: How has the fan response been to this album, especially with the new singer?

Shaun Glass: "Oh, it's great. I think that the band and our fans both have accepted everything and with AJ [Cavalier] now, I think that the band is a stronger running machine and I think that uh, we found the right singer, you know? I think that, no disrespect to Ryan [Combs, previous singer], but he was always hit-or-miss, you know? Some days he was good, some days he was bad. Even on AJ's worst day, he's better than our former singer ever was. And his ability to do the heavy stuff, you know, like songs like 'Give it Up' or 'Forever Dead' are really intense and brutal, but also AJ can do the melodic stuff like 'Hear Me' or 'Let Go', you know? He's really that kind of a singer, with such variety and range."

Rock My Monkey: I haven't heard anything previous myself, but I read one of the other reviews you guys put up on myspace and it seems like maybe AJ was just that link to push SOIL just that notch further… Do you agree with that?

Shaun Glass: "Yeah, I think so. I think vocally especially, you know. I mean we always wrote the music. The four of us sit down and we always wrote… the first two albums, 'Scars' and 'Redefine' were written the same way we wrote this album. But I think with AJ, he was so hungry and so much more into it that I think he really pushed 110 percent into getting the lyrics and melodies and ideas on this album, you know?"

Rock My Monkey: Yeah. So was the addition of AJ to SOIL a simple transition?

Shaun Glass: "Yeah, it was really simple. I mean, once we found him and we thought that he was the guy and we started writing you know songs together, and we were showing him some of the music we had, for the new stuff, his ideas were really natural. It still sounded like SOIL. We were like, 'Alright, he fits what we're doing'… Like lyrically, we never wrote songs about fantasy or dragons or fuckin' weird science fiction shit or you know, we never… we're not one of them bands. We write about everyday life or what you deal with and you know, what you see in your everyday life. And AJ's lyrics definitely have that you know. But in a weird way, not even in a weird way but, AJ's lyrics are more positive, and I think Ryan's lyrics were more negative. And it's weird, but AJ's more of a fighter than a quitter."

Rock My Monkey: So have you heard any comparisons, or what are some of the comparisons you've been getting to other bands?

Shaun Glass: "Who we get compared to?"

Rock My Monkey: Yeah.

Shaun Glass: "Yeah, I mean sometimes we get compared to METALLICA or PANTERA, or the typical heavy, heavy rock metal bands. And you know that's great. ALICE IN CHAINS, obviously, we're compared to, but you know I love all three of those bands that I mentioned, so cool. I'd rather be compared to them than fuckin' ATREYU."

Read the entire interview at www.rockmymonkey.com.