Story Of The Year vs. Cauterize

You may remember punk rockers Story Of The Year from their run-in with the mooks from Godsmack a few years ago. Chart got the far more amiable Jesse Smith, singer/guitarist of Cauterize, to speak with SOTY singer Dan Marsala. There may be a love match.

Dan Marsala: So Jesse, wanna go on a date sometime?
Jesse Smith: Yeah man, for sure.

DM: Do you think I'm pretty cute?
JS: Yeah, I think you're good looking, I guess.
DM: Ha-ha. OK, I think we took this a little too far.

JS: Yeah. So you guys are in your writing phase right now, right?
DM: We're writing our third record at this moment. We were just talking about if we were gonna write today, but decided to do it tomorrow. Basically because we're lazy.

JS: I hear you're going back to John Feldmann [Goldfinger] as a producer again?
DM: John Feldmann it is. John did our first record and it was very successful.

JS: That's amazing. So what's your favorite part of being in a band like Story Of The Year?
DM: I think touring is definitely better for me, although I don't like being gone from home for long periods. Writing is such a long, hard process.
JS: Totally!

DM: I gotta ask you about [Goldfinger drummer] Darrin Pfeiffer. Darrin is a good looking man.
JS: Yeah, for sure.

DM: I've seen him naked a few times.
JS: Me too, actually.

DM: You don't have to know him very long to see him naked.
JS: Not really.

DM: I never thought Darrin was gonna grow up, put some pants on and start a label [High 4 Records]. How has it been working with him?
JS: It really worked out for us great. We met Darrin at Thursday night hockey. He'd come out every week, so we started to give him demos of a CD we were going to release on our own. Then he started managing us. Then from there he was like, "I wanna put this record out" and thought it would be a good CD to start the label with. We were all into it.

DM: That's wicked.
JS: Yeah, we don't feel like we're part of a big evil record company. Darrin's like family to us so it's great. We have our meetings at a pub.

DM: That's sweet. So your new CD comes out in June? What's it called?
JS: It's called Disguises.

DM: It was co-produced by Greig Nori [Sum 41, Treble Charger]?
JS: Yeah, we took a long shot with him and it paid off. Darrin knew him a little so he asked him to come out to our rehearsals. He finally did show up after a while and was really stoked on our songs. The funny thing is he didn't want to come at all.

DM: Really?
JS: Yeah, he said that "Darrin did a good job and got me here and now I'm glad I showed up." So I hate to bring up bad memories, but what happened with you guys and Godsmack?
DM: It's actually a great story.

JS: What happened?
DM: We were playing a radio-type festival show in Indianapolis, Indiana and Godsmack were headlining. It was kind of a metal fest. I think Disturbed were on it as well. So we're playing and no one's really into us at all, just basically waiting for Godsmack to come out. The show was dragging along, so I decided to spice it up. I get the crowd in the back that were going off and having a good time to rush the stage, rush security and come join us. Well, they all did. Thousands of them rushed the stage and it turned out to be a wicked show. So we walk off stage and there's Godsmack's crew. It wasn't the actual band but their 6-foot-5 football player-type crew guys in our faces screaming at us. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you do a fucked up thing like that?" Well, we were shouting back and after a while punches were thrown and it turned into this all-out brawl backstage. It all happened so fast. When we were in our dressing room when it was all said and done we were laughing going, "Did we just get jumped by Godsmack?"

JS: That'll teach you to put on a show.
DM: Yeah, that's the craziest thing. Don't be good around Godsmack.

JS: We can only hope.
DM: We played a show together once back in the day… remember that?
JS: Yeah, we actually talked afterwards.

DM: I do remember that. You guys killed it.
JS: Thanks. I remember throwing firecrackers at you guys in the hotel.

DM: That was you guys? Awesome. I love that stuff on tour.
JS: Indeed. Fireworks and touring equals good fun.
DM: For sure.

JS: I'm looking forward to seeing you guys at this year's Wakestock.
DM: Fuck yeah, man. We're really excited about it. Toronto
has always been a highlight stop on our tours.

JS: Yeah, we have some great music lovers up here.
DM: I still want that date with you.
JS: Buy me a pizza, take me to movie and I'm all yours.

The following feature is from the July 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, go to the CHARTattack Shop.