Killswitch Engage Are Funnier Than You'd Think

Metal bands have a bad reputation for being somewhat sullen and serious a lot of the time and, looking at Killswitch Engage, you might get that impression from them, too. Looks can be deceiving, though, and ChartAttack recently tried to get a few words out of the band regarding their upcoming album, As Daylight Dies, with little success.

"We just like to enjoy ourselves, man," says vocalist Howard Jones. "We just don't want to talk about us all the time."

"It gets so old," adds guitarist and longtime producer, Adam Dutkiewicz. "I hate pompous twats. Fuck them all!"

"We're really glad with the way things have turned out," assures Jones. "That we have a little bit of notoriety or whatever, which is great, but at the same time we just can't take ourselves that seriously."

Their offbeat senses of humour come across in an idea Jones had when looking over video treatments for their latest single, "My Curse."

"Did you see the one video treatment?" the singer asks his bandmate. "It's amazing."It's us performing, and then, get this — breakdancers! And then, at the very end, cops come in riot gear and disperse them. The only way we could use this is if we're performing and the breakdancers are doing their thing, but then at the very end, the cops come in and it's a bloody massacre. Dudes dying, limbs flying, now that would be a wicked way to end the video. Makes no sense, but it would be awesome."

Bodies sprawled all over the place makes sense, as the band's music isn't exactly upbeat or happy. Still, As Daylight Dies sees Jones penning lyrics that are less aggressive and more introspective.

"I do tend to write more personal," he says. "There's times where I've tried to stay away from that, just kind of be more enveloping of everyone, but you go through stuff in life and your experiences dictate where you are and what you do."

"If you're creating something, you have to create something that is what you are," adds Dutkiewicz. "If I wrote riffs that I thought sucked or I wasn't really feeling, it would be wrong if I don't like it. Just do what you know."

As one of America's premier metal exports, the band are often criticized for watering their music down by adding more melody.

"I don't think anybody's ever gonna say that to our face," states Jones. "A lot of people say that stuff on the internet because that's what the internet is for: email and calling people names."

"We know our band isn't for everybody," Dutkiewicz reasons, but he's not interested in appealing to narrow-minded people.

"We have a bit of appeal to crowds when we hadn't necessarily thought we did, you know?," says Jones. "You always want to be able to branch out and have a few more people listen to you.

"The girl crowd is always fantastic. The men, we've got more than you can ask for. Fat, sweaty, big pants? We've got that locked down. But when you break in the girl action, it's awesome. You couldn't ask for more."

"We're not really trying to fit in with anybody," says Dutkiewicz of their affiliation with other bands lumped into the "new wave of American heavy metal" scene.

"I guess Lamb Of God doesn't really have that gay chromosome that we have. They don't thirst for puss like we do. We just thirst for puss. Vagina is a motive."