NP: "Self-Destructive Pattern" seems like a step in evolution and maturity for you guys. "Strictly Diesel" and "The Height of Callosusness" don't feel anything like this record.
Mike Sarkisyan: Actually, I think it has elements of "The Height of Callosusness." By that I mean, is like "Height of Callosusness" is this area and our new record is bigger and beyond that. It's the same band but we just made it grander I guess. You know, it's just more dynamic.
Tommy: I mean, I think we'd be pathetic if we were in this band for this long and continue to make the same record. Cause you grow and you get better as musicians and you learn each other better and you learn how to write songs better. There were always things that we wanted to do and we didn't know how to do it. "The Height of Callosusness" is basically punching you in the face for 37 minutes and now we're not just angry anymore we have all these other emotions and things that we want to get out and we learned how to get those out this time.

NP: Right, especially I noticed that there is more melody involved with this record than in previous albums and a lot less electronic samples. Was that a goal or was it just how it turned out?
Mike: That's actually how it all came out. I think the goal was for it to be more samples (laughs)
Tommy: Me, I wanted less samples. Just because I'm the one who triggers them live. A lot of the stuff we wanted, we just wanted it to rock you know. Let's just be four of us in a room playing together. When a song called for samples, we put them in. We weren't afraid and we didn't stop using them consciously. Sometimes the song didn't need them or there was way to many. Also, with the melody, it got to a point where Johnny finally got to a point where he's gotten better at writing melodies. Melodies are something we've always done, but we just got better at it this time around.

NP: How long was spent recording this album? I remember you did Ozzfest 2001 and after that you kind of disappeared. Have you been writing the whole time?
Mike: Since then. Yeah Basically.
Tommy: We wrote for a long long time and then we ran into a ton of scheduling conflicts and things that kind of held the record back. But in the end it was all for the best and it let us write a record as diverse as this. We actually recorded October to March and that was another thing. We intended to record for six weeks and this would happen or scheduling, etc. We would go and finish up two songs and then we decided that we wanted to write some more songs. There were tons of things that kind of held it up but in the end it came out for the best even though it was a pain in the ass.
Mike: We just kept going until we felt like we had a record. Or something stable or something that we all believed in.

NP: It seems like every band now a days goes into the studio and records 20 plus or 30 plus songs and select the few that define the record.
Tommy: Yeah we did that and then narrowed it down. We narrowed it down, what was it�to twelve or thirteen?
Mike: We narrowed it down to twelve songs.
Tommy: During that time we wrote tons and tons of songs. Probably sixty songs or even more and we just picked the best ones. We picked the ones that had the most identity cause we could have put out "The Height of Callousness Part 2" two years ago but there's no challenge in that and we know our fans deserve more than that. So it was a matter of writing for a year and we had all these great songs and they sound nothing alike yet they all still sound like Spineshank. That was something that we all were very proud of.

NP: Your first single off the record is going to be "Smothered" and you recently shot a video for that too right?
Mike: Yeah
NP: Was that filmed in LA?
Tommy: Yeah it was right near downtown. It was cool, we were just in a house and we got to tear up the room and completely destroy our instruments. It was cool. It was definitely like a release. Everyone was like all bloody at the end of the shoot but it felt really good to get all the tension out. It was kind of like closing a chapter on the record you know. The record is done, the video is done, the single is done and let's just tear this house apart and get it all out. After that we can all move on.
NP: So that's all in the video? We get to see you break through walls, breaking glass, etc�
Tommy: There's not enough of it in the video but it's definitely there.

NP: Usually this question would be for Johnny but do you know what the song is about?
Tommy: "Smothered"�.a lot of our lyrics are kind of open for interpretation. They don't mean one thing to whoever wrote it but a lot of people can relate to the fact of feeling smothered or being trapped. Whether it's a person doing it to you or whether it's your own thoughts smothering you. Just that feeling of being trapped and breaking out.

NP: Radio and video helped you reach a lot of new fans on your last album, what are your expectations/hopes on this record?
Mike: None (laughs) we know not to expect anything.
Tommy: Yeah, what we got on the last album was definitely a surprise. We've never been a band that wrote for radio or MTV because it's something our band doesn't do. This time we just tried to write the best songs that we possibly could. But I also think we gained most of our fans from constant touring. So obviously the video and radio helped but you know it was never part of our plan, it was a nice stroke of luck.

NP: My favorite song so far off the record is "Fallback" which could easily be the next single.
Tommy: That was one of the first songs we wrote off this record.
Mike: It was so left field.
Tommy: Yeah it totally didn't sound like us at all. We thought it sounded like the Foo Fighters or something. But you know it was fun and cool. We had a good time with it and we saw it through to the end and it came out good.

NP: In May you did a few west coast dates and then you had plans to tour Europe with Chimaira�.
Mike: We did go to Europe.
NP: Oh you did go..it was just cut short due to a death in the family?
Mike: Yeah, we want to make them up soon.

NP: I'm sure you are going to be out on the road soon to support the record.
Tommy: Yeah, we're working out the details on a few things. We are just trying to find the best thing that makes the most things for us. We definitely don't want to go out and headline right now. It's been so long since we've toured and we want to come out and hopefully on a big tour and support someone and just have some fun. It's been so damn long. Something will come up this summer so stay tuned.
NP: Is there anybody that you are looking at right now?
Mike: Motley Crue! (laughs)
Tommy: We really don't care, we've toured with a lot of bands and we've always had a good time. We've done Type O Negative to (hed)p.e. to Disturbed to Orgy and Slipknot. We have a wide spectrum in there. Pretty much anything. We want to hit new people that's our main thing. To go out and headline to Spineshank fans, that's great and all but we want to focus on hitting new people too.

NP: Any last words you want to say to your fans?
Tommy: I guess I'd like to thank everyone who waited for us and that we are back! We're going to be back out there soon and tour for a long time again.