It is I, Maris The Great! We shall now begin this interview with you telling me how you got your band name.

JONNY NAILS: I came across a White Zombie poster that had the word “synthetic delusion” on it. It stuck in my mind. When I told everyone else about it, they thought it would work well.

T-Unit, your last band, Tirade was really popular. I thought it was odd that you would put an end to it. What happened?

T-UNIT: The reason I quite was…I had been doing stuff with them for awhile and I wanted to try something a little different, a little more intense. Jonny had just quit his band so I decided to start the new project with him. We started to search for people to jam with.

What about Jonny nails appealed to you?

T-UNIT: Him and I had talked for years about starting a project together.

SOSA: I played with T-Unit and Tirade, back in the day, like in ’97. We took a break for awhile. T-Unit came down to one of our (Sic Theory) shows and called me the next day, asking me if I wanted to play a show with them. I got to know the music and it went from there…and I joined.

MILPOTHEFAST: I was actually trying out as a singer for Tread when they were looking for one. I really couldn’t sing, but I didn’t have anything going on musically at the time. I tried that and about three months later, I found out about Synthetic Delusion and that they were looking for someone to do electronics. T-Unit contacted me and that was pretty much it.

JONNY: T-Unit and I had talked about this project for a long time. We talked about everything; the business side of it, the music – everything. It evolved into the people we have now.

Mortal Jonny, your appearance is intriguing. On one hand, you have a nice build, some facial hair too, but you also have many feminine facial features, such as your eyes and brows. Has anyone ever told you you look like a lesbian?

(The whole band erupts in loud laughter)

JONNY: No (laughs)..they haven’t.

VEX: I knew Jonny from a previous band called Insanecore Productions. We played together for like, two years. I parted ways with the band because I had problems with one of the guitar players. Jonny quite a couple of weeks after that. We lost touch with each other for awhile. Eventually, I found out he was playing with Synthetic Delusion and I was playing with Typecast at the time. I started playing guitar with Synthetic Delusion, at first as a side project. My old singer got kind of bent out of shape about that, so I quite for awhile. When I quite Typecast, it turns out these guys fired their guitarist the same day, so it worked out really well.

RAMERIZ: I originally tried out as the guitarist. I got introduced to the band through Vex, who had introduced me to Jonny at a local show. I hooked up with the band and jammed for like three months, but it wasn’t working out. When Tape Worm left, they couldn’t find a drummer so I decided to fill in as their drummer. Years later, I’m still the drummer (laughs) I just decided to stick with it. I’m actually a better drummer than I am as a guitarist.

Why did Tape Worm leave the band?

T-UNIT: He had personal things and priorities he had to take care of. There is no bad blood and he’s still a good friend of ours. He is an amazing drummer and it was hard to find someone who could fill his shoes. I still would like to start another project with him somewhere down the line.

Synthetic Delusion is a combination of musical styles. What if getting signed meant you had to choose one style and stick with it. What style would you choose?

T-UNIT: Probably Hardcore. We would stay heavy. There are plenty of different styles of heavy, but I can’t imagine us doing anything else.

Which Metal band do you ascribe to be like?

T-UNIT: You know what? I don’t listen to a whole lot of Metal.

GASP!

T-UNIT: I listen to a lot of Hip Hop.

Why isn’t Synthetic Delusion a Hip Hop act, then?

VEX: We just find it more appealing to combine a lot of different styles. When I joined the band, I brought a lot more melodic influences. Ramirez is big on Death Metal, Milpo likes anything from The Doors to techno, Jonny Nails is our Hardcore guy…and he listens to some Nelly Furtado too. (Laughs). I listen to mellower stuff, like Sneaker Pimps and Massive Attack – stuff like that.

Why are their keyboards in the band. Don’t they get lost in all the heaviness?

MILPOTHEFAST: I had joined the band one month prior to going into the studio, so the keyboards aren’t that prominent on the CD. However, now, in our live act, I think it’s much more prevalent. I try to not get in the way of the Metal sound, however.

If this was your band, would the sound be more Goth?

MILPOTHEFAST: No. I’m not that into Goth. I’m really into Drum and Bass and Metal. Tool is one of my favorite groups.

You guys seem serious about the band. What is the ultimate goal?

VEX: I want to play national shows and get heard. Also, one of our biggest goals is to be the ultimate fan band. We want to be as cool as we can to all our fans. It’s all about meeting new faces, making new friends and playing music that makes us feel good.

There is a rumor that Road Runner are interested in the band.

VEX: No comment (laughs).

T-UNIT: Let’s just say if there is anything going on…we won’t say anything (laughs).

C’mon!

T-UNIT: People will find out…either way. The people will find out.

Well if that ain’t the most vague answer I’ve ever heard I don’t know what is.

(Everyone laughs)

VEX: All we want to do is stay focused on our goal; writing new songs and playing as much as possible. We don’t want to get excited about or over exaggerate any opportunities that come our way.

Oh brother!…OK, let me try a variation on the theme. Synthetic Delusion seem much more of a signable band than most Metal bands I come in contact with. What do you guys do that helps you that other bands don’t?

VEX: We all stay pretty close. We all are pretty good friends. If we have an issue with each other, we speak our minds rather than bottling it up. Most bands have slackers, but we don’t. Everyone in this band pulls their own weight.

T-UNIT: The lineup we have now has taken years to build up. The people we have now really fit in this band. It’s all about getting the right people. Plus, we include everyone’s style in the creativity. It’s not just one’s person’s vision of what the music should sound like. We incorporate everyone’s style.

What do you see local bands do that fucks their shit up?

T-UNIT: Band’s don’t focus on going out of state enough. Label’s look at that. You can have the biggest draw in Colorado, but go to the next state and have nobody.

I noticed Synthetic Delusion get out of state often

T-UNIT: Our goal is to play even more out of state shows this year. We’ve been really lucky that for the last year, we have not played any club shows; we’ve played only the Ogden (a 900 seat venue in Denver). That was awesome! So, we did that and got out of state as much as possible.

Tell me about “Vision.”

SOSA: The first time I heard the CD I was blown away. It raised my adrenaline to such a high point. The music is really aggressive and that’s the kind of stuff I like to do.

JONNY: The album was recorded in Hellion Studios with Dave Otero. He’s the man. He definitely knows his shit. He knew exactly how to pull out our guitar tones, the drums – everything.

Every band listens to their own CD and thinks they could do better. What would you change about “Vision?”

JONNY: I wish we could have had a little more time and not rush everything.

MILPOTHEFAST: It would have been really nice to have more time in the studio. With Hellion, we blocked off two weeks. It was a rush. I mean, we didn’t have all the songs written when we went in there (laughs). We wrote some some while we were in there. It would be nice to have a few months to be in there and really work at it. We’re still really happy with the CD, though.

It seems for bands to get anywhere, nationally, there must be a radio song. While Synthetic Delusion has received notable radio play, I don’t really hear a radio song on “Vision.”

VEX: We actually have two songs, that we don’t play at shows and that aren’t on any CD’s. We keep ’em under wraps. The key to writing radio songs for us, is to keep the Synthetic Delusion sound, but add a little bit more flavor. I know there are a lot of people that don’t dig on the Metal thing, but will listen to radio songs by bands like Sevendust.

T-UNIT: The reason we wrote those songs was for the labels. If we were in the situation where we needed to show them we could write songs for the radio, we have them. Also, we want to be able to show diversity. We want to show we’re not stuck in just Metal. I love Metal and we’ll probably always do it, because that’s me, but we also wanted to push our limitations. Writing those songs was a great leap because we did something that we never done before. It turned out really well.

SOSA: We just expanded on our capabilities with those two songs. We basically just wanted to stretch what we could do with our writing style. Ultimately, I think it will take us in a better direction.

T- Unit, you once mentioned to me that you don’t want the band to go up on stage and look like the last band that was up there. How far are you willing to take that concept?

T-UNIT: If we had the money, we would have the most awesome stage show. Everybody in this band is full of ideas, but usually the situation is there is just enough time to load on a stage and play. Sometimes you don’t even get a sound check. I’m not complaining, but it limits what we can do, visually speaking.

VEX: All of us are different off stage; we are all pretty mellow. When we get on stage however, we’re spitting, cursing and kicking our guitars around. If we had the chance, we’d have big props, fire and all that cool stuff on stage.

MILPOTHEFAST: I’d love to have big, visual screens, lasers and strobe lights.

Most heavy bands tend to think stage shows are poserish.

T-UNIT: We want to look like a uniform band when we take the stage. We want to look like we all belong in the same band and that when we take the stage, there was no mistaking that is was Synthetic Delusion on the stage.

RAMIREZ: I would love to have everything to look like a prop. I mean, I would love it if a simple mic stand looked like it was something else. I think most bands just want things to look plain, but I like the idea that we could have things on stage that nobody else has – just so we could look more original.

VEX: Ultimately, props or no props, we still have a great stage show. We still give it our all, no matter what show we’re at.

T-Unit, I want to discuss the piercings you have in your eyebrows. They are actually two, sharp-looking spikes jutting out. Do you wear those all the time?

T-UNIT: Yeah, all the time.

What I’m curious about is when you eat your mortal, girlfriends vagina, do you wound her?

(Everybody laughs)

T-UNIT: Why don’t you ask her, yourself! (laughs)

(Turning to Marta, who is sitting nearby)

MARTA: Oh god!… (laughs)…Uh…they don’t get in the way too much…only when he goes crazy.

(Everybody laughs)

Do you have scars in the vicinity?

MARTA: Yeah, on the inside of my thighs

(Everybody laughs more)

What are the plans for the next CD?

VEX: I’m sure we’re still planning on recording our next CD with Dave, but the biggest goal for all of us is to blow “Vision” out of the water. We want to make something that’s 100% better than what we have. I think the next CD will represent us as a whole group.

Do you think it will be heavier or more diverse?

VEX: Both.

Are you planning a heavier keyboards presence this time around?

MILPOTHEFAST: Yeah. The cool thing is T-Unit and I have similar computers and software. What is really helping us out is we can do a lot of pre production and trade stuff back and forth. Hopefully, the next time we go into the studio, we can have the entire CD pretty much written.

VEX: Milpo likes to screw around with electronics all the time. He’s always working on something.

When do your think you’ll begin working on it?

T-UNIT: We’re writing a lot of new material, so I would think by summertime. However, I really want to do a lot of out of state stuff as soon as it gets warmer. We’re going to be doing a lot of that, and not so many home shows. I’d like to come back and at least do an EP with Dave.

Let’s pretend you are in the future. You have sold millions of records worldwide and have all your expenses taken care of. You each have two million dollars a piece to spend as you wish. What would you do with it?

T-UNIT: I would buy property, probably elsewhere because it’s a little cheaper. Plus, I don’t like the cold here. I also would like to produce other bands. That would be awesome.

RAMIREZ: I don’t really need anything big, just the essentials. I can’t really think of anything big or fancy that I want; just a home, car and a wife.

VEX: The only thing I live for is my guitar, so like Ramirez, I don’t need much. I”d probably own some race cars. I also am having a son, so I’d probably just want to egg nest it for him.

JONNY: I would definitely hook up a studio and produce bands with T-Unit. Him and I have talked about it a lot. We are going to have our own label, down the road.

MILPOTHEFAST: I’d like to get a compound going on; somewhere I could fire automatic weapons peacefully (laughs). I also have a son, so I’d have to make sure he’s taken care of. My big thing would be having my own, home studio. You know, someplace I could wake up, be in my boxers, fart, do a bong hit, sit down and start creating music.

(Everybody laughs)

SOSA: I’d buy a resort in someplace like Mexico. I’d like to get a nice place to live where I could work on my music. I’d definitely get some toys. Fancy cars, big house, hot tub. I’m not too extravagant, though. It’s hard to be first class when you’re white trash (laughs).