It is I, Maris The Great! I shall now address your mortal likes. How did the existence of your doomed band come into being?

Matt: Jesse and I were working on some shit called Mainline before I even joined Typecast. This was in 2000. It was just a recording project. When I joined Typecast, it kinda got put away. Once Typecast started going softer, we talked about doing it again. We still wanted to do something heavy. Both Chad and Sean had an idea too, so we just kind of combined it all. Mainline was more like Fear Factory, soundwise.

Jesse: We wanted to do some heavier shit, like Fear Factory and Meshuggah. We wanted to do Metal…not Hardcore

Chad: Metal!…not Hardcore (laughs).

Jesse: We’re not Hardcore.

Chad: Actually, we like to call our music recycled aluminum.

Sean: I’m completely out of this. Chad is just a homo…

Chad: Sean and I were talking how we wanted to do something heavier too, so when we found out what Matt and Jesse were up to we said cool, we spooned and now it’s ASA.

When you spoon do you like to be in front or back?

Chad: I am ALWAYS in the back. Jesse is in the front.

I want to find out some dirt on your previous bands. First off, Chad, why did Fomofuiab break up and how did you react?

Chad: It was pretty much Fred…ha ha…I hope you’re reading this Fred. It was all you, you sober fuck! (laughs). It was a lack of alcohol and drugs. Fred was a really bad alcoholic, dude. I hate to say it, but he’d probably be dead by now, had he not gone into rehab. But after he did, he just wasn’t really into it anymore. We were having problems anyway. We were all hating each other so…fuck it. Let bygones be bygones, I have a band now, I’m happy.

Yeah, but that was your first band as a singer. Were you afraid you wouldn’t be able to get another gig?

Chad: Nope, I had begun working on this as a side project before Fomofuiab even broke up.

You got to sing more in Fomo’ whereas in ASA you are only screaming. Do you prefer it this way?

Chad: I’m pretty happy where I’m at right now. If my voice fails me and I lose it and die, I might start doing some Country shit. Other than that, I’m happy. I’m not saying that in the future we might not throw in some singing and shit. Nobody knows. With what we have right now, I sing a little bit, you know? But I like what I’m doing. I like being angry. It makes me look cool (laughs).

Matt: It’s whatever the style dictates. When we got together it was to write heavy music, no matter what. We wanted to be heavy as fuck. The music doesn’t allow for pretty singing parts or ballads. It doesn’t allow for guitar solos. We cut out all that bullshit.

Yes, but guitar solos are coming back into vogue, mortal.

Matt: Fuck it. I can’t imagine us writing a song with a part for either Josh or I to put a guitar solo in it. That would be the gayest thing ever. We don’t write with that kind of intention. We write to be as heavy as we can be, period.

So..you mentioned your former band Typecast briefly. Tell me why it ended.

Jesse: The band ended because nobody in the band other than Jason had any creative privileges. We were all pretty tired of that, not that Jason is a bad guy. We didn’t want Typecast to break up, we just wanted to do our own thing. However, that just wasn’t possible.

Matt: Typecast started working on a full length CD before ASA started out. It’s about half way finished. We are talking about completing it, if for no other reason than to just have it. We may put it out and we may not. It definitely will be finished one day though.

Couldn’t any of that material be translated to ASA music?

Matt: Oh, no. It could have, but Jason did most of the writing and didn’t want to be part of ASA. We have played “Impulse” at a few shows. However, we pissed off some people by doing it, so that was that. While we will more than likely put the CD out, Typecast is pretty much done.

So…Sean…I can’t even keep up with all the bands you’ve been in.

Sean: Well, the last band was Switchpin. What happened there was pretty much the whole Yoko Ono type situation. I had a psychotic girlfriend that didn’t like what I was doing.

Aha!…you see why you should go queer? Female mortals are evil. This is as good as time as any to make the switch..

Sean: Well, I now have a wife, that is carrying my Satan child so that would be a problem..

This is an outrage, mortal! Why did you go and get married! You know I wanted to tongue your wee wee!

Sean: I can’t go queer now, I’ve already done signed the agreement. I guess I’m committed now.

You will die just for that!

Sean: Anyway…while I was in Switchpin, I had a lot of stress going on in my life. The relationship I was in wasn’t going as well as I wanted it to. I couldn’t deal with both at the same time. It was nothing against Switchpin, it was just everything in my life happening at the same time.

Chad: I was getting him high at the time.

So…what’s everyone’s drug of choice?

Jesse: COCAINE BABY!!! (Laughs)…Cocaine is the drug of choice! Actually…we smoke a lot of weed. Everybody but Matt is a complete drug addict.

Josh: It is I, Josh…I drink a lot of alcohol and I indulge in stuff every now and then.

Like what?

Josh: Cocaine and some ‘shrooms every once in a while.

Matt: I smoke weed occasionally and I drink lots of alcohol, but I think we all do that. If I had more time, I’d do more acid (laughs), but I don’t have enough time to do stuff like that anymore. I’m a big hallucinogenic kind of guy.

Sean: I suck dick on the street for cocaine

That’s intriguing, mortal

Chad: Everybody knows I like pot. I also like drinking profusely.

So, what was up with you leaving Control Element, Josh?

Josh: We were doing a lot of really great things. We were going in a great direction and I love all the guys. But, I had been talking to Matt and Sean for a couple of months about coming aboard with ASA. Things just eventually fell apart with Control Element. Adam chose to go with At Life’s End. I wish him luck with his endeavors. We still talk, we’re friends. I just thought being in ASA was the thing to do. We haven’t spooned yet, but I had been thinking about joining the band for a long time.

Who was the hot guitarist in Control Element?

Josh: Brandon was the guitarist.

Was there ever times that you stopped playing, looked across the stage at Brandon and said to yourself “I’m straight, but if I were gay, I’d jump all over Brandon because he’s so hot?”

(Everybody laughs)

Josh: No. I’ve known the guy ever since I was in eighth grade so…

…So…you MUST have seen his wiener at some point, like in gym class!

Josh: (laughs) Fuck no!

OK…but didn’t you ever think to say to Brandon….”hey Brandon, not that I’m interested or anything, but could you pull out your wiener and let me see it because I might come across a gay guy down the line that will want me to describe it to him?”

(More laughter)

Josh: (laughs) abso-fuckin-lutely not
Well, you selfish, vagina loving mortal, you will die…right after Sean!

Chad: We’ve seen each other’s penises, so Josh now has to see ours…or we have to see his!

Who has the nicest wee wee?

Sean: Not me…I’m hung like a mouse. Chad definitely has the nicest dick.

Chad: I had the longest hair. That says something right?

No, mortal! It’s the size of your hands…or feet that determines your wee wee size…Anyway…back to the music. ASA were barely even together and you got signed to Camp Fury records. How did you manage such a feat?

Matt: We fucked up and did something right.

Chad: I knew this guy in High School by the name of Justin Fuller. He moved to New Orleans, I move here. He’s had this record label going on for a while now. It’s for Metal bands. He knew about Fomofuiab but wasn’t interested. Anyway, he contacted me with a proposition for a deal once he heard ASA. His record label gives us a really good chance to get our music out. It’s distributed throughout the world. He’s a bad ass. Thank you. And…ha ha…to all you other jealous pussies out there! (laughs).

What goes into getting signed to an Independent Label? With major labels, you get lawyer mortals involved.

Matt: The contracts were really straight forward. It was all very cut and dry. The label pays for our CD manufacturing and distribution. We are still responsible for doing our own merchandise. We get a percentage from everything they sell. We get royalties. The only bitch we have…and you’re not going to find it with any independant….is…no tour support.

Sean: But they treat you really good when you come to their town.

Matt: Yeah, they were really good to us when we went to Louisiana. But anyone that thinks being a signed band is really glamorous…it’s a bunch of bullshit.

Jesse: But it’s more than all of you reading this got! (everybody laughs)

Matt: It’s really good, but you have to accept what it really is and go with it.

Chad: But people can still keep talking shit, cuz we like it.

So the first thing you did was I Fucked Up and Did Something Right. Was that with the label or prior to being signed?

Matt: The songs were recorded before we got signed. We actually had released it as an independent, untitled promo. It was just three songs. So when we got signed, we just decided to re-release the songs. Nobody had really heard the promo anyway. I think we sold like 15 of them before our deal, so it was still new shit to the label. The title of the CD came about because we felt we got lucky. I mean, when we started ASA, it wasn’t a joke, but it was just for fun. It was just a project we formed – initially as a side project. We didn’t necessarily intend to get signed or do anything major with it but we…fucked up and did something right.

So, are you working on something new, recording-wise?

Jesse: We’re constantly producing hit after hit. You can all eat a dick until you hiccup. (Laughs)

Matt: Every time we write a song we record it. We have our own recording equipment, so we we don’t have to pay some asshole to record us. It helps us all to learn the song if we record it. We can listen to it over and over again.

What about new stuff for the label?

Matt: Right after I Fucked Up and Did Something Right got put out, we sent the label our new songs for the next release – which will actually be a split CD with Continent of Ash. The music we are working on right now is for our first, full length.

You mentioned earlier that you are not Hardcore. You once had words with Steve Beam (former vocalist for As We Speak) about the issue. Tell me about this, mortals.

Sean: I actually give Steve props for saying his name and coming out on that. We’ve had a lot of people talking shit, here, recently. And they talk shit behind their little, fuckin’ screen names. What it came down to was we mentioned that we were Hardcore in our bio and…we’re not a Hardcore band. A lot of us have grown up on the shit. I listened to the shit when I was younger. Anything from Minor Threat to Ten Yard Fight and all that shit. We all grew up on that shit so we have it as an influence. So Steve actually came out and called us out. He thought we were specifically calling ourselves a Hardcore band and got offended off of that. I’ll give him mad credit though because he came out and said his fuckin’ name.

Chad: Yeah…way to go Steve for not being a pussy and shit. Personally, I think the gap between the Metal and Hardcore scene is fuckin’ stupid. I mean, we’re all here to do one thing and that’s make fuckin’ music and get our aggressions out the way we fuckn’ want to. You can fuckin’ label yourselves and do whatever. It doesn’t mean shit to me. I don’t care…bye bye.

Jesse: Music isn’t about being labeled anything. It’s about writing fuckin’ music to write fuckin’ music and doing what you love.

Matt: In the industry, Hardcore has taken on more of general term. I have nothing but respect for Steve and I’m not trying to put words in his mouth, but we are not “New York Hardcore” by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, Hardcore itself has evolved into it’s own genre. Underneath it is Metalcore, Grindcore, Emo and Screamo…and all of that. So, technically, if you want to get down to brass tacks, we are a Metalcore band – which is actually in the Hardcore genre. So in our bio…and I’ll take responsibility, because I wrote it…rather than writing “we are a hardcore/metal/death/buttrock -whatever band from Denver,” I generalized and said “Hardcore.” But you know what? Everybody else in the industry is generalizing Hardcore too..so that’s all I have to say about it.

Chad: I may sound like a hippy, but what about back in the 70’s and shit? I mean, back then you had rock and roll. Seriously, man. I mean, fuckin’ Hardcore, Metal- all that shit is just fuckin’ Rock and Roll. We live our lives with no fuckin’ boundaries. Maybe Hardcore and Straight Edge have some kind of fuckin’ rules and regulations, but ultimately it comes down to the same thing. It’s all fuckin’ stupid.

Josh: I don’t know what Steve had to say about any of my previous bands, but I thought of Control Element as a Hardcore band. Our lyrics were positive and we had New York Hardcore breakdowns. Now I’m with ASA and…ASA has a lot of “ass” in the name (laughs)…so I’m just happy to be aboard. That’s all I have to say. I’m the fuckin’ new guy, so watch out.

You’ve had a lot of people talking shit about you haven’t you?

Josh: I want to personally make a call out to At Life’s End. That’s the band with my former lead singer. If they want to call themselves Hardcore and talk shit behind people’s back then we can do it real Hardcore style and meet in an alley somewhere. We’ll do it old school style.

What happened with At Life’s End?

Matt: We don’t know. Adam quit Control Element and said he had to stop doing music for awhile. Then he’s suddenly in At Life’s End. They fired Justin, the singer they had, who is a bad-assed motherfucker. They didn’t even tell him they fired him. He came up all the way from Colorado Springs to find out he was fired. But before any of that happened, I built their first website for them, we’ve loaned them gear, we’ve got them shows. They were, what we thought, our friends. We really dug their shit and they told us they really dug ours. We always went to their shows. Suddenly, we are hearing they are talking mad shit about us. People that hang out with them have said At Life’s End has been saying “fuck ASA.” If they want to talk shit and hate on us, then fine. It’s all good.

Jesse: We KNOW you’re talking shit, At Life’s End. Not all of you guys. Some of you guys are cool. But some of you motherfuckin bitches that are talkin’ shit…you KNOW who you are…and so do we. If you want to talk shit on computers like a little bitch and hide who the fuck you are, why don’t you come say it to my fuckin’ face and we’ll fuckin’ handle it right there. No guns, no knives, we can box it out. I’ll cave your fuckin’ head in.

I’m so erect right now I can’t even handle it.

Chad: Yeah, Dusty…I think it’s really funny when people talk shit and they KNOW they’re talking fuckin shit. And then they see you at a show and they’re all like “hey dude, what’s going on?…I’m a faggot and a poseur.”

Jesse: Let me buy some tight black jeans, tight black t-shirt, dye my hair black…bitch.

Well before this virile display of butch-ness causes me to ejaculate, allow me to change the tone…ahem!…Not everybody talks shit about you, do they? I mean, your mortal fans love you.

Matt: I don’t know that they “love” us; but the positive feedback we have received is welcome, if not unexpected. If I had to attribute it to anything it would be that we’re just normal guys that play heavy music. We have the same problems everyone else has and go thru the same shit everyone else does. Not to mention the style of stuff we do is pretty much designed to make people want to kick the crap out of something, which is very therapeutic. It’s very primal.

What are your touring plans for the next, six months?

Matt: We have a short tour this December (2004). Camp Fury Records Presents: The Midwest Pestilence Tour. There will be several dates across the midwest and the final show will be in Denver on Saturday Dec.18th; although we are still waiting for a venue to confirm. Either way, it’ll be us, Organized Hostility and Aggro-Fate from New Orleans, and Continent of Ash from Wichita. We’ll prolly have another local act open it up as well. After that we’ll be doing regional touring in the surrounding states. We’ll be working with Wayne at Big Q Productions on that.

So what is the final and ultimate dream for Assisted Suicide Assembly?

Matt: To be able to get our music to as many people as possible worldwide through recording and touring. We’re on the path, but we have a lot to do. It would be nice if this could sustain us financially so we could focus on it and not have to worry about the perils of life, but until then we’re gonna stay true to the style and keep doing what we’re doing. Money is not the driving force here. And it shouldn’t be for anyone that has a passion for heavy music.