Hollywood Undead - Hard working and pleasure

J3T: The title Swan Songs stands for the whole recording process, and achieving the end of it. A swan song is the most beautiful song a swan sings right before it dies. We were happy that we finished recording, and that we could go on tour. Da Kurlzz broke out in tears when we decided to call it ‘Swan Songs’, he loved it.’

J-Dog: It’s fantastic, but at the same time it’s sort of weird. I went to the Red Light District for the first time in my life yesterday. I have never seen anything like it. The ladies are beautiful, they look hotter than pornstars. I mean, we were with a pornstar last night, and she didn’t even come close to being as hot as some of the ladies there. It sure is fun, but at times it’s just damn scary. There is a lot of stuff here that is legal, but that’s just bad news. ‘

J3T: It kicked ass, those guys are absolutely awesome. Working with those guys on our debut album was definitely a privilege. It has certainly helped to shape the album, but in all fairness, the band self-produced a large part of the album. We’ve become good friends with Danny, he even wanted to fly over here, when we played here last time.’

J3T: We just did Pinkpop, and that was superb. I’m really happy we get to play this many shows, and these huge festivals as well (resp. Slam Dunk, Pinkpop and Rock Am Ring). We don’t have festivals this big in America.’

J-Dog: I’ve never seen that many people in one place. At festivals like this, even if people don’t know you or don’t really listen to the music, they’ll watch the show. And who knows, if they like it, they might buy the album.’

J-Dog: We arm-wrestle our sound guy Brian. He beats us most of the time, I mean, look at him, he’s huge. We steal the crew walkie-talkies, hide them places and start shouting random stuff through it, hoping someone will pass by. Touring can be awesome, but it can also be boring as hell.‘

J3T: We had a lot of time in between when we got signed and when we actually started touring. It’s weird; your life flips around 180 degrees. We’ve all struggled and worked hard in other bands before this, so we feel as if we’ve deserved this.’

J-Dog: It feels great getting signed, but you stay down to earth because you realize that it can all go away as fast as it came. Not many bands are popular forever. It’s time to build up a legacy.’

J3T: As J-Dog said, festivals are cool because you get to see other bands, and meet a lot of different people. We met All-American Rejects, and talked to them about doing a tour together possibly. We also got to see Snow Patrol, which is one of our favorite bands. At the same time, a smaller show is a lot more intimate, there is way more connection with the crowd.‘

J3T: Everybody uses the internet nowadays, we certainly weren’t the first to do it and I’m pretty sure we won’t be the last. People listen to music because it’s good, nobody is going to listen to bad music even though it’s on the internet. If you’re music sucks, you’re out of luck. It’s just a way to make a name for your band. You can masturbate to porn, and promote your band at the same time. It’s genius.’

J3T: Pretty normal, it happens. I have to say I ran that place, I was top dog, I was the boss.’

J-Dog: You really break yourself down as a man in the slammer.’

J3T: We’ve got a whole load of more touring to do, we’ll probably be busy with that for another year. After that we’ll hop back into the studio. We really want to focus on the quality of the second album, we really want to make sure that it’s better than our debut.’

As a final comment, J-Dog tells me that he’s happy that we don’t ask about the masks, and that he can’t wait to do a completely maskless show. “If fans get pissed off because we ditch the masks, they can f*ck off. You listen to a band because of the music that they make, not because of the image.”

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