>Jeff: We actually only had about 14 days studio time since we were on a tight budget. I'd say about 7 or so of those days were spent actually tracking. We would have liked more studio time, but we are happy with the finished product considering the time constraints.

>John: Thank you! We had two weeks of studio time booked. I really wish we would have had more time because we weren't really as prepared as we needed to be and I think there are some minor things here and there that we could have done better on, but all in all it came out pretty good in my opinion.

What were some of the major influences that went into the making of each song on the album?

>Jeff: Hmm... tough question. John may be a better person to answer this one. But I'm gonna go for it and say we've had influence from everything from Between the Buried and Me and As Hope Dies to Dying Fetus and Necrophagist.

>John: Lyrically songs were just made up short stories in general, based off of ideas inspired by movies or comic books or just thought up straight out of the imagination. Musically we are influenced by a lot of different types of metal and video game music and we just kinda write whatever we want to write.

Now if you could change one thing about the recording process of the album what would it be?

>Jeff: I would have liked for us to have had more studio time. We weren't quite as prepared as we would have liked to have been going into the studio, and a few things on the album would probably be different if we had more time to work things out.

>John: I would have been more prepared. We ended up having to go into the studio about a month and a half sooner than we thought we were going to if we wanted to record at mana studios due to Erik Rutan only having a short 2 week window open in his schedule before he was booked solid till summer. So for about half the songs on the album there were no second guitar parts or bass lines written. I think it could have been way sweeter if I had more time to work on more intricate harmonies and counterparts between both guitars, but then again I guess it is already a bit over the top as is according to some people.

Now you guys kind of formed from the ashes of Conducting From the Grave and then the remaining members of With Passion. What happened with that and how did you guys end up how you are now?

>Jeff: Well, I was one of the founding members of With Passion, but I had left the band at the end of 2003. I joined up with John and Greg to form Conducting From the Grave and Shaun joined as our vocalist. A couple months later With Passion signed with Earache and Shaun had to quit CFTG. Then in mid 2005 we lost our bassist and vocalist in CFTG and With Passion dwindled down to just Shaun and Mike. I had heard that With Passion was calling it quits so I contacted Shaun about him and Mike joining CFTG, and at the same time he had planned on asking me to rejoin With Passion along with John and Greg. So, in interest of keeping with Earache, Shaun moved from guitar to vocals and we became the new With Passion. Then 4 days before we left to record "What We See When We Shut Our Eyes" Shaun announced that he wouldn't be able to go to Mana Studios with us. Two hours later, Fedi showed up for a quick try-out and learned the songs on the way to Florida.

>John: Well it was Shaun Gier's idea, since both bands needed members. We (CFTG) had the members they needed and they had the members we needed, plus Jeff used to be in With Passion so we thought about it for a while and decided it would be the best idea so we could continue playing music and having fun. Our attitude was basically we just want to be playing music with our friends and going on tour to play that music every night, regardless of what the band name is. So rather than both bands keep trying out members we just merged to make things easier and solve our problem. Then right before we left to go record this new album, Shaun decided he really didn't want to quit his job and he couldn't handle the instability of all the touring we wanted to do so he quit. We kinda saw it coming since his attendance to practice had decreased substantially, and when discussing this with my good friend Fidel Campos of Cyanide Era he mentioned that if Shaun quit he would be down to do vocals for us. So when he did quit it was kinda like "hey Fedi, remember how you said you'd be down, well Shaun just quit, you still down?" "Yeah, for sure" "Okay cool, well the only catch is we leave in 4 days to go record." haha. Thankfully Shaun gave us what lyrics he had written so as not to completely screw us over, so it wasn't too much stress.

What do you feel are the biggest differences between your current endeavor and CFTG?

>Jeff: The new With Passion stuff is much more creative than the CFTG stuff. The new material kind of mixes the old With Passion style with the CFTG style and makes it a little more tech. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

>John: Well we really wanted to get away from the generic metalcore vibe of CFTG. It seems to me that especially around here in Sacramento we were severely overrated. I mean I guess it was good for what it was and kids seemed to have fun at the shows, but we really wanted to push the technicality of the music, and we wanted to pick up the energy and make it less moshy, and a little more original. I was like 17-19 when I wrote most of the CFTG stuff, and my musical tastes in general have changed since then.

How long have each of you guys been playing your instruments?

>Jeff: John has been playing guitar for 7 years I think. Greg is somewhere around 5 or 6 years on drums, and Mike if I'm not mistaken has been playing bass for something like 11 years. I could be off on my numbers... I started playing guitar 10 and a half years ago, but I'd say I only actually spent maybe 7 of those years as a guitar player.

>John: I've been playing guitar for about 7 years.

Were you guys self-taught musicians, or do you actually read into theory and take lessons to increase your skill?

>Jeff: I don't think any of us ever really took lessons. I did for a few months when I first started playing, but they didn't do much for me. I played the clarinet in the marching band for a couple years in school so I can read music and all that stuff. I also took a couple theory classes in college and I'm pretty good with theory on paper. John, on the other hand, is really good at applying theory to the fretboard. He took some classes in high school and studied it on guitar. I think Mike has some self-taught theory knowledge too. John applies theory to a lot of the stuff we write.

>John: I have never had lessons, I just taught myself by learning to read tabs and taking a music theory class in high school.

Now you guys have a lot of sweeping technique in your guitar riffing, what about your music do you think separates you from the wannabe metal bands that just dabble around with short scale sweeps to fit the current flavor of the month?

>Jeff: Sweeps are fun. We do a lot more of them than most the other bands that use them. We're also starting to experiment with more creative sweeping patterns rather than just the usual stuff we've been doing. Sweeps seem to impress people I guess. We just like them.

>John: Interesting question. It definitely does seem like sweeping is the new big thing in metal, but I guess the thing that's different with us is we don't try and hold it back and make it tasteful we pretty much just go over the top and sweep as much as possible (probably a little too much). Whereas some bands just put some short scale sweeps in because they have to because its the new trend, we do it because we want to and we enjoy just shredding as hard as we possibly can and having fun with it.

How have things been now that Earache has picked you up?

>Jeff: From what I've seen of it, things have been pretty good I guess. It sure beats doing everything DIY. Having Earache there to call up when we need things or to make things happen for us sure is nice.

>John: It's been pretty good, they are about to fund a music video for us, like for the song Pale Horses Ride, so I'm stoked for that!

Have you guys hit up any major tours since your signing? If so what are they?

>Jeff: Well, the band did a smaller tour with a few bands that weren't very big at the time right after the signing. Then they toured with Deicide, Immolation, Skinless, and Despised Icon. They had another tour set up with Cryptopsy but they lost members and had to drop off. Then when Greg, John and I joined we did a tour with Nile, Hypocrisy, Soilent Green, Raging Speedhorn and Decapitated. We haven't done anything major since, but we've got some noteworthy stuff in the works for the coming months.

>John: Since the line up change, we have toured with Nile, Hypocrisy, Decapitated, Raging Speedhorn, and Soilent Green, and before that With Passion toured with Deicide and Skinless and a few others.

Any plans for upcoming tours this summer or spring?

>Jeff: Yes, we are planning to set out with The Absence, Iscariot and Architect this March and April. And, I just recieved word today of a tour we may be doing immediately following that, but I don't know if I can say yet who it's with... sorry. But I will just say that it will be noteworthy.

>John: We are going to be touring with The Absence, Architect and Iscariot this spring. I'm really excited for this tour because even though the shows won't be for as many people as when we toured with Nile, it will be more our crowd since the brutal death metal crowds don't tend to dig us for the most part. After that there is some other unconfirmed stuff, possibly a tour with Vital Remains, Malevolent Creation, and Light This City but it's not confirmed as of yet. We are hoping to be on the road most of this year to take this album as far as we can before writing another one.

What specific musicians did you guys pay attention to as you were growing up?

>Jeff: When I first started playing guitar I just wanted to learn Metallica songs. I think they're songs are good basics to learn for metal. I also got into some Hendrix and some Pantera among other things. I know John was really into all the Slayer and Pantera stuff when he was young. It's really hard for me to speak for the other guys on this. I know Mike was a big White Zombie fan, but I don't know much else for sure. Greg was a punk kid. And Fedi used to be a dj, so he grew up on hip-hop.

>John: I was a huge Dimebag Darrell fan. Also I dug Metallica and Megadeth quite a bit.

On a less serious note, If you were to enter a cage wrestling match, what is one person you'd hate to find yourself against and why?

>Jeff: Haha. Definitely Fedi. He's got the lowest center of gravity, and he's got a past of lots of bar fights and knocking out crazy guys at gas stations.

>John: Fidel, hes a brutal dude. He may be short, but he has his fair history of gang fights, bar fights, and just plain knocking people out in his life. Next to him, I wouldn't want to fight Jeff if hes been drinking Jaegermeister, and other than that I think I could take Greg and Mike at the same time, but then they aren't particularly violent people.

Well that about wraps it up for us here at skylinepress.net are there any words you'd like to leave readers with?