UN: Gone Without Trace might be a new band to a lot of people out there. Can we go through a history of how the band came together? Were any of you guys in bands prior to playing in Gone Without Trace?

Mike(guitar): Before Gone Without Trace I played in a thrash metal band called Grim Reality, Shane played in a band called Ender, and Ryan played in a band called Cydne Raven. Danny and Ben used to jam together alot but were not in anything serious prior. I started Gone Without Trace in March of 2001, but it was not until a year later that the current lineup came together and began doing shows regularly in the Socal area. It was like any other band who searches for people that are all serioius and passionate about what they do. Luckily everyone in the band has been friends first and foremost before playing together in this band which really helps us understand each other especially when we are on tour and living in the confines of a van.

UN: Would you say that Orange County is turning into a breeding ground for heavy hardcore bands? I'd say Gone Without Trace doesn't really have the typical sound, but you guys definitely fit in with the other bands from the area. Is there a family vibe to the scene there, or does a lot of shit talking take place?

Mike(guitar): Orange County is like every other scene in the Country excepts its on a bigger scale. There are tons of kids who go to shows in OC and tons of bands which is awesome but the only downside is that with more people there is more rediculously stupid fucking drama. Anyone can keep their noses out of it. It's just the kids who have nothing else better to do but get wrapped up in childish shit. Like i said though OC is no different than any other scene in America its just bigger. I definitely think that OC is a breeding ground. There are many awesome bands from the area who have made a name for themselves and there are many great bands that are on their way up. We feel fortunate to be here because we get to look up to some great hardworking bands. For instance Bleeding Through and Scars of Tomorrow have worked their asses off to get to where they are. They deserve everything that they have gotten. We really look up to bands that make things happen on their own. For the most part I would say that there is pretty much a family vibe. Most of the bands are friends and they all pretty much support each other. The bands that succeed in OC are the ones who are hard working and try to put their own stamp on their sound.

UN: After a demo, and an EP, Thorp stepped in to release your debut CD. How did Thorp come into contact with the band? Were you guys excited when the label began showing interest in the band?

Mike(guitar): Thorp came into contact with us after Andy heard a 2 song demo that we did of new material that was to be on our full length. It contained the demo versions of "Everything's Bigger in Texas" and "Battlefield Left in Ruin". He heard it and immediately contacted us saying he wanted to work with us. At the time we were talking with other label's too but we had heard nothing but good things about Andy so we decided to go with him. He was completely direct and straight up about everything. He's a no bullshit kind of guy and that's what we like.

UN: I was pretty surprised to read that the band handled the production duties yourselves for the record. The album sounds amazing. The guitar tone just absolutely crushes. Did you guys have a clear idea as to what you wanted the album to sound like? Obviously you want it to be a good representation of what the band is all about live I would assume.

Mike(guitar): Yes we knew exactly what we wanted to do when we went into the studio to record it. We've all done enough shit in the studio to know exactly what NOT to do. We were able to consult alot of friends who are involved in recording to get ideas and what not. Also, Shane and Ryan both have experience working in studios so that made things alot easier too. We've spent many hours studying the production on different band's albums. Going in we knew what we wanted, but the only obstacle was working with the studio we went to. We did not have a large budget so we were cramped for time and we were working with a studio that prides itself in quantity not quality. It was like pulling fucking teeth, but in the end we got our way and we are happy with the results.

UN: Would you say that you guys tried to stay away from all of the trends of heavy hardcore? You guys are extremely heavy, but you don't have Swedish death metal riffs, or clean choruses. Just straight ahead brutality with a bit of dissonance once in awhile. You guys manage to take a style that has been done quite a bit and make something original out of it.

Mike(guitar): Our main goal with this band is to write straight up heavy and well structured songs. We want our songs to translate well live for kids to sing and dance to, but we also want them to pop it into their cd player's at home or in their cars and be able to rock out. That being said we are never going to write breakdown after breakdown because we get too bored listening to that in a cd player. We like listening to Swedish metal and bands with clean choruses but as far as GWT goes that is not our style. There's so many bands doing that style that it has dilluted the genre but there's still the bands that do it way better than anyone and will continue to do so. Like I said before we just want to write well structured songs and keep it heavy as possible.

UN: Do you find that you guys get compared to a lot of bands that you guys really sound nothing like? One band I definitely hear is Hatebreed, but the bio mentions Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage and Norma Jean. To be honest I don't really hear those bands at all. Do you think if you play metalcore you're bound to get compared to bands you really sound nothing like?

Mike(guitar): Yes we get compared to bands all over the spectrum. We draw influence from all over though and i can definitely say that Hatebreed, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, and Norma Jean are all big influences along with other bands such as Buried Alive, Blood for Blood, Pantera, Slayer, and many others. You may not hear it directly in our music or even after the first few listens, but all those bands have aspects in them that we really like and try to learn from. You are bound to be compared to some fucking random bands because to alot of people the concept and term metalcore doesnt even make sense to them so they grab names of bands out of their asses. Hardcore, Metalcore, Metal, and even Nu-Metal are morphing so much these days its hard to tell the difference. There's alot of bands out there that > people consider straight up metal and I just sit in disbelief trying to figure out what the fuck their relevance is to real straight up metal. To me metal is Slayer, Pantera, Dark Angel etc. There's really just one category that accurately describes music though and it is GOOD music.

UN: I find the name to be pretty interesting. I was wondering why you guys went with Gone Without Trace instead of Gone Without a Trace? Why did you guys settle on that name? I think it's a pretty unique name.

Mike(guitar): Quite honestly I can't even pin point the time when we decided on not having the A. It just kind of happened and has stuck ever since. There's no real big reason for there not being an A.

UN: The band just spent most of June on the road. Can we expect the touring to continue for the rest of the summer? I'm sure now that you have a new record out you guys will want to pound the pavement as much as possible to get the name out there.

Mike(guitar): We have been on the road since the later part of May and we just got home a couple days ago. So we put in about 6 weeks. We'll be home for a few weeks then we are going to do a tour up through the western US ending in Idaho for Rememberance fest which is in August. We have alot of touring plans so you will definitely be seeing on on the road more and more. We love being on the road and feel like lazy fuckers when we are at home.

UN: While on the subject of touring, how would you describe a typical Gone Without Trace show? I could see things getting quite a bit violent at times. You guys definitely play with a lot of intensity and I could only see a crowd feeding off of that and giving 100% along with the band.

Mike(guitar): Our shows are always different. There's usually alot of energy from the crowd when we play we always give it 110 % on our end no matter how big or small the show is. We just feel lucky to be able to do what we love and we always appreciate every person that shows any form of support. We've had alot of violent behavior at shows and we don't condone nor like fighting. We believe fighting and message boards are the downfall of hxc but we support kids in dancing their asses off.

UN: Seeing as though Gone Without Trace is a newer band, what would you say that the band offers that other metalcore bands don't? If a kid was in the record store and saw your album, why should he picked it up over the other albums there?

Mike(guitar): This prolly sounds cliche but we offer honesty in our music. We are not pretty doods and we can give a fuck about about trends. All of our lyrics deal directly with events and things that we believe in and are personal to us. We are out touring and writing music for the mere love of it and we never expect to gain anything but being able to play shows all over the country and hopefully also all over the world someday. If a kid sees our record in a record store they should pick it up because they will be getting something that came from out hearts 100%. We offer no gimmicks and we all believe entirely in what we put out in this release.

Gone Without Trace Website