UN: Hail Horror definitely shows the band taking its sound to the next level. Did you guys have a game plan in mind when going into writing this record? Was it conscious that you guys wanted to top everything you have done in the past?

Kirby: Taking it to the 'next level' is exactly what we were going for in certain areas. Over the years we've become better players, and we've just got better ears for what we think sounds good sonically, which i think is where Hail Horror made its biggest leaps. Musically, we knew we wanted to maintain some of the melodic guitar work off CTAD, but overall we wanted to make a really pissed off record. We aren't really into the sugary sweet choruses, so you wont hear any of that. We still like things catchy, but for us, catchy doesn't mean singing.

UN: You guys have had Hail Horror done for quite awhile now. Is it a relief that it will finally be in stores very soon? I think I read that you had it finished last June what caused the delay?

Kirby: It is a huge relief to know that HH will be out soon. The writing process happened quickly, then the recording happened quickly.....and then we sat on it for the next 6 months. The delay was caused by our former guitar player, he wanted to make sure he recieved all the royalties over the 2 songs on the recording that he wrote the majority of the riffs for. All members of a band have to be in agreement to have their recording released, and he refused to give his permission until he was satisfied with what he was getting. It was a terrible and disheartening situation to be involved in after I put in so much time and work in writing the music for Hail Horror.

UN: What was it like traveling to record with Tue Madsen? He is definitely one of the best producers for this type of music. Was it easy to concentrate on recording being so far away from home?

Kirby: It was strange to be going all the way to Denmark to record when there are perfectly fine studios here in Seattle. But all the knobs in the world ain't shit if the guy behind them doesn't know or care about what he is doing. We were lucky to get Tue to work with us. I agree he is definitely one of the best! As of yet, he isn't too well known here in the States, which we thought was perfect since his sound will be fresh to all the ears over here. His work and his personality are so great that I’m sure he will soon be quite well known!

UN: Was this the first time that you’ve been to Denmark or have you been there on tour before? It isn’t a country that comes up much when it comes to metal aside from Tue and possibly Konkhra, who really aren’t that well known.

Kirby: We'd played in Copenhagen once on tour, it was a festival and it was outside the city, so we didn't even see anything while we were there, so we might as well have been anywhere. As for metal in Denmark, I'd known of Hatesphere and Mnemic, partly because Tue had done their production. They are great bands, and if you haven't heard them they are really worth checking out. Mnemic has actually been touring quite a bit in the States lately.

UN: I like the fact that while most bands are going for super clean productions Hail Horror has a much more raw sound. It actually reminds me of vintage Swedish death metal at times. Would you say it was a conscious thing to do for a rawer sound or is this just how the band sounds when they get together to play music?

Kirby: The raw sound is just one of the few things we like to do to separate ourselves from the rest of the pack. We feel that the raw production fits better with the music also, our sound is pissed and ugly and mean, we didn't want to polish that out.

UN: Hail Horror has very dark yet subtle artwork. How did the overall concept for the look of the album come together? Did you give the artist the basic idea of what you wanted and let him run with it?

Kirby: The art for Hail Horror was done by Stephen Kasner. He started working on it while we were still in the studio. We sent him some rough mixes and he listened to ithem and ran some ideas by us. It seems like the guy is constantly painting and creating, so we would get a bunch of concepts at a time. Once we saw the rough sketches for the cover, we knew right away that it was perfect!

UN: Himsa has always been very influenced, at least visually, by horror movies. Do you think that musically they influence the band at all? A lot of people say that they are influenced by horror movie soundtracks, and I’d definitely say that there is a creepy vibe running throughout the Himsa sound.

Kirby: We all watch and read a lot of horror, so I guess we are pretty naturally influenced by it. Its just entertainment for us and I'm sure it has somehow trickled its way into our bones and comes out through the music. Horror movie music is fun to listen to because it is designed to shock the watcher along with the visuals. There are always some good chord progressions to be found, especially in old horror movies.

UN: Does it bother you that you guys sometimes unfairly get lumped into the metalcore genre? It’s a genre that I think has a lot of great bands, but one listen to Hail Horror and it’s fairly obvious that you guys are a straight up metal band.

Kirby: The only reason it bothers me to be lumped in with the metalcore genre is that I feel like if people think we are metalcore, I get the impression that they maybe haven't really listened to the music! We are definitely influenced by hardcore music, and obviously metal, but I think there are some things we do, and don't do, that set us apart from them. We tour with a lot of bands that fall into this category, so maybe that is peoples' first association with the band, and maybe that is why get sometimes get that tag. By todays standards, you could make an argument that Slayer is a metalcore band. They have breakdowns and moshparts, even singing parts! We just say we are a metal band.

UN: Not to discredit the bands Revelation days (Ground Breaking Ceremony is one of my favorite albums of time), but do you think that things really started happening for the band with Courting Tragedy and the newer incarnation of the band?

Kirby: The Ground Breaking Ceremony lineup was basically a whole different band. I think if those guys would have stuck together that they could have had some success too. I think that the older stuff was a bit too "all over the place" musically, which is kinda hard for most listeners to take in. Things did start happening with the newer incarnation, we worked our asses off. I think we really focused on a sound, started to write some catchy tunes, and toured and played anywhere we could. The success didn't happen overnight, it was a pretty slow process.

UN: It seems that Himsa can tour with pretty much any type of band and still fit in nicely. Do you notice a difference between the tours with hardcore bands and the tours with metal bands?

Kirby: We tend to go over better with metal crowds. I think our music is better for headbanging than kickboxing. But, when it comes to stagedives, it doesn't matter whether you like metal or hardcore. We think its important to keep music diverse, most people dont like just style of music, so why not put together a tour of bands that vary in sound and style a bit? I think its that philosophy that helps us to fit in with other types of bands.

UN: I was curious to ask how you guys decide what to listen to on the drives between shows. I would assume that you guys have a pretty eclectic range of taste between members. Do any of you guys listen to any bands that other guys in the band can’t stand or is it fairly consistent between members? Any band or album someone will throw on that you want to just throw out the window?

Kirby: This is a great question. We are all music fans in general with a crazy variance in taste. Pettibone will play Morrissey when he drives which drives me insane. I don’t know what it is about it, but i just want to jam icepicks in my ears. He does write some pretty amazing lyrics. I'm curious to know what I play that drives people nuts. I'll be sure to turn it up.

UN: Prosthetic has done an amazing job at getting the Himsa name out there. Do you think that they are the ideal home for the band? Would you guys show interest if an offer came in from a bigger label?

Kirby: Hail Horror is actually our last release under our current contract. We love that Prosthetic has worked so hard, and I feel like we've done a lot of growing together. They are great people who put out some incredible bands. I don't know if a big label would really know what to do with us, but I suppose we'll see what happens.