UN: I was reading that you guys have been together since 1998, and it also seemed like you guys still have the same line-up. It seems like bands these days change members every other week. Do you think that a certain dynamic is created by having the same members for a long time? You must get to know what makes everyone tick, and it must make writing music a lot easier.

Pete:Actually, we did have a line-up change. But the band had all the original members since inception in the Fall of 98 until January of 2003. We lost our old bassist/vocalist-John, and our old guitarist-Bob. They were twin brothers and John became seriously ill which is why he left and Bob soon followed because he didn't feel right playing without his brother. That was a rough period but we snapped back from it very quickly. Almost immediately we got both our new bassist-David Beck and our new guitarist/vocalist-Chris Csar. You do get used to each other and get to know what makes each of you tick for sure and this makes song writing easier and easier. Jon-John and myself having been playing together now for about 5 years and at this point we know each other in and out. So when we are wrting a song we know what each of us are going to do or need to do to make the song work the best. It really works out quite well and the new guys are always catching on faster and faster. The band at this point is the best it has ever been and we plan to make it even better.

UN: I was also wondering why it took so long for you guys to release your debut cd? Were you just making sure you were ready and had the sound you wanted the band to have? Did you guys have any demos or self-released albums?

Pete: Well, when we formed in Nov/98 we didn't have a drummer. Jon-John didn't come into the picture until a year later in Nov/99. Then we practiced honing our sound down and constructing an assemblage of songs in the best way we could think possible until we played our first show in Aug/2000. So yeah, we did want to wait until we were really ready to present the band the way we wanted to instead of being rushed to play out. As for recording, we did a 4-song demo which we passed around for free and actually got to give out on a tour I went on with my friend's band. I helped them out on the road and it helped me to promote my band at the same time, it worked out really cool. As far as the album goes, we had some set-backs due to the studio we recorded in being rebuilt in a new location, so we had to wait for that to get done. We could have gone somewhere else but we really wanted to record with Jon Smulyan at TVR, and we thought it was worth the wait. So we started recording in Feb/2002 and finished in May/2003. The recording was more like an education in engineering, haha. We learned so much coming off of that experience. It took so long because we really wanted to album to turn out the way we envisioned to, and we feel that it did. We were under no pressure from our label, At A Loss Recordings, as well, so we took out time with it. Plus, the studio is in the basement of his house, he has a day job as did all of us and the fact that the studio was about an hour drive from where we all lived made it difficult to go in and record day after day, all in a row, so we spread the sessions out some and went in when we could, which still ended up being probably way more time than was necessary to get it done, but we were so anal about how we wanted everything and we wanted it perfect. Additionally, this was the first time for all of us in the studio, so it was a learning experience. Next time around will be a lot different and we can't wait.

UN: Sort of just a random question here, is there a story behind coming up with the band name? I think it’s a very unique name that suits a heavy band, yet it’s also a somewhat somber name at the same time.

Pete: The band name to me, means freedom, if I had to pick just one word. I'll explain. In ancient times, the lotus was held in high regard, as almost this religious type of artifact. It was believed that if you ate from the lotus, it would take you away to an enchanted, utopian state in which you were completely free, like a drug in its way it would affect you. Well, I really took to that ideology and paralled it with how our music makes me feel. Our music allows us to achieve complete freedom from all the stresses in life, from everything that is bothering us or holding us down. From anything that anchors you in life and weighs on you. Freedom. With us acting as the unit, the swarm, to push forth the idea that music can do that for you, the drug so to speak, that can relieve some of life's shitiness. We are NOT trying to portray anything religious or anti-drug in that statement and I say that because I know that many people after reading that might summize that that is where we are speaking from. Either that, or we took too many hits of acid in our time, haha. No, but really it might be a little lofty but that is the basic idea behind the name and if people can connect with our music in that light, than that is amazing.

UN: How did At a Loss come into the picture? I actually wasn’t very familiar with them up until recently and they release some of the most interesting and original heavy music I’ve heard in a long time. Was that a deciding factor in signing with them?

Pete: Well, we've been friends with MEATJACK for a long time now and back when we first met I told them about my band and that they should come check it out. They did and they were impressed and went back and told Josh from At A Loss about us and that they thought it was something he should check out. The next time we played, Josh showed up and totally dug it and offered to do a full-length shortly after that. That was back in 2001 and it is just now coming out, so it took a while for the album to finally see the light of day but the band is way more mature now, all that "new band" haze has worn off, the peach fuzz if you will and now we've started growing our metal beards and we are now more than ever fully band-driven with intentions to write, record, and tour as much as possible.

UN: I was wondering if you could explain the meaning behind When White Becomes Black. I’m assuming that there is more behind it then it seems. I have to say that the album cover is very interesting to. Not what you’d really expect from a heavy band at all, which is always a good thing.

Pete: The process of everything you know as being good, decent, and pure starting to crumble and wither away giving birth to ugliness, decay, and complete filth. That is the idea we are trying to reference with the album title. One of our aims has always been to be unpredictable, without blatantly trying to do so. Just trying to be ourselves and write what naturally comes forth instead of having a pre-set idea of how every song should be, or listen to what all the kids are digging and then do something similar or whatever. We've always tried our best to be as original as we can be. And for the album cover, we wanted something simplistic. Something that just said enough without overdoing it and let the music speak and also something to where if you looked at the album cover, you couldn't really guess what type of band it was, something different. I like it also for the contradiction it creates, being that if you listen to the album, which has so much going on, it goes against the simple, stripped down cover. I love the way it looks and we owe all that to Chris Chiera from Sofa King Killer for making our idea into a reality, he did an amazing job.

UN: I was curious to ask if you guys recorded live in the studio. It definitely sounds like it. I’m not a big fan of heavy bands, especially ones on the more noisy side that have slick sounding albums. It worked for the latest Isis album, but I couldn’t see it working for most bands. You need to hear the aggression, plus it sounds more human if it’s recorded live.

Pete: Yeah, I agree but this time around we didn't go that route. Everything was tracked individually starting with the drums, then my main guitar track, bass, the other guitar, then my "lead" parts that I go off and do in various parts of many of our songs, then lastly the vocals, double tracked. I'm not a fan of super-produced albums either, I think it takes away from the natural and raw sound of a band which is what I like to hear. At the same time you want it to sound as good as you can without over-doing it, you have to find that middle ground between raw and polished.

UN: I was reading on your website that you seem to be on tour for almost the entire month of April. Will this touring streak continue throughout the entire summer? You guys have one hell of an album on your hands so I’m sure touring will help sell quite a few copies and get the name out there.

Pete: Yeah, this is a big tour and actually just a few days ago it got even bigger. We extended the tour by two weeks due to an offer we accpeted from this band called Wings of Azrael from Pittsburgh. The tour will now run from April 1 to May 29. Needless to say, we are so excited to be able to go out for this long and can't wait to get started, this being our first venture out ever, and actually our first time even playing outside of Baltimore ever, besides one show in D.C. and that was just a few weeks ago. This is totally new to us. We hope people dig it.

UN: I’ve heard that Swarm of the Lotus is a pretty crazy band to experience live. Do you guys think playing live is what music is all about? How would you describe a typical SOTL show? Do things get pretty violent?

Pete: Totally, "live" is where it's at. Experiencing a band live is better than any album, no matter how good it is produced, you get to see a band in it's natural habitat, haha. As far as our shows go, it al depends on how the crowd is feeding off of the music. The more they are digging it, the more we go nuts. We try our best to play 100% everytime we play no matter what, we just want to rock, whether there is 5000 people or just the bartender there that night. But it certainly helps the live presentation of the band when you can see that the crowd is really digging on what you're playing for sure, and things have been known to get pretty rowdy at our shows when the situation is right.

UN: Do you think the internet is an important promotional tool for bands these days? Are you at all worried about mp3 sharing affecting your album sales at all? I’m not sure if you’ll find the entire album on any of the file sharing programs though.

Pete: Sure, the internet is a great tool no doubt. It's a great medium for kids all over the world to find out about anything, anywhere it's happening. We aren't really worried to much with the whole file sharing explosion, I kind of think it's good promotion for a band to be recognized and found out. You can't control it anyway and there are always going to be people that will go out and buy discs if they want the real thing and dig it that much. I don't know, I guess it can be good and bad. I wouldn't want to see the entire album available for download no, just maybe a song or two to sample the band, that would be cool.

UN: What can you tell us about the picture disc 7” Reptilian Records will be putting out? Will the songs on it be exclusive tracks or will they be songs from the full length release?

Pete: They are three exclusive tracks not available on the full-length. The artwork was done by Carlos Batts and it looks so sick!!!! We were really impressed when we saw it. We should have the finished record in our hands right before we head out on the road, so it will be available at all our shows, buy it fuckers!!!!

UN: What do you want someone to get out of the music of Swarm of the Lotus? Is there certain feelings or emotions you want to evoke with the music?

Pete: An awesome musical experience tapping into all the various emotions from the human rainbow. That sounds funny yeah, but I mean that. Our music is a reflection of who we are as people so that is what you are hearing, a multitude of different ups, downs, in betweens, forwards, backwards, and upside-downs. If other people can take any of the same things away from our music, than we have succeeded.