UN: You guys formed under the name The Common Band. Did the music change at all when you guys decided to rename the band The Judas Cradle? What brought about the name change?

Clayton: We just decided once we wanted to get serious that a name change was in order. Of course the music is going to change, but not on purpose, we jsut got older and more mature when it comes to song writing.

UN: How did Eulogy come into the picture? Were you guys shopping around for labels after the EP was released? Any other labels interested in the band?

Clayton: Indianola was great and they got us our start, we just felt we needed a bigger label that cold support what we wanted to do. We have always been huge fans of Eulogy and some of their bands, we were talking to a few different labels but Eulogy seemed to be really excited about us and wanted us then. We couldn't be happier, they are great to us and care a great deal about our work and us as people too.

UN: Do you feel like there has been a progression from the EP to the debut album? I think that you guys might possibly be a bit noisier now and I think the songwriting has improved as well.

Clayton: Oh for sure, like I said before just getting older and growing up your sound is going to change a little, which we think is a good thing. You don't wanna keep putting out the same album over and over again. We definitely still have the sound we are known for but we just think it's a lot more structured and mature now.

UN: I was curious to ask about the overall look of the new album. The front cover looks like a book or an envelope. I was wondering if you could expand upon the meaning of the photos in the booklet. I'm assuming it has something to do with the guy killing the other guy to be with the girl, but I don't like to assume anything.

Clayton: Well the girl is coming home and that is the first thing you see. As you open up the book you notice that her husband has murdered the guy she has been cheating on him with. You can leave it up to you imagination what happens next. A company (VEGAS TX) approached us about doing the pics and layout. It sounded really good to us and we loved it. There is definitely a lot of hurt and anger that comes out in this album and that is just one of the many ways we get it across.

UN: I was also wondering how the name played in with the layout of the album. Does it related in anyway to the overall layout?

Clayton: Not really, it does kinda work and fit nicely into each other though. You can take "too bad they're all dead" any way you would like. To some it means heroes, it seems no one has the guts to stand for anything anymore. There is so much apathy in the world today and it seems no one wants to change that. Everyone is dead in the area where your heart is. No one wants to change anything anymore. To others I'm sure it's just an album name. It is definitely up for interpertation.

UN: Was it a conscious decision to have a live sounding production for the new album? While it sounds amazing, it does really just sound like a band jamming. There is a lot of feel to the music, it doesn't sound forced at all.

Clayton: Jeremy Staska at Studio 13 mixed and mastered the album. We love his work and trust him to give us the sound that fits us well. In writing the album we wanted to seperate ourselves from potentially sounding like every other metal core outfit out there right now. We think by the way our CD was done it kinda helped us out. It gives the recording its own sound.

UN: You guys have been together for pretty only three years, but have already seemed to have toured the country to death. Even before your debut was released, you seemed to be full fledged road warriors. Is touring one of the most important aspects of being in The Judas Cradle? Will you guys tour even more then usual now that Too Bad They're All Dead is out?

Clayton: We were touring before our EP was even out. Right now we are on our 5th US tour in a year and a half. We love touring the states but we want to do some other countries as well. We have a lot of fans over in Europe that we would love to be able to play for. Right now we are on tour all summer long and into the fall. We will be at all the major fest and so on.

UN: Do you guys have any specific formulas you follow when it comes to songwriting? Is the entire band involved in the process? There seems to be a lot of different ideas coming together to form the music of The Judas Cradle.

Clayton: There is definitely a mixture of musical taste that come out when we write. We all listen to a wide range of different music, but it works out very nice when we all come together. Everyone has their say in what we should do in this song and so forth. It fits well.

UN: With the style of music that you guys play, do you think that you can pretty much do anything? You guys have lots of breakdowns, and in general are a heavy band, yet there is still a lot of melody and you can seemingly blend in whatever you want. Do you guys feel like the skies the limit musically with this band?

Clayton: We hope so, we definitely don't want to label ourselves into one music genre. We definitely have our edge and we like to keep it that way. We also like to be able to explore and write new off the wall material if we like. This album is still heavy but at the same time has a rocking feel to it at parts.

UN: When you guys are writing the breakdown riffs, is it important to make them as heavy as humanly possible? The breakdown riffs on the new album are some of the sickest and heaviest I have ever heard! Would you agree that they are a big part of The Judas Cradle sound?

Clayton: Awesome, glad to hear. Breakdowns are definitely a huge part in the song writing. They are fun to play and we are into them. I don't think we purposely try to make them as hard as we can, we just write what comes naturally and the heavy breakdowns seem to do that.

UN: I was impressed with the fact that you guys managed to have melody but didn't resort to sounding like every other metal core band that is incorporating Swedish death metal into their sound. Are you guys conscious of trying to stray away from what's trendy in the scene, or do you guys just play what comes naturally? It's easy to tell the sincere bands from the trendy bands anyway.

Clayton: Like I said we just write what comes out. I guess just all of us having such a wide mix of influences it makes the songs seems different than alot of other stuff out there. WE definitely try to stand out in our own way and not get sucked into a category. We want to stand out on our own terms and do what works best for us, and not becasue it's the "cool" thing to play.

UN: I hear quite a bit of Converge in The Judas Cradle. Not really in terms of note choice, but more in terms of the similar noisy approach to hardcore music. Would you agree that Converge had a lot to do with the formation of the metal core genre?

Clayton: I think its safe to say we are all influenced by Converge. They are one of the bands I think we all agree on, so I'm sure in the songwriting that is going to come out in parts.

UN: Musically you guys are as extreme as they come but I was surprised to read that a lot of your lyrics are actually quite positive. Is it important to have positive lyrics to go along with the bleaker songs? After all, it's been said quite often that hardcore is a very positive movement.

Clayton: Well we are definitely angry and pissed off but at the same time I don't think that is going to change the way people look at things. Don't come at people with the attitide fuck this and fuck that, let people know why it is you are pissed off and give them hope and give them reasons to change things. It's almost like giving negativity a positive side if that makes sense.

UN: Do you think that right now is a healthy time for a band like The Judas Cradle to be in the scene? It seems like heavy music is getting more and more recognition. It must be nice to be able to do what you love and have people enjoying it.

Clayton: Well we would like to think so, we definitely think we have lots to say and we have our own reasons as to why we think people should hear us. We feel we have a lot of things to say that could change peoples thoughts and minds. Hopefully with it getting more and more popular we can branch out into other scenes and affect peoples lives outside this scene that we know.

The Judas Cradle Official Website