Rock My Monkey: Hello, you’re listening to the Rock My Monkey netcast on RockMyMonkey.com. Today we are speaking with Mark from the band Suicide Silence. How are you doing today, Mark?
Mark Heylmun: Doing good, man. Just hanging out, on my way home.
Rock My Monkey: The Cleansing entered the Billboard Top 200 chart at 94 with first week sales of 7,100, which makes it the highest debut ever for a new Century Media artist. What do you, as the artist, think was the cause of that?
Mark Heylmun: Basically just good promotion. There was a lot of hype around us before. Everyone was waiting for the full length. We just kind of put it out. I don’t know. It just seemed like it went right. I don’t really know. Century Media did a good job, that’s pretty much all I know.
Rock My Monkey: With so many bands crying over downloading, what do you think bands like yours, why do you think bands like yours are still able to break sales records that you’d think would be set for decades ago?
Mark Heylmun: Yeah, that’s actually crazy because we flooded all the download agents and stuff online with versions of the album with kind of like weird noises and bass woofs, and things like that, just to kind of help out first week. I don’t know. People are downloading it like hell now, I’m sure, but I don’t know. I mean, basically the fact that no one could download it before it came out and they needed to buy it the first week I think is probably the main reason we sold so many.
Rock My Monkey: So you think maybe labels should start flooding the market with promo versions of the album as a promotion tool, as well as thwarting the downloading?
Mark Heylmun: Yeah, I’ve gotten plenty of downloads before albums are out that are promos with ‘blah, blah, blah, blah, album comes out this’ and I’m just like, oh shit, I’ll go buy it. But I’m not really an avid downloader, anyway.
Rock My Monkey: Now, MTv has officially banned your video for the track “The Price Of Beauty”, deeming it too lyrically and visually explicit, according to a press release. What was it specifically that made it too intense for them, do you think?
Mark Heylmun: There’s a thing, you can’t have actual red blood in videos really, and if you it’s got to be like not very much. You’re supposed to use black and white blood, I guess. We didn’t black and white, and there’s a bunch of blood. And then not only that, they said the lyrical was just too much. Which is true. It’s got things about, it says rape, and tearing a girl’s face off, so. That’s probably the reason why. (chuckles)
Rock My Monkey: So you say the song brings up these things, but are you doing it from more of a storytelling perspective, like say Cannibal Corpse? Or is it more of a, is there a positive message somewhere?
Mark Heylmun: Yeah, it has somewhat of a positive message, I guess. I play guitar. I’m not really the lyrical guy. I guess it’ more concerning girls and plastic surgery, and things like that. That’s what the whole meaning behind the song is.
Rock My Monkey: What was it about Matt Bass that made him the perfect director for this video?
Mark Heylmun: He just had the vision for it. He knew what he was doing. What he did with the money that we gave him, and where he was looking to shoot it, he just had a good vision for it. We were originally going to do it in a boiler room of a high school, but there wasn’t really enough room for it. We found this place that’s a hospital in L.A., which they filmed like Hostel 2, I guess a couple of scenes from Hostel 2 there. It was really just dark and dreary and kind of set the mood for cutting up a girl’s face. (chuckles)
Rock My Monkey: Since MTv has banned it, where can fans go to see it?
Mark Heylmun: You can see it on YouTube. I’m sure we have it on our MySpace. We’ve got all the videos. It’s still getting watched I’m sure the same amount, if not more, since the whole MTv thing. I’d love to have a video on MTv, but I wasn’t really surprised when I heard that it wasn’t going to get shown.
Rock My Monkey: Many metal fans like to make fun of Hot Topic, but Suicide Silence seems to have a great relationship with the company. Do you think that Hot Topic gets a bad rap?
Mark Heylmun: Yeah, I think Hot Topic gets a bad rap. I mean, everyone in the U.S. can talk as much shit, but once you go to Canada and other places where they don’t have Hot Topic, and yeah, they rely on cool record shops and stuff like that, which is definitely cool. I mean, I know that there’s a local record shop that just closed in Riverside which everyone is bummed about. But still, Hot Topic, I mean, it has a lot of stuff that other people don’t. I know that I’ve heard a lot of people complain in Canada about not having Hot Topic. I think it’s good. I mean, they sell a lot of things that other places don’t.
Rock My Monkey: What do you think producer John Travis brought to this cd that would not have been there otherwise?
Mark Heylmun: John has the ear. He has just, he just closes his eyes and he listens to it. And you can tell when he’s listening to it if he feels it or not. He’s been involved with so many other great bands that have been around for so long. I don’t know. He really brought-I guess he had faith enough and really solid with what we wanted to see with what we were doing. He just took us in the right direction. We didn’t really want to get too crazy and like over-think everything. We just tried to make everything simple as possible. He understood and helped us out.
Rock My Monkey: Nate Johnson of Through The Eyes Of The Dead did some guest vocal work on the cd. What song, and did he co-write any of his parts?
Mark Heylmun: No, it was all written prior. It was just an idea we wanted to have him. He always came out to shows and did guest vocals for us on "Destruction of a Statue”. And that’s off of the album, like the hidden track. Yeah, he did "Destruction of a Statue” and “Hands Of The Killer”, which is number three. Yeah, he’s got the most brutal voice in metal right now, in our opinion. We just had to have him on it. We called him up and flew him out.
Rock My Monkey: What was it about Century Media that made them the perfect label to bring Suicide Silence to this next level? They’ve done right by you, and you’ve broken sales records and all, but before you signed the contract what was it about them that made you want to sign with them in the first place?
Mark Heylmun: Well, first of all is Century Media has done plenty of bands that have made a mark in my life, I know. I used to order from CM distro, and it would have been a dream of mine to know that I would have been on Century Media at any time. So that answers that. They’re just kind of, they did a lot to accommodate for us before we signed with them. Steve Joh came out to shows, hung out, went out to dinner, got us drunk, hung out, was a cool dude. It just seemed like a good relationship. And now that we’re with them, everybody there is awesome. I talk to a lot of the people from there almost every day. It’s great.
Rock My Monkey: What song on the cd do you think has the chance of being your Ace Of Spades, the song that fans demand for decades to come?
Mark Heylmun: I have no idea. You’d probably have to ask somebody that listens to it and doesn’t write it. It’s kind of hard for me to say. Personally I think “No Pity for a Coward” is a really good song. I’m proud that I had to do with writing it. Everybody likes “The Fallen”, but we haven’t really played that live yet. I’d say those two songs are really good.
Rock My Monkey: Since your one video has been banned by MTv, is there any plans to either edit that video for them, or film another video that maybe is a little bit more tame and maybe a little bit easier for them to swallow?
Mark Heylmun: We shot a video, I think about a month and a week ago now in Brooklyn with Dave Brodsky. It’s for “Bludgeoned to Death”. It should be going on Headbangers’ Ball January or February. It’s a little tamer. We call it ‘the pussy video.’ But Dave made it really-we’ve seen the rough edit right now, and it looks really cool. It’s definitely not the pussy video. (chuckles)
Rock My Monkey: Now when will fans be able to see that?
Mark Heylmun: We’re trying to get it on Headbangers’ Ball before it’s going to be on anything else, so we haven’t really got a date on when it’s going to get shown, or if it’s going to get shown, again. But January or February.
Rock My Monkey: What do you think makes Suicidal Silence unique in the death metal scene, and what do you offer fans that no other death metal band does today?
Mark Heylmun: I don’t know. We focus a lot on the live show. Death metal and all that stuff, I mean, yeah, we’re death metal, but there’s all these sub-genres of death core and all this crap. I mean, you’re going to get, you can find pretty much anything musically nowadays in death metal. It’s almost all been covered. If you want to have a good time and come to a show and just have a good time. I mean, we go nuts. We want the kids to go nuts. We don’t care if you look stupid, or fucking what your hair looks like. We might talk shit on you because you look funny, but we don’t care. We just want to have a good time. That’s pretty much what we offer kids.
Rock My Monkey: Now, the artwork was done by Dave McKean, but how much collaboration did the band give on it, and how much of it was just Dave?
Mark Heylmun: Well, Dave had plenty of ideas. He has just tons of different pictures along the same lines of that, but we just wanted something crazy. Our original idea was just somebody stuck in a mental house with padded walls, and they were just freaking out. That was pretty much all our idea of it, and we wanted him to elaborate on it. He had tons of pictures of just this creepy looking dude freaking out, and we just kind of looked at them and made different ideas on top of it, and it just kind of turned into what it became, and we thought it looked cool. I think it’s an awesome album cover. The picture of the girl with no eyes, I really like that.
Rock My Monkey: What are the chances of the band doing a full coast to coast tour of the U.S.? I know you guys just finished up a tour, but maybe for early 2008, when’s the next time we’re going to be able to see you guys go coast to coast?
Mark Heylmun: Coast to coast? When we-we’re trying to get to Europe in February, but when we get back March and April we’re going on tour with Nile and The Faceless. And we’re going to be directly supporting Nile, and that’s coast to coast. I think tomorrow morning or tonight all those dates should be up on the MySpace, which is November 30th. So check that out.
Rock My Monkey: This is the time in the interview I like to call the Lightening Round. I’m going to name something in popular news or popular culture, and you sum up your thoughts in one short sentence.
Mark Heylmun: Alright.
Rock My Monkey: Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Mark Heylmun: (laughs) Ron Paul. I know he won’t legalize marijuana, so I don’t care.
Rock My Monkey: The NBC show Heroes.
Mark Heylmun: I don’t watch it. I don’t really watch t.v.
Rock My Monkey: The iPhone.
Mark Heylmun: I want one, but it doesn’t have a keyboard so it’s probably hard to type.
Rock My Monkey: President Bush.
Mark Heylmun: I want to smoke a joint with him.
Rock My Monkey: Fox News.
Mark Heylmun: I don’t even know what to say about Fox News.
Rock My Monkey: Nothing you can think of?
Mark Heylmun: That’s what I have to say.
Rock My Monkey: Oh, okay. (both laugh) The Recording Industry Association Of America.
Mark Heylmun: They’re not doing a good job right now. (laughs)
Rock My Monkey: And the last question in the Lightening Round. What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas this year?
Mark Heylmun: Geez. A yacht. I don’t know. (both laugh)
Rock My Monkey: I do have one final question. Every year we do choose one final question that we ask every single band from classic rock legends to the most extreme death metal bands, partially to stump people, but also to see who wimps out and won’t answer. This year I’m asking people to look into their crystal ball and predict what political figure, world leader, musician, celebrity, anybody world wide famous, who do you think might die before the end of the year?
Mark Heylmun: Wow. Can I say hopefully?
Rock My Monkey: You can interpret it however you want.
Mark Heylmun: (laughs) Geez. (speaking to someone in the background) Who do you think is going to die? (back to RMM) Hold on. Let me ponder on this. I have no idea.
Rock My Monkey: Could be a world leader. It could be a Hollywood celebrity, a musician, anything. Anybody world wide famous.
Mark Heylmun: Lindsay Lohan.
Rock My Monkey: Linday Lohan. Alright.
Mark Heylmun: She’s doing too many drugs.
Rock My Monkey: I thank you very much for doing the interview, and anybody that’s listening to the audio version can go to RockMyMonkey.com for the full featured version with clickable links, readable text, and many more wonderful features. I’m asking people to click on the album cover above and below this interview to purchase The Cleansing by Suicide Silence. And I do hope to see you guys up on tour in the Northwest sometime soon, possibly at my favorite dive in Seattle, a club known as Studio 7. And I thank you very much for your time.
