Interview with Twisted Tower Dire

November 11, 2006
Metal Boricua Festival III, Cayey PR

Interview conducted by Eliud Vazquez

Twisted Tower Dire is:
MARC STAUFFER - DRUMS
SCOTT WALDROP - GUITAR
DAVE BOYD - GUITAR
JIM HUNTER - BASS
JOHNNY AUNE - VOCALS

I recently got the chance to chat with the members of Twisted Tower Dire at the Metal Boricua Festival III in Cayey, Puerto Rico. This is the first interview I've ever done and now I know why most interviews are with just with one or two band members. Lets just say that these guys talk alot and often at the same time. After pulling out massive clumps of hair over the last few days transcribing this, here I present you with Twisted Tower Dire:

GRAVEMUSIC: What were the issues behind NETHERWORLDS not being released yet?

MARC STAUFFER: We had some issues with Tony completing the lyrics for it for a while, in addition to that we ended up having to bounce around to a couple of different studios to do the whole thing. The whole project finally got finished, I did alot of the production work with Wayne and its been completed now since probably about the end of July and Remedy [the band's label] has just decided that they're scheduling to put it out next February.
It did take us a long time to get everything together for it but even after that, Remedy has added on almost a whole year in between the time we were done with it and the time its actually going to get released.

SCOTT WALDROP: Tony went through alot of issues in the past three years and that had alot to do with trying to keep the band together and we had to let him deal with his problems. It didn't work out, so it was a main factor in the album taking so long. We had it done, probably two and a half years ago almost...

JIM HUNTER: At least the songs, we had the songs written.

MARC STAUFFER: All the basic tracks were done for it in December of 2004.

SCOTT WALDROP: Everybody in the band has moved at least once or twice, so there was alot going on in between CREST OF THE MARTYRS and NETHERWORLDS. So people move and we did it mostly ourselves...

MARC STAUFFER: It's the big factor with the removal of Tony, with what it all came down to. We are gaining our momenteum again and we're really getting to be a functioning band again where we're playing alot again and we can't let stuff like whats been going on, can't get in our way anymore if we're going to continue to survive.

SCOTT WALDROP: Don't say the removal of Tony, that might piss him off.

[Everyone laughs]

MARC STAUFFER: He was not removed, he left on his own, it was his decision to leave the band. We wanted to take a break and come back and he wasn't willing to do that.

GRAVEMUSIC: What is the difference between CREST OF THE MARTYRS and NETHERWORLDS?

SCOTT WALDROP: Last one was like, Piet Sielck had us going over there one at a time when we did CREST and we weren't there for the mixing, it wasn't really like we were there to put our two cents in, but with this one it was literally all us, it was the band and a few friends putting it all together.

MARC STAUFFER: We did the layout, Scott did the cover artwork for it, everything on this album is from this band. Its pretty much been literally nobody else besides my friend Wayne, which is one of the greatest audio engineers I've ever worked with.

SCOTT WALDROP: Sound-wise, its very different. All Of the Blind Guardian-style vocals that Piet put on the last album, they are not on this one. Its much more traditional heavy metal as opposed to being a power metal album, which we knew we were going to get out of Piet when we went in to work with him. We'd be stupid to say that we didn't realize that is what we were going to get. But, at the end we were happy with what we got, but it probably wasn't what we expected it to be.

DAVE BOYD: I think people listened to CREST and probably thought we were like Helloween and stuff like that, all the power metal stuff. I think NETHERWORLDS is just a heavy metal album. You'll hear it and you'll say these guys are Black Sabbath, [pauses] ...Blue Öyster Cult, all kinds of weird influences, you'll hear that its a heavy metal rock album.

SCOTT WALDROP: It stands out more. CREST is alot more like, its good, but the production sounds like Iron Savior, NETHERWORLDS is definately more us, more unique.

MARC STAUFFER: And then when you talk about how long it took for us to get this all out, it took us this long to get the album together because we took the time to get everybody's input in and every little thing that all of us wanted to have on this album and we worked real hard to make sure that all of that came out when we were producing it. There are alot of tracks in most of these songs and making all of them blend in and sound appropriate was not the easiest thing in the world to do.

DAVE BOYD: Its alot more layered than CREST. Alot more ear candy and weird things to listen to on headphones and little harmonies and little guitar stuff...

GRAVEMUSIC: Would you say it's comparable to THE ISLE OF HYDRA?

MARC STAUFFER: Sound-wise it would be more comparable to HYDRA than it would be to CREST but we've advanced so much in our songwriting since HYDRA, there's alot more depth on this album I feel.

SCOTT WALDROP: Every band needs to re-create themselves every album I think, to keep things fresh. That's definately something that we're trying to do.
We wanted to step back from the power metal stigma and represent ourselves as more of a straight-forward heavy metal band. Its a very true representation of us and I don't think you heard that on CREST. The fans of HYDRA are going to appreciate NETHERWORLDS alot more because it goes back more to our unique sound, whatever that is. I mean, I know we sound like Iron Maiden, but...

[Everyone laughs]

GRAVEMUSIC: CREST OF THE MARTYRS was heavily criticized by the fans, what did you feel about that criticism?

SCOTT WALDROP: I think we probably deserved alot of that because we went to Piet. He had alot to do with how that album sounds and many of our fans didn't want that out of us and I understand. We didn't necessarily want that either but we saw a good opportunity for us at the time. I don't regret doing it, but we learned alot. We had a bit of an identity crisis at the time.

MARC STAUFFER: There were times when I was working with Piet, tracking the drum parts and there were stuff that I didn't repeat where Piet's like "You're gonna re-write this song and come back tomorrow or I'm not recording it" and that's literally how it was like working with Piet. [pauses] I think Piet gave us a great sounding album. I think, sonically, CREST is a very good sounding album. Its just not necessarily the way we would had wanted it to sound. Overall, I can't complain because its a beautiful album and he did a wonderful job. Its just that, it fits into his cookie cutter and fitting into a cookie cutter mold is not something that gets smiled very much in the heavy metal scene.

SCOTT WALDROP: I want to go on record and state that I don't think it's a "beautiful" album.

MARC STAUFFER: [Presumingly to Piet] After doing all the production work that I just did on NETHERWORLDS while all these guys sat in their living rooms with their thumbs up their asses, I can appreciate what you have to go through to make an album sound like it does and I never want to have to do it ever again.

SCOTT WALDROP: I also want to go on record and say that I never stuck my thumb up my ass while I sat in my living room.

DAVE BOYD: Maybe the bedroom, or the bathroom...maybe the rec room.

[Endless hysterics at this point]

GARVEMUSIC: [To JOHNNY AUNE] How has it been singing for the band, compared to Viper?

JOHNNY AUNE: I've been sort of trying to imitate Tony, to a certain extent.
I also play guitar in Viper, so I can't put as much thought into the singing. In this band I can put my thoughts into the actual singing, into how some songs should be sung and how I can do certain things with my voice, so its been fun. We get to go on trips...

JIM HUNTER: Yea, Viper needs to go to Puerto Rico and have a blast.

JOHNNY AUNE: Yea, TTD gets to go to Puerto Rico, so its been great.

DAVE BOYD: Johnny has really stepped up to the plate. He's learned lyrics alot of lyrics that I don't even know myself and I've been in the band for nine years. So we're like "We're gonna play three new songs tomorrow and you've gotta learn 'em," and he's like "ok, no problem." He never complains about it and he always comes through for us, so we appreciate all the work that he's put in. Its really invigorated us and we really enjoy being a band again.

MARC STAUFFER: It really feels like the band has alot of momenteum again and we don't want to lose that momenteum.

SCOTT WALDROP: We went through a rough time with NETHERWORLDS where we weren't doing much and it was bad for the band's morale but we're back at full steam again. So we're moving forward, busting ass, playing live shows, like before. Before NETHERWORLDS we were a very active band and then we hit just hit this rut and it was hard to keep things going, especially trying to have alot of patience with Tony.

MARC STAUFFER: Right after Wacken in 2003 we were trying to push it and things just slowed and slowed and slowed and it almost felt like it stopped.
When things finally came down to what they were, Johnny literally did just one band practice with us and then played a show with us the next day.

JOHNNY AUNE: On three days notice.

MARC STAUFFER: Yea, he only had about three or four days to help us out, so we respect the hell out of him.

GRAVEMUSIC: Is there any possibility in the future than Tony might return to
the band?

SCOTT WALDROP: I doubt it because of Johnny and all the work he's put in. I
don't ever foresee it happening, Its possible that we might do a
side-project with him one day or something like that. We're still good
friends, the guy is like a brother to me. I think this is a completely new
chapter for Twisted Tower Dire.

MARC STAUFFER: Its a weird thing because we can't go back to this phase
where we were with him still in the band. It feels like, right now, if Tony
came back then we would be right back where we left off in 2003 after we
played Wacken and be stuck in the mud again. We can't survive being like
that again.

JIM HUNTER: [in a pompous british rock star voice] We have to contantly
rock, man. We're like heavy metal sharks and we have to keep going or else
we die.

SCOTT WALDROP: Yea, exactly. [laughs at Jim's antics] Our plan right now is
to get through the shows and then start writing a new album, we're gonna
have Johnny sing on it and show that we're still gonna go on. Hopefully the
fans will accept the new version of Twisted Tower Dire. I guess we feel like
have alot to prove to our fans now that we have a new singer, so we're gonna
try really hard to write the best songs that we ever wrote and again
re-invent ourselves for the next album into something completely new.

MARC STAUFFER: It would be really nice for a change to come back from
Europe, from the festivals next year, as a really tight performing band and
immediately go into the studio and crank out another album and actually, god
forbid, put out two albums between a year and a half of each other. That's
the kind of thing that needs to happen in order for this band to keep
working properly.

SCOTT WALDROP: Yea, cause the rest of us are getting old! We gotta really
hurry up.

[Everyone laughs]

JIM HUNTER: Father time's kicking us in the ass! Its like "hurry up boys!
Com'on! Its running out!"

MARC STAUFFER: Pretty much Johnny's the only one of us who still has time on
his side at this point in time and all the rest of us are close to death.

JIM HUNTER: Luckily for us in another twenty years he'll only be like
forty... you know we'll be dead but he'll still be rocking.

SCOTT WALDROP: And he'll be allowed to do TTD songs, so it'll be cool.

JIM HUNTER: We'll leave it in our wills.

MARC STAUFFER: Post-mortem, if he can replace all of us, we'll be fine with
that, it's cool.

GRAVEMUSIC: How do you like it here in Puerto Rico?

MARC STAUFFER: Its been great.

DAVE BOYD: We've had a blast.

SCOTT WALDROP: The people here have been so nice. They've been buying us
drinks, just hanging out, talking, everyone here's is always in such a good
mood and happy. Its very different than it is up in the east coast, in the
United States. Everything's beautiful here, the mountains, the....

[Everyone else interupts]

JIM HUNTER: Women!

DAVE BOYD: The women!

JIM HUNTER: Where'd that come from?

[Everyone laughs]

MARC STAUFFER: Really, its been great here. Its rare for us to go places and
be treated like we've been treated while we're here. We can't say thanks
enough to everybody who's been taking care of us here, [Metal Boricua
Festival promoter] Erico, everyone.

SCOTT WALDROP: I didn't know Erico until probably a month ago when we talked
about doing the show and he's been one of the coolest people. I've been
doing music for fifteen years now and he's up there, one of the coolest
dudes I've ever met.

DAVE BOYD: This might be the best trip we've ever done.

MARC STAUFFER: Its definately the best trip we've had in a very, very, very
long time.

JIM HUNTER: And we mean that.