Chatting with Paul from Between The Buried And Me Before Sunday's Show!!!

 

This Sunday Between The Buried And Me is heading to town and will be playing at The Majestic Theatre, thanks to Black Iris Booking. The band is currently on tour in support of their album The Parallax II: Future Sequence, that was released last year. On this tour the band is playing this album along with the preceding, The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, in their entirety which should be a pretty amazing experience for BTBAM fans. Joining the band on Sunday's bill are The Faceless, The Contortionist, and The Safety Fire. We had the chance to catch up with BTBAM guitarist Paul Waggoner before they head to town this weekend. Here's what he had to say.

Hip In Detroit- Can you tell us something that not many people know about Between the Buried and Me?
Paul- "We are all card carrying members of the Birdwatching Society of America."

Hip In Detroit- It's been a couple years since your first release on Metal Blade. After being with Victory Records for so long, how do you like being on a bigger label? Are there any major differences?
Paul- "Well technically Victory is a bigger label than Metal Blade, but we felt like MB was a better fit for us. I think as our music evolved, it became more appropriate for us to be on a label that had marketing experience towards the niche audience that our music caters to. So far it has been a great experience and we are looking forward to continuing the relationship with MB. "

Hip In Detroit- During this tour the band is playing Parallax I and II in their entirety. For those not familiar with the storyline and idea behind these albums, can you give us a brief synopsis?
Paul- "It would be pretty hard to give a synopsis of the entire story here, but I can give a general conceptual summary. Basically the idea is that Earth is comprised of descendants of another planet. And that older planet was destroyed by the human race. As a last means of survival, they sent a space traveler to earth to deposit cloned human souls and microbial life in a effort to begin the process of evolution on earth. Eventually when he returns to his home planet he discovers that it is destroyed and nothing is left. At this point he realizes that humans are destined to destroy, and that his mission would only cause more turmoil in the universe. So he travels back to earth and meets the man who now has the space travelers cloned soul. They begin a mission to destroy earth and ensure that the human race will never again have the opportunity to inhabit another planet."

Hip In Detroit- Why did you guys decide to play them straight through on this tour?
Paul- "We just thought it would be a fun challenge to recreate our vision for the album in a live setting."

Hip In Detroit- Some fans may hear that you're only playing these two albums and be a little bummed out that they won't hear any of their earlier favorites. Any chance some of those might get snuck in to the end of the set list too?
Paul- "I'm sure we will encore with a classic btbam track haha."

Hip In Detroit- After you finish up headlining in the U.S. you're set to return to Australia on tour. So many bands seem to love touring there. What's the best part? Is it the koala bears?
Paul- "Haha. The koalas are certainly part of it. Australia is just a really neat place with great people. We've always had a blast down there and the shows are great. It's like a vacation for us."

Hip In Detroit- What's next for Between the Buried and Me?
Paul- "We are just going to keep on trucking. We will probably do one more tour in the US in the winter, and then commence the writing process again."

Hip In Detroit- What bands have you guys been into lately? Is there anything that you have been listening to a lot while on the road?
Paul- "I listen to all sorts of stuff. Metal, rock, jazz, bluegrass, classical. Just depends on my mood I guess. I really like all the stuff Devin Townsend has been releasing lately. And I look forward to hearing some new Cynic. In the purely metal world, I really dig The Faceless, Revocation, and I really like Battlecross, who I believe are from Detroit."

Hip In Detroit- You've been to Detroit a few times over the years. Any favorite spots to hit or anything you look forward to when coming here?
Paul- "Detroit has always been one of our beat spots. The crowds are always so enthused and some of our most memorable shows have taken place in Detroit. We just look forward to continuing our streak of kick ass shows in the Motor City."

If you want to catch BTBAM's next "kick ass" Detroit show this Sunday, tickets are $18 in advance or $20 the day of the show. Tickets are available through ticketweb here or you can stop by the Garden Bowl and pick them up without any service charges. Doors open at 7 p.m. and all ages are welcome. Thanks again to Paul for taking the time to answer our questions! We can't wait for Sunday's show and we hope you guys get a chance to do some bird watching while you're in town!

~C