1. What are your goals as a band? Where do you see this going?

Well the ultimate goal is always to try to make music our career. I think that is the major goal for any original band regardless of genre. However, it is also important to keep your eye on the current goal, knock it down, and move to the next one. If we spent every day looking at the big picture, we would get really overwhelmed with where we want to be rather than where we are & what course of action to take in order to handle the immediate goal. What I’m saying is that you have to handle each goal independently and systematically, then move to the next one. It’s like running a race. You don’t have time to keep measuring how far you have left to the finish line, you just keep running. That is basically how we work. So I would say the next goal of this band is to finish our cd. Everything after that is a future issue and we have too much to do at the present time to map all that out.

2. Do you feel your headed in that direction?

I think that in a city where very little attention is given to any local art, let alone metal, our accomplishments point to the fact that we are headed in the right direction. Local news paper coverage, CEA nominations, and our review in Metal Edge Magazine, go far to illustrate that we are not content being just another local band. As long as we keep building and progressing, we believe are going in the right direction. A band is a sort of living animal in a sense. If it isn’t growing, it’s dying. We haven’t even seen our peak yet.

3. You distributed over 3000 copies of your first seven song EP, over and above the call of duty for most bands in this area and especially for something that was self-produced. Any advise on how other bands could perform this sort of marketing successfully?

Well giving away mass copies of the demo was a no-brainer for us. I have seen countless good bands try to build a following from live shows alone, or by selling cds right out of the gate. Those bands often fall apart from frustration before they really get good local saturation with their material. As a result of witnessing that scenario countless times, we decided that we wouldn’t even play our first live show until we had a demo recorded. When we got the first printed copies of the demo, we started to give them away by the handful. Every band does things differently but we went from a band nobody ever heard of, to a band that won the Bogart’s Rumble in a little over a year. I think that speaks volumes for what giving away 3000 copies of your demo can do to jump start your local following. As a result, my advice to any new band is to try to do the same thing. These days people are reluctant to spend money only to find out that they spent it on shit. You have to give them a free taste of what you do before they will buy it. Original music is a big money pit anyway, so you may as well spend your cash wisely.

4. What are some of the most successful ways you've found to promote in and around Cincinnati?

The best way to promote your band in any city is to hammer the cd shops with color posters that grab kid’s eye, pass out mass handbills, and promote on the Internet. Many kids would be glad to come to a show if they knew it was happening. In this city the challenge is making them aware of shows due to the lack of media attention. After you get a following started, recruiting street team is the best way to get real promotion rolling while the band concentrates more on what they are trying to promote in the first place…. the music

5. Where are some of your favorite places to play (venues, cities, etc.)?

As far as this area goes, we really like to play at the Mad Hatter & the Madison Theater in Covington. For so long we booked shows only in Ohio and fans in our own backyard emailed us constantly asking us to play in Kentucky again. Now we have gotten the opportunity do much larger shows in all ages venues right here on our own side of the river. We love Cincinnati, but we have been offered opening slots with Unearth, God Forbid, and Overkill at The Mad Hatter so that is where most of our in town shows will be in 2007. In Cincinnati one of our favorite places to play is The Poison Room. It has a cool vibe, a great staff, and is in a relatively clean neighborhood. As far as road gigs, we like any place that has a shitload of kids who want to hear metal. We aren’t picky about cities and venues when it comes to turning on new fans. So basically, give us a kick ass crowd and we don’t care where you hold the show.

6. Your tour history, album distribution, CEA nominations, press, etc. Is an obvious testament to how hard you have all worked as a band. Is this what you all do full time?

No. We all have regular day jobs. We have to do something to finance our band & make a living. There are tons of signed bands whose members all have to get jobs while they aren’t on the road. Sure, it’s the goal of every band to make enough money from music to live without working a 9-5. However, very few bands are that fortunate. Unless they are in a hugely popular band, every musician who isn’t touring is either working a job or mooching off of someone...parents, the system, stripper girlfriend...etc.

7. How much time would you say the band devotes to writing, performing and working the business end of your band in a given week?

Wow, I would almost have to break that question down in man hours to give you an accurate count. Let’s just say that we are all actively involved in doing whatever it takes to make Pain Link successful. Me & Chris are completely obsessed with every aspect of the band. We both have trouble tearing ourselves away from it even for a little while. Chris spends far more time working on the Pain Link than any of the rest of us. I am almost as compulsive as he is, just in different ways, which works well because it allows us to cover a lot of ground without nagging anyone to get shit done. We are both completely self driven. The rest of the guys all definitely very dedicated and loyal as well, but the 2 of us must just have OCD or something. The weird thing is, for 2 people with the wheels in their heads spinning in overdrive, you would think there would be conflict. Fortunately, those wheels tend to spin in the same direction 90% of the time. In other words, although we are both n uts, it just works. I would say that is the most accurate account I can give without a detailed breakdown which would be lengthy, and boring. So basically we are all different degrees of obsessed with furthering this band which is probably the biggest reason we keep gaining momentum.

8. What was your proudest moment as a band?

That is a tough one because Pain Link has accomplished pretty much in the time we have been together. I guess all things considered, I would say that I am proudest of the review our Full length album received from Metal Edge Magazine. That magazine is the biggest printed metal publication in existence, so just getting a review of any kind from them was an honor. But actually receiving a positive review in a magazine of that scope was very encouraging and a huge boost in morale. We want to be heard & taken seriously outside the Cincy area, and that review was definitely a step in the right direction. It made us all incredibly proud of the hard work we have put in up to this point.

9. You haven't had a single lineup change since the band started four years ago. When was that magical moment that you knew you had the right group of guys together and that you could make this work?

There was no magical moment. It was solid from day one. Me & Chris knew before we picked the rest of the lineup who would work out for what we wanted to do. There hasn’t been a single lineup change because we took many things into account beyond just talent when selecting members. We knew from the start that we needed talented guys with drive, motivation, and personalities that didn’t clash with us or each other. Pain Link started that way with this lineup in 2002 and has worked smoothly ever since…..I don’t see it changing.

10. I see your new album is coming out soon. Have you been able to narrow down a date yet? Where will it be available?

I hate to sound like an ass, but the only answer I can really give is that it will be released when it’s finished. We still have a little work left on it, but we promise that it will be the best looking & best sounding disk that we have done to date. In order to accomplish that, we have to just keep working on it for a few. As much as we hate to keep our fans waiting for it, we would rather delay the release than to half ass the mix & mastering to speed up the release date. Quite simply, it will be done soon, and that is when it will come out. No specific date as of yet. It will eventually be available at several locations around town and many Internet sites as well. Everyone just hang in there and we will deliver.

11. Is there anything else you think your fans would be interested in knowing or any message you would like to get across to them?

Yes. The fans are what make all the frustrating shit worth enduring. I want to remind Pain Link fans that we hugely appreciate the support we have been shown over the past few years. In addition, I want to take this time to give special thanks to the newly formed "Mosh Pit Mafia" (MPM) for taking the initiative to form a group based on their appreciation of Pain Link…….a metal fan club of sorts named after one of our songs. We were both surprised and honored by the news of this organization. It was just established and already has loyal members in Cincinnati, Louisville, and Indianapolis. Long live the MPM! You guys are the coolest!

Thanks for the interview guys. I appreciate the opportunity.



-Interviewed by Jenny "Jem" George