It’s nice to see a band like SOTY put out an album that doesn’t try to hang itself on commercial success, rather it attempts to portray the fury of these St. Louis-based rockers. Realistically, the album could have been even heavier.

Popular Underground Magazine recently had a chance to chat with SOTY bassist Adam Russell and drummer Josh Wills from their tour bus, which was parked just outside the Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Russell and Wills are calm and laid back. I sensed a reluctance on their part at first, but after a few minutes they opened up like a book. As the interview went on, the front lounge became busy with people. Marsala sat on the bench across from me with his eyes glued at the line forming for tonight’s leg of the Taste of Chaos Tour, where SOTY is sharing stages with As I Lay Dying, Thrice and the Deftones, just to name a few. Marsala was quiet and focused on people milling around. It was like he was deep in thought, analyzing what tonight’s show might be like. I couldn’t help but wonder what the fan’s reaction would be if they knew Marsala was watching them.

Russell and Wills were quite candid about life on the road, media reaction to In the Wake of Determination and the bearing of an ass once in a while. It’s obvious these guys are rockstars, but it’s almost like SOTY still think they’re dreaming.

PUM: So how has Taste of Chaos been for you guys?
Adam Russell: Gets about two inches from the recorder and says: Anus!
Josh Wills: Stupendous!
Adam: It's been amazing. Deftones play every night. That's self explanatory. Big crowds to play in front of. Big stages to play on.
Josh: I like big stages. The opportunity to make new fans.
Adam: And catering.
Josh: Showers most everyday. That's good for me.

PUM: Are there any pranks or jokes that have been going between bands on that you can talk about?
Adam: Our driver...
Josh: Stole my virginity.
Adam: Between bands, I don't know, the usual. I end up going on stage with someone in my underwear or something. We always fuck with Funeral For a Friend because we've been on tour with those dudes forever. The other night I came out on stage in my underwear and jumped on [Funeral For a Friend's lead singer] Gareth's back and he pulled down my underwear, turned around and showed my ass to the crowd, then I spread my butt cheeks and the whole crowd saw my asshole.
Josh: I don't know...
Adam: Pause this... Looks up to the front of the bus and says to the band's bus driver, "Can you make anymore noise? What are you doing up there?"
Josh: I'm afraid to do anything to any of the other bands. I'm afraid they'll eat me or something.

PUM: You've done Warped Tour and Taste of Chaos, which one in your opinion is better?
Adam: Taste of Chaos.
Josh: Taste of Chaos.

PUM: How come?
Adam: The weather. Just being able to be inside and have climate control. Warped Tour is hot and you have no refuge. You remember back in the day folks took the Oregon Trail to go west and they were in covered wagons and they died of Malaria and shit like that? That's what it feels like being on Warped Tour.

PUM: On your Myspace page bio it says you're musicians first, but you take time out for not so clean fun.
Adam: Does it?

PUM: Yeah, I read it just before I came out today. What constitutes "not-so-clean" fun or is that unspeakable?
Adam: Well, if you watch our DVD, that kind of answers that questions. My asshole is in that DVD three times.

PUM: How has the fan reaction been to In the Wake of Determination?
Josh: Fan reaction has been great.
Adam: Our fans love it. It's not going over as well in the mainstream.

PUM: As far as press?
Adam: Radio play and MTV play because it's not as pop friendly, just the way it was produced and recorded. It's a good and a bad thing. We'd love to get tons of radio play and MTV play and be the biggest band in the world right now, but I don't know. We wrote a record that we love.
Josh: It kicks ass.

PUM: Did you feel a lot of pressure to have a record that was going to be accepted by the mainstream and not just necessarily fans or did you just go in there and say fuck it and do what you wanted to do?
Adam: It was more like the pressure of living up to the first record with the commercial success.
Josh: At a certain point we were like, "We're just going to write it the way want to write it." If we love it, hopefully everyone else does. If they don't they don't know what they're talking about.
Adam: Good songs are good songs.

PUM: I really liked it.
Josh: Well cool, we can continue this interview then.

PUM: What is one song on the record that is most important to you and why?
Adam: That's a hard because there's a lot of shit that says a lot.
Josh: I'm a large fan of "Meathead" just because of the lyrical content. I mean because I remember going to shows when I was 14 or 15 years old and getting beat up by the dudes who were there just to beat people up and weren't there to enjoy the music and have a good time. Failed football players that had to take out there aggression on people.
Adam: I think "Is this My Fate? He Asked Them," number 12. I think that one has the most impact all around; subject matter, lyrically and just the song musically. It's so much heavier than anything we've ever had. It reminds me of shit I grew up on. I grew up listening to Metallica and Pantera and shit like that. It's awesome to have a song that's that heavy, badass and at the same time have real heavy lyrical content that means a lot.

PUM: You mentioned going to shows at 14 and 15 years old what were some of those shows?
Josh: Deftones. Laughs. Deftones, Snapcase, Primus.

PUM: Were you already involved in playing music at that point?
Josh: I think I was involved. I don't remember when I started playing drums. I was a sophomore so 14, yeah. I went to my first show in eighth grade though, which was awesome - Primus.

PUM: What's it like to be on tour now with Deftones after growing up on them?
Josh: I feel like I'm 15 again. Every night. I have [a chair that I] bring up on stage every night, sit down and watch.
Adam: It's a weird, surreal feeling because I have vivid memories of seeing Deftones and getting ready to go to the show. I remember being at the Galaxy in St. Louis and buying $100 worth of merch and a jacket, a T-shirt and a fucking hat.
Josh: Now you see them in the hallways and you're like, "Hey, how's it going?" To be playing and look over and see one of them watching us, it's just kind of like, "Uhhh..."

PUM: Does working on a record, touring all the time and dealing with this music industry ever get old to you guys?
Josh: Yes.
Adam: Yes, because there's so much shit that goes along with being in a band that's business related. The kind of shit that...
Josh: Nobody else hears about.
Adam: The kind of shit that when your just writing music and jamming, having a good time in the basement, it never crosses your mind. The shit that ultimately shouldn't matter, but it does because it's your livelihood. Playing a show every single day and thinking about more than just playing a show and having a good time. Your thinking about was that crowd good, were they as good as last time, were we good enough, what's going on with the single on the radio? Are we making enough money on this tour? All the bullshit that just comes along with the basic most important thing [which is] playing music.

PUM: With the success of Story of the Year, could you imagine your life without it?
Adam: I think whatever I would have ended up doing, I would have done well in and worked my ass off and succeeded in one way or another. When my first band broke up before Story of the Year came along for me, it was heartbreaking. The thought of not playing music for the rest of my life professionally like I had planned on. It would suck. It would blow.
Josh: It's hard to imagine.
Adam: Now everything is so natural. I wake up everyday and walk out of my tour bus and brush my teeth and watch fucking satellite TV and then go in and play in front of a couple thousand kids. I have a weird reality check a few times a week where I'm just like, "Oh my God, wait a minute, I'm on a tour bus." You know what I mean? When some of my favorite bands I grew up on used to fucking pull up with a band and a trailer. Like, I'm living a crazy dream that kids would cut off their arm to have. I see people at home that I've known forever that have normal jobs and I'm just like, "What if I had a normal job? That would be weird."

PUM: Now that the In the Wake of Determination has been out for a while is there anything when you look back on it that you wish you would have done differently?
Josh: I wish we would have recorded drums in a different drum room.
Adam: I wish we would have had a little more time because when it came down to crunch time we were kind of behind. There was so much shit we were working on, trying to get everything done in a certain amount of time. Time is always a fucking issue. It wasn't as big of an issue this time around, but still.

PUM: You guys do a lot of stage acrobatics, what kind of toll does that take on you night after night?
Adam: I'm 26, but my body feels like it's 40.
Josh: That's more of a question for them because I sit.
Adam: If I don't wear ankle braces or high-top shoes I'm fucked. Ryan wears wraps around his shins because he gets shin splints really bad. We're just beat up. We're like athletes. We're like basketball players when it comes to the wear and tear.
Josh: Phil always says it's like we played a football game every night.

PUM: What's one of the worst injuries you've ever had?
Adam: Tore ligaments in my ankle on Warped Tour a few years ago that I still kind of feel everyone once in a while. A bunch of stitches and shit. That's the worst, the torn ligaments. Just little shit. My finger looks like a tampon because of hitting the strings and shit. It's not as bad now-a-days playing short sets, but the little shit adds up because you don't have time to have off and heal. You know how you have the guitar cabinet and you got the little tiny mike stand with a little boom on it? You got the boom end that's kind of poking up and you have the mic end. Well [the boom] is aimed up because the mic is aimed down; Ryan was doing a back flip and it was kind of a small stage and the thing got knocked out into the middle of the stage and the boom was aimed kind of out in the open. Ryan does a back flip, slips, falls forward [on his face with the boom end up] and the boom goes in his mouth and cut his uvula.

PUM: How many instruments have you destroyed?
Adam: Those dudes have gone through a lot of guitars. My bass usually holds up pretty well. They're a little more rugged. Three out of the four guitars in the guitar boat have had the headstocks glued back on.
Josh: I go through a lot of drumsticks.
Adam: Dude, on the Linkin Park tour a couple years ago, Ryan was doing a guitar spin and the strap ripped in half, the guitar came off and went straight through the air like a fucking arrow right at his guitar cabinet, ripped through the screen and went into the speaker. That was pretty sweet.

PUM: What do you do to kill time when you're going from city to city?
Josh: Video games. We play poker, Hold'em.
Adam: Ryan and I play our instruments a lot. Just sitting around. That dude is always writing music. Always learning some technical shit. There's always a lot of work to be done so that kills time. Website stuff, design shit and so on. For me at least, there's not much time to get bored.

PUM: I read in an interview that you guys like food? Favorite places to eat?
Josh: I enjoy most fast food places. There's this place in St. Louis called Emo's that I frequent when I'm home. It's pizza. We eat at outback a lot. Adam doesn't but we do.
Adam: I'm vegan so... I buy a lot of groceries. When I get a chance there's a few places in L.A. and New York, some of the bigger cities, there's some good vegan restaurants. Chicago Diner when I'm in Chicago. Ultimately, being home and being able to make a real meal in a real kitchen, that's the best.
Josh: Yeah, I just barbecue when I'm at home.

PUM: What are some bands that you are really into right now?
Adam: There's a band called Classic Case that's awesome. I also like He is Legend. Adair, our friends from St. Louis. They're good young men.
Josh: I don't listen to a lot of new music. Anberlin, they're good friends of ours.

PUM: What's next for story of the year?
Adam: Well, I turn 27 in December so I think I'm either going to commit suicide or overdose.
Josh: You're not a singer though.
Adam: Okay... Next month we're going to the U.K. In may we're going to Australia and Japan and New Zealand. We'll probably do a headlining tour in the US sometime, just keep on touring until the end of the year then write some more music and make another badass record.

PUM: Is the next record going to be heavier?
Adam: I think we're going to go more of a Matchbox 20 route. I hope it's going to be heavier. Ryan walks into the front lounge. Is it going to be heavier Ryan?
Ryan: Yes.
Adam: Yeah, I'm not growing out my hair for nothing.

PUM: If someone walks up to you and gives you $50 in cash and walks away, what do you do with the money? You can't give it back.
Josh: Spend it.

PUM: On what?
Josh: Is there a Best Buy nearby?

PUM:PUM: Sure.
Adam: I would put it in my pocket and then get in my bunk and then take a nap.
Josh: Idiot, you've got to spend it.
Adam: He (Josh) would go to best Buy and buy a video game or two DVDs.
Josh: Adam would save it and he'd have it by this time next year.
Adam: I'd either buy groceries or I'd buy Star Wars; the book or toy or figure.

PUM: Do you guys have anything you want to add that I didn't touch on?
Adam: You didn't add to or touch on Josh's dick. It's pretty huge. Have a great day!

For more Pictures of Story of the Year, click HERE