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Shoutweb: How do you just come across that?
Riley: I don't know he is just really into a lot of obscure music. He suggested kind of basing what we had as far as the music went, meshing that with prison chain gangs themed vocals. I think it’s one of the songs that across the whole as a band we are really proud of on the record. It really came out a lot better than we thought it would.
Shoutweb: Yeah, the crowd was totally into it.
Riley: Yeah, thanks.
Shoutweb: How did the writing process come together this time?
Riley: We actually spent a lot time writing, because we had so little time to write and record the last record, which we had about three months. We really made a point as soon as we got out of the studio doing the last record and started touring, to start writing right away. So we were writing on the bus, on tour in ProTools or Reason just writing whatever came out of us, and we had a lot of time to write because we were on tour for two years pretty much. One of the main things was that we kind of came to an agreement as a band that anything that anyone wrote, we'd entertain that possibility. It wasn't like it has to be heavy or it has to be metal, or have a punk influence. It was just, "Whatever comes out of it when you write it." When we are off tour, we will take all these parts, and hash them out as a band and see what works and doesn't work. It was really liberating when we started writing because we weren't putting any limits on us. The label wasn't putting any limits on us and we just did what we wanted to do. It made it feel a little more exciting, whereas the last record we were kind of forced by time to get something out, and we didn’t have time to experiment with piano, or synthesizers and electronics. This time around we had a ton of time to experiment and entertain every idea that we could come up with, so it was good.
Shoutweb: How about vocally, did Dustin keep those duties for himself?
Riley: Yeah, well there are certain parts where if I wrote a part I would say, "This is what I have in my head working as far as the melody goes." Or Teppei with the prison chain gangs vocals. But for the most part, Dustin would work on the melodic base for the record on an acoustic guitar in his house, and we will kind of cater the songs to the melody that he has come up with. And a lot of times, we will come up with a certain part and if it is not working with what he wants to do melodically, we will rearrange it to what he wants to do….
Shoutweb: So there are a lot of mechanics involved?
Riley: Yeah, parts are constantly changing, helping a part work with a melody or helping a part work with another part, but nothing is set in stone until it goes down on tape. Which is exciting, and also kind of scary at the same time.
Shoutweb: Where does the bigger thrill come from for you? In the recording process or playing live, or are they just totally different?
Riley: I mean, writing and recording is exciting, because you are making something that's new and then when you record it, it makes it permanent. But then when you play it live, you can expand on what you made permanent or what you might have thought a song could have been when you started writing it. So it's like three steps: you are excited about writing, there's an excitement about the permanence of recording and there's an excitement about taking what you recorded and putting a new spin on it live.
Shoutweb: Where did you record this time?
Riley: We went to Bearsvile New York, right outside of Woodstock and we did the entire record in there this time. Last time, we just did the drums in Bearsville and the rest in Maryland. This time we spent about two months in Bearsvile, and really shut ourselves off from everything that was going on at home or in the world of music. We just at in there and really focused on what we needed to do.
Shoutweb: The title of the new record, Vheissu is very interesting, can you expand on it?
Riley: The reason why we picked the album title first off is because we wanted a word that wasn't loaded, like you don’t hear vheissu and think, "Okay, this guy is the best." Or like the album leans in this general direction, or this is a metal record, we want the word vheissu to represent the songs on the album, I don't even think its a real word. We pulled it out of a book by Thomas Pynchon which is V.
Shoutweb: V as in the alien TV series?
Riley: No, this is separate this was a book in the '60s. So we decided on the word, because we like the way the word sounded, and we liked that it wasn't loaded. Then we did some research online, which people can do for themselves if they are interested, but you throw that word into Google and you can get a lot of interesting insight. Like people have deconstructed the word form what it meant in the Pynchon novel. If you deconstruct it and look at the German etymology of it, it says like, "Who are? Or what are you?" That was really interesting to us, because lyrically Dustin has really encouraged people to think about what makes you, you, to just search for truth and then search for answers and things like that. That is really, really cool that I worked out being the definition of that word. Then another thing that I noticed doing some research…the name Vheissu, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius there is like an opening that is the gateway to the bunch of tunnel that lead to the underworld. I said to Dustin that for us as a band, every time we do something, we are standing at Vheissu. You know like there are all these tunnels and you don't know where they are going to lead, but we have to make choices. Like do we record with this person, do we do this tour… as a band you are always making decisions and that is like standing at the gateway of a bunch of tunnels. So it was really cool that we chose a word and we find out that there is a lot of stuff out there that really makes sense. I encourage people to check it out, as I would with anything search for answers and why you do things and stuff like that.
Shoutweb: What's next for you guys?
Riley: We go home after this tour and immediately start mixing the record. We were trying to mix it with the producer in London and us on Warped Tour, and having him send WAV files and MP3 back and forth, listening to it on different stereos trying to get stuff to sound the way we wanted it to sound. It wasn’t happening, so we pulled the plug on that about two or three weeks ago and decided that once we finished this tour we would mix it in LA with the producer there, so we are excited about that. Then we go to the UK for about a week to do three shows and a bunch of press and then we start a fall headlining tour in the US and Canada with Underoath, The Bled, and Veda. We are going to be very busy, and we are really excited, we had a lot of time off, so it's time to get back to work. It's good to get out there and see people again, and show people what we are all about.
Shoutweb: You touched on an interesting topic before when you mentioned the tunnels and feeling like, "As a band you are constantly standing at vheissu." What do you think about the business side of things, as opposed to the creating and playing? Are you one of those people that are really into both sides of it?
Riley: The joy for us, and it's been that way since the beginning…is creating. Making music. The business side, that's why you have a manager or a business manager, you sign with a label. While it kind of has to be a concern of the band, I think with us, and I know for me especially, I try to stay as far out of that as I can. I want to know what is going on, but I don’t want to be negotiating, like arguing over prices for a studio or prices for artwork or something like that. My focus is playing live and creating, that is why we hire people to take care of the business end. At the end of the day, if we as band are proud of what we created and feel proud over what we are doing on stage everyday, and we fail in the business aspect…I would live a much happier life after the band is over knowing that my focus was on creating and on live music. Instead of like, "Well, we followed this business plan or this formal." I just want to feel good about what we are doing as far as writing songs and performing live, and we'll leave the business stuff to the people that make a living doing that stuff.
Shoutweb: Lastly, what was it like making the DVD?
Riley: The DVD was cool in a way, but also very embarrassing, because you are looking back like six, seven years, and it's like looking back at old yearbook photos. It's like, "Oh man, why did we play that show, or what the hell was I wearing, or why was my hair like that, or I can’t believe we wrote those songs?" But at the same time, we started compiling the footage as soon as we finished the last touring cycle, and we were all so tired from touring, but it was really cool to check out that footage and look back at the last six years. We were like, "Man, we have come a long way." The motives haven't changed at all. The people haven't changed at all. The band has changed. The music has changed, but I was really proud of us. Not in a cocky or conceited way, but like, "Wow, we have come a long way." There have been a lot of doubters, whether it be our parents or people back home who thought we sucked. Definitely, while we were recharging our batteries by being off the road, that was recharging my excitement in the band to see a retrospective of the last years.
Shoutweb: You said your parents had doubts at first.
Riley: Oh yeah! All of our parents, like Dustin, Ed and Teppei dropping out of school. Me having a degree and not starting a career or taking a chance and going out in a band, just the four of us.
Shoutweb: What was your degree in?
Riley: English, I was hoping to write or teach. Get involved in something creative and I definitely lucked out, and that is something I am very grateful for.
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Backstage we found 
