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Asking Alexandria Interview with Denis Stoff

Asking Alexandria Interview with Denis Stoff By Josh Drespling  and Alexa Linger Though Asking Alexandria has been a driving force in the metalcore/hardcore punk genre since their 2008 debut album The Irony of Your Perfection, they’re back and stronger than ever with a new album and new lead singer Denis Stoff. Empire Extreme sat down […]

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Asking Alexandria Empire Extreme

Asking Alexandria Interview with Denis Stoff

By Josh Drespling 
and Alexa Linger

Asking Alexandria's Denis Stoff. Photo By Jason L Nelson

Though Asking Alexandria has been a driving force in the metalcore/hardcore punk genre since their 2008 debut album The Irony of Your Perfection, they’re back and stronger than ever with a new album and new lead singer Denis Stoff. Empire Extreme sat down with the former vocalist of Make Me Famous to talk about his start on Youtube, joining Asking Alexandria, their new album, and what’s in store for fans this summer.

First off, I’ve got to ask the cliché question. The new album came out recently and there has been a tremendous response to it…:
It’s been good, really good. I am pretty stoked.

Yeah, it hit #9 on Billboard?:
Yeah, if you talk real albums, verses stream, we ended up at #4.

 

This is obviously the first album with you as the singer. Can you give us the details of how you became part of the band and the YouTube tie in?
I didn’t just get into the band because of the YouTube. I mean, YouTube was part of… I guess what you could call my career. When I was really young, I was making cover [songs]. I was making them just for fun – not like kids nowadays do it to get exposure. YouTube was just a new thing. It was only around about a year. I was like ‘oh, shit – people put covers up here.’ I thought ‘that was pretty cool, I’ll do that, too.’ From there, I moved to my first and second bands.
You referenced the previous bands. Are you still involved with them in any way?

No, no. Absolutely not.

 

Asking Alexandria's Denis Stoff. Photo By Jason L Nelson

Asking Alexandria’s Denis Stoff. Photo By Jason L Nelson

Were you involved in the writing process of this album? At what stage did you come into that?

I started from day one. Started from scratch.

How do you like these big festivals?
Well, obviously when we are playing our own club shows it’s way more intimate. I love playing the festivals because there are so many people that have never heard our work. It’s always a great time winning over the crowd. I love it. In the clubs, we get to play a lot more songs. On these festivals we are just trying to get everyone going. We play a different set.
I know there has been some words said in the press between the existing band and the old singer. Has that affected you in any way?

No, not really. I’m here to do me. I don’t care about what was happening in the past.

 

Moving forward, through the rest of the summer. What’s on the schedule for the band?

This summer we are doing a bunch of Europe. We will be in England. We have a bunch of American festivals and solo shows. I can’t remember the dates and all. It you want to see all that, you can always look it up at askingalxeandria.com. It’s all right there.

 

Anything else going on with the band, and side projects?
No, no, no. We are all focusing on Asking Alexandria right now. I don’t think we are even thinking of working on anything solo. We are all focused on the band right now. What is in the air is talk about the next record and writing. We are actually writing a little bit when we have the time.

@empireextreme1 @askingalexandria @denisstoff
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INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

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Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

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INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

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Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell. 

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything. 

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs. 

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.  

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters. 

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with. 

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music. 

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan. 

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know…  but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”.  Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.

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FIRST JASON: LOVEDRAFTS INTERVIEW

Ron

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EMPIRE EXTREME GOT TO SIT DOWN AND TALK TO ARI LEHMAN OF FIRST JASON AND TALK ABOUT STARTING THE CULT OF JASON VORHEES FANS

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