As I Lay Dying have embodied the ideals of metal for quite some time now. Whether it is their blistering guitar work or Tim Lambesis' screams, they just know how to construct heavy music. Recently, we spoke with drummer Jordan Mancino, one of the founding members of the San Diego band, in Los Angeles on The Cool Tour with Underoath and Between The Buried And Me. We spoke about various topics, including The Powerless Rise, Thailand and The Cool Tour's origins.
Jerry@RRR: Welcome to Los Angeles! Could you please introduce yourself and your position in the band?
Jordan Mancino: My name is Jordan Mancino and I play drums for As I Lay Dying.
Jerry@RRR: So now that you are in LA, how are you feeling today?
Jordan Mancino: Good. A little tired. Woke up early and had this little clinic thing for [Musician’s Institute] earlier today. Then, I got my ears molded and got some food and now on to interviews. Looking forward to my preshow now for sure [Laughs].
Jerry@RRR: You’ve been on The Cool Tour for some time now. How has that been so far?
Jordan Mancino: Really good. Shows have been awesome. Crowds have really been cool. It seems like everybody that shows up is into to all the bands, which is awesome. The bands themselves have been great; we’ve had a lot of fun hanging out and stuff. The tour is actually pretty short. It’s only like three weeks long. It’s just enough time to get to know people and say goodbye. I think everybody is excited, at least us, to go home. Chill out for a little bit. We’ve been on the road pretty much since the record has been out, so we are looking forward to some time off.
Jerry@RRR: The bill is pretty stacked. How did the tour come together?
Jordan Mancino: The same people that put on the “Sounds of The Underground Tour” that we did in 2006 did this. The idea was just to put together a strong package and try to fill out some clubs. It’s really hard to do your own tours and compete with tours like Mayhem [Festival] and Warped Tour and all that stuff. We’ve done Warped Tour before and it’s great. It’s important to put together a really strong package in order to get kids to come out. That was the idea and all the bands were available. Let’s just make a short run out of it, have some fun and play some shows.
Jerry@RRR: So earlier this year, you released your fifth studio album The Powerless Rise. Describe to us the writing and recording process.
Jordan Mancino: It took about a year. We toured with Lamb of God and pretty much were off the road until the following May when the record came out. We spent about three…three and a half months writing and then went in and recorded the eight songs we had written. We took a little bit of a break and wrote some more and then recorded four more songs in a later session. We did it in two parts, which was pretty cool. It was nice kind of getting a little bit of a break in between sessions, which gave us a lot more time to focus on each song and individual part.
Jerry@RRR: There was three years between An Ocean Between Us and The Powerless Rise. Do you feel that the extra time allowed you to write a better record?
Jordan Mancino: Yeah. We decided to take the extra time. We had been spitting out records and touring as much as we could for the last handful of years. We figured it was time to sit back and concentrate on writing the record we felt good about and wanted to write. So, we did. We had the opportunity and we took it. A good thing that happened right before were off for so long is put out the DVD [This Is Who We Are], which gave our fans a chance to get to know us. It’s the first time we’ve done anything like that. I think that helped bridge the gap in between records since it was three years in between records.
Jerry@RRR: With the new record, you worked with Adam Dutkiewicz again. Why did you choose to enlist him in the producer’s role again?
Jordan Mancino: We had such a good experience with him during the recording of An Ocean Between Us that we decided to go for it again. We still felt like there was a lot that we could do with him that we hadn’t done with An Ocean Between Us because of time constraints. He was off the road and didn’t having any touring going on so it was the perfect timing for both us.
Jerry@RRR: From a conceptual perspective, what was the inspiration for the record?
Jordan Mancino: I can’t really go into too much detail since I didn’t write the lyrics. That’s more Tim [Lambesis]’s end. A lot of the lyrics are a little bit more personal to him, but the idea of The Powerless Rise is remembering all those people who have been forgotten by society and have those people rise up and make their voices heard. That’s basically the bottom line.
Jerry@RRR: How would you say the new album differs from your previous work?
Jordan Mancino: I think it’s a more mature record. We had a lot of experience writing and recording. We took all those things that we have learned throughout the years and applied it to this record. We tried to make it heavier. We tried to make it faster, but try to make the songs better so the songs are easier to listen to and in a lot of ways more complex as well. We just spent a lot of time with every little detail of that record, down to mixing. We mixed for almost two months. We had a lot of time mixing levels and everything else for certain parts. It’s a record that we are all really psyched about and it seems to be well received by all of fans that went out and got it.
Jerry@RRR: [The Powerless Rise] has been received warmly, especially by critics. While making the record, did you have any feelings that you know you were making something special?
Jordan Mancino: Not necessarily. We just applied our work ethic. Everyone in this band works really hard on what they do. Everybody has strengths and we applied those strengths in the recording process and writing. There really was no special vibe or anything. We just wanted to write the best record we could. I think we did and it’s exactly what we wanted it to be.
Jerry@RRR: You’ve been a band for quite some time now. How would you describe your growth from the band’s beginning to its current state?
Jordan Mancino: That’s a question that can be best answered by the six hours of footage on the DVD [Laughs]. It’s been a long road. A very enjoyable one. Also, very tough in some aspects. We all feel very fortunate to do what we do and love what we do. I still have the same passion for this band that I did when we first started it. That hasn’t changed. Obviously, the way I approach my playing, tour life, production and the business end of it has changed and matured for sure, but the die-hard metal fan in me is still there. I still love to play metal and I love to play shows.
Jerry@RRR: What advice would you give to a budding band?
Jordan Mancino: That’s a tough one! [Laughs] Just spend a lot time writing a good record and also keep it together. That’s a hard part for a lot of bands that are getting started, just getting all of their acts together and getting everybody in band on the same page. While we were touring, we went through a lot of that too, losing members and getting new ones. It’s not an easy thing but as you are focused and you are determined, you can make it work. There’s a lot that goes into a band making a living out of it and just being able to tour in general. There are things that you have to learn along the way. Learn from your mistakes, make smart decisions and always remember why you do what you do. That’s really the only general advice I can give. A lot of the other stuff you just learn along the way.
Jerry@RRR: What are you plans for after The Cool Tour?
Jordan Mancino: There are always updates on our website and Facebook. All of our tour dates of our tour dates and stuff will be up there. After this tour is over, we have a headliner in the [United] States and Canada, playing a lot of the cities that we didn’t get to on this tour and then going to Europe for another headlining run. After that, I’m not really sure.
Jerry@RRR: What do you hope to accomplish by the end of 2010?
Jordan Mancino: Just continue to support the record. That’s really it. We don’t have other plans than that. Just continue to tour and play as many shows as we can and play for as many people as we can. We’ll see what happens in 2011. I’m sure we’re going to be on the road again.
Jerry@RRR: Are there any surprises that your fans can look forward to in the near future?
Jordan Mancino: We have a box set coming out for The Powerless Rise. It’s got a lot of different things. You can get the full list of everything on the Metal Blade [Records] website or our website. It’s something that we put out there if people want it. It’s not something that we are trying to push on people. It’s there if they want all the goodies. Other than that, we’ll probably be in your city. We’ll try to play it.
Jerry@RRR: Since you’ve been on tour, you must have a great tour story. It can be as crazy or as raunchy as you want it to be!
Jordan Mancino: Let’s see. We got stuck in Thailand once. That was pretty gnarly. We were en route to Indonesia to play a show there and then actually go over to Thailand and play a festival. When we got there, there was this political coup and all the airports got shut down. We were stuck there for four days. All my bags were stuck in customs. I was wearing the same underwear for a couple of days. We managed to get out of the country out of a military base. We made it to show in Indonesia two days late. We still played. It was a great show. I haven’t gone back to Thailand since. They decided to just cancel the show and maybe decide to do it again but that was years ago. That was pretty interesting. I never felt like at any point my life was threatened or anything like that, it was just a very bizarre experience, just being stuck somewhere. We made the most of it. We hung out with some elephants and some tigers. Just chilled a little bit. Do whatever. [Laughs]
Jerry@RRR: As a musician, what is your favorite part about touring?
Jordan Mancino: Just playing. I love playing the shows. I love the energy. I like being to play on stage. It’s a lot of fun. We take it very seriously. We aren’t relaxed when it comes to our live performance. We’re very focused and we try to put on the best show we can. We want to give the fans that have seen us multiple times something different each time. This tour we brought out a really cool production and light show. We’re going to continue to try to progress on that end too and make live performances more part of what we do. Give the fans that come out a really cool experience and their money’s worth.
Jerry@RRR: I would like to thank you again for taking the time to do this interview. Would you like to add anything?
Jordan Mancino: No that I can think of! [Laughs]
Check out The Powerless Rise which is in stores now! Read our review for it and check the band's website for tour dates!
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