On tumblr your singer Jillian presents some remarkable laceration. How did that happen and was it a stage accident? Who is responsible and is it gonna happen again because you're reckless on stage?

Johnny: It happened on new years eve. Jillian was reaching maximum velocity on stage and mis calculated her trajectory path. She collided head first with my guitar and split her head open like a cherry tomato. Or maybe I swung my guitar at her head on purpose. Jillian is always saying the set needs more blood.. Its gonna keep happening until someone dies on stage. We incourage all audience members to be the first to die on stage with us.

All the lyrics on "valley of the snake" are amazing, especially "Tomorrow never comes" has some very poetic passages. Where does the band get lyrical inspiration from? Any writers you prefer reading?

Jillian: Thank you! Lyrically I pull a lot of imagery and ideas from Greek and Roman mythology, cinema and sci-fi. Sad twists of fate. The bridge between the human and spirit world. The bridge between a heaven and hell and the limbo in between. Purgatory. Messiahs. When the guys were first fleshing out Tomorrow Never Comes I thought of what a song would sound like from the angel of death. Those are things that make interesting subject matter to me.

You sold herb grinders a little while ago so fans could grind their "enemies to dust and store them in a glass jar for all eternity". Who came up with the idea and wasn't it a lot of work to get a hold on those wooden boxes and feathers?

Johnny: Jillian had the idea to grind her enemies into dust and store them in a glass jar for all eterntiy. We said "What if our fans dont have any enemies?" She said "I guess they can just use it for weed then..." As for the boxes, they are made of recycled coffin wood.

You combine many genres quite effortlessly, do you sometimes write a song and realize that it actually is too far out genrewise? Have you ever put a song on hold because it wasn't compatible with RTH?

Jillian: We definitely jam a lot and everyone's influences are pretty diverse. A lot of ideas flow but don't always have a home. When a skeleton is becoming a Ruby song they tend to be a little more powerful and emotional. There is a darkness to them, even the more upbeat tunes like Valley of the Snake carry this mood. And they all typically start to run well over 5 minutes.

How did you get in touch with Tee Pee?

Jillian: We had been admiring Tee Pee from afar, like the girl you want to ask to prom but she doesn't know you exist yet. We ended up sending them records and whisky that exploded in transit and they opened our package because it reeked of booze (they're hounds). After that they listened and we ran into them at a bar, hit it off, got kicked out, and then signed (also at a bar).

John Charles Edward Roth II mentioned the HATCHET HOUSE online, do you actually live together in some kind of commune and share a flat? Most of us live in a little house off of the highway.

Johnny: We do, kind of commune style. We have a some residents and a couple couch surfers. The house is in between the woods and some abandoned buildings. Nobody bothers us and we can get as loud as we want.

Any helpful advice regarding the recording process? What mistakes should bands avoid?

All: Be friends and don't do anything that sucks.

ThEb

go to:

Ruby The Hatchet - bandcamp