"...The Outside leaves you in love with a shattered heart while flying with broken wings. To truly grasp the meaning behind these words you must first find yourself inside out or ...on The Outside in. There is no definition for the excitement and pleasure given by the hands of these talented people. In music there are few moments where you feel euphoric, the drug that is music has been contaminated for far too long... But never fret, when The Outside finds itself on stage, you will find yourself as high as a kite."

TNS: Well as you know times are changing as well as music. What are your views on the current state of music, do we as fans of originality have any hope for an abrupt change?

Tree: Personally I think there is a lot of good music out there today. Originality is a hard endeavor when you are only working with 12 notes and generally in the confines of packaged ideas. Maybe a new genre of music would bring on a welcomed ‘change’ quite like that of hip-hop in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Damien: There is good/original music out there...finding it is the tricky part. Aside from bands like System of a Down, Tool, Mars Volta and some other ones, I haven't been inspired by a new band on the radio in years.

Will: Rock music is in a horrible place right now, maybe the worst since the hair band 80's. The radio stations are running out of weak clone bands and are starting to resort to classic rock.

There is a current surge of underground that's starting to take hold, tho. iPods, file sharing, and satellite radio are really helping people expand their borders. Hopefully, it will lead to some fresh music (that doesn't suck) making it back into the mainstream.

Ben: Ah...

TNS: "You are the Alpha" Is getting some serious buzz round and about. How does it make you feel that people are driving, singing, moving, love making, bouncing and crying with your music?

Tree: Love making? Really? It’s hard for me to imagine the bump and grind going on with us in the background

Will: It's awesome to think about, but we're still very small. We all work for a living.

TNS: The Outside is in fact a great name for a band, I was curious to know if there were any other ideas before you dubbed The Outside to be your name?

Damien: We had a few others but nothing that stuck at all. For some reason when Ben walked in and said 'The Outside' it felt right.

Will: I hate discussions about band names. I stay out of them with any band I'm in. I mean, how stupid sounding are "Radio Head" or the "the Beatles", when you think about it.

TNS: I have been working hard over at Metal Evolution to give the fans of horror exactly what they want to see. I guess personally I wanted to know if you had any suggestions on some good underground flix people should check out?

Tree: ‘Shaun of the Dead’ is my new favorite movie. It’s a spoof just like me.

Damien: Scary movies give me nightmares...

Will: I'm too busy to go to the movies. Road trips are my personal horror show.

TNS: I like many others was completely hooked on your sound from the door. The writing, musical blend and creativity are overflowing! How are things going in the writing department? Any plans for new material to be recorded?

Damien: We're always writing new stuff. Personally, this is the most fun I've ever had writing music. Everyone respects and listens to each other, there are no egos, and everybody is genuinely into what everyone else is doing

Will: This band has never had trouble writing. The people involved are just too creative. We write faster than we can record. That being said, we're due to start recording our next EP any time now. The only question is to weed through the material to pick out the best 5 songs!

Ben: We come up with so many ideas, we loose track with a lot of them. Rehearsal would be painful if we just practiced the same songs over and over again.

TNS: I know most people are probably getting tired of me asking this...but It's the one question I must ask everybody just to stay with tradition. So tomorrow you get a call from Sharon Osbourne telling you that as of today Ozzy is retiring. She then tells you, its up to you guys to form the first ever OutsideFest. What would be the line up from main stage to side stage?

Tree: On Main Stage I would make ‘The Refused’ get back together and demand they play all day long. Then we would play the side stage all day long just so I could say I played a show with ‘The Refused.’

Will: System of a Down, Mars Volta. See Tree's answer about "the Refused".

Damien: The previous answers plus TOOL of course. Some late 80's Metallica would be nice too..

TNS: What is a routine practice like for the Outside?

Damien: Turn on fans...talk...yell at Ben for playing while talking...work on new song Ben just wrote while we were talking...go over set...pee...leave.

Will: Meet at the space. It's usually very hot or very cold in there. Somebody (usually Ben) is playing some riff. Somebody (usually Damien) says "hey, that's cool. Loop it." An hour long discussion about the merits of playing the chorus two times or three times ensues. Voila. A song is born.

Ben: Walk in, tired from working all day (same as everyone else), do our thing and walk out with a big smile and a great mood!

TNS: I know as anyone knows in the field of music, there is always a venue that will be hell in the form of Murphy's Law. Without mentioning any venue what would you say was your worst show experience?

Will: We once played a show in New Jersey. A Sublime cover band stole our spot on the bill -- which said "the Outsiders," btw -- and I thought we were going to have to fight the door guy to get any money. Overall, everyone at the club treated us like shit. It was A's Cafe, and that place can suck my nuts.

Damien: Having no kick drum spike on the right side of a shitty kit the promoter called 'great'. You haven't lived until you've played a moving kick drum.

Ben: No comment.

TNS:If any of your songs could be on a Horror movie soundtrack, what song and movie would you chose to complement each other?

Tree: 'Something Urgent’ is all about fantasizing about your lover getting hit by a truck on 8th ave while they are actually bitching you out. I'd say it would go very well in ‘Man Bites Dog’ ‘cause you don't get very much more removed from your emotions than that. Is that a horror movie? I'm kinda a light weight in the scary dept., hence ‘Shaun of the Dead.’

Will: 'Things Fall Apart' from our first EP. Very big and dark song. Good for chasing people through a corn field.

Ben: For sure our latest song, 'Easy as Disease'

TNS: Finally .. is there anything you would like to say to your supporters?

Tree: Thanks and I’m still saving money up to reimburse everyone at the Opaline show.

Damien: We love you. Sorry for all the cover charges.

Will: THANK YOU!!!! Eat your vegetables.

Ben: Ah...

"I have to thank The Outside for a great Interview. Now only if we can get Damien to watch more Horror Movies the world would be a better place. As for you guys out there who have not had the pleasure to treat your ears to the outside, Logon to www.the-outside.com and find out what your missing."

- Interview By: TattoosNscrews

Metal Evo 2005