San Diego native metal band As I Lay Dying has been around the block a time or two. With Grammy nominations, international tours and playing in lineups such as Ozzfest under their belt, what more a band could ask for? Well, The Lumberjack got the chance to talk to Nick Hipa, lead guitarist for the band, and ask him what was still on the band’s bucket list, what’s in store for their Flagstaff show on March 15 and what it’s like to be served.
The Lumberjack (LJ): Hey! How are you?
Nick Hipa (NH): I’m good. Just hanging out in New York City.
LJ: Oh, nice. I’m jealous.
NH: There’s nothing to be jealous of. It’s freezing over here.
LJ: Bummer. So, you’re currently in New York on your tour right now?
NH: Yeah, we are playing two shows at the Gramercy Theatre, and [tonight] is the first night of two.
LJ: How is it going so far?
NH: Well, so far we are a little more than a week into it, and it’s been as awesome as we hoped. The shows have all been killer; we’ve been playing at a lot of places that, in our [ten years of] existence as a band, we haven’t been to a whole lot. I think [we've been to] a couple places we’ve never been to before, actually. It’s been pretty cool.
LJ: Awesome! Have you encountered any embarrassing moments or odd situations yet?
NH: Uh, ya know, nothing yet that I can think of. Well, I guess we’ve had some Spinal Tap moments with some signings that we’ve been doing. Phil and Josh ─ our other guitar player and our bass player ─ they were doing a signing, and this guy comes through and is like “Phil? Josh?” and they were like “Yeah,” and he hands them some papers and is like “Open these when you guys are done with your signing. Later,” and it turns out they got served ─ like summoned! And then that dude eventually tried serving all of us.
LJ: No way! Served for what?
NH: We’re part of some sort of lawsuit from this security guard. He had a diabetic episode at one of our shows three years ago, and [he] hit his head. I guess he had some medical bills, but now he is just suing everybody else who was even at the venue it, seems like. It’s nothing we are really worried about; it’s kind of ridiculous. It was just kind of funny that we had to be in a situation where like, we are trying to dodge a dude. Like, this guy is really trying to serve us papers!
LJ: That sucks. I’m sorry. So, this month is actually the band’s 10 year anniversary, correct?
NH: Yeah, well like, this whole year is like a 10 year anniversary of the band. Maybe it is this month in particular that is more of a specific date.
LJ: How have you celebrated?
NH: Well, we haven’t really made any official announcements yet or anything, but we did record a couple songs in the beginning of January with the intent of them being on some sort of EP that commemorates the longevity of the band up until this point. So, I don’t know if that means we are going to put out a ten-year EP sometime soon, but it makes the most sense for us to do it for that. But that’s just all in the works for right now; nothing for sure yet.
LJ: Well, ten years is a long time. It’s a pretty awesome feat for most bands.
NH: Yeah, totally.
LJ: So I’ve been asking people up here what they want to know about you, and a lot of people want to know the story behind your name. It has nothing to with the novel, but that’s where you got it from, right? So what’s the connection?
NH: I mean, it has nothing to do with the book, so it really is because it was a cool-sounding name. Our old guitar player, Evan, was just like “Hey, this sounds sweet; let’s do this.” I wish there was more to it, but that really is it. That’s the simplest and most honest answer I can give you. We’ve tried before to draw parallels and try and make it have some sort of meaning, but the reality is that sometimes, a name is just a name. It just has a nice ring to it.
LJ: The Powerless Rise is said by some to be your best work yet. What was the inspiration, both musically and lyrically, for the album?
NH: Well, I think it was as simple as us just trying to come up with something better [than before]. You know, we’ve been around for ten years now, and with each record we’ve been getting older and ─ as I like to say ─ more proficient at our instruments and essentially just getting better at our jobs in general. And in thinking that we are better, it’s kind of like “Hey, let’s prove it. Let’s write stuff that sounds cooler and is more interesting.” It’s a better presentation of what the band is supposed to be, and that is an aggressive band. I think that’s truly it. We try not to settle for the same-old, same-old, and [we try to] keep mixing it up. That’s really the only inspiration that was there for writing the music. We threw a lot away that wasn’t as good, and we kept the true gems. That’s what ended up [on the album].
And then lyrically, it’s just, kind of the same thing as the other albums in the sense that Tim writes about points of interest that are seen through his lense of morals and values and beliefs.
LJ: According to the As I Lay Dying website, the message behind The Powerless Rise is the “notion that if we do the opposite of what the modern world tells us, many of the problems this current world causes will no longer exist.” Can you explain this more, or maybe give an example?
NH: Well, I can give it a shot. It’s not a novel idea, by any means, but I think it’s something that bares repeating; it’s just if you rearrange your priorities and focus more on some of the intangible things in life such as your community, or just serving the people in your life and embracing them more, then you will find that more fulfilling than actually letting your ambitions drive you to just attain stuff, whether its success or possessions or something like that. That’s really it. It’s nothing new, but it’s something that everyone in the band believes in whole-heartedly.
LJ: How does your religion influence your music?
NH: It has nothing to do with my playing or music, at least for me. I’m just a guitar player like any other dude who is in a pop-rock band or a black metal band. I play guitar because I love it and I love music. My beliefs don’t have anything to do with how I play guitar.
LJ: Do you guys ever get criticized by your fans for being Christians, but using symbols such as skulls and death in many of your logos and merchandise?
NH: Um, no, not really. I think sometimes the media wants to focus more on the Christian aspect of the band, when we concentrate more on just the fact that we are a normal band who plays shows just like everyone else. I feel like for most fans of heavy metal music, it just fits. I don’t want to say that we are just doing what we are supposed to be doing, but I think the imagery is a pretty accurate visual description of the band. It just fits.
LJ: As I Lay Dying has accomplished a lot ─ Grammy nominations, playing in huge tours like Ozzfest, and touring internationally ─ is there anything you haven’t done yet that you would really like to do?
NH: You know, I think I would just like to go to even more countries than we’ve already been to. We’ve been so lucky and fortunate to travel to parts of the world that I thought I would never get to see, and if we can just keep on doing that and expanding on that, I would be stoked. Or even going back to some of those places [that we’ve been to before]. Like, we’ve never done China or Africa yet. Just being able to go to some of those places would be exciting for me.
And then, aside from that, a Metallica tour. They’re one of the only bands that we haven’t toured with yet. Maybe we can put that on the list of things that would be awesome for us to do.
LJ: That definitely should go on the bucket list. So, what’s next? You guys will be on tour for a long time, but what about later this year?
NH: After this tour, we will have a couple weeks off at home and then we are going to Australia with Trivium and Disturbed; we will be over there for about two and a half weeks. After that, we go to South America, so that’s pretty much it. Just traversing the Earth. Which actually goes back to my “What else would I like to do” question that you just asked me, so yeah, we are going to do what I hope we can do.
LJ: What should fans expect to see or hear at your show here in Flagstaff March 15?
NH: I guess Flagstaff isn’t that far from Phoenix, so I think people who are going to this show that may have gone to the last one [that we played in Phoenix] can expect some more songs that we didn’t play, and a little bit different of a production ─ a varied set of music with some more songs relating to the album.
LJ: Do you like playing in bigger venues, or smaller ones, like the one you are going to play here in Flag?
NH: It doesn’t really matter. We get stoked when the crowd is energetic. So, if we’re playing at a smaller place and the crowd is intense and energetic, we’re stoked. And if we’re playing at a bigger place and the people are stoked and energetic, then we are equally as stoked; just as long as the energy is there.
LJ: Well, I’m sure you will feel the energy here in Flagstaff.
NH: Yeah, hopefully! You know, that’s what we always look forward to when we play. Especially in Arizona; Arizona has always been awesome. The people have always been really good to us there.
LJ: Thanks! Is there anything else you would like to say to your fans?
NH: Just that we really appreciate you. There is a lot of love in our hearts for our fans ─ especially in Arizona ─ because you border our state, and not only that, but because San Diego isn’t that far away from you guys. So whenever we get to Arizona, our moods get sort of better, because we know we are close to home. There is always more excitement every time we’re [in Arizona].
As I Lay Dying will be playing at the Orpheum Theater on March 15. Tickets are $22, and can be purchased through the Orpheum’s website.
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