Karlie caught up with Brian from The Black Dahlia Murder for a quick chat about their current tour and plans for the future.

Thank you for chatting to us today Brian. First of all, could you give us a brief description of the band and how you came up with the name The Black Dahlia Murder for people that may not have heard of you before?
I don’t really recall how the name came up, it was like 11 years ago, we have had many beers since then. The Black Dahlia Murder is basically a melodic death metal band from Detroit, Michigan and errr…. We kick ass. So if you haven’t listened to it you should probably check it out.

Who do you think committed the black dahlia murders?
Oh I don’t know. I have never had access to the evidence, so I’m not going to pin it on anyone.

Who are your biggest influences, in life in general and as a band?
Good stuff. I don’t know. A jam is a jam. Stuff like AC/DC and Deep Purple has had an effect on me for sure. [And in life?] Yeah, sure, they taught me what to do, I just grabbed a guitar.

What’s your favourite venue to play in the UK / the world?
The White Rabbit in Plymouth last night was awesome, I’d never been there before. As far as international goes, there’s lots of places I love. Detroit I love playing just because I’ve seen so many shows there it just reminds me of good times.

Is there any talk of you playing any other UK festivals besides Bloodstock?
I don’t know of anything other than Bloodstock. We did Sonisphere last year; that was cool. If someone wants to invite us somewhere we’ll go.

What are your plans once this tour is over?
Once this tour is finished we’re going home for like a week then we’re gonna go to the other side of the world, and hit some places like Soundwave festival and Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. It’s gonna be a lot of running around. We’ve played Indonesia, New Zealand before and Australia and Japan before.

Where do you hope to see yourselves in 5 years time?
Alive sounds cool. And then, still playing music would be also cool. I’m happy to keep doing this.

Who has been your favourite band to tour with?
I think on multiple levels it’s always cool touring with Cannibal Corpse, we’ve done it like 5 or 6 times now. Coming into that situation where we such huge fans of the band and then playing with them, and they’re as cool as they are it’s just brilliant.

If you hadn’t been so successful in the music industry what do you think you’d be doing for a living now?
Scarily enough I would be looking after children. I did that for a number of years before this took off. I did a lot of camp summers, school aftercare. I’m sure it’d be a bit more difficult to walk back into it at this point though, there’s stuff on the internet, you know.

What can we expect from BDM in the upcoming future?
We’ll probably start working on another record before the end of this year, more jams coming, not so soon.

What do you think of the hardcore dancing at your shows?
I see all sorts of people doing all sorts of weird shit, as long as they’re having a good time I don’t care.

Do you like the deathstep mixes of your tracks?
I haven’t heard any, can I YouTube that huh? [Yes] I hope I would recognise it if it was one of our songs!

Is there anything that any band member has done that you wish you could un-see?
I’ve seen other dudes have sex. No one wants their private life put out. But it’s not nice seeing some dudes ass bobbing up and down.

Can you tell us a secret about the band that we might not know?
But then it wouldn’t be a secret…

Ok, how about something that’s not common knowledge? Can you divulge anything for us that won’t get you in trouble?
I don’t know. I watch a lot of Sci-Fi. I may have mentioned that before though. I’m a big nerd.

One last random question that we ask every band – If you could be an animal out of a zebra and a giraffe, which would you be and why?
A giraffe. Just for the utilitarian stuff. Having a good reach is important in this world, y’know.

Thank you for talking to us today, have you got a message you’d like to leave for your fans reading this interview?
Guys, keep getting educated, it’s great you can read. Push forward. Try some non-fiction and perhaps some Philosophy. Rock on.

Interview by Karlie M