Mark Keraly first interviewed Curl Up And Die four years ago. Bored with his luxury suite at the Anaheim Hilton, Keraly once again ventured out to check up on the guys in CUAD.

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Those two tracks you guys put up are amazing... you can tell there's been some changes. How would you compare this upcoming release to any previous release?

Mike Minnick: Well first off, I'm glad it's different, I hope it's different every time. It's by far the most diverse musically and lyrically. It's the fastest record we wrote, but the slowest, but the heaviest but the most melodic.

Matt Fuchs: The first time I'm proud of a record. (laughing)

Awesome... so I don't know if you guys remember, but the last time that we talked was September 25th, 2001.

Matt: Oh my god! I remember, we took those pictures and you gave us Lambgoat stickers!

You got it!

Ryan Hartery: Was I wearing that flannel... like a long time ago?

Matt: Yeah, yeah... that flannel thing. Why are we still in this? (laughing)

Mike: We haven't grown old yet.

Four years, that's nuts. So I'm guessing things have changed since then. Just to refresh your memory that's about the time Geoff left the band.

Mike: Well, on Geoff, he's managing the band now and he's still as good a friend as ever. We still think of him as like the fifth member of our band and all. It's great because we got back to just how we started. I think we're even better friends than when we started. We don't hang out as much when we're at home but when we're on tour.

Matt: Then it was like here, then we had a huge drop in everything, like morale. Now it's just great. The EPs were cool because they were really just like stream of conscious records we wrote just to do what we really wanted to do. That's the first time we wrote since we first wrote songs because that first Unfortunately We're Not Robots record, for Revelation, was still good leftover songs we wrote right after we recorded that.

Mike: Between then and this next full-length coming out we had a lot of downtime because Jesse's finishing school, and we all had other things to do.

That plays right into my next question. Prior to recording, you guys kind of disappeared for about a year. You guys were what, in school? What else?

Matt: Last summer... I think people thought we disappeared then. We did Europe last summer, so this summer everyone thinks that we were just gone. We had to do Europe, that was our chance!

How long were you guys out there?

Matt: Five weeks.

Ryan: Jesse was talking to somebody and they were like, "That band's still around?!" (laughing)

Matt: We played a show in Vegas a couple weeks ago and someone came up to me and said, "I thought you guys broke up like two years ago!" (laughing)

[at this point, two dudes approach the van and gush all over CUAD for a few minutes]

Well that was fun... ok, so this could be considered pretty brutal, but I've heard you guys called a poor man's Converge. What's your response to that?

Matt: It's pretty weak when people say that to us. When we started the band, it definitely sounded similar, like our fast parts. Even like, NOFX bands, and bands that have been fast even before I had heard of Converge.

Mike: Well it's definitely a better comparison than Eighteen Visions or Poison the Well.

Do you get those?

Mike: Yeah...

What's the worst comparison you guys have had?

Ryan: I think I've heard them, but I cant say them. (laughing)

Mike: Now what are you trying to do here, man?! (laughing)

Hey, I'm just saying is all... anyway, are any of you involved in any side-projects right now, or is it just CUAD full time?

Matt: CUAD full-time. Jesse and I fart around, Jesse plays piano.

So... I heard some rumors about a make-out session with Orange County's Taken.

Matt: There was definitely no tongue involved!

Hey, I've seen the pictures.

Mike: I had to kiss Ray [Harkins] like eight times or something.

Wait, what?

Matt: It was spin the bottle. It didn't get too carried away or anything.

Just a bunch of dudes playing spin the bottle. Now Revelation Records used to be one of the bigger labels in hardcore, but they seem to have been eclipsed by other labels like Equal Vision and Trustkill. What's going on over there?

Mike: It's really weird. It's really discouraging to be on that label too, like how hard we had to fight to get this next record put out. Just dealing with them between this next one, the two EPs and with Status, and I just think they're a really conservative and cheap label that doesn't want to spend any money. They just cut corners in weird ways to not put out a good quality record. Ways you wouldn't even have to spend tons of money on. If they don't want to put effort into these bands or work with bands to make good records, then they shouldn't be doing it. It's just really discouraging. You can talk to tons of bands and talk to them about how Rev broke them up and really discouraged the shit out of them, and they do do that to a point. There are good people there who help at times, but they cant help now. We started because we thought it would be cool, but yeah.

So you guys have the contract fulfilled now? What's next?

Matt: It's going to feel pretty good to be free. We're just going to be touring full-time, we're happy with the record.

Will you be looking for label support?

Matt: Eventually, nothing immediate.

Mike: We don't want to be signed right now. We just want to hang out and tour.

Since you guys first signed to Rev, hardcore and metal is something much larger than it used to be, with some of your original peers playing Ozzfest and getting on the major tours. Looking back, is there anything you guys wish you had done differently?

Mike: Like try and get on Ozzfest? No...

What do you think about those bands on Ozzfest right now?

Matt: I don't like any... not that I don't like any of the bands on Ozzfest! (laughing) I don't want to be in with those kinds of bands, I wasn't, to be in with bands that are more creative.

Mike: We don't see ourselves as a metal band or a mosh band. We see ourselves as like a punk/hardcore band. We're just a band playing whatever we want with all kinds of different inspirations.

Matt: I know it's insane to watch Headbanger's Ball and see Ozzfest and all these crazy, huge packages, and I don't care if we're involved or not.

Ryan: Don't all those bands just fall into the same exact thing? Their videos all look the same, the live show video, sticking their tongues out.

"The look."

Matt: Even some bands in Vegas that have never played shows, major labels have bought them up and you don't even know who they are, just waiting for their records.

And you want no part of that.

Matt: No, I just want to put out good records and have people that are into us. I don't want to be a fad.

Mike: We can obviously tell, sitting here four years ago doing the same shit! (laughing) We're in it long term.

Well that's refreshing to hear.

Matt: Music, to me, is at an all-time low.

Mike: Maybe it's because we were kids when punk kind of blew up. Like Blink, and all those bands just got huge. I think maybe the same thing is happening in hardcore now, but we're going through it.

That's interesting. Soyou guys are familiar with word associations, right?

All: Yeah.

I've got a few for you guys.

Hellfest

Mike: Sunburn

Matt: Friends

Ryan: Musty

Superhero

Matt: Spiderman

Mike: Spiderman... Kang! Lord Kang!

Ryan: Fire man! (laughing)

Nyquil

Mike: Oh no! (laughing)

Matt: Mike!

Mike: Yeah... Oh no! (laughing)

Myspace

Ryan: My life right now...

Matt: I get on Myspace and no one says anything to me, so I leave. (laughing)

Ryan: That and my email, it's the only thing I have to check on the Internet.

Matt: Their pictures are all tricky, you talk to them and they don't talk back to you. (laughing)

Modern Life is War

Mike: My favorite hardcore band right now.

Matt: Now that's a refreshing band right there.

Eyeliner

Matt: Hardcore

Slime

Mike: Nickelodeon

Ryan: Slimer

Matt: Ketchup on our van.

So how did that ketchup get on your van?

Matt: We were just playing a show and when we came outside there was just ketchup all over our van.

No idea how it got there?

All: Nope.

George W. Bush

Mike: Spongebob Squarepants

Ryan: There you go, Jesse.

Jesse: I don't know, no good.

Leather

Matt: Hot

Mike: What was that one?

Matt: Leather Daddy!

Ryan: Yeah! Leather Daddy!

Well, that's all I've got. The new album comes out August 23rd. Anything else you guys want to get in? Last words?

Mike: Just thanks to anyone who hasn't given up on us, who has kept with us. We're here, we're definitely here, we're here more than ever. We'll be touring non-stop... new record coming out. Just thanks.

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