A very short interview with Ryan from Poison The Well. Ryan and I have been friends for a while so it was hard to think of stuff to ask him. There was some good stuff that stayed off the record. Be sure to check these guys out!



Jay: All right Ryan, how did Poison the Well star? We'll get the shitty questions out of the way first.
Ryan: We got together with our old singer Ari and we just... I had written a bunch of song, and he had written a bunch of lyrics and we got three of our closest friends together and started playing. We sucked really bad. It was fucking horendious.

Jay: How did the transition come about to make it a serious band from there?
Ryan: I guess like we... we recorded an e.p., we went on our first tour -it was only a week, uh, 10 days with like five shows. It was terrible. And dudes that weren't into it just quit right at the end. They were like "I don't like touring" and "I can't do this." Right after that is when Derrick joined the band, and we got this kid Alan to play bass, and from there it just got to be a serious band and decided that we wanted to do a band for real - to play music and to go on tour as much as possible.

Jay: How do you feel about bands that are coping the Poison The Well sound from "OOD"?.
Ryan: I never noticed. A lot of people tell me "Oh, that band sounds like," and I never notice.

Jay: Really? Or are you just saying that because you don't want to talk shit?
Ryan: No, no, no. It's not that I don't want to talk shit. I actually don't see it because I honestly, just from the process of writing and how Derrick and I sit down and put together a song. It seems like they do everything so much different. All the bands that people say that we sound like I don't really get it. Some bands I do, but honestly, it's flattering if I had affected someone that much and influenced the way they write songs. It feels nice, you know? It's a pretty cool thing. At least I had a positive effect on their lives instead of making the go out and kill somebody. [laughs]

Jay: [laughs] Tell us a little about the new album "Tear from the Red." Just like anything about it, like the recording process, the title, where it all comes from, how do you feel about it now looking back after a couple months its been out...
Ryan: I love that record. I love it to death. I like it. You know, I feel like its much of a step from our first e.p., "The Opposite," than "Tear from the Red." You know, there is negative and positive feedback that I received, but honestly I wrote the record with everyone else to please ourselves.

Jay: Is there anything now that looking back at that recored that you can change, like maybe you didn't think about the studio...
Ryan: Oh, there's like about a hundred million things.

Jay: Really?
Ryan: Yeah, but it's not important. You know, there's no use in crying over spilled milk. So, I'll get it on the next one.

Jay: What about now that "Distance makes.." was re-released. Are you guys going to be playing anything off of that?
Ryan: Nah. We only rereleased it because so that people could actually get a hold of it. It's just a totally different band. It's six months after we started and recorded that. I just don't feel like it represents like the people in the band now. I almost feel like - it would be kind of rude to have them play the songs because they had no part in it.

Jay: Would you rather that it did not come out then?
Ryan: No, no, no, because it's a period in my life and its awesome for what it is, you know? My first attempt at writing songs and it's great. I love it. But it's not something that I like playing.

Jay: Do a lot of people ask you guys to play stuff off that?
Ryan: Nah, not really.

Jay: No?
Ryan: Like some kids do, and it's like "Ryan, why don't you play old songs?" It's a different time, you know?

Jay: You've guys had some good tours recently. Have there been any good stories?
Ryan: Oh, the Hatebreed tour was - both Hatebreed tours were one giant good story.

Jay: Awesome. What's one that you got off the top of your head that would be very interesting for people to hear?
Ryan: Let's see. I can tell a story about how the last day of the first tour they [Hatebreed] poured sour milk all over on the inside of our van, put peanut butter on everything in it, just poured salsa on the seats. That was all Boulder and Beattie, too. I know it. And another cool story is that I guess half way through the second tour, Beattie and Sean Martin got on this kick where they wanted to work out, so they bought this weight set...

Jay: A weigh set?!? [laughs]
Ryan: [laughs] Yeah. Everyday, I would see fucking Brian with a hand cart wheeling in their personal excesize set. [laughs] It was Beattie and his cadalliac slippers walking behind him like "Yeah, I'm gonna get my work on." [laughs] That was pretty cool.

Jay: [laughs] You guys also had some odd tours, with Strung Out and such. What's the approach on something like that?
Ryan: Honsestly it's an excuse to stay on tour and not go home. Like I'm stoked about it though. It's a chance to play to new kids.

Jay: How do you guys think that it will go over well, or do you think you're going to get a lot of blank stares...
Ryan: Proabably 50/50. I think it would be fun though, you know? I'm sure those guys are cool guys - they kind of requested us, so...

Jay: Awesome.
Ryan: Obviously, they know who we are, so. I don't think they would bring a band that they thought would get booed every night on tour with them. Hopefully, it'll be good though. I'm hoping I'll have fun, which I will.

Jay: What's the next step for Poison The Well now? Like what would you like to see happen? You know with a band like Hatebreed who like first week do #50 on the Billboard charts - do you think that that's something that where you'd like to be eventually?
Ryan: If that happens, it happens. Honestly, the only thing that consiously all of us think about is being able to put out a record a year from now and just being able to keep writing songs and putting out records.

Jay: Now come on, give me the real answer! Come on. Come on, let's go here, man. [laughs]
Ryan: Honestly, honestly it would be amazing to be able to live from my band. That would be amazing - for us to all be able to support ourselves from our music. That would be amazing. I'm not going to lie. I would be totally stoked on that.

Jay: Do you guys already have new material written?
Ryan: Yeah.

Jay: What's it like?
Ryan: To me it's even more a magnification of Tear from the red It's heavier, and it's more melodic. Imagine if Smashing Pumpkins got in a train wreck with Hatebreed, that's probably what it sounds like.

Jay: Nice, dude. So when can we expect that third album? Is that still like a while away?
Ryan: Spring.

Jay: Springtime?
Ryan: Spring - we're recording in December or January.

Jay: Are you guys going to go back to Studio 13 or...
Ryan: I don't know...

Jay: It's up in the air?
Ryan: Yeah, it's really up in the air. We are going to the 13 at the end of August to record seven songs. Oh, not seven, like five songs. Just to record...

Jay: Demo stuff?
Ryan: Yeah, we wanna take our time, a little more time with this record than we took with the last one and make sure that some of the mistakes we don't repeat.

Jay: What other bands were some other guys in before Poison The Well?
Ryan: Most of them have been during Poison The Well. A lot of us have done seperate bands. I was in a band called the Rocking Horse Winner for a couple months, Chris was in Shai Hulud for a little while, Jeff was in a band called Defied that was on Back To Basics... there's a couple of others.

Jay: What are some of the newer bands that you're listening to?
Ryan: Jesuseater, that band in Paramus on....

Jay: On Death Wish?
Ryan: Yeah, amazing.

Jay: Really?
Ryan: Yeah, SO good. New Hatebreed, obviously. Um, Code 7?

Jay: Ah,. the new one? What did you think of that?
Ryan: It's amazing.

Jay: I don't know man. It's a little different, a little on the Cave In - it's way different.
Ryan: Yeah, but it's either hit or miss. I mean there's people that think they're great, or they're just like not into it. We're all into it, we like it. What else? Jeff won't stop listening to System of a Down, which I hate.

Jay: [laughs]
Ryan: Um, we have Unearth demos that are really good. They turned into a biker rock band, don't let 'em tell you any different. It all totally like Clutch - it's amazing.

Jay: The last question is with the success of the last two records, how do you feel about that? How does it make you feel, how does it make the band feel...
Ryan: Awesome, it makes us all feel great.

Jay: Is this something that you thought would happen or?
Ryan: No. Dude, we never thought there'd be more than 15 kids at a show...

Jay: Really?
Ryan: ..let alone 15??? kids at home even to 15 kids anywhere we went, which is just so - it's just great. I mean honestly, nothing can feel as good as I feel right now.

Jay: Awesome. Any last comments?
Ryan: You're a sexy bitch, dude. [laughs] and I'm waiting to hear your new band.