Earlier in the afternoon, Chano had a chance to catch up with Joe Cocchi, guitarist of Within the Ruins, to talk about the new album, touring, and the band’s future.
Not too long ago, you got out of the studio recording Elite. How does it feel to have a new album dropping in a week?
It feels great. We actually finished recording this album in May of last year, so it took a few months to mix it and we’ve just been sitting and waiting. We’re very excited!
“Feeding Frenzy” came out about a week ago. What was the feedback for that track like?
I think it generally got some good feedback. I honestly don’t follow a lot of that stuff. I’ve seen some good reviews on the album and people seemed pretty stoked on it, though.
What can the fans expect from Elite?
There’s two instrumentals. People have always liked the instrumentals, so we figured we’d do a few again. People were pretty stoked on “Ataxia” on our last record, so we we tried to do a follow-up to it that kind of sounded like the same style. I think everyone’s going to be stoked on the instrumentals and the new songs, of course.
What were some of the goals you wanted to accomplish for this album?
We didn’t really want to make the same album again; I think we added a lot of new elements to the new album. All of the songs are at least 15 to 20 beats per minute faster, so we really increased the tempo. We wanted to make the album heavier, more metal. All the stuff that we wanted to do, we emphasized more.
Favorite track on Elite?
It’s really hard to pick, man, but I think I like “The Charm” and “I, Blashpheme”.
What are the plans for Within the Ruins once the album drops?
We’re doing the Sick Tour with Chelsea Grin and Attila, which is only a couple of weeks long in March. Then we’re doing some co-headlining dates with The Contortionist for a few weeks, which will take us right to The Road to New England Metal & Hardcore Festival and we’ll be direct support to After the Burial. We’re working on a big summer tour that won’t be announced for a bit, but we’re just planning to tour as much as possible this year.
What are three things you need on tour?
My contact lenses, beer, and my inhaler.
The band has been around for 10 years. How difficult was it to keep it going, and did you ever want to quit?
Personally, I started the band myself and I love to play music. I’m really involved and the band is pretty much my life, but believe me, there’s been hard times that me and all of the band members have had like bad runs on tours, a bad day, a band member quits, or something like that. The more obstacles you overcome like that makes the band stronger. I’ve never really thought about giving up on this band; I’ll always try to keep it going somehow.
Where do you see yourself and the band five to ten years from now?
I know for sure that I’ll still be doing music, whether it’s in this band or my own solo stuff. Honestly, I’m pretty confident that we’ll keep kicking around and doing this for at least another five years. As we get older, it gets tougher because we’re not making tons of money, but as long as people are into the band, we’re going to keep doing this.
Million dollar question, what is your rig of choice right now?
I actually just upgraded. I just switched to the Axe-FX II and I’m using a Mesa Boogie 2:90 Power Amp. That’s basically my rig right now. With the computer, we run Pro Tools for click tracks and back tracks, and all that stuff.
Any last words for the fans out there reading this interview?
I would just like to thank everyone that has listened to and supported this band so far, because we wouldn’t be coming out with albums or still doing things without everyone doing this. Elite comes out on February 26!
