How’s it going?

Mircea Eftemie (Guitar): It’s good to be back in England, last time we were hear was with Deftones in February, back then we were supporting and now we're doing our first UK headline tour, so we hope to see how it goes. 

How did the Deftones tour go?

It was amazing, we were playing to 2000 people a day, so it was pretty cool and we got a lot of exposure and we were very happy to be playing with Deftones. The UK is a very important market for us as we're trying to build and build over here.  

Any shows you're looking forward to?

Basically all the shows as long as there are people who are coming out to see the band I’m looking forward to that. We've been here many times before and the last time we were here GWAR were playing the same day, at the venue next door, and we went and saw them and we were hanging out with them and it was pretty fun. We like the big clubs you guys have over here because there’s a million chicks! 

How do you think the band is received over here in the UK, do you have a core fan base?

We get a lot of requests from here which is really cool but there’s not enough in my opinion we need to grow bigger and bigger. It's actually up and down, people in Glasgow go insane every time we come there and we have some really hardcore fans there which is really cool and the same in London, but its not like we have 5000 people in each city it’s very varied. 

How’s the new album, Passenger, been received?

In different countries its been totally different, in Italy, Portugal and in the South they've been totally crazy about it, in Germany they have been fifty fifty, in Denmark its been really well received and so on so its been up and down. On the last album, The Audio Injected Soul, we did that was well received in the North but not in the South, each album splits the fans a bit. 

What tour plans are lined up after this?

We're going back home to Denmark and playing a show with Metallica, which is gonna be amazing, after that we're flying out to Portugal for a headlining tour, then coming home and doing a Headbanger's Ball tour in Denmark. Then we’re going to play the music awards in Denmark as well, and try to go to Russia towards the end of the year, its all headlining shows no support slots. 

Are Metallica a big influence on the band?

Definitely, it’s a dream come try to play with them, Metallica are pioneers 

Are there any festivals lined up this summer?

We just played a festival in Denmark, day before in Czech Republic, we're gonna go back to the Czech Republic and Germany and Holland as well.  

How has the festival experience been?

Festivals are always cool to play, there’s so many different bands but its always chaotic, sound check always sucks but there are always more people there so that’s the best thing about it. 

Being a smoker, what do you think about the smoking ban that came in here in the UK?

I heard about that and it’s gonna be the same in Denmark from August, i think its ok. Its cool because every time you go to a pub and your a non-smoker or if your a smoker too, there’s 100 people in the bar and everyone is smoking, you come home and you'll stink and I hate that, so I think its ok, and it tones down the smoking as well. 

Recently in the news there was a terrorist attack in Glasgow at the airport

(Upon being told the news of what happened) Wow! That’s fucked up!

What do I think about that? I think its horrible, terrorism shouldn't be happening nowadays, we should be more civilised after all these years of evolution but its human nature there’s always going to be good and evil in everything.

We live in a time where a lot of things happen that mankind don't have a clue about and everything is so well hidden and controlled its a bigger plan that we are not part of, its mainly the government, in the USA everything is hidden from the public. They build the wars in the Middle East and it’s basically about money and oil, so its a bigger game which we are not really part of and that we cannot really control. 

Do you think Metal as a community should stay out of politics?

No I think more metal bands should get into politics, like Rage Against the Machine and Napalm Death, I think those bands have a real strong point of view on today in general and its a little bit more intelligent than singing about gore and splatter and death, anybody can make that up its fiction. I think its really cool to be more realistic about things and have a point of view a strong political point of view, as the little people will knock up over a mountain so to speak. 

Would you guys ever write music about politics?

No, I'm probably the only guy in the band who’s into politics, that I would definitely write about it some time, but we'll see what happens in the future.