Metalcore five-piece As I Lay Dying have been holed up in the recording studio for several months waiting to unleash what they consider to be their heaviest effort yet. New album The Powerless Rise is a solid contribution to the band’s back catalogue and sends a controversial message surrounding poverty and oppression. On The Barrier caught up with bassist Josh Gilbert in the middle of mastering the new album to discuss the joys of the recording process and the many awkward moments scattered throughout the group’s history.

So where do we find you today?
Im actually driving to Disneyland. We’re in the middle of mixing a record right now so we’re making the most of where we are.

So the new album The Powerless Rise, tell me about it? Would you say it follows a theme at all?
Yeah I mean, I don’t know if there’s any general theme, maybe a lyrical one. The meaning of The Powerless Rise is all about people being oppressed around world and the country. People that have been neglected by society. I think that’s the simplest way of putting it. I’m not really sure, (singer) Tim (Lambesis) obviously writes all of the lyrics. I know he had just recently gone through the adoption process and I think a lot of the insight in the album comes from that that experience. Just knowing him the way I do, I got a lot of insight from that as well.

How does it compare to your past album?
I think the album is well-rounded and the songs are a lot better, we tried to really create a work of art with each song. The sound quality is a thousand times better for this album. Once people hear it, it really shows through. I would even say the new album is heavier.

How would you say the band has evolved over the past 10 years?
I think people can listen to the first record we did – Beneath (the Encasing of Ashes) and our newest one and there’s a pretty audible change. Our musicianship has really progressed and I think our songwriting and sound has also really progressed. We’ve been able to focus on our ideas more with the new record. All the experience we’ve had has given us better perspective on the music we want to write. We put out a DVD last year which has this huge collection of footage from our past shows and recordings. It really shows the progression of the band and member changes. So when you watch that it’s really easy to see how we and our music have evolved.

What was it like to watch the DVD and realize how much time has passed since you started out?
It was pretty surreal. The first time I was able to watch it all the way through it was pretty cool to see how things progressed. When you’re living it you don’t see that kind of progression. But when you see it on video all twisted into two hours it kind of puts things into perspective. It makes you think ‘where do we want to go after that?’ because we’re always focused on our music. I guess we’re going to continue to do the same thing.

Do you have any moments in the DVD where you look back and cringe at things you used to do or wear?
Oh yeah all the time! I think like every five minutes. I mean that’s what progression is, it’s  learning from yourself and your mistakes. It’s kind of funny,  there are a lot of things that didn’t make it onto the DVD because it made us cringe so bad. There were also a lot of things on there that we thought were funny but from an outside perspective it probably wouldn’t have been all that funny. Inside jokes and such.

Did you ever think you would last this long in the business?
No we had no idea. We started the band in 2001 and definitely didn’t expect it to last this long let alone grow this much. Time has gone by so quickly.

So what song means the most to you on the album?
Well I don’t think there is one song in particular. I like to look at the album as a whole because I guess each song complements the next. We never tried to write the record with certain styles of songs in mind, we just wanted them to be able to complement each other. There is one bonus track we’re not releasing on the CD right away. The reason we didn’t add the track is because it’s a good song that could stand alone and not need a whole record. Apart from that, all the songs are so much better than they were on the last record.

Is there anything on the album, mistakes or things you’ve added in there that we might not pick up on?
I hope not! We’ve been listening to it nonstop. We’re hoping that by the time we’re done with the mixing there won’t be any mistakes we’ve missed. I don’t think there’ll be anything hopefully.

Is there anything you wish you had’ve done with the album but didn’t?
No. That’s actually one of the cool things about this. We’ve had more opportunity with this record than with any other one. There’s been so much time to record and write that I don’t think we’ve left any stone unturned.

Ok a few quick questions:

If the band had a theme song what would it be?
Uhh I think… I don’t know if it’d be a song. I think it’d be more of a chant. We always try to do ridiculous stupid chants along the road. We do it a lot.

Most awkward moment on stage?
Usually it’s when we’re on a slippery stage and someone will fall over or make a faceplant while jumping off something. It happens a lot, I’d say it happens a couple of times a tour. You get so sweaty and hot then the stage gets slippery and when you’re running from side to side… I think Tim’s eaten it the most. The singer is usually the one that runs around a lot more. I’m usually pretty stationary so it’s kind of easier for me to avoid that.

Who has the habit of saying the wrong thing the most to crowds?
Well wer in Russia one time playing in Moscow. The place had about an hour and a half set so we had to really stretch out the set time so we were doing a bunch of between-song banter. So beforehand we decided Josh is going to tell a story and basically make up a story on the spot about having a run-in with an abominable snowman. So during the set my bass pedal broke and we thought it was the perfect time to tell the story. But they didn’t even speak English! The story went for like five or six minutes and was all about hiking through Alaska and coming across all there things that were pretty ridiculous. Yeah it didn’t go down well.

If As I Lay Dying had a mascot, what would it be?
A viking.

Whats next for you guys?
Well we’re going to Australia and then after that we’re coming back home and doing a short headline tour in the states and going to Europe for the summer festival circuit. We have other plans still in the works but we’re not sure entirely what’s going to happen.

The Powerless Rise is due for release by Metal Blade records on May 11, 2010. Keep and eye out for it online and in stores.

By Nikkita Dixon