2011 is shaping up as a busy year for Jonny Santos. Spineshank, the band with whom he was selling a million albums about a decade ago and reunited in 2008, is gearing up to release “Anger Denial Acceptance,” its first new album since 2003. In his new home city of Las Vegas, he is opening a recording studio, where he will produce other acts and track most of “Do Not Resuscitate,” the next album by his other band, Silent Civilian, tentatively scheduled for a September release. He’s looking to spend most of the year either recording or touring, and he’s currently on the road with Silent Civilian, easily one of the best new bands to emerge in the past five years and just a lucky break or two away from exploding onto a much bigger level. When the tour recently rolled through Baltimore, Maryland, Santos sat down with Live Metal’s Greg Maki to talk Silent Civilian and a little Spineshank.
LIVE METAL: You’ve been out about two weeks. How’s the tour going so far?
JONNY SANTOS: The tour’s going good. It’s been probably seven months or so since we’ve been on the road, so the first week and a half, getting my tour legs back on, getting back into the swing of things and getting the machine nice and tight and oiled. Yeah, it’s been good. We’re having a great time. Fans have been coming out. We’re stoked right now.
It’s been almost a year since the new album (“Ghost Stories”) came out. Now that you’ve had some time, looking back on it, how do you feel about that album and this whole cycle?
I still like the album. I love the album. If I could go back and change anything about the album, it wouldn’t be anything to do with the songwriting. It probably would have to do with the production as far as the drums are concerned, which I know is not a big thing to a lot of people, but it kind of is to me. I’m one of those guys that I think if your drums are shit, everything’s shit. It’s not that I’m unhappy with the production ‘cause I think that Matt (Hyde) and I did a great job mixing it. I just wish I would’ve got those kick drums up a little bit louder. You can hear it; it’s not jumping in my face the way I wanted it to. But that’s really not that big of a deal. I am my own worst critic.
Overall, it’s got a raw and thicker kind of sound.
Very raw, yeah. And that’s kind of what we were going for. We really wanted it to be a very dirty, raw, in-your-face, thrashy, metal record. In that sense, I think we achieved it.
What are some of your favorite songs off of that album?
I’m going to definitely say “The Phoenix” is a huge favorite of mine.
That’s probably my favorite.
I just think the song is so fuckin’ heavy.
It’s one of those, when I hear it, I can picture a sea of people, fists in the air.
Yeah, totally. We’re definitely gonna be working some more new songs into the set. I’m a huge fan of “The Phoenix” on the record, and, also, I’m a big “Victim of Fear” fan, too.
In your mind, what would be the single biggest thing, within reason, that could happen to really break this band to the next level?
An opening slot on the Big 4 tour? [laughs] I think it’s really hard now because so many tours are being turned into festival tours. And if you don’t get on those festival tours, it’s really hard to find a good, strong, strong, strong headliner to go out with, where you’re gonna be exposed to a certain amount of people every night. If we can keep climbing up the ladder and land tours like Lamb of God to Killswitch-size tours, I think that’ll really start to push the band a little more. We’ve had really bad luck as far as getting on any big tours lately. Not necessarily saying it’s anybody’s fault, but the politics in this business—sometimes it’s, who’s got the most money to buy onto the tour? Things of that nature. So we just kind of rely on friends and other bands.
After this tour, you’re gonna go back and make the next album.
Yeah. We’ll go straight into the studio soon as we get home. Probably start pre-production first week of May.
Do you already have songs and material written?
Yeah, we’ve got tons of skeletons right now, so now it’s time for all of us getting in a room. We’re gonna have everybody pretty much in Vegas, where me and (bassist) Robbie (Young) are living. We’re just gonna get in and start fine-tuning everything and doing pre-production all the time, every day. I’d like to be recording, actually tracking the record, by the first week of June.
Is this gonna be in the studio you’re opening up there?
The way it looks right now, we’re gonna record drums in L.A., ‘cause I like to use a certain studio to do drums in. And then we’ll do the rest of it at my house in Vegas. So yeah, it’ll be basically the beginnings of my studio.
You’ll be your own guinea pig, I guess, right?
Yeah. Absolutely.
And you’ll be producing again?
Definitely. Unless the label decides they want to have someone else come in and produce a few of the tracks on the record for radio or whatnot, I don’t see anyone else doing it. I co-produced the first one and produced the last one.
Obviously, it’s you and Robbie. Who else are you gonna have coming in? I know you have guys kind of helping out now.
That’s not been set in stone yet. Me and Robbie have definitely got our eyes on the guys that are with us right now, but we’ll see when the dust settles from the tour. We’ll see where everybody stands and who wants to do what. It’s one of those things where you definitely want to make sure. So far, this has been a really great tour with the people involved. It’s been really drama-free. There’s been no fighting, no arguing. Everyone’s been respecting everybody else, and we’ve been really working together as a team. We did the tour completely stripped. We brought no crew—no tour manager, no guitar techs, no drum techs. You really find out what people are made of in a situation like that, who’s willing to do what and how much people are willing to sacrifice, as well as just be a team player.
You’re starting to challenge Megadeth for the number of former members.
I know, right? [laughs] Megadeth, Soulfly—yeah, I know. [laughs]
Is there anything more on Silent Civilian you want to talk about?
We’re alive and well. After we released “Rebirth” in 2006, we waited four years to put a record out. That’s not gonna happen this time around. And that’s one thing I can promise the fans. It will never be that long for them to have to wait for a new record. We’re gonna try and do a record every year to year and a half. I just want to keep the name fresh, keep the band alive, keep it on the road—in the midst of all my other projects.
A few years ago, you had talked about wanting to do an EP of some cover songs. Is that still something you want to do?
Yeah, we actually have some of them already tracked. It’s where and when do we release them and how do we release them? There’s been talk about re-releasing “Ghost Stories” as a digipak with those tracks added to it and a DVD with it, with tour footage or something like that. Something’s gonna happen with it.
Which songs have you done so far?
So far, we’ve done “War Ensemble” (by Slayer). We did “Seemingly Endless Time” from Death Angel. I know we tracked a few Misfits songs, but the vocals haven’t been done to them yet. We were fucking around and we did a Paramore song. [laughs] That will never see the light of day. Trust me. I think we were a little too fucked up when we came up with that idea. [laughs] I’m hoping to probably do a Testament song. I was thinking about doing a Sacred Reich song, or maybe a first-generation Suicidal (Tendencies) song or an Excel song would be kind of cool.
Spineshank. You said the new album is done.
The album is finished.
You’re looking at different labels now?
We’re talking to several different labels to put it out. If all goes well, it should be out this summer. We’re hoping on a June or July release, and then Silent Civilian releases in September. It’s gonna be one of those years.
Touring with Spineshank this summer?
Yeah, I’ll definitely be doing some stuff with them. I guess until the deal is finalized on who we’re gonna put the record out with, we haven’t even spoken to any agents about tours yet.
Do you have a title for the new album?
Yeah. The title for the new Spineshank record is “Anger Denial Acceptance,” and the title of the new Silent Civilian record is “Do Not Resuscitate.”
Alright, anything else you want to add?
I just want to thank all the fans out there that continue to support the bands and great media like yourself for keeping us alive. And I want to thank Jagermeister for providing me with many wonderful evenings. [laughs]
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