A lot of big labels will just sign bands like a write off.

We knew that we wanted to play heavy music but I hadn't gotten into melody and things like that.

We just wanted to get as far away from the rap-rock scene as possible, because its been done and other bands do it better than us anyway.

I wanted to write some lyrics that had some meaning to them, lyrics that were meaningful to me and hopefully people can take something from that.

Actually, we got signed in November of 2000 with Dreamworks which is the most amazing label. We have friends on other labels and though we are not selling millions of records, yet, they treat us with tons of respect and give us some very good guidance.

You have to make sure that your assets and your back is protected before you make any big decisions.

So you have to just be really careful and make sure that when a deal comes along, that it's like the right deal for you... not necessarily the most money, because you have to pay the record label that back in like record sales and stuff.