I'm looking for anything interesting in the guitar playing, songwriting, artwork, and production. If you look at the stack of CDs on my desk and in my car, you'll find a very wide range of music under the umbrella of metal.

I don't know if it was related to the type of music that we were doing at that time or what, but Todd Cook actually just turned to me and was like, "You know what would be a great name for a metal band? Dead Child." We talked half-jokingly that we were going to do a band. I guess as time went on, I started writing songs that were more metal sounding, and it just evolved from there. It actually started with the name first, and then the songs came second.

Now since I've gotten back into it, I've been listening to a lot more of the 1990s death metal type stuff.

I think the majority of the people in the band still play in other bands, because we're not that active. But for me, it's the only thing I want to do and it's the only thing I'm focused on. I've always played in a couple of different bands at once, but now I'm only interested in the Dead Child stuff.

There are so many things that kept forcing metal back down to the underground. It survives everywhere on the planet.

We just have to plan everything in advance and concentrate it so that we get everything done in time. It's not as laidback as I wish it could be.

People like a story that has a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But I don't think the Slint story really has that.