As I got older, it turned into hardcore punk. I started getting into more aggressive music.

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.

To be honest, just trying to get everybody together in one room to get our picture taken for the back of the album, it took so long just to organize that.

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.

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

When we woke up every morning, one of our things was, "Let's go put a new sign in the back window of the van." Those are the different signs we had up in the back of our van, so that the people behind us could have something enjoyable to look at.

I was into Metallica when they first started, like when Kill Em All came out.