Rob Arnold: It was Mark’s idea, and he talked about it with the label. He and Chris our keyboardist, who is very computer savvy, got together and started brainstorming. Back in the day there were street teams out there. That was great and helped bands, but it was their job. Even if they didn’t like the band they still passed out flyers and stickers and stuff. Spread-the-infection.com takes advantage of all the fans we’ve built over the years and has them work totally on the basis of passion and the love of Chimaira. They support the band and get exclusive downloads and meet and greets and stuff like that. It’s people that really want to spread The Infection, and I think it’s been a great move.
So what have been some of the highlights of the Music As A Weapon Tour?
Overall it’s better than I expected. The fans have been coming in numbers, they’re super open-minded, and it’s not any scene b.s. They’re here to hear music. The shows have been packed, and it’s a privilege for us to be on this tour.
You had Easter Sunday off. Did you spend it driving, or did you actually get to enjoy a day off?
We had the day off in Orlando, right near Universal Studios. A bunch of the guys went there. I took advantage of the day to do laundry and stuff like that. I just hung low, watched the Cavs-Celtics game.
What do you have coming up tourwise after this one ends?
We have two U.S. tours lined up this year already. One starts in August, and we have another one in November/December. I’m sure we’ll be on the road for the next couple of years.
Where haven’t you played live that you’d like to get to?
In the fall we’re doing a European tour and starting in Russia. That’s somewhere we’ve never been. I’ve heard talks of trying to hit China. We’ve been to Japan and Australia.
Does it get expensive to ship all your gear overseas for European and Asian tours?
Actually we’ve been around the world so many times now that we’ve realized the cost of shipping our gear eats us alive. So for the past three years we’ve been assembling an entire European backline, and it’s now complete. The first time we used it was the show we did in Dubai a few weeks ago. We’ve got double the gear, and we keep it in a warehouse. So now we just have to ship the gear from Germany, where all the stuff is stored. It’s much cheaper than shipping from America and back.
What was Dubai like?
The show was like any other show. There were 10 thousand rabid kids, and I imagine they were more excited because it may only be once a year bands come over there to do this kind of thing. There were kids from Iraq with Chimaira banners. They come from all over the area because it’s one of the few places to see bands. In terms of the culture, it was totally cool, far more westernized than we thought it would be. Everybody spoke English, every restaurant you see over here is over there, the scenery is incredible. We had a great time.
What was the first metal show you went to as a kid?
In the same week I went to my first two concerts. One was Megadeth and Corrosion Of Conformity when I was 14. It was totally awesome. The same week I went to a tiny club in Cleveland called The Red Eye. It was a famous club, but it’s shut down now. I saw some of my friends play in a band there.
Cleveland is also home of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Metallica just got in, but there are a lot of other deserving metal bands that should also be enshrined.
I imagine they set the standards pretty high, and there’s a pretty low ceiling for the success of metal bands if you’re not Metallica. It’s cool that people are finally opening their minds to it. But in terms of having it in Cleveland, it’s awesome. No one really thinks of it as much of a metropolis. We’ve been there a few times, and it’s a nice place.
