Chad Bowar: Do you think The Reckoning is a big step forward for the band?
Rob Beckley: Yes. I hope people would think that, and that the opposite is also true, that it's not a step backwards. We definitely were trying to move forward.
Did you try to incorporate more different musical styles?
In terms of who we are we how we've done things we've always been a very diverse band. We've always tried to put in mellow stuff and heavy stuff and everything in between. On this particular album the spectrum has been broadened a bit. The heavies are a little heavier and the ballads are a little prettier.
Do you think this was your best vocal performance?
Without saying whether I feel that it's the best I've ever done, I will say it's the most amount of work and the most amount of effort and passion I've ever put into a record. I would hope that translates into a good performance.
How did you decide on The Reckoning as the title?
The Reckoning for us is to have a reckoning with ourselves, to have that new beginning. We've been doing this for nine years, and to branch out a little further we had to do things we'd never done before. It's like my dad says, "If you want what you've never had, you've got to do what you've never done." So for us it was taking some chances and having a new beginning, a new start.
Was there anything in particular that inspired your lyrics for this CD?
The cool thing about it is that we did a lot of writing over a year's period. So there are a lot of different things that went into the emotions of the record and the stories. On past albums I've dealt mostly with my own personal things. This record I branches out a little bit with stories I heard from other people that touched me. There's not one underlying thing that captures the whole album, it was spread out over a period of time.
You decided to have Travis Wyrick produce this CD. You've worked with him before. What is it about him and his producing style that works with Pillar?
It's a family, really. The studio can be a very tense place. It can become the beginning of the end for a lot of bands. This was not the time for us to try someone that was going to walk into the studio and say how it is and create more tension. We want to be careful and have a loving atmosphere between the band members and concentrate on making a good record and not have to worry about other things. Travis allows it to be a family environment. It's very comfortable and allows us to focus on our performance a little bit better without feeling like someone's hovering over your shoulder. It's such a relaxed atmosphere that we didn't feel like this was the record to move on to a different producer. Plus he's gotten progressively better as a producer.
In addition to the CD there's also a special edition coming out. What's included with that?
It comes with a DVD that has over 2 hours worth of material on it. We didn't want to do a standalone DVD. Most people don't buy DVDs and some turn out really cheesy. We wanted to something that we could put out that would really give back to the fans. About 30 minutes of the DVD are the guys sitting down with their instruments. Our drummer Lester plays a particular song and then explains why he's playing what he's playing. It shows our guitar player playing a solo and how he's picking it. They talk about their equipment, stuff that kids ask us about all the time. Then there's a 45 minute concert that looks huge. It was shot in high def. It looks awesome. There's also a album commentary where the four of us talk about the record. You can hear the stories behind the songs, how they were recorded, things like that.
Do you have any specific expectations for the album?
We gave up on that. There's no such thing as having expectations in the music industry. People ask us how we measure success. We poured our hearts into making this record over the past couple years. The fact that it's being released and it's finally going to be out there is success to me. We finished the product and worked hard on it.
