Interview with Their Teeth Will Be Of Lions

Below is an interview, done via MySpace, with Their Teeth Will Be Of Lions frontman Glenn Willis. Since we didn't get a chance to speak in-person (I've been busy), I present this instead of an mp3. He has some interesting things to say.

The band last month released its first full-length album, "Everyone Made It Out Alive... Almost!," a 10-track blast of dance-inspired, punk-melody, rap-rock something or other. The group founded an artist's co-op called FunCore, but that might as well be the name of its genre... Anyway, TTWBOL will be featured in the May 15 WOW issue, with a video. A Cutting Room entry is forthcoming.

Q:THE ALBUM IS RELEASED ON VERITAS ET AEQUITAS RECORDS?

A: Yes a Mount pleasant Indie recorded label ran by Brent
Fisher... also known as Truth and Justice Records.

Q:WHERE DID YOU RECORD IT? WHEN DID YOU RECORD IT? HOW LONG DID IT TAKE? HOW MANY HOURS?

1)A: We recorded the album at StudiOtte in Grand Rapids MI; they are a FunCore Company. We started a Scene Saver called Kalamazoo FunCore. Luke from Reinventing Yesterday and Benny West from Designer Virus and myself Glennerd for TTWBOL started FunCore and they are one of the companies on it... check it out www.myspace.com/kzoofuncore.

2) A: We recorded it in late January and we went up for 3 days 10am-9pm. We recorded it 3 months before the release date.

Q:THERE'S A VERY WELL-PRODUCED SOUND ON THE RECORD SAMPLES I CAN HEAR ONLINE. WAS THERE A LOT OF DUBBING INVOLVED IN THE RECORD? WHAT WAS THE PROCESS? DID YOU PLAY A SONG LIVE IN-STUDIO AND THEN GO BACK AND ADD? TALK ABOUT THAT PLEASE.

A: Well we had Bass Adam lay down scratch tracks, then John played drums to those scratch tracks. Then Derek played over the drums and Bass Adam's scratch tracks. Then we had Bass Adam lay down his finished tracks and then we did synth and then vocals. Vocals were tricky because Jenn and I switch off a lot and I went first on all the songs but “People Like Demons...” So I had to sing my parts into the mic and her parts in my head to know when I came back in to sing.

A: We had a lot of Vocals.... We had Dave from The Skies Revolt lay down vocal tracks on “Brush Your Grillz.” We had Jordan from LaDispute, Joel of Brothers and Kris of Ivan lay down vocal tracks on “Belly of the Beast.” We also had Josh of Selectronics lay down synth and vocals on “We Became Three.”

A: The Otte brothers who are also in the band Brothers did great work and were very professional and snap to it... they wasted no time. They only stopped to eat once the whole time we recorded. We had to ask them to take a break.

I believe and stand behind StudiOtte 100% (www. myspace.com/studiotte).

Q:TALK ABOUT THE ALBUM. IS THERE A THEME? WHAT ARE MOST SONGS ABOUT? WHERE DOES THE TITLE COME FROM?

A: Well the album is based off of the king of ZOMBIES: George A. Romero... My best friend and partner in FunCore Luke Forton from Reinventing Yesterday introduced me to Zombie films early this year. He loaned me “Dawn of the Dead” the remake and I loved it. So I went out and bought every Romero Zombie movie. “Night of The living Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead,” “Day of the Dead,” “Land of the Dead” and I watched “Diary of the Dead” when it came to the theater. I almost drove to Chicago to watch it but a week later it came to Kalamazoo.

A: So I wanted to base our cover on that. I love zombies, so I went to a local costume shop called the Timid Rabbit in Kalamazoo and the owner Tony Gerard was very helpful. He loved the idea of the zombie cover. We bought make-up from him and a zombie mask that we borrowed. He showed myself and Benny West of Black Label Photography, who did all the photos, how to make our friends look like zombies...

A: Most of the songs have dark undertones like: “Doctor!Doctor! Von Cosel” is about a 50-year-old necrofeliac doctor who falls in love with a teen patient that dies of TB. He turns her into a wax doll and marries her. Look it up at The History Channel’s Web site, look up Von Cosel!

A: “Nostradamus Knew Everything... Almost!” is about the depth of Nostradamus and did he know everything? Was his soul filled with stars....? Yet not about the depth of Nostradamus at all, more about call overs and red rover. It's a dance song about history I guess.

A: “People Like Demons” is about human tragedy and hardships put into a dancy number.

A: “Plastic Reincarnation” is about people being reincarnated as child’s’ play dolls. It's about the religious views and rules that religion puts on people. It's about hypocrisy and trying to figure out what goes through people’s minds when they’re on the edge. I don't believe in religion at all. I hate it a lot. We fight wars and die for rules. I do believe in being spiritual and having a relationship with God. Kinda like the movie “Dogma.” I love people and I love God's creation but why fight and kill people for a belief? It's crazy. We should all love each other for our differences.

A: The Title: “Everyone made it out alive...Almost!” is a mockery of our label mates album released on the same record company: Title Reinventing Yesterday SOME MAY NOT MAKE IT OUT ALIVE!

Q:TALK ABOUT FUNCORE. WHAT IS IT? WHAT OTHER LOCAL BANDS MIGHT BE CONSIDERED FUNCORE? WHY INVENT YOUR OWN GENRE?

A: Well I talked about FunCore earlier but, FunCore is a network of companies and bands joining together to save the scene. It's about joining the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo scene. It's about helping bands. For example, we are having a FunCore fest Sept 6th at the Redrum. All the FunCore bands and companies will be there.

We make shirts with all the bands’ logos on the back and sampler CDs with one song from the bands. We put them on FunCore shows and promote their FunCore shows. Get them seen by people and have themed shows. The next show coming up is Jenn's (House Fire Benefit show. May 17th.

Luke Forton Of Reinventing Yesterday books shows with 8 years experience. Benny West of Designer Virus is the manager, he does all the business aspects of it. I promote and network.

We support local venues. Learn more in our “About Me” at www.myspace.com/Kzoofuncore.

We have 10 bands at this time but in about 3-4 months will be looking for more great bands wanting to support and help the scene.

The way we get our money to put back into the scene is: All Kzoo bands, FunCore or not, play for free one time a month. All that money goes into making flyers, CDs and shirts and adds to help promote FunCore and their bands or companies. We put 3 FunCore bands on a show and 2 local acts or out of town bands so they can get exposure as well.

Their Teeth Will Be Of Lions are the founders of Kalamazoo FunCore but we could not keep it going with out Luke or Benny.

Q:WHAT DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE TAKE AWAY FROM THE ALBUM?

A: Well when we started this band we wanted to make music that was fun and that you could dance to, for the most part. 3 of us came out of the local Kzoo Indie band called: Search Party For Mel. That band was serious and to the point.

We in TTWBOL wanted to be dark yet dancey. I wanted to make people feel free from a show and more open to a fun experience. We have serious lyrics and we have fun lyrics mixed in. We in TTWBOL just want to make people have a good time and dance... yet explore the dark elements at the same time. I say take fun and being strange to heart in this album.

Q:WHAT KIND OF PROMOTION DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR IT? WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU GUYS?

A: Good question... We are going on a 9-day tour with Doctor!Doctor! in Aug. Our kick-off show is Thur Aug 7th at the Corner Bar.

We are good at promoting and thank people like you (Battle Creek paper), Kzoo papers, GR papers, for putting local music in your papers. We thank you guys for promotion as well.

I would like to say we are hitting the road for a 3-month tour and opening for God but it's not true. We are a hard working band that loves the Kzoo/GR scene and there are thousands upon thousands of bands that work just as hard to get seen. It's hard out there, we are just thankful to tour with our pals Doctor!Doctor! and get FunCore off the ground. We will always try to win people's favor, but at the end of the day we write music we are happy with. That's the most important thing to me.