So you are returning to Ohio once again.
Oh, I love it. I love it in Columbus.

It seems to be your home away from home.
I think everywhere is becoming a home away from home because we are constantly traveling.

So the last time I saw the band in Columbus was on the Zippo's tour with Papa Roach, so it seemed the band got to go mainstream again, even if for a little while.
[Laughing] If you say so.

When you do a tour like that, you are reaching an audience that is not typical for a hed (PE) headlining gig. What is it like to get above ground for a while since most of the time you are underground?
I don't think that tour was that different from our normal nights playing, but there are some noticeable changes in the market that you see on the road. But about the only think I can say when we go above ground is that those people are like, "Whoa, who are these guys? They are so great." But basically you just run into a lot of people you wouldn't normally get to play to and people who probably wouldn't go out and search for new music. So the people coming to see Papa Roach are mostly people who get spoon-fed their music on terrestrial radio and I think they are pleasantly surprised when they see us. But it is definitely a positive experience when we do something like that.

When you are doing a show like that, the time on stage gets cut dramatically. Was it hard to go from headline touring to opening act touring?
It is actually easier. It is kind of like the difference of going in and knocking someone out in the first round versus going the distance. That may not be the best metaphor, but I am just saying physically it is much easier. And it can be easy to impress people with your band when you are new, unless you are given less than a half hour, because then you can't do anything in those few songs. But Papa Roach was generous and gave us like 40 to 45 minutes, so that is more than enough time to get your point across. When you are playing headline shows, the fans are hardcore and want to hear every fucking song.

Are you going to bring out Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth? That cover was amazing.
What town? Columbus? That cover is going to be on the next album. But we didn't play it last night, but we play it pretty frequently. Are you going to be at the show or what?

I am going to be there so I am putting the request in.
Okay, so then there is a better chance we'll play it.

I remember talking to some people at the show, some security guys who were not too familiar with the band, and they were so impressed both musically and the fact that there is so much variation to the music you play.
That is cool that you say that. But you know what is weird? Is that people like us for the fact we do play a lot of variety, but at the same time it makes it hard to pigeonhole us and so that makes the industry people raise their eyebrows and not know what to do with us. But that is the way we have to have it. Our music reflects life, and it is not all black and white. It is not all one way.

The fact that your fans are able to look in that gray area say a lot about how musically intellectual and open-minded your fans really are.
I totally agree.

I think if most ordinary people were to come to a show and see the fans, the stereotype would not be open-minded and intelligent. But they allow the band to digress and vary and be yourself. What does that mean to you as an artist?
It means to me that they are a bit more educated than the average music fan. And it is just like you said earlier that a lot of people would like it if they were exposed to it. But the people that are already there are the kinds of people who search out music. They are okay with finding new things, whether it is on the Internet or satellite radio. They are just outside the mainstream already, where others are not comfortable being there.

You mentioned the cover song on the new record, so to touch on there, where are you at with the process?
Well, the new record is pretty much 99% in the can. It's done. And we have worked so hard on it. I think my hard work is paying off because everyone I have talked to is enjoying it and receiving the message. It is king of a concept album, but there again it floats through a person's day, which can mean many, many different things. But I am really proud of it and I think everyone is going to love it.

Are you going to play a lot of the new stuff when coming to Columbus?
We are definitely going to open with the opening song from the new album. We open the set with the opening song on the new album.

So that never changes?
That never changes. Also, the Buffalo Springfield, which is also on the new album, will likely get played. Besides that, we haven't worked in any of the new tunes. We might work in the first radio single.

When you are that close to completion, is it easy to pick the first radio single or is that just a hard thing to do?
Sometimes it is hard. But on this album it seemed to be a little more obvious which song would go to heavy metal radio. Yea, it kind of stuck its head out.

So at least one thing went easy for you.
Exactly.

When you are recording, how hard is it for you to finish a song to move on to the next, because it seems as if songs can be worked on forever and still be tweaked some way or another?
Well, when it comes to the creative process you can't force it, but you are also still working on a deadline. So you go back and forth with, certainly you are not going to let something go that you are not happy with, but I easily could have worked on the album another month easily. But I had to get on the road and scheduling conflicts, so there is a deadline and you have to go back and forth where you have to get something complete that is up to your standards, but you can't work on it forever like some tweaker. You know?

I have been going to Hed shows for 7-8 years, and the one thing I can say is that you have always been speaking out not just politically, but communally. Meaning you are not Democrat or Republican, but right and wrong. Now it is popular to be anti-war and say Bush sucks, but as an artist who has probably been held back some because you were saying things that were not popular years ago, does it bother you to see everyone out publicly like a John Mayer?
Certainly it does not bother me. I think evolutionary-wise and consciousness-wise, we are in an age of politics where everyone should stop thinking in terms of left/right, Democratic/Republican, liberal/conservative and start to think in terms of self exploration, no matter what plain you may be in. And that is all I try to do is stimulate that conversation with in the context of the world as I see it.

I remember talking to you about the major label experience, and you seemed much more candid once leaving about the way in which the business worked.
It was nightmarish. The guy who signed me left the label and we got another rep whom didn't even like me or my band. I could just quote him as saying, "Just forget about hip-hop." Which is a big part of my whole life. Hed (PE) has always been about creating from punk rock, hip-hop, rock n' roll, heavy metal but when you try to describe music with words it tends to get a little bit ridiculous. It is like Albert Einstein was saying it was so hard for him to describe some of his scientific theories with words. You can picture them, but to put them in words was really hard for him and it is the same with music. I mean, how do you describe middle C? You don't. And if you try to describe hed (PE) with those words I mentioned earlier, you are going to fall short. It could be one thing or it could be many things. So these guys at the label I was at were trying to force me to write radio hits, or their version of them, was just crazy. But like anyone, we needed the money, and you can hear on the third album that I just gave up. But now I am back.

I saw you again after you left the major label, and just your swagger and stage persona was back and more confident versus when I saw you playing with Saliva at a show in Cleveland.
Yea. It is just the passion for what I do is back. Where for the two years I was with the major, I had no passion because they drained it out of me.

Was it scary for you to think you may have to go through your career without that passion?
At the time I was so caught up in just trying and begging to get out of my contract. I was telling my lawyers, "Just please get them to let me go. Please!" That is all I remember thinking and asking.