Transform that to the live show that will happen in Columbus, what will happen that night?
Well, you know man; we are just banging the album. We are just banging all the songs on the record, and we want people to know how great this album is. I think our songs are better than everyone else's; I really do. And the only way for the fans to really get it is to see it live. It is awesome that radio is playing Stigmata, that is great, but that is just one song on a record that covers a lot of ground. This record is very diverse; it has a lot of different textures. We tapped into all of our backgrounds to make this record and it is hard for one song to represent the band.

You mention having great songs in not such a cocky, but a confident way. The record also sounds confident in that there was no trying to mimic Scott Rockenfeld's Queensryche sound, or even your Brother Cane sound. It sounds like a very internal CD not necessarily trying to make a record your fans would like.
I get what you are saying, and I have so much love for Kelly (Gray) both as a person and as a creator that I knew the songs we would create together would have a lot of quality. And I knew that from working with Kelly with Brother Cane that we really worked well together, so the fact that Scott and Roman (Glick) were going to be the rhythm section was a total slam-dunk. So the question about musicianship or whether we could pull it off never even entered our mind. And that is what made it so much fun, Jason, is all we had to do was go in there and come up with some songs. Writing songs is so easy for us. The hardest part for us is now, and that is educating the masses and spreading the word about the band. That is the only thing that is hard. And that is why I am so proud of this band and why I am so excited about the band is because the things that are hard for most bands are easy for us. And that is the songwriting. Quality material isn't a problem with this band, ever.

Because songwriting did come so easy, was there a lot of material that didn't make it on this record?
There were a couple of things, and it wasn't necessarily that those songs were not as good, it was just the 12 that we put on the album best represented the style and were the statement that we wanted to make for our debut release. You may be interested to know that we have 14 songs as we speak in the can: written, recorded and mixed and ready to go for a second record. And that just proves about what I was saying about how easy writing really does come to this band. I mean, why wouldn't that be motivation for any musician, to be a part of a group of people who can have that type of productivity.

It seems now that you would never have to go home. Slave can just put the record out while touring. Not that I would ever recommend that, but how much does this band enjoy being on the road?
Well, we definitely enjoy it, Jason; there is no question about it. We love being on the road, and there are elements on this tour that are definitely like starting over. But we knew that going in. It was one thing with Scott in Queensryche and me in Alice Cooper and Brother Cane. But Slave to the System is a brand new name and a brand new entity. So we are in a van and a trailer traveling around the country and we are cool with that. We are cool with that because we are all so excited about the band. And the songs.

Going old school!
Yea, we are going old school, just like our garage band days.

When this band was "announced" and people knew new music was coming, there was a lot of expectation. Did you feel an added expectation for the band, whether it is Brother Cane fans or Queensryche fans?
There weren't any outside expectations on this band. You have to understand, for us. We knew there were those questions, but we also knew that fans of those other band were really going to dig what we were doing with Slave to the System. Any Brother Cane fan or any Queensryche fan is probably going to love this Slave to the System record. It wasn't like we were making a total departure for either band, but it is very different and I think our audience has taken it as a fresh interpretation of stuff they have been listening to for a very long time.

And just the name Slave to the System can bring up many connotations, from the music industry to political. Was there a definite meaning behind the name or was it meant to be translucent?
It is definitely a sad statement and an off-handed comment that Kelly made one day about how new bands have to get started. That bands have no choice but to throw themselves into the mechanism that is the "business" of music, and that's what bands really are, slaves to the system. And it was Scott who said that would be a great name for the band, and that was a relief, man. Because generally, coming up with a band name is not my favorite thing to do. I promise you coming up with band names is not my favorite thing to do, so when that one came within like seven seconds, it was awesome.

So then you got to go right back to concentrating on making music.
Yea, so we did spend 3 1/2 weeks writing and recording and now we are focusing on going out and playing this music live.

You talked earlier about radio playing Stigmata only gives listeners one song, but to see the band live gives a total representation. Was it difficult to pick Stigmata as the first single?
Well, you know that singles are a necessary part of what bands have to do. So we thought that Stigmata was a great representative of the band in general. But we look at the single as simply a tool to pull people in to hearing the whole record. It was like talking with the fans last night saying, "Wow man, we didn't know you guys covered so much ground and so many different basis." And that is what we want to give to people, because that is the music that I love. I love Pink Floyd and I love Nine Inch Nails. I love Zeppelin and I love U2. All these bands are more than just one sound and more than one dynamic. These bands are so talented and they have great vocabulary musically. This band, this group of people in Slave to the System, has great music vocabulary.

With everyone having that extensive vocabulary, was it ever difficult to get band mates on the same page? Or did it all just mesh together nicely?
It just meshed, Jason. I cannot kid you man; it just meshed. There was nothing hard about this project at all. Not one thing. Like I said, the only challenge is educating the world. And we are working on that one person at a time.

You have what I consider a great rock record. I don't think you can say it's a heavy metal record or a hard rock record. How do you feel about frustrating writers like me in that we cannot put a label on your music?
I love it! I love it that it is hard for you to do that, Jason. I mean, you sound like a guy that has done some homework and listened to a lot of bands and a lot of albums. So for someone like yourself, who is a fan of music yourself, I think it is a great thing that you cannot pigeonhole us. But I mean if you are somebody's soccer mom, she is going to walk into the venue and be like, "Oh my god, that is a heavy metal band." But just because it is loud and we rock and do all that. But if she would take the time to open her mind and listen to the full show, she would go, "Wow, this band has great melody and dynamics. They have great lyrics. They have talent!"

So what is the fan base at a Slave to the System show? You probably have Brother Cane fans; Queensryche fans and then new fans that are not familiar with either earlier project but know Stigmata.
Obviously we love all of our fans, but it is certainly fascinating for me to see the broad spectrums of age groups. Like last night in Lansing I signed several CDs and photos that some of the old school fans have brought, and then there were a couple of dozen kids there that you know were in grade school when the first Brother Cane record first came out. And then these young girls, and there was a young couple there that couldn't have been a day over 21. And they were so excited to buy a Slave to the System T-shirt and have their picture taken with us. So that is the power of music. If you find a way to get your music out there so people can hear it, you can build a new audience. You can find new fans in the next generation. Obviously, you look at the Stones, Floyd and even Alice Cooper; they have been doing that over and over and over again. I mean Alice is probably on his fourth generation of fans. If you stick to your game and are fortunate enough to build a catalogue and build a reputation of a solid live act, this could be the best job you would ever want to have. So there is a way to regenerate your fans and build new fans and re-educate the old fans. We love that aspect of being on the road.