Female fronted melodic death metal band Your Chance To Die from Columbia, South Carolina released its new album Suscitatio Somnus which is released on August 30th through Red Chord Records. Lets have a chat with Missi Avila and the band band members about their life philosophy, the new album, future plans and much more
TMR: Hello to you from ´The Metal Resource’ Holland, how are things going there in Camden/South Carolina ?
Missi Avila: Enjoying a steaming hot summer. We just avoided a major hurricane so that was exciting!
TMR: Will you Introduce yourself and the band please ? (name and instrument)
Missi Avila: Missi Avila-vocals; Coca Avila-guitar; Chase Crouch-guitar; Daniel Todd-drums; Josh Crawley-bass
TMR: Can you tell us something about the origin of ‘Your Chance To Die’ please?
Missi Avila: We played our first show 4 ½ years ago and have been progressing and working hard ever since. We have changed lineups (guitar and bass) a couple of times but have found a good solid group of musicians who are working together to create awesome music. We have progressed in our genre as well, becoming more technical as we write new music; improving a lot as musicians
TMR: Are you guys full time musicians ? If not what kind of job or school do you do beside the
band ? (for everyone personal)
Missi Avila: This is one of our goals for next year. We would love to tour and play shows full time but we still have some work to do to get to that point. Right now we play and travel as much as we can as well as working regular jobs. We all do something different: Missi is a manager at a restaurant; Coca is a Montessori teacher; Daniel is an electrician; Chase restores and fixes boats; Josh works in a call center for a bank.
TMR: Is this your first band ? (for everyone personal)
Missi Avila: No, we have all been in one other band before YCTD was formed. It was good experience when we were younger and just starting out.
TMR: Why the name ‘Your Chance To Die’ ? Is there a story behind it ?
Missi Avila: We actually derived the name from a book about a missionary to India. Our beliefs are very important to us and the name reflects our ‘motto’ in life. Dying to ourselves and living for something greater than ourselves. (Which we believe is Jesus Christ)
TMR: Who writes the music/lyrics in ‘Your Chance To Die’ ? .. how do you get in the mood for
writing music? And which bands/situations have influences you for writing music and lyrics ?
Missi Avila: The music is written by Coca and Chase. They are both extremely talented musicians and between the two of them are capable of writing some very powerful melodies. Missi writes all of the lyrics. We believe that our music and lyrics are divinely inspired, and because we believe so strongly in God, the Bible and our spiritual lives are what have influenced us the most.
TMR: How do you describe the music of ‘Your Chance To Die’ the best ?
Missi Avila: It’s so difficult nowadays to put music into one genre. So many bands are experimenting with genre mixing that you could have one song that fits into one categories and three songs that fit into another. We have progressed a lot over the years, but what we really are striving for would be ‘melodic death metal’. Some of our older songs, which are on the new album have some heavy breakdowns, but the newer songs focus more on the melodies. So, melodeath is definitely where we are heading as a band.
TMR: How does ‘Your Chance To Die’ stands in life till events in the world, religion and politics
and in which proportion stands that till your music and lyrics ?
Missi Avila: I think I touched on that a little in the previous questions but as far as events in the world, we see the greed and selfishness of humanity growing in epic proportions. In the united states it is very sad for us to see God taken out of everything and then watching our country fall apart. It is also very sad to see people in the world who are starving to death while we consume and waste so much food. Our album is entitled ‘Suscitacio Somnus’ which means ‘awake the sleeper’ in latin. That’s what we believe needs to happen in the world. That people need to wake up to what is going on around them and start to make changes.
TMR: For a lot of bands the lyrics are just a accidental circumstance, but for some bands they use them to communicate ! ..can you tell us how that is for ‘Your Chance To Die’ ?
Missi Avila: I believe the lyrics that come from my pen are divinely inspired and have an important message for humanity.
TMR: What is the message you want to bring with ‘Your Chance To Die’?
Missi Avila: That there is hope in this dying world. That God is probably not who you think He is or who you have interpreted Him to be. And that it’s time for us to rise up and change the world.
Missi Avila:
There are so many things.. But our band is more than that, we are like a family and I will always cherish the times we have spent together. Hours and hours of travelling, making jokes, laughing and crying together. Hours of practices in a hot garage.. Good shows and really bad shows. And just everything we’ve had the chance to do together.TMR: And the worst thing were ? (if there is one)
Missi Avila:
losing band members. In the 4 ½ years we have been together we have lost 2 really close friends. It was really hard and we weren’t sure if we would be able to continue. But we’re still here!!Missi Avila:
Becoming the Archetype and Wretched have been the best bands to play with. We love their music and really respect them as people and musicians. We would love to hook up with an European act such as Amon Amarth or Arch Enemy. Europe has a much better metal scene and I think a tour with one of these bands would be amazing for us.TMR: What is your favorite food and drink? for everyone personal (no idea why people always
Missi Avila: Macarroni and cheese… or taco bell. and I love crème soda!!
Daniel: Babe Babe’s Spaghetti and milk.
Chase: Lomo saltado dr. Pepper/ pibb extra.
TMR: First record you bought? (for everyone personal)
Missi Avila
: Boy George… back in 1986.. And it was a cassette tape!Josh: For me it was Coheed and Cambria’s first Good Apollo cd. I had never really heard of them before and my brother had this burned cd with the title scribbled in the worst permanent marker penmanship imaginable. After listening to it on repeat for nearly several hundred times, my first ever paycheck went to buying their entire discography at the time.
Daniel: The Who – Who’s Next
Chase: New found glory – sticks and stones.
TMR: What makes you laugh? (for everyone personal)
Josh: Only the most hardcore of puns and wordplay. Also physical humour.
Daniel: People with a good sense of humor.
Chase: Slap stick and jack ass kinda stuff.
Missi Avila:
Drink lots of water and practice a couple of songs in the morning to warm my voice up.Daniel: Practice, sleep, a little dancing and prayer
Chase: Practice my leads. And stretch.
TMR: Favorite movie(s)? (for everyone personal)
Josh: I somehow end up watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 every Christmas Eve….for the past 13 years, don’t ask me how. Also Castaway, when Wilson floats away it really gets to me every time.
Daniel: Fight Club.
Chase: Nacho libre.
TMR: What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked? (for everyone personal)
Missi Avila:
Is that a chick singing??TMR: Do you have a life philosophy? (for everyone personal)
Missi Avila:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.Daniel: John 13:34 “Love the world as I have and by that love the world will know you are My disciple.”
Chase: Yes sir. Thank you sir.
TMR: Are you visiting many gigs by yourself and what do you listen to these days? (for everyone personal)
Missi Avila:
Not a lot because we play every weekend and in my spare time I have 2 kids I’m raising. I listen to Woe of Tyrants, The Faceless and Wretched, among other bands. I also really like old Nightwish (when I’m by myself in the car and can sing loud!)Daniel: No, because I am too busy playing them and all music, if it is good.
Chase: The faceless. Born of Osiris.
TMR: Tell us about the hardrock/metal scene in your area please?
Missi Avila:
It’s kind of slow. Most everyone is still into hardcore/metalcore so we have to travel a couple of hours to get a decent show. Because of facebook and the internet, it seems as though everyone has a band now and is fighting for gigs. Which makes the competition for shows really tough, plus the fact that there are so many shows for the fans to choose from in one single night. Its really hard for bands right now, all over the United States.TMR: How do you think about downloading music from the Internet ?
Missi Avila:
It’s fine.. Its hard on us because we only make money from physical album sales, but the most important thing is that people are listening and enjoying our music. Digital music is where the future is going so we either have to keep up with technology or just not sell records.TMR: What can you tell us about your latest album ‘Suscitacio Somnus’ ? (such as the songs, recording-proces, release-date etc.)
Missi Avila:
The album was released Aug 30th and has already gotten very good reviews.TMR: Is this the debut album of ‘Your Chance To Die’?
Missi Avila:
Well, for the most part. We did self-release and album about 3 years ago. The recording wasn’t great and the musical style was different than what we are writing now, so we consider ‘Suscitacio Somnus’ our first real release.TMR: The album Is released via ‘Red Cord Records’, how did you got signed by them ?
Missi Avila:
We posted a video to their page and they contacted us. They were really interested in branching our of their typical metalcore and hard rock genre, so we became the heaviest and first death metal band they signed.TMR: And what about the (near) future, any plans ? (European tour maybe ?)
Missi Avila:
We are going to central america and mexico in February. We would love to make it to Europe possibly in the summer/fall 2012. The best for us right now would be to open a tour with a bigger band, to help promote us to a wider audience. This is what we are trying to do for the rest of this year.TMR: Guys thanks for your time and the interview, we wish ‘Your Chance To Die’ all the
Missi Avila:
I think you guys covered it all. We really appreciate you guys giving us the chance to share and we look forward to playing for you guys soon!!!
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this guys are sick……