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Kerrang Podcast with Chris and Mikey at Download Fest

TAKING DAWN to support MURDERDOLLS on their upcoming Southern California show Thursday, June 17 at Key Club in Los Angeles, CA!!!!

Check out video of Taking Dawn preforming "Fight Em With Your Rock" live from Rock Am Park!!!

People! How the fuck are you? Hanging out in the motel in Germany so I figured I would give you an update on some TD news. Yesterday we played Rock im Park and the day before was Rock am ring. For those who don't know what it is its like the biggest rock festival in Germany. There are 3 stages and billions of people. Since we are a new "bitch band" as we like to call it, we played the smallest of the 3 stages. This was cool with us because we are happy to play to anyone who is willing to sit through 40 minutes of us making noise and grabbing our dicks.(Even if there isnt much to grab)

We had the stages packed when we played which was awesome! The cool thing about festivals is that people have the option of seeing 3 different bands at any time. The fact that people chose us as the band to watch while 2 (bigger) bands were playing at the same time means alot. Danke schön to all you crazy fuckin Germans!

We have 3 more German shows lined up this week with Stone Sour and Hell Yeah. We are looking forward to being able to play with these 2 great bands. Not to mention these 3 shows are going to be the countdown to the main event. The biggest show we will have played to date! The Motherfuckin download festival! Real Talk! We are looking forward to showing Donnington how we do it. We will show them in 25 minutes that we mean this shit! Cant wait to see you fuckers out there!!!! Spread the word. :)

Mikey

Check out the end of tour footage from the Prague show. We synced it with Black Diamond! Thanks so much to all of you who came out in Europe and UK. You guys were fuckin amazing!

Enter to win a Meet & Greet With Taking Dawn at this year's Download Fest. Go here http://www.downloadfestival.co.uk/community/mobile/?type=1&id=info3

Q: Robyn Kelley - Can I have your hairbrush?

A: Chris Babbitt - As long as you bring me an acceptable replacement and promise not to clone me or frame me with my DNA sample, then yes ;)

Q: Andria Dobbins - How do you keep your hair so long and silky? lol

A: Chris Babbitt -The BRUSH of course...DUH! Why do you think everyone wants it so badly! It's the epidermic equivalent to the Pick of Destiny!

Q: Scarlett Chelsea, Danielle Ramsey - When writing your songs, lyrics, what is your inspiration to help fuel them? Other than the obvious. LOL!

A: Chris Babbitt -My inspiration is generally the people who hurt me most and things I hate above all else, lol. I always feel fed up with shit, and tired of people getting away with it. Though on occasion it's a sweet subtle message to someone special, lol. I specialize more in hate songs than love songs, but nowadays the only thing people want to hear are FUCK songs. Which is FINE, because "rock and roll" is a blues euphemism for SEX! And you're talkin' to the wrong guy if you're looking for censorship or to tone anything down, lol. BUT the taste is gone Nothing is as classy any more. AC/DC is the MASTER of tongue in cheek, but all the allusion is lost nowadays. Now people don't even bother to be clever and dress it up. Akon sings "I wanna fuck you", Buckcherry "You fuck so good I'm on top of it", Saving Abel "You're going down on me". And people call ME cheesy! Lol. Don't take that the wrong way, either. Akon's first cd RULES (Mikey turned me on to it), I was a fan of Buckcherry back before it was cool to be a fan of Buckcherry (Beautiful Creatures, Buck, and Monster Magnet were like the only guys holding it down for rock'n'roll during the whole nu-metal thing), and Saving Abel...is Saving Able...yay for them, because they get to tour arenas with Nickelback. Hell, NICKELBACK (the KINGS of sex rock) are the only ones even TRYING to leave some intrigue to the whole affair by not mentioning just what that "something" in your mouth is ;) Halestorm's "I Get Off" is one of the rare straight forward gems that I fell for. The lyrics are blatant, but they're not vulgar and colorless. They have atmosphere and vibe. I think it actually sounds SEXY to me, where those other songs simply come off as crass. They don't romance me, and end up coming off as bad pick up lines lol. I'm probably a borderline sex addict, but unless something tickles me just so, a sex song isn't on the agenda just yet. But you never know!

Q: Anthony Rowe - Will, neigh, WHEN will you make it to Perth, AUSTRALIA?

A: Chris Babbitt - HOPEFULLY within the year! But something I found out once I fell victim to this industry that I was never privy to as a fan (and there are MANY instances of said nature) is that tours aren't confirmed very far in advance and are always subject to change. So hang in there! After touring with Airbourne you better believe that I can't wait to get down under...and you probably hate expressions like that, lol. SORRY!

Q: Jason Whitten - Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel? could be the hardest question ever....

A: Chris Babbitt -HAHAHAHAHA...could be! Welllllll, I WOULD have said Jessica Biel but there a few factors working against her at the moment. The fault lies not with her, but with my recent binge sessions of the TV show Lost, which I have only JUST discovered despite years of Alan and Andrew telling me that I need to get with the program...and the rest of the civilized world, lol. So anyway, "Freckles" from lost is kicking Biel's ass for attention in my twisted mind, at the moment. Additionally, I've met Jessica Alba while working security at the Hard Rock Hotel (the coolest hotel in Vegas) and she's infinitely more attractive in person. And on top of THAT, she played Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four. Those of you who know my most sinister secrets already know where I'm coming from, and the rest will have to play connect the dots in the dark. Even though she wouldn't have been my leading contender when it came to casting the role, I think she came
though. I'll leave the tasteless entendres to YOU for a change.

Q: Justin Bartz - Since Taking Dawn is a new band, how often do you have to act like you are interested in hooking up with ugly, fat chicks just to get them to buy your album and tell their friends how you told them you are really interested in "getting to know them better"?

A: Chris Babbitt - Well J...can I call you J? Fuck it, I'm callin' ya J! So J, I think you got it all wrong bro. And
what's worse, I think you're depriving YOURSELF in the process ;) Ain't you heard? Fat bottomed girls make the rocking world go 'round! So I take it you prefer a whole lot LESS of rosie, hunh? LOL. Well, I like a man with standards! BUT I like girls, however they come, so long as their comingThough you ARE right, it doesn't hurt when they own the album! I genuinely enjoy getting to know TRUE fans better, because I always WAS (and still AM) that fan. Just so long as people respect the boundaries ;) My safe word is "glockenspiel".

Q: Kyle Murphy - what makes your awesomeness explode off the charts? and do you like Kanye? :)

A: Chris Babbitt - Well we're proudly sponsored by ACME...so we really have no say in the matter. I just think, "What would Daniel Day Lewis do?". And the answer is FUCKING EXPLODE with...(what was it you said?)...sheer "AWESOMENESS"! Kanye? Weeeeeeeeeeelllllllll...as an ARTIST Kanye has grown on me. I'm a pretty enormous hip-hop fan, and a lot of his work is rather innovative and clever, though he tends ruins a killer song with lame lyrics or have killer lyrics with a weak beat. He's overrated as a motherfucker, but he sure beat the hell outta Pharrell and I couldn't wait to see that guy vacate the all too played out throne of "latest hot shit". Though to be fair, Pharrell was plenty innovative himself, but his style just wasn't for me. Kanye the MAN...well I don't know the man, so what can I say? He certainly seems to portray himself as a selfish, self-serving, self-obsessed, spoiled little egomaniac with an inferiority complex and the chip of Gibraltar on his shoulder...but he sure does get a lot of attention for it, doesn't he? PR genius, perhaps? If you cater to the "no such thing as BAD press" philosophy then he's fucking EINSTEIN. Publicity stunts aside, living in the shadow of hype and hyped up icons is enough to make any self-respecting artist lose it (unless he really IS like that, then how could he respect himself?). But if you feel like what you're doing is important and you have to sit around listening to how Jay Z is the only guy anyone should care about then it pushes you to make noise and be heard, both with your art and with your personality (which for this guy means his MOUTH, lol. How do you think EVERY rock band in the world feels about Nickelback? Or every metal band about Slipknot? They want to dethrone them and be them at the same time...but they want to do it on their own terms. But for Jay Z, Nickelback, and Slipknot, being the biggest modern Icon isn't enough, because THEY have to live in the shadows of Christopher Wallace (Biggie), AC/DC, and Metallica. Is it how you conduct yourself in the shade or in the limelight that defines you as a musician? I don't know Kanye, so I can't say if I like him or not...but at least he has the balls (and poor judgement) to say what he's thinking. Most people who think they're more clever than they actually are do ;)

"The difference between how you look and how you see yourself is enough to kill most people"-Chuck Palahniuk, Haunted

Keep those questions coming, because I fucking LOVE this!
B SHRED OR B DED
Chris

Whats goin' on everyone? We just finished our 4th show on the KISS tour in Birmingham. It was killer as usual! We have had an amazing opportunity with this tour to play with one of the BIGGEST BADDEST bands in the whole fucking world and possibly recruit some of the Kiss Army to the Taking Dawn army. We are just getting this motherfucker started so we need troops! Spread the word UK! We will be a superpower one day. :)

Gene and Paul and the boys are fuckin' great! As crazy as it is to share the stage with Kiss its even more fuckin' unreal to see them and talk with them backstage. They are the nicest band on the planet. Its crazy how cool and down to earth they are… we have met bands with bigger egos who aren't even popular enough to clean Kiss's toilets… or then again maybe they should be cleaning kiss's toilets.

Gene told me that they took Iron Maiden on their first tour. Thats the most badass thing on the planet. Over 30 years go by and these fuckers still know whats up and can rock harder than most bands out there. Hopefully we can have a fraction of the success these bands have had!

Before this tour started some people were telling us that this tour wouldn't be good for us. That Kiss fans would only want to see Kiss and they wouldn't care about an opening band. Other people told us that is was an amazing opportunity and that we were going to kill it and have the time of our life. Those people were right! For the fuckheads mentioned in the first part I included a video from the other night in Newcastle. Enjoy!

Hey Everyone,

Check out Chris's latest blog for METALHAMMER : http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/taking-dawn-on-the-road-with-kiss/

Check out Chris's interview with Rushonrock.com

Go here: http://rushonrock.com/2010/05/06/exclusive-taking-dawn-interview/

Check out some video of us rocking with KISS in Newcastle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tyODiLs39Y

Check out Chris's blog at Metalhammer.co.uk!!!

http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/taking-dawn-tour-blog-airbourne-girls-hangover-getting-locked-out-and-the-whores-asshole/