STRAPPING YOUNG LAD - Binge & Purge! Page 2
by Martin Popoff

"It's obsessive, but you know, so am I," says a Zen-like Dev (now go listen to the song Zen - it'll rip your meditating head off). "So it's nothing out of the usual. It's annoying that it happens like that. But you know, yeah, I mean, my way of writing music has always been a little strange. Hoglan along there with me, the combination of the two weirdos makes a strange energy. But I mean, in terms of it, it's yet another metal record from us. I think, more than anything else, with Strapping, it's a vent for energy, and the energy kind of fires in all directions at once. And the purpose of this record was just to capture some of that energy as opposed to worrying about where it was firing."

Gene and Dev, Dev and Gene... "Yes, Byron (Stroud - bass) was doing Fear Factory, and Jed (Simon - guitars) was in Philadelphia, and although they both contributed, it was Gene and I, that were stuck in a room with each other for six months writing. We argued and sure, there was some drinking, but it was really more like, just 12 in the afternoon until four in the afternoon every day. We ended up arguing for the first time, but not in a violent or vicious way. More like, just getting to the next stage. We were able to discuss things with each other in a certain way. It's cool, man, it was a good experience."

"More just his drums," answers Devin, when asked about what Gene would contribute to the process. "We would just start jamming, and it would grow from one place to another, and Gene would say, 'Well, what if I did this and what if I did this?' 'Well, if you did this, I can do this.' One thing goes to the next, and the songs appeared. It was really a quite standard writing environment, one that Gene and I both appreciated, because we hadn't had the opportunity as a unit to express ourselves together like that. For the most part it had been me writing riffs or somebody writing riffs and Gene interpreting that with his part. This time we'd both said, 'OK, let's keep that one on the back burner, and we'll work on it tomorrow.' And as a result of that, we ended up getting closer and closer toward our goal."

STRAPPING YOUNG LAD - Binge & Purge! Page 3