1- Could you give us a biography of Dawn Of Orion, what you've released sofar and what your future plans are?

Well, we started in early '97 or late '96. Not really sure on that one. The original line up was me, Myke, on vocals, Erik on guitar, Zack on drums and Craig on bass. About a year and a half later we got Sam on second guitar. Craig quit after our first tour to be in this death metal band called Vastion. Then Sam quit after our second tour to also be in a death metal band. So we were on hiatus for about a year. Now we're back with me, Erik and Zack as well as new members, Nathan on bass and Steve on second guitar. Right now we're just trying to get back in the mode. Writing new songs and s**t. We really wanna record a follow up to For The Lusts. So if anyone out there wants to put it out just let us know.

2- A friend of mine was surprised to hear you guys released a CD on Immigrant Sun. She assumed all bands on Immigrant Sun have a political background. Do you have a political background as a band or as people?

Dawn Of Orion, as a band, have no pilitical background. With the exception of the abolition of organized Christianity, we pretty much all believe different things. But we tend to stay away from politics. The reason is because there's a million bands out there doing the whole political thing. So I figure I'd rather focus on something that's more real to me. Something I know about more. I don't wanna dabble in politics and end up looking like an idiot. I'd rather just write what comes from inside. Pure emotion.

3- There are only 5 new songs on the 'For The Lust...' CD, one of which is an instrumental. The 2 remaining songs are rerecordings of demotracks. Why did you decide to put those on there as well?

Well, to be honest, we didn't have enough songs. We're really picky about the songs we keep. If we kept all the songs we've ever writen, we'd probably have at least three full lengths and a couple 7"s. Looking back on it now, I wish we'd chosen differently.

4- Which bands/musicians/people inspire(d) you personally/musically?

Well, definately Anders Friden of In Flames. An awesome lyricist and frontman. Very poetic and on point. When he's on stage his charisma is incredible. Also, Aaron from My Dying Bride, Remi from Starkweather and Fernando Ribeiro from Moonspell. Three amazing poets. Very in depth imagery. I'm also a huge fan of Bjorn Goobes from Night In Gales. His writing is so fucked up. It doesn't really make sense, but then again it does. I love the way he combines random words to mean something else. I also think Brian Dingledine from Catharsis is a great vocalist/lyricist/frontman. Very energetic. Maynard from Tool/Perfect Circle is a great lyricist and frontman. Now, if we're stepping away from aggressive music, I love Tori Amos, The Gathering, Ashes. Even Alanis Morrissete. All of them, I think, are great talented groups/people. Then there's Rush, Pink Floyd. I'm influenced by a ton of music.

5- You are, in Europe anyways, better known in the HC-scene than in the death/blackmetal-scene altho your music is much more akin to metal than HC. Do you play metal-shows and what differences do you see in the different scenes? Do you feel more comfortable in one scene than in another?

Well, we've only played hardcore shows as of yet. We're working on getting our music more widely known. I wanna break out in metal and in hardcore. See, we don't really get asked for shows in the metal community, because they don't really know us. The label we were on never sent out any CDs for review so many kids haven't heard of us.

6- There are more and more bands popping up that play almost pure metal, like you guys, Seven Day Curse, Aftershock & Creation Is Crucifixion but are considered part of the HC-scene. Do you have any HC-roots and do you think they show through in your music or in the band as a whole?

Well, if you see us, I'm sure you can tell a couple of us are into hardcore. Like Nathan is a pure hardcore kid. I'm not really too into hardcore nowadays. I started going to hardcore shows when I was 15. So I've been into this for a while. Everyone in the band has hardcore roots, even though we may try to deny it. I don't really know if it shows in our music or not. That would be a question for me to ask you. What do you think? I sometimes wonder if I wasn't in DOO and I heard us on the radio, if I would think this was a metal band or hardcore kids playing metal. And to this day, I really can't answer that, because I don't know. Like, I know if I heard Creation Is Crucifixion or Aftershock on the radio I would definately know they were hardcore kids. I don't know about us.

7- What are your lyrics about? There's a lot of medieval/fantasy imagery in there it seems.

Medieval imagery? That's funny. I never heard that before. I feel like a nerd now. Like I should be wearing a DragonCon shirt with some tight black jeans along with my long black trenchcoat with 10 and 12 sided die in the pocket. Hehe. No, to be honest, those lyrics were writen when I was really going through this full on anti-Christian phase. I mean, I still hate Christianity as an institution, but I think I've expanded my lyrical subject matter. But just like then, all I do now is sit down and just let whatever comes to mind just poar onto the paper. Than later on I can go back, edit everything and keep only the thoughts that sound good on paper. But I swear I've never been into medieval or fantasy type imagery....and I don't play Dungeons and Dragons. I promise.

8- What do you think about all the divisions in hard music like moshcore, black metal, grindcore, old school HC, emo, thrashmetal etc?

Well, as far as metal goes, I think those titles are necessary to describe a type of music. You have black metal, death metal, thrash metal, goth metal, doom metal, etc. But it's all metal, right? The same goes with hardcore punk. You have emo, indie rock, moshcore, grindcore, old school, new school, etc. But it's all hardcore punk, right? I think it's all necessary. Now, I don't agree with the way people use it to divide groups. Like "emo kids" won't like "hardcore kids" and vise vera. That's silly. The type of music a person listens to should have nothing to do with the way this person is percieved by others.

9- What are your live-shows like? Do you have any fave shows you've played or amazing bands you played with?

Well, it Atlanta people don't really like us. We're only liked outside of the perimeter. Like everywhere else we've played kids loved us. But here, it's way different. It's more about image than musical talent. And the way we are is if the kids at the show suck, then we get bored. We do our best to get them hyped up, but it never workds. Kids are too embarrased and worried about what so and so is going to say about them. So in essense I think our shows in Atlanta are pretty boring. NOw if we're talking shows outside of Georgia, they're always great. Very energetic. Especially, when we go to South Carolina. Kids go crazy. I love it. I'd have to say the only show that really sticks in my head when it comes to playing with good bands is a show with Overcast and Disembodied. Both of those bands were great. I've loved Overcast for years and it was a pleasure to play with them as well as Disembodied. It's funny because Brian's now in Shados's Fall and he probably doesn't even remember that show. But as far as my favorite show, I'd have to say it would be the 1998 Gainseville Fest in Gainseville, Florida. That show as crazy. Kids were going nuts before we even hit the first note. I ended up busting my head open with the micraphone and knocking myself out. Now when you can walk away from a show bloody and not remembering the last ten minutes you know it was a good show.

10- Do you have any funny/strange stories about a show or the band to share?

Oh, God, there was this show we played in Scranton, Pennsylvania. We went to the mall before the show where we met this really nice, but extremely wierd kid named, Nick. He just walked up, asked us if we were in a band and if we wanted to stay at his house. We should have suspected something was up at that moment. But we were stupid thinking "Ooh, free place to stay". So we went to the show. It was supposed to be with some hardcore bands called Indecision and Shutdown, but apparently the promoter f**ked it up. It ended up just being us and this band called The 24th Solution. For those of you that don't get it, 24 being X...as in sxe....got it? Anyway, they all show up wearing Earth Crisis windbreakers and X'd up. It was kinda scary. So immediately we're thinking these kids are gonna hate us. Even though we were all sxe at the time, we weren't a sxe band and that showed in the music. So before the show, Erik came up with the idea that we should all X up. So we did and I dedicated a song to the "Vegan Straightedge". Well, we sold all our s**t. And those kids ended up all being really nice dudes. But I really wonder if they would have liked up had we not X'ed up. Oh, and for the kicker, that kid, Nick, showed up at the show with his distro which consisted of nothing but gay porn tapes and candy. What the f**k, right? We also ended up staying at this kids house. He tried to get us to call some porno jack lines that he had programmed on his phones. He also asked us if we wanted hookers.

11- Can you recommend any awesome unknown/local bands?

Not really.

12- Are any of you guys involved in other bands/side-projects?

Not really. I was in a sxe booty bass group, called 24-7 Booty. But that's about it.

13- What do you do in 'real' life?

I actually work at a vegetarian health food store, called Return To Eden. Check us out at Return2Eden.com (Shameless plug). I just hang out with my friend Melissa, my roommate Scott, Nathan and Erik. I write a lot. Poetry and lyrics. I also do art. My life is also really ruled by music. That's all I buy. I'm actually a pretty boring person.

14- Which injustices fuel your hate the most?

Wow. That's a hard one. There's really no way to narrow that down. I mean, human rights in general are really important to me. The fact that everyone should be free of descrimination and oppression. But I think the one injustice that fuels my hate the most is the fact that Christianity gets away with so much. And we as humans, "Americans" and, even, hardcore kids and metal kids allow it to strive. Especially hardcore kids. This is a religion that goes against everything punk rock is all about. It supports violence against women, animals, homosexuals, and pretty much everyone else outside of the category of Christian males. It does nothing but divide people..and not always passively. It just takes and takes and takes, all the while giving us nothing but false hope of a made up afterlife. It brings a line from a Public Enemy CD to mind. It says "On one corner is a church and across the road is a liquer store. Both of them keeping us poor." It makes me sick how I can drive down and absolute dirt poor part of Atlanta or ________ (insert city here) and see all the houses that are run down. Windows boarded up. Broken down cars in the driveway. Clothes hanging up on a line outside. But if you drive down that street with all the f**ked up houses, I guarantee you'll see at least one immaculate church. Why you ask? Because all of you idiots are giving all of your f**king money to the pastor so he can get a new suit and get his nice new car detailed that's in the driveway of his nice house that is sure as hell as far away from the ghetto he preaches in. Is that fair? Why should people work their ass off for wages so they can give ten percent of it to some brainwashed tool who doesn't know you and really doens't care about you? It makes no sense to me. I see nothing wrong with spirituality, but when it comes to an organized religion with a set of rules that enforce ideas of superiority, and preach violence, then that's when it's time for a gutting. Our mentalities are so weak. To think that people are so blind that they can't see that The Bible is nothing but a fairytale, written by theives and murderers, that got taken way to seriously. How can one consciously base his/her entire life on a damn book? It's beyond me. But I could go on about this forever so I'm gonna stop now.

15- Could you give a short reaction to each of the following: - love & hate

Essetially the same thing. They both breed each other. One cannot exist without the assistence of other. And that's sad. They're both such stong emotions. But you know what's funny? People seem to think that love only breeds good things and hate only bad. But that's totally wrong. A person can be killed on the basis of either emotion. And a person can find solace and expression through either emotion. Sorry. That wasn't really a short answer was it?

- Venom (the band)

Amazing. For the time they were around they ruled. Live Like An Angel Die Like A Devil is one of my favorite songs. Temple of Ice is a masterpiece in thrash/black metal. People really take them as nothing but a joke totally ignoring thier immense musical talent. I have a live video of theirs and Abbadon is a f**king monster. Great band. Lay down your souls to the gods rock and roll!

- straight edge

Good for some. Bad for others. It all depends on your mental state and why you got into sxe. If you got into it because you truly see the harms in doing drugs, you no longer want to be a part of that and you see sxe as an escape, then cool. But if you see sxe as a means to be part of a crew, go out and fight people, and be a prejudice a**hole, then f**k off. I don't think sxe was ever inteded for that purpose. Being sxe, by no means, means you're better than anyone else. It just means you chose a different path. Sxe shouldn't breed hate for those who are submersed in the drug culture. It should breed education and tolorance. I think kids of today have all lost sight in what sxe is about and they're stuck in the firestorm way of thinking of stomping out drugs of all kinds by any means nescesary. Grow up. If that's what it's all about you can count me out.

- Bill Clinton & Bill Gates

Don't keep up with politics. I know Bill Clinton got his freak on in the white house. That shows the kind of people we ellect into an office that gives them virtual control over our lives and well being. I vote, but I'll really start paying attention when there's a real chance of the election of a woman, homosexual or person of color into office. But for now, I choose to remain dumb.

16- You're probably familiar with the line 'Death To False Metal'. What is false metal to you?

Ah, Manowar. Kings of Metal. I remember when I first bought that. Anyway, false metal means music that sounds like metal, or is just called metal, played by posers for the sake of image. Band like Slipknot, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, and crap of the such are all just garbage. And I think I'm actually being way too nice with garbage. I absolutely dispise that shit. Those band, as well as these s**t bands whose members listen to nothing but Cradle of Filth and Cannibal Corpse, play a couple of melodies and some fast picking and then, all of the sudden, claim they're metal. Nonsense. I don't wanna name any names, but I could fill a whole page of bands in the hardcore and metal scenes right now whose skin should taste steel. But then again, I'm sure Dawn Of Orion might be on someone's false metal list as well. I guess the term false metal depends on the person using it. But I will say this...hardcore bands should definately stop using this term. Once again, I'm not going to name names, but you know who you are. You're on the list.

18- Myke, could you describe Erik for us?

He's a wierd one. Erik's like a stray dog. You can see one one day and he'll be nice as can be, but you can see that dog on a different day and he'll bite your f**king arm off. HAHA. He still rules, though.

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