With the release of its highly-anticipated 2005 album Gutter Phenomenon, Every Time I Die continues its surge to the top of the hard rock and metal scenes. JustArts had the opportunity to chat with lead guitarist Andy Williams last week in an exclusive one-on-one interview. JustArts: For those ignorant to the musical stylings of Every Time I Die, how would you describe the music from a personal and musical standpoint?

Andy Williams: It's definitely a rock band first. We think as a rock band first, a metal rock band? A heavy rock band? We're just trying to mix metal and rock n' roll, basically. Maybe Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Slayer with a bit of Ozzy Osbourne.

JA: How is the process different because you guys write such complex music? How did it come about that you completely threw out standard songwriting structures?

AW: Well, we were all in bands [using] verse-chorus, verse-chorus in the beginning. Then I started listening to this band Dead Guy, and then we all met and wanted to sound more like that band. At first, writing outside of this whole verse-chorus thing was so weird to me. Ironically, now I can't even write a song like that anymore. I can write in 3/8, but I can't even write 4/4 anymore.

JA: You guys are often compared to Dillinger Escape Plan, justly or not, and the newest releases from both bands have gone from almost straight-up math-metal to a more rock style. Is this just pure coincidence or is there some sort of connection to an over-saturation of the old style that you guys sort of pioneered?

AW: Yeah man, that's definitely it, when you go out and hear bands, and more bands sound like your band, it turns you off a bit. They say "oh god, you are a huge influence on us," and as a result, they are doing the same thing. We just wanted to do something a little different to stay ahead of the game.

JA: What connection, if any, do you think there is between accessibility and popularity? These days, do you need to be on a major label if you want to sell albums?

AW: For us, just looking at bands like Cave In, that's a bad choice. Going to a major label breaks bands up-they are the devil. Nowadays it's easier to stay together and keep going on a label like Ferret. You can make a career being on a small label that's growing with you. It's so weird, seeing bands like My Chemical Romance on the Video Music Awards and shit-it's so weird! We headlined for them, and the kids didn't care about them at all. It's kinda like meat hanging in front of your face-you wanna eat it, but you can only take one big jump at it, and if you miss, you're gonna land flat on your face. It terrifies me. There is a chance of major labels courting us, but it just scares me. It's weird that they are in the game now, it wasn't like major labels were trying to scoop Earth Crisis up. I mean, Lamb of God is on a major label now...

JA: How did it work out that Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance are doing guest vocals [on the album]. Are you guys good friends with them, and is there anyone else you would've liked to have sung guest vocals?

AW: Gerard came to us about it, he wanted to sing on our new record, and we were like, "sure come on." And Daryl, we were all huge Glassjaw fans, and how it worked out was weird. I went out and stayed with him and his buds for a few days and asked him to sing on our new record and he said yes and was very excited about it. As far as other artists, having Greg from Dillinger would be awesome. Even crazy people like Bjork or having DJ Shadow take one of our songs and collaborate on that, that'd be awesome.

JW: Why should anybody reading this go to an ETID show? What can one expect from the experience?

AW: You definitely won't see anything fake. Nowadays, you can go to a show and see bands totally based on image. If you come see us, it's all about the music, not what we're wearing or our hairstyle. It's about what you're listening to. We're just dudes that live in Buffalo, and we do everything that everyone else does. The big thing now is to be disconnected from everyone, and that's not us at all. Bands like Avenged Sevenfold, they can take that shit, their makeup and shit, and go play somewhere else. Our show, you'll leave with a smile and know you saw something real.