Last year Travis Johnson (In This Moment), Brian Jackson (Skinlab), Matt Snell (Five Finger Death Punch), Marcos Medina (Skinlab), Darren Badorine, and producer Logan Mader came together to perform a new metal super-group called Invidia.
With only being together a year, the band has already dropped two singles and a music video. On March 31st, Invidia will drop their first full length album, As The Sun Sleeps.
To quench your thirst until the album release, Rock Revolt got a chance to speak with guitarist Brian Jackson about bringing the band together, the album, and even an upcoming tour.
Tell me a little bit about what it was like having all of you come together since you were all in different bands before Invidia.
You know it’s been great. It never was planned out that way. I know some of the press has labeled it kind of like a “supergroup” and all of this kind of stuff because all of the previous bands, or the band that some of us are currently in. It was something that was started out by chance. I was just a collaboration between a bunch of friends that had some ideas. In the beginning we were just doing it for fun. We decided to do a couple of songs, and by the time we got into the studio we realized it was something that we really wanted to push forward with and take seriously. Over a period of a year it became something that we had a lot of passion for, and here we are a year later and things are going great. We’re really happy with the outcome and it’s been a fantastic experience for me personally.
So, “invidia” means “envy” in Latin correct? What made you choose that as the band’s name?
That’s correct. It’s like the eye of envy, one of the seven deadly sins. Travis actually came up with the idea of the band name, and after exploiting the whole Latin term behind it, it just really kind of seemed to fit the vibe we were going for. It’s kind of funny; everyone keeps referring to a graphic card that I guess a video game company has called Invidia. I’ve been trying to educate some of these online trolls that it’s actually an old school term. It’s just funny. But the name itself is really fitting to the band, and it just kind of came about. Travis gave us the idea, and what it was about, and we held onto it and threw around some other ideas. It just kind of stuck, so here we are.
I like it. I think it fits.
Yeah, absolutely.
What was the hardest task you faced when the band was coming together to record the album?
As far as the recording process, it came together pretty flawlessly to be honest. It didn’t seem like we had a lot of road blocks or a lot of hurdles in the beginning. I mean when Travis and I first started talking about the whole idea about even recording songs together, it just came together naturally. We got into the studio and brought Matt in and started forming the record. It flowed naturally. It was a really natural progression from beginning to end. I mean the biggest hurdle we’ve had to overcome was, honestly, when we were shopping for a record label. And even so, being a band for such a short period of time, we were able to sign a record deal within less than a year. We actually signed a the record deal before we even played our first show. It’s been quite the surreal experience for me personally, and I think for the rest of the guys with the way things came together. We really haven’t had a lot of road blocks to be quite honest. It’s been pretty smooth along the way.
You released a video for “Feed The Fire” not too long ago. Do you have any plans to release or film any videos for some of the other songs?
Oh yeah, absolutely. We’re not sure an exact date for when we’re going to track the next video. I would assume it would be sometime around when we drop the record, which is March 31st. I know that Travis has a couple of touring dates coming up with In This Moment. Then we’re also going to announce some tour dates, so right now we’re kind of hashing out our schedules and trying to figure out when we can find a window to get the video for the next single. But I’m assuming a new video will probably drop around sometime early April to the beginning of May somewhere. I’m not exactly sure about the timeframe at the moment.
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Awesome! And you actually answered my next question which was if you were planning a tour anytime soon.
Yeah. There’s actually quite a few tours. In the last few weeks, especially since we dropped the single, there have been a lot of tour offers that have been coming across our table. As far as scheduling, we’re still trying to work that out with out booking agent. I believe in the next week or so we should have some solid dates that we should be announcing online. We’re going to try and do as much touring as possible in this record cycle and get out there and meet the fans and start conquering stages all over the world if we can.
That sounds great! I’m looking forward to it. I looked at the poll that you were chosen for most anticipated album release in March, and you guys are currently number one. So the fans are looking forward to it. Are you excited to drop the album?
Oh very. The record has been tracked and finished for just about a year now. Going back to when we started the band, the whole goal was not to just write a record and just start throwing it out there. We wanted to kind of hold back and see what we could do on the business side of things. So now that we’ve been sitting on it for a year and all the progress that has happened within that year, I am very excited. We’ve got a lot of positive feedback regarding the video for “Feed The Fire” and the single. Last May, we did a lyric video just to get some music out there for the song “Making My Amends.” The feedback has been phenomenal. The new fans that we’re building has been a great experience. Getting to interact and talk to these guys has been great. We recently did our first tour together just to get out there and get our feet wet as a band and see how we all mesh on the road. Just the fact that we are such a new band, despite our history with other bands, it’s been an amazing situation for all of us. Like I said it’s only been a year, and the progress we’ve made has been pretty surreal. March 31st cant come fast enough for me personally. I can’t wait for everybody to hear it.
I actually got a chance to listen to the album, and I love it. So hopefully everyone else will. too.
Great you heard it! Do you have a personal favorite song of the record?
I really like the title song “As The Sun Sleeps” is my favorite.
Nice. For me as a guitar player, that’s my favorite song to play. It has a lot of guitar. That song means a lot to me. That song defines the record to me as a whole, and that’s kind of why we came up with that as the title. So that’s definitely in my top tier. But there’s so many different elements to that record as far as songs. I mean you have songs like “As The Sun Sleeps,” and then you have songs like “Rotten” which are completely different songs. They’re all these different kinds of collaborations of each of our influences. I have my favorites to play live, and I love the record as a whole. But “As The Sun Sleeps” is definitely at the top of my list along with “Now Or Never” and “Rotten.” I mean, I love the whole record, but those are definitely my top three.
To be honest, I don’t think there was a song on the record that I disliked.
Yeah. We also have the song “The Other Side” which is track number ten on the record. We did it with guest vocals with Aaron Nordstrom from Gemini Syndrome. That song means a lot to me, too. The music for that one was kind of floating around for quite a few years. I never personally had a home for it until this band came together and we tracked in the studio. It was kind of in the back burner as we put the record together, and at the time Aaron was living with me temporarily as my roommate. We were just sitting up one night, and we were towards the end of trying to finish the record, and that song was just sitting there. We weren’t sure if it was going to make the record or not. One night he tracked down a vocal line, and we sent it over to our producer, and he loved it; it just seemed to fit. So all of us the next day literally went into the studio and threw that song together, and it’s become one of my favorites as well. That song means a lot to me personally. It’s hard to choose. That’s why I can’t wait for the fans to hear the whole thing. You hear “Feed The Fire” then you hear “Making My Amends,” but then you go back to songs like that and “Rotten,” and they all have a different element. I there’s just a little bit of everything for everybody on this record.
So, I only have one last question.
Okay.
If the band hadn’t been brought together, what do you think you’d be focusing on right now?
I’d be working on another band. Ha! This band, the fact that it was so unplanned. I’ve done a lot of interviews, and I’ve told the story, and Travis has told the story – a lot of us have told the story of how it came together. Travis happened to be on a break with In This Moment at the time, and he has a history of being a singer. He was in a band called Flatline with Matt back in the day. I knew him from when I was in Skinlab. We played shows together. I was still currently in Skinlab when this band started, and there was music that was being written by myself and I was trying to get ready to go in the studio with them but it felt like the direction I was going wasn’t really the same direction that Skinlab was necessarily going. The music was just so good that I needed something. So when I hit Travis up, it just felt natural. He jumped right on board and started tracking vocals. It was meant to be. But if that hadn’t have happened I would have probably been searching for the same thing. I would still be writing music. I’m a hard worker. I’m a work horse. I’m always grinding away at something, so I definitely feel that if this band hadn’t have come together I would have probably been trying to put together another band by now. Probably not put together as fast as this one and probably not one that would have made as much progress. But I’d definitely would still be working on music for sure.
Well I’m glad Invidia came together because the music is great, and this album is so good. I’m really looking forward to everyone getting to hear it at the end of March.
Awesome. We are, too, and we really appreciate that. It means a lot.
As The Sun Sleeps will be released on March 31st. Stay tuned for updates about an upcoming tour.
