With the forthcoming release of their fourth album “Knives”, Aiden has taken this album to a much higher level than before. Aiden’s frontman, Wil Francis, took time out of his soon to be busy schedule and answer his phone for an interview with Planet Loud Magazine. Ok, we lied. He called us.

Planet Loud – We’re here talking with Wil Francis, frontman for Seattle’s gothic rock band, Aiden. You guys have a show tomorrow with The Matches, Smile Empty Soul, and a few others. I’m kinda curious. The theme is Music Saves Lives. Can you tell us a little about the theme and is this for a good cause?
Aiden – You know I actually couldn’t answer that question honestly. I have no idea what the fuck’s in store. [laughs] They called us up and said hey you wanna play a show and we said yeah, we’re down.

Planet Loud – Well, that’s cool and seems awesome.
Aiden – Fuck it.

Planet Loud – I wanna get into your upcoming album but first I have a few questions about a couple past songs. One of which is We Sleep Forever off of the 2006 Rain in Hell album. What was going through your mind when you began writing the lyrics and one of the chorus lines you voiced “this razor blade was meant for me”?
Aiden – Well at the time, we had been on tour for awhile and we were getting letters pretty frequently from kids that seen us on tour or at home, writing letters about how they had given up; cutting themselves and shit like that. The song was kinda written to someone that could get past through something that offensive within themselves. That’s kind of a looked over thing in this society where kids kinda go through life and they’re so numb that they just do anything to make themselves feel; you know they act out in school, they cut themselves, they get drunk, or whatever it is. I was getting a lot of letters about this and also a lot of kids are telling me they use to drink or they use to do drugs and they’ve started listening to our music and it eventually helped them through a lot of hard times. So it’s kinda just written about those situations.

Planet Loud – I’ve always been a huge fan of the 80’s movie Lost Boys. You actually rewrote the song Cry Little Sister for the 2008 sequel. How did this come about and were ever you a fan of the movie?
Aiden – Well first and foremost, yes, I’ve been a fan of the movie since it came out in the 80’s. I’m a huge fuckin fan! The publicist that was working for Victory at the time had a relationship with the people at Warner Brothers and Warner Brothers asked Victory if they had any of the bands that would work for the soundtrack and the publicist was like “duh, Aiden”. And so they told me that they wanted us to cover this song and I was thrilled, it was fucking awesome.

Planet Loud – So Wil, where was you at when you first watched the movie?
Aiden – Where was I? I think I was at home. I got a copy of the DVD sent to me and I watched it at home. It was pretty cool.

Planet Loud – You have to be excited about your fourth upcoming album titled Knives which is planned to be released May 12th. Coincidently you actually produced it yourself.
Aiden – Right.

Planet Loud – How difficult was it to produce the album on your own and do you have your own studio?
Aiden – I do have my own studio, yes. I have a studio called Sleepy Hollow Studios and it’s up in the woods in northern Washington. It wasn’t difficult to produce the album. We’re a punk band on Victory Records so there hasn’t been millions of dollars to blow on a record and hire a big name producer. I’ve never entered this situation where I’ve gone into a studio and had a producer change my songs around and put new melodies in, write lyrics, and all of the things that a producer usually does. I’ve actually just went into the studio with all of the songs already done so producing it myself was not a stress at all. It was just what I’ve done in the past and what I’m going to do on the new one.

Planet Loud – So what’s your thoughts on starting your own label company? Has that ever run across your mind?
Aiden – No, I mean you can’t really sell records anymore can you? [laughs] I have a tough time selling my own records. Just selling someone else’s seems like a big headache.

Planet Loud – What comes first in the creation of a song, the music or the lyrics?
Aiden – Hmm, it depends. It’s different with every song. I mean sometimes the music and lyrics come at the same time or sometimes the lyrics come first; you know out of poetry that I write.

Planet Loud – This single, Scavengers of the Damned, off of the Knives album has been hitting home with your fans. Can you tell us a little about the thought process that you put into this song and what it actually means to you?
Aiden – You know, there wasn’t really any thought process in this song. This is one of the songs that came about on the album really quickly and really organically where I was writing tunes on my acoustic in my bedroom and the lyrics just came out really naturally. It’s really hard to say. I can’t say that I sit down with an idea of a song in mind and go ok, I’m gonna write a song about being in hell, and then write the lyrics around that. I kinda just let the lyrics come out naturally and then most times I don’t even know what the fucking song’s about until it’s all recorded and I can not listen to it for a few weeks and then I listen to it again and go, alright that’s what that’s about.

Planet Loud – So, in essence once you write the music and the lyrics and it’s being recorded, is that when you put the emotions into the song and conform it into what your true meaning of the song should be?
Aiden – Totally. I mean it’s different for everybody but for me, this record is a lot different from any of our other records because I produced it myself so I didn’t stand in the vocal booth all day from 10 o’clock in the morning til 10 o’clock at night and sing and do it on that kind of schedule. I did the vocals really, really late at night from 2 am to 8 am.

Planet Loud – So you’re pretty much a night owl.
Aiden – Yes.

Planet Loud – What kind of reaction are you getting from the fans off of this single and how do you think the fans are going to take from this album once it’s released?
Aiden – To be honest, Scavengers of the Damned is the most popular song on the record. All the other songs are a lot darker and a lot meaner. I’d really like to capture all of the fans that we lost doing Conviction.

Planet Loud – Did Aiden go through some problems in the past?
Aiden – Well I feel that the last album we did was such a departure from what we are and a lot of our fans didn’t get it. It was more about myself being selfish and this is what I wanna do. A lot of fans didn’t get it. So I’m hoping that on this album, people just wanna come out and fucking sing a long. Fuck it.

Planet Loud – When writing the album Knives, did you think maybe we should incorporate this or do something differently with this album than you did with the last 3 albums?
Aiden – Yeah, we really tried to capture what we are as a band live. People go up to us all the time and say “I really like your band live, you guys are so awesome live but your record’s lacking enthusiasm”. And I feel like that’s true. I feel like we’ve never been able to capture what we do live on a record. On this one, I feel like we have. So I’m excited about it and pretty proud of it.

Planet Loud – As a fan and I want to buy this album when it’s released, where can I go to pick it up?
Aiden – The way the record industry is nowadays, it’s so in the shitter that we’ve given people a lot of different options. There’s a fan package that you can get that’s up for pre-order right now. There’s a bunch of shit. You get the vinyl, the CD, signed booklet, a t-shirt, some buttons, and some other shit. Best Buy will have an exclusive version of the CD where it has 4 demos which I did acoustically. We’re also going to have the record on vinyl and ITunes. It really depends on what format you want it on.

Planet Loud – Are we looking at a DVD in the future?
Aiden – A DVD is probably going to follow maybe later in the year. We’ll probably do a re-release with a DVD or something.

Planet Loud – You actually start a tour to kick off the release of this album beginning May 9th in Washington. Anyone on tour with you or are you planning to headline with locals opening at each show?
Aiden – Yeah, we’re having locals open up at each show.

Planet Loud – After this stateside tour in May, you head over to the U.K. for a two week tour. How excited are you to get back over there?
Aiden – Aw man, the U.K. is our best market so we’re super excited about it. It’s going to be fun to get back to really tiny clubs and get back to the roots and the essence of what we are.

Planet Loud – What differences do you see with the fans in the U.K. as opposed to the states? What kind of reaction does Aiden get in the U.K.?
Aiden – It’s a lot more different. Actually it’s a lot more rabid and psychotic. I don’t want to say that they’re music deprived because they have bands coming over there all the fucking time; it’s such a mecca of music. People over there seem to appreciate it a lot more than some American cities; but I don’t want to say it like that. There are a lot of American cities that kick fucking ass but in the U.K. I think kids are really excited about music because they’re passionate.

Planet Loud – Any plans on tour mates for those two weeks?
Aiden – I think the support band on this tour is Tonight is Goodbye.

Planet Loud – After the tour in the U.K., you head back to the States for Warped Tour. What are your thoughts on this year’s line up?
Aiden – I think it’s the best line up in years; Bad Religion, NOFX, Less Than Jake; it’s gonna be fucking off the hook.

Planet Loud – The last time you guys have been on Warped was 2006. How excited are you to get back up there again?
Aiden – Aw, man, I would do Warped Tour every fucking year. It’s the best tour I’ve ever done. I’m super excited.

Planet Loud – Wil, sitting back as a fan on Warped this year, what are some of the bands that you’re excited to see?
Aiden – Bad Religion and NOFX.

Planet Loud – On this one, you’ll actually be sharing the stage once again with some good friends, Madina Lake.
Aiden – Yes! That’s gonna be a good time.

Planet Loud – What’s the plans after Warped Tour?
Aiden – I don’t know yet. Nothing in the works right now.

Planet Loud – Just got a couple off the wall questions and I’ll let ya go. Do you believe in ghosts and have you ever seen one?
Aiden – I do believe in ghosts but I can’t say that I’ve ever seen one. I’ve definitely felt them and been around them.

Planet Loud – They’re out there.
Aiden – Yes, they are.

Planet Loud – If I walked on Aiden’s tour bus, what would I expect to see?
Aiden – Um, nothing really exciting. It’s the most boring place you’ll ever go. You’ll see a Mexican, an Asian, and two white guys watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Planet Loud – The life of a rock star. Wil, is there anything that you want your fans to know about either you or Aiden?
Aiden – No, I can’t say that there is, sir.

Planet Loud – You don’t want anyone to know details about Wil Francis?
Aiden – No, nothing I want anyone to know. [laughs]

Planet Loud – We’ll just keep it hush hush. Well, hey Wil, I appreciate you taking the time out to interview with Planet Loud.
Aiden – Thanks a lot.

Interview by Scottydawg