When can you call a band new-comers?  Die So Fluid have been out there recording and touring Europe covering four album cycles, yet they just finished a tour with Wednesday 13 as the openers, getting exposed to US fans in many venues and cities for the first time.  After catching the tail end of their set at The Machine Shop in Flint, MI, I was able to chat briefly with vocalist Grog and we decided to extend the conversation via phone and share our talk with you...

Toddstar: Well, we finally worked this out, so thank you so much for taking the time out for us we really appreciate it.

Grog: You're welcome. It was good to meet you at The Machine Shop the other night.

Toddstar: Yeah, yeah, it was very cool at The Machine Shop.

Grog: Yeah, I like that place.

Toddstar: One of my favorite venues. So you were opening the set every night for Wednesday 13, how did that tour go?

Grog: It was really excellent, thank you. Yeah, it was really successful for us cause we kind of had a mission on that tour. It's the first tour we've done in the U.S. in a very long while. We wanted to kick off some style and really reach a lot of venues in a lot of different states and show that we mean business basically. It's good we got around these places and met a lot of new fans and won a few people over and I think we made a really good impression on the promoters as far as I'm hearing back from our agent. That's great for us because we want to really focus on the U.S. this year and do a lot more touring.

Toddstar: You mentioned that and we'll get back to that, but you're out pushing your release Opposites of Light.

Grog: That's right.

Toddstar: Your latest release, which I picked up my copy I had to support. What was your own reaction? How were the songs from Opposites of Light received while you were out on tour?

Grog: Really well. The thing is we were given little time to play so we had most places about thirty minutes and it was difficult for us to choose which tracks to play because we have four albums. But we always played "Black Blizzard" every show because I feel that's very representative of what we're about and of that record. That went down amazingly every night so I was pretty happy about that. And also it's a very dramatic tune because it has strings in it. For the first time we used the backing track with the strings on direct from the album recording. I think people appreciated it.

Toddstar: I think people across the board appreciate it just based on the feedback I heard. Okay you guys are kind of industrial but you're not the same audience per say as the Wednesday 13 crowd. How did you guys go about cultivating a set list that would well represent you guys but also kind of play to the bill so to speak?

Grog: That's a really good question because we just got through a phase of kind of going, "Maybe we should sort cater our set towards Wednesday 13 fans and Eyes Set to Kill fans" and in the end we just threw that out the window and just decided to play the best set that we thought represented Die So Fluid. We based that on the experience of which tracks have gone down well before on tour. Cause we've done a lot of work in Europe over the past years. We just wanted to do a really great set that would really wake people up and get their attention. That's the way we did it and we had a couple of tracks from each album. We varied it sometimes we swapped ten different tracks to keep ourselves on our toes really, but yeah in the end we just felt it's important to be yourself and I think that actually worked for us.

Toddstar: You mentioned continuing to tour in the U.S. you got an exciting tour coming up with a band that's just releasing a new album, The Dreaming.

Grog: That's right. Yeah.

Toddstar: What can you tell us about that tour coming up?

Grog: It's going to be great because we'll get to play places that we didn't get to do on the last tour. We're going out with The Dreaming who are made up of some of the ex-members of Stabbing Westward, and they're a really great band. I'm really excited to be playing direct support this time to them. I've touched base with Chris the singer and we've seem to get along really well so that's always great. That's almost a bonus sometimes when there's a great vibe going on between the bands. It's really exciting cause there's some venues on that list so I can't wait to go play in places like Seattle and Portland also San Francisco. I haven't played in those places before so that's going to be great for me.

Toddstar: When we spoke at The Machine Shop you told me that there's a neat little connection between you guys and The Dreaming.

Grog: It is through our drummer Al. It's so cool because he was in a band previously to joining Dies So Fluid called Gigantic and that band that he had the singer from Flesh For Lulu, I don't know if you know them? They did pretty well in the U.S. for a while and they went on tour with Stabbing Westward so I don't know if Stabbing Westward or the guys from The Dreaming realize it yet but they already know Al. That's going to be pretty cool when they realize they already know each other.

Toddstar: That's pretty cool - that's why I wanted to bring it up cause when you and I talked about it I thought it was a cool connection.

Grog: Yeah it is great.

Toddstar: Let's talk about you for a minute. Who made you want to stand behind a microphone and do this for a living? What was it in your life that said, "You're going to be a singer."

Grog: Oh wow! I always sang and always loved music and I just didn't quite know how it was going to take it's form career wise. I would say there have been some key moments along the way where I found inspiration. Some of those coming from a classical side and being taking to musicals when I was a kid because my mother is a classical pianist. So she always encouraged that side of music in me. Things like West Side Story was very inspirational to me but then I also have two older brothers who were both into rock music. One of my brothers took me to see Iggy Pop and that blew my mind. So that was a key moment for me too. I love singers like Chris Cornell and Jeff Buckley who have such amazing control and range over their voices. And that's what I hold up to be like. That's an ongoing inspiration for me.

Toddstar: Cool. When it comes to doing stuff for Dies So Fluid, obviously you're the leader, the front woman, we'll call you the ring leader so to speak, what's it's like, especially in the industrial world, for you being a woman trying to take over the genre?

Grog: Of course it's a bit of a boys club and everything but that's never really bothered me. I grew up with two brothers and have a lot of male friends and I just think you pick your friends who have a healthy outlook hopefully towards women. I never worried about it. I don't really care. I've just always done my own thing and also Dies So Fluid is very much about being independent and individual and it's all about just making the music. I think that's what opened the doors. I'm not really concerned with taking over any particular genre. Hopefully we find our own niche. I've always been a fan of call bands who have a kind of a cultish following like The Ramones or The Misfits things like that where they're like characters. Almost like cartoon characters. Even bands like Depeche Mode, they're just kind of more like forerunners at something rather than trying to fit into something. That's what I aspire to.

Toddstar: How much of...you're the front person you do most of the writing, when it comes to the visual part of Dies So Fluid, especially the video, how much of that comes from your vision and how much of it is brought in my outside sources? Especially like "Violent Delight" because that's really kind of a...I don't want to say twisted video, but it's kind of out there.

Grog: Yeah, I know. That contact came from Drew originally and then we actually the idea to a few different directors to see what they would make of it and whether they kind of got the idea. And then the director we went with he brought a few new elements to it. But he kind of understood what we were talking about. We started out with an even more simple concept for it and he kind of added a whole back story to it if you like. Normally it's really important to us to have a great deal to do with the creative concept with everything that we do. We do appreciate that it's good for you to involve other people and fresh ideas and stuff. We're not always like, "No, our way or the highway." It's good for you to kind of have your mind opened up by other creative forces. It's just a real mixture of ways of doing it with our videos. Some of them will be made by me, pretty much entirely and then there's one that Drews edited, probably actually about three that Drews edited, and it's just always a different combination. You just got to keep it fresh the whole time. I don't really want to get into a formulaic way of doing anything otherwise you don't grow.

Toddstar: Okay. As you said earlier you guys have four albums out there and you toured Europe extensively and you're now breaking fresh ground in the U.S. and picking up some new fans along the way, but with everything that you and Dies So Fluid have achieved to date, if you had to pick one or two things right now that at the end you want to be remembered for what would they be?

Grog: My immediate response is just to say this new album cause I feel like it's the best writing that we've ever done and because we went through a lot of changes just before we made this album with me relocating to the states from England. It was kind of I suppose a slightly touch and go moment thinking, "Is this going to work now?" With us living in different countries. And then the way it came together was so natural and we were so proud of this album. I'd say the Opposites of Light that's one. So far anyway. That's what I'd like to be remembered for.

Toddstar: As far as touring goes is there anything on the horizon? Are you guys able to talk about anything beyond this west coast one with The Dreaming. Any more dates in the  Michigan or Detroit or Flint area coming up that you can tell us about?

Grog: I hope so. All I can say at this point is we hope to do a fuller tour with The Dreaming in the summer. I can't really give you details of that yet but it's certainly on the horizon shall we say? We just have to iron out a few details.

Toddstar: Again I had such pleasure meeting you and catching part of your set at The Machine Shop and I know that the fans are enjoyed you. What's it like for you when you go into a smaller venue like that and play and know that you're getting positive feedback from a crowd like a Flint, Michigan crowd?

Grog: It's amazing, that tour was really interesting cause it was one night a big venue and then the next night a tiny place. The thing that was consistent through the whole thing was just this cool energy that we got from every time we played. It was just amazing, it didn't really make much difference to me what size it was as I long had that feeling. Feeding off the audience reaction that's what it's all about, it's really exciting.

Toddstar: Well, I know you're busy so I'm going to cut you loose but I wanted to first of all again thank you for taking time out for us, we really appreciate it.

Grog: Oh you're so welcome.

Toddstar: We wish you well on this west coast swing and reiterate once again we'd love to see you back here in Michigan.

Grog: Awesome, I can't wait to come back. And you know what? Also if we don't get to do this with The Dreaming in June we'll still be looking for as many other possibilities as we can to get back around to all the places we just played.

Toddstar: Thank you and we'll talk to you soon.

Grog: Okay thanks a lot Todd, bye.

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