SOURCE WEBZINE | We don’t have readers – we have believers.

SOURCEWEBZINE – How did you come up with the name Landmine Marathon ?

Ryan Butler (G) – The name was created before I was in the band, but basically, every name in the book seems to be taken these days. So, combinations of words seem to be the way to go. The phrase ‘Landmine Marathon’ brings some great images to mind and the name stuck. Knife Dude was apparently a close second. haha.

SOURCEWEBZINE – Can you give us a sneak preview of the upcoming studio album “Sovereign Descent”?

Ryan Butler (G) – Well, this is the first album with Landmine where I wrote 100% of the material. Bands like Entombed, Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Discharge, His Hero Is gone, Autopsy etc. have always been huge influences of mine. So, when I joined Landmine, my writing style just fit perfect. I think me writing all of the album made it fairly fluent and cohesive and the rest of the band seems very happy with how it turned out. Though, it’s sometimes very hard to come up with inspiration for forty minutes of material and not repeat yourself, but I’m pretty confident and happy with how it turned out. Pretty much expect what we’ve always delivered, and that’s old school brutal death metal. I feel Grace was much more focused in her writing on this record as well and felt she really knew exactly what she wanted to do when she walked into the studio. So, she’s at the top of her game for sure and really pulled it all together.

SOURCEWEBZINE – Who produced the album “Sovereign Descent”? How involved are you in the mixing process?

Ryan Butler (G) – I engineered it and produced it along with the band at my studio, Arcane Digital Recording. So, I personally was 100% involved with the mix! haha. We generally do five to ten mixes and I send them to everyone online to preview and we go over likes and dislikes and get it as close as we can to all loving it.

SOURCEWEBZINE – Landmine Marathon keep evolving musically and lyrically with each recording. What do you hope to achieve with “Sovereign Descent”?

Ryan Butler (G) – As stated, I think this is our most focused and cohesive work to date! So, we’re all excited for the world to hear it and experience it. The few people we’ve previewed it for have been ecstatic about it and that really makes us feel good. I think we really just want to keep that raw, almost punk feeling alive in death metal and show that it’s ok not to be a polished metal/metalcore band. We want our music to sound brutal and savage, but not like a machine. We’ll be on the road as much as possible working to prove our point!

SOURCEWEBZINE – Do you think that having a female singer tends to make people think differently about Landmine Marathon’s music than they would if you had a male lead singer?

Ryan Butler (G) – Absolutely. When people hear us and then see a picture of Grace or Grace walks on stage and starts performing, it really blows a lot of people away. I think some people definitely discount females in music, but those are people we really don’t need to be into us. Many more are excited about the fact that she’s doing something different and powerful. I know she has definitely empowered a few females as well to do their own thing. Grace Perry is my favorite Death Metal vocalist (besides Martin Van Drunen. haha.)

SOURCEWEBZINE – Does your band make money by touring and selling merchandise or by selling CDs? Could you tell us about http://landminemarathon.bigcartel.com ?

Ryan Butler (G) – We make enough money to cover most of the bands expenses. ie. Van repair, reordering merch. etc. The Big Cartel site is us trying to make more shirts and merch available on our own. We’ve just started it and hopefully it will take off a little more.

SOURCEWEBZINE – Are you able to make a living playing music, or do you have a day job?

Ryan Butler (G) – We all have jobs. The band is fairly self sufficient as I said before, but none of us have really personally made money with the band as of yet. It’s something we’d like to achieve (or at least cover all of our food expenses on tour, haha). But, no, we all grew up in the DIY scene. So, we’re generally still sleeping on floors and paying for our own taco bell and we’re absolutely all fine with that cause we love what we do. But it feels good to not have to shell out money to fix the van or buy merch every tour! I’m sure it’ll become even more self sufficient as we continue to get out there and really push this new record!

SOURCEWEBZINE – You use MySpace quite a lot to be in contact. Do you believe about these social networks being effective to keep contact with fans?

Ryan Butler (G) – I think they are a great way for fans to be directly connected! It is a little overwhelming at time to have to deal with every fan’s letters, comments, posts, etc. But I think it’s positive. I hope facebook gets on the ball and makes their site as usable for bands and businesses since everyone seems to be shifting over to there.

SOURCEWEBZINE – Do you still enjoy the live setting and how important is it to the band to put on a great show?

Ryan Butler (G) – We LOVE playing live and wish we could do it even more often. I think a great show makes a great band even greater! We really try to put all our passion and energy into every performance whether there are 20 people or 2000 people at the show. There’s nothing worse than going to see a band you love and they just stand there when they perform.

SOURCEWEBZINE – What did you do over the holidays?

Ryan Butler (G) – Nothing really exciting. Took a few days off to spend time with my wife and friends and family and then went back to recording bands! We all save most of our travel time for the band.

SOURCEWEBZINE – Looking into the future, where do you think Landmine Marathon will go next?

Ryan Butler (G) – Well, I can’t see our style changing as we all really love what we’re playing, but we strive for every record to go up a level in intensity and songwriting. We want to continue to be on the road as much as possible and make more people aware of our presence every day. We’re constantly working hard to make this thing we do grow and grow!

SOURCEWEBZINE – Anything else you’d like to mention or promote?

Ryan Butler (G) – “Sovereign Descent” will be out March 16th, 2010 on Prosthetic Records. Please check it out and if you love it, but a shirt too! Dan Seagrave did the art for this album and I think people will be blown away by how amazing the cover came out!
Landmine Marathon