FEATURES

American punk rock rebels Amen deliver their second anti-establishment album, We Have Come For Your Parents on October 31st. A mere twelve months after the release of their self-titled debut, the sophomore effort is already upon us. Vocalist Casey Chaos explains why he chose not to take a summer vacation.

"All the bands that I've ever really looked at, that I can identify with, were always really prolific. They put out a lot of material. I think a lot of bands today are falling into this game where the label wants to milk an album for two years and get their money's worth out of it. I always wanted to be able to record. We did an album and then we recorded some songs for a European EP. For this one we recorded the album plus another six songs because we want to do another EP afterwards. I would ideally love to be able to record an album a year. I wrote fifty-six songs from December to February and demoed 'em at my house. I gave 'em to the band and gave 'em to Ross (Robinson - producer) and I stepped back and let them pick the songs. They narrowed it down to 25 songs and then we went into the studio."

Extremely proud of the new album, Casey shares his enthusiasm. "The packaging on this CD is just the best. I've got to sit here and suck my own dick. The packaging is the best ever. It's really, really powerful, so incredible. It's like a big gatefold. I'm so happy that Virgin went along with it because it cost extra money."

The aforementioned Virgin Records is the new home to Amen, as last year they were part of Roadrunner's roster. Switching labels is probably the best thing that ever happened to Chaos. "My issues with Roadrunner were not the staff that are working the bands, we have a lot of respect and I'm totally grateful for them. But the people that run the company and the people that are calling the shots basically lied to us. It got more into a control factor and I can't be controlled and I won't be. To be honest with you, I've had a hundred times more freedom with this album than the last one. You would figure with an independent you can get more freedom, but that's not the case. Robb Flynn from Machine Head was almost crying when he heard that we were able to leave Roadrunner. A lot of bands on Roadrunner are very envious of us, they're not too happy. We're really grateful that everything turned out the way it did. Virgin has been the fucking best.

I'm waiting for death it's been so good."