2010-06-01 | Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz and Marco Gariboldi | e-mail interview

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NINa: Are you the only member of Klank, or do you have a general line-up?

Daren "Klank" Diolosa: We've actually had the same line up since like late 1997 / early 1998... It was only on the first two tours in 1997 that we didn't have a permanent line up. At that point I had just released Still Suffering and didn't have a band set or even planned on playing out yet and I was asked to do some fests and then a tour. So it was basically calling up some close friends and asking, "Hey you guys wanna go play some shows and rock out???? It will be a lot of fun..." And so we did. After those 2 initial runs, that's when we got together as a band and its still the same line up since then... Pat Servedio on guitars, keyboards / programming, Danny Owsley on guitar, John Zaletel on drums and myself on vocals and guitar and as of 2007, we brought our friend Charlie Parker on board to play bass for us!!!!

On the NUMB...Reborn release we had a few close friends do some guest spots here and there. We had asked Jim Chaffin if he would be interested in throwing down some drums on a few songs and we was into it and it was really fun for us to do. We recorded drums in Fresno at Mike Phillips' place and we had Mike throw down a lead on Broken for us... It was great because he is such an awesome guitarist and it was a trip to watch him come up with an idea off the top of his head and it was exactly what we were looking for... Larry Farkas has been one of my fav guitarists since I was in high school. We had written "Don't Count Me Out" and were looking for one last thing to top it off. I had contacted Larry and asked him if he would be into throwing down one of his infamous "Larry Farkas Les Paul Wah Solo's" and he was really into it. We sent him the song and he sent it back with a killer solo. We are all really proud of what we achieved on this and it was kinda like a dream come true in a sense to have some of our friends whom we respect and admire so much be a part of it and come through for us.

NINa: I'd like to get back to Circle of Dust, Argyle Park, & early Klank and releases from Tooth & Nail and R.E.X. How was it that Christian orientated music labels were able to gather such outstanding albums comprised of aggressive, emotional, heavy and powerful content, seemingly having nothing in common with Christian "happy, gospel-like music" that typically comes to mind? What's the catch?

Klank: Well, Circle Of Dust was signed to REX Music and that's how the door had opened for Argyle Park to be released through them and for me to release a KLANK song on a compilation through them, but REX ended up collapsing and ultimately causing the demise of Circle Of Dust.

To be honest we all just wanted to write songs, record and put out some cool music. I guess we all had a similar vision musically and it all just worked really well. Ironically it wasn't even a matter of it being a Christian label putting out our music. It was a record label period... We wanted to get music out there and they wanted to put it out so we went for it...

It ended up being a bit of a blessing and a curse in a way because we got to reach a whole different market of people which was cool, but opened us to being labeled as a "Christian" band.. Personally I wanna play for anyone and everyone no matter what their religious beliefs, social status, sexual orientation may be. Whether is kids at a Christian / religious festival or kids at an Atheist / Agnostic / Satanic / Pro Abortion / Stem Cell fund raising bake sale, I wanna play for them. Personally I don't think what someone's beliefs are should be an issue at all. If u like the music, cool and if you don't, that's cool also.

I grew up in a real strict Christian household so I KNOW what its like for a lot of these kids who aren't allowed to listen to anything "NON CHRISTIAN" and I totally sympathize with them. I've been there and it sucks, but u have to honor your parents rules when u live in their house and it's rough.

It's been an honor and a blessing even to be a part of some of these albums that have been received so well and that so many people have enjoyed and regarded and monumental or groundbreaking even. The only drawback even to this day is that people label you a Christian band and in a lot of cases, it tends to scare people away. Nobody wants to be preached to or feel like you are going to try and convert them so as soon as they see anything remotely CHRISTIAN, they are turned off immediately or don't even give the attention they would have otherwise given it if that association had not been made.

NINa: Tooth & Nail records created a circle of bands seemingly in support of one another, like Chatterbox, 6 Feet Under, Argyle Park, Klank, Circle of Dust, & Mortal. It seems that Scott Albert (a.k.a. Klayton) from Celldweller was a central figure during that era. His label, FIXT Music, decided to sell your new album, NUMB...Reborn from their online store. Is that just a coincidence, or were you encouraged by Klayton to refresh an album that was originally released in 1999?

Klank: Well Klank and Chatterbox were both on Tooth and Nail, Mortal was on Intense Rec and Circle, Argyle, SixFeetDeep were all on R.E.X. Records which had gained a pretty good rep for themselves for having cutting edge bands. In 1995 when R.E.X. finally went under, Tooth and Nail had been getting really popular really fast and kinda took its place. Klay produced the Chatterbox CD and worked after wards with me on Still Suffering. We did have a pretty cool network and supported each other because we were all friends...
When we started lining up distro for NUMB...Reborn, I contacted James at FIXT to see if they would be interested and it all worked out. We wanna get this out thru as many avenues and outlets as possible so we can obviously reach as many people as possible.

NINa: Do you remember when & how you first met Klayton? What are your best and worst memories when it comes to collaborating with him through the years?

Klank: Klay and I have actually known each other since we were in our early teens so I don't recall exactly when and where we met.
Best memories? I'd have to say would be actually leaving NY and going out on our first major tour... We went out for like 30 days and played with Mortal, Living Sacrifice and bunch of other bands. I had a blast every time we went out. I guess worse memory would be when R.E.X. went under and ultimately led to the break up of Circle of Dust. It ended up taking a serious toll on our friendships and it was by far one of the worst times of my life.

NINa: You took part on two amazing albums, Misguided by Argyle Park, and the debut album from Circle of Dust, which is a band you actually fronted for. What was the response of people listening to Christian music when they came across your guitar driven metal riffs? Did it sound ‘satanic’ to them, or merely secular? ;)

Klank: Well as I mentioned earlier we weren't a Christian band but it felt really good to see people's reactions to us playing live especially if they were seeing us for the first time. There wasn't many bands doing what we were doing at that time trying to unite the essence of metal with the dancy vibe... We weren't reinventing the wheel, but we were doing it our own way and it was really good to be so well received.

NINa: What are your most memorable occasions from Circle of Dust in regards to shows, backstage & the recording studio?

Klank: While we were on tour in Miami, Fl we got to be guests on MTV Latino's Sat night metal show called "Headbangers" with Alfredo Lewin.. That was a great feeling.. As far as shows go it would definitely be in ATLANTA, GA at The Masquerade. We had such a huge following there thanks to WRAS college radio station. They took a liking to us and we were in regular rotation on their station and as a result we were playing to like 1,200 or more people EVERY time we came to town. There was never a bad show there.

NINa: Many people admire your guitar playing skills. How many years have you been playing? Did you practice songs from your favorite albums, or were you self taught, working on your own arrangements?

Klank: Actually I've been playing since 10th grade. I never took formal lessons or anything. I always played by ear and to what sounded good to me. I never used to think of myself as a really good guitarist in the past but I've grown comfortable with who I am and what my abilities are. I was a typical kid that would sit with my guitar and whatever really kick ass album I could get my hands on that had cool riffs or a totally shredding guitarist. I wanted my rhythms to be as fast and tight as possible but also clean. Anyone can play fast but can they play clean?? I also had a fixation for really tight down picking. Everything had to be down picked because to me, when it was done right, it sounded tight as hell. Once again not everyone could down pick so I really wanted to be the best or at least recognized for my ability.

Fast forward to being in KLANK, I still used to sit and try to get my down picking really good and tight for hours. Danny and I were living in NY, working all day and coming home and just down picking to a drum machine for countless hours at night. I'm not really a "solo" guitarist, but I loved to be kinda funny and say that I would "down pick anyone under the table".. Ha ha ha ha.

NINa: Word through the grapevine is that you formed Klank after Tooth & Nail suffered financial problems that led to Circle Of Dust disbanding in 1995. At the same time, Still Suffering was recorded and published; sounding as if it were a continuation of Circle of Dust. Were you loosing your inspiration leading up to the release of Downside, since Klank seemed to go on hiatus prior to the release of NUMB?

Klank: The popular misconception is that KLANK started AFTER Circle broke up. Truth of the matter is that I was writing music for KLANK about 2 years before Circle broke up. I didn't have a full band yet or even have an album's worth of material written yet and I was talking with Brandon Ebel from Tooth And Nail Records about what I was working on and how he somehow found out about it all the way in California when I was living in NY..

After we released the Downside remix EP we toured and worked on the songwriting for NUMB for like 2 years. We actually had racks of recording gear out on the road with us while on tour and were cutting tracks in the hotels before and after gigs and any days off. Once we released NUMB and got burned as badly as we did by Progressive Arts Media who distributed it, we were so done with all the drama and the evil dark side of the music business that essentially sucked the life out of it for all of us. That's what the song "Bleed Me Dry" was written about... Something that we loved and treasured so much, making music, was twisted and manipulated to the point that it disgusted you and made you feel sick inside. It was no longer fun and became a chore and a grueling annoyance to do and be a part of. For us that was the sign. It was taking a toll on our friendships and we all saw it happening and it royally sucked.

That's when we took a break and just did other things for a while. It wasn't planned but it was necessary. None of us wanted to lose friendships over dumb bullshit that was driving us apart and causing tension. We all had a lot of time invested but Pat and I were friends for so many years before from growing up in the same music scene. He's one of my closest friends and if I would have lost that friendship due to all this drama, it would have killed me.

NINa: NUMB album was improved upon with new versions of previously released songs, as well as additional help from guest musicians like Jim Chaffin, Larry Farkas and Mike Phillips. Was NUMB...Reborn issued to raise a resurgence of interest in Klank before the release of the upcoming album entitled Urban Warfare?

Klank: When we released NUMB through Progressive Arts Media we had worked out a deal in which we stood to make a lot of money if it sold well. We received no money up front in exchange for a considerably higher royalty rate from every sale. We handed them a finished master complete with artwork in advance and we personally covered all expenses to make that record and we ended up getting royally screwed over... To this day, they haven't paid us a dime... Not for NUMB not for the video for "Blind" that we set up and paid our friend Justin to do for us and not for the song we did for the Van Halen tribute CD.

We feel these songs are still good songs that we didn't really have a chance to fully promote well because of Progressive Arts. We wanted to put those songs out as we had originally intended to and hopefully gain some financial compensation for them. Even though it sold pretty well through Progressive Arts, we feel there's still a lot of life in those songs and there's still quite a lot of people who haven't heard them yet and we wanted to try to get these songs out there but in a way where they won't be making any more money off of us. The issue is that Progressive Arts is still selling NUMB to this day when they are NOT legally entitled to do so. We don't have a lawyer or money to get one to fight them on it so we wanted to put those songs out and guarantee that they would NOT be entitled to any monetary compensation. So DON'T buy NUMB because you will be supporting a lying, cheating thief and his label. Instead buy NUMB...Reborn and give the artist a chance to actually make something finally after all this drama and all our hard work we have put into it, and please enjoy these songs they way we had originally wanted to present them.

We wanted to finish NUMB...Reborn and get it out before we dedicated all our focus and effort on our next full length release which will be titled URBAN WARFARE. Then we started gathering the song ideas, structures, and bits and pieces we had been working on individually and collectively to kind of take inventory and see just what we had exactly. I believe we were quite surprised at the amount of material we had accumulated and the potential we felt that it had. We took some of the complete song structures, then I went over them trying out various melody lines and lyrical ideas and it all just started to flow and fall into place. For example, an idea that Pat had structured out and worked on came into play and ended up really taking shape nicely. It was really heavy and groovy but at the same time very drivey and kinda dancy. It essentially ended up becoming what will be the title track for URBAN WARFARE. We are really happy with the songs and ideas that we have so far.

The sound on URBAN WARFARE will basically be a natural progression to the next level of what KLANK is to become. It will definitely be heavy, dancy, aggressive, melodic and moving because that's what we are, but it will also continue to show our versatility and maturity as musicians as well. We never set out to be confined to one certain box or mold and that's what I feel is one of the coolest aspects of KLANK. We can remain true to our core elements, but essentially the possibilities are limitless.

NINa: What experiences do you usually express through your music?

Klank: For us, writing music is a form of therapy that helps to release bottled up frustrations and emotions that otherwise may have no outlet... We write music that we feel comes from deep down inside and a lot of people can relate because it's based on real life situations and emotions from everyday life... We write about life, how it affects us and those around us. From mood swings, bitterness, the longing for inner peace to elements of hope, happiness & even despair. We all have to deal with these in our lives and this is our way to vent those issues. I have written about everything from my parents divorce, abuse, perseverance and never giving up, encouraging people to think for themselves to the closer than family bonds of friendship, discontent, a best friends betrayal and even questioning God and his existence. We've always referred to our lyrics as a page out of a journal or diary, but set to music. We like to consider it a form of "Sonic Therapy".

NINa: Is it true that you've been working with the Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey circus for over 10 years now? What would your job description consist of?

Klank: Actually I had worked for them for 8 yrs on their Blue Traveling Show. First off, most people aren't aware that RINGLING BROS travels from town to town by train. It is actually the world's largest privately owned coach train. I started out as a member of the Transportation Department. Our job was to assist in the safe transport of all our show wagons, vehicles and property from the rail yard / site where we unloaded our train to the local arena / coliseum we were performing at. I was essentially a mechanic / repairman along with my crew members. We were the backbone of the show as far as maintaining / repairing all things that moved and had wheels.( Vehicles, wagons, heavy equipment, fork lifts, power generators, etc etc etc)

I had a really awesome boss named Garrett that saw I was very mechanically inclined and eager to learn that he taught me a lot of cool things such as how to weld and fabricate. He eventually left the show and I essentially took his place and the Transportation Manager / Show Fabricator. I was basically the "Go-To" guy and was pretty much on call 24-7... It was really cool to be relied upon and referred to as the guy who could "fix any problem or come up with a solution to tide us over till we got to the next town" but at the same time it kinda sucked because after a while people didn't even try to handle their problems themselves. Once there was an issue or problem, they just automatically called for me to solve it which I would. It was cool but the intense long hours and inadequate time to really rest started to take its toll on me physically and on my health and I had to walk away...

NINa: After listening to the re-issued version of NUMB (NUMB..Reborn), I noticed a few songs similar in vibe & impact to the music of Prong. Are you inspired somewhat by Tommy Victor?

Klank: Actually we've been friends with Tommy and the Prong guys for many years now. We are all Prong fans and consider them to be an influence. I'd say yes there are some spots here and there where you can kinda pick out some Prong influence without actually sounding like them. They are a great band and write some really kick ass tunes. Our music definitely would appeal to their audience and their music to our audience. The dance groove factor and kinda catchy-ness we have is actually quite appealing to a lot of different music types and helps us to "Cross-Genres" and essentially appeal to and find favor with the heavy crowds, the dancy, electronic crowds as well as those into the melodic, vocal type scene.

NINa: Would you like to play with Tommy sometime or request a guest appearance on the next album perhaps?

Klank: We would love to do some shows with Prong. Actually been trying to make that happen for years now. We would love to have Tommy on a song of ours or have a chance to be on a Prong song or even do a remix or two for them.. So Tommy if your listening, hit me up bro.... Let's make it happen!!

NINa: Considering your experience, what are the biggest advantages of guitar driven music in the modern industry?

Klank: I'm not sure about any advantages there might be for guitar driven music, all I know is in the early years, nobody was doing it or at least not a lot of people were doing it like we were. It was kinda considered to be like a taboo to have dancy beats with guitar driven rythms. We were trying to break that taboo with Circle Of Dust and trying to break the barrier between dance and kinda guitar driven music. With KLANK were trying to keep that concept but take it even further beyond. We always say our goal is to bring the MOSH PIT to the DANCE FLOOR and I believe that's exactly what we do. We like to mesh the dance beats, keyboards and loops with really heavy, aggressive guitar driven riffs to give our songs a different dimension. Keep in mind not all KLANK songs are aggressive and driven by heavy guitars. As I mentioned earlier, we don't like to be confined to one particular box or format.

NINa: Did you have the chance to meet the guys from Chatterbox during The Crucified project in 1994? What was your impression of the Despite album?

Klank: I'm not exactly sure which Crucified project you are referring to, but I have known the guys form the Cru since like 1992 or something like that. It's been quite a few years actually. Jeff Bellew, the bassist, used to play for MORTAL way back in the day and I used to go see them whenever they would come remotely close to NY. I had a chance to hear some of the early demo stuff that Jeff had been working on and remember him telling me it was for this project he was thinking of calling "Chatterbox". It was just him with like a drum machine and a four track but it was really cool.... really raw and rough, but really cool. He later had asked Klay to help him with the recording of Despite. I liked it. I thought it was a great CD. We've actually been talking with Jeff for a while about doing a KLANK / CHATTERbOX split 7 inch or E.P. or some kind of cool little collaboration thing. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

NINa: One of the musicians taking part on Argyle Park's "Misguided" album was Buka, who also co-wrote the song "Woodensoul" for the Still Suffering CD. Are you still in touch?

Klank: Buka had helped me write some lyrics for the song "Woodensoul". It was funny because he wasn't expecting it but I listed him in the credits for the song. Buka and I have known each other since our early teens. Him, Klay and I were all friends. We used to run in the same circles participate in a lot of functions together back in the day. Unfortunately I haven't spoken to Buka in some time now. Last time we spoke he expressed that he was pissed at me about something and had decided that he no longer wanted to associate with me and be my friend. Needless to say I am deeply saddened by this. I hope some day he has a change of heart and decides to contact me. I really hate losing friends. Especially friends I have known for that long.

NINa: Jim Marcus, better known as the leader of Die Warzau, is also a talented designer who made artwork for Still Suffering. How did you meet him? Did you collaborate during the process of creating the artwork, or did Jim come to you with ideas that you sorted through prior to approval?

Klank: Actually it was Brandon from Tooth and Nail that had contacted him about doing the art. I believe he sent him a few rough song sketches of what we had at that time to kind of give him a vibe of who we were and what we sounded like. I spoke to Jim a few times on the phone but never met him face to face. Tooth and Nail and I both loved what Jim sent over and I am pretty sure that it was his first submission that was the keeper. I loved it then and still do to this day. Jim's a really great designer and I am glad it worked out to have him be a part of that.

Marco: "Nuclear holocaust, is this our destiny?" is a line from a beautiful song of yours entitled "Downside". 15 years have passed since the release of this song, but the threat of a nuclear holocaust is still quite real (North Korea, Iran, Pakistan & more). Do you believe that a legitimate menace of danger exist, or is it just media propaganda promoting terrorism to scare us since the end of the "Cold War"?

Klank: No I definitely believe it is still very much a real threat. No matter what people tell us, we really have no clue as to the extent of weaponry foreign countries have in their possession or have access too. The threat of possible doom from nuclear weapons was one aspect I wanted to get across in "Downside" because it was real. Basically none of us know what the future holds and we, being humans, have a bad track record for making mistakes. We don't know if our bad decision making (The Gulf War for example) would eventually do us in and lead to our downfall as a nation or even extinction. "Downside" came across great lyrically I think because it kinda tells a story and poses some questions, while at the same time makes some valid points and statements that are basically facts and can't be debated.

If you go line by line like I did when I was writing it and break it down you can see what I mean.

"Life's Uncertainties, Two days are not the same, You can't tell what the outcome will be"
As I said, none of us know what tomorrow or the future holds. No two days are alike and so much is going on that we have no clue what the end result of any given day will be.

"Overwhelming peace, While racial tension breeds, Wealth and poverty both eyes to see"
Everyone is talking about peace EVERYWHERE. We preach it, we teach it and we even claim we are achieving it in some cases, but at the same time there is all this racial tension building and breeding all around us, not just in foreign countries but right here in our own back yards. And whether you are rich or poor we all need eyes and we see through those same human eyes...

"Cataclysmic minds, unite to procreate, Perverse offspring of our technology"
The worlds smartest minds unite to design, engineer and construct such advanced technology in the name of achieving peace or bettering the world by their contributions and we end up with atomic bombs and such high tech, advanced tools of war designed to only destroy, annihilate and ultimately eliminate the "opposition" with minimal or no effort. It's actually kinda sickening when you think about it.

"Leaching Collaborate, Cut off your nose to spite your face, Weakening the system that buckles at the knees"
Basically the govt, military and figures of power and influence are joined together and their efforts are essentially hurting us and causing harm and damage to us as a nation and we are essentially buckling from it and we will eventually crumble and fall as a result.

"Nuclear holocaust, Is this our destiny? Destroy our future, Perpetual Wasteland, Leaders not exempt, To their mortality, And even still our lives, Are held in their hands"
Will Nuclear Holocaust ultimately be the final death of us all? Destroying our future and creating a toxic wasteland from the chemical fallout? Yes our leaders ARE our leaders, but they are still mortal humans. They make mistakes just like everyone else and are not exempt to that fact and no matter how you look at it, our lives, our fate, our very existence is essentially in the palm of their hands because they are the decision makers.

Marco: Continuing to focus on the subject of your lyrics; in songs like "Numb" and "Blind", you describe our "fake" reality in the context of an epidemic identity crisis. Have you found a way to live your life in harmony, or are you still on the perpetual search? Do you believe there's a chance in some distant future where all the world could find a way to live in harmony?

Klank: I don't think anyone has found a way to live in complete harmony yet. We can try and do our best, but we have not only ourselves to deal with but others too and people are people. They are unpredictable. I guess we all are still on a perpetual search. We can only hope to reach that goal of achieving a way to live in peace. Whether it is actually possible, I'm not really sure but we can most certainly try our best!!!

"Numb" is more about nay-sayers and people who constantly have to slag you and try to bring you down because you don't do things exactly the way others do or think the same way as others do. People who don't mind speaking their minds are more than happy to do so, but when you want to speak your mind, they tune you out and say you're "out of line" or wrong or whatever. If we all happened to think alike, there would be no more individuality and we'd all basically be like clones and copies of each other.

"Blind" is about taking a good look around at what is going on in today's day and age. We all endure some pretty crazy things in this life but we can't ever let it get the best of us. We all slip at times but we're smart enough to see where we are making the mistakes or when we need to make the effort to rectify whatever it is we are going through. But only if we all just really take a good look without the blinders on. So we need to man up and not try to see with blinders on. If we expect to make it through this life or attempt to make any changes, we need to have the whole picture, not just the "Tunnel Vision".

Marco: I've read many extremely different opinions about you and your music on the web: There's a guy that credits you for delivering him out of Satanism, and another who says that you are no "Sliver of Christ". Does it strike you that you are either misunderstood, or taken too seriously?

Klank: In a nutshell, you can't please everyone or make everyone happy at the same time. There will always be people who see good and bad or pluses and minuses. We've received a lot of mail over the years from a lot of people who have been touched in a major way by our music and that it has helped to change their lives or make such and impression on them and helped them in some sort of way. For us, that is amazing. It is like the ultimate compliment that someone was so moved by what we had to say and how we said it that it had some sort of impact on them and maybe even helped them in their life. We have had people tell us that our music helped them through the darkest times of their life and if it wasn't for us, they don't know what they would have done to make it through their crisis or if they would even still be here today and that is REALLY HEAVY!!!! We never set out to achieve anything like that. I don't think that could be planned actually.

We never claimed to be whatever a "Sliver of Christ" is, or to be a tool to help people out of Satanism or to be anything really except just a band that told it like it is and expressed what we felt through song. Originally it was like well this what we have gone through and we have put it out there for all to see and if at least ONE person gets something out of this than that would be kinda cool. For us it was like our own "Sonic Therapy" session and like every therapy session you always feel better when you get stuff off your chest and you talk about it. If someone else could relate it was a win.

In all actuality, it turned out to be that there was multitudes of kids and people who could relate and did relate and we got letters all the time from them and still do saying how we had touched them in some how or had a positive impact on them. So if anyone wants to knock us in some way and say were not positive or are too dark or whatever to have a positive influence on people, then they are 100% wrong. We have seen it first hand and it is quite an amazing feeling to be a part of something that could not only reach people, but to stir something up in them all because of something you said or talked about in a song! It's a kind of high that you can't really describe actually.

Marco: Do you think that e-books readers such as Kindle or iPad will eventually replace printed paper in the near future? Would you prefer to read a physical book or a digital one?

Klank: You know, to be honest I don't know too much about the whole e-book thing or how it all works at all. As far as the iPad goes, I have never seen it, or know much about it except its like the new big craze going on and its MAC based from what I hear and I don't own a MAC so I'm not sure. I believe it's just the natural progression of technology to be able to download a manual / pdf for a TV, computer program or device. I have come to find that every program, website or troubleshooting / help related avenue these days is all about the downloadable manual or booklet. It's cool to have these because I think it might actually be a little faster to navigate through the download to find the specific section you are looking for as opposed to the paper version. But I think that's only when you are familiar with how the downloaded manuals work and are familiar with navigating through them.
I was troubleshooting an issue with a burning software I have a few months ago and it was my first experience with the downloaded manual and I was totally lost and confused for a while..... It's funny now thinking about it but it wasn't funny then!!!

Marco: Unlike many other Industrial rock/metal bands, you don't talk about drugs in your songs. Have you ever used drugs? Are you inclined for decriminalization, or prohibition?

Klank: I am by no means an angel. I've had my share of experimenting and curiosity growing up like any kid, but I have also lost a lot of close friends, family members and even musical icons / mentors as a direct result of drugs and that really, really sucks. It is easy to preach "Don't Do Drugs" and "Just Say No" but the bottom line is if a kid wants to try, they are going to try. We try to encourage kids not to get involved with drugs or use them as mask, answer, escape or scapegoat even for problems or issues they might be struggling through and dealing with. That is never the answer, it just causes more problems.

I am not an advocate of hard drug use, so I would have to say that the punishment for the offense should fit the crime. If someone is dealing hard drugs such as heroin, coke, crack or ecstasy and their arrest records show they are repeat offenders, then by all means get them off the street and put them away. Hard drugs are illegal for a reason.

As far as marijuana goes, it's no secret of its medicinal purposes and the benefits from the use of hemp. I think it should be legalized, let the govt tax the hell out of it and regulate it. In still mandatory age requirements just like they have now for driving a car, buying tobacco, liquor or voting so it is properly monitored and regulated.
I think alcohol is a more dangerous drug than marijuana and it gets abused on a way larger scale on a daily basis. It does way more harm to you and leads to more deaths annually. Recent statistics showed on an average there are more than 85,000 alcohol related deaths per year. There are no recorded deaths from marijuana alone, no evidence exists that anyone has ever died of a marijuana overdose and there are no cases of marijuana only smokers getting lung cancer.

I have no problem with the responsible use of marijuana, but I want to make perfectly clear that I have NO platform or agenda here at all towards that cause. I / we are NOT out on a mission rallying for that purpose. You had asked my opinion and I therefore gave it.

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