Only the ideas that we actually live are of any value. You knew all along that your sanctioned world was only half the world and you tried to suppress the second half the same way the priests and teachers do. You won't succeed. No one succeeds in this once he has begun to think.
- Hermann Hesse

Jason Smith is an extraordinary and enigmatic human being. Highly respected in the music industry and with 5 critically acclaimed albums with his heavy metal band Mind, he has recently earned 3 awards at the prestigious @Chaos awards: Best Band, Best Album (for the almost universally applauded Shattered Fairytale) and Technical Ecstasy. With this in tow, we decided that we wanted to interview him.

We arrive in his home in Chelsea, London with a sense of eager anticipation. The house isn’t huge; but it is large enough for a rock star of Jason’s calibre. There are quotes from obscure poets and revolutionaries pasted around the garden on plaques. It soon becomes obvious that Jason Smith doesn’t quite get the boundaries between artsy and pretentious. As our interview team pulls up to the front door, you can faintly hear music playing. Naturally, it is heavy metal music. One of the more musically-minded in the team points out that the song is in fact Sinister Vision by The Nimrods. So we knock on the door of this gargantuan of music, this heavy metal juggernaut. Who has seemingly forgotten that he had an interview today. He answers the door, brushing his teeth in nothing but boxers.

“Oh shit... sorry guys, forgot I had something on today. Come in, come in, make yourselves warm.” He replies with a “not again” face. We sit on his sacrilegiously comfy chairs for about 10 minutes until he comes back with 4 cups of tea, fully dressed now in a hoodie and jeans. His hair is as expected, bold and bouncy, and extremely sexy. He pauses the music and pulls a chair forward. He sits on it like one of those cops when they sit on it backwards.

“Yeah, I apologise for that. I completely forgot you guys were coming today, I lost my diary, you see. Anyway, let’s get this bitch a-rollin’.” Jason says with a smile. One of our crew members points out his unusually pink eyes and the fact that he smells a bit like weed. We think he may have been smoking. That aside, we begin the interview and immediately make ourselves comfortable.

Q: So Jason, thank you for agreeing to do this interview with us. Lets start off with a question about your upcoming release with Mind, Dream Serpent.
A: That’s fine. Yeah, Dream Serpent’s pretty cool. It’s one of my fave albums; I can really experiment with it. You may notice when you listen to it that there’s quite a large wall of sound and a lot of ambient is in it. Ambient’s always been there, but it is way more noticeable in this album. A couple of the full tracks, like the first couple of Creation Spectrums and Monolith have a hell load of soundscapes and ambient in them. They practically are ambient tracks, just a little more rocky.

Q: Nice. Now about Project; Prometheus, your upcoming side proje-
A: Wait, wait. It’s not a side project. It’s a full on band. Sorry about interrupting you, it’s just that I don’t want it to be thought of as a side project, because it isn’t. Anyway, me and Eric [Quillington, leader of Infinite] have been friends for a while and decided that we wanted to do this thing. It’s a real mixture, the debut. It’ll have everything. It’s bombastic, bodacious and totally brilliant. If I do say so myself. Out of all the things I’ve been involved in, this is by far my favourite. It’s just... opened up a totally new side to me. Eric has made my writing skills a hell of a load better.

Q: Alright then, sorry about that. You are a keen producer, Jason. This has propelled you to become one of the most popular producers in music today. Have you got anything upcoming producing wise?
A: Not really. I mean, I’ve just completed working on The Verdict is Vengeances new album with Eric, and I’m gonna be working with him again on Blood of Weczs new album, which I’m totally stoked about. I am available for work still; I haven’t got much to do at the moment.

Q: Earlier this year, you released your debut solo album Realm, which didn’t do quite as well as suspected...
A: Yeah, I was kinda expecting it to do better, but I’m not shocked by it. It’s a total change of pace from what I usually do. I usually kick out pounding heavy metal, and to stray into Folktronica may have surprised a couple of people, I guess. There were some very poppy tracks on there, but it’s not to milk the cash cow or anything. I mean, you’re not gonna have a 9 minute pop song on the radio, are you?! I know it’s cliché, but cash and fame doesn’t really bother me anymore. I mean, I’ve had two number one songs, a couple of number one albums with it and I have enough cash to get me through my life now. I just want to make music to entertain people. I do care about the fans, that’s why I keep making so much music.

Q: Have you got any other solo stuff planned for the future?
A: ...Uh, no?

Q: Are you telling porkies?
A: Fine, okay. I was gonna keep it a surprise, but I’m in the process of writing a musical. It’s going to combine every single genre you can think of, and it’s going to have an actual, genuine plot. I’m hoping I can get guests on it as well. So far, I have loads of songs written for it. Of course, practically none of them will get in the musical, but it’s a good start. When I release the soundtrack to it, and I will, it’s going to span over many discs. It’s a long, long musical. Also, in slightly less exciting news, I have a couple of ambient records ready to go. They’re spontaneous and pretty easy to make though.

Q: Any tours planned?
A: Yes. Of course, we have Minds very own headliner, the Shattered Tour, where we’ve been lucky enough to get Hellspawn and Seventhsign supporting us. We’re also part of the Blood of Wecz tour; we’ll be supporting them alongside Infinite. I’ll be trying to organise some more stuff as well. It’s an exciting time.

Q: What do you make of the music scene today?
A: It’s good, I like it. The Metal Invasion is practically over now, some of the bands have settled and a couple have faded back into obscurity, but we’ve been lucky enough to stay among the elite. There are some really good artists out there. Naturally, we have Infinite, Reckoner, Quarantine and Blood of Wecz. They’re always the first ones I name in my favourite bands lists. We have some great young talent as well though. I mean, Katie Coyle, Studio60s newest signing is an amazing musician. I’m sure she’ll go miles. Also, I quite like Kelly K. A nice proggy vibe to her music. One band that I’m really into at the moment is Firecracker 47. True legends and amazing musicians. I’m surprised that their latest single didn’t do better. Of course, I’m not going to finish this question without giving a shout out to Stacey Walton. She is absolutely amazing. It's sad about the passing of Stephanie Fierce, she was a truly brilliant person. I'm glad I managed to work with her on Newborn.

Q: Tell us about the @Chaos awards.
A: What, you mean the fact that I’m awesome and won 3 awards?

Q: No, we mean the fact that went with Cassie “Bitch” Summers to it and that you didn’t win sexiest male.
A: Well, the sexiest male thing was a big shocker. I actually thought that I would win that. I said to myself that it was the one thing I expected to win. Luckily, the other 3 awards made up for it I guess, but still... fucking Matt Urie. I hate him and I hope he dies. In fact, I’m going to call him Matt Urine. HAH. And Cassie Summers is a cunt, but she probably just had a bad childhood or something, I dunno... It’s impossible to actually be that much of a bitch.

Q: What happened the other night at the Dirty Bastard?
A: ...Shit, I have no idea... give me a sec... Fuck, I can’t remember. I must have been stoned out of my mind.

Q: It says in the paper that you collapsed and threw up over a prozzie.
A: She wasn’t a prozzie. It was just some one night stand of Erics. That’s probably true that I vomited though. My stomach felt a bit funny.

Q: Last question now. Kelly Brook or Cheryl Cole?
A: Are you kidding? Kelly Brook, any day.

So there we have it. Jason Smith, one of modern music’s leading figures. What a legend.

OOC: I'd like comments. I actually bothered on this one.

Jason: Yes. I believe you have MY award.

Jason: Woah, woah, woah. hairy and fuck I can understand... but did you just call me fat? You fucking crossed the line. I'm gonna climb in yo windows and snatch yo people up... so you can run and tell that!

Jason: Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you over the clinking of my Best Band, Best Album and Technical Ecstasy awards.

Jason: Paha. Looking forward to it. Sorry, I must leave now. Need to polish my awards. (No, that is not an euphanism.)

Jason: Because bitches are dirtier.

erica:it's hard to argue with a man who has facial hair when it comes to being a badass.


nina:true,love.true.now pardon me,but i need to go polish my award....and i do mean it as a euphemism.