Joanna: Hello.

Trevor: How are ya?

Joanna: I'm good – how are you?

Trevor: I'm good.

Joanna: Where are you?

Trevor: I'm at home in Michigan.

Joanna: Oh, you guys aren't on tour?

Trevor: No, have some time off.

Joanna: Oh, that's exciting! How much time do you have off?

Trevor: Not so much anymore. We leave around September 11th and we'll be gone til October 11th.

Joanna: Ah, not too bad – just a month.

Trevor: No, not too bad. That's pretty standard. The longest we've been out was about 10 or 11 weeks straight.

Joanna: Oh, ok. Well, anyway, I know your name – tell everyone else your name and what you do in The Black Dahlia Murder.

Trevor: My name is Trevor Strnad and I sing in The Black Dahlia Murder.

Joanna: Now, do you write all the lyrics too?

Trevor: Yep.

Joanna: How long have you guys been a band for?

Trevor: Coming up on eight years now.

Joanna: Really? I didn't realize it was that long.

Trevor: We spent a lot of time just sticking around Michigan, before we went on tour or got any sort of recognition. And we spent a few years with no van.

Joanna: Uh-huh, but now you have a van?

Trevor: Yeah, we got a van.

Joanna: Well, that's exciting. Michigan is cold in the winter.

Trevor: Indeed.

Joanna: You stay there all winter?

Trevor: Depends on our schedule. A lot of the times, touring in the winter is good, because we'll get to go to Cali or Florida, and bring our shorts back out.

(They both laugh)

Joanna: You should spend your winter in California. It'd be good for your health.

Trevor: I'd love to do that; I'd like to spend my whole life there.

(Both still laughing)

Joanna: I think you could do it. If you dream something...you could do it...Anyway, what are you spending your free time doing?

Trevor: Not much...just hanging out, finding too many old Megadeth T-shirts on E-bay and that's pretty much it.

Joanna: Really? How many T-shirts have you found?

Trevor: I'm doing pretty good, man – I used to have a collection of Megadeth T-shirts when I was a kid and they were like my all-time favorite band, so I've been trying to track down the same ones that I had, and I've found, like, five of them recently, so...

Joanna: Well that's pretty exciting (laughs)! That's a unique hobby.

Trevor: At home it's very very low-key (laughs).

Joanna: Do you live by yourself?

Trevor: No, I live with my mom. I got dumped by my significant other and I lost my apartment.

Joanna: Oh no! I'm sorry about that. When did this happen?

Trevor: About eight months ago.

Joanna: Well, I'm sorry about that.

Trevor: Hey, no worries.

Joanna: Have you watched any porn since you've been home?

Trevor: A little bit online. I don't really own any porns anymore.

Joanna: Oh really? Did she get them in the divorce? (Laughs)

Trevor: They were complete contraband when you were a kid, you know? Like, “I stole this processed VHS tape from my uncle; meet me after school – everyone can come over and check it out!” That was, like, sixth grade.

Joanna: (Laughing) I actually watched a VHS porn the other day with my boyfriend, and it was really funny. I was like, “I can't believe people used to watch porn like this. I can't believe people used to watch anything like this. But particularly with porn – you couldn't, like, skip around.

Trevor: Yeah, and it looks so bad now.

Joanna: Yeah!

Trevor: Especially with a tape.

Joanna: Yeah, I know. It's definitely not a good way to watch porn. Have you ever looked at BurningAngel?

Trevor: Yeah.

Joanna: Oh really?

Trevor: Yeah, a little bit...

Joanna: Did you ever purchase a membership?

Trevor: No, I haven't.

Joanna: You just looked at the free stuff?

Trevor: I got to look around with somebody else's membership -

Joanna: I'm gonna find out who that person is, and I'm gonna -

Trevor: Can I get a free membership now?

Joanna: Yeah, you can get one. I do that for all the bands. But you have to have a profile and talk to people.
Trevor: I have to contribute.

Joanna: Yes, you have to contribute to my little perverted society!

(They both laugh)

Trevor: No problem! Can you hold on a sec – I want to set my phone up a little bit?

Joanna: Ok, sure.

(One-minute pause: silence!)

Trevor: Hello?

Joanna: Hi.

Trevor: Ok, that's much better.

Joanna: Ok, so I don't have all of your albums, but I do have your latest one -

Trevor: Nocturnal?

Joanna: Yeah – when did you guys come out with that one?

Trevor: Um, it's been about a year now. It came out in September.

Joanna: Ok, yeah -

Trevor: And we're starting to think about the newer one now -

Joanna: Ok, well let me make a suggestion. I sometimes have to do feature dancing at clubs, and the last time I did feature dancing, I was really trying to fit Black Dahlia Murder into my act, cause I really love you guys, but it was really hard to dance to your songs!

Trevor: I was just thinking that...

Joanna: - yeah, do you think you could make something for me that's a little more ballad-like?

Trevor: Something you could work it to?

Joanna: Yeah!

(Both laugh)

Joanna: Something a little more romantic! I mean, I can dance to a lot of metal, but I just couldn't dance to you guys.

Trevor: We'll see what I can do for you.

Joanna: Yeah, maybe on the next record? I think it would be worthwhile for you to do it, so...you could try.

Trevor: I understand – I fully understand!

Joanna: So, you guys started out as a small indie band in Michigan, and when did you go to Metalblade Records?

Trevor: Well, Metalblade – it was around 2002, and we had an EP out on a really small label, and we were getting pretty good and we wanted to tour a little bit and get our stuff out there, so we started to get really serious and practice more and were writing songs at a fast pace, and were planning a full-length album with whoever wanted to put it out. So we approached a bunch of labels, and got about 30 rejections records, and then we signed with Metalblade. And so since that moment, we quit school and took it to the fullest, and started touring and never looked back.

Joanna: That's great. Are they taking care of you guys? A lot of people don't like their labels.

Trevor: I love being with them – I could see how on every label there are bands that are dissatisfied because they can't give all of the attention to all of the bands. We lucked out because we've always been really close with them.

Joanna: How many albums have you done with them?

Trevor: Nocturnal is the third album with them. We've got to get started on the next one.

Joanna: You started writing it or not?

Trevor: We've got one song written so far, and I haven't even started writing the lyrics. Writing the third song for the album is so hard – I have to decide what the flavor of the album will be, and so I'm just taking my time with it so it comes out really cool.

Joanna: Yeah, maybe some day someone will collect Black Dahlia Murder t-shirts, the way you collect Megadeth t-shirts.

Trevor: That would definitely be cool!

(They both laugh)

Joanna: You should start thinking of cool t-shirt ideas.

Trevor: We're getting better. We used to design the t-shirts ourselves, and some of the shirts from that era are pretty heinous looking -

Joanna: (Laughing) That's kind of good though. Ok, so some people say that “Punk is dead” - do you think that metal is dead too? Has it morphed into something else?

Trevor: Well, it's been the trend of the last while or so to be the most technically complex band, to be the heaviest band, the goriest band, etc. I mean, there's still bands out there that have their priorities straight and are about writing a good song, but I think largely a lot of the bands have gone down a different path.

Joanna: Yeah. What do you think makes a good song, or a good “death metal song”?

Trevor: Something that is memorable. Something that you can remember. That's why we do kind of rock-based punk stuff, where we repeat the choruses and – you know, make it catchier.

Joanna: Yeah, you don't want to listen to an album and not remember any of the songs you listened to.

Trevor: Yeah. I had that problem when I buy CDs -

Joanna: Still? You don't find albums on i Tunes and download them? You buy CDs?

Trevor: Well, I download a lot. It's pretty much like research to me, and if I'm into something, I'll have to have it. I like downloading as a tool.

Joanna: Oh, ok – you're, like, keeping the CD industry alive. Ok, so do you guys go on tour a lot?

Trevor: Yeah, we're gone about eight or nine months out of the year.

Joanna: Well, that probably explains a little bit about why you're girlfriend broke up with you -

Trevor: Yeah, it does – but I got a new lady coming around. She's cool.

Joanna: You'll find someone someone who is ok with you not being home a lot. Maybe you can find someone who's not home a lot too.

Trevor: She'll be having relations with the milk man. Or the pool guy.

Joanna: Yeah, but that's ok – do you really mind?

Trevor: Well, this is a new millennium, right? Monogamy is a thing of the past.

Joanna: Yeah, and I mean if you're at a point in your life where you have a pool guy, you probably shouldn't care. You should just let it go!

(Trevor laughs)

Trevor: A pool guy would be cool...

Joanna: I used to have a pool guy...I used to live in a house where I had a pool. But now only have a fountain. No pool. But I do have a yard guy.

Trevor: Is he a stud?

Joanna: He's not a stud at all – he's, like, a 60-year-old Mexican guy. I'm not saying I have anything against 60-year-old Mexican people, I'm just saying I'm not physically attracted to him!

(Both laugh)

Joanna: But I did make a porno where I had some guy play the pool guy.

Trevor: That's kind of a cliché porn role.

Joanna: Yeah, it's pretty common. But when I did have a pool guy, my pool guy was also unattractive, and every time I would watch him clean the pool, I'd be like, “Wouldn't it be awesome if this guy was really hot? It'd be so much fun to watch!”

Trevor: They should have an agency of, like, good-looking, ripped guys – they'd probably be all gay, but whatever -

Joanna: Yeah, and they'd probably do a terrible job of cleaning (laughs)...

Trevor: And then housewives could fantasize.

Joanna: Exactly. So I just had to make a porno about the pool guy. I just couldn't live in that house and not do it; I had to get it out of my system.

Trevor: Did you make it at your house?

Joanna: I did; I always make porn at my house. I have a couch – this brand new beautiful couch, and you know how many people have had sex on that couch?

Trevor: Awesome – seen a lot of action then, huh? A lot of secretion, a lot of twisted faces.

Joanna: Yeah, it's just something you have to be comfortable with you know? Like if you come to my house for dinner, there was probably vaginal douches where you are eating.

(Trevor laughs)

Joanna: But it's cool – I don't care. It doesn't bug me.

Trevor: This is the new millennium; it's time to break free from those old confines and just relax!

Joanna: Exactly! I like your attitude. So having been on tour a lot, do you have any crazy stories from the road? Any debaucherous behavior occur?

Trevor: Well, there's all kind of typically drunk stories. You're drunk and your lost in a casino in Vegas with no shirt on and you can't find the rest of your band...

Joanna: Right.

Trevor: That was me, actually. You know, typical band stories of getting drunk and being stupid.

Joanna: Well, I think before you settle down with a new girlfriend, you need at least one crazy, sexy tour stories to tell your kids. You need, like, to have sex with a girl in back of an amp or something -

Trevor: Brand her with a BDM logo?

Joanna: Yeah! You gotta do something on tour like that before you die...

Trevor: Yeah. I should definitely get myself into some core trouble.

Joanna: Yeah! Well, a few other questions: since you will be getting your free membership to BurningAngel.com, is there anything that maybe you'd want to see – any kind of video that you want to see that you haven't found anywhere else that I could possibly make happen for you?

Trevor: It's just about the girl. It's about the kind of girl I'm into. A lot of the industry women just don't appeal to me – there's a lot of fake, plastic surgery going around.

Joanna: But what do you want these girls to do?

Trevor: I want them to look awesome! No, I don't know – I want them to bang each other and pee.

Joanna: You want them to bang each other and pee?

Trevor: Uh-huh.

Joanna: I think that's against the law now.

Trevor: It's against the law to pee!?!

Joanna: Yeah, you can't really do it anymore. It's a sad world out there. No more peeing. But I'll see what I can do – maybe I can get the girls to pee and I won't put it on the Internet, I'll just send the photos to you.

Trevor: Yeah, just have them pee on an enlarged picture of my head.

(Both laugh)

Joanna: There was one girl in the history of BurningAngel – see, I always try and ask the girls what they like to do. You know? Like what they're into. You know, I just want to make sure that they're paired up with someone that is into the same thing that they're into. And there was one girl – I won't say who – and she told me she was really into getting peed on.

Trevor: That's not my thing - I don't want to pee on someone; I want to be the recipient of that pee.

Joanna: Oh, ok, so there's a conflict of interest. You and that girl would not work.

Trevor: Exactly.

(Joanna laughs)

Joanna: You could be friends and hang out and exchange “peed-on stories”, but it just wouldn't work beyond that. Ok, well is there anything else you want to talk about or tell the good people of BurningAngel? Any message for them? Any words of advice?

Trevor: Words of advice? Don't jerk off with Icy Hot.

Joanna: And if you see an old Megadeth T-shirt -

Trevor: If you see an old Megadeth T-shirt, send them to me! Put that in 72.5!

Joanna: I will, I will. And enjoy the rest of your day in Michigan.

Trevor: And keep having a great time in California!

Joanna: I will. I wanted to see you guys when you came out here, but I couldn't.

Trevor: Well, we'll be back. Soon.

Joanna: Ok, good.

Trevor: Ok, well thanks again – good talking to you.

Joanna: You too! Bye!