When Krysta Cameron left Iwrestledabearonce during the Warped Tour 2012 to concentrate on having a family (being pregnant isn’t really conducive to being a in metalcore band) it was up to lava-lunged Unicron vocalist Courtney LaPlante to fill the shouty void. And fill it she did; after the tour IWABO set about constructing their third album and follow-up to 2011’s It’s All Happening. The result was the astonishingly heavy Late For Nothing. Bassist Mike “Rickshaw” Martin arrived on time for Ghost Cult.
Is this the same band with Courtney on board or is it a different IWABO?
To be quite honest, almost every aspect had stayed the same. In fact, if anyone said we were different I’d say we are maybe a little more happy! As far as the music we had been writing some of the stuff off of Late For Nothing far before Krysta even left. And I think Courtney really made the album better with the catchy vocals. Same IWABO. Everyone grows with age and musical experience.
How did Courtney come to be in the band?
In 2010 sometime a friend of ours hit us up and was like, “Hey, check out this band called Unicron, they have a similar style and a female vocalist.” We did and we really liked what we heard. We ended up adding the band on some social [media] sites and Courtney kinda reached out to us and said hello and we have been kinda internet friends. So when Krysta left we explored every option in our mind. Finally, someone jokingly said her name and hours later she was on a flight to meet us! So without any practice she started playing shows with us. At first it was odd but it soon felt really natural.
What do you say to the people who think it’s either ‘Team Krysta’ or ‘Team Courtney’?
For people who want to choose a team?! If you really want to choose team Krysta, well, hate to break it to you but what team is that? She left the band to start a normal family life! She’s not coming back. Team Courtney is IWABO now. She stepped in and gave up her normal life so we can still exist.
Where did the album title Late For Nothing come from?
Late for nothing is a phrase I accidentally said and it kinda just described our band. We are the type to be late and show up and there’s really nothing going on. I always thought of our luck a lot. Like if we ever finally became a big band … Earth would explode! Late for nothing.
Was it a relief to hear so many positive comments about the album?
I’m really freaked out about how many positive comments there are about the album. I mean there has always been positive feedback but there’s usually an equal amount of hate. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still hate and there’s a lot of, “Where’s Krysta?” But there’s a lot of positivity and I’m happy to feel like the band can have a second coming with Courtney.
The video for ‘Boat Paddle’ – what the hell is going on there?!
Well our buddies in KOTK productions and us got together and we knew we wanted to do something goofy like always but this idea is kind of a different funny vibe than normal. Justin Beasly, the director, started sending us treatments and we had our two cents to throw in and bam! A “super hero power ranger” type video!
How did Steve Vai get involved with the track ‘Carnage Asada’?
We are actually really good friends with Julian Vai, Steve’s son. And obviously we love weird, awesome guitar stuff. So Julian kinda hooked it up and we were like, “Oh, fuck yeah!”
Has Steve offered to get you on one of his albums?
Hahaha! No, he hasn’t offered us any shit yet. But holler at us, Steve!
Do IWABO tours run smoothly?
IWABO tours run pretty smooth. As long as you count ‘putting a bunch of A.D.D. idiots that swear too much and never shower in a van and feeding them a bunch of shots every night’ as smooth!
The last year has been pretty hectic for you – now that the album is finally out will you stop to take stock of the changes or keep forging ahead?
We would love to continue pushing on. Doing bigger, better tours. We still have a band bucket list that includes Slipknot, Korn and Deftones tours!
Dan Bond