IE: So Rotting Out has a new album out called “The Wrong Way”. You got Nick Jett from Terror to produce it and it sounds amazing for those who have not heard it yet. Your previous album “Street Prowl” came out in May of 2011. How much blood sweat and tears and stuff behind the scenes goes into making an album like this? For people not in a band it is sometimes hard to understand why it may take bands so long between albums.

Tank: Nick Jett is the fuckin’ man! He's the homie so it was fuckin’ cool working with him throughout the whole thing. Once we put out “Street Prowl”, we were excited as fuck to hit the road and play those songs live. We tour as much as we can and when we're out and about time goes by real fast. Next thing you know a year goes by. It's just something that you need to find the cracks and space between busy schedules to just jam and write new music. For this new record that's what happened. We try to balance things out with the band, family, girlfriends, work, school and whatever else we got going on. Luckily we manage to get together and jam new shit and put out a new record. Time goes by so fast when there's so much shit going on. I don't think it's planned to put a record out every certain amount of time, it’s just finding the time in between everything to be able to get the ball rolling.

IE: Is recording and being in the studio something you look forward to or do you look at it as one of the less fun things about being in a band?              

Tank: I love hitting the studio to record new shit. It's definitely something I look forward to every time.

IE: Are you 100% satisfied with the end result of “The Wrong Way”? If you could go back and have a do over on any aspect of it what would you want a do over with?

Tank: I'm very happy with the way the record came out. I feel like it’s different than what we've done in the past, but it's still has that RO feel to it. Just a little more angry and heavier. I don't think I'd want to change anything on there, maybe in the future it'll be one of those "we should've put this here and did that there" type of things.

IE: Back in early May you shot one of your live shows for an upcoming video. What song will the video be for and when can we expect it?

Tank: The video is for the song titled "No Clue" from our new record, and it should be out pretty soon. The story behind the video is pretty much what the song is about…people that act like they know what you go though, and pretend to give a fuck, but at the end of the day it's just a pay check to them, they don't give a fuck what you go through or what your life is about.

IE: Is it an all live footage type of video or is there a storyline kind of mixed in?                                                      

Tank: It's a little bit a both we have some live shots from a show we played the same day that we shot the actual scenes.

IE: I have followed this band for a bit and one thing that is clear is that you guys are almost constantly on the road touring in some capacity. Is Rotting Out everyone’s primary “job” now or do you hold down jobs when you are not playing?

Tank: I think that it’s only our drummer Jorge and I that have actual jobs back at home that we come home to and have to hit the grind as soon as we get back. We definitely hit the road a lot, and it's hard to leave so often and be able to have a job when we get back. I personally pay rent, have a couple of bills and am constantly broke due to the fact that any money I make at home goes straight to bills or to stay alive on the road. It's fucking hard to balance all this shit but.... it's what we love to do. I’d rather be broke traveling with these guys than to be stuck at home working a regular 9-5, 5-6 days a week with a gang of money but hate my life because I'm not doing what I love.

IE: That is real dedication. What do you and Jorge do for work?    

Tank: It's what we do best and what we love to do. Jorge is a gardener, and I work for an auto registration company that works with the DMV.

IE: When the band started going on more extended tours away from home was it more of a strain with girlfriends, wives or kids?

Tank: There are 3 of us with girlfriends, no wives, and luckily no kids! Like I said before, it's real hard to balance shit out.... and thankfully my girlfriend has been nothing but patient with me, I couldn't ask for any one better by my side. I leave for months at a time but always have that person waiting to see my ugly ass when I get home. She's pretty much the only reason that I want to come home from tour besides my family.

IE: I think a lot of people reading this would love to be in your shoes in regards to the band and all but what kinds of things do you end up sacrificing on a personal level to make this band keep growing?

Tank: The most important thing that we sacrifice is..... time spent with our families and girlfriends. Personally that's the biggest sacrifice for me. If I didn't have my girl, mom, pops,or brother to come home to, I'd want to be on the road ALL THE FUCKIN TIME!

IE: When you do get back from longer tours and you get a few days or weeks or months until the next one what are the things that you like to do to catch up with that you may miss when touring?

Tank: Family time. Girlfriend time…and definitely a good fat blunt with my close homies from my area. I feel like my personal time is on the road. As soon as I get home, it's just trying to get back on the grind and pay my bills and spend quality time with loved ones.

IE: What are those long drives between cities like in the Rotting Out van? What are the general tendencies of your fellow band members?

Tank: Walter is definitely the grandpa of the band, always wanting to be early to shit and going straight to either the house we stay at or to the venue if it’s a real long ride. Jorge is the dad of the band always sleeping and doing dad shit hahahaha… occasionally smoking some bud with Benji and I. Carlos is the quiet warrior that is always on his I-Pod 90% of the time in the van. And Benji and I are the ultimate smokers that are either playing some crazy ass shit in the van or just smoking a fat ass blunt. There will be times where there's like half of us KO'd while the other half is just splitting up the drives. The rest of the time everyone's up just talking bullshit and fuckin’ around.

IE: Can you give us 3 things that are on constant play on your I-Pod these days?

Tank: Definitely.... Pennywise, Slipknot, and Pearl Jam. This is off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure I have at least a good 10 bands or artists that I constantly listen to no matter what I add to my I-Pod.

IE: How well does straight edge and blunt smoking get along in the van?

Tank: Thankfully we have two straight edge dudes that don't mind the smoke as long as its weed and not cigarettes. Walter has a girlfriend that smokes and so does Carlos, so it's not something that bothers them. We usually crack the windows and blow the smoke outside just out of courtesy but even if we were to keep them up everyone wouldn't trip. Glad that we have a band with such different lifestyles but still manage to play as a team and accept each other for who we are and accept what we choose to do with ourselves.

IE: Top favorite food spots, restaurants, or someone’s home cooking on the road that you always like to go back to over and over when you revisit a city?

Tank: Deep dish in Chicago, BBQ in Hawaii, and wings EVERYWHERE!

IE: Craziest shit you have seen on the road that you will still remember when you are old and gray?

Tank: The day where Jorge our drummer got super drunk and destroyed a hotel room!

Hahaha fucking crazy ass foo! There is defiantly a lot more shit but I wouldn't want to burn people by telling their stories!

IE: Last summer you had a bum shoulder I think it was and were prescribed Vicodin and couldn’t get any because you didn’t have your ID. You put out a Facebook post asking for people to check their parents' medicine cabinets before the show and bring any pain killers down. When I read that I was wondering what the end result of that was and if anyone was able to help you out.

Tank: It was actually my elbow that shattered during a stage dive for Terror during our US tour with them and Bane. I was definitely drunk as fuck that night. It actually all worked out…there were at least 3 people that came by with a handful of Vicodin that were just enough to take whenever the pain would be too much.

IE: What sections of LA is everyone in the band from and how did you all discover hardcore music?

Tank: Carlos, Walter, and Ben are all from San Pedro, Jorge is from Torrance and I'm from Lynwood. I met these guys by going to shows.... for me growing up was nothing but punk shit! I didn't know that bands like Minor Threat and the Cro-Mags were hardcore bands…to me it was all punk. 

IE: How did you get the name Tank anyway?

Tank: Hahaha well when I was in 8th grade I used to go to punk shows with a bunch of friends from school and one day while at this show I was in a circle pit and one of my shoes came off so outta reaction I stop and turned around and started pushing the pit the opposite way resulting in a big ass pile because people started falling down.... Got my shoe, but had to go through a couple of people!

IE: Suicidal Tendencies played a huge part for me finding hardcore music and you guys list them as a big influence along with Pennywise. So-Cal has had a long history with great punk and hardcore bands which you guys along with bands like Terror, Take Offense, and Strife are now carrying on. You gotta have a lot of pride walking in the same path and carrying on that tradition now, no?

Tank: Those bands definitely play a huge part in this bands existence, so for anyone to consider us as a band that walks the same path as them means a lot. Definitely proud of the fact that people get reminded of those awesome bands through hearing our shit.

IE: Can you give us the name of your favorite up and coming hardcore band that maybe people haven’t heard about yet but should have?

Tank: Off the top of my head.... a band named Secuencia from my homeland Argentina. Check them out! Here is their page:

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Secuencia/376497899099535

IE: You guys have been around since around 2007. When you started out with this band could you ever have imagined how far things would have come for Rotting Out and where would you like to see this band 5 years from now?

Tank: I feel like no one really expected anything from the band besides playing some shows out of our zip code! Definitely grateful for anything good that came our way these past years. Ahhhh hopefully still playing some punk shit that people like to pit or dance to.

IE: Anything else you would like to add before we end this interview?

Tank: Thanks for taking the time to show interest in our band. And shout out to anyone and everyone we encounter on the road or anywhere this band leads us to. Also..... next time you see us bring weed for the non-edge half of the band and bring bananas for the other half! -Tank