Metalcore act
Walls Of Jericho has been around for quite
some time now. But since the release of 2008's "The American Dream"
the band did tours on and off then weren't heard from for a while. Why not, well
frontwomen Candace Kucsulain vocals behind the band was pregnant so she
couldn't be doing shows at that time, so the band did take a brief break. But
now they have returned and are about to embark on the Hell On Earth Tour and
have gotten some new material in the works. Candace discusses all of this and
much, much, more!
1. You guys were on a break for a while so when did you get
back together?
Candace: We didn't get the word out about me being pregnant
and having a baby. But we never did break up or go on a hiatus or break I just
couldn't do anything due to my pregnancy. Our first tour back from me having my
daughter was the Persistence Tour back in January, I didn't want to do any
other tours due to her not being old enough for me to leave so we waited a
while until she was old enough.
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
Candace: A few of members were a part of another band called
Earth Mover from Detroit who had parted ways so a few of the guys began another
band and were looking for a singer. So they had picked a name before I joined.
So the story goes that guitarist Mike had liked the name which came from an
album by the heavy metal band Helloween called "Walls Of Jericho".
Our bassist Aaron knew that the name "Walls Of Jericho" was from a
story in the Bible where this place was shut in a city where criminals were so
the trumpets sounded and people tearing went and torn the walls down. So that's
pretty much how the name came about.
3. What are your plans for new music?
Candace: There are plans for new music we're just not sure
when it will get done. Our guitarist Chris is in another band so that makes
things go a little slower in the process. Also we all live in different places
I'm in Boston and there in Ohio so we just get stuff done over the internet so
it's going to take some time.
4. What is your favorite song to play live (from any album)?
Candace: "A Little Piece of Me" and "Revival
Never Goes Out of Style" hands down is the most fun song we play live.
It's the last song that always gets the best reaction from the crowd. It gets
people to sing along and us personally prefer performing it within a smaller
setting than the larger one. We get to be a part of what's going on when we
play in a smaller setting having the kids interact with us with no barrier
makes it that more exciting and fun.
5. What’s the best and worst shows you’ve ever played?
Candace: There have been so many good shows that we have
played. Every time we play Berlin and we just played Hellfest in France and
everyone was crazy there was the biggest circle pit ever. Everything that we've
done it's always best in the smaller venues. The worst show was one we did in Puerto
Rico, we had only played 3 songs then had to stop playing because the cops
came. (Laughs) Whenever there's mud or rain involved it's always a horrible
show. We did do one show we did when we were on the Family Values Tour and
there was a hurricane out on the water so it down poured so there was only like
20 kids watching us but we made the best of it, dressed up as pirates running
around the stage having a good time. So there really is no such thing as a
"bad show" unless it doesn't happen.
6. How did you get asked to be a part of the "Hell On
Earth Tour"?
Candace: We had talked to the booking agents in how we
wanted to come back and tour. My husband who's the guitarist in the band Death
Before Dishonor had wanted our bands to tour together. So we had done this tour
a few years back making the timing work so we knew that this time we could get
it to work again having the fans be able to come out and hit various places,
this time we will be bringing our daughter with us so this will be her first
time seeing Europe. So we thought might as well bring it back and do it all
again. Like I sad when it comes to a tour like this one Hell On Earth we get to
play the smaller stages than the festival one's which are larger and fun too
but being able to play in a small club with no barriers and interacting with
the fans is just so much more us.
7. Can you tell me about your side project The Beautifuls?
Are there any other side projects happening?
Candace: No other projects going on right now. We live a
very full life my husband and I are power lifters so we train 4 days a week. So
as a band we'd meet every 4 months or so and with our daughter it's a lot to
handle and all we can handle right now. But we are doing a acoustic show so it's
what we do for fun so we just play the music we want to play that you can't
play in a hardcore setting so it's more chill so this band allows us to do
that.
8. If you could go back and tell yourself something around
when you were recording the A Day and a Thousand Years EP or The Bound Feed the
Gagged, what would you say?
Candace: Take more time recording because nowadays you get
about a month and if you have a budget available you get more time. But back
then we had recorded those records in 2 days. All of the music and the vocals
and you can tell. It's how it was done then very low budget and it was more raw
not pretty it was dirty. It's hard to listen to nowadays because they don't
hold up with the times so I would definitely say take a little bit more time
with them. I still enjoy our other stuff and we don't even play that many songs
from the first album. I was still young still in high school then so we just go
with the times and how life goes.
9. What music have you been listening to, and influenced by
lately?
Candace: Let's see I have been listening to a lot of punk
recently. All sorts of music I was listening to that band Tilt who did a lot of
touring when I was 15 and I remembered the first zine I had seen and on the
cover was me and some other female singers from different bands, and I was next
to the singer from Tilt and I was so excited and she helped me get up and say
what I wanted to say. She was dirty and didn't care and shared the similar
lifestyle so there are so many women out there. Joan Jett or The Cranberries
there singer had a lot of energy and was having a lot of fun so all of that stuff influences me. The women who
weren't scared to put themselves out there. I enjoyed the message that all of
that brought to the scene and just trying to make a difference.
10. If you could go back and change something on the album
The American Dream, would you?
Candace: That's actually my favorite record out of all of
them. What I like are the guest vocals if we could get more guest vocals to
have been on it then it would have been more fun it's always fun to have guest
vocals on a record.
11. Have you ever just sat back and thought about what
you're doing and why you're in this band Walls Of Jericho why am I doing this?
Candace: So far it's worked out for me. I think having a
baby it made changes for me and I can only do this for a small amount of time
whenever we tour. We still enjoy doing what we do and now it may be more time
to do it but I will enjoy doing it and do not have any regrets doing it. I have
a pretty awesome life playing, writing, and just travel enjoying music so it
couldn't get any better.
12. Your band has toured a lot but is there a place that
Walls Of Jericho hasn't set foot in?
Candace: Egypt and Alaska we have never gone back there and
I was born there so I wish we could go back and play a show there. We'll see what happens.
13. What else can we expect to see from you guys between now
and the end of the year?
Candace: We have been writing some stuff just not sure when
it will be released. We will be going on tour
We have been writing some stuff just not sure when it will
surface. We will also be going on tour for a while but other than that who
knows.
14. Anything you want to say to your fans?
Candace: We hope to see everyone at the shows on this tour.
Now that we have a family it will be harder for us to get out there but we're
not sure when we will be able to do another tour or new music. So maybe after
this tour so come out while you can and just be a part of it with us.
