Rockezine.com interview with 40 Grit on Mar 17, 2003

with James Santiago on Mar 17, 2003


		Your new album “Nothing To Remember” has just been released. How are the reactions so far? It`s been very positive so far! We’re in the middle of our promotional tour for the album right now, so we’re trying to get it out to as many people as possible. In April and May we will be on a full U.S. tour with Pissing Razors, so that will help out a lot.
		Are there any Europeans touring plans to promote the new album? Yes! It starts on August 22nd at the Summer Breeze Festival. We have dates planned after the festivals, but a lot are still being booked. We`re hoping to be out there for about a month at least! I know once we get more dates confirmed we’ll post them on the website.
		Nowadays a lot of bands have band names with numbers. Why did you choose 40Grit and could you explain something more about your band name? Back in the days of drinking our lives away and drinking 40’s for breakfast, we called the last bit of beer at the bottom of the bottle the “40 Grit”. It kinda stuck at that point.
		Could you tell something more about the band`s history? We pretty much got together back in `97 with our old drummer. Back then it was all about partying our asses off and shit, trying to have as much fun as possible. We did a tour with S.O.D. in Europe and part of the U.S. In December of `99 we signed to Metal Blade Records and went into the studio in February to start recording “Heads”, which was released in August of 2000. Did another European tour with Pro Pain in January of 2001. Our drummer at the time quit when we got back, then we got Andy in the band. We did some small tours around the U.S., recorded a shitload of demos, and finally got the time to cut this album.
		Could you tell something about the lyrical aspect of “Nothing To Remember”? Basically the songs are the experiences we’ve been through in the past 2 years. The mistakes we’ve made and the bullshit that we`ve been through with each other have helped us learn to be better assholes toward each other! Ha ha… But all in all, the songs are about life fucking with you in general, and how you fuck it right back.
		The Bay Area has always been a good place for music (Metallica, Machine Head etc.), but lately it seems to be a bit quiet and there aren`t many new bands that seem to break through. Do you think there`s an explanation for that? There are a lot of good bands in the Bay Area, but a lot of them just don’t have the means of getting their music out there to the masses. I`m sure it’ll be only a matter of time until more bands start breaking through and making a name for themselves.
		Just choose between the following and please explain why: - Machine Head or Slayer; Slayer - Deftones or Korn; Korn - Simpsons or Southpark; Draw, they`re both great when you`re baked! - Christina Aguilera or Avril Lavigne; Christina, the reason is somewhere in our forum. You just gotta find it. - Transformers or Dragonball Z; Transformers - War or no war; No war! - McDonals or Burger King; Burger King, less trips to the can!
		Thank you for the interview and hopefully we`ll see you soon in Europe. Are there any things left unsaid? Drink beer, smoke weed, and buy our fucking album! Ha ha… No seriously, buy our fucking album!
		(Dennis van den Berg)