Spoken, the long-time Christian rooted band has been making waves with their music for 17 years. Matt Baird has been the longest running member, with drummer—Oliver Crumpton coming in second place. Punk Globe was able to score an interview with Oliver after the Edmonton, Alberta show. Here we go:

What do you think of Edmonton so far?

Well, I didn’t get to see much of the town. I walked to the Subway a few blocks away, the EXPENSIVE Subway. It’s like $5 at home, here $9!

Prior to the show, I hadn’t gotten to fully experience the sounds of Spoken. In my research, the band was summed up as everything from heavy metal, industrial, to Christian. What are your thoughts? How would you define Spoken’s sound?

I don’t know about heavy metal, People call us different stuff; I guess it really depends on what kind of music you’re into. If you’re like a big metalhead, you’re going to think we’re soft. People consider us metal, people consider us rock, we just call ourselves hard rock. We have a lot of melody, so maybe that is what keeps us away from heavy metal.

We are a Christian band. We are a between-the-lines kind of thing. Trying to play both worlds with this record. We are on this tour with two completely non-Christian bands. They are some of the nicest dudes. We hang out with them, and it is totally fine, everyone is cool with it.

Right on, so everyone in the band has Christian roots. How did this lineup of the band come together?

Spoken has been around for 17 years. Matt is the only original guy. The current line-up is a new breed kind of thing.

It had been 5 years since Spoken put out a record. So, we kind of picked up new members along the way. I am the longest running, second to Matt. I have been in the band six years or so. We tour so much, you make friends with members of other bands, bands break up. It just sort of happens, things fall into place.

That’s great. Just had to wait it out to make the perfect combo.

That’s right. It just takes time. We just created this lineup. The guy we have with us now playing guitar is new and we’re trying to get our final guy in. It’s cool we ware in a good place right now.

That’s awesome. Are there any specific bands, or genres of music that influenced the bands sound the most?

I grew up on grunge. I am 80’s born kid. My music days were late 80’s and 90’s. Nirvana. Pearl Jam. Soundgarden. Tapes were my thing, and then I moved to CD’s. I remember mini disks coming out, and those didn’t make it. Grunge was definitely my thing. I am not a trend jumper by any means, but I like new things, new sounds. I love hearing something new. As much as I love grunge, when I turn on a new rock station. I’ll offend rock stations everywhere by saying this—but, it drives me crazy when they say we play new rock, then Nirvana comes on. That’s classic rock. I like to hear new stuff. If you’re going to play something new, play something new. Something different. I am always on the cuff trying to hear new stuff.

How do you feel about everything being digital?

That goes back to me being a 90’s kid. It’s sad and cool. There is black and white to it. It’s great for artists; everyone can hear everyone’s stuff. So many bands come out in so many different genres, and all these people can hear all this new music. But, in the same way it sort of taints the novelty of it. It’s just not the same. Before you would go to the record store. You would look and see these new records and the artwork was a big thing. How your cover looked was a big thing. I would buy CD’s based on the artwork.

It’s whatever. There are a lot of great things for music and technology. Especially for recording, but there is part of me that hurts inside seeing all these kids not knowing what a CD is. It’s nuts, but that’s how it goes.

Was music always your dream?

This is a good question. Being in Canada, you will love this. I wanted to be a hockey player. I played hockey for eleven years. That was my life. I am a Southern boy, I am originally from Alabama. But I have lived all over the South. The longest I ever stayed in one place was four years. My family moved all the time.

I started playing hockey in Tennessee, I loved it. I was probably seven or eight, maybe younger and I kept moving, and I finally moved to Virginia. The most southern place I ever lived, and they didn’t have hockey. So, that’s when I took up drumming.

So far in this tour, what have been the most insane fan experiences?

There is insane people at these shows that’s for sure. There are some just completely insane, wasted people just getting into fights, getting dragged out.

That’s happened tonight quite a bit!

Yeah! So, honestly, Volbeat fans are really cool. They’re really nice. A few of the shows, in Reno the crowds got crazy, mosh pits, crowd surfing and some of the hardcore fans left. They weren’t into moshing. They just wanted to come see the show, didn’t want to get bashed into or whatever.

I am fine with whatever. I like seeing people getting nuts at our shows. I am cool with whatever. Volbeat fans are just genuine nice people.

There were some fans that followed us around for six or seven shows in the US. We developed a friendship with them, it was cool.

Has their been a specific venue that has really stood out so far?

This right here is the raddest show on the tour so far. It’s pretty killer, it’s a big ‘ol room so it’s pretty cool. The crowd is awesome here. Honestly, every show has been great. Almost every show has sold out. Towards the beginning we played in El Paso for over six thousand people it was pretty nuts.

These big crowds are awesome, but the little ones like House of Blues are cool to. You’re right there with the crowd.

We’re down with whatever; we just love when people are stoked to see the show.

Yeah, Edmonton has been told we are a loud city! What artists are you currently listening to?

I am bad. I am the guy that everyone thinks I hate everything. I am opinioned. I don’t know? Who do I listen to?

I like listening to the radio, and a whole lot of country music because that’s what our singer loves. Keith Urban is playing all the time.

Welcome to ALBERTA!

Haha! The guys in the band love country. They are country music fiends! I am starting to get turned onto them. Trying to think of a band in our genre. The Used, I have always loved The Used.

You definitely have hints of industrial to your sound.

Yeah! Some people say that. When we started writing this record, one of the first ideas when it came out it sounded really industrial. I dug it. I love Rob Zombie, and I write a lot so I would write things that had a similar sound.

So we ran with that. We decided to keep some of that to our sound. That’s cool that you noticed that.

One of the first things we noticed!

I always notice the industrial, I am glad someone else did.

Any words of wisdom for aspiring musicians?

This is a brutal job.

Yep, I have heard if you don’t like money, do it.

When people tell you to stay in school, they’re right. But, really if you want to do it, do it. If you truly love music, then do it. To be super down to earth, we are on tour with a band that has super gigantic tour buses and we are on this tour with a little van and trailer.

I am crammed in a van for the majority of my life so far, but it’s what I love to do. It makes it worthwhile when you’re in front of a crowd.

If it’s what you truly love to do, you have to do it. It is something you really have to pour yourself into to get something out of.

Are you ever nervous in front of huge crowds like this? I just had to check what you’re drinking! I was expecting a big ‘ol beer.

Root beer! It’s not nerves; it’s almost like an adrenaline rush. You feed off the crowd. Once you get out there it all goes away. I am not one of those people behind the stage throwing up or anything. When I was young it affected me, but now I have been doing it so long it’s hard to get nervous. There are definitely nerves; it’s just not the same nervous anymore.

Thank you for your time! Enjoy the rest of the show.