Pep-Rock: Stephen Brodsky, you are famed for your solo work, being lead vocalist and guitarist for American band Cave In, playing bass for Converge’s ‘When Forever Comes Crashing’ album and now being a member of up and coming band New Idea Society…how did all this come about?

Stephen: To be honest I just seem to fall into projects by default. I love playing music and I love being with my friends so being able to experience both, together, is awesome.

Pep-Rock: Can you tell us about New Idea Society, your newest work?

Stephen: We have a record out which sounds kinda murky and home-recorded and all our songs are written by my friend Mike. I just tend to mutate his songs like a gremlin in my own way. (laughs). Man, I like that idea.

Pep-Rock: Back in 2002, Cave In toured with the Foo Fighters, what was that like?

Stephen: That was like an entertaining dream. Four kids from a small town – put on a stage in front of 10,000 people! I’ve found that large tours often seem like a waste of time as you don’t get a chance to get close to your audience but the Foos tour was so different, people were so receptive. I remember we played Manchester which I think was the biggest venue we did in the UK and we sold 500 CDs. 500 CDs! That’s ridiculous for us. After the Foos tour we did our own tour and people came up to us and said “We saw you on the Foos tour, we loved you guys” and it was just awesome.

Pep-Rock: What about Dave Grohl, what’s he like?

Stephen: Man, he’s just how you’d expect. He’s amazing, I’ve never met anyone with so much enthusiasm and energy.

Pep-Rock: What’s happening with Cave In at the moment?

Stephen: Well, we’re putting out an album soon, it’s all written and recorded, it’s currently being mixed. It’s called ‘Perfect Pitch Black’ and it’s going to be released on Hydrahead, hopefully around September time.

Pep-Rock: What’s the album like?

Stephen: The new album is unlike anything we’ve done before, it’s a lot darker and more ugly than anything.

Pep-Rock: Are you hoping to tour the UK with Cave In once it’s been released?

Stephen: Yeah man, we’d love to.

Pep-Rock: You must obviously be proud of all your work but what do you think is the best song you’ve written?

Stephen: (pauses) Hmm. I guess Cave In’s ‘Big Riff’ because I feel like it’s the very best of all the elements that encompass Cave In, being really loud yet really quiet in parts…and I can never resist a good shredding guitar solo.

Pep-Rock: The lyrics for all your work are inspiring and heartfelt, what is your method behind writing lyrics?

Stephen: I’m very partial to the sound of words, for me they’re equal to the meaning. I love listening to words. I remember when we played a show somewhere in Italy there was this band who recorded their first album in Italian but recorded their second in English just because they preferred the sound of English.

Pep-Rock: Surely Italian is a nicer language than English?

Stephen: Yeah, that’s what you’d think! But the fact this band had chosen to record an album in a different language because they preferred the overall sound is pretty inspiring.

Pep-Rock: Who are your influences?

Stephen: A lot of my friends are influential in the way they do their business. Converge, Isis, Dillinger Escape Plan…bands who call their own shots and set their own rules.

Pep-Rock: How did you end up playing bass for Converge on ‘When Forever Comes Crashing’?

Stephen: Those guys were aware of Cave In, I’m most friendly with Kurt. We’re very likeminded musically, there’s a certain respect we have between each band, and between our personalities, and it just progressed from there.

Pep-Rock: You’ve obviously toured the UK a lot, are there many differences between here and the US, in terms of culture, music, audiences etc?

Stephen: Well obviously the UK is a much smaller country, a lot less people in a much more compact space than the US. There’s a lot more energy packed into this one small place, it’s awesome. People tend to be a lot more enthusiastic about live music…I love playing the UK, it’s the best, especially with Cave In, we’ve never had such a positive response.

Pep-Rock: If you could play with any band, living or dead, who would it be?

Stephen: Umm, I think…The Mars Volta. I’d love to do some dual shredding with Omar and imagine working with that crazy drummer! Awesome.

Pep-Rock: Ok, here’s a bit of a random question but if you were having a dinner party and could invite any 3 people, living or dead, who would it be?

Stephen: Well, I’d invite my dad, my grandmother and my grandfather. My grandfather has been deceased for some time and I think if he could suddenly be alive, even for one night it would make my dad and my grandmother so happy, I’d love to see their faces, I’d love to see the dynamic of that happiness.

Pep-Rock: Which bands are you currently listening to? Are there any bands you’d recommend?

Stephen: Well my friend was playing me a CD earlier by a band called Biffy something…

Pep-Rock: Biffy Clyro?

Stephen: Yeah, that’s the one!

Pep-Rock: They’re pretty huge in the UK, they’re awesome! So you’re enjoying their stuff then?

Stephen: Yeah, totally, I was listening to their latest record I think and it sounded pretty heavy, pretty good.

Pep-Rock: Well thanks very much for your time Stephen, do you have any closing words?

Stephen: Closing words? Umm…I think ‘phenomenological’ and ‘boisterous’ are pretty good words. They’ll be my closing words I think.