‘ll be honest, I haven’t followed The Showdown since the very beginning. I don’t know what their gnar demo shreds sounded like when they played in their garage or living room or recorded their EP in their bathroom or whatever they did, and I couldn’t tell you any hometown history. I first saw The Showdown in some small, nothing-of-a-state named after an old dead guy named “Texas” awhile back. Backbreaker had just come out, brutal and metal – a prime soundtrack for killing people with bows and arrows – but they all wore their own shirts on stage and I was convinced that they were going to be the lamest, dudebro brodown band ever… And then, they started playing. Let me put it this way… Most bands shouldn’t wear their own shirts on stage. The Showdown, however, PWNS so freakin’ hard live that they could print onesies with their name on the chest and “I am metal” on the buttflap and still get away with being one of the most entertaining, bang-your-head bands on the Solid State roster…
If you take a minute to self-examine your life, maybe compare and contrast the person that you are, individually and outside of The Showdown, just living life, now, as opposed to where you were when you first started getting into this music thing we call industry and touring and shows and labels, what is the most drastic change you see in yourself? Surely, as with any life choice, you have learned valuable lessons along the way that are applicable to more than just the music. Think about it another way: as a kid, you grow up to be a man, and learn about who you are as you go along. What have you learned about yourself throughout your time in the band, and has anything about it changed the way you see the world, whether it has anything to do with The Showdown or not?
Josh Childers: I have learned that a good fitting pair of pants can make you feel at home just about anywhere. Water out of the tap in the Midwest sucks. Driving a van and trailer in New York City is even worse than it sounds. Nobody likes the guy that takes ten minutes to get his gear offstage. Generally speaking, homeless guys have more cash on them than you do. Most importantly, if she’s into band dudes, she’s trouble.
Maybe I’m wrong, but album trailers always get me to thinking that there might be a specific concept for the release as a whole… is there? Regardless, are there any underlying (or overt) themes to Blood In The Gears in its entirety?
JC: The underlying theme is basically dissent and rebellion. I don’t mean blame the republicans, or get involved in the “green movement” or PETA or any of that crap. I mean to consider that there is a reason thousands of kids die of starvation every day when we have all the resources we need for every one of us to be healthy and happy. The power structure of society is set up to keep it that way. We are all the blood in the gears of that machine.
I’m going to go ahead and say that you guys are one of the most enjoyable bands to watch live. Were you as obnoxious (a compliment) in the beginning, as a local band, as you are now? What is the worst injury you’ve sustained during a set?
JC: We try to give people something to see. Venue sound is notoriously sketchy and we weren’t always the tightest band in the world so the visual element has always been important. I’ve not ever been hurt too bad but I’m murder on headstocks. I cracked Dave on the head and knocked him out once, and broke a headstock on Eric’s chest one time.
You’ve been part of the Solid State family for a while now. What are some of your favorite bands that you’ve seen become a part of that same roster in your time with them? Did you grow up as one of the “T&N” kids (like I did)?
JC: I used to buy every Solid State release without fail, total fanboy (laughs). Embodyment, Zao, and Living Sacrifice in particular really changed the way I looked at music and made me think it was possible for me to do it full time.
Regardless of my love for the beastliness of Backbreaker, if I were to compare a song like, say, “Achilles” to the more recent “Bring It Down” – it is my humble opinion that the ferocity and speed of the latter blows “Achilles” out of the water. It’s pissed and furious and immediately drops with this million-mile-an-hour-tempo-punkish-thing that goes into this two-million-mile-an-hour-blastbeat-I’m-planning-on-killing-you-with-my-shreds-thing and it’s dirty and clean all at once. I love it. When you wrote and recorded this album, what were some specific components that you wanted – needed – to have take place within the songs. What kind of a mindset do you have to be in to continue to create art that is unique from what you’ve done in the past?
all of us.“
JC: We struggled to find ourselves for a long time and felt like Backbreaker was a good middle ground for all of us. This record is just us trying to distill it all down to its essence then crank everything up to ten.
Do people ever make fun of you for wearing your own shirts on stage? If I, hypothetically, of course, might have maybe made fun of you two years ago when you played (hypothetically) at the White Rabbit in San Antonio, Texas when I came to see you play, do you think you’d be able to nod and smile, or do you think you’d choke me with your jersey (hypothetically)?
JC: (Laughs) I remember that show, pretty sure I heard you. It’s totally tongue in cheek, we’d look pretty stupid not being able to take a joke because of it.
I have a question, but it’s a sticky question, and I’m not sure if it’ll come across the way I want it to, but here she goes: You know how a lot of bands are like, “We do this for no other reason than to glorify Jesus Christ and we want you to know that if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t be doing this…” and all that jazz? What do you think about that? Because I recently heard an artist play a show, and he was a Christian, who was an artist, but he told everybody that he wasn’t a “Christian Artist” – and that he didn’t wear a “Christian Baseball Cap” while on stage, and then take it off and turn into a different person when he walked off the stage. I like that. I’d like to think that it’s alright to make art for art’s sake, and to play music because you love it, that it can be glorifying to God because you love it, and not because you’re making it sound like he’s forcing your hand. Granted, maybe God does specifically ask a lot of people to do what they do and that’s fine. What do you think? I suppose I ask because you’re in a genre that is claiming revival while others are saying it’s a popularity bandwagon.
certain thing.“
JC: Honestly I don’t know that I could put it any better. We try really hard not to put ourselves on some pedestal just because we play instruments and believe a certain thing. We’re not role models. I look at a lot of super Christcore bands out now and just cringe, its idolatry. I don’t know most of them and would rather not, so I’m not going to pass judgment. I’m sure they look at us and aren’t all that pleased with what they see either. All I know is that from my perspective it looks like they’re just stroking themselves.
Where do you foresee The Showdown going from here? Ya’ll gonna be around for awhile? If the band was done tomorrow, would you be satisfied with what you’ve been able to do? What will you do when it’s over? Or, if you could do anything in the world without any limitations whatsoever, what would you do?
JC: We’ll keep doing this as long as people still care. We’re honored to have been able to do it for as long as we have, and this kind of music has given a lot to me. Whatever I can give back I will. 
