interview from digital noise:

Matt: How long have you and the band been together?

Andy: About five years. I was the last one to join the band so with me in it about 3 and a half to 4 years.

Matt: What got you started into playing the drums? Did you play any other instruments?

Andy: Hahaha... if you want to know the truth, I was watchin' all the bands play on MTV and just got hooked. I started to play when I was 10 or 11. I played in the school band and that helped me learn how to play the drums somewhat. I've just played percussion stuff really. Most of it was jazz and classical stuff.

Matt: LOL... How did the name Factory 81 get stuck with the band?

Andy: Actually it was Factory 81 before joined. But the 3 other guys were trying to think of somethin' and they saw a work shirt for some company with a patch that said Factory 81 on the sleeve of it and it stuck. It doesn't have any real deep meaning to it.

Matt: Haha, how did you like Japan?

Andy: It was really cool. We got back about a week ago, and had fun but didn't have enough time to see all the cool spots. We played 3 shows and it was surprising to see how many kids were there. I thought there would be like 6 but there were a couple hundred at each show and most had already gotten our CD ('Mankind'). I think we might go back sometime next year.

Matt: Cool, do you have any plans of touring the U.S. anytime soon?

Andy: As of now not really. We are in the process of writing new material and everything. We'll probably go back out on the road when we get our new CD out so hopefully in about 6 months or so and stay about a year.

Matt: When do you expect to have a follow up to 'Mankind' out?

Andy: Well we have about 8 or 9 songs written so if we bust ass then it should be out and ready around this summer or spring time. We want to take our time on it and get the CD that we want to put out, but get it out as soon as we can, ya know? We also switched to Jive records since they bought out Mojo Records which slowed the process down.

Matt: Yeah, do you have a nickname? If so, how did you did you get it?

Andy: No, not really. I'm sure I'll come up with something good this upcoming year that will stick.

Matt: What did you listen to when you were growing up oppose to what you listen to now?

Andy: Hummm... good question. Growin' up it was the 80's metal. stuff like Slayer and Metallica. Now it's more instrumental stuff like classical and jazz. I listen to pretty much anything including hip hop, funk, metal and just everything.

Matt: Do you support any local or underground bands? If so, which ones?

Andy: Yeah totally, a lota' good bands are out there, but it's hard to get national attention. If we are headlining a show in the Detroit area then we'll try to get some local bands to play. We are doin a show in Michigan to play some of our new material with Emotep and AriZing (two locals).

Matt: If you had to pick a highlight out of everything that has happened with the band so far that you could share with everyone, what would it be?

Andy: There are so many I cant even think of one. Hummm, goin' to Japan was a dream for everyone. A million different things have happened, but that's the biggest. I never thought we would even get to Canada.

Matt: If you could do a dream tour of your own, who would you pick to be on the bill and why?

Andy: Lets see Tool, we are all big Tool fans, Bjork, and all kinds of music that wouldn't really match our style. Deftones would be on. Ummm... our friends in Taproot. We grew up with them and didn't get to tour with them last year.

Matt: What's your favorite song to play live and what's your favorite song off the CD?

Andy: A band favorite is "Diary Of A Serial Killer" to play live. It's also the favorite song off the CD for me. It's like our new stuff... melodic with a bit of hip hop influence.

Matt: Do you have any final words that you would like to say to all the fans that Factory 81 has?

Andy: Yeah, thanks everyone for supporting us and coming out to our shows. You all made it completely worth it and you mean everything to us!

Matt: Cool, thanks for the time and the interview. Best of luck!

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