Darkest Hour - Mike Schleibaum
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

"In brightest day, in darkest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might, BEWARE MY POWER....Green Lantern's Light."

Somehow I doubt that the members of the metal band Darkest Hour say these words before they recharge their power rings. But it’s such an awesome adage. I had recently noticed a thread on SuicideGirls dedicated to the band so I finally decided to get off my ass and write up my interview with DH’s guitarist Mike Schleibaum

Check out the official website for Darkest Hour

Daniel Robert Epstein: You got a benefit show today.

Mike Schleibaum: Yeah it’s right down the street from my house. It’s weird when you start a tour with a hometown show. You get that feeling of being a local band that never tours. You have to load everything, pack up, get to the show, play and then just go home. It makes you think how much work it is.

DRE: Are you psyched about OzzFest?

MS: Yeah we’re psyched. We’re going to try to make out with Rob Halford but I don’t know if it’s going to work out. We figure that since there are five members of our band he will have to be attracted to one of us.

DRE: You want to make out with Rob that bad?

MS: You’re not into that?

DRE: If I was I don’t think he would be the first guy I would want to make out with. He’s ugly.

MS: He’s the king of metal dude. I think it’s really cool that he’s out and rocking because metalheads don’t get it. You can’t say a bad thing about him because he’s fucking Halford. It’s the most interesting dilemma ever for most metalheads because they don’t like gay people but they love Rob Halford.

DRE: So I guess you’re ok with gay people.

MS: We’re 100 percent ok with gay people. In fact we celebrate diversity all over the back of our trailer.

DRE: So maybe he will come over!

MS: Maybe. The Christian band Under Oath wrote it on our trailer thinking we’d be offended. But we just thought it was sweet.

DRE: What was Under Oath thinking?

MS: We were playing pranks back and forth and they thought putting a bunch of gay pride stickers on our trailer but hey we don’t have a problem with gay people.

DRE: You don’t have a problem but you do have a problem with Under Oath.

MS: They’re actually a nice band.

DRE: Where did you play with them?

MS: We did a tour with them. By the end of the tour we had made their van into a big chicken by pouring seven gallons of syrup on it then putting feathers on it with a cardboard beak. Then we had a big banner that came down during their last song that read “I Heart Boobs.” To get us back they took the wheels off of our trailer, put the lug nuts in a mixture of mayonnaise, soy sauce and dead fish and then put a lock on the wheels with 20 different keys in the mixture as well.

DRE: They nailed you!

MS: Yeah they got us pretty hard but then we jerked off on their windshield. When forced with not having a good comeback we just decided to jerk off on something.

DRE: How has the response been to the Sadist Nation music video?

MS: Pretty good. We wish we could have done something a little more political that said more about what we were about. But there are all these new rules that the places that play music videos have. We were tired of making videos that nobody wants to play so we decided to play by the rules and that kind of left a bitter taste in our mouths but we’re still happy with it.

DRE: Did you guys know [music video director] Darren Doane beforehand?

MS: We had never met him before but he was super awesome. He was great to work with because he’s always super stoked and very animated so we had a lot of fun.

DRE: I read that your very own Murphster did a killer stage dive.

MS: [laughs] Yes Murphster did a stage dive in the video.

DRE: Who is Murphster?

MS: We have a roadie named Mike but we have so many Mikes on tour that all of them get nicknames. Mike Murphy is called the Murphster. He’s the guy that does all the work but we pick on him. So whenever we can give him a little credit we do.

DRE: What made you guys take a break at the end of last year?

MS: My father passed away. We were in Switzerland and I had to come home because he only had a week left to live. It takes some time to get readjusted and that hasn’t happened to my family as of yet. I had to come home, take a deep breath and then we started touring again in February.

DRE: Has your work changed as a result of your father passing?

MS: I don’t know. My father was living with lung cancer for two years but we got along well. I accepted the fact that he was going to pass. But I don’t really write all the lyrics. Right now the record we are working on is so far only bits and pieces.

DRE: How was the Japan trip?

MS: It was awesome. I would encourage anybody who thinks they want to go to Japan, to go, because it’s the coolest place in the world. It’s like living in the movie Blade Runner. Japanese culture and the fans are really fascinating. The first time you go to Europe you feel like you are in a different world but man when you go to Japan it’s even more so. We went to these crazy rock bars where you can drink all night for free if you are in a band. You just hang out there with rejects and these sort of hot girls which model in Japan but could never model in America. It was just funny. It’s like the true rock star experience.

DRE: Does your music do well there?

MS: The type of metal we play is very popular there. The fans are really supportive. People want you to sign everything and stop you in the street to sign something.

DRE: They stopped you?

MS: They stop any white person with tattoos. It doesn’t matter if you are in a band or not.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Darkest+Hour+-+Mike+Schleibaum/