Heavy on the bass: Killswitch Engage's Mike D'Antonio talks tour dates, bandmates
Killswitch Engage's Mike D'Antonio is more than ready to atone for the pandemic-related tour absence.
"The fact that we can get the bands to do it again and go out, and fingers crossed not get sick, It's just really exciting. It's time to get back to what we love doing, which is playing shows," he says of their 2022 plans.
The bassist chatted about the band's Atonement tour, which reunites them with Howard Jones, frontman of Light the Torch (Jones was lead singer of Killswitch from 2002 to 2012), along with August Burns Red. In addition to a tour stop in Stroudsburg on Monday, Jan. 31, the band will perform in Pittsburgh (Friday, Jan. 28), New York City (Feb. 8), Rochester, New York (March 11) and Philadelphia (March 12).
How is it being on the road with Howard again?
We had done this tour before the COVID thing hit. It was supposed to be a month and a half long. Two days in the government told us we needed to go home. We only did two shows with the line-up. It was really fun to have Howard out. He has changed a lot since he was in Killswitch for the better and he's a really fun guy to be around, so we're happy to have our friend back. We're just really stoked that all the bands could do it again. It's been almost two years.
You missed a couple of shows because of COVID.
It was really funny, but in a bad way. We had waited almost a year and a half to play again and it finally rolls around and sure enough a day before I was supposed to leave I caught COVID, so I had to miss the first three shows of that tour. And it only had two more shows after that. I felt really bad that I had to miss anything, but the funny thing was up until then, I had only missed one show in the 21-year career in Killswitch Engage. I've missed four in my entire life and three were due to COVID.
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Being together for so long, what's your camaraderie like?
Other bands have done it where they don't get along, but I feel like our secret to success is that we're all still really good friends and any sort of weirdness that happens usually gets squashed right away to remain friends and to be able to live with somebody on the road and to be able to communicate and have a good rapport.
That's something that we really pride ourselves in: taking care of the crew, taking care of each other. it's one big happy family. I know that sounds silly to say, and I'm sure you've heard other bands do it, but I really couldn't see us lasting this long without laughs and fun and good times because all that other crap can only get you so far, all the bad stuff.
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I heard about this prank that when someone messes up the tour bus, they had to wear a hideous shirt.
It was mainly for the crew. But the shirt idea, it was such this gigantic shirt that someone would be embarrassed to wear and if anyone on the tour would screw up — onstage it's actually funny when the band screws up because we all look at each other and laugh — but when a crewmember screws up it could [mean the show doesn't go on.] Just to inject a little bit of fun, we were giving people oversized, crazy shirts with bands they didn't like or bands — some of those '80s shirts from the used clothing store— and give it to our crew to wear for a day. They started to take pride in it, so it didn't work it out that well. Some people would wear them more often than others and then they would just get into it.
What inspires you when you're not feeling 100?
I'm always doing graphic design and working on my computer. When we were taken off the tour because of COVID, it took me months to do anything. I was in tour mode still and looking forward to the next city we were going to, and I was just sitting home on my couch. It really screws up your head a little bit, because you live a dual life being in a band. You're either on the road or not on the road. Computer graphics is the thing that saves me whenever I don't feel like playing music. If I work on some design work, I feel more satisfied than sitting around playing video games or doing something that doesn't end up with anything in return. At least when I'm banging away on the keyboard, there's something that comes out of it.
What kind of designs do you work on?
I do a lot of T-shirt designs. I do all the Killswitch records, all the layouts and stuff like that. I do most of tour T-shirts for Killswitch. I've worked for (bands) Shadows Fall, Crowbar, Hate Breed, All That Remains. It's mostly word-of-mouth at this point. I'm not overloaded, which is great. It's enough projects that I can handle and still go on the road and be a full-time band member.
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Would you ever sing?
My voice is terrible. If I sneeze too loud, I lose my voice. There has been talk of maybe everyone in the band doing a singing part at some point, so we'll see how that goes. I've never volunteered, that's for sure.
Are there any plans to roast coffee again? [The band collaborated with Essex Coffee Roasters on two blends].
We have a buddy, Aaron Dalbec, who used to be in a band called Converge and is in a band called Be Well and he makes his own coffee. He does specialty batches of a certain amount and he offered to a couple batches for us and it did really well. I imagine we'll probably do more, he's a great guy and the coffee is handmade and boutique [like].
On 'Atonement,' what is one of your favorite songs to play?
We recorded way too many songs for the record and it was hard to tell when we were recording them, which songs were going to stand out. They really didn't have a lot of vocals to them yet. When I heard "The Signal Fire," I didn't even know Howard (Jones) was on that song until I heard the vocals. I knew it was going to be on the record and I knew I had to study up on that and play it better, so I went back and redid the track to make it sound a little crazier. That one is fun to play and definitely gets the crowd riled up. With Howard quite possibly coming in and doing a duet, I think people are going to get even nuttier.
If you go: Killswitch Engage Atonement Tour (with Light the Torch and August Burns Red) takes place 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg. Tickets cost $39 to $44. For info, go to https://bit.ly/3KJYY6Q
Micaela Hood is a features reporter with the Pocono Record and the USA TODAY Mid-Atlantic Region features team. Reach her at mhood@poconorecord.com.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Mike D'Antonio of Killswitch Engage is ready to reunite with band, tour
