Blowing up in Canada in the early part of the decade, Swollen (MCs Mad Child and Prevail and DJ Rob the Viking) owned the rap game north of the border over the course of three excellent CDs. Their debut Balance (released on Mad Child's Battleaxe Records) featured the hit song and video "Lady Venom" and the boys hit the road with a vengeance.

2001's amazing Bad Dreams exploded onto CD players everywhere, fuelled by the turbo-charged hit "Fuel Injected". Balance and Bad Dreams had a sound that was unlike a lot of American rap. Their dark poetry was peppered with snippets of movie sound bites and references. Mad Child and Prevail have deliveries that are different but blended perfectly and their live concerts were unlike most other rap acts of the time. More in line with rock shows, the duo covers the stage with an energy that mesmerized audiences.

The compilation of unreleased/b-sides CD Monsters in the Closet was stronger than one would think for so-called secondary material, mostly due to the popularity of the freshly-penned monster cut "Breathe" featuring Nelly Furtado. 2003's Heavy was an excellent collection that expanded the Swollen sound with some really catchy melodies that supported their acerbic and inventive lyrics. However some fans felt betrayed by the more commercial approach. The band rebelled with 2006's Black Magic, an impressive return to the form of Bad Dreams but with even more scope.

About that time, Mad Child's experimentation with the wicked side of life experiences took a swift and dangerous side turn with an addiction first to Percocets and then OxyContin. The Swollen machine ground to a halt as he holed up in his home, a virtual recluse, leaving Prevail and Rob to man the ship. As CEO of Battleaxe Records, his descent into darkness meant that the company came off the rails just as the whole music industry was changing. Major labels were coming apart and social marketing was the de rigeur for shifting units.

Tracks for the new record were laid down bit by bit and then Prevail came across a young gun by the name of Tre Nyce. Once he partnered up with the rest of the guys, it energized the band and the record quickly came together.

Earlier this year, Swollen signed a partnership deal with Suburban Noize and after a three year wait released Armed to the Teeth in late October. Except for some of the lyrical matter which discusses the three-year hiccup in the band's career, you wouldn't know there had been a problem. Combining all the best elements of Swollen's career, including dark lyrics and banging beats, the boys have added a few more hooks this time up, some courtesy of the newest Battleaxe Warrior Tre Nyce.

A few songs like "Bollywood Chick" and "Porn Star" are more direct and less fantasy-based, giving the record a more well-rounded profile. In short, the band has never been stronger. In addition, Swollen usually brings along several special guests to add some spice to the mix and in this case they invited La Coka Nostra, Talib Kweli and Tech N9NE with all throwing down some serious flavour.

As a soldier in the Battleaxe Warriors army since the beginning, it was a real pleasure to spend some phone time with my boys recently. In the first instalment, here's an interview with Mad Child. We discussed his addiction, the revitalized Swollen Members and of course, their new record Armed to the Teeth.

antiMusic: Congrats on the new record.

Mad Child: Thank you.

antiMusic: It's awesome but there are a couple of surprises at first�

Mad Child: For sure.

antiMusic: �that kind of took me back for a second. But it all fits within the Swollen sound perfectly.

Mad Child: That means a lot to hear that because you know, it's funny. I was just thinking about this before you called. You know some of these the people on the Internet, right? Everybody, of course, is a critic, and everyone's got an opinion, and that's fine. I think that's wonderful. But one thing that I think is irresponsible of people---and I always try to make sure that I do---I never give someone my opinion on music until I've listened it, to the album four or five times because I always find my opinion of a song or album will change from the first time that I've listened to it to the fifth time I've listened to it.

antiMusic: Exactly.

Mad Child: And it's great to hear you say that cause because absolutely it will throw loyal fans for a loop at first but I stand behind it 110 per cent and it's awesome to hear that once it's sunk in you get it more than you did the first time, type thing.

antiMusic: Absolutely.

Mad Child: Cool.

antiMusic: It's almost too bad that there's just a couple of songs or couple of elements that kind of take people by surprise because it's not like the whole record is Auto-Tune, you know? Or "Bollywood Chick".

Mad Child: Cool. It's funny now. Let's talk about this for a second. I think it's almost amusing, how ridiculous it is that you know, how everybody just jumps on a bandwagon or something, where in six months from now people might not even remember that they had a problem with that thing. Like Auto-Tune. Really. What is such a �what is the big deal? If you listen to the songs where we have some Auto-Tune�it's not like it's like a Cher song where we sound like a robot.

antiMusic: Yeah. (Laughs)

Mad Child: It's called AUTO TUNE, because it's TUNING his voice to be in KEY with the music. It's not like we've added robotic effects to his voice; that IS his voice. So I find it quite humorous that, you know, Jay-Z says: "Death to Auto-Tune" when in fact, if you do your research, he has three songs on his album with Auto-Tune.

antiMusic: (Laughs)

Mad Child: And everybody's "Oh yeah, F*ck Auto-Tune" but then don't even realize when they're listening to songs that still has Auto-Tune in them. So it's quite humorous to me.

antiMusic: I guess to start off with, I'm going to read a couple of lyrics to you�

Mad Child: Cool.

antiMusic: "Supposed to fall back into depression but I can't. Having a ball. Dance with this handsome phantom." Sound familiar? ("Ground Breaking" from Swollen's debut Balance) " Sound familiar?

Mad Child: (slowly) Yeah.

antiMusic: Ok, fast forward 10 years, and another lyric: "Lost my motivation. Lost my inspiration. My mission everyday is escaping reality."
I guess the first main question dude is "What happened?" Obviously there was a drug problem, but usually those things just bring out problems that are already there�and there are other things � I'm not going to get into your own personal psyche. But I'm with ya there: I dislike most people too.

Mad Child: (Laughs) I just say I like animals more.

antiMusic: (Laughs) I hear ya.

Mad Child: I don't mind you getting into my psyche. I don't mind because that's what an artist, I feel, should be. They're sharing their inner thoughts and they're turning their inner thoughts into art so I don't mind sharing them with you at all.

antiMusic: Cool.

Mad Child: I try to make sure that I stay an open book because that's the life that I chose. That's the path that I chose, the road. So that's very cool the comparison there. I appreciate you taking the time to give me that comparison and I'll tell you exactly what happened. Looking back I have done a lot of self reflecting. You know, we rode an incredible wave of success. Simple as that.

I went from, you know, growing up I lived in low income housing where the government sort of makes the rent cheaper because I lived with my single mom who was a waitress. She provided for me wonderfully. I had a wonderful childhood. I don't want to paint any wrong pictures. But we came from the bottom type of thing. Now my mom and dad live in a nice house, they're doing well, nice middle class and everything like that but my point is I'm just trying to paint a picture of where I came from. So in my early 20s I was living in my grandma's two bedroom apt. I lived in the second bedroom. Within a year, or within 2 years from there, I started making millions of dollars bro. Like not TONS of millions, but I was makings MILLIONS of dollars. From taking the bus to Subway, where I worked, you know what I mean? Big jump in life, right?

antiMusic: No sh*t.

Mad Child: Okay, not to mention crowd surfing in front of 20,000 people at a time and signing autographs at the gas station and all this stuff. It's quite a life-changing experience and it all happened sort of at once. And when it happens the first time, you don't have a counselor or a guidance counselor to tell you how to handle the situation. There's nobody there to say "Hey, when the money's coming in, save it. Because when it stops, it just stops." There's no one there to tell you. I didn't have a mentor to say "Hey, stop and smell the roses." It was just day after day after day, show after show after show. Drinking everyday because that was a crutch of mine. I felt like I had to drink to perform and it was just a big blur.

So at the end of this entire thing due to management and our label dropping us because of my association with friends in the motorcycle club and you know, us making a conscious decision that maybe we should pull back the reins because maybe people are getting tired of us cause we've been on top for quite a while; that's going from quite a high to quite a low. Does that make sense?

antiMusic: Absolutely.

Mad Child: So I think looking back, I was just searching for that next high. And I never got addicted to cocaine when I tried it. Or never got addicted to smoking weed since high school because it got me paranoid. So with things like cocaine or whatnot or ecstasy or something, I never really did that at all. I had experimented when I was younger, but I hated the coming down more than I liked the going up. You know what I mean?

antiMusic: Yup.

Mad Child: Like that trying to go to sleep part where you're still up for four hours and you're like "this sucks. It wasn't worth it." but when you try Percocets, at least for me, or OxyContin, I would feel like a million bucks. I'd feel like I was floating on air. I'd feel like sort of a Utopia and then I'd have no problem going to sleep afterwards. I'd slip into a sort of nice, warm coma. So I was like "Great. I've found the perfect drug for me" and also when you try Percocet� At first it was Percocets with drinking alcohol---we'd go to parties and stuff. You also become Superman in bed with that sh*t, like you can last longer than you normally would, so that boosts your ego, and you know, you're basically walking around like a rooster, right? You're like, "This is f*cking awesome". (laughs)

When I was introduced to the drug, I wasn't given a pamphlet saying "You are taking synthetic heroin" so I honestly had no idea until I was about a year deep into my new habit that I was addicted to synthetic heroin. And by the time I found out it was simply too late. So I think that's where it all stemmed from, and unfortunately, as you probably know and stuff from hearing and things like that, things that always seem great and seem like they're perfect and making everything better, usually turn into a dark and dismal sort of thing. And that's exactly what happened, going from the Percocets to OxyContins; doing 20 80s a day. I just became a fat zombie. It was ridiculous.

antiMusic: At this point, it seems to me, that's a big part of the new record story that's coming out: a lot of people know about your struggles. Are you getting sick of talking about this or is it part of he process for you, like exorcising the demons�

Mad Child: Definitely part of the process but, the main reason, I'll tell you why. It hasn't happened as much in Canada, but almost every show, bro, in America, I've had someone come up to me, have a heartfelt talk, telling me that, either me talking about it, or my songs talking about it, was one of these people's reasons for getting off the drugs themselves. And telling me how the information helped them, talking about Suboxone, because it IS a miracle drug. And it IS important for opium addicts to know about Suboxone, to know that they can live their life again. And for me, the response is just� like one dude was in the army, he was a hip hop guy. He was just out of the army and he gave me his Airborne patch. So I'm going to sew it onto my jean vest. You know what I mean? Like sh*t like that. Like oh my god. And people just letting me know, this is a good thing you're doing. So that's what's fueling me to just keep talking about it. So no, I don't get sick of it at all.

antiMusic: It's like the perfect admission or I don't know, diary of addiction is "Wake Up" (from Mad Child's solo EP released earlier this year). I felt bad because I'm laughing all through the song, with the stuff about you talking to your dogs and they're talking back and that kind of thing and then I'm going, poor f*cking guy. It was entertaining but I'm sure the seriousness of addiction resonated with a lot of people�

Mad Child: I think so, that's awesome. It's great that something positive can come out of all this. That's for sure. And if I can help 20 people or if I can help 2,000 people, then I would love to do that. I'm not going to lie and paint you a picture and tell you that I don't still have fun time some times because I do. but I know that I'm an opium opiate addict. I know. Like for instance, when I did go to rehab a year ago which didn't work unfortunately because I wasn't mentally ready and that's something I would appreciate it if you let people know, if people are coming to the realization that they have an addiction problem, they're not going to be able to quit until they're mentally ready. So I strongly suggest, whether it's giving yourself a month, or three weeks, or three months or whatever it is, give yourself time that you feel comfortable with. Enjoy yourself, be safe until that point, but mentally prepare every day that you are living in an actual trap. And you WILL be able to build yourself up and be a lot more ready for when that day comes and it's time to go into detox.

But we were talking about partying. Cuz I don't want to paint the picture that I'm a completely sober person. That's not the case. The case is that I haven't touched an OxyContin or any type of painkiller opiate since I quit 5 � months ago. But I could take a toke of a joint or drink a couple of beers or whatever I want to do besides that. I can take it or leave it. It's not an addiction. I can drink like a gentleman or I could smoke weed and not think about it for 4 months. So those aren't problems for me. And if once in a while I decide to do something like that, I haven't found it being a problem. And I've paid attention to it. but I just don't want to paint the picture that I'm this super clean and sober guy, although I'm 95�98 per cent cleaner guy than I was because I was a daily drug user and now I'm not. I just want to make sure people understand. I don't want it to come across like I'm doing something that I'm not.

antiMusic: It's weird how that it's just that one thing that you're susceptible to.

Mad Child: Yeah. It's crazy. I guess I've been an opiate addict my whole life but didn't find out until this long in my life, until I tried, right? It was always there, though, inside of me. It's crazy.

antiMusic: I've heard Prev say in interviews that historically you have a three year cycle and at the end of that you have a general meeting of what you want to have happen in the next three years. If that is true, how much of the last three years�.go off course because of your condition.

Mad Child: Dude, that's the terrible thing about this sh*t is that you don't realize it until you're off it, but you're not only putting your life on hold when you're addicted but you're putting everyone else's life on hold that counts on you. And in my situation I have people who really count on me, especially my group. How are they going to go and tour, and how are they going to make a living if I can't get up off the couch. I was a f*cking zombie, so I put their whole lives on hold and that's really not fair, is it?

antiMusic: Yeah.

Mad Child: They literally couldn't make a living because of my selfishness. So that's pretty hardcore when you think about it like that. So I am sort of feeling like I need to make every day, and I WANT to make every day count for three, so I've gotta�kinda feel like I've got a new lease on life. I think it's inspiring to the guys and I think we're moving in a good pace now.

antiMusic: It's also another problem for you because then you go to the other end of the spectrum, you're trying to go full board to make up for the last three years or whatever. It must be kind of stressful.

Mad Child: It is, at times, but we also have new, more realistic goals. It's not that bad. I think if I would have had the same expectations as like what had already happened in our careers, then yes it would be more stressful. But I don't. And neither do the guys. It's a different time where music is free and social networking is the main tool for promotion and touring is a necessity. So it's a different time and different expectation so it's not as stressful as you'd think. Our goal is to live on the road. If people can't afford to buy the cd, then maybe they'll pay money and come to the show and buy a t-shirt at the show. There are an incredible amount of loyal fans that are still going out and spending $10 of their hard-earned money in this economic crunch and supporting our group and buying our CD. And that means the world to us. Especially when I know it's as easy as a click of a button to get it for free. That just shows us, man, that we've got some serious ground to stand on. We've got some serious f*cking backbone. Serious supporters that are staying behind and beside us and they're still going to ride with us. So that's amazing. So yeah, my whole goal now is to live on the road. If we can make a LIVING doing what we love to do then I'm perfectly happy with that.

antiMusic: We've talked about the more depressing aspects of the last 3 years, but on the good side, obviously you've got the new record. Lyrically, and perhaps more importantly, in the way you put your flows together, Armed to the Teeth contains some of your best stuff. Like your verses in "Certified Dope". Did your creativity ever leave you at any point during your addiction cuz it doesn't seem like it by way of the final product or was it a matter of you just couldn't get it together to go into the studio?

Mad Child: Thanks brother. Well the one thing that I can really point out that you may notice is, I used to be on more choruses. I used to take the bull by the horns more before. And on this album, I really owe it to the guys for shaping the songs. Like coming up with the concept, the choruses, the music, the direction the songs were going in. and then I would eventually get up stairs and write a beat...I feel 100 per cent happy about what I did, my parts, but I feel like, they definitely were the captains of the ship and I was just filling in my parts. Does that make sense?

antiMusic: Absolutely. Like we said in the beginning it's sort of a big departure�the reality is there are a couple of songs that are different from the traditional Swollen sound. You still have stuff like "Kyla", "Red Dragon" and "Funeral March", which is awesome by the way.

Mad Child: Thank you.

antiMusic: But "Bollywood Chick" and "Porn Star" have kind of taken some people by surprise. Was this�

Mad Child: Wait, wait, wait. hold on a second. Let's think about that for a second, okay?

antiMusic: Yeah.

Mad Child: Let's think about that. Let's think about Bad Dreams for a second. Wouldn't you say that "Fuel Injected" stood out compared to the rest of the songs?

antiMusic: Yeah. Absolutely. It was more radio friendly if you want to say it that way.

Mad Child: Right.

antiMusic: But I guess lyrically, you know, "Porn Star" is a bit�

Mad Child: Yeah. You got me there. You got me there. Yeah. You're right.

antiMusic: I know what you're saying though. You know, you've had "Breathe" "Steppin' Thru" and those kinds of songs in the past so it's not a new thing.

Mad Child: My only point�The only thing that I can say, really, and it's not in defense, but that I try to point to people is that it's 2009. It's not 2002 any more. But I get that. And yeah, you know, that does make sense. Lyrically, you're right. I did step out of the bounds normally within for those tracks. Yeah, you're right. That's cool.

antiMusic: Well, as you said, which kind of sums it up right there: 2002, 2009 different times, people evolve etcetera. But also, was it a matter of, were you getting tired at all, getting into the obscure Dungeons and Dragons mindset, and you just wanted to get a bit more direct, and maybe just wanted to have a bit more fun with things.

Mad Child: Yeah. You just nailed it on the head. The key word is FUN. I wanted to keep having fun. I actually made a conscious decision with this. Yeah. You just nailed it, bro.

antiMusic: Excellent.

Mad Child: I just wanted to have fun this. So I made a conscious decision at the beginning of the album. I said, look I know it's expected of us. I know we basically invented this dark, abstract expressionism thing. Looking back I sort of realized we did sort of invent our own little signature sound.

antiMusic: Absolutely.

Mad Child: We may have been influenced by other people but we brought that whole dungeons, dragons, skulls and fire thing to it and as much as I loved that we did I was like, I want to feel good about what I'm doing. I want to be able to talk about things in my life that I felt like I couldn't talk about before because of what was expected of us being backpack rappers and part of a certain scene. I said I don't want to feel like I'm in a box when I'm writing this album. I want to make music that I want to drive around and listen to.

And the bottom line is, I enjoy a lot of current rappers today. Things that maybe some other people might not think want me to like. I love 50 Cent when he comes correctly. I love French Montana. I like some of the Gucci Mane stuff. I like a lot of these rappers that are popular that are doing well. I think they're dope. They have skills. They're on top for a reason. They're doing good at what they do. Lyrically, they impress me. Because for some people, it may be dumbing it down, but believe it or not, it's just a different slice of the brain that you're using. It's still as much effort to write those types of lyrics.

So yeah, it was more to please myself. I'm not going to lie. I felt like I had to please myself as an artist. And I felt like had to grow like an artist and by doing that I wanted to do stuff that inspires me, things that I'm influenced by. I don't want to drive around and listen to you know, I hate to say it, but The Arsonists anymore, or something like that. That's a different time. I don't drive around and listen to that. I listen to things that they're playing on Shade 45. I love Saigon, I love Crooked Eye. I love those type of rappers.

And I do respect some of the underground stuff still 100 per cent. When I say we're still a part of the underground movement I mean we're part of the independent music movement. But that whole backpack thing, it's not a big part of my life anymore. but the funny thing is, now that I got that off my chest, and now that I've sort of pleased myself by opening the gates and having no hold barred, I want to actually (laughs) on the next album make sure that I can go back and still master the craft that we originated. So yeah, on Beautiful Death Machine, we will make some of the older, loyal fans happy by there being some more of that darkness. I'm not going to consciously decide what songs to do it on, but I do know that I want to prove to myself---now that I've proved to myself this---that I can go back and still go deep inside and let that dark poetry come out and I want to prove to myself that I can still improve on that style. Does that make sense?

antiMusic: Cool. Yeah. Absolutely.

Mad Child: So it's kind of funny (laughs). Maybe one day I'll find a perfect balance. But I think the idea of making everybody happy is pretty impossible.

antiMusic: Yeah. Pretty much. I mean you've got the people that bagged all over Heavy. And yet I love the death out of Heavy.

Mad Child: Ah, thanks man.

antiMusic: I think it's just amazing. Just because the stuff had more hooks or whatever, it didn't diminish your verses on there so I don't know what people were complaining about.

Mad Child: The only thing I would say on that album that I would agree with, is I would love to take a balance of those songs�I'd love to re-release Heavy because the only thing about that album is I feel that we made it in a rush and I feel like we made it for the wrong reasons. We made it to keep the machine going. I would love to take half those song and then do half the songs with a just different feel and re-release it. I think that would be very cool.

antiMusic: Really. That's interesting.

Mad Child: And I plan on doing it someday. Whether sells 10 copies or not I still want to do it, just for our own discography.

antiMusic: That's cool.

Mad Child: You know what's funny, if you don't mind my jumping into one thing because I'm enjoying talking with you.

antiMusic: Yeah no problem.

Mad Child: There's a really cool movie. It's like a documentary movie about Bob Dylan and it shows----the only bad thing about it is it's what got me smoking cigarettes again after I quit for 15 months, but anyways --- you should watch that documentary because it just shows, even back then, what artists went through. He went to England, and it shows him being the biggest success in England, London like. I mean it was OVERWHLEMING how popular he was in England. And then it shows his second album or third album whatever it was, where he switched from acoustic to having an electric band. And man did every one of those single people turn on him.

And think about it: going through that at that time, that was probably one of the first times that craziness of a way fans thinking�of thinking that your fans love you and to turning around and throwing things at you and hating you and yelling curse words at you, that happened on a big scale like that. Can you imagine what he went through? At least now we're more used to the possibility of it happening because we just realize it from the experience of seeing it happen to other people. But it's really something. It just goes to show you, how many people who are great artists go through that kind of stuff.

antiMusic: You're absolutely right. I mean what was it, the Newport Festival where he showed up and he plugged in and people were literally throwing things�his own fans just because he went electric.

Mad Child: It's quite something. (laughs)

antiMusic: Which kind of reinforces your kind of distrust of the public at large, I'm sure. (laughs)

Mad Child: Nooooo, it's not that. It's not that at all. I mean, we all have our own opinions. It's not that. It's just that I can't take it too seriously. Because I have to do what I feel that at the end of the day will level out and be the right decision. And I still stand behind my decision 110 %. Like I saw those comments on the Internet. You think I don't once in a while go on and check and see people calling me names and stuff like that, but because of the stuff that I feel at the end of the day, I made the right choice. And numbers don't lie, bro. We're selling better than ever in a time where people get music for free. Numbers don't lie.

antiMusic: That's excellent.

Mad Child: You know the fans are so excited and we're doing shows in our own country. It's the most overwhelming feeling. And the fans are YOUNG, bro. Like they're back and they brought their little brother or sister. We have a whole new generation. These kids are 16, 17, 18 years old, going off. You understand how good that feels? I'm not going to let some guys who are music critics in their own minds and jumping to conclusions�I'm not going to let that stop me from what I feel is growing as an artist.

antiMusic: You've said that you got a shot of energy by being introduced to Tre Nyce. What was it about him that energized you? Was it from a creativity standpoint or did he just push you back into your old motivated self?

Mad Child: It was from a completely creative standpoint. He is so talented�

antiMusic: Was he a fan to begin with?

Mad Child: I don't think so. He probably respected the group. He's a young fellow. He's more with the Gucci Mane and all that kind of stuff. So I don't think the previous albums would have been something that he would have spent a lot of time listening to. He probably listened more to all the stuff they play in the clubs and stuff like that. But I know he's a fan now. We won him over. (laughs) And he has brought such youth and freshnenss and excitement to the group. I've been waiting for years to find someone with that talent. Even releases that we put out in the past, you'll notice I wasn't in their videos and things like that because I didn't want people to think this was my first introduction to the world after Swollen Members. Tre Nyce is the first thing that I stand behind it 110 % and I'm going to put my heart and soul into his career because I actually believe in him as much as I believe in ourselves.

antiMusic: Wow. That says something.

Mad Child: Yeah. He can make five songs in a day and they're all banging. And he made me, where I used to spend a whole day writing a verse, I can now write 2, 3 verses in a day. Not everyday, but there are times when I can write 3 verses in a day and I'm completely happy with everything I've done. It's just like I've dropped this defensive wall and I'm just a little more freeflowing with what I do now.

antiMusic: I've noticed over the years that there are references to God in your verses. I can't imagine that you're religious by any stretch but I wondered if you grew up in a church-going household and that just kind of stuck with you. Or do the references just kind of fit your verses in those places?

Mad Child: I don't know. God's just been in my heart, bro. I love God, I love Jesus. Whether we have the picture exactly painted properly who and what God is, I just love our creator. I love the idea of goodness. I love the idea you know of loving and fearing God and because of that I feel it keeps me in a better place. You know, if I had no fear of going to hell or of not getting into heaven, I might be a killer, you know what I mean? Because I have that in me.

I could definitely f*cking shoot somebody, no problem, if I felt they were harming my family or putting my family or my life at risk. I don't think it would be that difficult. But because of the idea of going to heaven, because of the idea of my family, and heaven watching over me, and angels and God, I feel that that makes me consciously make sure that I'm staying in line. And I think that that's a good thing to have in your life.

antiMusic: Cool. What's the status of Battleaxe? The credits read that the record is out on Suburban Noize. Have they just licensed releases that Battleaxe will put out or is Battleaxe just a name associated with you at this point?

Mad Child: It's a 50-50 deal per project and the idea is that we're going to re-brand Battleaxe through Suburban Noise and eventually do a partnership with them where Battleaxe will stand on its own but we'll still put it out with Suburban Noise, like they'll still be involved. But they're going to help us rebuild and re-brand Battleaxe as a whole movement again

antiMusic: That takes a lot of trust, man. You must be really happy with them.

Mad Child: Oh my god. Those guys are so cool over there. It's amazing. You know they're realistic. And maybe we were spoiled a little bit in the past with the other situations we were in. These guys are serious, no joking around businessmen, you know what I mean? They are incredible people and I consider Kevin Zinger a friend, a good friend for the amount of time that I've known him. But at the same time they're not there to sugar coat things or fluff our pillows for us. They're like, "get out there and do the work, motherf*ckers." You know what I mean? You gotta show and prove with them and they'll show and prove with you. I'm super happy about the relationship.

antiMusic: Over the span of your six records, you've used a variety of producers. I always wondered why once Rob became official, you still used outside producers and how he felt about that? And why on this record that it was almost all Rob that produced it?

Mad Child: I think at the time we were still feeling like it was important to have our friends, The Alchemist and Evidence be a part of making the music. It was an honor to work with them and it still would be. But I think now, in this day and age, keeping it in house more, Rob can do so many different feels now. It's like before maybe we went outside to make sure there were different flowers in the garden. But now it's like Rob can do all the different colors in the garden so we don't really need to step outside for production. If that makes sense.

antiMusic: Absolutely. What's the significance behind the numbers on the Battleaxe Warriors logo --- 57 23 08?

Mad Child: 57 is my favourite number. The number 5 and 7, whether it's a triple 7 or 7-5 or whatever. I also have OCD so sometimes numbers come into play in the mental games that I play. And those are the numbers that I work with. 8's are okay too. It's like 2s kinda level things out but 9s and 6 and stuff are not that great but 3 can be okay if it's x 7. It's all confusing but it's all sh*t weird games that just constantly play my head. Sometimes they're annoying but, whatever. You know I think it's like one out of 5 people have OCD so it's not like it's that crazy of a thing that I have it. Prev's favourite number is 23. And Rob's favourite number is 08. So� maybe one day we'll find out what Tre's favourite number is.

antiMusic: What's the significance or whatever's behind the Silver Surfer references?

Mad Child: Aww, that's just us. When I was just coming up, or whatever, just younger you know, a teenager turning into a young adult, some of the things that I just loved for whatever reason was Pepsi Cola, the Silver Surfer and palm trees. I don't know what. There was something special about those things to me. I'm sure there were a few other things too but those things were really very cool to me. I'm not a big huge comic collector or anything like that but I do have a collection of Silver Surfer comics. Something about his character just stuck out to me. I was a big Beastie Boys fan and I don't know it all just seemed to fit together. And to me things like the Beastie Boys and the Silver Surfer and Pepsi Cola are classic. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, James Taylor. Those are things that will always be with me my whole life. I never get sick of them. And it's just timeless. And I'm hoping one day we can be that same group for other people as well.

antiMusic: Well definitely at this end anyway.

Mad Child: Thanks brother. It's funny. I'm sorry, I'll jump in one more questions. Even my ex girlfriend I had for 11 years off and on, she used to call herself Nova which was, you know the girl in Silver Surfer's life. It's pretty funny. That's why I sang "I ain't tripping on Nova."

antiMusic: I never caught that. I wondered what that line was about.

Mad Child: We were broken up at the time. (laughs) I have a new girlfriend for 3 � years who I love. She's amazing. I'm super happy by the way.

antiMusic: Just to finish off how do you think, this is kind of a stupid question since you don't really know, but how do you think the record's going to do in the U.S.?

Mad Child: Well it was in the top Billboard charts the first week, top 200 I think. I think it was #140.

antiMusic: Yes!

Mad Child: For being an independent record, it's quite incredible. It was, I think, number 11 rap album, first week in America. It was in the Top 5 new artist, Heatseekers.

antiMusic: Wow.

Mad Child: It was I think our best first week ever in America with CD sales being at its lowest point in general in the music industry. So I think it gives you a kind of a pretty good idea that we're moving in the right direction.

antiMusic: Absolutely. That's awesome.

Mad Child: It IS awesome. I'm happy.