Web Exclusive - Q&A: The Showdown

Hailing from Elizabethton, Tenn., The Showdown recently made a stop in Louisville at Expo Five. David Bunton chatted about the band’s record, Temptation Come My Way, its self-booked tour, and why they’re not necessarily touting themselves as a Christian metal band.

LEO: How’s the tour going?
David Bunton: Great. We booked it ourselves for the most part.
We’ve got a tour coming up with Days of the New. It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a while.

LEO: What do you think about the state of metal, and heavy music today?
DB: Fads come in and come out. There’s different kinds of metal, different kinds of hardcore, different this, different that. A lot of bands rehash stuff. With music right now, it’s not about “How good is this band?” It’s about how many MySpace friends they have. It’s weird.
(Music) is such a social thing. It’s refreshing to go to shows and see kids into it for the tune.

LEO: I read an article describing you guys as Christian metal. Does that description fit?
DB: Kind of. We’re all Christian. It comes out in our music, sure, but we’re definitely not Stryper. We write about all the things that 25-year-old dudes go through, and we’re not afraid to talk about it at all. Hopefully some of the positive can be drawn from our tunes.

LEO: What was it like working with producer Paul Ebersold (Saliva)?
DB: It ruled. It was awesome. Paul is so cool. He’s into Jeeps, camping, hunting. He’s into Pantera. He’s a dude’s dude. That helped the record turn out the way it did. In the middle of recording, sometimes we’d quit, and he’d take us to this area where he goes duck hunting. It’s really laid back.

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