Brian Rademacher: Hey Gabe, congratulations on the new album.

Gabe Garcia: Thank you man.

Brian Rademacher: With your first band RADIO, did you play all originals or covers?

Gabe Garcia: We did a little bit of both but we did play (mostly) covers and a couple originals.

Brian Rademacher: What are some of the covers you did?

Gabe Garcia: "Sweet Child o' Mine", "Paradise City" by GUNS N’ ROSES and we did some AC/DC and IRON MIADEN too.

Brian Rademacher: Do you feel there was an advantage being so young and able to tour at that age?

Gabe Garcia: Definitely, I feel being on the road and being through everything we’ve been through made me grow up faster and a lot quicker than most kids out here.

Brian Rademacher: Does the band have a tour rider and could you tell me anything special you ask for?

Gabe Garcia: (laughing) our rider right now is looking real good. Coconut water, cashews and we try to add things to make us stay focused. We’ve made a lot of mistakes during our first record with our ups and downs and we did things we shouldn’t have been doing. This time around we’re really focused and ready to hit it.

Brian Rademacher: Are you tired of the comments about your new look and hair?

Gabe Garcia: For sure (laughing), It doesn’t actually bother me the biggest thing that does bother me is that they are paying more attention to my look and hair than the music. It’s ridiculous and that’s all I see are those comments.

Brian Rademacher: Do you feel a change from the first BLACK TIDE release to the second with being more commercial/accessible?

Gabe Garcia: I wouldn’t say more commercial. I would say we had a change I was 14 back than now I’m 18. My voice changed and we made up our minds to focus more on the music and have an open mind to all types of music. I don’t care if the record is on pop radio rock radio as long as it’s good music. I guess your right I guess it’s better for those kinds of things being more commercial because it can be played on the radio and we are more open to those kinds of things. We wrote songs that we love and at the end of the day we’re happy and we are lucky to be able to do that. We have nothing to complain about.

Brian Rademacher: The new cover for "Post Mortem", who came up with the concept of the cover?

Gabe Garcia: We kind of had an idea and we had limited time to think about the cover. We found this guy Chris and he came up with it real quick and we were stoked on it. We got together had a couple comments on it and we went with it. For me it’s not about the cover it’s about the music and once you pop that CD in and you like it, that’s it for me.

Brian Rademacher: Do you have any worries that kids might get high or drunk and listen to the CD and look at the cover and try and do the same by hanging themselves?

Gabe Garcia: There are things that happen like that, I really don’t know, they have to be pretty insane to do that and they would have done it anyway without our record or cover. Its funny most people think this is a negative record just by looking at it, we see it as a positive record and for us it’s like taking a step into paradise; we’re taking a step into the unknown which is a good thing.

Brian Rademacher: "Walking Dead" is a killer track. I loved it.

Gabe Garcia: Thank you man, I appreciate that

Brian Rademacher: "That Fire" is good too. Say your parents are watching the "That Fire" video and they see you in bed with the chicks eating strawberries. How did you explain that?

Gabe Garcia: (laughing) I explained it to them; it’s just a fun song. It’s the least serious song on the record just to kick start things off and it has a good vibe. We are tired of all these metal bands being so serious all we know is we have a positive record.

Brian Rademacher: What’s the feeling like when fans and artists cover BLACK TIDE songs on YouTube?

Gabe Garcia: There was this one girl in particular. I was stoked in that and I got in touch with her. I told her she switched up the song and it’s a hundred times better than we wrote it (laughing)! It’s always good to see all that creativity out there and YouTube is amazing where you actually get to see it and to get to see our song and someone taking it to another level is awesome.

That Fire - Black Tide (Cover) Elley Duhe

Brian Rademacher: On "Ashes" you used Matthew Tuck of BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE. How did that go?

Gabe Garcia: We were actually done with the record now for nine months and we were on tour with BULLET and we were playing the record on the back of the bus and he was into it and lovin’ it. He said you should have had me up I would have loved to be featured on the record. We were two days away from a New York date and that’s where we recorded the record. We linked up with our producers and managers and made it happen. We were stoked and I’m glad it happened.

Brian Rademacher: How was it doing the National Anthem before the RallyCross event of X Games 17 at the Staples Center?

Gabe Garcia: Doing the Nation Anthem at the X Games is one of the craziest things I’ve ever done. It was nerve racking. I was on top of big scaffolding and I’m afraid of heights. So I get up there and it’s a mixture of being on top of the scaffolding and doing the Nation Anthem with crazy nerves but it was awesome and that’s what I live for that adrenaline rush, I gave it my all.

Brian Rademacher: What are some of the pluses on the road?

Gabe Garcia: We are very lucky people to be able to do something like this. Sometimes it feels like we are just settling in and it’s unbelievable that is a few weeks we are leaving on tour for the 2011 Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival with AVENGED SEVENFOLD, 3 DAYS GRACE, SEETHER, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, ART OF DYING and many others, it’s a dream come true every day.

Brian Rademacher: And what are some of the downfalls?

Gabe Garcia: You’re not as home as much. I miss my family; I miss my dog (laughing). Things like that. You gotta just think you’re doing this all for your family; it’s all good.

Brian Rademacher: Congratulations once again would you like to say anything in ending?

Gabe Garcia: Give the record a chance, "Post Mortem" comes out August 23rd, we hope everybody digs it. Thanks Brian.