Five Questions With Joe Cocchi of Within the Ruins

After pummeling eardrums on this year’s Summer Slaughter tour, Within the Ruins are gearing up for a full trek with Born of Osiris and Thy Art Is Murder. During a recent stop in New York City, we had the chance to chat with guitarist Joe Cocchi, who spoke about some of his Swedish musical inspirations, the band’s new album ‘Phenomena’ and his love of beer. Check out our interview with Joe Cocchi of Within the Ruins:

Touring with so many bands throughout the years, is there one band out there you would love to hit the road with that you haven’t gotten a chance to? Who is it and why?

Let’s see, well I know At the Gates are coming out with a new album this year which will hopefully make my year but it could make or break it. Bands like At the Gates, In Flames, Arch Enemy, those are all super influential bands for me as a guitarist.

The new album is called ‘Phenomena.’ What does this title mean to you?

Tim [Goergen], the vocalist and mostly lyricist, came up with a few titles but this one kind of feels elite in a way. We try to make the most awesome music we can. Maybe it’s not awesome to everyone but to us it is and we’re super stoked about it. We just tried to have a descriptive word or title to go along with how we feel the music is. We were just going through titles and it sounded cool.

What about who you are as a person and musician can we hear on this new release?

Oh wow, well there’s the instrumental part we did in the middle of the album and there’s a few references, kind of rip off parts from 'Super Mario Brothers' theme song and 'Inspector Gadget' and a couple of other things. I’ve seen kids super responsive to it, more than I expected. I’m pretty sarcastic and laid back and I don’t really give a s---. [Laughs]

When writing I just thought those parts fit there and it would stir up some s---. Kids are either like, “What the hell is that all about?” or they’re like “That’s awesome.” We are very serious about what we do and we try to make every album times 10 the last album but we’re also sarcastic pricks sometimes and we’re like, “What the hell, why not?”

What can fans expect from Within the Ruins, for the rest of 2014?

I know we have some time off after Summer Slaughter then we’re doing a full U.S. thing in October and November. Technically we can’t say with who, I’ll get in trouble, but it’s actually with one of the bands that’s on this year’s Summer Slaughter tour with us. [Editor's Note: Since the interview, a tour with Born of Osiris and Thy Art Is Murder has been announced]. During the time off we’ll probably fool around with some writing but we have one more U.S. tour and then we go to Europe around January or February.

With all of this touring and forthcoming tour because of the new album, what is one thing you must have on tour with you? It cannot be electronic.

Beer. [Laughs] Yeah, I like Coors Light if I’m just drinking a bunch of beer to get drunk. I’m a big craft beer guy so I’m a big fans of IPA’s and Ales, stuff like that. If I have time and we’re not playing or we’re done playing I’ll go out and explore and find a brewery, get some food and beer. I guess I would say I’m a beer connoisseur.

Our thanks to Joe Cocchi for the interview. See Within the Ruins' fall tour dates here, and pick up their new album, 'Phenomena,' at iTunes.

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