It’s not often one gets to sit and chat with what MTV2 awards as an Ultimate Metal God. That is what I got to do with Nick Hipa, guitarist from As I Lay Dying. Though numerous lineup changes, this Christian Metalcore band has stuck to their roots. They have accomplished many achievements already, only being together since 2001. Wouldn’t you say that touring overseas, playing mulitple festivals and working with metal gurus from Killswitch Engage on a regular basis are accomplishments? I do believe one would! While on their second tour rounding off the spring fever of their current cd Shadows Are Security, Nick and I discussed what it’s like to be a God, what to expect from their new cd An Ocean Between Us, and looking forward to playing Warped Tour this summer!

Shout!: You are not a founding member…how did you come to join the band?

Nick: I was in a band that was on Pluto Records, the same record label that As I Lay Dying is on and we were just on tour with each other before and I’ve known those dudes for a long time. When my band broke up they asked me to play with them.

S!: There has been quite a turnover in members. Why is that?

N: I think it’s because initially no one wanted to commit to it like Tim and Jordan did. Them and Evan were really the only ones that did commit and Evan wanted to go back to school and couldn’t tour so the consistant lineup was always just Tim and Jordan and they kept having dudes come in and fill in on a tour. We never had an actual solid guitar section until Phil and I joined the band.

S!: Do you think this current lineup meshes well together, then?

N: Yeah. I would say that this is the lineup, at least as far as guitar players go. I’ve been in the band for 3 1/2 years now and it has been great.

S!: So how does it feel to have won the Ultimate Metal God award from MTV2?

N: We did?

S!: [laughs] Yeah!

N: Oh yeah, that’s right!  [laughs] To be honest, we didn’t really feel worthy. I mean, we were competing against Lamb Of God and Mastadon. Our mentality was that we didn’t even deserve to be in the same category as those guys. And then we ended up winning and we were shocked and we couldn’t believe it. I mean, that was something decided compeletly by fans voting, so we were incredibly grateful because we didn’t view ourselves as ultimate metal gods but apparently kids out there do and they voted for us. It was a good feeling at the end but it was a little weird and akward.

S!: How humble! So you’ve toured overseas with Bullet For My Valentine. How do fans there differ from here?

N: It depends where it is. If you’re playing in London, it seems like you’re just playing in another big city like New York but if you’re playing in a little town in Germany then kids go crazy there because bands rarely go there. They aren’t as burnt out on seeing bands every weekend so when you play there they are super stoked and really really into it. That is one of my favorite things playing in Europe and playing those small towns that we’ve never played before in. Kids are just so absolutely grateful that you’re there. They don’t just watch a song or two and get unimpressed like say you would see in a major city like L.A. where bands tour constantly. It’s like you can’t impress anyone there anymore.

S!: You’re working on the new album An Ocean Between Us. How is that coming along?

N: We just finished it before this tour.

S!: Oh! So it’s already done?!

N: Pretty much done. Tracking is done and we’re in the mixing stage of it now. Collin Richardson from the UK is mixing it so we’ve been getting files sent back and forth to us to check it out and listen to it. So while we’re out here, we’re kinda working on it.

S!: And when can we expect it?

N: I’m not sure the exact date of it but soon I hope! Sometime in August.

S!: Why did you choose to work with Adam Dutkiewicz from Killswitch Engage to produce this album?

N: The thing with working with Adam or any producer is we as a band for the most part have a pretty good idea of what we want. We did our last two albums oursevles and we have a direction we kind of want to go toward. We write songs that we’re confident in and we really don’t need someone to tell us who we are. With the idea of a producer though, we knew we could definately use some help in the extra ear department and use someone who could push us to get our best performance and maybe point out some sort of flaw or weakness in our playing the songs that we wrote. Adam was someone that we respect tremendously and we love and we are totally comfortable with him because of the touring that we’ve done with him. When it came time to decide who we wanted, he couldn’t do it because of his commitment with Killswitch, and we kept trying to find somebody and we were having trouble especially since we really wanted Adam. I guess luck kind of happened when Adam hurt his back and he couldn’t tour anymore, but he could do our record.

S!: Yeah, I actually covered that last tour with them as well. Where were you guys?

N: Working on the record, sorry we missed you!

S!: That’s okay! [laughs] So, do you prefer playing festivals or clubs?

N: My preference is… well, actually I have no preference as long as the kids and the people there are very energetic and into it. It really couldn’t matter. I mean, we’ve played club shows where people are just kind of like, whatever. We think man, this is a club show and it is supposed to be sweet but then we play festivals and it is insane! I guess it doesn’t matter if it is a small show or a big show as long as there is a great vibe.

S!: Speaking of festivals, you guys are scheduled to rock out on Warped Tour this summer. How did you get signed on to that?

N: I think Kevin Lineman just remembered us from Taste of Chaos which is the winter version of Warped Tour and we got a pretty good reaction from that. I think he was looking for more of a heavy section of bands to add to the tour to make it more diverse. I guess we were just one of the bands he rememberd which is awesome.

S!: Do you look forward to playing with any particular band while you’re there?

N: Well I’m excited to play and hang out with the friends that I have already made from past tours like the guys from Killswitch Engage, Throwdown, the band Gallows from the UK. We did a tour with them overseas. There is just a bunch of friends I look forward to playing with randomly throughout the tour. I’m also looking forward to play with Tiger Army, they’re a pretty sweet band.

S!: So what can your fans expect from you after Warped Tour?

N: Pretty much we have nothing in between then. We are going to Europe for a month and we’re going to lay low in July just because it wouldn’t make sense to do a full summer tour on the same album. It wouldn’t offer anything different and that’s why we’re going out for the second half of Warped Tour. It is right when our album is coming out and then we’re heading over to Europe to do a brief tour. When we come back we are going to do a headlining tour which I’m excited about because it will be something new and something different. I know a lot of our fans have just seen the same set since this tour is for the album we are promoting. By then we’ll have the new album out and get to play some new songs and have different production.

S!: Any last words you’d like to say to our readers?

N: Keep an eye out for our album which drops sometime in August. It’s pretty sick and we’re stoked about it.

Shout! Update: album drops August 21, 2007! Go buy it!

• Official Site: http://www.asilaydying.com
• MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/asilaydying