When two jam bands combined forces, no one knew what would be in store for them. Lucky for loyal fans, the band came to be Killswitch Engage. Flooding the airwaves, KsE has become popular through pop culture. Being featured in video games, headlining Warped Tour, and selling albums left and right have put this band into the spotlight. Taking off since day one, KsE has been truckin’ nonstop!

Statistics show that there are five new KsE fans every hour. Okay, that was complete bullshit, but could true if I didn’t tell you otherwise. If you haven’t been to a show yet, you are a very deprived person. You only live once before the killswitch is turned on. Bassist/ founder Mike D’Antonio explains what KsE is all about, his graphics projects on DarkicoN Designs, and gives us a teaser of what their fans can expect next!…

Shout!: Can you give insight on how you created the band’s name?

Mike D’Antonio: When I was a kid I wrote a lot of lyrics. I kept a notebook next to the TV and when I watched it, I would jot down cool words I liked. I was watching an X-Files episode and the word “Killswitch” came up. I thought it would be a cool song title or something at the time. Later on I came up with “Engage” and everyone hated it saying it sounded like a Star Trek logo. Then I kind of put them together and after I showed them the whole logo, they warmed up to the idea of it. [Laughs]

S!: You imagined Killswitch as nothing more than a side project. How does it feel to have come so much further?

Mike D: It feels like we’ve won the lottery to tell the truth. We didn’t have much of a vision for the band except to jam out and play some shows but things really seemed to work out when RoadRunner put out that first record.

S!: You released your first DVD (Set This) World Ablaze back in 2005. It then went gold mid-2006. What are your thoughts on accomplishing that? You know, after winning the lottery and everything.

Mike D: Pretty amazing actually. When we first saw the original cut we kept it basically the same. We thought they did an amazing job with the live footage and Denise blew us away with her documentary footage.  We were so happy with it all together. It was just kind of all out there for everyone to see that we were having fun and playing rock shows. They can see that we’re just regular dudes on the road.

S!: Killswitch has had a solid loyal fanbase throughout the years. How important is it to you to connect with your fans as a whole and individually?

Mike D: If you play a show and no one is into it, it really sucks. In that way, keeping the energy level there and keeping people into it is a must really. It’s cool to just see kids smiling and happy when they are participating. Everyone wants to have a good time though. Individually though we’ve all gotten a lot of emails saying how we’ve helped kids through rough times and it is really heartwarming, but I don’t think we’re exactly role models. Even if we are, because we might be to some people, we never set out to be. We’re just guys that liked playing music and ended up working out really well. I’ve been in bands before that that really didn’t work out like I wanted so it’s super cool that this time it did!

S!: Tell us more about your company, DarkicoN Designs!

Mike D: It’s been a company since 2002 and it started as a college thesis project. It was to come up with a design business and market it. I had logos and all sorts of templates and promotional designs. When it was time to come up with a release, I just kept the name and kept it going. I do a lot of the Killswitch stuff like the album artwork and stuff. I have done stuff for Shadows Fall, All That Remains, Unearth and a lot of Massachusetts bands too. Mostly metal though. Not that I don’t do anything else but I gravitate towards horror images to get that reaction. You know, splattered blood, severed heads and skulls. [Laughs]

S!: What new projects are you working on through that?

Mike D: I’ve recently set up a MySpace account for it so kids can see my work and possibly get some business. I did a couple things for some small bands like their demo albums and stuff. Right now there is a big project in the works but they are still getting off the ground. There is a metal award show that is being put together and I am doing all the work for that. That is really exciting. My graphics on a TV show, that’s awesome.

S!: What do you feel are pros and cons to all day festivals like Warped Tour?

Mike D: It’s really really hot. [Laughs] The whole summer is just blazing hot! You just didn’t want to leave the bus! The crowds are always awesome though. Festivals like this, the crowds are always great. The best part of the day is when you’re on stage playing for the kids. Everything else around that day, not so much. Being away from home for months at a time really is a bummer. I really liked Warped Tour and I can see us possibly doing it again sometime. We got along with a lot of the bands. We stuck out like a sore thumb  though because we were one of the few really heavy bands. There might have been maybe three or four other ones but it was crazy. Everyone else is playing like pop-rock punk stuff around us but it was really cool. That really made people gravitate towards us like they were thinking “What the heck is going on over there!”. I don’t know what they were thinking though. At club shows though, the kids are right there in your face and they’re all so excited. Festivals like Warped though, the barricade between you and the fans is so deep, like 10-12 feet. You can see their faces and you can see they’re having fun but you can’t really feed off of their energy. Whenever you play that stage anywhere, you’re in for a good time.

S!: The Soundwave Festival is coming up. Who are you looking forward to see play?

Mike D: Social Distortion was on it but now they’re off and I am really bummed about that. They were the one band I really wanted to see play live. As I Lay Dying of course, they’re our buddies. Family reunion type stuff if you know what I mean.

S!: Killswitch has music featured on Freddy Vs. Jason, WWE, and Guitar Hero III. How does it feel to hear your own music stream though pop culture?

Mike D: It’s pretty ridiculous. We never set out to do anything like that. It just kind of happened and it is like, whoa, that’s kind of weird. That’s a hard question to answer but it’s pretty weird.

S!: Are you happy with the outcome of your last album, As Daylight Dies?

Mike D: I’m really happy. It was well received and the songs fit well into the set. We are ready to get some new songs into the set though. We’re going to be teetering on touring for two years on this record by the time we’re done. There is nothing worse that playing the same songs over and over and over, ya know? I’m ready to get some new songs into the set. We’ve even been diving back into some older songs that no one has heard us play in a while so that is fun.

S!: What can your fans expect from you in 2008?

Mike D: We’ll still be touring for a bit. We’re looking forward to either getting a record out, or at least writing it. We’re doing a bunch of European dates and we talked about, oh! I can’t go into that…[Laughs] I’m saying things I can’t be talking about yet! Sorry, that was a tease!

S!: Do you have any last words to your fans reading?

Mike D: Thank you very much and we appreciate all the support. We’ve had a really great tour and we love that fans keep coming out to see us. We wouldn’t be here without you, we’re so grateful.

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