You always get the best parking spots when you arrive early to a concert. It’s a great feeling to not have to search for your car later, but not the real reason you get there early. You go to support your favorite band and wait in line for hours doing so. That, my friends, is dedication. Luckily in my line of work I get to push that dedication up one step further. Arriving early means a super rad interview for you to read! That’s what happened when I got the chance to chat with guitarist Rainbow of The Birthday Massacre. Hailing from Canada, this band has made quite a name for themselves. Besides, if tourmates Mindless Self Indulgence likes them then they’re OK in my book! The Birthday Massacre has been flooding the music scene for almost a decade. It’s about time I got to pick their minds about their music, dreams, and what it was like trashing a school. Please, do read on to find more…

S!: If you had to explain your music to a new fan, how would you describe it?

Rainbow: I guess it’s a mix of metal, electro and pop. It is really visual and a lot of it is the imagery and live performance that comes with it as well.

S!: What would be the one song you would recommend to hook a new fan and why?

Rainbow: I think that different songs have different moods to them so it just depends. I’m not really a “favorite song” kind of person, I’m a different songs for different moods kind of a guy. [Laughs] I don’t think I can answer that for ya.

S!: Do you feel there are any advantages to having a woman in the music industry these days?

Rainbow: I’m not sure. I mean, the way things came together for us wasn’t really a calculated, thought out thing. It was just what made sense at the time. I think there are some advantages and disadvantages to it though. I don’t really think we notice any of them because this is all we know. I am not familiar with any other bands’ situations though but we like our band. We love having Chibi in the band and that is probably more of a question for her.

S!: Yeah, I had a couple of questions specifically for her, but she’s not here. It’s cool though! So, your MySpace has had over 5 million plays since 2004. Do you feel that sites like MySpace and Purevolume are helping or hurting the music industry as a whole?

Rainbow: I think they’re helping. It’s a good way to get your music out there. It is kind of a weird time in the industry right now anyways so I think it is just more important to get your music out there and trying to control how it gets out there. People pay for this or that but either way, you’re just getting the word out. Especially for bands that are just starting out and are really small, it kind of evens the playing field out a little bit. Everyone kind of has this little window that they can kind of dress up and make their own. That way everyone can have their own footing, at least online. [Laughs]

S!: The Looking Glass EP dropped May 6th, 2008. For the fans that don’t know, what can they expect from it?

Rainbow: It was a way for us to promote the new video for Looking Glass. We had some time in-between our last tour and this tour. So, between making the video and having time off, we were thinking of a simple way to kind of present it to everyone. Instead of just handing it labels and radio stations, we made this EP. We had Chibi who wanted to do a cover from Tiffany and we had always been messing around with it in sound check so we decided to record that. O.E. and I were working on some stuff and we created Shiver so we threw that in. We had made some good friends from the past couple tours so Jamie from The Start did some remixes for it. It was just a little project that we did in-between tours to present the video in a fun way. It was a lot of work all at once but it was worth it.

S!: There are a lot of covers being played these days. How did you choose to cover Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now”?

Rainbow: I think I had some early version of it and we had always played around with it in sound check like I said. My older sister was really into it and I was always into what she listened to. Chibi really liked the song and it really fit. Also, it was one of those songs that the lyrics could be interpreted as really poppy or really dark. It was just fun for us to do.

S!: Do you feel that Dan Ouellette’s concept for the Looking Glass video was what you were wanting to portray through it?

Rainbow: I think with Dan, one of the reasons we got him, was because he has a really good imagination. He does whatever he wants to do but at least he runs it through us like a filter. If there is anything we feel is really detached or unlike us then we’ll talk with him about it but he just does his own thing. We got him because we wanted him to do what he wanted to do if that makes sense. [Laughs] Of course we sat down and talked to him about the concept of it and the lyrics of the song though without telling him what to do. We told him what the song was about but we didn’t want to lay out a story-line. Like the masks at the beginning, they weren’t really what we were going for so we had to sit and talk with him. He’s a visual artist too and he was working on a lot of different ones and we came to a conclusion of what everyone liked.

S!: What was it like during the shoot…for example, trashing the school?

Rainbow: That was really fun actually! Other than the live performance, that was pretty much the one thing we had to do. It was so fun because at first, we didn’t really have any direction as to what we should be doing. Dan gave us a vague idea of what to do and I think he wanted to see what we would come up with first. [Laughs] So we just went with it and had fun and bullied the kids.

S!: The Birthday Massacre’s name has been associated with MSI a number of times and now you’re on tour with them. What can you tell SHOUT! readers about your relationship with them personally and as a band?

Rainbow: Even before I was in this band, I was a fan of MSI. I’m not sure what it was but just through getting little shows with them like in Canada and meeting their manager James everything kind of evolved. We did a couple remixes with them. It was just a slow gradual relationship that grew with them. Then they went on tour, we had some free time, and they asked us to go on tour with them. They’re great though and we all really respect them as people and musicians. The shows are awesome and their fans are great. It’s been a good mesh for us and it’s been so much fun.

S!: After your tour with MSI ends in July, what can fans expect from you next?

Rainbow: We’re going to be writing and I think we’re going to Australia for a week or so. We are going to start work on the next album though. As far as touring, I don’t know what might come up in-between then. [Laughs]

S!: If you could create your own dream tour with any band living or dead, who would it consist of?

Rainbow: OH NO! [Laughs] Um. I hate name-dropping. I’ve always wanted to play a show with Cyndi Lauper. That’d be cool. There are lots of bands and if I start name-dropping then I’ll never stop! We’re happy with the tour we’re on now and we’ll leave it at that!

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

Rainbow: Thanks for reading and we hope to see you on tour!

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