Job For A Cowboy has become one of the most popular extreme death metal acts in America. Much like Lamb of God—a group Job For A Cowboy will tour with in the near future—JFAC has reached near mainstream status without any radio play whatsoever. Since releasing the Metal Blade debut record Genesis, JFAC has toured Europe and America relentlessly.
The JFAC brand has enjoyed massive success, but it has not come without some negativity. Job For A Cowboy is not exactly a band moniker that conveys death metal brutality, so fans who normally would enjoy the group’s style can’t get past the name. Also, there is the unfair deathcore tag and the young, mall rat crowd that comes with such a classification.
JFAC recently undertook the summer’s top metal festival, the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, which showcases an array of today’s most popular metal groups. This large gathering of diverse musical tastes ensures the group exposure to a new fan base. Touring with such groups as Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium, God Forbid and Killswitch Engage further solidifies their metalcore/modern metal fan base, while gaining fans of steadfast mainstream acts, Slayer and Marilyn Manson, and gaining additional exposure to death metal heavyweights—Cannibal Corpse and Behemoth.
After performing in front of sunburned crowd on the Mayhem Fest’s Hot Topic stage in San Antonio, Texas, drummer Jon Rice eluded the hundred-degree-plus weather to speak with Blistering.com in an air conditioned press room. Rice, who joins guitarist Al Glassman [ex-Despised Icon] as a new member of the JFAC family, spoke with Blistering.com about Ruination, how far the band has come and the promise of a thriving future.
Blistering.com: Please tell our readers about your coming into the band, and how living in Columbus and playing in a band from Arizona works.
Jon Rice: I fly out a week before tour and rehearse with the band, unless we are writing a new album. In that case, I’ll go out and actually live with one of the band members for however long it takes to write a record. I joined the band by posting a video on the internet of me playing all their songs. They liked it, and told me to post another video, so I did that. After that, I flew out, auditioned, and then went on tour a week later. I haven’t stopped touring since with the band.
Blistering.com: Were you playing with Crown the Lost before you joined JFAC?
Rice: Yes, I had been with Crown since they recorded their first record, and had been with Crown for about four months and then the opportunity came up. I read about it on Blabbermouth, so I did the video tape. At first, I think they [Crown the Lost] were a little pissed. They felt betrayed, but they’ve all come around and have been really supportive. Dave [Gehlke] comes out to shows all the time to watch us.
Blistering.com: Do you think that being in JFAC has brought some extra attention to Crown The Lost?
Rice: I don’t think it has, but if it has then that is phenomenal because I think Crown The Lost is a great melodic thrash metal band. I love playing with those dudes. Joe [Bonaddio] is the most solid right-handed guitar player I have ever played with. His picking hand is so goddamn heavy and he picks so hard. I’ve only played with one or two other dudes that are that solid. If there is exposure coming to them from JFAC, that’s awesome. I hope it’s not a negative thing because our band’s name brings about a lot of negative connotations. I hope it’s all for the best. They are getting bigger. They just signed to a label to release Blind Faith Loyalty. I’m only hoping it’s going to get bigger.
Blistering.com: You said that JFAC comes with negative connotations. Can you explain that more?
Rice: First off, there is our name. Anyone who hears the name, Job For A Cowboy, is going to think, “Aw, bullshit, cowboy—country!” That’s automatically what happens. Thankfully, people get past that and listen to the music. We aren’t reinventing the wheel, just putting out good, solid modern death metal. Luckily, those people spread the word and others check us out and think we are cool. But there are some people who hear our name and just can’t do it. Also, there is the fan base. Our fan base is primarily a younger crowd, so it really sucks because we can’t break through. For a lot of kids, we are their first introduction to death metal, which is weird. Then they might get into Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel or Entombed, which is great for the metal scene. The metal scene is huge right now. I haven’t seen it this big since the early ‘90s or late ‘80s.
Blistering.com: Yeah, I think it’s bigger. You would have never heard a band screaming on the radio in the ‘80s. Unless, it’s a screamer like Judas Priest.
Rice: And now we have satellite radio. Everybody has a satellite radio.
Blistering.com: You stated that JFAC plays a modern death metal style. A lot of journalists would describe you as deathcore. Do you think that is a fair or unfair tag?
Rice: Our Doom EP was a deathcore record, but there are no core elements, whatsoever, on our last two records—Genesis and Ruination. I think we get tagged with that because of our EP, but now we are more of a modern death metal band. The last two records were more of a maturation process, especially with the new record. This is my first time recording with the band, as it was for our guitar player, Al [Glassman]. The new record is definitely a modern death metal album. We were deathcore, but we just grew out of it. Being associated with those bands doesn’t matter because we aren’t deathcore at all. They are great bands and cool people, not necessarily my musical preference.
Blistering.com: Some of the songs on this new album, and even some of the stuff off Genesis, have a sludgy, doomy—almost an Immolation kind of sound.
Rice: Yeah, for sure. I don’t play fast all the time. For one, I can’t do that. Two, I hate drummers that do that. It is really boring. There are grind bands like Rotten Sound (Jon motions to his Rotten Sound t-shirt) who hit you the face, WHACK! That makes more sense to me, but I’m very much a rock based drummer. With my entrance into the band, there was more groove and more of a raw feel. I’ve grown up playing along with Led Zeppelin records and not just Cannibal Corpse. It gets boring just blasting through an entire record. We played a song today called “Constitutional Masturbation.” The end of it has a definite Cannibal Corpse type groove. It’s groovy, man, and it feels way better that way. It just really helps to break up the record.
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