How's the tour going so far?

Donnie: We just got back from Australia. So we're doing some headlining dates through the mid-west - all the way through Rockford to Louisiana. And we're staying pretty busy. Everything's going pretty good. Since we're headlining we're playing a lot longer and playing with some local acts which we enjoy doing. Right now everything's pretty good. We're going out with our friends from Seether next month.

Are you touring with anyone now?

Donnie: Right now we're just headlining. We were going to be out with our buddies in Sevendust. We were just with Raw and Socialburn six weeks ago.

I read the story behind "Imprint" does that make it hard to sing every night?

Donnie: Quite the contrary. It's kind of uplifting. When we look at it - it's a thing that I'm glad we do have rather than something we wish we had done. It's special for us - it's a memory of a very good friend. Then you hear the amazing stories of the people who hear it for the very first time - they tell you where they were and what they were doing or about to do. Some really cool stories.

Can you tell me the story behind it - for the people who may not know.

Donnie: Sure. Dick Sheetz was a program director from Florida. He was responsible for playing our first demo and helped us get our first deal. And the next thing we knew - we were going down to Orlando and playing shows for the station and a relationship came out of it. He was just an easy person to get along with. He just gravitated towards us. We always wanted to write a song together... over time he developed terminal cancer. With the word "terminal" - you know what the outcome is going to be. So we sat down one day and had a conversation near the end of his days - and out of that conversation we sat down and began the words to "imprint". It was finished about a week and a half later. We're glad we did it, but we had no idea it would be this big. And have this much of an impact on people's personal lives. Even people that have no idea where the song came from feel a connection with it - not everybody just some people. I got a couple emails - one of them was from this guy who was walking around the house looking for something to hang himself with. Then he heard the song. He said it gave him purpose. That's when you realize that the song is bigger than you are. It's obviously a unique song for our record - the record goes other directions than this song, but it's great to have it. In this time you need something a little more positive.

Do you feel you have a stronger album this time?

Donnie: I don't know if it's stronger. I know that it's different. The songs are different because they came from a different place. We wrote the first record while we were becoming a band. And that first record was very easy to write. The second one kind of came from a darker place. We got off the first label then onto Roadrunner - you can hear the revolution of it all. There's a lot of growing in there. On the first record we were in the studio for two weeks - because that's the way we like to record. That's the long way to answer your question... is it a better record? I don't know. Is it a different record? Absolutely. And it's not because we write songs that are so dramatically different - it's not that at all. We don't think that we're re-inventing the field. I'm not going to say that we're original. And the reason why people like us is because.... I don't know why the fuck they like us. If they find something about the music or if they think "I can listen to that three or four more times before I throw it out my window" - Then we've maintained something. As long as people like listening to it then we'll be fortunate.

If it was up to you - what would the next single be?

Donnie: 11:59. That was one of the later songs that we wrote. More evolved out. We've been fortunate that - when the music fits with the lyrics... anybody would tell you that at the end of the day that's what makes a great song - when the lyrics marries with the music. And hopefully you'll have a melody that people will want to remember. I think we're fortunate that we hit a stride with that - and we got a good record out of it.

Why are meaningful songs important to the band?

Donnie: I think to just have substance. So we don't insult the listener. I think people do write some intelligent lyrics once in a while. Again - I'm not saying we're Einstein. Rush is like algebra rock - I still like it to a point. Meaningful because we want to make people feel like we understand that they can go a little further than "Yeah baby - me and you on a Saturday night..." (laughs)

Would you guys ever make a music video?

Donnie: I'm not against it. I think it would be great if we weren't in it. I'd be just as happy to show some fucking race cars or some crashes - or shots of space. I think we would make a video if it came around to it. I don't know how it would manifest itself. It'll probably end up having us in the video. See, we didn't even want our faces on the cover of the album. Or anywhere on the record for that matter. The cover was supposed to be the inside of the record. That was the concept that we had for the inside. Everyone is being force-fed all these fucking identities... I don't want to know what you look like I just want to hear your songs. But the label loved it and everyone around loved it - so we were out voted.

Would you ever be satisfied with your career - or would you always search for more?

Donnie: I think satisfaction would be achieved if I knew that I could always play music for a living. It wouldn't mean that I would become content. We all think that we are decent - that we can hold our own not just because of luck but because of skill... and yet we still think we can always be better. We finish a great show we say "that was awesome, let's go drink some beer and shake some hands..." but at the end of the day we say "hey you need to fix that...". We're always looking to evolve. Six years of doing it and we're still pretty hard on each other. I think that's a good sign that we love what we do and we think we can do better.

What do you hope to get from being part of the band?

Donnie: Laid. (laughs) Early on that was probably it. Now, I don't know... you always have to find something you love and hopefully you get to do that for the rest of your life... not to go back to the last question... but I think that's it really. We just love what we do man... I really can't put it into words. We don't take it for granted.