1. Please, introduce yourself and your area of responsibility within THROWDOWN to our readers.

My name is Dave Peters and I sing and write music for the band. I record most of it, too, these days.

2. First of all: congratulations! “Intolerance” is absolutely nailing it. A mean motherfucker who gets to the heart of what THROWDOWN probably is to most of your fans. One must definitely show you respect for “Deathless” and your attempt to reach out for new musical realms, since no musician would like to write the same record over and over again. However, “Intolerance” is much more focused, straight into the face, honest and 'going backwards' to the older days. What made you go back to the starting point?

Hey, thanks man. Glad you’re into it. There’s been an overwhelmingly positive response to the record, which feels good, especially following a record as polarizing as Deathless was/is. I wouldn’t say it was “going backwards” necessarily, but I did want to give longtime fans some songs that made them feel the way they maybe did when they first heard the band a decade or more ago. I also wanted to try and give people that were hearing the band for the first time the same feeling I had when I first heard records that grew to be really important to me, like Chaos A.D., Satisfaction..., Seasons In The Abyss and others. I felt like taking a minimalist approach to the songs and keeping them concise and urgent was a big part of getting there.

3. “Intolerance” benefited from you and Warsop producing it, while Zeuss mixed and mastered it. How would you evaluate the influence of everyone involved in this record? Is “Intolerance” the result of what all of them think THROWDOWN represents?

To an extent, yeah, you could say that. But I think that should be the goal of any decent record and all the people involved, though. Zeuss and Davey were a critical part of getting the tracks and sound dialed in the way I hoped. I couldn’t imagine doing a Throwdown record without Zeuss at this point. We’re very much on the same page, and he has been involved with our records for almost a decade now. He just ‘gets it’ and somehow manages to get better with every mix even after having done it for so long. Davey (Warsop) was a big help in the studio, and it was a really great experience getting to work with him for the first time. Awesome dude who is really easy to work with, and he is as technically knowledgeable and he is musically talented. I had a couple weeks where I was recovering from a cold and also trying to find my “groove” or whatever with vocal tracking. He was really patient and helpful, and he ultimately got me through it when I was feeling pretty frustrated and negative.

4. If you had to pick 'that one song' from the new record which one would that be and why?

Man, I’m bad at this. I’m really indecisive with favorites in general. People ask me to pick my 5 favorite records and I end up listing 11. I really like “Defend with Violence” off the new record, though. It’s got a little bit of everything I like and just has an overall hard sound to it.

5. Your career is marked by many line up changes. How can one work without a stable band framework or do you even prefer to have it that way?

I don’t know that anyone in a hardcore band really prefers to have a revolving door of members, but you roll with the punches. Changes didn’t affect the writing process much because I’ve been steering that ship more or less since 2004. But yeah, it can be trying. The way things are right now works for what we’re doing right now, though. It’s also really hard to complain, having been fortunate enough to work with musicians of Jarrod Alexander and Dave Nassie’s caliber. It’s a real pleasure having Dave in the band, and playing with Jarrod always rules. This is the third Throwdown record he’s recorded on.

6. After 2009 times seemed to have gotten rough for you. Is that what “Suffer, Conquer” refers to or what else stands behind the lines “suffer to succeed / to conquer you must suffer […] pain is no the enemy just what we need”?

It’s not specifically about the band or anything, no. I try to avoid that sort of lazy egocentric lyric writing. I knew a guy who wrote an entire album about how his band wasn’t what it used to be. Pathetic “woe is me” shit masquerading as self-empowerment. This song is actually about that sort of attitude. It is a personal reminder in a way, sure, but most lyrics are for me. “Suffer, Conquer” was influenced by another guy I’ve known for a long time, whom I just watched slowly lose sight of what it meant to achieve and how to do so. Entitlement frustrates me to no end, but it’s also depressing because it’s typically a symptom of giving up, regardless of the illusion of “work” one may create for others as they whine about failures. The message in the lyrics is that no one is guaranteed anything.

7. What influenced you decision signing with SPV?

It’s a relationship that E1, our US label, has confidence in, so it’s one we felt good about. It’s been good for this record. I have no complaints at all.

8. “Hardened by consequence / integrity has made me what I am” - running a band like THROWDOWN is obviously not about money, but about love and identification. Nevertheless, since we all get older what would you do if the band wasn´t able to pay your bills anymore, or if you felt you have to retire?

I actually don’t rely on the band to make ends meet— my wife and I have a couple of pretty successful businesses we run. I make records because I want to and because I’m fortunate enough that there are some people out there that still want to hear them haha. If there weren’t, I’d still make music, though.

9. “Liberate me from myself / save me from life” (Condemned To Live) and “Born and buried alone / truest words not carved in my stone” (Born and Buried Alone) – thoughts of a person you empathized with or rather your own?

Actually a little bit of both in each of those songs you mentioned. Those two songs are pretty dark and sound lyrically negative, but neither is as pessimistic as it might come off. “Condemned to Live” is really personal to me, but it’s ultimately about living with your choices and actions without letting them define you. “Born and Buried Alone” is just a cold and realistic perspective of life and death based on my own life and experiences as a young kid and now an adult.

10. What´s up next for THROWDOWN?

Not really sure yet to be honest! I just sort of play it by ear. Hoping to play some shows in some places we haven’t been for a while and maybe some we’ve never been. I’d love to go to Southeast Asia at some point and also hit some festivals in Europe if we have the opportunity to do so.

Thank you for your time!

Likewise, thank you.