There are not too many “true” American metal bands out there today. You all know the ones I’m referring to. The ones that are not all blah, blah, blah let’s see how fast and extreme we can be or let’s bounce around and get some radio limelight. Yeah, same ‘ole, same ‘ole. But those who play a more traditional style of metal as it seems it was meant to be. With passion and a sense of feeling while still being pretty damn heavy.

With their latest release, ‘Soul Reaper Vol. 1’, T.J. & Co. bring a fresh new sound to a genre of metal that seems to be heading on a steady decline. At least that’s how I see it. This one is chalked full with 11 tracks of molten, straight from the Mid-West metal. So keep those horns high and check out what is going on with the band below.

JH: Give us a brief history of the band.

T.J.: I started Catch 22 in ‘92. We’ve got four full length Cds. Done some tribute Cds for Dwell. Those are Suicidal Tendencies, King Diamond, Testament and White Zombie. We’ve got two Cds coming out, ‘Soul Reaper Vol.1’ which is the one that’s out now and then we’ll have ‘…Vol. 2’ coming out some time by the end of the year.

JH: Introduce the current line-up.

T.J.: You know you’ve got me. Andy Brookhart plays drums and on bass is Mike Allen. And we just added Jason on rhythm guitars. (Sorry Jason, could not hear last name)

JH: So give us a run down on the new album.

T.J.: It’s pretty much in the same vein as in the past. It’s thrash metal with maybe just a little prog. It has two different sections to it. I got the first part is more of the prog/power metal part and than the second half is more groove oriented stuff like BLS.

JH: That’s the ‘Vol. 1’ ?

T.J.: Yeah, yeah.

JH: So is there any theme or concept behind it? Or the two releases?

T.J.: It’s very loosely based. There’s eleven tracks on each one of them so that comes up to twenty-two songs. Hence the Catch 22.

JH: Will that be released through a label?

T.J.: No, it’s self.

JH: Have there been any labels showing interest in it?

T.J.: I just got ’em in so I will be shopping them around. Definilty looking to get some label interest.

JH: Cool. Any summer touring or festival plans the year?

T.J.: We are looking into some of the fests that are going on this year.

JH: Who are some of the bands you’ve shared the stage with?

T.J.: We’ve played with Hallow’s Eve, Anvil, Omen, Testament, S.O.D., Doro, Seven Witches, Agent Steele.

JH: What inspires your writing? Both musically and lyrically.

T.J.: Political. The injustices of the world. But I guess on the last two I had leaned more towards the fantasy type lyrics. Well touched on it anyways. I always try to keep it stuff that I deal with in life. Same that every one else has to deal with I guess.

JH: So you’re the main songwriter?

T.J.: Yeah I do it all. There was one track my drummer helped write.

JH: What are your thoughts on the metal scene here in America?

T.J.: Well I think it’s a shame bands have to play cover tunes like we were just talking about. People just don’t want to stick around to hear your stuff like they used to. They only want to hear stuff that they are familiar with. Even the festivals any more are not pulling in the people. I would say that the metal scene in the U.S. is still very not popular.

JH: How does your stuff fair over in Europe?

T.J: Good, good. Real good. There are already a ton of pre-orders for the new album and the last two did good too.

JH: Have you been able to play over there yet.

T.J.: No, we are hoping soon. It’s tough without label support.

JH: Anything you’d like to add?

T.J.: Thanks to anyone who supports metal and tries to keep metal alive.