First of all, what is the story behind your name?

The dog that guards the music studio is a 170 lb Rottweiler named Rowdy. His full name on his pedigree papers is Rowdy Maxwell Edward Gantz. He guards the studio great except that he wants to kill us and eat our equipment. On one occasion we were brainstorming for a band name and the dog wouldn't stop barking and growling. J kept yelling at him and then we realized he was giving us the answer.

You guys have a unique sound that is reminiscent of Metallica, Type O' Negative, and a little bit of Black Sabbath. How did your sound originate?

Our sound came about by deciding from the start we were going back to our roots. No electronics, minimal studio trickery. We want to make music that can be played live by a three piece band and sound the same as the recording. So many times on the radio you hear a song and when you listen carefully you realize it's like seven guitars layered over itself and when you see the band live they sound nothing like it. Pretty disappointing.

Between the three of us, we've listened to probably thousands of artists. I like to think that we take a little piece of everything we like and regurgitate it in a more interesting fashion.

What is the process to writing your lyrics?

There really is no exact process. For 'Feel All Right' the band came up with a concept about something that happens to us all the time and then J wrote the words telling the story.

For 'HashTrack' we recorded a song. We didn't even intend or know what the song was going to be about but the next day when we listened to it, the song sounded like we were playing it back in slow motion like we were on hash or something. So J wrote the lyrics accordingly.

What kind of message are you guys trying to portray in each song?

We're nothing fancy but what we're doing is real. I guess each song has its own message. We'd rather the listener enjoy our music and draw their own conclusions...

Do you guys have a CD out, or is one coming out soon?

We are working on our debut CD constantly. We keep having to turn down offers to play shows simply because there isn't time. We made a deal amongst ourselves to only play one to two show a month until the CD is complete. It's a lot of work but there's nothing like the feeling one gets when capturing a perfect recording.

If so, are you planning on touring this fall/winter?

Absolutely we are planning a tour this winter. None of the details are worked out as of yet. There has been talk of an East Coast tour with a focus on shows in the Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras area. We know some good bands out there like Camp F and AllThread who have extended invitations for us to play with them.

How many shows have you guys played live?

Individually with other projects we have played hundreds of shows. Together as Rowdy Gantz we have played two shows as of this writing but we have several more booked. As I said, we're really trying hard not to play live until our CD is complete. It's just so much fun though, it's hard to say no sometimes.

I see you guys have done some cover songs... Which one has been your favorite and most crowd pleasing one?

It's tough to say. The cover song "Take It Back" (originally called Voice by Wasteful Consumption Patterns) probably gets the best response. It's one of those slow acoustic songs that gets everybody in the audience to hold their lighters in the air.

And are any of those cover songs going to make it on your album?

Definitely. Most of the covers we do are by artists signed to Intolerance Records, the same label we are signed to. Most of the artists on the label are experimental electronic or industrial artists so our versions turn out way different anyway. Many times the only sembelance of the original song are the lyrics. We use different instrumentation and melodies so our covers sound like originals.

Pinned by Slugwrench for example is a song written by DJ Gagball and J about ten years ago and appeared on Slugwrench Demo Tape Two in a completely different format. Slugwrench is J's solo side project of experimental electronic mayhem. You wouldn't even know the Rowdy Gantz version is the same song.