NR: A lot of metal fans know you from Snot and Soulfly. How would you explain this project, Invitro?

Mikey: This is back to my roots. This is where I think Snot would be today. I am more comfortable with this than Soulfly. I really liked working with Soulfly but that was like Max's thing. This is more of my thing. It's much more punk rock than that. I feel really comfortable doing this.
NR: Did you leave Soulfly on bad terms?
Mikey: No not at all. I love those guys. The Cavalara family tree is part of my family. I love them to death. Max's step son is my god son. I call them on the holidays and stuff.
KT: We are big fans of Soulfly. That's how I met Mikey. I met him when he was touring with Soulfly with Pantera down in Mississippi. If it wasn't for Soulfly we wouldn't be on this bus right now.
Mikey: That's for sure. They picked me up when I was down after Lynn passed away. They took me in and took me around the world. There is no way I could have problems with them.

NR: You have been a producer and an artist. What do you like to do more?

Mikey: By far an artist. Being a producer came from being an artist. I kind of show young artists where their potential is. But you can't beat being an artist. Getting to stomp around and show your own music.
NR: I have seen a lot of bands but you guys tonight were great. And you guys seem to love what you are doing. The stage show was amazing.
Mikey: Thank you. We really do enjoy it.
KT: They are bringing back the performance. It's one thing to sit up there and play great music but you have to get back to performing and enjoying yourself. You have to be a showman about it. Invitro does an amazing thing with it. They go out there and put on a great show and they have a genuine energy that you don't find in most bands now a days. Even if the music sounds like shit you still want to have a great energy and get the crowd into it.
Mikey: It's a honest energy. I have noticed a lot of bands now a days do the "rock" moves of today and that seems like a dishonest energy to me. They wonder what the Used is done or what Killswitch Engage is doing. With us we are freaking out and doing our own thing to the music. Because we really feel our music.
KT: They are rocking the tinfoil hats.

NR: How did you guys come to the idea of starting Gridiron Records?

Mikey: I will give you the short version because it's a long story. Back when I was in Soulfly we were on tour with Pantera (which I was talking about earlier) and I was up on the tour bus after the show in Mississippi and Kyle (which was in the New Orleans Saints "NFL" at the time) was on the Pantera bus. He asked who was in Snot and I jumped up and said hi and that I was a big fan of him also. It was shortly after the big thing where you (KT) ripped off the guys helmet and threw it down the field. It turned out we were big fans of each other's craft. Also we were from the same area in California. Years down the road after Soulfly I moved to L.A. and around that same time he moved to L.A. to pursue some acting and things like that. He came by the studio were I was producing some records and he kept hitting me up that we need to start a label. And here we are today, Gridiron Records. We have a couple of bands; Invitro and The Hairbrain Scheme. This is actually the first Gridiron Records tour, The New Revolution Tour.

NR: You have been on a lot of tours. How would you compare the The New Revolution Tour to those tours?

Mikey: That's not fair. We are just starting out so we are playing these small clubs. Which I don't mind doing. In the past I have been on some killer tours. Two Ozzfest's, Pantera, Slayer, as a rock artist I think that's about as high as you can get.
KT: That's just a little bigger than the Cheyenne Saloon.
Mikey: Now I am back at the Cheyenne Saloon. Which I don't mind at all. I feel we have to go through this to get back to the bigger more comfortable shows.

NR: Is everyone cool on this tour?

Mikey: It's been so cool. The bands on this tour are so hungry and they are loving it. It's been really cool.

NR: As far as distribution goes with Gridiron Records will kids be able to go to their local record stores and be able to pick it up?

Mikey: Absolutely. We are going to lay the ground work down over the next few months and get that worked out. I think it is better to get some awareness out there first by touring around the country and doing interviews like this before we put out the records. We will have our records in stores before the summer. We are talking to a few people now, no need to mention names. It will definitely be out there.
NR: So basically fans will be able to go out and get it.
Mikey: Absolutely.
KT: Exactly. We are going to bring it to the people no doubt. There is a right way to do things and a wrong way. We don't need to put money in the wrong places. Like Mikey said he is having to go back to ground zero where he started in his career.
Mikey: Which is killer!
KT: I had to do it in my career after an injury setback. It is a humbling experience which creates such an aggressive drive to succeed again. It's inspiring to the fans out there. We need to let them know who Invitro is. Also they recorded one of the best albums.
Mikey: We just finished it.
KT: When we drop this album they are going to see what we are talking about.
Mikey: It's a fun record.
KT: Distribution and everything will come as things go on. We are working on everything right now. We are taking the right steps to make this work.
Mikey: We are hearing rumors that we might be doing Ozzfest this year, only rumors so far though. We are going to go ahead and drop the album according to the tours we get. We have to get the awareness out there. I don't want to put the record out there and have it just sitting in K-Mart. I want kids to know what is going on.
KT: We are going for Pick-n-Save, honestly. Also Big Lots with it. All the big stores. It's going to be good man.

NR: What are some easy ways for fans to get a hold of you guys?

Mikey: Ya www.myspace.com/gridironrecords and www.myspace.com/invitro and The Hairbrain Scheme, everyone should check them out, and i'm fully behind them. There are a few other bands I want to shout out like Unset and Instinct of Aggression. They are really great. They have all been in the studio.
KT: That's the great thing. Mikey is in the studio and I get to go over and see all these great bands he is producing. They are phenomenal bands. The way the industry is going right now it is a great time for us to start up that is going in the right direction. It has some good leaders at the top of this label and some great artists as well. We are going in the right direction. We have done some radio interviews that have helped up let people know we are looking for artists. We have gotten a lot of responses from some good bands. We are excited about the future of Gridiron Records. You can go to www.GridironRecords.com. We are putting a lot on the web site. It's going to be fully interactive and you will be able to buy the albums on there as well as at your local stores. You will be able to buy Invitro merch as well as the other artists too. We are making it for the people. That is what it's all about. We wanna rock and have fun and create something that we feel has been lost. Mikey has seen it through his career and I've watched it as a fan. Music is definitely changing and it's going back to the people.
Mikey: Music is getting pretty manufactured now-a-days. There isn't a lot of originality these days.
KT: If the music doesn't sell quickly then they pull it and move on to the next artist.
Mikey: There is a band we are touring with called Endorphine. They are very original. Those are the kinds of bands we want to play with. There are a lot of bands out now that sounds the same. The whole metalcore movement is weird.