My kids don't really like when I sing for some reason...but they like when I play guitar. So I started writing songs just playing guitar for them.

When I was younger and bands were formed that way, out of friendships rather than anything else. It wasn't like we put up want ads.

I stayed a kid for a pretty long time, and the logistics of being in a band, I did not take seriously at all.

People like a story that has a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But I don't think the Slint story really has that.

I'm still in the Midwest, but I'm in Columbus, Ohio, so I'm three and a half hours away from everybody. That's one of the reasons we're not as active as we'd like to be - it's an expensive chore for me to go down there just to talk or something.

When I was really young, I was really into Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden and those kinds of bands.

As far as specific bands from the 90s death metal era, I love Death, Carcass, Possessed, Morbid Angel, Gorguts, Autopsy, Atheist, etc.

I was into Metallica when they first started, like when Kill Em All came out.

Louisville was also good place for being able to make whatever kind of music you wanted to. You didn't have to worry about renting a practice space or figure out when another band would be in there or worry about if your stuff is going to get stolen.

Punk came along and grunge made guitar solos uncool.

I think the majority of the people in the band still play in other bands, because we're not that active. But for me, it's the only thing I want to do and it's the only thing I'm focused on. I've always played in a couple of different bands at once, but now I'm only interested in the Dead Child stuff.

We were pretty normal - suburban kids having a good time playing in bands. We were silly. We weren't dark, intense, humorless people. Humor was one of the connecting forces among us. It was more like camaraderie.

Most people found out about Slint in the mid or late 90s, but we were an '80s band. We started in 1986 and broke up at the end of 1990.

We just have to plan everything in advance and concentrate it so that we get everything done in time. It's not as laidback as I wish it could be.

We aren't trying to make poetry or anything beautiful. It's just a rock show. We just want to enjoy playing loud. That's just about it.

There are so many things that kept forcing metal back down to the underground. It survives everywhere on the planet.