Like A Storm lef their native New Zealand and moved to North America and pursue the rock n’ roll dream. After releasing thier debut album The End Of The Beginning they’ve toured with bands such as the recently reuined Creed, Staind, Shinedown, and Puddle of Mudd. The band strikes a balance between warm electronics and massive hard rock which Matt Brooks (vocals/guitar/programming) describes comprehensively. “It’s a big rock sound with a lot of different textures. Every time you listen to it, you’ll hear something new. It’s a combination of all of our favorite sounds – from heavy rock to electronic music.”

Bloody Disgusting recently caught up with Like a Storm for an interview and we’re happy to offer an exclusive MP3 download of the band’s single “Chemical Infatuation”. Read on to grab the track and for our full interview with the band.

DOWNLOAD “CHEMICAL INFATUATION” (right click and save-as)

BD: You guys took a long time to work on your debut full length, The End of the Beginning, did you think you’d be getting this much positive feedback just from touring?

CHRIS: Man we’ve been totally blown away by the response we’ve been getting from people. Honestly we didn’t have any idea how people would react to us! We locked ourselves away in the studio for two years to make the record we’d always wanted to make. Along with Mike and Igor (Producers) we wanted to make something different and special, something that we felt really passionate about and loved playing every night. We didn’t really play live at all while we were caged up making the record so we couldn’t wait to hit the stage and tear it up, after all its what we love to do more than anything else. It’s such an incredible feeling to share the music we love with rock fans every night. We feel the electricity from the crowd every show and we feel so lucky to be doing this.

BD: Touring with such names as Creed, Staind and Hoobastank, were you guys ever nervous about your delivery or the reaction you’d get? And how excited are you about your upcoming tour with Skillet?

MATT: Given that we only had 2 weeks notice, the prospect of playing to a packed arena for our first US show was a pretty crazy thing to get my head around. Especially for the reunion tour of a band as big as Creed! But we love playing live so much man, and from the first moment I walked out on that arena stage and felt the energy of 13,000 people any nerves I had faded away. It was definitely one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Mark (Tremonti) has always been one of my favorite guitarists since I first started playing at 14, so to share the stage with Creed every night was literally a dream come true. And on top of that, the guys in Creed, Staind & Hoobastank were all so cool to us – even though we were a brand new band on our first tour, they treated us like equals.

Being out on tour with Skillet, Shinedown & Puddle of Mudd has been awesome! We met Skillet about a year ago in LA – as our producer Mike

(Plotnikoff) was also working on their record while we were down there making The End of the Beginning. We hung out at the studio, they are a great band and such cool people. We also played some shows with Puddle of Mudd last year in Washington, and we love those guys, so it’s rad to be out with them again. And Shinedown are an amazing band – watching them from side of stage is insane! They’ve been so cool to us too, and have made us feel really welcome here on the tour. We feel so lucky to play with 3 awesome bands.

BD: What was your experience like recording your debut full length with well renowned producer Mike Plotnikoff?

MATT: Working with Mike was amazing man! He is such an incredible producer, mixer and engineer – but he really stood out because he wanted us to make a record that was different, unique, and not just something that sounded like it might fit on the radio. He always encouraged us to make the music that we wanted to make, and to keep writing our own songs, in a time when a lot of artists are having songs written for them. Mike had so much belief and passion for the record that when we started making ‘The End of the Beginning’ we moved into Mike’s house in LA, and lived with him and his amazing family for the next 16 months! In keeping with our shared vision to make a creative and inspired record, Mike brought in Igor Khoroshev to the mix – a producer/composer/arranger of prodigious talent and the most incredible musician i have ever met.

Together with Mike and Igor we chose the 12 songs that would make up the album from hundreds of demos, and then ripped them apart – finding the best parts and completely rearranging the music. They constantly challenged us to raise the bar both musically and lyrically. Kent, Chris and I always seem to have a million ideas pouring out of us, and Mike and Igor’s “no rules” policy allowed us to experiment with every single one – as well as bringing countless ideas of their own. They created such an inspiring environment, and we learned so much about songwriting, recording, and arranging. Mike and Igor are incredible producers man – I can’t wait to make the next record with them!

BD: Coming from New Zealand and taking such a risk moving to the states, was there ever any doubt in your guys’ minds or were too determined to let that get in the way?

CHRIS: We always loved bands from North America, and we knew that if we wanted to have a shot at becoming one of the best bands in the world, we’d need to move up here into the big leagues!

From that day Like A Storm became our number one priority and we sacrificed being apart from friends and family and everything we had to achieve that. We got off the plane in Canada not really knowing anyone, and had to start from the bottom and claw our way up! In some ways it was a huge risk, but we knew we couldn’t be the band we wanted to if we stayed in New Zealand, and having moved so far we knew that we would do whatever it took to reach our goal. We were really lucky to meet such awesome people up here who took us in and helped us get where we are. To now be in the states touring our record with such awesome bands, and playing to rock fans every night is just amazing man – it’s a dream come true.

BD: What do you guys have planned for the coming year, any chance of going back to the studio for a follow up or do you plan on touring all year?

MATT: “The End of the Beginning” is the product of four years of our lives – two years spent writing, and another two recording in LA. Having spent so long in the studio, it feels awesome to be out playing live every single night! Especially when we get to play with kickass bands like Creed, Staind & Shinedown for rock fans all over the US. I am stoked to say we have a lot of touring on our horizon. But as always, we’ll be writing, jamming, and experimenting with ideas for the next record. And in between tours we’ll be in and out of the studio, demoing new material and working on acoustic tracks for our amazing fans.

BD: Since we are Bloody Disgusting I have to ask, do you like horror movies and if so what are your favorites?

CHRIS: We love horror movies man, coming from New Zealand we definitely big fans of Peter Jackson’s ‘splatstick’ movies, like Braindead and Bad Taste. Those movies are insane, and its so awesome to see him getting the respect and success he deserves. One of our favorite movies of all time has to be Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’. Its such a masterpiece.

We’ve stayed in so many old hotels in the last 6 months that could’ve been the setting for that movie- including one in Dallas with a haunted 19th floor, and a boarded up Ballroom. Crazy places to be at 4 in the morning.

Check out the band’s MySpace for tour dates and to order ‘The End Of The Beginning’.