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It's not a secret to anyone that Showbread is one of my all time
favorite bands. From their debut, "No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical",
to their double album "Anorexia Nervosa", which is possibly their
masterpiece, Showbread have proven to be artistically avantgarde,
with always fresh and innovative ideas, and spiritually explicit,
introspective, satirical, and critical lyrics. And here I am,
interviewing their frontman, Joshua Porter (or Josh Dies.)
First of all, thank you very much for your time. I am a huge fan of your
work, from Showbread, to your solo work (Dies), to your
books. In fact I have to say that when it comes to lyrics you are,
without a shadow of doubt, my favorite.
So, I’m curious, how does the writing process for your songs take place?
Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics?
Most of my ideas are largely borrowed from someone else. Showbread's
music is immensely inspired by several artists, my writing as a novelist
is just a lesser version of several other novelists I admire, but
nothing really inspires me as a lyricist outside of my own head I guess.
For better or for worse, they may not be any good, but it's all life,
God and my head. I tend to use lots of biblical references and imagery
from books I read, movies I watch, etc. but the actual structure and
wording... it just is what it is.
The showbread was bread brought as an offering to God in the Temple in
Jerusalem. I’ve always been curious: why call your band Showbread?
Because of Matthew 12:1-8.
Musically, you don’t have any specific boundaries, ranging from hardcore
punk, to industrial music. I’ve heard that some of your influences are
Nine Inch Nails and Genesis (which is also one of my all
time favorites). Do you have any other bands that helped you define your
sound?
When we were younger we were mostly
 emulating
MxPx and Squad Five-0... I think Refused, specifically
their album
“The Shape Of Punk To Come”, along with The (International) Noise
Conspiracy, are mostly responsible for steering Showbread in the
creative direction we started heading in 1999 or so. When we recorded No
Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical we were so inspired by Refused, they were
always our number one influence and we had these other influences from
Nine Inch Nails, AC/DC, Queen, Nirvana and Flaming Lips sort of there
but mostly in the background. After that record, satisfying that urge to
really capture that era of the band and really make an awesome album, we
felt freer to let all the other influences take a front seat. Our ideas
make up such a broad spectrum that we do dramatic stylistic shifts with
each album and still have room for a plethora of influences within each
record I think.
I’ve seen you live a couple of times both with Showbread and with
Dies, and I must say your shows are incredible! Any favorite live
moments?
When I know there's a Chipotle in town that I can eat at after the show.
Being somewhat active in the Christian music industry, what do you think
of it today? Are there any Christian artists you like?
I think it's very nice that young bands are largely accepted in secular
 markets
and people seem to be open minded. I think there are a lot of bands with
good hearts doing good things and a lot of bands who have no spiritual
agenda capitalizing off of the Christian market. I'm not a personal fan
of what's mostly happening in young rock music, Christian or otherwise,
i.e. hardcore, screamo, indie, etc. I like contemporary Christian music,
like Jars Of Clay and Michael W. Smith. That's just my personal
preference.
Speaking of your book, I have read "The Spinal Cord Perception"
and I must say that story wise it’s pretty great, being a surreal horror
fan myself. What can we expect from your future release, "Nevada"?
“Nevada” is really fun to write. It's a much grander story in the sense
that, with “The Spinal Cord Perception”, you're dealing with one man's
story and what goes on in his head. Nevada has many narrators and dozens
of characters and takes place globally. It's even more bizarre than
“Spinal Cord”. I'm really excited about it. Writing is fun... I've never
been exceptional at it I don't think, my books are self-published and
imperfect, but I like very much to write them and somehow there are
people that enjoy them, which is awesome.
With a new release, "The Fear Of God", at the doors, you have built up
quite an anticipation.
Following your journals and your twitter page, I’ve read that this
record will go back to your Raw Rock roots.
 I’ve
also read that this record was easier
to make than your others. Why do you think
that’s the case? Do you have any favorite songs on the new record?
It is a return to the roots in the sense that it's very rough and
aggressive and very stripped down. There aren't excessive layers and
overproduction and we recorded most of it live. I think it was easier
because our lineup was so harmonious this time. I love all our records,
but writing and recording some of them was really laborious because of
different viewpoints within the band and trying to navigate around all
the opinions. This time, it was more like everyone was unified and we
were all mostly on the same page with everything, give or take a few
insignificant details that worked out easily. So we didn't have these
drawn out issues in the studio where we couldn't agree on something or
someone in the band had to sacrifice a strong opinion and was left
unhappy with the result. When we were listening to the finished product,
everyone was like "There isn't a song on here that's filler, or a song
that I don't like". That in and of itself is amazing because it was
always so hard to satisfy everyone. I love all the songs on the record
dearly and I love them all in different ways. I suppose the one closest
to my heart is "Until We Meet Again" which is the final song on the
record.
What can we expect from both Showbread’s and Dies’ future?
More madness.
I know you’re a comic book fan, and, between fans, how are you
 handling
the Captain’s return? And are there any comic
books you would like to suggest?
I've been a comic reader my whole life and in the last few years I've
become more of a reader and nerd than I've ever been. I visit my comic
shop several times a month and I get 4 different marvel subscriptions. I
love it. Captain America is far and away my favorite, which is weird
because I always thought he was shame when I was a kid because I hate
patriotism. When I read "Civil War" I realized that cap is a patriot for
what's right, even if that means being "anti-American". He even fought
the American government literally to his death. So, I am very very
excited to see him return on July 1st, to say the least. Daredevil is a
comic I love dearly and it has had some of the best writers in comics
for years. Anything Brian Bendis writes tends to be awesome and the new
Deadpool series is some of the funniest, darkest stuff out there. Also,
my wife and I are really into Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead which is
basically a never-ending soap opera with zombies.
Thank you very much for giving me the honor of interviewing you. Any
last words for your Italian fans?
The pleasure is certainly all mine, thank you so much for interviewing
me, it means a lot. I have this to ask the Italian fans: What is it like
having “Dawn Of The Dead” be called “Zombi” and the Fulci movies being
sequels to the wrong movie? Is it confusing?
Thanks again!
Christopher Warman
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