Bobby Burns: It started about eight years ago, in a different form with a different name…J-Sin, our singer, was in his old band, and they had opened up for my old band, and we hooked up, started writing…I mean, like for "Loose" the music was written about eight years ago and the lyrics about seven years ago. When the record company people heard it, they thought it was new hot shit, but we knew hold old it was.

VOX: How did you settle on Primer 55 as a name?

BB: Um, well, it's a different combination of things, but it's nothing as individual things. Primer is really just for something that's unfinished. 55, it's a slang word for drugs, because Interstate 55 is the road that drugs run on to get to Chicago through Memphis. I personally don't do drugs, but whatever.

VOX: What was the music scene like in Memphis as you guys got started?

BB: It sucked, really bad. When I first got to Memphis, man, it was sad. The bands were either death metal, or Hootie shit, which went over big with the college kids. We lived in a few different places around town, - some ok, some not so good - and had friends of all different colors, so some were into heavy metal, some were into rap, some into Duran Duran, but nothing really grabbed me. So we started doing our own thing eight years ago and have kept on doing it. There just wasn't anything original in Memphis. Everyone was too afraid to be different. They all wanted to be hip.

We're done with Memphis. We won't play there. We'll have nothing to do with Memphis any more. We moved away, and we're staying away.

VOX: Where do you see rock music heading?

BB: I don't really pay attention. The past couple of years, rock has really been coming back strong. People either love it or hate it, but I have no opinion. I do what I do. Korn did open the door for mass acceptance, but Anthrax and Rage Against The Machine have been doing it longer.

VOX: What does your musical inspiration come from?

BB: Walking around, seeing the world outside. There is a lot of weird shit in this world to check out, man. I see what's on the news, and that's an influence, but 90% of it's personal shit.

VOX: What was the most critical element to completing the album? What were you after?

BB: A record that is 100% us - 100% P55. We were trying to steer our own path and use our instruments in different ways. While we were recording, the Static-X album came out, so we get compared to them. We didn't need to follow anybody. We wanted to be different. We were thinking about the live show, too. We're much heavier live, I think. Either way, we wanted to set ourselves apart, be different. I think we're doing it.

VOX: "Loose" is an awesome song. What is the story behind it?

BB: Like I said, it's the first song we wrote as Primer 55. It's about us and the scene we were in. People are always jealous of what you do, and you've got to stand up for yourself.

VOX: Are you all into the Internet - do you see it as an important part of a band's success?

BB: The Internet is the most important key to a band's success today. We're very involved with the site. Music sites are so important - kids are out there reading, checking out new bands and finding out about stuff faster than they ever could before. We are totally down with it.

VOX: What can we expect from a Primer 55 live show?