Hollywood�s THE DREAMING are Christopher Hall (former member of Stabbing Westward), Jinxx, Carlton Bost, and Brent Ashley (who was also a drummer for The Brian Jonestown Massacre). The new album �Etched In Blood� is out now, and available at Hot Topic. We caught up with Brent recently and asked him a few questions regarding the new album, and upcoming tour....

MUEN: Hey Brent, how's it going? It's really great to see that you will be on a tour soon! Can you tell us what cities you are working on for this late summer tour? Will there be shows in the Midwest too?

Were working on putting something together for late August/September and "the plan" is to stay on the road for at least a year if possible. Not really sure who were going out with yet but we have been talking to a few different bands, right now we need to be opening for bigger bands and growing our fan base. I would imagine it would be most major cities plus a few small ones in between, I'm sure over the course of the next 6 months we will have hit every town in the US.

MUEN: How about this mini tour you are on right now.. is this just sort of a warm-up for you then?

The mini tour was just a quick run up the coast to hit the North West. The few tours we have done never hit Seattle or Portland and we have a decent following so we wanted to make sure to give those fans a chance to see us. Some of the kids that live in those areas will show up at LA or SF shows asking "when are you coming to Seattle dude?" so we figured they had waited long enough.

MUEN: Your debut album, "Etched In Blood" hit just recently, and is available at Hot Topic... what sort of things may have inspired the songs on the album? Also, why did you wait so long to release a debut album for The Dreaming?

The album mostly deals with heartache and dysfunctional relationships. Chris writes all the lyrics and pulls from different things in his life or in our lives. I think everyone in the band has a song that is hard for them to listen to because it deals with a personal issue, sucks to play them sometimes but I can't imagine how it feels for him to have to sing them. The album release was not really held up by choice. We were getting dicked around by one record label for over a year, we originally had an album release date of July 19, 2007 but that fell through so we began the search for another label and just couldn't find the right fit. We finally decided this is something we are just going to do on our own and we started Dream Corpse Records and signed a distribution deal with BCD and got the album out in stores. It's my opinion that record labels are dying fast with bands having such easy access to everything these days, were kind of living proof you can do it on your own.

MUEN: Are there any songs off the previous EP's included on "Etched In Blood?"

Let It Burn, Beautiful (now called Ugly) and Bleed were all on the first EP released a few years back although they have been given quite the face lift. Each time a new member would join they would add something to the songs so it took a few times of recording "Etched In Blood" until we were all happy with it.

MUEN: Can you tell us about DC Records, and how this one compares to previous signings you've had in the past?

Well DC Records is a record label we started. We all have horror stories from our past experiences with other bands and major labels so doing it ourselves was a pretty easy decision.

MUEN: Johnny Haro (one-time drummer for The Brian Jonestown Massacre) plays drums. How did he become a member of The Dreaming?

Johnny was playing drums in the last days of Stabbing Westward and once the band broke up Chris and Johnny started working on a new project together which was The Dreaming. It took them a while to find their first line up and get out and play shows and it took even longer to find the current line-up but everything fits like a glove now. The Dreaming is the band we have all always wanted to be a part of.

MUEN: How and when did Jinxx, Carlton Bost and Brent Ashley join the band?

Funny story about this.... There was a show The Dreaming played in January of 2004 and I was told by my friends in a band that was playing with them that they were looking for a Bass player so it was something worth checking out. When I got to the show Chris, Johnny and Diego were standing around the stage waiting for their fill in bass player that was down the street playing another show, I figured this was a done deal if they were good since the bass player they were using wouldn't even show up for a gig. He finally arrived and the first song they played was "Let It Burn" and I was instantly hooked. At that same show, Jinxx and Carlton were watching The Dreaming for the first time but none of us knew each other so if that isn't foreshadowing I don't know what is haha!! Jinxx joined a year later after we let Diego go, we found him through friends of friends. Carlton followed about a year after that when the decision to add another guitar player was made..... he was the first guy Chris had wanted in the band years before but was busy with his old band Deadsy.

MUEN: How was the song "Dead To Me" born? What inspired the song, and will this, or is it being released as a single?

That song was born before I was in the band, it has been given a facelift since then but I didn't help write it by any means. It actually went out as our first single when we were working with a label over a year ago but didn't make it very far. None of us have ever felt it was single worthy but that wasn't our choice at the time and now that we have complete say we have been pushing "Sticks & Stones" as our first single.

MUEN: What is the worse thing that has ever happened in the studio while recording?

For me the worst thing was walking into a glass door, I've actually done it a few times haha!! I think the most annoying thing while recording "Etched In Blood" was that we were on a time schedule. We would get a block of time for maybe 5 to 10 days so we would have to spend 24 hours a day there if we could. Jinxx started living there because he had no car at the time.

MUEN: What is the most rewarding thing about being on tour for you?

Being able to play live every night. I love that fans get so into the music and I love meeting them but for me I just like to play shows as often as possible and I could careless if there are 20 people or 2000 people, we always put on the same energetic show. Traveling and seeing places is a big plus for me as well, not a big fan of sitting on my ass in LA playing one show a month.

MUEN: Is there any other news you'd like to share now, that may or may not be readily available publicly?

There are a few things in the works as far as tours go but I can't really say with whom or when because they aren't confirmed yet, so I guess the answer is no haha!!

MUEN: I always ask this, I love band reactions to this, what's the most insane thing a fan has ever done at one of your shows?

We have all kinds of things happen from flattery to fighting to fornicating, it's rock and roll haha!! One that sticks out most is on the Ill Nino tour we were hanging out with a couple "girls" on the bus when all of a sudden one got mad about something (I can't remember, I was drunk) and cracked Jinxx over the head with an empty Corona bottle. She was literally thrown out into the street by one of the techs on her knees, into oncoming traffic then tried to talk to me when I was walking back in the venue because she wanted to apologize and come back on.... yeah right!!!

MUEN: Well thanks for this interview! And I can't wait to make it to one of your shows!

Of course, anytime!!! We welcome you at any show you can make, we are all pretty easy going dudes so just walk up and say hi =)