It certainly lit our fire a little bit. It certainly made us appreciate what we have.

The day [ Darrell died] was the 9/11 of rock. A little of us died that day, too.

It's that iconic imagery of that sea of raised fists during a live performance. It's a symbol of unity and strength and at the same time there are elements of defiance and rebellion that are inherent in that raised fist symbol. It's just one of those iconic pieces of imagery from the life of rock 'n' roll.

That's definitely more of a classic sound. We've been encouraging him to do it for quite some time and I'm glad that he's finally come to his senses and has decided to show the world how great he can rip on that thing.

[To this end, the two artists incorporated imagery from the band's past for the cover. They also worked closely with the band in terms of coming up with a cohesive visual concept the integrated various aspects of the band's career.] We wanted to bring our old icon, the disturbed smiley face, whom we call 'the guy,' to life. I came up with a concept that embodied what the record was about, the 'guy' leading an army of people from all walks of life and all colors of skin, with their fists raised in unison, as a symbol of unity, strength and defiance with an azure sky in the background, ... Being a fan of the SPAWN comic book series and the artwork that Todd and his company have done in the past, we could think of no better team to bring this idea to life. We are incredibly pleased with the piece, and think it is the most striking and certainly our favorite of the three covers.

We actually halted the recording process to go to the funeral, and we took a couple days off of the recording process to hold a benefit show for the family. Dime was a huge inspiration to Danny (guitarist Dan Donegan) and all of us, really. He was our friend. We dedicated the record to his memory.