Matt Gossman: Drums
Kit Wray: Guitars
Earl Ruwell IV: Vocals
Nick Ziros: Bass
Started in May 2001 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL by drummer Matthew Gossman, INTO THE MOAT began as a one-man project. Drummer Matthew Gossman recorded all the instruments for several demo tracks and showed them to friends to complete the band. INTO THE MOAT was eventually pieced together composed of musicians between the ages 18 and 19. Once the lineup was complete, INTO THE MOAT, started playing countless shows and working on their live performances, which can only be described as intense and powerful – taking full command of the unsuspecting audience. Their style was refined in January of 2002 as then bassist, Kit Wray, moved onto guitar and assumed the main song writing responsibilities. The band released one EP on Lovelost Records in May 2003, which received rave reviews from the underground and gained the attention of Metal Blade Records.
After releasing their Metal Blade Records debut, The Design, in March of 2005, INTO THE MOAT hit the road with the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder, Cephalic Carnage, Between the Buried and Me, Animosity, The Acacia Strain, The End, A Perfect Murder, and Soilent Green just to name a few. INTO THE MOAT played major festivals including Loud Park in Japan and the infamous New England Metal & Hardcore fest. Things were going very well for INTO THE MOAT, but after losing two members, Earl, Matthew, and Kit decided to take some time to decide whether or not to continue with the band. After getting bassist and long-time friend Nick Ziros to join the fold, INTO THE MOAT decided to keep the band together and take their time writing the follow up to The Design as guitarist Kit Wray comments, “Nothing is worse than being rushed to write.”
As far as taking about three years off of being a touring band, INTO THE MOAT is not too concerned about any backlash in a scene that is constantly being flooded by new bands. In fact, the band feels the time taken off was well spent. “We have come a long way as musicians and people since the last record, The Design. The longer you know people the easier it becomes to write. Our previous formula was: I write a song, Matt puts drums to it and mixes it up a bit, then comes bass and vocals, then we’d have a song. This time, maybe half the record was written on the spot just jamming, which we all feel has added a lot of flow and feeling to the songs that I feel wasn’t there in the past” states Kit.
INTO THE MOAT has not taken a new direction on The Campaign but has evolved as musicians, creating a more moody record which was attributed to the band’s ever expanding taste in music. “The Campaign was written with more attention to detail. We are no longer just trying to play to our physical limits. This record still sounds like INTO THE MOAT, but one can look forward to more exploration of riffs, and melody. This record has a very organic sound, which is something we have always strived for. We did explore with layering on certain parts for dynamic affect. For instance; we experimented with having three or more guitars and more than one bass” Kit explains.
The Campaign, which is a concept album, was recorded at Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, FL with producer Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal, Soilent Green, Cannibal Corpse), who also happened to record the band’s first full-length The Design. “Even back from the EP, Means by Which the End is Justified, we have had a plan for our albums. The Campaign is exactly what it states. It is the conflict, which is represented in the lyrics and the music as well. Each song is focused from a different view point on war and other conflicts.”
