Your Chance to Die's Missi Gets Another Chance to Die with the American Dream!

Your Chance to Die is a melodic death metal band from South Carolina. They have developed an unique sound which blends traditional death metal with beautiful melodic interludes. YCTD sports a group of talented musicians coming from a range of influences from power metal to southern thrash metal. Missi Avila (vocals) leads the band, proving that female death metal vocals can be just as brutal as the opposite gender. With that she was the one to talk to us again since we last spoke a few years back, this time around she talks of the band's latest album "The American Dream" plans for shows ans other activity.


1. Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Your Chance To Die, and how long the band has been together.

Missi: I'm Missi, vocalist of YCTD.  We have been together now for 6 years.

2. What has the band been up too since we last spoke?

Missi: We are just releasing our second full length album via Red Cord Records June 4th and gearing up for a busy summer of touring and promoting the new record.

3. Is there any story or concept behind the The American Dream title?

Missi: All of the songs in 'The American Dream' have great meaning and all tie in together to this idea of 'the American dream' that we use as a standard in this culture. It is a rather sarcastic representation of the things we spend our lives chasing, that in the end amount to nothing. It's a very passionate and telling album.

4. Who produced The American Dream and what was it like working with them?

Missi: Joey Mathews, president of Red Cord Records.  This was our first time getting to meet the RCR guys face to face and it was well worth the trip to Chicago. We share a lot of the same passions and it was a real pleasure sharing our vision with him and seeing how it has turned out.

5. Who did the cover art for The American Dream and how much input did you have on it?

Missi: Cypher Visual did the cover art.  We gave a basic concept and he ran with it.  We suggested some touch-ups here and there but he did an amazing job with the ideas we sent over.

6. Select two songs from The American Dream and what inspired the lyrics.

Missi: That's tough.  I supposed we can use the two singles from the album.  First, "Conscience", for which the lyric video has been released already. This is a song about ego and how it drives our mindset here in the US to strive only for our own selves and forget the rest of the world.  We can been such a selfish people, with no concern other than that of our own rights, while we step over everyone else to try and get what we want.

The second single is a song called "Oscuridad" which will have a music video to be release along with the album on June 4th. This is a very personal song with deals with suicide and how many times we look over what people are really feeling and the seriousness of this disease which has trapped so many people in our country.

7. Did the band have any definitive goals they were shooting for before the recording process began for this album?

Missi: We really wanted to out-do ourselves this time.  We wanted to drop the 'core' from our genre and focus on a more technical sound.  As the band has matured, so has our music and I believe this album shows this.  We are very proud of each and every one of the songs. We wanted this to be an album that fans would hit repeat over; that there wouldn't be a single song that someone would want to skip.

8. Are you using any new instrumentation you've never used in the recording process before?

Missi: We have added more orchestra parts that we have written.  It has added variety to the music and some cleverly haunting melodies.

9. When did you start writing for this album? How was the songwriting process different/similar to previous Your Chance To Die albums?

Missi: We wrote the first songs about a year ago.  In the last album there was a huge gap between the first songs written and when the album was finally released, hence a clear split in the album where the newer songs sounded more technical and the older songs sounded more 'core'.  In 'The American Dream' all of the songs were written in the same year, so we feel this album has a much better flow to it.

10. Did you feel any pressure to follow it up?

Missi: We knew we had some amazing songs brewing up in us, so we didn't feel any pressure, just excitement to get this album released and show our fans where YCTD is now.

11. Tell me about the new single "Conscience".

Missi: I talked a little about it before, but it is a heavy hitting, in your face song.  The music is great, the transitions are heavy and I love the lyrics that I have been privileged to have penned.

12. How did the vibe in the studio go?

Missi: We had a lot of fun.  We flew from South Carolina to Chicago, each band member getting his own studio time.  We get along really well as a band so it was great to have each other to encourage the other along when the nights got long.  The studio was laid back and casual, it couldn't have been better.

13. When can we expect the new album to be released?

Missi: June 4th. You can get pre-orders now off of Red Cord Record's online merch store!

14. What can the fans expect to see from you in the future?

Missi: Lots more touring, national and international; so they can definitely expect to finally meet us face to face!

15. Any final words of wisdom?

Missi: I am now 32 years old. Can't believe I wasn't doing this ten years ago, but the biggest thing I've learned is it's never too soon, and it's especially never too late.  I hope to be an inspiration and role model to anyone trying to make it in the music industry.  I've been through a lot of crap in my life, but have always held on to the one Truth which gives me my only hope in this world.  Life doesn't have to be a roller coaster, and my faith has always steadied me in my darkest days. Thanks again for the opportunity to share with you guys!