According to Bobby Thompson, fans of Job For A Cowboy can look forward to “intense live shows and a good time” when checking out the Arizona-based deathcore band .

They’re on the road with grindcore act The Red Chord, and living comedic thrash legends GWAR, the tour’s headliners, which can’t be an easy spot to fill. But Thompson is confident that concert-goers, no matter who they’re there to see and hear, won’t leave disappointed.

“The GWAR show rules,” exclaims Thompson, one of JFAC’s extraordinarily gifted guitarists. “I don’t blame them if they don’t want to see us. It’s cool to play for people that either don’t like us or don’t know who we are. It gives (us) an opportunity to maybe change your opinion.”

How’s the tour going so far?

It’s going great. This tour has been a lot of fun. GWAR and The Red Chord are all awesome to tour with.

Ruination [Metal Blade, 2009] has been doing great since it was released in July, so now that you’ve had a chance to tour it a little while, what’s the live response been?

The response to the new songs has been awesome. We’ve been playing the title track “Ruination” live recently, and I think that one has been going over the best. It’s a nice mid-paced break in the brutality.

How does the album’s success make all that hard work feel?

It’s definitely a nice bonus to have people digging the new stuff. It feels good.

The band’s sound has definitely grown up a lot since your debut EP, Doom [King of the Monsters, 2005], and even since 2007′s Genesis [Metal Blade]. What do you attribute that to?

A lot of it has to do with experience and also the lineup change. Writing with Jon (Rice, drums) and Al (Glassman, bass) has been awesome. They definitely brought a lot of outside influence into the process.

How does touring your music help you evolve as musicians?

Playing the same songs everyday really allows you to pick them apart and understand the parts that need work. Sometimes it drives me crazy when I mess up something different every night. One of the cool things about touring is that I like trying to learn new things from different people. We’ve had the privilege of touring with a lot of great musicians and it rules when they’re willing to sit down and show you some stuff. I learned a lot from Emil (Werstler) of Daath. That dude shreds.

How about the songs themselves?

It helps the new songs evolve into cool live songs I think. The better we get at playing them the better they come across live. We can also get an idea of which songs get better reactions and which songs feel weird to play live.

Are you playing many tunes from this latest album?

Right now we’re playing four new ones. We’ve been rotating a couple of those in and out of the set to mix things up a bit.

Are you playing much from your first two albums?

We’re playing two from Doom and four from Genesis.

How long is your set on this tour?

We opened a bunch of shows with Lamb of God on this tour and we were playing 30 minutes. Now that we’re on the GWAR headliner, we’re doing 45 minutes.

What’s it like being part of this line-up?

It’s a lot of fun. We’re real good friends with the red chord guys so its a lot of fun hanging with them. The GWAR dudes are awesome so it’s been a real good time. Musically it’s been killer too.

You learning lots from the seasoned vets of GWAR?

Absolutely. They’ve been around a long damn time and are still really cool; they definitely know a lot and are awesome to talk to.

They’ve got some pretty crazy mosh pit stories. What’s the weirdest or funniest thing you’ve ever seen going on in the pit from your perspective on the stage?

On the Mayhem tour there was a guy in one of those electric wheelchairs. And he was crowd surfing. It was intense. I think he made it down safely, so it’s all good. That guy kicks ass!

The last time you were here in Alberta, I think it was last spring as part of Gigantour. Both then and now had you sharing the stage with some pretty big names. How did these two tours differ and what kind of irreplaceable experiences did both offer?

Both tours are awesome. Gigantour was a great time and a great opportunity to show the stage with some awesome and big bands. We’ve been really lucky with the tours that we’ve been able to do. Both have helped expose the band to a lot of people that haven’t heard about us so that’s awesome. Gigantour was a great because we got a chance to do the big stage big production thing. That’s all good and fun but the GWAR tour lets us get where we want to be. Close to the crowd and feeding off their vibe. The more intimate shows are a lot of fun and I think where we feel at home. I love doing the big tours but its really awesome to be close to crowd. Because that’s why you’re there.

It looks like you have some time off in January after this North American tour before heading to the UK and Europe. How do you guys recharge after a tour and how do you prepare to go on the road?

I like to relax at home. I have an amazing girlfriend and a sweet place to live along with 5 badass cats. So being home is way badass. It’s hard to be away so much from something that is so awesome. Touring and playing music is also awesome so it’s kind of a constant thing. To prepare we try to practice as a group as much as we can.

I have a couple questions from our readers – Tim wants to know about your stage set-up and what your main axe is.

My main guitar is a new Ibanez RG3620 Prestige. For amps, we both use Peavey 6505 Plus heads and Mesa Boogie Straight 4×12 cabinets. We’re keeping our back line pretty small on this tour. It makes things easier for stage changes, and I like the small back line look on stage.

The second question – Judd wants to know where you stand on the subject of the mystical powers of beards in metal!

Beards are f**king awesome. If I could grow a better one I would because I think they definitely boost the metal powers.