Filter formed in early 1993 to instantaneous success. The partnership between Richard Patrick and Brian Liesegang proved to be a match made in musical heaven. The band's debut album, Short Bus, was a commercial success, selling over 682,000 copies in the United Sates alone. The track, "Hey Man, Nice Shot" topped out at number ten on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks and has been covered by Three Doors Grace, Stone Temple Pilot, and Nickleback.

Brian Liesegang left the band in 1997. Patrick continued with the band and went on to release three additional albums, Title of Record. Amalgamut, and Anthems for the Damned, which met with critical review.

Filter is pumping out music thanks to strong-willed co-founder, frontman, and leader, Richard Patrick. Not many people can say they've been through hell and back and survived but Patrick can.

After battling a very public addiction, Patrick cleaned himself up in 2002 and has remained clean and sober since. There's something magical that occurs when you talk with a musician who got their act together and still has the good fortune to being able to perform and do what they love.

Patrick has brought back all the elements of Filter we love--pain, anger, frustration and neatly wrapped it up in a candy-wrapper called The Trouble With Angels, Filter's fifth studio album.

Filter's music is like a freight train coming your way without any brakes. While Patrick is known for his strong political views, he is a thoughtful, contributing member of society who brings to light all the garbage nobody wants to talk about. His last album, Anthems for the Damned took a lot of heat for bringing attention to his opinion of the war in Iraq. Filter's newest venture, The Trouble With Angels, shakes off the political shroud and focuses on the decadent and damn-near debilitating lifestyle he lived.

Filter is back in the circuit with a bang-up new album that kicks you in the visceral gut. If you thought "Nice Shot Man" was an anthem, wait until you hear the track "The Inevitable Relapse" from their new album. While some people on the chat boards say it is metaphor for going back to an old lover, others say it is about the drugs the lyrics purport it to be. Patrick clarifies the meaning below. Whatever the case may be, the track has all of the Patrick elements we love so much.

The Trouble With Angels may very well be the best one released to date. The story of Richard's public drug addiction and journey to recovery are chronicled in a very in-your-face delivery. Each track on the album is a mini personal narrative giving us a glimpse into the mind of a recovering addict who fought like hell to get back to a sane place. To his great credit, he managed to tame the beast within.

Richard's voice is stronger than ever, bringing an emotional intensity to each lyric. You can nearly taste the violence in his music. But the violence this time around has a direction and a purpose; it serves as an outlet to the demons he's exercised over the years. And like faithful lapdogs, we lick at the wounds for a mere taste of his soul.

antiMusic caught up with Patrick for an exclusive interview to discuss his past and his current studio work.

antiMusic: How is the new album The Trouble With Angels a departure from your previous recordings with Filter?

Richard: The record before The Trouble With Angels was Anthems for the Damned and was a tribute to the soldiers who fought and died in Bush and Cheney's war in Iraq. It supported the troops but protested the war so the album was a huge departure from my previous works. This new album is the classic Filter sound, like Title of Record and Short Bus.

antiMusic: Talk about the creative process through the recording process? How does the idea in your head become a final cut on the album?

Richard: I had a bunch of song ideas. I had started songs with Mitch Marlow and started songs on my own. I showed up to Bob Marlette's house one day with the songs and he spent the next month or so finishing my ideas. He made them sound amazing. Then we added drums, re-recorded some tracks, mixed it and voila, another finished Filter record.

antiMusic: Real life experience, such as the drunken aircraft story that resulted in the song "Take a Picture", or a reveal such as with "Captain Bligh" have been cited as sources of inspiration for your writing. What was the source of inspiration for this album?

Richard: The crazy things I did when I was in my early 20's; running around Cleveland's underbelly, climbing bridges and taking off between the hours of 10pm and 8am and roaming the streets with a bunch of disenfranchised dudes around 1989-1995.

antiMusic: What was the hardest part of getting the album made?

Richard: This particular record was easily made. Bob didn't crack the whip too hard, but we worked at a steady pace and it just came together.

antiMusic: Can you share any funny recording moments?

Richard: We were trying to simulate the smashing of a drum set, so we threw a bunch of stuff with all the mics on. Really, the whole experience was fun and a good time overall�it was a lighthearted record to make and we were always goofing off.

antiMusic: What was the hardest part about editing?

Richard: John Spiker and Bob did all the editing�I would make a couple suggestions and they would make the changes�it was a tough job for Spiker, but good for me.

antiMusic: Was there a time when you thought you wouldn't finish the album?

Richard: Never. We were on track the entire time.

antiMusic: What is your personal favorite track on the new album and why?

Richard: "No Love"- just the rhythm. It's got such a big chorus to it. I am really proud of the entire record.

antiMusic: What is the hardest track to record/perform?

Richard: Hardest track to record: "No Re Entry". I basically had to scream as hard as I have ever screamed in my life. Some of the guitar parts are hard to play-we used a big huge baritone gauge guitar with drop D tuning so the strings were extra big and extra tight�it's hard to record guitars this way, but it sounds badass.

antiMusic: Do people ask you to play your old standards? Do you still enjoy performing them?

Richard: Oh absolutely! Hearing 12000 people sing "Hey Man" with me, never gets old

antiMusic: Do the songs hold the same meaning they did when you first performed them?

Richard: Oh heck yeah, absolutely. Every time I hear "Hey Man Nice Shot", I know what I am singing about and it never gets old.

antiMusic: There has been a conflict about who the song "Nice Shot" was written about. Can you clear this up?

Richard: The song was written in 1991 after I viewed raw footage of Budd Dwyer's public suicide. Not saying it's about that, but it is certainly inspired by it.

antiMusic: Can you talk about your bouts with rehab?

Richard: I've been sober since September 28, 2002 but I don't really see myself as preaching sobriety. I just happen to be on the other side of alcoholism right now. Much of this new record is about being in the disease. If you take a look at the video for Relapse (watch it here), the song is about the insanity of addiction, and that's why I love it so much. It's someone or something kicking the s*** out of you and you just keep coming back for more. It isn't judgmental or anything, that's' just the phenomenon- it just happens. You don't know why, it just is.

antiMusic: You strike me as someone who has very clear goals. Is there anything left for you to strive for as a band?

Richard: I just want to continue doing what I do. I love everyday of being in a band. I am clean and sober now too, so everything is great.

antiMusic: What are your personal goals?

Richard: I just want to be a great father, a great husband, a great band mate and a great friend. A lunar landing would be cool.

antiMusic: What have you learned along the way?

Richard: I have learned that there is no shame in admitting that you might have a problem and thankfully I haven't made a really big mistake in about seven years.

antiMusic: You wrote in your blog: "At times, I find myself on my knees, begging for something good to happen but wondering whom to beg. I would be really happy if there was a paradise after we die, but I don't think any of us should have to wait. My family, my friends, my planet, this should be our paradise NOW. This ain't the dress rehearsal people. This is the SHOW! We need to stop waiting for the man in the sky to take care of everything, let's do it OURSELVES. Let's do it NOW!" Have you changed your idea of God since that post in Suicide Girls? What are your thoughts about God and religion?

Richard: The Trouble With Angels has a reference to Galileo�he believed in heliocentric cosmology-basically that earth revolves around sun and just 400 years ago that was sac-religious and he had to face the Inquisition. They put him on house arrest and told him to stop preaching his horrible science�seems like for all the good that comes from religion there is bad too. You can believe in flying pigs and living on Mars, but when you blow up abortion clinics or deny people the same right because they are gay, that's when I see the "The Trouble With Angels." When you start harboring child molesters and keep hush, hush to protect the Church, and that's just our time. Think about the millions of people that have been killed in wars fought over religion. In science there are only the laws of �when Steven J. Hawkings is proven wrong, he celebrates it�science will always prevail; it's based on logic. It's like I said, religion, friend or foe, there are trouble with angels.

antiMusic: Some people are afraid to interview you because of your political views. How do you feel about that?

Richard: I'm not super political, but my last record was. I think people are a little afraid that they'd get into a big debate. On this record, I focus on internal strife and being here on planet earth and not trying to end the Iraq war or support the troops trying to fight it.

antiMusic: What are the your thoughts on the BP oil spill?

Richard: It's an absolute catastrophe and it just goes to show you that when you have a bunch of oil farms in the ocean one can die. I hate to think it's based on greed, but that's what it looks like. I wrote a song about it a long time ago called "Cancer"; what is it when an organism uses up all its resources and kills its host. If you look at a city, if you take a microscope and look at cancer cells and take a satellite picture of the city, it's almost like the two things are the same. City streets look like cancer cell walls. Earth is this beautiful organism and we are destroying it. It doesn't shock me that it's a big corporation behind it. Look at Nigeria. There are hundreds of oil spills there. It's a crying shame. It's not like its Haiti where we can get on and do a telethon; we can point the finger; it's their fault and they should clean it up and pay everyone in the gulf. People's entire livelihoods have been ripped out from under them and so many lives have been lost.

antiMusic: What have been your personal successes to date? Successes as a band?

Richard: As an individual, the birth of my children and marriage to my wife are my greatest successes.

My band is almost equal to my family. I love Filter and want to make it bigger and stronger every year and continue to make music for everyone that wants to hear it.

antiMusic: Why do you keep at it? What motivates/inspires you to keep plugging away at your craft?

Richard: Other music motivates and inspires me. The first thing every musician realizes is that they appreciate music far more than others around them. There is always a great song out there, you just have to look for it or you have to write it. Sometimes I turn on the radio and just hear another great new song and just have to know who it is.

antiMusic: What keeps it fresh for you?

Richard: In my experience, new people keep it fresh. There have been a lot of different people I've worked with over the years. I've got a great band right now with Rob Patterson, Mika Fineo and Phil Buckman, not to mention everyone who played on this record. Mitchell Marlow, John Spiker, Yogi Lonich, Bruce Somers, Rae Dileo Brian Liesagang and of course, producer Bob Marlette. Bob and I didn't really start working together until last summer. I like keeping things changing and growing. Collaboration keeps it fresh. I hope this version of Filter stays the same for a quite a while though.

antiMusic: What's the biggest difference in the industry you see from when you first started? What are new challenges that you didn't have when you first stared out?

Richard: Money has come and gone in this music industry. Technology is another huge change. Technology has made it really easy to make music but you still have to be musically inclined to connect with people. Gear and equipment is insanely great right now. My favorite things are my Shure microphone, the wireless gear and my Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters.

antiMusic: You've worked with a number of people throughout your career, who would you like to work with again?

Richard: The best person I've worked with is hands down, BOB MARLETTE�I've said it a couple times here and ill say it again. He brought me to a higher level and raised the bar and that's why people are saying The Trouble With Angels could be my best record.

antiMusic: If you weren't a rock star what would you be doing?

Richard: I'd probably be acting. I really do feel like there is another side forming that I'm not really participating in and that's acting. Just doing the videos and being around a camera is great. For the new video it was so much fun to tap into that side and take direction from a director. That's what's great about performing on stage�acting is something I should get into.

antiMusic: Worst job you've ever had?

Richard: I worked at this little deli in Cleveland and we used to slice the lettuce on the meat slicers. One day my coworker got distracted and chopped off all his fingers. I quit shortly after that. I didn't want to lose my fingertips; needed them to play guitar.

antiMusic: Best freebie you've ever gotten?

Richard: Best freebie..I get free stuff all the time. I think it was the Ministry box set from Warner Brothers. That's badass.

antiMusic: What's next?

Richard: Keep on keeping on and keep doing what I'm doing. I can't wait to go on tour and to keep making new music. Maybe a third baby? I don't know if my wife is into that, but the grandparents are!