CAVALERA CONSPIRACY and AMON AMARTH previews for ON TAP Magazine

some very metal shows coming to the DC area...these are a couple previews I did this morning for ON TAP Magazine in DC...

MONDAY, MAY 9
Cavalera Conspiracy and Lazarus A.D. at the Recher Theatre

The brothers Cavalera are back with their second post-Sepultura collaboration. “Blunt Force Trauma” was released this past March and is the much anticipated follow-up to their 2008 “Inflikted” debut, which saw Max and Iggor Cavalera creating music together for the first time in over a decade. A dark day descended into the history of metal when Max left Sepultura in 1996. It was a bad break and the two brothers, who formed the band in Sao Paulo, Brazil during the rise of death metal in the 80s, would not speak to one another for ten years. A phone call changed this a few years ago and led to the reunion that spawned Cavalera Conspiracy, backed now with Max’s bandmates from Soulfly, Marc Rizzo and Johny Chow. Now three years later, the newest output from this highly regarded “side-project” is blowing out speakers around the world.

"If you liked the first Cavalera Conspiracy album you're going to love this one," Max Cavalera said. "It's more brutal. It's more ‘in-your-face.’ Blunt Force Trauma is the feeling you get when you hear it."

With Iggor’s thundering drums and Max’s dark lyrical assault, the new songs channel pure metal with hardcore influences finding their way into the soul and structure, while never losing the tribal Brazilian roots that separate the Cavalera style from the rest of the metal community. It’s good to hear the brothers creating together once again, and they are enjoying the reuniting of family as well.

"It feels amazing to work with my brother Max again,” Iggor said. “I think this second album solidifies us more as a band and separates us from all this one shot projects. After touring all over the globe with Cavalera Conspiracy, it was time to write some new stuff and I am very proud of this release. Blood is thicker than anything."

Supporting Cavalera Conspiracy is Lazarus A.D. from Kenosha, Wisconsin who just released their second studio album, “Black Rivers Flow,” on Metal Blade Records. It will be a very heavy night.

Starts at 7 p.m. $18 advance $20 day of show. - Jason Walsh
Recher Theatre: 512 York Rd. Towson, MD; 410-337-7178; www.rechertheatre.com

MONDAY, MAY 2
Amon Amarth at Jaxx


The Swedish warriors have crossed the ocean once again, delivering their unique melodic death metal to unsuspecting Americans everywhere. Amon Amarth are winding their tour in the States to an end in support of their latest release, “Surtur Rising.” Dubbed “An evening with Amon Amarth,” the night at Jaxx will consist of two sets, the first being the band performing “Surtur Rising” in its entirety, while the second set will consist of songs from their eight previous studio releases. The Swedish outfit is unlike many of their black metal counterparts from Scandinavia.

“We’ve never called ourselves Viking metal and like most musicians, we just don’t like to put labels on ourselves,” Vocalist Johan Hegg said. “In our mind, it’s very much associated with bands that come out of Norway who are playing a very black metal oriented music and that’s not what we play. Sure, we have the same inspirations when it comes to the lyrical themes but musically we’re a completely different kind of metal so it’s tricky.”

The name “Amon Amarth” comes from the name of “Mount Doom” in Tolkein’s Middle Earth literature. Musically complicated and dynamic, the style the band has developed over the years is fast and powerful, and this newest epic showcases not only their talents, but their song crafting skills in creating a legendary tale through growling, apocalyptic music. “Surtur Rising” promises to be the band’s greatest effort to date and locals have a chance to see the entire record as it was meant to be heard.

"We can't thank our fans enough for showing their appreciation of our music and making this album our most successful release to date,” Guitarist Olavi Mikkonen said. “We are looking forward to performing the songs from Surtur Rising live and delivering a powerful, crushing set. See you on tour, cheers!"

Starts at 7 p.m. $23 advance/$28 day of show. - Jason Walsh
Jaxx: 6355 Rolling Rd. Springfield, VA; 703-569-5940; www.jaxxroxx.com

OFF! article for AMP Magazine

An interview with Keith Morris
by Jason Walsh

What began as a Circle Jerks reunion for an album of new material ended ugly, with founder Keith Morris moving onward with the project’s producer and principle songwriter, Dimitri Coates, to form the most explosive new outfit in modern music. OFF! is the energetic offspring of their creative collaboration in Morris’ Los Angeles living room. A throwback, in many ways, with fast-blazing standards clocking in at a minute a piece, spouting new messages of frustration and anger that echo the same sentiment found in Morris’s early hardcore beginnings in the mid 70s, fronting the infamous Black Flag. Though the times have changed over the past half century, the enemy still remains the same and OFF! sets their sights on all the wrongs they see in this world as well as those responsible, with a vicious rhythm section setting the pace.

Morris and Coates, frontman of Burning Brides, recruited legendary Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald and Rocket From The Crypt/Earthless/Hot Snakes drummer, Mario Rubalcaba, best known for his time as a professional skateboarder on the notorious Alva team in the 90s. Making their debut at last year’s South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, OFF! has stormed the underground and national media as well, performing on various TV shows, and finally releasing their debut 7-inch, “1st EP,” last October. A soundtrack for the “fed-up” masses, the 4-song vinyl featured “Black Thoughts,” “Darkness,” “I Don’t Belong,” and “Upside Down,” all of which ended up with some well-made videos that spread virally across the internet. The band then went on to release these same songs with “three more EPs,” for their first full-length, aptly dubbed, “First Four Eps.” In keeping with the DIY theme, they enlisted the artistic talents of Raymond Pettibon, who scribbled the art for the early Black Flag album covers, to create a new but recognizable look for the band’s new album covers and graphics.

Keith Morris is an iconic anti-hero, a revolutionary who isn’t afraid to speak his mind, confront that which he opposes, and call out the wrongs in the world, shaking his fist at those who are to blame. I had a chance to talk with the always outspoken Morris about the new project, how it came about, and how it has put the fire back in his heart.

Let’s start at the beginning. How did the whole thing start?

KEITH MORRIS: We were starting to work on a Circle Jerks record and I don’t really want to discuss too much about them because the interview really isn’t about them. I would just like to take this time to thank them for making OFF possible with another one of their really shitty, horrendous decisions. What happened was we were writing the songs for an album that they decided that they didn’t want to make. In the process, while I was writing these songs, Dimitri, who is the guitar player, and I said “we have to come up with a plan B because these songs are too good, to just allow, to not let anything happen with them.” We had to just put our foot down and say, “Look, let’s come up with plan B. Make a list of people that we’d want to play with if we were to start a band.” And, that’s pretty much what happened. I mean it got really ugly. The situation with the other guys that we were working with, who I will work with on occasion, but I don’t really want to. I’ll do everything that I can to not have to work with them because, for me, being around a bunch grouchy, grumpy, know-it-all…a type of like really uncool guys, and I don’t want to dis on them. So, what happened was we got all these songs, it’s like, “let’s do something with them,” but they’re obviously not going to be on a Circle Jerks album. They’re too good to be on a Circle Jerks album. I went and played the music, played four songs for Brett (Gurewitz-Bad Religion) over at Epitaph, and he was pretty much like, “those guys aren’t going to write anything this energetic, this exciting, this fresh, this new.” So, Epitaph made us an offer and we were close to signing a deal with Epitaph and one of the guys in the band I’m playing with, OFF, said, “look, it would be ridiculous for us not to see if there are any other companies out there, any other record companies out there, any other music people out there, that would be willing to put our music out, so let’s check that out.” So, Vice (Records) came along, and a s much as I love Brett Gurewitz, as much as I love all the people that work over there, we noticed there was going to be a new Weezer album, there’s going to be a new Bad Religion album, there’s going to be a new Social Distortion album, and good old OFF would have just been the black orphan. We probably would have got like third or fourth tier and Vice were just like doing backflips and somersaults. It was like we would be stupid not to go with these people. Plus, the fact that all these…there’s this whole wave of people that hate on the hipsters and really dislike them for being the people that they are but the fact of the matter is that the people hate on the hipsters are just as fucking weak as the hipsters are. It’s just this fucking dog chasing its tail. It’s the apple calling the orange fucking green, or what have you. But the thing with Vice is that their roster of bands is just as good or just as bad or just as horrible as any other roster of record companies, but the fact of the matter is, we love some of the bands that are on the label, like The Black Lips and King Khan and the Shrines. But with Vice it’s like they offer up a whole different flavor. They’re the party people. We need to go to the party and we need to prove ourselves to be the entertainment for the party.

So they’ve made themselves a pretty good home for you guys?

KEITH MORRIS: Effin’ great. We already experienced one real glitch, and it’s not that big of deal. It’s just some of the music had to get pushed back because of something that happened at the pressing plant. Other than that, they’ve been incredibly cool to us. They buy us sandwiches when we’re in Brooklyn, come to all of our shows. They love to hang out with us and they love us and we love them. It’s a beautiful situation. We’re all going to hold hands and we’re going to skip down the sidewalk and we’re going hum and whistle “la-ti-da’s” and really happy songs (laughs…) It’s a totally happening thing.

When you and Dmitri first started working on these songs and decided to do this as a different band, how many songs did you have together at the time?

KEITH MORRIS: Well, what had happened with the other band was one of the guys that thinks he’s the guy that has to have the most power in the band, decided he was going to go off with his other band, play on the Warped Tour for a few months, so it was like, “Ok guys, we got to have the record done before I leave.” It’s like, “Ok,” and Dimitiri said, “Ok, if we’re going to record a record, we got to have some songs, so guys, it’s time to write some songs. We’re writing songs. We’re all meeting in Keith’s living room,” because my place is most centrally located. And, nobody showed up. One guy took off and went off on a tour of Europe and one of the guys was just too bored or too lazy or sleeping all day long..the other guy, who probably has the worst work ethic out of everybody in the band, decided he’d show up one day for about 45 minutes and then he had like eleven excuses to ditch out on the deal. So, it was kind of like go off and be what you’re going to be, go do what you’re going to do. Dimitri and I sat in my living room and we continued to write songs for the album and in the process, Dimitri started playing some of these riffs that were like, for me, just mind-bogglingly great and took me back to a place called The Church in Hermosa Beach, and The Church in Hermosa Beach would be Black Flag South Bay headquarters. All of a sudden I’m starting to feel that energy, I’m starting to feel that kind of dark angry kind of vibe. It was perfect for where I needed to go at the time.

That’s something I noticed when I first heard the first four songs. It was like, “this is old hardcore but it sounds fresh.” It doesn’t sound like old songs being done, it doesn’t sound like new songs trying to sound old. It’s classic in a way, but it sounds but still fresh. I’m thinking you guys are having a lot of fun playing these songs.

KEITH MORRIS: We love playing these songs. In fact we just played four of them for some kids at FOX studios down in West L.A. for a television program called “FUEL TV: The Daily Habit.” The crew, the cameramen and the sound guys were like, “you’re the best band we’ve had in here” and they’ve probably had like sixty bands in there. We don’t call ourselves a punk rock band and we don’t call ourselves a hardcore band, because if you listen to our drummer (Mario Rubalcaba), he’s only influenced by John Bonham, which means with what we’re playing, and the kind of basslines that Steven’s (Shane McDonald) playing, because Steven comes out of a Paul McCartney…Alice Cooper Band, Geezer Butler/Black Sabbath, 45 Grave, Thelonious Monster, Gun Club…he’s got that kind of vibe. We’re not into the labeling, you know. Those are labels that somebody had to come up with to describe some bands when they couldn’t be more creative. They had to have their story done by 11:45. We’re a hard rock band and there’s all different directions we can go to. There’s different places we can take ourselves and for people that listen to our music. This just happens to be what we’re about at this time. I live in an area of Los Angeles where I’m at one of the busiest intersections, it could possibly be one of the top ten most busiest intersections in the world and it’s really ugly. People don’t care. People are too busy texting and talking and looking at their cellphones and accidents. People pulling guns on each other. People lining up buying meat to fatten themselves for the government that waits for them when they leave the supermarket. Helicopters, emergency sirens, the fire station, the hospital, the fact that about two-and-half, three minutes from…two Beatles songs from my house in a big parking lot that’s attached to a big supermarket and the people that go there, they’re the beaten down, lower-middle-class, lower-class, got to work three or four jobs to support their families, and so they’re not aware that whales are being slaughtered and porpoises are being slaughtered and dolphins are being slaughtered. Trees are being chopped down and oil companies don’t care about anything but making a profit. Armies are over in the Middle East killing people and there’s no reason for us to be over there. So, I’m just angry…I’m not bitter. I’m angry and I’m just a reflection of…I’m a mirror of what I see and some of the things I hear, and the guys that play in my band, they totally love it…

Very cool. Now that song, “I Don’t Belong,” everything you just described, that song sums up.

KEITH MORRIS: Well, we just may do a big political thing here in California, and it’s totally ridiculous because we have to get rid of a governor who shouldn’t have been a governor in the first place. We had an election to elect Schwarzenegger and 40% of the voting population showed up to vote. It was a circus. Jack Grisham from TSOL, he actually ran for governor and he got about 5000n votes, but he explained to me that the whole political situation was that he would never vote again because of being around all these people and he had the opportunity and the chance to see how these people operate. They’re just polishing stones and buffing these stones to make them as pretty as possible. But, we just had this election here where we were trying to legalize marijuana, which needs to happen, but it probably won’t because Budweiser and Coors, Jack Daniels, Dewers…all the alcohol companies don’t want their profits fucked with, yet the pharmaceutical companies, they want people on pleasant, pastel pills to keep them pacified. They don’t want people smoking marijuana. They don’t want these cancer patients, these leukemia patients, these people who are recovering from having cancer removed, to smoke marijuana to relieve their pain. Or you have these people who go through the radiation and because of the radiation they lose their appetite, and when you smoke marijuana, it gives you the munchies. They don’t want that to happen. You would think that Doritos and Hostess and General Mills would be pumping money into the “Yes on 19” vote. A lot of people don’t want it to happen. They’re afraid that our youth will just be wasted and think for themselves. You’d think that the government would totally back the marijuana thing because then you got a bunch of stoned people, you know where they’re at and you can keep them in their pen. You can keep them in their ghetto. You can keep them in a prison without walls, just keep them stoned all day long. But, yeah, we need to legalize it. And, the situation, the whole world situation is fucking ugly. I would love to sing about beautiful things. I would love to sing about hot-action party-chicks and mountains of cocaine and stripper poles and hanging out at the local bar and rubbing elbows with my bros, and checking out really happening music, but got more important things, more important subjects, more important stuff to sink my teeth into.

Now has this band rejuvenated you? It seems like, when I heard it, like I said, there’s so much life to it and it seems like you have so much energy in this. Has this been really good for you?

KEITH MORRIS: I’m excited, I’m happy, I love this band, I love the guys in this band. There’s not a lot of head trips. There’s a little bit of ego, but that’s OK, a little bit of ego doesn’t hurt, doesn’t kill anybody. A little bit of attitude, which is, “that’s cool.” A little bit of “uumph” and a little bit of toughness. The songs pretty much speak for themselves, the energy of the songs, the way that they blast out at you. I’m just totally psyched over this, totally jazzed. I don’t need to be doing anything else. Maybe mowing a lawn or watering some grass, watching the National Geographic, History Channel, what have you. But this…I needed this, because I’ve grown lazy and one of the guys in this band forced me to become un-lazy, and get with it, and get real. Start jumping around again, and it gives me something to look forward to. We’ve not been able to function as a real band because three of the guys are fathers, one of the guys works at Warner Brothers, one plays in two other bands, and so that all the scheduling is kind of like being in the last band I was in, but it’s well worth it because when the shit goes down, for me it’s fucking happening. It’s totally fucking happening.

OFF! has spent March and April touring the country, causing mayhem and havoc everywhere they go. Check a venue near you because this a show any punk and hardcore fan won’t want to miss, even though Keith said it himself, that they are just a “hard rock” band. But what is a label anyways?

AMP Magazine

DROPKICK MURPHYS "Going Out In Style"

DROPKICK MURPHYS
“Going Out In Style”
by Jason Walsh



The Boys on the Docks are back with a new collection of Celtic anthems, but this time have taken a different approach than in previous offerings. In the traditional Irish vein of literary storytelling akin to James Joyce, Dropkick Murphys created a concept album that tells the tale of a fictional character named Cornellius Larkin. “Going Out In Style,” released on the band’s own label, Born & Bred Records, chronicles the journey of the Irish immigrant who has passed on from this world, through retrospectives of his life and times, heavily influenced by personal experiences of the band as well as family folklore. Art imitates life as the epic saga of Cornellius reveals itself through the thirteen tracks on this newest record.

The Murphys enlisted the talents of friends like Fat Mike from NOFX, Chris Cheney from THE LIVING END, and even actor/comedian Lenny Clarke, best known for his role as Uncle Teddy on RESCUE ME. But the biggest surprise guest is New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen. I had a chance to catch up with Vocalist Al Barr before the record’s release to find out how the story came about as well as how the guys from Boston recruited “The Boss.”

First off, how are you doing, Al?

AL BARR: I’m good, been busy y’know. We’re getting ready to go on the road soon so we’re rehearsing a lot.

And you have a new record, “Going Out In Style,” coming out this March. Let’s talk about the new record. I heard it this week, been listening to it a bunch. It’s a really great record, but tell me about what you guys did to make this, because it’s a little different from some of the previous records you guys have put out.

AL BARR: Yeah, I mean it’s different from a couple different perspectives. I mean you got the perspective that it’s a bit of a concept record, the character “Cornellius Larkin,” kind of going through, y’know, coming through the songs and then it was the first time we worked with a producer (Ted Hutt) in years and I think that’s really evident when you listen to the record, because I think it’s a really big sounding record for us. We’ve layered the shit out of it.

So tell me how the idea for the Cornellius Larkin character came about and how you decided to not make it one ballad or maybe two songs, but there’s a lot of songs that involve him in this record.

AL BARR: When we started the whole process of writing, this is our seventh studio album and usually it’s two years between every record and this is three years. We didn’t really know where to begin in the sense that, “How do we make this record different than the other records? How do we make it better than the last one, and different and kind of not make the same record?” All these things came up and “Going Out In Style” was one of the first songs we wrote actually and when we talked about the song after writing it and putting it together, we realized there was a character in this song. The idea kind of came about from that, like “wouldn’t it be kind of cool to have a storyline that kind of went through the record?” So Cornellius was born.

When did you guys start working on this and putting this idea together?

AL BARR: Well, we started working on the record probably like the third week in August. I think all of us had been working a little bit, I mean I kept writing after the last record came out just so I could stay in the practice of writing. Everybody kind of did their own thing, but when we came together to do the record, I guess it was like the third week of August we started working on it and we worked straight through to December.

And like you said, you’ve put out a lot of records and no band wants to reinvent themselves every time they do a new record because that can be good and bad, so to go past that, y’know, “well, we’ve done something like this, now how can we make this fresher, how can we make this something different from the past?” Is that something that goes through your minds when you are doing a new record?

AL BARR: Well, that’s just it. Y’know, there’s a formula and kind of attitude in the band of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but then we still want to challenge ourselves. You’re going to get your punk rock, your Irish, blah, blah, blah, and you know that already, so you know you’re going to have your folk stuff, your punk stuff. I mean I’ve heard people say we’re the Irish punk Ramones or the Irish punk AC-DC or whatever. I mean I’ve heard all that stuff and those are all big compliments, don’t get me wrong, but in the same sense, we wanted to keep challenging ourselves and make it interesting for the fans as well and I think we did with this one. I don’t think we’ve ever made the same record but it becomes more and more challenging the further into your career that you get, y’know.

When you guys sat down and it was all mixed down and everything, and you listened to it top to bottom, what was going through your mind when you were listening to it?

AL BARR: It’s funny, with records in the past, because you’ve been doing it, you’ve been writing it and recording it and you’ve got to learn it, you get sick of it on one level in the sense that it’s not so new anymore. But this record, everybody in the band is really excited about it. There’s an excitement there, in my memory, that hasn’t been there before. I know that I’ve been listening to it nonstop and the rest of the guys have been saying the same thing, you know what I mean, and I think we’re just real excited to get on the road and play it for the fans.

Very cool. Now there are some guests on the record. You’ve got Fat Mike (NOFX) in there, Chris Cheney (THE LIVING END), and comedian Lenny Clarke. How did you decide to get these three guys in there in the studio with you?

AL BARR: Well, y’know, everybody kind of came differently. Years ago, we wanted to do, on the “Sing Loud, Sing Proud” record, originally we had this idea of getting all these guests and I remember we sent out all these offers, y’know, invitations if you will, and everybody basically turned us down and we thought that was kind of funny. This time, we wanted to get some guests on there and we were kind of going through who would be good. We know Fat Mike, and Ken and Fat Mike play golf when we’re on the same festivals and when they come to town…they got this kind of kinship and I just kind of said, “what about getting Fat Mike on the record, wouldn’t that be cool?” and Ken’s like, “that’s an excellent idea, we’ll call him right now.” The Chris Cheney thing, we were in Australia and we did the vocals for “1953” in Australia. Y’know Chris Cheney had this studio called “Red Door Studios” in Melbourne, and he was nice enough to let us do the recording there and he was hanging around and we had to have him come and do some on the record and he was good enough to do that. Lenny is a friend of Kenny’s so Kenny asked him to do it and he said he’d do it, so that’s cool.

Now the surprise for me when I got the record and I read the press release, I looked and I did a double-take and said, “they did a song with Bruce Springsteen?”

AL BARR: (laughs)

How did that come about?

AL BARR: We met Bruce and it came to our attention a while ago, I want to say around 2006 or something, that Bruce was a fan of the band. We read in an interview that his son, Ryan, had gotten into us, so we reached out to him to see if he wanted to come to a show with his son and in 2006 when we were doing the St. Patty’s Day shows in Boston, he was supposed to come. It was funny, we got the call from the tour manager, “Bruce is in his limo and he’s on his way,” and the next phone call was “Bruce is turned around. There’s a bad snowstorm and he’s on his way back home,” and we were like, “fuck.” Then in 2007, when we released “The Meanest of Times,” we were in New York City at Roseland Ballroom for a couple dates and he came out to that show and y’know, we met him right before we went on stage. Then, he kind of returned the offer and invited us to one of his shows in Boston and our lead guitar player Jim (James Lynch) actually proposed to his now-wife on the stage and a bunch of the guys played with them. So, this kind of kinship was kind of born. When we were writing we were like, “wouldn’t it be cool if we got Bruce to be on the record? Ha, ha, ha.” Can’t hurt to ask, the worst he could say is no, so we sent an email out to him and much to our surprise it came back a “yes” that he would do it. That’s how all that came about. It was very cool.

I mean Bruce goes back, as far as American music history.

AL BARR: He’s an icon. In my mind, he’s Americana, y’know what I mean. He’s working-class and you know he’s got to put his money where his mouth is. He comes from that background. We have a lot in common with that, in terms of our values.

And that’s the thing…when I first saw it, I was like “what?” and then I thought about it and I was like, “well, yeah, it does kind of have that working-class common man theme to it.” But at the same time, Bruce Springsteen in 2011...he’s like one of our Beatles.

AL BARR: (laughs) Yeah, definitely. He’s an American icon. I mean there’s no denying it. I mean it’s a feather in our cap that we got him on the record, for sure.

It’s that time of year when you guys do your tour that winds its way to Boston for the week of St. Patty’s Day shows. You guys have been doing these for a while now. Are these shows still special for you guys, playing your hometown during that time of year?

AL BARR: Oh yeah, I think they get more special as it goes on because it’s become such an institution and every year it floors me to see that the shows sell out right away and it’s just insane. Y’know, I just wonder when the hell are people just going to get sick of this and they don’t seem to ever get sick of it.

So, after the St. Patty’s shows in Boston, you guys are heading to Europe.

AL BARR: Yeah, we’re heading over to Europe in April. Y’know, we’re going to be on the road supporting the record, I want to say straight through. Dates may not be announced yet, I don’t know where we’re going to be, but I know for the next year plus, we’re going to be on the road for sure.

AMP Magazine article online

41...part two...

41...

Happy New Year 2011

when I was 40...it was a very good year...

SLAYER

SLAYER
An interview with Dave Lombardo
by Jason Walsh
Photos by Charlie Hatfield

SLAYER is still reigning high from their 2009 release, “World Painted Blood,” and spent the majority of this year getting this new music and decades of classics to every corner of the globe. This summer saw the undisputed lords of death metal join forces with ANTHRAX, MEGADETH, and METALLICA for the Sonisphere Festival tour throughout Europe, which had all of the “Big 4” on tour for the first time ever. During their stop in Sofia, Bulgaria, the concert was streamed live to theatres worldwide and metalheads everywhere had a glimpse of the biggest concert of the year. During METALLICA’s set, members of ANTHRAX and MEGADETH took the stage as well for a rendition of DIAMOND HEAD’s “Am I Evil?” SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo grabbed some sticks and jammed out alongside METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich, Shawn Drover of MEGADETH, and ANTHRAX’s percussionist Charlie Benante, while chaos erupted in Sofia.

Following the Sonisphere dates, SLAYER returned to the States to headline the Jägermeister Music Tour, with MEGADETH and ANTHRAX rounding out the bill. I had a chance to catch up with Lombardo as the tour wound its way to Hampton, Virginia. We had a chance to recap the Sonisphere shows, the future for SLAYER, and his new side project, PHILM.



JW: Tell me about this tour. You guys just started off, how are you guys doing?

LOMBARDO: Great. Everything is going really smooth. Everybody gets along. Shows are going well. Big crowds. It’s good.

JW: How does it feel to be on the road with all these guys? You just did the Sonisphere tours in Europe and now you’re back in the States with the three bands touring together. Does it feel pretty comfortable?

LOMBARDO: Yeah. Yeah, there’s nothing that would be different than any other tour with any other band that we would be with, so it’s, you know, not really much difference, but I mean of course we’ve known these guys for a long time so…

JW: And there’s something kind of special about keeping that metal legacy alive and having these three big bands come out and doing this.

LOMBARDO: Yeah, apparently so. It’s making a big impact so it’s good

JW: Tell me about the Sonisphere Festival. That was a pretty cool thing and all of us that were back here in the States, we obviously didn’t get to go over and see all that but we saw the video.

LOMBARDO: It was amazing. That day we flew in, I think we had about a half-hour drive to the venue and there was this helicopter doing tricks aside of the stage. I don’t know if you saw any of the pictures.

JW: Some of the video, yeah…

LOMBARDO: 81,000 people. It was amazing. It was exciting. The Poland show I think was bigger. That was the one that was 81,000. But that Sofia, Bulgaria, I think that was a little less.

JW: It still looked amazing on video.

LOMBARDO: Yeah. Phenomenal. It was really cool.

JW: So how did the Diamond Head song, “Am I Evil?” come about. I saw you out there banging on some drums with them.

LOMBARDO: Yeah. I think James (Hetfield of METALLICA) had an idea in the middle of the night. Yeah, he came up with some kind of idea, he called everybody up to see if they were into doing it. He thought it was a really good idea and I thought it was a great idea. So that’s why you saw me out there.

JW: Did you have fun out there?

LOMBARDO: Hell yeah.

JW: Looking around, seeing all these guys running around the stage.

LOMBARDO: Yeah. Beating on Lars’ drumset. It was great fun. Yeah.

JW: It looked like a good time. So, you are doing this tour. Where do you go from here? What happens next?

LOMBARDO: After this tour, I think we rest for about three months, well SLAYER rests for about three months, and then we go back out in early February to Australia. We do Soundwave with IRON MAIDEN, and I think we’re doing India as well, and probably do the Pacific Rim, which will probably be Singapore, hopefully Hong Kong and North Korea.

JW: Does all the traveling this far in your career, is it still fun for you or does in wear on you, or is it a combination of the two?

LOMBARDO: Well, after you do it for a long period of time, it does wear on you. You know, you get tired, little things get under your skin, but we’re at a point right now where we’re not feeling like that yet. We were feeling like that at the end of the European run. We were feeling a little burned out because we were flying a lot and doing international gigs and international gigs, you have to go through borders, customs, which delays the whole process (of) getting to your hotel and relaxing. It’s a bit stressful.

JW: So coming home sometimes, is a good thing.

LOMBARDO: Yeah, yeah. It’s good. You have to recharge. You have to have somewhere where you can recharge.

JW: Now next year are you guys looking to record, are you trying to figure out what’s going on?

LOMBARDO: Next year, well we do the Soundwave Festival in Australia, the Pacific Rim. I know we’re doing South America, so we still have…

JW: I mean that might take the whole year?

LOMBARDO: It could very well go a whole year and then, you know, BIG 4 might be coming, so that’s the summer right there in the U.S. Maybe we’ll do some festivals in Europe. You never know, but it’s all very promising, it’s all very positive. We’re very grateful to be in this position, you know, that we still got momentum in our career, because a lot of bands don’t.

JW: And at the end of the day, it’s still got to be fun.

LOMBARDO: Yes. That hour, hour and ten minutes, that I play on stage is worth every bit of hardship, if you want to call it hardship, because nothing compares to other things that people go through, but in our own little world, it does get a little rough.

JW: So has there been any talk about recording in the future? Is that something that you guys will see when you get there?

LOMBARDO: No…yeah, we’re not there yet. Jeff (Hanneman) fiddles around with the guitar and comes up with some things every now and then. I don’t know if there’s actually anything in the works. I haven’t heard a single thing yet.

JW: Very cool. So do you still have any side projects going on?

LOMBARDO: Yeah. I have Fantômas, I mean where obviously Fantômas is still just on a hiatus, but I have this band, PHILM, which I’m going to be putting out, hopefully something, by the end of this year. It’s a trio. I’m kind of trying to bring back the kinda-the-sixties-kinda vibe. You know like Led Zeppelin was a trio, of course let’s say the music part of it: bass, drums, guitar, and Jim Hendrix, same thing: bass drums, guitar. There wasn’t that second guitar player, there wasn’t that keyboard…well, there was in Deep Purple…but also Black Sabbath. All these bands were really big influences on me so I scaled down my drum set, brought it down to four pieces, and brought a powerful bass player which is Pancho Tomaselli, he plays in the band WAR with Lonnie Jordan, you know all those famous songs, “Spill the Wine,” “Cisco Kid,” all that. He’s only 35. I know the band’s a lot older, but he’s been playing with them for the past six or seven years. And, Gerry Nestler, from a band called CIVIL DEFIANCE from like the late 90s. He was signed to Atlantic and I always thought he was a very unique musician and has very interesting sounds on his guitar. It’s very ambient, kind of groovy. It’s not metal. I don’t need to make another metal band. I’m totally going somewhere else.

JW: That’s the thing, and I’d read some of this, some of the side projects that you’ve done you had said that it makes you a better musician because you are doing different kinds of things. It’s not just metal, it’s not SLAYER, it’s just all these kinds of elements that make you a better musician all around.

LOMBARDO: Yeah, it does, because you learn the different methods of operation of other musicians, how they work, their process, and that only enlightens you and makes you just a better musician and you can’t buy that knowledge. It’s only knowledge that you gain from experience and so I absorb it, and try to seek it as much as I can because it’s really good.

JW: Now when you come back and you do this, SLAYER, does it help you out or sometimes can it be distracting?

LOMBARDO: No, not at all. It’s all inspiring. You know, this band inspires me in a certain way where another band will inspire me, and they will cross-inspire each other, or cross-pollinate or something like that(laughs). It does do that, but in ways that maybe nobody will notice. Just I do, that I notice that I’ve kind of enhanced, let’s say, a part of my playing because of that. But people really wouldn’t notice, they would probably just take it as that’s normal.

JW: But you do…and it makes you better.

LOMBARDO: I do. Yeah, I know it does.

JW: I think that’s all I got, man.

LOMBARDO: Awesome.

PHILM opened for HALLFORD with dates in December and will be releasing something in the not-so-distant future. As for a new release from SLAYER, well, as you heard in this interview, only SLAYER knows.



HAILS & HORNS article ONLINE

ANTHRAX

ANTHRAX
by Jason Walsh
Photos by Charlie Hatfield

Over their three decades of bringing the noise, ANTHRAX has gone through an astounding number of lineup changes, especially in the vocalist slot. The announcement came this past summer that Joey Belladonna, frontman from the classic “Among the Living” era, was returning for the Sonisphere Festival Tour in Europe. Dubbed the “BIG 4,” ANTHRAX shared the stage with MEGADTEH, SLAYER, and METALLICA, the first time all four thrash metal bands would tour together. The experience was broadcast live by a high-definition, multi-camera shoot on one of the stops in Sofia, Bulgaria, which allowed fans around the world to see the show. One of the highlights of the night was a performance of Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?” which saw members of all the bands on stage at once, most significantly the first-time reunion of MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine with his former bandmates in METALLICA and replacement, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett.

The Sonisphere shows began a buzz throughout the metal community worldwide, with video clips from Sofia running rampant virally, and instilled some hope for the future of thrash. Following the European dates, ANTHRAX returned to the States and once again toured alongside SLAYER and MEGADETH for the Jägermeister Music Tour this past fall. On the road, the guys worked on some new songs with Belladonna and following the onslaught across the nation, ANTHRAX released that the band would be dropping an album of new material in 2011 featuring Belladonna on vocals, the first time since 1991’s “Persistence of Time.”

The question now is will the record happen. Belladonna was fired from the band in 1992, as many others before him and since. ANTHRAX reunited in 2005 with the “classic” lineup as well, with hopes of releasing a record of new material with Belladonna, but that never came to be. Founded in 1981 by guitarist Scott Ian and fellow Stormtrooper of Death, Danny Liker, who was also fired from the band and later went on to form NUCLEAR ASSAULT, ANTHRAX really hit the mark in the era of Belladonna. “Among the Living” was their crucial release, marking the beginning of the wave of crossover, which saw the fusion of metal and hardcore in the latter part of the 80s. They were also pioneers in bridging the gap between heavy music and hip-hop with their PUBLIC ENEMY collaboration, “Bring the Noise.”

Since Belladonna’s departure in ‘92, ANTHRAX continued onward in the age of grunge with former ARMORED SAINT frontman John Bush for over a decade, and later DEVILSIZE vocalist Dan Nelson. Bush would return to the band briefly and ironically, on the 2009 Sonisphere Festival Tour, but that would be short lived and brings us to now.

I had a chance to catch up with Belladonna on the phone as the Jägermeister Music Tour began. We talked about the reunion, the excitement of Sonisphere, their current tour, the future of ANTHRAX, and of course, important points of interest such as hurricanes.

JW: So Joey, how are you doing?

JOEY BELLADONNA: Ah great. Where are you guys?

JW: I’m in Norfolk, Virginia.

JOEY BELLADONNA: Ah, ok. How’s everything? How’s the weather down there?

JW: Not too bad. We’ve got a hurricane spinning off the coast right now but hopefully it won’t hit us too bad.

JOEY BELLADONNA: Still that same one or is there another one coming?

JW: Another one. Yeah, they just keep coming. They don’t seem to stop this time of year. This one is Igor and he’s out pretty deep so hopefully he won’t bring anybody behind him. So where you at right now?

JOEY BELLADONNA: I’m upstate New York right now.

JW: Oh, ok. So man, how are you doing right now? Are you pretty excited?

JOEY BELLADONNA: Yes, it’s a good time for metal, you know.

JW: You’re getting ready to start that U.S. tour. Tell me a little about that and how your looking forward to doing this with MEGADETH and SLAYER.

JOEY BELLADONNA: Yeah, you know, that’s a great lineup. We’ve been all familiar with each other quite a long time. There’s a lot of history involved with us, so we’re just happy to be together and play, and everybody got along on the BIG 4 when we did the METALLICA thing, so you know we never really had a problem. We’re easy. It’s all about the music for us, you know.

JW: So let’s talk about SONISPHERE. That festival tour was incredible and a lot of us back in the States got to see some of the video. I mean how was that? You guys go over there and play for some gigantic audiences.

JOEY BELLADONNA: Yeah, it’s something when you get a crowd like that. Most of the crowds are pretty big anyhow, you know you’re talking on average about 30-35,000, maybe as high as over a hundred. On average, you’re getting 30-50,000. It’s just a sea of people but most people are just so excited for the whole package and to see all the lineups the way they were presented and everything.

JW: Now a lot of us back here also saw when you guys took the stage and did “Am I Evil” with METALLICA, MEGADETH, and Dave Lombardo from SLAYER. Tell me what that was like?

JOEY BELLADONNA: Wow, you know I never thought I’d be asked to go up and sing in that setting with them, you know maybe on some other place, but even to do a song that I’ve never done before was kind of challenging. It was fun. I remember getting the email late at night, we’re riding in the bus, saying we’re going to do a song together, so learn a section, and there we went, you know. It was really very cool, you know. I’m glad to be a part of it. I hope we can do it again maybe.

JW: Was it kind of amazing to be on stage and looking at all these guys from all these other bands that you’ve known all these years, and you’re like, “Wow, we’re all up here together doing this song? How cool is this?”

JOEY BELLADONNA: Yeah, it was a great idea, you know, bringing all the extra amps up for everybody to play, and just taking every step to do it correct, and METALLICA ran a great set up. Everything was just spectacular.

JW: So now 2010, you’re back in ANTHRAX. What made you decide this was something you wanted to do at this point?

JOEY BELLADONNA: You know what, as far as I was concerned, I mean we could have just stayed, continued. I know it’s “old hat” talk. For me, I never really wanted to make a change. It was something they were looking for vocally, I guess, that wasn’t there which still to this day is kind of puzzling for me, but I know people have their own different styles that they’re looking and what direction they were looking into. But I got a call from management to rejoin, and it’s a business, and we try to put this thing together and make it right and it sounded like for them, for me to join was the right thing to do on their part to ask me. If they were welcoming me in to the band at a right way, I’m all for it. I’m there. I’ve been doing the songs for a while. I played just last night, you know, doing my own group and just working on new music here, and we do ANTHRAX stuff, working on a new record, just keeping busy musically so it’s not like I…hell, I even play in a cover band on the weekends. I’m working all the time, singing, performing, so it’s just…ANTHRAX is a great band and there’s no reason for it to not be together because we really…when we do it, we do it really, quite good, you know. It’s a great chemistry. You can’t really recreate that.

JW: And that was kind of my next question. Now, after doing all these shows over in Europe, how does that chemistry feel? Does it take you back to the old days?

JOEY BELLADONNA: Yeah, I guess it’s like the old days, and if anything, it’s even more fresh because we’re all matured, everybody’s musicianship and talent, all the achievements and the growth of being a musician has gotten way better.

JW: That’s awesome. Now I read here in this release that following the U.S. Tour you guys are planning on recording a new record of new material for 2011. Tell me a little about that.

JOEY BELLADONNA: Well, I got one song together right now at this point. I’ve heard quite a few songs. I haven’t really got to all of them yet. It sounds really good and hopefully, you know we’ve been so busy but, I mean there’s music that’s already been laid out that I could probably start hitting vocally and then we have to revisit everything again that they’ve worked down and recorded. Just do some vocals, maybe rewrite some stuff, restructure some stuff, remix stuff. You know, all the above, and hopefully we can get to it. Hopefully, we do some stuff on the road too, you know, just to get an idea, you know, with some down time and we have some extra equipment with us to roll through those sections and maybe get an idea better on the songs. It would be pretty exciting to be able to do something like that without being distracted in any way, being busy on the tour.

JW: Now Joey, my last question, do you think this is something you think you’re going to be doing for a while? Do you see some longevity with this, staying with the band for a while?

JOEY BELLADONNA: I sure hope so. I mean I don’t like jumping around anyway. Even my own band, I don’t like, you know, “God, I don’t want this one dude. You gotta get somebody else.” Every time you do something different, everything just changes. I mean like should stay the same, for everybody that’s up for it, and there’s no glitches, there’s no, you know, misunderstanding as far as we make the band function right, business-wise. Got a great management now and I hope everybody is willing to take it there and I think they are, you know, I really do. Without any complications, we should and hopefully we will.

MADBALL - EMPIRE

An interview with Freddy Cricien
by Jason Walsh
photos by Helena BXL



The guys from NYC are back with a new collection of hardcore anthems sure to set off circle pits worldwide. “Empire” is the latest offering from Madball, one of the five-boroughs tightest and heaviest outfits, who continue to set the bar high for all contenders for the underground throne. More than two decades later, the undisputed kings of the NYHC scene have brought out new material, which is fresh, relevant, and sonically aggressive.

MADBALL formed in 1988, as a side project for Freddy “Madball” Cricien by his brother, Roger Miret of AGNOSTIC FRONT, along with fellow band member Vinnie Stigma. This gave Cricien a chance to find his own voice and with the journey underway, Miret and Stigma stepped aside so MADBALL could develop on its own. There have been numerous lineup changes, several studio releases, and countless tours across the globe for the second generation of the Lower East Side Crew. The constant for MADBALL is that they have stayed true to their hardcore roots and never showed signs of compromise nor slowing down.

I had a chance to talk with Cricien, as they began their tour of Canada, about the getting “Empire” together and where the road will take them for the rest of the year.

JW: So you guys just got back from Europe and you’re already up in Canada?

FREDDY CRICIEN: Yup (laughs). That’s right, that’s right.

JW: That’s a pretty quick turnaround.

FREDDY CRICIEN: Well, yeah, y’know, we had that scheduled for a while so it was just part of our schedule. We had the Europe tour set up, the Canada tour set up, and right behind it another Europe tour set up. Kind of all part of the game plan.

JW: So how was Europe? Did you guys have fun over there?

FREDDY CRICIEN: Yeah, yeah, it was cool. Definitely a very good time. It’s always good shows…it’s a good scene there in general. It went good, it went good.

JW: Very cool. So, let’s talk about the new record.

FREDDY CRICIEN: Yeah, for sure.

JW: I got a copy of it like a week or two ago. Man, it’s awesome. It’s just flat out awesome. It’s a great record. So tell me, where did this record come from for you guys?

FREDDY CRICIEN: Where did it come from? It came out of nowhere (laughs). I don’t know, I guess we work well under pressure. We knew we had to do an album or y’know, it was that time to do another album and we just needed to fit it in between our tour scheduling and our personal lives and all that. We kind of said “we got to make it happen” and we were under the gun from the jump, y’know, to make it happen and there were moments there where we were a little concerned actually that we might not be giving ourselves enough time to put out something good. In the end, I think it ended up being one of the best records we’ve put out in a long time. Like I said, it didn’t come out of nowhere but under pressure we came out with something that I feel good about, that we all feel good about.

JW: It’s kind of amazing sometimes, when you get in that situation where you have a little bit of pressure or any kind of outside forces kind of messing with you, it all seems to kind of gel together a little easier.

FREDDY CRICIEN: Sometimes man, yeah, sometimes. There was a lack of inspiration on my part for a quick moment but the minute I wrote a song about it then everything else started coming out. Actually one of the first songs I wrote on the record was about trying to find the inspiration to write and after that there was obviously other things going on in our lives that gave us some fuel to come out with, y’know, what we did.

JW: Where did you guys record this one at?

FREDDY CRICIEN: This one was done with Erik Rutan in the St. Petersburg area in Florida.

JW: Tell me about going down there and doing that in Florida. Was it a good session?

FREDDY CRICIEN: Yeah, it was cool. He’s got a cool studio set up, he’s a cool dude. Originally we were going to go with Zeuss (producer Chris Harris) and then Zeuss’s schedule was crazy, lining up with our schedule, and so we were looking for an alternative and Eric came highly recommended to us by some close friends. I got on the phone with him, he’s a MADBALL fan, and all I needed to hear was that he understood what we were, what our music was about, and where we were coming from. And then that was it, y’know, we clicked. We had a few phone conversations and then once we walked in the studio it was like a cool vibe, real comfortable place. Everything else just fell into place. Soundwise, you heard it yourself, so I’m happy with it.

JW: Very cool. The title, man, tell me a little about the title. Are there a couple meanings behind that, because I know obviously you guys are from New York, the Empire State, but it’s about more than that isn’t it?

FREDDY CRICIEN: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean that’s one way to contribute to the place that inspired this band, but that’s just one part of it. It’s also what we’ve built and what we’re continuing to build with our band, with our brand, with different things we’re doing, different endeavors that we’re doing. It’s also family related, you know what I mean. It’s all those things. It’s an empowerment theme. It’s all those things in one.

JW: And the other thing I noticed about it, listening to it, fresh off the heels of “Infiltrate the System,” this almost feels like the sequel. I mean definitely a followup, but like a sequel to that record.

FREDDY CRICIEN: It could be in some ways a sequel. It is kind of, y’know (laughs). And then, in other ways, it just kind of does its own thing. But definitely, with some of the vibe there, it could be perceived as a sequel to “Infiltrate,” you know what I mean. And even the title, y’know, we’ve infiltrated the system and now we’re building our empire, you know, that kind of vibe. But it’s got its own unique stuff to it as well.

JW: For sure. So what are some of the highlights on that record for you? What are some of the songs that stand out that you can’t wait, if you haven’t already, can’t wait to get out there and start throwing them out at people?

FREDDY CRICIEN: Man, there’s a few of them. There’s a few of them there I can’t wait to play live to be honest with you. It would hard to pick just one or two. Definitely the one that’s out, “R.A.H.C.,” the one that we’ve been playing live, that’s fun to do live because that’s like a short, in-your-face, you know, it has a lot to say. It’s kind of a throw-back style in a way. I don’t know, that’s a fun one to do live. I can’t wait to start doing “All or Nothing” live. That’s one I’m looking forward to. Really, just all of them (laughs) because we’ve been doing our set for a long time now so anytime we have new material, it’s always fun to bring it out and especially with this record, as you know, we feel really good about it and the vibe overall from people listening to it is a good vibe, people are really hailing it so. I think the whole record, front to back, is good.

JW: I agree. It’s a complete record from top to bottom. It’s a great record.

FREDDY CRICIEN: Thank you. I really appreciate that.

JW: Now you did a song (“Shatterproof”) with your brother Roger (Miret of AGNOSTIC FRONT). Tell me about how that came about. Did he actually come down there or did you guys use the magic of Pro Tools?

FREDDY CRICIEN: Unfortunately, with our schedules he couldn’t be there. He had to record it wherever he was at and send the track over, but he was vibing on it, you know what I mean. The second I heard the song, I knew he had to be on it. I basically just sent him everything, you know, the lyrics, everything. All he had to do was put his voice on there and it was a theme that he totally was all about. It was about me, him, us…he loved it. I sent it to him and he was all about it, recorded it, and sent it right back and I’m just glad we got him on there. I mean it’s been like years overdue. We’ve never had a guest vocalist on our record ever, and if it was going to be anyone it makes sense it would be Roger, you know.

JW: Of course, and it’s got to feel good collaborating with your brother who pretty much inspired you to get where you are today.

FREDDY CRICIEN: Yeah. He got me started. He’s the dude that put me on. He’s the dude that put me on with hardcore. I do what I do now because of him, and you know, a few other people. So absolutely…like I said, it’s overdue. He definitely needed to get on a MADBALL record. You know, he was a huge part of why MADBALL exists.

JW: So the record comes out in October and I see it’s on GOOD FIGHT RECORDS. Is this the first time with these guys?

FREDDY CRICIEN: Well, you know, GOOD FIGHT is actually formerly FERRET RECORDS.

JW: Oh, I see. A name change?

FREDDY CRICIEN: It’s not really the first time with these guys. It’s all the same crew, they had some legal issues, had to change their name, but yeah it’s all the same guys and they’re like total supporters of what we do so, I didn’t want to go anywhere else. They’re doing a good job with it, and it’s NUCLEAR BLAST in Europe.

JW: You also have a 7-inch that you put out on the side to go along with this. What made you decide to do that?

FREDDY CRICIEN: You know, it seems like 7-inches are starting to make a comeback, a lot of people are digging on that these days, it’s kind of what people are doing. It really is where we got our start, you know what I’m saying. To us, that’s like the first thing we ever put out as a band was a 7-inch. It’s cool to be able to do that again for ourselves but also for the dudes, for the people, for the guys and girls out there that like vinyl and just are into that. But there are definitely people nowadays that are really into that and it was fun to do, we kind of did the art a little different, and it was cool.. Just something cool to do.

JW: So you guys are up in Canada, just back from Europe. You have this new record coming out. It’s going to be a busy rest of the year for you guys for sure.

FREDDY CRICIEN: Yeah man. You know, we stay busy regardless. We’re fortunate in that way, that we can stay busy, with or without a record, but yeah, obviously with this new record we’re going to be out and about, but you know, we’re going at it at our own pace, pace that we feel comfortable doing, but we’ll get around to everyone, you know, that’s what I always say. We don’t do big extensive two-month tours without any breaks, but we break it up throughout the year, but we end up reaching, you know, we get around to at least the people that care about us (laughs). You know, the markets that support us. We try to hit everywhere, man, we try to hit new places. We’ll see what comes.

JW: You’ve got to cover as much ground as you can.

FREDDY CRICIEN: Yeah, we cover as much ground as we can, but we do it at our pace, man, and we’re excited to do it. Especially with this new album.

“Empire” was released October 10 on Good Fight Records and is in stores now. Following their Canadian run, they return to Europe for some dates, but watch for them in the States at a venue near you.

http://www.goodfightmusic.com/artists/madball.php

HAILS & HORNS article online