Phoenix: So Jamey, first and foremost what has kept you and Hatebreed going for a little over 10 years?
Jamey Jasta: There’s never a shortage of fucked up shit going on in the world to write about so, I mean…this records done, it’s finished, it’s coming out September 29th. It’s been three years since the last record so we just needed to reconnect with that feeling, you know, that good feeling of why you do it and we got into the studio and the magic was still there with our original guitar player Wayne rejoining the band…so I mean that’s why we still do it. As long as there’s magic, if there’s a charge or if there’s like some sort of energy there that you feel that’s positive, you just want to roll with it and keep…you know what I mean?
PX: Right, Right.
JJ: You cant really put words on it, words don’t really do it justice. Like last night we played in Fort Wayne. We’ve played there now like once a year for like eight years and it always gets better and better and better and that just makes you want to keep doing it cause you get this positive charge from the audience and the reaction. Hopefully come September 29th we’ll have that again with this record.
PX: Does having Wayne back feel like refueling the energy?
JJ: Yeah, it’s interesting because he watches us have this massive success on the last record with the huge festivals and the big tours. He was working for the band as a guitar tech, so he was there opening for Korn and playing the sold out Sydney Superdome in Australia. He was playing to forty, fifty thousand people in Europe and going all over the world and having this really global impact. “Destroy Everything” became our number one downloaded song and we had a number one DVD on the billboard chart. So for him to come back in it, it was with this very greatful, humble attitude like “I’m very happy to have this chance again,” and it really kind of humbled everybody else and made us think “let’s just do what’s right for the record and make the best record.”
PX: That’s awesome! Hardcore in the scene has become more mainstream. Do you think Hatebreed’s success has anything to do with that?
JJ: Yeah, I mean we get credited for good and bad, both ends. I think we were the band that kind of made it okay to sign to a major label. We were the first band that did it, but we did it with all our creative control intact and I had also my say with all of the advertising and everything so I could do the little banner ads on the websites and the fanzine ads in the street level, street team stuff, promotion, major labels dont normally do that so when other labels started following in our footsteps and signing to major labels they changed their sound, they had to do what the label told them to-
PX: *whispers* sell out.
JJ: I don’t want to use those words, but, a lot of other bands didn’t back it up with a record. It’s all about the music and the message, it doesnt matter who puts it out. You want distribution- that’s all you want. Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, all these other places-they don’t have the cool indie mom-and-pop store, they don’t have that. You want the record in a Walmart out there because that’s where people buy heavy music. You get people that are gonna say that’s bad but you know what? Get in a bus and tour 300 days a year and then cast your stones once you’ve put in the work.
PX: I gotta say I’m really excited about covering Slayer, because I’m really into Slayer. I almost wore my Slayer shoes today but I’m in the process of moving and it turns out they’re at my other place.
JJ: You have Slayer shoes?
PX: Yeah, Slayer Vans. slip-ons.
JJ: See, I knew I liked you.
PX: I actually came across…what soundtrack was it? was it Triple X? When I was moving and I was like “I remember this!” It fits so perfectly with the movie.
JJ: Haha, yeah there might be a new Triple X movie.
PX: Oh, really?
JJ: Vin Diesel might be signed on to do it too, I heard.
PX: Better get a song on that, then!
JJ: You never know, we might.
PX: I hear Saw 6 is looking for music or something.
JJ: Yeah, I don’t know about that, I don’t know about Saw.
PX: I can’t believe they’re still making them.
JJ: I liked all of them! I will say I did like ‘em all.
PX: I just saw The Collector. I’m a fan of horror movies, but I feel like five is enough.
JJ: Yeah, I think you’re right, but I liked five! I did like five but yeah let’s move on from diving into needles and all that stuff. You want a movie to give you a different type of…feeling like that and that definitely gave me…cringe.
PX: The Collector was the same way for me. So, back to cover songs. How was recording that album of cover songs from bands that influenced you? Was it an enjoyable process? And how long did you have that concept in the works before you actually acted on it.
JJ: That was super fun! The whole recording process of that was super fun and when Wayne came back into the fold like towards the end of recording he did Slayer, Bad Brains, Suicidal and Black Flag because we knew Shawn/Sean was gonna leave and we knew the record might not come out. We didnt know if it was a good idea to release a covers record at this point since the DVD had went number one, and since we had new material written. We were like “is this really a good idea?” but at the end of the day it’s like making a friend a mixed CD. When you make somebody a mix, you put your heart and soul into it. That’s a really nice gift when someone gives you a mixed tape or a mixed CD or gives you music. They want you to get those feelings that they get from the music so we were like “this is a cool thing to do for young kids that don’t know these bands,” and then also for the bigger bands that we covered it’s cool to show that our chops are up and we’re trying to be better musicians and I’m trying to be a better vocalist. To have to sing Metallica, Suicidal, and Bad Brains it was a challenge so all in all it was definitely a positive experience.
PX: It definitely makes you more versatile to try the different bands.
JJ: Even though it’s other people’s songs, it still went like number 58 on Billboard and it sold more than we expected. We’re just lucky that our fans are so die hard that they want to hear us doing other people’s songs.
PX: I gotta say I’m definitely into it, I like it.
JJ: Cool, thank you!
PX: You guys constantly tour and are always playing different types of venues. What do you prefer-a big venue or a smaller show? Is there a crowd difference in the two?
JJ: We just did Europe and there was one show…we flew to Istanbul, Turkey and it was a tiny club. they jammed 700 people in a club that could hold 400. For the first 10 songs I was like “man this is so great to not have a barricade and to not have this space in between the flow of energy!” but then when it got to be 180 degrees in there and I had Turkish guys kissing me and scratching me and a guy bit me I was like “I dunno if I’m still into this!” but no, it was a great show. The energy was unbelievable. It was such a nice welcome. Everyone was doing everything out of love and respect. When someone comes up in that culture it’s a big compliment for a guy or a girl to run up and grab you and kiss you. It was a shock to me at first!
PX: It’s a European thing!
JJ: I dunno! whenever I jump to the barricade I get scratches from people grabbing and I have bruises all over my body. I guess it’s a good pain? I dunno. Sometimes when you do a huge festival, like we just headlined with Full Force in Germany- we headlined over all these bands we used to open for. That was an immense charge! You’ve got 40-50,000 people doing everything you say and going completely insane. They’re all wearing your shirts and singing your lyrics.
PX: That just has to be amazing to see over time.
JJ: It really is. You really just gotta stop and go “wow!” you’ve gotta enjoy it because you don’t know if it’s always gonna be like that but I like both! I do like the intimate setting versus the big festivals and the big shows.
PH: I’ve actually never been to this venue. It doesn’t look THAT big. I mean, it’s not a stadium.
JJ: We’ll probably have 900-1000 people here tonight. It’s cool for us because the last time we played here we did our whole first album in our entirety. It was a really special show, we only do that every now and then maybe once a year, twice a year. To come back to this venue…it’ll be good. We’re not doing a Chicago proper date. We’re not doing a southern Illinois date either so we have a lot of people traveling. It should be fun.
PH: Obviously your music is aggressive and “tough,” but your lyrics speak in message of calm and determination. What in your past has you continuing to preach that message?
JJ: For the new record I just tried to take a snapshot of the last 2-3 years and use those experiences to touch on different things in different songs. I’m a firm believer in be greatful for the now, live in the now, don’t get caught up in the past. I think when you harbor a lot of the past energy and past pain it’s counterproductive. I’m not trying to use energy or touch on topics from 10 years ago like I used to. I think with the Perseverence album with Rise of Brutality I really didn’t have closure on so many things and I had no other way to talk about them. I wasn’t in therapy, I wasn’t dealing with certain people. I didn’t have a way to express my feelings so I used those records as that. It just so happens that they had a global impact in a lot of them and a lot of people related to those lyrics. Now with Supremacy and this last record I’ve tried to not get deep into it and not absord old, negative energy because I have closure on all that stuff I went through. I lost my grandfather to pancreatic cancer this past year, and that was enoguh to fuel a whole record because I ran through so many different emotions of feeling like there was no justice in the world when junkies are walking around fine and people that are complete scumbags are walking around fine and this sweet, nice man that never did anything bad to anyone is struck down with this brutal disease wilting away. I went through enough with that where I could’ve wrote a whole album about that, but I didn’t. I try to see the positive in everything and I try to learn from all my experiences with that, and everything. Dealing with everybody and my family’s craziness.
PH: I can relate, haha.
JJ: all of the stuff surrounding it before and after. When someone has an illness and it becomes terminal you start with the hwole “we’re gonna beat this, we’re gonna rally together!” but it’s really up to that person to make that decision, so, there’s a lot of stuff I talk about on this record that deals with that, but there’s other stuff in there too. There’s even some stuff I think people will be surprised about lyrically on this. I don’t wanna get too into it. Don’t want to ruin the surprise!
PH: Don’t want to spoil it for us! I mean, that’s what music is- it’s self expression. I don’t make it but I definitely get into it. Ever since I was little listening to music helped me. That’s what got me into metal, and got me into hardcore, and heavier music was…that whole scene is basically taking everything from the outside world and instead of taking it out on someone else just scream, mosh, dance, whatever anyone does at a show. Just let out that negative aggression instead of doing something that…that’s what pissing you off in the first place.
JJ: Totally. Right, and you know with certain bands the formula that you want, it’s almost similar to going to a restaraunt that you love. You don’t want the menu to change too much because you’ve come to expect a certain recipe. So that’s all we did with this record is keep the recipe very familiar but there’s other little things thrown in there.
PH: Some new ingredients!
JJ: The identity is there. When you put the record on you’re gonna go “great this is Hatebreed, this is what I want!” but there’s other stuff in there that isn’t so redundant.
Now that it’s over and I have my life back it’s great. I had a good time helping bands and being that guy is great when you go to a show and everyone wants to buy you drinks and you’re on TV and you’re famous all of a sudden and everyone thinks you’re the man. I didn’t do it for that, I really did it so dudes wouldn’t have to eat beanie-weanie out of the back of a van. I thought “lets get everybody exposure so we can make a career out of this!” I was already in the best job position I could be in, I already had my dream job singing for Hatebreed and we were already huge at that point. We had sold more records than the current crop of bigger bands at the time so we didn’t really need the exposure. I felt like it was a good job to have and I could help a lot of people. Way back when I was young and I did watch the show, I was always an optimist. I always believed in America you could be whatever you wanted to be, I really believe that. My father would tell me that and I believed that. when I started the band he told me I had to do it. He saw us packing the demo tapes and the 7″, sending them all out and doing the mail orders and he said “this is gonna blow up, this is gonna be huge!” and I really believed that. Just like when I heard they were gonna get a new host. I knew I was gonna get the job, I just knew. They say when you know, you know. It’s just…I knew. I wanted to inspire other people. I had no TV experience, I went on a crash course at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting and they’re like “if you get the job, we’ll give you a diploma just to say-”
PH: That’s totally how I feel right now! This is my crash course right here!
JJ: There you go! That’s the thing. I’m writing a book about the whole experience because I want to inspire people. Especially with the music industry really fading fast with all the stores closing and people losing their jobs. I’ve seen so many people lose their jobs. I just wanted to inspire bands, help bands, inspire people to get into the industry whether it’s radio, film, television. There’s other stuff out there, there’s other stuff on the horizon. Now that it’s over, I really do have such a better life. I’m not spread so thin, I don’t have everybody trying to get their videos played and interviews done. I’m not flying all over the place and then literally getting out of a cab and having a microphone thrown at me and then screaming my head off for two hours.
PH: Stressful!
JJ: Yeah, it’s nice that it’s over but it was great while it lasted and I still do stuff occasionally. We’ll have an episode come out in September that’s all about us, but we just did have another episode not too long ago that was all about us, so they’re very supportive still.
PH: That book definitely sounds like something I’d be interested in because in the long run I want to work for a label. This is sort of my baby step into it. I’m into the music business and what not and I’m going into journalism and marketing, stuff like that. I’d love to do something like publicist or whatever. I’m trying to get my friends band to take me on tour just to get the kind of have the experience.
JJ: You gotta get your foot in the door somewhere!
PH: Exactly, I know I want to do something. My whole life I’ve known that that’s what I want to do: something to do with music. I can’t make it!
JJ: You never know!
PH: I’m a firm believer that some people are born with some talents- I was not. My mom thought I had the fingers for piano and it didn’t work out.
JJ: Okay *both laugh*
PH: It’s just something that I know I want to do something in this and like you said “spread the music to people.” When I hear something amazing and I’m like “this means so much to me, I’m so passionate about it!” I want to share that, you know what I mean? I want to do something I’m passionate and spread the love!
JJ: Exactly! There’s enough to go around and that was the point of taking that job. At this point it’s on it’s way out, it might come back,you never know. I’d love to do another show for another network if I had the time. We’ll see, we’ll see what happens. There’s always so many projects going on that it’s so crazy, but we’ll see. Maybe they’ll get another host. My buddy Jose was supposed to host. I think he did a couple of episodes but I dunno what’s happening with that.
PH: So I was looking around on Youtube checking out different videos and I happened to come across that video “Satanic Shamrocks” Danny Diablo’s video.
JJ: Ok, yes. That’s funny.
PH: Can you tell me about your appearance in that video?
JJ: It was just a lot of drinking, a lot of girls.
PH: It looks like it! *laughs*
JJ: I think I woke up in some strange place…you know what? That whole experience is part of the reason I don’t drink anymore. You know what’s funny is that video was in support of a street CD like a mixtape we made just to get his name out there in between projects and we sold a ton of those mixtapes based just strictly on that video. He’s got a new record coming out through Epitaph. We did Icepick together. We will do another Icepick record down the line but that came out in ‘05. I put that out through my label just like I put out his street CD through my label. I worked on a couple remixes for him that are really heavy that are basically his acapellas over music I wrote. That might come out down the line too, but he’s focusing on his Epitaph debut that’s produced by Tim from Rancid, and he’s had a bunch of different collaborators on there, it came out really cool. He’s got Muggs from Cypress Hill so he’s doing his thing. He’s got a really cool video that’s about to come out. Our schedules will come back together again and we’ll do another Icepick record. I don’t wanna say late next year but it’ll have more guest appearances than this last one, you know we had Ice T and Al from Dropkick. This one’s gonna have a bunch of different people on it.
PH: That sounds like fun. What do you say to Danny who’s quoted as saying “that guy’s a bigger scumbag than me.” We know he meant it kidding around, but what’s the story behind your friendship and your affiliation with DMS?
JJ: We’ve been friends for years and what happens on the road I guess stays on the road! It’s meant as a joke ’cause I’m always telling him what a scumbag he is and he’s always like “you’re a bigger scumbag than me!” but I’m not, I’m a nice guy! I swear! The whole music thing with DMS is that we all do our own things- there’s Madball, there’s H20, there’s Icepick, there’s…you know. A bunch of different bands and it’s just music and a bunch of I guess “scumbags” for lack of a better word.
PH: I see that word as endearing at times!
JJ: It can be endearing. I’ve tried to clean up my image. I think I’ve done a pretty good…I’m a parent, let’s not forget. I do have a responsibility to be an upstanding citizen but at the time of him saying that in the video I was having a little problem with pills and booze and things of that nature.
PH: Do you feel the scene has become too commercialized? Or is it beneficial to hardcore to hit the mainstream media? In other words, do you think it will help the hardcore movement over time or hurt it?
JJ: It goes through phases and the people that live through the phases can best tell you what worked and what didn’t as far as the longevity and the legacy of certain bands. We won’t ever change our sound or our message. We’ve already been offered the millions of dollars and we’ve already turned down the major, different various corporate sponsorships. Occasionally we’ll do something if it’s for the better of the tour or for the better of the bands career, like the Jagermeister tour. Even though I was sober at that time the rest of the guys were drinking Jagermeister and they promoted the record better than the label did! I don’t think that doesn’t a mainstream corporate tour was a bad thing especially because we gave other bands exposure on that tour. It built us up and helped us. As far as Warped Tour and Ozzfest and those tours being super commercial being sponsored by Pepsi and Vans and whatever major corporations. It’s…you’ve gotta have funding to get the staging up, the lighting up, to get the people to take the tickets, the security, water, the toilets.
PH: That’s why these fests are still happening, cause kids are still coming out because they want to see all these bands. I did go to Warped this year.
JJ: There’s people that are paid to go haul the Porta-Potties off. Who do you think pays for it? Vans and Pepsi and Yoohoo! As far as becoming more mainstream? Look, everybody loves their little bands and they want it to be their own little thing, that it’s their little band that only they know about, but that’s against what I believe in spiritually. I believe in abundance, I don’t believe anything should be squandered. If there was a cure for cancer I wouldn’t keep it for the people that I know.
PH: Instead of being elitist about it just… ‘this band is awesome, check them out!” not “this is my band, I listened to them first!” I can’t stand people like that. It just kills it. It kills the point of why people are making the music, you know what I mean?
JJ: As things become more corporate like, I saw kids bitching about…what’s the band with the cute girl singer?
PH: Paramore.
JJ: Yeah, they were bitching about McDonalds sponsorship, the McDonalds presenting something on Myspace. Yeah, it’s whatever. I guess McDonalds is cheesy. It’s not something that anybody in the punk or hardcore metal scene wants to tie their name too, but also it’s like…if you were given the opportunity and you don’t know what type of check McDonalds is cutting. What if that check is ridiculously huge and you could use it to help another cause? you gotta weigh each individual decision out. I wouldn’t take their money, but some people might. Does it really matter if you bitch about it? I don’t think it really makes a difference at the end of the day.
PH: I absolutely have to agree with that.
JJ: I don’t even know if it was that band, maybe it was that band but I don’t even know if it was them.
PH: I’m assuming based on cute front-girl.
JJ: They kind of have roots in the punk/hardcore scene or whatever. Either way, as far as the question you asked about hardcore becoming more mainstream…as long as kids come out to the shows- look, nobody is buying records. Go to the show, pay for the ticket, buy the shirt, support the bands as much as you can. I’m like 4 waves of difference scenes now. I’ve seen every trend come and go. Even though I’m young I started going to shows at 12, 13 years old. I saw the emo thing come and go. I saw it come back bigger than ever. Then I saw nu-metal huge and then die off and now it’s coming back bigger than ever. You have every genre that gets quote-unquote mainstream and it always comes in these cycles.
PH: You guys have toured in every major country so what’s the most enlightening place you’ve been to and has there been an instance in which you’ve had a bit of a culture shock?
JJ: Yeah culture shock definitely is real. Scandonavia, and different…all South America. It’s all great. You want to experience different cultures and have a good time. We’ve been to Arab countries, we’ve been to Russia and it’s always great. you try the food, you see a couple sights if you have time. Meet people, talk. I always try and learn those different sayings like…when I was in Chile I said “how do I say “Hatebreed’s back, all you motherfuckers go crazy!?” and I went back and said it and they were like “yahhh!” going nuts.
PH: Just as long as you don’t pronounce something wrong and not say something completely different, right?
JJ: They said “you gotta say ‘chinga tu madre’” or whatever and I was nervous cause they were already rioting and kicking in the door to get in the show, but I said it right and they loved it.
PH: I read here that you guys were touring in South America recently. with the recent conflicts down there are you at all worried about the turnout for the shows in the future or for your own safety?
JJ: This is the thing- we rarely cancel and they weren’t really concerned with unrest because we weren’t going to Columbia. There was unrest in Bask country in Spain when we were in Europe. There was a bombing before we got there and there was a bombing I guess in one of the other countries we were in. They were more concerned with the swine flu because all our road crew quit because they didn’t want to be exposed to the swine flu. We kind of feel like it’s a little bit of a media myth so we went through and everybody was wearing the masks. We even bought a couple as a joke, I think we took pictures but then they were like, “don’t take pictures of you wearing that because people are gonna get angry if they think you’re making light of the situation!” We didn’t wanna, but we just thought a lot of it was fear-mongering.
PH: I feel that it’s hyped up but at the same time it’s not something to take completely lightly, you know what I mean?
JJ: It was everywhere. You saw in the airports everybody had the masks on and stuff, but we went and the shows were great. Cheney our tour manager brought some flu vaccine just to be safe. He brought his own little vile of vaccine so he was well prepared!
PH: Since you’re always on tour what do you do to keep your mind occupied when work isn’t taking the front seat? What kind of things do you like to do in your spare time?
JJ: I haven’t really had any spare time. We’ve been approving album artwork, approving…
PH: …drinking non alcoholic beer
JJ: Now that’s a treat today! That’s a crutch. That’s just for today. If I keep that up and I keep getting fake bombed off of fake beer then yeah…you don’t want that. You’d be calling the police like “get him away from me!”
PH: He’s fake drunk, get him out of here!
JJ: We approved the album, the vinyl, the special edition. We did all the artwork, we did the photos. We shot a video on the day off so that wasn’t a day off.
PH: That was in Connecticut, right?
JJ: Yeah, the day before the tour. Then the day of the first show I was in New York doing the Revolver cover, then flew to the first show…I mean it’s been very busy but, that’s good. It’s not a bad problem to have. There’s worse problems to have.
PH: It’s better to be busy than have nothing to do and be bored.
JJ: There was a little boredom last night and I watched a little bit of Star Trek.
PH: The new one?
JJ: Yeah.
PH: I haven’t seen it yet, is it any good?
JJ: It was, yeah, it started out pretty good, I was pretty surprised ’cause I didn’t think I was gonna like it.
PH: I’m more of a Star Wars person.
JJ: Yeah, me too.
PH: I didn’t get a chance to catch it in theater, I think might catch it now. I’m not caught up on movies. It’s like too much at once! This summer is overwhelming! It’s like this comedy and this horror movie and this action film and this sci-fi drama!
JJ: It’s a lot. I just saw the guy that directed our “I will Be Heard” video, he directed this 500 Days of Summer.
PH: Oh, yeah I heard that was really good. I actually want to check it out.
JJ: I was like “yeah maybe I’ll check it out since he directed it” but there’s so many movies out that I don’t have time. When we get picked up our one limo driver that picks us up and brings us to the airport when we go on international tours. He always has a movie for the ride and he had Watchmen but it was like…I was snoozing the whole time like *snoring noises*
PH: I haven’t finished that yet. I actually started it just the other night. I got through all of it except for the last hour. It seems pretty good, I’m into comics and I haven’t read the whole graphic novel and I’m pretty familiar with it, but I’m more of a Marvel than a DC. some of it was just very…
JJ: It was loooong and drawn out.
PH: Yeah, I haven’t gotten to the end yet but I hear that the end is completely different so, no spoiling.
JJ: I won’t say anything. There’s a lot of blue dick flying around so.
PH: That I heard. I don’t think I got to that part yet. I got to some part…”it tastes like a battery?” and I was like “what? is that really in this…did she say that in this movie?”
JJ: I think, yeah. And they show her boobs in there and she looks really cute. I didn’t realize that was-
PH: She looks…can’t think of her name.
JJ: She’s the girl from that crazy movie with Ben Stiller and I didn’t put two and two together.
PH: She’s cute. She looks so much better with the dark hair. She looks older and much like an actual super hero. Definitely works.
JJ: Yes, yes.
PH: Alright on a completely different subject: we know that you’re a passionate guy so are there any social issues that drive you?
JJ: Occasionally I try and donate to different causes or whatever. My sister just did a breast cancer walk in Boston. She walked like 20 miles, something crazy. I donated a bunch of money to that. I twittered about it and a lot of my fans donated to thank you to anybody that donated to my sister! yeah, she walked like a day, two days something like that.
PH: My feet would fall off!
JJ: Yeah she was saying it was brutal. All these women, these survivors got together to do it and she heard all these stories. My grandmother is still alive, she’s turning 90 and she’s a big influence on all of us, she’s had a masectomy.
PH: My grandmother is a survivor as well.
JJ: Yeah, you’ve gotta try and just do stuff that’s close to you so I guess that would be a social cause, I would assume.
PH: That’s pretty empowering, too.
JJ: I do stuff for animals too, occasionally. My daughter is a vegan, animal rights activist. I don’t know where she got it from, I guess a little bit from her mom. There was a baby squirrel that had fallen out of it’s nest one time and then we tried to nurse it back. We took it to the wildlife thing, but it ended up dying. It was terrible, so then I donated a bunch of money to the wildlife association because they were so nice and helpful and everything so I do like different things like that.
PH: So kind of just…as things come along you find something-
JJ: Yes…with pressure from family members! it’s a good balance, though. I believe that it all comes back tenfold.
PH: Right after I graduated school I kind of did some volunteer stuff with Invisible Children and did a thing with them and stuff like that. I took some time off school and kind of fell out of it. When I find a cause again I’m like “I do really care about this!” and it makes you feel good because it’s not like “oh, I’m doing something!” it’s like “this, I can relate to this, I respect it” and you actually, legitimately want to help those people.
JJ: Totally! And you are helping yourself by doing it.
PH: Exactly. When I do things like that, like my involvement with this, the OTN thing now, it makes me feel very much more adult and it’s a growing experience. I want to be I want to do things like with this. I want to use it for something!
JJ: Yeah, totally.
PH: We know that you lost Lou “Boulder” Richards about three years ago this September. How did that effect Stillborn and doing Hatebreed?
JJ: You know, by that point unfortunately, it was something that we saw coming. Just between his whole deterioration and trying to help. Anyone who’s tried to deal with somebody who’s severely addicted to drugs and needs not just drug help, but therapy and all different sorts of care, it just becomes what it is and by that point we werent even on speaking terms or anything just because we had tried to help so many times. We still think about him and we still send the songs out to him. I talk to so many people who have been in a similar situation, I just try and tell people “look- just remember the good times. Don’t remember what the drugs drove the person to do that was hurtful. Remember all the good times that you had prior to that and remember the effort that you tried to put in to try to help the person. If they don’t want your help or if they can’t help themselves it really becomes a situation that you either have to walk away from or you need to learn from some way.
PH: Absolutely. There’s only so much you can do in a situation like that. Like you said before, like surviving a terminal disease. It takes from within, your own willpower to really push through a dilemma.
JJ: It really does. It’s great to have people support but unfortunately with drugs, and almost every scenario that I’ve lost someone to Oxycontin or heroin or any sort of opiate addiction, it’s always one of these situations where when you take so much of that stuff you become delusional. You’re just not living in reality. If someone takes 10, 15, 20, 30 pills a day and is drinking or shooting up it’s such a gnarly addiction that it takes control of everything and it’s really hard to beat. It’s a really hard addiction to beat. That’s why I tell people “don’t even try it, don’t even start it!’ My father’s wife works in a rehab facility and Oxycontin in particular has a 99% addiction rate. People take it and 99% of them are instantly addicted. That stuffs out there and what you can walk away from does not have mastery over you.
PH: I’ve heard people call you the “Tim Armstrong of Hardcore” because you do a little bit of everything, including running Stillborn Records, producing, and touring with Hatebreed. How do you feel about the renaissance man title?
JJ: That’s cool! I have a lot of respect for Tim. One of the merch guys on this tour was just doing merch for Rancid and they were asking about me and sending hello’s and everything and I thought that was so cool ’cause we did Warped Tour with Rancid in ‘98. I’m a huge fan, almost to the point where I’m…fanboy so I gotta like try to not Chuck-E-Cheese smile. I do my little projects here and there and I do my label. I just try to do what’s fun and fulfilling. Look…if you can’t have fun doing it, you really need to try and do something else. It is work but it’s fun and I’m greatful to have all the little hats to wear. Maybe there will be new hats to wear one of these days!
PH: I’m sure there will be new opportunities, things, projects that will come and present themselves. In the future you’re always gonna have something if you stay involved in music you’ll always have something to be doing.
JJ: I mean, look at Tim! He did song for pink, he did songs for Cypress Hill. I’ve done songs for other bands, some I can name some that I can’t contractually name. It’s fun to have your hands on other things. I’m working on this record with Sebastian Bach and it’s a more rock/metal type of record and that’s fun and that’s cool. I wouldn’t be able to do that if I didn’t have my hands in different pots. It’s cool to wear a different hat and be somebody else for that in particular job.
PH: I definitely see where you’re coming from with that one. What’s in store in the near future for you and the band?
JJ: The records coming out Sept 29th. We’re coming back on a headline tour. We’re doing Decimation of the Nation Part 2 tour. That’s hitting all the major cities that’s coming to Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Minneapolis, tons of midwest dates…Louisville, Indianapolis.
PH: When does that tour start?
JJ: It starts November 6th. I can’t say the support yet but when people hear who’s opening for us they’re gonna be blown away. It’s probably the most monstrous bill we’ve taken out. People are already stoked on this package, all the shows have been packed, a couple have already been sold out.
PH: I’ll definitely have to come out for the Chicago one if you’re promising it’s gonna be…
JJ: We’re steppin’ it up to bigger venues. When people hear the bill they’re gonna be blown away, like seriously.
PH: I am expecting to be blown away, then!
JJ: You will be! It’s gonna be bludginingly brutal, I will say that. So then after that we go to Europe, Australia, Japan, New Zealand. Actually japan is in October but we go back next year for a full tour. Then the summer stuff? we’re up in the air. Next summer there’s a lot of talk, but we’re up for whatever. We would consider whatever big summer tours are out there but we’ll see. The life of this record is gonna depend on what happens.
PH: Right, exactly. Touring on the record, and…
JJ: The video came out pretty cool and that’s gonna come out in a couple weeks and we’ll probably do a second video in the fall.
Make sure you check out Hatebreed’s new release 9/29. You can get a direct link on the front page of this site!
I’ll confess something, I’ve never actually listened to a soundtrack before. Normally if I like a movie, the soundtrack doesn’t even come into the equation because the movie blew me away. When I popped the Saw 6 soundtrack into the computer to give it a listen I was immediately greeted with something pleasant. A brand new Hatebreed track “Ashes They Shall Reap.” The song itself reminds me very much of the movies. Brutal, but with a message that “those who sew in flames/in ashes they shall reap.” In other words, if you play with fire, you’re going to get burned. That seemed to be the over all message of the previous Saw movies, and something I found perfectly personified in the first track off the album.
