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Hatebreed
I had heard lots of rumors about Jamey Jasta. Also, that he acts like a fucking rockstar to these days.
I had heard lots of rumors about Jamey Jasta. Also, that he acts like a fucking rockstar to these days. To be sincere, he has been really cool with us. He revealed himself to be one really cool and down to earth dude. (He also fixed my voice recorder)
Interview with Jamey (vocals) made on 04/06/04
Leo: So Jamey, it’s a great pleasure to see you again here in Italy. Last time you came was with Resistance tour 2002. If I remember well, your Italian show came out pretty well, lots of people showed appreciation for you that day. Any particular souvenirs of that show/tour?
Jamey: Resistance tour has been a very good experience for us. It has been really cool being able to play in Europe. The shows were great. And then we’ve also had the possibility to share the stage with bands that really influenced our music, such as Biohazard. So yeah, it was awesome.
Leo: In these 2 years Hatebreed have gained lots of notoriety all over the world, especially outside the hc scene. You tour with Slayer almost periodically, I know you’re headlining the second stage @ Ozzfest this year, and that you’re considered a real big name in US by then.
Which one do you retain, has been, the big turnout of your career?
Maybe the choice to leave Victory Records? I never understood well what has been the main problem with them, do you feel like telling me a little more about that?
Jamey: Well, the problem with Victory was that we weren’t getting any support from them.
Not even financially. And the fact was that we had sold 120 000 copies of the album in like 4 months. But still they didn’t give a shit about helping us. We were sick of being exploited as animals, that’s why we left Victory.
Leo: Always speaking about label switch, many bands coming from the hc/metal core scene seem to have problems after they get signed to majors. Few ones are able to save their integrity and not having to accept compromise. I would say you are one of them cause you signed with a major and still have total control over what you want to do/play .
What is the secret for that?
Only that you guys are “negociators with balls"?
Jamey: It’s true that lots of bands coming from hc got screwed up when they signed with major or bigger labels. The most important thing, for me, is that in these cases you must always have control over everything regarding your band. Never let other people (labels, management) decide for you and never let them influence the bands music.
Leo: Tell me more about the Rise of Brutality. How’s it going so far? Did the kids answers live up to your expectations? Are you already working on new material?
Jamey: Well, we do have new material, and it’s coming out around March-April next year I think.
The reaction to Rise of Brutality is great. We’ve already done 2 U.S. tour, one with Madball and Terror and the other with Unearth and Drowning Pool. This last tour was more like a metal one, and that was great. And now when we go back to U.S. we’re doing Hellfest, so that will be ridiculous.
Leo: Also, I noticed that this record sounds even more old school than Perseverance.
In 2 songs (Straight to your face-Another day, another Vendetta) you pay tribute to the bands that formed you (Soia, Madball,Agnostic Front).
So, are those the bands that really formed you and made you want to start a hc band? Have you had any other big influences besides the ny hc school of the end of the 80s?
Jamey: Yeah. But I mean, we also like bands such as Sepultura, Slayer,Obituary.
Leo: All the metal part then…
Jamey: Yeah. Also bands like Overkill, Crumbusuckers …
Leo: Hate towards your enemies, will of vengeange and how the world is fucked up, are reoccurring themes of your songs. What leads you to write such hate-filled and brutal lyrics?
And who were you thinking of when you wrote “A Call for Blood”? Who’s the dude you want to see burning in hell? I’m sure there are many, but who’s the one you were thinking of while writing that song?
Jamey: That song actually is about a little girl who was adocted, raped and then killed.
Leo: So it’s about a pedophile then.
Jamey: Yeah. For the lyrics, I take inspiration from what I see everyday.
Travelling around all over the world I realized the same things happen everywhere. From where we’re from, we know people who died of overdose, people who ended up in jail, like our past drummer and more in general, we’ve seen lots of poverty and disease. And these are the things that make me sing about the basic injustice around us. And that’s kinda like what we represent. You know, we represent, as a band, just people that are against the injustices of the world.
And what we do is trying to communicate about it through our music, trying to communicate what we feel
Leo: I’m really curios to know what your thoughts are about what’s happening in the world right now. The whole Iraq thing, if you were pro war or not and if the thing is ever coming to an end.. And who you are voting at the next elections? George W.Bush?
Jamey: I know that you can vote when you’re 18, but I’ve never voted before. And basically, this because I live in a bus! (*laughs)
I don’t read any of the papers or the news, I’m very ignorant. Last time we were in Europe, every question at every interview was all about Bush, and I was like: I wish I knew why people hated him so much. Then I got a little informed and learned interesting stuff about the whole topic.
I know he’s in Rome now.
Leo: Yeah, he is in Rome now.
Jamey: Yeah, we’ve heard that. Everybody hates him over here.
You know what, I just feel bad for the Irakis, for the Afghans and for the Americans who have died. I’m just confused about the whole thing still. I know lots of money are involved and oil is involved and I know there are people fighting and dying. I think it’s unfortunate this.
Leo: You are a busy dude. You host MTV’s Headbanger’s ball, run a label and play in a hc band.
How do you find the time to do all these things? And which one of these 3 occupations is giving you more satisfaction lately?
Jamey: Well, you know what, I just have good employees right now. I love doing the Headbanger’s Ball thing. I don’t make any money out of it first of all, it’s just because I wanna promote the bands I love and to be given a position of such great power, to me was a major major thing, cause I think that in the Hc scene, as long as I’ve been involved, all I’ve heard was complainers, no one does ever step up and does anything to promote it.
There are few people like yourself who do stuff on the internet or write fanzines to promote this music, but the vast majority just complains and does nothing to make a change, only talks shit and that’s it.
And about me, I’m proud of what I’ve done with Headbangers ball. I was the first person to ever get MTV play a Madball video, a Poison the Well or a E-Town Concrete one, just to quote few names. These are bands that MTV was not going to play.
Leo: About STILLBORN, how is it going? And Why have you decided to open a label of your own, to help out other hc bands or what? Which are the main things you take in consideration when it comes to sign with a band? Is there a band you have been particularly happy to reclute for Stillborn?
Jamey: I just want hard working bands and I love music that I can tell it’s really sincere. Like With Honor. I watched them play and I was like: “We gotta sign them”, you know, because they’re just great, they work hard and they have a dedicated fanbase. Those are the bands we wanna work with.
Leo: According to you, what are the best and the worst thing of hc nowadays? Is there was a thing you could change of it, what would it be?
Jamey: I would make a better touring circle right now for smaller bands in the u.s. I see there are a lot of scattered days and some of the people who take care about setting up those tours aren’t very reliable. But other than that I think we’re on a really good swing. I think things are changing for the better. I mean, if you told me 2 years ago that Trustkill and Ferret would be bigger than Victory or Revelation, I would have said you were crazy. But now, that is happening and it’s crazy the way things are going.
Leo: Plans for the future? Touring, touring and touring again?
Jamey: The new album will hopefully come out in April 2005. After this European tour we go back home and do Ozzfest and then tour U.S. with Agnostic Front and Throwdown. Then we do this tour called “Core across Canada” Then we do Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hawai, we go back and do Alaska, Portorico and then the record.
Leo: You should come play Sicily!
Jamey: We got emails and letter from there. Actually, we were supposed to have 4 dates here in Italy. But then one got cancelled. But it would have somewhere in the South, I don’t remember where though. Probably Sicily.
Leo: Any last words for the readers of saveyourscene.com?
Jamey: Just thank you for all the support. Check out all my websites. I have my emails on there and I appreciate when you people write me. We’re still very hands on it, DIY and lots of people don’t think we are. It’s great to do interviews like this cause the web is so important for Hatebreed because we have hatebreed.com ; hatebreedtour.com….
Leo: Jameyjasta.com
Jamey: It’s so much stuff and it’s really informative and it’s really great for us to promote stillborn on jameyjasta
Aldo: Who updates jameyjasta.com?
Jamey: Me and my friend Jay Reason. That site is gonna be totally changed, it’s gonna have everything on it, it’s gonna be more like a resource site.
Leo: That was all.Thanks a ton Jamey
Jamey: No problem, thanks for the interview
Jamey: Resistance tour has been a very good experience for us. It has been really cool being able to play in Europe. The shows were great. And then we’ve also had the possibility to share the stage with bands that really influenced our music, such as Biohazard. So yeah, it was awesome.
Leo: In these 2 years Hatebreed have gained lots of notoriety all over the world, especially outside the hc scene. You tour with Slayer almost periodically, I know you’re headlining the second stage @ Ozzfest this year, and that you’re considered a real big name in US by then.
Which one do you retain, has been, the big turnout of your career?
Maybe the choice to leave Victory Records? I never understood well what has been the main problem with them, do you feel like telling me a little more about that?
Jamey: Well, the problem with Victory was that we weren’t getting any support from them.
Not even financially. And the fact was that we had sold 120 000 copies of the album in like 4 months. But still they didn’t give a shit about helping us. We were sick of being exploited as animals, that’s why we left Victory.
Leo: Always speaking about label switch, many bands coming from the hc/metal core scene seem to have problems after they get signed to majors. Few ones are able to save their integrity and not having to accept compromise. I would say you are one of them cause you signed with a major and still have total control over what you want to do/play .
What is the secret for that?
Only that you guys are “negociators with balls"?
Jamey: It’s true that lots of bands coming from hc got screwed up when they signed with major or bigger labels. The most important thing, for me, is that in these cases you must always have control over everything regarding your band. Never let other people (labels, management) decide for you and never let them influence the bands music.
Leo: Tell me more about the Rise of Brutality. How’s it going so far? Did the kids answers live up to your expectations? Are you already working on new material?
Jamey: Well, we do have new material, and it’s coming out around March-April next year I think.
The reaction to Rise of Brutality is great. We’ve already done 2 U.S. tour, one with Madball and Terror and the other with Unearth and Drowning Pool. This last tour was more like a metal one, and that was great. And now when we go back to U.S. we’re doing Hellfest, so that will be ridiculous.
Leo: Also, I noticed that this record sounds even more old school than Perseverance.
In 2 songs (Straight to your face-Another day, another Vendetta) you pay tribute to the bands that formed you (Soia, Madball,Agnostic Front).
So, are those the bands that really formed you and made you want to start a hc band? Have you had any other big influences besides the ny hc school of the end of the 80s?
Jamey: Yeah. But I mean, we also like bands such as Sepultura, Slayer,Obituary.
Leo: All the metal part then…
Jamey: Yeah. Also bands like Overkill, Crumbusuckers …
Leo: Hate towards your enemies, will of vengeange and how the world is fucked up, are reoccurring themes of your songs. What leads you to write such hate-filled and brutal lyrics?
And who were you thinking of when you wrote “A Call for Blood”? Who’s the dude you want to see burning in hell? I’m sure there are many, but who’s the one you were thinking of while writing that song?
Jamey: That song actually is about a little girl who was adocted, raped and then killed.
Leo: So it’s about a pedophile then.
Jamey: Yeah. For the lyrics, I take inspiration from what I see everyday.
Travelling around all over the world I realized the same things happen everywhere. From where we’re from, we know people who died of overdose, people who ended up in jail, like our past drummer and more in general, we’ve seen lots of poverty and disease. And these are the things that make me sing about the basic injustice around us. And that’s kinda like what we represent. You know, we represent, as a band, just people that are against the injustices of the world.
And what we do is trying to communicate about it through our music, trying to communicate what we feel
Leo: I’m really curios to know what your thoughts are about what’s happening in the world right now. The whole Iraq thing, if you were pro war or not and if the thing is ever coming to an end.. And who you are voting at the next elections? George W.Bush?
Jamey: I know that you can vote when you’re 18, but I’ve never voted before. And basically, this because I live in a bus! (*laughs)
I don’t read any of the papers or the news, I’m very ignorant. Last time we were in Europe, every question at every interview was all about Bush, and I was like: I wish I knew why people hated him so much. Then I got a little informed and learned interesting stuff about the whole topic.
I know he’s in Rome now.
Leo: Yeah, he is in Rome now.
Jamey: Yeah, we’ve heard that. Everybody hates him over here.
You know what, I just feel bad for the Irakis, for the Afghans and for the Americans who have died. I’m just confused about the whole thing still. I know lots of money are involved and oil is involved and I know there are people fighting and dying. I think it’s unfortunate this.
Leo: You are a busy dude. You host MTV’s Headbanger’s ball, run a label and play in a hc band.
How do you find the time to do all these things? And which one of these 3 occupations is giving you more satisfaction lately?
Jamey: Well, you know what, I just have good employees right now. I love doing the Headbanger’s Ball thing. I don’t make any money out of it first of all, it’s just because I wanna promote the bands I love and to be given a position of such great power, to me was a major major thing, cause I think that in the Hc scene, as long as I’ve been involved, all I’ve heard was complainers, no one does ever step up and does anything to promote it.
There are few people like yourself who do stuff on the internet or write fanzines to promote this music, but the vast majority just complains and does nothing to make a change, only talks shit and that’s it.
And about me, I’m proud of what I’ve done with Headbangers ball. I was the first person to ever get MTV play a Madball video, a Poison the Well or a E-Town Concrete one, just to quote few names. These are bands that MTV was not going to play.
Leo: About STILLBORN, how is it going? And Why have you decided to open a label of your own, to help out other hc bands or what? Which are the main things you take in consideration when it comes to sign with a band? Is there a band you have been particularly happy to reclute for Stillborn?
Jamey: I just want hard working bands and I love music that I can tell it’s really sincere. Like With Honor. I watched them play and I was like: “We gotta sign them”, you know, because they’re just great, they work hard and they have a dedicated fanbase. Those are the bands we wanna work with.
Leo: According to you, what are the best and the worst thing of hc nowadays? Is there was a thing you could change of it, what would it be?
Jamey: I would make a better touring circle right now for smaller bands in the u.s. I see there are a lot of scattered days and some of the people who take care about setting up those tours aren’t very reliable. But other than that I think we’re on a really good swing. I think things are changing for the better. I mean, if you told me 2 years ago that Trustkill and Ferret would be bigger than Victory or Revelation, I would have said you were crazy. But now, that is happening and it’s crazy the way things are going.
Leo: Plans for the future? Touring, touring and touring again?
Jamey: The new album will hopefully come out in April 2005. After this European tour we go back home and do Ozzfest and then tour U.S. with Agnostic Front and Throwdown. Then we do this tour called “Core across Canada” Then we do Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hawai, we go back and do Alaska, Portorico and then the record.
Leo: You should come play Sicily!
Jamey: We got emails and letter from there. Actually, we were supposed to have 4 dates here in Italy. But then one got cancelled. But it would have somewhere in the South, I don’t remember where though. Probably Sicily.
Leo: Any last words for the readers of saveyourscene.com?
Jamey: Just thank you for all the support. Check out all my websites. I have my emails on there and I appreciate when you people write me. We’re still very hands on it, DIY and lots of people don’t think we are. It’s great to do interviews like this cause the web is so important for Hatebreed because we have hatebreed.com ; hatebreedtour.com….
Leo: Jameyjasta.com
Jamey: It’s so much stuff and it’s really informative and it’s really great for us to promote stillborn on jameyjasta
Aldo: Who updates jameyjasta.com?
Jamey: Me and my friend Jay Reason. That site is gonna be totally changed, it’s gonna have everything on it, it’s gonna be more like a resource site.
Leo: That was all.Thanks a ton Jamey
Jamey: No problem, thanks for the interview
What do you think about it?
