News-Letter

Recently, News-Letter sat down with Jamey Jasta, lead singer of famed Connecticut hardcore band Hatebreed, owner of Stillborn Records and host of MTV2's Headbanger's Ball, before his show at the Sonar Lounge Nov. 18. Jasta and Hatebreed are on their "Decade of Brutality Tour," celebrating the formative band's tenth year.

News-Letter: Why so angry?

Jamey Jasta: There's a lot of injustice in the world, a lot of kids laid up in hospital beds, people in abusive relationships, war, no shortage of stuff to be angry about.

N-L: How is the new album going to be different from the last one?

JJ: The stuff that we have so far is, I think, more metal than anything we've ever done -- more thrash elements, more brutality as far as the breakdowns and mid-tempo stuff and the double bass. It's pretty in-your-face. People thought the last one was way heavier than the one before, so I imagine this one will be heavier than them all.

N-L: Rise of Brutality began exactly where Perseverance left off. Why did you make that choice?

JJ: Bad Brains did it, a bunch of other bands did it, I just thought it was cool. Because we really didn't have "Tear It Down" finished -- we wanted to include it on Perseverance as the last song, we just were like, "Well, it's a killer riff. We'll just open the next record with it."

N-L: How did you guys get together?

JJ: In '95, me and [bassist Chris] Beattie -- our other bands fizzled out and we got together with our old drummer and guitar player and started jamming in a little basement in Bridgeport, Conn., and the rest is history.

N-L: What's the songwriting process for you like? Do you just get together and play?

JJ: Yeah, get a couple of 40s, go down to the basement, plug the amps in and just ... you know, if it gave us chills or if it made us want to rip our own hair out, we kept it.

N-L: In the decade you guys have been around, there have been a lot of great hardcore bands that have come and gone. What have you done differently? Why have you guys had such staying power?

JJ: I think we've stayed humble. We try to treat people the way we want to be treated. We're a band "by the people, for the people" sort of deal. It's turned into a movement, pretty much, where all these cities we go to the kids know what to expect. We're out there, we're bringing out young bands, trying to give back to the scene. I still do my label. I'm fighting the good fight in every way possible to expose hardcore, metal and punk to people that may not have the luxury of having a cool DIY record store or radio station or Internet site. So it's just about spreading the word still and supporting what we can support, you know, and just staying together and staying grounded.

N-L: Hardcore has always been a close-knit family. Now that hardcore is bigger than ever in the age of Ozzfest, how do you think it's changed?

JJ: The change is that a lot of bands are actually having careers and actually being able to see the fruits of years of labor, which I think is really positive, especially for a genre that's so passionate. People really bleed and sweat and really go through tons of s**t just to play a show. I think it's great that there's bands that are actually coming home and actually paying their rent while they're away, doing things like that. So that's killer. And it's great to see people who let me stay at their house in '91 not struggling. For as far as our close-knit group of friends, if you look at, like, Killswitch [Engage] and Shadows Fall -- these are people I've known for over a decade, and now they have careers. They're some of the biggest names in metal and hardcore. I think it's wonderful.

N-L: Who do you think the best up-and-coming bands in hardcore right now?

JJ: There's a lot. I really love Municipal Waste. I think it's killer that they do, like, pretty basic late '80s thrash, mid-to-late '80s thrash, and I think no one else is doing that in that fashion where it's just about fun and not alienating anybody. They put on a killer show and people go and go completely berserk. They're definitely one of my favorites right now. I also like Comeback Kid, I like The Distance, I like The Risk Taken from Connecticut, who I actually just signed. I'm putting out their album. What else? I got a bunch of records before I left that I've been trying to rip into my iPod. If Hope Dies, Trevor from Unearth gave me their CD and I liked them enough to take them on the road. There's a bunch.

To access the full version of this interview, visit the Arts Section under the News-Letter's Web site at http://www.jhunewsletter.com.

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