A couple of weeks ago, Punktastic headed down to Cardiff Solus to watch Hatebreed play an absolutely storming show. Beforehand, we caught up with frontman Jamey Jasta to talk touring, the new record and how they stay stoked after 19 years of the band being together.
HOW ARE YOU?
Good! Last night was the first show of tour. It was really good. I was surprised because Brighton, we maybe only play there every five or six years. I think we played there in ’02 and ’07 and we haven’t been back until now so it was nice that a couple of hundred people still knew who we were. It was an easy ride from Groezrock across the border. They were nice to us, let us in no problem.
HOW WAS GROEZROCK?
It was great. It’s a very different dynamic going from playing in front of 10,000 people to a little tiny small club but it was nice to get the dust off the old and new material. We did both. Songs from every record and a career spanning set. We wanna make sure, since this is the last time we’ll do small clubs in the UK for a long time, unless we come back and support somebody. But if we came back and supported somebody I think it would be like the Machine Head tour in bigger venues, so since this is kind of an intimate little thing, and I guess a one of a kind type of show, because we’re not doing the same set every night. It’s different every night. It’s never the same. A lot of kids are travelling to a bunch of different shows so that’s cool. They’ll see a different set every time.
AND IT KEEPS IT INTERESTING FOR YOU THAT WAY…
Absolutely. And with the new album, our sound guy Danny said “You gotta make sure you’re doing more new songs” so we incorporated five new songs so it’s fun to break those out.
THE NEW RECORD IS GREAT. MY FAVOURITE TRACK IS ‘OWN YOUR WORLD’…
Oh, we’re not doing that one yet. That’ll be a good one to soundcheck on the next run. See, that’s the thing. We gotta leave some meat on the bone for when we come back, because we’re coming back to do Hevy Fest in Kent, and we’re doing one show in Newcastle and we’re going over to Ireland to play a show in Dublin so we’re trying to leave some meat on the bone for that.
SO YOU’RE DOING FIVE NEW SONGS TONIGHT?
Yeah! Last night we did seven songs off the first album because we’re having a 15th anniversary of that album and then ‘The Rise Of Brutality’ is having a 10th anniversary this October, so we did a bunch of songs off ‘Rise’ last night too – ‘Tear It Down’, ‘Doomsayer’, ‘Live For This’. I mean, luckily our songs are short and last night we did about 75 minutes. It was great. I mean, tonight could be more, it could be less, we’ll see. It just depends. But I don’t think we even played here on the Machine Head tour, I’m not sure, so I don’t think we’ve been here in many years, and if we did it was a different venue. So we gotta make sure it’s a good show because I really doubt we’ll be back for a very long time. That’s why I tell everyone on Twitter and Facebook and stuff, “Look, if we’re coming to your town, make sure you see us when we come because you never know when we’ll be back”. We do the global touring circuit. You know I had a kid the other day write me “I really wanna see you in Singapore”. And you know we did Singapore, a small show, a little DIY show, and I doubt we’ll ever go back, and it’s terrible because you should’ve seen us when we came. Unfortunately there’s not enough days in the year. Same thing with New Zealand – last time we were there we were like “We don’t know when we’ll be back so come and see us”, and the day after a bunch of people were like “We missed the show” and literally I think it’s probably been eight years and it’ll probably be another five or six years until we go back, so don’t miss it. That’s what I’m telling everybody. Don’t miss it.
YOU SNOOZE YOU LOSE!
For real. And less is more, I believe. Because we’re not gonna be that band that’s coming here every year or every two years because then it wouldn’t be as special. I just remember when we came here with Machine Head they said “This is the third time we’ve been here on this record” and I just think that for us, because we tour in two year, three year circuits, we’re gonna go to South America, we’re gonna go to South East Asia, we’re gonna go to Canada, we’re gonna do some new places we’ve never been, so I’m telling everyone, if we’re coming to your area, make sure you see us.
WELL I’M GLAD I’M HERE NOW!
It’ll be a good one tonight. Like I said, I don’t even remember the last time we were here, so I’m hoping – I mean, I’m happy if it’s a couple of hundred, I don’t care. Like last night in Brighton was one of the smallest shows we’ve played in a long time but it was great. They raged harder than some of the shows on the US tour. Everyone was having a great time. It was nice because there were no fights, there was no weirdness, everybody was having a great time. And for a Sunday night, that’s all you can ask for. And tonight’s a Monday which is worse than a Sunday in a lot of ways. Everybody always says “You guys never come to Wales”! There was a Facebook group asking us to go to some other place, maybe Newcastle, which I think is why we booked a show there in August, because they told us we always skip it.
HOW LONG DOES THIS UK TOUR GO ON FOR?
Just until Sunday, so less than a week left. You know what? I think if tomorrow, Manchester and London sells out it’ll be good that we come back for Hevy Fest and we’ll do that Newcastle show and then maybe if we get invited back for a big festival we’ll come back for that but it depends. We’ll see. It wouldn’t be this summer but it’d be in the fall or next summer. Hevy’s gonna be good.
IS IT NEARLY 20 YEARS YOU’VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR?
It’s 19, yeah.
ARE YOU STILL STOKED ON IT OR ARE YOU A BIT TIRED NOW?
Well, I’m stoked on the fact that people like the new record. I’m just happy that we’re not one of those bands that’s relying on the past because if anything that goes against our message, which is about being in the now and appreciating what you have and being motivated for today and tomorrow, so that’s the best part, especially the reaction to the new record which is really good and really promising so that helps us staying stoked and staying positive. Like last night when we went into ‘Dead Man Breathing’ people were singing all the words and that’s a good sign, because the record’s only been out two months. During ‘Honor Never Dies’, it’s like a leap of faith when I go to hold the mic out and you don’t know if they’re gonna say it back and they do and it’s like “wow”. And at Groezrock, that was great too, because we were the heaviest band on the bill – it was like Rocket From The Crypt, Pennywise – so we thought “Oh man, we’re gonna be like the sore thumb on the bill”, but it was great, everyone loved it. It was fun. Actually, our US tour manager is out with Bring Me The Horizon in Manchester tonight and we’re there tomorrow and he said people are excited for the show tomorrow too, so it’s good right now. We’re feeling good about everything.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE PLACE TO TOUR?
I would say Australia, just because it’s super warm and everyone’s friendly and it’s sunny and everything’s nice. It’s very expensive: Australian people go to Vegas and they can’t believe cigarettes are $5 and the food is all you want for $3 or whatever. But I think it’s great. I was just there with my other band and I think it’s awesome. The promoter there always treats us so good and we’re in talks about going back there. The last two tours of the States were great as well. I still really enjoy playing America. I enjoy playing everywhere, it’s just sometimes places have a big boom and it’s really good and then it levels off and then it comes back, like right now there’s a big boom in the Midwest. We did Milwaukee and Lexington, Kentucky and a lot of these places are doing well – the economy is good – and Kentucky, people think of it as a redneck type of place but it’s really nice. We did Lexington and Louisville on the last two tours and both shows were incredible and it’s really good food, nice area, great people, so when that type of thing happens when a scene or a town or a community really comes together it’s nice, it helps the touring and it helps the attitude towards going there, because there’s some places that, you know, you go and you’re like “Why do we go here?”
AND LASTLY, WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE STILLBORN RELEASE?
You know, I would say probably Thy Will Be Done – ‘In Ancient Of Days’, just because I felt like they were one of the bands that was really working hard and they did really well on the record and it got a lot of play on radio and they did a bunch of cool tours – they went out with Fear Factory – so that was a pretty easy record to put out and it wasn’t a real struggle. Every other release there’s something going on – bands breaking up, bands losing members, bands breaking down, other problems. So I would say that. You never know, maybe I’ll put some more stuff out on the label, but it’s been nice to have some time off from it and keep the money in my account rather than burn it!
LAIS MW