How are you Jamey?

Good, good thanks. Thanks for the interview.

How is this new tour going?

Oh it’s been great! It’s been killer! We did a bunch of shows with Korn, Slayer, a bunch of festivals. We just did a headline show last night with Final Prayer. It was awesome!

The last time I saw you was in Paris with Carl on bass...

Oh yeah! (Laugh)

... And he seems to be an amazing musician...

Oh that guy is amazing. Like so talented. He can play even like Iron Maiden and Slayer. He is like an incredible guy. Like he just hears something and he can play it. That’s it. He knew every song, every one, every album. Even like the EP, old 7inch songs. Everything! The guy is unbelievable!

How did he end up to play with you on that tour?

Beattie broke his wrist. Got into a fight the night before the first show of the tour in Berlin with our roadie. They got jumped in Germany by like 15 guys. And he broke his wrist and had to go home to get surgery.
But Carl was on vacation in Germany with seeing a girl. He didn’t even know we were playing. He walked down the street and saw the Hatebreed poster and goes “Oh let me go say hello to Hatebreed”. And we’re like “Get in the bus!”. (Laughs) And he’s like “I’m on vacation.” We’re like ”Come on!”. (Laughs) So there, he just hopped on the bus.

And he did the whole tour...

Yeah, yeah! Sings back ups, every, does everything...

And he’s singing for First Blood, and now for Born From Pain, he also recorded all bass & guitars on the last Terror record...

Oh yeah yeah! The guy’s great! He’s amazing. (Laughs)

Now back to Hatebreed. Well on the booklet of the record you added some comments of your life for the 2 and half year before “Supremacy” was out. Was it a way to explain people the meaning of the lyrics from that record?

Both the meaning and try to be like a compass, cause you can’t offer everyone answers obviously cause everyone’s life is different. But I thought if I explained the meaning of why I do this and maybe point someone in the right direction. If they read it and say ‘you know what today I am not going to do this’ or ‘today I’m going to do something positive for myself’. I thought maybe that could be like a way to point people in the right direction. So I wanted to give people an insight like, to say ‘ok wow they really mean this music’. It is not just to, you know, pay the rent or to go on stage and just yell for no reason. It’s a real meaning behind it. You know, like a lot of bands who just buy the cd and you read the lyrics and its either based in fantasy or based in, you know on stuff around the world, and I wanted to really make this record personal so that people know that it really is therapy for me. You know, from the time I was a little kid, I always had like an itch to just yell. You know get stuff off my chest. And that’s how I do it. Other people come to the shows and they yell it back at me and they get the same feeling you know? So it's more than just music and lyrics and more than entertainment. I want to give people a real insight.

Yeah and everything seem to be full of positivity in your lyrics all the time, even if you seem to be hurt...

Yeah you got to have optimism. You know, and there is negative stuff too definitely. But it's gotta not be aimless, cause if you don’t have a solution then your just complaining you know? And that’s another thing we talked about in liner notes and I’ve talked about in other interviews. Its like if you complain, you complain, you complain you don’t ever achieve a solution to what’s making you complain. But if you take action and you point yourself in the right direction then you start to chip away. And that’s what I say in the record. It’s like your gaining supremacy over the person inside you that’s the most destructive, you know? Everybody has that ability to become somebody they don’t wanna be. And you just have to keep constantly gaining supremacy over that.

The lyrics, the text in the booklet could be seen contradictory with what happened to your ex-guitar player Lou...

Exactly yeah. You know, someone with a history of depression, history of drug use, you have to take a step back sometimes. And be like, you know "I can’t do this with my life". You know just like we tried to help him so many times over and over and over again, and you know he sold all his equipment, doesn’t wanna play guitar, doesn’t like the music, doesn’t like the scene you know? Stuff like that. Like you know, it’s... it’s easy to get that way. It's easy to become that way, you know? And that’s why I urge people to go get help.
If you are feeling depressed go see a professional. Call! You know if your feeling suicidal, go see a professional that can point you maybe in the right direction. Cause there’s a lot of people that are like that. Everybody, I was like that. Everybody has that potential to be like that. Life is for the living, you know? You have to enjoy it and be grateful for everything you have.

With this new record you put some new stuff, you evolved a lot. Is that due to you’re other projects like Icepick & Kingdom Of Sorrow and also with you various guest apperance?

I want to step outside for a little bit but not too much cuz I don’t want to disappoint the old school fans but I like to try different things. And yeah like on "To The Threshold" and "Never Let It Die", I try some different stuff. Kingdom Of Sorrow is much different, we’re doing a deal this week actually which is going to come out January or February, we’re signed to a pretty big underground label. That was cool because I was able to have a vocal outlook on everything. On the next Hatebreed there will be more stuff. On Icepick there’s some where I do a bit more hardcore stuff but you know I don’t want to veer too much on what everyone wants I don’t want to disappoint anybody.

You also recorded 2 others songs during the recording sessions called “New Hate Rising” and “Pollution Of The Soul”. Can you tell us more about those 2 songs and why you didn’t want to add them on the final version of the record?

Oh yeah those weren’t done, they weren’t supposed to be heard by anybody. We were supposed to go and change some things but the label did that behind our backs. We weren't too thrilled about that but a lot of people tell us "Oh I found this song online, I downloaded these songs" cuz they were released in Japan and the U.K. so... but people like those songs but they weren’t finished, they weren’t...

Do you plan to finish them maybe?

I don’t know now, I don’t know it’s kind of like a sore subject you know like cuz on “Pollution Of The Soul” the solo was totally different and the vocals were totally different. It wasn’t finished but you know they needed a bonus track for the other territories.

We’re going to talk a bit about your other stuff. So first what about Icepick? We heard that you have already a new record ready...

Well yeah we are. I’ve been working on songs with Frank, and Nick from Terror contributed on a bunch of songs actually. Last night I was online with Nick, we trading back and forth some ideas, he’s got a bunch of stuff and then we got a lot of guest appearances lined up for this one like Zoli from Ignite, Jimmy from Murphy’s law, John Joseph from Cro-Mags, we got Ill Bill, the rapper, Skinhead Rob from Transplants, trying to get Tim Armstrong from Rancid. So it’s going to be much different, too much more varieties, not going to be such a crossover record. On the previous one there were songs that it had more punk and hardcore influenced that just didn’t make it on the record, it was really more of a crossover record. I think we’ll probably record it the month off we have from Hatebreed and then it’ll come out maybe next spring. We’re trying to get it out by this summer but it’s just not going to happen. Plus Icepick is coming to a new deal it’s not going to be on Stillborn but on a label that can actually work it well. Here it was on Alveran, which was good it was really good but on the U.S. I put it out myself and I didn’t really have time to promote it properly.

Is what you've just said linked the fact that you seem to take your time for your work as producer. From what I've heard, you didn’t work this time with Agnostic Front, Sworn Enemy & Full Blown Chaos for their upcoming records...

Well yeah I’ve been so busy. The AF record I really wanted to do it again and they asked but we’re doing these dates now and I talked to Roger last night plus Roger just had a new baby girl so he was waiting to get onto the studio until now and Freddy (Cricien - Madball) decided to produce it. But I really wanted to contribute it and to help them on that record but I didn’t have time.
Full Blown Chaos you know what can be said really is the last record didn’t do so good you know, they have to move on and try something new, and I hope the next record does ok cus we just didn’t really have the success, we didn’t have the success we had with "Wake The Demons" which was a good breakdown record for them, and I think that the fans like "Wake The Demons" better than they like the last album. But the new one I heard is going to be pretty good.
And Sworn Enemy we did an unheard of thing back in 2002,2003 you know I got Sworn Enemy signed to a major label (Elektra) and they did the Ozzfest you know, it was a big deal for a New York Hardcore band. But you know, the same thing is I’m so busy, I have so much to do, I can’t carry everybody on my shoulders, they have to breakout on their own and do their own thing. And I’m happy for them they’re making better records and I really feel that and is growing you know I’ll always produce them If I have time but there’re just so much stuff. But Abacus & Century Media did a good job in the last record, they did videos and you know I was happy for them. And Tim from As I Lay Dying got them a more modern metal sound which is what they wanted, they didn’t a more hardcore record. I would of wanted to do more old school Killing Time, Sheer Terror you know Madball type of record but they wanted to do more metal which I can respect you know, they’re more like you know they listen to Metallica, Testament, Exodus, that’s cool too! I think that this new record is going to be really big, I think it’s going to be good for them especially in Europe cus Century Media making it a priority.

And what about Kingdom Of Sorrow? I thought the record would come earlier...

Yeah well see the problem with that was when I signed to Roadrunner I say "I have this record, I really want you to hear this record", and they heard, they loved it and they said "Ok, lets put one song on the "Headbanger’s Ball" compilation. Then they said "We want to put out the Hatebreed first" but I said "No! this record’s been done since 2005". I spent all my own money you know, we did a really great record, we did a real studio with Zeus, we were flying back and forth from New Orleans you know, I put a lot of time and effort in this record, but they said "No, Hatebreed has to come out first". So we put Kingdom Of Sorrow in the back burner and the Hatebreed record came out, and Roadrunner did a great job for here, so the record exploded. We’re really happy. And I said "Ok can we do the Kingdom?" and they were "uh we don’t know!" and I said "Well let me do it with somebody else", so now they let me and people are going to be really excited when we announce, we probably announce this week or next week as soon as the paper work comes from my lawyer. It’s going to be a good deal on a really good label. So yeah january or february and Kirk’s done with the Down record. The Down record is coming out in september so Down will tour, Hatebreed will tour until the end of the year and then Kingdom will probably come out next year.

And what’s goin’ on with Stillborn? Are you going to finally release the Stigma record and also The Rist Taken’s...

Yeah! The Stigma record got pushed again because of the AF record and Nuclear Blast is doing the AF record and I was trying to get someone to do it here, we still have a label for it here so we just pushed it until january. But the record is almost done, we got Hank III sings on track with Stigma, Jimmy Gestapo's on there, Freddy’s on there, I’m on there. It’s a really cool street rock, punk, hardcore record, it’s very mixed. There’s a country song with Hank III which is cool. And The risk Taken, I don’t know what’s going to happen with that record so I just signed other bands. I signed Legacy Of Pain from nor cal which is the guys from Suffokate. The EP is going to blow up, we already have a ton of pre orders, and then this band Obliged which they’re more of a straight forward metal band they’re really into Meshuggah, Entombed, Pantera, they’re from riverside, California. And then I signed a band called Catalepsy, a death metal band from Florida, which they almost remind me of the later influence of death core bands, that kids that listen All Out War, and wanted to go more technical you know. They’re almost mixed like Cannibal, Bolt Thrower meets Merauder or All Out War. It should be really cool. But that’s it for now for Stillborn, but I’m still trying to do three releases a year, I don’t want to get too crazy you know because there’s just too much to do and like I said, I want to help bands, I don’t them having weighing me down, I want bands that can do their own things, be their own band you know.

And are you still working on Headbanger’s Ball actually?

I haven’t done it in ten weeks, because I’ve been on the road you know, and Hatebreed is my number one priority and I really felt like there’s just too much to do you know, there’s the flying back and forth the preparation you know preparation and it just too crazy you know and I hope the show stays on the air, I really do. And I hope they keep supporting. It was a great opportunity for me because I got to play all my friends' bands and got to really help a lot of bands out and I really hope it stays on. You guys have it here in France now right?

Yeah on MTV pulse!

Oh ok so that’s cool! And I think that’s been catching on, they had it on Japan, they had it in Australia, it doesn’t have a host but at least they’re playing videos and a this point that’s all you can ask for you know, anything is better than nothing.

Last time we were also talking about upcoming plans like the cover album and the DVD...

Yeah the cover album, I’m doing some more vocals when we go back when we come back in between Ozzfest and this. Well we put 2 Sick Of It All songs, we put one the Sick Of It All Tribute which came out cool. The other one’s going to go on the cover album, I did to like Sheer Terror, D.R.I, Cro-Mags... I did a bunch of songs. We got to finish the vocals and then we got to mix so now the Kingdom records might not come out until january or february. Maybe we’ll release it this year, we still have time we could probably get out october, november but it really depends.

How many songs will you add on the record?

Probably like 14 or 15, I wanted it to be more you know. And I’m going to write a booklet in it too why you should go get these bands, go search out the history where I heard of them, what shows I went... to just like give younger fans an idea of where some of the crossover music came from and how it’s important to support all the different scenes of aggressive music.

And about the DVD?

Yeah the DVD... that thing’s a mess right now because there’s so much footage that has to be cut together on the road. But the good thing about technology is that we’re learning and we’re a little more self sufficient editing some of the footage and we just got another camera, we had just a camera that broke now we have another one, we’re doing a video for "Destroy Everything" a live video so we’re getting more footage just keep compiling them and maybe sometime next year hopefully. We wanted it for this Christmas but it’s not going to happen. There’s going to be two DVDs first, five years and second, 2000>onward, so then the early members, the early shows, the build up of what became the band of what was represented and properly and everybody gets their respect and their due credit for the early days.

I think it’s good for a band to take his time making a good DVD instead of putting out a crap one...

I know and I see so many that just watch it once...

Like the Chimaira DVD. It could be a lot better than it is...

Totally, I agree 100 percent like I saw the Shadows Fall and the Chimaira and I wasn’t like totally impress. I mean it was great I’ll always keep it on my collection you know, as a fan. I definitely want it to be more of a documentary movie like your like wow this is what they went through you know kind of like a "VH1 Behind The Music", but you know for our dvd.

Ok! Thanks a lot for your time!

Well enjoy the show, try to stay dry! (Laughs)

Interview Manu & O.S
Translation Sophia Coss/Corey Mishura