Rockezine.com interview with Hatebreed on Nov 15, 2002

with Jamey Jasta on Nov 15, 2002

After years of leaving Europe out of their touring plans, Hatebreed finally found some time to pay us a visit. Their latest offering Perseverance was released on Universal and is already the best selling hardcore record ever.
		After the presence of Perseverance on the Internet it took almost a year before the album was released on Universal. Why so long? When the album leaked on the Internet we were really pissed, but we soon discovered that it helped us in the long run. We were gaining a lot of new fans, so eventually the whole Internet thing helped us. Concerning the late release on Universal we can only say that we wanted to do it right this time. We reached our maximum with Victory Records and we really wanted to expand our horizon. So we waited until a label could fulfill our needs and Universal offered us that chance. Since the release of Perseverance 7 months ago, it has already sold over 200,000 copies in the US, so this confirms that we made the right decision.
		What is your message on Perseverance? The songs on Perseverance are all different, but the overall message is that people should use their negativity to do something positive. Too many people are living an aimless life and aren’t achieving anything.
		In the US you seem to attract a lot of non-hardcore visitors. How do you and how does the ‘older’ audience respond to this development? We have always played with metal bands and we will do so in the future. Metalheads visit our gigs to have a good mosh and we on the other hand also visit metalgigs to have a mosh of our own. There’s nothing wrong with that. We give the audience the best of both worlds: both metal and hardcore. We just want to make a bridge between metal and hardcore, just like Biohazard did. In fact when we started this band all we wanted was to be like Biohazard.
		Bands such as Agnostic Front and Sick Of It All do a lot of shows in Europe, but you seemed to ignore Europe a bit. What’s the reason for not touring in Europe that much? In the past we weren’t ready to do a tour like this. We wanted to do it right if we were going to Europe: no little tours and just a few performances, but a full tour, so everybody’s able to see us live. This Resistance Tour offers us that chance. We definitely think it’s worth the wait! If this tour doesn’t please your needs, don’t worry, because we will do a headline tour in Europe in the spring. The second reason is that touring Europe is expensive. You have to rent a van, book places to sleep, etc. It all takes a lot of effort, so If you want to do a European tour you have to do it right!
		Tonight is the first date of the Resistance tour. What do you expect of this tour? The first four gigs are already sold out! This is a great tour. We are touring with two of the greatest bands in the world: Agnostic Front and Biohazard. Both bands influenced us a lot. Like Biohazard, Hatebreed tries to make a cross between metal and hardcore. Although we are only playing 30 minutes each night on this tour, we try to offer the audience a great evening with a lot of moshing! (laughs)
		What do you think of Victory Records and their new musical course (Darkest Hour, Thursday etc.)? Well, we’ve outgrown Victory Records. I am sorry to say this, but Victory Records don’t know what they are doing! They just mess around without any particular goal. If you don’t mind I leave this subject closed. Despite their messy management I really like their new bands. Bands such as Thursday and Taking Back Sunday will be huge. I definitely like their new stuff.
		How do you, as one of the biggest bands in hardcore, feel about the hardcore scene? The hardcore scene is a growing market. A lot of bands are selling more records than ever. I enjoy watching the old generation bands, such as Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All and Biohazard still doing a lot of shows for such huge audiences. Together with these oldies, a new generation of quality bands is conquering the scene. Bands like American Nothing (formerly known as American Nightmare), Sworn Enemy, but also a new genre like emo is getting a lot of attention. This so-called emo(core) is a booming market and bands like GlassJaw and Thursday are some of my favorites.
		The time between the releases Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire and Perseverance was about 4 or 5 years. Will the fans have to wait that long again or are there already plans for a new record? The fans won’t have to wait that long again. We will begin recording the new album next year and the album will hit the stores near August. It will be even heavier (laughs) than the last one. No softies or anything, just the heavy shit. You can count on that!
		Thank you for the interview! Are there any things left unsaid? Well if you could mention the following websites that would be great! www.hatebreedtour.com www.jameyjasta.com www.stillbornrecords.com
(Dennis van den Berg)