Rockezine.com interview with Annihilator on Mar 09, 2002

with Jeff Waters on Mar 09, 2002

WAKING THE FURY ONCE AGAIN Annihilator, the Canadian band surrounding guitarist Jeff Waters, have already delivered several masterpieces in the course of their career so far. "Alice In Hell" (1989) and "Never, Neverland" (1990) are true classics without a doubt. On the 18th of March, these guys will release a brand new album called "Waking The Fury". REZ had a nice chat with mainman Jeff Waters himself about Annihilators present, future and past.
		Hi Jeff! How are you doing? Fine, thanks. This album really took a lot out of me, I`ve been working very hard this time. It took about 5 months to write, record and produce this one and so I wanted to sleep for quite a while right after we`d finished. I spent almost the entire month of January in bed, haha.
		Are you satisfied with the way the album turned out? Yeah, absolutely. I did everything myself this time, including the mix from the record. With every album, after a while you want to change stuff but you can`t. I`m never completely satisfied. I mean, I can`t write a perfect album like AC/DC`s "Back In Black" every year, haha. Do you know Monty Conner, the guy from Roadrunner who helped us with "Alice In Hell"? I always give him a copy of every new Annihilator album and he was very pleased with this new one. He`s always very honest in his opinion and he told me that this was the best Annihilator album since "Never, Neverland". Well, this gives me a good feeling.
		Your guitar sounds really different than on the previous releases. What happened? Annihilator always had a very good and clean sound, because of the way I play. It`s very tight and this gives the sound a certain feeling. This time I wanted to sound a bit different. With a new guitar and other recording equipment I tried to create something new. The typical Annihilator sound, yet slightly different. The first and last song on the album are a bit over the top, I agree. You either love it or hate it. I won`t do it again on the next album, haha.
		Are you already writing new material for a next cd? Yes. I try and play 2 hours a day and I`m really enjoying myself. There are some new riffs and melodies here and there, it`s cool.
		What about touring? Will we see Annihilator again this summer? Sure. We love the tours with bands like Nevermore and Overkill. These are great bands and we like each other. But, we only get to play 1 hour and we want to do more this time. We have so many songs to perform, you know? Therefore we`ll do a headlining tour this summer. We hope to take Arch Enemy and Seven Witches with us, they`re cool. If we`ll do break-even this time then it`s cool. We are going to play 400-1.500 seaters in the months April, May and June. Who knows we`ll also do some Ozzfest gigs? I`d love to.
We work very, very hard to give the fans what they deserve		Jeff, you`ve always worked very hard to get a good live reputation. Do you agree that this is the main reason why Annihilator is still around? You have some pretty loyal fans. Yes, that`s correct. We work very, very hard to give the fans what they deserve: a good and solid metal concert. Annihilator has always been about me and a whole lot of other musicians, but the fans didn`t really care. The shows were on fire and that`s the most important thing.
		What about the line-up at the moment? I read somewhere that guitarist Curran Murphy (ex-Nevermore) left the band right after recording the album? No, that`s a lie. The current line-up features Joe Comeau-vocals, Curran Murphy-guitars, Russ Bergquist-bass, Randy Black-drums and myself. I am really satisfied with these guys in the band. They`re talented and perform very well on stage as well, which is important to a band like Annihilator. I`ve been through a lot with this band, but this is problably the best team so far.
		The previous "Carnival Diablos" record featured Joe as the new singer. What do you think are the main differences between that cd and this new album? Well, as far as Joe his singing is concerned he really tried to create a sound of his own on this album. He can do a lot of different things with his voice, but he`s working very hard on getting an unique sound. Furthermore, the overall sound is different especially my guitars and the way we recorded it was new to us. Using new equipment and stuff. These are the 3 main differences, I guess. But, in the end I`m still stealing all the good stuff from the 80`s, haha!
		Do you have your own studio at home, Jeff? Yes. It`s so much easier and very comfortable. I`ve built the studio some 8 years ago and it is also much cheaper that going into some other studio. We can take all the time we need without worrying about the hours. It also means that I`m never away from my work, which is playing and recording the guitar. My wife wants to go out and do stuff, where I just want to be at home. This has to do with all the touring. Once I get home I don`t want to leave the house and my studio, you know? This is a bit difficult every now and then.
		Ever since the late 80`s you`re touring the world, Jeff. How do you experience this? It`s been really good. We`ve seen a lot, had a lot of parties, booze and drugs. We`ve done it all and I feel very lucky looking back, that I`m in good shape nowadays. I came out of it pretty allright. Last year I quit smoking so that`s a good thing also. We played shows to 60-80.000 people and these are gigs you`ll never forget. It`s funny, you know. I`ve been playing shows in the 80`s and 90`s so now I`m in my 3rd decade of metal. Cool, isn`t it? Shows which really stand out are the ones in Athens-Greece, the Dynamo Open Air in 1993, Wacken Open Air and our tour with Judas Priest in 1991. I`ll also never forget the first tours we did with the great bands Onslaught and Testament in 1989. We were selling out the clubs throughout the world back then we are still selling out these clubs at this very moment, in 2002! This makes me feel very good, as you`ll understand.
		Never thought about giving up? No, allthough it has been difficult sometimes with all the line-up changes. But our albums and our shows have been doing fairly well ever since 1989 so that`s what keeps it going. Like I said, the first tours with Testament and Onslaught were great and also very important to do. It makes you realize what it`s all about: writing good albums and doing excellent live shows. You can`t fuck with the fans, they know whether you`re in it for the music or the money. I remember Dave Mustaine calling me at some hotel during these early days asking me to join Megadeth. I turned down his offer, because I believed in what I was doing with my own band, Annihilator.
and I almost decided to stop being a musician		Later on in 1998 things really got pretty complicated. My wife and I divorced and I had to take care of our 2 children. Being a musician and touring the world while taking care of 2 kids doesn`t work out. It`s impossible and I almost decided to stop being a musician. It was not about Annihilator as a band, it was about me and losing fun in playing my guitar. Together with a friend I went to a Slayer concert and their energetic show was such an inspiration to me that I decided to play my guitar and write new songs again.
		Jeff, thanks very much for your time. Good luck with the new album and the upcoming tour. Any last comment? You`re welcome, my pleasure. We`ll come to your country and do 3 or 4 club shows and maybe play the D.O.A. festival. Who knows? Holland has been very good to us over the years. Thanks very much for your loyalty! The States and Canada never really appreciated our music, too bad. But we all have families so touring Europe and Japan is enough, you know?
		Any last comment? Hhmm, let me think. When we did the tour with Priest back in 1991 I remember I was thinking: "Man, these guys have already released 14 albums!". Back then, we only had 2 albums out. Eleven years later Annihilator has released 9 studio albums, 1 live record and 1 compilation cd, which means 11 titles in the catalogue. I have to write another 3 albums to catch up with the 1991 Priest. And I`m only 36 years old, haha! Back in `88 I was dreaming about having a deal to release my first album. Yeah, Annihilator has come a long way and this makes me feel really good.
(Johan Godschalk)