DISCHARGE Vocalist JEFF 'JJ JANIAK Discusses Joining Band, Signing To NUCLEAR BLAST, 'End Of Days' Album

Anthony Morgan of Metal Forces recently conducted an interview with DISCHARGE vocalist Jeff "JJ" Janiak. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On joining DISCHARGE:

Janiak: "I was already in the band BROKEN BONES with Bones (Tony 'Bones' Roberts, guitar) and Tezz (Terry 'Tezz' Roberts, guitar),so I was already familiar with working with them. It was actually six years ago when they first asked me to join, though. We talked about it but things always just fell through, so we just lost contact, really, I just continued on with BROKEN BONES, but as soon as Rat (Tony 'Rat' Martin) was gone, I was expecting to get a phone call. Sure enough, I did get the phone call asking about singing for DISCHARGE. So, I did it."

On signing with Nuclear Blast:

Janiak: "Once we got the lineup together, we started working on some new songs. We basically wanted to get some stuff recorded and get it out there, so people would hear what the new lineup is like. So, we recorded three tracks, one of them being 'New World Order'. A friend of ours, a guy named Darren Green, just offered to make a video for us. He filmed us when we played in Stoke-On-Trent, which is where we're from. So, it was a good gig for us. He filmed that, and then we just stuck it out there on YouTube so that people have an idea of what the new lineup is like. We planned on doing a full album, and then we got contacted by Nuclear Blast. They said they wanted to work with us, and so we went with it."

On making new album "End Of Days":

Janiak: "We'd basically just book a practice in a freezing cold studio, just freezing our arses off, and we'd practice for maybe two or three hours at a time. After each practice session, we'd usually have one or two songs. It was fairly simple. All the music was done first, Basically, the music gets put together first. Once I heard the music, I had a better idea of how to write the lyrics and how to fit the words into the songs.

"Normally, I would come up with the choruses first. When I would hear the chorus, I would kind of get maybe like a phrase or a title pop into my head that would fit in with the chorus. After we'd finish a song at rehearsals, we'd record it on a little shitty tape recorder just so we wouldn't forget it. By the time we went into the studio to record it, all of the lyrics were literally written just minutes before going into recording — all of the verses and stuff — and then I pretty much had the choruses. All of the verses were done literally minutes before I went to record, though."

On how "End Of Days" compares to other DISCHARGE albums:

Janiak: "It's more like the earlier stuff which is, like I said, just really short. Yeah, I think it stands up against a lot of the stuff. DISCHARGE did have a run of bad albums in the mid-to-late '80s, and even into the early '90s. It's not the most memorable stuff, and so I definitely think this stands above that period of DISCHARGE."

On the lyrical content featured on "End Of Days":

Janiak: "The lyrics are a reflection of the world that we're living in today – just stuff that's happening. There are a lot of fucked up things going on. Of course, there's still always the threat of nuclear war — that is talked about. There are a lot of different topics; stuff like false flag operations, stuff like that. Stuff like the Boston bombing, 9/11, 7/7 — there's just all sorts of topics. 'New World Order' speaks for itself, really, talking about what's happening around the world today; drones, police spying on people, corruption, all sorts. This is the world that we live in, and it doesn't really seem to be getting any better."

Read the entire interview at Metal Forces.