LIFE OF AGONY Guitarist On Upcoming Album: 'We Wanna Get Heavy Again'

LIFE OF AGONY guitarist Joey Z spoke to Live 4 Metal last week about the group's plans for their upcoming studio album, tentatively due in late 2004.

"On this next record, we just want to let it go and really go for it, really get heavy again," he said. "Not try to write 'River Runs Red Part II', but at the same time, [not] be aware of the industry and what's going on in it because everything to me right now is horrible. Most of it… I can't even listen to 80 percent of the stuff out there. I find myself looking for the underground bands again, searching. But anyway, we discussed this and we really don't want to think about the industry — we don't want to think about what people are doing out there. We just want to be us. We just want to be LOA. We just want to be a heavy band with a great singer, with true lyrics that make you actually think and associate them with your own life. Just write about true, real stuff of what we've been through over the years. The cool thing is that we just want to be true to the heavy side of the band. I love heavy music and I'm the guitar player. So really, I'm not going to try to reinvent the sound of LOA. I'm gonna bring in heavy riffs. I've been listening to all the old albums that I always loved to listen to, like some CRO-MAGS. I've been pulling out old albums. There is nothing really new that I like to listen to. There are a couple of new hardcore bands that I'm really into, like SWORN ENEMY. I just went to see them at CBGBs the other day — I was in the pit [laughs]. They're like super LOA freaks and were like, 'Joey Z's in the pit!' We were jumping up on the stage, singing into the mic, like totally old-school shit. Those guys are great. BOXCUTTER from New Jersey is an up and coming band. They're really, really good and I can see them progressing in the hardcore scene. I've just been looking for stuff like that. I've been getting back down to my roots. I think that's what the band is gonna do. We're all going back down to our roots, but it'll be a newer LOA doing that. Like better musicians, more confidence, confident about each other and what we're doing. There has been more communication in the band than ever. We're able to speak about things openly without feeling uncomfortable. We were 19 back then when we started. [Singer] Keith [Caputo] was 17 when we recorded the first record. Now we're older and wiser. I think we all know what we have to do on this next record. There can't be a formula. Don't try to structure the songs for anything — don't try to write radio songs. Just write a really, heavy, solid metal/hardcore record."

In the same interview, Joey talked about his decision to leave STEREOMUD and concentrate full-time on LIFE OF AGONY.

"[My leaving STEREOMUD] was decided for me because, basically, the label [Columbia] did nothing for the band," he explained. "There were some internal problems anyway. The label gave up on us and we had very poor business decisions going around us at the time. The infrastructure broke down. The five guys, being away from each other and not keeping us on the road… We were basically sitting home. With the LOA manager calling me up every day saying, I can have you guys on this tour or I can have you guys playing these shows, it seemed way better than what's going on in my life right now. Also, my heart was always with LOA. I never felt fully comfortable in STEREOMUD. I was never fully myself. [When I went back to LOA] I felt like me again.

"I enjoyed the style [of music played by STEREOMUD, but] the band was thrown together so quickly that there was no time for growth," he continued. "With growth comes the magic. We didn't have that luxury of having that time to grow as a band in STEREOMUD. We got together and we were basically out there immediately. There was no special magic around the band. There was nothing too special about it. I had fun — I can say that. But that isn't enough for me. I live music. I need to fill that space in my heart, that space that I need for music. I need the music to fill that void. LIFE OF AGONY filled it completely, if not 110 percent." Read the rest of the interview here.