HATEBREED Frontman Says His Band's Success 'Proved A Lot Of People Wrong'

Dennis Fallon of the Centre Daily Times recently conducted an interview with HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Centre Daily Times: You bring a lot of emotion to your songwriting, and you scream your head off when you sing. Where do you draw that passion, fury and anger from every night you play?

Jasta: "I think you can't have one without the other, as far as positive and negative. For us, doing that last world tour, I saw that there is never a shortage of injustice all over the world, and it is something that inspires me to the point where this is the only way I can communicate. And luckily, I have music as that medium to say what I want to say. Every day, I am thinking of new ideas and new songs as far as inspiration and things that I am angry about.

Centre Daily Times: HATEBREED has been around for 10 years. What happened to take you guys from unknowns to rock stars?

Jasta: "The first five years was me and (HATEBREED bassist Chris) Beattie toughing it out in a van with a bunch of great guys who just didn't have it in their heart to just dedicate their life to music. The second five years were hooking up with (drummer) Matt (Byrne) and (guitarist) Sean (Martin) and doing the last two albums and taking hardcore to a level where no one ever thought it would go to. We decided to stop being counterproductive as far as fighting, causing problems and not being concerned with the fans' safety. We had a couple riots early on and fights with security and full-scale brawls. We knew that if we kept aligning ourselves with these negative elements, it was not only going to bring us down, but also put a bad stigma around the genre itself. We had to decide. What are you going to do? Are you going to stay in the van and keep playing VFW halls or are you going to be one of the biggest hardcore bands ever?"

Centre Daily Times: The reality is that metal, hardcore and thrash metal haven't changed that much over the years. Why do you think metal and these styles of music survive and never truly go away?

Jasta: "The bottom line is hardcore and metal, this stuff is like roaches; nuclear bombs can't destroy it. It's going to pop back up. It's something tangible and real for people to grasp on that they know is there for them whenever they need it. I mean, I will probably get off the phone with you in a little bit and go and listen to SLAYER at top volume; it's the same thing I was doing 10 years ago. It still gives me the same great feeling. It's a way to communicate and find people with like minds. For me, hardcore metal music has gotten me some of the best friends I have ever met. I've gone all over the world, it's created tons of opportunities. And for other people, even if it's a half-hour of enjoyment on their way to work or on their way coming to the show and just feeling that cleansing of screaming your head off and going crazy. It's got its purpose."

Centre Daily Times: You're always looking ahead to the future of this scene and the music. Any advice for up-and-coming metal bands or kids jamming out in their parents' basement?

Jasta: "Don't accept anyone's limitations on your music, on your message, on your life, on anything. We had a record label telling us, 'Hardcore is not going to be big.' When our record came out and sold 300,000 copies in the U.S. alone, it proved a lot of people wrong."