Jamey Jasta's voice sounds like he's been screaming his lungs out in a brutal hardcore act for almost 20 years. Funny that. He also tells us that there's no special secret or formula for his band
Hatebreed's extended longevity.
We just enjoy touring with each other and we enjoy recording records," he states, "it's as simple as that. We would probably record more, if it wasn't so commonplace for us to do a record and go on the road for two years. But I think, with the way that things are changing we'll do another record this year and then maybe put it out early next year. And then we'll probably go into the crazy touring again, even though we're doing so much touring this year. We're going to Australia, then we're going to South America with Lamb of God, we're going to Europe to do the festivals.
I think the longevity of the band comes from the fact that we stagger it out," he continues, "we don't just go to the same places every year. We go every two or three years." And it's not just a case of the band enjoying what they do and keeping things fresh in this way, it's also an absolute must that the members get along, so that they can spend such long periods of time in each other's company in the studio and on the road.
On this last tour with Five Finger Death Punch and All that Remains, they were like 'you guys all hang out with each other every day!'" he laughs "they thought that was weird. And we were like 'yeah! We get along!' But I guess it's like people who've been together for a long time, it's like a marriage, you stay together for the kids." he chuckles again, "But for us, I think we're all very easy to get along with."
Hatebreed are well known for being one of the most aggressive, pissed off bands around, both musically and lyrically. Jamey agrees that their anger at the world has fuelled the fire in their lyrics and actually given them the strength to carry on as a band through the good times and the bad.
Yeah, there's no shortage of injustice in the world," he concurs, "so long as that's out there, there's always something to sing about. Now with the landscape in America, there's been a lot of doom and gloom, a lot of corporate greed and corruption and poverty and political drama. All that's going to influence the next Hatebreed record. But there's good out there as well, you can't always look at the glass half empty, you still have to have some sort of positive outlook. Because you can't change the world if you're not happy with yourself. You have to have a positive mindset before you can change other people's minds."
It's this latter thought that comes out in their lyrics as well, and the band's fans have definitely appreciated the juxtaposition of anger and the more uplifting messages in their words.
Yeah, absolutely," he agrees, "I've gotten letters, emails, Facebook messages, Myspace comments for years and years and years, saying that the music has positively affected people. Not to mention we're building an archive of, we have thousands of tatoos that people have of our lyrics and name. It's nice to see, you know? The little impact we've made, I'm glad to say it's been more than just headbanging and entertainment. People really take the lyrics to heart, which is nice."
The band touch down in Australia very shortly to jump onto the massive Soundwave bill, for what will be their eighth or ninth trip Down Under. Jamey is absolutely pumped to return, as they never seem to tire of our country: "Oh yeah I can't wait," he enthuses, "it's gonna be great. We're getting a lot of good feedback on the Facebook, and all the other social networking sites. People really seems to be really excited to have Hatebreed come back, so it's awesome."
Even though they're coming up on two decades together as a band, Jamey is still extremely optimistic that the band can carry on for a number of years yet. "I'd like to think so!" he foretells, "A while back, I made a comment about doing it when I was sixty, like Lemmy! From non Hatebreed fans that received a lot of negative comments. Like me or not, respect me or not, I've done just as many shows as a lot of older bands, if not more. There was years when we did 300 shows in a year. We're still out there kickin' ass every night, and I would like to be doing it when I'm that age. I'm not apologetic about thinking that we have the possibility to do that."
Speaking to the force of nature that is Jamey Jasta, frontman for one of the all time great hardcore bands in history, only a fool would doubt their potential to still be cranking out the tunes in another 15 to 20 years.
Soundwave Festival and Dates
February/March 2012
Sat 25 Feb - RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane
Sun 26 Feb - Sydney Showgrounds
Fri 2 Mar - Melbourne Showgrounds
Sat 3 Mar - Bonython Park, Adelaide
Mon 5 Mar - Claremont Showgrounds, Perth
