Jamey Jasta - Hatebreed (audio interview)

Call them Hardcore, call them Metal, or call them revolutionary. Connecticut band Hatebreed are bursting back into 2016 with their seventh studio album The Concrete Confessional, and they don't spare an ounce of energy. Beastly frontman Jamey Jasta had a chat to us about the album, his podcast and what's currently happening in the metal community.

Jasta has tested the new album and says it's passed the "street test" where he hits the ground for a jog with the new music going to evaluate how energetic he is. "You want to make sure that it's timeless and I feel like this record does" he says proudly.

"We are singing about stuff that has happened in the last year but history has a weird way of repeating itself and it's weird when it stays relevant for ten years."

He emphasises the importance of press and pushing the album out. "Look, you gotta do what you gotta do, and its been proven that with heavy metal and hardcore, you have to work ten times as hard to get  tenth of the exposure of a hip-hop, country or pop artist.

"I don't even want to get into the respect issue - they view it as noise whereas we view everything else as noise."

In reference to Jasta's podcast, he truly believes that the topics discussed and the myths busted about the overarching metal genre are what's most important. "I feel like with the podcast, people are listening to a lot of these guests and go 'wow these guys are intelligent, maybe they're not just yelling and screaming'.. and they realise that maybe we don't just want to kill our parents."

The vocalist has really strong views about how the media spins content from interviews and such. "As the revenue dries up, the more desperate things you're going to see, that's why it's more important than ever to buy records."

"If we have a strong industry and economic financial state, you're going to see less of this."

The last time Hatebreed were down under was for our Vans Warped Tour which occurred several years ago now. Jasta is open to the idea of jumping on board with the new Legion Festival as a 'replacement for Soundwave' so to speak.

He was also seriously considering supporting Black Sabbath when Five Finger Death Punch pulled out. The dates clashed "but for a second there I said I would lose money to be a part of Black Sabbath's final ever Australian tour, I was even checking flights."

"That Soundwave cancellation created a domino effect such that now, we went from having three or four months off to having seven months off, it pushed everything back... so it's all been up in the air."

Mr Jasta had some high quality insights around the Soundwave and Warped Tour business models, how the sidewaves were planned and a whole lot more. Check out the full interview below for the scoop (no click-bait, we promise!)

Ricky Aarons (rickysaul90)

[audio src="https://wallofsoundau.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/wall-of-sound-hatebreed-iv-bed.mp3"][/audio]

Hatebreed Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hatebreed/

Hatebreed Twitter: https://twitter.com/hatebreed

Look out for 'The Concrete Confessional', scheduled for release on May 13, 2016 via Nuclear Blast Entertainment.