We just make sure the production is amazing and that it sounds like Hatebreed at the end of the day.

What makes Hatebreed a special band does not seem apparent at first; they're just some average-looking white guys wearing black t-shirts, baggy shorts and maybe a baseball cap. Of course, there are the tattoos that are standard for musicians of all sorts these days. But other than that, they could just as easily be the guys changing the oil in your car or selling you a saw at your local hardware store. That is, until they take a stage. That's when this five-piece metalcore band out of New Haven, Conn., goes from average-looking to true avengers of rock.

The band's vocalist and frontman Jamey Jasta formed the band way back in 1994 in an attempt to get back to the basics of hardcore punk music. However, as the band toured and played shows relentlessly, they began catching the attention of many non-hardcore fans. This most likely came about from the band's powerful and assaulting metal-based jams drawing the people over to their stage with the same curiosity that makes people slow down and stare at a brutal car accident. But once over there, the people couldn't leave because they were hooked in by the feverish beats and the vocalist's gruff yet accessible lyrics.

Now, Hatebreed find they are playing all over the world but have kept their humble attitudes. They will give the same all-or-nothing performance to a crowd of a several thousand or just a few hundred. They respect their fans, and their fans adore them for it.

Perhaps their greatest advantage in the music business is that other bands adore them as well; they have as many fans behind the stage as in front of it. If you want to make your show legit, just slap Hatebreed on the bill and you will draw a whole crowd of dedicated fans who love music and not just the scene. In the last ten years, they have gone from an enthusiastic opening band to one of the most respected voices in the realms of metal and hardcore.

As they continue touring from their 2006 Supremacy on the Jägermeister Music Tour with Type O Negative and 3 Inches of Blood, they are also on the verge of releasing three new projects from Koch Records. These include a DVD from a sold-out show in Detroit in March 2008, a live CD recorded in Texas in May, and a CD of covers of classic metal and hardcore bands. It seems that 2008 will be a big year for fans of Hatebreed.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Hatebreed guitarist Frank "3 Gun" Novinec about their current tour, their upcoming releases, and what it is like to be part of a band like Hatebreed.

So, you guys just did a live taping for a CD in Texas?

Yeah, it was a three-day deal in Dallas; we did a live taping for a CD. Vinnie Paul is producing it so it's very cool and we are very honored he's able to be a part of this. The show was great and we had a really good time. Everything went really well and we are excited about it. It's a first for Hatebreed.

Did you get a chance to listen to any of the outtakes yet?

No, we haven't yet because it's only a couple of days old. We played the extra-long sets, you know? Then we can narrow it down to which songs we want it to be.

How did you come to work with Vinnie Paul on that project?

The band is friends with Vinnie. We toured with the Damage Plan in 2004 so we have a good relationship already. We have three new projects coming out in the next year or so. One of them was this live DVD we recorded up in Detroit back in March. The original game plan was to have a live CD come from that show, but then we got to thinking that, since we were going to be going on tour in May and June, it might be something to make it different and better, see if we could get Vinnie to come to Dallas. It all came together for us; it worked out perfect. I thought it was a great idea. When we contacted Vinnie, he was more than happy to be involved in the project. So, everything came together beautifully on it.

Will it be one CD or two?

I think it will be one CD, but we did a lot of video that day. I think there will be extra-special backstage footage and behind-the-scenes stuff, a DVD portion of all the things that went on throughout the day, all the people involved, interviews. We also have a CD of cover songs we just finished recording; we cover some of our favorite bands. We really did some awesome covers on there, too: Metallica, Sepultura, Obituary, Agnostic Front, and DRI, to name a few. Plus, we have the DVD of live music coming out, filmed from different angles and in high definition. We are happy with that and all this stuff is going to be coming out in the next eight months or so.

I don't think metal bands ever put out enough material of themselves. It can be hard to find extra information of your favorite band. I think it's great you guys are hitting it from all sides.

Yeah, and this is all stuff the fans demanded from us. Also, the record's been out for almost two and a half years...well, over two and a half years now. So this helps keep us in the spot light for a little bit.

How is the current Jägermeister Tour with Type O Negative going?

I've been amazed a lot; the shows are a lot bigger than I had anticipated. I didn't know what kind of crowds to expect. Obviously, it's mixed because we have such a diverse package with 3 Inches of Blood, Type O Negative, and us. Plus, there are the Jägermeister local bands, as well. Jägermeister is great; they always done real good for us. They do more for bands than some record labels. We are just happy to be working with them again. It was pleasure to do the Ozzfest which they sponsored last year. But, the tour has been amazing so far. We are only two weeks in and still have four weeks to go and we are looking forward to it. We haven't been on a regular tour since Ozzfest last year so, it's great to be out on the road again. Great to be out here with Type O and 3 Inches. They're doing an awesome job. We just did San Antonio the other night and there were over 1,500 people there.

What do you think it is about a band like Hatebreed that appeals to people?

I think that...well, we come from the hardcore world and we are just as much fans as anything else. There are no rockstar attitudes with us or anything like that. You have to understand that, for a lot of people out there, the most gnarliest stuff they listen to is Hatebreed. I think when they come see us live, everyone feels welcome. And we'll be hanging out with everybody. They just aren't used to stuff like that in their world. So, they are made to feel extra special. You know? It just makes you feel like you belong to part of an army or something like that. That is definitely something I think our fans benefit from, and we will play anywhere. In this last year we played Tel Aviv, Moscow, Dublin again, and Australia. We go and play for the people. If there is a place for us to go and play, we will. I mean certainly in the states we'll go and play small towns. We just love the fans. It's all friends; it's all family. Even though we have a name like Hatebreed and the music is aggressive; people what to judge us right off the bat and say, "Oh, bald, scary guys with tattoos!", or whatever, but once they realize there is a positive message behind the lyrics and stuff like that, I think that is something special. You don't get that a lot in the metal scene. I think that is it in a nutshell. Plus, I think that the decisions the band and Jamey has made along the way have always been smart and the right way to do things. That is why the fans have continued on with us well over a decade and are still going strong.

On Hatebreed's last album Supremacy, the lyrics seemed more positive and hopeful than previous albums.

They've always been like that; there have always been positive undertones to the lyrics. Like Jamey did that little writing at the beginning of the CD booklet that was kind of extra special and personal I thought. Fans don't get that a lot out of bands, an extra special message like that. We've definitely received a lot of feedback from that over the last two years since the record came out. The fans can relate to that. They see we are not superheroes. We are not rockstars. We are just normal people. We just want to let everyone know that.

Is there much of a different feel playing with a band like Hatebreed than some of your other projects like Ringworm?

Ummm...I don't know, it's all kind of a blur to me. [Laughs] And I've been such good friends with these guys, basically since they started; they were big fans of the band Integrity that I was in at the time so I got to meet them and know them. They would sleep on my floor when they would come through town back when they were in a van. But playing with Hatebreed, there are definitely a lot more shows than when I was with Ringworm. Back then I was working a job and playing here and there, but this is full throttle. We all get along great with each other and it's just been a pleasurable experience; it's hard to believe it's been over two and a half years now since I've been in the band. But I just go out there and play, whether it's a hundred people at a small club or last year we did the Download Festival in the U.K. with 70,000 people; you just get out there and do it. I have fun when i do this but I just like to play. I don't think there is anything in the world that compares to it, and it's definitely my favorite part of being in a band.

I got to see Hatebreed one time back on the Ozzfest 2005 tour; you shared the second stage with some pretty hardcore bands like Slipknot and OTEP, but when Hatebreed hit that first chord, the crowd just came unglued. The audience definitely had a whole other persona than during any other band that day. What do you think it is that Hatebreed brings out of a crowd than other bands can't?

Once again, being from the hardcore scene, the energy is just there a lot more than the other bands and a lot of kids aren't use to seeing that. Now, when the album Death of Desire came out and then Perseverance came out, that's when the band actually broke out of the hardcore scene and onto the metal scene; no band has really gone the way like Hatebreed has. But the kids are getting something that they haven't seen yet and it hits them like a ton of bricks. I remember when I was a young kid, it was like I was looking for the most extreme thing out there, and for a lot of these kids it's Hatebreed. Certainly Jamey is a great frontman so I think a combination of all those things.

What kind of stuff are you listening to right now?

I'm into classic rock; I actually listen to the Stones all day. But I like 3 Inches of Blood and some traditional metal stuff like, that and I always like Agnostic Front. I really don't listen to too much new music. I always listen to older stuff. I guess I'm old and jaded now. [Laughs]

Putting on such intense shows night after night must take a lot out of you. Does it really wear on you, or are you able to find some sort of peace out on the road?

Well, we are just used to this stuff. We have off days, but like on this six-week tour I think we have three days off. We have the bus, so there is time to rest if you want and a lot of the time you do nothing all day. We've actually seen some baseball games on this tour and that's been fun. It really depends on how hard you party. After doing tour after tour after tour, it's great to go home. But find yourself at home for a few weeks and you're ready to go right back out again. We are good to go; we aren't that old yet. Maybe later down the road we'll take more days off than we do now.

Do you have any side projects?

I still write songs for Ringworm; I had two on the last album. And I wrote the majority of the stuff before that. But that's really about it for me. When we have time off I like my time off. I mainly just play with Hatebreed. I'm starting a clothing line called Fear Wear; it's at fearwearclothing.com. When I'm at home I like to watch a lot of sports. I just lay on the couch and that's about it.

How do you feel about the current metal scene?

It's weird. There is always a scene out there but it's weird what is popular and what's not. I think it's cool that there are people out there that have stuck through it all. Back in 1985, that's when I started getting into bands like Slayer, and I used to listen to Destruction and Creator and Sodom; I found bands like Agnostic Front through that scene. It's hard to pinpoint what people like. You have young kids that are into hardcore for a few years then they go to college and don't care about it anymore. They say, "Oh, I used to listen to this crazy crap when I was young." That whole thing. But it has become a lot more accessible over the years through awesome things like Headbangers' Ball on MTV, and of course the Internet. But as someone from metal back in the day, you wrote people real letters and sent them through the mail or sent them cassette tapes or demos; that's what we did, that's how it was. There was no Internet or anything like that. But with it being so accessible I think that's why metal is as big as it is now. Plus, there are just so many bands out there. I think it's great that bands like Kill Switch [Engine] are as popular as they are and where it's going. It's all good. It's all rock 'n' roll to me to be honest with you. Metal is always going to be around; it's not going to die, it's just going to be different. We are going to continue on doing what we do. Over time, bands try to change things up to keep things going but we don't pay too much attention to what other bands are doing. We just make sure the production is amazing and that it sounds like Hatebreed at the end of the day. | Ryan Parker

You can catch Hatebreed Friday, June 13 at Pop's (1403 Mississippi Ave., Sauget, Ill. 62201)

Jagermeister Music Tour
Friday, June 13

Featuring: Hatebreed & Type O Negative
Wit: 3 Inches if Blood, Conquest
Doors 6:30 p.m., Tickets $25

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