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| Dawn/The Metal Web!: With the March Metal Meltdown in NJ kicking off the tour with Deicide, Amon Amarth, and Behemoth, what can the fans expect from VEHEMENCE this time around? John Chavez: Fans can expect "GOD WAS CREATED" material to be heard live and loud. Also, expect to see our album cover t-shirts for sale along with full color VEHEMENCE GWC posters. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Will there be any material played off the new album that you’re currently working on? John Chavez: We will be playing some of our new songs in selected cities. Such as, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AFRAID ANYMORE", "DARKNESS IS COMFORT", "WE ARE ALL DYING", and "KILL FOR GOD". Dawn/The Metal Web!: There will be a "meet and greet" scheduled for the fans. When and where will this take place? John Chavez: This will take place on Sunday, March 9th, 2003 at the New Jersey Metal Fest. The times are what you see on the schedules they hand out at the show. Fans can get their VEHEMENCE album signed or posters we sell for $1. We urge fans to come up and talk to us, and tell us where they heard about us. Dawn/The Metal Web!: This tour is billed for the East and West Coast. After the March Metal Meltdown on March 9th, where will the band(s) be touring next? John Chavez: We will be playing some cities we haven’t played before. Canada is a country we never played in so that will be very interesting to see how the crowds react to our stuff. Some shows Deicide are not playing, and I think the rumor is that they are banned from some cities. More dates will be added shortly like Florida, Texas, and Oregon. (John gave us the dates and they are as follows) Sun. March 9th Cricket Club - Irvington, NJ (NJ Fest) Mon. March 10th Jaxx - Springfield, VA Tues. March 11th The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA Thurs. March 13th Ground Zero - Spartanburg, SC Sun. March 16th Fitzgerald's - Houston, TX Wed. March 19th Bash On Ash - Phoenix, AZ Thurs. March 20th Showcase Theater - Corona, CA (All Ages) Fri. March 21st House Of Blues - Los Angeles, CA (21+) Sun. March 23rd The Pound SF - San Francisco, CA Tues. March 25th Graceland - Seattle, Washington Thurs. March 27th Ogden Theater - Denver, CO Sat. March 29th Rockhouse USA - Aurora, IL Thurs. April 3rd The Agora - Cleveland, OH Sat. April 5th Lamour - Brooklyn, NY (All dates below are WITHOUT Deicide) Sun April 6th The Met Cafe - Providence, RI w/Dying Fetus Mon April 7th Foufounes Electriques - Montreal, Canada Tues. April 8th The Opera House - Toronto, Canada Dawn/The Metal Web!: With your latest release and title track "GOD WAS CREATED", who came up with the title for the album and what’s the message behind it? John Chavez: Nathan originally had "FANTASIES FLEASHED FOREVER". Then at rehearsal before playing the song GOD WAS CREATED, Andy said "why don’t we call it GOD WAS CREATED"? We thought it had a ring to it so we decided to call the album that. The message is that God was created by human minds and that you do not need to abide by the rules and regulations of any religion to live a normal harmless life. Dawn/The Metal Web!: The words run pretty deep in most of your material. Who’s the lyricist or is it a combined effort within in the band? John Chavez: Nathan Gearhart writes all the lyrics and story concepts. It has been like that since day one and we choose to have it that way. Nathan holds his own really well when it comes to lyric writing. Dawn/The Metal Web!: The album "GOD WAS CREATED" has lyrics that could be deemed controversial to some. For instance, "CHRIST, I FUCKING HATE YOU!" "SHE NEVER NOTICED ME", and "MADE FOR HER JESUS" just to name a few. Can you give us a little background on each song and could certain people just be taking the band in the wrong context? John Chavez: "MADE FOR HER JESUS" is a song about a young girl staring, masturbating at a picture of Jesus, when Jesus is depicted as a ghost with feeling throughout the album. "SHE NEVER NOTICED ME" is the classic theme of a teenage boy going through high school staring at the girl he cannot have in class because she is out of his league so he fantasizes of killing her. "CHRIST, I FUCKING HATE YOU!" is an expression song, and it deals with a scenario involving the teenage boy and girl. The boy catches the girl getting raped by her father and the boy’s jealousy kills the father and the girl gets horny for him. But he doesn’t give the whore the satisfaction and ends up killing her in a Christ possessed way. Dawn/The Metal Web!: "FANTASY FROM PAIN". The musicianship is phenomenal and I really dug this track. Though, the lyrics can go in 100 directions as to the meaning, so what is this track about? Rapist? Child Molester? Psychopath? All three? (laughs) John Chavez: "FANTASY FROM PAIN" and "CHRIST I FUCKING HATE YOU!" go hand and hand. It is similar to what I explained above. I also urge fans to check our storyboard section of our website. We have an artist named Kyle Moeller that drew out the songs so one can see exactly what we are singing about. And yes, all three subjects are within "FANTASY FROM PAIN". The Metal Blade Compilation also contains the demo of this song and was the first thing that was ever released through a major Label before we actually signed to Metal Blade Records. Dawn/The Metal Web!: How long in the studio did it take to produce and press this album? I know the writing process was a couple years. John Chavez: We began the studio sessions in January 2002 and finished everything by April 2002. The writing process was very long and we feel we need about the same amount of time for each album but we do have obligations to speed that up since we are on a major label. Expect a new album around January 2004. Dawn/The Metal Web!: At the time of signing, why didn’t the band just re-release on Metal Blade "THE THOUGHTS FROM WHICH I HIDE" and then go from there with a follow-up album? John Chavez: We use "THE THOUGHTS FROM WHICH I HIDE" as a profitable asset to the band. Sometimes I see it go for $32 or more on EBAY. Stores also treat this as an import release since only 1000 were made. We plan to re-record some songs from that disc and revamp some other ones from that era. We feel that we will re-release the album ourselves when we have the financial status to. "I TAKE YOUR LIFE" is a song off the album that is featured in the Metal Blade Records Box Set. Dawn/The Metal Web!: When the band did sign with Metal Blade Records, how did that come to be? John Chavez: Brian Slagel, CEO of Metal Blade likes to book his business trips around hockey games and frequently visits our bass player’s father since they both own a team in the minor leagues of hockey. Slagel knew about us in 2000 but took interest in May 2001 when we started to tour and make a name for ourselves. With positive rumors and dedication, heard and seen in VEHEMENCE, he then decided to sign us in the summer of 2001. We signed after 6 months of lawyer negotiations and everything turned out how we asked for. Dawn/The Metal Web!: How has the band changed now that your signed to a major label and a great label I may add? John Chavez: The band has become more professional and business like. We have our fun all the time on tour. But when we are home we are always working harder to create more merchandise and playing local shows. We always treat our fans with total respect and always hook them up when we can. The best part about being in a band is meeting your fans that have the same interests as you. Metal Blade is a very excellent label to be on right now. They don’t have many bands on their roster so they concentrate harder on their bands. Dawn/The Metal Web!: You guys busted your butts self-promoting the band before being signed and it’s paid off. Is there any advice you’d like to give another band trying to get that break? John Chavez: Well we don’t want to give all of our tricks away since we did come out of no where within a matter of a year. The band has been around since 1995 though and my best advice is to start your band early and keep changing your songs around making them better. I hear a lot of hopeful local bands on tour but sometimes I think that one of their riffs can be touched up or deleted. This kind of criticism is the honest brutal truth. But it’s not like you want to tell a band how to play their music. If your music is crap and not tight you will not get signed to a huge metal label period! No matter how many websites you are on. Dawn/The Metal Web!: What element of VEHEMENCE do you feel was significant in catching the eye of Brian Slagel and Metal Blade? Don’t be modest, you know the band kicks ass! (laughs) John Chavez: Thank You! Well a label like Metal Blade likes to have various genres on their roster. Such as Cattle Decapitation as a Grindcore/Death band, Goo Goo Dolls - Mainstream/ Rock, Dark Funeral - Black, Cannibal Corpse - Death, and all the Euro bands in their categorizations of the same things we have in the U.S.A. They seem to have a band for each type of metal classification. We fit under the "American Brutal Melodic Death Metal" section. Very few bands attempt to play the style we play in U.S.A. Brian Slagel thought we were another break through band that is "crushing" and "original" and decided he needed our sound on his label to cover all his bases. Dawn/The Metal Web!: We mentioned the previous release earlier, "THE THOUGHTS FROM WHICH I HIDE". With there only being a 1000 copies pressed, is there any chance that VEHEMENCE or Metal Blade will re-release this album in the future? John Chavez: We do plan to re-release the album ourselves with better packaging and a different layout. Not anytime soon though. Dawn/The Metal Web!: For fans of the band, are there any copies that still do exist either through the band or otherwise for purchase? John Chavez: Yes, the album can be purchased for $12 plus $3 for shipping and handling, cash. Send to: VEHEMENCE - 1503 E. Acoma Dr. - Phoenix, Arizona U.S.A. 85022 Dawn/The Metal Web!: When we talked not to long ago, you stated you were working on the new album. Is there a title for this album and is it near completion? John Chavez: I cannot release the title just yet. But we have a good idea of one and it’s pretty catchy. Well, ok here it is "VEHEMENCE - HELPING THE WORLD TO SEE". It is a lyric from our new song called "KILL FOR GOD". The album is still being constructed and we won’t be in the studio until the wintertime. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Is there an anticipated release date for this album? John Chavez: No release date yet. But around January 2004, it would be nice to release something. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Like "GOD WAS CREATED", will this be another concept album? John Chavez: We choose to cover all of our basses and remain unpredictable. So no there will not be another conceptual album from us for a while. The next album will be more realistic and easier to follow. Dawn/The Metal Web!: What track(s) off the new album do you feel will best represent VEHEMENCE musically or as a band in whole? John Chavez: "KILL FOR GOD" because it expresses the religious wars going on right now and represents the realistic aura of today. It is a song about people killing for their gods, when us agnostics couldn’t care less and questioning why. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Back to touring, are there any tour stories, good or bad that VEHEMENCE would care to share with the fans? John Chavez: We pulled a prank on the last show Incantation did on last year’s tour with Impaled and Decapitated. Andy and Mark tied a black blow up doll with hair, wearing a SOD jacket on to the back of their van, so they drove with that underneath! Laredo, TX is a border town, and the border patrol caught them! They didn't get in trouble though; the officer's even took pictures with the doll. Kyle Severn drummer of Incantation has the doll in his garage hung by some rope around the neck. Kyle called us and he said “you guys got us", and was impressed by the prank and said he will get us back! (Laughs) Another funny detail when we first met Decapitated. Martin asked me for string scissors and I said you mean wire cutters? It was very fun working with people that are not from this country. They are very nice considerate people. Dawn/The Metal Web!: What band(s) did you enjoy touring with and why? Was there any band(s) that were not so pleasurable? Ya know, some have "Rock Star Syndrome". (Laughs) John Chavez: We enjoyed touring with Impaled because they know how to have a good time and Ross taught us how to blow fire. Enjoyed touring with Decapitated because they drank just as much as us. We had a fun run with Nuclear Assault and All That Remains. They were all easy to work with. Lots of backstage drinking fun occurred and true friends were made. I couldn’t recall a time where it became not so pleasurable except for the time Kyle Severn made us play last at a weak crowd in Buffalo, NY because we were 30 min late. But he shaped us into a well-oiled machine to be at venues early. Thanks Kyle! Dawn/The Metal Web!: For the Un-signed bands that think touring and being signed is easy street, can you dispel the rumors and tell how it really is? I have many "Nationals" as friends and acquaintances and they’ve told me the road can be a rough place and "staying signed" is even harder. It’s definitely not easy. John Chavez: You need to make your merchandise into a business and have emergency money when you need it. I don’t think paying $1000 to play 20 min at a Metal Fest is worth it when you can use that money to make your own merchandise or tour for a little bit with a rented van, or down pay a van. Doesn’t take much to stay signed. Just keep supporting your band day and night and support your label. Always keep in touch with them. Treat your band like it is everything you care about. Dawn/The Metal Web!: Well, John great interviewing with you. We’ll be sure to do it again with the new album. Bet on it! With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? John Chavez: Thank you Dawn for having this interview with me and we will see you around. If there’s anyone interested in Vehemence, you can visit our website. The website is always updated and the Vehemence Ultimate Metal Forum is increasing in members as we speak! OFFICIAL SITE "VEHEMENCE": http://www.vehemence.brutaldeath.net HOME |
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