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| w/JOHN CHAVEZ |
| Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: First, I must say that I was totally blown away with your new release “Helping the World to See”. Though I liked your last release “God Was Created”, it really seems that with this album the band has grown tremendously. Is that the kind of reaction that you have been receiving so far from the public and do you feel that this album is better in ways than “God Was Created”? John Chavez: Thank you for enjoying the album. The album has been getting extremely great reviews and Vehemence has gotten a bigger fan base since the label debut release. This album has a step up in production and our musicianship has advanced with skill. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Is there a hidden meaning to “Helping the World to See”? I ask because there are a couple tracks that would be considered political. For example, “Kill for God”, “Spirit of the Soldier” and “We Are All Dying” and coincidentally these are a few of my favorites! John Chavez: There is no complex or hidden meaning this time. We are covering some of the problematic issues the world faces today. The lyrics can also relate to everyone because they are about the world issues we have all dealt with for the past decade. The album includes songs about the terminally ill, terrorism, a one-sided Christian extremist television network, drugs, a true crime story, and an ode to all soldiers, depression, family dysfunction, political issues, and the catholic pedophile church issues. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When you began writing for the new album, how did the band’s previous work contour the new material? John Chavez: “The Thoughts from Which I Hide” in 2000 was more blood, guts, and anti religious based, with our basic non-layered Vehemence sound. We then came out with a fictitious conceptual horror story called “God Was Created’ in 2002 that was layered heavily in the vocals and to make our guitar sound more melodic. Our new album is more energetic, shorter songs, more to the point, more death metal I think. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The production on this album was truly refined. Were there certain studio ideas that you tried this time that you had not done with your past releases? John Chavez: We decided to make the vocals sound more direct instead of them sounding too mechanical and the same. We entered a different studio aside from the home studio to record our drums on analog, which came out really natural. Our guitars and vocals were done digitally. We had four months to record the whole album as compared to the 2 weeks we had recording “God Was Created”. Having more time on an album can greatly affect the result of the outcome and we are satisfied with the end result. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: The intro track “By Your Bedside” puts you in a perfect state of mind for what is to come with the rest of the album. How intentional are each song’s placement on the record and what made the band pick this particular track as a prelude to the album? John Chavez: “By Your Bedside” is just one of those songs that pack a certain punch to start a record with, the whole band agreed on that. The placement of songs on this album was not as strategically placed as the “God Was Created” album. We included an instrumental song in the middle of the record as intermission from all the chaotic heaviness before. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Also on this release is a multi-media file, which includes a nice array of clips from old and new live footage, studio sessions and rehearsals. The file has a lot of great stuff and you must show me how to do those “wind mills”! (Laughs) Why did the band feel that now was the right time to have the bonus footage added and are there any certain clips that you would like to elaborate on that you feel are special within the band? I remember seeing one clip of your very first gig with Vehemence. John Chavez: Like the head banging aye? (Laughs) Windmills have been done before, but I just like to continue the tradition. As raw as some of the footage is, I believe that we are a fun band and we do not have any darkness that we need to hide from our fans and media. We are just a hardworking death metal band, and we decided to release the live and studio footage for the Vehemence fanatics that we know that are out there. My first gig clip is included and I think the rest of the footage displays all the special moments and accomplishments we have endured and worked hard for. The footage from 1997 in Bjorn’s room shows we came from a background as many young, just starting out bands have shared. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Can you tell us a little bit about the video shoot for "By Your Bedside” and are there any plans to have this video aired on MTV2 or any other video outlets? John Chavez: Vehemence’s first video was recorded within 11 hours and was a fun experience. Scenes were recorded at our rehearsal pad, including the hallways and where we played live. There was some minimal storyboard action for the video and the team at Glasseye Inc. helped make ideas for the video to shoot. The director Scott Conditt and all at the company are old friends, which also have their own death metal band called Hatework that they are starting back up again. The nurses are women that the director knows, and that we now know as well. The music video is only available at our website, and will be played on other metal channels worldwide if possible. The video will be resubmitted to MTV 2 when we are touring. They seem to accept videos when bands are out on the road or are the flavor of the month. We are having plans to shoot another music video for “We Are All Dying” on film in the summer time. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Was it solely Wes Benscoter’s ideas when visualizing the concept for the cover art or was it a combined effort within the band? John Chavez: We just gave Wes the title for our album and he came up with the artwork all by himself. He has worked with other bands such as Slayer, Mortician, and Sinister. We think this is his best piece of artwork out to date. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I see you have noted in the CD sleeve that the album is dedicated to “Adam Gill”. Who was he with relation to the band? John Chavez: Adam is a personal friend of mine. I met him at a record store and he turned out to be a cool kid. He was quite young at 18 when he recently passed away last May 2003. He died from a heart condition, and was buried wearing his Vehemence shirt. He used to come over during the writing process for “Spirit of the Soldier”. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Back in November, your Keyboardist “Jason Keesecker” left the band. Can you explain the circumstances surrounding his departure from the band and what were you going through artistically and emotionally at that time, especially with the band being in the middle of recordings for the new release? That had to be rough! John Chavez: He quit the band in the summer of 2003, shortly after our tour with Deicide, Amon Amarth, and Behemoth for that reason of only having three songs. Ultimately, we were not going to compromise our death metal sound to become a whole different band. We all realized that we were not going to play the same songs each set list for the rest of our careers in Vehemence. Originally, this band was just a 5 piece with a small mention of keyboards, which is heard on the song “Reconditioning the Flock” on the “Thoughts from Which I Hide” album. Even then, Jason was just a session keyboardist, but later on in our writing process, we grew accustomed to use the atmosphere he presented in our songs such as “She Never Noticed Me” and “You Don’t Have to Be Afraid Anymore”. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When can the fans look forward to a tour in support of your new release? John Chavez: We will be touring U.S.A. in June, July, possibly August and September. We have generated interest from Europe, and all the festivals over there. We look forward to helping the world to see Vehemence across the seas in any country with this album. Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: “Helping the World to See” definitely mimics the meaning behind the name “Vehemence”, which is intense, forceful and strong. This album is without a doubt a “preferred” listen amongst The Metal Web! for 2004! It was a pleasure interviewing with you again! With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!? John Chavez: Thanks Dawn for this interview, we have much respect for your webzine and we hope to play in your area soon. OFFICIAL SITE "VEHEMENCE": http://www.vehemence.com HOME |
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