INTERVIEWS:
Interview with Bloodcifery Webzine in Spain with John Chavez Guitarist of Vehemence February 7,2002
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Hey bro how are you doing? I know that you´re working very hard on your new CD that is going to be released by Metal Blade, a big label that has promotion all over the world. So the name of your band will be known worldwide, how do you feel about this? How did you score a deal with metal blade records? How did the label find out about Vehemence? What was their impression about your first album The Thoughts From which I Hide?.
I am doing fine! We have been working very hard in production on this second album called "God Was Created" released under Metal Blade Records. I think that it is well deserved that we finally got this band out to the world. I feel confident that our band will appease many extreme metal mentalities to listen to our music and take it at heart. The way we got on Metal Blade was from connections between Mark our bass player's dad working with Brian Slagel about WPHL Hockey Teams. The primary contact was by this guy named John that works at a restaurant called Chiles that told Ray the singer from Fates Warning to recommend us as well. The hype was up about our band from our first tour effort in May of 2001. After all the efforts and hard times the label was interested in us to have us on their roster of bands.
Well lets talk about the latest material the cd " The Thoughts.. " I think is a fucking amazing stuff, because it has the trademarks of the Death Metal, the brutality, the technical, the dark styles and more.. full blast speed, mid tempo mind blowing speed, and a ultra guttural vocals. for me it's a mixture between the american scene, and the european scene. what do you think about that? are you inspired from european bands, like Hypocrisy and the many old school death metal bands? For me this album is one the best releases of 2000. The cover-artwork, The CD booklet, it has packaging that would be offered from bands that come from a big label, as well as the production. What do your fans think about the album?
The album "The Thoughts From Which I Hide" includes a variety of raw music that at the time Vehemence was inexperienced at full blown studio recordings, so basically what you hear on that CD is how we sound like live. It lacked many vocal tracks and many harmonization's on the guitars but is respected due to the intense raw sound we got from that album. It was one big learning experience making a CD, and we are glad to know how it works now to create almost the complete opposite with our new album ha ha. We plan to re-release the first CD by ourselves with an extra track possibly with a new layout. We only have about 200 of those first CD's left and we plan to sell them to Vehemence diehards that come to our shows on tour. I like how you described the styles we have, because that is basically it. We have influences from many European/American bands that shook the earth in the early 90's. And I am glad you feel this way about Vehemence's first album, as we thought it had potential to be ground work to represent our basic Vehemence sound. We play some of the songs different now such as "I Take Your Life" with sicker harmonies, Saying Goodbye with added new rhythms, "What You've Become" with added harmonies, "No One Wins" with synthesizers and similar guitar work, Nameless Faces Scattered Remnants with added harmonies, "Reconditioning The Flock" with my own solo added towards the end of the song. Lets say I have added my parts since I joined after the album in January 2000. The artwork and layout was done by my friends and I, which was an amateur approach to graphic design that turned a lot of heads. A lot of people like the layout some call it tasteless and I know the desecration of the female race in death metal is kind of old but usually is a tradition in this music. You can't really escape it without escaping your roots. It is kind of taking away the pentagram, corpse paint, upside down, "SATAN" in most Black Metal bands. People in extreme Metal know this should not bother them only create devious smiles...
Now your music is more melodic, more harmonic, more in the European way, and with some Black metal touches, more dark than ever also. Is that you want to do or maybe the label told you to direct the material this way. What is your crowds reaction towards the new material from what has been played live. I have only three from the august Metal Blade 2001 demo. Will your new album "God Was Created" have these songs? Your song "She Never Noticed Me" introduces acoustic guitars and will there be more of that on the album?.
Metal Blade has always let their bands to play what they have designed from the beginning without telling opinions on how the music should be played. It is usually the producers in the studio that try and control a band to figure out what sound that the media wants. Recording our new album God Was Created wasn't a Metallica Black album session under heavy drama and idea shooting. The whole band plus our on board engineers Mike Schomig and Will Solaris gave some insight on just how to layerthe tracks but not to tell us how to play them since the songs are already written. The new demo was to try out this studio for another engineers name to get out. The demo was done in a couple days. This was lucky for us because we got to try out a studio for free and put some songs to CD for us to hype our own studio ideas up. Fantasy From Pain from that Demo will be released on the Uncorrupted Steel a Metal Blade Compilation released in late February 2002. The new album will include that song re-recorded of course as well as the other ones re-recorded that sound better and perfect from what I heard. Acoustic guitars are used in "Made For Her Jesus" to open up our new album. 12 string and 6 string guitars are used in "She Never Noticed Me" to give it a classical texture. Live we use clean electric guitar sounds to improvise what is done on the album.
I would like to ask you what happend with your previous band Deprecated. i have also heard that Deprecated has been put to rest till further notice. when you left to san Diego, california to work with deprecated how did this effect Vehemence? Also in your past you were an underground band called Brides of Christ. talk more about this band, and what happend with them. well return back of the time when you join the actual band Vehemence, what problems became that you had to join Vehemence?.
Deprecated was a project I wanted to become a part of that they let me help them with in the year of 2000-2001. They were in search of a dedicated guitarist that would help out the bands sound and to form a solid line up. The band consists of these musicians Derek Boyer-Bass and Torrey Moores-Drums A.J. and at the time other guitarist Adam Hearst. Travelling to San Diego helped me clear my mind and took time off Vehemence to venture on my other style of metal that I play which is Intense Brutal Death Metal. A.J. got an offer from Disgorge to join their band as new vocalist that left Deprecated hanging in the air again with 9 songs that were not released. This I mix in Vehemence now, but I do always have ideas of more Deprecated riffs that have to be silenced right now due to Derek's new band Decrepit Birth featuring Kevin Talley on drums and Matt Sotelo on Guitars. Deprecated will be re-vamped when the time is right and when a solid line up is formed that I will be defiantly a part of again. Deprecated has potential and will be a part of metal history with new material at a later point. Brides of Christ was a Phoenix band that Bjorn guitarist in our band introduced me to. Brides of Christ had a Cynic, Meshuggah, King Crimson sound that was very brutal in most cases. We played with Morbid Angel/Nile and Sepsism that got us locally recognized but later the band went into hiatus due to other focuses in life. I wanted to become a part of something bigger and joined Vehemence to make something out of ourselves. Scott Wiegand quit the band at the time due to personal reasons. Brides of Christ I probably could not rejoin due to the "Not wanting to be on a label thing as well I don't know how to contact them in that manner of re-vamping 3 year old songs with their busy schedules. I wish them the best of luck if they do come out with an Album. K.C. Bradham was the songwriter in the band that helped me with a lot of the guitar skills that I have today...
What are your personal feelings being in Vehemence. Are you a permanent member right now? About the new album, what kind of guitar work do you add to make Vehemence's sound.?
I am permanent member with Vehemence and Deprecated "when it gets re-vamped" The material that I have written for Vehemence has always been equal shared parts between Bjorn and I. Some songs are written all by Bjorn and some songs are written all by me. The riffs I design are usually brutal heavy riffs with some influences I have from Ill Disposed, Mutant, Symbyosis fairly new bands. Being in Vehemence has gave me the opportunity to work with some great musicans with a lot of talent as well as good friends. Since I am younger I do not know them as well as they all know each other since they were friends since high school. I feel that I have created my own style that I choose to use within all my riffs (maybe someone can pin point what I have originated and what I have been influenced by.....)
You have been played in some of the most important bands from the extreme scene like SUFFOCATION, SIX FEET UNDER, DYING FETUS, DEICIDE, BROKEN HOPE, MALEVOLENT CREATION, MAYHEM, EXHUMED, HATE ETERNAL, KOVENANT, MOONSPELL, AMORPHIS, ANGEL CORPSE, KRISIUN, INCANTATION, IMMOLATION, MORTICIAN, To name a few, for example how did you feel playing with one of the best bands of ever, the mighty ones Suffocation? Talk about what happens at a Vehemence show. How do you feel when you´re on stage in front of the crowd? Have you had any problems with crowds that are not acceptable with your band? It seems that you´re a fan of bands like cannibal corpse and Morbid Angel, two monsters of the scene, have you already played with them? If yes.. How was the experience, playing with bands, that you used to see in tv, when you were more young?
I was at Vehemence's Suffocation show that had Doug and Terrance head bobbing but I was not in the band then, Scott Wiegand was in the band at that time. We have played most of the national shows in our hometown to gain a feel for the stage and get in the habit of what is more to come. A show of Vehemence consists of Nathan presenting song titles in a "Normal Voice" and with some jokes here and there always acknowledging the crowd to not be afraid to mosh, stage dive ect. His voice welcomes the crowd to be comfortable with what is to come to understand his concepts with the lyrics. Our drummer Andrew is always showing off his techniques as much as he can. Mark our bass player/screamer head bangs along with Bjorn on their side of the stage that is usually on the right side while on the left I am doing excessive wind milling and head banging. Jason our synth player is always introduced before playing his parts that gives him the respect deserved. Maybe at some point we will get more theatrical when we have the finances such as fire, lighting system, and characters. I feel just fine in front of people on stage and doesn't phase me, what does make me freak out is if I have guitar problems like it cuts out or a string breaks and I feel bad because the song is ruined. Almost makes me want to just stop the whole song and re do it, but under old grandfather time that is not the case. I am surprised there has been none what so ever of negative responses towards our band from our live performance. I wouldn't see why when we welcome the metal community in a respectable manner with out fucked up music. Everyone seems to mosh during even the slow mid paced songs like the beginning of Fantasy from Pain I have seen some fast moshing to that song and She Never Noticed Me. Vehemence has not played with Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse, but I do know Erik Rutan and was happy to hear that we got signed to a great label. Even offered to do one of our albums if we wanted to. Metal Blades plan with us is to get our name out and if touring with Cannibal Corpse in the near future is the key to do that I am all for it. Their new album is very sick "Gore Obsessed" Most of the shows we play I enjoy due to just getting up there hearing the crowd's response to the songs we wrote. Like an appreciation of all the hard work we put into the song. We did play with Mayhem and I would like to add that 2 weeks before we played with them I had my appendix surgery. I played the show with a 2 inch incision on my side and managed to travel two hours to Tucson, Arizona giving my 100%. Playing with bands that I have seen on Headbangers Ball to countless magazines makes me feel that we have done the necessary things to get recognized...
I would like to know more about John Chavez as a guitar player, because on our website, there are many musicians that are infactuated with how and what they play. Well i think you have more than 8 years playing guitar, and I wonder if you are taught, or self taught. I have read that you studied off the hands of the unreleased Cannibal Corpse eats moscow alive video, musicians like Rob Barret, and Jack Owen. For me two great guitarists, but for many people not the best. Some people might call them simplistic writers. What is your opnion on that? In your opinion apart from these guys, which were your main influences when you started playing the guitar. How many days a week you practice? Did you used to practice alone in your house? Lets talk about your instrument! What guitar do you use for everything and why no other brand. Do you use any special strings? How about the amplifiers?
I have learned from bootlegs and watching other musicians at shows. Books help as well and one on one with other musicians to improve my guitar playing. Tablatures that other bands release really help as well so that I can play with their CD against their drummer to get my speed picking time down. I think that anyone that plays for Cannibal Corpse would have to be really skilled to play those overdubs and rhythms tracks especially from Vile 96 on up. My new influences are Mutant, Symbyosis, Ill Disposed, and Arch Enemy. Keep in mind my old influences are fairly new and old such as Carcass, Deeds of Flesh, Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation, Resurrection, and Sinister. I have learned a lot of techniques from playing with Deprecated and Brides of Christ, which means that there are influences that I may not know of. In high school I would have my equipment set up at my friend Mark Rhode's house and I would play most of my guitar there after school for hours. At home when I was not in any band I was playing 8 hours a day then surfing on the internet. I wasn't one to go get fucked up and ditch the guitar to hang out my friend's house to just do that. My youth was very fun just by playing the guitar a lot and listening to music and I can say that much has not changed. Band practice is held at a rehearsal studio with a lot of other different kinds of bands playing there. The instruments that I use to play live shows consist of THE B.C.RICH BEAST CUSTOM. I plan to order another guitar in the same specs as the 6 string Beast I have now. I use a pair of EMG pickups that increase the chop, and clarity in solos and rhythm riffs. The guitar is neck through that keeps my runs smooth and very comfortable. I used to play an Ibanez but I prefer B.C.RICH. I use small Dunlop picks that help me do more precise alternate picking. The amp that I use live for right now is a Roland GP-100 Guitar Processor through 2 Crate Blue Voodoo amps. On tour I plan on using a Line 6 Tube works amp to match Bjorn's Line 6 amp sound. Line 6 has very clear distortion and can be eq'd for awesome understandable distortion I would chose no other. Stings I use are DR strings, Deans, and Ernie Ball. When we recorded our new album for guitars we used 4 amps, Krank, Line 6 Tube works, Line 6 Pod,and a Mesa Boogie Amp Dual Rectifier.
I know you play other instruments, such as the violin, chello, and viola. Why did you begin to play those instruments? Do you want to use those elements in vehemence? You know this instrument is featured in many gothic metal bands, and also in other atmospheric music. Have you ever thought about playing in these kind of bands? How would you use these instruments in your band Vehemence?.
When I was young I played the Violin and Chello that gave me some skill with vibrato and understanding about those instruments. I do not own these instruments anymore but If I do purchase them I will want to use them in our music as replacing a synth sound. I would rather have Jason learn them though. So it can be done live. Most bands in Europe use real violins such as My Dying Bride, Soilwork, Darkane, Dimmu Borgir, At The Gates in their studio recordings. Electric violin/chello would be nice because you can run it through any petal giving it a unique awesome sound. If there is a synth sound that is usable on the synthesiser, I think using the natural sound from the instrument that makes it would be better to use. I would like to create a metal orchestra with many members of different styles to be a part of something that the whole world can respect.
I think you have a band project called lacereated malformity talk about this project?
This project was my first band idea that I wanted to create when I just turned 16. I have a tape of guitar rythms that I recorded with my digital 4 track recorder. I think some of those riffs are usable as well but I think someone else has created those rhythms already It is kind of like how one makes a riff, and then little to they know it was already created 5 years ago. Great minds think alike is all I have to say about that. The band line up I had was consisting of the same friends I have now, maybe later on I will actually re-vamp that to. They logo was drawn by Jesse Hartzog and I think it is the coolest logo I have seen. The name was created by me after opening up the dictionary. I wanted to have a band called Mortuary but that was taken already!!
Many times we are talking in aol, that is amazing how the computers are used everyday, makes me surprised, we can talk with guys that are about 10000 or more miles from us, and we can talk, we can pass things and more, and internet is the big father of all of us, giving many things that are cool, and other that are not so cool, you know what i mean, well bro what do you think about all the internet, and how they help to the music for example?.
Yes, I think this is the next generation of spreading the word and getting great music to be recognized. I discovered the internet in 97, and began my quest for metal knowledge. There are chat rooms to talk about metal in, people to talk to , friendships to make, bands to ask questions to. I have talked to various older metal veterans and they say that it is a different world now. Cassette Tape trading is no longer in effect that much but CD-R trading is and MP3S. I just cannot wait till everyone can design their on DVD videos. Using computer recording programs such as Cool Edit and Wave lab to record full songs as Jot down tracks to help out your own band is what makes a musician very stress free. Using a mini plug connected to a guitar cord then connected to your mic/or line in input is the way to work with anything you want to record. I wonder if anyone understood that? If not email me...
The time has come to talk about your new album being released on Metal Blade Worldwide!
The album will contain an hour of music with 10 songs. The album took about two years of song writing but we will release music much faster since we are on a major label now. The album went through some title changes but we were happy with GOD WAS CREATED. There is no introduction tracks just feedback used to enter a song or two. Here is the track listing for this album.
1.MADE FOR HER JESUS
Music: Dannov
2.SHE NEVER NOTICED ME
Music: Dannov, Chavez, Keesecker
3.FANTASY FROM PAIN
Music: Dannov Solo: Chavez
4.CHRIST, I FUCKING HATE YOU!
Music: Chavez, Dannov Solo: Dannov
5.LUSTING FOR AFFECTION
Music: Chavez, Dannov
6.THE LAST FANTASY OF CHRIST
Music: Dannov Solo: Chavez, Dannov
7.I DIDN'T KILL HER
Music: Dannov Solo: Dannov, Dannov, Chavez
8.GOD WAS CREATED
Music: Dannov
9.I MUST NOT LIVE
Music: Dannov, Chavez Solo: Dannov, Chavez
10.THE LORD'S WORK
Music: Chavez
VEHEMENCE IS:
Nathan Gearhart: Vocals
Bjorn Dannov: Lead and Rhythm Guitars
John Chavez: Lead and Rhythm Guitars
Andy Schroeder: Drums
Mark Kozuback: Bass, Screams
Jason Keesecker: Keyboards, Piano
BAND CONTACT vehemence@brutaldeath.net
WEBSITE http://vehemence.brutaldeath.net
MERCHANDISE / OTHER INFO http://www.metalblade.com
About the artwork of your first album, and the website layout is inspired by hentai/anime & gore right? How about the photograph of the woman hanged upside down? What do the covers represent? Does the cover any connection with the lyrics of the songs? Who writes them? Are vehemence lyrics important in vehemence or is it just the music that drives the band?
Vehemence loves anime characters and the way it is highly detailed. We mix the website with our first album cover and is just a collaboration of artwork that we mixed all together to make something sick and twisted since the lyrics are sick and twisted. I was thinking Whore, Cunt, Die when approving the first albums artwork. Nathan writes all of Vehemence's lyrics. Every 6 months I plan to change the website layout and have the old ones turn into unofficial ones so the designs are not forgotten. This means I am going to have to invest in unlimited website space. The newest artwork we have for GOD WAS CREATED is sick and twisted as well and is created by an artist called EVIL DAVE. He will be having a website soon which I will include in our emails when that link is ready. The lyrics in Vehemence is the heart in this band. We pump the blood while the lyrics keep the mind thinking. I suggest that when our record comes out, I urge everyone to simply take an hour and read the lyrics along with the music. Feel free to use whatever one uses to set their mind free into a world of Vehemence. And caution please do not try anything that we have created, just imagine it if your mind can take it. The artwork for the new album is a Bathroom scene taken from Nathan's lyrical concept as well as other scenes drawn by EVIL DAVE. This new album is a concept album. On end note on that, "We are all our own saviours " Our shirt designs that we have for the new album will be a shirt collector's prize item. I can tell you that the shirts will be including passages of our lyrics that everyone can relate to.
Well metal brother, we will talk more on aol instant messanger and thanks in advance for everything, any last words?.
I would like to say thanks for this interview and we hope to do more after the album gets released! Horns up to all our Spanish friends reading this!
Interview by Iñaky ( Pinhead )
Interview with Bloodcifery Webzine in Spain with John Chavez Guitarist of Vehemence February 7,2002
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Hey bro how are you doing? I know that you´re working very hard on your new CD that is going to be released by Metal Blade, a big label that has promotion all over the world. So the name of your band will be known worldwide, how do you feel about this? How did you score a deal with metal blade records? How did the label find out about Vehemence? What was their impression about your first album The Thoughts From which I Hide?.
I am doing fine! We have been working very hard in production on this second album called "God Was Created" released under Metal Blade Records. I think that it is well deserved that we finally got this band out to the world. I feel confident that our band will appease many extreme metal mentalities to listen to our music and take it at heart. The way we got on Metal Blade was from connections between Mark our bass player's dad working with Brian Slagel about WPHL Hockey Teams. The primary contact was by this guy named John that works at a restaurant called Chiles that told Ray the singer from Fates Warning to recommend us as well. The hype was up about our band from our first tour effort in May of 2001. After all the efforts and hard times the label was interested in us to have us on their roster of bands.
Well lets talk about the latest material the cd " The Thoughts.. " I think is a fucking amazing stuff, because it has the trademarks of the Death Metal, the brutality, the technical, the dark styles and more.. full blast speed, mid tempo mind blowing speed, and a ultra guttural vocals. for me it's a mixture between the american scene, and the european scene. what do you think about that? are you inspired from european bands, like Hypocrisy and the many old school death metal bands? For me this album is one the best releases of 2000. The cover-artwork, The CD booklet, it has packaging that would be offered from bands that come from a big label, as well as the production. What do your fans think about the album?
The album "The Thoughts From Which I Hide" includes a variety of raw music that at the time Vehemence was inexperienced at full blown studio recordings, so basically what you hear on that CD is how we sound like live. It lacked many vocal tracks and many harmonization's on the guitars but is respected due to the intense raw sound we got from that album. It was one big learning experience making a CD, and we are glad to know how it works now to create almost the complete opposite with our new album ha ha. We plan to re-release the first CD by ourselves with an extra track possibly with a new layout. We only have about 200 of those first CD's left and we plan to sell them to Vehemence diehards that come to our shows on tour. I like how you described the styles we have, because that is basically it. We have influences from many European/American bands that shook the earth in the early 90's. And I am glad you feel this way about Vehemence's first album, as we thought it had potential to be ground work to represent our basic Vehemence sound. We play some of the songs different now such as "I Take Your Life" with sicker harmonies, Saying Goodbye with added new rhythms, "What You've Become" with added harmonies, "No One Wins" with synthesizers and similar guitar work, Nameless Faces Scattered Remnants with added harmonies, "Reconditioning The Flock" with my own solo added towards the end of the song. Lets say I have added my parts since I joined after the album in January 2000. The artwork and layout was done by my friends and I, which was an amateur approach to graphic design that turned a lot of heads. A lot of people like the layout some call it tasteless and I know the desecration of the female race in death metal is kind of old but usually is a tradition in this music. You can't really escape it without escaping your roots. It is kind of taking away the pentagram, corpse paint, upside down, "SATAN" in most Black Metal bands. People in extreme Metal know this should not bother them only create devious smiles...
Now your music is more melodic, more harmonic, more in the European way, and with some Black metal touches, more dark than ever also. Is that you want to do or maybe the label told you to direct the material this way. What is your crowds reaction towards the new material from what has been played live. I have only three from the august Metal Blade 2001 demo. Will your new album "God Was Created" have these songs? Your song "She Never Noticed Me" introduces acoustic guitars and will there be more of that on the album?.
Metal Blade has always let their bands to play what they have designed from the beginning without telling opinions on how the music should be played. It is usually the producers in the studio that try and control a band to figure out what sound that the media wants. Recording our new album God Was Created wasn't a Metallica Black album session under heavy drama and idea shooting. The whole band plus our on board engineers Mike Schomig and Will Solaris gave some insight on just how to layerthe tracks but not to tell us how to play them since the songs are already written. The new demo was to try out this studio for another engineers name to get out. The demo was done in a couple days. This was lucky for us because we got to try out a studio for free and put some songs to CD for us to hype our own studio ideas up. Fantasy From Pain from that Demo will be released on the Uncorrupted Steel a Metal Blade Compilation released in late February 2002. The new album will include that song re-recorded of course as well as the other ones re-recorded that sound better and perfect from what I heard. Acoustic guitars are used in "Made For Her Jesus" to open up our new album. 12 string and 6 string guitars are used in "She Never Noticed Me" to give it a classical texture. Live we use clean electric guitar sounds to improvise what is done on the album.
I would like to ask you what happend with your previous band Deprecated. i have also heard that Deprecated has been put to rest till further notice. when you left to san Diego, california to work with deprecated how did this effect Vehemence? Also in your past you were an underground band called Brides of Christ. talk more about this band, and what happend with them. well return back of the time when you join the actual band Vehemence, what problems became that you had to join Vehemence?.
Deprecated was a project I wanted to become a part of that they let me help them with in the year of 2000-2001. They were in search of a dedicated guitarist that would help out the bands sound and to form a solid line up. The band consists of these musicians Derek Boyer-Bass and Torrey Moores-Drums A.J. and at the time other guitarist Adam Hearst. Travelling to San Diego helped me clear my mind and took time off Vehemence to venture on my other style of metal that I play which is Intense Brutal Death Metal. A.J. got an offer from Disgorge to join their band as new vocalist that left Deprecated hanging in the air again with 9 songs that were not released. This I mix in Vehemence now, but I do always have ideas of more Deprecated riffs that have to be silenced right now due to Derek's new band Decrepit Birth featuring Kevin Talley on drums and Matt Sotelo on Guitars. Deprecated will be re-vamped when the time is right and when a solid line up is formed that I will be defiantly a part of again. Deprecated has potential and will be a part of metal history with new material at a later point. Brides of Christ was a Phoenix band that Bjorn guitarist in our band introduced me to. Brides of Christ had a Cynic, Meshuggah, King Crimson sound that was very brutal in most cases. We played with Morbid Angel/Nile and Sepsism that got us locally recognized but later the band went into hiatus due to other focuses in life. I wanted to become a part of something bigger and joined Vehemence to make something out of ourselves. Scott Wiegand quit the band at the time due to personal reasons. Brides of Christ I probably could not rejoin due to the "Not wanting to be on a label thing as well I don't know how to contact them in that manner of re-vamping 3 year old songs with their busy schedules. I wish them the best of luck if they do come out with an Album. K.C. Bradham was the songwriter in the band that helped me with a lot of the guitar skills that I have today...
What are your personal feelings being in Vehemence. Are you a permanent member right now? About the new album, what kind of guitar work do you add to make Vehemence's sound.?
I am permanent member with Vehemence and Deprecated "when it gets re-vamped" The material that I have written for Vehemence has always been equal shared parts between Bjorn and I. Some songs are written all by Bjorn and some songs are written all by me. The riffs I design are usually brutal heavy riffs with some influences I have from Ill Disposed, Mutant, Symbyosis fairly new bands. Being in Vehemence has gave me the opportunity to work with some great musicans with a lot of talent as well as good friends. Since I am younger I do not know them as well as they all know each other since they were friends since high school. I feel that I have created my own style that I choose to use within all my riffs (maybe someone can pin point what I have originated and what I have been influenced by.....)
You have been played in some of the most important bands from the extreme scene like SUFFOCATION, SIX FEET UNDER, DYING FETUS, DEICIDE, BROKEN HOPE, MALEVOLENT CREATION, MAYHEM, EXHUMED, HATE ETERNAL, KOVENANT, MOONSPELL, AMORPHIS, ANGEL CORPSE, KRISIUN, INCANTATION, IMMOLATION, MORTICIAN, To name a few, for example how did you feel playing with one of the best bands of ever, the mighty ones Suffocation? Talk about what happens at a Vehemence show. How do you feel when you´re on stage in front of the crowd? Have you had any problems with crowds that are not acceptable with your band? It seems that you´re a fan of bands like cannibal corpse and Morbid Angel, two monsters of the scene, have you already played with them? If yes.. How was the experience, playing with bands, that you used to see in tv, when you were more young?
I was at Vehemence's Suffocation show that had Doug and Terrance head bobbing but I was not in the band then, Scott Wiegand was in the band at that time. We have played most of the national shows in our hometown to gain a feel for the stage and get in the habit of what is more to come. A show of Vehemence consists of Nathan presenting song titles in a "Normal Voice" and with some jokes here and there always acknowledging the crowd to not be afraid to mosh, stage dive ect. His voice welcomes the crowd to be comfortable with what is to come to understand his concepts with the lyrics. Our drummer Andrew is always showing off his techniques as much as he can. Mark our bass player/screamer head bangs along with Bjorn on their side of the stage that is usually on the right side while on the left I am doing excessive wind milling and head banging. Jason our synth player is always introduced before playing his parts that gives him the respect deserved. Maybe at some point we will get more theatrical when we have the finances such as fire, lighting system, and characters. I feel just fine in front of people on stage and doesn't phase me, what does make me freak out is if I have guitar problems like it cuts out or a string breaks and I feel bad because the song is ruined. Almost makes me want to just stop the whole song and re do it, but under old grandfather time that is not the case. I am surprised there has been none what so ever of negative responses towards our band from our live performance. I wouldn't see why when we welcome the metal community in a respectable manner with out fucked up music. Everyone seems to mosh during even the slow mid paced songs like the beginning of Fantasy from Pain I have seen some fast moshing to that song and She Never Noticed Me. Vehemence has not played with Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse, but I do know Erik Rutan and was happy to hear that we got signed to a great label. Even offered to do one of our albums if we wanted to. Metal Blades plan with us is to get our name out and if touring with Cannibal Corpse in the near future is the key to do that I am all for it. Their new album is very sick "Gore Obsessed" Most of the shows we play I enjoy due to just getting up there hearing the crowd's response to the songs we wrote. Like an appreciation of all the hard work we put into the song. We did play with Mayhem and I would like to add that 2 weeks before we played with them I had my appendix surgery. I played the show with a 2 inch incision on my side and managed to travel two hours to Tucson, Arizona giving my 100%. Playing with bands that I have seen on Headbangers Ball to countless magazines makes me feel that we have done the necessary things to get recognized...
I would like to know more about John Chavez as a guitar player, because on our website, there are many musicians that are infactuated with how and what they play. Well i think you have more than 8 years playing guitar, and I wonder if you are taught, or self taught. I have read that you studied off the hands of the unreleased Cannibal Corpse eats moscow alive video, musicians like Rob Barret, and Jack Owen. For me two great guitarists, but for many people not the best. Some people might call them simplistic writers. What is your opnion on that? In your opinion apart from these guys, which were your main influences when you started playing the guitar. How many days a week you practice? Did you used to practice alone in your house? Lets talk about your instrument! What guitar do you use for everything and why no other brand. Do you use any special strings? How about the amplifiers?
I have learned from bootlegs and watching other musicians at shows. Books help as well and one on one with other musicians to improve my guitar playing. Tablatures that other bands release really help as well so that I can play with their CD against their drummer to get my speed picking time down. I think that anyone that plays for Cannibal Corpse would have to be really skilled to play those overdubs and rhythms tracks especially from Vile 96 on up. My new influences are Mutant, Symbyosis, Ill Disposed, and Arch Enemy. Keep in mind my old influences are fairly new and old such as Carcass, Deeds of Flesh, Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation, Resurrection, and Sinister. I have learned a lot of techniques from playing with Deprecated and Brides of Christ, which means that there are influences that I may not know of. In high school I would have my equipment set up at my friend Mark Rhode's house and I would play most of my guitar there after school for hours. At home when I was not in any band I was playing 8 hours a day then surfing on the internet. I wasn't one to go get fucked up and ditch the guitar to hang out my friend's house to just do that. My youth was very fun just by playing the guitar a lot and listening to music and I can say that much has not changed. Band practice is held at a rehearsal studio with a lot of other different kinds of bands playing there. The instruments that I use to play live shows consist of THE B.C.RICH BEAST CUSTOM. I plan to order another guitar in the same specs as the 6 string Beast I have now. I use a pair of EMG pickups that increase the chop, and clarity in solos and rhythm riffs. The guitar is neck through that keeps my runs smooth and very comfortable. I used to play an Ibanez but I prefer B.C.RICH. I use small Dunlop picks that help me do more precise alternate picking. The amp that I use live for right now is a Roland GP-100 Guitar Processor through 2 Crate Blue Voodoo amps. On tour I plan on using a Line 6 Tube works amp to match Bjorn's Line 6 amp sound. Line 6 has very clear distortion and can be eq'd for awesome understandable distortion I would chose no other. Stings I use are DR strings, Deans, and Ernie Ball. When we recorded our new album for guitars we used 4 amps, Krank, Line 6 Tube works, Line 6 Pod,and a Mesa Boogie Amp Dual Rectifier.
I know you play other instruments, such as the violin, chello, and viola. Why did you begin to play those instruments? Do you want to use those elements in vehemence? You know this instrument is featured in many gothic metal bands, and also in other atmospheric music. Have you ever thought about playing in these kind of bands? How would you use these instruments in your band Vehemence?.
When I was young I played the Violin and Chello that gave me some skill with vibrato and understanding about those instruments. I do not own these instruments anymore but If I do purchase them I will want to use them in our music as replacing a synth sound. I would rather have Jason learn them though. So it can be done live. Most bands in Europe use real violins such as My Dying Bride, Soilwork, Darkane, Dimmu Borgir, At The Gates in their studio recordings. Electric violin/chello would be nice because you can run it through any petal giving it a unique awesome sound. If there is a synth sound that is usable on the synthesiser, I think using the natural sound from the instrument that makes it would be better to use. I would like to create a metal orchestra with many members of different styles to be a part of something that the whole world can respect.
I think you have a band project called lacereated malformity talk about this project?
This project was my first band idea that I wanted to create when I just turned 16. I have a tape of guitar rythms that I recorded with my digital 4 track recorder. I think some of those riffs are usable as well but I think someone else has created those rhythms already It is kind of like how one makes a riff, and then little to they know it was already created 5 years ago. Great minds think alike is all I have to say about that. The band line up I had was consisting of the same friends I have now, maybe later on I will actually re-vamp that to. They logo was drawn by Jesse Hartzog and I think it is the coolest logo I have seen. The name was created by me after opening up the dictionary. I wanted to have a band called Mortuary but that was taken already!!
Many times we are talking in aol, that is amazing how the computers are used everyday, makes me surprised, we can talk with guys that are about 10000 or more miles from us, and we can talk, we can pass things and more, and internet is the big father of all of us, giving many things that are cool, and other that are not so cool, you know what i mean, well bro what do you think about all the internet, and how they help to the music for example?.
Yes, I think this is the next generation of spreading the word and getting great music to be recognized. I discovered the internet in 97, and began my quest for metal knowledge. There are chat rooms to talk about metal in, people to talk to , friendships to make, bands to ask questions to. I have talked to various older metal veterans and they say that it is a different world now. Cassette Tape trading is no longer in effect that much but CD-R trading is and MP3S. I just cannot wait till everyone can design their on DVD videos. Using computer recording programs such as Cool Edit and Wave lab to record full songs as Jot down tracks to help out your own band is what makes a musician very stress free. Using a mini plug connected to a guitar cord then connected to your mic/or line in input is the way to work with anything you want to record. I wonder if anyone understood that? If not email me...
The time has come to talk about your new album being released on Metal Blade Worldwide!
The album will contain an hour of music with 10 songs. The album took about two years of song writing but we will release music much faster since we are on a major label now. The album went through some title changes but we were happy with GOD WAS CREATED. There is no introduction tracks just feedback used to enter a song or two. Here is the track listing for this album.
1.MADE FOR HER JESUS
Music: Dannov
2.SHE NEVER NOTICED ME
Music: Dannov, Chavez, Keesecker
3.FANTASY FROM PAIN
Music: Dannov Solo: Chavez
4.CHRIST, I FUCKING HATE YOU!
Music: Chavez, Dannov Solo: Dannov
5.LUSTING FOR AFFECTION
Music: Chavez, Dannov
6.THE LAST FANTASY OF CHRIST
Music: Dannov Solo: Chavez, Dannov
7.I DIDN'T KILL HER
Music: Dannov Solo: Dannov, Dannov, Chavez
8.GOD WAS CREATED
Music: Dannov
9.I MUST NOT LIVE
Music: Dannov, Chavez Solo: Dannov, Chavez
10.THE LORD'S WORK
Music: Chavez
VEHEMENCE IS:
Nathan Gearhart: Vocals
Bjorn Dannov: Lead and Rhythm Guitars
John Chavez: Lead and Rhythm Guitars
Andy Schroeder: Drums
Mark Kozuback: Bass, Screams
Jason Keesecker: Keyboards, Piano
BAND CONTACT vehemence@brutaldeath.net
WEBSITE http://vehemence.brutaldeath.net
MERCHANDISE / OTHER INFO http://www.metalblade.com
About the artwork of your first album, and the website layout is inspired by hentai/anime & gore right? How about the photograph of the woman hanged upside down? What do the covers represent? Does the cover any connection with the lyrics of the songs? Who writes them? Are vehemence lyrics important in vehemence or is it just the music that drives the band?
Vehemence loves anime characters and the way it is highly detailed. We mix the website with our first album cover and is just a collaboration of artwork that we mixed all together to make something sick and twisted since the lyrics are sick and twisted. I was thinking Whore, Cunt, Die when approving the first albums artwork. Nathan writes all of Vehemence's lyrics. Every 6 months I plan to change the website layout and have the old ones turn into unofficial ones so the designs are not forgotten. This means I am going to have to invest in unlimited website space. The newest artwork we have for GOD WAS CREATED is sick and twisted as well and is created by an artist called EVIL DAVE. He will be having a website soon which I will include in our emails when that link is ready. The lyrics in Vehemence is the heart in this band. We pump the blood while the lyrics keep the mind thinking. I suggest that when our record comes out, I urge everyone to simply take an hour and read the lyrics along with the music. Feel free to use whatever one uses to set their mind free into a world of Vehemence. And caution please do not try anything that we have created, just imagine it if your mind can take it. The artwork for the new album is a Bathroom scene taken from Nathan's lyrical concept as well as other scenes drawn by EVIL DAVE. This new album is a concept album. On end note on that, "We are all our own saviours " Our shirt designs that we have for the new album will be a shirt collector's prize item. I can tell you that the shirts will be including passages of our lyrics that everyone can relate to.
Well metal brother, we will talk more on aol instant messanger and thanks in advance for everything, any last words?.
I would like to say thanks for this interview and we hope to do more after the album gets released! Horns up to all our Spanish friends reading this!
Interview by Iñaky ( Pinhead )
