Genre:
Thrash metal
1. Hello!
How are you? “Heroes of Origin” is your debut album and will soon be released.
Do you feel anxious about it? Which are your expectations from it?
I’m doing
really well. Thanks for the
interview. We have been really busy
promoting the new album and I don’t think anxious is the word, but very excited
might be the better way to say it. This
is my first real band since EXODUS and the press and the fans have been very
supportive, to say the least. With the
modern music industry I try to not really have expectations, other than for the
record company to do its job and for the fans to hopefully go get the album. I promise it is the best record I have done
in my whole career, and that is saying a lot!
Honestly I am just happy to be back in the scene making albums and
playing for the fans.
2. How long
did it take you to compose and produce the whole album? Did you have any main
difficulties during the whole process? If yes, how did you overcome them?
There were
no difficulties at all, and in fact, this is probably the most hassle free
record I have ever done. My guitarist, Kosta Varvatakis, does the majority of
the writing and arranging, and then I write lyrics to what he creates. It makes a very easy work environment and we
get a lot of stuff done with HATRIOT in a short amount of time. We have been working on the material for this
record for the better part of a year now.
3. From all
the songs included in “Heroes of Origin” which one was the quickest to compose
and which one made your life difficult and why?
Again, it
was a fairly simple process and I can’t think of one in particular that gave me
any trouble. Kosta is such a gifted
writer. I am hoping that the world will
recognize what a great talent this kid is.
I wouldn’t have even attempted a new band without him. We have a great writing chemistry and it is
hard to find a songwriting partner that you just click with on every
level. Kosta is the guy. He will be this generation’s thrash metal
guitar hero.
4. Have you
left any song out from your new album and if yes, why? Also have you thought of
leaving out any of the songs that you have included in your debut album and
what made you change mind?
Well we
have a 4 song demo EP that we did last year just to show the world what we were
doing at the time, and 3 of the 4 songs have been re-recorded for this
album. The only one that didn’t make the
cut was “The Fear Within,” and it’s not because it is a bad song. It’s a great song! The fact is it has a mellow section and we
didn’t want to let up the intensity on this record one bit. So it may be on the second album. It depends on what else we come up with. We are always writing new material and
working on stuff. We have another three
songs written now for the second album.
5. Who had
the idea of forming HATRIOT? How easy was it to find the other band members?
Nothing is
easy in the music business, but this time things fell into place rather quickly
for me. It started when I found Kosta
and then started writing material. We
went through a few minor line-up changes until we arrived at this group of
guys. It wasn’t hard at all really. Our second guitarist, Miguel Esparza, was
referred to us, and the rhythm section consists of my sons – Cody Souza on bass
and Nick Souza on drums. Both of them
tried out for the band and proved to be the most qualified for the position.
6. Steve
Souza is a very known musician, so I would like to know if the other members of
the band have participated in other groups before HATRIOT and if they have
released anything with them….
They have
all played in local bands around the Bay Area, but nothing that went to the
next level. “Heroes of Origin” is their
first record, but you would never know it from listening. We really worked hard to make sure we had
everything down before we hit the studio, so these guys sound like seasoned
veterans themselves. Aside from doing
demos with their other bands they had never been in a studio before. They all went straight into the major
leagues.
7. I want
to stand a bit on the band’s name. Is HATRIOT a combination of words between
hate and patriot or between hate and riot? How did you come up with the idea of
this specific band name?
It is a
combination of hate and patriot, and I took the name from the line in the
EXODUS song “Scar Spangled Banner”’ where I say “I’m no patriot, just a
hatriot.” The word sounds pissed off and
angry, so I felt it would be perfect for a thrash metal band name. It also ties this chapter of my career to my
days in EXODUS, so it worked well.
8. Also I
want to stand a bit on the cover of your album which shows you holding the U.S.
flag upside down and also shields of Captain America with a pentagram on it. I
like it and I believe that there is a strong symbolism on it. What exactly do
you want to express with it?
Mark DeVito
did the artwork. He has done several
known bands, MOTORHEAD being one of them.
I didn’t really have a concept, other than I wanted the band on the
cover somewhere. Bands just don’t do that anymore. I wanted the band on the cover and for Mark
to use his own visions to create the rest.
I wanted chaos and violence, and Mark fucking nailed it. I think the artwork is great. I see all the little poser kids trashing the
cover on the Internet, but it is amazing art in my opinion. It is one of those records that you see in
the store and it grabs your attention, like back in the day when you would buy
an album just because the art looked cool.
The art on “Heroes of Origin” is very recognizable and I think it stands
out amongst the other bands. If you saw
it on the store shelf you would be like “oh shit there’s the HATRIOT record,”
and that’s the whole idea behind it.
9. How
important are lyrics for you? What kinds of things inspire you to write about?
What kind of message do you want to pass through them to your audience?
Lyrics are
very important to me. I know most people
think of the riff as being the key factor in metal music, and in many cases it
is, but the lyrics in HATRIOT are a huge part of the equation. My lyrics are always dark and sinister. You will never hear Zetro do a love
song! I write about anything that
intrigues me, and on this album that happens to be suicide, school shootings,
and monster movies. There is no shortage
of brutal topics out there.
10. How has
the press accepted your new album? Which was the most interesting and which the
most bizarre comment that you have received about the album?
The press
has been praising this album, giving us near perfect scores. I have done a lot of interviews around the
globe and I have not yet had one guy in the press tell me the record was okay
or could be better. They are all floored
by it and that is a huge accomplishment for me.
The most bizarre comment would be when one journalist said the album is
the best EXODUS record Gary Holt never wrote.
That’s a pretty big statement!
11. I will
ask you to change a bit your role and become the interviewer. So what would you
like to ask yourself about HATRIOT?
I would ask
myself what in the hell are you doing starting a new band this late in
life? The answer is I am taking over the
fucking world!
12. Thanks
for your time answering my questions. The album is very good and I wish you all
the best! Please put the epilogue you like to this interview…
Thanks a
lot for the interview and for spreading the word of HATRIOT to your
readers. The album is out right now and
I need all the old school thrashers to go out and get a copy today! We need your support to get this thing to the
next level. I plan on touring this year
so come out to a show and let’s thrash!
ZETRO
Nick “Verkaim” Parastatidis
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