BIOHAZARD: “we're getting along better than we ever did”
22-05-2024
In a new interview with Jesse Camp, BIOHAZARD bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld and guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei spoke about what it has been like to reunite the band’s classic lineup, also featuring drummer Danny Schuler and guitarist Bobby Hambel. Billy said: “We finally put the O.G. lineup of BIOHAZARD back together. With all due respect to Anthony Meo (original BIOHAZARD drummer, who died last July), and thank you for Scott Koenig (longtime BIOHAZARD manager, who died in October 2021) for helping to be the catalyst for all of us coming back together; rest in peace. And in all honesty, we’re getting along better than we ever did… So, it’s awesome. It’s great to be back with the guys. We look forward to playing every day. We all have our things that we’re doing aside from the band, but being on stage together, hanging out during the day, we look forward to seeing each other. We all text back and forth, like, ‘I can’t wait to see you guys.’ Oh, it’s awesome. It’s great to be here.”
Added Evan: “It’s crazy. Life just keeps going. You never know where you’re gonna be. You have your vision of, ‘When I’m this age, I expect my life to be some way.’ And we’d been apart for 12 years. And the universe speaks loudly. The signs are all there, if you open your eyes. And the timing was just really interesting. And, man, it’s reborn, because everybody’s out here because we love doing it. None of us need to do it. You know what I mean? This isn’t like we have to do this. We have to do it because it’s inside of us.
“When you are not doing it from your heart… You see people out there playing music, they’re phoning it fucking in,” he continued. “You can tell they’re not into it. And none of us wanted to be inauthentic. And sometimes you need some time away from something to learn to appreciate it. And speaking for myself, I have never appreciated playing with these guys and getting on that stage more in my life because I know what it’s like to have it and not have it.”
The first reunion gig from Graziadei, Hambel, drummer Schuler and Seinfeld took place on May 26, 2023 at the Milwaukee Metal Fest at The Rave/Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Last August, BIOHAZARD confirmed that it was working on material for a new studio album.
“The inspiration’s coming from these shows,” Bobby told Le Coin Metal in an interview. “Being back together, celebrating and doing all these shows, it’s great. We’re having a good time, but now we’re getting the vibe from the crowd and we’re feeling it, and it’s getting in our bones. We’re getting that hunger and the ideas are starting to come out off of these shows.”
Added Billy: “For me, it’s kind of cool because the other reason I did my solo project BILLYBIO is because there was no BIOHAZARD, and the songs that I would’ve been showing these guys just ended up BILLYBIO songs. So being back with these guys is, like… It’s cool to have another outlet for my music.”
In 2022, Graziadei said in an interview that there had been “talk” about putting BIOHAZARD back together.
The group, which is acknowledged as one of the earliest outfits to fuse hardcore punk and heavy metal with elements of hip-hop, had been out of the public eye since Scott Roberts left the band eight years ago.
Roberts, who played guitar on BIOHAZARD‘s 2005 album “Means To An End”, rejoined the group in June 2011 as the replacement for Seinfeld. Scott fronted BIOHAZARD for nearly five years before exiting the band in February 2016.
In an August 2020 interview with the “Aftershocks” podcast, Roberts said that he left BIOHAZARD because he “wasn’t happy” anymore. “There was one guy that I wasn’t getting along with very well, and it made touring not fun anymore for me,” he said. “My reason to stick around was to make a new record that was great and I’d be proud of and all that stuff, and then it became kind of clear that wasn’t gonna happen, so I was, like, ‘What am I doing it for?’ So I quit.”
Seinfeld made his last recorded appearance with BIOHAZARD on 2012’s “Reborn In Defiance” album, which marked the first LP featuring the band’s original lineup in 18 years.
Graziadei is currently a member of POWERFLO, which also features Christian Olde Wolbers (FEAR FACTORY),Sen Dog (CYPRESS HILL) and Rogelio Lozano (DOWNSET).
Billy‘s solo project, BILLYBIO, released a new album, “Leaders And Liars”, in March 2022 via AFM Records.
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