For the benefit of those who haven't heard of you yet, please could you describe the music that Attackhead creates?

We describe ourselves as Skull Crushing Heavy Metal with an Old School Edge. Basically we are very similar to 80s era thrash metal bands such as Testament, Slayer and Metallica.

When I listen to the album, I'm often reminded of old school Death Metal and Thrash bands. Was this intentional and who would you say were your biggest influences?

Yes, I guess it was intentional in a way. I have been playing for well over 20 years and actually played in metal bands in the 80s. I used to go to local gigs and see bands like WASP, MSG, Slayer, Armored Saint, Poison, etc. I was and still am very good friends with the members of Leatherwolf and used to roadie for them when I was 15 or so. One of the members of Leatherwolf, Geoff Gayer, actually taught me how to play. So our sound is what we know, we didn't have to try to sound like old school thrash cuz it is what we are. As far as influences go growing up I was into Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Tony Macalpine, Armored Saint, Rising Force, Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, UFO, Ozzy, Testament, etc. I still listen to these bands today as well as Everygrey, Children of Bodom, and Black Label Society to name a few.

How long has the band been together and has there been many lineup changes in that time? Who is in the band at the moment?

Mark Chapman - Lead vocals/Lead Guitar

Christian Bargados - Bass/ vocals

George Portoulas - Lead Guitar/backing vocals

Steve Cordero - Drums

How long did "Voices In The Dark" take to record?

We laid down all the tracks in about 5 days. We are pretty good at getting good takes on the first try so we don't waste a lot of time. We spent a couple weeks editing and mixing and in the end I think it took about a month total.

What is your songwriting process like? Do you all write together?

No, we don't write together. I write the majority of the songs and almost all the lyrics. I usually come in with a completed song and show the other guys. We make any needed changes and a group until we are all happy with the sound. Christian also writes a lot of songs and has a lot of good ideas so between the two of us we usually have no shortage of new material.

Which is your favourite track from "Voices In The Dark" and why?

Which song do the fans seem to prefer? Which track have you received the most positive feedback from?

Most of the fans seem to enjoy them all. I have heard from different fans different opinions. Some really like Lead the Blind others Sweet Sounds while others like Voices better. The track that seems to be getting the most airplay is Waste of Life. I wrote Waste of Life in the early 80s and just added new lyrics to it so I guess people really do have a need for real old school metal.

Where can our readers buy the album from?

and for downloads we are available on iTunes, Rhapsody, Emusic, Napster, CDmaximum, Snocap.

I am sure there are several sites that I am missing but that should get them there.

Do you have any other merchandise available?

We have stickers, buttons, Tshirts, and CD's. You cant get the stickers and the buttons online just because the shipping would cost more than the item so its not worth it. We mainly sell them at gigs. Also if your readers go to attackhead.com and go to the fan club section they can sign up for the Riot Squad. The Riot Squad sign up gets them a free autographed 8 x 10 photo of the band. They also get Email updates about the band and upcoming shows. If they don't want to go that far they can sign up for the mailing list only as well. We will have new shirts with all new designs as soon as we can afford it.

Do you have any other albums, singles or EPs available?

No not really. Voices is our first album that has been for sale. We recorded a 3 song demo in 2004 with a female singer but never really sold any. I actually just saw someone selling them on Ebay yesterday and I have no idea how they got them since I was the sole distributor.

Will you be touring soon and if so, where will you be playing?

We don't have any immediate plans to tour anywhere outside our local venues. We are applying to do some shows for the military in other countries but have not heard anything yet. We are open to play anywhere at anytime all we need is an invitation. It is hard to get shows in other areas without a promoter and right now we are in that boat. We are hoping to get picked up by a label or good distributor and promoter so we can get on the road.

What can we expect from an Attackhead show?

High energy, flawless musical performance and cool props. As well as good times and the feeling that you are at a much larger show than you really are. We try to bring large venue ideas to where ever we play. We also like to hang out with the fans after the show to really connect with them and include them in the experience.

Do you ever play in cover versions live?

We haven't yet but have plans to include a couple of covers in our show. We plan to do "Bleed for me" by Black Label Society and "The torture never stops" by WASP. They keep getting put on the back burner due to working on new original songs but we'll get to them sooner or later.

Do you play any songs which are not on the album at gigs? If so, which ones and is it possible for us to listen to them anywhere?

We do have a new song called "Rebirth" and are working on "Skull Crusher" and "Possessed" but we haven't played them live yet and they cant be heard anywhere but our rehearsal room. We will be playing them live within the next couple of months.

I really liked what was said at the beginning of the album and in the inlay. The idea that some people feel they can do whatever they want as long as they believe in a deity / go to a place of worship once a week really does annoy me. What has the reaction been like regarding that part of the album from fans and critics?

I haven't really had any reaction. We play that spoken part via a sampler before playing Voices in the Dark but haven't had any comment as of yet. Unfortunately people are more likely to take it as Devil music simply because of the wording or imagery rather than seeing the truth in the statement.

Is there an ongoing theme running through the album?

Not really. I write how I see things. Many times I see the darker side of reality. Obviously there is some fantasy built in but most of my lyrics are short stories of a darker nature. You can always trust humans to give you plenty of demented material to write about.

Would you ever do a "full-on" concept album?

I doubt it. I think it would be difficult to come up with enough material on one subject to keep it interesting. We could write many songs about global warming but who the fuck wants to hear that. Music is more of an escape for most people and if your content is all about one thing I think you would have a lot of people who are not interested.

5% of the profits from the "Voices In The Dark" CD are being given to the Melanoma Research Foundation. This is incredibly commendable and generous.
What made you choose that charity?

I know that you're on quite a few websites now (CD Maximum, CD Baby, YouTube, etc). Please can you give links to where people can find you?

Do you feel that the pros of the Internet (easier to find fans, etc) outweigh the cons (illegal downloads, etc)?

I think the Internet is a great way to contact and stay in touch with fans all over the world. It is instant and easy to communicate and shop. As far as illegal downloads goes at this point I have no opinion. I dont know how that is any different from copying a cassette or CD for your friend. If you want your music out there then you have to risk it being taken illegally. So just limit the amount of songs out there so there is an incentive to buy the CD for all the songs.

Do you have any plans to make a promotional video?

Actually we are negotiating with some video makers right now. We plan to do a video for Waste of Life in the near future. But until then go to YouTube and you can see a live video and a picture video. We are also finishing up a video taken during the recording of Voices in the Dark which  should be on YouTube soon.

What's next for the band?

World Domination.

As posted on Louciferspeaks.com

www.louciferspeaks.com

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Basically I formed the band back in ‘02 and we went through a bunch of different people trying to find the right combination of attitude and playing ability really. Finally about a year ago we got our last guy in there that made the lineup we need to be able to get along without killing each other I guess.

Yeah, I’ve been in enough in my time to where you know when somebody’s got something going on right off the get go and then you better address it because it’s only going to get worse. It’s almost like a marriage. You’ve got to make sure that everybody is in the same boat otherwise it’s going to end in divorce.

Yeah, exactly. Especially if you’re stuck together for periods of time, you better know each other’s boundaries and respect them otherwise it’s going to end up in a big old brawl.

Exactly. You’ve got to know when to back off and when to give people their own space.

Yeah, and I was playing clubs back in ’84 as a kid and it was a different breed. Back then you actually practiced and got good at your craft before you went out and played a gig. Now it’s like a guy bought a guitar yesterday and they’re already on stage. I don’t know what the deal is with that.

No, they’re not. Unfortunately every fan that they lose doing that they’ll never get back. Spend a couple of months in the studio getting your shit together and then go out and take care of business.

I’m good friends with a guy in a band called Leatherwolf. In fact, Geoff Gayer who is the guitar player taught me how to play when I was 12 and 13 so I’ve known all those guys for 20 some odd years and just being around them as a kid before they were even Leatherwolf got me the bug and then I just went from there.

Yeah, there just wasn’t a medium to get it out to anybody. Everybody was focusing on the new stuff and not the old stuff.

Yeah, I met a girl the other day who is 20 and into old school metal. Even a lot of the younger people don’t like the new metal so much. They prefer the older style metal because the lines aren’t blurred. Heavy metal is heavy metal and then when the grunge thing came in, the lines got blurred between metal and rap and they have all these names. I don’t even know what the hell they mean. Emo and grind core and all that crap. Whatever. People look back and say heavy metal is this. That’s what I think a lot of people are still going for is just plain metal where they can go there and have fun at.

I don’t have a clue myself. I’m just like whatever. They’ve blended all this music into one style and called it something. All I know is I don’t like it.

Yeah, exactly. A lot of people can walk the walk and talk the talk but they don’t actually walk the walk. Anybody these days can put out a CD and record music but where a lot of people lack off is that they say “well, I don’t want to go out there and perform. I want you to listen to the lyrics of my songs and it’s about I broke up with my girlfriend or whatever and this is what she did to me.” Well, nobody gives a fuck. If you want to read the lyrics and it’s about something entertaining that’s fine but the music should be able to carry itself without having to know what you’re talking about.

Yeah, you can forget your problems and go there and have a couple of beers and just forget everything for a couple of hours. You get absorbed in what’s going on and then go back to the news when you get home or whatever.

Yeah, we’re very much like Testament when it comes to our sound I think. It’s not my design. That’s just basically what all the band members grew up with and that’s what we like. Making that kind of music isn’t something we try to do, it’s just what’s there. Which you’ll notice most of the songs seem to be the same kind of feeling except if my bass player Chris, if he wrote a couple of the songs, usually they’ll have a little bit of a different feel to them because he comes from a different mindset almost. The majority of the material that is written by me is a running theme. It always has that old school Testament kind of sound.

If you say “we sound like nobody and we’re totally unique” then nobody is going to go see you because I like this, this, and this. I don’t want totally unique. “We’re a cross between this and that.” Well, it’s okay to single out people that aren’t going to like your music as well as it is finding people who do like it. It’s perfectly fine to say “hey, if you like Britney Spears you’re going to hate us.” That person is going to be like “well, I hate Britney Spears too so I’m going to like you guys.” We’re not for everybody just like Britney Spears isn’t for everybody. Once you find your market, everybody has a group of bands that all sound similar. You listen to some Iced Earth and you think it sounds like Priest just because you’ve got Ripper Owens singing. You’re not going to come out with something that’s totally different. Like you said, it’s done. Music has been around for however long and coming up with something original unless you want to play some new instrument or something, invent some new instrument that you’re going to play that makes it unique.

Yeah, exactly. You could come up with something totally unique but don’t plan on going anywhere. You’ve got to have an audience. The whole point with that is, when grunge came out the bands were still releasing albums but there was no audience for it. You almost have to pick your timing to get it at the right time in order to be somewhat successful. Releasing a glam album today or in the 90’s isn’t going to get you anywhere because there’s no market. Yeah, you’re going to sell some copies to the glam fans but technically no radio station is going to touch you and nobody’s going to do anything because you’re not in demand.

The U.S. scene is really kind of a downer. We get a lot of good stuff out of Germany and Poland and the U.K. It’s amazing how different it is over there compared to here as far as how the business is.

Exactly, yeah. It’s kind of refreshing in a way. The scene around here and in California especially, it’s a go nowhere scene. You can jump back and forth from the Whisky to some other club and play those 100 times with the same 50 people going back and forth but it doesn’t mean anything.

Yeah, I know. It’s because they flip flop so much.

Basically most of my lyrics are about the dark side of reality. For the most part, like “Dark Ritual” for instance is basically written about the Aztecs doing human sacrifices. When you look at the lyrics of that, you’ll see that there’s a theme to it where it’s talking about that whole time when the kings would get to eat people’s hearts. It’s something that royalty got. “Voices In The Dark” is basically about what that spoken word thing talked about. It’s about the people who believe in God so they figure they can go out and treat you like a total piece of shit and all this is going to be forgiven. That’s what the actual song “Voices In The Dark” is about.

Yeah, it’s just crazy. But if you’re not one of them then they’ll let you know it too.

Yeah, and even “Lead The Blind”, that song is just really an anti-religion song because basically all religion is that I’ve seen and I don’t have a problem with religion. If you want to believe and do that stuff, that’s fine. But there is so much threat and fear.

That’s really nice. If you don’t believe in God he’s going to come back to earth some day and kill you. Boy, that sounds like a nice guy.

Yeah, there are a lot of things that’s weird about that. The fact that churches send people throughout the world to tell them that their god is lousy and they’ve got to believe in ours. I don’t know. It seems to me like it’s pretty pigheaded. The whole thing of love thy neighbor. Well, not really. You only love thy neighbor if thy neighbor is the same religion as you. If they’re a Mormon and you’re a Christian, then that guy is a heathen anyway. It’s so convoluted that it’s just ridiculous and that’s what a lot of the stuff is about that’s on there. “Lead The Blind” is especially about that. “Make Me Suffer” I just wrote about some guy who likes bondage. That’s where the whole theme of that comes from. “Infected” is about a guy who likes to go pick up hookers and gets a disease from it. It’s all reality stuff but just the more twisted, darker side of things that could really happen.

Yeah, I wrote that. One day I was messing around and came up with a basic riff for it and basically just ran with it. I wanted to have some kind of instrumental thing because we usually end our set with that. We wanted to have something that was like an instrumental to highlight that but not make it so long that people get bored. If you start breaking five minutes with an instrumental, people are going to fall asleep or change the channel. You’ve got to come out and hit them hard in the head and then be done with it. I write probably 90 percent of the lyrics or I usually like to write all of them just because if I’m going to sing it then I want to be able to structure it the way I want to structure it. “Sweet Sound Of Corruption” was written by our bass player and so was “F.F.P.” which he sings “F.F.P.” I don’t sing “F.F.P.” He does all the vocals on that so it’s okay that he wrote it because he can sing whatever he wants. Most of the time, once I get a theme in my head it’s pretty easy to crank out the lyrics for it.

Yeah, human beings are so deranged that you’ll never run out of material. Every time you just look around at how people are acting or what’s on the news and you can come up with 10 song ideas just from the dementedness and the destruction that we do to each other on a daily basis.

Yeah, right back in the game because people forgot about him so he’s back at the game. It’s been long enough. People don’t know the scandal anymore. Go back and do it again and make another couple million.

He’s back again. Back for more. The problem is though, look how many people fall for it and give him money.

Oh, shit. It’s just craziness. They think they’ll get a seat on the bus if they donate money to this moron. Yeah, it comes down to human weakness. It shows the weakness of humans that we have to have some person to latch on to, to make our lives complete.

Yeah, he’s talking about if we sign up with this label out of San Francisco which is good because it’s in the Bay area, so it’s an extreme metal label and international distribution. The problem with signing with some labels is that if they’re not a metal label then they don’t know really what to do with you. You get left in the dirt because nobody knows how to market you so it’s always nice to go with a label that’s in your genre so that they actually have an idea how to push you and promote you and where to play and all that stuff as opposed to “well, you guys sound good but we normally sign hip-hop acts and I don’t know where to put you.” Then you end up losing because they don’t promote you.

Yeah, you’re either an expert in a certain field or you’re not. I wouldn’t know the first place to play if I was in a hip-hop band. I wouldn’t have any idea even how to market it or anything. That’s what’s nice about the label that we’re talking with. He’s a metal only label so it makes it a relief to know that if he puts on a tour with his acts you’re not going to be mismatched. You won’t be out there playing with some country star. It’s a nice thing there. As soon as I get word from him what’s going on, we’ll probably book a show up in Oakland right around the middle of August and obviously we do want to get out and hit a lot of other states but it’s just a matter of getting the venues. Having someone who will do the booking for you because I’ve talked with many booking agents and they seem to not want to call you back or shine you on. I don’t understand how these people call themselves booking agents when they don’t actually do their jobs.

Yeah, I had emailed probably 10 or 15 agents, like management companies and booking agents in one day, and I never got one response back from any of them. It’s typical. People again, “hey I’m a booking agent.” Well, not really because you don’t want to work. You want me to book all the shows and give you a cut. I don’t know what the hell they’re doing. A lot of it in the music business is really funky when it comes to that. All these people around saying that they’re something that when you try to say “okay great, why don’t you hook up with us and book our shows. Take a percentage.” All of a sudden the phone never rings.

Yeah, I don’t know. I guess I think backwards. We had one management company say we were too big for them. That seems stupid to me because as a booking agent or a production company, wouldn’t you be thinking “wow, if we can get a bigger act on our bill then it’ll help our company grow.” It’s almost like “no, you’re too big for us.” It’s like okay, good thing that Sears never said they don’t want furniture. It would make them too big. Make them too much money. That’s just backwards to me. Why do you want to take the nobody and try to make them something when you can take somebody who’s already done the legwork and just take money from them. I don’t know. It’s backwards.

Yeah, I don’t know. The business is very frustrating when you’re doing a lot of it yourself which I do. I do the majority of it. The promotion and the booking and stuff. There’s just a lot of people out there who say “hey, we want bands to come play our club.” You send them e-mails about playing there and they never get back to you. I guess they really don’t want bands to play their clubs. Whatever. That’s why I think finding a good booking agent that actually follows through and books the shows would be just an easy way to go as far as not just me having to do everything. At least one part of me you can hand off and say “here, you book the shows and we’ll tour and play them.” It’s easier said than done.

Yeah, but it hasn’t been bad. We’ve been getting a lot of good shows and a lot of good response from both the U.S. and Europe and the U.K. and everywhere else as far as Internet radio play and pod cast. Hard work does pay off. You just definitely have to put in the hours to get it done.

Yeah, the hard work pays off and again keeping in touch with all of the people that you’ve hooked up with is another big thing that you’ve got to do. You have to stay on the tip of everyone’s mind because it’s no use making a connection and then letting it fall apart. That way you’re assuming that you’re never going to have the need for this person again. Well, if you ever plan on putting out another album or maybe a music video or you’ve got a show in the area you want help promoting, there are so many things that every connection you make is like gold. I think a lot of people figure that if they send out 50 e-mails, that’s all they ever have to do. Just remember me because I’m bitching or something. I don’t know.

No, just keep an eye on www.attackhead.com until we put up updates and we’re supposed to be shooting a music video here real soon for “Wasted Life”. As soon as that’s out we’ll get the word out for that and you can go onto www.attackhead.com and sign up for the mailing list which if you just put your e-mail on there, I’ll send you updates on what we’re doing. Then there’s another one called the Riot Squad which is kind of like a fan club and if people sign up for that which is in the same area on the main page on the website down at the bottom, you put your mailing address on there as well as your e-mail and we actually send you an autographed 8X10 photo and a sticker and our goal is eventually to make it so that Riot Squad members get certain deals on merchandise and all that stuff. We’re just building up the fan club there so that they get rewarded when they’re in the Riot Squad.

I hope to get out there and play too. It seems like there’s a good metal scene there. We’ll make it a priority to get out there. It’ll be nice if we get out there before the end of the year.

We have got very positive feedback. People who are into thrash really like what we have to offer and, like you, usually think we have an 80’s feel and sound. Here is a nice quote from Twisted Hillbilly Magazine here in the States.

How long has the band been around and how would you describe attackhead's music?
We formed in 2002 and I would describe our music as old school thrash. We are very much in the vein of Slayer, Testament, Megadeth with some Maiden style riffs thrown in.

Can you tell us about the label the band got signed to Twisted Hillbilly.
Absolutely. Twisted Hillbilly Records is located in Knoxville, Tennessee. The label has around a dozen bands on it now and has just built a new recording studio in Tennessee with all the latest and greatest equipment. You can check out www.twistedhillbillyrecords.com for more info on the label.

The label is also a zine right.
Yes they are. It is a printed magazine called Twisted Hillbilly Magazine and they have a lot of interviews with national acts as well as local talent. Oh and don't forget the awesome Hillbetty photo shoots!

How did the band end up on the Twisted Hillbilly roster.
Well the owner of the magazine and label, we call him Hillbilly Moe, heard our music from our "Voices In The Dark" CD and dug the tunes. He wrote a brief review on the music and we started talking. We both agreed that Attackhead would be a good fit with Twisted Hillbilly Records and the rest is history.

I received one of your CDs in the mail and I got to say it's not death or thrash but it's heavy enough to attract both thrash or death metal heads.
That is always a good mix of people to attract. Our sound is more reminiscent of old school thrash than today's thrash metal. I think you will find the new CD we are recording with Twisted Hillbilly will be much more brutal. It is the same songs except for one but the original CD was the best that I could afford not the best it could be. A lot of corners were cut and sacrifices made in the name of a small budget but the new CD will not have those problems.

When the band first got together what were you looking for as far as musicians and personality when you started Attackhead.
Mostly people who were committed and not flaky. We have been through our fair share of members just like every other band but I think we finally got a good mix now. Obviously ability is important and if you don't get along with each other you might as well find someone new now as you will not be able to stand them once you spend more time with them.

Name some of the band influences at the time of the bands formation.
Our influences are Testament, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Anthrax, BLS, Judas Priest, Tony Mc Alpine, just to name a few.

Describe the Southern California metal scene and how much the scene has been helpful and supportive of the band?
Well the So Cal scene is pretty diverse. We don't do the pay to play thing but there are plenty of clubs that you can play at that don't charge the band an arm and a leg to be in their club. Lately we have been doing mostly military shows and that has been a lot of fun. I would not say the scene in So Cal is helpful at all. It is pretty much dog eat dog just like everything else in the music business.

Name some of the bands to watch out for coming out of the San Bernardino area.
I can't really help you there. We do a lot of shows by ourselves and haven't really been pared with anyone worth bragging about.

Is it hard to get shows or open up for an national act these days.
It is difficult to open for a national act. It seems like it is more about who you know than anything else. It helps to get good radio airplay and publicity so you are not a total unknown but it is still a challenge. We really don't have a problem getting shows when we want them. We have been around long enough to know where to look when we want to play a certain area.

What has been the feedback so far on your music?
We have had a lot of very positive reviews and feedback from all over the world. I think the new CD will create even more positive reviews and we are really looking forward to it release hopefully this Summer.

Is the band planning on doing shows outside of California in the near future?
We have done several shows outside California already, mostly in Las Vegas. We have a show coming up on April 30th at the Marine base in Yuma, AZ and will be looking at possibly getting over to Texas in the near future. I think we may even do a show in Tennessee in April when we are there to record our CD.

When is the band putting out new material?
We will be in Tennessee from April 13th to April 19th to record our new CD. I believe the title will be "Voices In The Dark - Redux" so people know it is the same material but redone. It will have all new artwork and will be distributed worldwide in major stores this summer. We have a 3 year deal with Twisted Hillbilly and already have enough material for an all new CD but we are going to wait until early next year to record that CD. We want the new "Voices" CD to get enough saturation with the public before we put out another disc.

Thanks for your taking the time to do the interview, anything you like to say to the Attackheadbangers out there?
Thank you all for your support. We really do appreciate it. If you get a chance go to www.attackhead.com to check out videos, photos, upcoming shows and other cool stuff or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/attackhead. We also have a Twitter page at www.twitter.com/attackhead

Paul Lewis
as posted on
www.brutalism.com

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