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Warbringer

Century Media

Warbringer is one of the bands that sets thrash metal back on the map. Their latest effort is an excellent follow-up of their debut, so enough reason to ask them some questions. Guitarist John Laux answered.

First of all, thanks for making time doing this interview. It has been quite a busy year for you promoting the new album and all the tours?
Thank you! Yes, everyday for the past year or so, if it`s not a gig it`s something else like promotion that needs to be done. We`re not complaining, we love it and feel honoured to have this much interest and opportunity.

The new album is received very well overall. That is something every band looks out for, isn`t it?
Yes, we`re very proud of the general response. It was a really stressful record because we only had 3 months to write and record it as we toured for 10 months straight on the debut and couldn`t write on the road. So after the Overkill dates we came home at the end of October and had studio time already booked in January and 4 months of straight dates booked from February through May so we knew we had to buckle down and write a great follow-up to “War Without End”. In the end I think we managed to create something very focused that we`re very proud of.

Compared to your debut, I have to say that you have grown as a band. The songwriting is stronger and I think that you as a band are more a collective due too all the tours you did. Can you agree with this?
Definitely. Having a better drummer, Nic Ritter, behind that kit made a big difference too. You can also learn a lot watching your heroes play every night as we`ve had the opportunity to do touring with so many great bands. One of my favourite bands to watch was Suffocation. They are all incredible players.

How would you compare the first album with the new one? And what can you tell me about the writing process of it? The first album is always easier to write then a second, where there is more pressure in time.
A lot of the music on the debut was written before we even knew we were going to sign to a label. We were just a garage band having fun. We had our whole lives to put the first record together. I look at it as everything we had accomplished before the point where we became a real touring act. The biggest thing that worried us about writing “Waking into Nightmares” was to make sure every song was good and that there was no filler. The sophomore slump is something that a lot of bands are worried about. I think we did the best work we could in that situation and just hope we`ll have more time to write the third time album.

In my review I made a comparison with the early Megadeth. I think that Warbringer is one of the bands that are able to balance the heaviest of rhythms with fast and melodic lead playing. Is that something you focus on? Or is it just a natural development?
Something we focus on is dynamics. We like to have a ton of different elements that are all metal as hell so the record doesn`t feel too repetitive. Thrash metal has a lot of room for all kinds of ideas. We`re trying to do something creative and original as possible with an old style of music that we feel is as relevant as anything out there today.

Compared to the other young thrash metal bands, I think that you are different, because I hear a slight death metal undertone. Is that correct? Are there death metal bands that have a direct influence on your sound?
There are a lot of interesting bands and influences that colour our sound! I think some bands set a glass ceiling, where for example they don`t want to sound any more modern than a thrash band from 1984. If that were the case for us, I would feel like there is no point in creating music. We just want to write fast, brutal music and we happen to have a strong connection to thrash metal. There`s plenty of death metal and black metal influences in our music whether they come out strong or they`re hidden in the melodies. I guess bands like Death, Obituary and Dissection are some of the most important influences for us. We`re also huge fans of the movement bands like Demolition Hammer made in the early `90s. They put out thrash records that sounded like they were recorded by a death metal band. Some of the heaviest music ever in my opinion!

Gary Holt produced the new album. Why did you choose him? In my opinion, Bill Metoyer did a fine job on you debut too. Wasn`t it a risk to get Gary, because a lot of people say that Exodus has influenced Warbringer and working with him would strengthen that opinion?
Honestly I don`t feel like we have the biggest Bay Area influence and I`m not top worried about that. We went with Gary because he was a friend from touring together and he was exactly the kind of producer we were looking for. He understands how a good thrash record should sound and he also understands how you should use modern recording practice to make the record louder and heavier. I feel like we became very close to finding that perfect balance on this record and it was awesome to get a chance to track guitars with Gary Holt! He wrote the book on thrash tones!

Right from the start you have been on the road with many bands like Suffocation, Exodus and Kreator for example. This must be a crazy experience going on the road with bands from that calibre. What have you learned from it?
We`ve learned a lot of things. My favourite part about it has been how most of these great fucking bands we have toured with are almost always really cool and really down earth guys who are happy to share what they have learned with us. We`ve been really fortunate as a new band to tour relentlessly. In the past year we`ve toured with Exodus, Goatwhore, Nile, Napalm Death, Suffocation, Sworn Enemy, All Shall Perish, Gama Bomb, Finntroll, Overkill, Soilwork, Darkane, Swallow the Sun, Kreator, Belphegor, Epicurean, Arsis, Suicide Silence and more and are looking forward to sharing the stage this year with Sacred Reich, Hatebreed, Testament, Obituary, Krisiun, Vader, Decrepit Birth and lots more.

The time of the festival season will start in a couple of weeks and you can be found on several of them like Graspop. Do you like to play on festivals like these? What do you do on such a festival? Are you interested in the other bands that play?
Are you kidding? We love it! We get to play a show for thousands of maniacs, then 2 hours later I`m sloshed watching Entombed, At The Gates or Carcass, or something crazy like Journey. I wish we had some festivals like that over in the States. We`ve got like a dozen of excellent festivals lined up this summer, including Graspop, With Full Force, Nummirock, Metalcamp, Fortarock, just to name a few.

You have seen a lot of the world in the last 2 years. Are there some wishes left?
Japan would be very interesting. We`d love to tour Australia and South America on this album as well. We plan to tour and support this album through summer 2010 and we need to get into those countries as well.

I don`t have any questions anymore. As always feel free to say something.
Thanks to all of our fans for the support! And thank you for a great interview!

Andre Groeneveld