band - Head on Collision 10.2.07 interview w/Pat
BP: Hey Pat, what's going on man?
Pat: Been busy as hell with the band!!! I was in Milwaukee since
playing with Butchered last weekend mixing what will become our first
full length. I returned Saturday. We then loaded up the bus and headed
for Columbia, MO for what turned out to be an awesome show!!!
BP: Let's give a shot out to the other band members...
Pat: John Hancock-Lead Guitars...A non-stop hilarious dude. The more
alcohol, the more hilarious. The more we travel, the more truck stops
he gets banned from. When we're in tough situations from time to time,
John is the guy that keeps the blood pumping in the heart of H.O.C. A great friend. A "heads up" attitude.
Dave Carr-Bass/Vocals...Incredible person from top to bottom. He's become the glue that holds H.O.C. together. Also, hearing him laugh at John just makes it that much more of a hilarious situation. I trust Dave with my life.
Jason Brooks-Drums...He's the little brother I never had. I hang out with him almost daily. He's the first drummer I've ever played with that wasn't a flake and full of excuses. Nothing against any drummers out there! That's just been my luck!
We've been playing with this line-up for 16 months now. I can't explain the bond we have formed with each other. We are getting to be like family. We all have one goal, which is to make this band something we can all be extremely proud of.
BP: Give us a quick rundown of the band - how long you guys have been playing, genre, etc.
Pat: This band started sometime in early 2003. It's started with me and 2 band-mates from my former band, Very Metal. It wasn't something I considered very permanent at first. The guys I had played with weren't really that interested in doing alot. Also, they were more interested in playing Motorhead-like rock and roll/punk/metal. I was more interested in playing some intense Thrash Metal, something I had tried to do since the late 80's. It was always a struggle convincing them to go in the direction I had in mind, although at the same time, none of them contributed to the songwriting either. As time went on they became unbearable to work with. They would rather sit around and drink instead of playing music, when they actually didn't cancel practices. They'd also rather stay at home and barbeque or work on their lawns than play shows. I'm all for partying and having a life, but my main priority is and always has been the music.
John joined the band in late 2005, which was a breath of fresh air. It was a serious kick in the ass. John had a similar view as I did, which is play as often as possible and make it an enjoyable experience. I also had more in common with John's musical tastes than I did with the ex-members. Eventually we had to make a couple of replacements to work towards becoming who we are today. We needed to find a new bass player, drummer and vocalist. We had to work quickly, as we were booked to play Minneapolis Mayhem 3 with legendary thrash bands like Tankard, Hirax as well as Heavy Metal greats like Raven and Helstar. There were a couple newer bands that are currently making their mark as well, like Avenger of Blood and Merciless Death. This is when the lineup change happened. Just when it seemed like things were at their worst, John convinced me to keep my chin up and plunge forward with the attitude that things would work out, and they did.
Dave has been in metal, hardcore and punk bands since about the late 80's. He too had problems finding people on the same page as him. I had seen Dave perform in several bands over the last decade or so, and I always had an interest in him. He's a great bass player and has one hell of a stage presence. He was the first guy to join the band when we were replacing members. He joined us June 14th, 2006, just 8 days after the ex-members came and picked up their gear in an attempt to scare us into doing things their way.
I got a call one day from one of Jason's ex-band-mates telling me what a great drummer he was, and that I should contact him about playing with us. Jason was more than interested. He had seen us live a couple of times, and was very excited about playing our form of music. He was a quiet guy at first, but that has definitely changed since! He joined us on July 1st, 2006.
We searched and tried out several vocalists, but none of them were what we had in mind. Almost every vocalist we tried out would've been great for a death metal band, or a metal-core band, or even a Pantera cover band, but that's just not what we had in mind. By August 1st we made the decision that one of us would have to do it at least for the festival. Me and Dave split the vocal duties and it's been that way ever since.
As a full band we practiced 5 days a week for until we debuted at Minneapolis Mayhem 3 on August 26th, 2007. Jason and I practiced every single day. The result at MM3 was overwhelming. We made some great new friends, and the audience's tremendous positive response was overwhelming to say the least.
In the last years we've played a ton of shows and have begun venturing outside of St. Louis. We just signed a great deal with Beer City Records, home of D.R.I. Next year we'll be touring intensely throughout the country and maybe even Europe.
BP: I hear alot of Slayer in your music. Where they a big influence? Other influences?
Pat: Any band doing the style we do will likely be compared to Slayer, and if anyone denied their influence, they would be a liar. I love all the early Slayer stuff, all the way up to South Of Heaven. I am also a huge fan of Exodus. To be honest though, we're kind of influenced by the bands that Slayer originally influeced in the late mid/late 80's. Bands like Sodom, Razor, Sacrifice... Thrash Metal from all over the world to be honest. We're not limited to those influences though. Me and Dave came into the music scene during the crossover era, when liking punk and hardcore bands like D.R.I., The Exploited, Discharge, GBH, Agnostic Front, Battalion of Saints was OK. I also like punk from 77-82, as well as early 80's British Punk and Hardcore. I also love early 80's American Hardcore. We still listen to and love most aggressive 80's Thrash/Metal/Punk/Hardcore. Jason is the Death Metal/Grindcore fan in the band. Him and Dave also dig a healthy dose of Black Metal. Of course we all have individual likes and dislikes as well, and everybody brings their own twist to what we are doing.
BP: Tell us about the current St. Louis metal scene.
Pat-Lot's of really great bands popping up from every genre of underground music and metal these days. Here are some of my favorites...
Power Metal-Powers Court
Black Metal-Harkonin (killer), Warghoul
Death Metal-Perpetual Surgery, Cast of Stone
Crossover/Thrash/Hardcore-Cross Examination
...and last but not least, Whoppers Taste Good. My favorite St. Louis band of all time.
They've been going since about '86 and their brand of "Food Core Beer Metal" is some
of the best stuff around.
Of course I'm forgetting several other amazing bands that are going on here at the
moment. I could go on for hours.
The Club situation has been a bit weird here for a while. Not enough all ages venues
with decent PA systems. There are also some dishonest promoters in this town. That's
all in the process of changing though.
BP: Who have been some of your favorite bands to play with?
Pat: Tankard, Hirax, Avenger of Blood, Merciless Death, Cross Examination, Whopper's
Taste Good, The Humanoids, Power's Court, Harkonin, Warghoul, Destruction, Raven,
Holy Python, Animated Dead, Butchered... I know I'm forgetting tons more!!!
BP: You've got alot of dates coming up, including a tentative tour scheduled for December. Is
that right?
Pat: Yes, we are currently trying to book a tour out to the west coast and back for December. It's been tough, but things are coming together. We're basically going to start playing every city we can, whenever we can.
BP: What are some other areas you'd like to tour?
Pat: Anywhere! Anyone interested, get in touch!!!
BP: I read your Myspace blog about not doing the whole "pay to play" thing. Tell us about that and your reasons for not playing shows when you have to buy advance tickets.
Pat: Several reasons. The main one being is that most of those promoters doing that are having the bands playing do their promotional work for them. If they're not going to promote, then what's the point of them being involved in the first place? We can book and promote our own shows, and any other band can as well. No band should have to pay to play, or sell fucking tickets. The sooner the good bands stop playing this game, the sooner it goes away. It isn't the first time St. Louis has been infested with these scam artists, and I'm sure it won't be the last. The reason I posted that blog is because we started getting continuous messages and emails from these people after we started receiving local press. I guess they see opportunity, but if they can't get more than the usual people that come to see us at shows we book ourselves, we're not interested. What's the point? We might actually sell tickets if asked to open for a big name national touring act, but those are never the kind of shows that are offered. I'll just keep this one brief. Again, I could go on for hours...
BP: Got any albums out available for purchase?
Pat: Our debut full length, "Ritual Sacrifice," will debut on Beer City Records, home of D.R.I. and many other greats in late February. I was just in Milwaukee all week mixing the thing with engineer great, Bill Stace at Wall's Have Ears studio. The mix now just needs a little touch up before being mastered and released. We recorded 15 songs and we'll pick the 10 or 11 best ones for the album. The cover art is already finished. It was done by Joe Petagno who has done amazing stuff for bands like Motorhead, Marduk and tons of other great bands. Were completely satisfied with the results.
BP: What else does the future hold for HOC?
Pat: Touring and making new music. We love to play thrash metal and we love to meet new people. We want to be able to do it as much as possible.
BP: Ok, anything else you want to say to the fans out there?
Pat: Thanks to everyone who's ever bought a shirt, attended a show, emailed, messaged, called or just took the time to listen. We hope to be thrashing with you soon!!!
BP: Thanks so much for the interview Pat! You guys are awesome live and can't wait to see HOC again real soon!
Pat: We can't wait as well! Hopefully sooner than never!!! Horns up!!!
-Randy Mallett, BANNEDPROMOTIONS.com
( www.bannedpromotions.com/hocinterview )
