| Daphne:
The first question is of course: Can you introduce Biogenesis to us? What kind of metal is
it and how did you guys start?
Chaz: Style? Our
style is artistic diversity. We wish to never be limited to one sound. Take Deliverance,
Fear Factory, Queensryche, Soilwork, Iced Earth, Death and a touch of Cannibal Corpse with
killer ballads thrown in the mix, and then you get Biogenesis. I founded the band in 1996
but it didn’t really start to form until early 97. Several line up changes came and
went until we signed our first record deal with Rowe Productions in March of 2000.
mpomusic: You're
back again. What actually happened after Rowe decided to take their company to Australia
again?
Chaz: We had
decided even before that happened that it was time to move on. The people of Rowe
productions are fabulous and God bless them. But to be frank we thought we deserved more
than what they could offer us. We looked briefly into Metal Blade records and Indie Dream
and then we accepted an offer from S.Media. S. Media is a brand new label owned by Jimmy
P. Brown from Deliverance. The label will target the secular market and our new album will
be out in regular stores at least throughout America. After Rowe returned to Australia we
lost our drummer and our bass player. Times were very difficult. But James (guitarist) and
I were determined to keep it alive. After a long search we finally became a full band
again. Now we have two guitarists in James Riggs and Blaine Gordon, Randy Walton has
returned on Bass and we have a new AMAZING drummer in Matt Rivera.
Flex187:
Greetings!!! I never heard of your band so, well, I'd like to ask a couple of questions
but uhm... well, sounds stupid but do you guys have a website with a couple of mp3's and
other information so I know what to ask?
Chaz: mp3.com has
some material from our first album.
Daphne: I heard
you guys are working on a new album lately. What's to be expected and how different/alike
will it be compared to your first album "The Mark Bleeds Through"?
Chaz: Our new
album will be called "Peace, Love and Hypocrisy". The main difference I would
say is that the new record is more intense and a little bit heavier than the first album.
As far as the similarities, well we are still blending emotions and styles to continue to
sound like Biogenesis instead of a cardboard copy of some popular band. You will hear
extremely heavy adventures with unexpected melodic breakdowns that can bring a person to
tears. All I can say is diversity, diversity. That’s what we are all about and we are
like a movie that keeps you guessing until the end.
AndreJC: The title
"Peace, Love and Hypocrisy" sounds cool to me. Chaz, somewhere here I did read
you write the (most of the) lyrics. How did you come to this title?
Chaz: Actually
I’m the only lyricist in the band. I chose the title because of a lot of personal
things that happened with the band over the past two years or so. It’s about
Christians who sin (we all do) and point fingers and condemn others for falling. It’s
also about Christians who hate. Since when did the God of great mercy and forgiveness give
us the right to hate?
Daphne: How far
does your vocal gymnastics go? And did you have singing lessons, now or in the past or
whatever?
Chaz: I can go
higher than C and lower than the first album. The first record does not show my natural
range because of the low tuning. Yep I sang in the school choir and later studied with an
opera instructor.
Exo: Chaz, you've
said in the past that a good number of harmony guitar parts were cut from the original
recordings by the producer, and that the band was not entirely happy with the end product.
Who owns the masters? The band? Rowe? The studio? What are the chances of possibly
re-mixing and re-mastering TMBT, should this be a viable option?
Also, you've
mentioned that James surprised you by tuning down so low to record his parts, and you
didn't have time to adjust to it.... have you thought about ever re-recording any of the
older material in a more natural key for your singing voice?
Chaz: We bought
out the rights from Rowe but we actually recorded the record twice. The label rejected the
first one because they wanted a better production. We just look back at the whole thing
like a learning experience. I don’t think any of us really want to go through that
record again. We will concentrate our (fixing) methods on future releases if you know what
I mean. I’m sure that lots of bands have things that make them cringe about their
first album. However I have a live album for the future in the back of my mind and that
would be a good time to hear the better versions of some of those songs.
Stelers: Is the
recording completed yet for the new album? How does it compare to the first?
Chaz: Actually we
should be starting any time now. This album is heavier. More groove oriented; a lot of
heavy vocals but in a better range than TMBT. Still very diverse, still very Biogenesis.
Unclewileyco:
What’s it like to work with Jimmy P. Brown?
Chaz: I started
listening to Deliverance when I was 15. Deliverance still is one of my favourite bands of
all times so working with him now it goes without saying. It’s a dream come true for
me to have one of my favourite vocalists of all time producing my voice and one of my
favourite guitarist of all time producing our guitars and being Jimmy’s friend is
awesome.
SzanD0rz: I have
one of your songs and I like the song very much! Keep on this work and are you going to
have a concert in Holland sometimes?
Chaz: I tell you
what. If any promoter wishes to bring us to Holland we will be there! I would love to play
there!
Daphne: One of the
most remarkable things about Biogenesis, beside the music, are the lyrics. Chaz, I suppose
you wrote them for The Mark Bleeds Through, they are confronting and subjects which are
very much of this time, like atheism, abortion and so on. How did you get inspired to
write lyrics like these?
Chaz: I take a
look around me and I can’t help myself. I feel that somebody has to stand up for the
truth even when the truth hurts so why not me? I realize that some people will be offended
but M. Manson is offensive to me and does he care? I look at it as freedom of speech. When
it comes to TMBT I once nearly fell into atheism and lost my faith. I got to see what it
felt like to not know what to believe and you know what? I felt worthless and everything I
had ever achieved or loved became worthless. That would be the case if we are just an
accident. I felt that Atheism is on the rise and I didn’t think that Christians were
doing enough to combat the issue. This is also the reason for our name. Biogenesis
"Life only comes from pre-existing life". For this to be true someone had to
create us to begin the circle of life.
Neil D Lister
Edge: You guys got a new drummer, who is he, where'd he come from, how'd you hook up with
him, did you know him previously etc.
Chaz: New drummers
name is Matt Rivera. He lives in Columus Ohio about an hour and a half away from us. We
hooked up with him by chance. I was discussing by telephone with an unsigned band that
wanted my advice about striking a deal. I was telling them that we were struggling to find
a drummer who could play our material and the guy said, "Hey my brother is the best
drummer I’ve ever seen". So of course I wanted to hear him play. He came down
for a try out and our mouths dropped to the floor so hard it took us a week to pick them
back up. Matt is an awesome blessing to this band in every way. In fact I’ll let him
introduce himself because he will be joining us in here soon.
Matt: Hello
everyone this is Matt, bio's new drummer. Just now finally getting to this interview.
Yeah, like what Chaz said, we met through my brother, who is currently working on a
black/death metal project with his wife. I've been playing the drums for about 7 years now
and I never plan to stop either. I never actually knew bio until Chaz called me and asked
me to play for them, but I did see them in concert about 2.5 years ago with Extol in
Dayton. Other than that I have never known of Biogenesis until I joined them.
Daphne: Can you
tell something about you and the other band members? Their names, instruments, where they
come from, hobbies etc.
Blaine: Hello
everyone, my name is Blaine Gordon. I am 16 years old and I am from a place called Dayton
located in southern Ohio in the US. I play rhythm guitar for Biogenesis. I play a B.C.
Rich platinum Warlock guitar and I play though crate amps for the time being until I get
rid of them. Mine are about what any 16 year olds should be. I like riding Dirt bikes,
skateboarding, drawing, MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!, hanging out with friends and biogenesis. Well
this about sums it up. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
Matt: I live all
the way in Gahanna, suburb of Columbus, but I don't mind driving to Dayton for practice
usually. I'm 19 and have been playing the drums for about 7 years now. I'm one of those
rare left-handed drummers. I play a nice red Pearl Export series drumset. It is a 7 piece.
It's only got one bass drum, but I use Tama Iron Cobra double bass pedals and hi-hat as
well. I have a mix of cymbal brands, but I think that I like Paiste the best. I've got a
Zildjian China-Trash 22inch I think, Zildjian A Custom crash 16 inch, Zildjian Z Custom
rock crash 16 inch, Sabian B8Ride 22inch I think, Sabian HHX Evolution Series O-Zone crash
16 inch (it's got holes in it), Paiste Signature series full crash 18 inch, Paiste Alfa
power hi-hats 15 inch I think, and I just bought a cheap Wuhan 12 inch china. I mostly
have Pearl hardware, and I use exclusively ProMark Japanese 747b nylon tip drumsticks. I
work full time for my dad's construction business. My main hobby is music, music, and
music, making it as well as listening to it. I love music. I love all kinds of heavy
metal, as well as industrial, techno, rock, old school rock, classical, and some country.
Tourniquet is my favorite band and my main influence. I also do woodworking, I like
hiking, riding my bike, rollerblading, skateboarding, indoor rock climbing, hanging with
friends, sleeping, eating (I’m not fat though). I am on the youth leadership team at
my church for the youth group, and I play drums there every Wednesday for the praise band.
My favorite thing to do most of all is being with the love of my life of 4 and a half
years so far, Noelle. We met in high school and have been together since 10th grade. We
plan on getting married sometime; we just need to get engaged first. So, all that is
pretty much me.
Chaz: James and
Randy just left for Las Vegas so they will not be able to participate unfortunately.
Guitarist James
Riggs-James is an amazing guitar player and he holds band seniority (not age) over
everyone in the band but me. James enjoys spending time with his family. Wife, Shanna,
sons Jamie and Tylor and daughters Kaytla and Kelly. Yeah that’s a lot! James plays
his guitar every single day of his life. He likes to collect CDs, play video games and has
taken lessons in the martial arts.
Bassist Randy
Walton-Randy too is very talented. He enjoys spending time with his wife Karen and son
Tony as well as his daughter Tarra. Randy is an accomplished dirt bike racer and also
loves to race remote control cars.
Me - My name is
Chaz Bond and I am the vocalist. I am a Martial arts instructor. I have studied Ninjutsu
since I was 4 years old. I enjoy spending time with my wife Beth and our two children who
are actually ferrets. I enjoy taking late night walks while listening to some of my
favorite music.
Daphne: And what
would your favorite music be, Chaz?
Chaz: Right now
I’ve been listening to Iced Earth and Soilwork a lot. I’ll always be a big
Deliverance fan. I like heavy music but to me nothing beats melodic music because it has
the power to speak to your soul and is a universal language.
Exo: With Blaine
being 16 and a minor, how do you expect that to impact Biogenesis from a live aspect? Can
you still go out and play the bar shows you used to? What about recording the new album?
Last I'd heard, the band was thinking of heading out to Vegas to record...Has that
changed? Is Blaine going to be involved in the recording, or will James handle all the
parts? What about touring? Will you be limited to summer tours for awhile due to schooling
and such?
Matt: Right now
the fact that Blaine is only 16 doesn't have any affect on us at all. We have played 2
shows so far, both at clubs, and there was no problem at all. He gets in no problem
because he is in the band. I'm not sure about recording; you will have to wait for Chaz or
James to answer that. We don't have a tour scheduled right now, buy there are a few shows
for this summer so far, plus we have some prospects for the fall as well. We aren't really
sure what our touring will be like so far, so we aren't really concerned about Blaine
being in school. I think that it is awesome that Blaine is in Biogenesis. For one thing, I
am only 19 so it is nice to have another teenager in with me, no offence to the other
guys, you know what I mean. Also, Blaine is an incredibly awesome guitarist. He can play
all the parts awesome, and has helped write some awesome new parts for Peace Love and
Hypocrisy as well. He brings a great sense of humor to the band, and is a great friend.
Blaine: Yes I am a
minor but that should not cause a problem. I live with my parents BUT! They support
everything that I do 100 percent. The schooling thing, that is very important but there
are plenty of other alternatives such as home schooling etc. And so far this has had no
effect on biogenesis playing out. And I look forward to the upcoming shows.
Neil D Lister
Edge: You guys seemed to get involved with Rowe Productions at what appeared from the fans
perspective an unstable time. Do you feel you were treated all right or do you feel (like
I kinda felt) that you got back burned and that TMBT was not marketed and distributed like
it should have been?
Chaz: Absolutely.
It was a terrible time as far as Distribution. I can’t say we were thrown on the back
burner by the label because they really wanted to push us because they thought that they
could sell us quite well with good marketing. But we had just finished our album and their
distribution company dropped them because previous Rowe releases were not selling. After
that they did what little they could on the internet and it was enough to start a
following but believe me we are ready for so much more.
mpomusic: At some
point your old website disappeared as well. How come?
Chaz: Our bassist
who has now returned a year later left the band and with him went our rehearsal space, PA
and web site. We had a temporary site for a while and now we have Biogenesismusic.com
Wigeon: Was Rowe
responsible for the different sound on TMBT? Like the omission of the acoustic
intros/outros, some leads, and the down-tuned guitars and such? Or did the band decide to
scrap some of that stuff as well?
Chaz: They made us
remove Beans and Cornbread but all the other stuff was the producer.
Oldpath: What is
the state of the Midwestern/Ohio Extreme Metal Scene?
Chaz: If I
understand your question correctly you are asking what is the metal scene like where we
live? If not, hit me on the head and I’ll answer your question correctly. The Metal
scene is OK here. It’s not fantastic. Mostly alternative, Punk and Nu Metal but we
are actually quite popular here.
mpomusic: What
about a band like Antithesis? I think Biogenesis may have played with them... And what
about Jacobs Dream? Mortal Immunity. Aren't they all from Ohio? At least I thought so!
Chaz: Yeah, those
bands are from here and we are close friends with Jacobs Dream but sadly they are not very
well known in there own home town. Metal for the most part is pretty underground in Ohio.
There are however some good bands here such as the ones you mentioned.
mpomusic: Do you
know the other bands I mentioned?
Chaz: We’ve
met them both yes.
Wigeon:
Seems like the home state of the Rock N Roll Hall of fame would have a pretty
good metal scene. But I guess it's mostly just Rock N Roll, eh?
Chaz: Precisely.
Disembodied: What
was it like having Shannon in the band? Why was he only in for such a short time? Was he a
good drummer?
Chaz: What was it
like? It was like hanging out on the road mostly with a lot of Blue Moo Cookie dough ice
cream and Melo Yello soda with Metal CDs. James and I really enjoyed his company. He was
fun to be around and we had some really good laughs that were greatly needed at that time.
It was a really
bad time for us then. We had just released our drummer and as soon as Shannon arrived here
our bassist left the band. When he left our PA and rehearsal space went with him. Here we
were with Shannon staying with my wife and I and the band had no place to rehearse. During
that time I was still hurting over the loss of Nevin (First drummer) because I wasn’t
totally for getting rid of him in the first place and I was feeling really bad about it
because Nevin and I were so close. Well Nevin started begging for his position back and
that only made it worse. Shannon was trapped in the middle of a lot of heartbreak and
trying times. After Shannon met Nevin he approached me about stepping down so Nevin could
return. It was the right thing for that time. Yes he was a very good and fast drummer.
Daphne: The front
cover of Peace, Love and Hypocrisy… Who created that? Would that be Rex?
Chaz: That is
correct. See if you can tell what it means.
Daphne: Would that
be the hand of God and a part of God's face, and that woman below, is that probably
Eve??????
Chaz:
Interesting observation Daph. But """X"""sorry you lose the
game. (Laughs) Here is the truth about the cover. The man in the corner represents a
religious leader who preaches the doctrine of peace and love but inside he struggles with
condemnation and points his finger when he sees others fall of track. The woman represents
his own hypocrisy. Representing the fact that we are ALL forgiven sinners and NO ONE has
the right to judge but God.
Jimmy: Chaz...If
you are the leader of Biogenesis, why then are you not in Las Vegas with your band
discussing plans about your new album???
Chaz: Wish I were.
Randy and James made the plans very quickly and both tickets were purchased by Randy (who
has a lot more money than any of us) and I was not offered one. Yep. I want to be there
more than anything right now!
Stelers: Jimmy
does not sound happy. Maybe he will use the aggression to make the album faster and
heavier.
Jimmy: This record
WILL be HEAVY as stink!!! You can COUNT ON THAT!!!
Chaz: Yep dude
although it was the best album Deliverance ever put out, this new Bio record is not River
Disturbance. This album is very HEAVY!!!!! Still very depressed I’m not in Vegas.
Stelers: Awesome!
Any idea when it will be released (rough date)?
Chaz: Hoping for a
summer release.
Trashcanman5: Do
you prefer Mello Yello over Sprite?
Chaz: The Mello
gets you Mello. Know what I mean?
Matt: I'd have to
say mellow yellow.
Deadsoullvomit: If
you were to cover a song-what would it be???
Chaz: Honestly I
would take the irony of covering "Land of Confusion" by Genesis and make it
really heavy and insane! The other guys would all have their own ideas for covers though.
I wouldn’t mind "Master of Puppets" by Metallica.
Stelers: What about a Deliverance cover?
There could not be a better time to do it with Jimmy producing it. Master would be insane
as well! That would definitely stir up a little controversy.
Chaz: Yeah but
Master is about drugs controlling people which is really no different than our song
"Fall Back". As for a D cover I would be all for it.
Exo: Well, if you
were to do a Metallica cover, I'd go fro Leper Messiah, as it fits with the theme of the
new album.... Seriously though, how realistic is it that you will record a cover? I know
when there was talk of a Christian Thrash tribute (I suggested covering Betrayal's
"As I turned Away”) over at CMR, you guys were ready to get on board....
Chaz: We seriously
considered doing "Land of Confusion" on this record but James dropped the ball
on it.
Daphne: Thank you
Biogenesis for taking the time to participate in this interview. That's really
appreciated!!! I want to thank everyone who took time to ask the questions as well.
Thanks again!
Chaz: I would like
to thank our friends Daph and mpomusic for holding this event! You guys are awesome! Thank
you to everyone who has participated! For those wishing to continue questions like these
go to our message board at pub59.ezboard.com/bbiogenesis |
