METAL HELL: Whats going on?

HANK 3: Working on the new Pentagram album. Me & Bobby are hooking up & it looks like were gonna be releasing some songs. Hopefully well have them done by December. Weve still got some business shit to work out with Black Widow, but its still gonna happen. Were probably gonna do 3 old classics, 4 new ones & hes already got 3 others already recorded. Plead The Fifth is what itll be called. We were honored the other night to have Mr. Liebling come out & grace us with his presence on stage in D.C.  That was bad as fuckin hell & its one of the highlights going on right now man. Hes still got it. They never got the respect they deserve. He never sold out & never gave in & now its time for everybody to step up & show how they care, its time. But thats what Im doing right now, working on some mixing. Taking off the hangover from last night and getting ready to go do it all over again.

MH: That mustve been a kick ass show.

H3: Its like dreams coming true. It happens quickly & well have a damn good time. Its just like jamming with Phillip. Its a little different cause I havent known Bobby as long, so its a thrill man. Shit, I got to jam with the American Ozzy Osbourne. Were all still smiling about it & still watching all the videos & having fun with it & getting ready to be creative. This is only a possibility but I might have Matt Pike from High On Fire involved & maybe Jeff, the bass player from Zeke. I might have him come in for the 3 old Pentagram songs that were gonna do. Were gonna get together & have some fun & do it to it. Thats one of the projects, Ive got another project with Phillip Anselmo, whos on guitar, Mike Williams from Eyehategod is on vocals, Im playing drums & a kid named Collins is on bass & thats a project called Arson Anthem thats hopefully gonna be coming out by February. It aint no big production or nothing like that, its pretty raw. It might sound a little bit like Poison Idea, straight out of 1982 to 1986 is kind of what it sounds like. Ive been doing that. Weve got at least got 8 songs recorded on that. It has a little Discharge, it might have a little bit of old Misfits influence, definitely a little bit of Black Flag here & there with the way some of the guitar bends are but all I can say is it aint no big production. Its raw & were just having fun and setting up in the jam room & letting it go down.

MH: Whats the ideal recording process for you?

H3: It goes back to having fun & bringing in my little recorder & setting it up by the drum kit and keeping all the money & all the business & all the bullshit out of it. The way we recorded Arson Anthem was very punk rock, opposed to the way that I record, on layering everything & getting it sounding thicker but its on Housecore Records, thats Phillips label. Thats what were doing. Were doing it ourselves, Housecore style. Were recording in the garage & then in the house.

 It is what it is & I do my best turning the knobs or whatever. But for that project its very raw & well see whats up. Im gonna mix it one more time with Phillip & then were gonna call it quits & turn it in officially.

MH: It sucks when albums are too pro-tooled & they lose the sound of a real band.

H3: You wont have that problem, I promise. Its not even gonna see pro tools at all. Everything was recorded live in the jam room except the vocals & a couple of guitar over dubs & thats it.

MH: How does it feel to jam with Phil again?

H3: Its awesome. I met him for the first time when I was 15 years old over a drum kit. He used to come to our Buzzkill shows back in the day & its always been an honor. Hes been a hero & a friend of mine. Ive been lucky enough to play bass in a band with him & play drums in a band with him. Theres no telling what the future holds for us. Weve definitely got some more work coming up. Im always very thankful to have the friends that I have; all the New Orleans crew, Eyehategod, Mike Williams, Jimmy Bower, all the Goatwhore guys, Soilent Green & Dax from Acid Bath. Slayer never would come to Nashville so we always had the New Orleans blood coming up in there. Ive been thankful for every band, from the slow to the fast & being able to know them.

MH: Do you think anything will happen with Superjoint in the future?

H3: Thats a hard call, maybe one day. I know youre gonna see Down before youre gonna see Superjoint. Theyre already in the process of working on the new Down record. I dont know whats gonna happen with Superjoint. As of right now, thats the last thing on his mind. But youre getting ready to see Christ Inversion. Hes opening up Housecore Records & all this shit that people havent been able to get a hold of is getting ready to come out. There will be a lot more Anselmo shit coming. Its getting ready to happen.

MH: What originally inspired you to do country in the style of the old-outlaw stuff?

H3: Mainly cause A: I write songs for myself. I dont write them for companies or radio or shit like that & B: we are the true black sheep out of the Bible belt. It aint Kenny Chesney or Toby Keith or any of that bullshit. Were the true rebels out there that have a unique sound. Theres a bunch of kids that love David Allen Coe & Slayer & Pantera & Im helping to bring em together a little bit. Were honored enough to have them come to our shows & to be open-minded & check out the whole thing. Ive always been into the heavy shit and dark shit & that comes through more-so on the Straight To Hell record. With each country record Ive done its been a little bit of a fight with the business but weve finally been able to get more about what we are out there. Im getting ready to go do it all over again man. Its time to start getting creative with the knobs.

MH: Did real life stuff inspire most of the lyrics on Straight To Hell?

H3: Pretty much, a lot of it is. I might bend the rules on a couple of things but shit, Ive been on the road already for almost 18 years, living in the bars & seeing the heathens & the crazy shit & the drama.

  Most of it is either talking about somebody I know or myself. Or I might write a song like Louisiana Stripes & push the envelope a little bit, talking about shooting somebody in the head. But then the songs about doing time in prison & making good friends. I might paint a little bit of a different kind of picture sometimes but most of its from the gut.

MH: Like the D. Ray White song, the tribute.

H3: Yeah, I went to Boone County & Ive stayed in the trailers with the Whites & got to know the family. We just had Jesco & Mamie out like a week ago. All that is true shit thats been part of my life for a long time. They go back deep with me & they know it. Ive been honored to get to know them.

MH: Were those your personal photos in the CD cover?

H3: Yeah, thats when I went up there & recorded Jesco dancing & walked in hearing the whole family already singing the song & everything. I got to meet the Miracle Woman a couple times. Theyre some of the true outlaws. They dont even try & they are, its in their blood. Its been an intense relationship knowing those folks.

MH: Did you instinctively feel closer to the stuff Hank Williams Senior did growing up?

H3: It took me a little bit. I was into heavy stuff first. The heavier it was, the darker it was, the crazier it was the more I was into it. After my first heartbreak Country set in a little more. Then I was respecting the songwriting aspects of it & shit like that. I was raised around Cash, Waylon, Johnny Paycheck, David Allen Coe, Willie & George Jones, all the real outlaws. I got to know em & see em pass on & thankfully Ive been in touch with that a good bit so its just one of those things. Thats why I do both. I aint the best at one. I couldve taken the easy way but Ive always been about the hard road or the underground or doing it different and not going with the flow.

MH: Country has gotten really commercial lately.

H3: Yeah man, its awful. I havent even turned on a country radio station or looked at CMT or GAC or any of that shit in years. Its bullshit. And also with metal! There aint no god damn metal channels man! I mean its sickening! Jack Osbourne should be starting up his own fucking metal channel & playing shit from the 70s on. From stoner rock to heavy metal to death metal to black metal, that is a shame that there is not that niche out there. Hopefully soon itll come back. But I do know thats something that pisses me off, & Im not even around the TV that much. But Ive been saying that shit for years, cause Ive watched it get more & more killed or whatever. The kids in black, were the certain few & its time to get some more respect out there.

 Its 2006 & Weve Got Worse Issues To Worry About Than A Little Bit Of Grass

MH: The Up In Smoke cover was cool, are you a big Cheech & Chong fan?

H3: Of course, Ive always been. Its just like tobacco. It grows out of the earth. Its never gonna go away. The governments never gonna win the war on it so we might as well grow up & get real, thats it. Its 2006 & weve got way more worse issues to worry about than a little bit of grass. Im pretty intense about being an advocate for marijuana. It even goes back to while kids are dying for our freedom every day, you cant even smoke a cigarette & have a drink at a fucking rock show anymore? I mean what the fuck! Theyre dying for our freedom so they can take it away more & more every day over here, thats fucked up! Politics are sickening. Hopefully here soon well get some real mother fuckers in the house that will try to make America what it should be, free & not so fucking uptight.

MH: I saw you have some rolling trays coming out. Do you come up with ideas for merchandise?

H3: A good bit, weve got the rolling tray with the papers & it just goes hand in hand. Ive known many farmers that had to pay rent by selling pot. Theyre family people & it aint marijuana killing America.  They need to worry about the meth & shit like that. Thats whats eating everybody up a little more.

 

MH: How did you end up singing on Get Outta My Life on the Rebel Meets Rebel CD?

H3: I was doing a show in Dallas, Texas & David Allen Coe & Dimebag & Vinnie showed up at our show & DAC came up & sang a couple songs. Then after the show we were all hanging out, cause Id met Dime & them before, like I said Ive known Phillip since I was 15, so Dime was like cmon man, lets go back to the house & get you to lay some fuckin vocals down on this DAC shit & Im like alright, lets go.

  We went over there & partied all night & laid down some tracks & had some fun. That was the last time I saw him in person. I got to watch him wreck his Cadillac & then get out and give us the horns & say you gotta go down that way motherfuckers & all this shit. So I saw him with a big smile on his face and it was one of those nights Ill never forget, just like all the shows I ever saw him do. Like I said they were my heroes when I was growing up. Im thankful to be able to have that night and to be part of that.

MH: Any chance of a live album or DVD?

H3: We let people record our shows every night. Theres tons of footage on the Internet. Every night I get handed DVDs of our shows. If people want them its there for nothing. Theyre out there & some of them are pretty god damn good. We give it away man.

MH: Is your label against that?

H3: Well since they dont stand behind me thats why I let the bootleggers take us to the next level. Im on a very Christian oriented bullshit country label & they dont know what the fuck to do with us. So its all about the fans taking us to the next level, videotaping, recording, however. We let it all go down.

MH: Theres some good ones on Youtube.

H3: Oh yeah, on Archiveorg.net theres tons of shows.

MH: If a fan of metal hadnt heard much country stuff what would you tell em to check out first?

H3: Theres so much out there man, start off with the old guys first, the basics. Besides that I like Wayne The Train Hancock, Dale Watson, thats pure country though. The Four Bastards is like goth county, its kind of different. Theres a rockin band out of Atlanta that I like called Southern Whiskey Rebellion.

MH: Any other side projects for yourself?

H3: So many side projects its not even funny. The main thing is look for, I call it The Unholy 3, thatll be coming out soon, its like my stoner shit. The Assjack records getting ready to come out. Then were gonna be doing the new country record & well see whats up when I get home but Ive got a plate full, definitely.