Hatebreed's Matt Byrne

 A few days after Hatebreed’s recent show in OKC, I did this phone interview with their drummer Matt. Check it out.

MH: What’s your favorite Exodus album?

MB: I like a lot of ‘em. I don’t think I have a favorite.

MH: I think Bonded By Blood is the most classic one.

MB: Yeah, that was their first thing & it’s probably their best, but I was a fan of Fabulous Disaster too, with “The Toxic Waltz” & all that stuff. The music was still killer, but the vocals were different.

MH: How would you compare Supremacy to past albums?

MB: It’s definitely our most brutal stuff to date. The production is more polished than anything we’ve done in the past.The recording of the whole thing was different from what we did in the past, whereas Perseverance was rushed & came together fast. The next thing you know it was on the shelves. With Rise Of Brutality we took our time & we were jamming in the studio before we even recorded a lick.

  Supremacy was a combination of the 2. We had half of it written already. We had jammed on it & it was good to go by the time we went in the studio. The other half we wrote in the studio and it all came together there.

MH: Do you prefer to keep the recording simple & live?

MB: Some things come off better off the fly. Then once they’re recorded it’s best left un-touched, if you captured that magical moment. But if you want to hone in your parts & think about what you’re gonna do in the studio & how you wanna come across on the recording, because it is something that’s gonna be around forever, it’s good to jam on it & mess around with some ideas & make sure that you’ve got what you want going on.

MH: For drum sounds, do you still experiment very much?

MB: No, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done on the last 2 albums. Deuce & I got together & honed in on a thick, big drum sound with a lot of attack. I like how it represents me. I like how my fills come across with the way the toms sound. I’d like to think that that’s my sound & that’s how people will relate to me in the future. We’ll see what happens, it’s all good.

MH: Do you usually write beats after the songs are done?

MB: We jam & we write the songs together as a band. Jamie has a lot of ideas. Sean & Beattie will come in with riffs & we’ll sit down & hash them out & toss ideas around. Then when it’s finally recorded I just record everything to a click track.

 There’s no scratch guitar so once the songs are done & we’re comfortable with them & we like where they’re at, that’s when I come in & record them. I know my parts well enough. I know the songs to where I can just turn on the tempo & go with it.

MH: Do you always record separately?

MB: Yeah, that’s how we do it. The drums are done first. Then the guitars will come in & do their tracks & then the bass & then the vocals.

MH: Do you prefer to go for one takes?

MB: I’m usually a 3rd take guy. The first one is warming up. On the 2nd one there will be some stuff there that I like but the third one is where I’ll really nail it.

MH: Are you a fan of drummers who are solid & basic or do you like the crazy fusion stuff?

MB: I like drummers who are a fine line between the 2, who can walk that fine line. I think anyone who likes to brag that I’m a drummer that plays for the song, I think you’re full of shit, I really do. I think it’s cool if you’ve got some chops & you can pull some stuff out that’s cool that won’t take away from the song & it’ll still make everything sound good. I think it’s more of an excuse that you’re not doing anything cool & creative when somebody says I just play for the song. Then again, I love the fusion drummers. I love a lot of jazz guys. Some of the metal guys out there are intricate too & some of them are good at what they do. Some of them are great at what they do. Then there are the guys who are just over-playing straight up. There’s the drummers who try to fit a million different things into a 4 bar measure & that’s not good either.

MH: Do you lock in with the bass or the guitars?

MB: Me and Beattie (bass) lock in naturally together. To get the song down I usually concentrate on what the guitar’s doing & flow in & out of that.

MH: What are some of the bands common threads?

MB: A lot of old metal & hardcore. A lot of the Bay Area Thrash stuff, the New York City hardcore scene, you’ve got Agnostic Front, Cro-mags & Sick Of It All, mixed with the metal bands like Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Testament, Exodus.

MH: Do you see Hatebreed as a continuation of the hardcore crossover from the 80’s?

MB: Kind of, it’s our own interpretation of it but it’s definitely along those lines, of the values and morals and the background in what you represent and the formula for the music, definitely.

MH: Is it an intentional thing to have a positive vibe?

MB: Yeah, I think so. That’s our message, that’s our formula, that’s our meaning behind the band. It’s aggressive music. It’s fast music with hard slower break -downs. Lyrically there’s positive under tones to it. It’s about dealing with all of the shitty things in your life and making the best of them.

MH: How did doing the intro of “Raining Blood” come about?

MB: It’s something we started doing in our live set. I think we were on Ozzfest 2001 & it was one of those dark dreary days & it was perfect timing. Right when our set started it started to rain a little bit, so we just busted it out, messing around in our set & it’s popped up here & there since then. No one expects it & people get excited when they hear it.

MH: Do you change your set lists a lot from night to night?

MB: We don’t really have a set list so it’s different every night. We’ll start out the set the same a lot of nights just to stick with that vibe that we’re going for, but everything after that is spontaneous. It’s been like that since day one, that’s just the kind of band we are. You feed off the energy of the crowd or maybe we feel like doing a song we haven’t done in a while that night.

MH: Does where you’re playing have anything to do with what songs you break out?

MB: Sometimes. We get a lot of emails requesting certain songs, like when you come back through our city or our country, please play this song or I’d love to hear this song, which we definitely try to cater to because it’s what the fans want.

MH: How did you first meet with the other members?

MB: Through a mutual friend, they needed a drummer. At the time I needed a band. We got together, I auditioned, they said yes, done.

MH: Were your previous bands similar to Hatebreed?

MB: No, it was all pretty much metal based, aggressive stuff. One band I was in had a lot of off time stuff. It was just jamming with local bands cutting your teeth in the music scene.

MH: Do you think it’s important to be versatile as a drummer?

MB: Definitely. I think it’s important when you’re learning. You’ve got to appreciate all styles of music even if you’re not a fan of all of them. If you’re learning your craft as a player, for whatever instrument, you’ve got to know what styles of music are out there and try to get involved with a little bit of all of them.

MH: Are there plans for a DVD from this tour?

MB: Not from this tour, we’ve been working on a DVD, putting ideas together for probably the last 3 or 4 years. There’s a lot of stuff to go through as far as footage & there’s a lot of people involved with it. That’s what we’re doing now. 

 We’re constantly putting stuff together & talking about what kind of ideas we have for what we want the DVD to be, so it’ll be out hopefully next year.

MH: What do you think of the current state of metal music?

MB: There’s a complete resurgence of heavy music, with the Headbangers Ball. There are a lot of up & coming newer bands & a lot of indie labels pushing a lot of metal bands. There’s new energy to it & I think it’s only just begun. Within the past 3 years it’s picked up a lot of momentum. I think it’ll keep going.

MH: Any messages for your fans?

MB: Thanks a lot for coming out to the shows. Keep coming out. I hope everyone is enjoying the new stuff. We’re really happy with it & just thanks for being fans.