Artist Interview

Today, RevolverMag.com brings you the exclusive premiere of Anthrax's cover of Cheap Trick's "Big Eyes." The song is from Anthems, the band's new eight-song EP that pays tribute to classic songs by some of Anthrax's favorite bands from the 1970s.

Anthems will be released in North America March 19 by MRI/Megaforce and March 22 in Europe via Nuclear Blast.

The EP includes covers of Rush's "Anthem," Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak," "TNT" by AC/DC, Boston's "Smokin'," "Big Eyes" by Cheap Trick, Journey's "Keep on Runnin," plus the album version and a special remix of Anthrax's "Crawl" from the band's 2011 album, Worship Music.

"We were toying around with the idea of doing a Cheap Trick song, and 'Big Eyes' was one of our favorites," said drummer Charlie Benante. "We recorded it, but then got busy with other things, so we never finished it. What happened was, Joey was out in LA doing vocals for the EP and Jay Ruston [co-producer] pulled 'Big Eyes' up and had Joey do the vocals, something we didn't know he was going to do. But it turned out so great. Joey's vocals are so amazing, so we knew we wanted the song on the EP.

"After Joey's vocals, all the song needed was a guitar lead, and I did that in my Chicago studio. I think the song turned out to be one of the best songs on the EP. Everyone in the band is a huge Cheap Trick fan. They were one of the first concerts I went to, probably in 1978 when I was living in New York, I saw them at the Palladium. Actually, 'Big Eyes' is the second time Anthrax has covered a Cheap Trick song; in 1992, we recorded 'Auf Wiedersehen,' which was the B-side of their single 'Surrender,' as one of the bonus tracks for Anthrax's Sound of White Noise."

"These are all bands I grew up with and have listened to forever," added vocalist Joey Belladonna. "It's just great music. I had fun singing these songs and I was happy recording together with Anthrax, doing classic rock songs. Fun stuff!"

Anthems was produced by Anthrax, Jay Ruston and Rob Caggiano and recorded for the most part throughout 2012 literally all over the world: at Benante's home studio, in Ruston's New York studio, on the band's tour bus while on last summer's Mayhem Tour, in hotel rooms, and backstage at their Berlin show last December.

Anthrax — Belladonna, Benate (drums), Scott Ian (guitar) and Frank Bello (bass) — hit the road last month in support of Anthems. They'll return to North America to headline the Metal Alliance Tour, which kicks off March 22. For all of these dates, Anthrax will be joined by Shadows Fall guitarist Jon Donais.

Check out Anthrax's current tour dates here. Keep up with Anthrax at their Facebook page!

By Andrew Bansal

New Haven, Conecticut-based hardcore-punk-influenced metal band Hatebreed released The Divinity of Purpose January 29 via Razor & Tie.

The band, which is known for its high-energy shows, truly delivered the goods on their new disc, successfully capturing the high-octane feel with which they've become synonymous.

They've recently completed a US headline tour with Shadows Fall, Dying Fetus and The Contortionist. During that tour, I chatted with guitarist Frank Novinec about the new album, live performances, his musical background and his love of Gibson Les Pauls.

You can read our conversation below and check out the band online at their official website, hatebreed.com.

REVOLVER: Right now you're on a US tour. From what I've been hearing, the shows have been amazing. What has it been like for you?

We've been doing small shows in secondary markets, because at the end of last year we supported Lamb Of God in major markets and before that we also celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Perseverance record as well, so we thought why not go and play in some smaller cities and promote this record that came out on January 29 over here. It's been fun! We've toured with Shadows Fall before, so we've had a good time with those guys, and Dying Fetus and The Contortionist have been out with us as well, so it's been a good time.

I was looking at all your set lists and was surprised to see only two songs from the new album. Why is that?

We're doing two or three songs every night, "Honor Never Dies," "Put It To The Torch" and "Indivisible." We have a lot of songs to play throughout the set, and a lot of staples in the set that we have to play. We have so many records out now and so much material, we have to balance it out by playing songs from every Hatebreed record. So that's the reason for that.

The new record hasn't been out for long, so we're not going to bore everybody who doesn't know it or just got it and aren't familiar with the songs by playing half of the new record's worth of material. When you go to see a band, you mostly don't want to hear them play the entire new album. You want to hear the classics as well. So three new songs, I think, is plenty for our set.

I went to see Iron Maiden recently and they opened the set with five new songs. No one knew what they were doing, and it was a bummer. So we don't want to kill the crowd like that. They want to hear us play songs like "Destroy Everything," "To The Threshold," "Live For This," "This Is Now" and "In Ashes They Shall Reap." So we have to play those and along with that we mix songs from other albums that we normally don't play. As for the new record, we've included the three singles. We've already put out a video for "Put It To The Torch"; we're making a video for "Honor Never Dies," which will be out soon, and one for "Indivisible" as well. I think that's enough, at this point, anyway.

In terms of the new album, what was the process like for you, especially guitar-wise?

We went back to the roots on this album. There's definitely more meat and potatoes, and the songwriting comes from the root of Jamey and Chris, who've been writing the songs from day one. So they came up with the songs and then we went into the studio and changed a few things around if they needed to be. The one good thing we had about this record was, while we worked on it, a lot of times we were able to go back and review things. I don't think we were blessed with that on the last record. On this record, we were able to have the time to go back over and over and make the record exactly how we wanted to.

Now that we're on the road, there's not going to be any more reflecting back along the lines of, "We could have changed this and changed that." I think it's perfectly how we wanted it. One thing I can say I'm proud of, which you said earlier, is that all the songs are strong from beginning to end. We call it "all killer, no filler." That's really what it is. It's a strong record, and we're happy with the response we've gotten. It's been overwhelming, and it's good for us to have a record out after three years now, to be able to play live and have new material for everybody.

You mentioned you've been playing "Indivisible," my favorite song on the album. It has the typical old-school D-beat, and it's a lot different from the rest of the album. Thoughts?

"Indivisible" is one of my favorite songs too, and D-beat is my favorite kind of music, the second wave of English punk, all the bands from 1982 and all that. So I'm glad we've been able to incorporate that song into the record and still have a song like "Dead Man Breathing," which sounds like Slayer, to mix that with "Indivisible," which sounds more like The Exploited to me, and somehow make it all work. We're able to do that with the sound of Hatebreed, with the guitar tones. We try to make Hatebreed a universal band that's appreciated by people that like punk rock, for people that like hardcore, metal or rock. We're very lucky we have such a universal audience. We're kind of like the Motorhead of our genre.

Your shows are always about the energy and the movement. Do you also like to get involved and move around on stage?

I'm moving around quite a bit on stage. Besides Jamey, I'm moving around the most. I just like to do whatever I can to put on a show. I'm a performer and I enjoy the energy in a show more than being a musician. Wayne is more of a musician and more of a player than I am. So I'm out there getting the crowd wound up, and Jamey and I have a good time just giving something visual to see, and making sure all the audience has a great time at our shows. They beat the crap out of each other, but as long as everybody leaves with a smile on their faces and has a good time, we're happy. This is the best part of the day for us, to be able to play. The rest of the day is terrible. We just have that hour on stage and we want to give the most to the fans so they remember our show for a long time, at least till the next time we see them.

You said you've always been a fan of D-beat and the second wave of British punk. Is that what you grew up on?

No, I grew up in the '70s, and I got introduced to music at an early age. My parents tell me that when I was a baby, I used to stand holding on to my dad's tower speaker and play "Smoke On the Water" on it. I had a record collection when I was 5 or 6, which was Kiss records and things like that. Kiss is still one of my favorite bands. We ended up being direct support for them at the Graspop Festival in Belgium. I've met them a bunch of times and I've seen them 30 to 40 times. I'm a fan of all of it.

I'm an encyclopedia when it comes to music. I love the '70s prog bands, I love the '60s Motown music and Philadelphia soul music. I love the '80s too, the one-hit-wonder bands. There are people in my band that love R&B. If you took all of our iPods, you'll find every type of music that ever existed. If we go on a music trivia show, I think Hatebreed will pretty much crush any band out there.

So we're listening to everything, but as you get older you do that anyway. You open your mind more. When you're younger, you can be a little close-minded about these things. That speaks a lot about Hatebreed. We want everybody to open up their minds. Not everybody is going to like our band, but if you could just come and have a good time and open up your mind, you'll realize it's all aggressive music at the end of the day, and you don't need to categorize or make these genres to divide the music into small parts. The music scene is dying, so it's about time we realized it's all aggressive music. The underground scene was thriving when we were going to shows in the '80s and early '90s because there were thrash bands, punk bands and hardcore bands playing shows together. So we try to do that too. We've toured with Five Finger Death Punch and now we're out with Dying Fetus.

You joined the band in '06, and Hatebreed put out a covers album in '09 called For The Lions. I guess that must have helped you discover your band mates' influences and backgrounds, true?

I've been friends with them since they pretty much started the band, so I've known them and their tastes. I saw Jamey and Sean almost every day during the early 2000s till the time I joined. I always knew about their influences, but the beautiful thing about the covers album is that we were able to showcase the talents of the members in this band without having to incorporate it into our own music [laughs]. When you listen to the soloing on the Slayer cover, the drumming on that record is over the top. I think it surprised a lot of people who think we're just a hardcore band and we can't play, and things like that.

So that was cool to show what we're capable of, and obviously paying respects and tributes to the bands that paved the way for us, whether it's a big band like Slayer or a small band like Negative Approach. Also, it was aimed to open the ears of our fans to some of those bands that they wouldn't have been familiar with, like Negative Approach, Sub Zero, Obituary and obviously Metallica, Slayer and Sepultura. We just wanted people to check out the bands we covered and check out our roots.

It was for fun, really, but it was tough to decide what songs to choose. Every member had his own choices, and we still always joke on the tour bus or backstage about which songs we should cover. Our list is endless. We haven't even done Motörhead yet. So we'll see. Don't be surprised if we do another one down the line. It's fun and it's just another product out there from Hatebreed for people to enjoy.

Is the Gibson Les Paul your primary guitar these days?

I play Gibson SG, Gibson Explorer and Gibson Les Paul, all of them. I've been playing Gibson my whole life. Gibson and Marshall works for AC/DC, it works for me for sure [laughs]. The louder I crank it up, the better it sounds, and that's just something I've loved ever since I was a kid. A lot of kids dream about playing that kind of equipment. I enjoy it, and in fact I was just online on the Gibson website today before doing this interview, looking to get a Firebird or another SG. But yeah, Gibsons and Marshalls have always worked for me.

You brought up AC/DC, and the Les Paul is used by all kinds of musicians across the board. Is there something about the guitar that makes it so versatile, or does it come from the musician who plays it? What's your take?

When I grew up, I was seeing a lot of bands playing it, and a majority of the heavier rock bands from back then were always playing Gibson. So, playing the heavy music that we do obviously, that guitar's sound has had an influence on me for sure and with the EMG pickups and the Marshalls that we use, we're able to get the desired tone. A lot of people in our scene are endorsed by other companies just because they wanted free guitars and stuff, but to me I'd rather play the best. To me, there's Fender or there's Gibson as far as guitars are concerned. That's really it when it comes to this kind of music, and even the Fenders are tough to get to sound heavy. I grew up watching Angus Young and Ace Frehley, so obviously Gibson is where it's at when it comes to heavy rock guitar. There was also Zeppelin, and the list goes on. Black Sabbath too. The best of the heavy music world are playing Gibson.

Hatebreed shows can get so crazy, especially the smaller shows with all the stage diving. Has your gear ever been seriously damaged during a show?

Fortunately, no. We were just in Europe and we had a rented backline. It wasn't even the stage divers. The music was just so loud that something came crashing down and knocking the wall of amps, breaking the plugs at the back. But otherwise I've never actually had anything crazy happen.

But it's funny that we're doing this interview today and you're asking about that [laughs]. Today, we opened up one of the cases of my guitars and on one of my Gibsons the headstock broke again for the third time in the same place, so I think it's time to retire that one and keep it at home. I've had it on the road a lot but it's not staying together for me.

As far as the fans go, people do try to get on stage and not watch what they're doing. They're more concerned about clearing the barricade or knocking into you or the amplifiers. We have barricades for most shows so it doesn't get too crazy. We don't invite an entire crowd up on stage either. I think when you do stuff like that, obviously it's a lot of fun and memorable but that's when you really can get your equipment screwed up. So we've been fortunate with keeping our gear safe [laughs], but we do so much touring and there's so much wear and tear that it'll get screwed up on its own. We don't need the fans' help.

Andrew Bansal is a writer who has been running his own website, Metal Assault, since early 2010, and has been prolific in covering the hard rock and heavy metal scene by posting interviews, news, reviews and pictures on his website — with the help of a small group of people. Up till February 2012 he was based in Los Angeles. After that, he had to move to India, but is still carrying on his heavy metal endeavors with the same intensity.

Today, RevolverMag.com brings you the exclusive premiere of "The Lioness," a new song by Fit For a King, a Tyler, Texas-based metalcore band. The track, which you can check out via the Soundcloud player below, is from the band's new album, "Creation/Destruction, which will be released March 12.

The band is Ryan Kirby (vocals), Justin Hamra (guitar), Bobby Lynge (guitar), Jared Easterling (drums) and Aaron Kadura (bass). Kirby took some time to answer a few questions about "The Lioness."

REVOLVER: What's the song about?
The song tells the story of a man who sells his soul to Satan in exchange for happiness. Then the man finds out that in doing so, he only finds death.

Which part of it did you come up with first? And what was the inspiration?
I came up with the concept because the desire for material things and temporary happiness was something I struggled with a lot. And this song serves as a reminder for me of the fate that awaits me if I fall into that lifestyle.

Was this an easy song to write or record?
This song was very fun to record. So its tough to say if it was easy or hard. I loved having the freedom to do some experimental patterns and vocal techniques.

What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far? What sort of reaction do you want to get from the song?
The most common response when I show someone is, "Wow. This is stupid heavy."

For more about Fit For a King, check them out on Facebook. You'll find their current tour dates listed below the Soundcloud player!

Upcoming Tour Dates:

Thu Mar 07 - Transformation Gallery - Springfield, MO
Fri Mar 08 - Downtown Music Venue - Little Rock, AR
Sat Mar 09 - Goodtime Charlie's - Tupelo, MS
Sun Mar 10 - Mud & Water Bar and Venue - Baton Rouge, LA
Mon Mar 11 - Walters - Houston, TX
Wed Mar 13 - Las Palmas Race Park - Mission, TX
Thu Mar 14 - Texas House of Rock - Corpus Christi, TX
Fri Mar 15 - Crossroads Music Venue - Tyler, TX
Sat Mar 16 - QuikTrip Park - Grand Prairie, TX
Sun Mar 17 - The Juka House - Abilene, TX

By James Wood

After nearly two decades together, Sevendust remain one of few bands to come out of the '90s with all five original members — John Connolly (guitar), Clint Lowery (guitar), Lajon Witherspoon (vocals), Vince Hornsby (bass) and Morgan Rose (drums) — fully intact.

It's a testament to the friendship and musicianship the band brings to their fans and each other night after night, album after album.

Sevendust's ninth studio album, Black Out The Sun (available March 26), is a much grittier, darker release. By using their instincts and taking the second guessing out of the recording process, they've produced a melodic, creative effort, a hybrid of earlier Sevendust albums that fans old and new can appreciate.

I spoke with Connolly and Lowery about Black Out The Sun, guitars and the band's longevity and legacy.

REVOLVER: Black Out The Sun has a different sound for you guys. How would you describe it?

Connolly: It has a totally different vibe about it. It's darker, but with a little bit of hope. There's always that light at the end of the tunnel. When I listen to it, it's almost like a greatest-hits record of songs you've never heard before. There's an album that every one of those songs could potentially live on. There's some stuff that sounds like it might belong on Home, some that sounds like Seasons. Then there are some Alpha moments as well.

Lowery: We didn't over-think the record. It has a spontaneous feel. It has the spirit of our older records, but it's evolved as well. If you're already a fan, it caters to the elements you've always liked. We're proud of this album.

What approach was used for writing songs for the album?

Lowery: It usually comes from an idea or a riff that John or I start. It's us coming up with beats and constructing the skeletal idea of the song from there. Then we'd get the band together to play it with everyone. By that point we'd start arranging it, and vocals are the last thing.

Connolly: There was definitely no shortage of ideas. For this record, we had a writing area behind the live drums in the studio. Whenever someone was in the studio working on parts, any number of us would gather in this writing station and map things out right there on the spot. This was one of those albums where on Monday "Decay" didn't exist and by the end of Tuesday night, it was there.

What amps do you use to get your killer guitar tone?

Connolly: I was always a Marshall guy. I have a 1971 Super Tremolo that's been modded and is by far the best guitar sound I've had. I used to use that to death and quite a bit on the last record. For this album, I decided to give it a break and take the EVH in and see what it could do. We played around with it for about five minutes and we were done. It's such a usable amp. There's so much blue and cohesiveness and clarity in the tone. I was originally one of the early naysayers about it and went in with a real piss poor attitude. But, we opened up the box and I haven't turned it off since. [laughs]

Lowery: For playing live, we use EVH heads and I use a GCX and run my pedals through that. It's a pretty cut-and-dry sound. We're not like the Edge from U2 using every amp (although I think that's great). For us, it's more of a meat-and-potatoes kind of approach.

Let's discuss how you got started playing guitar.

Lowery: I've been playing from an early age. My dad played guitar and my whole family was into music. I quickly found myself gravitating toward the more progressive players like Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert. I also loved the pioneers like Van Halen and Randy Rhoads. The guys who could rip the fretboard but could also write killer grooves. Dimebag Darrell was the guy. He could throw down and shred with the best of them, but he also wrote the most amazing monster riffs.

Connolly: I spent the beginning of my life playing drums. When I got to college, I was a percussion major, which is a very loose term of saying you can play the drums occasionally [laughs]. I was actually a marimba major, believe it or not. One thing that sucked about being a drummer in a band back then was that drummers didn't write a lot and didn't get much respect, so I made the switch.

Dave Grohl actually beat me to the punch by a year and half. I said, "If he can do it, I can do it!" I wasn't even trying to be the singer; I just wanted to write songs. I initially approached the instrument as just a tool just to write, but somewhere along the way fell in love with it.

How did you both approach practicing the instrument back then?

Lowery: I learned a lot of fundamental scales, but wood-shedded for the most part. I was always playing and building my technique with legato and alternate picking. Anything I could do to help increase my speed and accuracy. I've always felt that the more you hold the guitar the better your percentages are for coming up with something cool. The more you play, the more you discover.

Connolly: I went through a period where I was just nuts about playing. There were days where I'd play a minimum of three to four hours, and that was on a "light" day. When we took the off time and did side projects, there was a lot more songwriting and experimentation going on, so the whole idea of practicing guitar that intensely went out the window.

What do you like the most and least about touring?

Connolly: The thing that's most difficult is missing the time at home. We all have families. So it's nice to take breaks. Having said that, for the 18 years we've been together, we've met a lot of really great people from all over the world. That's the cool thing; getting to reconnect with them. We've met a lot of fans and made a lot of friends.

Lowery: The ultimate dream is playing and connecting with the fans. I still get a high from it. The hard part is leaving the family. So there's a trade-off. You have the amazing beauty of being on stage and having the fans sing back your every word, but there's a price for it; missing out on milestone family events. You miss a lot. We're all connected to our families.

What's the secret to the band's longevity?

Lowery: The concept originally was to put together a band with guys you actually enjoyed hanging out with. You have to live with these people on a bus so you need to have mutual respect and consideration for each other.

Connolly: We have a lot of friends in this business, but I don't know too many bands that have all the same five original guys. People see us eating at a Chili's on an off day and they flip out. But the thing that excites them the most is the fact that it's actually all five of us eating at the same table together. [laughs]

Any advice you can give to aspiring guitarists?

Lowery: I know this may sound cliché to say but, practice makes perfect. Also, if you learn something, try to play the same thing a little bit differently and add your own flavor to it. If you're influenced by Dimebag, try to take it what he did a little further. Always try to expand on what artists have put out there so that one day you can be the person that inspires the next kid that comes along.

James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

By John Katic

The year is shaping up to be a impressive one for Andy Biersack and Black Veil Brides.

They've already released The Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones, which debuted at No. 7 in the US; they've unveiled a motion picture, Legion of the Black, done two North American legs and one European leg of the Church of the Wild Ones tour — and they're up for two Golden God awards.

Let's not forget they're also featured in the March 2013 issue of Guitar World, which you can check out here.

We recently sat down with Biersack, the band's singer and founder, and got his thoughts on the Golden Gods. For more about this year's Golden Gods awards, head here.

REVOLVER: Golden Gods-wise, you guys are up for an award in the Most Devoted Fans category. What makes your fan base so special?

I think, obviously, we are noted for having a very dedicated fan base. There is a visual, aesthetic part of it where you have the makeup and the costumes. The devotion of the BVB Army, with its very big online presence, is amazing. We've been fortunate from the very beginning. It was something that was really able to spur on our career.

When it came to record labels and management, people didn't give a shit until the fans sort of forced our way into places. You can't deny a band whose fans are so dedicated. You can't deny a band whose fans will literally do anything to see them win the awards. We're very appreciative to the fan base. That mutual feeling of appreciation is something that really helps.

Do you think part of it might stem from early on, especially with your "lyrics of the disenfranchised"? Do you think they struck a chord with fans who were preached to with pop music and that made you guys a great alternative?

Absolutely. The message of the band goes hand in hand with the fan base. We never made attempts to say we were anybody's role model or the be-all-end-all of what people should look up to. We have always just been very open about the fact that we have difficulties and we are messed-up people just as our fans are. We kind of wanted to do it together with them. With that being said, the feeling of comradery between us and the audience has really always been there.

Bands talk about their audience bringing their kids to shows. Have you seen fans bring their parents along for the ride?

Our shows have always been sort of an all-generations thing, people from 6 to 60. The other night, we played a show and we had a woman who was probably 70 to 75 years old, and she was there alone and she was singing every song. On the other end of the spectrum, there was a 7-year-old on his dad's shoulders and the dad is singing along. You have the teenagers as well, of course. We are a band that stylistically crosses a lot of barriers and generational gaps. The heavier portion of the band, the modern music elements, the visual part of the band appeal to a younger audience. For an older audience, we have chops and great songs that are reminiscent of the things that were great about rock and roll when they enjoyed it. We're the kind of band that can cross those lines.

True. You aren't going to sound foreign to someone who grew up listening to a Motley Crue or a W.A.S.P. Your music has modern elements, but it isn't going to turn off a listener who's in his or her 40s or 50s.

Honestly, it boils down to songs. Good songs are always good songs. People can listen to a song by an artist such as a Van Halen, and no one in the room is going to go, "Oh, this is terrible." Good songs cross those lines. Our focus on the record was to make them as good as possible, and those things will stand the test of time and relate to any audience. I'm not going to name any names, but we certainly have a lot of counterparts in bands that are popular, drawing well, selling well and are of the same age group as us. My point is always, where are the songs? What is memorable about this?

On the subject of songs, "In The End" is up for Song of the Year at the Golden Gods. If I remember correctly, that was the last track you did for the album. Did you have the complete concept of the album laid out at that point, and how did the story coincide with writing all the album's lyrics?

It all started with a short story I wrote on a plane and then spiraled. I had two friends, Patrick Fogarty and Richard Millwood, who were very dedicated artists and friends of ours. When we got home, I gave it to them and told them about that story and said maybe we can do something with it. As a band we sort of dissected it and built the record out of it.

Do you write as a unit?

Every song has a different process. There will be some songs where it comes together right away and we'll all be sitting around and know it. Then there are songs that take quite a while. A song like "Nobody's Hero," for example, took a lot of days of back and forth with our producer, John Feldman, with "The chorus should be more like this or that." A song like "In The End" came together fairly quickly.

I think a lot of people overlook or are unaware of the fact that you are extremely talented musicians. You have a classically trained musician in the band and a guitar duo that's reminiscent of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing of Judas Priest.

I think that is something we've always liked with that guitar duo. Even on stage, it's sort of "classic" rock and roll.

Is there anyone in particular you're listening to right now?

We are big fans of a band out of Europe called CRASHDÏET. They have come out to a bunch of our shows but haven't toured much in the US just yet.

Black Veil Brides have a few more dates in the US before taking the Church of the Wild Ones tour to Europe for April. The band returns home to the US to be part of the Vans Warped Tour, which runs all summer long. Keep up with their current tour dates at officialbvb.com.

Drummer Mike Portnoy hasn't only played in many bands. He's covered many as well.

The former Dream Theater drummer — and current skinsman for Adrenaline Mob — has always been drawn to covers. He's such a fan, in fact, that Adrenaline Mob will be releasing Coverta, an EP packed with eight covers of songs ranging from Dio to The Doors.

"I'm a huge fan of covers," Portnoy says. "Doing covers is a chance to pay tribute to a favorite band, bring new life to an obscure gem, or perhaps help make a new generation of listeners aware of your influences. In any case, whether you play it safe and remain faithful to the original or completely rework and reinterpret the song, it's always fun!"

Revolver asked Portnoy to list his favorite covers:

1. Metallica, "Mercyful Fate Medley" "I was always a huge Mercyful Fate fan and Metallica did the ultimate tribute with this amazing medley of riffs from the classic Melissa and Don't Break the Oath albums. Tackling King Diamond's vocals could've been impossible, but James did some great reinterpretations."

2. Iron Maiden, "Cross Eyed Mary" "In the early days of Maiden, they would always record covers and extra B-sides for their 12-inch singles. This Jethro Tull cover was the B-side to "The Trooper" and tipped off Steve Harris' appreciation of classic prog."

3. Tool, "No Quarter" "Not many bands can cover Led Zeppelin and equal the original's greatness, but I think Tool came damn close with this amazing version of Zeppelin's moody and haunting classic."

4. Anthrax, "Bring the Noise" "Anthrax have always done so many great covers through the years, ranging from the expected (Kiss and Sabbath) to the not so expected (Radiohead, Journey and Boston). Here's an example of taking a cover that completely crosses over genres. Anthrax took this Public Enemy classic, gave it some serious balls and energy and kickstarted a metal and rap revolution that would reverberate for years. Forget about Run DMC doing "Walk This Way" ... this is where metal and rap really crossed over!"

5. Judas Priest, "Diamonds and Rust" and "The Green Manalishi" "Two great examples of covering songs and making them your own. How many of you out there didn't even realize these weren't written by Priest? That's right, these Judas Priest classics are actually covers of Joan Baez and Fleetwood Mac!"

By Andrew Bansal

Dethklok and Metalocalypse mainman Brendon Small released a solo album last year under the project title Brendon Small's Galaktikon.

What was supposedly a studio-only endeavor has become a massive undertaking as Small prepares for Galaktikon's live debut at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, March 3. The show will be part of WesFest 8, an annual concert to benefit the Wes Wehmiller Endowed Scholarship at Berklee College of Music.

A few days ago, I caught up with Small to discuss this event in detail. Check out Galaktikon here. You can get tickets to the show here.

REVOLVER: What is Wesfest 8, and how did you get involved?

I got involved through Bryan Beller, my bass player, who has been putting on this festival for the past seven years. He plays bass with me in Dethklok, and he plays bass on this solo project that I did called Galaktikon. So I've been friends with him. We also went to the same music school, Berklee College of Music. He finished before I got there but I've been following him for years because he played with Dweezil Zappa, then he played with Mike Keneally and all these great guitar players.

He was definitely on my radar. He said, "Hey, this Galaktikon record is something you never thought about playing live, but if we got enough musicians on stage you could do it!" I said, "Well, if we have enough guitarists and vocalists, then yeah!" It's a pretty big undertaking, but what these guys are playing is pretty amazing. This is a benefit for a bass player who died of cancer a long time ago, named Wes Wehmiller. I never knew him, but Bryan Beller was really good friends with him, and so this is a scholarship in his name for the same school we went to. So that's where all the money is going, for all young bass players. And that's the whole idea.

You graduated a long time ago. Have you returned for any guest lectures?

No, but I would because that's something I'm totally interested in. I've only gone back there to walk around and reminisce. I was there with my girlfriend earlier this year, just walking past the building. I spent a very important part of my life at that school and in Boston between becoming a learned musician and becoming a comedian. That was an important part of my growing up.

I'm surprised that you didn't go back for lectures,; I've seen you giving lectures at NAMM and things like that, and you're really good at it.

Oh yeah, I'm very comfortable speaking in front of people. I have fun doing it. Maybe I will do something of that sort at Berklee in the future. I would definitely love to do it. We just have to get our schedules together.

Obviously you work with Bryan Beller. Other than him, have you kept in touch with your fellow students?

Not necessarily. I'd love to know more about it, but I've been lucky enough to be working steadily since I graduated. In my last year at music school, I did something a lot of Berklee students didn't do. I took classes at one of the sister schools, Emerson College, and they had a communication school. That's where I started really taking seriously the idea of writing for television and becoming an actor and comedian.

So while I was taking classes on advanced jazz solo concepts, I would go over and write a bunch of stupid jokes in my other class, and I was very competitive. So even as a music student I wanted to be the funniest and best writer in the class. That was an important part. If I were to talk to any Berklee students, I would say don't be afraid to go and learn other things, because music takes a long time to settle in. But to answer your question, I only have a few friends I've kept tabs on. I mostly hung out with kids who were actors and writers. I didn't actually hang out with many musicians while I was there.

People who graduate from music schools often get into session work. What's your take on that? Do you feel it doesn't give the musician freedom? It's just something they do for money, right?

That's very true! Here's what I did, actually. Before my last year at music school, I decided to go and get an internship. I didn't know what I was going to do with music. I knew I loved guitar, I loved technique, I loved learning how to play and I loved metal. But it wasn't really at the forefront. It hadn't come back yet.

So I had all this technique and these guitar-playing skills, but I didn't know what to do with it. But I really liked taking composition classes, and I liked writing music. I thought maybe I could become a film-scoring person, so I took a lot of classes for that. Then I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could get into the jingle-writing business, to write music for commercials and stuff. So I interned in that summer for two different jingle houses in New York, and that's where I really made a decision about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I saw people who were really talented musicians, but they were at the mercy of a 30-second spot for Advil or something. It was pretty limiting and the people that were directing a lot of these pieces really didn't challenge themselves to learn musical terminology, or to be able to express themselves musically. You'd get a director who's not necessarily musically intelligent, and it was just a cluster fuck. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to be the guy writing the piece, and the guy directing and acting in the piece, and then I want to be the guy making the music. So I was going to create a gig at some point where I get to do all of that stuff, and I wasn't going to wait for somebody to hire me. That was my goal, and I ended up doing that with my first TV show and then with Metalocalypse.

The Galaktikon live debut is a big undertaking, and it's not something you wanted to do or expected to do. How much did you actually have to prepare and rehearse?

We prepare a lot because first of all, this is something pretty fun because we have four guitarists on stage, and each one of those are amazing guitarists. We have the amazing Mike Keneally, who has played with Frank Zappa. He's such a good guitar player, but he's such a jerk because he doesn't even really consider himself a guitar player. He's like, "I'm a piano player, that's my forte." But he can do anything on guitar. He plays piano with Satriani and he's played guitar with Steve Vai's band. He's just a guy who can do anything.

And then there's this guy named Rick Musallam. I don't think everybody knows about Rick. He plays with Mike Keneally, and he mainly does session stuff, but he's also a guy who can pretty much do anything. He's able to match Keneally note-for-note on everything he does.

And then finally we have Jude Gold, who took care of the guitar department at Musicians Institute in Hollywood. He tours with tons of different people and he's just a guy that's incredibly humble. So all four of us sat down and worked on all these harmonies and were going over the material, to divide all the moments in the songs. It took me a really, really long time to learn how to play. They can do it in a second, and I'm like, "That's not fair. It took me five years to be able to do that and you're just doing it right now."

And then they can do stuff I simply can't do. They have amazing ability and rhythm, and I have a great time working with them. One of the most important things when I consider working with anybody is, they've got to have a really good attitude and they don't take anything too seriously. They can show up and they can goof off and laugh a lot, and that's really important. I wish there was a class on that at the music school. Whenever I put a project together, I consider the fact that I'm going to spend a lot of time with the person I'm hiring, so they'd better be really cool and fun, and I should get excited about working with them. All these guys I'm working with are that. So, we have a few different days of guitar rehearsals, and a few days of vocal rehearsals. I'm singing a lot and then for some of the singing I had to divide up the vocals because of the way I recorded this album.

When I do a Dethklok record, I consider how I'm going to perform it live. With Galaktikon, I just thought it should sound what I wanted it to sound like. I wasn't concerned about whether I could perform it live. So there are moments when I need to hit a high note and I have to rest all day and hit that high note. After that, there's another high note. So my voice can start suffering very easily.

I thought if I have a few other vocalists with me on stage, I'm going to be able to divide that stuff up and everyone will get to have a moment to shine and it will be really fun. So that's that, and next week we're going through all the stuff with the rest of the band. We're going to have five vocalists on stage, four guitarists, Tim Yeung who's an amazing drummer, and Bryan Beller on bass. Musically, there's going to be a lot of talent on stage, excluding myself.

This lineup, other than the guys playing with you in Dethklok, of course, was it handpicked or a case of whoever was available?

No, Jude Gold I had already thought of, because I'm also busy working on Metalocalypse stuff right now, so I'm not going to be able to be the musical director for this show and I need someone who's a monster player, who's completely organized and easy going, and the one guy I could think of was Jude Gold. So I hand-selected him. And then my first thought for drums was to get Gene Hoglan, but he's playing with Testament right now.

He wished he could have done it, but then I heard about this guy Tim Yeung and I saw his videos of YouTube. I thought, "Oh my god, this guy has serious technique!" I'm excited to rehearse with him. I know Jude is good friends with him. So next week it's going to be three days of rehearsal and then we're going to do this thing once and who knows, may be we'll do it again and more often if it goes well. But it's definitely a good-sized undertaking.

How did you decide that you need exactly four guitarists?

I could have probably gotten away with fewer because I overdub a lot of guitars. I really like strong, big harmonies ala Brian May. I love Queen and all that stuff, so I recorded in that style. I do a lot of voice-leading traditional style of harmonies. On any big moment of a song, let's say for the song called "You Can't Run Away" in which there's a break with a six-part guitar harmony, which is a triad.

I could technically put two more guitars on stage, but that may be too crazy. I thought it would be nice to have two guys covering rhythm guitar. I put some melodies on top of the guitar, and there will be parts where I can't play and sing at the same time. I think if we do put four guitar players on stage, for the most part each person will have something to do and we can arrange these harmonies. For Dethklok it's always two guitars, but sometimes it's Mike Keneally coming up with a six-part guitar harmony-type thing.

Between he and myself, we have to make that sound really big with just two guitars. So he plays double stock necks and I play the melody on top of that. But it would never sound as cool as single notes on guitars. That's why I wanted to do this. There are so many guitar parts in these songs, but I kept on overdubbing and putting on these little moments on them. I wasn't worried about recreating it on stage, obviously. But here we are [laughs].

When you play this material live, how much is the setup going to differ as compared to what you did in the studio?

It's going to be pretty similar. For every sound we have on the record, we're trying to recreate it with what we've got. I don't think we're going to deviate too much. The idea is to see how close we can come to the keyboard patches, the guitar harmonies, to how many vocals I overdubbed in one particular section, so the idea is to be pretty faithful to the record and to play it identically. It's funny the way we approached this too, because between myself, Mike Keneally and Rick Musallam, we did a really fun thing about a year-and-a-half ago. We did a 20-year anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death at the Roxy, where we had three guitars and six vocalists doing Queen songs. We did about two hours of Queen, and it was some of the most fun I've ever had on stage. Compared to anything to do, it's always easier to do other things than it is to do Dethklok because I've got to sing, play guitar and all the other stuff. But this is so much fun to just play guitar or just to sing. I figured this is all going to be possible, after doing that Queen tribute show.

You wrote this as a studio-only project, so did you end up rediscovering your own compositions through these rehearsals because this is something new for you as well?

It's true! Very often when I'm recording and writing in the studio, sometimes they are the same thing because when I open up a Pro-Tools session I consider it just a big sketchbook. It's not detrimental to record a small idea and then to harmonize it and use it later on or interpolate it or invert it. Very often, I forget what I did in the moment, so I don't remember anything that I ever do on guitar [laughs]. There's this big instrumental song called "Dangertits" on the Galaktikon record, and it was tricky. It's got a lot of notes and tiny parts. It's not something I can't do, but keeping it all flowing nicely is just something that I've been making sure of, and I practice a lot. But yeah, it's fun to rediscover and to see how accurate we can get. There are also moments where we're like, "There are four guitarists but that part requires six, so let's just keep the most important notes."

Anything else you want to mention?

We're giving away an Epiphone Thunderhorse guitar, which isn't available yet. I think the guitar will be available in the spring. Whoever shows up at the gig enters to win one of those. It's a really good guitar. We did a soft launch of that at Winter NAMM. So that's very cool.

Andrew Bansal is a writer who has been running his own website, Metal Assault, since early 2010, and has been prolific in covering the hard rock and heavy metal scene by posting interviews, news, reviews and pictures on his website — with the help of a small group of people. Up till February 2012 he was based in Los Angeles. After that, he had to move to India, but is still carrying on his heavy metal endeavors with the same intensity.

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Put in the right circumstances, any human will fight. He'll fight hard, he'll fight dirty, and he'll fight in ways that result in other humans resembling poorly-made salsa. Historically, the situations that cause this brutality were based on defending something important—defending one's country, one's way of life, one's family, one's honor. In the sick and heartless landscape of modern America, though, humanity fights for the sake of fighting, weaned on a diet of agony their whole lives. That is the backbone of Donnybrook, the debut novel by master of rural noir Frank Bill—that we live in a world where aggression is the only truth.

Night Verses have revealed the title of their upcoming album, Lift Your Existence, which will be released this June via Easy Killer. The band is also sharing exclusive photos from the recording of the record, which can be viewed below. Of the experience making the album, vocalist Douglas Robinson says, "Recording in Portland was incredible and I sincerely suggest any musician try the experience at least once in their lifetime. Sometimes the sun would show itself but most times there was an eerie gloom blanketing the city. It gave motivation for the tasks surrounding while keeping you very in-tuned with yourself. Each member of the band had their schedule to track and any off-time was mostly spent walking the city and its outskirts. You would find yourself walking without anyone else around you. We're a very tight-knit family but there's just something about that city that makes you want to walk forever with nothing but music in your headphones. It gave each member of the band a lot of time to discover more of themselves and that type of vibe really connects with what this band is doing. We're always searching for more and always trying to better ourselves, musically and individually."

Night Verses are hitting the road with letlive., HRVRD, Conditions, and Rescuer this March. Dates are listed below. Ticket are available right here.

Night Verses tour dates with letlive., HRVRD, Conditions, and Rescuer:
3/1                          Fort Wayne, IN                         Broadripple
3/2                          Louisville, KY                           The Vernon Club
3/3                          Birmingham, AL                       The Forge 250
3/4                          Fayetteville, AR                       NWA Showcase Theater
3/5                          St. Louis, MO                            Firebird
3/6                          Iowa City, IA                            Gabe's Oasis
3/7                          Lincoln, NE                               Bourbon Theatre
3/8                          Denver, CO                              The Summit Music Hall (Moon Room)
3/10                       San Francisco CA                      Bottom Of The Hill
3/12                       Anaheim CA                              Chain Reaction
3/13                       San Diego CA                            Soma Sidestage

Tour Dates with Wilson:
3/28/13 Rochester, NY - Dubland Underground
3/29/13 Worcester, MA - Upstairs @ Palladium
3/31/13 Philadelphia, PA - The Barbary
4/02/13 New York, NY - The Studio @ Webster Hall
4/03/13 Hartford, CT - Webster Underground
4/04/13 Washington, D.C. - DC9
4/05/13 Akron, OH - Musica