By Therese McKeon

The fact that Hatebreed entitled their latest release "Perseverance" comes as no surprise to true fans. With comparisons to the corporate moves of Fred Durst buzzing in the air, it is clear that Jamey Jasta has no problems being called a leader in the hardcore music movement. If there is one word to describe this Connecticut native, it's driven, making his similarities with Durst more than just the donning of a baseball cap. Creating his own metal and hardcore music web site, running his own label, and fronting Hatebreed full-time are expectations met on Jasta's long and ever-growing list of to do's. His free time is limited but his goals are extensive and we're still betting on Jamey Jasta for the long haul.

Shoutweb: We have been hit with many requests to take hardcore bands off of Shoutweb.com because some kid in Indiana or wherever thinks that we're going to ruin the hardcore lifestyle by making it popular. At least, I think that was the reasoning behind some of the concerns. I asked Poison The Well the same question because their fans seemed upset that "their" band was getting too much exposure. I told some of the Shoutweb audience that I would ask you about this in particular. Do you think hardcore bands belong on a rock/metal web site? Do you consider Hatebreed a strictly hardcore band? And along those same lines, do you think Hatebreed's move to a major label in Universal is selling out?

Jamey Jasta with fans at Tattoo The Earth 2000 held at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ on July 20, 2000. Copyright (c) Therese McKeon/Shoutweb.com

Jamey: Well, to start with, there's this thing called a touring circuit. And if bands do a certain circuit, they get lumped into a certain realm of what they are. What genre or sub-genre or whatever it is. Just like, if you're a major label act, you get an agent who you've hired. The agent just wants you to work so they'll put you on these tours that you may not fit on. You've got System of a Down with Slayer. When they were no one and they were on that tour getting booed, people didn't say, "System of a Down is trying to be a metal band or trying to be a death metal band." They were saying, "They weren't that style so they didn't go over with that crowd very well." Sure enough, two million records later, everybody loves System of a Down. Everybody who was probably throwing beers at the band now loves them.

Jamey: It's different because bands like Poison The Well and us never had the advantage of having an agent. We booked our own tours. For years! No agent wanted to deal with us. We got hung up on and we never got phone calls back. We heard, "No, I didn't get your package." Finally, when they realized that we were going to bring money into their club, they said, "Wait, now we want to book them." When the booking agent realized that they were guaranteed a commission, they said, "Great, you guys don't have to do it anymore. We'll do it for you." Which is what you work for - to have someone else to do it for you. At first, do it yourself, and then do for me. Like with Poison The Well, pretty soon, they're going to be on a bigger touring circuit. Just like now, they're coming up to us every night saying, "This is great. You get food. You get a dressing room."

Shoutweb: "You can take a shower!" (laughter)

Jamey: (laughter) Right! They love it. It's cool. There are people that don't understand how much work you do to get to that place. They think you're betraying something that you had. You get so popular that it gets to a point where you can't do it yourself anymore. There are times when people can sell out a small club three nights in a row. That's great and I want to do those things too. But then it gets to the point where even the places that you want to play, don't want to have you. They're like, "Go to a bigger club. We don't want to deal with it. It's too much of a hassle." We wanted to play CB's in Lowell but they said, "No, it's going to be too crazy." We said, "Come on, we want to play the show. We don't care about the money. We want to play a show."

Shoutweb: You'd have to do it as an unannounced show but with underground music there is no such thing as unannounced.

Jamey: Right. There's always going to be those people that say, "They're only doing these big tours for the money." I'll tell you something. You know what Slipknot paid us when we went on tour with them? Fifty dollars a night.

Shoutweb: Really?

Jamey: Yeah. So, tell me something. Who's doing it for money? Soulfly paid us like a hundred bucks a night. Motorhead was the same thing. Danzig is actually the one guy that paid us a lot of money to go on tour with him. He's just a very awesome person. I love that band. I love him.

Jamey: But anyway, I just love it how all these people can comment on things that they don't have any idea about. You should really educate yourself. Like, I don't see ever myself talking about things that I just make up in my own mind that I want to believe because I feel that something that I like is being threatened. I mean, I do remember being a young kid and going to see Nirvana. I saw them at a small club show and then when they were blowing up feeling like, "It's not my small, cool thing anymore." I felt the same way about Sick Of It All, and Biohazard, and the hardcore bands too. It's inevitable.

Shoutweb: So that's the answer to that Indiana kid then?

Jamey: I guess. You should want people to succeed! It's weird. For example, someone who goes to the Olympics and then goes professional in their sport, are they considered a sellout? I don't understand. I guess in other aspects of life, I think it does happen. I mean, if a guy is working down on a dock, and he's sweeping fish guts off a dock all day. Then someone says, "Hey, we need you at a desk" and he goes and leaves the dock. I am sure the other guys sweeping the fish guts off the dock are going to say, "He's a sellout." They're probably saying, "He gave into The Man" or evil ways or whatever. I don't know.

Jamey: We don't get a lot of that. Just so that people understand where I am coming from. We don't get a lot of that. Our fans, especially our older, hardcore fans, are really supportive of us because they know what we've done in order to do everything that happened. We've toured in station wagons with trailers. We've broken into places to stay just to be out of the cold, just so we didn't freeze to death. We would break into a house and stay in the house.

Jamey: I can understand these kids. They are who they are. You're growing up and you have a special little thing that you're a part of. And when someone you don't like or you think isn't cool grasps on to that, you would think that maybe it cheapens what it is. But it's not like you were born with a certain thing in your blood. I was brought into punk and hardcore because I associated with the lyrics and I was able to identify with what a lot of bands were saying but also I liked the music. I liked the bands that had hooks and were catchier and had sing-a-longs just like every other music. Music is music. You have to find what you like about it. Whatever you get off of it, whatever you interpret, whatever you derive from the music, is what you should like. You shouldn't like what's going on beyond the music. I'm not saying that if somebody in a band is molesting kids, then go support the band and see them. I think you have to draw a line somewhere but... it is just music at the end of the day. Yeah, hardcore is a lifestyle. It is a movement. But that's something that you face every day on your own. It not something that you need to let the world know about or keep from the world.