By Therese McKeon

Shoutweb: Why do you think they feel threatened?

Jamey: They feel threatened by losing somebody that they really appreciated that helped them through a lot of times. There are bands out there that I've listened to their lyrics and it was my escape from whatever problems I had in my life. And you know, that is what hardcore is supposed to be! It's supposed to be music as a platform for you to live your life the way you want to and not by someone else's standard. But, when I got on the road at the age of 15 or 16, I saw guys ten or fifteen years older than me with no health insurance, no houses, with families that can barely pay their bills. I really started wondering, "Is this what I really want 10 years from now?" Or, do I want to try to take something that I think is great and make it so big that there's enough money to go around for everyone. I've always considered hardcore similar to hip-hop in a sense. In the late 70s, early 80s, hip-hop was very misunderstood. There were record label people and industry people and press people everywhere saying, "Who's going to understand this? Who's going to care about this?" Twenty years later Joe Kansas is singing, "I'm surrounded by criminals" and Biggie Smalls, and Puff Daddy, and they love all that stuff because it is what it is. It's someone telling their story of their life and how they live it or how they see it. People can appreciate that even if they're not *from* that. What's the difference with hardcore? If people can appreciate it who are not from hardcore, if you can bob your head to it, if it has a hook, if you remember the line, if the line means something to you, if the words mean something to you, then why not sell as many records as possible and spread the love? I mean, look at all the jobs and all the people that hip-hip has given hope to, given people a sense of stability in their life. If I could make that happen for every hardcore band!

Lou Richards of Hatebreed at the 2001 CMJ Music Marathon (The World, New York, NY on October 18, 2001). Copyright (c) Therese McKeon/Shoutweb.com

Jamey: I see all these bands that open up for us all the time. They come on the bus and go, "Wow, this is great. I want this." Yeah, sure, it's great. But it takes work! If the band has done the work, you should support them. You shouldn't knock them for trying to do what they want to do with their life. I don't want to flip burgers. I don't want to work at the post office. I don't want to do these things. I like music. I can't go a day without listening to music. I like performing. I like going out and saying what I have to say. It's very cathartic for me. It's like a release of all the stuff that happened to me over the years and if people can relate to it, then great. What's wrong with that? Why would anybody ever want to knock me for that? It's unbelievable! If I was out there growing a goatee and braiding it and doing the moves like Fieldy from Korn or wearing a mask like Slipknot, then knock me because I'm not doing something that is original. I'm doing what's been done before and if people knew me, they would know that wasn't me. But you don't know me! People that say they know me don't know me at all. If I was doing something that was contrived or it was just a ploy to get rich quick then why the hell would I be in a hardcore band? It's never been done before! No one has *ever* gotten rich off of hardcore, except Victory, Tony Victory and Victory Records. No one else.

Jamey: We've already shown with this band who we were from the beginning. What we're doing with this band is exactly what hardcore is about. It's not accepting limitations on anything we do. When kids are growing up, they get cold water thrown on their dreams and ideas from day one. I've seen it. I see it everywhere. I see it with my little brother. I see it with his friends. I've seen it with my close friends. Everywhere, in every walk of life, you have this adversity to just get what you want out of your life. What we've done is not turn back once we got to that point of adversity. We just kept going and kept going and that's why we have the things that we have.

Jamey: I remember when we had our old message board, I went on and some kid wrote this whole thing about how we paid all these huge hundreds of thousands of dollars to get on Ozzfest and how we were sellouts for doing that. We didn't pay a red cent to get on that tour! I know a lot of bands do but we were given that tour because we deserved that tour. We were representative of our style of music. We're the band that's sold the most records out of this genre on one record so why not us be the ones to go on that tour and represent what we're doing. And we did. We exposed a zillion kids to bands they would never know about and these bands are going to go play those towns. I mean, I'm still doing a disc throw, selling CDs for ten bucks for bands that you can't get in the stores and kids buy it. And the next time I come through town, kids thank me. They'll come up to me after the show and say, "Thank you so much. I bought this Death Threat CD or Sworn Enemy CD, the Unearthed CD or the Diecast CD and it was the greatest CD and I couldn't find it anywhere." So, it's only a small group of kids that really feel threatened by a band like us or Poison The Well or any band that associates itself with hardcore. If you ask the bands, they know that you have to work to get to this point and you've got to give back. Every band that's ever shit on us on the way up...

Shoutweb: Uh oh.

Jamey: ...is not in a good place right now. Let me tell you. So why would I ever go do that to anyone else?

Shoutweb: You want to give me a list? (laughter)

Jamey: I don't. I don't!

Shoutweb: I guess we'll have to go to JameyJasta.com?

Jamey: Yeah. (laughter)

Shoutweb: So, do you *feel* like a leader?

Jamey: I do and I don't.

Shoutweb: Because there's always been a respect with Hatebreed and particularly with you. I hate to draw a comparison but there is a definite buzz and turning point happening and you may be in the line of a Fred Durst. Do you feel that way about hardcore and with your band?

Jamey: I just think I've learned from other people's mistakes. I just try not to get caught up with what everyone else is doing. As far as helping out other bands and putting out records and doing shows and stuff. I'm not perfect. The stuff that comes out on my label, it's infrequent; the web site is down one day and up the next day. All I can say is that I just try! I may not try my best 24 hours a day but I try. People ask me about the Fred Durst thing all the time. "Are you the Fred Durst of hardcore?" "Are you the Puff Daddy of hardcore?"

Shoutweb: And I thought I had a unique question! (laughter)

Jamey: (laughter) Yeah well, I'm like, "If you mean, that I'm involved with other bands, I guess." I wish...

Shoutweb: You wish you could have that kind of power?

Jamey: Right. And be the vice president of a label! But I will be. I'm not going to say that I don't foresee that and that I don't want that eventually but I don't know the inner working behind the industry. We were a band when Limp Bizkit was getting started. We knew of Staind when they played at a club that I promote shows at. Someone like that, they've done the work. Sure, some people have more lucky breaks that others but if the guy saw the band, believed in something, got it to the right people and they got the right marketing dollars behind it and the band writes a catchy song and they get huge then more power to him! If that happens for me, and Sworn Enemy writes some universal hit that millions of people can relate to and they sell millions of record then great! But sure enough, there will be some people that will not think so highly of that. What can I do, right?

Shoutweb: So tell me about this record. It's called "Perseverance". What a great name for a record.

Jamey: Yes, surprisingly, it has never been used by anyone else. I did the research with our legal department at Universal. We state our case on this record. (laughter)

Shoutweb: (laughter) They tell me that it's "hard as shit" from what I've heard.

Jamey: Here's the thing. It's on Universal Records. It's on my label and it bears my logo and the web site address and everything because it's our record. It's Hatebreed's record and it should be on my label because we had all the creative control and we did all these things on our own just like the majority of the artists who work with Universal. It's a great company. You probably have more freedom on Universal than you would on an independent. We just got tired of going to Wyoming and Montana and all these places where you can't get a record that's on an independent label. These kids want it and they're just as deserving as everyone else. We've been that band that goes to every town that no other bands go to. "Oh, well, we've never seen a hardcore show." We've always said, "That's fine, let's try it." And the first time, 15 kids show up and the next time 30 kids and the next time around, it's 90 kids. And so on and so forth.

Jamey: We've played here (ed. The Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY) to 30 kids and it was a terrible show. Then we've play places again like tonight that are sold out. Who would have said whenever the Poughkeepsie scene started that a band like us could do a record on Universal and build as we go along? So that's what the record is about persevering and building something. It's about creating it from nothing and not accepting limitations like I said before.