BIOHAZARD has introduced its first U.S. competition efficiency of 2023 — an look at this yr’s version of the Blue Ridge Rock Pageant, set to happen September 7-10 in Alton, Virginia.
Celebrating their Thirty fifth anniversary as a band, Brooklyn, New York hardcore steel legends BIOHAZARD have returned, reuniting their unique lineup of guitarist/vocalist Billy Gradziadei, guitarist Bobby Hambel, drummer Danny Schuler and bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld.
The primary wave of confirmed dates for the seminal outfit consists of a number of worldwide festivals in the summertime of 2023, in addition to choose appearances in America.
Along with touring, BIOHAZARD has a Thirty fifth-anniversary documentary within the works containing beforehand unreleased footage spanning 4 many years. In addition they plan on returning to the studio to file new materials in early 2023.
“BIOHAZARD is an iconic band that ripped it up on the streets of New York after I lived there within the late ’80s and early ’90s, so I am excited to be working with them to convey their pioneering hardcore sound to a brand new technology,” says Andy Gould (ROB ZOMBIE, PANTERA, TYPE O NEGATIVE). The band is managed by Gould and Paul Gargano and booked by Jim Morewood on the K2 Company internationally, and Steve Sokol at Pinnacle in North America.
States Graziadei: “Through the years, we made some nice music collectively and had so many unimaginable reveals on some fairly superb excursions. After spending a lot time and deal with POWERFLO and my solo mission BILLYBIO, issues simply fell in place on the proper time and I made a decision it was the time to recapture that vitality and go kick ass once more with the unique lineup of BIOHAZARD with DannyBobby, and Evan!”
Provides Hambel: “I am honored to carry out with the band once more. I can not wait to get onstage with the blokes and do what we do! I am trying ahead to touring and taking part in stay. See you on the market!”
Says Schuler: “Life is brief, issues occur, and earlier than you recognize it, it is too late. That is why I am extraordinarily grateful that we’re getting the prospect to do that once more, forgiving the previous and specializing in the longer term. I’ve missed the band and the good instances we have had, and I am trying ahead to the reveals, the journey, and seeing our mates everywhere in the world once more… That is gonna be superior. Let’s go!”
States Seinfeld: “It has been ten years since all of us performed collectively, and I am in an enormous place of gratitude for the chance to get again to the roots of BIOHAZARD and never solely reconnect with the opposite guys, but in addition the followers. We have been by many years of insanity, and it feels just like the implausible 4 are again collectively.”
BIOHAZARD 2023 tour dates, with extra to be introduced:
Aug. 04 – Czaplinek, Poland – Pol’and’Rock Pageant
Aug. 10 – Jeromer, Czech Republic – Brutal Assault
Aug. 13 – Catton Park, England – Bloodstock
Aug. 19 – Eindhoven, Netherlands – Dynamo Metalfest
Sep. 7-10 – Alton, Virginia – Blue Ridge Rock Pageant
Final yr, Graziadei mentioned in an interview that there had been “speak” about placing BIOHAZARD again collectively.
The group, which is acknowledged as one of many earliest outfits to fuse hardcore punk and heavy steel with parts of hip-hop, has been out of the general public eye since Scott Roberts left the band greater than six years in the past.
Roberts, who performed guitar on BIOHAZARD‘s 2005 album “Means To An Finish”, rejoined the group in June 2011 because the substitute for Seinfeld. Scott fronted BIOHAZARD for practically 5 years earlier than exiting the band in February 2016.
Requested by Metallic Injection about BIOHAZARD‘s standing, Billy mentioned in March 2022: “We speak usually. I used to be with Evan at a memorial for my buddy Scott [Koenig], and it was nice to see him. Danny and Bobby and I speak very often, and throughout the pandemic there have been just a few people who wished to play bass for us. After which throughout the pandemic, we have been all discussing and had a coronary heart to coronary heart. And mainly, the end result was, like, life’s too brief. If we do not take away something from this pandemic, it is, like, if we’ll do one thing, let’s put the band again collectively once more.
“I am the one member of the band that is nonetheless lively in music,” he continued. “I do know the blokes do issues right here and there, however it’s what I do with what I really like. It is me, so I’ll maintain going.
“With BIOHAZARD, it is at all times been a vibe factor with us. It is not like we sit down and say, ‘Hey, in 2023, let’s make an album. Let’s go on tour and launch the album mid-tour.’ In a enterprise sense, that’d be nice. If I had the enterprise sense that I’ve now, I might have been far more profitable. However like I mentioned, that was by no means my purpose. It is nonetheless not my purpose. My purpose is music and artwork first. I in all probability will not be acknowledged for something superior till I am useless and gone, however it’s okay. I’ve different means to pay the payments and I’ve an important spouse who helps me.
“BIOHAZARD is type of like a vibe factor,” Billy added. “It is like when the planets align and shit strains up, we do it. There’s been completely different loopy twists and turns of our historical past, and I might think about there will likely be sooner or later, however that is life. The pandemic was the fucking craziest curveball anybody ever thought would come, you recognize?”
In an August 2020 interview with the “Aftershocks” podcast, Roberts mentioned that he left BIOHAZARD as a result of he “wasn’t blissful” anymore. “There was one man that I wasn’t getting together with very effectively, and it made touring not enjoyable anymore for me,” he mentioned. “My motive to stay round was to make a brand new file that was nice and I might be pleased with and all that stuff, after which it grew to become type of clear that wasn’t gonna occur, so I used to be, like, ‘What am I doing it for?’ So I give up.”
Based on Roberts, BIOHAZARD was “doing actually good” on the stay circuit earlier than his resolution to depart the group.
“I used to be really within the band longer than anyone else that wasn’t the unique 4 guys,” he mentioned. “I used to be within the band twice, really; I performed guitar the primary time. So I used to be within the band, like, seven years, I believe. The second time, after I was singing, at first, we have been, like, ‘Is that this gonna work?’ ‘Trigger it is actually onerous to interchange a singer. In historical past, what number of instances has that truly labored? IRON MAIDEN, AC/DC… a handful of instances. At first, it was undoubtedly bizarre; folks did not know what to anticipate. However in time, the reveals have been getting larger once more, we have been headlining festivals once more — it was rolling, it was occurring, it was working. Nevertheless it all type of fell aside.”
In a 2017 interview with “The Ex Man” podcast, Graziadei mentioned Roberts‘s cut up from the group, saying that the opposite members of the band “acquired into some points” with Scott as soon as work started on a brand new studio album. “He simply grew out of it,” Billy claimed. “He was a fucking rigger in New York within the union, making tons of cash, and leaving his household to go on tour for making slightly bit of cash, it did not pay for him. So I believe that began harboring some points with him. And ultimately we have been within the studio doing the brand new file, and we had some exchanges backwards and forwards, and he give up. And we have been, like, ‘Fuck! Right here we’re once more.'”
Scott later responded to Billy‘s feedback, saying that he give up BIOHAZARD as a result of it was not enjoyable. “I used to be okay with dropping cash on tour so long as I used to be having fun with myself,” Roberts wrote on his Fb web page. “I might have stored doing that. The true drawback was I wasn’t getting together with one of many members and wasn’t having fun with myself on tour with them anymore. The one different motive for me to maintain doing it, was to make a brand new file that I used to be into and pleased with. When one other member of the band made it clear to me that wasn’t going to occur, there was no motive for me to do it anymore. That is the only manner I can clarify it.”
He added: “The one motive to be in a band is for the love of it. Not as a result of it is a profession. When you do not take pleasure in what you are doing, you should not do it. That is my opinion, for what’s it value.”
In “The Ex Man” interview, Billy mentioned that BIOHAZARD‘s collaboration with Roberts “simply labored. The band with out Evan, in a small, hardcore manner, it is like VAN HALEN with out David Lee Roth. It was completely different, it was one thing new, however it was completely different… Scott had the fireplace that all of us had, and it simply appeared to work, and folks accepted him. He was nice, he match nice, his vibe was nice, he was all in regards to the music, beloved hardcore, beloved what we did, he was actually into it, and it was fucking superior. So we toured, we stored doing it. And we noticed the crowds getting larger and the folks accepted him and the BIOHAZARD identify… the model began rising once more; as an alternative of being stagnant or declining, it began to develop. And the reveals stored doing higher and higher. And we have been, like, ‘Cool. Let’s maintain this going.'”
Seinfeld made his final recorded look with BIOHAZARD on 2012’s “Reborn In Defiance” album, which marked the primary LP that includes the band’s unique lineup in 18 years.
Graziadei is at the moment a member of POWERFLO, which additionally options former FEAR FACTORY bassist/guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers, Sen Canine from CYPRESS HILL, and Rogelio Lozano from DOWNSET.
Billy‘s solo mission, BILLYBIO, launched a brand new album, “Leaders And Liars”, in March 2022 through AFM Information.
ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENT #68: @biohazardDFL (Authentic Lineup Reunion)
Reuniting with their Basic Lineup for the first time in a few years, BIOHAZARD will unleash on Blue Ridge Rock Pageant this September! pic.twitter.com/YUQaVw7OMk
— Blue Ridge Rock Pageant (@BlueRidgeRock) January 18, 2023