Live Daily
Interview with Evan by by Don Zulaica, October 2001
Brooklyn metal pioneers Biohazard (music) released their latest studio
effort, "Uncivilization", earlier this month. The
band is currently on tour in Europe, and a U.S. tour is in the works. Recorded
at the band's own Rat Piss Studios, the album features guest appearances
by Sen-Dog of Cypress Hill, Phil Anselmo of Pantera, Peter Steele of Type
O Negative, and members of Slipknot, Agnostic Front, Sepultura and Hatebreed.
The band--bassist-vocalist Evan Seinfeld, guitarist-vocalist Bill Graziadei, drummer Danny Schuler and guitarist Leo Curley, formed in 1988, fusing elements of thrash metal, house and hip-hop, years before Limp Bizkit, Korn and Linkin Park. In 1993, Biohazard teamed up with the hardcore rap group Onyx and recorded an alternate version of the hit single "Slam," which led to both groups later collaborating on the title track to the double-platinum "Judgment Night" soundtrack. Besides handling the bass and vocal duties, Seinfeld also has a recurring role as Jaz Hoyt on HBO's critically acclaimed drama "Oz." liveDaily caught up with him while the band was tuning up for the album release to talk about acting, Biohazard's new label, and the band's place in metal history.
LiveDaily: How did you guys write the material for "Uncivilization?"
Evan Seinfeld: We wrote a lot of the record on the road, and then some stuff we wrote spontaneously in the studio. We weren't in any rush, really. The recording itself went pretty fast, but we didn't have any deadlines, so we took our time with a lot of it.
When we did the album, we were an unsigned band. We didn't have a record deal, we didn't have a manager. We did the album just for the pure love of doing the album, not knowing if it was going to come out at all. We thought we could sell it to our fans through the website, if we wanted to. Eventually, we made a deal with [the label] SPV. They set a release date, and suddenly we realized we were in crunch time. We had to hurry and finish up the record really quick.
But it's fun, you know. It's fun to be your own boss. It was really cool not to have to work with anybody else.
What happened with Mercury?
We had to go in there and beg them to let us go. Everybody wanted to have us on their roster because we're so credible, but labels don't know how to work a band like Biohazard--we're not a pop sensation, we're not a one-hit wonder. We've never had a hit single--I don't want to say we never will, but we don't aim for that. If it happens organically, it happens.
But we got caught in that merger, man. Mercury was going through that whole thing with Seagram's buying Universal, or whoever was buying who, for umpteen-skillion dollars. [Universal Music, Mercury's parent, was purchased by Seagram, and many Universal labels underwent consolidation.] And we were out on tour and the label wasn't doing any f---ing marketing, they weren't doing any street marketing--they sucked. They f---in' sucked.
Outside of the band, you've been on HBO's "Oz." How many shows have you done?
I've been on 30 episodes all together. I just finished filming the fifth season, right after we finished recording the album. The show is moving along really well.
Does it take up a lot of time?
When I film a whole season, it takes about three months. Now that we have a record out, when they start filming again, I'm going to probably ask them to give me as much leave-time on the days as they can. I'll probably be flying in and out.
Is acting something you've always wanted to do?
Always in the back of my mind, but never really had the balls to go chase after it. It's a very difficult thing to break into. I got really, really lucky. The fact that a bunch of the guys with the show were Biohazard fans didn't hurt me too much. It totally fell in my lap.
Monty Connor from Roadrunner, the guy who signed us in like 1991, his wife is a lawyer who represents a bunch of guys on the show. She told me they were Biohazard fans. I was like, "No way, I'm an 'Oz' fan." Hooked me up, and I'm out with Dean Winters, the guy who plays O'Reilly. Next thing you know, I'm in [writer-producer] Tom Fontana's office. Two days later, I'm on the show with a f---ing big part, killing people and swinging my d--- around. It's a dream come true. I can't complain about my life.
Do you feel you've been short-changed by the media with regards to Biohazard's place in metal history, or do you even care?
You know, really, I don't care about it. The media just always seems to glorify things that are really ...
Flavor of the month?
Yeah. I mean, I would love to make the money that comes with that. But I don't want to be the flavor of the month: you're here and then you're gone. I don't want to be coined as new-metal or rap-metal--we've been f---ing doing this ten years before any of these bands, and we'll be doing it 10 years after them, provided we don't get lumped in with it. I love what I do. I don't want us to be over anytime soon.
I quit college to start the band. After one year of college it was like, "I hate this." I was just going because I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I thought, "Who am I kidding?" I wanted to make music, and that's all I wanted to do. As soon as I turned my energies into it, within a year I had Biohazard up and running. A year later I had 5,000 demos in circulation. A year after that, we were selling into a record deal. And we were on tour in Europe playing in front of thousands of people.
I mean, if you believe that anything is possible, it truly is. We're from f---ing Canarsie, Brooklyn. If we can make it, f---ing anybody can make it.