We got the chance to talk to Gary Mader, bassist of EYEHATEGOD, at the Observatory of Orange County right before their brutal performance;  this is what he wanted to let us in on.

Hostile Jo- “You have been with EYEHATEGOD since 2002 right, and you released the first album with them titled Confederacy of Ruined Lives right, (could not get the name right, a couple beers in, blurred my mind)?”

Gary Mader- “Nah, the first album I did was the one that came out couple years back. Self Titled.”

HJ- “Oh yea, EYEHATEGOD my bad bro, shit whats up with me… “

Gary- “Yea the self titled one.”

HJ- “Speaking of that album, I heard the first song, that is a little more punkish I am use to listening a bit more doomish, sludge in the EHG sound. What made you guys write something like that,  fast, straight out the get go?”

Gary- “I don’t know that it’s anything really new, to have the element in the music. I think if you listen to in the Name of Suffering, all of them really, there is taste of hardcore, you know, that has charge.  All of us have played in hardcore bands, so its not something that is foreign to us. I know most people think of sludge or doom or whatever of being the slow form of music, I don’t think any of us think of it in form of speed its more important that the music has impact regardless of speed.”

HJ- “I think that is what people look in any genre, whether is thrash, or black metal they  want any kind of impact.”

Gary- “That is what we are all about.”

HJ- “You guys are touring right now, its your third night and you have the one and only Randy Blythe, as guest vocalist. How fucking stoked are you to have him join you guys in this tour?”

Gary- “We are super stoked because if he wasn’t here we wouldn’t be doing this tour most likely. Beyond that, its good to have someone who has been friends with the band and contribute and be so spot on;  he put a lot of time in doing Mikes vocals.”

HJ- “We have been looking forward to it,  because you did two shows, one  at Gwa-BQ with Phil Anselmo and one local, he owns Housecore Records, how brutal was that?”

Gary- “That was cool too man, because Phil is also a good friend of ours, and a big fan of the band. We looked at it as a special weekend. It was kind of done  on the fly, I think we jammed with Phil maybe once before; thats how close it was to trying to figure out what we were gonna do.  At that time when we were asking Phil we were already thinking of Randy as a possibility you know, as someone else who could do Mike’s vocals. It was a cool couple of shows, we played Gwar-BQ and then we played a local show.  It’s a special show when we play in New Orleans.”

HJ- “You guys pretty much created that scene, each time we hear about EYEHATEGOD or other bands that came from New Orleans that NOLA at the end comes with it. We fucking love the sound.  It’s different in the west coast, and I feel like many genres are slowly dying or simply no fans are coming out to the shows. What is it like to come to L.A. go from LA to L.A.”

Gary- “Ah dude I love coming to L.A., its one of those cities where we have a lot of friends and of course a lot of history with this band and beyond that its kind of like new orleans in that it don’t stop.  So we feel at home here, we feel like we can let loose, we feel in our element I guess you can say. The shows here are fucking awesome, there is never a bad show here even if we suck.”

HJ- “I dont think that is true at all, you guys don’t suck, I heard plenty of albums from you guys, I am waiting for the next album, speaking of which, do you guys have anything that you have done or ready to just get in the studio and chop it down?”

Gary- “Yea we got the structures for about ten songs, so we have an entire full length written already. its just a matter of fine tuning what we have and once we figure out what we are gonna do with the arrangements, then we give it to Mike and let him do his thing with it. I mean its completely done, i think next year we’ll spend more time on trying to get that ready for recording, so that maybe we can recorded in time by like spring of next year, we just need that extra push to finish it. Thats our next move for sure.”

HJ- “So with that in mind, you have worked with Phil Anselmo and Randy Blythe have you guys thought of maybe having one of them collaborate in any tracks vocally?”

Gary- “No thats not really our style.

Our recordings are a different thing, I feel the recordings should be the band, its something we’ve never done you know. Other bands have done that which there are some cool collaborations we are just not one of those bands to do that.”

HJ- “So you mentioned that having Phil doing those two shows was very special, did you wanted to keep it special or was he busy with Superjoint , I know he just did something with Scour…”

Gary- Yea he is pretty busy, he don’t stop man. Im pretty sure that right now, I think he has been working with Bruce of Warbeast on their record. He is a busy dude, I don’t know that he would have been into doing a whole tour with anybody you know.”

HJ- “Two shows is special enough, how was it working with Phil recording your EYEHATEGOD titled album with his label Housecore Records, in comparison to working with other record labels.”

Gary- “It was more personable, when we have an issue, which is rare, there is someone there that we can talk to you know. We talk to Kate, she is Phils girl, but she also runs Housecore, she takes care of everything. There is no emailing somebody that you wont hear from, its good to deal with friends. A lot of people would think that mixing business and friendship might not be a good idea but I’d say that there are no absolutes. I mean its working for us.”

HJ- “You can definitely hear it in the self titled album EYEHATEGOD.”

Gary- “We are happy to be where we are, and then we have century media in Europe who handles our distribution, I say we are in a good place, in both ways.”

HJ- “Well we are looking forward to hearing more heavy, sludge metal deep riffs and powerful bass, and drumming of course Mike back upfront.”

Gary- “Absolutely Jose, cheers my brother.”

HJ- “Cheers, brother.”

As the tour continues with stops is California’s biggest named venues, EYEHATEGOD have one thing in mind and that is to create memories at a place where it feels like home. Going from the NOLA vibe to the L.A. groove is a great feeling, the fans are raging and digging the music. The night at the Observatory was brutal and EYEHATEGOD can surely earn their fans with those heavy riffs and brutal vocals. Randy Blythe guests vocalist definitely shows respect for the music Mike IX Williams creates, and his persona on stage adds that extra in your face aggression. EYEHATEGOD will continue their tour with Randy Blythe as a guest vocalist, make sure to come check these guys out and be ready to have your face melted with songs like Agitation! Propaganda, Sister Fucker and many heavy ones.

Interviewed By: Hostile Jo

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