May 2003 - Albums of Purgaotory, interview
Albums
of Purgatory: Firstly, whats the band up to right now?
ANDY: Not much! Writing new material, or at least trying - very long process
for us. Also trying to get gigs arranged for this year, possibilities of Europe
and USA. Plus filling this in!
AoP: How would you describe the Honey for Christ sound?
ANDY: 100% raw, unclean, uncut, hard & honest heavy fucking metal!!!
AoP: How did the band begin?
ANDY: It started in 98 when me & Jason met at a party and basically decided
to start a pure METAL band! I has been jamming with Chris for years in the garage
so he was recruited on drums, and we than asked Paul to join on bass as he wasn’t
doing anything else!
AoP: Are you involved in any other projects and if so how do they compare musically
to Honey for Christ?
ANDY: I was helping a friend of mine with Devilmakesthree but only as a session
guitarist, no writing was involved. I had to call It a day after a couple of
months cause I couldn’t afford the time away from Honey For Christ.
AoP: Can you remember your first gig (how did it go)?
JASON: Absolutley shitting ourselves! It was with Scald in a local Belfast bar.
It was me and Paul’s 1st ever gig, Andy & Chris had played one in a death metal
band back in ’94, but nothing else. Cant remember much else, aside from being
nervous as fuck, then getting drunk and loving every minute!
AoP: What sort of reaction are you getting from your recent material so far?
CHRIS: Fucking brilliant! Not a bad review yet. Most reviews are coming back
between 8 and 10 out of 10! Also the reviews are from across the world so it’s
not unique to one country.
AoP: What are your favourite Honey for Christ tracks?
CHRIS: “Concrete Gemini” (from TAOSA&SE) cause of total intense drumming!
JASON: “Forging Iron Will” - sums up everything we are about in just one song.
ANDY: “The Heretic Hook” - crazy fast guitar playing and some well heavy palm
muting!
AoP: What are your favourite all time songs or albums?
CHRIS: “South of Heaven” - it’s a belter! “Cowboys from Hell” - it’s also a
belter and it’s fucking PANTERA so it has to be good! “Awake” by Dream Theatre
as well!
JASON: “Under the Bade”, “Wasp - WASP”, “Scarred for Life,” “Reign in Blood”
- my head’s gone blank!! “Screaming for Vengence”, “Coup de tat”, whatever!
ANDY: At the minute I’m really getting into “The Dreadful Hours”, basically
ANY MDB!!! Also I have been listening to a lot of HIM as well. Whitesnake “trouble”
album is a classic, and I’d have to agree with Jase on “Reign in Blood.”
AoP: If you could choose to feature on a tribute album for a band who would
you choose and which song would you play?
JASON: Twisted Sister - “Shoot em down”
ANDY: Free - “Wishing Well”
CHRIS: Slayer - “Mandatory Suicide” AoP:
What was the first record you bought?
JASON: WASP - WASP
ANDY: Motley Crue - Theatre of Pain
CHRIS: AC/DC - Blow up your video
AoP: What would be your dream band line-up?
ANDY: Me, Jase, Paul and Chris!
JASON: Phil Lynott on bass, Angry Anderson on vocals, Randy Rhodes on guitar,
K.K. on guitar and Cosy Powell on drums.
CHRIS: Me on drums, me on guitar, me on bass - no singer!
AoP: What do you think of the position of metal and music in general today?
CHRIS: Pretty shit really, bands out there are trying to jump onto the bacxks
of the latest trend, or it seems that way to me anyway.
ANDY: Metal has taken a funny turn, the likes of Slipknot and Marilyn Manson
have really brought metal back to the younger audience, but that’s all they
really seem to have got. There are so many more bands out there that kids can’t
get the hold of which is really quite sad as the scene could be really strong
if it was properly exposed. Pop music is he same crap as usually but It is backed
by bigger labels and greater finances, but I suppose this is what metal is all
about, something underground for die hard fanatics only I guess.
AoP: Which other bands in the scene really stand out for you at the moment?
CHRIS: none really, all the same old stuff, nothing new and exciting coming
out lately.
ANDY: Nothing new really grabs me at the moment, the bands I already listen
to are doing the best job, MDB especially, but some others appear to have lost
their feet, the new IN FLAMES didn’t do that much for me really. Very sad. I’m
actually in the process of trying to find “new” undiscovered bands, I write
to guy in Turkey who’s been CDR’ing some stuff for me, but it’s mostly kinda
power metal which isn’t really my thing either, never giving up though.
JASON: Electric Wizard, that’s all I can think of at the moment.
AoP: Do you have any funny stories about the band you can share with us?
ANDY: The only thing I can think of is when we did a small tour and pinched
a 6 foot plastic ice cream cone on the way to a gig, only to be phoned by the
police 4 hours later and asked to return it! By this stage it had been on stage
with us and was completely trashed! We had to bring it back to the local cop
shop and pay a £250 fine. We made it into the local papers with that one!
AoP: and finally, what do you see in the future for Honey for Christ?
JASON: Better songs, bigger gigs, bigger tours, build up a bigger following
and just go completely fucking crazy!!!