Interview with Hazzerd
Interview with Hazzerd
Interviewed by Victor Augusto
“You just have to listen to 30 seconds of a Hazzerd song to love this band!”! It was my first words about this amazing Canadian Thrash Metal band when I first reviewed them back in 2017.
After all these years, they’ve just released their 3rd album called “The 3rd Dimension” which I had the honor to review (here). By the way, I was lucky enough to review all of their releases so far, and now, I’ve had the chance tochat with the Vocalist and drummer, Dylan Westendorp, to check a few curiosities about the band!
Victor Augusto: The band was formed in 2013 and you have a good number of albums released since then. Going back to the early days, what were the band’s biggest dreams and ideals, when you created Hazzerd?
Dylan Westendorp: Looking back to when we started the band in 2013 we were honestly just fueled by beer & the love of the genre. Wanting to be the best we could and kick ass while doing it. Really the only dream we had was that people would vibe with our music and enjoy the art we put out there. I really do think we have achieved that in some capacity. We are considered by many people to be one of the “Big 4 of the New Wave of Traditional Thrash Metal” and we are so appreciative of people who give us that label. We’ve worked hard to get to where we are, so hearing that is nice.
It took me a while to realize that you (the vocalist Dylan Westendorp) are also the drummer. I believe it is not an easy task to play such amazing Thrash Metal drumbeats while singing. How did it happen for you to become a singer and drummer at the same time?
It happened all because we couldn’t find a singer. Every person we auditioned just didn’t have what we wanted, that gritty Thrash voice. We seemed to only attract singers who wanted to be Vince Neil or David Lee Roth, and with us being 19-year-old metal elitists, we’d take one look at these guys and basically say NEXT. (Wasn’t THAT harsh lol) but eventually after about 7-8 different dudes trying out, I (Dylan) just said “screw this, I’ll just sing”. I knew exactly what type of voice we were looking for so I worked my ass off to get my voice up to par. Quitting the drums was never an option for me. I’m first and foremost a drummer, always have been and always will be. I love playing the drums to no end, so I knew I had to also work on playing and singing at the same time (something that I still struggle with).
I reviewed your first album “Misleading Evil” in 2017 and I clearly remember I wrote something like “You just have to listen to 30 seconds of a Hazzerd song to love this band!”. How much effort did you put into the compositions to have this impact on the people who were listening to you for the first time?
When we compose songs (specially the album openers) we go for that “punch you in the face” vibe. So, with “Misleading Evil” we opened the album with ‘Tendencies of a Madman’. The song is instantly to the point, fast and aggressive from the outset, which I think captures the listeners’ ear, making them want to stick around for the duration of the record. We tried the same approach on “Delirium” and “The 3rd Dimension” with the latter being a little more energetic and to the point. ‘Sacrifice Them’ (which opened “Delirium”) has that cool duel harmony guitar riff, which I think perks the ears up and again catches the listener. However, this is just my perspective.
Your second album “Delirium” was released in the beginning of 2020. We all know all chaos happened in that year (Covid – 19). How have you managed to survive that darkness, and how bad was it for the album release?
Well, it was really tough going through the pandemic as a band. Hard to get together and write or rehearse, it’s why it took us 5 years to get the new album out, that and Brendan (Brendan Malycky – Guitars) deciding to step down from the band after he finished recording his parts.
The constant instability in society was something scary as well. When we started writing the lyrical direction of “The 3rd Dimension”, we made it a goal to venture away from such dark and depressing song subjects, which is what the majority of our previous album, “Delirium” was about. We also didn’t want to write something regarding the pandemic itself, as we personally were so sick of the news and negativity surrounding it. So, we decided to write stories of our favorite games/movies and franchises. Obviously, each song still has the cliche metal writing of death and stuff, but it’s hidden within a deeper meaning on most songs.
Your new album “The 3rd Dimension” is out and it looks like you’ve been receiving amazing reviews about it. Which impression from these reviews made you most proud about the album?
Yes, thank you! We have been receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews for the new record, and it’s something we’ve had anxiety about for almost 5 years haha. After “Delirium” released, it was reviewed positively for the most part but definitely had more negative reviews than “Misleading Evil”. To us, we didn’t like that. We felt that it was a step in the wrong direction, so we really did take constructive criticism from those reviews when crafting “The 3rd Dimension”.
The proudest we have been about our musical output has been this album and the reception it has received. Our best-selling and best-reviewed record to date.
Since the second album “Delirium”, I remember a few NWOBHM influences in your music, like the instrumental song ‘Call Of The Void’. The new album has ‘A Fell Omen’, which also goes deeper inside Classic Metal. How challenging is it to create such a sonority being a Thrash Metal band?
Well for us, we don’t find it to be a challenge; rather, we find it to be a goal to let the music do the talking. We curate riffs that we feel flourish on their own without vocals over top, riffs that keep your attention and continue to do so till the end of the song. It’s a reason we have so many times changes, clean sections, and classical sections in these songs, because we really want the listener to go on a journey with the music, weave in and out of battle, if you will. Being a Thrash band tightens the experience and allows us to spice the songs up with classic elements of Thrash as well. I think it’s a cool feature to have, as not many Thrash bands write instrumentals to the point that we do. Such long compositions and intricate sections. We do use the Metallica instrumentals as inspiration for sure. If that wasn’t already obvious haha.
For this new album, you decided to show a good sense of humor from the band with the video of ‘ThArSh TiLl DeTh’. How funny was it to record that video, and how was the fans’ response to it?
Haha. It was probably the most fun we’ve ever had on a video shoot. We mainly improvised ideas for the visual storytelling in the video on the spot. So, everything you see is all off the top of the head, and we think we did a good job. The only planned part of the video was us destroying the microwave, Office Space style haha. The fans’ response has been so great. We were honestly expecting a little bit of backlash on this one, as the lyrics really are dissing anyone who decides that their opinion is factual in terms of Metal music. We were pleasantly surprised that (mostly) everyone got the tongue-in-cheek jokes and the silliness of it all.
All of your cover art albums have the same ‘character’ painted on it. Do you have a name for him? What does he represent to the album’s concept?
Yep, he’s our mascot, I guess lol. His name is Mitsy (an inside joke) originally created by prominent Metal artist Raff The Might (Too Many Skulls) on our 2014 EP “Victimize the Innocent” and later realized fully by Andrei Bouzikov on our 3 LPs.
He usually represents the antagonistic traits of the albums themselves. So, with “Misleading” he was the one causing the evil on the right side but offering you a better (soon to be destroyed) path on the left side.
“Delirium” he was the one visually representing Delirium itself. With all the chaos in the background.
“The 3rd Dimension” sees him reaching into the experiment jar and letting the monster out of the Dimension. So, like I said, he represents the antagonistic traits of the records.
Since I’ve started this journey reviewing bands around the world, I’ve been finding incredible bands from Canada, like Infrared (who I even became friends with). How is your relationship with other bands from your country? How could you describe your musical scenario, nowadays?
We like to think we get along with everyone in the scene. Our closest friends in another band would be the guys in Osyron, they play a lot of shows with us. We used to have a close relationship when our friends in WMD were still in Calgary, however they moved to Vancouver and a few of the members aren’t with the band anymore. So, I can’t think of another band off the top of my head that we are super close with. Tymo would probably be the closest we have to that situation.
It is easy for a Thrash Metal fan to love any album of yours. What makes you feel that the album is at the appropriate level of songwriting to be recorded?
We have always written the album in its entirety before entering the studio. This time around, we had the opportunity to really flesh out some of the songs and structures while recording, as we did it on our own; a first for the band. And the environment really allowed us to relax and be true to what we wanted this album to be. That was relentlessness. I can’t recall there being a “okay, now it’s ready” moment. But I do know it took a hell of a time to get to that point lol.
Thanks for your time. As a fan from Brazil, I wish you all the best. I hope I can see you in a live concert someday! Please let your plans for the future.
Thank you for being a fan & spreading the word about our music. It helps immensely.
We have a few tour plans in the works right now for the future. We are trying to make our way to Europe, but nothing is set in stone yet.
Thank you for the questions! Always a pleasure.
Interview by Victor Augusto
All pictures taken from the band’s Facebook page
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Victor Augusto and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this interview, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
