Blackened – Jay Reason
Posted on June 13, 2009 at 1:00 am by Luke
Featuring members of Hatebreed, The Distance and Fastbreak, recently formed Connecticut act Blackened plays hardcore without any superfluous sounds or instruments, just angry, loud, straight up hardcore. A couple months after their debut album, “This Means War”, I had a chance via phone to talk with vocalist Jay Reason about, well, basically the life of a die-hard, in it for life, hardcore kid.
WayTooLoud!: What do you up and playing, what influenced you into hardcore?
Jay Reason: It goes back a while ago now, probably about fourteen years ago, I had an older brother who was way into metal and hardcore. When I was younger, around fifteen or so, I was getting in a lot of trouble at school, and just trouble in general, outside of school, I was really, really bad, my parents are old school form another country and their answer was “You can’t hang out with the people you’re hanging out with”, so the only person I could do anything with was my brother. My brother was playing in a hardcore band and there was nothing else to do except tag along with him, and I was exposed to a few bands like The Misfits, Murphy’s Law, Bad Brains, not a lot of stuff but I knew what it was but I didn’t understand the culture at the time. I ended up getting tagged along to a couple shows and I ended up thinking “Wow, this is crazy, I can do that! I can write those songs and piece together a band!”, luckily my brother didn’t care too much that I latched on to him and ever since then that’s been it, those first couple of shows really got me into the lifestyle and I’ve never broken away from it! It stuck with me, even at moments where I feel like I should have pulled out and done something else, I’m still involved in it. So that’s kind of where I got the fire from, watching my brother, letting me go with him and learning about all this crazy stuff. I was this pissed off kid getting in trouble and I could relate to [the music].
It was really different than it is now, it was still underground and very hard to find, not like today where there’s commercials and stuff like that, it was so different, and to see that was crazy! That’s pretty much it, I owe it all to [my brother]!
WTL!: You know a lot of people say older brothers when asked that question.
Jay: It was cool ‘cuz me and my brother, we get along but we’ve never had any sort of common bond, so that was a moment that we did share, it was unspoken but it was cool, we never really related, we’re the total opposite of each other so it was cool to have something in common with the older brother. He hasn’t played much after that but he’s always really involved in what I’m doing, which is cool! Whenever somebody asks me that question I always give the credit to him ‘cuz he didn’t have to let me come with him. He actually helped piece together my first band, he didn’t have to do all that stuff, it’s cool!
WTL!: I haven’t been around hardcore for that long, being more of a punk myself, but I do know about the older bands, so I’m just wondering if you’ve seen any change, whether if be just subtle or more radical, in the hardcore scene?
Jay: You know I have. I think it’s… you can use punk as an example how things change, it’s just somebody pushing the limits and it becomes a little bit more commercialized, a little bit more mainstream, and the next thing you know is you’re looking for the alternative, you are the alternative… so with hardcore it’s the same thing. I think of some of the bands that get passed on today as being hardcore and I can’t even believe it! I’m not one to go around and discredit anyone’s hard work, whether you’re one of the best bands or one of the worst, it takes a lot to go out and tour, especially with the financial climate that we’re in, so I gotta give credit to those people ‘cuz it’s tough either way! I also give credit to the bands that go out and play shows even if it’s to ten, fifteen kids! To answer the base of the question, I think it’s like everything else, the more it gets exposed, the more it gets watered down, and that kind of becomes [the genre]. Years ago hardcore was considered Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, and Warzone, and the second wave is like Strife, Hatebreed, Earth Crisis, Despair, those type of bands, and now what do we have, bands that have keyboards and kids that dress up as chicks, screaming with rapping… again I’m not knocking anybodies creativity but I think the label [hardcore] has gotten so watered down and away from it’s place. I always use the analogy that I think Raybeez is rolling over in his grave a hundred times thinking that a band like Emmure is considered a hardcore band. To me it’s mind-blowing, not that my track record isn’t perfect, I’ve definitely experimented with bands I’m in, but the more that it grows and the more that it becomes acceptable, it just becomes it’s own entity. Those days of mail-ordering a 7-inch and waiting for it, there’s still some labels that [do that], but the days of digging and finding out about things are totally done, everything is now on the internet, very quick and accessible, you don’t get to appreciate the first time you find [something]– you drive a half hour to the closest record store, pick up the record then drive all the way back home and listen to it, those days are gone ‘cuz now they listen and “oh, the recording is crappy, or it doesn’t sound good”, and they don’t even give them a chance, don’t get to appreciate the older culture and bands that created this whole [scene] and helped push it along.
Probably the same way you feel about punk rock, Yellowcard or something like that, and you’re like… [not punk rock], but it is… in hardcore it’s the same perspective. You could go on and on with this question, but all I’m gonna say is that it’s being affected the same way punk is being affected from back in the day to what’s it’s considered now.
WTL!: So how did Blackened come together?
Jay: I’ve known Chris Beattie from Hatebreed for a really long time, and me and Jamey (Jasta) ran Stillborn Records together for about eight years and I worked really close with Hatebreed, went on tours with them. I was pretty much Jamey’s right hand man and from that became really good friends with Beattie; he has a clothing line called Bridgeport Republic that I helped out with. [Chris] Legg, who plays guitar, used to be in The Distance, and before that he was in Fastbreak, so we crossed paths when we were younger, a lot. When The Distance was kind of going into a more rock orientated sound, Legg just stepped down, which was cool, he’s one of my best friends so it didn’t affect our friendship, and he had already written those Blackened songs years ago, he just said “when you get some time, I really want to do these songs, and you can sing on them!”, and of course I said yes! Then while waiting I ended up piecing the band together, I asked Dave [Russo], who was the original Hatebreed drummer, again just been friends with him over the years, and I said “me and Legg are gonna jam, we’d like you to play drums”, and he was psyched and did it, then the next natural step was to go record some songs, and I asked Beattie, “would you mind dropping some bass tracks on the demos”, and he said “hey, I’ll join and be in the band!”, and I was excited, I’ve always wanted to play with Beattie! Then from there we acquired Wayne Lozinak [guitar], who plays in Hatebreed full-time, and is friends with Dave and Beattie for most of their lives, I’m guessing. So we all knew each other and just decided to get together purely just on fun, just this excuse to get together and maybe play and do some songs and Legg pretty much had it all mapped out, and from there it just happened! We went in and did some demos with our friend Mike Z. and ended up doing a record with Zeuss. It was really quick, it came together really fast! Everybody’s schedule worked out, the timing was totally perfect!
WTL!: “This Means War” recently came out, did you guys have any goals in mind when creating this album?
Jay: Honestly, not really. I really just wanted to hang out with my friends, wanted to do a heavy record, I didn’t have any goals, I’m thankful it came out on CD and kids bought it! I think it’s cool that people like you wanna talk to me about it. In that sense it’s great ‘cuz I get to connect with a lot of people who kind of turned away with the last Distance record and show them [hardcore] is still a big part of my life, it never went away, and it’s just an excuse to get together with friends and write songs that we really like, hardcore that we like. So going back to the question… [we wanted to] make a hardcore record! Maybe there was a goal in there, not initially but I guess the timing was right to do an album like that.
Chris Legg: A goal [for me] was to create a very heavy pissed off album, songs that captured the feeling of being at your breaking point. Really it’s a very therapeutic record, at least for me personally. As far as I’m concerned we accomplished that and I could not be happier with the way it turned out!
WTL!: Are you guys looking forward with Blackened, is there gonna be another record eventually?
Jay: We totally are! The pace is gonna have to be a lot slower this time only because Wayne is in Hatebreed full-time, and Beattie has always been a full-time member there, and they’re gearing up to do a new record, they just put out “For The Lions”, cover record, so they’re gonna be really busy. We already have a couple songs already written for [Blackened]. I think the next step is we’re gonna record a 7-inch on Think Fast! [Records] relatively soon, I think within the next couple months, I don’t know when it’ll come out but I think the goal is to record something before Hatebreed does their summer tour, which is pretty soon!
We’d love to tour too and I think that it’ll happen, I just don’t know when. We want to do as much as we can, I think we always put that out there and we’re really honest with Think Fast! about what we can do. There’ll definitely be another record and some more shows and I’d love to do a tour, we’ve discussed to maybe do Europe, stuff like that.
WTL!: There seems to be very little production crew names in the album notes, I’m guessing you guys were really involved in the production, is the DIY attitude something you’ve picked up along your careers?
Jay: Yeah, I think that, speaking for me and Beattie, we both started our really, really young and have only done it one way. I’m lucky to have gained experience working with people both in the hardcore end and the more professional… not that that’s the right word, but you know what I’m sayin’… another scope of people, and I think that’s really helped me decide where I want to go with projects and what I wanna do, and I think my natural tendency is to always want to be involved. A few times I’ve let myself take the passenger seat and it shouldn’t have gone the way that it did. I think since I know it so well it’s really hard to not take control. Beattie feels the same way too, Hatebreed essentially has done it the way they wanted to do it, they’ve never compromised and never changed their style, and I think for us we just cant help but be involved. Coming together, we’ve all been friends for a really long time, and we’re all people with really strong personalities, so we wanted to make a great record, not that it was thrown together and went to Zuess’ and he did whatever he wanted. We went in with songs and ideas and it ended up working, like I said I don’t think we could have planned it any better.
I hope that answers your question! To me the DIY ethic you can’t really explain it unless you tell people where you came from and why you do it!
WTL!: Where did the title “This Means War” come from?
Jay: That’s a Chris answer, he just wanted to call it that, and to be honest we were all like “Okay!”, there’s no hidden meaning, we just wanted something that sounded hard! Same thing goes with the music and song titles, we just wanted something that when you read it you know exactly what it was.
Chris Legg: “This Means War” originally was an idea for the name of the band. It’s taken from Joan Jett song from the movie “Light of Day“.
WTL!: How come you changed the name to Blackened from This Means War?
Jay: It’s funny ‘cuz we originally wanted to call it “Black”, but there was already a band [called Black], and Dave and Wayne played in a Metallica cover band that was pretty awesome around here in Connecticut, so we were all like “Blackened, like the song!”. We just kind of did everything first and the name of the band and album came after everything. We didn’t want… one of my biggest pet peeves is bands who put up myspace pages without music, then they never do anything! The only way I’ll put my name on something is that I have to have a song, not a myspace page first. So that was an initial part of it, then the name and title came second thought.
WTL!: That’s pretty different.
Jay: Yeah, it’s not a cool story or anything, I don’t wanna lie or make it up.
WTL!: Usually in interviews I ask if there’s any good lies you’ve told about the band name and what it means, so next time we talk I’ll have to ask that!
(Laughs)
Jay: Unfortunately I don’t have anything for you on that one!
WTL!: The album only has nine tracks, Legg told me that you guys only had eight and came up with one more in the studio?
Jay: We actually came up with two, but we didn’t really have time to finish up the second one. We wanted to go with what we knew was already strong instead of trying to piece something together. We did end up piecing one song together in the studio, the really slow song, and it ended up coming out really good. But I wouldn’t want to do that again, that’s something I always stay away from, the pressure of writing, ‘cuz that’s when you come up with filler. Unless you have a really great idea or a great riff already, but for the most part just going in and [writing] I’ve never been a fan of at all.
WTL!: Most albums have at least ten tracks, did you guys just not have enough time?
Jay: Not having enough time would be a lame excuse, I mean we weren’t on a deadline or anything, we were just prepared with what we had. It was originally planned as just an EP, but we were in writing mode and so we had suggested to Think Fast! that it might end up being an LP, just ‘cuz Legg already had so much material, and we wanted to do more for Think Fast! ‘cuz EP’s can’t really do much for a label, and we couldn’t do Europe and do some of the things we planned. So I think we knew we had to approach it as being an LP, and unfortunately it ended up only being nine songs. All those songs mean something, nothing was thrown away, the lyrics for the song we did end up piecing together were lyrics I already had.
I think on the next one, after the 7-inch, if we’re fortunate enough to do another album it will definitely be longer. I know we’ve discussed making the songs a little bit longer ‘cuz they’re kind of on the short side.
WTL!: Short songs are completely fine for the folks with short attention spans!
Jay: It’s funny ‘cuz our record has done exceptionally well considering the climate of the industry and how much, or how little, we’ve played. The feedback is just really crazy ‘cuz we had no expectations, just “let’s go do this thing together and have a good time”. I got an email from the guy who originally owned Anthrax, the legendary club in Connecticut, I never got to go as I was a little too young, and I got an email from him saying how much he liked Blackened and how it reminded him of good hardcore and the stuff he liked, and that to me was mind-blowing! I’m glad with the way it came out! I think it was important for us to deliver something we could stand by instead of “okay, let’s make this according to the rules of what people think a full-length should be”. Plus Think Fast! has really kept the price down for kids, everywhere I’ve seen it it’s been under $10. I think there’s something for everyone on the record, like real, mid-‘90’s hardcore, people in our age group can appreciate it the most. It’s angry, fast, sloppy, it’s very real!
Sometimes the lyrics don’t make any sense, but that’s anger! I can’t even tell you how frustrated I’ve been writing those, like I just got off tour, had been unemployed and facing the challenges of growing up and growing away from the scene, being thirty years old and don’t have shit, bad credit, but I wouldn’t change that for the world! I have friends who work the regular day jobs in offices, they have a ton of stuff I don’t have, but at the same time I’ve been to places they’ll never go, I’ve worked with some of my best friends! This is what I do, I’m still involved in it every day! I run a merch website that has over fifty hardcore/punk rock bands, just another extension of me doing something that I got a lot from, ‘cuz I’m just a kid from Connecticut who got on stage one time and screamed some lyrics, and for some reason people now give a shit about what I think and wanna talk about what I write, and I cant ask for more than that, my friends don’t get to do that! It’s cool! It’s something I hope I’ll be involved in for the rest of my life, ‘cuz this is the only thing I really know how to do!
WTL!: Throw your life away for music!
Jay: You get these little fucks on the internet, “oh, he sold out”, what the fuck do you know about me? I mean I’m averaging a record a year, considering my age, I had somebody help piece together my discography and I can’t believe I’ve done that much shit!
I started working in January of this year for the first time in six years, a real job! I work as an IT guy, which was always like a hobby of mine, and now I do that for a big company. As I’m working at my desk I’m running ShopShogun.com, soliciting new bands for the site, doing press, I can’t shake it off, it’s my life dude! It doesn’t end when I go into work, everybody knows what I do, I don’t hide it, and I’ve seen people do shit like [hide it], and that’s not me, my whole thing is this is who I am and this is what I do, and if you can’t jive with that, I don’t really give a fuck! I’ve never once changed who I am. Even when I did the Distance record, I don’t go around waving a flag saying I’m running a hardcore label that you’re buying records from when you’re dissing me, who has the last laugh! You just dissed me and you’re talking about me and supporting my label, the joke’s really on you, keyboard warrior guy!
(Laughs)
WTL!: I know what you mean, music is life!
Jay: It’s probably the same for you; the fake punk rocker dude who just went out and bought a leather coat and a bunch of spikes, I dunno if you’re punk rock like that, but it’s the same thing if you see that guy then the next day he’s working at Sears, wearing a collard shirt and he doesn’t even acknowledge that he seen you at a show! It’s like the saying “real recognizes real”, it’s so true!
WTL!: Damn poseurs!
(Laughs)
Jay: Totally man! I hope I’m not coming off as some jerk, that’s definitely not my intention, I’m just passionate about this, I believe in this so much that I can’t help but defend it when I talk about it!
WTL!: You know the dude that runs this site has always said, “You ain’t somebody until someone talks bad about you”.
Jay: I guess I should consider that for myself ‘cuz I’ve had my fair share of people say some negative comments, which is cool ‘cuz I put myself out there so it’s expected. I’m not in denial about things I say or how I act, at the end of the day you gotta respect anyone who’s willing to say how they feel whether it’s right or wrong.
WTL!: I totally understand the passion for the music, that’s why I’ll drive three hours one way to Toronto after a full day’s work just to interview one band, catch the show, then drive three hours back, sometimes in the middle of winter!
Jay: You guys have fuckin’ brutal winters up there man! I can only imagine a three hour trek, what that’s like up there!
WTL!: If it’s really, really bad weather then I won’t go, three hours can easily turn into five, then it’s a day trip.
(Laughs)
Jay: If it drives you then you’re making the right decision! Same reason why I do [interviews], it’s an extension of [ourselves], we feel passionate, this is kind of our fucked up way of giving something back.
WTL!: You seem very ardent about the hardcore scene back home, how has the Connecticut scene helped raise who you are?
Jay: Speaking for myself, I was really lucky, I had my brother there and we had some really great venues in Connecticut. I’m a very forward person, not shy or anything like that, and as a kid I didn’t know how to book a show or do anything, so I phoned up one day and just asked the guy “hey man, can I book a show here?”, and the guy was like “yeah, sure, go ahead”, and I didn’t really understand how anything worked. I was booking these pretty big shows and had no idea what I was doing, and from there I met a lot of friends, people who I’m still friends with to this day. I think at a young age, meeting these older Connecticut dudes that you look up to, and forming these friendships with them, I think that’s where a lot of my passion comes from. Our scene has had so many awesome hardcore and punk rock bands! That’s another part of what keeps me drawn to it, still so many good new bands coming out, every time I think “Connecticut’s changing, some other wave of music, it’s gonna die again”, then some other great band comes out and I get re-psyched! I meet these young kids, kids that went to my high school, when I was in high school there was only a handful of kids who knew what hardcore and punk rock was. Being around it, and forming these friendships really helped me understand what it was about, I knew how to mind my manners and respect the right people and do things like that, that’s what shaped me. I was really fortunate to become very close with Jamey from Hatebreed, and this was even before Hatebreed was even big! This was when Hatebreed was playing to like fifty, a hundred kids, and I learned a lot from Jamey and other dudes back then. I was just really eager to learn and understand and I wanted to know every aspect of how things worked.
I’m just gonna name a few bands: Unforgiven, they’re straight edge; Crowns of Kings, Wes from Death Threat sings in that; Hostage Calm; Hate Your Guts; Wrench In The Works; Palehorse, there’s some really, really great bands here right now! We’ve had some really great ones in the past too, like Hatebreed, Fastbreak, Wide Awake, I’ve just been really lucky to live in a really active area!
WTL!: You just mentioned a straight edge band, and I know in hardcore and punk there’s a lot of people who are straight edge, what about you?
Jay: No, I’ve never been straight edge. Not that I was fifteen and boozin’, well okay I was. (Laughs) One of my best friends, who just got married and I was in the wedding, he sings for Unforgiven and he’s straight edge. I go out and party, no hard drugs but I like to drink and have a good time, and I respect straight edge so much because it’s so easy to fall into the wrong [crowd], I know myself and my control, but it’s easy to fall into bad habits. I respect anybody who’s edge, one of my best friends is straight edge. From his perspective, he’s thirty too and been edge forever! So you see someone your own age and doing it, it’s pretty wild! Even at his wedding, he had a can of coke, he doesn’t let the pressure get to him and I have a lot of respect for kids like that, I think it’s really cool!
It’s not something I’d do, but if you have the self-control, then do it! I’m not talkin’ about dudes who do it for a year, the fairweather straight edge dudes, I’m talkin’ about the real deal!
WTL!: Going off of alcohol for a month…
(Laughs)
Jay: Yeah, you never know man! Things get watered down, you get somebody who doesn’t take it seriously, then you get kids joking around in the parking lot saying “I’m straight edge!”, with a beer and X’s on their hands, and they think it’s funny. The culture has been so watered down, it’s like anything else!
WTL!: It’s become a trend.
Jay: I mean if they’re passionate about it, then who am I to make fun of it!
I think, in general, kids are so scared to be themselves! You see a lot of that, with the internet thing, how quickly bands expand and how quickly people revolt against it. People will like it, then see somebody else say that band sucks, then you can’t like it anymore. I wish kids didn’t think like that, it’d end so much of this garbage out there, like the punk and hardcore shit, one person says it’s cool and now everybody likes it! Now that’s considered hardcore, now the lifestyle that I’ve always been a part of is now associated with that, it’s fuckin’ crazy, just because kids are scared to stand up to it! We could all benefit from a little honesty, ‘cuz honesty only hurts in the beginning, and lies hurt in the long run, I know that sounds corny but when you think about it, it’s totally true!
WTL!: How did you guys get hooked up with Think Fast Records, and what’s it like being an a label like Think Fast!, they have a lot of bands with a high level of hardcore credibility?
Jay: Honestly dude, it was a no brainer! I approached Ryan [O’Connor] first… I mean could it have come out on another label, yeah probably, did I want it to? No fuckin’ way! There are very few people that I still trust in handling things, that I’m a part of, and there are very few people that will let me be as involved as I’d like to be, and with Think Fast!, it’s the best possible combination! They let me do whatever I feel is right for my band, they’re supportive of every decision I make, they’re supportive of us being able to do what we can do. I did a Distance record with them and it was probably one of the easiest things I got to do with that band, working with them. I’ve known Ryan for such a long time now, and in a weird way it kind of reminds me so much of myself, and when I’m bummed and I need someone to fire me up, he’s the one I call! We both can be very honest with each other, we can say whatever we want, we don’t have to worry about someone getting all hurt about it. Larry [Scott] is a great guy, we don’t have a relationship as close as with Ryan, but Larry has been beyond supportive as well, he’s just excited to work with someone who’s in Hatebreed, Larry’s a Hatebreed fan! He also knew what I could bring to the table, he knew with me being involved I’m gonna do as much as I can, and push it as much as I can, and I think that means a lot to those guys. I know how hard it is to run a label in this day and age, I know what the climate’s like, I gotta respect someone who’s willing to let me try something and do something. It coulda turned out like shit, it’s not the best thing in the world or anything, but there was some times I thought it wasn’t gonna be good.
So it was a no brainer, I approached them before we had recorded the music, when we just had the first track, and when we wanted to do the EP, then we talked more and that’s where it evolved into an LP.
WTL!: Do you or anyone else in the band have any other projects on the go?
Jay: Wayne and Beattie are in Hatebreed and they just finished a covers record, really, really awesome! I’m gonna do a Distance record some time this year, the songs are written already and we have a producer, and we’ve demoed a bunch of the tracks already, I think that will happen… I’m hoping soon. I gotta get my mind ready to do that album and that band, but it’s gonna happen ‘cuz I still do have a record in me that I’m dying to do. So basically Hatebreed and The Distance, with Hatebreed saying they’re tryna get a new record out by September, and The Distance I’m hoping for a new record by the start of 2010.
WTL!: What have you been listening to lately?
Jay: I’ve been into this band from Connecticut called Hate Your Guts, younger dudes, really, really good. I’ve been listening to Unforgiven; both bands are kind of like Integrity, more of the Cleveland hardcore sound. I work for a corporate radio station and I think it’s just like guilty pleasure for me, I listen to a lot of radio, top 40 stuff, and still a lot of hair metal, the stuff I grew up listening to like Skid Row, the [Mötley] Crüe. I get in phases and ruin bands and records I like, listening to one record nonstop for a couple weeks and just totally kill it. Then there’s another record that came out not too long ago, a band called These Green Eyes, they just put out a fuckin’ great rock record, the guys voice reminds me a lot of Tool.
WTL!: Who would you like to tour with who’s both feasible and not obvious?
Jay: That’s tough. Honestly, I’ve toured with them in the past, but Sick Of It All and Madball, could never get sick of them every night, and they’re great guys! We did a tour through Europe with Madball, Sick Of It All, Terror, Comeback Kid, and Walls of Jericho, and I can’t tell you the last time I’ve ever sat through a full show, every night of that, you’d better believe it, every night when we were done playing I’d run to watch! All those bands are fuckin’ awesome!
WTL!: Is there anywhere in the world that you’d like to tour?
Jay: I’d really like to go back to the UK, I had a good time when I was there. Also I’d love to do some off track kind of touring, like Alaska, or South America. I just seen Have Heart and Shipwreck are going to Africa, and that’s fuckin’ awesome! I’d love to see those places!
It’s really cool ‘cuz you’re not on vacation, you’re in a band. That’s how I felt when I was in Europe, I wasn’t on vacation I was there in a band playing shows, it’s a very different feeling, you get to see how psyched the kids are when you’re there, it’s a really cool feeling!
WTL!: Thanks a lot for this interview!
Jay: Thank you so much man! I appreciate it!
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