ACRASSICAUDA-Make or Break It Tour 2011

Acrassicauda, the first metal band out of Iraq, is on their second part of touring the United States right now. I had an opportunity to talk a bit to the bass player Firas and later a video interview with Firas and the drummer Marwan. Their music is amazing as well as their courageous fight to get out of Iraq as seen in Vice Magazine's 2007 rockumentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad.

HJB: Hey Firas how has touring in the US been going so far for you guys?

Firas: Good but exhausting but I love it cuz this is what I want is to be on the road and meet new people and play my music.

HJB: Speaking of meeting new people, who are some of the bands you've been performing with? I imagine you have discovered some great ones. (By the way, the band who is supporting you in San Francisco is Yeibichai and it includes the former drummer of Death Angel-Andy Galeon, this will be so fun).

Firas: Well if I could say that every band that we have shared the stage with is great and playing with Yeibichai will be fun ..

HJB: Who are some of the bands who have been an inspiration to you?

Firas: Well as a band we have a long list of people and bands who have inspired us like Metallica, Testament, Slayer, Over Kill, Death and the list keep going cuz the more we live the more we see

Firas Alateef

HJB: Can you tell me something about your latest EP, 'Only the Dead See the End of the War'?

Firas: Wait a minute are we doing the interview now .. lol

HJB: Yes, ha ha! Is this okay? If you want to change your answers, too late! Just kidding. I thought it would be good to ask some questions now and we can do a group video interview on Friday too :)

Firas: Its ok, well this ep means alot to us but its not all what we had yet we have more coming and we can do the video later

HJB: I love the Garden of Stones video. What inspired this song? And tell me about the making of the video.

Firas: Well I will tell u when I get there

HJB: Okay. I saw the video of James Hetfield meeting 3 of you after a show. He handed one of you a guitar. Was that you? The look on your face is AWESOME :)

Marwan Hussein

Firas: The guitar was James' guitar and he gave it to our vocal Faisal Talal and that was one of the best times ever ..

HJB: His eyes were so big!! I loved it!! I can imagine how great that must have felt! Well I am very happy that you are coming to San Francisco! I hope you like our city!
Firas: Ya we r happy too that we will get to play in San Francisco and will love the city. I bet that we love the city from what I heard its a nice city

HJB: It's very foggy! I hope you guys will be warm enough. San Francisco and the bay area is the home to so much great metal, we are very glad to have Acrassicauda visit!

For more info about Acrassicauda please check out their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/acrassicauda and myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/wwwacrassicaudas5com

YEIBICHAI! Say that 10 times fast and maybe you will see the potential of Music with Andy V Galeon

Andy V Galeon (former drummer of Death Angel) took some time to share his current project, YEIBICHAI and his views on the power of MUSIC!!

  

HJB: Hey Andy!!! Great to hear you are jammin with YEIBICHAI (pronounced yay-beh-chay). What does Yeibichai mean?

Andy V Galeon: The name is Native American in origin, Navajo to be exact. Yei's are spirits, they connect Man and Creator, they control the natural forces on Earth, day, night, rain, wind, sun, etc. The Yeibichai is a talking God, who speaks to Man, telling him how to live in harmony with all living things, with a few rules of behaviour, while using only basic things for survival.

HJB: What brought you guys together?

AVG: We all gravitated towards one another through the medium of Music, with the intent of playing meaningful, heartfelt, yet aggressive and powerful Music. As you may or may not know, I have been a disciple of Music for a long time, as have the other members, Stephen Vincent Ezell-Vox, Jimmy Tomahawk-Guitars, and Tai Hake-Bass, we all come from different backgrounds and have different Musical taste, but what we bring to the table is heavy Music, with an organic and indigenous style, with nothing but respect for all that came before us, as in all the natural forces. We're not reinventing rocket science or building an indestructible machine, we're doing the opposite like using a drum to communicate, or using arrows and machetes instead of nuclear bombs.

HJB: I love the CD. Cactus Buttons, Badwater & The Ritual, I can feel the Native American ambiance just in the name of some of the songs. Do you have a song that has become your favorite or is especially meaningful to you?

AVG: Since all the songs are so different, each one brings out various forms of emotion, but Cactus, Badwater, and The Ritual specifically really ring true to me personally, but maybe that's because they took longer to internalize and learn! Haha! We're in the mode of recording all the spontaneous jams right now and locking in with each other which has come surprisingly fast. When all members are on the same page you really would be surprised how little verbalization there is between members. It's a nice change and one that I really needed in my Musical progression as a player. Who says Democracy can't work? If you don't stretch your boundaries then you'll never know what can be accomplished.

HJB: I love that idea!! I hope to hear some of that spontaneous jammin live soon!!!

To learn more about Yeibichai go to:
http://www.yeibichai.com
http://www.facebook.com/Yeibichai  
http://www.reverbnation.com/YEIBICHAI