After five lonely years one of my all-time favourite bands returns to do a show in our little country, and of course I’m present. But not only that, we of Metalrage (me and Buzzin Hornet) had found a cunning way to do an interview with main man Jahred, a perfect opportunity to meet one of my heroes and smoke a joint with him! After a short introduction where a already pretty stoned Jahred explains he has a bit of throat problems we are of to an intelligent conversation. NOT! 



So are you able to smoke weed with your throat?

Oh yeah, but don’t put tobacco in it. American! It’s cultural.

No problem. How is it to finally be back on tour in Europe again?

Great, I’m having a great time, the people are really good. I got this tattoo in France, a koyfish.

Cool! Tell me about Back 2 Base X, release date, label, all those things.

666 is the release date, June 6. I like it. We’re on Suburban Noise records now. An independent label. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the Kottonmouth Kings…

Yes I do.

It’s like hip hop, it’s their label, it’s got a lot of good punkrock.

Oh yeah I remember, it’s the label that has the band in which Will Smith’s wife sings, Wicked Wisdom!

Hahahaha, yeah! I’ve never heard their music but they opened up for us a couple of times. Never seen ‘em.

Will Smith’s wife opened up for you, hehe.

And I missed it…

Hehe, but about the new album then, what’s it gonna sound like? Can’t we expect stuff like Only In Amerika?

No, the lyrics aren’t as uhm… It’s more like uh…

Puppy love?

Nooow. Not about love and stuff, it’s more like secret societies and crazy shit. More about the crazy world we live in.

A political album, or is that a big word?

Political, yeah that’s a big word, Maybe what’s underneath politics. Politics are phoney, it’s all like a big movie. The real decisions are made secretively.

By a person who is like not the president.

Exactly. The guy behind the president.

Okay, how is the album musicwise then?

Still Hed pe, a little more punk, I was listening to a lot of punk, and we’re doing it like old punk, like The Clash, Sex Pistols, so it’s a little bit of that but it’s still heavy metal. The Hed pe sound is changing, because basically for me the vibration that moves me the most is faster than the one I used to be into. Now I just want it faster, faster, faster!

You could hear that on Only In Amerika already, double bass parts and even a blastbeat!

Yeah, well I enjoyed it. Hehehe.

Yeah me too! Haha!

(so at this point Buzzin Hornet asks him to read a part of the review that I wrote, he loves it and wants to put it up on his wall)

How were the reviews in average for Only In Amerika?

You know I don’t want to read reviews, I can tell you, no, I can guarantee you there were some very bad ones. It’s ok, I’m not mad.

It’s about you, not about the press.

Yeah it’s about doing your music the best that you can, for yourself. It’s a crazy business.

Okay, so we don’t know anything about the reviews, hehe. How is your relationship with the ex-members then?

There is no relationship, once in a while I get a phone call. It’s like ex-girlfriends you know, you move on. My life has moved forward you know. Nobody likes a quitter. We got to keep on going. Ayyo are they serving us over there?!? I gotta go grab some grub before there’s none left. Be right back.

No problem.

(so he runs of to get himself something to eat, returning with a plate of rice ‘n chicken or something of that kind)

Enjoy your meal. Anything else to say about the ex-bandmembers?

Fuck ‘em! Huhuhuhu!

Hehe okay, after the release of Broke it seemed like you guys would be making millions within no time, what happened?

Okay, next question.

Hahaha, well how about the future for Hed pe then?

Trying to keep making music, trying to stay alive. Try to find the best way to put food on the table and still be an artist. Huhuhuhu!

And more touring in Europe?

Oh yeah, definitely. We wanna come back before the end of the year after the new album comes out.

That sounds like a good idea!

Huhuhuhu!

A lot of people were really looking forward to this show, I know a girl that is driving over here all the way from Poland!

Holy shit! How far is that?

Uh, like over 2000 kilometres or so? En then some probably.

How many hours is that?

Like ten or twenty or so?

Oh my god!

Just for you guys! And she’s a really hot chick and she thinks you are a lyrical genius!

Yeah but does she want to suck my dick?

That can be arranged! Hahaha!

Whahahaha! I love this place.

Hehehe, okay a question related to that topic then, How many women have you approximately been with?

Oh man, a gentleman would never answer that question.

So answer it! Hehe.

Uhm, I have no answer for that, not too many…

(This is where bassist Mawk walks by and says you should ask how many men!)

Zero! I’m not gay!

(now we come to the part were we need to smoke some weed, so I pass the joint to our interviewee)

Thank you my friend. Wow this is good!

It’s called Khonagold.

Khonagold… Mark take a hit! This is an original.

(Mawk walks up and takes the joint, remarking that he is one of the guys who were allowed to stay in the band, so Buzz and I laugh)

Not funny… 



Okay, I have a brilliant question for you then, in movies, who do you prefer; Arnold Schwarzenegger of Sylvester Stallone?

Hahaha, Rocky. I’m not gonna say Arnold because he is a nazi.

Ahh, everybody always needs to involve his political career in the discussion, but keep it strictly movies!

Strictly movies, Rocky was good, Arnold had Terminator 2, that was really good, Rocky’s got some bad movies too so they’re kind of even.

But then again Arnold is a way worse actor, but he made more million dollar movies with that then you’re willing to admit.

You’re right you’re right, he could never be Rocky.

No, of course not. Sylvester wrote that story, so he kind of played the lowlife that he was himself.

Thank you, very good, I agree.

So you still say Sylvester?

I say Sylvester is the better actor, Arnold seems to be the better businessman.

Pretty much. Okay, do you have anything interesting to add to this interview?

Uhm, that Hed pe says nobody likes a quitter, and you know, till the wheels fall of, we’ll just keep on playing our music, putting out albums. As long as people like you guys are listening, as long as we have those core fans we can survive.

But with Hed pe, is it possible to live from your music?

Oh yeah sure, but it’s not a glamorous rockstar existence. It’s a…

You drive a stock chevy and you shop at the wall mart?

Exactly! Thank you very much. It’s just the fucking blue collar, it’s what we call it. A white collar is someone who works for the bucks, a blue collar is a real worker, and Hed pe is a blue collar band.

Because to the people in Europe it seemed like the band was dead, since you haven’t played here for five years. I mean we got the albums, we had to import the last one though, and I got it the first week!

Well we finally hooked up with an independent European distributor who put this tour together, so he’s bringing our stuff over. Ah well, at least in France. But it hasn’t been the easiest thing, but we managed to keep it going.

At this point the real interview is over, but we still hang around and chat with Jahred about all sorts of things. Like the way that al their albums are completely different from each other, Buzz has a friend with the lyrics for ‘Waiting To Die’ on his wall with graffiti and Jahred wants a picture of that. He explains that if you can’t go and see them for five years, at least get your hands on the album since that is the next best thing. The fact that they haven’t been here is proof that they’ve been struggling to keep their heads above water.
After the Blackout album they released Only In Amerika on Koch records, but they didn’t like that label so they changed again. So due to all the hassle they hardly toured last year, while this year they’ve already done tons of shows and they’ll be touring till the end of July. They have no plans yet to play at European festivals this summer yet, perhaps if someone invites them. And then he runs of to get some salt for his food. Great interview, with a great band. Well, we had fun anyway.