HELLYEAH – Tom Maxwell

You might think of the phrase “HELLYEAH!” for what you say when you get excited and agree to something, such as when your mate wants you to go out for drinks with him. You have to have that attitude and say “HELLYEAH!” instead of “Yeah, sure.” Not only is that phrase good for agreement or excitement, but it also represents the American supergroup HELLYEAH, which features members of Pantera/Damageplan, Nothingface and Mudvayne. The Southern-styled groove metallers are doing their second Australian tour as a part of the huge Soundwave Festival line up, as well as a couple of shows off that festival with Black Label Society, Black Tide and Holy Grail. As the amazing festival gets even closer, Patrick Emmett talked to the Nothingface member of the band, Tom Maxwell, about the next HELLYEAH album, Soundwave Festival, his side-project Knives Out, the late-great Dimebag Darrell and plagiarism.

Tom Maxwell: Hey man, how you doing?

Metal Obsession: Hey Tom, not bad thanks, just feeling a bit sick at the moment. How about you?

Tom: Yeah, me too man.

Metal Obsession: Really? How come?

Tom: Ah y’know, the flu. It’s winter here so it’s going around.

Metal Obsession: That’s no good.
So I heard Hellyeah have finished recording a new album. Can we expect to hear some new songs played at Soundwave?

Tom: Ah, we’ve actually discussed this, and it’s definitely possible. I mean, the album is still about 4 months away from release. But if we do, we’re probably just gonna do one song, if we even manage to pull it off. There are so many songs that we like to play live, but it’s definitely something that I wanna do. I’ve talked about it to the guys, and everybody is open to it, so we’re just gonna start rehearsals next week and then jump right into it, see if we can pull one of the new ones out. It’d be a great place to debut it down under at Soundwave.

Metal Obsession: It’d be kind of hard fitting more than one song into a half an hour set I guess.

Tom: Yeah, that’s the one downside. I mean, half an hour set, you only get about what, five or six songs? Including the ranting inbetween songs, so time gets eaten up pretty quickly. We obviously have certain songs that we have to play, but I really would like to play atleast one new song. We have a couple of shows that we’re doing inbetween Soundwave shows with Black Label Society, and we’ll have a little bit longer of a set, so we’ll be able to squeeze a few more songs in then.

Metal Obsession: Where’d you get the inspiration to write metal songs with cowboy/country influence in them?

Tom: Ah, I’m not too sure. We’re only talking about a couple of songs that actually pull in a sort of southern, Texas kinda musical vibe to them. The rest of the songs are pretty straight forward, whether it’s heavy or it’s straight up drivin’ rock. But I dunno, I mean, I don’t think we really thought about it, it just kinda came about y’know? When you’re sitting around playing acoustic guitar, sometimes you’ll play a riff, you’re not paying any attention to what you’re doing, and somebody else will time in on it and say “Hey, what’s that riff?” and it just kinda builds from there. I don’t think it’s something that we set out to do on purpose; I think it’s just coming from the territory.

[Editors note: “Alcohaulin’ Ass” off HELLYEAH’s debut self-titled album in 2007]

We’re a pretty close group of guys and we just like to hang out and party, and a lot of those party songs are a direct resort of that mentality. Coming from our previous bands such as Pantera and the other guys from Mudvayne, it’s a much different style of music. The first two records were kind of experimental for us, we didn’t want to focus on trying to be like where we came from, so all those songs just kind of happened.

The new album is a little bit different; we kind of went back to our roots on this record y’know? You’re not really gonna get any kind of southern twang, or anything like Alcohaulin’ Ass or Hell of a Time. There’s nothing like that on our new record, it’s pretty balls out wild and really heavy.

Metal Obsession: Last time Hellyeah were in Australia saw the band play three 18+ shows on the east-coast of Australia. Do you feel better about playing more states and to bigger crowds that will have a lot of younger metal fans on this tour?

Tom: I like playing both, y’know the 18+ crowds are great, but fans are fans, whether they’re 18 and over or under 18. But personally, I like all ages shows where anybody can come in and see the band, I think everybody deserves to go see their favourite band or a band that they’re very fond of. Usually the older crowds are more about getting drunk and stuff that younger crowds can’t really partake in. But y’know, the festivals are always fun; much bigger crowds, a lot more bands, you have more friends to hang out with, but it doesn’t really matter to me. A show is a show, whether you’re playing to an older crowd or an all age crowd, so I really don’t have a preference.

Metal Obsession: Tell me a bit about your other band Knives Out. I noticed your debut album with them came out on Valentine’s Day, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet.

Tom: Well that record was written about three years ago. When we came off the first touring cycle for the first Hellyeah record, we had about a year and a half off. I didn’t want to sit home, lie around and not play music, so to kill time, I called up some of my buddies from Baltimore where I live and we just got together to do something for fun. Then after that, we just kept going, we just kept writing, and then we went into the studio and recorded this record.

We didn’t really do anything with the record. People knew about it from just talking to us, passing the songs back and forth to friends and stuff. But we felt like it was a good record, it’s really heavy; it’s kind of like the soundtrack to the end of the world. It’s really vicious, and the lyrical content is kind of extreme. It was really made just for fun, we got together and we just threw down really hard, and we wanted to write something that was just crushing, violent and very, very aggressive.

So y’know, we did the Knives Out thing, then the other guys in the band were like “Let’s put it out ourselves.” So the singer of that band and the other guitar player formed a little independent label, pressed some copies, and pretty much put it up digitally. The rest of the band are more than welcome to take it, go on tour and do what they want with it, but it’s just a one off kind of thing, and we just wanted to get it out there so people could hear it.

Metal Obsession: Over the years, who do you think has caused the most trouble on and off the road in Hellyeah?

Tom: That’d probably be me [laughs]. Um, yeah I could probably say that it was me. Me and Chad, we’re both pretty much the same person, in a different body obviously. Everybody in this band has a strong personality, but we don’t really cause trouble, we just get ourselves into trouble [laughs]. And that comes with obviously a lot of beer and liquor, late nights and having too much time inbetween shows, or even too much time out on stage, making ways to entertain ourselves. Luckily nobody has been hospitalized or put in jail… Yet [laughs].

[Editors note: “Cowboy Way” off HELLYEAH’s 2010 release Stampede]

Metal Obsession: I know that Vinnie Paul was in Pantera and is Dimebag’s brother, but how close were the rest of Hellyeah to Dime?

Tom: Um, nobody knew Dime except for me. Obviously, Vinnie of course was his brother and Bob, our bass player was very close to Dime too. He played in the band Damageplan with Vinnie and Dime, so he was probably the closest to him. I knew Dime from when Pantera took my old band Nothingface out on tour, and that’s how I got to meet and get close to Vinnie and Dime. But Chad and Greg I don’t think ever had the opportunity to meet or hang out with him ever.

But he was a great human being, and he is definitely missed very much by all his fans and his friends. He was such a unique soul and I’m very fortunate that I got to spend the little time that I did with him. But other than myself, I think that Bobby was probably the closest to Dime than the other guys in Hellyeah (besides Vinnie).

Metal Obsession: Speaking of Pantera, I have to ask a serious question. There are a lot of bands who rip off other peoples designs for their merchandise these days. One of those bands is Heroes for Hire from the Soundwave line-up. They put the Pantera “Vulgar Display of Power” album cover on their shirts and changed it to Heroes for Hire “Vulgar Display of Pop Punk”, with a photo of their lead singer getting punched in the face by a bouncer faded into it. What do you think about bands who do this stuff?

Tom: Ah, I think its plagiarism y’know. I think people should just come up with their own fuckin’ ideas. It’s no different than somebody going upto a painting and re-creating it themselves, changing it enough to call it their own. It’s not really their painting, it’s just a rip-off. It’s also kind of like music and everything else that’s out there, it’s just regurgitated. Hip-hop music for example, it’s just samples of other peoples hits; it’s just a way that they can make money off of it.

It’s kind of sad y’know; I think people should come up with their own music and come up with their own art, try to be original and not take the easy way out and copy somebody else’s ideas. I mean, there’s nothing you can do to really stop people from doing it, but obviously you’re gonna have to from time to time. It’s like when people take your music illegally off the web; it’s just what we do for a living.

You don’t go to work, put in time and do everything that you do to make your money to not get paid. It’s no different, y’know what I mean? You work and you get paid for it. You’re putting your hard work into it, and there are other people that are ripping off your ideas, trying to capitalize off of it, its pussy if you ask me.

Metal Obsession: So do you think Vinnie would like the shirt I was talking about?

Tom: I don’t know man; I really can’t speak to him about it, or speak for him about it. However, I don’t think he would be happy. I mean, what if you did something, you came up with an original idea that you were very proud of and had success for, and then somebody came and took your idea, and manipulated it just a little tiny bit, and they started making money off of it. Or if they were just taking the idea, would you be happy about it?

Metal Obsession: In most situations, not really.

Tom: Well there you go! There’s your answer.

Metal Obsesion: Last question. If you could date one girl from any metal band, who would it be and where would you take her?

Tom: If I could take any girl from any metal band out on a date, is that what you’re saying?

Metal Obsession: Yeah.

Tom: Ah, I think that Lzzy Hale from Halestorm, I think she’s pretty cute. I’d probably take her out to eat, get some sushi, drink some liquor and wine.

Metal Obsession: Any famous last words?

Tom: Famous last words… Um, I’m just really thrilled that we’re coming back to Australia. It’s one of my favourite places to play. Everytime me and the rest of the band come down here we are welcomed with open arms. The fans, the people, the country itself are just amazing and I love it. We’re really excited to come back down there and play, we really don’t get a chance to hang out very often, and this is an exciting run for us coming down to play Soundwave with a lot of bands that we’re friends with. We’re playing to a much bigger audience and y’know, we’re just gonna bring the heat man.

I’m looking very forward to Soundwave, I’m very happy, and very honoured to be a part of the festival so we can come down and kick ass for you guys.

Metal Obsession: It’s been a pleasure talking to you mate, thanks for that. I’ll see you at Soundwave Melbourne!

Tom: My pleasure, thank you very much!

Check out HELLYEAH at Soundwave Festival and sideshows!

BRISBANE: 25TH FEBRUARY – SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL @ RNA SHOWGROUNDS / SOLD OUT

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=246313265416952

SYDNEY: 26TH FEBRUARY – SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL @ OLYMPIC PARK / SOLD OUT
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=233867790003182

TUESDAY: 28TH FEBRUARY @ THE FORUM, MELBOURNE – 18+
http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/event/1300483187DC2A85?artistid=857623&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=60

THURSDAY: 1ST MARCH @ THE METRO, SYDNEY – LICENSED/ALL AGES
http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=BLACKLAB12&v=MET#.TxUYh5jaYfE

MELBOURNE: 2ND MARCH – SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL @ MELB SHOWGROUNDS / SOLD OUT
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=243654682348739

ADELAIDE: 3RD MARCH – SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL @ BONYTHON PARK
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=279093168779036

PERTH: 5TH MARCH – SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL @ CLAREMONT SHOWGROUNDS
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=282403391778781