ANNIHILATOR's JEFF WATERS: 'I Don't Think I Am That Hard To Work With'

June 1, 2004

In a recent interview with Holland's Lords Of Metal, ANNIHILATOR mastermind Jeff Waters spoke out about why so many people have left his band over the years.

"Haha, I don't think I am that hard to work with," Waters said. "I only fired someone from my band twice to be honest all of the others left of their own free will and in good relation with myself. You should see ANNIHILATOR as a company, but then a one-man company. The people who are in the band alongside myself work for me and get paid on commission. If we have a good year, all of them share a part of our profits but I cannot offer them a steady monthly paycheck or other regular benefits because we totally rely on what comes in. If we do a new record and go out on a tour for a whole year, no one complains but when there is a slow year a lot of musicians choose to go and look somewhere else. This is something I fully understand and accepted over the past few years. I could imagine it being hard to be in their shoes. If ANNIHILATOR takes it slow for a year I myself am busy with writing new material but for the rest of the band there is little to no work, I also rely on their loyalty towards me for a part."

In the same interview, Waters spoke about JUDAS PRIEST's K.K. Downing being annoyed at him after a journalist misquoted Waters in regards to his opinion of PRIEST's music.

"We were touring with JUDAS PRIEST a few years ago and we were in Greece were I had an interview with a big metal magazine," Jeff said. "[The journalist] asked me if they played metal on Canadian radio shows. In my enthusiasm I told him that 'shit' like METALLICA, PRIEST or IRON MAIDEN wasn't aired in Canada on mainstream radio. The day after I had a huge press conference together with K.K. Downing. The same guy who interviewed me the day before stood up and asked me why we were touring with PRIEST since I have told him their music was shit. I was completely stunned and K.K. really was annoyed by this. I tried to explain that that was not what I meant but that I just used the term 'shit' instead of metal music. The journalist accused me of being a liar and pulled out the tape as evidence. I really talked for hours to straighten things out."

Read Jeff Waters' entire interview with Lords Of Metal at this location.

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