BILLY GRAZIADEI On BIOHAZARD's Comeback: 'It's Almost Like We Found The Fountain Of Youth'

In a new interview with Mike Trujillo of Zero Hour Squared Classics, BIOHAZARD guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei spoke about what it has been like to reunite the band's classic lineup, also featuring bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld, drummer Danny Schuler and guitarist Bobby Hambel. Billy said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "We're the only band, bro, from our genre and that era with the original guys. We've all lost so many friends and family, but there's been a lot of musicians, bands that aren't around anymore. So it's an honor. It's a great thing to be playing with the guys. We're having a blast."

Regarding how the return of the classic BIOHAZARD lineup came about, Billy said: "It started as like a reunion. It was, 'Yeah, let's get together and jam and have some good times.' And we did. And then it quickly became a restart. And when I say that, I mean like it stopped looking like a reunion where — a lot of bands get back together. You've got bills to pay and all these things. 'Oh, let's just bury the hatchet with a couple things and then go out and make some money.' And that wasn't — it was never the motivation for BIOHAZARD. It was always just having a good time. We're a vibe band first. We've gotta be getting along. We have to have that energy as friends and brothers first, and then we kick ass. If that's there and it's not fun, we don't enjoy it, and it's over before it even started.

"I moved on with BIOHAZARD," Billy recalled. "I started a band called POWERFLO with Sen Dog [Senen Reyes] from CYPRESS HILL and Christian [Olde Wolbers] from FEAR FACTORY. And then I have a solo band called BILLYBIO. So I had moved on. I was on the phone one night with my manager Scott [Koenig], and he'd been guiding me through, I'd say two-thirds of the BIOHAZARD career, but even helped me out with my solo stuff and POWERFLO. He was in the hospital [in October 2021]. It was a Thursday night. I was in the studio working on a new record, and he was more interested in talking to me about what I got going on than himself. And when your buddy's in the hospital, I wanted to talk about him. He was confident he was getting out the next day. They told him that he looked good to be released Friday morning. We talked for an hour and a half. I was the last, unfortunately, person to talk to him. So I got a call the next morning that he woke up and took a turn for the worse and didn't make it. And it was tough and sad to lose a good friend like that. The last thing Scott said to me was, 'Yo, bury the hatchet. Put it behind you.' I'm, like, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'BIOHAZARD. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your fans. You guys did something unique and special. Do that again.' And I'm, like, 'Nah, I fucking did already. I moved on. I'm not rehashing old stuff.' And then I saw Evan, my bass player, at the Rainbow. It was a memorial for Scott. I shook his hand, told him it was great to see him and I wished it was under better circumstances. And then several months later, people were calling me up and saying, 'Hey, Bobby called me up and said that him and Evan talked.' Bobby, Danny and I remained friends over the years, but Evan and I hadn't talked since he split the band in in 2010. So it slowly started happening. I wasn't into it, and I was busy with my bands, and then I was, like, 'You know what?' I kept remembering these words from my buddy Scott. So I said, 'Yeah, let's jam. Let's just fucking get together and hang out. Grab some food.' And we did. And it was awesome, bro. We'd never looked back. It was only good vibes, good energy. The band was on top. Every show was topping every show. It's like we found the fountain of youth. There's more energy from BIOHAZARD at our age on stage than most bands in their twenties. It was a great time. I'm, like, thinking, 'Okay, cool. It'll last a couple shows and then somebody's gonna bring up something from the past. It's gonna be this big fight, same old shit.' And it never happened. So we kept doing it. And those three shows turned into a small tour, and then it became three months, and then it became three years. And the last thing I would've ever guessed, if you said to me, 'Yo, in three years, you guys are gonna be still touring with a new record that you're gonna be super fucking proud of,' I'd be, like, 'Get the fuck outta here. No way.' But that's where we're at. So we just kept it going. We didn't sit down and plan anything. We just kept enjoying the ride and high-fiving each other on stage every night. You're in a great spot when you're enjoying what you're doing. And as a fan first, you know when a band is up there just going through the motions. You know that it's a money grab. But when a band is on stage having fun with each other, high-fiving, like, 'Fuck yeah!', that's real. And that energy is contagious. So it's almost like we found the fountain of youth. And we're still doing it, so I'm pretty psyched. I'm not gonna stop until it sucks again. The minute it slides away, I'll move on."

"Divided We Fall", BIOHAZARD's first studio album in over a decade, will arrive on October 17 via BLKIIBLK.

BIOHAZARD has released three singles from "Divided We Fall" so far: "Forsaken", "F**k the System" and "Eyes On Six".

Produced, mixed, and mastered by Matt Hyde (SLAYER, HATEBREED, DEFTONES),"Divided We Fall" captures BIOHAZARD at their most raw, relentless, and unifying. The album blends the band's unmistakable fusion of hardcore, metal, and streetwise groove with a sharpened edge for a fractured modern world delivering a powerful reminder of why BIOHAZARD remains one of the most vital and influential bands in heavy music.

Recording sessions took place at Shorefire Recording Studios in Long Branch, New Jersey and The Hydeaway in Van Nuys, California, with engineering by Joseph DeMaio and additional recording from Matt Hyde. Guitar and production tech duties were handled by Phil Caivano.

"Divided We Fall" track listing:

01. F**k The System
02. Forsaken
03. Eyes On Six
04. Death of Me
05. Word To The Wise
06. Fight To Be Free
07. War Inside Me
08. S.I.T.F.O.A.
09. Tear Down The Walls
10. I Will Overcome
11. Warriors

In a recent interview with the Des Moines, Iowa radio station Lazer 103.3, Graziadei and Seinfeld spoke about "Divided We Fall". Asked if it was weird getting back in the studio after so long, Billy said: "I would say no, because we didn't get together… We put the band back together. We're the only band from the '90s that has original guys, and we didn't realize that until three years later. But we got back together. We had two shows booked, three shows, and we pretty much all just kind of went with the flow. We really didn't make much plans. If we would've sat down and said, 'Hey, let's put the band back together. Let's have go on tour for a couple of years, have some amazing shows, and let's do a record.' Any time we kind of planned things in our career, it never worked out. When we let things kind of just stick on the wall and just go with it, it worked. So BIOHAZARD was never like a big business entity that planned all these things with this huge marketing plan and this business proposal that works to the tee. We're the underdog. So, being the underdog, our back's against the wall, we come out swinging, and we make it up as we go along. And it works."

Asked what it was like working with Hyde on "Divided We Fall", Evan said: "Matt's awesome. We're all very experienced in recording music, obviously. And some of the guys — Billy has his own studio — everyone in this band's prolific and can make an album. The role of the producer is to bring it together into like a common unified vision. And Matt shot us down, like, day one. I think we were all kind of overthinking, what's gonna be the progression? What's the next step for BIOHAZARD? And he was, like, 'Hey, man. You guys are BIOHAZARD. You've gotta just make a BIOHAZARD record like it's 1993, bro.' And we were, like, 'Wait. Wait a second. You mean like what we naturally just kind of sound, you think that's what people want?' And he was, like, 'Yeah, 'cause only you guys can do that.' And we looked at each other, like, 'Aha.' And next thing we know, album's done and we're all psyched and we're on the phone with you on the radio."

Billy also talked about the themes covered on "Divided We Fall" and the importance of having lyrics that are "incredibly relatable". He said: "One of the things that I think that everyone gravitated to BIOHAZARD for when we started was the realism. We always wrote, and we only write, about things that are real to us, things that we experience, things that we go through. And when that resonates with somebody else… That's why we all love BLACK SABBATH, we all love Ozzy [Osbourne], we all love TOOL and all the other bands that we love because there's a certain symbiotic kind of connection that we have. With BIOHAZARD, our lyrics are straight up in your face and they're honest. And I think that, if you go look at the comments… We dropped two singles [so far from the upcoming album], but those lyrics… Look at the comments on the video. Everyone's, like, 'They're back. I feel 16 again.' And if you're 16, you're gonna relate to it like someone who's 29 was relating to it when they were 16. So it's great to be relevant and doing what we do. We're proud of what we have. The record 'Divided We Fall' is the BIOHAZARD record of all BIOHAZARD records. In our opinion, this is gonna go up there with 'Urban Discipline' and 'State Of The World Address'. And we can't wait to bring it to your part of the world."

As previously reported, BIOHAZARD will team up with the American hip-hop group ONYX for a North American tour this fall. Additional support on the "Divided We Fall" trek will come from BAYWAY and SWOLLEN TEETH.

BIOHAZARD was joined by ONYX on stage on February 23 at the Academy in Dublin, Ireland to perform the 1993 ONYX song "Slam".

"Slam" was originally released in May 1993 as the second single from ONYX's debut album, "Bacdafucup". An official remix, "Slam (Bionyx Remix)", was a collaboration with BIOHAZARD and was made available as a maxi-single titled "Slam: The Alternatives" in June 1993.

BIOHAZARD and ONYX also worked together on the song "Judgment Night" for the soundtrack to the 1993 film of the same name.

BIOHAZARD, renowned for their aggressive style and socially conscious lyrics, has been a seminal force in the hardcore and metal scenes since their formation in the late 1980s. Their unique blend of hardcore punk, heavy metal, and hip-hop elements has garnered them a dedicated fan base and critical acclaim.

Musical pioneers in every sense of the word, BIOHAZARD were one of the first bands to seamlessly blend hardcore, heavy metal, punk, and hip-hop into an intoxicating genre all their own. After more than a decade away, the Brooklyn, New York band's OG lineup reunited in 2023 to both fan fervor and critical acclaim, headlining the opening night of the legendary Milwaukee Metal Fest for their first show back. Ghost Cult magazine said they "explosively unleashed their fury with fortitude and force" with "a superhuman set and an awe-inspiring show."

The band followed with two sold-out hometown shows in New York City, a late-summer festival run in Europe, and a fall direct support slot with MEGADETH across North America. That was just the start. They returned to Europe in 2024 for the early summer festival season and made their triumphant return to South America in spring, then returned home to blow out America's exploding festival circuit.

Photo credit: Istvan Bruggen