BIOHAZARD's BILLY GRAZIADEI Wants Next Album To Be '100 Percent Kick-Ass'

Mark Dean of Myglobalmind webzine recently conducted an interview with BIOHAZARD guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Myglobalmind: Looking back, Billy, over your musical career with BIOHAZARD, what were the highest and lowest points for the band?

Billy: Lowest point? I think that there were more than I can remember. It seems that every great moment in our career which stands out, there were tons of fucking letdowns and disasters. Some of them almost made the band implode.We were always tested, but for a long time, I thought it was just the music industry, but I realized that I have been doing it for so long that it is just a part of life. Everybody gets fucked with, there’s twists and turns, ups and downs in life in general. It doesn’t matter how many times that you get knocked down, it's standing back up that counts. For us, obviously, we are fighters and we stand up, both figuratively and literally, and keep going. There has been a lot.

Myglobalmind: What in your life are you the most proud of?

Billy: Everything. It has changed. It could go back to just kicking off drugs, and stopping doing heroin and crystal meth. That was a big accomplishment for me, and being in the band. Then we played CBGBs; that was a goal and, like, a dream of mine. Then it was a record deal. I think that in life that you have to have realistic goals. If you sit there and you set something that is too far off, and if you say that I am going to climb Mount Everest tomorrow — impossible. You can't. If you say that I am going to go to Mount Everest tomorrow, then maybe you can do that. Then you consider the next stage. Today I am going to take just ten steps. When you do that, it builds your confidence and it helps you make another ten steps the next day. For me, all those milestones have been massive and a pleasure. There have also been a lot of two-by-fours to the head that almost knocked me out. I stood back up. Being a father was a big change in my life. It was a great addition to the foundation that I had built over the years.

Myglobalmind: What is your greatest regret?

Billy: I think it's better to regret things that you have done rather than things that you haven't done. I have righted the wrong, but… When we split up with Bobby [Hambel, guitar], it was a big disaster for the band and I carried it with me in my heart for a long time, as he did. We broke up in 2003, and the regret I had was never getting back together with Bobby. In 2008-2009, we did that — we got back together. I had moved on to other bands and I had did everything that I had wanted to with BIOHAZARD, but that was the one thing. The minute that we got back together, that reignited the fucking fire that I had inside of me with BIOHAZARD, and I threw everything out. Now it's just BIOHAZARD.

Myglobalmind: Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions?

Billy: Of course. We are working on a new BIOHAZARD record right now. Our goal is to make it 100 percent kick-ass that we can play every song live and have everybody not lose a step. When we play the newest album right next to "Punishment" that people will be, like, "Fuck yeah!!!"

Myglobalmind: Do you still retain the hunger and the passion that you first had when the band started?

Billy: Way more… Being a father… On a personal level, I still see the same shit, and the more you see that, then the more frustration angst and energy you have towards whatever subject it is. Being a father, you are not as selfish, as you start to look at life through other people's eyes. You look out for other people way more. BIOHAZARD has always preached tolerance and equality in the world. Seeing that when I am gone that I live on through my children. I always felt that I live on through my music, but I live on through my kids; how I raise them and my values that I pass on to them are going to live on. That opens a whole new world.

Read the entire interview at Myglobalmind webzine.