BIOHAZARD's Reunited Original Lineup Announces More Shows, Plans To Record New Music

Celebrating their 35th anniversary as a band, Brooklyn, New York hardcore metal legends BIOHAZARD have returned, reuniting their original lineup of guitarist/vocalist Billy Gradziadei, guitarist Bobby Hambel, drummer Danny Schuler and bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld.

The first wave of confirmed dates for the seminal outfit includes multiple international festivals in the summer of 2023, as well as select appearances in America.

In addition to touring, BIOHAZARD has a 35th-anniversary documentary in the works containing previously unreleased footage spanning four decades. They also plan on returning to the studio to record new material in early 2023.

"BIOHAZARD is an iconic band that ripped it up on the streets of New York when I lived there in the late '80s and early '90s, so I'm excited to be working with them to bring their pioneering hardcore sound to a new generation," says Andy Gould (ROB ZOMBIE, PANTERA, TYPE O NEGATIVE). The band is managed by Gould and Paul Gargano and booked by Jim Morewood at the K2 Agency internationally, and Steve Sokol at Pinnacle in North America.

States Graziadei: "Over the years, we made some great music together and had so many incredible shows on some pretty amazing tours. After spending so much time and focus on POWERFLO and my solo project BILLYBIO, things just fell in place at the right time and I decided it was the time to recapture that energy and go kick ass again with the original lineup of BIOHAZARD with DannyBobby, and Evan!"

Adds Hambel: "I'm honored to perform with the band again. I can't wait to get onstage with the guys and do what we do! I'm looking forward to traveling and playing live. See you out there!"

Says Schuler: "Life is short, things happen, and before you know it, it's too late. That's why I'm extremely grateful that we are getting the chance to do this again, forgiving the past and focusing on the future. I've missed the band and the great times we've had, and I'm looking forward to the shows, the travel, and seeing our friends all over the world again… This is gonna be awesome. Let's go!"

States Seinfeld: "It's been ten years since we all played together, and I'm in a huge place of gratitude for the opportunity to get back to the roots of BIOHAZARD and not only reconnect with the other guys, but also the fans. We've been through decades of madness, and it feels like the fantastic four are back together."

BIOHAZARD 2023 tour dates, with more to be announced:

Aug. 04 - Czaplinek, Poland - Pol'and'Rock Festival
Aug. 10 - Jeromer, Czech Republic - Brutal Assault
Aug. 13 - Catton Park, England - Bloodstock
Aug. 19 - Eindhoven, Netherlands - Dynamo Metalfest

Earlier this year, Graziadei said in an interview that there had been "talk" about putting BIOHAZARD back together.

The group, which is acknowledged as one of the earliest outfits to fuse hardcore punk and heavy metal with elements of hip-hop, has been out of the public eye since Scott Roberts left the band more than six years ago.

Roberts, who played guitar on BIOHAZARD's 2005 album "Means To An End", rejoined the group in June 2011 as the replacement for Seinfeld. Scott fronted BIOHAZARD for nearly five years before exiting the band in February 2016.

Asked by Metal Injection about BIOHAZARD's status, Billy said in March: "We talk often. I was with Evan at a memorial for my friend Scott [Koenig], and it was great to see him. Danny and Bobby and I talk quite often, and during the pandemic there were a few people that wanted to play bass for us. And then during the pandemic, we were all discussing and had a heart to heart. And basically, the outcome was, like, life's too short. If we don't take away anything from this pandemic, it's, like, if we're going to do something, let's put the band back together again.

"I'm the only member of the band that's still active in music," he continued. "I know the guys do things here and there, but it's what I do with what I love. It's me, so I'm going to keep going.

"With BIOHAZARD, it's always been a vibe thing with us. It's not like we sit down and say, 'Hey, in 2023, let's make an album. Let's go on tour and release the album mid-tour.' In a business sense, that'd be great. If I had the business sense that I have now, I would have been way more successful. But like I said, that was never my goal. It's still not my goal. My goal is music and art first. I probably won't be recognized for anything awesome until I'm dead and gone, but it's okay. I have other means to pay the bills and I have a great wife who supports me.

"BIOHAZARD is kind of like a vibe thing," Billy added. "It's like when the planets align and shit lines up, we do it. There's been different crazy twists and turns of our history, and I would imagine there will be in the future, but that's life. The pandemic was the fucking craziest curveball anyone ever thought would come, you know?"

In an August 2020 interview with the "Aftershocks" podcast, Roberts said that he left BIOHAZARD because he "wasn't happy" anymore. "There was one guy that I wasn't getting along with very well, and it made touring not fun anymore for me," he said. "My reason to stick around was to make a new record that was great and I'd be proud of and all that stuff, and then it became kind of clear that wasn't gonna happen, so I was, like, 'What am I doing it for?' So I quit."

According to Roberts, BIOHAZARD was "doing really good" on the live circuit before his decision to leave the group.

"I was actually in the band longer than anybody else that wasn't the original four guys," he said. "I was in the band twice, actually; I played guitar the first time. So I was in the band, like, seven years, I think. The second time, when I was singing, at first, we were, like, 'Is this gonna work?' 'Cause it's really hard to replace a singer. In history, how many times has that actually worked? IRON MAIDEN, AC/DC… a handful of times. At first, it was definitely weird; people didn't know what to expect. But in time, the shows were getting bigger again, we were headlining festivals again — it was rolling, it was happening, it was working. But it all kind of fell apart."

In a 2017 interview with "The Ex Man" podcast, Graziadei discussed Roberts's split from the group, saying that the other members of the band "got into some issues" with Scott once work began on a new studio album. "He just grew out of it," Billy claimed. "He was a fucking rigger in New York in the union, making tons of money, and leaving his family to go on tour for making a little bit of money, it didn't pay for him. So I think that started harboring some issues with him. And eventually we were in the studio doing the new record, and we had some exchanges back and forth, and he quit. And we were, like, 'Fuck! Here we are again.'"

Scott later responded to Billy's comments, saying that he quit BIOHAZARD because it was no longer fun. "I was okay with losing money on tour as long as I was enjoying myself," Roberts wrote on his Facebook page. "I would have kept doing that. The real problem was I wasn't getting along with one of the members and wasn't enjoying myself on tour with them anymore. The only other reason for me to keep doing it, was to make a new record that I was into and proud of. When another member of the band made it clear to me that wasn't going to happen, there was no reason for me to do it anymore. That's the simplest way I can explain it."

He added: "The only reason to be in a band is for the love of it. Not because it's a career. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, you shouldn't do it. That's my opinion, for what's it worth."

In "The Ex Man" interview, Billy said that BIOHAZARD's collaboration with Roberts "just worked. The band without Evan, in a small, hardcore way, it's like VAN HALEN without David Lee Roth. It was different, it was something new, but it was different… Scott had the fire that we all had, and it just seemed to work, and people accepted him. He was great, he fit great, his vibe was great, he was all about the music, loved hardcore, loved what we did, he was really into it, and it was fucking awesome. So we toured, we kept doing it. And we saw the crowds getting bigger and the people accepted him and the BIOHAZARD name... the brand started growing again; instead of being stagnant or declining, it started to grow. And the shows kept doing better and better. And we were, like, 'Cool. Let's keep this going.'"

Seinfeld made his last recorded appearance with BIOHAZARD on 2012's "Reborn In Defiance" album, which marked the first LP featuring the band's original lineup in 18 years.

Graziadei is currently a member of POWERFLO, which also features former FEAR FACTORY bassist/guitarist Christian Olde Wolbers, Sen Dog from CYPRESS HILL, and Rogelio Lozano from DOWNSET.

Billy's solo project, BILLYBIO, released a new album, "Leaders And Liars", in March via AFM Records.