GENE HOGLAN: 'Grunge Was Very Influenced By Thrash Metal'

In a new interview with Remzi "Jam Man" Yates of Rocking With Jam Man, DARK ANGEL drummer Gene Hoglan was asked if he felt, back in the early days of thrash four decades ago, like he was part of a movement changing music forever. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Not at all. We had no idea. If anything, we were the ones swimming upstream, because at that time of thrash, hair metal, cock rock, whatever people wanna call it, just hard rock, radio rock, that was huge at the time. And for us, cranking out just brutal music at the time, we were very unaccepted by the masses. It was the fans who probably were also getting tired of that hair metal and hairspray. It just all seemed kind of plastic, that kind of music. It all just kind of seemed fake. These guys are all hairsprayed up on the weekends, but on the weekdays they're going to their day jobs, and that kind of thing. So at least thrash metal was just real. We went on stage in what we wore to the show, what we wear in real life and just day-to-day life. And the music we played was real aggressive in countering what was going on in the public eye at the time. So we didn't know that there was gonna be any life to this. It was just music we loved playing. It was music we loved creating. We really dug helping create a scene. But to the extent that it went, we had no idea. We were playing the music we loved. And like I said, I think a lot of people were getting a little tired of all these [hair metal] bands who sounded the same, looked the same, had the same lyrical content — partying, girls, driving your car kind of thing. We were trying to just kind of bust out of that sort of template that others had made, and that's kind of where it led. And it is pretty amazing, 43 years later, getting to chat about the early days, and it being a part of everything."

Gene continued: "That's one thing I always felt. When metal sort of, kind of went away in the early '90s, it just went back to being underground the way it was for all of us. It never died, but the one thing that did stay true to all of it were all the thrash or thrash-based, thrash-influenced bands. Those guys were the ones that were able to kind of ride the tide a little bit. All of us that were in the heavier side of things, we all were proud of where we were. We were all proud of what we had done, so we had nothing to be embarrassed about. When grunge came around and people thought that grunge killed metal, it didn't at all. Grunge was very influenced by thrash metal. You can hear it. You talk to the guys from all these grunge bands, the big ones, they're, like, 'We loved thrash. We were all about thrash.' So, thrash was a wide-ranging, influential style of music. Especially, it influenced everything that came after it, in my opinion. Death metal, grindcore, everything that was really heavy, I think, really did come from the thrash era. So, when you have roots that strong, the trees grow tall."

Hoglan is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including usage of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms (using what he calls "kick triplets"). His highly technical playing is extremely accurate at very high and challenging tempos, earning him the nicknames "The Atomic Clock" and "Human Drum Machine". He is best known for his works with Devin Townsend, DARK ANGEL, DEATH, DETHKLOK, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, TESTAMENT and FEAR FACTORY.

Hoglan got his first drum kit when he was 13 and is completely self-taught. He started jamming along to his KISS and RUSH records. In 1984, Hoglan began his music career as a roadie (lights engineer) for the thrash metal band SLAYER, where he also played the drums during concert soundchecks. He was also part of the band WAR GOD with Michelle Meldrum. At the end of the same year he was asked to join the thrash metal band DARK ANGEL as the drummer. He penned most of the lyrics for DARK ANGEL's next three albums. He achieved greater fame during the mid-1990s playing with DEATH, at the same time that bandleader Chuck Schuldiner was taking that group into a more progressive style. Subsequently, he recorded several albums with the thrash metal band TESTAMENT, and made the acquaintance of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Devin Townsend, forging a lasting friendship. He has since recorded several albums with Townsend, both as part of the speed/industrial/death metal band STRAPPING YOUNG LAD and under Devin Townsend's name.

For the past decade and a half, Hoglan has been working with DETHKLOK, the band from the animated TV show "Metalocalypse". The show was co-created by stand-up comedian/actor/musician Brendon Small, who also composes or performs all of the music.

Gene joined FEAR FACTORY in 2010 and played on the band's "Mechanize" album.