HATEBREED's JAMEY JASTA On What Concerts Will Look Like Post-Pandemic: 'I Think It's Going To Be Great'

In a new interview with Forbes, HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta was asked what he thinks turnouts at shows, specifically for hardcore and metal concerts, two genres that heavily rely on live performances and crowd interaction, will look like post-pandemic. He responded: "I'm hopeful, and I think it's going to be great. I have a half-glass full mindset, and it does remind me of the early days. Like back in the day, if you look at this SLIPKNOT tour that all the hardcore bands had kind of turned their nose up at, well, we did that tour, and every night, literally every night, we'd go to the crowd and we'd go to the fence where all the kids were lined up and every single kid was, like, 'This is my first concert.' Every single kid. And you could see the cars of the parents dropping off their kids and they were just hungry for music.

"I feel like just based off of my social media alone, a new generation of kids has been born. There was a 14-year-old who's now 15, and when this thing ends, he's going to be dying to go to a concert, and we're not 25 years old to him; we're a brand new band. I literally see this on my social media every day. And I have to say when I did this last JASTA record ['The Lost Chapters'], because I had guests from all of these different genres and all of these fanbases, like Matt Heafy from TRIVIUM was on it and George from CANNIBAL CORPSE was on it, just seeing how many people who had no idea who I was and had no idea how long I've been in the game and how many records I've done with HATEBREED, it was like I went back and I just started fresh.

"It's always going to be new to someone. And because I did these two JASTA records in 2017 and 2018, and I did it all DIY, I said, 'Hey, let's do all pre-orders for this new HATEBREED record totally DIY. Let's just act like we did back in the day when I was folding up the seven-inches and going to the post office and sending them all over the world. Let's do that now. And I think that helps you understand not only how much work goes into it, but also how many people are affected by it. And right now we have this incredible amount of pre-orders, and it's going to be a lot of work. We're going to be signing records for days and days and days, but it's great to have a real connection with it, and know that this going to be someone's first time hearing us."

HATEBREED will release its new album, "Weight Of The False Self", on November 27 via Nuclear Blast Records. The cover artwork was painted by artist Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with SOULFLY, TESTAMENT, ICED EARTH and SODOM, among others.

"Weight Of The False Self" was produced by frequent HATEBREED collaborator Chris "Zeuss" Harris and it arrives on the heels of the sold-out anniversary shows that HATEBREED embarked upon throughout 2019 and the unprecedented success of 2016's "The Concrete Confessional". Not only did the latter tally over 42 million Spotify streams, but the single "Looking Down The Barrel of Today" also clocked 30 million-plus Spotify streams. The band also covered Revolver and The Guardian bestowed a 4-out-of-5-star rating on the album, proving that over 20 years deep into its career, this Connecticut hardcore metal institution remains as vital as ever.

Renowned for their ability to provide an intense and cathartic release for their fans, HATEBREED challenged themselves and their writing style in order to produce material that is exceptionally relatable in a contemporary world flooded with overstimulation, emotional dampening, and lack of social patience.

This past February, HATEBREED released its first new single in four years, "When The Blade Drops". At the time, Jasta described the track as "just a taste of what's to come… The speed, intensity, and brutality that people have come to expect from us is on full display."