KREATOR Frontman: DIMEBAG's Murder Could Only Have Happened In The U.S.

KREATOR frontman Mille Petrozza recently spoke to Sweden's Metalshrine.se about the group's latest album, "Enemy of God", and the murder of PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, among other topics. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:

Metalshrine.se: I've talked to a lot of bands and the ones that have been around since the Eigthties, they usually say that it´s harder these days to get record deals and so on.

Mille Petrozza: "If we would try to get a record deal now with the music we play, not a chance! (laughs) But we've been around and we're lucky to have started the whole thing, so people look at us diferently."

Metalshrine.se: It's always been about making money, but these days it seems like it's just money and nothing else.

Mille Petrozza: "Yeah, when you look at the record companies! It's really funny...out touring and in the mid-Nineties people were like, 'Fuck heavy metal,' and nowadays the major record companies are very jealous of the way the independent record companies are working with us. As a record company and you have a heavy metal band, you put out a record and it still sells 80,000–100,000 records. Fucking pop bands can't do this! They don't understand that these bands have history and a strong fan base, but it's not the cool and trendy people listening to it. I've heard [from] so many people that I know from the record companies, and they're wondering how we're doing this and I'm like, 'I've told you all the fucking time, man!' They wouldn't believe it because the Nineties weren't a good time for metal, but I knew that if you keep going things are gonna change. Look at a band like IRON MAIDEN! They played in clubs and now they're playing stadiums and no fucking pop band can do this!"

Metalshrine.se: Any thoughts on what happened to Dimebag? Do you think about stuff like that or...?

Mille Petrozza: "No! To be honest, I was really shocked like everyone else in the metal world. I really don't wanna think about it! This is something that can ruin your whole fucking day if you think about it. Of course, you're a target when you're on stage and anyone can come up to you. I don't want to be disrespectful, but this only happens in the States! Nobody would even think about coming to a fucking concert with a gun over here. In the States they should just change their fucking gun laws. If they would change this, they would have one less problem! I'm not saying that it's his own fault or anything, but I don't know how Dimebag thought about the laws. If he was into it it was an irony of fate, but nobody deserves this stuff!"

Metalshrine.se: Right after stuff like that the politicians always blame heavy metal, MARILYN MANSON and so on.

Mille Petrozza: "I mean, nobody blamed hippie music when John Lennon was killed. It was just a crazy lunatic. And I don't think it had anything to do with heavy metal. It was just a crazy fan. It's a fucking tragedy!"

Read Mille Petrozza's entire interview with Metalshrine.se at this location.