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| Unnatural Selection, Havok's third album, was released on June 25 |
Havok is a metal band from Denver, Colorado that plays old-school thrash with a modern twist. Their newest album, Unnatural Selection, was released on June 25 through Candlelight Records. I interviewed founding guitarist and vocalist David Sanchez about the band's sound and new record.
Havok started in the Denver area, but you play thrash typical
of the California scene. How were you influenced by your home town and the bands
around it?
D: You could say we were influenced by not staying here, haha. Most
of the bands that are from here, metal wise, either don’t tour or just don’t
hang around. That was an inspiration for us, just to get the hell out of town!
You just have to tour and making things happen.
Your songs often reference dissatisfaction with government
and life in general. Would you consider your songs rally cries to your
audience?
D: I think they’re rally cries to anyone who has a thinking
brain in their head. The lyrics in particular for “Give Me Liberty or Give Me
Death” are things that anybody can relate to. They’re pretty general statements
about distrust that people have for the government and how it sticks its nose
in everyone’s business.
How was the process of writing and recording Unnatural Selection different than your previous
albums? What goes into making a Havok record?
D: The biggest difference was that we tracked the drums in a theater,
so the reverb on them is totally natural. Making an album normally starts off
with the riffs. Once you get a few good riffs together it starts to develop and
identity – without the riffs you can’t have a heavy metal song!
Havok has a reputation as a powerful live band. What about
playing in front of and among your fans do you enjoy most?
D: Just seeing people smile. Seeing people having a good time is
the best part. When people come up after the show and say they had a lot of
fun, that they’re neck is going to hurt in the morning…it’s a really good
feeling. We tour a lot and we’re on tour for months at a time, but the people at
the shows only get to see us one time. When we’re on stage we bring it hard,
because that’s the only reason we’re out there.
What are you doing to get the word out and promote your new
album?
D: We’re going on tour from July through September, hitting
Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. We’re going to be playing an hour every night – it’s
a headlining set and we’ll be hooking up with local bands form each city. So pick
up the record, come to the show, and support heavy metal!
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