|
|
||
|
Brokenhearted: 18 Visions Announce Break Up "Eighteen Visions
broke up." That was not the best news I could have heard from a middle of
night phone call. I actually didn't believe it at first, because it made
no sense. But alas, a little investigating on the WWW and I found the
following: |
James Hart:Most Badass Frontman at Warped Tour '06
Read our review of 18 Visions at The Stone Pony here
Watch 18 Visions live, brought to you by Planet Verge on You Tube: Interview clip with Mickdeth and Keith
Read our blog about Mickdeth's clothing line, Dethless
|
A look back: Planet Verge interview with frontman, James Hart, from Planet Verge issue 8 James Hart is an anti-rock star. That’s what makes him so alluring. He may be the lead singer of one of metalcore’s hottest bands, Eighteen Visions, but his mentality is far from the sex-drugs-rock ‘n roll motto that so many musicians live by. Like the rest of his band mates, Hart refrains from drug and alcohol use. He spends his time off stage with his girlfriend, rather than hordes of groupies. As for his tattoos, well, he would erase them all if he could.
Although his body is adorned with inked art, Hart admits, “I hate tattoos. It’s one of those things, like you’re younger and you’re not supposed to get tattoos, so you get them anyway, so it’s cool. And you keep getting ‘em, and getting ‘em, and getting ‘em. Sooner or later you’re covered.” Reality set in once Hart got tired of looking at them. “You’re 25 now and you’re like, ‘What the hell did I do?’ I see some of my friends that don’t have them. They have fresh, clean skin and it looks nice.” He got his first tattoo, a straight-edge symbol on his chest, when he was 15 years-old. A few years prior to that, he discovered the high life just wasn’t for him. “I tried smoking weed once when I was 13 years old. It just wasn’t for me. I felt really out of place doing it. It was one of those things where I was with a bunch of friends who were doing it, and they were like ‘Hey, check it out,’” he explains. Hardcore music helped him identify with the straight-edge lifestyle. “I was listening to Guerilla Biscuits and Youth of Today when I was like 12 years old, but I didn’t know what straight-edge was until I was about 14. I met somebody at my high school who was straight-edge and hung out with him all the time. He showed me what it was about, not just musically, but the lifestyle. I was like ‘That’s pretty much me. I tried smoking pot once, but it was kinda wack and I wasn’t into it. I don’t drink and I don’t want to mess up my life,” he explains. While many tour buses are a party on wheels, Eighteen Visions are never criticized for their way of life. “Nobody ever makes fun of us for who we are and what we do. All the bands we tour with, we’re all mature enough to respect each other’s views, opinions, and lifestyles,” says Hart. In fact, being straight-edge actually helps them make more friends with other bands. “If we get beer on our rider, we’ll just be like, ‘It’s yours, here take it.”
Hart on the New Album: Obession, the band’s third release, shows their evolution as songwriters and is easier for new fans to swallow. Comparing it to their 2002 release, Vanity, and their Trustkill debut, Until the Ink Runs Out, Hart explains “The old stuff is a lot heavier, a lot more metal, and a lot more chaotic. It’s kinda just thrown together. It’s a lot harder to understand and grasp.” He continues, “We really like playing heavy music so we wanted to emphasize on that and make sure there were still heavy parts and still breakdowns. I started singing on the last record and I liked doing it. I wanted to do more of it, so they wrote more melodic rock parts that I could actually sing over. There’s more hard rock parts that we’ve been doing since our first record on Trustkill.” This time around, the band went into the studio with Mudrock (Avenged Sevenfold, Chimera, Godsmack) as a producer. The recording process was especially stressful for Hart. He tells, “Song eight, ‘Lost in a Dream,’ I was really pinched for time. We had 22 songs written for the record and I had bits and pieces for all of them, and maybe seven completed. I was up until 6 in the morning just writing lyrics and trying to arrange vocal arrangements. I would wake up at two or three in the morning and something would just come to me. Some songs would take five days to finally get it done. ‘Crushed’ we wrote the last day of pre-production.” Obsession fulfills all your inner cravings. “Tower of Snakes,” named after Conan the Barbarian, brings the head pounding venom. It’s followed by “I Should Tell You,” a mellow moment that has Ballad of the Year written all over it, thanks to lyrics like “I watch the falling rain splash upon your face, I know those aren’t your tears.” |
|
|
||
