Hatebreed's Frank Novinec Defines his Purpose

Currently trekking the road on their U.S.A. tour, hardcore metalheads Hatebreed have not only been road bound for the time being but have released their sixth album to date, "The Divinity of Purpose" as well. Guitarist Frank Novinec took some time while on tour to discuss how the tour is going and how the current album is going.

1. How has 2013 been going for you guys as a band so far?

Frank: It's a great time for the band. The new record just came out a few days ago. It's exciting for us and it's been a while since we've been out on tour so everything combined is just up there ya know.

2. The Divinity of Purpose is your sixth album to date, what run's through your mind?

Frank:  I think it's good to have been a successful band with the way everything is going currently with the industry, labels, record stores, to be able to be a successful band after 18 years, getting to tour the world, people enjoying our music, it's what it's all about really. We don't take this stuff for grated it's good to be still plugging away in 2013.

3. What was it about the genre "hardcore" that made you guys want to use this genre as your genre of choice?

Frank: Well it's just a kind of music and we all got into music at an early age. Eventually later on we got into the hardcore scene and fell into the metal scene too so the metal and hardcore scene is well balanced and keeping everyone else happy. We want to keep metal and hardcore fans happy.

4. It's been said that this album is a “all pit, no shit" release, how so?

Frank: We just wanted to go back to the basics with this record. Being a universal band using that flat out metal and hardcore scene we had experienced before as much as possible so for us bringing back the basics was a real challenge with this record. We wanted something fresh but to be a solid record from beginning to end. The response has been great so far, on the social networking websites all of the people telling us they liked every song on this record so it's going good. We're on tour right now, about to release our second single after releasing our first single that did so well so a lot of touring going on in the Hatebreed world and it's just been a pleasure and it's all coming together.

5. How is the current tour going for you guys?

Frank: Its going awesome. Touring with Shadows Fall and Dying Fetus having a good relationship with those guys has been fun and we've toured with them before so it's a good package. We're able to be that universal band of being able to have successful tours, playing with all sorts of bands amongst the scene and it's just going well.

6. What did you do to prepare yourselves for this tour?

Frank: Well I had food poison so we came home from Europe and 3 of the 5 of us had food poisoning so the preparing was us making us feel better. So coming off one tour to another we just have time to unpack, clean up, and pack again so no time to prepare really. I don't even prepare my bags until the day of when the flight is leaving, some rehearsal was done, just a lot of stuff going on all the way until December.

7. Why did you guys want to return to the small club scene on this particular tour?

Frank: Well it's a B-Market tour so we wanted to hit the places that we skipped or missed. So during the time we were touring with Lamb of God on our 10th Anniversary Tour, we played all of the major cities. So now we wanted to hit the smaller cities, to the people who really enjoy it and a cool way to promote the record and before the year is over we will be back in the major markets too.

8. How easy is it to keep the motivation going on a daily basis for Hatebreed?

Frank: Well at times you can get over it and not want to do this, no even after 18 years we still get along well and love to play. But having a new album out it has some fresh air for us to take in. We're a band that would do 300 shows a year and playing less at times now, being married and having kids we're still having fun.  As long as we're still here and have that demand we're not going anywhere anytime soon.

9. Is there any song that when you play it live on stage makes your adrenaline levels kick in and make you want to go hyper?

Frank: It's what a band is all about, that energy, the crowd participation, but the thing with us is that we don't have a setlist - we just go with whatever Jamey says so we have a second to remember that song and go from there. For the fans it's a beautiful thing because you get to hear different songs makes it fresh for us and keeps us on our feet.

10. When it comes to performing each and every night does the time stand still or does it fly by when performing?

Frank: It depends on how much I've drank before the show. I don't know, in Europe it seems we play long like an hour and 15 minutes, so with us having songs that are 2 minutes long an hour for us sounds good. For us if the rest of those 23 hours didn't turn out good but that one hour did then that's what it's all about for us.

11. Have you or would you consider bringing the other projects that Jamey Jasta has done, Kingdom of Sorrow and his solo project and Hatebreed altogether for a tour?

Frank: I don't think so. It's totally different and a total overkill on him. It's his own thing so I doubt it.

12. What are your plans for the rest of 2013?

Frank: A lot of touring, doing festivals over the summer, considering a second leg of this current tour, just a lot of things going on in the Hatebreed world.

13. Anything else you want to say to your fans?

Frank: Thank you for the interview, go check out our new album, we're happy and response has been great so we hope to see you out on the road soon!