Season 2 Episode 15 // BILLY GRAZIADEI (Biohazard) - "One life to live"

On March 25th, Billy Graziadei, the legendary founder of Biohazard, will release his second solo album Leaders and Liars.

I have to say, this interview is not like the other ones. First, Billy was already on the show in Season 1 when we were still doing this on Zoom (https://anchor.fm/hangingonsunset/episodes/Season-1---Episode-5--Billy-Graziadei-Biohazard--Powerflo--Billy-Bio---Keep-it-real-en10te), but also because Billy produced the debut album of my band Yard Of Blondes. During the process of the recording of Feed The Moon, Billy and I became best friends. He helped me fulfill my vision and brought many ideas of arrangements to the table. We nurtured each other’s creativity and most of all, we had great fun. And it wasn’t always easy. Financial struggle, personal challenges came along the way during that process and Billy showed up, always positive, always managing to find a way to push our best selves. Naturally, I wanted to tap into his wisdom for this new episode and Billy doesn’t disappoint because as he tells us, in a way, for him, it was always about finding a way to make art win over the industry.

He recalls the early days of Biohazard, telling us how the industry wouldn’t even hear about them before they were able to put up sold-out shows, on their own. Since day one, the two most important things were to stay true to themselves and care about the fans and not about fame or any other kind of validation. He vividly remembers how Rick Rubin first labeled Biohazard as a « 3-chord trash band that will never go anywhere » before changing his mind as success knocked on their door. But Billy didn’t bend the knee to the industry. He said, « Fuck the industry » yet he was smart enough to learn how to work with it, using it as a tool to reach out to more fans, or « friends », as Billy likes to call them.

When we paired on the writing of Feed The Moon, I appreciated the fact that we were like scientists in a lab, always experimenting, always trying to think outside of the box. We had no other motive than to have fun and surprise ourselves. That’s another thing I love about him, he’s open to any new idea and he usually comes up with the most unexpected ones.

I remember when we first worked on « 1994 » and we were frustrated with the last chorus. I told Billy I wasn’t happy with the drums, but I couldn't express what was bugging me.  At some point, I said I wished the pattern would sound more « Motown ». I couldn’t express it any better than with this image and of course, in the context of our alternative album, it didn't make much sense. But for Billy,  this vague analogy sparked something. He went to another session and grabbed a drum part of another song. He slowed it down and then looped it before adding it to the mix. Then he muted all parts but vocals and "Bam!", I had my "Motown" chorus with the snare hitting every beat. « What d’you think, Bro? » Billy asked with a witty smile. Damn... I was ecstatic and I didn't have to say anything, It showed on my face! It was exactly what I had in mind. That’s the kind of cool shit Billy’s capable of coming up with. My experience at Firewater Studios taught me to never give up, to always look in the corners of our imagination... This and more on our episode this week...

www.billybio.com