### Hail!Hornet - Vince

#### 30/05/08 || Kampfar

Hello and fuck you all for ignoring this excellent band for a year already. Then again, most metal idiots like it clean, neat and healthy, so I’m not overly surprised. Now over to Vince, courtesy of Beaten Back To Pure, Sourvein and Lunch, as well as Hail!Hornet, guitarist in all but Lunch.

Global Domination: Hails to you, Vince, and very welcome to this interview of mine.

Vince: Thanks you Sir, glad you took the time to do get in touch.

For a start, I would like to know what Dixie Collins did to piss off them hornets you guys so brilliantly named this band after. Did any of you get stung?

He went wandering into the abandoned shed we took photos in front of and kicked (accidentally he says) a bald-faced hornets nest. Hornets have a reputation as irritable bastards, and don’t take no shit, so yeah a couple of us got stung but it was nothin’ a shot or two of whiskey wouldn’t cure, hah !

Top tip of the day: put your dick into a nest of stingers if you are to date a woman hard to impress.

Never!

If you feel for it, please do elaborate on the history behind this band. I didn’t exactly find shitty lots of info on how Hail!Hornet ended up happening.

In short it was T-roy’s idea from the late 90’s but it never came together ‘til just recently. The original lineup was to be T-roy- vox, Brian cox (Alabama Thunder-pussy) Drums, Kirk Fisher (Buzzo’ven) guitar, and I believe Dixie was still to be the man on the bass. Once I started workin’ with T-roy recording Sourvein records (Emerald Vulture) me and T-roy became bros and he brought the idea back to life. He asked me to play guitar, and I asked Erik Larson to play drums, ‘cause the guy beats the Christ out of the skins and he’s a very cool cat to work with. Dixie was still the man to play bass so all that was left to do now, was get everybody in the same city to start layin’ down some ideas.

The Metal Archives list your lyrical themes to be death and booze, but I would like to add religion, and women, too. And I ask: how many women have you met so far, able to make you fuck your own mind? I have met 3, 1 more and I’ll fucking move out into the forest. Perhaps I could come to the U.S and reside in the shed of yours?

I believe all women have the capability to mind-fuck a man to death, but I guess it’s a matter of how long you let the pussy control you and make you stick around for your own demise. I used to mess with a lot of bar-wenches and the sort but that shit will lead you nowhere but to the clinic for a nice STD scare, hah!

Talking about the shed, could you tell us a bit about the recording process? I know you guys did it all by yourself, so please do elaborate. I’m fucking impressed, now that’s for sure.

Well thanks for that brother, we like it also… We did the recording at my place in Moyock, North Carolina. I have a studio that I built in my back yard and we laid everything down there. I had the ‘riffs’ of these songs loosely put together and sent a copy to Erik so he would at least know what the hell he was in for. Erik and I got together first to figure out the basic arrangements and such and the rest of the guys came to the studio later. All of it was laid down on 12 tracks or less and we didn’t try to clean shit up or make it sound pretty. It sounds like we intended… GRIMEY ! Hence the Grime-Metal thing.

Who came up with the term grime metal? It describes your music fucking well, so please do hail the individual responsible for coining it.

Hah, that would be me… I thought it was a good way to describe the dirty, give-a-shit style of Hail!Hornet. I believe that the whole of heavy music needs to get back to a “dirtier” sound or to me it’s just not as convincing or mean.

Do you have any favorite tunes on this here ace debut of yours? Anything you wish you had done differently?

I like “Nerves” and “Concussion conspiracy” a lot. I think all in all I like the record, so I guess the answer is no for the second question.

Who wrote the lyrics? A co-effort, or is there a main scribbler? They are anyway mighty fine, and performed thereafter. I especially dig those of “He who walk behind the Rose Bros.”. So, how fucking high were you guys when recording that one? Did Dixie bring the weed?

The lyrics are all T-roys except for “He who walks behind the Rose. bros.”... that was Dixie’s doing. There wasn’t that much smokin’ goin’ on during the sessions but the whiskey was in full effect! It’s the one thing we all have in common… a love for bourbon.

How ‘bout the music, any main-composer, or did you guys just bang out the tunes while together?

I put together all the riffs myself but Erik and I put the shit in order when he came to the studio. We think a lot alike on this kinda stuff and so it wasn’t hard too figure it out.

Can we expect more from Hail!Hornet in the future, or was this a once in a lifetime gathering? How ‘bout concerts, done any in the name of Hail!Hornet?

Oh, yes… We already got a bit of new stuff which I am really happy with so we are really starting to gel as a band. We will keep doing this ‘til they make us stop. We have our first show lined up on June 24th in Richmond, VA. Hopefully there will be more as well.

What made you pick up a guitar, any special band or guitarist inspiring you to? While at it, please do tell us a bit about your equipment.

I guess I would have to say Tony Iommi, but I do remember hearing Hellhammer and thinkin’... goddamn, I can do that ! As a kid I really wanted to play drums but my folks were pretty damn poor, so I ended up with a hand-me-down guitar from SEARS dept. store. I later (20 years) saved enough money to get my own drums. I have a lot of equipment nowadays, because of the studio and all. I have at least 14 different guitar heads ranging from Mesa Boogie, Marshall, Sovtek, Red Bear, Sunn, Randall, 5150. I have a slew of guitars also, mostly Gibson. As far as the recording of the Hail!Hornet records goes, we used Yamaha drums, Sovtek amps and a ’89 Gibson Les Paul and a Fender P’ bass for guitar and bass. All of which was recorded very loud!

Please name the 5 very best sludge albums you can think of. Oh, you familiar with the depressants in 16? Them I also love.

Hmmm… I guess some of these might not be or have been considered 100% sludge but I really think Hellhammer-Apocalyptic Raids,Cavity- Supercollider, Iron Monkey – 1st, EHG – “Take as needed for pain” and Buzzov’en – “At a loss”. Of course a close runner up is the Hail!Hornet-s/t, Hah ! I believe you’re talking about the band ‘16’, correct ? I like them a lot also!

Besides music, what is your main interest/s? Do you have like a job and shit?

A lot of what I do is based around music but I like guns, fishing, drinking, starting fires and UFC. Sounds like I should be locked up, huh ? I do have a day job, and I hate it, but the studio is only half of my income so I have to keep both.

Do you think Dave “Dixie” Collins has inhaled or otherwise digested more THC than Bob Marley ever did? I hate Bob Marley, a sonic terrorist he was. Agree?

It’s probably a pretty close smoke-race now that Bob is dead. Yes, I would have to say Bob Marley is way over-rated. I especially don’t dig it when people with a little bit of celebrity status feel they have an obligation to “inform” their listeners. Who gives a shit how you feel about the apartheid?

You guys look fairly healthy, and a bit dangerous, but I would nonetheless like to know if there are a lot of inbred retards in the South States. Norway has quite some, no kidding.

Yeah, there are retards everywhere, and not only in the south. Up north it’s more populated and it’s harder to track down your lineage. Northern folk make fun of the South but never to their faces…Retards are strong as HELL and hit hard !

Ever been to Norway, or Europe? If so, did you hate it?

Yes, I’ve been to both… I was in Norway in the early nineties and I liked it there. The girls weren’t very friendly but I was Hammered most of the time, so I’m sure I was a pain. I like Europe as well, but I especially dug Spain. Beautiful place…

What’s your favorite brand when it comes to Whiskey? Me? Well, I think I’m a bit of a homo, because I just can’t get it down. It looks very good when drunk in Westerns, but in reality I fail to enjoy it. Please do tell, who in the band can drink most before passing out?

I like a lot of the upper shelf brands of whiskey like Elijah Craig, Eagle Rare, Makers Mark and Bernheim. If your only experience with whiskey is Jack Daniels or Jim Beam then you’d better try one of the ones I listed. They are a much smoother drink. As far as a who can drink the most I think that would be Dixie. That boy knows no limits when it comes to Bourbon. I’ve kept up with him but it makes for a painful next day !

What is the best Western you ever saw? And, how many guns do you own?

I always like Clint Eastwood as a kid so the Jose Wales stuff was good shit. I have 5 guns, 4 handguns and a pistol-grip shotgun. I don’t much like humans.

Do you enjoy punching people, as in stupid idiots, hard in the face? I must admit I have done all too little of it, never even smashed a guys’ nose. I know, pathetic. Most so because I have killed 9 girls, all of which are hidden under my floorboard.

I do enjoy calling out morons and I have fought before but it’s never as cool as it seems as at first. I do a lot of threatening and mostly I get away with it, but as I get older I know someone is gonna straighten me out! Mostly these events involve drinking. I’ll bet your house stinks, by the way! Good luck with the ladies.

Do you share my keen interest in the sick minds of serial-killers and assholes such as them? What is the most famous sicko from around your parts?

I’m not especially captured by serial killers but my girlfriend is and she says Nat Turner was a slave who collected a mob of 60 slaves and killed the shit out of 50 plus white folk. He was obviously pissed…

You needn’t elaborate on this, but would you prefer if the South States moved out of the U.S and formed its own constitution? If so, is Lynyrd Skynyrd your favorite band?

No, I like it the way it is…otherwise there would be no more tension and occasional Yankee ass-whoopings. Yes, I do love some Lynyrd Skynyrd !

Thank you and your band for releasing an excellent dose of angry fucked-upness, I have no further questions.

I thank you Arve for a very cool interview and hope to do it again in the future!

Cheers ! H!H