DARK ANGEL INTERVIEW
GENE HOGLAN (drums), JIM DURKIN (guitar), RON RINEHART (vocals), ERIC MEYER (guitar) and MICHAEL GONZALEZ (bass) will appear in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in SEPTEMBER of 2019.
DARK ANGEL formed in 1983 in Downey, California, right around the time when the Bay Area thrash movement was beginning to take place. They played in local bars and clubs, acquiring a cult following in the metal underground. The band began recording and releasing several demos until late 1984, when they released their debut studio album ‘We Have Arrived’. In 1986, DARK ANGEL released their second studio album, ‘Darkness Descends’, which is widely considered to be their seminal release.
Following the release, three more efforts would follow: ‘Leave Scars’ in 1989, a live album, ‘Live Scars’ in 1990, a pun of their previous album, and what would eventually become the band’s final album, ‘Time Does Not Heal’, in 1991. Time Does Not Heal shows increasingly progressive song structures (famously advertising its “246 riffs”) and Hoglan’s lyrics dealing with psychological issues and trauma.
In 1992, despite working on a fifth album, DARK ANGEL announced they were breaking up to pursue individual careers. However, 27 years later, Hardline Media are stoked to be welcoming the reformed band to Australia.
Twinmusix got to speak to Gene Hoglan from Dark Angel about their upcoming tour and more.
TM - Hi, this is Amelia from Twinmusix. Thank You for taking this call with me today. How are you?
GH - I am excellent, I am getting really excited about this tour, it is going to be good. How are you?
TM - I am Good Thank You. We are excited that you coming to Australia. What inspired you to get back together for reunions tour?
GH - Back in 2013, my 2014 schedule was pretty available and my management had been receiving a bunch of offers for Dark Angel. Since we had the time, we thought we might as well take advantage of these offers. We were able to play a bunch of gigs around the world and now If a gig comes up and we are available we try and play it. When we got this Australian offer from Evil Eye Krall, we got excited because we had always wanted to play Australia, except we had never had the opportunity. Australia is an awesome place to play, I have played there over 15 times over 20 years and I am pretty stoked to be coming down with Dark Angel.
TM - You have been here over 15 times over the past 20 years, that is cool. Who have you played with?
GH - Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend, Fear Factory quite a few bands.
TM - That is sweet to play with so many bands. Devin Townsend is coming to Australia soon.
GH - That will be good, he is a great guy to work with.
TM - What can fans expect from your Australian tour?
GH - Those who are familiar with Dark Angel know that we're a pretty brutal thrash metal band and that's what you are going to get. Even though our lyrics are brutal, We have monuments of humor. There are still pretty Savage Australian crowds, which is pretty awesome and they always into extreme music. I like playing that that type of music and Australia appreciates brutal thrash metal.
TM - What can we expect from your setlist?
GH - It is going to have songs from all four of our studio albums, we are going to bring awesome thrash metal to you.
TM - We cannot wait. You haven't brought out anything new in a while, can we expect anything you anytime soon?
GH - My guitarist and I are currently working on a new record, we got back together in 2014. We try to schedule as much time as possible to write it. I live in San Diego and Jim live in Los Angeles and I have other projects coming so we're trying to get out album done and are moving forward on the new record. The thing about the Dark Angel is each album sounds different from the previous album. The new album is going to be Dark Angel, it is going to be fast and heavy. It is going to have a lot of energy, lyrics, and vocals. I am looking forward to putting out a savage and heavy Dark Angel record. I am on tour with Testament in Europe at the moment and when I get back I will schedule some more studio time to work on the Dark Angel record.
TM - How is your tour going in with Testament?
GH- It has been a great tour. I have some time off right now so I'm back in San Diego and back on tour on Tuesday. We played a bunch of festivals like Grasspop and Hellfest, it was awesome. We played on the same day as Slayer. I normally go and help the video directors with the slayer set and it is pretty fun. I know all of the slayer music and where the solos are in the set, so it makes it easy to choose the camera I want to use. I can also go online after and check out my work, which was pretty cool.
TM - You worked with Devin Townsend Fear Factory, Testament and many more bands, does this affect your writing style with Dark angel?
GH - I have always appreciated working with the caliber of musicians. I have worked with from Devin and his music is his own genre. I have worked with Strapping Young Lad, which is one of my all-time favorite metal bands. I have also worked with Death, Death Cloak and Testament. It is amazing to work with them as well. I'm very lucky to work with all these guys but I have my own style of writing, except I am sure some of their music has rubbed off onto me.
TM - If you could have any bands play one of your songs which band would it be which song would it be and would it be in your style or their Style?
GH - Stevie Wonder doing a strapping young lad song.
TM - That would be interesting to hear. You toured with Possessed back in the day, are you excited that they are back?
GH - Absolutely "Seven Churches" was a Monumental death metal album and we'll always say one of my favorite extreme bands even though the only original member left is Jeff. His voice is still insane that was his original singing voice, he sounds exactly like he did on the record, it was insane. I wish processed the best and we are doing a show with them in Mexico Dark Angel in November. I always look forward to seeing Possessed live, they have such an insane catalog of metal music.
TM - Is there anything else you want to say to your fans?
GH - Everyone is excited to come down and play Australia for the first time and as soon as the Dark Angel. I am also staying in Australia for a few days and doing a drum clinic, so keep your eyes open for that. I love doing drum clinics and I try to make them entertaining and inclusive for everybody. You don't have to be a drummer or musician to come down and enjoy it.
TM - That sounds fun, I will definitely tell everyone about it. Thank You for this interview today, I really appreciate it.
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