Crazy G of NewEnglandConcertReviews.com conducted an interview with Vinnie Paul when HELLYEAH played at DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on May 8. Hear the entire interview below. Following are some excerpts:
On the making of HELLYEAH’s fourth album, 2014’s “Blood For Blood”:
“It was a really trying CD at first. We knew we had a couple of bandmembers that really had lost their focus and were becoming a detriment to the band, so we parted company with [bassist] Bob [‘Zilla’ Kahaha] and [guitarist] Greg [Tribbett]. And myself, Tom [Maxwell, guitar] and Chad [Gray, vocals] wrote the record. I think we made the most intense HELLYEAH record ever.
On HELLYEAH’s continued success:
“We’ve worked very hard from Day One, [since] this band started, and we haven’t slowed down, we haven’t stopped, and we don’t intend on it. We’re not 25 years old anymore, so we don’t have any time to waste. We really enjoy what we’re doing, and luckily, all of us are in great health right now, happy and loving what we’re doing. And the stage is what we live for, man.”
On HELLYEAH’s upcoming activities:
“We really, from the start of this record [‘Blood For Blood’], wanted to do a complete two-year touring cylcle, which we really haven’t had the opportunity to do with any of the previous HELLYEAH records. We would put a record out, tour for a year and go right back and start working on another one. And so we’re finally getting into the second year of touring for this record, and it’s just starting. After this tour, we go straight to Europe, where [we’ll be] for a month, and as soon as we get back from there, we do [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem [Festival] all summer with SLAYER and the mighty KING DIAMOND, which is gonna be an absolutely amazing tour; I’m really looking forward to that. And as soon as that’s done, we go to Australia and New Zealand, Japan and Indonesia, and then we come back and we do another run here early next year, which will be our final run, and then we start working on a new record.”