Annihilator Interview

Annihilator: Unleashing the Metal
By Bryer Wharton
Xinvisiblewounds@aol.com

Seasoned metal fans with an interest in the realm of thrash or speed metal know all to well the plight of Annihilator. Possibly one of the most underrated North American thrash bands born in the mayhem of the 80s, Annihilator has combated label problems and survived the grunge years of the 90s with a plethora of multi-faceted releases since 1989 with demos originally stemming in 1983.


Annihilator (courtesy of myspace.com/annihilatorofficial)

Catching up with the man behind the band and guitar virtuoso Jeff Waters was a treat. Exploring aspects of the band old and new, Waters offered many insights.

Amongst many members entering and exiting the band throughout the years, Annihilator as far as songwriting, recording and production, is basically all Waters. "It’s a solo project and a band. I partner up with a singer and hire a drummer. Usually I play all the guitars and all the bass and do most of the writing… It’s kind of more lopsided as a solo project when we’re getting the cycle going, at the end of that is when I decide I need to find other members. I had to learn this from the beginning. It’s absolutely the most abnormal, strangest way to do it… It’s rare how many people have had this many people and singers and still have a career, it’s normal to me, just abnormal to people who don’t know the band in North America," explains Waters.

If you haven’t seen Annihilator live anytime recently, in the states or anywhere in North America, you haven’t missed any tours. Waters is strict about where he tours and why. "For the average metal fan we haven’t even played a show in our home country since 1993, so the states can’t think they’re a target of my own ignorance. What happened is back in 89 we started putting out three records for Roadrunner, the first two were pretty darn big records for North America, then as everybody knows, traditional 80s metal just dropped in popularity in about 1993, and yet the album was big for us overseas and from then on we just stayed overseas. We didn’t want to change our musical style. Not much point in touring here, the metal trends changed, then we lost our deal, even if we did have a good record we wouldn’t have had a shot here," Waters said.

Waters went on to explain his disdain and frustration with the labels he has worked with. In 2005 Annihilator released the record Schizo Deluxe on the German label AMF. "The label itself was a joke… They took Schizo Deluxe and basically tanked, they manufactured a small amount of records, very little promotion and no tours. That was apiss off for me and a real good kick in the ass, because one of the best records for me was said album, and to watch something that you really like and worked hard on and know is good and have a label intentionally tank the record, that’s like somebody torturing theirkid."

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