An Interview with

'Waylon Jennings'

Frontman/Co-Guitarist of 'Fracture'

A Kickin' Heavy Metal Band from California, USA

that took place on June 24th, 2016.

Interviewed by Glenn Milligan.

Glenn: Mr. Jennings, how are you doing Sir?

Waylon: Hey what’s up man?

Glenn: Hi! How are you?

Waylon: Good. Everything’s going great. Staying busy.

Glenn: Awesome! So you come from South Carolina, what initially made you want to come from South Carolina to Hollywood and San Fernando Valley, California?

Waylon: My Brother, John and I, we decided around 2005. For a start, we were playing guitar and writing our own material. We were just really doing it for ourselves and for fun. Then we started having more friends that were coming over that were musicians. They said, “Hey man, you guys have really got something, what are you going to do with it?” We decided four years later, “let’s move to California”. It’s always been a dream of ours to be in L.A. and on Sunset Strip because we both grew up idolising all the bands that came from that scene in that area. We’d give it a go and try and pursue our musical career further because no-one is going to South Carolina to hear much of Metal bands.

Glenn: Yeah. I bet it’s an awful lot different to South Carolina, to say the least?

Waylon: Oh Yes, it’s extremely different. There’s a bunch of great bands over there in South Carolina as well. It’s just it’s more of a Death Metal scene or a Deathcore scene. We have singing and we’re a little bit more melodic. We didn’t feel that the scene over there really wanted us. We didn’t really have a part in that scene because of our sound, so we decided to come somewhere else where it’s a little more diverse.

Glenn: With regard to your musical influence, OZZFestAmy said you are very influenced by bands like American Head Charge and Nothingface. I’m also hearing some Fear Factory styles in there in the way that you do your bawly vocals and you’ve got those high melodic, really harmonised Burton C. Bell like qualities. What was it about those musical and vocal styles that captured you personally?

Waylon: Well I love Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, Matt Holt of Nothingface and Cameron Heacock from American Head Charge. They are all huge influences of me vocally and musically and the band as well. I feel their range… they can go from super low to super high and they’re super creative with their pattern and their vocal phrasing. I really am big into that stuff. That’s why I love Rob Flynn of Machine Head. I love the vocal phrasing and pattern and sequencing. Putting certain words together along with anger and rage to try and get that emotion across of what you’re talking about.

Glenn: Yes because the CD ‘Devour The Truth’ is very varied because you have got that abrasive, brutal style and you’ve got the ballads as well. There’s something there for all Rock and Metal fans in there that can grab certain bits and say, “Hang on, I like that bit!”. It appeals to more than one type of person from the rock and metal field which is a good thing.

Waylon: Right! Absolutely! That’s what’s good about my Brother John and I. We both write similar but at the same time he can write some of the most beautiful ballady stuff. Both actual ballads on the album or ballady type songs, ‘Forever Girl’ and ‘The Rain’, they were both written by John. That guy can write a masterpiece and something so beautiful it can make you want to cry.

Glenn: Who is the girl in ‘Forever Girl’? Is it a general thing?

Waylon: It is about a relationship gone bad but it’s also saying, “Hey, you’ve got to sort it out and work through it if you really love each other”. The kind of clichéd stuff but I was going through something at that time that I felt that I needed to say something like, “Hey, I’ll always love this girl, no matter the fight, no matter what we go through, I’ll still love her”. We might not be able to be together but I still love that person.

Glenn: There are such nice vocals on there and it’s such a contrast to songs on the album like ‘Lost’ or ‘Pride’ or something like that.

Waylon: Oh yeah, they are totally different. We get a lot of people tell us all the time that that’s what they love about us the most. It’s the fact that we can go from super heavy, in your face and aggressive to something as soft as ‘Forever Girl’ or ‘The Rain’ appeal to most people that don’t really like Heavy Metal. They like us because they like the fact that we can switch and go both ways.

Glenn: Where did the idea for ‘The Rain’ come from?

Waylon: When John wrote ‘The Rain’ musically, I was just humming along a melody in my head. I was down and out about being here. I was missing South Carolina. I was homesick and I was talking about the trails and tribulations of what it takes to be out here and it figuratively rained. I always felt like there was a dark cloud over me. It seemed like we couldn’t get ahead and things weren’t going our way when we first got out here. It just felt like, ‘When it rains, it pours!’. When the sh*t hits the fan you either suck it up and man up and keep going through the rain or you cry like a little bitch and go back home and I didn’t want to do that. (Laughs)

Glenn: What is it about the area of South Carolina that you miss so much?

Waylon: Mainly it’s because it’s so quiet. The pace of life is super slow and everyone is genuinely nice to you, the food is fantastic and I’ve got a lot of family and friends there. That’s really the main thing. I hate the humidity over there. It’s as hot as hell over there but it’s mainly my family and friends and the overall vibe of everyone’s kind of nice to you.

Glenn: I guess in Hollywood and L.A. overall you are working out who is a nice person and who is just putting a front on?

Waylon: Absolutely! Absolutely man!

Glenn: Apart from the pace of it, would you say that is one of the main differences?

Waylon: Oh hell yes! L.A. is fast. Before you know it, two weeks have gone by… well we’ve been out here eight years but I remember being here yesterday for the first time. It’s like, “Hey, where did eight years go?”. Everything is going by so fast whereas in South Carolina everything is super slow.

Glenn: Did it take you long to get used to the change from South Carolina to Hollywood? Was it just gradual for you or all at once?

Waylon: I think I’m full adjusted now – obviously eight years in but it took me a little while to get to where I could keep up here. I thought, ‘I must be as tired as hell’ I was overwhelmed. I was working really bad when I got here. I was working a lot. It’s exhausting sometimes mentally, emotionally and physically draining because of everything you have to do out here in order to be in a band. But we love that stuff and we continue to plough through. I don’t give a damn if it’s a fast life or a slow life but we’re going to continue to plough through – the train is coming.

Glenn: Awesome! So what is it you like most of being in that area in Hollywood or California in general as opposed to back home? Is it the fact that there’s more opportunity or is there more to it than that?

Waylon: Well the opportunity has a lot to do with it. It’s amazing being here, knowing that all the bands… all my heroes have been here. We’ve had so many good things happen up here just because you’re in L.A. We’ve met a lot of our heroes. We’ve had extraordinary things happen to us and we wouldn’t take any of that back for the World. We really love being here. We don’t like some of the Hollywood type drama. We try to stay away from all that – we’re clear of that sh*t! Hollywood will suck you up, chew you up and spit you out.

Glenn: People get sucked into the fast lane too much and get so deluded on it all.

Waylon: Yeah. We pride ourselves in the fact that we are professionals and we take us very seriously. We party with the best of them but we also know that this is a career for us. This isn’t a hobby, this isn’t a joke, we are serious and we do routine. I can drink before the show but our drummer, he doesn’t drink before the show – he drinks after. I know how many I can have before I go on. No-one wants to see a band get up there and they’re sloppy and everything sounds terrible, the lead singer’s drunk. No-one likes that. I like to see professionals.

Glenn: I agree completely. How did Iorden become a part of the band and how did the line-up come to be overall in Hollywood?

Waylon: Well when John and I first got here we were struggling to find members. We just couldn’t find members because people were flakes. They would flake out on us or they would bail out on us. They would say, “Oh yeah man, I’m gonna play”, and then they wouldn’t show up at the band practice. We went through all that and we found our old drummer and our old bass player, Jordan and Brandon. They both were with us – Jordan was with us three years, Brandon was with us six years and those guys really helped established who we are as a band and people here. We can’t thank them enough but we’ve moved on since then.

We were friends with a band that Iorden was in called ‘Fight The War’ and were in the process of losing our drummer and I asked him, “Hey man, can you fill in a couple of shows if the need be”, and he said, “Absolutely”. So he filled in two shows for us and after that it literally was just our chemistry and everything. It all meshed in – the guys timing and groove. His work ethics are amazing. He has this European style – like Dirk Verbeuren from Soilwork but mixed with Dave McClain of Machine Head. He likes to be in the writing process too.

Then we’ve got Carlos Pagan. He’s been in Motorgrater, Madlife & The Alpha Complex. He’s been in numerous bands. We’ve been friends with him for a long time. It was a natural fit for us when he said, “Hey, I’ll join you guys”. So we recently got him. His first show was at The Viper Room on July 3rd. Everybody talked about how much he killed it. We feel that the line-up we have now, no disrespect to the older guys, but we feel that we’re stronger and better and ready to take everything to the next level.

Glenn: Where does the actual name ‘Fracture’ come from? Why did you decide to call the band ‘Fracture’?

Waylon: When we were first coming up with names, you not believe some of the names that we had! It was just absolutely awful. I don’t know why but we could not think of a good band name for sh*t! Then we all started talking one day about how we feel like our lives at times have been broken. I mean, individually and collectively it seemed like we’d been through a lot. I remember saying something like, “Well we’re all kind of broken inside but fractures heal”. I remember saying something like that and our drummer at the time said, “Why don’t we call the band ‘Fracture’?” So it kind of means to us that everyone went through various sh*t in their lives and were broken or down and out somehow but fractures heal. They never fully recover but they do heal. It’s like, ‘we may bend but we’ll never break’ mentality’.

Glenn: Tell me about your CD Release Party.

Waylon: Our CD release party was at Skinny’s, North Hollywood on April 27th. It was the last show that we played with our bass player Brandon. He’s moved on to focus his attention on his family and his career. We have no ill regards to the guy. We love the guy to death. He’s a brother to us. But being a musician, obviously it’s hard to think about. It’s hard to have family and career and band. It’s a lot to multi-task.

Glenn: Yeah, I can appreciate that. How was the show? OZZFesyAmy said it was just crazy. She was saying that she had to get out of the way a bit because it turned into mosh pit. That there were people falling all over the place and drinks going everywhere. She said it was wild. How was it from your point of view?

Waylon: It was a wild show. It was extremely fun. It was one of the best shows I think we’ve ever had. We had our stage strims on the floor. We didn’t think that there was going to be that much moshing. They ended up breaking one of our strims but all in good fun so… (We laugh) It was a fantastic show. We love playing at Skinny’s. The place is like our home.

Glenn: Yes. I love the place. Skum Love is such a great guy. Going back to the CD ‘Devour The Truth’, what does the artwork on the cover represent to you, where did the idea come from and how do you want that to portray to fans of the band and of the music in general? What do you want them to take from it?

Waylon: Well our buddy, Matthew Wajek from Wisconsin, we know him through our drummer Jordan. He does fantastic artwork, he does graphic design – all of that. We were looking for artwork on his page and I came across what is now the artwork for the CD. I spoke with him and I said, “That has to be the cover of the album”. It spoke to me because ‘Devour The Truth’ is about opening your eyes and understanding what is a lie and what is the truth. We’re force-fed truth everyday but in reality they’re all lies. I want people to devour that truth in their minds. That artwork just spoke to me and I felt that it went along with the message with the whole illuminati stuff – big brother – the eyes in the big brother hand watching you and the illuminati pyramid. There’s so much hidden nice detail on the cover of that album. You just have to go and look for it.

Glenn: I agree. You are devouring the truth in politics and socially all the time, Seeing through all the sh*t.

Waylon: Yeah. That is what the mess is about. It’s about don’t believe this bullsh*t that everyone feeds to you in the media and don’t trust the government. Be sure to question everything.

Glenn: Anyway let’s not get into a load of politics because that is what messes things up in the first place.

Waylon: Yeah. We’re not a political band and we’re not trying to preach to anyone but that is kind of what is written cryptically. You have to look for that stuff. I love being angry and writing. I can’t write about sunshine and unicorns.

Glenn: (I laugh). You mentioned earlier about some of the great things that have happened while you’ve been in Hollywood. What would you say the greatest things have been and how have they affected you and the band?

Waylon: Oh man, that’s a tough one! Definitely opening for 36Crazyfists at the Whisky A Go-Go was definitely one of our highlights because we are huge fans of them. We hung out with them all day long, all the way up to the minute they went onstage. We hung out with them after at the Rainbow. They were such amazing people. They gave us such good words of encouragement and advice offered a sh*t-ton of beers so it was nice. (We laugh). But it was good. When you can talk to your heroes about your thoughts and have them tell you, “You’re doing good, push one, keep going, you’re doing the right thing, hang in there”.

We also got to hang out with Bjorn (Gelotte) from In Flames and Burton C. Bell from Fear Factory which was a personal highlight for me because I love that guy. I let him know how much he influenced me and how much he meant to me. As far as what it had done for the band, hell it inspired us. When you meet your heroes like that and they are all telling you good things like “Oh you are doing great” or “Your tone sounds great” when you meet them, that just drives you more. You could be feeling down and out about where you’re at in your career at the time but the moment you talk to those guys, you know, these are guys that do it every day… It really drives us and fuels us more and motivates us.

Glenn: It’s got to be amazing for you hasn’t it or anyone?

Waylon: Absolutely.

Glenn: Just to meet your heroes and hang out with them and everything else. It’s just icing on the cake. I’ve been there myself somewhat, when you’ve got your albums that you’ve owned since you were a young kid and you later sat having a beer with them. It’s like, ‘Holy F*ck! How did this happen?’ Incredible really!

Waylon: Right?

Glenn: Yeah totally but it can only happen there because that is where people are unless they come around touring in your area as well which happens now and again but not to much. Anyway, let’s talk about Skum Love. How has his involvement been with Fracture. I notice he’s got a thank you on the album as well as Schecter. How did all that come to be?

Waylon: We met Skum through our drummer, Iorden. He does his Rahkaholic Wednesday and when he saw us play after he put us on the show and we broke out our Schecter’s, which we’d been playing since 2005 – so we’ve been playing Schecter’s over a decade. So when he saw us break them out he said, “That’s what I like to see - you’re something”. We played a good show that night and he loved us. We hit it off with him as friends and as a business partnership. He told us he was going to line us up with some new guitars.

He said, “Come on by the shop”, so we went to Schecter and he gave us the grand tour of everything, gave us a sweet deal on guitars and hooked John and I up and we’ve been loyal to that guy since – we love that guy man! What he does for the scene – it’s just outstanding. He actually cares about the bands. He takes care of his bands and obviously if you get to know him well, he’ll hook you up with some Schecter guitars. He wants everyone to play Schecter. So do we. We want everyone to play Schecter.

Glenn: I showed my Dad some of the Schecter guitars and he said, “Wow!”. He likes the fact they make dual-tone guitars which is something that’s hard to get these days since not many guitar manufacturers do that by all accounts. He was really impressed with them. But for you, why Schecter? What is it about Schecter for you guys personally?

Waylon: One thing is that John and I are both lefties and Schecter Guitars are the widest selection of left-handed guitars around. That wasn’t our sole reason to go to Schecter but it played a big part in it. We love the durability of the guitars. They are built like tanks. I’ve dropped mine a few times but it’s still not even dented or anything. It’s not scratched or nothing. We love the feel of the guitars. Also, the fact that when you go to Schecter, everyone there is so friendly. We feel liker we’re family with them. You are hanging around and meeting these people that are making your guitar – hand-crafting your guitar and they are the nicest people in the world. They are treating like you are Synyster Gates from Avenged Sevenfold. We’re nowhere near that level but they still treating you like that. That goes a long way with us because loyalty and family are things that are encoded in our make-up of who we are as a band and individually.

Glenn: What about your association with ‘Monster Energy’?

Waylon: We had ‘Monster’. Our old drummer, Jordan, he was working with Monster – him and a partner of his so they hooked us up with Monster but we haven’t actually had Monster stuff in a long time. We still rep it because we love that company but we haven’t actually had ties to them legitimately in a few years.

Glenn: OZZFestAmy was actually asking about that and she asked how the i-Tunes market was in the present day for you guys?

Waylon: i-tunes is great. Obviously the album has not taken off the way we wanted but of course, we still are selling and we are selling better than our last CD so I’ll take that. The last CD was out for three years and this CD has only been out for three months and we’ve already outsold it! I’m happy with that but I do feel that the whole streaming like Spotify and things like that are a gift and a curse. It helps you in one way to get people to hear your music but at the same time, what artists get back on that is crap. I don’t think the company give the artists their due of what they’re supposed to be paid for the streams or anything. I’m not Taylor Swift! I’m not going to take our f*ck*ng music off of Spotify. (Laughs). We still are very thankful for sites like that because it helps local bands to get their music out there and get heard. We still love those sites and we still get a lot of streams through Spotify. We get a lot through ‘Apple Music’ and ‘Google Play’. We get all of that so we are happy and content right now where we are with the CD.

Glenn: She also asked how the usage of download cards was working for you as well?

Waylon: The download cards are through ‘CD Baby’. We made a mistake on the last album. We ended up giving away too many CD’s. This time we said, instead of giving away CD’s, if worst comes to worst and someone wants our music, we’ll give them a download card because it’s fairly inexpensive. So instead of giving away the half-price CD’s, we give away a download card. People have been signing up on our mailing list and our newsletter. It’s awesome. We are so thankful to be in this position we’re in. John and I are just good old country boys from South Carolina. To be over here in L.A. and to actually be successful, no matter the height of success, we feel we’re successful, we’re having a good time, we’re doing exactly what we love, people are downloading our stuff, people come to our shows, we have people on our side that are rooting for us and pulling for us to continue to do better and better… So yeah, we’re thrilled just to be in this position.

Glenn: I’d like to say thanks on behalf of me and OZZFestAmy for giving us both a CD too to check out and review. We really appreciate that!

Waylon: Yeah man, no problem. You were one of the first to have it!

Glenn: Thanks. I think that downloading is a bit of a double-edged sword. People get to hear your music but then you hope they are going to go out there and maybe buy a physical album, buy more stuff, buy your merchandise, come to more shows etc and be a lifelong fan and not just freeload it and then go onto somebody else.

Waylon: Right. You are never going to change the way the internet is. It’s never going to be the way that it was in the 80’s or early 90’s. That time has come and gone. You’re never going to stop people from illegally downloading your stuff or streaming it and not buying it. But, we try to obviously get people to buy the album, come to our shows, buy the merch. Hey, if you’re illegally downloading our stuff, so be it man but at least you got it. (We laugh)

Glenn: That’s one way of looking at it. I think that’s the most positive way of looking at it to be honest with you (We laugh). I mean, instead of just downloading Justin Bieber, their downloading Fracture instead, so it’s a bit of a win-win if you look at it in that. The opening track on the album ‘17:9’ which talks about Sir Walter Raleigh in it – where did that come from? The idea of putting it on as well?

Waylon: With regard to ‘17:9’, John and I were putting that together on Pro-tools and we had this eerie background stuff that we laid as the underline track. Then we went on YouTube and we found this. It was Billy Graham. He was giving a sermon about the heart being wicked and that it doesn’t matter where the head lies, it’s about the heart and the heart is desperately wicked. I love that. I said, “Oh wow”. That goes along with the whole theme of what I’m saying because the heart is desperately wicked. John and I laid the Billy Graham speech over that. It came out so great, then our Producer, George Alayon, he added these drums and other things himself like guitars. He let us hear it for the first time and we all said, “Holy sh*t! This sounds fantastic!”. Much better! So he took what we did and made it even better and we’re thankful for that.

Glenn: How do you know George?

Waylon: George is our old bass player’s Dad. When Brandon and I said to him, “Can you record an album with us or do an E.P. or something?”, he was all game for it. He recorded both of our E.P.’s ‘Weather The Storm’ and ‘Devour The Truth’ and he did a phenomenal job. We can’t thank him enough for what he’s done for us.

Glenn: Did it take long to record ‘Devour The Truth? How was the process overall?

Waylon: The process was long because George does recording for a living. He has really high paying gigs that he has to get done and in a certain timeframe. We can’t expect him to do our stuff as he’s got to do his stuff. We had to wait on his time – a deal which we understood but it did take a little bit of a long process but the end result is what we count as what we cared about – the end result is phenomenal. We couldn’t ask for a better production on both CD’s.

Glenn: I’ve not heard the first one but the second one sounds amazing especially the ballad stuff. Well it all sounds good but the ballad stuff sounds mind-blowing . There are so many dynamics to it. It really rivets you and it goes straight to the heart and soul. It’s just incredible. What can I say?

Waylon: Thank you man! That is out point. The point that we are trying to get across is whether we’re brutal, whether we’re melodic, we want to be in your face so we want it to be emotional. We want people to feel this. You know?

Glenn: Yeah. Do you find that certain songs go down better in concert than others or does everything go down incredible which surprises you?

Waylon: Certain songs go over better live. ‘Forever Girl’ has been a fan favourite for a long time. So many people will come up to us and say, “Man, I love ‘Forever Girl’ – it’s my favourite song”. Then you have other people that don’t like the soft ones as much. They say, “You guys killed it when you opened with ‘Lost’. I love how heavy it is and in you face and the mosh pit. So it’s two sides of the spectrum. That is our goal and that’s who we are and that is what we do!

Glenn: Awesome! So what do you most like about Skinny’s on a Wednesday night?

Waylon: It’s always a good night at Skinny’s! You never know who you are going to run into and everyone there is like family. Bill (Metoyer) for instance! His track record speaks for itself. The guy has been on so many amazing albums. It’s awesome tom talk to him and pick his brain a little bit and ask things like, “Hey Bill, what was it like working with Slayer when they were young kids?”. So picking his brain and having him tell us, “Oh you guys are doing good”, “Your band’s awesome – keep it up” and talking to him about recording and different tips and techniques that he does or that I do so maybe I can incorporate from him. What he’s done in the Metal world – it speaks for itself. It’s so amazing that I get the chance to talk to him and call him one of my friends. I can pick his brain and be inspired from what he tells me.

Glenn: Can you imagine the next album or CD in general, working alongside Bill and getting him to produce or engineer your next album?

Waylon: Oh man, that would be awesome! That’d be great. I would love that. I haven’t spoken to Bill about that but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind doing that. So maybe that’ll happen Glenn!

Glenn: Who else would you like to play and tour with if you had the chance and why?

Waylon: Definitely Machine Head – that’s one of my all-time favourite bands. Gojira who I think are fantastic. I think they are one of the best bands out right now. Soilwork – we’re big Soilwork fans, Korn, White Chapel, Skinlab and 36Crazyfists. E love so many bands but if I had to choose, I would say Machine Head and Gojira. Those are the two right now that I would love to tour with.

Glenn: Your band website is www.fracture818.com What does the '818' bit mean?

Waylon: The 818 is the San Fernando Valley area code. When we came up with the name ‘Fracture’, we obviously didn’t think it too far out. If you go and type in ‘Fracture’ into Google, you’re going to come up with all kinds of broken bones and that damn Anthony Hopkins movie. You are going to come up with everything but our band. We wanted to differentiate and be able to find a way to separate us from the rest so we put the ‘818’ behind it.

Glenn: That makes a lot of sense. What is currently happening with the band and what else do you have coming up?

Waylon: Right now coming up we have on August 4th, we are playing with Westfield Massacre at Characters in Pomona. We are stoked about that show. It’s their tour kick-off show of their ‘Make America Hate Again Tour’. We’re stoked to be on that show’. We’re actually in the process right now of doing some YouTube videos like guitar play-throughs and tutorials. We are updating our YouTube channel and we’re looking for bigger shows, better shows. We’re trying to line-up something with a big West Hollywood venue right now in September. We’re looking to finish the year off strong and branch out in more Northern California. We are going to go north and try to hopefully get a tour by the end of the year.

Glenn: Awesome! When are you coming over here then to the UK?

Waylon: (Laughs) Oh if our finances come alive now buddy!

Glenn: They’d love you over here as well!

Waylon: Well on our website, we get to see where all the tracker comes from and it’s crazy how much play we get from the UK.

Glenn: I know. When bands like Fear Factory broke here they literally went massive. They went from the Ozzy Tour in 1995 and that was it. Maybe you could do the same. Jump on a tour with a big band and tour as a support in the UK. I know it sounds cliché to say this but I think you’d do really well over here. If the traffic that you are getting from the UK is really strong then you know?

Waylon: Yeah! We all want to go over there. We have friends that have toured over there and they tell us. “That’s where it’s at! It’s over in Europe!”. So we want to get over there. We want to get not just in the UK but we want to get all over the place. We’ve heard all about how the fans are the best over there, they actually support the bands more than America and love this actual style of music. We’re pumped man! We want to get over there so bad but it’s a struggle to survive in staying alive and your career life. It’s always a 110% all the time.

Glenn: I know where you’re coming from somewhat. Your vocal style is pretty prominent. How do you maintain that really raucous, raw style that you’ve got. How do you keep that going? Is that hard to do or does it just come natural?

Waylon: Well I’ve been singing all my life. At first I was blowing my voice out a lot but I’ve conditioned it up to where now it’s just easy, but I still have to take care of my voice. I have to always stay hydrated. I have to do my warm-up exercises. I haven’t blown my voice out in years but the last time I blew it out it was like 2-3 months and I lost my voice.

Glenn: Holy sh*t! It’s fatal isn’t it?

Waylon: Yes! I don’t do that anymore. (Laughs)

Glenn: So basically you can place songs anywhere in your set and not worry if you’ve got two or three abrasive numbers back to back. You can put them there and not have to stick in a ballad in, you can place that in later. It’s all pretty safe all the way through yeah?

Waylon: Yeah. Using my voice is good all the way through. I don’t really cater the set to my vocals. We cater the set more around the type of flow. You don’t want to put ‘Lost’ and ‘Forever Girl’ back to back. It doesn’t flow well.

Glenn: Not really.

Waylon: We make sure the set flows.

Glenn: What do like most when it comes to being in Fracture and which to you prefer – playing live or recording?

Waylon: I love recording and playing live. Really what I love the most to tell you the truth is talking with fans after the show. I love connecting with people and I love when people come up and they say to me, “This certain song meant something to me”. I’ve had people crying before. We had an old song in our set that was about our Mother passing away years ago. We had people crying, coming up and saying, “I just lost my Dad a month ago and that song meant so much to me – thank you!”. That is just a high that you cannot get anywhere else. When someone tells you that they connect with you emotionally because of what you were saying lyrically. That is my favourite. That will always be my favourite.

Glenn: What else would you like to mention about yourself and the band that we’ve not covered?

Waylon: Basically that Metal.. you know how people do all this sub-genre’ing?

Glenn: Yeah.

Waylon: Like “Are you metal?”, or “What kind of Metal are you? Are you deathcore, hardcore or postcore?” I think all that is a little bit ridiculous. That’s why when people ask, “What are we?”, I just say, “We are Heavy Metal”. Metal can’t be contained. There’s so many genres like that. I mean, labelling – it’s all metal. They try to water it down everywhere – Deathcore, Popcore, Procore.. I don’t know! It’s Heavy Metal – that’s it!

Glenn: We call it lazy journalism. When some journalists or media in general want to pigeonhole certain bands and say, “Oh it’s that sort of band and they play that sort of music”. It just makes it easy for them to pinpoint them.

Waylon: There’s nothing wrong with labelling but I feel that really ‘Heavy Metal’ is what we are. People always ask, “What are you?” and I say, “We’re metal man!”

Glenn: That’s awesome! What are you most proud of so far?

Waylon: Just the fact that we’re still here and we’re still surviving. Everybody has haters and everybody has supporters but I know there were people in South Caroline probably thinking, “Oh these guys will be back in a month” or “These guys will be back in two months” or whatever. But we’ve been out here eight years and we’re still going. The band is still doing great. We’re going to push the envelope and keep the train going and ride this motherf*ck*r ‘til the wheels fall off!

Glenn: That’s awesome. There’s plenty of people there that can help you out and there’s plenty of places to play. All you can do is keep going further. It’s there and it’s at your fingertips of you touch the right people and don’t go and burn yourselves out. Because you are such a humble, grounded Southern boy, you can see through the bullsh*t and you won’t fall into that trap or that hole anyway.

Waylon: Exactly. We pride ourselves on being humble and being good people and like I said, being professional of our career. We want to be professional. We want to also be nice to people and want to treat people the way that we would want to be treated. We have a really good name around here because of that. We have people that when we go close to the Whisky A Go-Go, they are all hugging us and say, “Oh come on in!” Stamping our hands and not even patting us down or anything. They just let us through like we are royalty there and that says a lot.

Everyone loves a good time. Everyone loves to have fun and that’s what we want to bring to the table. I know we’re in a Heavy Metal band but you can still have fun when you come to our shows and you can still have fun with us after the shows. You don’t have to worry about one of us putting you in a chokehold or knocking you out or being a drunk belligerent asshole! That’s not us. That’s not who we are as people.

Glenn: If people have never heard or seen you, what would you say to them to encourage them to come to a Fracture show? What are they missing out on if they don’t come and see you?

Waylon: You’re missing out on a live set that is gonna kick your ass and kick your teeth in. Then you are missing after the set, a bunch of big hugs from my big ass and probably some beers and having a good time and talking and just fraternising with people. Sit down with people and showing them. We don’t think of ourselves as rock stars. We like to think that we are just like our fans. We’re fans of music and we love music. So we are fans of our own music. When people come to our shows, we feel like they are family to us so we try to treat everyone that way. We try to treat everybody as family. So if you want to have a good time and you want to be treated like you are family, come to a Fracture show.

Glenn: Cool. I think you’ve sold it with that one. Are you recording any new songs for the next release yet that you’ve just put in the can so to speak for now?

Waylon: We haven’t recorded anything new but we do have about eight songs that are ready to go. We’ll probably do what we normally do and track them, pre-production here with my Brother John. We always get down and track everything, bring the band in, let them hear and work out some stuff – arrangements. That’s really Iorden’s forte! He loves getting into arrangements and structuring and how can he make the song much better by what he does – Drums! He looks at the drums like strings of a guitar or notes. He will think, ‘What can I do to make this one better and make this part pop. You know?

Glenn: Yeah! Nice! Well this has been a cracking interview! Anyway, famous last words for the fans reading the interview?

Waylon: Last words… buy our shit! (We laugh)

Glenn: I like it! Right that’s cool man! Excellent.

Waylon: Cool Man! Once again I want to thank you for doing this man. You’ve always been super cool to us and we appreciate everything that you do for us. So thank you.

Glenn: That’s no problem. Likewise. It’s always good to see you.

Waylon: Yeah, you too man. And I’ll see you in January.

Glenn: Yep. Thanks Bro. Take care mate! See ya! Bye.

Waylon: Alright! Bye!

Feel free to check out the following weblinks:

website: http://www.fracture818.com
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fracture818
soundcloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/fracture818
Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/devour-the-truth-ep/id1088543172
Matthew Wajek Art: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.wajek.art/?fref=ts