A Few Minutes with Ray Mazzola of Full Blown Chaos

“Music is recycled and unless you have your own niche then you won’t stick out. We just play what we love, if people like it, great, if not, we’re still gonna play it.”

Full Blown Chaos is the definition of true New York hardcore. The band delivers some of the most intense and punishing music in metal today, heavily pushing the boundaries between metal and hardcore and blending them effortlessly to create their own unique sound. The band released Within the Grasp of Titans on Stillborn Records July 11th and hasn’t stopped since. I got a chance to catch a few words with frontman Ray Mazzola as they prepare for their Portland show tonight with Exodus.

Crave: Are you looking forward to Ozzfest this year?

Ray: That’s gonna be a lot of fun. We are the only band without a bus. We were originally going to do it in the van and try and save money as much as possible, but knowing how we are, there was no way we could do it and make that work. So when we get home we are buying an RV and we’ll take that on the road. We can’t wait for all the barbecues and poker games.

Crave: Tell me a little about the writing and recording process of Within the Grasp of Titans.

Ray: We went out to Tracks East in New Jersey to record with Eric Rachel who is a great engineer and producer. The guy definitely knows how to get the band’s sound. He’s not too clean or dirty with his production and if you want a certain sound, that’s the sound you’re getting. He has been doing it for years. He did God Forbid and the older Hatebreed stuff and his recordings are sick so we brought our music to him. We wanted something a little earthier in sound, something closer to our live show.

Crave: Has the sound changed a lot since Demons?

Ray: It hasn’t. It’s more evolved and I think we incorporate a lot more of our influences on this record. We kept all the aggression we just turned it up. It’s more in tune to human nature. It’s more personal.

Crave: Bands are famous for pulling pranks on the last day of the tour, what’s the worst prank someone has ever played on you?

Ray: We were out with Sworn Enemy and Agents of Man and we were down in San Antonio and it was our last day and while we were playing they broke into our van and opened up four industrial size bags of popcorn everywhere, they threw in potato chips, mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, markers, relish, syrup, and eggs; they just went crazy in there. We had to scrub everything, and the smell of rotten eggs has plagued us ever since. They hid their van but we found it and we got bottles of white vinegar and we poured it into the AC unit. We got douches and enemas and poured them all over their van, its funny ‘cause Bailey shit in a bag and he smeared it all over their window. They were pissed!

Crave: So I know you have this Exodus tour and then Ozzfest, what are the plans for the band after that?

Ray: Not sure yet, we submitted for a bunch of tours so we are just waiting to hear the word. I really don’t ever want to stop.

Crave: I think metal is making a huge comeback, but there is a lot of sub-genres breaking off right now, what do you think will happen to metal in the future?

Ray: I think there are always going to be different sub-genres, and then the most predominant one is going to survive. Last year there were the strongest bands like Unearth, Lamb of God, God Forbid, Shadows Fall, and Hatebreed. Those bands cover the heavier of hardcore and metal so they have a lot of sub-genres starting off them now. In some ways all the different styles are watering down the genre, there are a lot of knock-offs that are just horrible and they think “hey, if I go by this method that they are doing, then I’ll make it too.” They are missing structure and anything unique. There are so many bands that sound just like Unearth and Hatebreed. Music is recycled and unless you have your own niche then you won’t stick out. We just play what we love, if people like it, great, if not, we’re still gonna play it