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They’re the underground heroes who kept a movement going, they’re the band that played with Metallica and Megadeth and outgunned them. Heretic have a storied history, as a founder of the thrash metal movement. It was a privilege to talk to Brian, the guitarist in the band:

 

  1. What inspired the name of the band and what are your influences?

The name Heretic actually came straight out of the dictionary. I was searching for a band name and the word seemed to stand out as a cool metal name for the group. Over the years as the band evolved and I grew as a writer, the name Heretic started to stand more for freedom of speech and free thinking, especially during the late 80’s with the PMRC on their rampage over rock and metal lyrics. As for my influences, UFO, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin were and still are my favorite bands. Early Metallica taught me how to play riffs.

 

 

  1. What was it like being part of the thrash scene during the eighties?

That was a great time to be in a band. There was literally a great show somewhere every night in LA. So many awesome bands came out of that period. Heretic was fortunate enough to be playing right in the middle of it all. We got a chance to play with some amazing groups like: Metallica, Megadeth, Motorhead, Plazmatics, Riot, and Armored Saint to name a few. Its nice to see a lot of bands form that era reformed and still playing like us. It shows you how strong the METAL bond between generations has endured.

 

 

  1. How did you approach recording A Game You Cannot Win? Were there specific things that influenced the lyrics and music?

 

I usually right the music first and then form an idea for what it might be about after. Lyrically I tend to just right about the world I see around me, or about what I hear is going on in the news. The recording for “A Game You Can Not Win” was done in sections, three songs at a time on weekends, whenever we could scrap up enough money to pay for the session. Our initial idea for the CD was to give it a LIVE feel, or “Old School” vibe, so we kept the production on a minimalist diet. I think the next CD will be the polar opposite, walls of guitars, bass, drums and vocals -­‐haha.

 

 

 

  1. What songs do you most like playing live?

There are a couple of standouts for me personally. Two of our older songs that I love to play live are “Blood will tell” and “Whitechapel”. As for our newer songs, “Demonized” , “Child of war” and “This world called hell” seem to stand out as fan favorites.

 

 

  1. What plans do you have for the future?

I want to record new music as long as we can as a band. I have the majority of the next CD already written, hopefully there will be no unforeseen problems to slow the process down this time around. For now, it’s time to take the band out and play live as much as we can in 2018. East coast USA will most likely happen, as well as locally in LA and northern California. I would love to play some European festivals (if they will have us?) time will tell. Thank you for your interest in the band, it has been my pleasure to answer your questions.