(NB : The first answers were in French.)

Jeff Waters: Hello, Nicolas! Comment ça va?

Très bien, et toi ?

You know what, you could ask me the questions in French and I’ll answer them in English.

Well, you only have to translate them back into French! Come on! You have to make me work!

OK!

After the Metal album was finished, we went on tour and we gave a lot of shows in Europe, almost a hundred. I realized that our record company, SPV, was having a lot of problems, very serious problems. I tried to leave and break my contract by offering them the Live At The Masters Of Rock DVD. They agreed and let me go. One week after SPV released me from my contract, they went bankrupt, so I was very lucky. Also, the Masters Of Rock DVD was a very good thing to happen to us. The fans really like to see us live, and it’s the first live DVD for us.

We wanted to just get the old songs out of the way. When we start touring in September, we’re probably going to change the set-list and play more songs from Schizo Deluxe, All For You, Metal and the new CD. We’re of course going to play three songs from our new album. You’re right, we’re going to do more songs from the Dave Padden era, ‘cause he’s been here for four CDs and eight years. He’s my partner, now. ANNIHILATOR is now Jeff Waters’ and Dave Padden’s band.

«We were out before they went bankrupt, so we were lucky. Lots of the bands that were on SPV have big, big problems now.»

We were out before they went bankrupt, so we were lucky. Lots of the bands that were on SPV have big, big problems now.

Because they stopped all the promotion on all of their bands. Everything was going well for ANNIHILATOR and all the other bands, and one day, everything stopped. When that happens, it usually means that the company is having big problems with money. I’ve been in the business for 21 years now, and experience told me that this means you have to get out fast. I was very lucky to get out.

It depends. I mean, it’s a very difficult business, and most bands would have quit and would be finished by now. But I don’t quit. I take the bad things that happen, I fight and I turn them into good things. What happened with AFM Records is that its president died in 2004 in a car crash. It was a very sad event and caused problems with the label. I couldn’t help SPV going bankrupt either, that was not my fault! It was kind of bad luck, but I don’t give up. I just fight and smile and think positive, and everything works out eventually. Now I have a good label that puts a lot of promotion into the new record. It’s probably our best album in 15 years, so we’ll see what happens!

No, no. When we released the Masters Of Rock DVD, people really liked that. It gave us time to relax, and we spent a lot of time on the record. We didn’t have to rush it. It also gave me time to do other things, like mixing and producing. But most importantly, it meant I could take my time to write a new album, and make sure that it was one of the best, instead of just another good CD.

I have to, because I take care of the business and it’s a shitty business to be in! It’s great to be an artist and to be able to create paintings or music or whatever, but the whole system is set up with managers, publishers, record companies, merchandise… And they all want to rip you off. You have to be alert and strong, you have to be careful, educated, you have to make mistakes and learn from them. It’s almost like survival. You gotta want to survive and do well.

At first I couldn’t think of a title. I had no idea what to call this album! And my partner told me: “People seem to really like the demos you played, they seem to think that Jeff Waters and Dave Padden did something much better than many of the last CDs. If it’s a special CD, why don’t you just self-title it?” So you’re right, it’s a statement. Dave Padden is not the new singer, he’s an experienced, James Hetfield-like frontman on stage. He’s at a level where he’s one of the great metal frontmen, and he’s a partner. It is a statement: we’re doing well, we’re doing better, and we’re still putting out good music.

I’ll get the rights to that album back soon. Because Dave and I love that album so much, and because it didn’t get a good chance from AFM Records, I almost want to give it to the audience when I get the rights back. It’s one of those really good records that never got heard. The sound on that album was very good; the guitar sound was the best I’ll probably ever get. I don’t think I can ever get that sound again! And Dave Padden’s vocals on that album are fantastic. This is the fun part about being an artist: sometimes you write great songs, and sometimes shitty songs; sometimes you write average songs, and sometimes classic songs. It happens with every band. On this new album, we really got something special, but we didn’t try to do that. You can’t make it special, it just has to happen. Many things have to be in the right place and come together to make a special record. This one was quite special, compared to many of the old ones.

A lot of things were different this time. The album is self-titled, it doesn’t have the logo, as you said, and it’s the 13th ANNIHILATOR studio album, so it’s kind of superstitious, I guess! (In French) I was born on 13th February 1966, at 13:00, at 1 p.m. It’s a funny coincidence that it seems to be a different record. The cover shows kind of a ghost of Alice.

You said you were born on 13th February. Was it a Friday, by chance?
I don’t think it was a Friday. I’d like to know, though, so I’ll look into history books. That would be great!

(Talking about last album’s artwork) « It came from a dream I had, it was like Linda Blair from the Exorcist movie, something like that. I saw a girl at the end of my bed, floating about half a meter from the floor. I woke up and I wrote an e-mail to my artist.»

It came from a dream I had, it was like Linda Blair from the Exorcist movie, something like that. I saw a girl at the end of my bed, floating about half a meter from the floor. I woke up and I wrote an e-mail to my artist, saying: “You have to draw a cover with a really evil, satanic ghost, like a ghostly Alice. She’s dead, but we’re still haunted by her.” I thought it would be a funny cover, but in the end it looks more like a death metal cover! It’s a very scary cover!

I don’t know, I guess she’s mad ‘cause she’s dead! Or maybe she’s just angry at fake, poser metal bands! (laughs)

No. I think this album sounds more aggressive because of the mix that I got, and because Dave Padden’s vocals are more angry. It makes people think it’s heavier than it is. If you listen to the first song, it’s almost melodic heavy metal, but then the sound gets pretty heavy and thrash. The music is more melodic, but the vocals and the mix are thrashy. Just what I love!

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Yeah, I end up with lots of riffs. Not lately, though. But sometimes, when I’m at home or on tour, I can go in the studio or at the back of the tour bus, and write something like 20 riffs in a couple of hours. Later I get rid of the shitty ones, keep the four or five ones that are pretty good, think about them again, and I end up with two or three really good ones. If you do that every day, you can have up to four hours worth of riffs! I have enough to write 20 albums! It’s good to write riffs, ‘cause riffs are the main thing, but it’s how you put them together in a song that counts. These great riffs could make a shitty song, so you have to spend a lot of time putting them together properly.

There’s a riff on Metal that sounded very much like one from the record called All For You! I forgot what it was, but Dave was like: “That’s almost the same riff as that other song!” Sometimes you hear a riff and it stays in your head for ever. It must be easy for a band to keep writing the same riff because they like it so much. But you have to keep writing and make choices, and hopefully make the right ones.

Sometimes I go back and write a riff, and I realize that it’s the same style of riff as 15 years ago. Sometimes I write something and go like: “Oh, that’s from METALLICA’s Garage Days!” Because I’m such a fan of music, I can write something and realize that it sounds like SLAYER or something. In this case I have to make a decision: if I really like the riff, do I use it and take the risk to sound like SLAYER, or do I just get rid of it and write another one. Sometimes you can hear some IRON MAIDEN, some PRIEST, even some AC/DC-like riffs. It’s because I’m such a fan of those bands.

Dave and I have been friends for six years now, and I’d like to write a few songs with him. When we have time in our schedules, we always talked about meeting up and write songs together, outside of ANNIHILATOR. I’m sure we will someday, but we just don’t have the time yet. Dave’s on tour, and I’m over in Europe. We’ve also talked about ANNIHILATOR going on tour with them in Europe, I hope that happens. As for the guests thing, I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I had a great time on the Metal album with all these musicians, it was an honor for me to play with them, and I hope it was an honor for them too. But it’s time to go back to doing a new killer ANNIHILATOR album!

Back in 2002 or 2003, Dave was kind of a new, inexperienced singer. But I took a chance in him because I knew he liked some of the newer styles in metal, but he was also a big Halford and Dickinson and SLAYER and Hetfield fan. He knew a lot about music and he was also a good guitar player. I thought: “That’s the kind of singer I need for the band.” In the beginning, a lot of fans didn’t like him and didn’t give him a chance, and I understand that. But Dave didn’t quit, he didn’t get depressed and sad about it. He did what I do: he fought and survived, he worked hard and he tried to do better. In eight years, he went from an inexperienced new singer to a guitar player/singer/frontman who plays in front of 30,000 people and gets the crowd going. He’s also great in the studio for us. There’s no question about it, it’s now Jeff Waters’ and Dave Padden’s ANNIHILATOR.

He writes lyrics on every record. Some people like to go and sit in the studio and write songs and be creative all the time – that’s me. Dave’s not like that. He likes to go out and party and have fun and be with his friends; he even has another job where he lives. We’re opposite personalities. I like to stay in the studio and work when I’m home, and he likes to go out and socialize. The only time he can write songs for me is when I fly him to my studio in Ottawa, Canada, and I tell him: “Here’s two or three songs, write the lyrics!” I force him to do it, and he’s really good at it. He just doesn’t have the drive to write.

I wasn’t planning to pick a song because I liked it, but because it had changed my career, or my guitar playing, or my musical direction or something. That album from VAN HALEN, Women And Children First, in 1980, had a big influence on my guitar playing career. Actually, “Romeo Delight” was a very heavy song in 1980. Of course nowadays we see it as a party rock song with David Lee Roth and great guitar playing, but back in 1980, it was considered a very heavy and aggressive song. That turned me on to bands like JUDAS PRIEST, BLACK SABBATH and IRON MAIDEN. That song was very influential for me, and that’s why I covered it. I was trying to do a cover song of the best guitar player in history, but I wasn’t worried. I’m such a fan, I love Eddie and I love his playing, so it was a lot of fun to try it.

(About the cover of «Romeo Delight») « I wasn’t planning to pick a song because I liked it, but because it had changed my career, or my guitar playing, or my musical direction or something. That album from VAN HALEN, Women And Children First, in 1980, had a big influence on my guitar playing career.»

What Eddie did in 1980 was use only one guitar. Usually, you put one guitar in the right speaker, and one in the left speaker; but Eddie only had one. I tried to copy that idea, that production style. I also used the same pedals he was using. I collect VAN HALEN things, like shoes and guitars and pedals, everything. I just tried to have fun doing this, the whole thing was fun.

We never had anything on our official CDs, but we had JUDAS PRIEST’s “Hell Bent For Leather” as a bonus on our Set The World On Fire LP in 1993. We also did an AC/DC cover for a live album. This is the first one that’s on an official album, and it was cool to do it. It’s probably the last one I’m gonna do on an ANNIHILATOR CD. Someday, when I get really old, maybe I’ll do a cover album or something, but not now. “Romeo Delight” meant a lot to me and it was a lot of fun.

If I said yes, I’d look like an asshole! But the one similarity is that VAN HALEN was very good at rhythm guitar playing, songwriting and guitar solos. I think in my own way, in my own style of music, I’m good at writing songs, playing rhythm guitar and doing solos. Same thing with Michael Amott. Not all guitar players have all three of those qualities, many have only two. For example, Hetfield is a great songwriter and rhythm player, but he’s not a solo shredder. Glen Tipton is the best example of all these qualities: he writes great songs and shreds on guitar and is great at rhythm playing. But there are not many people that do these three things very well. So yeah, maybe there’s a little comparison!

I’ve just been writing riffs, I haven’t been putting the songs together. There’s some stuff ready, but I’m too busy focusing on the promotion of the new album and getting ready for touring, the band’s line-up and stuff. When the time to write comes, I’ll have lots to choose from, I’m not worried about it.

We hope so, maybe in September. We’ll see what happens, though.

I never really tried! In Europe and Japan, we’re always pretty successful – in most countries in Europe, not all. I never really tried to go back to the States at all. And if you don’t try, you have no success! It’s my fault. If people wanted me to go back to the States, I would go back tomorrow, because it’s a beautiful country, there are great bands and I have lots of friends there. I just never had real offers to go back there. We’ll see, maybe.

Interview conducted in April 2010 by phone

Annihilator website : www.myspace.com/annihilatorofficial