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Joey LaCaze

EYEHATEGOD’s JIMMY BOWER: JOEY LACAZE ‘Would Have Never Wanted Us To Quit Playing’

Manos Spanos
The Rock Pit recently conducted an interview with EYEHATEGOD guitarist and DOWN drummer Jimmy Bower. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. The Rock Pit: How has the new album come together? Is it completely finished or are you still working out the last few bits? Jimmy: Just working out the last bits, but it should be out in April, and we're just excited, man. It came out really good. It's been 13 years, so it's a big deal for us to finally get this out. The Rock Pit: From your perspective, how does it compare to the other albums? Jimmy: I think it's different, but it's still EYEHATEGOD. It's just an evolution to me; it's evolved. We get feedback differently and play differently, but I don't know what to say about shit like that. [laughs] To me, it just sounds like new tunes, but somebody else might be, like, "Well it doesn't sound like this or that." I'm, like, "Alright man. Sorry!" [laughs] The Rock Pit: You have the new drummer, Aaron Hill, who has taken over from Joey (LaCaze), who passed away this year. Obviously, it must be tough to get through something like that so how has Aaron fitted into the band so far? Jimmy: He's been doing really good, man. He's getting there. Joey would have never wanted us to quit playing; we knew that for a fact. So as opposed to sitting around bummed out, we just got into a room pretty fast with Aaron and started learning as much as we could. We got 22 songs down, so we're stoked, man. It's good to be playing shows again. We miss Joey bigtime — we will always miss Joey — but we're also excited about the new chapter in the band. The Rock Pit: Did [Aaron] play on the new record? Jimmy: No. Joey did. We recorded it last year right after we got back from Australia, but it's taken us a year to get it all finished up and everything. That's another reason we are super excited about it too. But we've been writing too; we've already got two new songs and almost another one, so it's good, because the band has been the most active than we've ever been. The Rock Pit: You must be happy for the band to be back and be strong again. Jimmy: We felt like we were doing really good when Joey was still alive, because in 2008 we were doing a lot of touring and stuff like that, but I guess with this new chapter, we played in New York and Chicago and people are really supportive and cool and just happy that we continued on. So we've just been kinda taking that and using that as our fuel. That's cool, and we love this band; we don't know what to fucking do with ourselves when we're not in this band. Read the entire interview at The Rock Pit.
03 min read

PHILIP ANSELMO Remembers EYEHATEGOD Drummer

Manos Spanos
Former PANTERA and current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo spoke to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine about the Joey LaCaze, New Orleans native and drummer for EYEHATEGOD, MYSTICK KREWE OF CLEARLIGHT and OUTLAW ORDER, who passed away on August 23 of respiratory failure. He also suffered from severe long-term asthma. "It was dreadful news and still is for everyone round here," remembers Phil. "Honestly, Joey was one of the funniest motherfuckers you could ever meet in your life. He was one of the most down to earth people I've ever known, as well as one of the most humbly yet superbly talented drummers I've ever had the opportunity to watch play. "I was at his funeral. It was held at a place in the French quarter called the Voodoo Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony and a moment where we all felt the pain of the loss. "I'm not a spiritual guy, but when the high priestess was giving her sermon, they passed out tambourines and percussive instruments to all these people that loved him. We went through interludes in these gigantic drum circles in his honor. Tears were streaming down my face, sweating was pouring off the top of my head and I was lost… I had my eyes completely closed and I was beating this drum until my thumb basically got disolocated! I wasn't paying attention to what was around me; I was thinking about Joey. [EYEHATEGOD frontman] Mike IX Williams was stood next to me, and little did I know, but I was getting sprinkles of blood on my head because he was beating this tambourine with such intensity. He had bloodied up his knuckles and pretty much ruined this tambourine… but we all took it later, wrote messages and buried it with his ashes.
02 min read

EYEHATEGOD Drummer Dies

Manos Spanos
According to numerous reports out of New Orleans, Joey LaCaze, drummer of EYEHATEGOD, OUTLAW ORDER and TEN SUICIDES, has passed away. He was 42 years old and leaves behind a wife and a child. No further details are currently available. EYEHATEGOD just completed a month-long tour of Europe and was gearing up for a string of dates in celebration of its 25th anniversary. It was recently announced that EYEHATEGOD would make an appearance at Philip Anselmo's first annual Housecore Horror Film Festival this fall in Austin, Texas. Since forming in 1988,EYEHATEGOD has defied all odds and continues to exist and persist despite personal and professional setbacks. They've been called doomcore, sludge and stoner rock, survived line-up shuffles, label hassles and a short-lived split. And after more than two decades of creating some of the most corrosive, vile music known to man, EYEHATEGOD still hasn't lost the piss and vinegar that fueled it back the late Eighties.
01 min read