Hernan "Eddie" Hermida (All Shall Perish)
July 2008
My interview with the singer of All Shall Perish was scheduled for 9 PM CET on the 24th of July. I tried to call him but as it turned out the phone number I got from the record label was one digit short. I tried to call Nuclear Blast but it was well after the office hours so I ended up with no other solution than trying to figure out Eddie's number by adding one digit to the nine I already had and try calling all the variations. I started from zero and it took me five attempts to have Eddie on the phone. First I explained him the difficulties I had in reaching him.
It's funny as I just saw a movie where that happened. They couldn't figure out the last numbers so they kept calling all the numbers. It was the latest Mr.Bean movie. He takes a trip to France and he runs into this kid. The kid can't get on the train. His dad goes off and he puts out a telephone number but they can't get the last two digits so they have to call every single number. (Laughs)
The Price Of Existence was the first album you did together with All Shall Perish and it became a huge success. I guess you didn't really expect this amount of popularity, did you?
No, I didn't expect to do as good as it did. It was my first record and I was really sceptical as to how people are gonna view me as the new singer. I was personally a big fan of All Shall Perish before I joined the band and I really liked the old singer but you know things don't work out and opportunity arose and I was really good friend with the guys so I went to try out. I was still nervous to see how kids were gonna react and honestly I didn't expect good things but hey it works out great, huh?
You also did extensive touring after the release of that album. What were your best moments on those tours?
It was my first tour in Europe and we played a show in Berlin on my 24th birthday. It was on March 24th and we played in front of 1200 people and all the German kids were singing me happy birthday and I also found out on that morning that my brother had his son. Basically it was just a really good day for me and the show was incredible, the people were incredible, they all got me drunk after the show. It was just an overall good night.
And how did those tours work out for the band? Where did you get the best response from the crowd?
It was either in Essen or Cologne, Germany. We played for like 1700 kids on that gig and it was great. We also recently played at a festival in Münster in front of like 6000 people and it was incredible too. The reactions at those shows were great. Overall in Europe we got a really good response from the kids. I know we played a show in Budapest on the Danube and the crowd there was insane. It was incredible. It was such a weird show to be on a boat. There was like 800 kids showed up and they all flew off the hinges and everyone was having a good time. It was more than I expected for our first show in Hungary ever.
You praised the European crowd for their enthusiasm towards the band but how about the American kids? Are they the same at the shows?
Oh man, in the United States it seems like the kids only come out to shows that are big. You have to be touring with some huge bands in order to get attention from any of the kids in the metal scene. It's not that the shows are real small but the difference is that in Europe you will have a show that is beyond insane. I believe that the kids in Europe just have a bigger love for all metal. If it's brutal if it's heavy kids love it and if it's good music kids love it. I've seen that there's a bigger passion for the scene out there, there's a bigger passion for each other and it's not so much a clique. It's not like "Hey, I'm going to the show because I'm gonna go and hang out with my friends" like in America, but it's more like "I'm gonna go to the show because I really love the music and I feel like these bands are gonna entertain me." I think that's the biggest difference.
Unfortunately there's not only good memories from last year's touring because of that tragic accident in Australia. How do you remember that day?
It was horrible. I woke up and we were stuck in traffic and we didn't know why. We turned on the radio and we heard that there was an accident up ahead. We didn't think twice about it because accidents happen all the time. And we passed by the accident scene and we see this white van and it was flipped over and it had a trailer on it and we immediately think that this could be the band that we're on tour with. So we start calling everybody that we know and nobody talks to these guys, nobody knows what's going on. We talk to the police officer and we're like, "Hey, do you know anything about what's going on with that accident up there?" They said that they took the guys to the hospital. We went to the hospital and the tour manager and myself went to the back of the emergency room to talk to these guys and it was really upsetting to see these guys laid out and also we didn't know at this point that two of the guys had died so we started talking to the other band members and they didn't know yet. Right as we got in and we started talking to them the nurse came by and asked us to step out for a second and she started telling everybody that their friends have died. It was horrible. Just to hear these boys crying because their best friends have just died. Those people were so young, they're supposed to live until they're old. It just sucks to hear that tragedies like that happen. Hey man, you never know.
Do you think this tragedy influenced your songwriting in any way?
I'm not gonna say yes because I don't wanna feel like I'm exploiting my friends. And also I'm not gonna say no because I feel like this album has so much contrast to it that I think we came out with the perspective of "Hey, we've gone through a lot" and this instance is just a moment in the last two and a half years that we spent as a group growing as individuals. I think this record was more influenced by us feeling like we grown as humans and grown as musicians and we're trying to show that off.
Did you feel the urge to change anything from the previous album?
Yeah, we didn't want to write the same record. We love The Price Of Existence, that's a record I still listen to but it's just old for us. It's not us anymore. That was a different band. It was a band tat just started playing together. I have just joined the band. I had only been in the band for a month when I wrote the first song. Now we all moved together, we grew together, we lived together so of course many things are different now.
How long have you been working on the songs of the new disc?
We worked on the record for about 4 months. Our songwriting process goes like this: usually Ben and Chris have riffs and occasionally we all meet together to kind of form those riffs into songs. We write the songs and then Matt and I sit down and just start writing lyrics and whatever works it works. We try to write as smart as possible with intentions behind every movement. We don't just write pieces that we're just throwing together in the end. The music needs to inspire the listener and that's kind of the aspect we take when we write the music.
So what kind of subject you touch upon in your lyrics?
The Price Of Existence was really dark and almost touches on the negative side of things but this record is way more positive. We're still talking about politics and relationships and life lessons but on this record it's more geared towards of objective mentality to keep you looking towards the future and to keep you not giving up on hard times. We wanna keep human collective pushing towards a higher goal and not letting yourself be oppressed by your own inability to see the future.
When it comes to the lyrics, do you use your personal experiences or you approach things from a general standpoint?
It's a little bit of both. Some songs are very personal, some songs are very general but everything touches on my own personal beliefs and everything touches on Matt's personal beliefs too. We both spend a lot of time reading books, staying up on politics, really having an objective look on life because you can't be negative all the time and expect to get anywhere. Everything is very personal but at the same time very broad so that everybody can get a personal taste of what that song would mean to them.
So you keep up to date with politics... what do you think about the current political climate in the US?
It's very hectic right now. However I definitely think that the United States is moving in a positive direction. I'm really glad to see that Senator Obama is such a high candidate and he's so well respected and so well taken by the majority of the people. McCain is also a very respected person. He's a war veteran, he's an MIA veteran and you have to respect the guy for that but personally I don't agree with his views. I'm an Obama supporter and I think he takes a lot of change for the United States and personally I think it's gonna make us look better in the eyes of foreign countries who have lost a lot of respect for the United States through the mishaps of President Bush. But we elected Bush so I can't be ashamed of him. All I can do is to say I'm sorry for not putting my two cents when I could have and let's move forward. I think if Obama does get elected he's gonna make a bright change for the United States.
He's gonna face a tough job as all over the world the reputation of the United States is really low.
Yeah, exactly as you say. It's really hard to talk to my European friends and have them feel disappointed in the United States because I love the United States. It's my home. I recently became a US citizen and actually one of the songs that I wrote, Awaken The Dreamers, I wrote that song because I was really inspired by the revolution and by the origin of the United States. I'm originally from Venezuela and I moved to the United States when I was three and I lived here my whole life. I'm pretty much an American, I was raised American. The revolution and what it stood for, I think a lot of people have forgotten and have really kind of shit on the fathers of the United States, the fathers of our freedom. For me it's very important to speak out in light of those happenings. We wrote that song kind of like saying, "Hey, I'm pissed off about this but you know what, there's still time for change. You can still become aware and you can still make a positive movement in our government."
It seems that the country you were born in has an even bigger problem and its called Hugo Chavez...
Oh, don't get me started on Chavez. (Laughs) He's probably the worst thing that has ever happened to Venezuela since the Spanish. And as long as he has the control of the working class and the farmers and as long as he has the support of those people he's not gonna change. Nothing is gonna change in that place until there's a revolution. He won't leave. He won't leave even though a lot of people are not supporting him anymore. He already said that "I am the new Castro for Venezuela". Castro controls weapons and Chavez controls oil, the fourth biggest member of OPEC. (Laughs)
Let's switch back to music, that's a better subject. You're off to do the Summer Tour very soon. What do you think about the tour package?
I am extremely excited. This will be our first time with Sworn Enemy and I've heard nothing but good things, very crazy things from my friends in other bands. I'm really looking forward partying with those guys. I know Warbringer, they're a very straightforward metal band and that's gonna be really good. I'm glad that this package was put together because I really think that this package is gonna give kids everything that they want out of a show. It has that hardcore elements, it has that deathcore elements, it has that death metal elements and straight up metal elements that kicks your ass. As far as the festivals go I am extremely excited.
Do you plan more touring in the fall or you're going back to the studio to record another album?
Right now we pretty much just have tours line up. The next record is going to be a big record for us because I think we're gonna try to do more experimental. I think we're gonna try to go some more completely different again. Right now we're just wanna focus on getting this record promoted, getting this record out and playing the fuck out of it. We wanna become professionals on this record and make sure that we can play all these songs perfect. How are we going to do that? By touring! (Laughs)
You're very popular in Europe and also have a fanbase in the US but how about the local scene?
Pretty much there's 20-mile radius circle around where we are from that we could not draw a picture for anybody. But we leave that 20-mile radius and 3-400 kids show up. It's like we have a curse on us in our personal area and then after that everybody else loves us so I can't complain. And it's kinda good because I like to be able to come home and not have to worry about people trying to get a hold of me and get my telephone number because they think we're friends because we just live near each other. I like being unpopular at home.
I can just put your phone number on the Internet, no problem.
(Laughs) That's fine. Give it to all the beautiful Hungarian women. I wouldn't mind their phone calls. (Laughs)