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Biohazard
was founded in 1988 in bloody district of New York
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City: Brooklyn. Their original lineup
consisted of guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei, bassist/vocalist
Evan Seinfeld, guitarist Bobby Hambel, and drummer Danny
Schuler. They formed Biohazard for the purpose of expressing
political viewpoints and discussing problems facing urban
youth, which all of the members had experience dealing with
themselves. They think all people should be 'Down For Life'
wich means that they should be loyal to their friends and
family, because they're the only ones to back you up. There
is a fanclub called Down For Life (DFL). It unites the most
hardcore Biohazard fans (called DFLers) around the world.
Biohazard began opening for local hardcore and thrash bands
and gradually built a large following through their outraged
sense of injustice, political awareness, and constant touring.
Inspired by (but not limited to): Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden,
Run DMC, Bad Brains, Judas Priest, Cro-Mags, Public Enemy,
The Ramones, Agnostic Front, the band set out to create
a musical hybrid that would transcend easy categorization
and not be bound by limitation. Biohazard was one of the
first bands to mix heavy metal and hardcore with elements
of hip hop and rap. In 1990 they signed their first label
at a little record-company which is called Maze Records,
Biohazard also released their first LP there, which is published
under the name "Biohazard". It sold over 40.000 copies,
this bad quantity was based on poor promotion. This album
was all about Brooklyn, the gang-wars, drugs, violence,
etc. After releasing their debut in 1990, Biohazard set
out on their path for world domination. Returning from their
first European tour, they realized that the problems they
sang about on their first record were not limited to their
Brooklyn hometown. After a long time of fighting about a
good record label, Biohazard finally got it's contract with
Roadrunner Records. In 1992, the band released the classic
"Urban Discipline", which went on to sell over 1,000,000
copies worldwide. Consequently, Biohazard became support
of bigger acts such as House Of Pain, Sick Of It All, Fishbone
and Kyuss. Spawning from this record was the video for the
track "Punishment" which was the most played video in the
history of MTV's Headbanger's Ball and is still regarded
as one of the most influential records of the nineties.
In 1993, the hard-core rap group Onyx recorded an alternate
version of their hit single "Slam" with Biohazard backing
them up. This led to both bands collaborating on the title
song for the groundbreaking "Judgement Night" soundtrack,
which sold over 2,000,000 copies in the US. In the same
year they changed to Warner Brothers Records and published
their third and most successful studio LP "State Of The
World Address". It was produced in winter '94 in Los Angeles
with Ed Stasium. In 1994 Biohazard again was touring the
entire planet and drawing strength from their loyal fans.
"SOTWA" went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies and spawned
the hit single and video "How It Is" featuring Sen-Dog from
Cypress Hill. This album was up to now the most controversial
Biohazard LP. It criticized the sharp and clear thinking
of the band. After this little conflict the Rolling Stone
magazine selected the Biohazard logo for the best logo of
the year. The third LP also was the last one for Bobby,
who left the band a few times later. Biohazard went on to
release the fourth album called "Mata Leao" two years later.
It was produced for the second time at Warner Brothers with
the help of Dave Jerden. Biohazard recorded it with only
three members: Evan, Billy, Danny. Without a lead guitarist,
but you can hear that it is a great piece of work. The title
means, "to kill the lion" and, in a sense, they discovered
that their ambitions would lead them to do just that. By
facing their fears head on, defeating their inner demons
and looking around the globe for answers, the band found
the truth inside themselves. Battling drug and alcohol abuse,
inter-band strife, record labels folding, merging and abandoning
them for more pop flavors, Biohazard staggered like a champion
fighter, but never went down. During these difficult years,
Biohazard succeeded in sticking it out together. For the
Mata Leao tour in 1996, the band needed a talented lead
guitarist, so they choosed the ex-Helmet guitarist Rob Echeverria.
With the assistance of Rob they published their first live
record "No Holds Barred" in 1997. The whole album was recorded
in Hamburg with the helping hands of Roadrunner Records.
After that the band signed to Mercury Records and released
the critically acclaimed the fifth record called "New World
Disorder" in 1999. Everything was done again with the help
of Ed Stasium, but this time in New York City. In the same
year, Biohazard toured for "New World Disorder" among other
things in Europe, for example at Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park
or at the Bizarre Festival in Cologne. Feeling betrayed
and misunderstood by their label, the band left Mercury
amidst the mass artist genocide that occurred with the merger
of Mercury, Island, Def Jam and Polygram into Universal.
In 2000, operating on their survival instincts, the band
re-grouped and launched a highly successful European/Japan
tour with no record label or managerial support. After traveling
all over the world, they earned a longer break to began
doing the work on the sixth record "Tales From The B-Sides".
The LP is full of the coolest b-side and remix shit. A few
months ago, Rob has left the band, he wants to settle down
and get married. Fortunately they found a new lead guitarist,
his name is Leo Curley. In the meantime Biohazard signed
new record deals with SPV/Steamhammer for Europe and Sanctuary
for the rest of the world. During the bands' downtime, the
high visibility of being hardcore legends connected Evan
with Tom Fontana landing him a high profile starring role
portraying the prison convict Jaz Hoyt on HBO's critically
acclaimed and award winning hit series "Oz". Billy tried
to use his music skills in a trip-hop "massive attackish"
project called BLU. The band consists of two members: Billy
and a woman Jeni Bair (vocalist). The bands' hard work had
earned respect has also brought Billy into the journalism
world. Currently working on a collection of "Tales from
the Hardside" for later release, you can find some of these
tales in magazines like Metal Hammer and FAQ (to name a
few) where he has his own monthly column. Danny also undertook
some activities outside Biohazard. He joined New York's
band called Among Thieves as a replacement for Will Shepler
(ex-AF/Madball). Also during this time, Billy and Danny
transformed the bands infamous rehearsal studio/hangout
in downtown Brooklyn into a world class digital recording
studio now know as Rat Piss Studios. Re-investing into the
band, Billy and Danny honed their engineering and productions
skills while recording/producing local acts and new Biohazard
demos. Armed with a truckload of new music, the band undertook
the difficult process of writing, recording and producing
their own music. In september of 2001 they released their
sixth studio LP (except NHB & Tales From The B-Side)
"Uncivilization". The album features guests the likes of
Roger Miret (Agnostic Front), Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed,
Phil Anselmo(Pantera), Corey of Slipknot and also mate from
Skarhead: Lord Ezec. Unfortunately some months after releasing
of “Uncivilization” Biohazard parted ways with Leo Curley.
Curley's departure was caused by his desire to write his
own material, a prospect which proved virtually impossible
in an act that has been composing songs as a three-piece
since Biohazard's split with original guitarist Bobby Hambel
in the mid 1990's. The split with Leo was mutual, no bad
feelings. Biohazard have replaced Leo with former Nucleus
axeman Carmine Vincent. Vincent is no stranger to the Biohazard
camp, having previously traveled with the group as a roadie
in addition to having supported Biohazard as the bassist/vocalist
for Nucleus during a tour of Europe in late 2000. A brand
new Biohazard album was recorded with Carmine and entitled
"Kill Or Be Killed" (2003) and is the most brutal and heaviest
to date.
www.biohazard.com
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