Before the Unholy Alliance tour kicked off, we offered our street team, the chance to interview Hatebreed. The teamer who sent in the best questions, would be able to ask the band their questions, and have the answers posted here. The winner was chosen, and his interview with Sean Martin, Hatebreed’s guitarist, follows (in 3 parts). Teamer: Having played a very groundbreaking headline London show at Garage two years ago, are you looking forward to performing your material to a new wave of Hatebreed fans? Sean: Yes, definitely. Yeah, without a doubt. It’s going to be a great opportunity to play to a lot of new people. Teamer: To many, ‘Under the Knife’ and ‘Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire’ have come to epitomise the sound of hardcore. Do you feel this is the case or is your newer material the sound you would like to be remembered by in many years to come? Sean: You know, it’s all really the same. The first album’s considered to be a classic, which is an honour. If it’s considered to be a staple in hardcore then that’s an honour as well, but we’re just writing heavy records and trying to put out the heaviest records possible, so if you love ‘Satisfaction’ then great and if you love ‘Rise of Brutality’ and you think that’s the way we should go then that’s fine, but we’re not trying to determine any direction. We’re just writing brutally heavy records and putting them out and hoping that everybody loves them. Teamer: What are your impressions of the UK hardcore scene, having shared the same bill with hard-working bands such as Knuckledust? Sean: It’s awesome, without a doubt! I’m going to be honest with you, I’m on the road so much I can’t keep track of too much stuff and I’m getting old too (laughter). Every band we’ve played with over here has been great. Teamer: How does it feel to have played very intimate shows for many years to then be an addition to huge festivals and arenas across the world? Sean: You know what, it’s all the same to us. Obviously when we play an arena like this it’s a little overwhelming when you notice there are thousands of people out there! To us, we put the same amount of energy and passion playing a show for 20 kids as we do 20,000 kids so to us as long as it’s a Hatebreed show we’ll give them the best show possible. We’ll play a basement, we’ll play a hall, we’ll play an arena – we’ll play whatever you’ve got. All of it’s great. more to come…