\u201cIt feels like it\u2019s gonna be … bananas in Allentown on Halloween,” drummer Danny Schuler said.<\/p>\n
Referencing some former Allentown venues, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s going to be like Airport Music Hall and Crocodile Rock all bound in one. Archer Music Hall, let\u2019s do it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u2018We talked about life\u2019<\/p>\n
That enthusiasm pervades the reunion of Biohazard, which is among the bands credited with starting the hardcore genre.<\/p>\n
In the late 1990s it put three albums \u2014 “State of the World Address,” “Mata Le\u00e3o” and “New World Disorder” \u2014 high on Billboard’s Albums chart.<\/p>\n
But the passion also may be surprising after vocalist Evan Seinfeld left the band nearly 15 years ago, and it disbanded completely in 2016.<\/p>\n
Biohazard’s members had moved on to new projects \u2014 and were “living in different parts of the world” when Schuler said he got a call from his brother, Rich, who lives in California.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on vacation with my wife in New Jersey, heading down to the Jersey shore, and my brother called” to say he had run into Seinfeld on an airline flight.<\/p>\n
“I said, \u2018How is he?\u2019 He said, \u2018We talked for a while and he said, \u2018Evan told me to tell you he said hi.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I hadn\u2019t spoken to Even in 10 or 11 years at that point. My brother was, like, \u2018You should call him. He\u2019s cool. It was good to see him.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I hang up the phone and my wife looks at me and said, \u2018You should call him.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI was, like, \u2018Naah. It\u2019s been too long.\u2019 And my wife was, like, \u2018Stop being foolish. Time is all we got. Look how quickly people lose each other. It\u2019s worth giving it a shot.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I texted him and said, \u2018Hey, you want to talk?\u2019 And he said, \u2018Yeah.\u2019 And I called him. And within five minutes we were on the phone laughing, bulls\u2014\u2014-ing. It was like no time had passed at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I called Bobby can said, \u2018I just talked to Evan.\u2019 And Bobby was, like, \u2018Cool. How\u2019s he doing? Did you talk about the band?\u2019 Actually, we didn\u2019t talk about the band at all. We talked about life.\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"Biohazard](\"https:\/\/static.lehigh-v.lehigh-valley.production.k1.m1.brightspot.cloud\/dims4\/default\/d9d99de\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1500x1500+0+0\/resize\/880x880!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flehigh-valley-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Ffc%2F31%2F2e5dc20b426b83990b69184aaf1f%2Fbiohazard-dived-we-fall.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
Freeman Publicity<\/p>\n
Biohazard’s new album, “Divided We Fall.”<\/p>\n
\u2018Let’s get together\u2019<\/p>\n
Around the same time, Graziadei said, he had gotten a call from the band’s former manager, Scott Koenig, who was in the hospital. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent like an hour on the phone together,” Graziadei said. “He kind of always guided me in my career, so we grew close over the years. <\/p>\n
“We finished the conversation and the last thing he said to me was, \u2018Hey man, listen, bury the hatchet, put the past behind you with Evan and put the band pack together.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next morning, I got a call that Scott had passed. For me, it took a long time, but I bumped into Evan at the memorial. \u2026 Told him it was good to see him but didn\u2019t talk to him for a couple of months.<\/p>\n
He said Seinfeld called him again and, “in the middle of the conversation, he said, \u2018Yo, why don\u2019t we get together and jam?\u2019 My mouth kind of hung open and it was the last thing I ever thought would have happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it resonated, and I remembered the words of Scott Koenig. And that\u2019s when it turned around and I started to see,\u2019 You know what? Let\u2019s get together and see what it\u2019s like.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Kind of let it go\u2019<\/p>\n
Those occurrences brought Biohazard back together for a run of live shows. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren’t really sure what was going to happen and just kept going \u2018cause it was fun along the way,” Schuler said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had our managers at the time come to us and say, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s some interest in you guys doing a record. What do you think? And everybody was kind of, like, \u2018OK, let\u2019s see what happens\u2019 kind of deal.”<\/p>\n
Shuler said they recorded the album, started tracking in New Jersey last year and “we\u2019re really excited about it. We feel like we did our best work here and really came with what Biohazard does best, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
“We feel like we did our best work here and really came with what Biohazard does best.”<\/p>\n
Biohazard rhythm guitarist Billy Graziadei <\/p>\n
Graziadei said all of the band’s members write, but “the thing that sets Biohazard apart from other bands \u2014 we all kind of put our flavor into the mix.”<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ll tell you this,” he said. “There were moments where you get pissed off at each other, but out of that energy, the best … comes out of you.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd everybody just wants what\u2019s best for the song, the best for the music, the best for the album. And from that moment, you kind of let it go.”<\/p>\n
\u2018Do we play more new songs?’<\/p>\n
“Divided We Fall” was released Dec. 17, and Graziadei said fan response has been overwhelming.<\/p>\n
He said that the first time the band played songs from the new disc, “it was like we were playing [the band’s hit] \u2018Shades of Grey.\u2019 People tried to sing along with the new song.” <\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with the fact that we haven\u2019t played Allentown with all the original members in probably 20 years \u2026 do we play more new songs?”<\/p>\n
Biohazard rhythm guitarist Billy Graziadei <\/p>\n
“Somehow we tapped into this energy of early Biohazard fans who had always been there for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first show since the record came out, we played three new songs, and nobody missed a step. People were singing along to it, and it was awesome. <\/p>\n
“It was great \u2014 we haven\u2019t had that experience together, the four of us, in over, probably 20 years now.”<\/p>\n
Now, he said, the band is left with a dilemma.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with the fact that we haven\u2019t played Allentown with all the original members in probably 20 years \u2026 do we play more new songs?” he said.<\/p>\n
“Or do we just play longer \u2014 all the classics and a bunch of new songs?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 When seminal hardcore band Biohazard was one its way up, shows at Allentown venues provided…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,2537,121,120,2538,14627,14628,14629,14630],"class_list":{"0":"post-21361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-and-concerts","10":"tag-allentown-headlines","11":"tag-allentown-news","12":"tag-archer-music-hall-and-concerts","13":"tag-biohazard-and-divided-we-fall","14":"tag-biohazard-and-allentown","15":"tag-biohazard-and-archer-music-hall","16":"tag-biohazard-and-tour"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}