Interview: Jimi Hazel, 24-7 Spyz

SPYZ LIKE US

It's a familiar rock and roll story. A young band, a couple of successful LPs, a fallout, a breakup, and then a pick-up-the-pieces scenario with the addition of new members. Last November, 24-7 SPYZ parted ways with vocalist Peter Fluid and drummer Anthony Johnson, leaving guitarist Jimi Hazel and bassist Rick Skatore to carry on. Luckily, the band survived the aftermath and are back now with a five-song EP called This Is...24-7 Spyz and a fresh attitude. Jimi managed to spare a few minutes from recording in the Bronx to herald the new Spyzs' return and explain the demise of the old.

"It was kind of like surgery. We got all the cancer out of the band. and felt 100 times better with the new guys. What basically happened was Peter started to lose sight of what the band was all about and wanted to go off and do pop. He thought he was a star. Also, our old drummer, Anthony, was young. He was a great drummer, but he had a lot of growing up to do, and the road was not the place to do it."

Peter was a very vivid front man for the old-style c. He was impulsive and wild on stage. The Spyz were known for having a crazy live show. Jimi thinks sometimes the press and people lost sight of who and what the Spyz really were.

"One show we did recently, someone said they liked Peter better, but not because he was a better singer but because he was a nut. But I'm like, if you want to see a freak show, go to the circus. The way it was before, there was more focus on the visual and not the musical, whereas our LPs tended to lean towards the musical side. But when you are spending more time spitting beer on people and not concentrating on the music you are playing, you miss the point. First and foremost, we are a band. Our singer was doing more goofing around than singing and that limits the way I write. Because if I don't think the singer can handle the singing part, I'm going to have to keep writing 'Dick and Jane,' not something in-depth and thought out."

Don't think the Spyz are going to be a boring band to watch, though. With the two new members, Jeff Brodnax (vocals) and Joel Maitoza (drums), and a new cohesiveness, the Spyz are now planning to knock people over musically.

"It didn't matter if they (Peter and Anthony) were there or not, because Rick and I started the band. The band has so much more to do, we haven't even begun to explore music, you know? We've got a new deal, a new label, East West, two new really great guys, and everything is cool. People are calling us the new mature Spyz. Jeff, our new singer, can sing, and it is obvious. It's not something you have to think about. You know he can sing. He is a lot stronger than Peter, and he has a lower range. Jeff has got soul. And Joel, he is a double bass drummer. He is so precise. He fills up space we never even knew was empty. The way our funk side combines with his metal side is cool. It's making him a well-rounded and unique drummer."

It only took the remaining members a few months to find replacements and get out on the road again. They broke up in November 1990 and by January '91 the new band was in place. Jeff was already well known to them as they had met him in Virginia several times before while touring. He came highly recommended and was their first choice. Finding a drummer however took longer.

"We went through a couple of drummers and no one quite cut it. The coolest thing about Joel is he auditioned over the telephone. I had met him through a mutual friend from the California metal band GANGLAND who Joel was drumming for. When Gangland split, I remembered Joel and gave him a call. I called him in California and gave him six songs to learn. He called me the next day and played them down the phone. He is such a great drummer and one hell of a personality." 

The new Spyz is ready to face the world with their EP. Three of the tracks on it are new songs and two are cover versions. The band exercised some caution with this release. As Jimi explains the time was not right for a full-fledged LP yet.

"This EP is a good way to introduce the new guys in the band. let everyone know we are still in existence and still kicking ass. If we had to go and do 12 songs for an LP, it might not have been as spontaneous. We just wanted to hold up on the LP, so it's just the five songs for now. We are in the studio at the moment and have just cut four songs for the LP, which is due out in the spring. For the EP, we just wanted to get everyone relaxed and accustomed to playing and gigging and get the tunes down."

Some of the new songs seem to have a lot of the strain and anger of the breakup in them. Jimi says the whole ordeal was like a divorce and thinks the new LP they are currently working on will be less angry.

"It's like blood-letting; give me a leech and suck the bad blood out. I've released my demons, so to speak, with this EP. The song 'Tick, Tick, Tick' is about the ill feelings and bad talk about the band. Peter was saying a lot of stupid things, and 'Tick, Tick, Tick' is saying, 'you are pissing me off.' The song 'Stuntman' too is really to the point. I'm talking about all the old band members, old record company, and anybody and everybody who pledged loyalty to this band and then turned around and struck us in the back. Our old record label, Relativity, fucked us in a bad way. 'Stuntman' is sort of, 'this is what you are and this is what I say you are.' We kind of wrote the new songs with the new members in mind, but I write constantly. I sort of write for me first and then for everyone else."

Besides the new tracks, they also did some cover tunes. Doing them in their own style, Jimi says some people don't even realise they are covers.

"They go, that's good stuff, and think we wrote it. It just goes to show you that what we are doing isn't really new. It was done as far back as 21 years ago. I always wanted to do 'Peace and Love.' It's an old 70s song that takes jazz and hard rock and fuses them together. And the song 'Earthquake' is right up our alley. Rick and I always wanted to do a cover version of 'Grand Central Station'."

Along with the new developed sound, Jimi hopes that 24-7 Spyz will now dodge the pigeonholes of the past and move on to new horizons. 

"Two years ago, the focal point was we were from the South Bronx. Now, Joel is from California and Jeff is from Virginia, so it's not about location. It is about the band. Just like it was '24-7 Spyz the black band,' now we've got us a white guy in Joel. So again, it is time to get off the bullshit and get onto what it is really about. Having Joel may piss some people off because a lot of people have it in mind that we are the great black hope. I'm a musician, I'm not there for a political reason or to solidify black rock and roll. It's not a color thing. It's a personality thing. Like we had four black guys and two had really shitty personalities and it didn't work. It is not the color. It is the person."

They're heading out on the road in the US from November 16th and hopefully in the new year they'll bring the group over here. Jimi can't get over the improvement he already can see and the reaction to the new line-up.

"It's much better already. The response is monumental. People are saying we are much better than the old band. The old band was great, but it was a young band. It is a shame that the other two members couldn't have stuck it out till the band grew up. It's not all serious. We are silly, musically intellectual, but with a silly attitude. We have fun, and it is all about fun and being able to express ourselves. I'm digging it, and the fans are really grooving on it. What is funny is no one seems to miss the old band. I like that."

Marion Garden
Riff Raff
January 1992

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