By: Robert Cavuoto
Tom Maxwell
After eight years and three albums, HELLYEAH has released their most powerful and boldest CD yet; Blood for Blood, with Chad Gray on vocals, Vinnie Paul on drums and Tom Maxwell on guitar.
It’s a defining CD in the band’s career as a tumultuous and extensive tour cost them two members prior to its recording.
The band had to redefine their vision and forge ahead as a three piece for most of the writing and all of the recording.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and the proof is self-evident on Blood for Blood.
Gone is the southern rock vibe and party anthems and in its place more dynamic and multilayered songs that showcase the group’s musical strengths.
From the skull crushing title track, “Blood for Blood”, and “Demons in the Dirt” to the brooding “Hush”, to the sleazy melodic hard rocker, “Black December”, the band delivers the goods, song after song.
I caught up with guitarist Tom Maxwell to talk about how difficult it was too lose two members prior to recording the CD, as well as what the band needed to do to create such a rich and deeply textured metal album!
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Robert Cavuoto: What head space were you in knowing that you were making this CD as a three piece?
Tom Maxwell: It was a pretty turbulent time. The last touring cycle was very rough and difficult. The infrastructure of the band was collapsing. We could just see Greg Tibbett and Bob Zilla folding a little bit in their personal lives and becoming detached from the band.
Vinnie was at a point where he couldn’t see us going any further, unless we made changes and parted ways with those dudes. It was a hard pill for Chad Gray to swallow because he had known Greg from Mudvanye for over 16 years.
I had to accept the responsibility and forge ahead for the sake of the band. What that meant was the majority of the song writing for this record fell on me.
The writing was more difficult than the recording, because Greg was living at Vinnie’s house in Dallas and wasn’t participating. It was awkward and weird. Vinnie has bungalows for the band on his property where we all stay. Vinnie and I had a writing schedule that we kept to and who ever showed up, participated. If they didn’t, they didn’t.
In the afternoon we would start writing and go at it all day with writing a song a day or every two days. We just went forward and somehow pulled these songs out of the hat.
It wasn’t until we got to Vegas to record when things fell apart. We sent Greg home. If anything it made the three of us closer. We really weathered the storm.
Robert: What did producer, Kevin Churko bring to the CD? Did he fill in the gap of the missing writing partners?
Tom Maxwell: We provided a solid foundation of songs and he shined them. He had arrangement ideas. The material was kept pretty much as is and he would tweak a little here or there.
Being a self-produced band for so long it’s hard for us to think outside of the box.
He would said, “It is good, but what if we did this.” He and I sat in the studio one day when I was in the mood to write something different. I started writing to a click and built a song which became “Hush.”
It took three days to complete and its a real personal song to me and I wasn’t sure what the band would think of it and how it would fit. When Chad put his vocals on it, it became one of my favorite songs.
Robert: The CD has a lot of dramatic musical turns and twists from power metal songs like “Demons in the Dirt” to a moody song like “Hush” and then to melodic hard rock with “Black December.” All slightly different musical textures and styles, yet the CD has a nice flow. Was it intentional to mix things up?
Tom Maxwell: To be honest with you, that’s how I write.
It’s very erratic, but it all comes from the same place. At any moment it can be aggressive energy or a desperate lonely side like with “Moth.” I like those dynamics on the CD with all the peaks and valleys, to take someone on a musical journey without being obvious that you are writing a fast or slow song.
Robert: Speaking of those dynamics, the guitar tones and distortion are varied from song to song, as well.
Tom Maxwell: Yeah, I brought a couple of my Dean guitars for the recording, mainly for soloing.
I was happy with those tones, then my buddy Mike Mushok from Staind, gave me his signature Baritone. I’ve recorded with one of those in the past and I liked the depth it provided. When I plugged it in, it spoke to me. It was the tone I was looking for; thick and fat.
All the overtones were bright and there is no wobble in the tuning. It’s a guitar that I respect, as it demands you to play. It’s not a typical six-string and hard to play.
It’s difficult to drive, so I really had to buckle down and play the shit out of it. I left the guitar in the studio and told him if you have any players that want to try it to go for it. It’s a work out.
I profiled a Kemper amp and used a couple of tones, like an old Marshall, an old Peavey, a 5150, and a Diezel, I just went back and forth to use different elements.
For the solo, I took the Neal Schon approach and write the lead as song within a song. We used a pre-amp and profiled that into the Kemper and then would add or take away from the gain structure.
I didn’t use any pedal. The main distortion that I profile was a Peavey 6534 Plus, so I got a richer tone like an older Marshall. That was the main tone that we used for all the rhythms and I would tweak it here and there. It’s a brutal CD.
Robert: Will you be using a Baritone live?
Tom Maxwell: No, I went out and bought a Kemper for myself and had all the profiles from the CD downloaded. I’ll use the Deans and a Les Paul for “Moth”.
I have an old Deluxe with the P90 DiMarzio. When you use the both pickups in that middle position, it’s just beautiful. It has such a warm lush tone that you can’t get out of any other guitar.
Robert: I really like “Black December” and “Moth” – what can you tell me about them?
Tom Maxwell: “Moth” I wrote in the basement of my house while I was watching my son playing, knowing that I was leaving in three weeks.
I had this real lonely melody in the verse that comes out. It’s an honest reflection of that desperate vulnerability, knowing I was leaving home.
I’m a total homebody and I hate to leave. It’s hard; I have a little boy and we’re super close, leaving him fucking sucks.
With “Black December” that was a riff I wrote about 10 years ago. I recorded it as a demo with a bunch of buddies.
My wife found it and said, “You better revisit it.”
It’s heavy, but it’s got this sexy-sleazy vibe to it. I brought it to the band and kept building on it. Chad wasn’t feeling the original chorus I had for it, so we sat there for what must have been a week restricting it.
I think Chad waited until the very end to do vocals on it because he didn’t know what to do it with it; it became his nemesis [Laughing].
In the end, it turned out great. I like the way Chad played off the whole Christmas thing, where it can be a really dark and depressing time.
It’s like putting a mirror in front of society on that song. Hopefully it will be a single down the road.
