Updated: 09/23/02

Those who ventured away from the main stage during the Exodus show were able to catch an extremely brutal death metal band who go by the name of Hate Theory. With an album out on World War III and a dynamic live performance, Hate Theory are ready to spread their music like a killer plague onto the metal masses.

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Hate Theory, and tell me how long the band has been together.

I'm Jay, I'm the drummer in Hate Theory. The band has been together since '95. we started when we were juniors in high school.

Where is the band from and what is the local music scene like there?

The band is from Suffield, Ohio. Right outside Akron and about 40 minutes south of Cleveland. The scene here is really good I think. It has grown quite a bit in the last few years, and has a lot more attention drawn to it then there was 5 years ago. There are a lot of really good bands around here and I hope that some other labels start to take an interest in some of the other talent here as well.

If you had to describe your music to a really old relative, what would you say?

An old relative as in an old person? I would say, you wouldn't understand.

Where did you get the idea for the name of your band? And what is your Hate Theory?

We used to have a really cheesy name when we were in high school, which I won't reveal right now. So as we matured we decided we needed to come up with something a little more fitting. Finding a name was tough but actually all we did was make a list of cool words or words we thought were cool anyway. We just put 2 words together and like it. It actually has no special meaning at all, it just sounds pissed.

How did you show with Pro-Pain go? Did you get to meet the band? What other big name bands have you opened for?

The Pro-Pain show went pretty good I think. That was actually like the 4th time or so we've played with those guys. So, of the other bands you would be familiar with that we played with are, Crowbar, Napalm Death, Crisis, Broken Hope, Agents of Oblivion, and quite a few others.

How did you feel your show at this year's Milwaukee Metalfest went?

Milwaukee was kinda lame for us. It was our first time there and we went on at a really bad time so not many people got a chance to see us but overall we had a great time anyway. And would definitely try it again.

What do you think has made Hate Theory stand apart from other death/grind bands?

Well, I think if we stand apart its because we try not to be one thing in particular. We mix a lot of different styles together to form our own. A lot of this is because we all listen to a very diverse selection of music, ranging from Elvis and blue grass to Mortician. Sounds funny but its true.

Where do the ideas for some of the lyrics come from?

That I'm not sure, all that comes from our singer and I've yet to figure out what goes on in his head, haha.

Lightbulb is so different from everything else on the album. What made you decide to throw in an acoustic song like that and have you ever played it live?

Lightbulb, goes back to us just trying to do something a little different and it reflects a little of some of the diversity that we listen to ourselves. That song was a collaboration project between us and another local band from the area called Dolly Trauma. Most of the vocals except for the background screams and a little of the clean vocals were done by Dolly Trauma's singer, Josh Coon. We've played several shows together, and we've probably played that song live like three times.

Any chance to see Hate Theory play out here in the Los Angeles area?

I sure hope so. We are working on getting out on the road hopefully this fall.

Do you have any other releases out besides the WW3 album?

We have a CD we released locally in '98 called Your Dead Reflection. That CD was the start of our local fan base. Actually, the song freezing on our World War III release was taken from that record as a bonus track. That CD can be ordered directly from us at www.hatetheory.net, as well as T-shirts.

Do you have any messages for metal fans who might be interested in checking out your music?

Well, its hard to tell people what to expect I would just say check it out for themselves.

If the world were to suddenly end, what is the last song you would want to hear before the final explosion?

Last song, hmmmm, I would say, Bye Bye Bye, from N'Sync. Hahaha, just kiddin. That's a question that would take me about a month to figure out but if you get back to me on it I might have an answer by then

Hate Theory's debut release is now available from World War III Records!