VOD – Interview

Hailing from New York City, Visions of Disorder is a perfect example of the evolution of the vicious east coast hardcore sound. The five-piece band offers a wide variety of metal, ranging from the kick and stomp groove present in their past two releases to a more developed, tighter sound that creates a new presence for the band. They landed slots on last year’s Ozzfest tour and stints with Earth Crisis, Machine Head, and the reformed Sepultura. V.O.D. has progressed into one of heavy music’s great up and coming groups. We spoke with Tim Williams, lead singer of V.O.D., who is one of the best vocalists in the business. With the last album, he elevated himself to the level of Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory) and Chino Moreno (Deftones). V.O.D.’s Imprint is sure to be legendary in hardcore circles. They may very well be able to make the big leap into stardom very soon.

How’s the tour?

Excellent! Couldn’t be happier with this shit. The shows have been big. I’d have to say each show has been great. On the east coast, we’ve already done all the shit, but in Texas and Cleveland we’ve probably had the best shows we’ve ever had in those states.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

We go to Japan, then Australia, and we’re doin’ one show in Hawaii. That’ll be fun I guess. We’ll get home christmas eve, take two weeks off, and we’re booking shows for next year. Probably another tour of the states.

Who would you like to play with?

Bad Brains would be a cool. Sick Of It All would be fun. I would like to play with the Deftones and I’d like to get Overcast out, but i don’t know when the fuck that’ll happen. Of course, Pantera.

What do you think of Derrick(Sepultura’s new lead singer)?

He does great. Man, he does a good job. I mean, shit, Max’s shoes are hard to fill, but he does a great job. Sounds like him and he’s a great guy. He reacts to the crowd well. People are going off so I guess he’s doing good.

The new album is great.

Thanks man.

It’s progressed. It’s a little punkish. Some death metal.

I think we loosened up as a band. I think we realized that noise is a good instrument to use, so the noise influences started coming out a little bit and I think everybody just got more..You know, the first record everyone was nervous. We didn’t know if we wanted to do this or if we wanted to do that. Now, everybody just did their part, scrutinized each other, reworked shit, and everything seemed to go perfect.

Your vocals have changed a lot. You have a lot more range.

I’ve always taken lessons. I’ve also had more time to develop it. We were touring for a year and a half and that doesn’t hurt anybody. I got a lot more comfortable doing my thing.

Did you do anything different in recording?

The whole fucking thing was different! The first record, man, it was a complete tragedy. We were just listening to it last night and we all had to turn it off. It was just horrible! The material is there, it’s just the performance. The production is horrible. About the second record: We did it our way. We had a producer that was more into our thing, our style of music, and more like one of us. Plus, we recorded live and we didn’t do that on our first record. We were just way more comfortable the second time around.

How did you hook up with Phil(Pantera’s lead singer)?

Just through the Ozzfest [’97]. We became friends with him, took a liking to him, partied with him. I went down to his house a couple of times this year and I just asked and he said cool.

Is “Jada Bloom” written for someone?

No. I just always put myself into characters when I write lyrics in certain songs. It was just a character that I brought out of me.

Colorblind is more extensive than any other song on the disc. What were you trying to accomplish with that?

That’s our tribute to the fucking Doors, man! In my eyes it is. It just came out to be a long song. It seemed right so we just did it.

You’ve been all over the U.S. Where do you see the best hardcore scenes?

I don’t want to offend anybody, but Boston has one huge fucking scene. New York and Salt Lake City, Utah. Lawrence, Kansas is another good one. Sacramento, California has a vicious one. They get a little rough and edgy, but it’s good. Texas is cool. We haven’t really been to the south and northwest all that recently, but pretty much any big city is cool. Philly. East coast is just great.

Who do you think deserves more credit as a great band?

Man, Madball, Faith No More, if they’re still around. We had a chance to meet up with Mike(Faith No Mores vocalist) in San Francisco and that guy is great. I mean, he’s a fucking nut, crazy and shit, but he’s great. Overcast, Fury of Five. Off the top of my head, that’s all I can think of.

Where do you fit in?

I think we’re doing alright where we are. We’re getting a lot of respect from musicians and big bands. That means a lot because musicians are the hardest ones to impress. The metal kids are slowly taking to us.

What do you think of the Black Sabbath tour?

Phenomenal. We might be away, but if not, I’m there…

I want to name some bands and I want you to tell me what you think about them. Snapcase.

Great band. Progressing, but they can’t make up their mind if they want to go to school or be a full time band. I heard they were recording a record, so more power to them.

Eyehategod.

Phenomenal. My favorite fucking band. I’m not kidding!

Clutch.

Old Clutch, it’s unreal, but I don’t know what the fuck they’re trying to do now. They’re just doing their own thing.

Do you want to add anything?

Just be yourself, don’t get caught up in bullshit, and that’s that.

Alright. Well, thanks alot, man. It was great talking to you.

Thanks and you take care of yourself, man. Have fun.

+ rick hinkson