{"id":1540,"date":"1984-05-01T00:00:35","date_gmt":"1984-05-01T00:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1540"},"modified":"2012-06-10T01:06:42","modified_gmt":"2012-06-10T01:06:42","slug":"feature-znowhite-mf5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-znowhite-mf5\/","title":{"rendered":"ZN\u00d6WHITE – Hallowed Be Thy Name (MF5, 1984) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ZN\u00d6WHITE – Hallowed Be Thy Name<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nDave Reynolds<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 5 (1984)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
Zn\u00f6white (l-r): Nickie Tafoya, Sparks Tafoya, Nicole Lee and Ian Tafoya<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve always considered myself more of an American metal fan than one who\u2019s into the British or European stuff. Now there\u2019s an awful lot of hands from Britain and the Continent who are just as good as any of their American counterparts (Tokyo Blade, H-Bomb etc), but America is really where it\u2019s all at for me.<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s Zn\u00f6white are one of the few talented bands to emerge from the stinking corpses that are known as Metal Massacre<\/em> compilations (how many bands can you count that have made any impact since appearing on one of those albums? Answers on a postcard…..). One earful of their shit-hot debut album All Hail To Thee<\/em> should confirm this; a record that should be up there in my Top Ten come the end of the year.<\/p>\n

So, how\u2019s it been going for the band? \u201cReally really well,\u201d says vocalist Nicole Lee. \u201cThe first pressing sold out in just three weeks from its release and we\u2019re now well into our second pressing. We\u2019ve had excellent reaction from Europe as well as the States. We\u2019ve just secured a deal with a German label, but at present I can\u2019t tell you exactly who. But soon as I can, I\u2019ll let you know.\u201d <\/p>\n

How long were you in the studio for? Because the quality of the production is superb, unlike a lot of other death metal products (Slayer<\/a>\u2019s Show No Mercy<\/em><\/a> for example) which sound very inferior. \u201cI agree with you on that point although I haven\u2019t yet heard Slayer\u2019s album. We don\u2019t class ourselves as being a \u2018death metal\u2019 band, we\u2019re fast but we also have melody. We recorded the album in just four days in July last year. It was just after Metallica had recorded Kill \u2019Em All<\/em><\/a> and we moved into the house they vacated in Rochester, New York.\u201d <\/p>\n

Have you recorded any new material since then? \u201cWe\u2019ve just finished a maxi-single, which is due to be released in the fall, it\u2019s called Kick \u2019Em When They\u2019re Down and the tracks featured will be \u2018All Night Long\u2019, \u2018Edge Of The Razor\u2019, \u2018Cheater Mistreater\u2019, \u2018Run Like The Wind\u2019 and \u2018Turn Up The Pain\u2019. We recorded it in May and it took the same length of time as the album. We recorded it in a 24-track studio and our guitarist Ian Tafoya produced it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Obviously you\u2019ll be touring in support of this release? \u201cYes, once the single is out we\u2019ll be doing selective US dates, but because of the expense it\u2019s unlikely we\u2019ll get to Europe until the second album comes out next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, that isn\u2019t too long to wait seeing as 1984 is almost over, so we\u2019ll just have to content ourselves with a Zn\u00f6white vinyl blitzkrieg. \u201cWe have a list of 50 songs to choose from for our set; the length of which is determined by the type of shows we\u2019re able to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

So you tend to rotate the songs you play in each show? \u201cExactly!\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you play any covers; any Mot\u00f6rhead songs because they are a big influence on Zn\u00f6white aren\u2019t they? \u201cWe don\u2019t play any covers at all. Ian is very influenced by Mot\u00f6rhead but he is also a very big Y&T fan. We all like Mot\u00f6rhead, but we also like bands such as Saxon and Trust. We play melodic songs as well as the fast stuff, so we\u2019re not exactly stereotyped.\u201d <\/p>\n

So how were you persuaded to become the band\u2019s vocalist? I understand you were going to manage them at first? \u201cYeah, that\u2019s true. When I first met them they had another singer who left, so Ian asked me if I was interested. So I came to a few rehearsals and things seemed to work really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

I know you probably get asked these sort of questions all the time, but what does the coloured community in the US think of the guys, because they don\u2019t play what\u2019s regarded as \u2018traditional\u2019 black music (soul \/ disco etc.)? \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been much of a problem. Obviously they were shocked at first because it\u2019s just not something that they\u2019re used to, but they\u2019d better get used to it because we\u2019re not gonna go away. I think the thing that mostly shocked people over here was the combination of black and white.\u201d<\/p>\n

I find it a pity that no matter how talented you are, it\u2019s the colour of your skin that can make or break you in certain markets. But I know Zn\u00f6white will overcome this in metal circles. Let\u2019s not forget that well lauded rock superstars Jimi Hendrix and ex-Thin Lizzy leader Phil Lynott (were and) are black. \u201cWith Jimi it may have been easier because he was on his own. Here we\u2019ve got three guys, but as I said we\u2019ve had no problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

You must have some incredible backing to come so far in such a short space of time? \u201cNot really, we\u2019re pretty much self-sufficient. We handle all our own business and do our own backing. The free flex-disc campaign was Ian\u2019s idea and it really paid off because we had tons of mail asking about it. We got a lot of interest from record labels such as Megaforce, Roadrunner and Liquid Flame.12 labels in all called us and that included people like Atlantic and Jet who had been alerted by Rod McSween over there in England, who\u2019s with ITB and is really into our stuff. Mike Varney of Shrapnel has been a very big help to us, particularly to Ian.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when will you have the second album out? Do you have a title yet or is that too far ahead? \u201cIt\u2019s too far ahead! We may call the album Take No Prisoners, Take No Lives<\/em>. The album will be out early next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

How about merchandise? \u201cWe won\u2019t have anything until the maxi-single is out. Soon as we do we\u2019ll let everybody know!\u201d<\/p>\n

Zn\u00f6white are indeed a name to keep a very close eye on. If you haven\u2019t got All Hail To Thee<\/em> yet, then go down to your local metal store to grab. it. I promise, you won\u2019t regret it. It won\u2019t sting your pocket but it\u2019ll certainly singe your brain.<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 5 (1984)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ZN\u00d6WHITE – Hallowed Be Thy Name Dave Reynolds Metal Forces, Issue 5 (1984) Zn\u00f6white (l-r): Nickie Tafoya, Sparks Tafoya, Nicole Lee and Ian Tafoya I\u2019ve always considered myself more of an American metal fan than one who\u2019s into the British or European stuff. Now there\u2019s an awful lot of hands from Britain and the Continent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-znowhite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1540"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1749,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1540\/revisions\/1749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}