Hatebreed once had a music video banned from MTV and weren’t allowed onto the airwaves until singer Jamey Jasta hosted flagship heavy metal series Headbanger’s Ball.
The vocalist makes the revelation in an exclusive interview with Metal Hammer, where he names the five songs that he believes define the US hardcore band’s career.
He names I Will Be Heard, from 2002 album Perseverance, as an essential track and says that Hatebreed brought future The Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb onboard to make the video – only for MTV to refuse to play it.
“We thought, ‘Oh, man, we just wasted a lot of money for nothing!’” he remembers.
Luckily, he found a solution.
“So, then I had to infiltrate the system – shout-out to Madball [whose 2007 album title he just name-dropped] – and I had to become the host of Headbanger’s Ball to get my fucking video played! Thank God I did!”
Jasta then extends another shout-out, this time to Metallica, who appeared on an episode of Headbanger’s Ball with the singer in 2003.
“Had they not chosen to play a Hatebreed video, I don’t think I would have gotten the job [hosting Headbanger’s Ball until 2007],” he says, “and I don’t think Hatebreed would have been exposed to that many metal fans who had never heard of us.”
Watch the full interview with Jasta below.
Hatebreed released their eighth and latest album, Weight Of The False Self, via Nuclear Blast in 2020. The band put out their first new song since then, Make The Demons Obey, last week. Their ninth album is expected to come out later this year.
Hatebreed are currently touring Europe and will play at La Grange du Charfait in Saint-Paul-en-Pareds, France, tonight (August 1). Guitarist Wayne Lozinak was sent home from the tour in June after being diagnosed with a non-cancerous brain tumour. Their touring bassist, Matt Bachand (Shadows Fall), is playing guitar in Lozinak’s stead, and Carl Schwartz of First Blood and Terror has temporarily joined the band on bass duties.
On Thursday (July 31), news broke that Hatebreed’s ex-bassist Chris Beattie is suing the band and Jasta over his dismissal in November 2024.
According to the suit, Jasta informed Beattie that he was being let go as the bassist had allegedly harassed a Live Nation security guard, but Beattie calls the allegation “patently untrue”. He argues that Jasta “stood to profit” from his firing, as it would grant the singer a greater share of “band proceeds and profits”.
Hatebreed are yet to publicly comment on Beattie’s suit.
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