American thrash metallers EVILDEAD return after four years with the much anticipated ‘Toxic Grace.’ Full of their usual hit-you-over-the-head style metal, EVILDEAD does not disappoint as they bring a little of all their influences into this offering. We spoke with guitarist Juan Garcia via Zoom
CCTV: Good morning. I’m here with Juan Garcia of EVILDEAD, and I just realized that you are also the guitarist of BODY COUNT. You also have an album called MERCILESS, which is just being mixed, which will be the fourth record since the band reunited in 2014 and the follow-up to 2020’s CARNIVORE. I’ve got a few questions for you about the EVILDEAD record, which, by the time this interview is published, would have been released on May 24th. But, I honestly want to say thank you for your time knowing that BODY COUNT is playing The House of Blues Anaheim tonight.
Juan Garcia: I saw your review, I put it up on our page, and I thank you very much. We’re headed to the show tonight, and then we’re hitting Alaska on Friday.
CCTV: So, what did you do while EVILDEAD was on hiatus for four years?
J.G.: Well, we put out the last record on Steamhammer Records in 2020 called UNITED STATES OF ANARCHY, and then it took about two years to write this album. We toured Europe last year in 2023 and did some festivals like that. We did Brutal Assault, Wacken Open Air, Alcatraz Metal Festival, and also some club headline shows. We played Los Angeles, supporting Possessed. We’ve been staying busy, doing some local shows, supporting Dark Angel at the Teragram Ballroom (I think it was in April), and just working on new material.
CCTV: How would you describe EVILDEAD’s sound to someone who’s just started listening to your band?
J.G.: I’d say we’re a classic thrash metal band, kind of mid-80’s 1986, like when we were formed after I left AGENT STEEL, influenced by some new wave of British heavy metal, some punk rock (Black Flag, Dead Kennedys), and a little bit of hard core, influenced us. There are pretty much a lot of different styles of music to be influenced by.
CCTV: Yeah, that’s what I loved about the new one—so many different ideas and sounds.
J.G.: Yeah, that’s what we like to do. Why not expand the horizons and include different styles of music? For example, my partner guitarist Albert Gonzales, if he has something more like Sabbath slower and doomy, we will explore those options.
CCTV: What current bands are you listening to or are under your radar right now?
J.G.: I like the new Judas Priest album, but I still like Power Trip’s “Nightmare Logic”. That’s a good album. I’m listening to the new Body Count that’s going to be coming out later this year. Mostly just getting really familiar with the songs Some old classics like Iron Maiden “Killers” I like Paul Di’Anno. I like his voice. I heard the new Bruce Dickinson record, and I think it’s a good, strong record. A little bit of everything really, the new Kerry King “From Hell I Rise” I think it’s solid
CCTV: I really like the cover. Where did you guys get the idea for the cover?
J.G.: Our vocalist Phil Flores came up with the original idea. The last three albums were done with Edward Repka. You know THE ANNIHILATION OF CIVILIZATION, THE UNDERWORLD Yeah, those were all done by Edward Repka. But this album instead was done by Dan Goldsworthy, and yeah, I think he really captured Phil’s ideas.
CCTV: So, when you guys were in the studio and everything, who ran the boards and the recording process?
J.G.: Well, we went in, and the original idea was just to do a four-song EP. Once the record company came in and heard the material, they encouraged us to do a full-length album, and we did the four songs with this guy named Rob Hill, a friend of ours out here in Los Angeles. Then we went to Europe. We took a break, went to Europe, and did a little tour. Then we headed back here and finished the album with this producer engineer whose name is Dave Casey. Yeah, so it was not planned to be done with two different producers, but that’s how the album came together.
CCTV: Yeah, I was just listening to the record again right before I called you, and the guitars just sound amazing. What type of gear were you using, and what will you be bringing out on the road?
J.G.: Yeah, that’s a good question. I use a EVH 100 watt amp like some Edward Van Halen stuff; it sounds like a hotroded Marshall. We also use a 50 watt EVH, a combination of those two Neural DSP plug-ins. This thing is called a quad cortex or something like that.
So, it was a blend of real amps in the studio. We also used some Soldano heads for solos, and Albert Gonzales used a Soldano and also a Marshall. Different amplifiers and different guitars were added to the layering. It was a lot of fun. As far as what I use on tour, With EVILDEAD, I was using the quad vortex in 2023, and with BODY COUNT, I was using the EVH 100 Watt Amp. I also have a temporary profiler that I use at rehearsal. I use it sometimes; it depends on the show. If it’s a fly show, it can take our amps.
CCTV: Are there any songs that didn’t make the final cut that might be coming out on special vinyl for us collectors?
J.G.: Yeah, Rob, Alaniz, and Albert had a couple songs that didn’t get done. Me and Carlos had a song. It’s actually Carlos’s. I’m a little bugged out about it because I really wanted it on record. It’s a song we’ve been working on for a long time, but that’s okay. It means we have some bonus material. I’m not worried about it. It’s stuff we haven’t demoed, so we can revisit those ideas.
Then we’ve got like a folder with like 25 minutes of music, guitar riffs, and ideas we didn’t even touch, so hopefully we can get a song out of it. We just have to decipher these ideas and see what works and what doesn’t. Yeah, it would be nice to get back to work on that.
CCTV: Well, I look forward to hearing that. Like I said, I noticed that you placed our review on your Facebook page. How much do you actually pay attention to reviews and stuff like that?
J.G.: If you were to ask my drummer, he actually pays more attention to that than I do. I mean, I take it with a grain of salt. I mean, I appreciate journalists and people who take the time out to listen to music. That means a lot to me. You know some constructive criticism is always welcome, because you know there’s always going to be some bad reviews. I don’t pay a lot of attention to it, but I’ll read some of it. But our drummer, Rob Alaniz, is really into it.
CCTV: So, what band or album got you into thrash?
J.G. : Good question. Um, I would say, hm, that’s a good one. I would say Dead Kennedy’s and Iron Maiden “Killers” are the combination of that kind of stuff. I was in a band called Abbattoir back in the day, and we were already playing some heavy, fast stuff right around the time Metallica came out. We were very aware of the scene, like when bands like Exodus came out, so we were paying attention to stuff like that, like when Cliff Burton was in the band.
CCTV: Do you remember your first metal shirt you bought?
J.G.: Another good one, right? Yeah, I do. I bought an AC/DC Highway to Hell shirt when I went to go see them, and now I’m dating myself. That was when Bon Scott was still singing. I think it was about two or three weeks before he passed away.
CCTV: Yeah, I saw them on that tour too.
J.G.: Yeah, I gotta say that was the first rock & roll shirt I bought.
CCTV: I’m actually really hoping to see you guys when you play the California Death Fest (at the time of the interview, there was confusion on what exact date EVILDEAD was performing, and it has been clarified that they are playing October 13th at 4:30 p.m.). Are you planning on doing some more touring after that?
J.G.: Yeah, we’re playing the day our good friends Hirax are playing, and we’re going to be playing a good amount of songs off the new album. As far as touring after that, we’re playing August 16th with Whiplash at their 40 Years of Power & Pain Celebration, and then we’re having our record release party (the record has already been released at the time this interview is released), and there’s other things in the works, maybe a tour next year. You know everything will work out.
CCTV: Well, I want to thank you for your time and good luck with both records coming out. Have a great show tonight and be safe on the road.
J.G.: Thank you again for the review, and thank you very much.
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Stephen John Allen
Categories: EvilDead, Interviews, News
Capital Chaos TV 
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