Road warriors have heavy therapy to dish out Monday at the Hurricane.
By Joel Francis
The Kansas City Star
“If you’re going to be into something, be into it to the death,” said Jason McMaster, singer and songwriter for the hard rock band Broken Teeth.
If anyone should know, it’s McMaster, a self-proclaimed “heavy metal kid at heart” who, when growing up, bought the entire catalogs of his favorite bands.
“Heavy metal fans are like a ninja or samurai. It’s something you’re born into,” McMaster said. “It’s not like one day you decide, ‘This isn’t working for me, I’m going to try something else.’ ”
Talk about knowing your clientele.
“That kid at school with black fingernails, dyed hair wearing a Motorhead T-shirt … those are my people,” McMaster said. “That’s who I’m talking to.”
It is evident in his speech, which is peppered with references to Judas Priest, Kiss and AC/DC and quotes Lemmy, that he was — and still is — one of those kids.
If that’s the case then think of Monday at the Hurricane as a sort of group therapy. That’s when McMaster and Broken Teeth will serve an adult slab of hard rock for those who love it loud.
“People should realize we’re not just heavy metal. I call it hard rock,” McMaster said. “There are people who like country music who are into Broken Teeth. Some people who like Slayer are into Broken Teeth.”
And like a lot of metal fans, Broken Teeth fans tend to be fanatics.
“A lot of our fans overseas have every record by their favorite band. That says something about rock fans,” McMaster said. “There sure were a lot of records I bought and liked at one time or another. I tried to do my homework. If I was into it, I was into it.”
The music he was “into” comes through loud and clear in Broken Teeth: the classic metal sound cultivated after 1975.
“ ’75 is a good place to start: Deep Purple, Motorhead, (Judas) Priest and the like,” he said. “You can hear our style in all of those bands. I think it’s important to let our influences shine. Those ingredients all come out when we’re writing. It’s a big soup.”
McMaster has been writing a lot lately with his band mates: guitarists Jared Tuten and Dave Beeson, bass player Brett McCormick and drummer Bruce Rivers.
“We played 115 shows in 2006,” McMaster said. “We write on the road. When something’s good, I can say, ‘Hey, guys, come listen to this.’ It’s one more reason to stay out on tour.”
Broken Teeth haven’t released a new album since 2004 and haven’t pushed a new studio album since 2002, but all that’s about to change.
“We finally got some good distribution for our album coming out this spring,” McMaster said. “That one will be half old songs and half new stuff, because a lot of people are going to discover Broken Teeth for the first time with this.”
If older fans decide to take a pass on this album, McMaster said, they won’t have to wait long for the next one.
“Now the new material is what we’re really excited about,” McMaster said. “That’s all we talk about. That album (of all new material) may come out in late ’07.”
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