Brooklyn hardcore legends Biohazard, who redefined the genre and influenced bands now rising into the spotlight like Knocked Loose and Turnstile, are finally back with their new album, Divided We Fall, out October 17th via BLKIIBLK. This album doesn’t only mark their return from, dare we mention the album title, where the band disbanded following 2012’s Reborn in Defiance. After taking time apart, the gang decided that now was the right moment to reunite and bring something powerful to the table, especially in a time when the world feels completely chaotic. The record serves as a staple on how to move forward, and vocalist/bassist Evan Seinfeld proves once again that he’s a visionary far beyond the music, showing that self-transformation and new beginnings are always possible.
Always creating, pushing forward, and innovating, Seinfeld is not only working on a Biohazard documentary but also writing a book and developing projects within and outside of music, all centered around inspiring others to become better versions of themselves through mindfulness, fitness, and health. Fans can explore his Mindful Warrior Fitness program, and specifically for men, his Mantorship program. This only proves that there is nothing Seinfeld can’t do or inspire.
Metal Insider was honored to have a conversation with the singer, and even the interview itself became a story worth telling. Calm, collected, and grounded, Seinfeld showed exactly why timing matters in everything. Biohazard took a break when they needed to, and when the moment was right, they returned with what Evan proudly calls their best album since 1994’s State of the World Address. Scheduling interviews can always be a challenge, and reschedules happen, but sometimes, timing ends up being chaotic in the most unexpected ways. With limited time to spare, Evan still fit Metal Insider into his packed schedule, speaking with us while being driven to the airport en route to New York City for the band’s record release performance at Rough Trade NYC. Spoiler: he made it, and based on the footage, the show was a success.
However, what no one knew, until now, is that we had an unexpected guest during our conversation: the Mexican police. At the start of the interview, Evan’s driver was pulled over, and while anyone else might have ended the call, Evan kept the conversation going unfazed. We spoke about everything, from Biohazard’s return and their larger-than-life legacy to the bands they’ve inspired, fitness, and more. We’ve included the full audio clip, where you can hear the interruption, along with a transcript of the interview itself.
Listen to the Audio of the full interview below and order the album here:
Transcript of full interview (without the cop interference):
What pushed you to finally return to the studio for the new album?
We haven’t released a studio album in almost fifteen years,and it wasn’t something that we were, like,aiming for.It was like when we put the band back together after twelve years. We just wanted to, you know, reconnect our friendships, our bond. You know, Biohazard. You know, we got back together when we started rehearsing, we started touring, we started playing.It was like a natural thing. We just started, like, during soundcheck. Everybody started throwing out riffs and songs. We write.
It’s a whole band of four prolific guys, you know, who can all write music and lyrics and record our own albums if need be. So we got out and started playing and we saw what was moving the crowd, and, like, you know, when they say, like, if I knew then what I know now? Well, we’re getting to do that. We’re getting to go back to the drawing board.
It’s like we know what songs of ours stand the test of time and what type of grooves and riffs our fans will hold on to for life. So I really think Divided We Fall and I hate to sound like an artist who thinks every new album is his best album, but you can read all my interviews. I didn’t think anything was our best album since State of the World Address in 94.
So it’s been over thirty years.
Yes.
It’s like a long time before, like releasing something that’s good to you. When you guys split, from the last record, was there a moment when you knew it was time to create again?
You know, when I left the band,it was 2012. I made an album with another band that I joined called Attika7, and we did a bunch of touring with Avenged Sevenfold, and Five Finger Death Punch. And, we were at the Mayhem Festival, with Falling In Reverse, and, Motionless in White and Amon Amarth. We toured with Rob Zombie. I’ve always been creating, but I have to admit, the last few years I started working on a solo album at a very slow pace, just really trying to be very intentional and deliberate. It doesn’t really sound anything like Biohazard, and you’ll be hearing about my new project soon, but, once we started playing together, like, it was like a need. When you’re an artist, that’s what you do, you create and you share, you create and you share. So it was just time to get back to it.
And now the writing process, was it like going back to 1994, did you go back to that mentality from thirty years ago, or did you do something new or different?
Our process is really old and it’s called the meat grinder. Even though I’m vegetarian,it’s called the meat grinder because we all put our ideas in and we mash them up. And, everybody in this band has another idea on how we can do something. And it’s really like a tribe. Bobby writes a riff, and Danny starts playing it and then like, I’ll say, hey, Danny, maybe break that down into half time and I’ll play the bass with you. And suddenly we have something that’s like,really nasty, groovy that we didn’t even think of. You know, because it wasn’t anybody’s one original idea. It’s the sum of the parts. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Did some of the songs come to you guys really fast or anything challenging?
We had a lot of material. We had like unlimited amounts of songs.
What’s something the younger version of Biohazard would be shocked to see about the band today?
Okay, that’s a great question. No one’s ever asked me that. You know, it’s really funny. We’re working on a documentary film with Drew Stone. He’s been documenting Biohazard since, I don’t know, late 80s. And, we have this great interview on the street corner in front of Flatbush Avenue in front of the studio where we kind of made our bones. In Brooklyn, where we grew up down the block from the pizzeria where I worked, we went back to the same street corner, you know, 35 years later and did another interview, like standing in the same positions. It’s really cool. It’s funny that you asked that question because there’s like, what would Biohazard be surprised to see? I mean, first off, kind of how. we’re still going would be the first thing.
When we were young, we started this band.All of us. We felt like we were a band, but we were also kind of like a gang.It was us against the world. And we had each other’s backs, and we were young, you know, you know, young macho guys, full of testosterone from the hardcore scene, wanting to spread our message around the world with a chip on our shoulders.I think I would pleasantly surprise myself to see that we were still doing it. How much I fucking enjoy it. Like I’m driving and stopping with and going on a plane and going into Uber and going to a hotel or going to the subway and going to the car and just to go play three songs at a record store, in Times Square tomorrow. And then I’ll turn around and fly home.And it always seems worth it, even if it’s a free thing, even if we’re not making a lot of money, or any money.
The chance, the opportunity, you know, you don’t realize what you have until you lose it. I think on my personal journey, I’ve really transformed my life in the last, five, six years. And, one of the main tenets of my transformation is gratitude and presence. I believe that, you know, anxiety and stress is simply a lack of presence because we’re spinning out on what might happen and what’s going to happen in the future and what are we going to do? We kind of squander the moment we’re in and depression, or depressive states, really comes from once again not being present, but lamenting regret for the past.
I really practice gratitude the way people pray, the way people practice a religion or a ritual. I have a lot of rituals, I do meditation, I do affirmations, I do yoga, and I get down on my knees once a day, no matter where the fuck I am. I thank, you know, God or the universe of my understanding, and for my awareness or another breath for another day, another opportunity. There’s a lot of us that aren’t here. You know, we call, you’ll see all of the ad mats for Biohazard featuring the classic line up. And this is the only line up anybody ever knew of Biohazard. From the moment we put our first album out.
But before we put out our first album, we had another drummer, Anthony Meo. He was the guy who founded the band with me, and he passed away year and a half ago, and he’s not here anymore, and he’s out of time. The four of us still have time. There isn’t a night I’m on stage and I don’t send something, some prayer, some energy or a shout out to Meo.
When you get older, I mean, like, I’m turning 58 in December and I have an amazing young, energetic, vital life, by intention.I see so many people phoning their life in and giving up on their hopes and dreams and thinking change is too hard or it’s impossible, or having limiting self beliefs that they can’t. And that’s not the life that I have or want. I believe anything is possible. I believe I can do anything if I put my mind to it and work hard.I believe that you know you can be becoming a better version of yourself, every day. If you’re committed to self-development.
100%. That is all very true.
I would be surprised to see how my lifestyle is now. Pleasantly surprised.
It’s unfortunate that not everybody sees things that way. They always feel like they can’t get out of a situation, that that’s their life.
They’re stuck. I’ll throw in two quick plugs here. I have two apps that I’ve created and that I’m building communities. One is Mantorship. This is an app from my men’s circle. And the book that I wrote, that’s coming out. It’s a guide for men on how to uncover our truths, shed our lies, tap into our purpose, and our passion, make space, embrace change, embrace the beauty of impermanence. Learn to live by a set of pillars and ethics that make me make us better people. Learning to be accountable to ourselves first in order to show up as better versions of ourselves.
Take care of others and combat this. You know, this epidemic of suicide that’s 80% men around the world and, shockingly new stat this year. Number one, cause of death for all men under 50, Is now suicide. More young men die by their own hand than any other single reason. And that’s, to me, a lack of gratitude. Because if we’re focused on what we have, we can’t be focused on what we don’t have. And when you focus on what you have and you have gratitude, you can manifest an abundance mindset.
And when you’re focused on what you don’t have and where you were slighted and what you don’t like and you’re unhappy with, the outcome of some of, you know, most people in America are pissed off about something outside of their control, yet they continue to complain about it. Bitch and moan. For years, decades, lives. Having the awareness to say the serenity, prayer, to say, you know, okay, I’m unhappy with this situation.There’s nothing I can do about it. So acceptance is the answer to my problems. Gratitude for what is right in my life. And, I spend less and less time in the USA just because, like, primarily because of the attitudes of the people.
It’s… chaos now.
It’s chaos. It’s a shit show. Everybody’s all spun out every time I speak to one of my friends who live in the matrix, they’re like trying to sell me to be aligned with theirs, in their ideas that are on one side or another of some issue that they care about. I often just tell everybody, hey, man, I don’t give a fuck. What are you even talking about? Like, tell me how you feel and how’s your how’s your family? How’s your heart? How’s your health? What are you doing with your time? With your life? What are you creating? Not what are you trying to destroy?
It’s definitely not good times, but these are all good thoughts on how to move forward. With the album, what do you want fans to take away from the album from, start to finish?
The recurring theme and the next installation in the Biohazard saga. The whole thing has been, back and forth about the battle, the struggle,the struggle within, the struggle to survive, the struggle to get along, the struggle to overcome. We were the underdogs. Back when we were coming up, all the bands were from California and they all looked a little different than us. They sounded different from us. We always felt like a bit of outsiders. We found our way. We paved the road to our own destiny. And here we are almost forty years later, in fucking great shape, jumping over each other on the stage like we’re on a basketball court. Engaging with our fans and I think our albums have always been a combination of, deep introspection and the journey within and overcoming. Our own minds and our own self limitations, self beliefs and learning to believe in ourselves. On the other hand, social commentary about all of this divisive shit that keeps us fighting with each other over shit we can’t control. We don’t pay attention to, I don’t know, real change, reform, growth,evolution.
People in America are strung out on prescription drugs, and have really definite opinions about the president and whether they hate him or whether they love him. If they love him, they get some pleasure out of putting it in the face of the people who hate him. And if they hate him, they just hate everything because he’s the president. And it’s like, I don’t give a fuck. I don’t give a fuck. I put my time and energy into creative things, into love, into friendships, into things that I’m really passionate about, like fitness.
I also have a fitness app called Mindful Warrior Fitness. You can go to my website, MindfulWarriorfitness.com. A lot of people remember along my journey me being overweight, out of shape. A couple of times in my life I was eating terribly and not training right and starting to get older. And you realize this is the only life you have, the only body you have. So if you’re looking to get in shape, no matter how old you are in your 30s, your 40s and 50s, or older, I’ve got a tribe of mindful warriors where we train for longevity and vitality. Weight training, gym training, yoga, cardio and I really get involved with my clients, with my warriors, as I call them with their diets. We have a really sophisticated app that, you know, if you put in like you personally put in your height and your weight and your age and we discussed your goals and you say, okay, I want to lose fat and build muscle or whatever everybody wants.
We spit out a program with macros and, recipes and a shopping list so you can take the guesswork out of what to do for dinner. Because, what you put in your body is what you get out. And I’m kind of really into this, plant based vegetarian fitness. I’m in better shape now than I’ve ever been in my whole life. And I’m turning 58, and I’m not special, and I want to inspire other people. I want to be like, I don’t know how old you are. As you remember, Jack LaLanne…
I just actually had my own health transformation too, at a later age, and I’m in my 40s, so.
And what was your transformation? Tell me about your journey. I’m actually interested.
Well, I lost 58 pounds so far.
Fuck. Yeah.
And I’ve been doing the injections, but also a lot of protein and fiber. And I’m also a vegetarian.
So when you say injections, you take Ozempic?
No, it’s Tirzepatide. And the program I use, they, make sure that you have everything that you need so you don’t get the common side effects.
I’m actually. This is so funny. I’m actually. I was approached by one of my best friends. Brother’s ex-wife is remarried to a physical therapist, and I want to say he’s in Fort Lauderdale or something. And they have a suit. It’s like a wet suit looking thing, like a yoga suit that has electric stimulation in it. And the makers of Ozempic, are trying to license this to prevent muscle atrophy in users because when we lose fat, I lost about the same amount of weight as you. My heaviest I was 227. And you know, I’m routinely, you know, between 160 and 175, depending on how I’m eating, how I’m training. And so I lost a similar amount of weight. But what a relief on your joints and your breathing and your sleeping and your digestive system. But you know, you’re not going to take those injections forever.
As you care about Biohazard, you’re helping me. If you ever need, a plan Cuz, you know, when you get off of that, you say, okay, I don’t want to keep taking this because I don’t really know what it’s doing to me. But if I got the desired result, you know, it’s not about going on a diet. It’s about lifestyle change. It’s staying fit.
I think this is a good thing that you brought in the Mindful Warrior Fitness.
Yeah. MindfulWarriorFitness.com. And for the men, mantorship.com, they can follow @mantorshipofficial on Instagram. They can follow me @evanseinfeld if they want to see somebody who’s leveling up and living their best life and doing their best to be mindful and be a better version of myself.
When I moved to Mexico, I don’t know that I liked who I was. I knew in my heart I’ve grown. I’ve been living in my head, in my ego, more than my heart. And it’s a long journey from your head to your heart. I feel like the album is right on par with State of the World Address and Urban Discipline, you know, expressing our, perspective, our frustration with a system, and dishonest people. We sing about things that everyday people can relate to. But it’s always been Biohazard’s kind of blue-collar delivery service. You know?
That’s awesome. And it’s what’s needed at this time. To have those messages addressed to people, because people forget. And I hope that everybody enjoys the album.
This is my first time, last I left the band before the last album even came out. So, you know, the release of that album was, I wasn’t even involved in any of it. I played and sang on the album. And then the band broke up and it was like a long time coming. I feel like it was really good for Biohazard for us to have ten years of time to think. If you have something in your life that really presses your emotional buttons, good and bad. It’s really important to be able to existentialize to step outside of being in it, to be able to look at it and say, do I want this? Does this add value to my life? Look at like, for me personally, I didn’t even entertain the idea of putting Biohazard back together.
I didn’t, I wasn’t talking with those guys. I don’t think anybody was talking with each other. It was just over. And I’m very good at moving on to the next thing. The way the band came back together, it was like by divine order, too long of a story. But it was very coincidental. Not coincidental. And, here we are.
We’ve played over 200 shows, played some festivals with half a million people, plus. We’ve shared the stage with Metallica, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath and every hardcore band in the world. And we just came back from playing with Knocked Loose, at Furnace Fest, in Birmingham, Alabama, and we’re seeing all the young really current bands and checking out how they’ve put their own, personal spin on what is now called hardcore.
Biohazard came from the hardcore scene. I remember, when we first signed to our record, all the record labels Roadrunner, Warner Brothers, Universal, they all kept saying, hey, don’t call yourselves a hardcore band. That’s really limiting. People will think you just playing CBGB’s and yeah, you’re not. You’re not good at your instruments and you guys are more like punk or something. And we were like, hardcore is a way of life, you know, hardcore is, you know, being willing to go to any, any means necessary for something you believe strongly in and, Bobby always says, Bob Dylan and Bob Marley were both hardcore and punks and people who sing about need for rebellion and a need for evolution and need for a forward change. And a change has got to start with us. So, you know, Biohazard, always has this global view, but this personal act locally kind of, work ethic and mentality.
Because, sure, we’re releasing this worldwide album and we’re counting the streams on Spotify and Apple Music and all the streaming platforms everywhere. And what we see is the real fans are buying, vinyl, we’re putting out cassettes and CDs and like the fans are collectors, they want to have something tangible to hold in their hand, to hang on their wall, to save value, to sell on eBay. I don’t know what they’re doing with it. Get it signed by us.
I also wanted to mention, if you’re reading this, if you’re hearing this and you see that Biohazard is coming to town and we’re playing, we very often now offering this kind of, higher level of engagement with the band where we’re doing these VIP meet and greets and a whole bunch of fans come hang out with us at soundcheck, listen to us jam, and we take pictures and we sign shit. And we have like, a gift bag for them. And they get like a special laminated backstage pass. And, you know, guys want a pick, somebody wants a video for their best friend. We really care about our fans because, you know, when we were just four guys standing on the corner in Brooklyn. You never thought we would get out of Brooklyn. We thought this was an uphill battle that, you know, while we believed in our hearts, we could our limiting self beliefs, you know, and the other people around us.
You guys have definitely turned around with a new genre of music over the years. Bands who are inspired by you are now making waves too. Biohazard are now a big landmark in the whole history of music.
That makes me feel better than when I’m on the phone with somebody there, like a new friend of mine that’s like my fucking little brother. Franz from Turnstile that like, I’m so excited to be friends with him. He’s in the fucking coolest and hottest band, and he’s excited to be friends with me because I’m like, uncle, you know, guy’s been doing this for forty years.The truth is, the thing that puts us together is our love for the music and the way it connects with the people.
And like last time he came to one of our shows, he was fucking moshing on stage and stage dive in the middle of our fucking concert. It reminds me of going to see the Cro Mags. or Agnostic Front or Carnivore when I was, you know, 17 and stage diving at their show inspired me to make my own music. Feeling relevant and having the acknowledgment of your peers was not something that we always had. And it’s really beautiful to see. I love the unity in the scene. And, we’re here to stay. Biohazard ain’t going nowhere.
We’ll see you in the pit.
Feature Image Photo Credit: Istvan Bruggen
