Greetings Billy and welcome to Sentinel Daily! Thanks for contributing to our end-of-year retrospective. You’ve got a new album out under the Billy Bio imprint – are you happy with the reactions to the record you’ve heard so far? “Hello! The new BillyBio record Feed the Fire drops this Friday (November 30th) and I’m beyond psyched to get this record out there! The reactions have been great and although I never make music to worry what other people will think, I like it when others get the same energy from the record that I get!”

We certainly did!. It’s an incredibly fired-up sounding record – the general consensus in the Sentinel Daily office is that it’s our favourite thing you’ve done since (Biohazard‘s 1996 album) Mata Leao – was it as fun to make as it is to listen to? “Awesome. I’ve always looked at my music as having three stages. There’s the album you have in your head, the sound, the vibe, the energy… the picture is all there and just needs to be captured on canvas. Then there’s the actual record you create and in the end, there’s the album that you wished you would had created. For me, this is the first time in my career I hit all three on the head!”

Congratulations! Other than recording and putting out the album, how has 2018 treated you generally? “It’s been a great year, I spent a lot of time on the road with Powerflo, teamed up with a lot of good people (and old friends) to help me put out my first solo release as BillyBio… and I’m going back on the road this Friday until the holidays! Life is good!”

And what about Worldwide situation?– has it been a good year for us as a species? “Well, the current world situation inspired Feed the Fire so that’s a good and bad thing. I’m never at a loss for inspiration and my music has always been a mirror of my world and experiences. Since this is an end of the year wrap up, I’ll leave it at that”.

Fair enough. Back to you – have any albums (apart from yours) stood out as being special this year? “Besides what I’m working on as a producer; Cutthroat, Muscaria, Viral, Yard of Blondes, et cetera… I love the new Madball, Sick of It all, Terror, Lionheart, All Hail the Yeti and POD albums. I love stumbling onto new bands – for me recently bands like Anderson Paak and Certain Death. Coming home the other night from seeing All Hail the Yeti I bumped into Night Night at the Viper Room, bought their record and loved it! I wasted too much time in life ONLY liking hardcore/punk/metal… those are still my staples but I like finding new bands also”.

That’s good to hear! To move away from 2018 for a moment – your place within the NYHC scene is well documented, as is Biohazard’s groundbreaking fusion of metal, rap and hardcore. But growing up, were there any forms of music that piqued the young Graziadei ear that perhaps we’d be a bit surprised to learn now? “Finding Led Zeppelin IV in my father’s record collection was a gem! I then stumbled onto Queen, Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rolling Stones, The Doors… then on my own I found Kiss! But it was punk rock that set my passion on fire!”

You went quickly from being influenced musically to becoming an influence yourself for thousands of up-and-coming underground musicians – how did you adjust to that change in ‘status’, and what advice would you give to aspiring young musos now, knowing what you now know? “I have always been just me, trying to share what I have inside of me. I don’t take it as anything special or different, it’s just what I found as my calling in life. To hear people be inspired or influenced by what I do is an honour and I’m humble and thankful for that; but I still get up and put my pants on one leg at a time then head to work every day! Advice? Learn as much as you can then throw it all away and play from your heart and do it for the love of it! If something happens then great. If  nothing comes of it, then at least you had a great time doing it!”

Wise words indeed. Now, on to 2019 – will you be able to get much touring done for the new album? And might that include Australia, dare we ask? The last time I saw you live was at the Marquee in London on the State of the World Address tour – too many years ago! “That’s the plan! Can’t wait to get back there to Australia! The Marquee! Wow, that was amazing, a lot of great memories from those days!”

So true! Anything else you think the readers of Sentinel Daily should know? “I have so many great stories from touring Australia, looking forward to making more! Be on the look out for some more interviews where I can get more into those stories!”

Thanks for taking part!