by Carlos Ramirez Comments
Attika 7Seinfeld's love for motorcycles lead to his frontman role in Attika 7: "I've been riding since I was 20 and that's the age when I got my first Harley. Indian Larry used to work on my bike, before he passed away. I remember being a kid in Canarsie (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and not being able to afford a motorcycle. But I would get the t-shirts and all of the other stuff that was bike-related. It was always my dream to ride and I'm still really into it.
"Rusty is a legend in the biker world and we met through Jesse James who I used to hang out with all the time. Jesse had built me a chopper as a gift and he had done the same for Rusty. It was kind of like six degrees of Jesse James [laughs].
Seinfeld, who has also found success on the small screen as a cast member of HBO's critically acclaimed Oz series in the late '90s, then tells Noisecreep about the dark period in Coones' life that inspired Attika 7's formation: "Rusty had to go do some prison time (Coones was allegedly part of a drug-smuggling ring and served time in a federal prison) and I stayed in touch with his wife. I even had a "Free Rusty" sticker on my bass during my time in Biohazard. During his time in prison, Rusty taught himself how to play guitar and started writing all of these songs about the isolation he felt being locked up."
Around the same time, Seinfeld was at a crossroads in his musical career: "I had played in Biohazard for so many years and I felt like it was time for me to move on and do something new. I was burn out on Biohazard, but I wasn't sure what I was going to do next. It was the first time I was a free agent in my adult life and it felt liberating. Then not even 24 hours later, Rusty calls me. He already had Attika 7 going and tells me that they had just kicked their singer out of the band and if I would be down to play some shows they had booked already and I said yes."
Seinfeld fell in love with Attika 7's music and when he told Coones that he wanted to focus all of his energy into the band, the guitarist and motorcycle kingpin was elated: "He knew I was serious and felt like he found someone to make his vision for Attika 7 come to life. We wanted to make this a real thing – make an album, tour. We re-worked all of the songs and got them right. Getting Mudrock to work with us was the final piece of the puzzle."
Mudrock, a producer known for his work with bands like Godsmack and Avenged Sevenfold, was behind the boards for Blood of My Enemies, Attika 7's forthcoming debut album. The record features a collection of songs that are unquestionably modern, but utterly classic-sounding at the same time. The gritty riffing and arena-sized choruses on tracks like "Crackerman" and "All or Nothing" will get lodged into your skull from the very first time they come screaming out of your speakers.
"Rusty spent two years in solitary confinement and during that time, he poured his heart out into these songs. The fact that he wanted me to sing these lyrics was an honor for me. We wrote some of the album together, but the songs he wrote in prison were left alone. They're that pure and real. Rusty's journey and all he went through is something that has to be told. There's a song on the album called "No Redemption," but I feel like there will be redemption once the album comes out."
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Blood of My Enemies is set for a July 31 release via Rocket Science Ventures.