While state and federal officials point fingers at each other for the Flint Water Crisis, people around the world have been assisting in the relief efforts in Flint, Michigan. Assistance has poured into the community in many forms such as monetary donations, clothing, home water filters and medical aid. The single-most donated item, however, has been bottled water. Millions of cases of bottled water have been delivered to the residents of Flint and while the supply of bottled water doesn’t seem to be slowing down, the simple fact is that there is still a need for clean, bottled water. The need will continue until the water in Flint is deemed safe to drink by everyone. Celebrities have been doing their part as well. Some of the more famous musicians and bands have made significant donations. Pearl Jam donated $100,000. Cher supplied over 180,000 bottles of water and a group led by Mark Wahlberg and Sean “Diddy” Combs provided over one million bottles of water! But it’s not always about how much you can help. The Detroit-based thrash metal band Battlecross may not be as famous as some of those listed above, but they wanted to do something for a community in need. Battlecross held a water drive for Flint at The Token Lounge in Westland, Michigan on Saturday February 20th and Side Stage Magazine was there to talk to the members about it.
Battlecross members Kyle “Gumby” Gunther (vocals), Hiran Deraniyagala (guitar), Tony Asta (guitar) and Don Slater (bass) were all standing in the driveway of The Token Lounge when I arrived. They had a trailer attached to a van with a huge white sign plastered on the side of the trailer that read “FLINT WATER DRIVE”. Cases of water were already piling up inside of the trailer a mere hour into the event. There were scores of Battlecross fans both inside and outside of the venue. The members of Battlecross took time to talk to everyone there, take photos with them and sign autographs on various items that people brought. Battlecross also handed out free posters, stickers and their latest CD, Rise to Power , to anyone who donated water to the cause.
Fans continued to arrive at The Token Lounge and with each fan, the water total rose. I talked to a local metal fan named Jason Fournier, who brought his seven year old daughter Saila to the event. Fournier said, “It’s really cool that a heavy metal band took time out of their schedule to donate to such a good cause. People often give metal bands a bad rap for being anti-society and having negative connotations to their lyrics. Battlecross is showing that metal bands not only care about people, but they care enough to do something about it.” Fournier continued to say, “I brought my daughter because she likes to listen to the music and has never actually met a famous band before. She was stoked to meet the guys in Battlecross and found out that they were just normal people in real life.” Seven year old Saila Fournier added, “They were a little scary because they were tall and had long beards.” Battlecross signed posters for young Saila and that made her really happy.
As the event started to wind down, I managed to pull Gunther and Deraniyagala away long enough to ask them a few questions about the water drive and what was in store for the immediate future of Battlecross.
Side Stage Magazine: Tell me a little bit about why Battlecross is having this water drive. What does the water crisis mean to you?
Gunther: I am from two towns above Flint, one of my best friends and a lot of my friends live in Flint so it’s a hometown issue for me. We just wanted to help the people out by doing something that we can all do. There are a lot of things that you can do to help and we just wanted to do one.
Deraniyagala: We needed to do something. Like Gumby said, we have family and friends from Flint and it’s something that we felt we needed to do. If there’s something we can do to help out – no matter how big or small – if there’s something we can do, we are going to do it. Especially when it hits close to home. We just want to help out.
Obviously, the Flint water crisis has been in the news on almost a daily basis since it became a national and somewhat global story. But late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon may have been one of the single most important celebrities to talk on the subject. He issued a challenge to other celebrities to donate to the cause. How do you guys feel about some of the celebrities who are making donations simply because it’s the “in” thing to do?
Deraniyagala: To me this should not be a pissing contest where people say, “Let’s do this because it’s the cool thing to do.” I think it’s more the fact that, whether people look at it that way or not, it’s the fact that they did something to help. $100,000 is $100,000 to help people and whether that comes from Pearl Jam who maybe has never even been in Flint or a band who is from Flint. To me, I think people need to just stop looking at things like that like “oh they don’t even know about this thing and they’re just jumping on this.” If someone is doing something good, it’s a good thing to do and people need to just accept that and be like “Thank you. Thank you for using your money and your fame to do something good.” Too many people try to look at it like, “They don’t know what’s going on and they’re just disconnected.” Well they just gave a bunch of money for this cause and I think people need to be more appreciative of that. Look at it less of like a contest.
Gunther: Ditto. And if people don’t like it, tell those mother fuckers not to take any of the water they’re giving them and just take care of yourself. If it’s that big of an issue (where the help is coming from) then don’t ask for help.
Deraniyagala: Exactly. Why does it matter where the help is coming from? If you’re getting help, you’re getting help. It blows my mind that when people are in a crisis and someone is willing to help that they say, “you’re not cool enough to help me!” What? I’m giving you money! Weren’t you begging in the first place? Aren’t you the one in need? So, to me, people need to look at is less as a contest and just do something to help. When we were posting about this water drive one person said to us that we beat them to it. I was like what do you mean? This is not a contest. If you want to do something, do your own thing. Do it! Fucking do something to help out. This is not a contest! It’s not about who is doing the most or whatever. If you can help out, help out in any way you can. That’s what it’s all about man.
Why did you pick The Token Lounge as the place to have this water drive?
Gunther: This is our Detroit home.
Deraniyagala: This is where we started out doing shows and this has been a home to us. We wanted to do it out here because we know that people can’t always just go to Flint and help out that way. We wanted to have somewhere close to here so people from this area can at least help out.
Gunther: The Flint crowd knows where to go to help the Flint crowd. Detroit does not know how to help the Flint crowd.
Deraniyagala: Exactly. We wanted to do something to bring the help here. John (Anton) has been a good friend of ours and we have played many shows here so it’s really cool for him to open up his place and have us just come and hang out.
How has the turnout been today?
Gunther: We have a respectable amount of water!
Deraniyagala: I’d say so! It was put together fairly quickly and we put out some fliers. Most of the promotion was done on Facebook. Everything was done that way and we were hoping to just do something to help out. Hopefully people have gotten out and the word has gotten around.
I obviously brought some (water) on behalf of Side Stage Magazine.
Deraniyagala: Yes and thank you!
2015’s Rise to Power had a strong debut in August. How are sales at this point in the life of the record?
Deraniyagala: Pretty good. I know it outsold the last record.
Gunther: I stopped keeping track after three months. (laughs).
Deraniyagala: Yeah. Honestly, we heard it sold more than War of Will and that’s all that really matters. It’s not chart topping or anything.
Gunther: I didn’t get a Grammy so we didn’t exceed my expectations.
But Ghost got a Grammy. How do you guys feel about that? A lot of people are saying that Ghost isn’t really metal.
Gunther: Well….they’re heavy though.
Deraniyagala: At least it wasn’t Tenacious D or some other non-metal band. I thought Ghost’s new album was great.
Gunther: I hated their music. I thought it was, I just hated everything about it. Then I saw them live and I was like, “Huh. That’s heavy as shit. I’m going to shut the fuck up.” You have to see it live because then you’re like “Oh! So that’s what this shit is like. Ok. I get it now.”
What are the plans for the immediate future of Battlecross?
Deraniyagala: We have some touring plans coming up in the spring. We are going to Europe this summer.
Any plans to play in some festivals this year?
Deraniyagala: Not in the U.S. right now. I think we are trying to set up some European festivals.
If you could record any cover song as part of a new record, what song would it be and why?
Deraniyagala: I would like to do “Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley. It would be killer. I think it would be an awesome cover. I think it’s cool because I think the song is really cool. I like the lyrics. I think that if someone made it metal it could be really awesome. I think it’s one of those songs that could just be a metal song.
Gunther: I just cracked some old The Black Dahlia Murder the other day on my phone. I haven’t listened to it in a while and I was thinking, “That’s my shit right there mother fucker!” So, my song would be The Black Dahlia Murder “Closed Casket Requiem”. That’s my jam.
If you could add a member of any band (alive or dead) to Battlecross who would you add and why?
Gunther: Hacksaw Jim Duggan (laughs). Yeeeeeeeah Boooooooooooy!
Deraniyagala: Ah fuck. I gotta say Dimebag (Dimebag Darrell). I mean it would be fucking cool to have Dimebag jam with us. You know what I mean? Even if it was just one song. I’d be like, “Hey Dime, come rip a solo on this song.” It would be the ultimate honor. Gumby?
Gunther: Hacksaw Jim Duggan. I’m not fuckin around. He doesn’t need to play shit. Just the two by four and get the pit moving bro. That’s all we need.
Deraniyagala: That would be pretty awesome.
Think about all of the interviews you guys have had, is there a question that you’ve never been asked and always wanted to answer?
Gunther: Which hand do I masturbate with? I’m a switch hitter. We’ve had some weird stuff.
Deraniyagala: I’ve had some people ask me weird stuff and a lot of basic questions about stuff. Honestly, I don’t know man. It’s one of those things like I guess I’d like to hear a question that’s like maybe something that doesn’t have anything to do with the music. Just something that you would like to know about the artist. You know what I mean? Like something completely off the topic. Basically, just getting to know the person besides what we do in music. Something like that would be cool.
Is there anything else you’d like to say to your fans?
Gunther: Thanks!
Deraniyagala: Thank you! We love you guys and thanks for all of the support that we have. It’s just been never ending and we really appreciate it.
Keep up with Battlecross on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages!
