Tom recently got the chance to talk to guitarist Nige Rockett, of legendary British Trashers, Onslaught.

After taking a 15yr break Onslaught have now been back together for a few years, are you happy with the chemistry and balance of this line-up now? Can we expect the current line-up to be around for a long time now?
"Yeah, definitely. This is by far the most talented line up Onslaught has ever had; there's a lot of creativity going on in the band right now, and that really takes a lot of the pressure away from me!"
"Of course, we have our down moments, as every band does, but we're all big enough to deal with that shit and get on with doing what's best for Onslaught; we're all focused and very confident for the future…"

Your latest record, and the second since reuniting, Sounds of Violence, has just come out, what's the initial response been like?
"The response has been totally mind blowing to be honest!" "S.O.V." has, in its first 4 weeks of release at least, sold nearly what the "Killing Peace" album did in the last 4 years!"
"The press have really taken to the album and "S.O.V." was 'Most Added Record' on the whole of US radio in its first week over there and remained in the top 10 radio charts for 3 weeks; we're really happy right now…!"

How would describe the sound and vibe of your latest record?
"Well, the sound is quite modern; it's very raw and aggressive; we wanted to compliment some of the Old School Thrash feel with a modern slant. The overall vibe throughout the album is based hugely on the theme of 'violence'; right through from the sleeve design to the music and on to the lyrics, its violence all the way…!"
"We live in a fucked up world in 2011 and this is just our musical impression of what we see every day, all around us…!"

You had Andy Sneap as producer on 2007's Killing Peace, how come you went with Jacob Hansen for this record?
"Well, we spoke to Andy Sneap at the beginning of 2010 and he was very honest… He said he couldn't take on any further work for that year, as he was so busy, and, obviously we then had to look further afield. It was vital for this Onslaught to get to the studio and we couldn't really wait…"
"Our new label, AFM had worked with Jacob before and made a very good recommendation. We checked out his previous work which was extremely cool; it was really lively with a very big / heavy sound, which was exactly what we were looking for; and after speaking to him, we knew Jacob was a massive Onslaught fan, which really swung the decision for us! We knew he would really put his heart and soul into making this record, and that's just what happened."

What was it like recording with Hansen though? How did his producing style differ to Andy's?
"Well, I must say it was great working with both guys but both have quite different styles… Andy's was kinda' old school; long hours and off down the pub at the end of the night; whereas Jacob always works from 9 - 5pm, strictly?"
"At first we found that very strange, but once we understood his methods, it was a fantastic way to work; everyone was totally fresh and focused on the next day's session and things were far more productive because you were allowed lots of time to rest and relax."
"We really want to think of Jacob now as part of the Onslaught team for the future; I can't see us making another record without Jacob's involvement, I really rate him that highly!"

How did the decision to cover "Bomber" on the new record come about?
"We hadn't done a cover song for many years, so when the label asked what ideas we had for "S.O.V." bonus tracks, we thought that now was the right time for us to try a new one out?"
"Motorhead have always been a big influence on Onslaught and we grew up jamming their songs, so it was an obvious choice!"
"Bomber", though a classic Motorhead song, was not such an obvious one for a 'Thrashtastic' cover and that's exactly why we decided on it. We gave ourselves a bit of a challenge with this one because it's a really bluesy song… It was pretty tough to make it really heavy and thrashy; but we're really pleased with the way things turned out!"

It must have been cool to have Phil Campbell be part of the track? And how did it come about that Sodom vocalist, Tom Angelripper, also appeared on the track?
"Yeah for sure!! We've known Phil for many years now, going right back to the touring we had with Motorhead on the '87 'Orgasmatron' tour; he's a really cool guy.. He was very much into the idea of playing on the track and really made all the difference to how the final version sounded. However much we played that riff, we simply couldn't make it sound the way Phil does with that particular riff; he really gave the track the perfect blend of Motor'Slaught!"
"With Tom Angelripper, again, it was a case of the 'friends network' working in our favour; we've got really friendly with the Sodom guys over recent years and we knew they were in the studio making their new record when we were; so I thought it would be cool to ask Tom to share the vocals with Sy? He totally loved the idea; we sent over the backing tracks and he nailed the whole song like the true pro..! I love the way Sy's vocals and Tom's work together."

2007's Killing Peace was released on Candlelight Records; what led you to signing with AFM Records for "Sounds of Violence" then?
"Well, we'd only signed a 1 album deal with 'Candlelight'; with a 2 way option for a second release, and we simply decided not to take it up!"
"We chose to send out demos to 4 select labels, 3 of which came back with offers…. We'd previously worked with AFM (one of the 3 labels), on a thrash compilation they'd released 2 years ago; we found them very professional and a pleasure to work with. AFM are a German label and are very well established there, which was very appealing; Germany is the 2nd biggest market for metal in the World, so it was vital to have good representation there… But, I think the final thing that made our minds up, was seeing the great job the label did with latest Fear Factory album "Mechanize"; they really showed what a great label they are with that!"

You'll be playing the Saturday at next month's HammerFest in Prestatyn, North Wales, are you looking forward to it? What can we expect from your set?
"Yeah; it's always cool playing in the UK because it's something we don't do that often. It's always nice coming home!"
"As always, with Onslaught, you're going to get an "In your face, full on, aggressive show". We're gonna be playing a few new tracks for sure! But it's getting really hard to choose set lists these days, especially for festivals! We have quite a big back catalogue. It would be suicide to ignore the older albums, so we're gonna try to strike a happy balance somehow? Nice problem to have though, I guess?"

What are your touring plans after HammerFest?
"There are lots of shows in the planning stage right now… We start the 1st leg of the 'Scream For Violence' tour at the start of April, when we head out to Northern Europe for a month… We are playing shows in Finland / Sweden / Denmark / Germany / Poland / Latvia / Estonia / Lithuania / Czech Rep / Austria / Belgium and Holland on this run… Then comes the Festival season, where we play 'Wacken' and the touring 'Metalfest' to name just a few…."
"But, plans are afoot for the US / Japan / South America; the UK / Southern Europe and Greece in the pipeline right now. It's going to be a really busy year or two!"

Aside from your hometown, which is the city you most look forward to playing?
"That's a tough one mate! There's so many amazing places we've played, that it's so hard to choose just one; Athens / Bogota or Mexico City maybe? Or one where we have never played yet, maybe?? Hmmm; I'd have to go for San Francisco or LA, and that's on the list for this year!"

Yes, I was going to ask that? What's been the biggest highlight for you during Onslaught's career would you say then?
"Jeez, that's another hard one man! Even though 'In Search Of Sanity' is an album we kind of shy away from right now, because of the obvious problems surrounding that particular period for the band and that line up, it has to be the achievement of selling almost 80,000 copies of this record in its first week of release, that stands out. The album was Top 40 National Charts in the UK and a No.2 album in Japan, only kept off the No.1 spot by Metallica; that was a really big deal for us, believe me!"

If you had the chance to go out on tour with any other band, who would it be?
"No contest… Metallica!!"

Famous last words…
"Well, I'd just like to say a huge thank you to all our fans and the press that have been so supportive of Onslaught throughout the years and especially since 2005; it's been an amazing time! We hope you all massively enjoy the new record and we'll see you all very soon on the 'Scream For Violence' tours…!!! Cheers!!"


You can find Onslaught at any of the following sites:
Myspace: www.myspace.com/onslaughtuk
Official Website: www.onslaughtfromhell.com
Fan Site: www.powerfromhell.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/onslaughtuk
Street Team Site: www.myspace.com/onslaughtstreetteam