Asbury Park, NJ natives, Toothgrinder, have been making waves in the metal scene for a while now, sharing the stage with huge names including Meshuggah, Killswitch Engage, Between The Buried and Me, Polyphia, and The Contortionist. The band consists of Justin Matthews (vocals), Jason Gross (guitar), Matt Arsendorf (bass/backing vocals), Willis Weller (drums) and Johnuel Hasney (guitar/backing vocals). With an extensive live show resume, and two successful albums, ‘Nocturnal Masquerade’ (2016) and ‘Phantom Amour’ (2017) via Spinefarm Records, one thing is predominantly clear – these guys know what they’re doing. The bands incredibly in depth lyrical content has helped them connect with even more fans as their music has progressed since their earlier releases. They have adapted somewhat to the taste of modern fans and began to increase the amount of vocals in their tracks going from essentially an instrumental band to the group we see today with amazing harmony and hooks in their chorus that garner our attention and have us singing along for days upon days. Toothgrinder has already hit the road this year with Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium, the tour kicked off on May 1st in Knoxville, Tennessee and will wrap up on May 18th in Stroudsburg, PA. The band has also made some festival appearances this year as well, and Welcome To Rockville in Jacksonville, Florida was officially the bands first festival appearance followed by Fort Rock in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, then Carolina Rebellion on May 5th and next weekend the band will perform at Rock On The Range in Columbus, Ohio. Toothgrinder is truly coming into their own and receiving the praise that they very much deserve the gentlemen that make up this band are still very much down to earth and care immensely about their fans. They stand behind the lyrical content they put out and they truly want to spread a message that is empowering to the listeners. Their music is already a dominating force to be reckoned with, but when you hear them talk about how they want to be there for their fans and how meaningful fan support is to them it makes you respect the people behind those instruments even more.
After Toothgrinder’s performance at this years Carolina Rebellion we had the opportunity to speak with drummer Wills Weller and guitarist Johnuel Hasney about the bands new album, their progression from their earlier material and the video and lyrics to the track “The Shadow”. In addition Wills and Johnuel also talk about their recent festival performances, seeing Ozzy live, and these legendary bands retiring from music, and saying “Maybe they are just making room for us,” which is said jokingly but the band truly has the talent to achieve legendary status within the rock and metal world. They have started their journey to the top and we only see success from them in the future. You can watch the entire interview below:
