O.J. Ojeda: My whole family is filled with singers, keyboardists, and guitarists. I finally picked up the guitar in junior high when my skating buddies wanted to form a band. I thought it was cool and it kept me out of trouble. From then on I never stopped. 16 years of chugging on the E string!
Was there a song or album that inspired you to want to perform music?
Not really. Metallica started me off with Master Of Puppets and And Justice For All. Then it was Anthrax, Testament, Sepultura and Overkill. It was a barrage of cool music that had me wanting to play music forever.
You guys, like a lot of bands, have abandoned your own site and have MySpace as your main web presence. Is that mainly a financial concern, or because MySpace got that much more traffic than your regular website did?
MySpace is the easiest way to connect with fans. Everyone and their mother has a MySpace site. Also you can update it easily without knowledge of HTML. It’s kinda hard to pay a webmaster when you have no money. MySpace is the way to go until something else kicks its ass.
Do you have a day job?
We always have. I have worked 40 hours a week since we formed Byzantine back in 2000. All of the members have day jobs as well. We have never really made a dime in profit playing music. In order to make money you have to write “hits” or tour constantly. When we did tour we would have to work overtimes at our jobs to save up money to tour on. I deliver drugs for pharmacies and am flipping a house as well.
Is there much of a metal scene in West Virginia?
There is but it ebbs and flows. Some clubs will open up and the metal bands will come out and play and then the clubs will close and the scene will dry up for a while. There are a ton of metalheads but the population and the terrain make it hard for good bands to get noticed and signed. We lucked out in my opinion.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Free the West Memphis Three! Those boys are the epitome of a corrupt judicial system. I think in the next few years they will be vindicated and what a joyous day that will be!
