VIO-LENCE's SEAN KILLIAN Is Open To Recording New Music With Band's Revamped Lineup

In a new interview with Australia's Subculture Entertainment, vocalist Sean Killian of VIO-LENCE — whose current touring lineup also includes drummer Adrian Aguilar (EXMORTUS),guitarist Miles Dimitri Baker (VOIDBRINGER, INTERLOPER, ex-RINGS OF SATURN),bassist Christian Olde Wolbers and guitarist Ira Black (VICIOUS RUMORS, HEATHEN, METAL CHURCH) — was asked if there are plans for him and his bandmates to record a new full-length album. He replied (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, for sure. We started working on some stuff, and then Phil [Demmel, VIO-LENCE's founding guitarist], he got a lot of great opportunities for himself — going out with LAMB OF GOD [as a touring guitarist] and doing some other awesome, great things. So that kind of paused [the songwriting process]… Phil's got a lot going on, not just with music, but his family and Marta, his wife, is in BLEEDING THROUGH and they do stuff, and they own a business.

"My friendship with Phil is more important than music," Killian explained. "Together we write great. But I wanna add — Christian is a great writer. We've got Miles Dimitri Baker in the band; he's another great creative brain. I wanna put some stuff together and release… I'd like to release a full-length record, but it's kind of hard these days 'cause it takes… You don't wanna do so many songs that you just start kind of creating songs that are just there to fill space. I never wanna do that, and neither does Phil or anyone else in this band. So the EP format is great for us. We can really focus and create tracks that we feel really positive about instead of trying to make 12 songs all at once: 'Well, this we were gonna use on that song, but we need to fill space, so let's use it on this song.' I never wanna be in that position. And I know a lot of bands these days, doing 12-song records has gotta be difficult. And trying to produce them every other years has gotta be a challenge. I want the challenge to be not 'Do we fill space?' or 'Can we get 12 songs?'; I want the challenge to be 'Is this the best shit that we can put out?' And that five-song format really kind of is a good format for us to try to achieve that."

VIO-LENCE played its first show with Aguilar at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, California. Aguilar joined VIO-LENCE following the departure of Perry Strickland.

Demmel is sitting out the group's shows in Asia, Australia and New Zealand this month and is being replaced by Baker.

Notably, VIO-LENCE's shows in Asia, Australia and New Zealand feature only Killian from the lineup that played its first comeback gig in April 2019 at the Oakland Metro in Oakland, California. The VIO-LENCE lineup that appeared at the Metro consisted of Killian, Demmel, Strickland, bassist Deen Dell and guitarist Ray Vegas.

Strickland announced his departure from VIO-LENCE last month by sharing a video of him performing with the band and captioning it: "I'll Miss playing these songs !" After one fan asked Perry in the comments to clarify whether he has in fact exited the group, Strickland responded: "yes about a month ago".

Among the people reacting to Strickland's announcement was former OVERKILL and VIO-LENCE guitarist Bobby Gustafson, who wrote: "Good luck with what ever you do in the future. We had some good times finally."

On February 26, Demmel addressed VIO-LENCE's future in an Instagram Live video, saying it was "kind of weird playing these shows" with "a bunch of fill-ins and me and Sean." He added that while Adrian is "awesome" and the Whisky gig "was packed", he is "just kind of really torn right now in the sense of what VIO-LENCE is and what it's gonna be and what my role is gonna be in that and how I feel about that." Demmel went on to say that he told Killian he "wanted to shut [VIO-LENCE] down," but then he realized "that to ask that of those dudes to not do it anymore is selfish on my part."

Demmel also confirmed that he will perform with VIO-LENCE at the Hell's Heroes V preparty on March 23 in Houston, Texas and at the Milwaukee Metal Fest in late May in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but revealed that he will likely scale down his live appearances with the band, to the point where he will no longer play any live shows with the group.

In March 2022, VIO-LENCE released a new EP, "Let The World Burn", via Metal Blade Records. The five-song collection, VIO-LENCE's first original release since 1993's "Nothing To Gain", was tracked at Trident Studios in Pacheco, California by Juan Urteaga (MACHINE HEAD, EXODUS),mixed by Tue Madsen (DARK TRANQUILLITY, HEAVEN SHALL BURN) and mastered by Ted Jensen (ALICE IN CHAINS, DEATH ANGEL).

Formed in 1985, VIO-LENCE helped define and refine what came to be known as the Bay Area sound, dropping three seminal albums before splitting in 1993. Leaving behind a heady legacy, they reformed briefly a couple of times in the intervening years before becoming a full-time going concern once more in 2019. After playing a string of successful shows, the quintet started to think about new music and delivered "Let The World Burn", showcasing their first new material in 29 years.

VIO-LENCE's recording lineup on "Let The World Burn" consisted of Gustafson, Demmel, Killian and Strickland along with Olde Wolbers.

VIO-LENCE reunited soon after Demmel left MACHINE HEAD in late 2018.

Demmel was in MACHINE HEAD for nearly 16 years, during which time he played on five of the group's studio albums: "Through The Ashes Of Empires" (2003),"The Blackening" (2007),"Unto The Locust" (2011),"Bloodstone & Diamonds" (2014) and "Catharsis" (2018).

VIO-LENCE played its first show with Black in August 2022 at the Brutal Assault festival in Jaromer, Czech Republic.

Black, who grew up in the Bay Area and previously played with VICIOUS RUMORS, HEATHEN and METAL CHURCH, filled in for Demmel, who was on the road at the time with LAMB OF GOD as the temporary replacement for Willie Adler.

Although MACHINE HEAD frontman Robb Flynn was part of VIO-LENCE's classic incarnation and played on the band's debut album, "Eternal Nightmare", he wasn't approached about taking part in the band's reunion.