Joe Hafer discusses metal band Nagazi, East Coast tour
The band Nagazi.
Now that they have played just about everywhere in Michigan, it’s time for the metal band Nagazi to tour the East Coast.
Nagazi is a band from Mount Pleasant that formed in 2013. Since then they have released three singles, two EPs and one full-length album.
Nagazi consists of members Joe Hafer, vocals; his brother Jeff Hafer, drums and backup vocals; Doug McGuire, bass and backup vocals and Matthew J. Ruffino, guitar and backup vocals.
Joe, the band’s frontman, said their band could be described as “stoner thrash” metal, having been described as the speed of Anthrax, the groove of Clutch, and the power of Lamb of God.
He said Lamb of God, Pearl Jam, Sevendust and White Zombie are his main influences.
On Nov. 8, the band embarked on the "Unleashed Tour," their first tour outside of Michigan, with most of the dates booked in states like Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. They will conclude at the end of the month with two Michigan shows – Nov. 21 at Rubble’s Bar in Mount Pleasant and Nov. 23 at The Loft in Lansing.
Central Michigan Life sat down with Joe to talk about Nagazi's music, tour and live performances.
CM Life: Would you say the sounds of New York hardcore is an accurate way to classify your music?
Joe: It could be. We try not to put a specific (label on the music). Basically, the guitar player comes up with a riff, we put some drums to it, it plays for a while before we put some lyrics to it. The songs are what they are. It’s not like, “this needs to be a fast, thrashy punk song” or “this one we’re trying to go for this.”
So, your songs are built around the guitars?
Guitar and drums are the bases. A lot of people like to write songs to lyrics.I like to hear the song. I like to hear the drums. We’ll jam it for a while. We’ll play it for up to two to three months before we even put words to it. You don’t want to force it. You want it to feel authentic. I’m going to let the music speak to me, and see (if it’s) an upbeat or does it have a darker tone to it. Everything’s got kind of the same purpose, but it’s a different avenue of getting there for every song.
How did you guys set up the tour?
We contacted the Sights Set North Agency, a booking company out of Detroit. We were recommended to a gentleman from them by a friend. We hit him up, told him what we wanted to do. He asked us what we are looking to get out of this; we told him we’re just trying to get the name out and build off of that. He set up everything and contacted local promoters in every area … Basically, we spent the first four years of this lineup (playing) damn near every city in Michigan as many times as possible. (We were) not really worried about over saturating. We were just trying to get the word out so that people knew who we were. We had a pretty good run of that for four years so now we’re going to try to take that insane philosophy and apply it to a bigger region. We’ll kind of draw back from Michigan shows and beat the shit out of the rest of the country until they know who we are or boo us off the stage.
What are you hoping to get out of this tour?
I’m not expecting huge turnouts. Obviously no one knows who we are (since) it’s our first time setting foot inside a town – into a bar we’ve never played, for fans who have never met us. Basically, we are trying to get word of mouth. Your first time in a venue you’re basically trying to impress the promoter, the sound engineer and anyone who might be in the crowd. Hopefully, (the promoter) will help you get a bigger show.
How do you describe your stage presence?
Show a little confidence up there. It’s a fine line between cocky and confident but no one wants to watch someone just stand there. We try to be all over the stage. We try to be high energy. The drummer is kind of confined to a drum kit but he stands up and cheers on the crowd when he can. We try to put out a good energy that makes you want to move. Hopefully fast enough to create enough energy to return back to us … leave a memory. Whether it’s a visual or audible memory, make people remember who you were.
