When I heard that a bunch of established Thrashers from San Francisco had joined forces, I immediately became curious to find out what the result would sound like. NEFARIOUS may be a new name on the scene, but when I tell you that their line-up includes musicians from EXODUS, BLIND ILLUSION, HEATHEN, HIRAX, and DEATH ANGEL, I’m sure that will get a lot more of you interested. So far, only one song has been released — and it sounds absolutely killer — but a full-length album is already on the way. So, reasons enough for me to catch up with Rick Hunolt, whom most of you will of course remember as the guitarist from EXODUS, for the following interview…

Greetings Rick and thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Before we talk about NEFARIOUS, I would like to know what actually made you leave EXODUS after so many years, back in 2005. Was it because of personal or musical reasons? And was it a split on good terms or was there any bad blood involved?
“We are still the best of friends. Me leaving EXODUS was not musical. I had a drug problem and had to get my shit together for my two sons that needed a father that was present and not crazy.”

What have you done all those years until now? Did you leave the music business behind completely or did you continue with any projects that didn’t work out in the long run? And what exactly did fuel your fire to play music again? Was re-joining EXODUS ever an option for you or the band?
“I took a long hiatus where I didn’t play my guitar for years. 2012 I went on tour with EXODUS and filled in for Gary along with some guest appearances along the way. I started playing a little bit and wasn’t serious about it until I got a call from Steve Esquivel about a band from Texas that needed a guitar player. We went back and forth a bit. The music was way out there and I thought it was interesting. We ended up calling it DIE HUMANE and we put out an album called “The Grotesque”. I could have started a Thrash band long before, but I had to work and be a Dad. So, I ended up growing cannabis for 10 years until the bottom fell out. I never pursued joining EXODUS again, it never came up.”

Who came up with the idea to form NEFARIOUS, when exactly did you get together and was it just a coincidence that the band ended up having a kind of “all-star” line-up, with Katon W. De Pena (HIRAX) on vocals, Doug Piercy (HEATHEN) on guitars, Tom Gears (BLIND ILLUSION) on bass, Will Carroll (DEATH ANGEL) on drums and yourself on guitars? Have there been any other members involved prior to this line-up already?
“It started as Doug Piercy’s solo project. Tom was obvious because he just played with him in BLIND ILLUSION. Then he needed a drummer and he had just played a show with Will in a band doing NWOBHM songs and asked him if he would be interested in recording some tracks for his songs, which made sense because they both live in San Francisco. Doug asked me to do a couple solos and after talking we decided to do the project together, no vision yet. Doug had a singer from Sweden. They exchanged some tracks, but it wasn’t what Doug was looking for. Doug called me and said what about Katon? I said hell yeah. BLIND ILLUSION had played a show with HIRAX. I played a song with BLIND ILLUSION. We were all there together without a clue we would all become a band. Doug called Katon, and when Katon heard the line-up he was like hell yeah, I am interested, let’s do this and see what happens. I must say he is really in. I mean driving down from Southern California to Oakland, CA and recording and video shoots, every couple of weeks for a couple months. There has been true dedication from all of us.”

So far you only released one song, ‘One Nation Enslaved’, which you also shot a video for (it can be checked out here), but I suppose you have already written a lot more since there’s gonna be a showcase on July 19th and a full length album announced around the same time. So please tell us a bit more about that. How many songs have you finished recording, are they musically in the same vein as ‘One Nation Enslaved’ and can you already reveal the songtitles?
“There are 6 songs on the vinyl. It’s only 6 on the vinyl for sound quality purposes. The vinyl is a limited edition of 500, and they are numbered. So, the vinyl is a collector’s item. There are 8 songs on the CD. All the songs have been recorded and ready to go. The full album will come out July 18 and the show July 19. As for the music, we are a bunch of old Thrash guys, so we are an old school Thrash Metal band, and that is what we got going on. Our music reflects the talent in the band just like ‘One Nation Enslaved’ without the songs sounding the same, it’s all heavy. I can reveal the focus track and album title “Addicted To Power”. The second song and video is ‘Master Plan’ which will be out June 1, 2025. The third song will be ‘Addicted To Power’, and that will come out end of June sometime. The rest of the album titles will be exposed when the album comes out.”

Did you finance the recordings all on your own and now you try to find a label for the release of it?
“This is all in house. We all contribute in different ways and it works great for us. We have a licensing deal with Hectic / Bleeding Priest which is Will Carroll’s vinyl label. Our manager Tambre has had a label since 1985 called Relentless “Metal” Records which we are using as our label for this release, through The Orchard. The recording was done at Tom’s home Subterranean Studio and at Doug’s home Pyramid Studio. As for labels we are doing licensing deals only. The next album is up for consideration to do it ourselves or shop a label, see how this one goes first.”

Tell us a bit more about that video shoot… was it recorded at the rehearsal space of one of your bands, how many takes did you do and who was in charge of the whole shooting process?
“Our manager Tambre and Tom was in charge of the whole thing. The video shoot for ‘One Nation Enslaved’ was a last-minute idea we put together to have some visuals to go with our first release. We did it all ourselves. We did it in Will’s studio at Secret Studio’s in San Francisco. Our manager Tambre shot the whole video with an iPhone, while Sue Martha, and Anne De Pena shot video of the studio and some side shots, then Tom shot video of the close-ups. We did 4 takes. Then Tom and Tambre spend 4 days in Tom’s Subterranean Studio putting it all together. When they knew it would take too long to make some fancy video, Tambre made the decision to just turn it black and white and keep it all raw… just the band playing in a rehearsal studio, poster’s, chords, dirty walls and all. It was also the first time the band ever played together. It was a risk that paid off.”

Who’s the main songwriter in NEFARIOUS or do all members contribute material equally?
“Doug is the master of this project. A few songs were already written by Doug but once we had the full band in place, we are all started working together to contribute in different ways. From riffs, to arrangements, direction, lyrics, etc… We don’t finish a song until everyone is completely happy with it. So it goes through the scrutiny of all.”

Is there a difference in working with Doug as a guitar partner, compared to working with Gary Holt?
“Both are incredibly talented guitar players but very different. As far as creative freedom for me it is equivalent. Both are great. I couldn’t have surrounded myself with better guitar players to work with in my life. I am lucky in that regard.”

Talking of guitars… the guitar that you use in the video looks kinda unique. Is that a custom-made guitar?
“It is… it was hand made by Siggi Braun who is a German Luthier. That one you are talking about is called the RH2 signature. I also have an RH1 and going to order a third soon.”

Since Katon is the vocalist in NEFARIOUS, is he also in charge of the lyrics? Are there any differences in the topics compared to what he comes up in HIRAX?
“Doug writes all the lyrics, Katon helped on a few songs along with the rest of the group. I think the subject matter for NEFARIOUS is a different animal than HIRAX. NEFARIOUS is more serious and focused on today’s world happenings, so to speak.”

There’s 17 bands listed on Metal Archives with the name NEFARIOUS, 16 of them have already split up again, but one Thrash band from Charlotte, North Carolina still seems to be active… Plus there’s also a movie with that name from 2023, so who came up with the idea to name the band NEFARIOUS, what inspired the name and do you think it was a good choice, considering the fact that it’s quite difficult to find info on you guys via Google because of that (at least at this point of time)?
“We decided on the name as a group. If you google NEFARIOUS SF you will find us. We are not worried about it. When we looked none of them were active accept the rapper Nefarious. Our attitude is that we will be THE NEFARIOUS Metal band, the only Thrash Metal band from the SF Bay Area named NEFARIOUS. Don’t care about the movie named Nefarious… there is a movie called Exodus too… hah. If you are a true Thrash Metalhead you won’t have any problem finding us cause you know where to look. We are in all the Metal press all over the world. We already have thousands of views off one song. The word is getting out and only a matter of time before Google catches up with us. We are so lucky to have the Thrash Metal press doing what they have already getting out the word. They are not just the press to me, but also family. I have known some of these people for 40 years!”

Tell us a bit about that upcoming showcase that you will play… where will it take place, what can people expect from you guys, will there be other bands on the bill as well and have you also invited any labels that should check you out?
“This is a showcase and our first show for our fans. First, we just invited our good friends HELL FIRE to close the show, and after selling the room out, the DNA asked us to move the show to the big room so we invited DEFIANCE onto the bill. It is going to be Sat July 19 at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco. It’s going to be a love fest of all the Metal heads from the Bay Area and we are so happy with the overwhelming response and support. Labels are free to come to the party… the more the marrier, but we are not in pursuit of any at this point.”

Ok Rick, that should be enough for now. Thanks a lot for the interview. All the best for July 19th and the upcoming album. If you would like to add anything here that I might have missed out on, you’re welcome to do so.
“Just to tell the fans that we are eagerly awaiting the release of the album and to play shows for all you crazy mother fuckers!”

www.nefariousband.com, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574133265425, www.instagram.com/nefariousbnd

Pics: Dave Hectic (first two)
Interview: Frank Stöver