Forbidden are back after an 11 year hiatus. As on on the leading lights of the second wave of Thrash bands to emerge from the now legendary Bay Area it is only now the bands true impact is being recognised. Metal Chaos, ahead of their home town come back shows spoke with main man Craig Locicero and recent recruit Gene Hoglan.

Craig: I'm so keyed up from practice. We're jammin' every night right now and we're starting to sound good. I just couldn't sleep last night so I was up at five, so I'm on the coffee right now.

Gene: I real good, just enjoying my rehearsal time with the guys.

Craig: I feels great. I knew it would but I was just waiting for the right time to do this kind of thing and I had to be inspired. I had to a lot of things to do over the last couple of years that have inspired me and a lot of stuff I needed to do but this was an itch I really needed to scratch. By doing this (reunion) it offers up either some closure if that is the next step or if we're going to do something afterwards then it will organic and natural. It is just great to be able to look over and see those guys along side me and then to look behind me and see Gene is pretty much the ideal situation.

Gene: It's just awesome. Craig has been my brother for the last twenty years and Forbidden have been one of my favourite bands of all time. It is a lot blast and I'm having just a great time. We've done about five rehearsals so far and we're tightening up. I mean I know the songs really well and all these guys know their stuff. Russ and Matt came in for the first time the other day and were pleased with the progress we'd made.

Craig: The 2001 reunion was done just for Chuck (Billy) and I wasn't involved in that as I was tied up in the studio but gave my blessing for them to do it as Forbidden was really my baby. Glen called me up and told me they were going to do this and they were going to do that and I was like really, are you really (laughs)? I was making a record with Man Made God at the time and at that time there was like no way I could get away. It really broke my heart but at the same time I was really glad Chuck got the support. It was something I wanted to do but just couldn't and I really had no choice. They did it, it was fun but there was no impetus to continue. It was a lot better than karaoke but not the real thing. The reunion now isn't permanent for the moment. It is something we'll delve into this year, make some commitments for some dates and see what happens. Right now we're just so fired up to play the old stuff but in terms of writing new stuff that is a whole other ball of wax.

Craig: Not right now there isn't. In my personal situation I have an album coming out in April so I have that going on but I have set aside a good portion of my year to Forbidden so there is commitment there and it is real. We're really excited to be playing live and to get to go to places like Europe again. The other thing is that when it came to writing it would have been myself and the drummer writing, trying ideas and popping things off one another but at the moment just writing a bunch of riffs and handing them over, it just doesn't feel like that is the same type of thing. It would want to keep it as it was.

Forbidden had a number of line up changes over the course of your 4 albums so what makes Craig, Russ, Matt, Glen and now Gene the right line up  for 2008?

Craig: Well because it was really the first line-up. Paul would be doing this but he joined Testament at the same time. It was the line-up that had the most raw energy, it is the original line-up minus the drummer. I have nothing bad to say about Paul but I have lot of good stuff to say about Gene. Paul being tied into Testament is the only reason he's not with us, he just doesn't have time. He even made advances saying "I could show up this day and do this show" but that isn't reality because you get to know everyone rehearsing, you don't just show up on stage and bark out a set. That just doesn't work. We're pretty meticulous as we're the sort of band that like to have all our parts worked out. That is actually one of the things I didn't miss about playing that kind of metal is being so meticulous but it sure is fun now, but you can't just come in and half ass it. Paul wouldn't have wanted to do that but he made to much commitment as he has a contract with those guys for a year so it's not like he can jump off after a week and come to rehearsals.  

Craig: Gene and I have been friends for so long it is like we are two fingers of the same hand. I'm only speaking for me personally, I loved playing with Paul for two records as that had a certain energy and power to it but I really liked playing with Steve Jacobs because he could do whatever Paul could do and would smooth it all out and it became more of a groove thing. Gene brings so much to the table, I mean he is like Steve but multiple levels ahead in the way he looks at the big picture. Playing with Gene is like playing with an organic robotic machine, it all comes from the heart and the head it is everything I would ever have wanted as a guitar player. He comes up with parts and elaborates on them and adds to them and it is fucking amazing. Where we're rehearsing is a big sound stage and there are more metal bands there than I realised as every time Gene goes out for a smoke there is pretty much a crowd sitting outside the door. They're all firing up cigarettes asking him how's it going?  

The reaction to Forbidden's return to the live arena appears to have been met with a rapturous response; did you ever expect or comprehend the impact the band had on people?

Craig: Honestly no, it is very humbling and I have to make sure that is really understood. As much as it could be interpreted as some sort of ego trip none of us are looking at it like that, it is more of a reality check that what we did did have more staying power than we ever thought it would. How do they say it, the cream rises eventually? I think that is what happened as we were overlooked and mishandled throughout our career from label to label they never quite knew how to get us in the publics mind. A lot of the bands that are out right now who are doing pretty well are really influenced by Forbidden and will tell you that; bands like Slipknot and Lamb Of God and the list goes on. Every time I go to see Gene at a show it like "holy crap the Forbidden guys are here"! So over time I think the music really got appreciated and got the respect I think it deserved. A lot of kids are going backwards and trying to learn the history of metal and Thrash, and they were realising that whatever was going on in the 80's and 90's was a pure, raw, unfiltered time. Once any scene becomes to self aware the special part of it wears off and falls to the wayside. Forbidden never made it to that point, we evolved sure but we didn't become a parody of ourselves as we stopped at the right time in a way. I believe it is the perfect time for us to come back. I only speak for me as that is who you are talking to but I'm really glad I pulled out when I did as there is a whole lot of learning I did that is coming to the table right now. I learned how to write real songs, I think Forbidden songs have great riffs and great parts but they weren't really songs, they are becoming songs now because of the way they are being presented and played. It's just part of being young that raw energy.

Craig: I can go one by one. Russ kinda took the same stance as I did and tried to find his way through other music he really liked but he didn't try to do as much with it, he wasn't trying to make that big record. He just kinda took a different route and didn't care about being in the public eye, he said I've got a cool life, I've got a cool job and I'm not going to kill myself to get out there. Forbidden is the one thing he liked to do and get out there in front of people and go for it. Glenn played in Testament for a number of years pre James Murphy and then after James left. I think the thing is everyone has a really great job, like Matt. He is studying to be a Lawyer. He is going to be our bass player and all round law advisor. Paul, well everyone knows what he has been up to with Slayer, Exodus and now Testament. Tim (Calvert) is a full time pilot so he is not available to do a lot right now and given that there were not that many line up changes you know, one guitar and one drummer change over four records really isn't that much. There was so much more music written than was ever put on record and if I could find the 2 inch tapes we might put them out there. I sat here looking at the 2 inch tapes of Twisted Into Form and seriously considering getting Andy Sneap to mix it, he wants to and that album would sound a whole lot better with just a little bit of work, doing nothing more than turning up a guitar here. The mix is really dodgy on that album but I still love that record.

Forbidden are now in rehearsals for two co-headline dates with Death Angel in late February. How are the rehearsals shaping up and are those two shows a spring board for more shows?

Craig: We actually have three more shows before that in different parts of California. We have the two sold out shows with Death Angel which they called and asked if we'd be interested in co-headlining and I was immediately like fuck yeah! That was the one band I toured with that I felt that everyone got everything out of both bands. We had a way of pushing each other while still encouraging one another. Those guys really are our best friends in the scene and we have a lot of friend up here but those guys really are our best friends! After that we got some stuff in Europe for a couple of months, in fact we have just got a date in London which was confirmed, middle of June. I mentioned the venue to Gene and he knows it so should be cool.

Gene: I'm hoping I get to get over to Europe. If my schedule opens up then absolutely, it would be great. I'm booked up pretty much through until October but if things open up like they might, then of course I'll do what I can. Right after these dates I'm back on tour to Canada and Europe. If everything goes to plan I get a day off in October.

On the topic you live shows I see from you MySpace site that the majority of the set for the forthcoming shows will be material from "Forbidden Evil" and "Twisted Into Form". Why not "Distortion" and "Green" also?

Craig: I think in retrospect that is how many people view Forbidden through their eyes. Right now it's quite simple, we'll play the older stuff that people know but the interpretation of the songs is very new, very fresh, it's not going to be exactly like the album tracks. I believe it will be much much better, we're playing the old songs and they are so pulverizing and so much more brutal. We'll of course play some tracks from the other two records, but those songs tend to go over better in Europe. So we'll be playing more of that stuff out there.

Given that most people have to now buy their Forbidden records on ebay, are you looking to get your back catalogue reissued?

Craig: We're in the process of gaining all the rights back for every record and be able to put them out on one label again. That's going to take a few more months but that is the plan. We'd like to put out everything again with a bit of a different angle.

Who better to ask than one of the leaders of the second wave of Thrash. Numerous up and coming Thrash bands have credited your respective bands as a direct influence on their music. Are you at all conscience of this when you get back up on stage?

Craig: Not the moment I'm on stage but the moments before I go up there sure. I definitely hear it and see it when I run into these bands, those guys are opening the doors for all the kinds to discover Forbidden. I  resisted this whole thing  for a long time,  

I  was very dubious and didn't think I had any time to pull off this kind of thing, so the fact that we are doing it is really because it is the perfect time and no other time has been right. That being said there is no full blown tour time, I mean all these guys have normal jobs, I do music full time but I have other things to do also. But we've all cleared our schedules for 2008 to do a great number of shows, but it still means we're going to be flying in and flying out.

Gene: The weight of expectation doesn't bother me at all. What ever any one else's expectations are, that is cool for them but me I just like to get involved with cool people and play cool music. There has never been any thought that this has to be bigger or better than the last thing. I'm about making good music and having a good time that is my priority. From a point of view of Dark Angel there is no truth in rumours of reunions. We will probably never ever reunite and I am totally fine with that.

Are you conscience that many perceive these come backs as more a commercial venture than for any creative reasons?

Craig: Well there is the creative side that was but like I said the creative future of the band I'm more skeptical over as it has to be inspired. But it sure isn't commercial, it's more honouring. Everyone seems to be doing this reunion thing which makes it tiring but few of them are going to do half as well as we are. We're honouring our past and are trying to give people a little of what we used to be while putting a new spin on it. It's about passion, it's not about trying to make a bunch of money off it or anything like that. If I'm honest the amount of money isn't that ground breaking, no one is hurting for money that much we're doing it for the fans and for the right reasons. If we were to write an album and get all fired up about it then that would be great but I've been in the music business long enough to know we've got some of the most protective fans in the world, and they tend to have two schools of thought. Those who'd think we sounded to much like our old stuff and those who would think we have progressed too much, so you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.