Heathen (Kragen Lum)

Kragen has been playing guitar with Heathen since 2007, and besides Heathen he's been very active playing with Exodus too, as guest, replacing Gary Holt when he's busy with Slayer. We had a chat with him, to know what he has been doing this days.

Q. – Hello Kragen, were you familiar with Heathen back in the day? A fan?

Kragen: Yes, absolutely! Heathen was always one of my favorite Bay Area Thrash bands.

Q. - How did you join the band? Was it like a dream come true?

Kragen: I met Dave back in 2003 when he came down to LA to record vocals on a demo for my band Prototype. A few years later, Heathen was looking for a guitar player and he asked me to audition. I worked on 4 songs over the course of 3 weeks and then flew up to the Bay Area to play with the band. They asked me if I wanted to join the band that day and I said yes. My first show with them was the Keep It True festival the following year in front of a sold out crowd. It was definitely a dream come true.

Q. - You’ve been the guitar player for Heathen since 2007, what’s the balance of these 11 years with the band? How has it been?

Kragen: Well, we were really active for the first few years, writing and rehearsing new material for the Evolution Of Chaos album. We recorded and released the album in 2010 and did several tours in the US, Europe and Japan. We signed with Nuclear Blast in 2012 and I started writing for the next album. Then in 2013 I was asked to do my first tour playing with Exodus, filling in for Gary. Since then both Lee and I have been very busy with Exodus and haven’t been able to find a large enough block of time to work on the new album.

Q. - Heathen has been changing the line-up constantly, who's actually in the band, it will be the line-up for future gigs?

Kragen: We don’t have a permanent drummer at this point. It’s David White, Lee Altus and me still working on new material right now. Obviously we will solidify the drummer position before recording and touring.

Q. - There's been some rumours that you're recording a new Heathen album these days, is that true?

Kragen: we’re not at the recording stage yet but we do have new material written with several songs already demoed. I have more songs to demo after this upcoming Exodus tour in Europe. We hope to find a chunk of time to start recording this year.

Q. - Will be there some guest players in the recordings like on Evolution of Chaos? Did you consider to invite Doug Piercy to play some solos?

Kragen: we may have some guest appearances on the album but we haven’t gotten quite that far yet. I’ve always liked Doug’s style of playing so that’s a cool idea.

Q. - Are you working with Juan Urteaga again?

Kragen: We haven’t figured out exactly where we’ll be recording. We may work in the Bay Area or we may go to a different studio location. I have my own studio for tracking guitars and vocals as well so there are options for us to choose from in terms of studios and producers.

Q. - There was talk of a live album a few years ago, recorded in Poland, why didn't it happen?

Kragen: We did record a full double live album in Greece a few years ago. It’s pretty much ready to be mixed at this point but we’re holding onto it until after the new album is released.

Q. - You've been working with Exodus too, as guest, how's that been so far?

Kragen: Working with Exodus has been awesome. I would never have imagined being able to play with not just one but two of my favourite bands!

Q. - Will Heathen be the priority after the recordings of the new album or will you keep busy with Exodus?

Kragen: I will be playing with Exodus whenever they need me until Slayer’s final tour is finished and Gary is back with Exodus full time. Once that happens I will be able to put more focus on Heathen. Ideally, I would like to time the release of the new Heathen album so that Lee and I can both focus on touring to support it.

Q. - Besides Heathen and Exodus, do you have two more bands: the thrashers Psychosis and the progressive band Prototype, Do you keep this projects active, or are they on hold?

Kragen: It has been hard to juggle all of the bands but both Prototype and Psychosis are still active. Psychosis is currently recording some songs from 1993 that we’re never recorded. These will be added to an upcoming 25th anniversary reissue of our first CD Lifeforce. As for Prototype, we are writing for the next album whenever time permits.

Q. - It's been a long time since the edition of "Catalyst", are you working on a new Prototype album?

Kragen: We do already have a few songs written for the next Prototype album already. Hopefully we can record the new album next year.

Q. - How did the idea of editing "Pray For Death" reuniting all the demo tapes, came up? And why only digital format? Do you intend to release it on cd in the future?

Kragen: The Pray For Death demo collection was my idea actually. I had most of it ready to go last year but needed to have some of the older tracks mastered. I finally got that done and it was an exclusive free release with the purchase of a Pray For Death t-shirt or hoodie from the Heathen online store (shop.heathenthrash.com). I hope to have a CD release available either later this year or early next year with liner notes, etc. It will be a 2 CD set when it is released.

Q. - What's the main difficulties you've been facing all over these years in the music business?

Kragen: The hardest thing about being a musician is finding ways to make money when you’re not on tour. I like to stay busy so I try to get creative and come up with new ideas like the Exodus “Pleasures Of The Frets” Guitar Book. Sometimes it’s a struggle to keep everything going in this business but where there’s a will there’s a way.

Q. - This year are you going on tour with Heathen? Do you intend to play some festivals in the summer?

Kragen: Heathen won’t be doing and touring or festivals this Summer. We really need to have the new album out before we tour again. Hopefully that will be soon.

Q. - How would you like to end this interview? Anything more you want to say?

Kragen: Thanks for the great interview and thanks to all of the Heathen fans for your support and patience over the years. Please check out the official Heathen online store at shop.heathenthrash.com for all of the latest Heathen gear and also my SubLevel Records store at shop.sublevelrecords.com for my Exodus and Prototype guitar books, Prototype and Psychosis CDs, digital releases and shirts.

Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best for the future!