Initially formed in 1989 by singer Mina Caputo, bassist Alan Robert and guitarist Joey Z., Life Of Agony is an influential alternative metal band. Caputo departed from the Brooklyn group after 1997’s “Soul Searching Sun,” only to rejoin for a reunion of LOA’s original lineup in 2003. That lineup stayed intact for close to a decade, completing touring alongside Megadeth and Dream Theater. Notably, the 2005 Life Of Agony album “Broken Valley” charted at number 5 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart.
Caputo, Robert and Z. again regrouped in 2014 and released its first new studio effort in more than a decade via 2017’s “A Place Where There’s No More Pain.” Drummer Veronica Bellino— who has played alongside Richie Sambora, Orianthi, LL Cool J and Jeff Beck— joined the group in 2017. The latest full-length album for Life Of Agony is “The Sound Of Scars,” which was produced by Sylvia Massy (Tool, System of A Down) and LOA’s very own Joey Z. and released on Oct.11.
While things are fully in gear for Life Of Agony as a band, bassist Alan Robert has also found success with a second career, producing the “Beauty Of Horror” series of horror comic books. The “Beauty Of Horror” series had 3 titles coming out in 2018 alone.
As an exclusive to the Jewish Journal, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alan Robert about “The Sound Of Scars,” “The Beauty Of Horror,” his Jewish roots and more within our Oct. 15 phone chat, as embedded below.
As he explained that Biohazard’s Evan Seinfeld and himself were big fans of KISS as kids, within our chat I asked Alan Robert the fact that KISS had Jewish roots had any impact on him realizing that he could have a career in music.
Alan Robert: You know, I didn’t know they were Jewish [when I was a kid]. I didn’t even know they were from New York, to be honest with you. It’s funny because Evan’s dad was the principal at the Hebrew school I went to. It was Temple Emanu-El in Brooklyn. That’s how I got bar mitzvahed, actually. We went from bar mitzvahes to hardcore. (laughs)
More on Life Of Agony can be found here.
