So, before the opening of the renewed Russian hedpe fan-site I asked Chizad for an interview and he was very kind to agree.
Here we go:
[non] grata: First of all, thank you for finding time to answer questions for Russian fans.
To begin with, how are things going on in Duress? I mean how do you like your gigs, how does crowd react?

Chad: No problem. It's my pleasure to be able to reach out to Russian fans. Things are going great with Duress right now. The shows in our hometown have become quite the party scene these days! I'm always amazed and grateful to the way people respond to the band.

[n]: Tell us in brief the story of your acquaintance with Cody, Marco and Mike and the story of the band foundation.
C: Marco and I have known each other the longest. We've been friends for 15 years! We've always wanted to play music together. He's widely known as one of the best and hardest hitting drummers around here. After I left (hed) I played a lot of solo acoustic performances around town and Marco helped me with recording.
We eventually formed Duress and got Cody to be second guitarist. Cody and I shared an apartment while I was touring with (hed) and even went with me on my last tour with Linkin Park. We played guitar and sang together quite a bit so I knew he could do it. Mike was the last one to join. We had to actually steal him from another band! Like Marco, he was the premiere bassist around town and we knew he was the one.

[n]: Do you have plans to sign a deal with a record label?
C: Yes but we're being very careful.

[n]: I’ve read in one of your interviews (if I’m not mistaken) that your still have good relationships with DJ Product and have plans to cooperate? Any news about that?
C: Yeah.... Doug and I are great friends and we still talk all the time. He is a great supporter of Duress and my solo music. He wants to play with me in the solo acoustic shows but I haven't done them in a while. He's busy touring with (hed) still and I'm busy with Duress but we have plans to do something together for sure and I know it will be awesome.

[n]: I was always wondering what does musician feel when playing at a huge festival. Hed (p.e.)’s appearance at Rock Am Ring 2002 was really awesome. Can you describe your feelings when playing for the crowd of several thousand people?
C: It's pretty surreal. The stages are always bigger than usual so it's a bit strange to be farther away from your band mates. The sound onstage is different as well but playing for that many people is an absolutely incredible feeling. I don't think it's possible to fully appreciate it at the time because it's happening so fast and for the most part I'm always thinking about the music.

[n]: In 99 Hed (p.e.) was giving a show with Shavo of System Of a Down and you performed several SOAD songs. Was it a pure improvisation or you spent some time learning the tabs of their songs?
C: Here's what happened: System and (hed) were on the Ozzfest together at that time and we decided to do a show together on a day off in Canada with Slayer. Our bassist Mark always had problems getting into Canada so we used a different bassist when we played there. For some reason I can't remember SOAD had to cancel their performance but Shavo still came with us to play. During the trip we realized that if the fans recognized Shavo playing with us and knew that SOAD had cancelled they would be sad. So we decided it would be great to learn their songs and play a set of System songs for the fans. It was amazing because we learned their songs on our drive to the show on the back of our tour bus.

[n]: On Hed (p.e.)’s “Broke” you wrote in “thanks to” section: “Jahred (Sign the treaty)”. When did your contradictions begin? Did you have real attempts to “sign the treaty”, was there any chance for you to become real friends and to go on with hed?
C: That's funny! "Sign the treaty" was an inside joke between Jared and I that came from the Star Wars movie. We had all these inside jokes that came from movies and television shows and we would go around saying them all day to each other to make each other laugh. Jared and I were always the best of friends. In fact we were roomates before we even started the band! The only contradictions we ever had were musical. Towards the end of my time with (hed), Jared and our other guitarist Wes were having personal problems and fighting so much. It was too difficult to be in between them and I needed to do my own music so I left. You must remember I was the youngest member of the band so I was growing musically very fast. It was hard to leave but it was necessary. Recently Jared called me and told me that he was very proud of me and that he understands why I left even though he didn't understand so much at the time. I was very happy to hear that. We never had any personal issues like the ones Wes and he had. I still think he is one of the best singers out there and I don't care what anyone says.

[n]: The next question may seem not polite, so I don’t insist on answering. Is it true that you didn’t earn much when hed (p.e.) was signed to a major label? Is it profitable to play in a rock band?)))
C: Well in the beginning it's hard to make any money if you sign to a major label because you owe them so much money. However, once the band became established and people started buying lots of concert tickets and t shirts we were able to make a decent living. Weather or not it's profitable to be in a rock band depends on so many things. You have to love the music you're playing with all of your heart or it's not worth it.

[n]: What musicians are the indisputable authorities for you? What kind of music do you like?
C: John Lennon, Bob Marley, Kurt Cobain, John Frusciante..... this could go on forever...... Beatles, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Nirvana...... Randy Rhoads was my first guitar hero....
I like so many types of music. I recently saw an underground band called Autolux that were amazing. I went to see Sean Lennon the other night in concert and he was brilliant. I admire artists who you can tell they're not doing it for the money.

[n]: What is your attitude to dirty language in the songs? Do you agree that sometimes dirty language is necessary to explain the “mood” of the song and can not be replaced?
C: My personal feeling is that it's up to each individual artist to decide what's right for them and the kind of art they want to make.

[n]: Do people recognize you in the streets?
C: Yes... but not all the time.....

[n]: When did you realize that hed (p.e.) become famous? Or you don’t think that hed are famous?
C: I don't think we became too famous but I do believe that (hed) was an amazingly underrated underground band that influenced many bands who went on to become famous and not give credit to us.

[n]: What’s your opinion about the present and the future of rapcore, is it developing or recessing?
C: I'm not that familiar with that genre of music so I don't really know.

[n]: While playing in hed (p.e) did you have plans to come to Russia? Do you personally want to visit Russia?
C: We always wanted to but the opportunity never presented itself. I personally can't wait to visit Russia and I'd love to play music there.

[n]: What do you do except playing in a rock band? I mean do you dedicate your whole life to music or do you go to job in the morning and have rehearsals and show in the evening/night?
C: This might sound cliche but I live for rock music. Everything I do is for the band and I'm completely obsessed with every part of it. My whole life I've been that way. My philosophy is as long as my band is together and my guitars are working good everything is OK.

[n]: And finally, what are you working at now? Your plans for the future?
C: At the moment I'm rehearsing for summer shows and we just finished a music video for the song "Blow" from our album THE TIME IS NOW.
My future plans are simple: To keep on making and sharing music that means something to me with as many cool people as possible!
Before I go I'd just like to say thanks to all the Russian fans for being supportive of underground music. I love the way music brings people together and I hope to come visit the beautiful people of Russia at some point in my life. LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL!!!!!!!!!!
[n]: Thank you again from all Russian fans!!!

yeah, already read this on hedpe.ru - good stuff. really nice questions as well!

Waiting-To-Die
Thank you. Nice to hear it, taking the fact that it was my first interview into account.

Ha, Russia would be crazy to play. I just watched a Pantera DVD the other day when they played in Russia... never seen so many hardcore rockin' mfkrs in my life. Good interview yo.

PEace

Good interview and good questions man

Good interview man better than the Wes interview, Chad was more open about talking about the real issues everyone wanted to know about, whereas Wes choose to play it safe.

tottaly agree fat kid