Battlecross Guitarist Tony Asta Talks ‘War of Will,’ Sharing a Tour Bus With Huntress + More

Thrash band Battlecross are one of the most hardworking, tour-happy bands out there today. Fresh off Mayhem Festival and GWAR B-Q the band is touring in support of their latest disc ‘War of Will’ with Hatebreed, Shadows Fall and the Acacia Strain. In mid-October they will be on the road with Death Angel, 3 Inches of Blood and Revocation.

We caught up with guitarist Tony Asta during a special intimate performance at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, N.Y. Asta talked all about his love of touring and dream bands he would love to hit the road with. He also spoke about ‘War of Will’ and sharing a rickety old bus with Huntress.

From doing a large event such as Mayhem Festival to playing such an intimate venue as Saint Vitus, which do you prefer and why?

They’re both awesome, anytime we have a chance to play for people we want to be there. We love playing Saint Vitus, we played here one other time and it was amazing. We really like playing in places where you are intimate with the crowd and you’re right in people’s faces rather than have this barricade with people behind it.

You have a chance to connect and feel the energy so much more, so I like that about smaller clubs. The great thing about Mayhem is that there are so many people, a thousand plus people everyday which is awesome. We’ll play anywhere, on the floor - we’re all about playing where anybody wants us to be.

You had to share a bus with Huntress, any stories you can share?

I’ll tell you what, we walked into the situation last minute because we didn’t get a chance to get a bus but we worked it out with Huntress. The cool thing about it is that we get to hang out with them and they’re cool as f---. The down side is that bus is pretty old and there’s a lot of things that went wrong right off the bat. Even today we had an AC issue, it’s frustrating but it’s worth it.

What would you say is the weirdest or most interesting thing on this shared tour bus?

I’m going to have to go with [Battlecross singer] Gumby, he’s the weirdest and most interesting thing on the bus. [Laughs] He’s not really that weird, I just wanted to pick on him. It’s kind of weird having a toilet you can’t really use. What’s the point you might as well stick a shower in there it’d be way more useful. We actually got fined because I think somebody’s friend got on and they didn’t know.  They flushed toilet paper and we got fined 250 bucks, it sucked.

The latest record is called ‘War of Will,’ what does this title mean to you?

‘War of Will’ is like the battle to make the choice, to be motivated and driven to do something. You have so many choices everyday and the songs are about that. It’s kind of like the inner struggle, what to do, what not to do. It’s about having the will to make those decisions and get up off your ass and do something.

It’s definitely fits especially within the music industry. There’s a major line between rockstars and touring musicians and I think the will of touring musicians is what keeps them going.

Yeah, exactly when I think of rock stars, I think arrogance and irresponsibility. All of us we’re out here on the road and we’re workin’. It’s fun but it’s work. I love it.

With all of this touring what is one band you’d love to tour with that you haven’t gotten the chance to hit the road with yet?

Dead or alive? Either way it would be Pantera.

That is a great choice and how about a band that’s currently touring?

I’ll go on tour with anybody, s--- I don’t know. I think it’d be cool to go on tour with Sabbath that would be awesome just because I would be glued to it the whole time, every night.