How Members of Korn, Bad Brains, A7X Helped Islander Find New ‘Power’
Shortly after the start of the 2014 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, Korn bassist Fieldy invited Avenged Sevenfold drummer Arin Ilejay to check out a band called Islander, which was playing hours before the two headliners were scheduled to perform.
“I watched their set and instantly fell in love,” Ilejay says. “Their sound was so cool and diverse and I became good friends with those guys and went back every day to watch them. The song ‘Counteract’ [from the band’s 2014 album, Violence & Destruction] especially blew my mind. I was like, ‘Dude, I wish I could sit in on the drums just for that song!'”
Ilejay got his wish and then some. But it took a complete shakeup of Islander’s original lineup and the drummer’s dismissal from Avenged, after four years in the group, for the drummer to take the stage with Islander. Now, less than a year after he joined the band, Islander have resurfaced with their second full-length, the eclectic concept album Power Under Control. To frontman Mikey Carvajal, the restructuring wasn’t just advantageous, it was meant to be.
“I truly believe that what God tears down, God rebuilds,” says the singer, who, like Fieldy and Korn guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, is seriously devoted to his faith.
The first musician from the 2014 Mayhem tour to enter the Islander fold was guitarist J.R. Bareis, who had worked as Head’s guitar tech and played with him in the metal band Love and Death. After Mayhem, Islander co-founder Andrew Murphy decided he didn’t want to tour anymore, so Carvajal called Bareis.
“J.R. had just turned down an offer to go out with Korn and Slipknot because he wanted to start making his own music again,” Carvajal says. “He was psyched to join Islander and Head was totally supportive.”
Around the time Bareis was getting comfortable with Islander’s catalog, the band fired original drummer Eric Frazier for not practicing enough and exhibiting a “lack of professionalism” on the road. As Carvajal was trying to figure out the band’s next move, Avenged pink-slipped Ilejay in July 2015, citing creative differences; a few months later, they announced longtime Bad Religion member Brad Wackerman as the group’s new drummer.
“I was totally shocked and scared out of my mind when [A7X guitarist] Synyster Gates called me to let me go,” Ilejay recalls. “I was like, ‘Oh my God! My wife is about to have a baby. How am I going to support my family now?'”
Carvajal was on a beach vacation with his family when he read the news of Ilejay’s dismissal online. He grabbed his phone and called the drummer.
“I used to joke around with him all the time: ‘Hey, whenever we need a fill in drummer, I’m gonna call you,'” Carvajal says. “Finally, I called him and I wasn’t joking at all. I said, ‘You have to come play with us.'”
Going from an arena band to a group that mostly played clubs was a step backwards for Ilejay in a lot of ways, but the idea of performing with his Mayhem friends was appealing, and there were other benefits, too.
“I realized if I joined Islander I would have an opportunity to help write songs and build something, instead of being on the inside but, at the same time, really be on the outside the way I was with Avenged,” he explains.