Metal Express Radio's Mick Burgess recently caught up with Annihilator frontman / founder Jeff Waters, who recently relocated from his native Canada to the UK. The in-depth interview dives into Waters' reasons for moving across the pond, constructing his new Watersound Studios complex, and the band's next studio album. Following is an excerpt:

Q: Where do you find the ideas for songs come from these days? There`s a lot material to consider when looking at the state of the world at the moment?

Jeff: "It can be something that I see on the news, or something that happens to a family member or myself. Just about anything you see.  It can be happy, sad, a horror movie, something goofy or about mental illness or anything. On the last album there were a couple of positive messages about mental illness.  I don`t tend to do political songs as I`m not really a political type of guy. I guess in my mind, I just wrote that off as I didn`t believe what I was hearing on anybody`s media. The BBC and CBC in Canada seem to be the more neutral and honest kind of vibe but the way the media was feeding constantly about politics it was just too much. I didn`t know what I could trust or believe so I just don`t go there. I`m just not that into politics and people criticise me for not having opinions on this or that but I`d just rather remove myself from it and leave it to those who take the time to educate themselves about it."

Q: What are you singing about from a personal perspective?

Jeff: "A lot of my lyrics are about things that have gone on around me.  I was in a relationship once where I suffered domestic abuse about 18 or 19 years ago.  I had a son named Alex and his mother died of cancer when he was a baby. I did all of these tours with the help of my family.  At that point I thought after 3 or 4 albums my career was finished and I was going to be a full-time dad.  My own dad was so supportive and encouraged me to get on in the music business, in fact my whole family was so supportive and they would come out and look after my son while I was on tour earning a living. I ended up moving from my home in Vancouver over to Ottawa four doors down from my parents which was strange but that meant they were there for Alex while I was working. What made me make that move was that I was in a relationship with a lady that was, shall we say, not very nice. I felt that I was the only guy in the world going through this. I was threatened that if I tried to leave that they would take my son.  You believe this because you`re in it. It did however provide me with such lyrical inspiration for my music, which was full of anger and confusion from this domestic abuse. I came up with my best lyrics as a result of that abusive relationship. I was lucky that I got out of it and moved to Ottawa with my little son. More recently, when I moved here, there was someone causing the family to live in a constant state of fear and anxiety. That wasn`t a very pleasant time but it gave me some amazing inspiration for writing. When I am happy, my writing tends to be more melodic; when not happy, it gets angry! This is our most-angry record to date; an added bonus to an otherwise traumatic situation that is, thankfully, now managed."

Q: What about the musical direction of the album? Where are you heading musically?

Jeff: "I think that with everything that`s gone on this is going to be my angry album which is a bit ironic seeing as though I`ve found the love of my life and have a beautiful family in a wonderful city. I really think I`m going to have a great life here and I`m feeling so much positive energy right now but to get to this last year or so out of my system, I could drink but it`s much better for me to get it out through my music. In fact, I haven’t had a drink for almost 20 years. It`s been a very cleansing process.  Maybe that`ll be a good title for the album."

Read the complete interview here

As explained by Waters in a Facebook post about postponement of the band's fall 2018 tour, the new dates are in the poster below. He has checked in with the following:

"This tour is going to KILL. Just going through the zillion bands to tour with us on this one... gotta make a special line-up here for many reasons. Since we postponed the For The Demented touring until the below dates, we will play some songs from it and songs the upcoming NEW studio CD! That should come out in Sept/Oct 2019, if we are lucky... and of course, some Alice In Hell gems and tributes, in honor of our fallen metal brother, Randy Rampage. Bigger production than usual, lots of energy, as always and some cool people joining us! Get tix now! Love to you all!

Waters' original Facebook post can be viewed below.

"So, I have been quiet about the passing of one of our previous and legendary singers, Randy Rampage, and as well about the upcoming headline tour(ing) next month. Hopefully, this video will explain the silence, why current tour dates are postponed and hint to you about new dates coming to you on Tuesday. On an unrelated note, construction on Watersound Studios UK (Durham, UK) is coming along nicely and will be a dream come true. Love to my Canadian family and love to my new UK family!"