It all started with a ride to the airport. Cypress Hill vocalist Sen Dog was getting a lift from downset guitarist Rogelio “Roy” Lozano to catch a flight when Lozano played Sen Dog some demos of new material he was working on.
 
“At that point, I wasn’t writing or nothing,” says Sen Dog (metal cred fact #1: was high school pals with Dave Lombardo). “It was a spur of the moment thing. And that’s how it started, man; a trip to the airport.”
 
Throw Biohazard guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei, ex-Fear Factory bassist Christian Olde Wolbers, and Worst drummer Fernando Schaefer into the mix and the end result is Powerflo, the band, and Powerflo, the debut album, a rap-rock/metal disc that, well, doesn’t stink, the band sounding totally sincere and natural about what they’re doing, which makes sense, as the band members go back a long way (remember Sen Dog guesting on State Of The World Address? Or Wolbers on New World Disorder, for that matter?).
 
“I’ve known these guys for a minimum of 20 years, except for Fernando,” says Sen Dog (metal cred fact #2: loved Quiet Riot and Mötley Crüe back in the day, prompting one of his friends to call him a “black metal guy”). “Knowing each other as people, they know exactly what to play for me to really get me going. We’re all friends, all part of different bands that toured together a lot, so this just felt like doing a record with your bros. The natural feel of it comes from us knowing each other so well for so many years.”
 
As it turns out, Sen Dog is a metalhead like you and me, and he says that he’s more comfortable with this band than he’s been playing with others.

 
“Yeah, definitely; I would definitely say that,” he says. “This band right here is a good representation of who I am personally, and the kind of music I listen to, and what I’m into, and what I’m going to go watch live and things like that.”
 
Sen Dog says that he’s loved loud, guitar-based music since he was a kid, but it was when Cypress Hill played Lollapalooza in 1992 and 1995 and he got to see Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Ministry, and Pavement play every night he really understood the power of the riff. As for why metal appeals to him, he says it’s more than just the noise: it’s the attitude.
 
“We’re our own society of people; we’re metalheads. If you find out someone’s a metalhead, you automatically think he’s cool, that sort of thing,” he says. “Guitars also influence me very much, from the time I first started listening to rock and roll when I was a little kid, listening to Hendrix and just having my mind blown. When I first heard Jimmy Page, I thought, ‘Oh my god,’ and Tony Iommi, you know what I mean? Guitar music is my preferred music to write to. When guitars are done properly and played properly, those guitar notes, they say words to me.”

(Photo by: FatCake Media)
 
Sen Dog (metal cred fact #3: he lists Slayer, Pantera, and Megadeth when pressed for his three favourite metal bands) says that Powerflo are aiming to become a full-fledged touring and recording machine, adding that this is definitely not going to be their only album. And as for that live experience, he says it’s a different experience than with Cypress Hill.
 
“I get more hyped up when I’m doing Powerflo. And I get to bang my head and rock out; in a Cypress set we play one song or two where I get to rock out,” he says. “I just feel like a natural born heavy metal dude (laughs).”

(Top photo by - Travis Shinn)