Mind Over Matter

I've Been Taken Out Of Heaven, I've Been Put Upon This World

2010-03-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

So how do you spell perfection?

Sleepless Evil

2010-03-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Haven't been spending too much time on the information superhighway lately, which isn't really a bad thing I guess. It just means I'm kind of out of the loop when it comes to internet news and trivia and also, well, I haven't been updating this blog as much as I would have liked to. I'm working on an interview with the incredible Harm's Way though, so that should pop up here soon(ish). In the meantime head to their myspace page to listen to a brandnew song called "Fantasy". Early 90's Earache/death metal vibes if you ask me. This song sounds so fucking heavy and it's real epic... I like epic.

The last couple of months were filled with some touring (Rise And Fall/Trapped Under Ice and Floorpunch/True Colors) and a lot of time off. I'm going to be working again soon so I'm kinda trying to cherish the freedom I have right now to read a bunch of books, see a bunch of movies and hang. Both tours were great, on various levels. Well attended shows and a lot of quality people to talk to and spend time with.

The last show of the Floorpunch/True Colors trip was in Antwerp, Belgium. This day was also marked in calendars as the last Rhythm To The Madness show ever. An understandable goodbye from a band that I feel never really reached their full potential. I love both records but I feel like this band could've have actually gone places instead of fizzling out. Wasn't meant to be I guess. True Colors are breaking up fairly soon too, their last show is on May 22nd so don't miss out. They will be heading to the States for a last US tour next week as well.

In between both tours I also got to see the re-united doom legends we all know as Saint Vitus and that show was off the hook. They opened up with "Living Backwards"/"I Bleed Black"/"Window Pane" (if memory serves me right) and were on a roll for pretty much the rest of their set. Only lost a little momentum when they gave their new drummer some time to shine and well, maybe Dave Chandler could've cut down on the inbetween song feedbacking a little but hey, I'm not really complaining. Wino without a guitar is quite the sight too. He's a giant. In every sense of the word. Great night. I don't think I'll see a lot of better shows this year.

About a week ago I hit the road with fellow bloggers J. Dog and Big Phil (ahum) to see Madball & Terror in Germany and then MF Doom in Brussels the day after. Terror was spot on live, as usual, killing it in front of what must've been a little over 700 people. Solid setlist with choice cuts from every record, starting off with "Out Of My Way" which happens to be a favorite of mine. It definitely did the trick in Germany. I remember first hearing this (then unreleased) song in Arnhem, Holland at the legendary Goudvishal in 2002... It felt like getting hit with a brick. Anyway, Terror are definitely still one of my favorite live bands these days. No new songs though tonight, but I'm more than curious to hear their upcoming "Keepers Of The Faith" album. On to Madball then, who I can't remember to have ever disappointed me live, and what I said about Terror definitely applies to Madball as well. Weird how some people had already left but ya know... If you can't appreciate a dose of Madball I guess I can't help you either. Freddy controlled the stage, controlled the crowd and delivered as always. Newer songs blend in easily with older classics and I enjoyed all of it. Madball seem to have a new album coming this year as well. Sweet.

MF Doom was a slightly different experience. I've been to my share of hip hop shows so I know how those usually turn out kinda disappointing... However in Doom's case, the actual show was definitely solid. Visuals, a real DJ, a lot of onstage activity and energy, with Doom wearing that crazy golden mask, rappin' relentlessly. So far, so good. However, the lack of real bangers/anthems did prevent me from really loving it. Now I know that all of this - his own flow and storytelling skills - set Viktor Vaughn apart from most, plus the lack of singles or catchy choruses and what not, but still. What bothered me the most though was waiting for one hour and a half for the man to hit the stage, in a room that was sold out, packed with idiots and filled with cigarette smoke. The wait really did half ruin the show. I'll forgive the guy. Method Man next sunday better be real good though.

One of the most thrilling shows in recent memory though must've been the first ever Blind To Faith show on March 6th. This show took place at the legendary Pits in Kortrijk, Belgium. A venue the size of your average living room, that has hosted a crazy range of shows, from New Bomd Turks to Gorilla Biscuits to Dead Stop. Rumour has it that when the Crowbar/Eyehategod tour in '92 stopped by, the NOLA dudes thought it was a dressingroom rather than a venue. Anyway - Blind To Faith were an impressive sight. Seasoned scene veterans raging through a set of hateful, ragged and violent punkmetal with a good dose of nihilistic sludge thrown in. The crowd went wild, that buzz of anticipation was definitely in the air and the band delivered. Their next show is in April 11th, in Ghent with... Eyehategod. Yes.

Last of all, Double Cross Blog has been running an incredibly interesting and in depth interview with Matt Henderson, spread out over 5 parts so if you haven't... Check that shit out. See you all soon.

Peace.

Six Questions With Alex Hughes

2010-02-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

Alex Hughes is the other half of the Iron Age guitar axis. Texas native and natural born shredder. He also may or may not be involved in eardrum shattering phenomena such as Hatred Surge and Insect Warfare. Some other random fun facts: He once moshed during an entire Das Oath live set. Also, he once made the rest of Iron Age, who were already on stage, wait for 20 minutes because he was walking a dog. Uncle Al...

What was the last record you bought?

Corrupted - "Paso Inferior".

If you could travel back in time and roadie on any tour that ever happened, what tour would that be?

The UK Earache Grind Crusher tour BOLT THROWER, CARCASS, MORBID ANGEL & NAPALM DEATH. Doesn't really get more brutal.

If you could erase one album from the history of music, which one would that be and why?

Gorilla Biscuits - "Start Today" (yuck)

What is your favorite record that never was? Meaning it never got fully written, recorded or released at all but it would have been awesome if it had been...

Obviously the Manpig 10".

What are your musical predictions for 2010?

Business as usual. Hopefully more metal and less messageboard bullshit.

Favorite Some Kind Of Monster quote?

Not a quote but the part where they show the different title ideas for St. Anger....SATANIC CUCKOO CLOCK

Six Questions With Jeffrey Smet

2010-01-28T01:35:00.000-08:00

Meet Jeffrey... An international jetsetter, sneakerhead pur sang, hip hop connaisseur and math wizard. If you're feeling unsure about the color combos you're thinking of rocking this weekend, ask Jeffrey for advice before you head out the door looking like rainbow man. As someone with a refined taste in music (I'll let his Lil Wayne fixation slip here for a sec) I knew I had to send these questions to him as well. Jeffrey was kind enough to take some time off from the writing of his book "Urban Wheelchairing In 2010" to answer them promptly.

What was the last record you bought?

The last record I scooped off ebay is Down - "Nola" LP. Had it on CD for years, finally got my hands on some vinyl. The last new music I bought is the latest Clipse record. Unfortunately on CD cause it wasn't released on vinyl. What's up with that?

If you could travel back in time and roadie on any tour that ever happened, what tour would that be?

I guess some early Life Of Agony tour. Rocking out with my all time favorite band day in day out.

If you could erase one album from the history of music, which one would that be and why?

The first thing that comes to mind must definitely be the latest Merauder record. Sad.

What is your favorite record that never was? Meaning it never got fully written, recorded or released at all but it would have been awesome if it had been...

Probably "The Commission" debut LP. The Commission was suposed to be this east coast rap supergroup based around Hova and Biggie. Too bad the latter died way to early.

What are your musical predictions for 2010?

I predict Drake is going to be the next big thing in pop/hiphop/music. "Thank Me Later" is gonna be an awesome record. Juelz Santana is gonna put out a great record and become the most relevant Dipset member of '10. I love the new 90´s RNB inspired stuff Diddy is doing now, think that might blow up as well. Hope to see something sparkling new on the Belgian hardcore scene too.

Favorite Some Kind Of Monster quote?

When Ulrich says he's gonna shove 50 dollars up your ass and James Hetfield continues: "One dollar at a time".

Six Questions With Robert Moss

2010-01-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

On May 29th Rob's band Dirty Money will be playing their last show ever. London's where you need to be if you want to catch that. Chances are he'll be wearing his yellow XXL De La Soul shirt for the occasion, while riffing it up on stage. Yeah, Rob's cool like that."Six Questions With..." is kind of a new thing I'm trying to get going here and I figured Rob would be a good first.

What was the last record you bought?

It was actually a Strength For A Reason record I think.

If you could travel back in time and roadie on any tour that ever happened, what tour would that be?

Any Pantera tour. I'd be drowning in black-tooth-grins with ma boy Dime. Watch it go!

If you could erase one album from the history of music, which one would that be and why?

"My Love. My Way" by Modern Life Is War. For inspiring too many people stuck in 2006 to form paint-by-numbers "epic" sounding bands that are just fundamentally boring.

What is your favorite record that never was? Meaning it never got fully written, recorded or released at all but it would have been awesome if it had been...

The Dirty Money LP? Ha! Maybe a full length Merauder record with Eddie Sutton singing. A progression from that demo. That would be interesting to hear. I don't mean I want to hear Sutton singing "Master Killer", I mean something new & specific to that lineup.

What are your musical predictions for 2010?

Within UKHC specifically I imagine things drifting along here with not much change. I'd expect maybe half a dozen really good records worldwide. In the UK there might be one or two interesting things in the planning stages. I imagine I'll start hearing a lot of bands doing watered down Trapped Under Ice riffs and other people getting really excited by that. I think more bands will start to do crossover records between hardcore and other genres and people will say they like them even if the music is bad out of fear of being accused that they 'don't get it'. At the same time I think a handful bands (outside the bands I expect) will do something massively creative and fun.

Favorite Some Kind Of Monster quote?

Lars' Dad - "I would say... delete that. I don't know for you guys, but for me it doesn't cut it..."

This World, I Am Afraid, Was Designed For Crashing Bores

2010-01-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

I have devised a bunch of plans in my head to help me survive 30 in 2010. One of them is doing more blogging. I have a few interviews coming up, so keep checking back. I do have some time on my hands now until Rise And Fall embarks on that 10 day Euro tour with Trapped Under Ice late January. So there might be more updates soon.

We did 3 shows with Hope Con a while back and it was a pleasure to see those dudes again, on and off stage. They raged through an epic setlist every night, playing as much as 16, 17 or 18 songs and lovin' it. I know I could not physically pull that off, despite being a few years younger than some of those guys, so hats off to them. Granted, it might seem a bit long considering how all our attention spans have been reduced to next to nothing thanks to the wonders of television and the internet but I actually enjoyed hearing such a wide variety of their songs, from real old to brand new. I love how that band works, they do what they do and when they want to. I have yet to acquire a physical copy of "True Nihilist" but I'm sure it'll come as no surprise when I tell you that record is really, really good.

Went to see a couple of shows last week, the first being the legendary Ian Brown playing one of Belgium's finest venues, the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels. Now, I am not very familiar with Ian Brown's solo records so I will not claim to be an expert but I have to say most songs he played didn't make much of an impression on me. That's alright though, as I mainly just wanted to see the man on stage. You never know, it might've have secretly been his last tour or something. I mean Jay Reatard died last week and he was only 29. "Fool's Gold" was the only Stone Roses song we were treated to, I was hoping for more but I do respect the man just doing his own thing. My favourite parts of the show were the ones in between songs where he'd just stroll around stage and say cool shit. Best quote: "Could you stop texting please?" to some random idiot in the crowd. Glad I went.

Then on Saturday I was back in Brussels, this time in the newly relocated Magasin 4. The old location was the spot in late 90's and early 00's for wild shows and the new building is definitely cool. Good location, roomy but not huge. Just a little chilly in the winter I guess. Main attraction here was Kickback, supported by Length Of Time and a few more bands. Length Of Time did well in front of an enthusiastic hometown crowd, the sound was good too. No new songs though although I know they've been working on some. Kirby held it down perfectly as the sole guitarist. Their set might've been a little long for my tastes but whatever.
On to Kickback, who throughout the years still have maintained enough mystique, charisma and popularity to draw a rather large crowd, especially in Belgium I'd say. Though I feel like a lot of people come to see the circus rather than Kickback the band, which I can understand, I've always thought they were a genuinely great band. Less of the provocative stage rants by Stephen this time around, I didn't really hear him call the crowd a bunch of f-bombs or whatever so that was a nice change. The music did all the talking and as far as Kickback shows go, this one was really good. An uncomfortable vibe dominated the room (in no small part thanks to the projections they have going on now, Neurosis style, showing the vilest shit you can imagine), a band possessed and a sound that was good but raw and aggressive enough to make it work. A lot of songs off their latest "No Surrender" album and obviously a bunch of tracks off "Forever War" and "Les 150 Passions Meurtrières". A good night.

Last of all, I'd recommend anyone to go see or rent "It Might Get Loud", a documentary on rock guitarists (I guess?) featuring Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge. This is one of the coolest music films I've ever seen. Seeing Jimmy Page play guitar, talk about guitars and school the young 'uns just brought the biggest smile to my face. Basically these 3 men get together with a bunch of guitars and a bunch of old records and talk about what they love most. Great concept. Lots of good music passes through. Afterwards I was thinking how brilliantly these 3 men reflect 3 generations of musicians. Seeing how U2 started out nearly as a punkrock band (The Edge gives props to The Jam and The Buzzcocks amongst others for inspiration), as a reaction to the old "rock dinosaurs" who were past their peak and would indulge in 15 minute guitar solos etc. they are defintely part of the generation that came after Led Zeppelin. In turn The White Stripes were very much a reaction as well to that generation. Back to basics, stripped down blues worship as a response to bands like U2 where the guitar didn't even sound like a guitar anymore, sounding too tame and too diluted for a wild cat like Jack White. "It Might Get Loud" is a job well done, above all, it was done with love and tremendous respect and that shines through. Don't miss out.

Peace.

2009

2010-01-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

Part of being a nerd entails that you love lists. So obviously I do too. I was planning on having a bunch of people send me theirs but there's a whole bunch of other blogs and sites out there that are doing that already so peep those. Deathwish Inc, Complex man, Trumbull Island, etcetera. You know where to go. Here's my Top 10 Albums of this year in some random order. As with any list, I'll probably regret a few choices in a week from now and I probably forgot a bunch of great records too but that's life. Here goes...

IRON AGE - "The Sleeping Eye"

All the riffs you wish you wrote. Or the ones you wish Hetfield and Hammett were still writing. If you have a short attention span, you might not dig this. If you love good music, you probably will.

DINOSAUR JR. - "Farm"

Fuck it, this record probably has the coolest cover art of '09. Not a lot of records have me running into record stores a few days before the official release date hoping to dig this one out of a crate. If you thought "Beyond" was quite the return to form (and it was) then you're in for a treat.

DAN AUERBACH - "Keep It Hid"

The Black Keys' axeman goes solo, as if he hasn't written enough killer blues rock already. I know blues rock is the worst term but whatever. Doesn't stray too far from the path The Black Keys have paved, but if the path's this brilliant, who cares?

MORRISSEY - "Years Of Refusal"

Yeah you like The Smiths better. Yadda yadda. How can you be Morrissey's age and still be so cool? This relevant? And rock harder than you ever have? Beats me. But the man delivers again.

SHRINEBULDER - "s/t"

Fuck Them Crooked Vultures. This is THE supergroup of 2009. Bow to the altar of Wino, Scott Kelly, Cisneros and Crover.

CONVERGE - "Axe To Fall"

One only expects greatness from Converge and that's all they deliver. A touch more metal and at the same time a touch more "accessible" than their last few records. So good.

TRAPPED UNDER ICE - "Secrets Of The World"

Some people have refused to call this the record of the year because too many other people have. Weird huh? This record makes you love hardcore more.

RAEKWON - "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II"

The chef is back. Swinging knives and wrecking kettles. Everyone else, get out of the fuckin' kitchen.

KICKBACK - "No Surrender"

This is an ugly, hateful, vicious record. You cannot possibly explain to your mom why you like it, but you do like it. A lot. In fact, you don't want your mom to know you're into this because somehow it makes you a freak.

BLAKROC - "s/t"

Does everything The Black Keys touch turn into gold? It sure does seem so. Hip Hop and rock collabs have everything against them, but somehow these boys and some of Hip Hop's finest make it work. It sounds so natural and right you wonder if you should maybe give that Judgment Night soundtrack another shot.

Everything You Might Need For Day To Day Survival

2009-12-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone out there hasn't seen this yet. Here you go. Thank me later.

I'll Be Hangin' Where Eventually You'll Have To Be

2009-12-22T08:25:00.000-08:00

Got home yesterday after what looks a hell of a lot like 3 months of straight touring. Feels weird being back home, but it ain't all that bad. It'll be cool to just chill on my own for a while and coming back to a snow covered and icy cold Belgium does have its charms.

Australia was the last tour we did in 2009 and I'm pretty sure I'll forever remember Australia as the coolest place I've ever been too. I don't know how to explain this exactly... If you've been there, then you know because most people I've met who have been there have all wanted to just stay there. Australia seemed to be the perfect mishmash of English, European and American influences, with a vibe that is all their own, plus a ton of amazing beaches, the ocean, overwhelming landscapes and cool cities. Looking across the ocean is like looking at the end of the world. I couldn't help but imagine that at the horizon the world just stopped, as if the earth was flat. We toured with an awesome band called Blkout, who we'd met only once, when their tour and ours joined up for a show in Berlin last summer. Dudes turned out be cool as hell and they are a great band to watch too. They have a record called "Total Depravity" out on Resist Records, if you dig post "Age Of Quarrell" Cro-Mags, The Icemen and let's say, True Blue then chances are you'll dig them. Other Australian highlights included cuddling with koalas, swimming rockpools, jumping off shit, picking up a pair of Alifes in the sales, having Marty, Josh and Jimmy take care of us and wandering around Melbourne in the morning, scoring breakfast and a bunch of second hand books.

The month of October seems like ancient history already, but that was when we toured the States. As usual it was a tour that had its ups and downs and as usual it was all around awesome experience. We got to play with a bunch of great bands (Bracewar, Bitter End, Ceremony, Trapped Under Ice, etc.) and we got to meet and play for about a week with Chicago's hardest, Harm's Way. For some reason I'd never seen this band live or met any of the dudes in the band, but turns out Harm's Way are some of the coolest dudes I've met in quite a while. Their LP "Reality Approaches" is cool but live they really shred hard. A lethal force if you will. When I get back into blogging more than I have been you can expect more on this band. A lot of shoe/clothes/record shopping was done on this tour, I can't seem to help it... So much good shit out there in the States. And that dollar is still so low too, it's like someone's forcing my hand.

November was spent touring throughout Europe with our friends in Iron Age. This was one of the best tours we have ever done, in terms of turnouts, being able to sell the new album and playing a lot of cool shows. Lots of fun, lots of riffing and lots of weed. Needless to say that seeing Iron Age every night was quite the trip. I got the impression that they go over some people's heads sometimes, which is a damn shame because I think they've never been this good and this tight live. They have the songs to back it all up too. I figure that right now, they are the band they have always aspired to be. "The Sleeping Eye" might just be my favourite heavy (or hardcore related) release of 2009. If you haven't yet, pick it up. The tour ended in Ghent, our first hometown show since early 2008 and it also served as the official record release. Despite me stressing out it all went real well and the show was a success. Perfect way to end a great tour.

Thinking of "The Sleeping Eye" brings me to the much feared end of the year lists. I'll take a shot at an Album Top 10 or Top 20 in the near future, I'm trying to figure it all out in my head first. I know my man Klaas is planning on doing a whole bunch of them on his blog (www.complex-man.com) so check that out. Klaas dove headfirst into blogging, bringing quality and quantity. Definitely one of my favourite blogs going right now.

Since I last posted here, that Blakroc album has come out and I've only gotten round to listening to it 4/5 times but I'm loving it. Definitely delivers. More on that and other records soon, I've been buying a lot of vinyl in the last couple of months. It feels good. Peace.

When The Lyrics Leave The Mouth They Look Like Light Beams

2009-09-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

A few things. Like any other sane person out there I sometimes ask myself what the use of the internet actually is. I mean, it does kinda suck sometimes, right? But the ever overcrowded information superhighway has its ways to show us that we're wrong. That's how I felt when I read about Blakroc. Blakroc basically is The Black Keys collaborating with a bunch of awesome rappers. Their album is due to drop late November, but I would advise you to check out the song "Hoochie Choo" right about now. http://www.prefixmag.com/media/the-black-keys/hoochie-coo-ft-jim-jones-and-mos-def-stream/32667/
This song features the the unlikely combo of Jim Jones and Mos Def and well, it's awesome. Rumoured further collaboration partners include the RZA, Q-Tip and more. Shit's hot.

While we're on the subject of hip-hop I might as well tell you how excited I am about that new Raekwon album, the eagerly anticipated "Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx Pt. II". This album hasn't been getting a lot of love from most of my friends and that's kinda weird 'cause I love it. Or maybe not. I will not claim to be schooled up enough on hip-hop to write a full blown review here, but I'm a dude and I like what I like. So with that been said, I think Raekwon's rhymes and lyricism are still razor sharp, and with Ghostface appearing on so many tracks you could easily see why I'm diggin' this. Production by a bunch of top dudes: obviously the RZA did his thing (he is also credited as the executive producer together with Raekwon), Dr. Dre delivered 2 songs and some of the other contributors are J Dilla, The Alchemist, Pete Rock, amongst others. Most of the other Wu member appear on one or more songs... Inspecktah Deck, Method Man, GZA, Masta Killa etc. Despite the slew of producers and guest rappers "Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx Pt. II" still sounds solid and coherent... There's an eerie, dark and rough vibe that dominates this record and it fits Raekwon's flow and lyrics well. I'm into it.

In other news, Rise And Fall will be embarking on a four week US tour, starting October 2nd. We'll come bearing riffs, waffles, a new album and health care propaganda. Here's the dates, come hang...

10/02: Haverhill, MA @ Anchors Up w/ Guns Up, Bracewar
10/03: Edison, NJ @ Stelton Church w/ Guns Up, Bracewar, Creatures, Disaster
10/04: Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary w/ Guns Up, Bracewar, Title Fight, Creatures
10/05: Baltimore, MD @ Sidebar w/ Bracewar, Creatures
10/06: Richmond, VA @ Alley Katz w/ Bracewar, Trapped Under Ice, Heathens, Creatures
10/07: Raleigh, NC @ Brewery w/ Bracewar, Creatures
10/08: Lexington, SC @ Round Hill Community Club w/ Bracewar, Creatures
10/09: Atlanta, GA @ PS Warehouse w/ Bracewar, Creatures
10/10: Birmingham, AL @ Green Cup w/ Bracewar, Creatures
10/11: Little Rock, AR @ Vinos w/ Bracewar, Creatures
10/12: Dallas, TX @ 1919 Hemphill w/ Bitter End, Mammoth Grinder, Creatures
10/13: Austin, TX @ Emo's w/ Bitter End, Mammoth Grinder, Creatures
10/14: San Antonio, TX @ Ten Eleven w/ Bitter End, Mammoth Grinder, Forfeit, Backtrack, Creatures
10/15: Tucson, AZ @ Living Room w/ Creatures
10/16: San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe w/ Ceremony, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
10/17: Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction w/ Ceremony, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
10/18: Salinas, CA @ Building E w/ Ceremony, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
10/19: Las Vegas, NV @ Eastside Joes w/ Creatures
10/20: Albuqeurque, NM @ Peace And Justice Center w/ Creatures
10/21: Denver, CO @ Blast O Mat w/ Creatures
10/22: Kansas City, MO @ Mission Theatre w/ Creatures
10/23: St Louis, MO @ Fubar w/ Harms Way, Creatures
10/24: Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen w/ Harms Way, Creatures
10/25: Indianapolis, IN @ Murphy Building w/ Harms Way, Creatures
10/26: Cincinnati, OH @ Warsaw Arena w/ Harms Way, Creatures
10/27: Romeo, MI @ Static Age w/ Harms Way, Creatures
10/28: Cleveland, OH @ Nows Thats Class w/ Harms Way, Creatures
10/29: Lemoyne, PA @ Championship w/ Cold World, Creatures
10/30: Somerset, NJ @ Warehouse w/ Cold World, Creatures, Gypsy
10/31: Albany, NY @ Valentines w/ Cold World, Creatures, Title Fight, Cruel Hand, Mother Of Mercy
11/01: Holyoke, MA @ Waterfront Tavern w/ Cold World, Death Before Dishonor, Creatures

Damned If I Do, Damned If I Don't

2009-09-15T15:57:00.000-07:00

Let me start this one with some shameless self promotion: There's two new Rise And Fall songs online off our upcoming record called "Our Circle Is Vicious", which will be out on October 27th. Deathwish Records. Peep the Rise And Fall myspace (www.myspace.com/riseandfall13) if you wanna hear them. I'm stoked on the album finally coming out and the touring that comes with it.

We played Tessenderlo (Belgium) with Cloak/Dagger on saturday, after which I rolled with the Daggers for a couple of days and had a great ol' time. They have a new record out on Jade Tree called "Lost Art" and it's a good one. Expect a review to pop up here soon. Technically I think their record will be out for real in November but they do have a limited pressing of 200 with them on this Euro tour so pick that shit up. New songs translate well in a live setting and provide some more variety as well, which is obviously good. Jason's moves have become quite spectacular. His milkshake definitely brings the boys to the yard. All kidding aside, all 3 Cloak/Dagger shows were sweet, with my favourite being Utrecht. Seeing a bunch of old friends again definitely helped too, but the vibe was good, the sound was perfect and the Daggers were merciless. Union Town also played this show and I hadn't seem them in over a year I think... They blew me off my socks. This band defintely needs more recognition. They played a couple of new songs of which the more epic, slower one called "Blinding Lights" impressed me the most. Hung out in Utrecht for a couple of hours the next day. What a lovely city... Copped a sweet jacket at this cool ass thrift store for 30 E's, I was stoked. After Utrecht, Gent was up next so I had the pleasure to show Jason, Andrew and Matt around (Colin got stuck record shopping) and they dug what they saw. We ate some of the best ice cream ever so needless to say it was a good day. Good sets by them and Vogue that night.

About a month ago Madball played Belgium and I went to see them with Filip (peep his Crunkswagger blog). Kind of a last minute plan, but definitely one of the better plans in recent memory. So good seeing Madball again, and especially seeing them tear it up like that. Over half the set consisted of classic "Set It Off" and "Demonstrating My Style" material. They also played a bunch of "Look My Way" and "Hold It Down" songs obviously and a couple of newer ones were thrown in for good measure. Note to self: Pick up "Infiltrate The System" some time. Their new drummer was so stoked on being in Madball he started moshing behind his kit. Can you blame him? Freddy still is one of the illest frontmen out there and it brought a smile to my face to see that many kids (weirdos and p.m.f.'s included) go off for them.

Jeffrey hooked me up with the new Raekwon record and I've been listening to that one a lot. A little bummed on missing Raekwon when he plays Belgium on October 10th but you can't have it all, right?

More soon.

Trapped Under Ice - "Secrets Of The World"

2009-09-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

Those of you that have checked this blog before know I'm into Trapped Under Ice. "Stay Cold" was an ill EP that definitely did real well for them. Heavy rotation on the Pod and on the turntable. However, writing an awesome EP is definitely easier than writing an awesome LP, anyone that's been in a band knows that. Plus, let us not forget the nature of many a harcore kid: we tend to romanticize the past, even if that past was only a year ago, so obviously there'll be a lot of the "the demo was better" type of rhetoric. Also, and this has bothered me forever, it seems like a lot of the time when the new "cool" band gets bigger and does better and all the "uncool" kids get into them, people seem to move to whatever's next and whatever's newer and fresher. So how do you keep those kids hooked and still get new kids into you? I guess that the only thing Trapped Under Ice could do at this point was to come up with a killer album... Not that they should care too much about all of the above, but still. So have they?

An awesome album needs a good opener. You don't want your best song there, but you want a song that'll grab the attention, a short rager to stir shit up... and that's exactly what "See God" does. Immediately hitting us with some of the best lyrics of the record: "If you see God tell him that I'm still alive, gave up on all those prayers 'cause they couldn't provide". According to the same tradition that is a tradition for good reasons, your second song should be a hit. And "Believe" definitely is a hit. It will probably sound familiar to kids with good ears, 'cause Trapped Under Ice has been playing this song live on tours for a while. It's got the catchy chorus and the ignorant finale, featuring Tad (Stout) on guest vocals, definitely a change of pace but it works well and is bound to become a staple in their live sets. The "Hairspray" sample fits in with the song's Baltimore theme nicely. What else is there on Side A? More good stuff. "TUI" might seem a little simplistic but it works as a band anthem. I dig it. The re-recorded version of "Gemini" sounds cool and the song definitely adds something different to the first side of "Secrets Of The World". The gang vocals sound so Biohazard that it hurts. What I like about "Gemini" is that it doesn't stop when you think it will. Twice. This song and "Too True" also perfectly show why I think this band is so good. They work on different levels. Surely they have based their sound and style on a lot of classic NYHC, the most obvious names that come to mind are Crown Of Thornz, Merauder, Breakdown and Biohazard. They're not unafraid to wear their influences on their sleeve (the Merauder riff in "Too True", the Crown Of Thornz vibes in "From Birth" etc.) but at the same time they manage to create a sound and a dynamic that is all their own and sounds current. So next to those of us that have developed a weird obsession with classic NYHC, they'll also appeal to that young kid at the Terror show because of the sheer energy and solid songwriting they have. There's enough ignorant parts to please the hardmen among us but then again they have a refined and intelligent approach to song and lyric writing, which is something I value greatly.

Enough of that, on to Side B. Let me start off with a bit of criticism first: it seems like the band placed most of the longer, slightly weirder songs on Side B, which is not a bad thing per se, but I guess I would've preferred it if they were a little more spread out through the album. "Vortex" is an instrumental jam, it's hard and pretty diverse and goes into "Eye Hand", one of my favourites on this record. A brooding, dark song with a spirirtual twist to it, and a little "I and I" thrown in for good measure. Crown Of Thornz being a big influence on this band ain't no secret at all, and I guess that shines through most (as mentioned before) in "From Birth"... The double vocals, with that little bit of melody to them, Lord Ezec style, work well. Lyrically hard and brutally honest ("23 years of being told I will never be nothing, I can never have nothing"), musically haunting and intense, this song's a gem. Neglect reference in the lyrics... rare. "Titus" and "Against The Wall" are songs in that classic Trapped Under Ice style, "Against The Wall" stands out thanks to the super catchy chorus and that rippin' solo at the end. There's one more track and it's another personal favourite of mine, I just wish it was longer... "World I Hate". Great bass, great groove, this song hits home. What else is there to be said? I'm into the cover art. It looks ancient and mysterious and stands out. The sound is solid throughout the whole album, I like how the vocals don't sound too polished, too many records have vocals that have been smothered out of any emotion. Quality work by Dean Baltounis.

So the answer to my initial question is "yes". "Secrets Of The World" is a great record. That plus the constant touring and Reaper becoming one of the bigger names as far as real hardcore labels go should really propel Trapped Under Ice to higher levels, to become the kind of band that will draw kids into hardcore. I'm looking forward to that for sure.
"Coming at you like a stray bullet from gangland territory" ... Baltimore's TUI.

Jim Connolly: Small Man, Big Riff

2009-08-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

Around October last year I exchanged a bunch of emails with a bearded riffer known to the world as Jim Connolly, guitarist in Soul Control and an expert in the field of the full body headbang. I'll admit that some of these questions are a little outdated by now, as Soul Control is about to unleash "Cycles", their first proper full length album and the band has put out numerous 7" singles since we conducted this interview. They've also changed drummers. However, I do still think this will make for a good read. Jim's quite the entertainer. As you'll notice, there's no pictures to go along with this, simply because I can't quite figure out how to work this Mac. So it's back to basics for now, a blog for people that still know how to read. Please do go see Soul Control on tour and enjoy reading.

Soul Control recently played with the legendary Boston Devilcore act Overcast... How was that?

Overcast was great. Set was a little too long, about 14 songs but with a lot of breaks, but that's how their shows always were back in the day. I went to 5 of the 6 reunions they did in '05 as well. They still sound sick live, so heavy yet not downtuned at all. I accidentally headbutted someone during a full body headbang, had quite a bruise the next day. Have you picked up the CD they just out out? It's called "Reborn To Kill Again" and its just re-recordings of old songs but they sound really good.

Two fun facts about Overcast: 1) the first time Jim Connolly ever moshed was to Overcast at the release party for the split they did with Arise and 2) although they went by the moniker "Boston Devilcore" none of the members were actually from Boston, they were all from Milford, a suburb of Worcester about 40 minutes from Boston. This has become a tradition carried on by many "Boston Hardcore" bands of today. Cough have heartandshipwreck cough. Haha.

Describe how you exactly you "moshed" to Overcast in your first ever moshing experience. How hard were you?

It more than likely looked super lame. I think there was a lot of arm flailing and maybe a kick or two. Def not hard. I think the only time I moshed “hard” was at the Madball show in CT right after Freddy got out of jail. He came out in a prison jumpsuit…THAT is hard.

Growing up around Boston and going to shows there in the early 90's you must have seen a ton of cool shows. Please share with me some of your favourite shows and tell me what your favourite bands to see were at the time and why.

Favorite shows? My 2nd show ever was Madball at the historic Club Babyhead in Providence in 1994, that show changed my life. I’d say Agnostic Front, 454 Big Block and 25 ta Life at the Mid East in Boston in 96, one of the scariest shows I was ever at. Earth Crisis, Downset, Vision of Disorder and Bane at the Gym in Clinton. I’ll go on record and say I HATE Earth Crisis, they just happened to be on the show unfortunately. Any Bane show, especially at the space. Biohazard at the tiny Espresso Bar in Worcester. The last Trouble show at the Greek hall in Cambridge. I got to see Aaron Bedard's old band Backbone when they played a reunion show with Dive. That was actually the show where Dalbec ended up asking him if he was interested in singing for his new hardcore band. So many shows.

As far as bands, pretty much any listed in those shows. V.O.D. I’d go see whenever they came close. Any of the NYHC bands that would play somewhat close by, Madball, S.O.I.A., H2O, No Redeeming Social Value. If In Effect Zine wrote about them, I’d get into them and go see them. Local bands I’d always go see: Bane, Blood For Blood, Reach The Sky, Get High, Cave In, Cast Iron Hike…the list goes on and on.

Fast forwarding to today, what are some of your favourite bands to full body headbang to? I know Torche is one of them, please elaborate.

Torche for sure. Theres actually a funny vid on youtube of me at a Torche show at CBGB’s. Here it is: http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=hix_0WULjRw, I have no idea who that other dude is. At one point I fall down. There’s an awesome band from Providence called The Body, you have no choice but to headbang, it’s so loud you fall to your knees anyway. Also, I really love OM. One of the best sets I’ve seen was OM in a warehouse in Queens. I’ll actually be seeing Om this week when they open for Dinosaur Jr, I know this makes you jealous. Bands I haven’t seen but headbang to in spirit are Electric Wizard, Iron Monkey and of course Sleep.

I've never been to Worcester, pretty much all I know about the place is that Bane is from there, the Palladium is there and Jim Connolly is from there as well. What's Worcester like?

I think you have to be from Worcester to love Worcester. Its really big but there’s not much to do. The one thing Worcester has though is the best pizza in the world in my opinion. Not just one specific place, pretty much all pizza in Worcester is great. In the mid 90’s Worcester had two of the greatest spots for shows, The Space and the Espresso Bar. Local shows seemingly every night, touring bands always came through, it was a truly great time. After those clubs got shut down the Worcester hardcore scene kind of got shut down with it. It's starting to rise from the ashes though thanks to a new group of awesome younger kids starting bands and doing shows. I’ve been in Providence for 6 years now, but I’ll always be a Worcester kid.

You love Bane and I'm sure Bane loves you (how could they not?), since I'm quite the Baniac myself and I would love to hear your top 3 Bane releases.

This is hard because it’s one of those lists that can change from day to day depending on my mindset. Today I’ll say:

1) Free to Think, Free to Be 7”. Superhero is THE Bane song for me. Way before Can We Start Again, Superhero was the sing along. Check this video from one of the best shows I’ve been to, Back to School Jam 1999. Worcester Palladium, Upstairs, Biggest singalong I’ve ever heard. http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=1v1gr0-yM1A

2) It All Comes Down To This. Of the 3 LP’s, this is my favorite. The production is horrible and they’ll tell you the same thing. I can get past that though and these are some of my favorite songs they’ve ever done. Struck Down By Me has the best Bane mosh part. Live sets during this time were frenzied, emotional and very experimental. Sets would typical end in noisy “jams” that would mainly showcase how insane a drummer Nick was. I have a lot of shows from that time on DVD that a friend transferred from VHS for me, I’ll let you borrow them sometime. It’s a shame that only Can We and What Makes Us are pretty much the only 2 songs for this record that still get played live.

3) OK, this is one isn’t really #3 but I just want to give it some love. The Bane side of the split with Adamantium. They never really went over too well live and didn’t last very long in the set. I think kids just didn’t want anything to do with an Adamantium 7” haha. You wrote this song for me is such a good song and it led to a pretty decent shirt/hoodie design. “and you wonder why I’m so obsessed with guns…”

Prior to Soul Control you were in What Feeds The Fire, a band that at the time was well known but didn't seem to do all that much... Would you agree? Why was that? Did you guys release anything other than "Set Me Free"?

Yea I agree with that. The original lineup lasted less then a year, then the lineup I was part of lasted just about a year, so it was a pretty short lived band. They did one 2 week tour before the mass quitting of members and then our lineup did 2 tours and a lot of weekends. Set Me Free was just the demo and 4 new songs, all recorded by the og lineup. After everyone quit Sean and Mark went in and recorded a song for a Martyr Records comp 7”, Sean played guitars, drums and sang and Mark played bass. The final lineup wrote an LP but only got as far as demoing drum tracks.

What happened to What Feeds The Fire? I know you guys did that one big tour (with Hatebreed and Evergreen Terrace, right?), did the band just implode after that?

The big tour was with Hatebreed, Poison The Well and Bane. It was a month long and it went surprisingly well. After that we did a bunch of weekends with Champion amongst others. That summer we did Posi Numbers, 4:20 Fest and Hellfest which all went very very well. We were rising quickly and we were ready to write a record. Then the implosion started. Hatebreed was now on a major and touring non stop and we figured Jamey would be too busy to put out the record. Deathwish was a new label and wanted to put out the record. There was a meeting with us, Jamey and Jake on Hatebreed’s tourbus which ended with Jamey agreeing that we should join DW rather than end up “on Victory or Trustkill or something.” Leaving Stillborn as a label also meant we lost Jamey as our booking agent. The shows got HORRIBLE. The fighting began. We were doing all these shows and weekends and losing a ton of money. Rich and Myself started quitting on a weekly basis. We got offered a west coast tour with the Cro-Mags but a week before it started there were still no venues so we cancelled off it. Then I quit my marketing job for the “How’s Your Edge Tour” with Impact (became Stand & Fight), The First Step and appearances by Count Me Out and other edge bands. It was supposed to be like 10 days long, most shows got cancelled, I think we played 3 shows. Lost more money. So we decided to stop doing shows for a bit and finish the record, which we did. We wrote an 11 song album I think. We went to demo it with Larry from The Dedication and we recorded all the drums but when we tried to overdub guitars we realized the songs were all way too fast so we had to scrap the night work and reschedule. The next week we played a horrible CT show and Rich had enough and quit for real. We all talked til 3 am, once again convinced him to stay by agreeing to a 2 month hiatus and we’d all talk again after xmas. During that hiatus Sean started playing drums in a new band which ended up becoming Verse after he switched from drums to vocals. I called him after xmas to see if we were going to continue WFTF as planned and he said no, he wanted to Verse and that was it. We did a last show about a year later after all the fighting had stopped at a benefit for Steve Neale. People will tell you it was crazy, but I think it sucked. So does Sean. Bad way to end the band, ah well.

Did your time in What Feeds The Fire influence the way you wanted to handle Soul Control? It seems like Soul Control got to be a well known and respected band in a short amount of time, with your demo being incredibly well received and "Involution" following shortly after... How did all that come together?

Not really, because SC wasn’t supposed to be a “real” band. We were just friends messing around in my basement for fun. After we wrote Dive we got kind of stoked and decided to do a demo and MAYBE play a couple shows. We ended up playing Dive during a Verse set, we had no other songs written yet and Earth Tones had only been playing bass for I’d say 2 hours. Then we wrote some more songs and did the demo and like you said it was well received, which was totally unexpected. Literally a day after we put the songs on myspace we were getting calls from labels. I think we agreed to sign to Rivalry about 5-6 days after we had made physical demos. Once we signed we knew we were going to be doing a lot more than we planned so we just threw caution to the wind and rode the wave. There wasn’t much planning or handling that needed to be done. We got offered the Have Heart tour, said yes. Verse tour? Sure. Hey want to come to Europe with Blacklisted and Shipwreck? Yea, lets do it. It was a crazy first year to say the least.

It still blows my mind that Anthony (original Soul Control drummer) was in Temperance for a while. Did you ever see Temperance with him on drums? How long have you actually known Anthony and Earth Tones? How did you meet?

No, I never saw him play with Temperance. I can’t stand Temperance but I think you had to be from Rhode Island or Europe to have liked them haha. I met Triple-OG Anthony at our first practice for WFTF. So I’ve known him for about 7 years now. After WFTF and before Soul Control we still played music together and remained real close, mainly because of poker. Earth Tones and I met about 3 years ago, it’s really weird that we hadn’t met before that because he has been close with some of my friends, like Triple-O, since like 1994. I’ve known his brother Adam for 6-7 years but I somehow (thankfully?) avoided knowing Earth Tones. We met when he came to film a show my band before Soul Control was playing and we hung out a bit that night. Then randomly he started showing up at my place and now we’re in a band together. Basically he’s in my life out of necessity. I’m half joking.

When Matt decided to quit the band, breaking up must've occured to you, or did that thought not occur to you at all? What made you decide to carry on and take the risk?

Breaking up was the first thought we all had and I think we did actually break up for a few days. Matt really wanted us to keep going, he loved and still loves Soul Control, it’s the band he had always wanted to do but he just couldn’t do it anymore. So me, Tones and Triple-O went out for pancakes and had a long discussion and decided to keep going. Then after 2 weeks we couldn’t think of a new guy so we almost broke up again and then had another meeting on a bench next to a river and decided to keep looking. At this point only a handful of people knew Matt had quit even though he had quit almost a month prior. I finally told Sean Murphy and instantly he was like “Yo, you should get my boy Rory.” I met him, gave him a CD and he texted me a few days later and said he was down to give it a go. We set up a jam, he did “On Survival” once and that was it, he was in. He actually put words to a new song that first time we ever played together, instant chemistry. We dropped the song though haha. We scrapped pretty much a whole LP worth of music.

Concerning that new song "Flux" you guys have been playing for a while now... That riff is so fucking hard, I imagine you locking yourself in your basement with only the Burn "New Morality" recordings and your guitar for a week, growing a huge beard and resurfacing again while full body headbanging to the sound of that song playing in your head. Is that how it went?

Yes.

That series of 4 one song 7" records is a nifty idea. What are the benefits of doing things this way as opposed to let's say a new 4 song 7" or 12"? The first one is due out soon, what can you tell me about the song on that one?

Well, we’re not on Rivalry anymore so we were like OK, let's do something that we wanna do, cuz we can literally do anything. I had been talking to Rory about doing a series of 1 song singles for a while and then when we were on tour with Lie And Wait (awesome band, by the way) their drummer Josh Huskin came up with the idea to make all the covers form one bigger picture. So blame him haha. The benefits are just that it makes US happy, its what we wanted to do so we did it. We picked the labels, they’ve been awesome and are doing a great job, everyone’s stoked. We’ll put out another normal 7” before the winter tour.
“Playing Coward” is the first one to come out, it can be ordered now. Its selling faster than expected which is surprising, we didn’t think people would buy into the idea and that they’d sell more on tour, but I guess not. As of right now, it’s my favorite song we have. I like quiet guitar intros that escalate in volume, so I did one of those. Its got a cool bounce/groove part that I dig too. I like all the new songs, now I guess I gotta hope that others like them to?

Will all those songs be vinyl exclusives or will some of them appear on the new album next year?

Vinyl exclusives. Whatever we do from now on will have new stuff only. We’ll continue with our formula of not releasing any 2 records that sound the same.

Soul Control is one of the few newer bands that seems do well with young kids and old heads alike, it is especially interesting to see how you guys get asked to play Snapcase, Unbroken, Overcast, Disembodied etc. reunion shows... Why do you think that is, besides your old age?

Well, the Snapcase/Anti-Matter Show was all because of Rob Fish. 108 has been real cool to us from the beginning and Rob really went to bat for us to get us on that show. Norm decided to add 1 more band to the lineup and Rob told him to check us out. He liked it a lot and called me and asked us to play. After the 2 shows Norm said a lot of cool things about us like how even though we’re a modern band we capture the spirit and vibe of “that” time, stuff like that. It’s all in the blog on the Anti-Matter myspace. Old heads, and I mean that as a positive term, seem to dig us for that reason, at least that’s what we hear the most, that we manage to capture that time/sound/vibe and they like it. Same thing with the Burning Fight release show in April, we were asked for those reasons. We might not have been a band in the mid 90’s but that’s the time when we all were most active in the scene and I guess it still shines through when we play. We’re not faking it, this is what comes out of us, it’s real and I think people can tell.

If the 16 year old Jim C. would meet the 30 year old Jim C. do you think they'd become friends?

Yea probably, we’d both be into Madball and that’s a good way to start a friendship.

You have a pretty awesome stage thing going, I dig the bouncing while spinning around move... What are some of your favourite guitarists to watch live?

I’m not really into super active guitarists actually but I do love watching dudes shred. Like Cedric. Dude shreds. When those bends hit in the breakdown of Forked Tongues and he kind of leans back with the bend…that is sweet. Juan Montoya and Steve Brooks from Torche. They know exactly how heavy they are and they are stoked about it. Obviously J. Mascis. Saw him last night, stood about 4 feet from his amps, needless to say I couldn’t hear very well this morning.

Soul Control has a huge full U.S. tour planned for next year, among other tours, a new album etc. How hard is it to keep living that kind of band lifestyle while you are at an age where most have long giving up on hardcore? What keeps you inspired to do you what you do?

Basically, I don’t want to grow up just yet. So I’ll tour and work lame retail jobs in between just to avoid getting a real job. I have a marketing degree that I’ve been wasting since 2000, I could go get a decent job if I wanted to, but it’s not time for that. All I can really focus on is music right now, I gotta get it out of my system before I settle down. Luckily I have cheap rent and very VERY understanding girlfriend.

You were supposed to tour Europe again last August but that got cancelled, when do you expect to be back over? What are some of your fondest memories of that first European tour you did with Blacklisted and Shipwreck?

We plan on coming back to Europe next summer with a certain Belgian Devilcore Act called Rise And Fall, maybe you’ve heard of them. See what I did there? Now it has to happen, once it’s on the internet it’s real.

Fond memories include: sitting in that club on the 18 hour ferry to Finland watching Dubs kick game to 16 year old Russian girls, walking around in Prague which was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been, Dance party after the show in Warsaw, pulling up to the Lintfabriek and seeing that massive crowd outside, being woken up at 4am by George who needed to tell the room that a certain member of one of the bands on the tour that wasn’t Blacklisted or Soul Control was upstairs making out with a dude. I really wish I didn’t let the money situation bring me down so much, I got pretty depressed at times but looking back, that was a great tour.

Ride - "Nowhere". Briefly explain why this is your favourite record ever.

I’ve been thinking about this question for days and I can’t come up with anything brief so I’ll just sum it up in one sentence: It is a perfect record.

Brief side story, I saw Mark Gardner do a solo show in Boston in 2005 and it was a tiny crowd due to Dinosaur Jr playing down the street. Mark bummed a cigarette off my girlfriend and we talked for a few minutes. Then he dedicated Dreams Burn Down (my fav Ride song) to me, which was probably the coolest thing happened in my life thus far.

Thanks Jim!
No problem. See you on that tour, I’ll help you get into OM.

Mind Over Matter, Soul Before Flesh

2009-07-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

That's the motto, still. Not that it is an easy one to live by, but all you can do is try, right? Right. So it's past midnight, I'm typing and I'm kind of excited because I haven't actually blogged since October. I guess the bug bit me again or something. Actually, after October last year I didn't have any internet access for a couple of months. After those couple of months, I just shunned the net for another couple of months and it felt good. It was kind of an experiment. I felt like a caveman, but in a good way. But as Full Court Press once told us, "good things never last", so I found my way back to the internet machine sometime in March or so. Felt like updating the blog once in a while but nothing happened, I guess I was just focusing on other things, such as the writing and recording process of the new Rise And Fall record. We recorded back in March and the damn thing should be out in October. I'm pretty stoked on that. We also just got back from a 4 week tour throughout Europe with our dawgs in Have Heart and Shipwreck. I have to admit, I have missed touring. I've been living a somewhat more regular life over the last few years and while that's not the worst thing in the world, touring is definitely a lot cooler. Rise And Fall hadn't done any extensive touring since the summer of '09 so we were all pretty amped to get out there and play hard every night. It was fun. Plus we could hang with and see the Hearts and the Wrecks every day, it don't get much better than that. Anyway. On tour I had a bunch of people ask me what was going on with the blog and that definitely helped me get back into it. It's cool to hear some people out there really dig it. See, I won't lie, I'm pretty far from being Lars Ulrich but every ego loves to be flattered now and then. So here I am, back at it. Mind Over Matter '09.

This is going to be pretty damn random so please bear with me. Two of my favourite bands out there both have new albums out, both of them leaked prior to their release date, but what are you gonna do? You can't rage against the internet machine.

Iron Age "The Sleeping Eye". If you asked me for two words to describe this one, I'd say "EPIC RIFFING". Not everyone is going to dig this, because not everyone can stomach 7 minute songs and an overdose of riffs, but I sure can. Granted, it's a bit much too listen to in one take, but fuck it... This album is ridiculously good. It sounds crisp and clear and heavy as fuck. Huge sound. Think Clash Of The Titans Tour, 20000 maniacs headbanging. I was too slow to get the double vinyl released by the band themselves, but I'll pick up the Tee Pee version as soon as it crosses my path.

Another killer is the new Trapped Under Ice album called "Secrets Of The World". No surprise here as their demo, "Stay Cold" EP and live shows already showed what greatness this band is capable of. I've heard it a bunch of times now on other's people's Ipods, I got close to destroying the roof of our van when I started a one man moshpit up in the loft. I can't wait to get the real thing. Reaper Records is going strong, no doubt.

Soul Control's new album called "Cycles" should be out soon too, I haven't heard that one yet but I'm definitely curious to hear what kind of wizardry Jim C. and co. have come up with. Speaking of Jim C., I have an awesome interview with him somewhere in my mailbox, I will try to get that thing online soon, 'cause Soul Control's European tour starts in a few days from now.

What's your favourite Bane album? Chances are it's "Give Blood". Defibitely a good answer. It's probably my favourite one too. But how about "The Note"? Definitely an underappreciated record. I was way into that one. I have a feeling i'm going to dig the new EP as well 'cause that new song they put online last week rules. Peep it at banecentral.com and keep an eye out for that record to drop on Hurry Up Records in Europe (Matteo, cojone) and Triple B in the States.

Doomriders have a new album coming too. "Darkness Come Alive". I've heard it and it does shred. Hard. A little darker, more serious (less of a spur of the moment thing I guess) than "Black Thunder". Check the Deathwish site for a 3 song media player.

Guess who else put out a new album? That's right, Dinosaur Jr. It fucking rules. Album of the year*? Possibly. There's a bunch of walking trees on the cover. Those trees don't give a fuck. Because they're cool.

I gotta get some sleep. More soon.

Peace.

* In the non-hardcore category.

Focus On The Light: True Colors U.S. Tour

2008-10-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

In a matter of days a bunch of Belgians will land on U.S. soil to play a bunch of anthemic, high energy hardcore songs of the straight edge variety. True Colors is the name of their band and I suggest you go see them if you have the chance. They zill be touring with none other than Cruel Hand. Here are their tourdates:

10/03 : Lemoyne, PA @ Championship
10/04 : Lakewood, OH @ Hi Fi
10/05 : Romeo, MI @ Static Age
10/06 : Toronto, ONT @ Studio BLR
10/07 : Montreal, QC @ INFO COMING SOON!!
10/08 : Chicotimi, QC @ La Marina
10/09 : Haverhill, MA @ Anchors Up
10/10 : Brooklyn, NY @ Stolen Sleeves
10/11 : Edison, NJ @ Stelton Church

Due to logistic reasons I can't spice this up with a sweet live pic but let the words do the talking here. I asked my friend Wim "Hingie" De Backer a couple of questions. He plays bass in True Colors. BUST!

In a couple of days from now, True Colors will be in the United States. How did this happen? Who made it happen? How excited are you?

We've been talking about touring the US for a while now, but I don't think any of us really believed that it would ever happen. We all kinda knew that we were capable of doing it if we would just get to it, but the idea of True Colors touring in America was always quite absurd to us... I don't even know how it all finally happened, but I assume our drummer Peers just got in touch with Andy Rice from Deathwish (probably through Dave Sausage), and he just booked our tour. And I am pretty excited about it! See next question...

None of you have ever been there, so how wild do you expect the U.S. to be? Do you think the female population over there is ready for the coming of L.L. Cool P. (Ladies Love Cool Peers)?

I try to have no expections at all, but I'm sure everything is going to be mega exciting! I cannot wait for the moment we're walking out of the airport, all in America for the first time, on tour with our band, figuring out what we'll be doing first and how exactly. And it all looks like we don't have too many really long drives and we're going to be able to hang out in some cool cities, so that's just perfect. Far out, far fucking out as the dude would say...
And I personally believe that no female population anywhere can ever be ready for the coming of Peers. Mothers, lock up your daughters! I'm not even joking...

Please give me a list of 10 things you absolutely want to do while you are on tour there...

One thing I learned playing in a touring band is never plan too much stuff in advance, cause I always get a little bummed out if things don't work out the way I want them to, wich is pretty often. BUT, 10 things I definitly want to do this time around include:
Play at least one good show
Get into Canada
Hang out with Spoiler08
Eat non vegan things with Spoiler08
Eat donuts daily
Get a strawberry/banana smoothie (yo Stief!)
Try all the Ben&Jerrys flavours that arent available in Europe
Buy a new iPod (cheap)
Buy lots of other stuff (cheap)
Hang out in New York City

True Colors has been known to bust some Youth Of Today covers on the regular... What Youth Of Today songs have you covered so far and do you have any others planned for the future?

So far we did Honesty, Break Down The Walls, I Have Faith, Slow Down, Put It Aside, A Time We'll Remember and Wake Up And Live. We did Disengage at rehearsals but we were not quite ready for that song yet. We're not really sure what our next Youth Of Today cover will be, but I definitly still want to do the following: Positive Outlook, Youth Of Today, Disengage, Together, Understand and a bunch more...

Please explain your fixation on this seminal Straight Edge Band. If you could go back in time and be in Youth Of Today playing bass, what era of Youth Of Today would you go back to?

Youth Of Today just makes perfect sense to me, in every possible way... to me, they hit home like no other band does. Their songs are fast and super aggresive, their lyrics inspiring yet simple, their live shows energetic and impressive, their records and their layouts completly flawless... Just exaclty what I was looking for when I discovered them at age 17. I was still a fattie back then, and looking at the pictures of Ray and Porcell always made me want to work out and get in shape. They definitely had a big influence on me growing up...
I wouldn't even dare to think of me replacing Walter Schreifels or Craig Setari as a bassplayer in Youth Of Today, so I'd go back to 1985 and play in YOT in their Can't Close My Eyes days if I had to. I love every Youth Of Today record and all eras so it's all good anyway. Though my absolute favourite one is the We're Not In This Alone era, that record, most energy captured on a record ever! And best hardcore record of all time, hands down...
This question made me listen to all four Youth Of Today releases in a row this morning, it made my day.

Favourite Geert Hollanders quote?

"I think I'm going to get some dessert..."

God Can't Touch Us Now, We're Out Of His Jurisdiction

2008-09-15T04:23:00.000-07:00

The Melvins and Big Business played Ghent last Friday. I watched the Melvins from up on the balcony, something I had to do to preserve my sanity. I wanted to see Big Business from up close but found myself surrounded by idiots. Out of the 10 people around me, 11 were either yelling in their dumb friends ears trying make conversation, or poking me in the back while bringing their dumb friends some more beer. Regardless though, Big Business were good, the only bummer is that it's almost as if they're not a real band when supporting the Melvins. What I mean is that it would be cool if they would have their own set up, with both Jared and Coady frontstage in the spotlights, shredding. On to the Melvins. While they were playing I thought of the following way to describe their set: Perfection Through Precision. Holy shit. So fucking heavy. Super tight set, with an emphasis on material off their last two albums and a few old ragers and surprises thrown in there. Apparently they covered The Who's "My Generation", but I didn't recognize that one. I did catch the a-capella version of "The Star Spangled Banner"! It is mind boggling how a band with two drummers can be this tight. It was also awesome to see how into it King Buzzo still is, rocking that weirdo robe and the grey afro. The man's a legend. You won't find me filming bands with my cellphone so you'll have to make do with this footage of Beavis & Butthead watching "Hooch"...

On a totally unrelated note, I was made aware of some awesome live footage of Hateverge. So bummed I didn't get to see this when it happened, because come on, how awesome is the idea of seeing Converge bang out classic Hatebreed tracks with Jamey singing? As Vince accurately put it a few days ago... "Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire" is to hardcore what "Nevermind" is to grunge/alt rock/whatever. Nothing but hits on that album. I can still remember the excitement that was in the air when Hatebreed first played Europe, they'd cancelled a few tours here in the late 90's, rumor had it that Jamey had a severe case of B.A. Baracus (flying anxiety) and that Hatebreed would never make it out here. But obviously, the non-believers were proven wrong in 2001. They toured Europe with Sepultura and did a few headline shows of their own, I went and saw a few and they were wild, to say the least. Anyway, check out the Hateverge footage below, it is what I would show someone when trying to explain the meaning of "sheer insanity". Some sick diving going on during "Before Dishonor". What's up Lord Ezec, just chillin' on stage rocking a sleeveless lambskin coat?

Possibly even more unrelated to the Melvins, but a little more Hatebreed related is the next YouTube gem. Hand me that late pass if you want, but I was unaware of the existence of this video until a few weeks ago. Thank you Jeffrey. I was never quite sure what to make of Fury Of Five, I was into their first 7" and remember digging their first album but afterwards they kinda disappeared off my radar. I don't think I ever saw them live either. I definitely wasn't at the legendary Belgian show where James Ismean kindly asked the P.A. dude if he "knew how to spell beatdown?", which is a bummer. But anyway, check out this video for "Do Or Die", it's pretty hard. The highlight defintely is James Ismean stickmanning , starting at 1:37. I'm into the added commentary too.

I have been listening to the new Have Heart album excessively during the last few weeks. Definitely one of my favourite records to come out this year, everything about it makes a lot of sense to me. If you're old fashioned like me and still value good lyrics, check the ones Pat Flynn wrote for this album. Some of that stuff blew my mind. I'll probably review the whole record up here soon. In the meantime, here's some more YouTube footage... Have Heart at Ieper Fest in Belgium. See me doing a sweet dive at 0:09 and get crushed a few seconds later. I'm a survivor though.

Another record I have been really into as of late is Paint It Black's "New Lexicon". After seeing them play one of the most inspiring and energetic sets at this year's Sound And Fury, I have been listening to this album a whole lot more and it's awesome. They are currently touring Europe with Trash Talk so go see them if you can. These are the tour dates:

Sep 15 2008: Cassiopeia/Skatehalle / Berlin, Germany
Sep 16 2008: 007 / Prague, Czech Republic
Sep 17 2008: Arena / Vienna, Austria
Sep 18 2008: Exhaus / Trier, Germany
Sep 19 2008: Juha West / Stuttgart, Germany
Sep 20 2008: Parkhaus Meiderich / Duisburg, Germany
Sep 20 2008: ZXZW Festival / Tilburg, Holland
Sep 21 2008: Le Klub / Paris, France
Sep 22 2008: The Fighting Cocks / London, U.K.
Sep 23 2008: Le Pub / Newport, U.K.
Sep 24 2008: Star & Garter / Manchester, U.K.
Sep 25 2008: Trash / Leeds, U.K.
Sep 26 2008: The Engine Room / Brighton, U.K.
Sep 27 2008: Ill Blood Fest / Izegem, Belgium

My good friends in Blacklisted and Rhythm To The Madness are also still on tour through Europe, make sure you don't miss out on that either. Both bands played a blazing set at Rhythm To The Madness' record release show. More on "Weltschmerz" later on.

09/15: Mannheim, Germany @ JUZ
09/15: Karlsruhe, Germany @ Jubez
09/16: Munster, Germany @ Sputnik Cafe
09/17: Paris, France @ Le Klub
09/18: Trier, Germany @ Exhaus
09/19: Tilburg, Holland @ ZXZW
09/20: Duisburg, Germany @ Parkhaus Duisburg-Meiderich
09/21: Genk, Belgium @ JH Rondpunt

More interviews, reviews and what not coming soon. Peace.

Bang The Drum Slowly: Part II

2008-08-15T15:44:00.000-07:00

The cool thing about interviewing drummers is how fast most of 'em would reply to my emails. I guess drummers don't get interviewed all that often. I've had the following two interviews in my inbox for a while, I wanted to wait until I got some more answers in but I guess the closer you live to people, the longer it takes them to answer. It's all good though. Here's Bang The Drum Slowly Part II featuring two drummers that I love watching and listening to... Reed DeAngelis and Nick Woj.

I first met Reed when Iron Age first toured Europe. We didn't actually hang until Rise And Fall toured the U.S. with Iron Age in March/April '07 though. Reed rode with us for most of the tour, didn't talk all that much but seemed happy enough listening to a bunch of Belgians talk shit in a language he didn't understand. If you've seen Reed at work then you know what his deal is: small dude, hard hitter, good style. Check out his new band FEED while you're at it.

Please give me your name and age, list the bands you've drummed for and tell me how long you have been doing that thing you do...
Reed DeAngelis - 21 years of age. I have drummed for Iron Age, Bitter End, and a million other random Texas Hardcore/Punk bands but am currently drumming for FEED and Antic Hay. I've been officially drumming since the ripe age of 11 years.

What made you decide to become a drummer? Was there one particular drummer that inspired you to pick up those sticks?
Randomly, Mick Fleetwood from Fleetwood Mac was the one who inspired me to drum. I remember watching a live performance of them on TV with my mom when I was around 8 and started drumming on pillows along with their set. Him and Tre Cool of Green Day!

What was your first drumset? When did you get it? How did you pay for it?
Technically, my first drumset was bought for me when I was 3 years old. It was a toy Mickey Mouse drumkit and I couldn't get enough of that piece of shit. But when I turned 11 and took my first drum lesson, my mom took me out to a local music shop and bought me a Yamaha DP series drumset for $400 (I don't think they make them anymore, they suck). I had that kit for about 5 years until I 'upgraded' to a Tama Rockstar ($800) and then finally, a couple years ago I got a 1979-81(?) Rogers kit for about $350.

As a drummer, how big do you think your influence is on the sound of a band? When you write songs with your band(s), is your role limited to providing the beat or do you also hum riffs or base songs around drum patterns/beats?
I'm a firm believer in selfless drumming. Do what's best for the song and know when to shut the fuck up. I hate watching drummers who think it's necessary to throw in a million cymbal 'accents' and conclude every 4 measures of a beat with a ridiculous fill. Also, I HATE unneccessary double-bass. In fact, I'm not much of a fan of double bass at all - I believe it should've been kept in Jazz where it's actually used with some class. As far as riff-writing, I definitely give my 2 cents... I like to take riffs that my guitarists write and change the time signatures and accents to kinda spice it up a little more. I think that's a big part of how a drummer should contribute to his band.

Do you feel like people often forget how crucial a good drummer is to a good band? I know a drummer that told me that no matter how good you are, you'll always be overshadowed by the guitarist and the singer... Is that so according to you?
The drummer is like the goalie. The entire team (as well as the crowd) knows that without him the entire game would fall apart, but unfortunately he doesn't get as much recognition as the power forwards because they're the ones on the frontline scoring all the points.

Out of all the records you've drummed on, which one are you most proud of? Why? Does that also make it the best record you're on, or not?
Hmmm...well, Iron Age's 'Constant Struggle' was definitely a milestone for me as it was my first full-length record. But I have a much stronger sense of pride for the FEED demos because obviously not only did we write all the music but we were also responsible for the recording and pressing of the demos. It feels much better to do the entire thing yourself.

What makes a gig awesome for a drummer? Is it playing tight as fuck and not missing a beat? Is it the overall vibe? Is it crowd response and energy?
Great question. Yo, I HATE mosh. I think it looks absolutely absurd. I would much rather have everyone headbang and/or sing along. For me, playing tight as hell is the most rewarding aspect of a live show. Nothing beats getting off the stage knowing that you nailed your songs. It boils down to the following question: are you playing your songs for yourself or for the crowd?

What are some of your favourite drummers ever? What sets those dudes apart from everyone else out there? How about current drummers, who's good? Who's got the chops?
The first solo drummer I ever got into was Billy Cobham. I would recommend him to any drummer I know... he is phenomenal. Also, the drummer for the Spin Doctors has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember. Good drummers nowadays - the drummer for Vedera (I forgot his name), Champ of Foundation, JP of Rise And Fall fame, Ely of Bitter End, that new jack drummer of Bad Religion is insane, so on and so forth.

We all know guitarists sometimes "borrow" riffs from other bands... Do drummers sometimes "borrow" drumbeats or drumfills? Have you? What exactly did you "borrow" and where can we hear the result?
Listen to the drum intro of 'Butcher's Bill' on Iron Age's "Constant Struggle". Now, listen to the drum break in 'Don't Look Back' by Boston.

That's it. Thank you. Any closing comments or shout outs?
For all touring and recording drummers - don't be zealots! Do what's best for your band and stop trying to put yourself in the spotlight.

Although you probably won't see Nick behind the kit for most of Cold World's shows nowadays, he still is the silent mastermind behind the band. From artwork, to lyrics, to vocal patterns, to riffs, Nick's input is huge. When I first met him he was wearing a Darkthrone shirt. Check out Cold World's awesome new album called "Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First". It rules.

Please give me your name and age, list the bands you've drummed for and tell me how long you have been doing that thing you do...
Nick Woj, I just turned 27. Like anybody I did a couple early bands that were mostly just messin' around but my first real band was called Magnus. Alex and Dan from Cold world were also in it. it was like a youth crew band. I was also in a 90's style screamo type band called Our Time with Posi-Fest creator Bobb Mac. I had a little stint in Horror Show and was supposed to be in Blacklisted but I couldn't commit to their rigorous tour schedule at the time. I did play a show with them though. I've been drumming in bands since i was like 14.

What made you decide to become a drummer? Was there one particular drummer that inspired you to pick up those sticks?
I started drums because my uncle Jason played and I was always around him so I'd get behind his kit. So I guess he was the drummer who inspired me first. After that, my drum idol became Lars Ulrich.

What was your first drumset? When did you get it? How did you pay for it?
I was eventually handed down my uncle's set. It was one of those clear (blue) Ludwig sets. I wish I still had it! It was pretty beat up though. After that I had a couple okay sets and then my grandfather bought me a Tama rockstar set which I believe is in my friend Phil Leone's garage right now.

As a drummer, how big do you think your influence is on the sound of a band? When you write songs with your band(s), is your role limited to providing the beat or do you also hum riffs or base songs around drum patterns/beats?
I've been one of the major song-witers in every band I've been in. I can play guitar a little bit so I usually get down the basic chords for a song or riff and if there's something more complicated I hum it out to the guitar player.

Do you feel like people often forget how crucial a good drummer is to a good band? I know a drummer that told me that no matter how good you are, you'll always be overshadowed by the guitarist and the singer... Is that so according to you?
I think sometimes it depends on the style of music, but I think the person that told you that is mostly right. With hardcore, I always noticed that the bands with the crazy-good drummers usually suck. Or at least I don't like them. I feel like someone's technical ability shouldn't be the focus in a popular form of music, it should be the songs. You can have an amazing drummer in a mediocre band, but the only people who are going to appreciate the drummer are the musicians and that's not good for the band. Drummers of my favorite bands just play the right things at the right time with a bit of style.

Out of all the records you've drummed on, which one are you most proud of? Why? Does that also make it the best record you're on, or not?
Probably Cold World's "Ice Grillz". That was the second record we did with Don Fury and I know he wasn't happy with the outcome of the first time, so he really had us dial the parts in. I think it is probably the best record I've played on but not because of the drumming. I just think it's a solid EP.

What makes a gig awesome for a drummer? Is it playing tight as fuck and not missing a beat? Is it the overall vibe? Is it crowd response and energy?
It really depends on how you feel at the time. Some gigs I would have so much fun because me and Alex would just be feeling it and play really well together, even if it's not a packed gig. Especially if the place has a nice sound system. But there's been gigs that we didn't play particularly tight but everybody was going off and it felt great so it made up for it. I know it's cliche to say, but it's particularly true in a hardcore band, that you feed off the crowd's energy. If you're in a metal or rock band, I'm sure you can tell if the crowd's feeling it or not but it's not as interactive as kids killing each other and getting on stage to mosh, dive or sing along. Personally though, I usually feel the best if I play well. If there's at least a moderate amount of crowd participation and I played well, I'm the most happy with the gig.

Do you singalong a lot while playing live? What's your favourite song to sing along to?
Nah. Maybe a little, but that's not really my style. I remember in the 90's when I first got into hardcore and bands were all emotional and shit, I thought that was cool but not really now.

What are some of your favourite drummers ever? What sets those dudes apart from everyone else out there? How about current drummers, who's good? Who's got the chops?
My favorite hardcore drummers are Mackie (the obvious choice, everybody says him but c'mon... u gotta), Sammy (I feel like everybody overlooks this dude. Listen to the last Youth Of Today EP and tell me you would've thought to play those songs the way he did), and Rene Natzel from World Collapse and True Blue. People probably think that's a weird answer but his drum style and sound is ridiculous and he's a great song-writer. Kingshot from Floorpunch's drums made a big impression on me too. Non-hardcore standouts are Reni of Stone Roses, Lars Ulrich, ?uestlove, and a few others. I think that drummers of my favorite bands just kind of play the right thing, and that really makes me appreciate them. Like Mike Joyce of The Smiths and Colm of My Bloody Valentine. And last but not least FENRIZ OF DARKTHRONE!!!

We all know guitarists sometimes "borrow" riffs from other bands... Do drummers sometimes "borrow" drumbeats or drumfills? Have you? What exactly did you "borrow" and where can we hear the result?
Oh man, I borrow shit all day. Most of it's subconciously from hip-hop but I think if you listen to our new album when it comes out you can pick up a lot of influence from Goat of Merauder. Especially the "5 Deadly Venoms"-era.

That's it. Thank you. Any closing comments or shout outs?
What's up to all the drummers that I love giggin' with. Shawn Foley, DFJ, Mook, Riffset, etc. You know who you are. Thanks to the following for enough instrumental inspiration to last a life time - Showbiz, Buckwild, Diamond D, Lord Finesse, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Just Blaze, Q Tip & Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Madlib, Oh No, J Dilla, Paul C, Marley Marl, Biz Markie, Scott La Rock, The Bomb Squad, Eric Sermon, Prince Paul and the RZA.

Don't Be Surprised About The Life That She Breeds

2008-07-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

Why not treat ourselves to a wonderful gem? You may have seen this before but I sure hadn't. Here's a video Leeway once did for "Foot The Bill", the opening track of their 1995 album "Open Mouth Kiss". I love Leeway and I love that record. Often overlooked because obviously it ain't no "Born To Expire" or "Desperate Measures" (I don't even need to - or feel like I can begin to - explain how brilliant those albums are), but in my opinion that's what makes it such a great record. It's insane how talented Leeway was (and still is), seeing how they could pull off albums like those and then come up with something as different and mind blowing as "Open Mouth Kiss". Post hardcore in the true sense of the word, 'cause in my book you can do only do post hardcore right if you've really done hardcore right as well. The video is a little blurry, hazy and artsy at times but you gotta love Eddie's outfit.

A couple of days ago I drove down to CCR Studios, where Rhythm To The Madness was busy recording "Weltschmerz". Going down there is always fun, Rise And Fall has recorded nearly everything we've done there so seeing Kris again always is a good time. Getting a chance to hear what Stief, Klaas, Daan and Cedric have been cooking up is obviously exciting too and that ofcourse was why I dropped by anyway. Rhythm To The Madness definitely still is a band for fans of solos, "Best Wishes", "Alpha - Omega", wild ideas, harsh riffs and insightful lyrics. That much I can tell you. Look out for the album to drop on September 6th, the release show in Berchem (Belgium) will be one of the first shows of their European tour with Blacklisted.

Last weekend I saw Dinosaur Jr for the second time in my life. Besides the fact that they were awesome, loud and up there playing some of the best indie/guitar rock ever I was really fascinated by J. Mascis outfit. I know that's weird but what can I say? I guess I'm weird too. He was wearing a pair of Levi's jeans, I was a little too far to be able to tell if they were 505's or 501's (yo, it's crazy what a job will do to you) but they were definitely cool and an Adidas running jacket. Plus you know the dude loves old hardcore so you could say we have a lot in common? I dunno. I wish I could see Dinosaur Jr every weekend.

If anyone out there is kind of a nerd like me and has wondered about whatever happened to Jimmy Yu, of Judge and Death Before Dishonor fame, definitely check out the Double Cross Blog/Zine. Those dudes managed to track the man down and did an extensive interview with him, of which part 4 is online now. It's a great read, with plenty of good stories and anecdotes by one of the more mysterious characters of the late 80's New York Hardcore scene. Double Cross is linked in the "Recommended Reading" section on the right. You'll find plenty more to read up there as well, Tim and his posse post updates nearly everyday. It may not always be my cup of tea but I've definitely read and seen some awesome things there.

Last of all, Rise And Fall will be heading to the States next week to play Sound And Fury and do some touring up and down the West Coast. If anyone wants to chill, come find me at the nearest In-N-Out Burger. Here are the tourdates...

07/25: Santa Barbara, CA @ Earl Warren Showgrounds SOUND AND FURY
07/26: Santa Barbara, CA @ Earl Warren Showgrounds SOUND AND FURY
07/27: Santa Barbara, CA @ Earl Warren Showgrounds SOUND AND FURY
07/28: Newhall, CA @ American Legion Hall w/ Blacklisted, Shipwreck, Alpha And Omega
07/29: Orangevale, CA @ Orangevale VFW w/ Blacklisted, Shipwreck, Alpha And Omega
07/30: Portland, OR @ Backspace w/ Alpha And Omega, Black Breath
07/31: Tacoma, WA @ Viaduct w/ Alpha And Omega, Black Breath
08/01: San Francisco, CA @ Balazo Gallery w/ Alpha And Omega, Black Breath, Skin Like Iron
08/02: San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe w/ Alpha And Omega, Black Breath, Skin Like Iron
08/03: Riverside, CA @ Pharos Den w/ Alpha And Omega, Black Breath, Skin Like Iron

Union Town: Self Titled / Review

2008-07-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

I guess sometimes things just click. When I first heard about Union Town and the individuals that made up the band, it seemed like an odd mix of people, but an interesting one at least. Bassist Miriam was in Malkovich for a long time, a band I never really quite understood, but still she provided them with some style and grace so that's cool. Drummer Dorus was in No Turning Back around the time they put out "Rise From The Ashes", yet it never really seemed like that band was his "thing". Then there was Johan Vogels, their guitarist who (to Vince and me) will forever and always be the dude that appeared to know every word to every One Life Crew song off "Crime Ridden Society" in a discussion whether or not that band was acceptable or not. That was back in '98 though so I guess I'm drifting off here. When the band found the perfect singer in Hein (who for a really short time played bass in Justice and put out a bunch of awesome demos on his tape label The Decline) and recorded their demo, things definitely must've clicked. When I heard it, I was floored, almost instantly. Obviously I wasn't the only one and despite the fact that Union Town hadn't really played much outside the Holland/Belgium area, the demo did real well and got pressed onto vinyl by Powered Records.

Where the demo mainly was an up tempo deal, with well written songs that carried a huge mid to late 80's DC vibe (Rites Of Spring, Embrace, Dag Nasty), this self titled debut album is a much more varied record. The bands that influenced Union Town when they wrote their demo are still an influence now, but as it goes when bands find their own sound, the influence is less obvious. Yet, their sound is still firmly rooted in the same soil, if that makes any sense? The variety in their songs, the maturity in their songwriting (you can really tell that you are dealing with experienced songwriters here) and most of all, the soul and spirit in their songs make it so that Union Town sounds like Union Town. There's room for experiment, slower parts and a few new things and ofcourse that can only be applauded. Some examples would be the guitar work in "The Observer" (the 5th song on the album) that has a weird Wipers vibe to it or even something as simple as the additional vocals by Miriam on the album's opening track "Regenerated". I'm a huge fan of those. That only goes to show Union Town has grown as a band.

One of the demo songs got re-recorded ("Resentment") and I guess one could always criticise that, but I don't think it's a song that's out of place on this album. The other 8 songs are all brand new and pretty much all of them rock. Rhythmically, I feel like they all have a good flow to them, with little details, breaks, drum fills and stop-start parts to keep things interesting. There are two things I'm particularly impressed by: the first is how warm and soulful this record sounds. As dumb as it may sound, you can hear the love and care that went into these songs. The second thing is Hein's vocals and lyrics. He sounds more confident than ever, with hardly any trace of an accent (well, if you ask me.. I am a Euro though) and I've gotta say that he has a voice that really carries the songs, both by the way he sings and obviously also by what he's singing. Which brings me to the lyrics... I would advise you to read them yourself actually. I found them to be real well written, spiritful and recognisable as well. Maybe it's because I'm only a few years older than Hein, but I could relate to a lot of the words I read. "Building a future from despair of the past, 'cause all is gone when you thought it would last". Especially that part. Such a great line.

Some of my favorite tracks here are, as mentioned before, the opening track "Regenerated" and "The Observer". The latter is an angrier, rougher song with a lot of drive. The song just before it, "Halfway There", is another winner, it starts off kinda like a Billy Idol song (this could very well be my imagination though) and then quickly takes a turn onto Fugazi territory. The melancholic guitars and vocals work real well together here. Other favourites are "Don't Give Up" and "Punch And Bleed". "Don't Give Up" was the first MP3 that was released off this record so I'm guessing it's one of the band's favourites too. "Punch And Bleed" is a perfect closer, as it builds up and then climaxes to its "But punch us, we will bleed" mantra.

I guess a lot of you have probably not seen or heard much about this band, but it would be a shame to miss out on an album this good, or to miss out on Union Town live, which in my case has always been a great experience. Anyone with a love for hardcore that is somewhat more melodic and soulful, that digs the bands mentioned before and/or can hang with bands like Husker Du, The Replacements and Hot Water Music should look into this. Another great record courtesy of my boys at Powered HQ.

www.myspace.com/uniontownband
www.poweredrecords.com
www.myspace.com/poweredrecords

Bang The Drum Slowly: Part I

2008-07-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

What makes them tick? I don't know. No idea. Drummers have always intrigued me, I guess partly due to the fact that they do something I never ever could. It's like I watch them and I feel like whatever they're doing can't be that hard, but then whenever I'm handed two sticks and sit behind that drumkit I realize I have absolutely no clue what to do next. I mean, what do you hit first? How hard? How many times? What's that pedal for? How do you tell cymbals apart? I don't know. Still, I love watching a good drummer at work, I love listening to Burn and I think Mackie might be the coolest human being that has ever walked this earth. So in order to gain some more insight into the mind of the drummer, I asked a bunch of questions to a bunch of awesome drummers.

First up is one of my favourite human beings on the other side of the big pond: the one and only Shawn Foley. I love Shawn's style, dude goes all out. Doesn't matter whether he's drumming, getting stoked on Down in a live setting or drinking Red Bull. Blacklisted put out on incredible album called "Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God" a few months back and are currently touring Australia.

Please give me your name and age, list the bands you've drummed for and tell me how long you have been doing that thing you do...
Shawn Foley. 26. Decomposed (First band I played in while I was in High School). Punishment. Blacklisted! I've been playing drums since I was 15.

What made you decide to become a drummer? Was there one particular drummer that inspired you to pick up those sticks?
Dave Grohl, John Bonham, Keith Moon, Tre Cool. Those drummers made me want to be a drummer. My mom played a big part in it too. She asked me when I was around 14 or so; "What do you wanna do with yourself, you should have a hobby or something"... So I told her that I wanted to play drums. Around 15 is when it became a serious obsession.

What was your first drumset? When did you get it? How did you pay for it?
My first drumset was actually practice pads that I duct-taped to big cans, that was when I started gettin' the chops down, the first real kit (non-practice pads) was a put together kit that I had. It consisted of: one kick drum, one floor tom, a snare and like one hi-hat and a cymbal. I don't know how I paid for it, I think everything was trash picked! Haha.

As a drummer, how big do you think your influence is on the sound of a band? When you write songs with your band(s), is your role limited to providing the beat or do you also hum riffs or base songs around drum patterns/beats?
I like to do more than just "provide a beat". Sometimes I hang back and just lay down a solid pattern, other times I feel as though the drums should be as important as the guitar, vocals etc. Every drummer that has inspired me has played a huge role in his band, so I like to think that I do the same. There is a certain way I feel as though I play and that if you threw someone else in the mix it would be easy to hear and say "That's not Shawn playing". I have drum parts that I create and I hear in my head how the rest of the music (especially the guitar) should play along with that. So I do hum some riffs sometimes and make the guitar player feel out a riff from listening to my drum pattern.

Do you feel like people often forget how crucial a good drummer is to a good band? I know a drummer that told me that no matter how good you are, you'll always be overshadowed by the guitarist and the singer... Is that so according to you?
No, not at all. In every great band, every member stands out in his own way. You gotta make a name for yourself as a drummer because while it's true that the drummer can get forgotten about, it's only true if that drummer lets himself be forgotten about. Hit hard, play tight, make it look so easy that anyone thinks they can do it, but the truth is it's an illusion. Not everyone can do it. Zeppelin broke up because they knew that they could NEVER replace Bonham. Not every Zep song is hard but it's the way he played them that makes it hard and ultimately makes him impossible to replace.

Out of all the records you've drummed on, which one are you most proud of? Why? Does that also make it the best record you're on, or not?
I'm most proud of "Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God". Not because it was a stand out record for me on drums but because it showed (to me at least) that a drummer could be an important part in writing a good song. I feel like a lot of them drum parts on that record went beyond being good drum parts but stepped into the area of being important to that actual song. Even if it was just the way I played a kick drum pattern and how it matched the vocal line, it's all relative.

Standing up on your drumstool midset... Is that something you've ever done or would do?
Done it, did it - whatever. Sound And Fury 2006, the lights came on and I was on top of the drum throne then I jumped down off the throne and we kicked into "Eye For An Eye". It's documented on the Sound And Fury 2006 DVD. That's my Tommy Lee / Vinny Paul influence shining through there. Haha.

What makes a gig awesome for a drummer? Is it playing tight as fuck and not missing a beat? Is it the overall vibe? Is it crowd response and energy?
Just being on stage and playing the kit as hard as I possibly can does it for me. It's the vibe too, if I'm feeling really loose and good and I'm executing great fills and rolls then I feel like I'm on fire and nothing can stop me. Also a big part is acoustics. If the drum set sounds like shit on stage then I tend to hit harder for some reason in hopes that doing that will make them sound better? I dunno. All that does is make me tired way faster! Haha. If the kit sounds great on stage and I can hear my kick and snare loudly and proudly then I feel fuckin' great and probably play way better!

Do you singalong a lot while playing live? What's your favourite song to sing along to?
"Canonized". I sing along a lot to certain parts, not every part, but a lot of times I sing to myself but "Canonized" is my jam that I always sing along to.

What are some of your favourite drummers ever? What sets those dudes apart from everyone else out there? How about current drummers, who's good? Who's got the chops?
Dave Grohl will always be my favorite drummer ever and people that know me know that fact about me. His drumming is so easy to pick out, you know it's him from his drum sound to his beats. His drumming on Queens Of The Stone Age's "Songs For The Deaf" was a huge influence on me when writing "Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God". Tommy Lee has also been a big influence on me in the sense that he puts on a show man! He flips his sticks and snaps them off the snare and they fly up into the air (a trick that I just perfected on this last tour) and then he catches them when they come back down. I just seen that band Torche a week back and I really like their drummer. He hits hard, is solid and his kit sounds great! Three wishes for any drummer!

We all know guitarists sometimes "borrow" riffs from other bands... Do drummers sometimes "borrow" drumbeats or drumfills? Have you? What exactly did you "borrow" and where can we hear the result?
Hahahaha, ahhhh Bjorn you're trying to get me to reveal my secrets huh? All I'm gonna say, and I stated this above, is "Songs For The Deaf" by Queens Of The Stone Age was a huge influence on me while writing and recording "Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God".

That's it. Thank you. Any closing comments or shout outs?
Thank you dude. Play hard, play loud, play with confidence. Care about your gear, take pride in what you play. Shout outs to you Bjorn for letting me talk about my most favorite thing in the world for a little while. Peace.

Ries Doms, the octopus from Holland, has been in a huge amount of bands and is one of those drummers that you can watch throughout the whole set without even looking at the rest of the band. I met Ries in '00 when my old band crashed at his house in Tilburg, Holland. All I remember was that his shower didn't have a curtain. Now he has his own website. Life's crazy like that. Hooghwater recently put out an awesome CDEP, a review will be up here soon.

Please give me your name and age, list the bands you've drummed for and tell me how long you have been doing that thing you do...
Hey, my name is Ries Doms and I’m 28 years old. I played for numorous bands over the past 10 years such as Reaching Forward, The Uncontrollable, The Spades, Bars, Powervice and I am currently playing for The Hydromatics, Hooghwater and Betonfraktion. It all brought me some interesting experiences and to some interesting places to say the least!

What made you decide to become a drummer? Was there one particular drummer that inspired you to pick up those sticks?
I got my first toydrum when I was about 3 years old, I ruined it within’ a few hours and my dad figured he had to come up with something more professional to get things going. So for my 4th birthday I got a snaredrum. Then over the years I got an additional drum every birthday to end up with a complete set of drums when I turned 7. I went to music school from that age until I was about 18 years old. When I was about 7 years old my dad took me to see Dutch jazz drummer Han Bennink live. He played very free and very energetic and it made a huge impression on me. What I didn’t know was, that he was way ahead of his time playing this free and improvised music. So eventually I figured there was no way I would see anything like that any time soon. Also the recorded live version of "Get Ready" by The Rare Earth made a huge impression on me, together with the Woodstock and Santana records that I found around the house.
But getting in my teens I turned into this little angry boy, I got interested in heavy metal and eventually into hardcore and punkrock. I wanted my music loud and bought my first record: Deep Purple – "Live In Japan" when I was about 12. I didn’t have any "heroes" at the time, because I was just captured by the force and energy of the music. I didn’t care who played it, I just wanted to listen to bands. Then when you get older you kinda morph into a more open minded person, and from there I really started to learn from music and got more indept with it. Funny thing that happened to me was when I rediscovered The Who. When I was a little kid I knew The Who was this band that kicked over all their gear at shows, and then my dad bought the “Tommy” album and I couldn’t believe this band was supposed to be one of the wildest bands ever. That was a bummer! Then years later my friend Erik T. (Erik "Tilburg" Van Hest, Dutch hardcore/punk style icon, ex-Justice riffer and composer of "Light In The Dark" - ed.) figured out that Black Flag stole a couple of riffs from The Who and it turned out that they were the greatest rock'n'roll band that ever existed.

As a drummer, how big do you think your influence is on the sound of a band? When you write songs with your band(s), is your role limited to providing the beat or do you also hum riffs or base songs around drum patterns/beats?
I think that people aren’t aware of the influence a drummer has on a band. Mostly because it’s not a melodic instrument, but also because it’s locked into a rhythm section. Drums are the backbone of a song and therefore I really believe in the idea of "less is more". A drummer doesn’t need to show all his chops in every song. A good rhythm track is the secret to the vibe a song has, it’s all about energy and drive. As a drummer you need to feel the music more than any member in the band. If you let it slide the whole band will sound sloppy or even worse: static. My role in the band usually depends on which group I’m playing with. I sure am the kinda guy who remembers the riffage from the day/rehearsal before which the guitarist couldn’t remember anymore. That’s where the humming comes in haha. I’m a fan of writing songs outta jams, first I just keep things simple and let the other members explore their parts and from there I’ll fit more stuff into it and make the drums more outstanding. But on the other hand, I was also in bands where all the songs and structures were written and I just had to add a beat to it.

Do you feel like people often forget how crucial a good drummer is to a good band? I know a drummer that told me that no matter how good you are, you'll always be overshadowed by the guitarist and the singer... Is that so according to you?
It’s definitely a fact that drummers are usually overshadowed by singers and guitarists. The only thing that will get you in the spotlights is charisma. From the moment you get on stage, you gotta be in charge of the band and you got to show it to the people you’re playing with. The other members can go as wild as they want to go, but the drummer is the one who decides whether the band takes it up a notch or a notch down. By taking that upon yourself you don’t have to be a showoff to get the recognition you deserve.

Out of all the records you've drummed on, which one are you most proud of? Why? Does that also make it the best record you're on, or not?
I’m proud of most of my recordings, unfortunately not all of them made it to the record stores (two of my bands broke up in the studio leaving an unfinished product). I think there was always something to it worth remembering. Eithter the people that I’ve worked with or how a specific record came together... I think my best drumming can be heard on the latest Hydromatics record, but due to the fact that we wrote the whole thing in one week and recorded it the next week, the record could have been way more balanced out. Another cool thing about this recording session was the fact that we played the whole record live in one single recording room and on top of that it was mostly done in one or two takes. With most recording sessions, drums are recorded first. I did about five sessions with nobody else in the room. No guide tracks, just all memory, imagination and a click track. I somehow managed to get some groovy drumtracks on tape this way. I kinda like it that way, you’re just totally focussed on the backbone of record. And you also don’t have to play songs more times than needed, just because somebody else fucked up haha.....
But I think that I still get better and better every time I record. It’s just the experience of being in more and more different studios. Too bad that the best sounding drumsets are recorded on the unreleased records. It’s a fact that some of those drums were sampled afterwards by that studio for other bands, because they couldn’t get their sound right.

Standing up on your drumstool midset... Is that something you've ever done or would do?
NO!

What makes a gig awesome for a drummer? Is it playing tight as fuck and not missing a beat? Is it the overall vibe? Is it crowd response and energy?
I mostly enjoy the energy that’s released during a live set. I love the point where I get sucked into the music and I just go without thinking. I can really enjoy listening to the others, usually during guitarsolos or regular jams. Ofcourse I enjoy the response of the audience, although I usually miss most of it because I’m totally concentrated on the music.

Do you singalong a lot while playing live? What's your favourite song to sing along to?
No, I do make weird noises while I play though. Sometimes you can hear 'em through the overheads while listening back to my takes in the studio. It sounds like there is a dwarf in the mixingboard.... But I think drummers should not sing at all, unless they listen to the name Buddy Miles or Don Brewer!!!

What are some of your favourite drummers ever? What sets those dudes apart from everyone else out there? How about current drummers, who's good? Who's got the chops?
My list of favourite drummers needs to kick off with Han Bennink. He’s one of the most influental musicians on the European avant garde jazz scene. It’s impossible to describe the power and energy of this guy. He has it all! Buddy Rich is a classic big band drummer and overall a great bandleader. His chops and rolls are just unreal, I regularly study from his book with snaredrum rudiment exercises. From the same era I really dig Max Roach, especially his solo record "Drums Unlimited", the first song on the record "The Drum Also Walses" was the blueprint for John Bonham’s solo in "Moby Dick". John Bonham, you can’t get around that guy. He’s just a powerhouse and never needed to show off during songs. You can definately hear he had a jazz background though. From that same era Keith Moon is definitely my favourite drummer. People remember him as that lunatic drummer who just wanted all the attention of the world, but people never really figured that he is actually playing along with vocal lines. That’s what makes him the most original rockdrummer of all time. A drummer not to be forgotten is Buddy Miles, he played with Jimi Hendrix and his Band Of Gypsys. He brought the soul into Jimi and is just a powerhouse. On top of that he’s one of the few drummers who’s allowed to sing! Another drummer in my “"to be forgotten" list is Jack DeJohnette. He playes on Miles Davis’ "Bitches Brew" record. Through him I found out about a whole new genre called chamber jazz and ECM records. He plays very messy, but somehow it all sounds really relaxed and it just gives me energy. For hardcore drummers, it should be clear to anyone that Mackie Jayson and Earl Hudson are my favorites. Current drummers I like are that bloke from Mastodon, the new drummer in The Mars Volta and for sure Alex Garcia-Rivera from Bloodhorse!

We all know guitarists sometimes "borrow" riffs from other bands... Do drummers sometimes "borrow" drumbeats or drumfills? Have you? What exactly did you "borrow" and where can we hear the result?
It’s no secret that most of the beats are already brought to the surface. That’s why it’s a rhythmic instrument, because rhythms are there to accompany the music. But I always try to hide a Motown pick-up in every recording session I do.

That's it. Thank you. Any closing comments or shout outs?
Not really, I just listened to about 12 amazing records while answering these questions. Be good!

A musical prodigy and chilled out entertainer (copyright Ricky Gervais), Shawn Costa is the real deal, yet he moves in mysterious ways. Dude goes on month long tours with a bag the size of a large apple and still looks fresh and clean every day. Both Verse and Have Heart have new albums out right about now, so check those out. What!?

Please give me your name and age, list the bands you've drummed for and tell me how long you have been doing that thing you do...
What up g's. Shawn Costa. Age 23. Bands I've drummed in: Have Heart (05-present), Verse ('05-present), Learn ('04-'05), Meltdown ('05-'06). I've been drumming since July '99.

What made you decide to become a drummer? Was there one particular drummer that inspired you to pick up those sticks?
As a youngster I always had a fascination with music. I began my musical "career" by strumming the old geeeetar (at 9 years of age), but always wanted to one day rock a drum set. As a kid I thought Tre Cool (of Green Day, if you didnt know...duh) was sick on the ol' kit. Probably my first inspiration to play.

What was your first drumset? When did you get it? How did you pay for it?
My first kit was a Tama Rockstar, silverish. Very decent kit to start off with, I aquired this gem in the summer of '99. I was 15 at the time, and pretty much all I did that summer was play drums, probably like 22 and a half hours a day ha. My dad bought me the drum set as a gift for my b-day. Had some wild times with this kit.

As a drummer, how big do you think your influence is on the sound of a band? When you write songs with your band(s), is your role limited to providing the beat or do you also hum riffs or base songs around drum patterns/beats?
I think the drummer is a HUGE influence on the sound of a band. A great drummer can make a very mediocre band sound only a little mediocre. Now speaking from a personal standpoint, I also play guitar, and bass, so my role isn't very limited. I've written songs for just about every band I've drummed in (some more than others).

Do you feel like people often forget how crucial a good drummer is to a good band? I know a drummer that told me that no matter how good you are, you'll always be overshadowed by the guitarist and the singer... Is that so according to you?
Personally, I don't really care/or focus on being overshadowed. It's a pretty natural thing, guitarists, and the singer are front and center(ish). Drummers are hidden in the back, so all in all it makes sense. I just chill in the back, and then hold the band together. No big whoop...ha.

Out of all the records you've drummed on, which one are you most proud of? Why? Does that also make it the best record you're on, or not?
Interesting question. I'm gonna actually give 2 records. Verse "Aggression", and Have Heart "Songs To Scream At The Sun". I feel like both my performance, and also the sound of the kits on these records are far and above any of my previous work. Both records were fun to write, and track, and I really wanted to make sure I got to convey some interesting drum work. I feel I accomplished that. Also both records were recorded/mixed naturally, so no fancy triggering, just little ol' me rocking the kit. I also believe that both of these record are the best records I've ever been a part of. So, uh, Bam!

Standing up on your drumstool midset... Is that something you've ever done or would do?
No, and no. I'm not hating on it, just not something I would do.

What makes a gig awesome for a drummer? Is it playing tight as fuck and not missing a beat? Is it the overall vibe? Is it crowd response and energy?
I'd say a combo of all 3 of those things, but for me personally, I'm more focused on my performance. There are times where one of my bands will have a crazy set, and maybe it wasn't my best overall performance, and that will hinder my take on the show a bit.

Do you singalong a lot while playing live? What's your favourite song to sing along to?
I used to sing along to a few Verse songs when I first joined. Haven't done that in years though. I think the song I most commonly sung along to for Verse was "Saying Goodbye"...had a cool groove in the middle, and it was one of my fav songs to play. What can I say, I got caught up in the moment!

What are some of your favourite drummers ever? What sets those dudes apart from everyone else out there? How about current drummers, who's good? Who's got the chops?
Tough question. There are sooooo many great drummers that have inspired me. I'll keep it semi-simple though. Dennis Chambers (funk fusion MASTER), Chad Smith (say what you want about the Chili Peppers, homeboy shreds the kit) and Abe Cunningham (some of the most interesting, intricate drum work). Those dudes just kill it on drums, impeccable timing, they have the speed, but more importantly they have finesse, just great all around drummers. From a hardcore standpoint: Mackie, dude is just unbelievable, makes it all look easy, great chops. He's a legend. There are currently a sizeable amount of awesome drummers in hardcore bands, but I'll just keep the list simple, and only mention Mackie by name, ha.

We all know guitarists sometimes "borrow" riffs from other bands... Do drummers sometimes "borrow" drumbeats or drumfills? Have you? What exactly did you "borrow" and where can we hear the result?
Well I can't really speak for other drummers, but I have personally been inspired by beats, or fills, but I always try to make sure that I incorporate some of my own flavor into it. I guess the most "blatant" example would be in Verse's "Old Guards, New Methods"... There's a kind of odd time snare/kick fill I do in the bridge before the end, inspired by an Abe Cunningham fill on "Lifter" by Deftones. Like I said though, it shouldnt be indistinguishable, I make sure to add my own touch to it.

That's it. Thank you. Any closing comments or shout outs?
Thank you, Bjorn. Glad that you wanted my input for this. I appreciate it. Hang outs this summer, what! That about does it. Later.

Separate The Unreal From The Real And The Untrue From The True

2008-06-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking on the blog a little in the last few weeks, it kinda sucks but I promise I'll make it up to you soon. Don't worry too much though, it's only internet anyway. But as always I'm working on a few ideas so keep checking back. One of them is a special on drummers, which is going to be pretty cool. Another thing I'm working on is a project with a few good friends, more info in due time but I am real excited about it, kinda like a 4 year old in a candy shop. Or Geert Hollanders in a WWII museum! There's been a whole bunch of awesome releases, shows and tours recently and even more to come so summer looks like it's going to be awesome...

One of the most exciting bands in hardcore these days is definitely Trapped Under Ice. That band is so ill. They are currently wrapping up their European tour and I would definitely advise you to go see them if you can. After that they have a full U.S. tour coming up with Terror. Talk about an awesome package. Their most recent EP on Reaper Records called "Stay Cold" is filled with well crafted, hard and sincere hardcore with a lot of groove. Crown Of Thornz and Breakdown are definitely references, yet it doesn't quite stop there. There's more to their sound and whatever it is, it's got a lot of people hooked. I love how a lot of older heads are super stoked on this band. I feel like this is one of those bands that could bring a lot of different types of hardcore kids to shows, in the same way that a band like American Nightmare did a few years ago. Either way, both lyrically and musically this band soars high, I hope to see more of them in the future.

Another awesome record that just came out is the debut album of Holland's Union Town, on Powered Records. Look out for an in depth review here soon. Such a good record. Soulful, energetic and anthemic songs with a lot of late 80's DC vibes. Listen to their recird here: www.myspace.com/uniontownband

Bitter End seems to have done real well on their European tour with Meltdown and 50 Lions, and rightfully so because they always kill it live. Hard band. I was/am really into "Climate Of Fear" but it seems like they're going to be taking things up a notch with their new upcoming EP... Listen to "Purgatory", a song off that EP here:

http://www.deathwishinc.com/listennow/launch/44/

What else? Well, Rhythm To The Madness is currently writing songs for their first full length to be titled "Weltschmerz", which will be out in September on Powered Records, in time for a European tour with Blacklisted. I saw Rhythm To The Madness last week in a huge venue that can hold close to a thousand people (and held around 350 for that show) and it was awesome. Two longhaired freaks on the left side of the stage, Stief rippin' it up on the other side and Klaas wearing a black wifebeater. They covered "Unexpected" at this show. You cannot not move when that song's being played. Unless you're deaf, I guess.

Other than that, I need to see The Reactionaries again soon.

Peace,

Bjorn

P.S. Shout outs to my man Murph who is getting married next weekend, my man Stefan who is going to be a dad within the next 2 weeks and my man Packo who became a father last week.

Jordan Posner / Interview Part II

2008-05-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

So while Part I of this interview mainly focused on "Ill Blood" and how No Warning got to writing an album of such proportions, Part II mainly deals with the controversial follow up to that album, called "Suffer, Survive". I love it personally but I know there's a lot of haters out there too. I guess I can kind of see where they come from as well. Also Jordan tells a little more about his current band Millenial Reign, featuring Damian of Fucked Up fame on vocals along with fellow ex-No Warning members Ryan and Jesse. Good stuff.

"Suffer, Survive"... I hated it when I first heard it and loved it 3 days later. Do you think a lot of people responded to that record the same way I did?
Oh for sure. No denying it. We obviously knew people were gonna freak out, but all we wanted was for them to give it a chance. We told people to expect a big change in our sound.

How do you look back on that record now? Was it the only possible record you could write after "Ill Blood" or do you think certain things could or should have been different?
I'm proud of it. Not all of it. There's some songs/parts on it that make me shake my head, but there's also songs that I think are just as good as anything off "Ill Blood". I don't think it was the "only possible" record we could've made after "Ill Blood", it was what we were writing at that time in our lives. One thing I really didn't like was when we started to tune down for a few songs. I never wanted to be that band. I always prided ourselves on staying a heavy band while not having to use any drop tunings and shit, but we had to tune lower on some songs to meet Ben's vocal range. Ringworm once played Toronto and after they finished a song, Human Furnace said "Not bad for a band that don't tune down huh?", he was right. If a song like "Dirtier Than The Next" was in our usual tuning, I would've liked that song a lot more.

What were some of the bands that inspired the change in sound? I'd guess Motorhead definitely was one of them?
Yah you could say Motorhead was one. I don't know if that actually came out much in those songs, but cool that you hear it. We'd always jam Motorhead songs at practice. What made writing that album a lot of fun was the fact we all went back to a lot of influences that we listened to as kids, before hardcore and punk, and mixed that with our sound. Bands like Nirvana, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica. There were no limits, which made it the album it is I guess.

Exactly how big was the role of the producer you worked with on that record? Who exactly was he and how did you hook up with him?
Matt Hyde. He has worked with everyone from Slayer, Strung Out, to No Doubt, Porno For Pyros and Cypress Hill. Him along with Slayer's guitar tech Dan Druff were easily 2 of the coolest dudes I've had the pleasure of meeting and working with. We just listened to countless Slayer stories. We first hooked up with Matt in 2002 in Toronto. He was producing our old managers band. A few of us were hanging at the studio one day, and he walks in and is like "You guys are a hardcore band? You like Hatebreed? I just produced their new album. Wanna hear it?". That day we heard "Perseverance" for the first time, and were going nuts.

After "Suffer, Survive" dropped you did an insane amount of touring with a lot of bands... From Hatebreed to Papa Roach to Snoop Dogg... Exactly how many tours did you do and who with? Was it always fun or sometimes just plain weird? Which one was your favourite tour?
We were on the road for about a year and half straight, so alot of it became a blur, but most of those tours were all fun as fuck. We did some shows with Sevendust and that was pretty weird. I had no idea why so many people were coming out to see Sevendust. They were fucking horrible. Their crew hated us.

How, when and why did No Warning break up?
The story behind it all was very weird and unexpected (for me). We were a band whose members seemed to grow as people, going their different paths, quicker than recognizing what we were building as a band itself. We started out as a bunch of 15-16 year old kids who loved hardcore. It was a hobby for us and we never expected to make what we made out of it. Whatever popularity we gained along the way, just inspired us to make better songs and be a better band. I'm not gonna bother to defend/prove myself and the rest of the band as to why we made the crazy choices we made so soon after we started to make a name for ourselves in the scene. We were still pretty young kids new to a lot of things, but we were confident enough with our talents as musicians to accept the opportunities that were presented to us. In the end, did it work out? We know the answer to that one, but you live and learn I guess. We had the time of our lives and got to do shit we never imagined was possible. Just like many good/shitty bands do, we broke up cuz of shitty "artistic/creative differences". The whole whirwind we had been on the past couple years came to a head, and fast. The No Warning wikipedia site was hilarious (whoever censored and changed it can DIE!!). No Warning played our last show on September 11th 2005 in Quebec City.

One thing No Warning never got to do is a European tour... Which fucking sucks. What's the deal, did you never get any offers, or why is it that it never happened?
That's still a mystery I guess. Haha. That's definitely one thing I regret, cuz I always hear nothing but good things about the shows over there. I guess it wasn't in the cards for us unfortunately. Maybe one day we'll do a Euro-tour, haha. But it would probably be with Mike "The Rat" Dolloff on vocals. Haha.

Machine Shop... What was that label all about? Who ran it? How did things work between them and No Warning? Did you get the impression they "got" what you were doing?
Haha, fuck, a lot can be said about them, but I'll try to limit it. It was a label owned by Linkin Park and we were the first band signed to them. The label was run by a bunch of characters who could've easily fit into the whole cliché of that world. We got along with people for the most part, but they certainly never "got" us or the background where we came from. They tried to though. We didn't really care and just did our thing. We liked that they didn't understand us. Haha. In reality, we just assumed that Linkin Park being the biggest band on earth, we'd be their proteges à la Eminem/50 cent. Hahha.
We used to joke, with us being their first band on the label, how their staff afforded to live, cuz our A&R guy made the biggest effort to never let us see his car, or give us a lift anywhere whenever we were out in L.A. I guess he wanted to give off the impression that he was this big shot label guy, but he really drove a shitbox or took the bus. Haha. He was waiting for No Warning to make it huge so he could finally buy a car. Nah, he was an alright dude and good company.

If you would have to play 3 No Warning songs as an introduction to a young and excited coreman that hasn't ever heard the band, what songs would you pick and why?
"Short Fuse", "Modern Eyes", and "My World" I guess? One from each album. Let him hear our "weird" shit later and decide. Haha.

How serious a band is Millenial Reign? Do you have a steady line up? How many shows has Millenial Reign played so far... How were those?
We're pretty much a side project. I wish we could do more, but we're all a little older now and it's tougher to do so... Damian is busy a lot with Fucked Up, and is married. Jesse and Ryan both work at a music shop, and Bart has a full time job. This is the line-up we've had so far, we've only played a couple shows, and they were fun. Considering we don't practice much, I'd say we were pretty tight, I have a good chemistry with Jesse and Ryan after playing with them for so long. As for out of town shows, it will probably be scab line-ups for now if it happens.

You have a 7" coming out around the dawn of the new apocalypse on 1917... How soon do you think that'll be? What else can you tell us about it?
It's the 2 demo songs re-recorded and 2 new ones. The demo songs sound wayyyyyyy better. It's still coming out, I promise. We've just had some setbacks regarding the artwork for the vinyl. Fuck, we recorded it last summer already. I was telling Riley that I don't care if the cover is a giant x'd up fist, as long as it comes out. Haha.

Top 5 NYHC records ever... Go wild!
In no order...

CRO-MAGS - "AGE OF QUARREL"
Obviously. No explanation needed.

MERAUDER - "MASTER KILLER"
Not only one of the best NYHC records, but one of my favourite albums ever!! Everything about this album is perfect... The songs, the riffs, the vocals, the production. With an album like this, they should've been huge. I once saw them in Buffalo in 2000, to like 60 people, they opened up with "Master Killer", like went right into it. It was magical. They also played "Downfall Of Christ", which they've left off their setlist the past couple times I've seen them.

MADBALL - "SET IT OFF"
Another example of a band not having to tune down and completely blow out most other heavy bands who do. This album was my bible, and I'm not religious at all. A lot of people called No Warning "Mini Madball" and that's cuz of this album. That, and us actually being miniture people compared to Madball.

BREAKDOWN - "BLACKLISTED/DEMO"
The perfect NYHC band to play someone who doesn't know what the hell NYHC is. I tell a lot of my friends who listen to hip hop about Breakdown, cuz since both NYHC and hip hop came around the same time in the 80's, a band like Breakdown incorporated the perfect vibe of hip hop into their sound. That NY groove. "Jail Of Depression", "Sick People", "Blacklisted"; all perfect examples.

KILLING TIME - "BRIGHTSIDE"
Same boat as Breakdown. This album has such good songs. I love the production on it. The vocals are untouchable. So angry. The riffs are very unique, I love how they have an 80's rock touch to them, while still being hard as shit.

Last of all, what have you been listening to lately? What are some of the bands and/or records you are excited about?
I listen to a lot of blues, soul, classic rock, Sabbath, Obituary, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Turbonegro, shit like that. I'm a little out of the loop on current hardcore bands, but I back Iron Age and Trapped Under Ice. Those dudes have something good going.

That's it... Thanks so much for your time. If you have any final words or shout outs you want to do... Go ahead!
Thanks to you Bjorn for the interview. It was fun. Thanks to anyone who No Warning made go off, and everyone who helped and supported us right from the start to the very end. PEACE.

www.myspace.com/themillenialreign
www.1917records.com

Jordan Posner / Interview Part I

2008-05-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 2001 I was hanging out at the seaside with a bunch of friends in an apartment when my man Geert Hollanders (Powered Records, Line Of Defense Fanzine, fireworks fanatic) pulled a new 7" out of his bag. He'd just gotten back from the States where he'd seen this ill new band called No Warning... and they had a 7" out. We listened the damn thing on repeat for the next few days. Heads were banging, fists were pumping and couches were damn near destroyed. We were hooked. Later on that same band released one of the best (if not the best) New York hardcore albums of the last decade, even if they were from Toronto. "Ill Blood" had the songs, the riffs, the lyrics, the attitude and then some. No matter what you think of whatever the band did after that, you're lying to yourself if you say that record doesn't make you want to stomp some holes in the floor. I exchanged a few emails with one of the best riffers of our generation; Jordan Posner.

What's up Jordan... Please briefly tell me some more about yourself... Where do you live? How old are you? What are you into?
I dont really know what to say about myself... I'm 25, from Toronto, Canada. I guess I'm into music, guitar, writing songs, weed, alchohol, shit like that. Haha.

What age were you when you got into hardcore? How did that happen? What were some of the first shows you saw?
I was around 14 years old. Like many, I got into hardcore through punk rock, and the metal bands who thanked hardcore bands in their albums. I would always check out every band I'd see in thank you lists. This was before the internet really took off, so you had to do your research. Plus, the Revelation/Very catalogs helped a lot the more I got into it. I don't recall my first actual hardcore show, but one of 'em was Sick Of It All/Strife in 1997. I also remember seeing Buried Alive like every month, cuz they were from Buffalo which was only an hour away.

Was As We Once Were your first band? How did you meet everyone else in the band? Aside from the drummer everyone in As We Once Were was also in the og. No Warning line up, right?
Yah first band. 16 years old. I was introduced to Ben and Matt throught an old friend called Adam Gill (the hardedge). Gill was the biggest youth crew fanatic, and he told me about this band As We Once Were, who were the only youth crew band in Toronto at the time, along with Walls Around Us (members of Fucked Up).

I have a handnumbered copy of the As We Once Were demo... It has an x'd up posman with a Bold shirt and Nikes on the cover. Were you guys all straight edge at the time? What bands that you listened to back then are you still really into now?
Hahha, fuck, I can't believe people still own that thing. You know your shit Bjorn. I was never straight edge. As We Once Were was an edge band until I joined. I showed up to my first practice with a smoke in my mouth. Haha. I haven't listened to much youth crew in a while. Floorpunch, that's about it.

At what point did you guys decide to quit that band and change the name to No Warning? What did you set out to achieve with No Warning?
Around late 1999 we decided to make the change. We played our first show as No Warning in early 2000 with Good Clean Fun I think haha? Or maybe it was when we played some fest outside Toronto. We covered the Cro-Mags and Vogel moshed. We were stoked.

Did people pick up quickly on No Warning? What was the response to the early shows like? Were shows crazy from the start? I seem to remember hearing you guys had a hard time getting noticed, being Canadian and all, until the 7" dropped... Is that true? When did you first think "Wow... People are really into us"?
Actually no. We were pretty much hated around Toronto the first year or so. We had our friends and people who were into us and we made our shows fun. It was a little tough getting our name known outside of Canada, but we just did our thing anyways. For some reason, once we started to get known in the States, that's when our own hometown started to boom. The first time I recall people actually being into us, was when we played this fest in Worcester, Mass. with Converge, American Nightmare , The Hope Conspiracy and a bunch of emo bands who went on to sell millions of records. That show was off the hook. By the time we played the next year's Posi Numbers fest, we had like 5 times the amount of people watching us then the year prior.

How do you think No Warning's background influenced the way the band worked and sounded... How important were factors like being from Toronto, being real young and not having ex-members of more established bands?
It didn't really. We didn't care about that shit. We just kept doing our own thing, writing songs, playing shows. I'm sure if we were from the States, we would've played a lot more shows.

What would you say were the main inspirations for that first 7"? Besides the more obvious NYHC bands I always seemed to pick up on a certain Integrity influence... Was that band one of your lesser known influences?
The main inspirations for the 7" were old Blood For Blood (demo, "Soulless", "Spit My Last Breath"), Death Threat, Floorpunch, Madball, Ringworm and OLC. Good call on the Clevo influence. Haha. I was the Clevo freak in the band.

How would you describe No Warning's mindset at the time?
To write the best songs we possibly could, and have people go off for them like they did at the final mosh.

Besides Bridge Nine, were there any other labels that wanted to sign you? I would imagine there were? What made you decide to work with them?
There wasn't actually. We released the 7" on Martyr Records, and just kept playing shows not really thinking about anything next. We were super excited when Chris Wrenn and B9 showed interest and wanted to re-release the 7".

"Ill Blood" is one of the most highly acclaimed hardcore records of the last decade for sure. How do you look back on that album now? What do you like and dislike about it? Is there anything you would change if given the chance to?
I'm very appreciative that people think the record is that good. That album is very special to us all, no matter what kind of shit the other members are into these days. I like all the songs, but I hate how the 2nd half of the album is mixed. We had to rush with mixing and that is the result. People say they don't mind it, but it still bugs me. Also, listen closely to the feedback at the end of the album.

What are some of your favourite songs off that record and why? Who wrote what? You wrote the majority of the riffs, right?
I love 'em all but "Short Fuse", "Ill Blood" and "No Time For You" are my faves. The vibes we got when first putting them together and hearing them in the studio... I pretty much wrote the whole album, but Matty D wrote "Ill Blood". He pulled that one outta nowhere. Definitely his finest moment.

You recorded the album with Dean Baltounis at Atomic... Whose idea was that? How was working on your first full length album with a dude that was in Eye For An Eye?
I think it was Chris Wrenn's idea. Dean had done a lot of sick albums that sounded great, plus we were stoked to go to NYC. Dean was the coolest of cool. Very laid back and a good dude. I didn't know he was in Eye For An Eye, but I knew he was in 454 Big Block. Little did we know, that Atomic was also owned by Mike Dijan (Breakdown), as well as Dean and Matt Henderson. We pulled up and started to load our gear in, when Dijan comes out, starts helping us load and is like " yo I'm gonna be helping you record your album". We were a bunch of excited 19 year olds.

A funny story, I was doing guitar tracks for "Short Fuse" and Dijan walks in. I started getting all paro and shit cuz parts of that song were "borrowed" from Breakdown's "Sick People". I'm thinking he's gonna recognize it and like hurt me. So at first, he's not really paying attention, then he pauses, listens to the song for a couple seconds, starts bopping his head to it and says "yahh, this one's good". Haha. I needed a smoke after that one. At one point, we had Dijan, Henderson and Porter all in the studio. We were saying to eachother OK, Madball, Breakdown and Floopunch are all helping with our record"... we were tripping.

How much input did he have? What was Matt Henderson's input on "Ill Blood", besides the solos?
Not much. He was in and out of the studio. It was mostly Dean. Henderson played the solo on "All New Low" (aka "My World 2") and Dean the solos on the outro of "Ill Blood". Matt and I couldn't solo for shit back then, so thank god Henderson came in and ripped one. Dude is a sick player.

Were the songs all done and written when you entered the studio or did you make any last minute changes or write any riffs last minute?
All the songs were written before hand. We practiced for about 2 months just jamming them out. We orginally had like 13 or 14 songs, but some had to be scrapped cuz they sounded too much like Madball's "New York City". Haha.

As soon as "Ill Blood" came out (and even before it did), a lot of bands with an obvious No Warning influence popped up... How did that make you feel? Weird? Awesome?
Like I said, I really appreciate that some people held us in that high regard, but it was a little weird at times as well. We were just a band doing the same thing with the bands that we loved. I always say how it's one thing to emulate your influences, but it's key to do it your own way.

You did a decent amount of touring after "Ill Blood" dropped... Obviously those Cro-Mags dates must've been a trip... How did those shows go? Did you turn a lot of the older, sketchy Cro-Magnons into No Warning fans? How intense is chilling with Harley and JJ at the same time?
Harley wasn't on that tour. It was JJ, AJ Novello, G-Man and Francis. I think Harley left shortly before the tour. It was still an incredible time in our lives. John and the Mags were the nicest/funniest dudes, as were the Hope Con dudes (BEEF AIN'T OVER RECORDS!!). The last show of that tour was at CBGB's and it was bar none, one of the best shows we ever played. We redeemed ourselves after the first time we played there, which was actually our worst show ever. Seriously, it was that bad .

Posi Numbers, Murphy's Law cover... Exactly what happened there? How funny did you think all the talk about it afterwards was?
We did "Panty Raid" with Porter on vocals, and I guess a few of our NY friends did the whole drench the first row with beer and whatnot. They also tackled our drummer so there wasn't any drums for like half a minute until Alex Russin grabbed some sticks and finished the song on his knees. Haha. I really don't remember what happened afterwards, people saying the straigt edge members of the band broke edge on stage?? Something stupid like that. I think Ben was using a beer bottle for a mic and that bummed people out. Haha.

So Don't Despair, This Day Will Be Their Damnedest Day

2008-05-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Thursday May 8th, 2008. Saw Portishead live for the first time that day. No big deal. Just one of the most intense and overpowering concerts (I really said concerts?) I've ever witnessed, by a band I have been wanting to see since I was 14 or 15. I'm not sure if anything I write will capture how fuckin' ill this show was but I might as well give it a shot.

I got to know Portishead when I was in my third year of highschool. This was around the time when I was fully discovering hardcore, while listening to some hip hop on the side. My musical taste at the time was pretty limited, life was so much simpler back then: if it wasn't Sick Of It All, Madball, Life Of Agony or Wu-Tang, it was lame to me. There was this weirdo chick in my class though, who was kinda cool. I dug that she was really into music as well. From what I can remember, she was heavily into 3 bands: Nine Inch Nails, Tool and well... Portishead. She played me one of their songs (must've been "Glory Box") in class and I was shocked. I mumbled something along the lines of "this ain't so bad" but somehow what I'd just heard had hit me hard and my 15 year old brain was confused. I needed to hear more. So long story short, I got their record from the local library a couple of weeks later and copied it onto a cassette that I wore thin during the years to follow, until I bought the actual CD.

With Portishead disappearing off the radar around 1998 however, I never got to see them live... Until a few days ago. What I did get to see a couple of years ago though, were 2 insane shows on the tour that Beth Gibbons did with Rustin Mann for the increcible record they'd created together called "Out Of Season". My man Steven Tuffin knows how good those shows were. Still, it wasn't Portishead, so I was still craving more. Now, Vorst Nationaal in Brussels may be a huge, concrete monster with the reputation of having utterly horrible acoustics, but when Portishead played that shit didn't even matter. They sounded spot on. Opened with "Silence" (including the intro), the opening track of "Third" and then went straight into "Hunter". Even if both songs are off the new album, meaning the level of nostalgia is lower, it was epic. If I'm not mistaken "Mysterons" was the first "older" song they played. I felt all weird but in a cool way. Cold sweat, goosebumps... the works you know. Their setlist seemed to consist of a nearly equal amount of songs off each album, which was fine by me. It is cool and a little frustrating at the same time that they played that many new songs... It's cool 'cause the new record rules and I love it when bands just play what they feel like playing and I respect them for that, but at the same time obviously I didn't get to hear a whole bunch of older songs I would've loved to hear live. I also felt like maybe their set was a little short, but then again it could never be long enough so what am I on about? I guess an hour and a half is a good deal.

I cannot get over how amazing Beth Gibbons' vocals are. Truly bone chilling. She's still as weird as she always was, still seems to have a hard time to face the crowd and she still mumbles things inbetween songs that could've been in Russian for all I know. While it's hard to not look at her, it's got to be said that our boy Adrian Utley (now 51 years old) was holding it down on guitar... Dude looks so cool. A few of my personal highlights of the set were "Cowboys", "Mysterons", "All Mine" and "Glory Box", though I definitely loved all of their set, except for maybe "Machine Gun". I don't know how I feel about that song. It kind of annoyed me. During "We Carry On", the last song, we did witness something crazy. Beth Gibbons coming down off stage to shake hands with (and embrace) people in the front rows. Don't know what got into her, but it was quite a sight to behold. Seemed like the little lady was nearly swallowed whole by the overenthusiastic crowd at times. Perfect way to end a nearly perfect show.

After the show, while walking back to our car I was still so high on Portishead that I bought a bootleg poster off some sketchy dude on the street. Well worth my 2 euro though. Shout outs to Jonas and Stefan. More Portishead road trips, please!

Iron Age / Interview

2008-04-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

I was trying to picture an Iron Age show in my mind a while ago when I realised it had been over 8 months since I had seen these Texans crush a live audience. Instantly, I had visions of Jason trying to break through an invisible wall and summoning dark forces while at it, I had visions of the legendary Iron Age tank parked outside the venue reeking of weed, beer and other legal and not so very legal drugs... Most of all though I had visions of Wade in a flannel, putting his left foot on whatever there is available (A monitor? A stray amp maybe?) and riffing it up. So I thought I'd better drop the man a line or two to see what was cooking in Camp Iron Age... Here's what he had to say.

2007 seems to have been a pretty calm year for Iron Age, though you did a bunch of tours and put out the "Burden Of Empire" EP... Did it seem calm to you? What else have you guys been up to?
The year started well, we recorded for the first time since the LP, got a reliable guitar player and went out on our best US tour. Things, however, degenerated rather quickly. Right as we started working out new material I broke my thumb and was out of commission for a couple months, went back on tour at the end of summer in a van that wouldn’t stay running. Got home and spent a few months in Houston every other week to try to get back writing with a new drummer. Finally got a couple songs recorded in November. I wouldn’t call it calm so much as spirit-crushing.

Over the last year or so you've had a few line up changes, Alex joined the band on second guitar around a year ago and Reed quit playing drums after the summer I guess so could you fill me in on who's in Iron Age right now? Rumor has it you've been playing shows with 3 guitarists as well?
Yeah, Alex showed up to his first practice playing every song flawlessly including all those songs we hadn’t played since the record came out. After Reed gayed out, my brother Jared, who played on the first demo and filled in every other time Reed gayed out, started playing drums for us again and will put up with me telling him what to do for three hours three times a week. And then a couple months ago, after parting ways with our old friend Matt Jackson, we recruited my roommate Logan on bass. And then there’s me and Jason.

Regarding that "Burden Of Empire" EP, where exactly did you record it and is the way it sounds the kind of sound you'd envisioned? Kinda like an obscure black metal demo? I seem to remember you guys recorded another song during that session called "Decrease The Peace", right? What happened to that song? Will it ever see the light of day?
We recorded that with this guy Nathan here in Austin who played keyboard in a band with my friend Pat. We just set up amps in his living room and drums in the next room and cranked out drums in two takes and did the rest over the next couple weeks. As far as I’m concerned it’s the best we’ll ever sound, I think Jason sounds crazy on it. We ate a lot of fried Chicken. We recorded an instrumental for the b-side which didn’t make it. A girl we know said it sounded like music you’d hear on the moon. We used to play it live all the time, you’ll probably hear parts of it on the new record.

How many copies of the EP were actually pressed? Do you have any idea how many different covers are in circulation for that?
We pressed 900 of them in total, a couple hundred ended up in other countries. Every time we’d go to Kinko’s to print covers (usually on the way to the show) the original image would get left in the copier and we’d have to get a new image. There are I think a thousand different covers?

"Burden Of Empire" is a lengthy song, how do you go about writing long, epic songs like that while still keeping them interesting? I've always wondered about that, especially since you guys have a lot of "long" songs...
I’m sure some people would say we don’t keep them interesting, but I can’t write short songs, anymore especially. I’ve been trying. There’s a certain level of development and a certain amount of repetition my mind needs to get through for a song to sound finished to me. They usually end up right around 5 minutes. I know "Evil Ways" could’ve been shorter, and that we could cut this here and that there. But I promise we’re not the first band that plays 5 minute long songs.

Is the song length of that track anything to go by for the new material? I'm guessing it is? Also stylistically, how would you say Iron Age has evolved since the "Constant Struggle" LP?
Yeah I guess, the new record’s looking like 8 or so songs running at 50 minutes maybe. I’d call it heavier and maybe darker and I’d say we’re expanding more on the metal that we started playing with on "Constant Struggle".

How do you look back on "Constant Struggle" now? What do you consider the album's strong points and weak points? What are some of your fav tracks on it and why?
I think "The Violator" and "Butcher’s Bill" and probably "Evil Ways" are the most defining songs on the record. "Fear Itself" I think is a cute little guy. Looking back, the whole thing is exceptionally strong in that we were a new band of about a year pulling together a lot of different ideas into something that makes sense most of the time. At the same time, Jason wrote "Brainwreck" for a different kind of band and it was the first song we ever played together and doesn’t have anything to do with a song like "Butcher’s Bill". It’s not the most cohesive record stylistically, I know, but as low as the bar was set back then I think we were really ambitious and pulled it together on some level. I haven’t listened to it in a year or two but I know I don’t really like how cleaned-up and gated and dry the recording is. And I’ve always hated that snare drum.

You have a new EP coming in a few months on Painkiller and Dead And Gone Records. What can you tell us about that record? How many songs? What are they called? I heard rumours of a crazy coversong as well?
It’s just a song from the new record called “The Way Is Narrow” with a cover of Flower Travellin’ Band’s “Satori Pt.1” on the b-side. We knew we weren’t gonna have a proper full-length recorded for a while and we’d only released one song since 2006 so we thought everyone would like to hear another one.

I've been listening to "The Way Is Narrow" from said upcoming new EP a bunch. It rules. I get the impression the song has more of anthemic trash metal feel to it compared to earlier songs... What influenced this song specifically? I mean in terms of structure, riffs and overall vibe...
Yeah like I said it has more to do with metal than hardcore I’m sure stylistically. I mean the verse to me is Randy Rhoads and the b part is like maybe a fast Crowbar and the c part is too maybe? I don’t know. And the end is like Slayer harmonies I guess? We just want to sound good.

How important is Texas to Iron Age? Do you think growin' up there as opposed to any of the cities on the east or west coast has made you a different person? How do you think it has affected the band, in terms of sound and attitude?
Man it's hot as fuck here already.

If you had to describe the essence of Iron Age in 5 words, which words would those be?
"Are they still a band?"

If you had to describe every member of Iron Age in 5 words, what would those? Don't forget to include yourself...
Alex - "Hai do u lyke grind?"
Logan - "…is drinking coffee somewhere now."
Jason - "And Craig let’em do it!"
Jared - "Does he care? Probably not."
Clif - "Blank Dogs No Age Spider."
Wade - "I’ll stop talking now, sorry."

www.myspace.com/ironagetexas
www.painkillerrecords.com
www.deadandgonerecords.com

Blacklisted: Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God / Review

2008-04-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ever since I picked up a copy of "Our Youth Is Wasted", I have been hooked on Blacklisted. I can't even remember why I picked it up, I guess I kinda felt like I was really going to dig this band. Naming yourself after a Breakdown song is always a strong move. There was something mysterious about Blacklisted, something different. Musically and lyrically, they just made sense to me. Ever since then I have immensely enjoyed every record they've done, even though none of them sound exactly alike... Or maybe exactly because of that? In turn, it makes sense too, as almost every release was written by another songwriter/guitarist/line up. However, the vibe on all those records was always undeniably Blacklisted's. Throughout the years, thanks to the miraculous ways of hardcore, I have gotten to know the people in Blacklisted quite well. I've toured, hung out, eaten Haribo Cherries and watched Down with them, so most likely this is not going to be the most objective review you're going to find on the world wide web, but then again, fuck it. This ain't science, it's punk rock.

With last year's "Peace On Earth, War On Stage" EP having been so well received and turning so many non-believers into believers, the least one can say is that this record was highly anticipated. Unlike during their earlier days, Blacklisted was able to hit the studio with the same people (plus one) that also recorded that EP and again they chose to work with the wizard of Salem, Kurt Ballou... There's not much to be said about that, you really don't have to change a winning team, do you?

I've listened to this record a retarded amount of times already, yet it only took me one listen to be able to tell Dave Walling (Blacklisted bassplayer, unashamed Euro, elf master) that I thought it was awesome but it was going to take me a long time to figure out how to mosh to it. I don't know if I've figured that out already (have I ever?), but one thing I know for sure is that they've managed to structure their second full length album real well. I read an interview with George (Blacklisted singer, hardcore encyclopedia) recently in which he said they tried to make it a real "album". Vinyl style, with an A and a B side and with a lot attention paid to tracklisting. Even though I have the CD version, that clearly worked real well. So let's review this record as if I was reviewing the LP...

"Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God" starts off with 2 absolute ragers; "Stations" and "Touch Test". Perfect way to start off an album, as both songs are short and go straight for the throat. Opening track "Stations" was the first song off the album that I ever heard, when last summer Shawn (Blacklisted drummer, gifted story teller, Ipod dealer) played me an early demo version of it in their van. I was especially impressed with the song's epileptic climax, it reminded me of Glassjaw for some reason. Before you know what hit you, "Touch Test" kicks in. One of my favourite songs off this album, no doubt. "When I throw these fits, you only see what you want to see". Relentless headbanging. I love how it builds up and then breaks down again, to make way for "I Am Weighing Me Down". As dumb as it may sound, I gotta say this song just flat out rocks. It's structured as a pop song, has a chorus that is catchy as hell and a Refused feel to it. I know the whole world will compare it to Nirvana due to the "Hey, Hey, Hey" part, but I dunno about that. I mean, sure Blacklisted loves Nirvana but there's an ancient saying that says that one swallow doesn't make a summer and I'll just leave it at that.

Before a re-recorded version of "Memory Layne" (originally on their "Peace On Earth, War On Stage" EP), the song "Always" is thrown at us. Is it a coincidence that "Always" also is a Floorpunch song? I think not. Either way, this track is another winner, with a flow similar to "I Am Weighing Me Down", though not as catchy 'cause it doesn't have the same type of chorus. It ends with a huge riff that reminds of huge waves crashing. Closing Side A is the somewhat more experimental and drawn out "Circuit Breaker", a song that showcases how much Blacklisted has grown and how willing they are to take risks. Another personal favourite. When the song breaks downs into eerie feedback/noise about halfway through and picks back up with George proclaming "You wear the clothes of a beggar, but underneath you're a thief", that's when you'll see the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Matrimony" is another furious, short rager that has some weird later Black Flag styled guitar shredding, an immense Anselmo-esque scream and a few questions to raise about the institution of marriage. Again, perfect song to start off Side B with. "Self Explosive" is cool, but "Burning Monk" is really where it's at. It just doesn't let up. From fast and violent into groovy into Cro-Magnon territory... Hats off. Lyrically, this song features some of my favourite Blacklisted lyrics to date... "There's nothing to do but stand and watch the truth roll it's eyes at the lies as it lies down and dies inside". Read it again if you want to, it's that good.

Next to "Memory Layne", Blacklisted also re-recorded "Canonized" for this album, an absolute favourite of mine so I am not going to complain about that. Every time Bean (Blacklisted riffmaster extra ordinaire, chain smoking vegetarian) starts playing that first riff it feels like the world is going to end. Call me crazy, but that's how it feels. It's weird how short this record seems while there is so much going on, so before you know it, you're listening to "Wish"... A daring, slower song. It's dark and haunting but not in a metal way. I don't even know what to say to describe this song. I don't even have to, since I've gone through pretty much every song on this record and by now you know that I'm more than just a little into it.

As far as the artwork goes, I think the Melissa Farley photography works real well with the content of the album, both sonically and lyrically. Love the cover picture. The CD booklet has a different picture that goes along with every song and again, I think it works real well. Clearly a lot of thought, time and care went into this and it shows. The only thing I'm not so down with is the picture on the outside of the booklet, but that's it. Even if a discman is pretty old school.

I'm glad to see how Blacklisted has managed to expand and renew their sound, without losing track of their essence. Both musically this is a record that took a lot of guts to make, by a band that truly lives and breathes hardcore. Frankly, music this brutally honest and real is becoming a rare breed so if that's what you're into, you need to hear this.

www.myspace.com/blacklisted
www.imwithblacklisted.blogspot.com
www.deathwishinc.com

Rhythm To The Madness / Interview

2008-04-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Rhythm To The Madness is a bandname that is so cool that you feel bad when you abbreviate it. So I didn't. It is also one of the bands that has excited and surprised me the most in the last few years. Not only through their words and music but also due to their unconvential approach to doing the band and the unique vibe around it. Even though I have known Stief and Klaas for years, I still feel like I can't completely grasp what Rhythm To The Madness is all about... There's a lot to be said for bands that can keep that sense of mystery and that have the power to inspire in an age where it sometimes seems like hardcore has become a dumb and painfully predictable circus. It took Klaas a while to answer my questions, but the answers were more than worth the wait. Never Think About The Future, It Comes Soon Enough.

So, what was the basic idea behind the band when Stief and you started it?
Basically, there was no specific idea behind the band. When I was on tour with Justice & Cold World, Stief and I started talking about how we both wanted to do a band in this style. He wrote some riffs, I wrote some lyrics, and we went from there.
After that tour Stief went to Michiel and recorded the riffs to what would become both demo songs and sent the recordings to me. I adjusted the lyrics to those songs, Stief did a little jam session on these riffs with Daan, and we went into a demo studio to record "Till Your Well Runs Dry" and "Through The Mind’s Eye". Initially we had no plans with the recordings but we liked ‘em so much I figured I’d have some tapes pressed and just sell ‘em on tour with Justice.

Was there a certain attitude you wanted the band to have, a certain message you wanted to convey?
Like I said, we never sat down and planned things out with this band. But I guess by just going into the studio without label support or even without the intention to play out live, we showed an attitude that said: fuck it all, we just want to make good music and get things done.
I don’t really have a certain message to convey, I just want to talk about what is important to me personally and what I thinks matters most.

Is Rhythm To The Madness the band that you think hardcore was lacking when you decided to get going?
Nah, Rhythm To The Madness is just the band the two of us wanted to do, I really don’t care what music others want to hear. Personally I think Blacklisted is the band hardcore lacked, musically and definitely attitude-wise as well: the way those guys handle their band should be an example for every starting band. Their work ethic, their love for Hardcore, they way they keep going regardless of whatever setbacks cross their path. As a band and as people Blacklisted portrays what Hardcore is all about to me.
Obviously Hardcore can still use a band like Straight Ahead though, but we got the 12” and the videos so I guess we’re good for now...

While it ain't hard to tell some of the bands that have influenced your sound, I would also say that you could evolve in various directions and are not bound to any specific style... Was this something you set out to achieve? How do you think you will develop musically?
I guess in some way this was intentional: by not making up a game-plan and thus not laying any restrictions upon ourselves, we created the possibility to go any direction we feel like. We didn’t start out to sound like this or that band, and we didn’t start out to play the world. What everything comes down to with Rhythm To The Madness, is that we had no expectations whatsoever and thus have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Concerning musical development, I think we can go wherever we want. And we will. The songs we are currently writing are definitely as hard as the EP songs, but they will be more balanced out.

Rhythm To The Madness is Stief and you. What are the pros of doing this band as a 2 man operation and what are the cons?
The biggest pro is definitely that we can do exactly whatever we want and how we want it. We don’t have other band-members to consult about music, shirt-designs or artwork. Also, even though we prefer to play out in our studio line-up, we can play with whomever we want and not be a scab band.
The only con I can think of right now is that it’s a hassle confirming shows with this band, but lately we have 3 drummers and 2 bass-players that know the songs so it’s getting easier...

I guess Sike and Daan will be in the band for live shows and recordings as long as they're down to be in it? You also had Cedric playing second guitar at a show a while back, do you feel like Rhythm To The Madness would sound best live as a 5-piece?
Yeah, like you said Rhythm To The Madness is just Stief and me, but Sike and Daan obviously are the perfect rhythm section for this band. We try to play as many shows with them on bass and drums, and we definitely need them in the studio. Cedric is playing second guitar for us whenever he can, and I definitely think we sound better as a 5-piece. I hate how the sound collapses when 4-piece bands have guitar solos in their songs. Plus – and you know this – Cete has a great guitar sound and looks fucking hard on stage.

I know that in a lot of ways you think of Rhythm To The Madness as a "metal" band, although I would say it is the type of metal that only real hardcore kids could come up with. What aspect of metal - and exactly what kind of "metal" - is it that you find so appealing that you want to apply it to your band?
I know I sometimes say that jokingly but I don’t really see Rhythm To The Madness as a metal band. What I mean by that is that we don’t limit ourselves to Hardcore: not musically and not visually. I usually say that just to make sure people can’t pigeonhole our band as we can draw influences wherever we want.
Honestly there’s not too much in metal that I find appealing, except for the music. I sometimes like the visual aspects of old metal shirts and records but generally speaking I’m not drawn to the subjects they sing about or the imagery they try to create.
As for the kind of metal I like, I’m mostly into the Bay Area Thrash bands: Slayer, Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, Metallica, Possessed, that kind of stuff, and of course I like the East Coast bands too: Nuclear Assault, Overkill, Anthrax, the usual I guess. I obviously like Mötorhead too. I also love Carcass, I never got into their older, more grind stuff, but I think "Heartwork" is sheer perfection. For months I’ve been running an hour everyday with "Heartwork" on the iPod, I ran my sharpest times listening to that album!

The attention to little details such as the barcodes on your demo and 7" (what's up with those anyway?) and the Slayer style credits to whom plays the guitar solos, I guess are part of this whole idea?
I don’t know, I just always strive for perfection which is why I’m always worrying and stressing about little details. That’s also why I’m almost never completely happy with anything I do or ever have done. Concerning the solo-credits, I love "Heartwork" and that’s the first album where I noticed these solo credits and thought it was pretty cool. You know: medical handbook lyrics, medical handbook lyrics, lead Steer, lead Amott, lead Steer, medical handbook lyrics, medical handbook lyrics. Pretty cool huh? "Angry With The Sun" also has this kind of credits and I thought that was pretty cool when I was younger.

Lyrically, you dig deeper than most these days and manage to come up with coherent, well written and outspoken lyrics. Clearly, a lot of time and thought goes into that part of the band... How would you describe the way you go about writing lyrics?
Well as clichéd as it may sound to me Hardcore is still more than music and I think that this is mainly shown in the way we handle our bands, but also in the lyrics. I still read the lyrics to every record I purchase and if I think the lyrics are weak, the music will have to be twice as good to convince me.
So yes, I put a lot of time and thought into my lyrics, and I appreciate that you think they’re coherent and well written, thank you.
But to answer your question, I don’t really have a consistent way I go about writing lyrics. Most of the time I write down some ideas to work them into a lyric, put them away for a couple of weeks to let ‘em ripe. Then when I read them again, I end up throwing away most of it, only using what I still think is good enough. I repeat this process until I’m completely happy with them or actually most of the time until a deadline is reached. Without deadlines I would keep on changing my lyrics forever.
However, sometimes I work the other way around, for example Stief sent me a rough recording of the riffs and song-structure of what would become "Deliverance From Suffering". I received his email at work, set the volume as quiet as possible cause people walk into my office, and listened to the song while I instantly started writing the words to it.

Furthermore, could you tell me what the two songs, "Soul Doubt" and "Deliverance From Suffering", on the new 7" deal with? I believe "Soul Doubt" is somewhat of a plea for a richer spiritual life rather than an empty one filled with material gain, or am I wrong?
In a nutshell, that is what "Soul Doubt" is about indeed. In the first Rhythm To The Madness song I wrote ("Through The Mind’s Eye") I mentioned the words "material ages". In retrospect I figured those were the kind of hollow words used by bands that desperately want to be "a band with a message". I kind of regretted using those words in such a superficial way and therefore decided to elaborate on it by writing "Soul Doubt".
It was a very hard lyric for me to write. I really wanted to write about this topic because it’s something that has been occupying me all my life, but I didn’t want to come off too clever, if you know what I mean? It was hard to write about the subject of material gain without sounding too holier-than-thou, considering I’m far from enlightened myself.
I’m glad that you understand what "Soul Doubt" is about, because we are kinda on the same level on this but that only makes it harder to explain it to others of course. The song is indeed about a richer spiritual life without too much emphasis on material gain, it’s a balance I’ve been struggling to find all my life. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with material gain per se, what matters is the way you prioritise these superficial things in your life. I see no wrong in surrounding yourself with objects that you feel good around: you create a positive environment for yourself, a shelter in which you feel good, a refuge that allows you to recharge your batteries once in a while. I don’t think you can enrich your spiritual life on batteries running low. For some of us these material objects may be records, high tech electronics, books or whatever… As long as people maintain their balance and don’t lose focus of what really matters in the end, I don’t think there’s something wrong with a certain level of material gain.
The song "Deliverance From Suffering" is somewhat harder to explain because we actually just put it on the EP as B-Side song and it’s totally taken out of context. We originally just wanted to do a one sided vinyl single, but Powered Records wanted us to record some B-Side songs, so we decided to put "Deliverance From Suffering" on the EP too.
What I mean by that song being taken out of its context, is that "Deliverance From Suffering" is the prequel to a song that we will record for our upcoming LP. That song is called "Into Tranquillity", of which a stripped down instrumental version (called "Intro Tranquillity") can be found on our EP. The lyrics to both songs will explain themselves once put together, so I won’t give away too much, but allow me to just explain the second part of both verses: "Chewed by the jaws of life - Soul survivors of struggle and strife - An award of sorrow drawing near -
Fear its coming but it’s already here".
We claim to control our own lives, yet we are being lived: we don’t live our lives, our lives live us. We don’t make our own choices, we are influenced and affected by the choices of others: we are being chewed by the jaws of life. To grow into our own strong (or weak) personalities, we (our souls) have been through so much struggle and strife; some people’s struggles more intense than others when compared but equally important in the growth of the person. We constantly try to shake off whatever molds society casts us into and whatever molds we cast others into, yet at the same time we feel uncomfortable when we don’t fit in. It’s a struggle with ourselves more than anything… Obviously it’s more a process than a downright struggle. This struggle is something we prepare for all our lives, it’s something that we foresee in the future: we tell ourselves it’s going to happen one day but for now we’ll just keep avoiding it... Well, the process is right now and it’s portrayed in every decision we make and every word we say. It’s not something that happens or is going to happen, it’s something that IS.
The only way attain a state tranquillity is by delivering ourselves from all suffering. Do people really want to read this?

You've been doing bands for a number of years now, yet I feel as if this is the first time you've truly found yourself, lyrically and vocally. What do you think? How does Rhythm To The Madness differ from the bands you were in before? Were there any mistakes you made in the past you wanted to avoid this time around?
I gotta say I agree with you: I indeed truly found myself for the first time.
I think there’s two huge differences between Rhythm To The Madness and any past bands that I did, the most important being growth, which I guess is quite logical as I was 15 years old when I first started doing bands, and I’m 25 years old now.
The other difference between Rhythm To The Madness and any of my past bands is that I always tried to form a band with people I was friends with, therefore resulting (and I’ve said this before) in a compromise between the four or five members that form it. You are always limited by eachother’s musical taste, technical skills and musical creativity, no matter how well you get along.
With Rhythm To The Madness, I wanted this band to have the sound and image that I had in mind, without having to compromise with anybody. Stief is the only person (as a friend and as a musician) that is on the exact same level as me concerning Rhythm To The Madness, so that’s why I didn’t want to bring anybody else in. And that’s why I think I – as you describe it - truly found myself with this band.

Now that the 7" has been out for a while, do you still listen to it once in a while? Is there anything that you think could've been better?
Yeah I still listen to it sometimes, there’s a lot of things I think could’ve been better, but like I said: I always strive for, but never get near, perfection so I’m never completely happy with anything I do. To be able to answer your question I just listened to the single again and I gotta say, considering the fact that we wrote those songs on the Justice/Blacklisted tour, with Stief playing acoustic guitar, Daan drumming on his lap and me whispering the lyrics, I think everything came out quite well.

A few months back you did a short UK tour with Cold World. How did those shows go? Do you feel as if the crowd that would come out to see Cold World would also be the type of crowd that would dig Rhythm To The Madness? How does being on tour with your own band compare to being the road dawg for Justice or True Colors f.i.?
Keeping in mind those shows were actually some of the first real Rhythm To The Madness shows, I think that they went pretty good. It took us a couple of shows to really feel eachother on stage, especially since we played with a stand-in drummer on that tour, but I think everything worked out fine. I don’t know if the Cold World fans dug us but we got a fair amount of response, even though our record had only just come out at the time and hadn’t gotten around by then.
I love being a road dog! In 2007 I think I must’ve spent a total of 8 weeks on the road with Justice, and I loved every minute of it. As a road dog the only things to worry about are "Do I have enough change when selling merch?" and "When can I try and catch some sleep with all these overnight drives?".
It had been a while since I'd gone out on the road with a band of my own, and I gotta say I had forgotten the stress, pressure and effort that comes along with it. Luckily I had a carefully selected Road Crew of Soul Survivors put together, consisting out of experienced coremen that more than earned their stripes out on the road. So I didn’t have to stress too much and all worked out fine.

Another thing I've noticed is how you don't say much during your live set. You stick to saying the band's name and mentioning the song titles. No thank you's or explanations. Is there any reasoning behind this?
There’s no reasoning behind this really, it’s just that I’m not much of a talkative person. It’s hard enough for me to verbally put together a meaningful and coherent sentence, let alone when it’s not in my mother tongue. Plus I figure if people really want to know what I've got to say, they’ll read the lyrics or come up to me and ask. Or do an interview.
And the people I am grateful to, they know that as I thank them in person. If you’re looking for a shoutout through a PA-system, you picked the wrong show. And the wrong band.

Please share with me your insights and ideas on the following:
Force Of Words Zine - when's the next issue?
At one point I had the fourth issue almost completely finished but in the end decided to throw it all away. However a new fourth issue is in the works and will be released as Complex Man Fanzine #4, out on January 1st 2012.

Mic stand - blessing or curse?
Those things are set out to self-destruct all the time! "We need another mic stand up here okay?!".

"Crush The Demoniac" - most violent song ever?
Obviously my "powersong" when running!

Kindred "File 01" - you're moshing?
Definitely. Packo and I listened to this record on a True Colors weekend-trip the other week, good times. I still vividly remember the first time I heard this album: December '96, I was in boarding school and I came home for Christmas Holidays. I arrived at my parents’ house and a package from Good Life Recordings was waiting for me. I opened it up and found the Kindred CD and a "Proud To Be Drug Free" sweater inside. I immediately put on the CD on my parents’ stereo and before I knew it I threw on my new hoodie and started moshing in the living room. Ofcourse only minutes later my mom came in and saw me moshing (well, you know... "moshing"), normally I would’ve been embarrassed but that time I didn’t care because this record was so good I knew my mom would understand…

Geert Hollanders - fav. quotes?
He actually sent me the best text message the other day, just plain coolness in like 8 words. Too bad it’s not meant for publication, so I’ll go for this: "Hardcore shows zijn geen kiekenkot!". Or when we were on a weekend trip with Loud And Clear and some girlfriends came along: "I feel like we’re on a schooltrip". Or the other day when Flip and I were talking about how much we like Guns 'N' Roses "Appetite For Destruction": "To avoid all that weirdo shit is exactly why I got into Hardcore”. So much good stuff, but most of it needs to be kept within the inner circle... "Dutje doen op de zetel hé man".

Last of all, what records/bands have excited you lately? Anything else you want to add?
I’ve been more than excited about the new True Colors and Justice records, both bands have taken European Hardcore to a new level in the past and continue to do so with their new records. I also listened to the new Blacklisted LP three times in a row when running the other day, can’t wait to hold that one in my hands. Also can’t wait for the new Cold World LP to drop! It’s been out for a while now, but I’m still listening to the Bitter End LP a lot. I heard some songs of the new Reactionaries record yesterday and that sounds amazing, be on the lookout for their 12” to drop on Deranged Records! Other than those I pretty much stuck to my regulars lately: a steady diet of Rollins Band. Oh and the Invasion LP (from Spain) is fucking great too, but that record is probably way too hard for people that have an internet connection so I guess your readers can’t handle it.
Nothing much to add, I wanna apologise for taking ages to complete this interview but my life’s been hectic as you know. Shout outs to Powered Records, Stadsomvaart 134, and obviously to all the Soul Survivors: Stief, Sike, Daan, Cete, Geert, Peers, Flip The Switch, den Backtrack, Gert SSDshirt, Erik Tilburg, Jeffrey, Hingie, Packo, Jigs and of course you Bjorn!

Rhythm To The Madness – March 25th 17h02
FORTUNA, INFORTUNA, FORTI UNA!

www.rhythmtothemadness.com
www.myspace.com/rhythmtothemadness
www.poweredrecords.com
www.myspace.com/poweredrecords

Trash Talk / Interview

2008-03-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

"They wade through pestilence. We call them wasted youth. The kids are running restless without a single fucking thing to lose. Give them enough rope and they'll fucking hang themselves for lack of things to do". One of the more impressive bands I've heard and seen in the last couple of years is California's Trash Talk. They have a sound all of their own that is bleak, urgent and truly violent. After doing EP's on various labels, they recently recorded an album with the musical prodigy known as Steve Albini and will be on tour forever, or at least until doomsday. I had a brief talk with their singer Lee...

What's up Lee? What's good?
Not much really. I'm in Philly at Mook's house chillin' out till tour starts on the 28th. We are going out for 57 shows straight. That is the most we have ever done. It will be an epic journey of life. Philadelphia is one of my favorite cities ever so I try to make the most of any down time we get here. I'm gonna head out to the Blacklisted record release on Sunday. I'm pretty siked on that gig.

Trash Talk just finished recording for an album at Electrical Audio with Steve Albini, how was that? You recorded the whole thing in 2 days, how did that work out?
It was a good experience. They had a lot of people working there/working for you so it made a lot of things pretty easy. We prefer to record all of the music live. Steve also likes to work this way so it went pretty smooth. We recorded the music the first day and then did vocals/mixing on the second day.

What's recording with Steve Albini like? Did he offer a lot of advice or bring any of his own ideas to the table? What is he like as a person, from what you could tell? The one time I saw Shellac he was wearing these weird tight jeans and an XL Burzum shirt.
It was awesome. He kinda just set us up with the tones/sounds we were looking for then let us do our own thing with a little incite here and there. He seemed a little weird but who doesn't. The guy definitely had a lot of childhood stories to share which was pretty cool. This time around he was rockin' some wild Electrical Audio coverall jumpsuit.

How did you come up with the idea to record with him? Were there any specific aspects of his past work that prompted you to work with him, or was it more like a gut instinct?
It was Garrett's idea. We all dig a lot of his past work so he got at them and it just happened to work out. We wanted to record this LP analog and that is Albini's preferred method of recording. The dude refuses to touch the computers. That is what we wanted so we went for it. We made the drive straight from California to Chicago with a few jail stops on the way. That was pretty wild to say the least.

Does the album have a title already? If so, what is it?
Yes it does.. Trash Talk:

Lyrically, Trash Talk's subject matter has always been rather bleak and pissed off. Has that changed at all? What kind of evolution would you say you have gone through from "Walking Disease" to "Plagues" to the new shit?
The plot thickens...

Surprisingly after doing an EP with Malfunction/Deathwish you have decided to release the upcoming LP yourselves, with some help here and there. Is that a case of you guys wanting total control over everything involved with the process of putting out a record? Or more of a challenge? What do you think the advantages are?
Self releasing our own records is something that we have been wanting to do for a while. It is sort of a challenge but so is everything else. Doing it this way ensures that our record will be exactly what we want it to be. There will be no one to blame except for ourselves if something gets fucked up. We are all really siked on how well everything has been going. Running a record label is always something I have wanted to do so this opportunity is golden.

Trash Talk tours pretty much non stop. What is it that makes you love touring so much? What drives you to do what you do?
My goal has been to see as much as I can and stay away from home as much as possible. I have been doing pretty good at this lately. There is nothing for me at home anymore. All of the familiar faces have blurred together except for a select few. Lately the van has been feeling a lot more comfortable than my bed.

What do you guys do to pass the time while you're in the van? Any games or other interesting occupations?
We smoke a lot of blunts and drink a lot of beer. We make fun of our drummer Ham a lot but it's all in good fun. Spencer likes to listen to the radio rather than just pick something on the iPod. I guess he gets more variety that way. Garrett likes to sleep. We just got this wild catholic prayer candle that looks super cool lit up in the dark. Lately we have been jammin' a lot of Beatles, David Bowie, Madball, OM, Floor, Infest. I have been been drinking mad energy drinks and trying to drive as far as I can before I pass out. That's always fun. Talking with Spencer about aliens/conspiracy theories is always a good time too. Having Chucky Edge with us for a little while was constant entertainment.

I can imagine dates, places, shows and faces just become one big blur after a while... What have been some of the most memorable moments/shows in recent Trash Talk history?
Our record release show in January was definitely one of our more memorable shows. It was a bunch of friends bands hanging out and raging. Tons of kids showed up. Kids flew out from a few different places. A lot of blood was spilled. Good times all around. The Allegiance (RIP)last show a few weeks back was rad. That band means a lot to me and a ton of other people in Northern California so it was cool to be able to take part in that show. It was a sold out 924 Gilman St. show. That is wild...

Rumor has it that Spencer and Garrett are Five Percenters... I don't know if that's true or not, please clarify...
I'm gonna let Garrett answer this one... "All praises be to Allah, Arm Leg Leg Arm Head".

After roaming the US for the next few months, you'll be in Europe in June... Do you have any expectations what so ever of Europe? You do know that weed is legal in Holland, right? For anyone out there wondering why the initial tour with BraceWar and True Colors got cancelled, could you briefly explain why that happened?
I don't want to have any expectations for Europe. I just wanna get over there and enjoy it. None of us have ever been over there so we just wanna see/do it all. Expecting things is how good times get ruined. If kids know us and are into it that will rule... If not I'm siked on the fact of playing overseas. Bracewar wasn't going to be able to make the tour due to work obligations and what not. We were going to be splitting all of the costs and what not so it just didn't work out. It's kind of a bummer but it happens. We will be heading to Europe in June and September this year and probably one more time in the winter. I can't wait. It's going to be a rager. Weed being legal = Heaven on earth.

Last of all, what have you been listening to as of late? What bands have kept you excited about hardcore?
Sabertooth Zombie, Trapped Under Ice, Violation, War Hungry, Antidote, Outburst, Justice.... There is tons more but my mind is blank right now....

That's it, thanks for your time Lee...
Thanks for the interview Bjorn. We will be hanging out in Euroland very soon....

Devil Inside: 36 Karat / A Retrospective Review

2008-03-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Self proclaimed Ghetto Metal from Kreuzberg, Berlin. Lyrics in German and Turkish. A record called "36 Karat"... Brilliant. This album is awesome in so many ways, I don't even know where to begin. Oh wait, I do...

I remember first hearing about this band sometime in early 2002, I don't know who told me about them but I do remember Rob from Born From Pain wearing one of their shirts (black logo printed on a black shirt - good style) and when we discussed the shirt (I've always loved shirt talk) I could tell he was excited about the band. A couple of months after that my old band played the same fest as them somewhere in Germany. Obviously I had to see what was going on. They went on somewhere in the middle of a 12 band marathon and just walked on stage like they were headlining and/or owned the place. I loved that. An obnoxious attitude and a lot of talking and swearing in German, which was fine by me because once they started playing it was like the whole place was getting levelled. Heavy as hell, a massive sound, sick groove and Merauder vibes all over the place. I turned into a fan there and then and picked up this CD soon after. Listened to it a lot, even though all my friends seemed to hate it. I still do. Somewhere in 2003, around the summer, Rise And Fall played one of it's earlier shows with Devil Inside in Tielt, Belgium. The show wasn't all that spectacular but I was beyond excited to finally see Devil Inside again and they did not disappoint... They had a new demo with them that they were selling and appearantly they were in the middle of changing their name to Jaylan. An alternative version of that demo (re-recorded vocals and a different mix I believe) later came out as a Jaylan CDEP called "Stress" on Superhero Records, a small label from Berlin. I strongly recommend you to hunt down that record, that is after you've picked up the subject at hand here: Devil Inside's "36 Karat" CD on Alveran Records...

The original version of this CD came out as a midprice type of thing, as it only contained 6 songs. The fact that those 6 songs blow away mostly anything on the Alveran label didn't even seem to matter. Seeing that there was quite a bit of hype around the band at the time, the CD did well and was soon re-released as a full CD, with 2 bonus tracks (more about those 2 tracks later on). The line up on this record was the following: Devrim - lead vocals, Volkan - bass, David - drums, Tamer - guitar, Marcus - guitar and vocals. Tamer is the only one out of all these dudes that I've ever talked to, he was also the one that wrote all the music on this record so I guess it is safe to say I have talked to a genius in my lifetime. Super nice dude. Other than that I know drummer David works for M.A.D. Tourbooking and used to drum in the semi-legendary German hardcore outfit Charley's War. Another interesting thing to note is that both Marcus and Tamer were part of the original line up of World Collapse. Obviously most (if not all) of these dudes were also in Jaylan after the name change, although Jaylan went through a few line up changes too, from what I've heard. According to the band, the name change from Devil Inside to Jaylan happened because Intel was giving them a hard time. Intel Inside, see? Pretty crazy. On to what really matters though...

How can a record sung in languages I don't even speak and hardly understand be so fuckin' awesome and catchy? How incredibly heavy and well produced does this record sound? Why didn't this band become bigger than Hatebreed? Questions like those run through my mind every time I listen to "36 Karat". Opening track "Sohne Der Macht" is one of those songs that was destined to be the opening song. It kicks in with unrelenting force. A vulgar display of power if there ever was one. It thrives on brutal riffs, it's full of groove and stylistically it's somewhere inbetween Merauder and Machine Head. Though my German is pretty poor, I seem to gather that this song deals with the importance of friendship and family ties. I love this part: "Auge um auge, mann gegen mann, doch unser gesetz funktioniert anders, weil die familie unser stamm ist und wir die krieger sind!". Babelfish tells me that means "Eye around eye, man against man, but our law functions differently, because the family is our trunk and we are the krieger". Babelfish isn't perfect but I guess you get the gist of it. Right after "Sohne Der Macht" it is time for the epic "Nur Noch Tage", with it's Slayer-esque intro and Biohazard-ish groove breakdown with rap-styled vocals. Probably the most epic and metal song on "36 Karat".

"Ich War, Ich Bin, Ich Werde Sein" is probably my favourite song here. It is simply irresistable with it's fast paced Cro-Mags "Alpha-Omega" style riffing and awesome melodic vocals. At times you'd swear this song has Harley singing in German. When things break down about halfway through the song and you get to the "Meine Blicke Sind Hier! Meine Blicke Sind Da!" part, you'll be singing along no matter what age, creed or religion. So good. The next song, "Kampfer" ("Fighter" in English), is full on Merauder worship and I seriously doubt the mental health of anyone who has issues with that when it's done this well. To make things even more interesting/confusing, this song features guest vocals by Al Barr of The Dropkick Murphys. Pretty bizarre but then again I'm guessing this can be explained by drummer David's work for M.A.D. It's funny 'cause it took me forever to figure out which part Al was singing since I assumed he'd be singing in English. He wasn't. Dudes made him sing in German which was makes this guest appearance even better/weirder.

"Augenblick" is the song that makes me doubt whether or not "Ich War, Ich Bin, Ich Werde Sein" is my favourite track or not. I'm tempted to take the easy way out for now and say they're equally good. This song makes me wish I could speak Turkish. It's a song so simple in structure, yet so effective. It doesn't have a mosh part or anything like that and is definitely the most laid back song on this record. The vocals in Turkish have a mesmerizing, enchanting quality to them and their melody is bound to stick in your head for days. After this somewhat more introspective, emotional song it is time for more full on chugging and grooving with "Arktis", the last "real" song before the bonus tracks kick in. This is where things get crazy. The first bonus track features Jamey Hatebreed, screaming (rapping?) over a dark, eerie beat. "All the way from Connecticut to Berlin, Hatebreed and Devil Inside, here we go". Unlike Al Barr, Jamey sticks to English. One can only wonder... The song's chorus, "Every move I make brings me one step closer to hell", sure is catchy but I am not sure if I will ever completely understand what they were trying to do with this song. The second bonus track is another hip hop track with lyrics in German and English. I figure they had another guest do the lyrics in English, but I don't know who that would be. Either way, the bonus tracks are an interesting addition but obviously it's all about the 6 original tracks on this record.

Lay-out wise I think this record looks pretty ill as well. I could've done without the pictures of the van and the drumpedal, but I'm digging the individual member shots mixed with medieval woodcuts and the more artistic post modern/linear approach. As for the cover, it's awesome. You may not know what to make of it at first, but when you've heard the record it makes sense.

That about wraps it up. If I've convinced anyone to check this record out, I can tell you that right now it is on sale in the Alveran Webstore (www.alveranshop.com/index.php)... 1.99 Euro for a somewhat overlooked/cult Ghetto Metal classic, that seems like a solid deal to me. Other than that I recently checked the Jaylan Myspace page (www.myspace.com/jaylanberlin) and noticed they'd changed their name back to Devil Inside and the line up is the exact same one as on "36 Karat". I'm excited to see whatever will come of that. You can also head to that Myspace page to check out a few songs off this record. You heard it here. Enjoy.

P.S. Thanks to Rob for the additional info and corrections.

Money Can't Buy Courage, Riches Mean Nothing To Us

2008-03-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

Now that Justice is done, one could say that a certain era has come to an end as well. The era of the Complete Control bands as you could call it. An era during which a lot of things revolved around three bands: Dead Stop, Restless Youth & Justice. All great bands in their own way, that I saw play countless shows and shared a number of memorable times with. There's no need to get all sad and depressed though, as a lot of the dudes that were in those bands are still at it now, doing new bands and letting those creative juices flow. I thought I'd highlight a few of them here...

THE REACTIONARIES - Lintfabriek

Let's start with The Reactionaries, who have been going for a while and have played a few shows so far. Two actually. Their live debut was at the last ever Lintfabriek show on December 31st '07, check out the video above. I was into it. The Reactionaries have a line up that makes me scratch the back of my head and wonder if I should ever set foot on stage again. That's how cool that band is. Not a hardcore band per sé, they're influenced by a lot of "proto punk" (is that even a real term?) bands... The Wipers, The Damned, The Saints and probably a lot more that I don't even know about. Their sound is fresh and soulful, clearly the work of a bunch of dudes with too much talent. You can listen to a few of their songs online, bear in mind those songs are over a year old now though. The band is currently writing songs for an EP to come out on Deranged Records later this year.
www.wearethereactionaries.com - www.myspace.com/wearethereactionaries

Another band that's been going for a while, but only got named and got the word out a few weeks ago is Hoogh Water (that's ancient Dutch for "High Water"), featuring Ries The Octopus on drums plus Joseph and Chris of Restless Youth fame. They sound pretty trippy and 70's, with songs clocking in way past the 5 minute mark so I'm lcurious to see what they're like live. Their first show is set for April 29th with The Reactionaries & Annihilation Time. By the looks of their website and cool ass logo, this band seems to be headed for big things. You can listen to two songs on their website and look at some studio footage as well. Just follow the smoke to the riff filled land.
www.hooghwater.com - www.myspace.com/hooghwater

Further more, the one and only Spoiler seems to the centre of a lot of activity in Montreal. Dude's started 13 bands, built a stage and a venue, started a blog and rumor has it he has a job too. No wonder he couldn't make it to the last Justice show. He simply does not have the time for trips abroad. I highly recommend you check out his blog as well his bands Adult Crash and The Omegas.
www.myspace.com/adultcrashmtl - www.myspace.com/omegasmtl

RHYTHM TO THE MADNESS - Lintfabriek

I've talked about Rhythm To The Madness on here before and I promise the interview I did with Klaas regarding this band will be up soon. If you haven't yet, pick up their "Soul Doubt" EP on Powered Records. That is, if you appreciate the better things in life such as riffs, the Cro-Mags, promotional pictures, sayings in Latin, Hans Degryse and solos. If you haven't seen them live, you should. Or comfort yourself by watching the video of their cameo performance during Blacklisted's set at the last Lintfabriek gig.
www.myspace.com/rhythmtothemadness

That's it for tonight. As always I'm brewin' on some new interviews and reviews so keep checking back. On the Ipod front, I'll be putting some music on the damn thing this week. Then I just need to buy headphones and I'll be all set.

Justice: Live And Learn / Review

2008-03-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

In a few days from now Justice will be playing their last show ever and I have absolutely no doubt that they will be able to leave us on a high note after close to five years of activity. Justice always was and I guess always will be a band that was much talked about and caused some controversy. From the bold, in your face "love hardcore or leave it" attitude and raw, stripped down hardcore of their early days to the far more post hardcore styled and emotionally diverse approach of their more recent material, there was always a ton of people that dug what Justice was doing and at least as many that were eager to tear down anything they did. I always thought that was a good thing. If you can provoke reactions that extreme and be the subject of so many heated debates then you must be doing something right. You are making some kind of impact and that's what counts. I'm sure Justice feels the same way, as they never wanted to be the band that everyone was kinda lukewarm about.

With all that said, I know that this final 5 song 12" will have its lovers and haters. When put next to every other Justice release, "Live And Learn" definitely has the most in common with their previous album "Escapades", yet it's still quite different as well. It definitely took me some time to get used to what Justice came up with this time around. Just as was the case with "Escapades" I needed to spin the record a bunch of times in a row in order to really grasp what was going on. One thing I noticed quickly though was that it is obvious that "Live And Learn" is Justice's last record ever, because they really went all out with this one. If there ever was a filter for their wild ideas, they threw it out the door when they started writing these songs. So that might explain the jungle sounds in "A Quiet Pain", the occasional tambourine or how the record ends with the sound of rain. Most of all though, you can tell that at this point in their lives, Justice is confident enough to do whatever the hell they want to and that's exactly how this record sounds.

"Lived And Learned" is the first song on this EP and it immediately hits hard with its chugging, groovy main riff and catchy chorus. As weird as it may sound, the way Filip sings on this song reminds me of a song off Sub Zero's "Happiness Without Peace" album. Lyrically this song does a good job at describing the search for who we really are and what we really want from life, the uncertainty and soul searching most of us go through... Especially in our mid 20's, ha. "When I look at my fellow men, they all got a master plan". That's right. Next up is "A Quiet Pain", which also was the MP3 for this EP so I guess most of you have heard it. It's an unexpectedly hard song that seems to be boiling over with anger and frustration. Actually, the first part is fairly upbeat and has some awesome DC-ish additional vocals, the song then breaks down and builds up to that second part. It might be a little obvious to point out the "Path Of Perfection" vibe this song has, but I'll do it anyway cause I don't want anyone out there to think I didn't pick up on that.

"Meaningless" might be my favourite song on this record. Ever since I heard a first demo version of this song (with Stief singing!) many moons ago I've had it's melody stuck in my head. Musically and lyrically it seems to softly ebb and flow inbetween a soothing, sad sort of acceptance and a haunting desperation (the chorus consisting only of the word "alone" can kinda chill your bones). Great fuckin' song, wish I wrote it. On to "What Have We Become?", which features some of Stief's trademark Bad Brains inspired stop and go type bridges but most of all I gotta say that the Quicksand vibe is super heavy on this one. The song's lead riff has Walter S. written all over it, while Supertouch is never far either. This song could've easily been on "Escapades", which is not a bad thing at all in my book (see my Top 15 Records of 2007 for reference).

It's easy to get fooled into thinking you've reached the end of "Down And Under" before the weird (dare I say jazzy?) ending kicks in. Not only is it the last song on here, I think it also is my least favourite one. It sounds a little strained and a little too Ted Nugent at times for me. Still definitely a decent song though so don't take my word for it and listen for yourself.

Honestly, I am glad I have taken the time to really sink my teeth into this record and feel lucky to have been in the possession of the finished recordings a few weeks before the actual release. It's a grower and definitely a record Justice can be proud of. I feel like musically their inspiration has gone further than the usual bands from the post hardcore realm and that is exactly what enabled them to make a better post hardcore album, if that makes sense? It does in my head so you figure it out. Filip's vocals have always been one of the main reasons for people to like or dislike Justice and I'm sure that won't change now, but to these ears his vocals here sound more confident than on "Escapades". They still have that same melody and "singy" kind of character, but they're a little rougher, more like they sound live and I'm digging that.

To those of you that are still in doubt, come see Justice one last time this saturday. If not, at least keep an eye out for whatever these dudes will come up with next. Rhythm To The Madness, Powered Records and beyond. On a sidenote, I will be obtaining an Ipod this weekend (what's up Shawn!) which is pretty crazy. This record is bound to go into heavy rotation on that thing.

www.poweredrecords.com
www.myspace.com/justicehc

Jason Mazzola / Interview

2008-02-16T06:36:00.000-08:00

I first met Jason in the winter of '02/'03 when I drove his old band Count Me Out on part of their first (and last) European tour. I loved Count Me Out as a band and as people, had an awesome time on that tour and quickly bonded with Jason as we seemed to share a love for a bunch of the finer things in life, such as "Illmatic", second hand shirts, Fred Perry gear and Clarks Wallabees. We kept in touch throughout the years and got to hang whenever I was in the States. A few years ago both him and Colin returned to the stage with their new band Cloak/Dagger and as soon as I heard their demo I was hooked. Their album "We Are" was one of my favourite records to come out in '07. Cloak/Dagger toured Europe for the first (and hopefully not last) time in December last year and I joined them for about a week on that tour... Kinda like a reunion tour. It was fun. A little after that I sent Jason a bunch of question, here's what he had to say.

Jason, what's up? How's life been since you got back from Cloak/Dagger's Euro tour?
Right now I'm just trying to work as much as possible to pay off all the debt I got in on tour and pay my bills without actually being held down by a full time job. It's always hard to come back home and get bills taken care of after tours.

How did the tour go in general? What were some of the best shows and some the most exciting places you visited? How different was the experience of touring Europe in late '07 with Cloak/Dagger from the European tour Count Me Out did 5 years earlier?
I thought for our first trip over seas that we did well. I think we were playing to people that had never heard us for the most part and the response was over all good. Some shows we would play to people that had no interest in us but that is part of touring. Money wise it was a hard tour for us, it seemed that we were just working towards paying off everyone but ourselves for the trip over there. The van, the equipment, the merch, work permits for the UK, the ferry to the UK all added up fast. It's not that we expected to make money from the tour but we didn't think we would lose money. We were able to pay off everyone but not all of the plane tickets so thanks to everyone that bought a shirt or cd, that's where the money went. The difference between this tour and the CMO tour is that the Dagger is not an edge band so it made for a lot more crazy nights. We had also been to some of the cities and countries before so we knew what to expect but it was still exciting to see them again and see some familiar faces also. I would say that best shows were Milan, Budapest and I think it was Nurnberg where we had our best German show. With the CMO we got a chance to see some of the tourist spots which I would have liked to see more of on this trip instead of just seeing clubs.

You did a full US tour prior to the European one, I remember you telling me it was quite rough and exhausting. How hard is it for a smaller band like you guys, with members all in their late 20's and early 30's, to be on the road for so long? How do you manage?
Yeah the US tour was a rough one for us. It was thrown together kind of last minute but we wanted to get out and tour as soon as we could in support of the new cd. In the end we made it to California and back but didn't get to play a lot of cities that we wanted to on the way and when we were over there. The main point of touring is to hopefully come back to places you played before and have people remember you. We played some good shows here and there but it was a lot of money to get to the other side of the country and I don't know if it was worth it. When we got home we had rent and repairs to make to the van and merch debt and kids talking us to death about being on Jade Tree being rock stars and how much money we make so that was annoying. It was tough to get money together between the tours but it all worked out somehow.

While Cloak/Dagger is not a hardcore band per se, you still are very attached to that scene seeing where you guys and a big chunk of the crowd that comes out to see you, come from. How do you feel about that?
Over here a lot of the shows we play there are only a handful of people there that are familiar with our old bands and who are into what we are doing now. It's cool when core kids come out who appreciate what we are doing now and have an open mind to a different style of "hardcore" but it's also cool when someone that has no interest in hardcore gets into our band too. Either way I'm just happy when people show up to our shows.

Who were the driving forces behind the formation of Cloak/Dagger? What was the initial idea or the inspiration do a band like this one? And where the hell did you get that band name?
Drummer Colin just said we're going to do a band called Cloak/Dagger and we want you to sing for us, no real meaning behind the name. It was a band that was started in between practices for Renee Heartfelt and that no one really took serious at first. Guitarist Collin wrote all of the songs so he's the main force behind the band and still is. I handle all the lyrics, booking, merch and other nonsense. Our goal was to play some shows on the weekend and put out a demo when we first started and we didn't really plan anything after that but once we started playing out things took off.

"We Are", your debut album, has been out for a while now on Jade Tree / Reflections. How has the record been doing, I mean do you feel like it has reached the people that need to hear it? What was some of the most interesting/surprising feedback you got on it?
It's been out for six months now and we have gotten a lot of good feedback on the record. We got good reviews in AP, Decibel and Pitchfork didn't trash it and they hate everything so that surprised me. I think that we need to get it pressed on vinyl so that it can get to people that have no interest in buying mp3's or cd's. True punkers don't buy cd's. That is something that is in the works now and if all goes well it can be out in the next couple months. I read a lot of reviews where they described the lyrics and music and they got exactly what we were going for which was refreshing. We've also had a lot of different comparisons like B-52's, Avail, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Pixies in reviews which I don't think we sound like but it is cool to see.

Rumour has it that during the "We Are" sessions you also recorded a bunch of other songs (and a cover possibly?)... Is that true? If so when will those tracks see the light of day? Is there a new release in the works featuring those songs?
We did record three songs that aren't on the lp and a cover by Modern Lovers. Alex from Grave Mistake is releasing the cover as a b-side on a two song 7" for us that should be out in March. It's going to be a two song single and Kamikazes is going to be the A side which was released on the lp. I think the other songs were ok but didn't hold up to the lp songs. We have already written five new songs since the lp and I think we're just going to keep writing. I'm sure those old songs will be released one day but we have no plans to release them any time soon.

Obviously you are a couple of years older than when you were in Count Me Out now. Do you feel like you are still pretty much the same person or not really? How has your mindset and your general outlook on life changed during those years, if it has changed at all?
I wouldn't say I'm the same person as I was five years ago. I still love playing shows and hanging out with the same people I did five years ago but my outlook on music has changed since that time. It took me a while to get out of the mindset of recording with so and so to make the best record possible or trying to tour with this band or that band and getting on the right shows whatever that means. With the help of Collin I realized sometimes all that is nonsense. Also I'm a bit older and a bit wiser but really still the same person. Now I just worry about the future a little more since I'm not getting any younger.

How would you describe yourself as a person in 5 keywords?
Shy, strange, happy, optimistic, content.

Count Me Out was quite a popular band at the time and was also known to be a straight edge band, while everyone but you is no longer straight edge now. Is that weird? How do you look back on Count Me Out and what you accomplished and recorded with that band now?
I loved the CMO and still do. I have nothing but fond memories of that time period of my life. We had a great time playing shows and hanging out together and I still hang out with Garth and Colin almost every day now and those are going to be my friends for life. I'm sure that there are some people that think it's strange that everyone drinks but me now but I don't really ever think of that or think it takes away from anything that we did as a band. I don't think of anyone differently I just think of them as my friends I don't think about if they are edge or not these days. I'm proud of most everything we recorded as a band but I think we could have done another record after Permanent that perfected what we were going for but it would have been unfair to record something that we weren't 100% behind and when we broke up Garth had Strike Anywhere going full force and Colin, Pete and Charlie were ready to move on to Renee.

Most of the people I talk to seem to prefer "110" to "Permanent", mostly because of the recording/production on the latter. What is your opinion? When you compare both records, how would you say they differ from each other musically and lyrically? What are some of your favourite tracks on both?
Now that some time has passed I can see the difference in the two records. "110" was more of a revival record and a straight up edge record that you could put next to some of the bands we played with at that time like In My Eyes and Time Flies but a little more mean sounding. "Permanent" was us trying to push the boundaries on hardcore but still sticking to the formula. It's a hard call to say which one I like better I haven't heard either of them in a long time. "110" was a record where we knew what song order we wanted it in, we knew where we wanted feedback, back ups and we were full on ready to record that when it was time to. "Permanent" we tried to do something a little different and just wrote song after song and didn't think about how the finished lp would sound. I stumbled on the vocals for that record for the first couple songs we tried so I had Brian roll the whole record start to finish and keep it all as one take since time was short. I was very proud of how that came out, it doesn't sound processed or not real to me. After that lp came out we started to get bigger since more then just edge kids could now get into us since the songs weren't so straight forward and the lyrics were kept vague. I'm going to have to say I'm going with "110" for the good memories of our first US tour behind that lp and how amped we were to tour. Off of "110" I would say the best tracks are "What We Built" and "Always Have", for "Permanent" I think that "Against The World" might be the best song we wrote as a band. I heard people have debated between the two records and I love that people like either record enough to talk about it years later.

The last ever Count Me Out show, with the shirts and ties and "Count Me Out Is Fucking Dead" spraypainted on the bass drum seems to have become a fond memory in the minds of those who were there. What are your thoughts on that last show? How was it? How did you experience it?
I think that the last show was everything we wanted it to be. At the time every band who broke up was making a big deal of their last shows and making it a real event with a lot of promotion behind it. We did ours unannounced and it was a sold out show. Word did spread that it was going to be our last show but it was also a surprise to everyone that was there and Striking Distance played a few songs before we played. Dressing up in the shirts and ties and spray painting the bass drum was all done last minute but it all turned out perfect. It was a real emotional show and at the end of the set there were kids who were crying because to them it was the end of an era and to me that was very flattering. It was cool to have traveled all over the world and then to come back and play to the people that would have been there to see us anyway and who didn't know it was our last show. From the first note it was just dive after dive and it was non stop through the set. When I've seen photos from that show it always reminds me of how packed that show was and how perfect everything went.

Was Count Me Out your first band? Or did you venture into the world of doing hardcore bands before that?
CMO was my first serious band. I tried to get bands going before but nothing ever got serious enough to record or have a good amount of songs written.

Count Me Out also did it's fair share of touring... What were some of the tours that stand out the most so many years later? I seem to remember the idea for "110" as an album title being born on a tour you did with Time Flies... True? Please explain.
That's true. We were thrown on a tour with Time Flies and Death By Stereo but it was really just us jumping on 2 or 3 shows that would take us to California and back. Before we left I had a talk with Tru from Malfunction and he was saying look this is your first tour you need to give it a 110% every night even if there is no one there. You need to make every show count and he got that from the Get In The Van book when Greg Ginn tells Henry he didn't care if 5 or 50 people showed up they were there to play as hard as they could. We did give it all we had for 3 shows and then broke down in Texas and we had to cancel pretty much the rest of our tour but it only made us want to make it to the west coast even more. After that record came out we made it to the west coast I think 4 times total. I think that first tour to the west coast off of 110 was a great time and everything was very exciting and new to us. Also the last tour we did of the US where we had to throw together a line up which was Pete back on drums since Colin was in American Nightmare, Curtis Williams from Time Flies on guitar and Charlie was kind of a strange tour. We didn't have 2 guitars or Garth with us since he was doing Strike Anywhere and that just didn't feel right. The second half of that tour we had Colin back on drums with us and it was a lot better, that was with Suicide File and The Hope Conspiracy and that was the first and last "good" tour we were ever on.

Tell me about Richmond! I know you love it and I know you also tried to leave it once but were drawn back to it soon after... What makes Richmond so cool? What are some of your favourite things about it? Fav eating spots? Shops?
Richmond is the best city in the world. Everyone is poor but happy and rent is cheap, everyone knows each other by name or at least by face and everyone hangs out especially in the summer time. Here there is an Vietnamese place called Mekong, a Mexican spot called El Corporal and Edo's Squid is an awesome spot for my Italian roots. In Carytown there is Need which is a cool smaller store next to Plan 9 which is an awesome record store and my room mate Rudy owns a store called Henry that is a smaller sneaker boutique that I work at sometimes.

What was it like growing up in Richmond as a teenager? How did you get exposed to hardcore/punk? What was your average day as 16 year old like?
I actually grew up outside of DC and that's where I first started going to shows and came down to Richmond for art school. I think my first show I saw in DC was Fugazi for free and my first real hardcore show was Lifetime with Ressurection. I wasn't sure if I liked the core too much then but then I heard and saw 4 Walls Falling and after that I was hooked. At 16 I think I would just go to school, come home and go skating all day long and hang out at gas stations eating chips, it ruled!

When did you start going to shows? What were some of the first shows you saw? What bands made the most impact on you? Was there any specific band that made you decide you wanted to be do a band too?
I started going to hardcore shows in '93 but I always loved music before that I just never thought about going to shows and being a part of it before getting into hardcore. Some of the first shows I went to were Lifetime, Avail, Earth Crisis, Outspoken, Worlds Collide, Snapcase, Sick Of It All. I think the band that made the most impact on me and made me want to start a band was Time Flies. That was the first band that was made up of friends that actually played shows with bigger bands and wrote good music.

Please comment or share your ideas on the following:
Morrissey. The myth. The legend.
Mozzer, I haven't kept up with him too much lately although I found a tour shirt at a thrift store for five dollars this week that's like 2 euro!

Italy. Your ancestors. Your Italian - how is it these days?
Haha, as you know I speak fluent Italian and can do everything from ask for ferry tickets, order food and communicate for directions with no problem at all. Milan was by far the best show of the Dagger tour!

Nas naming his new record "Nigger"?
I think it's a bit too much. He doesn't need to do anything to draw attention to himself he can sell records without trying to stir up any controversy. Him and Kelis wore Nigger shirts on the grammys to promote the record and it just looked like it was done in poor taste. Let's just hope he delivers like "Stillmatic" on this one.

The Burn reunion in the late 90's in Richmond...
That was a good show but not as crazy as it should have been. Barfight opened up for the show and the response was alright but nothing too crazy. Tru grabbed a chair off of stage and threw it at the crowd and then someone threw that same chair back and it broke Mike's guitar. The best Burn reunion show I saw was in NYC at Coney Island that was awesome. CMO played with Burn in Jersey and in Philly and they were both decent shows. The Richmond show was good but really all I remember is Tru throwing that chair and hurting someone.

Four Walls Falling playing a reunion show at United Blood Fest in March?
If it happens I will be there, they had a reunion a while back and it was good but I could definitely see it again. I see Taylor from time to time and he's still cool as always and is into the Dagger.

Nike. The company. The shoes.
Nike. I can see why people hate on Nike, the marketing, the sweat shops but I love them. I love the limited release of some of the shoes and because of them I'm able to buy shoes and sell them for more money on Ebay so I can make rent. Some of the limited SB's they come out with just look like baby shoes but Jordans are classic. I'm way into the retro Jordan stuff and finding it at thrift stores is even better. I'm into dunks but they are not my main Nike, Blazers are good and Jordans of course and you can't go wrong with a pair of Air Max 90's. People look at Nike and think of big corporations but I think any of the bigger shoe companies even skate shoe companies are just as bad. Just do it!

Chain Of Strength.
The Chainer. Legends. I was talking with someone the other day and I realized that the seven inches they had were just perfect, the recording, the emotion it all just fell into place and people have tried to but can't recreate that sound. It's very hollow and real. I think it was just a time and a place thing where everything was meant to be. The live show videos were always awesome to watch although I have seen bad videos of them live, everyone has off nights I guess!

The new Wu-Tang album... Yay or nay?
Haven't checked it out yet but they played Richmond and Method Man wasn't even there. I was lucky enough to see them in their sort of peak at a festival.

Hot Snakes and the endless comparison Cloak/Dagger gets to them?
I don't really mind the Snakes comparison as much as the comparisons we get to The Bronx. I think if people hear loud guitars and screaming they say "oh yeah like The Bronx".

Urban Outfitters?
I worked there for almost two years and I had a great time working there but it is bullshit. On the other hand the sales are crucial and I have bought my fair share of Nikes for $10, Vans for $5 and limited clothes to sell on Ebay. One month they did a 75% off sale and I made $1200 on Ebay off of that!

That's it. Thank you for your time. Any final comments?
Thanks again for being a good friend through the years and keeping in touch. Thanks again to everyone that came to see our band play when we toured that way and please come see us if we make it back again!

The Mongoloids: Time Trials / Review

2008-02-10T04:38:00.000-08:00

If you've never heard or seen The Mongoloids, you could easily be mistaken into thinking you are dealing with a snotty punkrock band due to their bandname. In reality though, these Jersey Shore hardcore enthusiasts are pretty far removed from that side of the hardcore/punk spectrum. The Mongoloids deal in unrelenting, mid to fast paced NYHC influenced songs with a lot of groove, a LOT of solos and a lot of balls.

On every US tour that I've done with Rise And Fall throughout the last couple of years we've ended up playing at least one show with The Mongoloids and every single time this band had improved spectacularly compared to the previous tour. So after a couple of EP's they're here with the real deal, an album that will hopefully convince a lot sceptics of what The Mongoloids are capable of. While the band members are all still fairly young, I'd guess their average age would have to be 20 or so, I think they have reached some kind of maturity (as lame as that word sounds) throughout those years and have learned to write songs that hit hard and work well. Plus, as a live band, The Mongoloids are a spectacle to behold these days, I saw them play insane sets at both Sound & Fury and This Is Hardcore.

"Time Trials" opens with a solid intro that goes straight into the title track, a pretty straight forward song that is perfect as an opening track. "I can only say these time trials won't define me" - that's a good line. What is clear from the get go is the fact that the vocals will decide on how you feel about this band and this album. It's a love it or hate it type of deal, as Greg has a deep, gravely voice that strongly reminds of Sheer Terror's Paul Bearer. And just like Paul Bearer he frequently goes for some "real" (melodic) singing as well, which in my opinion works well and gives this band that extra edge over a lot of bands that operate in a similar style. Unlike Sheer Terror's savage Celtic Frost styled riffs, The Mongoloids have a groovier, less primitive sound that is definitely very NYHC influenced... Not in the way that makes it easy to pinpoint exactly where they got their ideas though, but I feel like they must have listened to a lot of early Biohazard, some Life Of Agony (the groove and hints of melody) and Killing Time.

The song "Troubled Waters" is probably my favourite, I don't know how one can not have "I wanna be, I wanna be, I waaaaaanna beeeee... Free from the, free from the paaaiiiiiiin" stuck in one's head after listening to it. I know I've been caught singing that shit at the most random times and places. After listening a whole bunch of times I actually realized the strongest part of the album is the last 4 songs on Side A. The aforementioned "Troubled Waters", followed by the short but hard as fuck "Fading Away", in turn followed by "Alive And Well" (I don't know what band that dude Cleary is in that does does guest vocals, but his part sounds awesome)... These 3 are followed by another standout track called "The Mongo Stomp". It stands out mainly due to the plain ignorant middle part of the song that features guest vocals by Joe None (Shattered Realm, Second To None)... Makes perfect sense when you hear it. The album's solid all the way through though, I didn't find any songs to be stinkers, and it's too short to get boring anyway.

The solid songwriting, the variety in the vocals and the abundance of guest vocals definitely help to keep you interested throughout the whole record. I guess I can see why people would sometimes associate this band with mindless fun or consider them a party type of band... Sure, their shirt designs can get pretty wild and colorful and weird but with "Time Trials" being as good as it is I hope people will associate them with good hardcore first rather than any of that other stuff. I was also glad to discover their lyrics make a lot of sense, I didn't know what to expect from them really but they're cool. Love the cover artwork as well, some of my favourite Spoiler art along with Justice's 7" and s/t album and that Victim LP.

The vinyl version was released by everyone's favourite bearded hardcore elf Dave Sausage on Six Feet Under Records, while the CD was a joint venture by Collapse and Riptide.

www.myspace.com/mongoloidsnj
www.sixfeetunderrecords.com
www.collapserecords.com
www.myspace.com/riptiderex

I Don't Want To Go Down To The Basement

2008-02-09T04:40:00.000-08:00

Some odds, ends and random thoughts. First of all, an update on the Burn - Live In Boston '92 front... I have found the entire set that YouTube clip was taken from, needless to say I was as stoked as a 4 year old with a giant lollipop. I didn't have to look far either, it was in my man Larry's indredible video archive. I can also gladly say that the rest of their set that day was equally awesome. They follow "New Morality" with "Godhead" and then "Tales Of Shatou". And that's just the start of the set. I know. Mind boggling. As if the fact that those three songs exist isn't crazy enough, Burn just busted them out in that order. They did play a lot "new" material at that show, including songs that were never released (ever), but that didn't seem to hinder the crowd's response much. From the inbetween song banter I gathered Eye For An Eye and Supertouch probably also played that gig. Although the Eye For An Eye shoutout could've also been due to the fact they were playing Boston. Chaka was also wearing one of their shirts underneath the flannel and the red crewneck sweater. Style icon.

On to more current events... Justice has finished the recordings for their final 12" EP "Live And Learn" and posted up a new song off it last week. Peep their MySpace page or the Powered Records site for an MP3 of "A Quiet Pain". Awesome song. Expect a review of the whole record up here in the next few weeks. Don't forget about their final show, March 8th in Temse, Belgium with True Colors (their new 7" is dope as well), Blacklisted, Dirty Money, Seed Of Pain and Hoods Up.

Blacklisted's new album will be coming out at the end of March, I'm sure most of you have already checked out "I Am Weighing Me Down", the new track that they've put online. I absolutely love that song, it has a solid flow, raging riffs and the structure of a pop song. Check the Deathwish site or Blacklisted's MySpace if you have no idea what I'm talking about. Please also check Blacklisted's blog for an inside look at why this band does what they do and what "I Am Weighing Me Down" is about.

Also on the Deathwish front, Cold World has finally finished recording their epic debut full length "Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First". From what I've heard this record will surprise friend and foe. Check out this YouTube film that documents their experiences recording with Billy Grazidei of Biohazard fame.

Belgium's Vogue also has a brand new one sided 2 song 7" out called "No Vogue". This band is wild. Fans of unrelenting, raw early 80's inspired hardcore need to hear Vogue. More info on www.voguevoguevogue.tk or the Holy Shit Records website.

Say what you want but I know Terror is currently recording a new album too and I can't wait to hear what they come up with. "Always The Hard Way" was a definite winner so I expect great things.

The months April and May hold a lot of promise as well: Down and Portishead tours respectively.

To wrap this up, I have been brewin' on some ideas for this blog in order to keep things interesting for both you and me. I am still excited about this project and would like to thank everyone for the awesome feedback. I still expect the interviews with Klaas Voets (Rhythm To The Madness) and Jason Mazzola (Cloak/Dagger) to be up here soon so keep checking back. If you'd like to read a recent interview with me, check out the It's For Life blog in the links section.

Be safe.

If They Talk, Should We Listen?

2008-02-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

Thinking of my recently acquired Burn longsleeve (a crucial trade if there ever was one) got me on another serious Burn trip and so I found myself browsing YouTube for some live footage of old Burn shows. I stumbled upon this gem by doing so and have watched it countless times since then. I'm not what you'd call a true YouTuber but finding a video like this one definitely convinced me that there's a place in my life (and heart) for that website.

Here we have Burn, rippin' it up in Boston, March 14th, 1992, performing one of my favourite songs; "New Morality". This show looks so fucking awesome, I wish I could find the whole set and do frontflips off my couch while watching it. By the looks of it, "New Morality" was the opener of their set that day. Don't miss the sweet dive at 00:43 quickly followed by Chaka's appearance on stage... and boy, does he look cool. Rocking a flannel, a baseball cap and the mic stand, he stomps all over that stage and seems to be oozing with self confidence. What an awesome frontman.

Despite sporting a haircut some might consider weird, Gavin still looks hard as fuck in this video and he is definitely into it. Going off like a man possessed... love it. I have no idea really who the second guitarist is, if anyone has more info feel free to hit me up or leave a comment.

While we are on the subject of "New Morality", I would strongly advise those of you who haven't yet to pick up Burn's "Last Great Sea" EP. This EP was released on Revelation in 2003 and features the last 3 songs they recorded in 1992, shortly before breaking up (also known as the "New Morality" demo). All three songs on that record are so fucking good and feature some of the most intelligent, creative and hard riffing ever in hardcore. Not to mention Alan Cage's insane drumwork or Chaka's incredible vocals/lyrics.

Burn resurfaced a few times for different reunions after that and got back together for a while in the early 00's, releasing the "Cleanse" EP for Equal Vision, which is definitely a cool record... Listening to the three songs on "Last Great Sea" however, one cannot help but wonder what would've happened if Burn hadn't broken up back then and released an album featuring these songs and more material of the same quality. That's the kind of thinking that makes your brain melt... Seriously.

2007: A Year In Records

2008-01-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

I have been out on tour for the entire month of January, road dogging for Blacklisted on their European trip with Soul Control and Shipwreck. A report may or may not follow. So while that explains the lack of updates on this blog, it also gave me the time to think of what my favourite records were that came out in 2007. I realized that since I have become some sort of unemployed wild style character around one year ago, I have not been buying as many records as I used to, which sucks. The latest albums by bands like Neurosis, Witchcraft and High On Fire there for are not in here, simply because I don't have them (yet). Enough about that though, 2007 was a good year in a lot of ways and here's 15 of the records I enjoyed the most:

Blacklisted: Peace On Earth, War On Stage
It's no secret that Blacklisted is my favourite current hardcore band and with releases like this one, I don't see how that could not be so. Recording with Kurt Ballou gave this band somewhat of a fuzzier, dirtier sound while the songs just rage. Hard. More groove and intensity in the songwriting department and vocals that will send chills down your spine. Lyrically, Blacklisted are one of the most fascinating bands out there. If you think that this was the peak of Blacklisted's abilities, wait until you hear "Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God".

Dinosaur JR: Beyond
Finally saw this legendary guitar/indie supergroup live in December '06, a few months before this record came out. They played a few songs off "Beyond", which wasn't out at the time and I instantly knew it wouldn't disappoint... That it would be this good though, was beyond my expectations. Back with a bang. Incredible. It's like Mascis, Murph and Barlow never parted ways to begin with.

Rhythm To The Madness: Soul Doubt
I dug the demo, but this 7" is lightyears ahead of that. From the weirdo artwork, to the guitar solo credits and the well written, thoughtful lyrics, everything about this record makes sense. My best shot at describing this is "Best Wishes"/"Alpha Omega" era Cro-Mags with Icemen vibes and a dash of "Quickness" era Bad Brains maybe? Klaas' vocals sound like a rabid hellhound. Look out for an interview with this band up here soon.

Feist: The Invitation
Highly addictive and heartbreaking. This second album by this Canadian young lady is where it's at. Thanks M.

Iron Age: Burden Of Empire
Kind of an obscure record, put out by the band themselves on their Next Level label. This one song 7" sounds like it was recorded in the same cave where bands like Dark Throne or Burzum would record their demos, but that's a good thing. "Burden Of Empire" is a catchy as hell 6 minute rager, with more of that vintage 80's trash/crossover guitarwork that Iron Age is known for.

Justice: Escapades
The source of hours and hours of discussion among hardcore kids everywhere but I love it. Justice took a serious chance with this record (recorded by Don Fury), offering a slower, moodier brand of hardcore, influenced by bands like Supertouch, Quicksand and Underdog. "Oh How We Laughed" still has a moshpart that'll put most other bands to shame though. "I Need Air" featuring Richie B. is an anthem, whether you like it or not. March 8th... "Let's do some diving boy!".

Big Business: Here Come The Waterworks
Even though both Big Business members are now in The Melvins, and The Melvins are larger than life, Big Business ain't nuthin' to fuck with either. An absolute powerhouse both live and on record. Drums and bass with an occasional added guitar, the songs these men come up with are mind boggling. I might like this record even more than their debut "Head For The Shallow". Genius.

Shipwreck: Abyss
So good. See the review I wrote about a month ago.

Bitter End: Climate Of Fear
You know how half the world claims to be inspired by NYHC but actually sounds like they found a tape with riffs that Madball threw away before they recorded "Look My Way" and then added their own shitty riffs to that? This is not the case here. Bitter End sounds like they have only listened to Killing Time, Breakdown and Sick Of It All for the last 10 years of their lives.

Union Town: Demo 07
The cassette demo version of this demo is wearing real thin due to excessive listening in my car. Good thing Powered Records stepped up and released this awesome demo as a 7". Super catchy, melodic and emotional (all three in the good sense of the word), Union Town sounds like they've been going for years. I guess this is just the music they were always meant to play. Anyone with a weak spot for mid to late 80's DC hardcore/punk (Rites Of Spring, Embrace, Fugazi, Dag Nasty) needs to pick this up.

Down: Over The Under
Even though I feel like this record could use some more Kirk and a little less Pepper, and even though Phil doesn't really scream anymore, one cannot deny the power of the riff (it compels you). Down should be the biggest metal band in the world. Fucketh Thine Self.

Cloak/Dagger: We Are
Fresh sounding, punky and energetic, Cloak/Dagger sounds nothing like the bands some of these dudes used to be in. Instead they opted for a very rhythmic, dry, minimalistic sound and catchy songs. If this hadn't been on Jade Tree, it should've been on Swami as the Hot Snakes / Wipers / Rocket From The Crypt vibes are heavy on this one. Yet, Cloak/Dagger still have that DC hardcore type of energy to set them apart. They might be caught in between two worlds, but they are Daggers and they don't care.

World Collapse: Deutschland, Deutschland Into The Night
Non-believers thought this record would never come out. They were wrong. Totally unique band that seems to have caused some sort of schism in hardcore circles, World Collapse thinks and operates outside the box and the result is this EP fusing an electro / new wave sound with a dose of Leeway / Cro-Mags riffage. As bizarre as it may sound, it works and this is one of the records I have listened to the most in 2007.

Trapped Under Ice: Demo 07
Recommended to me by Filip Vandamme (XL shirts only), I bought this on a whim in October at Ninja Fest in England. Five shirtless dudes on the cover. Clearly most of them are bodybuilders (what's up Foster?). Got home, put the record on and nearly stomped a hole in my floor. Heavy Crown Of Thornz influence. Some Bulldoze as well. Solid songs. "Live with the viiiiiiiiiiice". Yes.

Interpol: Our Love To Admire
For years I kind of turned a cold shoulder to this band, but as soon as I picked up "Antics" a few years back I knew I'd fucked up. Eagerly awaited, "Our Love To Admire" sounds slightly different, like a band that is still in motion and in the process of discovering what they are capable of. This is a record of epic proportions, it's hard to explain how good this is. Love the artwork as well. Saw them live a few months back and my jaw dropped to the floor. I think it's still there, in Lille.

Shipwreck: Abyss / Review

2007-12-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

I've been looking forward to the actual release of this record since I first heard an unmastered, unmixed and thus blatantly unfinished version of it back in March in Shipwreck's van. Despite it not being done all the way, upon first listening this record immediately impressed me. I remember specifically being amazed by the ebb and flow feel this record has, which in turn ties in with the albums' theme.

It sure is a rare thing to have a hardcore band doing a theme album and it definitely seems like something that is hard to pull off without coming off too self indulgent or stuck up... No worries here though, as Shipwreck is one of the most sincere bands out there and a humble bunch of people as well (from what I can gather, they might have me fooled though). Basically the lyrics tell the story of a young man struggling to get through life and specifically struggling with his relationships to those of the female gender. The metaphor used for all this is an epic journey that takes this young man from the bottom of the ocean, rising up towards the surface, being swept onto the shore, exploring the land and cliffs, and finally ending upon the top of a mountain, looking back on the path that lead him there. The story is told in eleven steps, eleven songs, all titled by one word only ("Beached", "Lotus", "Thaw" etc.) and the lyrics are definitely recommended litarature. JD has an incredible way with words and there's a lot of stuff in here that really hits home and I could identify with. That has always been one of the things that attracted me to hardcore and I'm glad that Shipwreck is yet another band that reminds me of that. "From underwater the bubbles rise, each one a whisper of my muffled cries. Gravity's chains break at these depths, in the palm of the tide away I'm swept". It' safe to say that lyrically Shipwreck stand out immensely and I can only tip my hat to JD for a job well done.

The opening riff of "Squall", the album's openener (also to be found on their self titled 7" on Deathwish), immediately reveals a lot. It is powerful and pounding and crashes like a wave and Shipwreck manages to make this tension last throughout the whole album. It feels like all the time there is something huge waiting to erupt beneath the surface, a weird, eerie vibe of anticipation that keeps me hooked until the very last seconds of "Abyss", when all instruments slow down and go a little out of tune as the haunting female vocals bring the whole thing home.

As is the case with a bunch of other current bands that are doing really well these days (Have Heart, Cold World, Meltdown... all in different ways) Shipwreck clearly was inspired by a slew of bands from the (mid)90's. There is an obvious Integrity vibe to "Abyss", as JD's vocals bring Dwid to mind more than once, and when a song like "Ascent" breaks loose it is hard not think of Cleveland's hardest. But there is a lot more going on here... The more intricate and noisy bits hint at labelmates 108, but Shipwreck never get that wild, they stay controlled and keep the leash tight on this massive beast of an album. At other times "Ritual"-era Unbroken and "No More Dreams Of Happy Endings"-era Damnation A.D. seem to have definitely influenced Shipwreck, plus I cannot leave out the slight Starkweatherish feeling I get from "Abyss" as well.

In the lay out department, Jake Bannon did an awesome job. I don't know if it was intended but "Abyss" looks like it has the artwork for what could've been a Lash Out album on Stormstrike Records. Although I only got this record in the very last weeks of December, I have to say that it'll easily make its way into my Top 10 of 2007. Great work.

www.deathwishinc.com
www.myspace.com/shipwreckmv

Blindfold: Asteroid 164* / A Retrospective Review

2007-12-16T03:43:00.000-08:00

Everyone that knows me, knows how much I love this record. I have been known to go on endless rants praising this record and its virtues. Those of you that don't me, or just don't know me that well are about to find out how I feel about this masterpiece written by one of Belgium's most essential hardcore bands ever. You were bound to sooner or later anyway. Time to get wise... Here's my take on "Asteroid 164", Blindfold's second and final full length album.

"Asteroid 164" came out on Sober Mind Records/Good Life Recordings in early 1996 and prior to it Blindfold had already released a bunch of 7"s and an album called "Restrain The Thought" on the notoriously sketchy US label Conquer The World Records. Blindfold's line up on this record (and every other recording that they did) was Hans Verbeke (sporting an awesome Resurrection shirt in the band picture - check it out) on guitar, Jan Maelfait (now an accomplished tattoo artist with a shop in Ghent) on bass, Sacha Baelen on drums and Wim Vandekerckhove on vocals.

"Asteroid 164" came out on vinyl and CD, obviously I have both versions. On numerous occasions I have found copies of "Asteroid 164" second hand or in bargain bins and bought them for some of my friends, because it hurts to see a record this awesome being treated like that. Even though they might not listen to it ever (what's up Geert Hollanders?) I think it's cool to know that it can be found in those people's collections now.

I have a serious weak spot for mid 90's hardcore and this record is one of the many reasons why. One of the things that always struck me was how a lot bands from that era were experimenting, branching out and trying to stretch the limits of the genre. However at the same time they were all still very clearly hardcore bands, comprised of dudes that grew up on classic early and late 80's hardcore and who did not necessarily want to reach a "wider audience" or make it big (hardcore bands making a living out of what they did was still almost unheard of back then), they simply were creative and wanted to give the genre their own specific twist. And that's exactly what Blindfold did as well...

In true "we ain't afraid to be weird" 90's fashion this albums opens with the unorthodox sounds of instruments such as Tibetan bells, gongs and singing bowls. As weird as it is, I have grown to love "Ritual Of The Rainmaker", as the intro is called. It is a dark, moody precursor to what is to come. The albums' closing track "Vuur" is a poem in Dutch, read out by vocalist Wim, while you can hear a saxophone in the background. Might not do the trick for everyone, but you've gotta have balls to pull off something like that.

The album's first real song, "Stairs", opens with an epic, churning and doomy riff played on guitar only... The tension builds and when the rest of the band finally kicks in and the words "Strongest, richest, hardest" are yelled out you know you're in for one hell of a ride. The rest of the album is full of equally captivating moments. Nearly every track actually stands out in its own way... The melancholic, hazy feel to a song like "Swallow Everything"; the uneasy kind of anger of "Recessal Hymn"; the hard as fuck groove of "Grumble" (hello Quicksand) with the sarcastic "Thank you so much my friend" at the end... And ofcourse I cannot forget about "Exhibit E", this song was always a crowd favourite and it's easy to see why as this is probably the catchiest song on this album. "Greed's an endemic that will kill and it will kill us all" - you're moshing (or atleast doing the frigobazar). I love how a wide range of human emotion seemlessly comes together in these songs and can actually be felt, both in their music and through their lyrics. Anger, despair, joy, alienation, disbelief, angst and rage... It's all there.

While it definitely sounds pretty heavy, the guitar is rich in sound and texture. It sounds warm and somehow seems to capture the emotion that the songs are laden with very well. There's a lot of room for the huge sound of those guitars, since the drums are quite basic (yet effective) and focus essentially on supporting the rhythms that are usually laid out by the bass guitar. Bass player Jan outdid himself here, as the bass is the definite rhythmic element. On top of all this, Blindfold's vocals were one of a kind as well. Somewhere inbetween singing and yelling, in flawless English (hardly any trace of an accent), the vocals sound clear and easy to decipher. Full of emotion and conviction, they are perfect for the songs that the band had written.

Lyrically, this band was/is awe-inspiring, perhaps even more so today then when I was younger. I remember buying this record at the first Pyrrhus record store in Ghent, during lunch break from school. I was still 15 at the time and in the midst of finding out all about hardcore in Belgium and abroad. I knew Blindfold was one of the more prominent bands around here so I just felt like this was an album I had to have. On the bus on the way home after school, as always, I examined my newly purchased record. I would always stare at every picture for a while and then check out the lyrics and thanks list (I'm sure this sounds familiar to most)... My 15 year old brain couldn't quite handle or grasp the gist of most lyrics, still I read them over and over until I got home. Unlike most other bands, Blindfold's lyrics were angry in a more thought over and poetic way. They were insightful and intelligent. Some of the words used went beyond my knowledge of English at the time but I found them to be really fascinating. Upon listening to the record the first couple of times, lyric sheet in hand, it all made a little more sense ofcourse. But still, it's weird how words written so long ago can still have such an impact and ring so true years later. When in the song "Stairs" Wim says that "Every power needs a victim, every race needs a price. The price is power over mind" I think that says a lot about the competitive vibe of our western world, where we're all kind of pushed to chase wealth and fame and end up in a race that will no doubt know its fair share of losers and leaves us poorer spiritually. "It seems we are stuck in admiration of the absent and the most absent we admire is control" is a line that can be found in the song "Control" and speaks for itself. "Recessal Hymn" seems to deal with a friend- or relationship gone sour and has these incredible lines: "Know that you are the aim. I stab hard but it's face to face. Too much sacrifice pollutes love in my heart". Harsh, honest and sensitive at the same time. To wrap this up, my favourite line on the whole album can be found on closing track "Exhibit E": "I pity minds who wear a golden crown, they have been dragged down." All in all I have to say these lyrics still fascinate and inspire me today and I know that is one of the reasons why I still hold this album in such high regard.

It is nearly impossible to describe exactly how Blindfold sounds... So hard to pin down. Melody and groove are important factors to their sound and at some points throughout "Asteroid 164" there's similarities to a variety of peers like Framework, Unbroken, Shelter, Quicksand and Falling Forward. Obviously they don't really sound exactly like any one of those bands, but they sure help as a frame of reference. On a sidenote, when Vince and me used to talk to Jan about the songs on this album he would always claim to have ripped off Crowbar on a couple of songs. At the time we thought he was joking, but upon listening now, I can't deny that the opening riffs of "Stairs" and "Control" definitely have a heavy Crowbar vibe. Go figure.

The lay out was kept rather simple, but looks very stylish due to the warm red and brown tints in the cover art (a picture of an Ensor painting showing a mask) and elsewhere. What else can I say? I'm still trying to figure out what in the hell "Thanks and greetings to the world of 164" means and well, it'd be cool to know what "Asteroid 164" stood for in the first place. One thing I've always wanted to do was to interview every band member and discuss with them every aspect of this record, from the recordings to the artwork, to the lyrical and musical inspiration. Hopefully I'll get round to it one day. It might even end up here, who knows?

(The * after 164 in the record title was left out of this article due to esthetic reasons. Pictures were provided by Hans Verbeke and Even Skar, thank you.)

Charles Henry III / Interview

2007-12-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

Charles Henry III (better known as Chucky Edge, or Chedge) is quite possibly my favourite human being. I would gladly sit through a 24 hour Mars Volta concert if that would mean I could hang out with Chucky every day after, and God knows how much I hate the Mars Volta. This young man is the definition of a "road dog"; the ultimate roadie. His enthusiasm and story telling skills remain unmatched. One of the most genuine dudes out there... Next to all that, he's a top blogger too, check out his Casual T's blog if you haven't yet. If you're feeling old and washed up, or if you feel like you're "over" hardcore, you need to hang with Chucky. Here he is...

What's up Chucky? How are you? How was that hiking trip that you did recently?
Bjorn! What's up! I am doing pretty good. My hiking trip was awesome. I wasn't prepared but I learned a lot.

Did you discover things about yourself that you weren't aware of? What is it about solitude that intrigues you so much?
Yeah, I kinda had a self-awareness thing, I just kinda realized some shit about myself and just saw life for what it was. I'm not trying to be some sort of hippie douchebag but it was a good time. I talked to myself a few times, and realized it wasn't so much about solitude, but just experiencing nature or something most don't. I would love to go with friends but it's just not really in reach when people have daily schedules and I'm back in Cali doing bullshit dental shit. But I def love doing stuff at my own pace. It was really hard on my body too.

"The Lost Coast of California" - what exactly is that?
The Lost Coast is a 26 mile long piece of Northern California coastal mountains and beach that is basically untouched by most of human existence. Minus a house, an airfield, surfers surfing the best and most hidden North American surf spot, it's just trails. It's a really diverse landscape, and really different climates. On one side of a mountain it's 32 degrees and windy, on the other side it's 52, sunny, and calm. It was fucking awesome. The house out there has an airfield and it's a HUGE supplier of weed in the nor-cal region. The drug runners bring their surfboards to surf too cause it's a 15 mile hike to the "spot".

Your blog is brilliant in its simplicity. I'd say it's my fav blog out there. What prompted you to start your own blog? Who came up with the idea for it?
I was up at Deathwish Inc talking to Tre, Nicole and Jake. And we were talking about life, celebrities, and the internet. And I asked them what a blog is, and how easy it is to set up? and they told me in 1 minute. I have tons of tour stories and tons of shirts, so I put both together. It kinda sucks that I feel bad about wearing shirts over, but a shirt has a thousand words... So I started and I've gotten pretty good comments from friends about it. I just hope people keep up with it and don't forget about it. I'm gonna start doing interviews too, 5 question quickies. I don't have time to read 20 questions everyday. People are quick with their surfing too... Oh yeah and Ryan Hudon always wanted me to wear a shirt a day, for a year, different shirts. So he gets credit too.

Now that you're blogging it up every day, what will happen to The (One) Zine? Which reminds me that I still haven't seen the issue if was interviewed for... what's up with that?
I'm doing a pizza zine now called "Casual Pizza"; George Meltdown is helping me with it. If you can get me 50 words or less on pizza joints in Ghent I'd love to work with you on it. Get the ball rolling!

From our conversations I seem to recall that your first hardcore live experience was seeing The Nerve Agents, am I right? Would you care to tell us all about how you got in touch with punkrock and then hardcore?
I got into hardcore from Dropkick Murphys, Bouncing Souls, Pennywise, Misfits, etc. The Nerve Agents, Side By Side and Minor Threat were big influences and big transition bands. It was just different and people seemed to have their heads screwed on right. I never really liked mainstream shit cause it wasn't personal enough. It didn't hit home.

How was your first show actually? What was the full line up? Did you perform the infamous "frigobazar" at this show?
First show ruled, but I was def too scared to hit the pit. First show I ever wanted to hit the pit but didn't was American Nightmare with the Nerve Agents in Cali. That was wild. I'd like to think I only frigobazar'd only twice or 3 times, and I caught some Strife vids and got with the program... or didn't depending on your opinion. I always like watching the frigo now tho...

What was it that attracted you to hardcore? What was/is so cool about it? How come that you've stuck it out while so many seem to lose interest when they turn 21?
I got attracted to hardcore cause of the energy, message/music and just the all around feeling it gives me. It's a different feeling than any other. It's still cool to me because I get to hold onto really strong friendships and meet new people every trip. The friendships are really good, I feel like I've made friends for life, and I still get into new bands, and still listen to the bands that got me into it. I've stuck it out cause I still find ways to get the feeling every time I go to a show or listen to hardcore. When I stop getting the feeling, I'm gonna bow out. Kinda like many have, but you can't fake it. So who knows when it happens? But I can't fake it. I've gotten into stagedives in the last 1.5 years, that's some good shit. But I'm all about the mosh. Or Joe Hardcore's "church of the holy mosh". I'm about to start 2bands too. So that's gonna let me give back more than what a roadie can.

What was the Bay Area scene like at the time? Were shows violent? Boring? Different from how they are now?
The Bay Area was awesome. Bands like For The Crown and Allegiance and Lights Out were playing every weekend. The Damage Done, Kyle Whitlow ruled as a frontman. It was the same 200 kids going to every show every weekend. It has changed like everything in this world and it's just different now. I don't really know Bay Area hardcore anymore cause I've been in Boston, but I still see friends at shows and hang. Change is unavoidable. I just can't wait to do a band.

Another thing I remember is you telling me about how you got your first order from Revelation (a Side By Side hoodie?) and you freaking out over it. Can you describe the day that package arrived at your doorstep? What happened when you opened it? What did you do?
I came home from school and the package was in my room, I put it on, and screamed around the house moshing in my room and practicing stagedives on my parents bed. I sang Side By Side songs in the shower and wore it to school every day for 2 months even if it was hot. I still have that hoodie. Its black/grey now... haha. That hoodie means even more now cause one of my best friends Ben Pritchard, who got me into hardcore and straight edge, passed away in June of 2007. So every time I see that hoodie, I think of him constantly. So it's an ode to him. He had a heart attack at 25. Life is fragile. The time is now...

At one point you decided to travel across the States with a few friends to attend Posi Numbers Fest... What year was that? Why did you want to attend the fest so bad? How was it?
I had always wanted to go to pos-nums, and i had a soccer mom van at the time. My friends Scott, Madball, Justin and Ross all decided we needed to go to Posi Numbers 2004 and we were gonna drive. The week before nobody could go but Ross and me and then everyone could go, on the last night we finally got it all set. We drove non-stop and it was the best shit ever. We all threw in 180 in gas and just ripped the country in half. I got knocked out during Death Threat but was moshing for Mental on the last day. Fell asleep in Wilkes-Barre on the last bench and woke up in Iowa? It was FUCKED. We all learned the words to "And You Know This", the Mental song, and I listened to "One With The Underdogs" and "Age Of Quarrel" and "One Voice" NONSTOP. It was awesome, we didn't give a fuck and bought tons of fireworks and set it off (Madball) on the drive.

When did you decide to move out to the East Coast? How did you handle the move? Did you go to college as well out there?
I dropped out of college in Chico, and just wasn't happy with where I was at in life. I had only gone to pos nums and hadn't really seen the world. I needed a change. So I worked a landscaping job for a bit, visited a friend in boston, and then moved 2 weeks later. The Sox beat the Yankees in game 7 the night I flew in, in 2004. It was awesome. I've fallen in love with the city of Boston, and I've met some of my best friends out there. Without Boston I wouldn't have matured to where I am now, and I wouldn't have learned half the shit I know now. Boston is a perfect fit for me. I should go to school, but "real life just has to wait".
The move was kinda big at first, but I fell into a good group of friends out here, and I'm at a good place. The east coast is cool, the west coast is always home. But so is the east coast. Nowhere USA to the max.

Was the Verse / Evergreen Terrace / Cursed / Bane tour your first "real" tour or am I way off here? How did you get into touring / road dogging?
That was the 2nd tour I did. I asked Sean Murphy at the March 2005 ICC Bane show if I could go on the tour, and he said yes, and I was on!
The first tour I road dogged for Guns Up! on the Have Heart, Verse full US tour. I didn't know the Verse dudes yet, and only knew Hudon and Pat Flynn from seeing them at a Hot Water Music show and maybe 5 other hang outs. Dan from Guns Up! was my roommate at the time and we were/are best friends. So he asked me to go on tour, and I said yes before he even asked me. The first tour was cool, but I kinda bummed around, cause I was 240 pounds, but I moshed and had fun. I drove a couple times, and the van broke, so I wasn't really allowed to drive.
After the Verse tour, I really got into the tour mentality. The first tour was kinda meeting people and falling in love with the road. The Verse tour I road dogged for was when I learned the value of hard work. I was home for 3 days and then went on the Guns Up! US 2005 summer tour and that was awesome too. Somewhere along there I got to be friends with Greg Willmot and was on the Lockin' Out mailorder staff/Halo team. I went on a Mental tour after that, and the rest is history (101).
So mainly Dan Heselton of Guns Up! is the start of my touring, and I thank him for that. From there, it's all just working hard, hitting the pit and having a good time.

Would you want to make a living out of touring one day, be it with your own band, or as a well paid roadie / merch dude / tour manager?
I would love to. It would be great to be paid to road dog. I'm sure it will happen in the near future. I want to sing for a band, and it's happening, we'll see how far that goes too. But yeah, to work and get paid, that's the life... but it's not only about that.

Out of all the tours that you have done, which ones stand out the most and why? What are your favourite cities to hit and which ones are your least favourite?
I can't choose a fav tour or band to tour with, cause there are too many good times to compare. So I'll just say, my first tour was Guns Up!/Have Heart/Verse, and the last tour I did was Shipwreck/Ceremony/Blacklisted. My favorite cities to hit are: Seattle, Richmond, San Francisco, Los Angeles area and Montreal. Montreal is like Europe. Kids are siked to see USA bands too.

After touring with bands like Mental, Blacklisted, Down To Nothing, Have Heart, Shipwreck, Guns Up!, Verse etc. you must know the members of those bands quite well. Please share with me some fun / interesting / unexpected facts about some of these bands and their members...
Haha. There are sooo many stories, and sooo many good people. Things that stand out in my head right now currently:
- Mental = FUCKING ROAD DOGS. We would sleep on the side of the road. Didn't give a fuck. That band was a machine. DFJ is constant entertainment. Those dudes are all individuals in that band, that make one good band. We def had fun on long drives.
- Blacklisted = more like brothers to me. Fuck everybody mode... Henry Rollins book on tape... Tim Smith, Dave Sausage, Todd Jones, G, Beansie, Chris Ross, Foley, those dudes are my dudes. We have fun giggin' nonstop, and sooo many inside jokes about stuff we listen to, or stuff we watch. Those dudes are tight like a rope... hahah what does that even mean?
- Have Heart = more like being at home with roommates, so that rules. I'm so proud of these dudes cause they are doing well. I love joking with these dudes, and I've gotten to do some great dives to HH gigs. I hope they get me in on more tours in the future.
- Down To Nothing = so much fun. Rowdy town. Swimming everyday. Fucking with Sinking Ships. Hanging out. And moshing and getting a tan somehow. Too much fun. And they stayed at my house when they recorded. That was nonstop too.
- Rise And Fall = it was my pleasure to go on a full US tour with them, and ride in their van in EU06. I hope they weren't too bummed on me for getting them to shows hours early, we had tons of fun in a minivan. Sooo many jokes. Weather changes daily. Las Vegas sun tanning. I want to tour with this band again. How much are plane tickets to EU? One way??? Meet me in the mosh pit to the new record. I'll be human sacrificing.
- Guns Up!= last show was awesome. It was great. These dudes are old friends now, but still good friends. I could write a book about them as people.
- Iron Age = never toured with them, but I'm on tours they do. LOVE this band. The dudes are in outer space and still on planet earth and they rule. Tons of fun and something new everyday. I wish I could have recorded conversation topics with Wade. Bitter End is up there too as a band I want to tour with.
- Bracewar = when I was on tour all summer I ended up in their van for like 2 weeks and it ruled. I don't think they know how much it meant to me, but these dudes are great too. I would love to do a full US schedule with them.
- Cold World = I'd tour with this band just to be Albite's personal road dog. Get him Starbucks Pumpkin Latte's everyday. And somehow get Hoodrack on that tour... and it's a nonstop fun time. Cool band, cool dudes, good tunes.
Sorry to any bands I've left out, this is my first real interview...

Your first taste of Europe was when you road dogged for Blacklisted on their tour here in Oct / Nov '06... How did you like Europe? What were your first impressions upon landing in Brussels? What were some of the coolest places and things about Europe?
Europe ruled! I liked it all. Germany can be kinda overbearing and lame. Ghent and London were my fav places but I like Ghent 10 x's more. Ghent rules. I just liked to see different stuff. I wish I'd moshed and dove at Maximun Destruction festival. The food was cool, and I like the tour van R'N'F had. All in all I'd tour Europe twice a year if I could.

Out of all the Euros you have met and talked to, who has the craziest accent?
Oh Bjorn... your accent is my favorite. It's got tons of enthusiasm behind it. Martijn from No Turning Back has a cool accent. Vince has a wild party dude accent. Basically your band, everyone has an accent that describes them. It's cool. Erik Tilburg has a very knowledgeable accent too. Dude rules. True Blue crew. Kitzel has a cool accent, cause it's a mix of Upstate New York. SIX FT DITCH. I need their CD.

I heard you tell the story of that Integrity show in CT. (feat. Hatebreed members moshing) a couple of times and yet it never ceases to amaze me. Could you please describe into detail the events that took place that night?
I feel like I've taken up a lot of space so I'll just say this: Dead Wrong played a reunion that show, and I pitted hard (pics to prove). Mental and RJ's played. It was one of my favorite shows of reunions or benefits. The Floorpunch one was cool too. A lot of people left before Integ but when Jamey Hatebreed hit the mic, the place demonstrated its style (Madball). It was a bomb of camo and CT mosh.

Please comment on / discuss / evaluate the following:
Barry Bonds: Stand by your team/man. No fairweather fan here...
In-N-Out Burger: Good tour food. I don't rip off the road. Maybe once every trip home? Tour food!
"Eye For An Eye", the song: Oh my god... I get the chills just thinking about it. George is a genius.
Judge and getting their logo screenprinted on your camo jacket: Thanks Greg Bacon. I mosh in it!
Females: They are cool. So is hardcore. So is baseball. But you can't really compare all at once.
The word "flavourful": I'll use it when I cant think of anything else to desicribe flavor that is full.
Sharing a room with Kei Yasui: The best. So many good conversations or just daily banter. I miss it.
All Out War: Yes! I like them a lot. I think they pull of "hard hardcore" or metal core perfectly. They do it just right, lots of bands don't.

Rumor has it that you're about to start a band with George (the Mexican who is not a Mexican) from Meltdown... What can you tell me about that? Is the band going to be called Killer Series (as planned)? How about the mic in pocket mosh?
Haha YES. The band is gonna be cool. He is working on the music, I am gonna show him some Entombed parts, that he is gonna make sound like Antidote/NA and we're golden! It's gonna be called WORLD PEACE. I'm gonna contact you more about some dl shit. But there is gonna be some really 'different' lyrics. It's gonna be the pocket mic mosh intro and lots of Shark Attack sharp vocal patterns. Vocal patterns are a big part of this band.
I'm also doing a band with Hudon, a straight edge band called (as of now) Boston Wolfpack. Road dog Steve Reddy was in NY Wolfpack, it just kinda works out. That is a Judge/Raw Deal band. Siked on that band too. DEMOS IN 08!

What else is good these days? Please hit me up with a Top 5 of your favourite records, food items and shirts of the past couple of weeks.
1. Silk nog.
2. Wet Californian burritos (that place we went to near my parents house with TxJ)
3. New Shipwreck.
4. Collegiate state shirts (California, Mass, Washington, etc...)
5. Hanging out with friends. (I used to take it for granted but now I value it.)

That's about it Chucky. Thank you for your time. If there's anything you'd like to add or any shout outs you want to give, do it here and now:
Thanks to Albite for the shirt opportunity, Tre/Nicole/Jake for the inspiration behind Cas-T's, roommates of house of scum, mom and dad, my girl Molly, the bands I've toured with, Scott Vogel for the amazing stage presence and good basketball skills, Notre Dame football for the worst season to date, Bjorn for my first real interview, sorry if it doesn't make sense.
And... RAMBO 4... 1-25-08 MEET ME IN THE THEATRE. Catch me wearing my sleeveless Judge jacket. Camo son...
Love you Bjorn and everyone who reads this: the positive youth will always remain.

Chris Pupecki / Interview

2007-12-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

I met Chris when my band got the chance to tour with his current band Doomriders. Being the nerd I am I started freaking him out and asking all about Cast Iron Hike as soon as we shook hands. He took it real well though and turned out to be an awesome individual with a great taste in music. Reason enough to send him some questions to find out more about Doomriders, Cast Iron Hike, Backbone and the power of the riff... Enjoy.

Chris, do you remember exactly how you came into contact with loud/heavy music and eventually hardcore? What were some of the first hardcore records you got into and some of the first shows you saw? What kind of impact did those make?
I think it was probably 5th or 6th grade around 1984 when an older kid in the neighborhood would take me in his 4x4 truck to the local landfill, crack a couple brews and drive up and over these giant hills of sand at ridiculous speeds, all the while cranking Bon Scott era AC/DC and Black Sabbath. That's when I decided loud rock n' roll was where it's at. I was always craving harder, faster and heavier stuff though and at that time it was very difficult to come by. I loved Judas Preist, early Motley Crue, but I never heard a band that matched the anger that I felt at the time. Then I discovered "Ride the Lightning" and loved the speed and raw fury Metallica provided. My first punk rock experience was actually over the phone in the seventh grade, I had gotten a phone call from a buddy, he was about 3 words into our conversation when I stopped him and excitedly said, "what the fuck are you listening to?!" It was the most gnarly, raw and angry shit I'd ever heard up to that point and HAD TO HAVE IT! "It's Suicidal Tendencies" he said. Probably that day I went to the tiny record store in my puny town and special ordered the first Suicidal record and wore down the grooves on that fucker. As far as hardcore that most affected me; Black Flag, D.R.I, Cro-Mags, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and Agnostic Front were probably most influential. It's funny how these same records are most hardcore kids' first love records 20 years later. I feel lucky to have been part of that scene, at the time it felt like something important was happening in music. The first show I went to was Gang Green in '86. Other bands I saw around then were Uniform Choice, Youth Of Today, Slap Shot, Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, Scream, Cro-Mags, etc. etc. I could go on forever.

Was Backbone the first band you ever did? How did that band get together and how would you describe the band's sound? What kind of shows did you play? I imagine you must've played with Wrecking Crew and Eye For An Eye a bunch - how were those shows back then?
Backbone was my second band, my first was actually called Youth Crew named after the Youth Of Today song, but before it became the kind of hardcore movement it is today, back then it was just a song by one of our favorite bands. We played maybe 4 shows. Aaron Bedard (Bane) had a band called Raging Hope, he gave me a call one day and said he was starting up a new band and asked me to join. I really dug Raging Hope so I was psyched to start something up with him. That's how Backbone started, back then I loved Breakdown and Life's Blood and that's pretty close to what we sounded like, according to a MRR review at least. We played some badass shows back then, we played with Killing Time, Underdog, Supertouch, Slap Shot, Uppercut. Bunches of shows with local buds Wrecking Crew and Eye for an Eye (who's drummer Thos Niles is now in my other noisy band Blacktail). Wrecking Crew shows were some of the best I've ever seen, that band smoked in their prime. We actually played shows with Neurosis and Pantera as well, who were new bands at the time.

What did Backbone ever record and/or release? How long has it been since you've listened to any of those recordings? We released a demo tape in '89 and recorded a song for the "Boston Hardcore '89-'91" compilation on Taang. It sounds pretty amateur to me now, although it was recorded on a 4 track in my dad's garage by a bunch of kids!

After that band was done, how did the plans for Cast Iron Hike take form? What kind of sound did you have envisioned for that band?
Dave Green (the drummer from Backbone) and I started jamming again a year or 2 after Backbone broke up. We were a bit older and had much more varied taste from the Backbone days and really wanted to do something interesting and new. I'd say our early influences were Melvins, early Helmet, Sabbath, C.O.C., Bad Brains, and Cro-Mags.

While Cast Iron Hike in my opinion definitely had a hardcore groove and energy, you had a sound that was a lot broader and very different from what was going on at the time. What inspired this sound? What kind of bands were you heavily into back then?
We appreciated all kinds of music and wanted to incorporate it all. We also really wanted a singer who sang because we liked the idea of writing memorable melodious songs with catchy choruses... Plus we knew it would bum out most hardcore tough guy types! We loved the brutal experimentation of Melvins, the blues groove of Sabbath, the bounce of Bad Brains, and the aggression of the Cro-Mags. All of those things were a big part of the Cast Iron Hike recipe.

After two EP's you signed to Victory, with whom you released the classic "Watch It Burn" album. How did that work? Who signed you to Victory? What prompted you to make this move?
Tony Brummel signed us, basically we just held off for a while and let the buzz grow until the best 3 hardcore labels were in a bidding war over us. Revelation, Equal Vision and Victory were the 3. They all wanted us pretty bad and in the end Tony made us the best offer.

What was it like being on Victory at the time, considering they were home to all the biggest hardcore bands at the time, like Earth Crisis, Strife, Snapcase and Integrity... Did you feel like Cast Iron Hike was overshadowed by those bands? Did Victory want to turn you into a band like that or did they know they were dealing with a different type of band?

When we signed to Victory all those bands were already doing well for themselves, we never felt overshadowed by them. We felt like we didn't belong anywhere actually, we were too rock for hardcore and too hardcore for rock. We were just happy to have our record available around the world. Victory didn't try to turn us into anything, we would have laughed in the face of anybody who tried. We were doing our own thing and that was it, if you didn't like it, fine, but no one was going to make us do something we didn't want to do. Tony actually had really high hopes for us, unfortunately we broke up about a year after the record came out, we were barely a 4 year old band.

Cast Iron Hike did a lot of touring as well. Did you have a booking agent or how did you get on these tours? What type of crowds did you draw? Generally speaking, how did those tours go and what was touring like in the mid 90's? We had a couple of friends booking shows for us, some better at it than others. We were asked by Sick Of It All themselves to tour with them. It was incredible to watch them shred the shit out of every band before them every night. Total pros, a well oiled machine. Most of the people who dug us were older, more open minded people and sound guys, the sound guys alway loved us. I thought that was cool because they see dozens of bands every week. Touring was rough in the mid 90's, no one had cell phones, not many had the internet. No Mapquest! So if you had to reach a promoter for something, you had to find a phone booth, and hope he's by a phone. Also discovering new music was tougher, you had to *gasp* go record shopping! Or read, or talk to friends. There was a much higher level of dedication back then. Especially in the 80's, not only was it a total bitch to find hardcore and punk records, everybody hated you for being a punk/hardcore kid. So you really had to be dedicated because it was kind of a lot of work at times.

I remember you toured with Sick Of It All at one point and Weston at another. Who else did you tour with? Which one of these tours sticks out the most?
We toured with Snapcase, Damnation A.D., Strife, Shift, Stillsuit, V.O.D., Ignite and a few more. We were supposed to do a tour with Hot Water Music and a European tour with a new band called The Hellacopters, but we broke up before those could happen. Touring with The Hellacopters at that time would have been life changing for me as I've since become a huge fan. They were a big inspiration to form Doomriders for me and Nate.

What do you remember about recording the "Watch It Burn" album? Any specific stories or anecdotes? Where did you record and who with? How long were you in the studio for? Do you feel like you managed to capture the sound you wanted to?
We recorded it with Jim Seigel at the Outpost in Stoughton, MA. He's also recorded Dropkick Murphys, Morphine, Blood For Blood and tons more. Brian McTernan (Battery/Miltown) and Ken Olden (Damnation AD/Battery) helped out with production. It was our first time recording in a serious studio where it wasn't one of our friends recording us so it was nerve racking and pretty new to us. I think we were in the studio for something like 12 days. There were very few overdubs and the whole thing is pretty bare bones.

When you listen to the album now, how do you feel about it, looking back? Is it weird to know it's become somewhat of a cult mid 90's hidden gem type of record?
I think the record has held up really well actually, sometimes I'll pop on a record that we loved around that time and it'll sound real dated. I think we avoided that for the time being. I talked to Brian a few years ago (who is a kick ass engineer now and has done some big records like Thrice and a bunch more) and he was saying he regrets not getting a bigger guitar sound for our record and I have to agree with him, I've never heard on tape what my guitar sounds like for real, I have to say Kurt Ballou has come really close though, he's good! I wasn't aware of any cult hidden gem status. That's pretty cool though, it's weird when people tell me they still listen to it often. I get bored of records really quick so it's always kind of a shock.

What caused Cast Iron Hike to break up? You still seem to be a friendly terms with everyone that was in the band, that is pretty cool. Could you tell us what those guys are up to now?
I'm still on good terms with all the guys, we've known each other for 20 years so we're always going to have a bond. We broke up because our singer Jake lost his passion for heavy music one day... Yeah I know, kinda weird. So now he's kind of doing singer songwriter type stuff and seems more at home doing that. Mike Gallagher is playing guitar in Isis, Pete Degraff is in a rock band called The Black, and Dave Green went to school in England and will be moving back to the States with his wife soon. I'm doing Doomriders and Blacktail (noisy, AmRep style stuff, we're currently unsigned and quite good, hint hint..)

What was your state of mind after Cast Iron Hike's demise? Did you do anything musical in between that and Doomriders?
I had a rough time when we broke up, our future was looking really bright and on top of that I was dumped by my girlfriend of 6 years just a few months prior. We tried looking for new singers but decided it wouldn't be the same band.. In retrospect we probably should have trudged on and found someone else but hey, live and learn. I jammed with dozens of drummers who were either really good flakes or not so good non-flakes.

Cast Iron Hike also recorded a GG Allin cover that appeared on the "And They Came From Mass." compilation, which I think sounds incredible. Whose idea was it to cover that track? During what recording session did you record this cover?
I forget whose idea it was to do a GG song, but it was my idea to do that song in particular because it has that whole "we are the real rock'n'roll underground" anthem of a chorus which I knew was perfect for us, and the riffs were pretty epic rock'n'roll for a GG song... And it wasn't about sleeping in your piss or anything dumb, it actually had an empowering message. You know, shoot, knife, strangle, beat and crucify! OK, maybe it was another dumb GG tune, but we thought it was less dumb than most. We recorded this real early on, it was after the Salmon Drive EP, but not long after as it was recorded in Brian McTernan's first apartment studio in Boston, it was in a dirty, sketchy basement. Brian and Jonah from Only Living Witness helped out with backing vocals on the song too. So probably '94 or early '95.

There's been some talk of an upcoming Cast Iron Hike DVD, I've seen the trailer for it as well... When can we expect this to drop? Who's working on that DVD and what should we expect? Also, rumors of a one off reunion to promote the DVD has been floating around - what's the deal with that?
My good friend Bruce Millet is the one working on that, we weren't psyched on the recent interview footage we had done, so it's kind of on hold for the moment. I just need to go through the footage with him to decide what to use and what to scrap. Bruce was there from the beginning of the band, most times video camera in hand, so there should be a good amount of footage to look through. He's got some Backbone footage as well, although I don't know if I want that to see the light of day. Hopefully it'll be out soon though. I think we'd all be into doing a handful of shows at some point, although Mike is really busy with Isis and I'm not even sure what coast he's on at the moment, he's kind of a nomad. I know the other guys are down though.

I seem to remember Doomriders primarily being the brainchild of Nate and you. How did the idea for a band like that come about? I imagine the fun of rippin' it up and playing loud had a lot to do with it?
We met when he was in Jesuit and I was in Cast Iron Hike and we were huge fans of each others bands. Every time we'd play Virginia Nate would be there and we'd excitedly talk music for way too long, we have always had very similar tastes and started talking about how we should start a band someday, We talked about how we wanted it to have elements of our favorite styles of music but remain our own sound with lots of guitar harmonies, punk/hardcore energy, and lots of rock riffin'. The main purpose of Doomriders from the beginning was to be a fun band to play in as well as to go and see.

Doomriders is the kind of band that wears its influences on its sleeve (Danzig, Entombed, Thin Lizzy, Integrity, Motorhead etc.) but still succeeds in sounding fresh, vital and not exactly like this or that band. What would you attribute this to?
We really make an effort to not sound exactly like any one band besides Doomriders.

Was Doomriders always meant to be a fairly busy band or would you say it's a project that got out of hand (ha!)? You guys have been to Europe, Japan, toured the States... How hard is it being in your mid 30's and juggling a job with a touring band and family life?
We never planned to do any of this, I knew when Nate and I got together we would create some badass music, but it's been great from the start with people really digging us and offering us shows and this and that. Most of the things we've done have been shows or tours we just couldn't turn down, we've been lucky with great offers pretty much non-stop. Working a full time job and being in a band where you wish you could spend more time writing or touring is definitely an issue, but I'm lucky to have done all these things. I really thought Cast Iron Hike was my one chance to do those things and to get to do them 10 years later is pretty cool.

What was it like sharing the stage with Danzig for almost a week? I heard the old fella really likes Doomriders a lot? Was he watching on the side of the stage? How were you received by his crowd? Can we expect him to be doing some guest vocals on the upcoming Doomriders album?
Touring with Danzig was awesome, especially since we were specifically requested by the man himself. What an honor. He never really left his dressing room until the end of the night, but we did get to talk to him and he said he loved us with a huge grin on his face and said he loved all the "Wishbone Ash guitar parts", it's nice to get the thumbs up from one of the masters. Guest vocals? Who knows, definitely something to think about though.

Speaking of which, what can we expect from that album? How far into the writing process are you? We're about half way into the record, it's really hard when everybody has other bands, full time jobs, and wives. JR's wife Steppl is having a baby in February as well so that should be interesting. The material is getting better and better though in my opinion, we're really utilizing the 2 guitars to make a more interesting racket and we're also really finding the Doomriders sound.

I know you are an absolute music freak so I would like to know what some of the best shows have been that you have seen in your life... Let's go for a Top 5 or Top 10! I also remember you telling me about seeing the Bad Brains & Leeway together, make sure you don't forget that one.
Yeah, Bad Brains/ Leeway was incredible, it was in '88 or '89 at the Living Room in Providence, RI. I remember HR playing a trumpet, the intense smell of weed all around me, and the fact that I could literally lift both of my feet off the ground at the same time and just hang there... That's how packed it was in there. Slayer on the "South Of Heaven" tour was epic as well, I remember feeling my eardrums folding inside out. I saw the Melvins a bunch, but one time with the Obsessed was mind blowing, Wino is definitely one of my all time guitar heroes, and to see him in his prime was a blessing. Other shows I've seen more recently that have blown me away were Comets On Fire, Dead Meadow, the Hidden Hand, Dungen and the Sabbath reunion in '01.

That's it Chris. Thank you for your time, feel free to add whatever you want right here...
Thanks for the interview Bjorn and for giving a shit. Check out Doomriders and Blacktail people! RIDE THE RIFF!!!

Nothing Survives Time, Nobody Can Press Rewind

2007-11-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

So last week Justice officially announced that they will be breaking up soon. They have a few more shows ahead of them (some sweet gigs in Belgium, England and Spain) and will be recording a final 12" in January, which should be out in time for their final show on March 8th. The 12" will include 5 brand new songs, "Creepy Eepy" style (know what I mean?) and I expect it be nothing short of awesome. Awesome as in truly great and inspiring, not as in "yeah I guess I'll buy it now so I can eBay that shit later".

Thinking of how one my favourite current hardcore bands is calling it quits and talking to some of the Justice dudes during the past few weeks has brought back a bunch of memories of this band that somehow always could be found in the eye of the storm. Every move they made was closely followed, cheered on by those who were into them and frowned upon by those that weren't or simply did not get it. No matter what, Justice always did exactly and exclusively what they wanted to, wrote the songs they felt like they had to and said what they felt needed to be said. I was lucky enough to see them live a ton of times in a ton of places, all over Europe and even the States. I roadied for them on a few tours and weekend trips (even managed to put on Bulldoze on one of those trips, much to Erik Tilburg's disgust) and can honestly say they were one of those bands whose live sets always put on a smile on my face and constantly renewed my faith in hardcore.

Honestly, when Justice got started I wasn't sure what to think of the whole thing. They were a bunch of weird dudes (in a nice way) whom I didn't know that well. They hadn't really done any notable bands before so I didn't quite know what to expect. However when they hit the stage for their first show (Edge Day 2003, Ghent) anticipation was high. I still remember being puzzled by the whole thing. Sure, Spoiler looked hard with that bass guitar but their songs sounded like such a mess, it was hard to tell what was going on. Not one to be taken aback by a sloppy set or a weary reaction, Filip busted out the craziest moves and said a couple of insane things inbetween songs. I remember thinking to myself that this dude was born to be a frontman.

When a little later their demo was released I was floored. You could actually hear the songs now and damn... they were good. Great even. Catchy as hell, simple and hard. On the way back from a show at the other end of Belgium we listened to that demo tape non stop. From then on things snowballed, Justice got better and better, more confident (surely Erik Tilburg joining their ranks helped a lot) and the response they got was getting quite enthusiastic to say the least. Dead Stop and Justice made 2004 an unforgettable year.

Later on that year, Geert Hollanders (aka G. Powered) and myself found ourselves caught in the middle of the Justice moshpit at Ninja Fest while everyone around us was losing their mind... We looked at eachother and knew right there and then that this band was pulling off something incredible. By that time their 7" had already found its way into the hands and hearts of kids all over. Though to some Justice was nothing more than a goofy, "mindless fun" sort of band it always struck me that no matter how much fun they had, they were dead serious about what they were doing and how they wanted to do it.

In early 2005 I roadied for Justice on their tour with Righteous Jams. Stief's leg was in a cast, as a result of Filip performing "the stampede" on it during the frenzy of the notorious Maasmechelen riot. Erik couldn't make it so Cedhead filled in for him. Michiel Dead Stop was there too, as a mental coach and to wake me up when I was steering the van and everyone in it in the direction of a sure death. This was the coldest tour ever and to this day one of my favourite tours ever as well. Other highlights include the chocolate milk and ice cream marathon, playing "guess the riff" in Oslo, one of the wildest shows ever in Poland and getting to say "relax buddy" on stage.

Not too long after Justice's first album came out (as self titled as it may have been, we all know it as "Elephant Skin") it became clear this band was gonna stick it out for a while. The album was full of well written songs, energy and spirit and made sure that those who hadn't discovered Justice yet, would do so now. Justice spent their summer that year touring the US and Europe with Mental, looking at that "Road Crew" shirt now I scratch my head and wonder how Spoiler survived those 2 months on the road on a diet of salted chips and Coca-Cola. Mind boggling.

After that summer, Spoiler left the band when he moved to Canada with his wife, to pursue a career as a promotor of hardcore and builder of the "Stage Of Quarrel". A little later Erik left the band as well, leaving Stief to handle the guitar department on his own. The changes in line up (what's up Hans Degryse) also brought with them a change or at least a further evolution in style, as displayed on the "Up And Down/Push It To Edge" 7". 2006 was as busy as ever for Justice, as it included tours with Underdog and Cold World. There was no stopping them and the new songs promised to show another side of Justice, a new direction and somewhat of a leap in the dark.

When "Escapades" came out in march 2007, once again and as always, Justice was the subject of many a heated debate. You'd be at a show and wouldn't be able to take three steps without stepping in on another argument about that record. The slower, groovier, heavily Supertouch influenced material seemed to be a bridge too far for some. To be honest, when I first heard the album I was convinced it was too slow. Sure it sounded great and new drummer Daan was rock solid, but it was almost like I thought someone had made a mistake somewhere along the line and slowed the whole thing down. However, upon listening to the record more it turned out that it was a "grower", full of well crafted songs, hooks and riffs. Who would've thought Justice would ever write a "grower"? Not me. I missed out on the record release show for this record, but was lucky enough to see a bunch of awesome Justice sets, consisting of a lot of new material and bringing some sort of different vibe with them. Different as in warm and welcoming... It could be old age though. Most notably the shows I caught at the end of the Blacklisted/Justice tour were truly awesome and will stay with me as what I remember "Escapades"-era Justice to be like.

I just noticed I got a little carried away. You are forgiven if you didn't actually read all of this. I feel fortunate to have been around while Justice was and would like to thank them for being the band that they are/were. Keep an eye out for Rhythm To The Madness and whatever Powered Records is up to next...
Peace, keep breathing.

This Is All I Came To Do

2007-11-16T17:20:00.001-08:00

A little tribute to the genius known to man as J. Mascis. I collected a bunch of quotes from interviews with J. and this picture was taken by Ben Rayner.

"I have limited interests. I really like all sorts of gear. Guitar gear. Recording gear. Stuff like that. I like music, you know."

"When I first started playing, the concept of Dinosaur was like ear-bleeding country. Playing country really loud. It just seemed like, oh yeah, nobody plays country really loud. I'm not sure why, but...I think it came out of playing drums. Guitar seemed so wimpy to me when I started playing it, I couldn't get any power out of it, so I was trying to play it so I could get some dynamics out of it. I felt I could express myself a lot better on drums - you can just pound 'em -and with the guitar, I just wanted it to feel more pounding too."

"I don't like it too much I guess, but I didn't like staying home either. I don't like anything!" (On the subject of touring)

"Music doesn't go up and down so if you just want to make money, it's going to be tough. I think you have to want to play and you will be playing no matter what happens."

"I just kind of jam around until I get something I like and then play that for a while. When I get enough parts for it, then I try to arrange it somehow so it makes sense." (On his songwriting techniques)

"It smelled bad. After they threw him out of the club, we went home, basically. I mean, within minutes he's covered with shit and blood. You know, it's one of those things that seems like a punkrock thing to do, but then when you do it, you're like, hmm, well, maybe this is not too cool." (On his short stint in G.G. Allin's band)

"I wish I couldn't play."

"People have a hard time relating to each other in a normal way. Everyone I know are all just like... freaks."

"I wanted to be able to support myself before college ended by playing music, and that happened, so I was happy about that. I didn't have to go back to the gas station." (On making a career out of playing music)

World Collapse / Interview

2007-11-15T07:17:00.000-08:00

"If we provoke, we provoke thoughts". World Collapse is a unique band in today's hardcore landscape. Creative, headstrong and unafraid... That is exactly why this band seems to cause such division and controversy whenever spoken of. I interviewed Rene back in March, right before the release of their debut CDEP... Even though it might be a little outdated, I do think this interview is pretty interesting. See for yourself. Now forward comrades!

Could you tell us a little more about who is in World Collapse as we speak? Obviously you and Frank were in True Blue, but what are the backgrounds of the other members?
The other members have similar backgrounds. Erich and Rean used to be in different Post Punk outfits and share the same love for a lot of the same bands as Frank and myself.

The buzz around World Collapse has been out ever since "On The Attack" was unleashed onto the world a few years back. Can you briefly tell us why it took so long for an actual World Collapse release to materialise? Was it just line-up troubles or was it more than that?
The whole process has been dictated by personell. We have had a hard time finding the right people to work with. It was specific qualities we were looking for in people and those turned out to not be waiting on every corner. Once the line-up was set going about the EP was a quick step.

I remember you played your first shows a few years back, two shows in one day, right? After that no one seemed to know what was up with the band. Can you tell us what went wrong with the og. World Collapse line up?
We were basically not on the same page in any way you can think of. And thus it has been impossible to work together and make moves as a band. In order to move on Frank and I had to part ways with the rest.

The band name was lifted from a True Blue song title and "On The Attack" was a later and never recorded True Blue song as well... Do you feel like World Collapse in any way is a continuation of where True Blue left off? Or do you view World Collapse as a completely different entity?
World Collapse started out as the continuation of True Blue. The spirit we have lived with True Blue has been passed on to the new. This is not to be understood strictly in a musical but rather in a ideological way. Eventhough obviously some of the core elements of our songs can also be found in our previous band the electronics and harmonies for instance would have never been with True Blue had the band continued. The claim of both bands was/is to be yourself and act accordingly. Hardcore has always been about a free spirit...and that is exactly what we live.

Was there a time in the last few years where you felt like giving up on this band? If so, what made you pull through?
Never. There was never any questioning the band. Frank and I have lived through the roughest of circumstances and had to struggle for everything in order to do this band. All the down times have only made us more confident and strengthened our belief. It is the vision we have had for so long and the will to succeed that has kept us going from day one.

Even though World Collapse hasn't played out a lot and your first actual release is only due to come out now, the band has been the subject of a lot of talk and already is quite popular with a lot of people, including a lot of band dudes. Did this bring any extra pressure when you were writing and recording "Into The Night"?
No. Even though we could not be happier with the support we have received from all over and can never thank everyone enough, the public interest has never had any influence on the writing of the EP. It is ourselves we have to satisfy with our work in the first place and thus letting others come too close would make us pay attention to the wrong things.

What's the story behind the record's title "(Deutschland, Deutschland) Into The Night"?
It is a pick on the Zeitgeist. A neo romantic view of love for one self and those around you. A dictate to live through the rough times, endure all the pain and come out stronger in the end. An ode to urban cities covered in the dust of disappointment, angst and despair blown away by every human heart that beats. This is the end of depression.

The use of the German language is an imporant characteristic of World Collapse's communications (in news updates, on shirts etc.) - why is that? Especially using words like "Fuhrer" and "Ubermensch" on shirts... That must've caused some commotion or am I wrong?
We are Germans and do not deny it. It is our heritage and our future. We bow to Nietzsche, Wagner, Gutenberg, Speer and honor their work. Thoroughness and exactness have been core values of our upbringing, so it is natural for us to emancipate and blossom. And if we do provoke, we provoke thoughts.

People often mention bands like Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails when they discuss your sound, as well as Cro-Mags and Leeway. Which of these bands has been an actual influence on World Collapse? Are there any other more subtle influences that people haven't picked up on?
Well, I think all of the aforesaid bands have had an influence on us in a subtle way. It is part of the music we listen to and therefore it is unavoidable. We don't sit down and try to write a song that sounds like this or that band. We write our own music and capture emotions that we oftentimes feel are best represented through specific arrangements and instruments. Maybe that's the same way those bands write their music, too? We love The Clash, Danse Society, The Icemen, Einst¸rzende Neubauten, Visage, Bad Brains and the other free thinkers.

Word has it that Scott Vogel's guest vocals on "The Second Life" were recorded backstage at some show with an ordinary mic and basic gear, is that true?
Sort of. But, we did not even use a microphone. He screamed at a Mac Book, we pressed "record". That was it.

World Collapse doesn't play out much while I think you must be very anxious to hit the stage and play as much as you can. You must get a lot of shows offered as well. Is this ever frustrating or more of a conscious effort?
We are very pleased with the situation at the moment and don't want to run people over with shows. Offers we have plenty but always sort out what suits us best of course. As you yourself know it can be very fulfilling playing your music to an audience and directly feeling the reactions and communicating with the crowd. That is the opposite of the not less exciting but more synthetic part of writing and recording. Right now we are trying to keep a good balance.

You are also responsible for the visual aspect of the band, being lay-outs, designs, pictures and other visuals. What is the general vibe you are going for? I can tell there's a certain vision and general idea that ties everything together - how would you describe that vision?
It is actually Frank and me doing it, depending on what media we are working on. The overall Design objective I would describe as relevant and rational. Visual aspects play an important role in tranporting the overall feel of the band. It has the purpose to sometimes lead the commuication and other times to support it. We have a strict Corporate Design.

How did the idea come to you to integrate electronica in World Collapse's songs? Did you or anyone else in the band have any experience in that area or did you just figure it out as you went along?
Both. When we first started out we did not have a rehearsal studio so we always had to practice in our office. That we did with a guitar and a laptop. Step by step we developed our abilities so using machines and electronical devices has become natural for us. We have always had that vision but were just not able to put it into action technically. Now we are. And since we always wanted to add digital to our analogue sounds it fit perfectly then. So, now is the time to move on.
What's up with Retaliation? I know a demo has been recorded (minus the vocals?) and Buske played bass on those recordings, so what's up with that?
Retaliation is a project with me on Drums, Frank on guitar, Patrick Reaper Records on vocals and Buske Terror on the bass. We have demoed 7 songs and are looking for the right moment to record those songs properly and maybe even a few more. What exactly it is gonna be we haven't decided yet.

That's it I guess. Thanks for your time. Any closing comments?
I would like to thank you – Bjorn – for doing this interview and giving us the chance to get the word out. I would also like to thank all our fans for the unconditional support and the disorder. We believe that minds are progressive and know that the heart follows desire. Comrades move in legions!