I'M IN AN AWFUL STATE, IT'S GETTING LATE...

Pls describe your sound to those who have not heard (of) you.
Hardcore Punk Rock: Heavy, Raw, Melodic. Our songwriting isn't formulaic and we don't rely on shitty mosh parts to carry our songs. We dig bands like black flag, unbroken, husker du, buzzcocks, descendents and tragedy.
How did you feel about going from martyr rex to deathwish inc? Did it open new doors for you guys. And how do you feel about the efforts from the european front (reflections)?
It has definitely opened doors for us. Martyr quickly became too small for us...not enough distribution, money, time or resources. We needed a label that can work as hard as we are working. We've always been pleased with Reflections work for our band and they are great people to work with.
I saw you on your first euro tour in ghent playing for about 50 people and no crowd reaction whatsoever but pics of other shows on that tour showed the kids going berserk. How does it feel playing for an indifferent crowd one night and get the most awesome response on the next?
Playing for an "indifferent" crowd sucks. Playing to a crowd that isn't going crazy is ok as long as people are willing to come up front and you can feel a connection with the crowd. But obviously the best is when kids are losing their minds. On the best nights it's like a religious experience.
The new record seems to deal with growing pains and not having much of a future.

I think that is a pretty narrow way of looking at it. It's a record about embracing your past, who you are and where you come from. It's about being alienated but not defeated. It's about having heart and soul in heartless and souless times.
You have new merch referring to ramones, skinheads and rimbaud and you have a song called the outsiders. How do these 4 things influence you and in what way?
Well the ramones are the original american punkers...the first to play that hard and fast and play a ton of shows all over the country...a strong work ethic and uncompromising. I wrote that song cause we were out on the road carrying on that tradition in our own way while The Ramones were dying. We will never have the importance that they had...but our dreams were coming true while theirs were coming to a close so i wrote that song. The song "martin atchet" on the new record is based on a fictional skinhead character from the graphic novel "SKIN". I've had a fascination with skinheads since i started seeing them at shows when i was 16 or so. I think that skinhead is the coolest youth subculture of all time...from the style to the music. There was a post on the internet asking if we were nazis. If you equate skinheads with Racism, Fascism, Etc....please do some research. Arthur Rimbaud was a french poet who wrote a harrowing epic poem called "A Season In Hell" Just read it. Whether by birth, or by choice, if your life revolves are hardcore & punk rock then you are an outsider. Stay gold, ponyboy.

Peace.

MY NIGHTMARE HAS COME TRUE.

Songs about a very young Zooey Deschanel having issues, rehashed VANDALS riffs, some minor attempts at social commentary, blatantly unfunny attempts at parody, Davey Havok backings (Ixnay leftover) and a nice slew of awesome punk rock anthems and singalong choruses. The pros definitely weigh out the cons but it’s those few cons that might put you off of this record. I made the mistake of dismissing THE OFFSPRING on account of a few dreadful singles that sounded unclever at best when I first heard them as a kid but somehow the bands I loathed for being immature in those days are now the staples on my iPod/creative zen. For years I didn’t think much of this band until Smash hauled me into to their back catalogue and I realized that I had been fooled by those few dreadful singles. I’ve always felt that Smash had a harder and more altrockish sound than its Epitaph peers and it deserves every bit of praise it gets as one of the key albums of the alternative nineties but Americana, as well as Ixnay, shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to good songwriting. Both records are chockfull of punk rock tunes that, after some time spent ripening in the Californian sun, range from highly enjoyable to fucking amazing. The songs that gave Americana its multi-platinum status are the ones that could be considered filler but I guess they’ve served their purpose and in the end Pretty Fly and Why Don’t You Get A Job are the only ones I ever skip due to the MTV overdose of ’98. I’m actually thinking about giving Conspiracy Of One a shot as well even though the artwork is horrid (unlike Americana) and Original Prankster isn’t exactly Redman’s finest hour (a Blackout! post from my behalf is an accident waiting to happen). I’d also like to point out that in No Brakes it sounds as if Dexter Holland is singing “no braids” which, given his ongoing descent into the realm of sketchy hairdo’s, struck me as quite funny. I’m a geek.


On a completely unrelated note; this week’s best reads include:
-EVERYBODY GETS HURT int in Double Rabies Ish Six. “I was creepy-crawling across the floor and this big German guy just stepped on my back like a fucking bug.”
-Three Men Seeking Monsters, an account of cryptidhunting whilst travelling on an unhealthy diet of RAMONES, SEX PISTOLS and BLINK 182. Is supposedly being made into a movie, Jon Heder was involved but I’m not sure if he still is.
-I’m also in the process of rounding up The Mothman Prophecies (of underrated movie starring Richard Gere fame) and I’ve already learned that there’s way more to the MIB-phenomenon than Will Smith in a fancy suit. Expect some actual book reviews on here sooner or later or never.

Peace.

WATER WATER WATER.

Already painfully confronted by the fact that Conor Oberst was my age when he wrote and recorded BRIGHT EYES' acclaimed Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil Keep Your Ear To The Ground record he also figured he could do a little band on the side that ended up being just as brilliant. Way to make me look like a fool at 22. DESAPARECIDOS was incepted as a way to voice his opinions on suburban life in America (the outcome's negative) and released one record called Read Music/Speak Music. They were around for about a year or two, took their cues from the revolution summer bands and toured with JIMMY EAT WORLD. Perfect career. Toy Machine meets post-hardcore. Have a peek.


Peace.

I CAN SEE DEATH IN YOUR EYES.

DOWNER could have been a nineties gem. They had everything going for them, the name, their HELMET meets TOOL approach, some cool Pushead artwork and a deal with roadrunner records. Pretty much all the ingredients to become one of those semi-legendary post-hardcore acts that still have cult followings in certain circles. You’d think they’d be set after touring the states with EARTH CRISIS (Destroy The Machines-era) and a spot on lollapalooza but due to a lot of mishap they didn’t release this until years later, in 2001, and at a time when Roadrunner was too busy with putting out new records for bigger bands like SLIPKNOT (Iowa), FEAR FACTORY (digimortal) and SEPULTURA (nation). As a result, DOWNER received very little publicity and ended up being disillusioned one more time before finally calling it quits shortly after this eponymous debut came out. The only form of promotion they got besides a video for Last Time were numerous spots on those samplers that seemed to come with every heavy metal mag out there and that’s pretty much how I got into them as well. Ironically, I bought those magazines to keep myself updated on those bigger bands but I guess I cared enough to dig a little deeper and I still do. The sampler that initially got me into DOWNER (as well as GLASSJAW) may have vanished into the fog of time and it would take me over half a decade to finally score an actual copy of their record but this band still holds up so fucking well. If you like your post-hardcore metallic and topped off with James Maynard Keenan-styled vocals this is definitely right up your alley. So good…


http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ndbmtnmj5zm


Peace.