Have the time of your life with this Isolated Zine crossword puzzle!!! All of the answers can be found throughout the zine. Some answers are 2 words, but forget the space.
across
1.
Number of words in Homewrecker’s song ‘Visions of Terror’ off Worms & Dirt
6. Which band’s interview shows a photo of Matt Barnum on a swimming floaty? 8.
New eastern Indiana tattoo shop
9.
xRepresentx’s vocalist’s day job
10. Dom Romeo’s favorite hardcore band
s ’ 3 p o T
Brian Barr’s TOP THREE People you’d like to interview 1. Ed Templeton 2. Immortal Technique 3. Ace Enders
down 2. Amount of dollars an Isolated shirt costs texan’s favorite horror movie about zombie animals 4. Name of The Mongoloid’s upcoming album 5. Where the artist who did the front cover is from 7. Action that prevented Pat Kennedy from being Tom Delonge for a night 3.
Cody Johnson’s TOP THREE Love movies 1. The Lakehouse 2. A Walk To Remember 3. Slaughtered Vomit Dolls
Ryan Wade’s TOP THREE American things 1. THE RED 2. THE WHITE 3. THE BLUE
nobritean barr from
I’m currently sitting on Cody Johnson’s couch listening to Jaded by Green Day and watching Cody play Bioshock on his first Xbox 360 he just bought as I finish up this zine. It’s about a month late from when I intended to print it, but ohwell. I’m hoping to have issue 3 out in time for This Is Hardcore Fest and sell a bunch there. We’ll see how that goes. I hope people actually are into this zine and dig what’s in it. Hit me up somehow if you’re reading this and tell me what you think! So on a side note, I just want to encourage everyone to listen to the music you want, but also open your mind to new things. And starting drama and fights over personal opinions is usually pretty dumb. Realize that everyone’s different. Not everyone’s favorite band is your favorite band. Half my friends are straight edge and half of them smoke and I love you all. Hey, thanks for reading my zine. It means a ton. Email me at ISOLATEDYOUTH@YAHOO.COM
thank you
This issue of Isolated Zine wouldn’t be possible without the following: My family, Cody Johnson, Ryan Wade, Richard Peterson, Margie Byrne, Szymon Siech, Buzzbin Mike, anyone I interviewed, any photographer in which I used your photos, anyone who paid for advertising in this issue, and anyone who puts shows together around here such as Matt Barnum, Austin Sparkman, Andy Wells, and the guys at Tower 2012. Thanks a ton.
advertising / distro
Advertising: Half or full page ads for around $10-$20. A Few hundred printed Distro: If you want to buy many zines, I’ll sell you them at a ‘wholesale’ price. Email me for either at IsolatedYouth@Yahoo.com
promotion shamIledossgraph ic design. Check out my work
at brianbarrgraphicdesign.com and email me at brianpaulbarr@yahoo.com. Not free but good prices! & buy ISOLATED shirts and more zines at ISOLATEDYOUTH.STOREENVY.COM
Margie Byrnes TOP THREE Bands with 2 X’s 1. xRepresentx 2. The XX
Matt Zack’s TOP THREE Melt Bar & Grilled sandwiches 1. Lake Erie Monster 2. The Godfather
3. XHAVE HEARTX 3. Smokey Russian
Thanks to Szymon Siech for the front cover art!
Aron Smith’s TOP THREE Airick X Egan bands 1. Ages 2. Ghost Breeder 3. Scum Of The Earth
FE AT UR ED ARTIS T: IZ: Where do you get your ideas from to always come up with new designs? Mostly spending hours staring at some crazy stuff, or found images, anything dark and bizarre, just thinking about it... I don’t know, there are no rules. It depends on design, on the band, on my mood... It’s always the hardest thing to describe the feeling when you’re about to create something.
SZYM .. ON SIECH a.k.a. UBERRETARD
uberret ard .com
from Poland
IZ: How and when did you get started doing artwork for bands? At the beginning I used my drawings/ graphics as illustrations for zines I issued at that time. That way I got noticed by bands and it all has started. It’s been almost 15 years now. IZ: What’s your most preferred medium or style to create your artwork? I used to work with ink&paper years ago and I loved it, but after a while photoshop took over and I started to mix media and now collage is my thing I’d say. IZ: Is doing artwork just a side-job or is it full-time or something you’re working to someday become full-time? It’s definitely my passion, not any kind of “job”. I mean, if I can make some extra money this way, that’s great, but it has never been my priority. The advantage of such situation is that I can work for bands/people I like. BUT it doesn’t necessarily mean that I do it for free;) IZ: Name some of your favorite artists or designers who have influenced you. Oh dude, there are so many of them that it’s impossible to list them all. Suehiro Maruo, Zdzislaw Beksinski, Takato Yamamoto, Tim Vigil, Mark Riddick, Florian Bertmer, Justin Bartlet.. those are just a few off the top of my head ... I also keep my eye on works of Give Up, Sin-Eater, WrittenInBlack, Jacob Parmentier, Joshva Davis, my good friend Rob Nabbe... You should check works of Patryk Rosicki, if you find any on-line;) He makes some highly detailed old school ink&paper work, but he’s too modest to promote himself;) IZ: Many might not know you’re from Poland. How’s the hardcore scene doing out there and are there any bands from your area everyone should check out? The scene is doing well I think... pretty much the same as everywhere, the same bullshit problems;) Check out CALM THE FIRE, VIOLENT ACTION, CAST IN IRON. I designed some stuff for all of them too;)Thanx for the interview!
Homewrecker’s upcoming LP, ‘Worms & Dirt’
FFO: The Get Up Ki Blink 182, Title Fi ds, ght
s r a e e Y t h g i L
recently released a Light Years, the pop punk 4-piece out of Kent, Ohio issue 1. Check that in ed review Zine ed 7”, ‘Just Between Us’ which Isolat the world with Slayer. out and party with them this summer as they tour
IZ: Yo man, introduce yourself, what you do in the band, and enlighten me on your favorite Blink 182 album. PAT: My name is Pat Kennedy and I play guitar and sing for Light Years. My favorite Blink 182 album would have to be Enema of the State. Hands down. That record from start to finish is solid gold. Still holds up to this day. I could go on forever about it but I dont want to embarass myself too much in the first question. IZ: So you just released a new 7” EP, “Just Between Us”. How’s the response of that been and how do you think you’ve progressed since you’re first release? PAT: So far the response has been really good. I was nervous because this was the first band I have been in where people actually cared about our next release and I was hoping everyone wouldn’t hate it. I feel that as a band we have become better and findin our “sound” if that makes sense. We took a lot longer to record this record and I think you can tell we didn’t try and shortcut anything. IZ: What do you have planned for the future of Light Years? Any other planned releases or tours? PAT: This summer we are doing a full US tour with Citizen and Turnover. I am very excited for that because those are some of really good friends and I love both bands, so getting to hang with them across the
country for 7 weeks should be a blast. After that I want to start working on recording a full length to hopefully put out in the fall. We will see if I am able to write more than 5 songs at a time. IZ: Some of the album is about living your life the way you want because life is short and you’ve showed this from dropping out of college to go on tour all around the country and even overseas for your first time. Can you tell us what all happened with this and how others took your decision? PAT: Literally we were sitting at Sheetz one day talking about the band and touring and we all just said lets do this. Lets take Light Years 100% seriously for a while and see what happens. Me, Tommy and Andrew were all in school not really doong what we wanted and so I just figured we should be tryin to do what we actually cared about doing. So that was that. Didn’t go back to school and booked a full US tour that was followed up by a 2 week tour in Europe. Those were two goals that I had always dreamed of doing with a band and I got to do it. I can die happy basically. A lot of people were supportive of the idea, but others who don’t really understand the scene we came up in or just DIY stuff in general were like “wait, how much money are you making?.” which is funny. My Mom was cool with it too, but no one was gonna change our minds.
IZ: I know you had a ‘video shoot’ show for an older song, ‘World Burns Out’ in the good ol’ Cleveland, Ohio. How’d that turn out? Was it boring? PAT: Mannnn! Wish you could have been there! Hellbent fest looked sweet though. The show was awesome. I was super pumped on how the video turned out. A lot of our friends made it out and had fun and made us look way cooler than we actually are. I was worried that like only 24 kids were gonna make it out and the video was gonna be the most pathetic and sad thing ever, but fortunately that was not the case. IZ: Your recent release “Just Between Us” was put out on Escapist Records. How did that come about and who are they? PAT: Escapist Records is run by our good friend Mike Phillips. He has been around the scene forever and has already put out solid releases by bands like This Time Next Year, Withdrawl, and Crucified. He asked if we had any labels interested in putting out our new record at a show and we didn’t so he said he wanted to do it and that was the deal haha. It’s awesome because he is our friend helping us out but he is also the only person that has been willing to put money into our band and take a chance on us if you will.
IZ: As I’ve heard, you play bass for Cleveland Hardcore boy band, Vice. What’s new with you guys? I’m hoping new songs. For anyone reading this, check out the CLEVELAND Vice. PAT: Vice is a band started by my friend Taylor and Spozz and Izzi from Homewrecker. They needed a bass player and I was down obviously. I have very little “sway” in that band but I know Spozz and Izzi hve some new jams in the works that should be out soon. Yer pittin. IZ” When’s the Blink 182 cover set happening seeing as arson ruined the last one? PAT: Haha hopefully next halloween! My dream of being Tom DeLonge for a night was taken from me so I need redemption. IZ: How do you like your local scene? I haven’t seen many other bands your size get such a positive local response. PAT: I love it man. We have been lucky enough to play all over the world and there really is no place like North East Ohio. The fact that a lot of our local bands can have awesome shows without like big name national headlining acts is amazing. So many good bands and good people out here. We have awesome venues; West End, Kling Thing, Now That’s Class that help out touring bands and locals. And now people doing cool zines! IZ: Thanks for your time, Pat. Any final statements or shout outs you’d like to mention? PAT: Thanks for wanting to do this with me! Isolated zine on top 2012. Shout out to all the Cleveland/Akron/Canton/Kent/Ashtabula homies. See you soon.
‘Just Between Us Out now through Escapist’Re cords
photos by: Just Face Forest Ph in Angras/ otography
VICE out of Ashtabula and Cleveland, Ohio is writing new material and touring all summerl while they currently have out 7” record which will give you a sore neck from banging your head.
IZ: What’s up man? Can you first throw out who you are and who you’re reppin’? As well as what you do in the band, and what you get on your Chipotle burrito?
IZ: Vice is about to embark on their first tour, going to Florida with Bent Life and Another Mistake. How’d that all come together and get decided upon?
Hey cat, My names Matt Izzi, and I play drums in Vice(OH) and Homewrecker. I like getting chicken and pork mixed, with extra cheese and sour cream, with that corn. Smash all day.
I am so pumped to hit the road. Homewrecker played a show with Bent Life in ATL last summer and I became friends with Chris, there banging ass guitar player. I just hit him up about the Idea and from there you have the tour. Can’t wait!
C, Crown FFO: NYH , Bitter z Of Thorn eed End, Bad S photos by: Justin Angra Face Forest Photogra s/ phy
IZ: You recently put your ‘Get Down, Stay Down’ EP up for preorder on 7 inch vinyl. How’d that work itself? And why a year after the original bandcamp and tape release? I know finally haha. Basically our singer Taylor, said something to me about Head2Wall records about putting our demo out and I was like,obvi. It’s been a year because spoz(the singer of homewrecker) and myself were finishing up stuff with Homewrecker and what not.
IZ: What’s in store for the future of Vice after this long tour and the 7 inch comes out? I keep hearing about new material. We will be hitting the road again in July till August with our buds in AGES!!! couldn’t be happier, best group of dudes. jOTC. We have three new songs written, just have to get those recorded. Don’t really know what’s up for Vice! just keep rockin n rollin. IZ: How many other bands are you in? When’s there going to be some new Off The Chain? Right now I play drums in Vice and Homewrecker, and I sing in Off the Chain. Off the chain is gonna write 3
new songs and re-record two older ones. I hope Tim Duncan doesn’t get a ring, I will find him one day to face him for one final battle... IZ: Do you ever get annoyed with being known to some as ‘Vice(OH)’? I do. Quick story about how we got the name Vice. Our singer Taylor wanted to front a band called vice for 4 years prior, and Spoz and I lived together at the time, and wrote that demo and got Taylor to sing. IZ: Let me in on some of your favorite horror movies. I like way too many, I recently started just collecting horror vhs and it’s awesome! anything with headshots,zombie s,slashers,ECT,ECT. IZ: Thanks for the time dude. Any last words about Vice or anything Thanks for taking the time to ask me all these questions! Book your band at the West End, The Tower, or Now That’s Class. they all rule, Masakari still is the best band, Toxic breed Wayne will always do awesome shit! check out I’m D’d also Then get D’d
FFO: G CDC, & host Ship, EDGE STRAIGHT
x have brought classic edge anthems Erie, Pennsylvania straight edge kings, xRepresent cts in thsi interview done by Ryan Wade since 2003. Learn about band stances and confli IZ: First off can you introduce yourself and what you do in xRepresentx? I’m Derek Ski, vocalist of Erie PA straight edge hardcore band xrepresentx. IZ: You guys just dropped a new 6 song ep, ‘Relentless’, can you tell us about the writing process for that and how the reception for that has been so far? My son was born Jan. 11, 2011, so in effect that halted our show playing a bit after our 2010 summer tour. Intermittently, I’d been writing parts here and there, and by Oct 2010, I fit enough of them together to make a short release. The guy who recorded our other 2 cds had moved out to Denver, but was going to be back, and asked me if I wanted to record anything. I got the green light from seventh dagger, and started the 14 month journey of trying to get him to finish up a simple 6 song recording. It was grueling. Don’t do anything long distance, haha. The reception was been very good I’d say. Our presales were
high, people at shows have been singing along to the songs, so one can assume they dig it. IZ: So far xRx has released two music videos from this release, Relentless and The Downfall, can you tell us about the filming for these and the message behind these songs? Relentless’ video was your normal “we play, you do nutty shit” video, which is always a blast to put together. We filmed it at a short lived but awesome venue we had in Erie, the 05. When Seventh Dagger said for us to do another video, we had about a week to actually get a concept. The song is a straight edge sellout song, one about a good friend who repped hard and fell harder. I had no idea what the video should be. Then at 4:30 in the morning 2 days beforehand, I woke up and had the concept, and we just went for it. The main concepts of that video are: 1. Don’t sell out, and 2. It’s ok to tell a friend they’re messing up. Just because of
a friendship, it doesn’t give someone the green light to be a dumbass. IZ: People have been giving you a lot of flack because of the militant nature of the video for The Downfall. How has that been for you guys? Is it working in your favor as a promotional tool or has it been pushing people away? A straight edge stance in general is enough to push people away. That’s the name of the game. But we’ve never been a band who shied away from saying what we feel is necessary. But, also, I feel that speaking strongly will gain you the respect of some people who don’t agree with what you’re saying, out of sheer appreciation for the fortitude. There has been a lot of flack, but it’s the internet. Everyone has their opinions to dish out. But looking at the ratings, 2/3 of the people like it. That’s good enough by me! And there has been a lot of positive comments thanking us.
photos by: Taylor Rambo
IZ: Now Derek, you’re also a school teacher when you’re not busy playing music, how does that go over for you career wise? Do the two ever conflict with each other?
people are turned off by the x’s in our name. But, I’m turned off by many things too, so I can’t blame them. They are just going to miss some ridiculous shit if they stand outside.
The only conflicts would be wanting to do a show or go somewhere but not having the time to take off of school, as with any job.
IZ: RJ from Domestic War, who is also signed to Seventh Dagger, used to play drums for Represent correct? How is that for you guys now that DW is his main focus and you’re both pushing the Erie Straight Edge as hard as possible?
IZ: xRepresentx tends to be a very outspoken band when it comes to do with the straight edge lifestyle. Do you find that this is a hindrance for you guys reaching new fans or are people rather open minded to the music and the message? Many people who aren’t straight edge come up to us at shows and say they enjoy us, despite liking to drink or smoke, or what have you. In essence, hardcore is still music, and the lyrics pertain to the singer. I like skarhead, but I’m not into snorting coke. You can enjoy a band for numerous reason, regardless of their politics. And every so often, I like to give a shout out to the non-edge in the crowd, because many
He did drum for us for a long time. At the time he left, we were playing out more, and going to puerto rico and europe, which he could not do. So it just made sense to get someone who had the ability to go out on the road more. We share members in DW and we’re happy for them to be pushing Erie Straight Edge too. IZ: Can you tell us a funny story from tour or something that happen that you’ll never forget while on the road? Jeez... where to start. Probably the funniest one ever, which we videotaped was
back in 06. We were driving to some show, I think it was auburn NY, and we drove past a car of girls. Now, xrx had always held up signs to cars saying random shit, just to pass time. Our famous one was “Show tits”. Only an old dude did it, but it was still funny. Anyways, Jake, our old guitarist” was driving and saw these girls and yelled for a show tits sign. I wrote a sign and gave it to him quickly, and he put it up on the window. The girls nodded yes and he became ecstatic, yelling “they said yes!! They said yes!”. He then looked at the sign we made which actually said “I’m gay” and we immediately burst out in laughter. IZ: Thanks for taking the time out to do this interview do you have any last words our shout outs you would like to give? Do your best for hardcore, and come out to our shows when we come through. Straight edge or not, hardcore is all of our responsibilities. Keep it alive. Straight edge rules!
xLooking Forward went Maryland straight edge positive hardcore band, ing again lately. jamm been have & ago years few a nation hiber into y fast jams. Catch ” Tread We Path “The , album Listen to their 2006 IZ: Hey man, could you first introduce yourself and what you do in xLooking Forwardx. I am Justin Chaillou and I am the vocalist for XLFX. IZ: Could you describe xLFx’s sound for anyone who might not have heard you guys? We’re just a straight up hardcore band. We play fast, our songs are short, we have plenty of breakdowns, two-steps, sing-a-longs and anything else that we all love about hardcore and punk. IZ: First thing, what’s going on with xLFx? Are you officially back together? Did you ever even break up, and why now with the recent activity? We’re going to be playing some shows again coming up and we do have a new 7” coming out in June. We never really “broke up”, but we were definitely inactive for a while. Pretty much the way it works is that if someone offers us something interesting to play and we can make it happen, we’ll practice a bit and play the show. The activity recently is a result of just having some good show offers come our way and that lit a fire under us to get it going again. We’re all best friends and playing and writing music gives us a good reason to all get together and hang out. It’s getting to a point where it’s becoming more and more difficult to dedicate time to this thing so we figured we should just take advantage of this awesome opportunity while we still can.
“Down with the Sh ip” out soon through Facedown Record s
FFO: Comeback Ki Bane, Sick Of It Al d, l
IZ: You’ve talked about an upcoming 7”. How’s that sounding compared to your older material and when can we expect that to be released? People that are into our old stuff won’t be disappointed with the new 7”. It’s what we do. I’m excited about it. It’s six songs in about 10 minutes and it’s fast and heavy. The record is called “Down with the Ship” and the idea is that we’re coming to the end of the line for XLFX and we’re going to stick with what we do both from a musical and message perspective all the way until the end. Release date as of now is June 19th.
IZ: While you guys are growing up and getting older, how is that going to affect the band? Any chance of touring? XLFX is something that we make work around our lives now which is the opposite of how it worked back when we were active. I love music and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to do what we do, but we’ve all got other things going on nowadays that need to be the priority in our lives (you know, things like kids, wives, careers, church stuff, ect.). Touring is really not realistic for us now. IZ: With xLooking Forwardx being a band for over 10 years, how have you seen the hardcore scene change? It’s funny, hardcore is way bigger now that it was in the mid-90’s when we first started getting involved - more bands, labels, kids, everything. But it really hasn’t changed all that much to me. The things that make hardcore great and still great and still happening and, unfortunately, the things that are problematic for the scene are still around, too.
IZ: You’re other band Carrying The Fire grew out of the “hiatus” of xLooking Forwardx. How’s that band going and what’s in it’s future? Yeah, CTF is myself and Kev D of xlfx, matt b who used to be in xlfx and our buddy dan. It’s cool. Been fun kind of starting from scratch and getting involved with what’s going on locally again. Not much of a future for it, though, because the time just isn’t there to commit to doing it right. We’re going to record a few more songs coming up and play here and there like we’ve been doing, but there’s no big plans or aspirations for us.
photos by: Mik e Youngquist check out hcco lle
ctive.com
IZ: What bands have you personally been jamming lately? I recently rediscovered ‘face to face’ who was one of my first loves in punk rock. ‘All out war’ is still about my favorite band so I’m always listening to them. I’ve found that my girls like listening to this ‘all hail the king’ cd (which is a punk rock praise and worship side project of ‘our corpse destroyed’ (one of punk’s best kept secrets, by the way)) when we’re in my car so we’ve been having a lot of fun with that lately, too.
IZ: Thanks for taking your time out for this. Have any final statements or shout outs? Happy to. I’d just like to say thanks to anyone who still cares about XLFX and we hope to be able to hang out with everyone one more time before we hang it up for real and for good. Last thing - God loves you and cares about you - I hope everyone knows that.
azard, FFO: Cro-Mags, Bioh
Naysayer
photo by: Mel ine Gharibyan
XXX
Mongo Greg who Formed in 2005, I got to interview the straight edge g. skatin and , future past, the of let us in on Mongo news How’s it going dude? Can you let the the band always having a rotating cast of Isolated Zine readers know who you are, members playing live the real face of what what you do, where you’re from, as well as you could expect when going to a Mongola little fun fact about yourself? oids show was us representing straight edge and having fun while doing so. Which never My name is Greg Falchetto, I’m from New will change because without that there is no Jersey and I sing in a straight edge hardcore Mongoloids. This band was formed around band called The Mongoloids. My cats name the basis of being a Straight Edge band and is Elvis. He is easily the best looking cat of all will end that way. The current line up for The time. The feline version of Brad Pitt. Mongoloids is Kane on bass, Adam on drums, Joe on guitar, Brian on guitar, and me on First thing, I’ve heard you have a new vocals. This line up has been holding strong album dropping through Six Feet Under for a while now and we are all pretty set on Records? Drop some info if you can such as keeping it that way. Definitely the best the the album name. band has ever felt from my position on things. Mongo Life We all get along and function as a group of friends first and foremost which to me is how So how long has the current lineup been all hardcore bands should work. in The Mongoloids? Are you still getting drama about the big members change deal What are The Mongoloids’ plans for this from however many years ago and just summer? Going to be touring? touch on what happened for those who Yes we have some touring plans this sumdon’t know what I’m talking about? mer. In July we will be playing 2 shows in In 2009 The Mongoloids took a major shift Hawaii as well as 4 shows on the west coast in members mainly due to the situation we one of course being Sound and Fury Festival had going on no longer working out. At in lovely Santa Barbara, CA. Then a few days that point the people writing and recording after that we fly to Europe for a month long weren’t the same people touring. But even tour along side the great Agnostic Front. We the people writing and recording changed are beyond excited for that! We have been from record to record so not even that was fortunate enough to tour with Agnostic Front stable. This caused a huge power struggle before and it’s refreshing to see how much at the time which eventually ended in the one of the older bands truly does care and people that had been playing live with us love hardcore from the new to the old. just becoming part of the band. To me with
Do you and anyone else skate in the band? If so, do you ever bring your board on tour to shred?
What makes straight edge important to you?
A few of us skate recreationally. There is always at least one or two skateboards in the van at all times. Unless we are on tour with Kids Like Us in that case there are more boards than people. Shout out to the Raindogs!
People focus on being straight edge more than I feel they should straight edge isn’t about how you want to be it’s about who you are. I will always be straight edge. I will also always drive my drunk friends around and enjoy who they are. Difference is what makes the world go round!
How’d you first get into skating and get your first board?
If you had the power, what’s one thing you would change from the current hardcore scene?
I actually got into skateboarding later than most people. I worked at a screen printing shop when I was a teenager and the owner of the shop would show me videos of dudes like Tom Knox and Jason Jesse. On top of that he also showed me bands like JFA and Los Olvidados. He had a massive collection of old skateboards and skate magazines at the shop he would let me browse as well. Through that I became very interested in skateboarding and started kicking around on a board. I don’t remember my first skateboard because it was a hand me down from one of my older friends however my all time favorite skateboard would have to be the Tom Knox Minor Threat rip off. Such a classic! What’s your favorite type of sandwich? 8” Jimmy Johns vegetarian #6!
I would give everyone the ability even though at times it can be hard to think for themselves. I feel as if now more than ever people hide behind others opinions and get wrapped up in internet drama to avoid forming their own views. Even a lot of bands currently don’t seem to stand for much besides wanting to go on tour. Don’t get me wrong touring is great and I appreciate being able to tour as much as I do but if I was getting up on a stage every night without some sort of message or feelings to portray besides wanting to tour I would give up right now on all of it. Hardcore punk should always be about some sort of expression. I want to dedicate this response to the one and only Justin Ogden of Wrong Answer fame! What are some of your favorite bands you’ve been jamming lately? Just to name a few Suburban Scum, Strike Anywhere, Scream, Aware, and Cold Cave. Thanks for answering my questions dude. Any final thoughts or shout outs? Be yourself, think for yourself!
photos by: Etha n Sigmon
drawing by: Richard Pe terson say hello to him at richard@peterson.com
photos by: Don of the Dead
Cody Johnson had the chance to hit up TX grind mastermind, Alex Hughes. One of his bands, Hatred Surge recently put out some new tracks. Check them.
IZ: Can you introduce yourself, how long the current Surge been going & your favorite pizza topping? Alex Hughes. I play bass and do vocals in Hatred Surge. The current line up of Hatred Surge has been together since summer of 2008. My favorite pizza topping is probably ricotta cheese. IZ: When did HS start? Has there been any side projects throughout the band? I noticed that you finally got a facebook.
Hatred Surge has been FFO: Weekend Nachos, around since 2004 when Depise You, Iron Lung I began recording this shit by myself and went about it. Someone fly us to through a few lineups with Australia and Japan. Please. buds in Insect Warfare, Iron What’s your favorite Lung, Endless Blockade, town/state to play in? Any and Sacred Shock. Current interesting stories from member projects include: Sungod, Mammoth Grinder, tour you would like to Iron Age, Break Time, Power share? Trip, The Impalers, Sick Plot, THE WEST COAST + BC. Put To Death, to name a TORONTO // MONTREAL // few. NYC. One time in Denmark on Iron Lung // Blockade IZ: What’s in store for the // Surge tour, I moshed rest of 2012? Tell us a shirtless to “Ain’t No Feeble little about the upcoming Bastard” at the bar and LP on Iron Lung records? smashed glasses in front of We will be releasing “Huthe 3 people we played to. man Overdose” on Iron We still made 300 euros. Lung Records this year. IZ: What would you say Daniel Shaw will be doing is your top three favorite the art for the LP & CD. horror movies? Rescued From Life will be releasing the CD, and Ghost I like these questions. Hunt will be releasing the 1. The Shining tape. We also recorded for 2. Pet Sematary a split with EXTORTION from Australia which will be 3. Event Horizon released on Rescued From IZ: Thanks for taking Life. We will be recording the time to answer some for a split with SFN and a questions and filling in limited tour 7” for a trip to the readers. Do you have Cali we will be making in any final words? July. Chaos in Tejas is on the Hey man. Thank you and horizon and we have two everyone that gives a shit. gigs on that fest. That’s For real. Keep grinding.
PHARAOH PHARAOH PHARAOH Pharaoh is a doom metal band on A389 Records that I discovered through Toxicbreed’s Funhouse. Listen to their 2010 7” ‘I, Murderer, I’ and don’t sleep on their upcoming A389 7” also.
IZ: How’s it going? Can you introduce yourself and what you do in the band, as well as how long you guys have been around?
really dictate how the songs are going to turn out. Truly I hope our music evokes a mental image in your brain. That’s Pharaoh.
Hey Brian, its cool. Things are well. I’m Rich, I play guitar, sing, and write music in Pharaoh. We started the band in February of 2009 in Neil’s basement. It wasn’t pretty. IZ: How would you describe Pharaoh’s sound for readers who haven’t heard of you guys?
Cover of upcoming 7” This House Is Doomed IZ: Can you tell us a little about your upcoming 7” through A389 Records, such as how it’s sounding compared to your last release and many tracks?
Pharaoh is a band that carves its own path. Not in that we’re doing things so differently but rather we like to think we can just write any kind of songs we want. This is our second release In its truest nature Pharaoh on A389 and altogether. We is a really cool slow, heavy, work slow. These two songs cathartic, brash, abrasive, were actually written back loud band thats potentially in 2010 but we never put capable of doing anything them out until now. We just musically. Like the ways kind of crafted them over of Boris, Harvey Milk, The time and think they sound Melvins, Deftones, Hum, The a lot different from the Beatles, Smashing Pumpfirst 7”. The songs seem to kins, etc; all artists we look carry more melody this time up to but never to emulate. through and the lyrical conWhat’s the point? You can tent even got a little more literally do anything with personal. I think the songs all the musical privileges show growth though as well allowed to us now so that’s as what else we’re capable what we go off of, we go of. It’s still heavy. “Waste” is with the flow. I think our a coercing / hypnotic track collective mental state and as there really is only one views on art coupled with main riff throughout the our most original (bare) of whole song. ideas presented when writphotos by: FutureBreed ing music can
FFO: Neurosis, slow, heavy doom hardcore
IZ: What’s in store for the future of Pharaoh after this 7”? More releases? Touring? We’re currently writing for a full length hopefully due out by the end of the year or early 2013. Most likely the latter. But in the interim we’re also doing a self released split tape with our friends in Dethroned Emperor. They’re a viciously heavy deathgrind duo and they’re metal as fckk. That should be available soon. IZ: Is there any reason you’ve chosen to only host a blogspot for Pharaoh rather than having a facebook, bandcamp, etc.? I think blogspots are a lot more manageable and people who really give a shit will visit your page or follow it. Facebook especially, and lots of other sites are just way too busy and trafficked with too much shit you don’t want to / need to hear about or sort through. We don’t have that much to say so I guess we’re pretty succinct. We’re more preoccupied with writing and releasing music. Well, now. IZ: Thanks for answering these few questions. Any last words? PharaohNJ.blogspot. com / Shout to Dom, the A389 Lord. Thanks to you Brian and anyone who likes / bought / saw us play / stole our music. We’re making shirts now too. i.e. doing real band things
INTERVIEW WITH:
A389 Rec
ordings
head honcho
Dom Romeo
Cody Johnson had the chance to hit up TX grind mastermind, Alex Hughes. One of his bands, Hatred Surge recently put out some new tracks. Check them.
IZ: How and when did A389 all start? It was sometime in 2004. I was doing a band called SLUMLORDS at the time and wanted to use the band’s popularity as an avenue to help other bands that weren’t getting out as much. That led to the first A389 release which was by a Baltimore band called BRING IT ON. From there years passed and it kinda snowballed to the point I was releasing records for my favorite legendary bands (INTEGRITY, RINGWORM, GEHENNA) and records by whatever current/up and coming bands I loved.
IZ: A389’s recently reached 100 releases. What’s in store for the future of the label? More records. Lots more records. Also took a shot at publishing a magazine, we’ll see if we can keep that going. I really want to try and do a documentary film before the 10th anniversary. I think there would be a tons of great footage from a wide variety of bands to use. We’ll see.
IZ: What’s the process in which you decide to find and ‘sign’ a band?
IZ: What would you say are great ways a band/label/etc. can get noticed in today’s music scene?
I try to keep my ear to the ground and always keep up with what A389 bands are doing musically. I usually find new bands through my current bands, reading stuff on the internet, and/or listening to demos that are mailed to me while driving to work in the morning. Every band’s record has a different story as to how it came to be.
I think just being an honest representation of what you are. A389 is not a cornerstone of youth culture...it’s just an extension of my personality which is pretty much being a dude that loves music and horror movies that puts out cool records. Just be yourself and do your thing. But DO is the key word, don’t be lazy.
IZ: Can you list 5 essential A389 releases that may be special to you for any reason and tell us why for each?
INTEGRITY - Walpurgisnacht which This is the first release I did for Integrity It . time all of d is my favorite hardcore ban , them for rd reco a do to me for was a big deal ral. and this was the first of seve
d 12” LP SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP - Self Title their songs I saw a video they made for one of Aesthetic, and everything just fell into place. everyare S SSO wise ic mus personality and thing I love about doing this label.
THE LOVE BELOW - Every Tongue Shall Caress. This is a band I’ve watched grow from their first demo to every subsequent release and they just get better and better. and cooler and cooler. It’s been a slow build for them to get recognition, but they always say what takes longer to build takes longer to fall. Their new LP is the best thing they’ve ever done.
HATEWAVES - The Tombs As if one record devoted to making fun of Alex Henderson (Taste The Beast) wasn’t enough, here is a second one released on the most ignorant format we could think of (gat efold 5”). He’s since quit the internet and moved to another state so we can’t keep tabs on him and write songs about what he’s doing. We’ll see how long that lasts tho.
FULL OF HELL - Roots Of Earth Are Consuming My Home I’ve been over playing live/going to shows for a while now. It just lost it’s appeal to me over the years but I do make the exception to see A389 bands whenever I can. Seeing FOH reminded me of what my life was like many years ago and brought back the excitement I used to feel from live performances. They truly embody everything I look for in a live band and their LP captures them perfectly.
ASES UPCOMING A389 RELEmer... Coming this Sum Seven Sisters Of Sleep - s/t 7”
Homewrecker - Worms & Dirt 12” Pharaoh - This House Is Doomed 7” Cynarae - self titled 12” Like Rats - self titled 12”
INTERVIEW
&
NATE CLICK BLACK -FROM-
Extremly talented tattooers, Nate Click & Dusty Neal recently opened a new tattoo shop in Indiana called BLACK ANVIL TATTOO (BlackAnvilTattoo.net). Some of the nicest dudes were interviewed by Ryan Wade who has a beautiful Nate Click script back piece I must say. IZ: How’s it goin’ fellas? Please introduce yourselves.
IZ: I have heard that recently you two have decided to join forces and open up your own shop. Can you tell us a little about how that came to be?
New Republic Tattoo, and over the past few years it was really our shared vision that started to shape New Republic into what it become, and also what started to create a tension between us and Donny. It was really a non-dramatic split from Donny, as we just felt it was time to leave New Republic and create something that could be completely our own. With Black Anvil we wanted to pay tribute to the traditions and honor of tattooing and create an environment that would display that pride while also being more advantageous to our clients and our shop morale.
DUSTY: Yes, the conception of Black Anvil Tattoo is a recent happening. I have been tattooing now for six years, and I met Nate my first year tattooing and have worked with him ever since he started four years ago. He was there when Donny Manco and I started
IZ: I’ve noticed that recently you both have been doing quite a bit of guest spotting and conventions through the Midwest. Can you tell us a little about how you’ve been able to do these things and how it has been going for you?
NATE: My name is Nate Click, and I co-own and tattoo at Black Anvil Tattoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana. DUSTY: I’m Dusty Neal, a tattooer at Black Anvil Tattoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a shop I co-own with Nate Click, Beau Guenin, and Dustin Stemen.
NATE: Basically all of the conventions and guest spots have come about from the more we do them. Once youre able to meet tattooers face to face, see how they work, how they conduct themselves, its pretty easy to tell if you would be into working at their shop. and if you would want them to come to yours as well. Its been nothing but an awesome time, we’ve been able to meet a lot of amazing tattooers, who are our close friends now. IZ: When you first got involved in tattooing and the industry as a whole who were some of your influences on your style and who are some artists that you look up to in a similar way today? NATE: I always had an interest in “traditional” tattooing. It was the bold, solid, clean look that made me want it.
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WITH:
DUSTY NEAL ANVIL TATTOO
DUSTY: When I first started tattooing, I had a very small view of what was really out there being done, and the merit of all types of tattooing. At the start, I was finishing a bachelor’s degree in fine and commercial art, so I was really impressed by tattooers who displayed a great amount of detail and realism. For a while Tim Kern and Robert Hernandez were my favorites because their work looked so impossible. Yet, as I moved on and discovered Tim Biedron I was blown away, and then after learning about Jeff Zuck and Criss Dettmer I started to see where I wanted to take my tattooing. My favorites now are Biedron, Grime, Seth Wood, Zuck, Dettmer, Jacob Des, Claymore Wolfmeyer, Colin McClain, and Steve Boltz.
fake skin, and was thrown into the mix, without a proper apprenticeship.
IZ: How did each of you first get introduced to tattooing and what ways did you get your start in the field?
NATE: I like tattooing whatever someone comes to me for. I am honored that they would choose me over all of the amazing tattooers out there.
NATE: I was a shop manager for about 3 months, I cleaned the floor, set-up, broke-down, cleaned tubes, answered phones, got food, etc. I then began tattooing
DUSTY: It was really just from seeing hardcore bands with tattoos and seeing metal bands I loved in magazines with crazy tattoos. It just seemed like since I loved all that stuff and was always into art, that I needed to get tattooed also. I had the worst taste in tattoos at that time though. Donny Manco accepted me as his 10th apprentice or something, and took about 5 more after me haha, but I guess I owe my start to him even though it was a very informal and untraditonal apprenticeship. IZ: What styles do you enjoy tattooing or would you say you consider yourselves to specialize in?
DUSTY: I like things that look tough, but graceful. I enjoy doing my take on traditional American and Asian styles, and fusing
them together in what I feel is a pure and original. IZ: What other tattoo artists would you recommend to readers? NATE: Get tattooed by people because you love their work, not because you found a reference and want them to copy it. depending where you are in the world, there are 3 or 4 amazing tattooers right under your nose. you just have to do your homework. DUSTY: Definitely, anyone at Black Anvil, Tim Biedron, David Maynard, Kyle Crowell, Ryan Hadley, Jacob Bryan, Joel Janiszyn, Jacob Des, Claymore Wolfmeyer and anyone at Black Label Tattoo, Colin McClain and anyone at his Skinquake shop, Rob Lamb and the guys at Couture Tattoo. IZ: Thank you again so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to do this interview. Do you have any last comments or shout outs you’d like to give? DUSTY: Keep grinding, and make sure your tattoos are ANVIL MADE!
It’s been four years since COLD WORLD released their second LP and a third is in the making. They’ve been known to fuze hip hop elements with hardcore as they released a collab with hip hop artist Sean Price last year.
IZ: Can you first just introduce yourself and what you do in the band as well as your favorite drink to pick up on tour?
IZ: It’s been four years since your last album, “Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First”, why the long break?
My name is Nick Woj. I play drums in Cold World. I’d have to say water. I’m addicted to diet soda but when I’m on tour I feel a need for water more than most times.
Dan had a bunch of kids, I was working a lot, Alex has been busy with law school and Scace moved to Phoenix. i decided to quit my job, Haroun moved in with me from Detroit and we just decided to to a new record and to tour with Arthur from War Hungry filling in for Alex. I’m not certain about the bands future beyond these tours but most of us will be doing a full-on band together in one form or another for a while.
IZ: Tell us about the long awaited new Cold World album. Can you tell us the name of it and is there an estimate of when it will be out? How was the hip hop elements progressed as well as the rest of the music? The planned name is How The Gods Chill and I really can’t say when it will be out. The bulk of the music is done but Dan still has to do his vocals and that takes the most time on our records. The hip-hop element has definitely progressed on this one. Although I haven’t really started on interludes and scratches, we have Kool G Rap and Meyhem Lauren on the album so that makes it our most hip-hop album so far.
IZ: What was it like recording and shooting the music video for “How The God’s Chill” with Sean Price? How did that come about? Our long-time friend Max was involved with The White Glove Group and he wanted to do a Judgement Nightinspired 12” with a current rapper and hc band so he hit us up after his first pick didn’t really follow through with it. Writing the song was interesting because Haroun
and I had the main riff for the verse and weren’t sure where to go from there. Thankfully Alex came through with the other parts and really made it what it is. Sean was cool to work with in the studio and for the video. He’s a nice down-to-earth guy and was really interested in what we do. The video shoot was a blast. Max rented a space in midtown Manhattan and we just invited a bunch of friends to come and mosh and I love how it came out. IZ: Speaking of hip hop, what’s some of your favorite hip hop albums and have you been doing any sort of it yourself? My taste is all over the place but my favorites are definitely all the early-mid 90’s classic NY records. All the DITC members’ solo albums, Brand Nubian, KMD, Ghost & Rae, all the Native Tongue shit, Kool G Rap, Godfather Don, Scaramanga... I could go on and on. Besides DJ’ing and doing stuff with my friends, you can say my official introduction to the “rap game” was the “How The Gods Chill” remix with
Meyhem Lauren and Roc Marciano. Then I got placement on Shaz Illyork & Spit Gemz’ “The Opposition” mix tape. Next up I’m doing Eps with Meyhem Lauren and a young group from Philly called the Bakery Boys. I also have a project with Haroun from Cold World called All Thoro where he does all the raps. We have an Ep coming out very soon with a couple guest verses from Boldy James. I’ve also been trying to DJ more regularly and I’ve been consistently doing mix tapes. IZ: What’s up with the Cold World guys residing all over the world? I’ve heard from Wilkes-Barre to England. Does that make it harder for the band? It definitely makes it harder but we find a way to make it work some how. When we can get together and record or play a gig it makes it a lot more special and fun. IZ: How’s the Eastern PA scene doing lately and how’s the scene changed since Cold World first started playing?
Path, Disengage, Title Fight and United Youth make up for a pretty good roster of bands. When we first started playing, we still had Posi Numbers, so that was a big thing. Then some weird shit happened and it was a while until people felt comfortable making a scene again. IZ: I believe you’re actually touring Europe right now? How’s that all going, and how’s it different from playing the states? Yeah, i’m answering these questions from some dude’s floor in Vienna. It’s going great. The promoters and venues in Europe seem to do way more to take care of touring bands. They feed you and try to provide a place to stay, which is great. What I like about US venues is that there’s not always bars in them and they’re not filled with smoke. So, there’s pros and cons on both sides of the pond.
IZ: Can you tell us a little about your side-project, Pegasus? Who’s it with and how’s that coming along? Pegasus was a band that was meant for George from Blacklisted to sing in, but there was problems every time he went to record for it and it wasn’t getting done so I asked if he’d mind if I sang for it since CW wasn’t doing much and he was busy with BL at the time. The other members are Haroun from CW/RZL DZL/Build & Destroy, Scace from CW, DFJ from Rival Mob/every Boston band and Arthur from War Hungry. We have a couple new jams and we’re playing Chaos In Tejas, which is exciting. IZ: Thanks a lot for taking your time out for this. Do you have any final thoughts or shout outs? No problem. Thanks for the interview. Peace
FFO: Fire & Ice, Trapped Under Ice, Down To Nothing
Our scene is pretty great. We have a new venue called Redwood Art Space and they have tons of shows. Stick Together, Beware, Dead End
photos by: Dan ielle Parsons
LOCALS ONLY LOCAL REVIEWS
HOMEWRECKER WORMS & DIRT FFO: Integriy / Harm’s Way If you’ve payed any attention to the North East Ohio hardcore scene in the past few years, you should be more than familiar with
HOMETOWN ADVANTAGE / LIOTTA split cassette tape FFO: Saves The Day / Four Year Strong
Pop punk fans should be on the look out for these two new Pittsburgh, PA
xREPRESENTx - RELENTLESS FFO: Ghost Ship / CDC
Homewrecker. This group of five dudes have put out several releases in 2011/2012 alone and all of their hard work has landed them a spot on A389 Records. Worms and Dirt is HW first full length for A389 and it doesn’t disappoint. From the into track, suggesting that disciples of the devil are among us to the crushing riffs of “Chained Hanging Victim” (featuring Dylan from label mate’s Full Of Hell), this album is a full 22 minutes of straight forward metallic hardcore. The number one thing that stand’s out to me is vocalist Ryan Sposito continuous furiosity throughout the record. With lyrics like “Your
pastor will not save you, not your money, not your cloths when your a lifeless body on the side of the road, charlatan, coward.” on the drawn out and supremely heavy track “Charlatan” you can tell that this group has an axe to grind and isn’t afraid to show it. And with everything from the creepy but mellow instrumental track “ Visions of Terror” to the more hardcore based riffs of “Eyes of Anguish”, Homewrecker has succeeded in blending many aspects of heavy music together to come out with an album that should definetly be on your summer jam list. - Andrew Greene
area bands who’ve recently released a split demo tape. I first saw and heard Hometown Advantage at a Daylight house show. From the start, I was into their catchy nasallike vocals mixed with that 90s emo sound. The first of the two songs on the split, “Heads Up Penny” is filled with d-beat verses while in the middle the drums build up as two singers yell in a singalong “I might as well be honest”. Their second song starts with a catchy riff that continues throughout with the same good emo sound we can all cry to. The other band on the split,
Liotta, hits the pop punk sound in a different way which sounds less emo and heavier in parts similar to Four Year Strong. My favorite of the three songs is titled “Ray” where the music slows at a point where a Conan O Brien clip from his final monologue off NBC plays as the music picks back up after he says “but if you work really hard, amazing things will happen”. Also, TR Rinkes from Liotta does amazing things with his DIY skatepark/music venue close to Pittsburgh, PA called Scumbags. Go there. - Brian Barr
Erie, PA’s straight edge kings xRepresentx return this year with a new offering of edge anthems. “Relentless” delivers more of what you love about Represent and does it better than before. The lyrics on this record are heartfelt and full of conviction just like we have come to expect from them. With lyrics like “You’ve made a mockery of everything I’m made of, and there will be no compassion for traitors!” you
know exactly what you’re in store for with this record. The songs are catchy, fast paced, and “relentless” just as you expect them to be. If you were not a fan of Represent in the past then this release probably won’t change your mind but if you were ever into them at all then this record is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. - Ryan Wade
SUPER PREDATOR BETWEEN MAN & MONSTER FFO: Melvins / Clutch Super Predator, consisting of Steve Engel “Black Cobra” on bass, Eric Blankenhorn “Earth Tiger” on guitar, and Dan Meinhart “Power Bear”
on drums, are a bunch of Canton and Akron, Ohio boys grow’ed on Busch Light tallboys, weed, and shitty jobs. On their second release “Between Man and Monster” (due out July 10, 2012 / Canton Records / www. keepingitcanton.com/superpredator) it is no wonder why the sludge metal trio takes an cynical tone on life in the 21st century. Singing about uncontrollable politics, being broke in the 21st century, and overall frustration with a corporate American greed, Super Predator throws out eight tracks which are powerful, sleazy, bluesy, demanding the attention from the
bluest of blue collars. This is one for the partiers. Anyone familiar with Super Predator in the past will recognize the track “Buried in the Walls”, an details look at serial killing hookers, which they give new life on this album. Another breakout track is “Vampire of Cleveland” which brings to light the politics and corporate greed sucking the life out of Cleveland’s previously thriving music scene. With eight tracks in all Super Predator proves they can be as weird as the Melvins, stoned as Clutch and as brash as MC5. - Nixon Obama
NOT- LOCAL REVIEWS
EXPIRE - PENDULUM SWINGS FFO: Backtrack / Soul Search
INVERLOCH DUSK | SUBSIDE FFO: Pallbearer / doom metal
Hailing from Melbourne, Australia is death/doom metal band, Inverloch. They
“Soon enough you’ll find, that life’s a fucking bitch!” Almost as soon as the record starts this line shows up and lets you know what you’re in for. Quite possibly the most anticipated record this year in hardcore and for good reason. With 12 songs blazing by in just over 20 minutes, this record is a scorcher. Every track hits just as hard as the last and the lyrics are just as pissed off and honest as you
could have hoped for. They’re not reinventing the wheel or doing anything new but they are definitely doing hardcore right. “Pendulum Swings” is filled with memorable lyrics and destructive guitar riffs to please any hardcore enthusiast. If you check out one record this year make sure it is Expire’s “Pendulum Swings.” Don’t sleep on this one. - Ryan Wade
impressively slow our world down with their first material in this 3 song mini-LP released on Relapse Records where each track averages 7 minutes in length. It is a dark mix of sludgy doom metal, explosive death metal with parts worthy of corpse paint. The first song, “Within Frozen Beauty” slowly arises with ambient guitar playing over short & quiet cymbal crescendos. After two minutes, the song explodes in viscous gutturals, blast beats, and powerful guitar which continues till it suddenly ends into a gloomy noise which seamlessly moves into
the next song, “The Menin Road”. This song features more of the band’s doom aspect moving slowly at 40 beats per minute. Stay patient, sit back and take in the dark funerary doom. The last song on this release is my personal favorite. It is a deathly mix between banging your head slowly to doom metal with devastating power to admiring the black metal-esque blast beats as it ends in eerie voices behind the slowing down beat of Inverloch. - Brian Barr