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The Hard-Rock'n Bi-Weekly Magazine The kickass Local Edition
Inside This Issue: This Is: Hennka Blacksmith of Children Of Bodom, Memoirs of a Band Whore: Church Stories, 5 Popular Zombie Survival Tactics (That Will Get You Killed), Impact: Sal Lococo of Sworn Enemy, Dear Dead Abby, vikki sin speaks, The Rant: Frank Phobia “I never lost faith in music until now�
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This Is: Hennka Blacksmith of Children Of Bodom Interview by: Nicole Marie B. Photos by Michael Demos Children Of Bodom, Eluveitie, Revocation and Threat Signal were our phenomenal guests last night at Club Reverb in Reading, Pa. Four diverse bands and a very diverse crowd; old, young, long hair, leather, chains, and blue face paint are only a few of the things we saw last night, and let me tell you, we all pulled it off, and it made for one AMAZING show! Fresh off the 70,000 Tons Of Metal Tour, and back on dry land, I was happy to sit down with COB’s Henkka Blacksmith for a talk about the band, their crazy busy schedule, and what us fans can expect from them next. PI: Henkka, what do you think, because of your Finnish Heritage, makes you different from other metal bands? HB: Umm I don’t know what it is about Finnish Bands. They say it is the culture of silence and long periods of darkness and high level of musical education, so maybe those are the rational reasons. PI: For people who don’t know what your name stands for, can you please explain it, and why the band chose it? HB: Bodom is a lake in southern Finland; it used to be a very popular lake in the summer for families. It has a nice beach with water slides and camping areas. And in the year 1960 two teenage couples were camping and during the night, somebody came and cut the wires of the tent so the tent collapsed on the teenagers inside, while they were sleeping, and then this person or persons started stabbing them through the tent. In the end, 3 of them were killed and 1 survived. The murderer was never caught and the motive was never found. Its actually one of the biggest crime mysteries in Finland. We chose it because it’s a funny word, Bodom is not even a Finnish word, I think it’s Swedish actually. And also because we are from that area; we were all kids when the murder happened. PI: So, Henri Samuli Seppälä is your real name, but you have a very extensive nickname “Henkka T. Blacksmith”, can you please explain where this nickname originated from? HB: Well Henkka and Henri are pretty much the same meaning, Seppä means Blacksmith in English. The T stands for Torso. A couple years ago, for some reason I was using the word Torso for a curse word, like just as a slang thing, and then the other guys just started calling me Torso. That’s where it all came from, haha. PI: I’ve read you can play many different instruments: bass, guitar, drums, & you can do vocals as well. If you had the chance to change your current position in the band, without anybody getting mad, would you switch to something else? HB: No, haha. Maybe just for fun, one time, but.. yea, probably not, haha. Drums are too hard, I couldn’t pull that off. I probably couldn’t pull of guitar either. I’m good the way it is now. PI: Compared to other Metal bands in your genre, your sound is very tight and technical. Did most of you learn this from more of a formal musical education or are you mostly self taught? Or both? HB: Well most of us are educated. Everybody took lessons, that’s for sure. And some of us even went to musical schools. So because of that, the theory is definitely there. Most of the riffs are out of the theoretical world as we were taught. Although we do add our own sound and make it work for what we are doing. So to answer, yes, there is education, and like you said, you can hear it.
PI: Do you still study political science and political history in the University of Helsinki? How exactly, with your busy band schedule, do you find time to do that? HB: Yes I still do. I actually just finished my Thesis for my master’s degree, and I should be graduation this spring. (PI) Wow, masters, that’s pretty impressive, can you tell me what you did your thesis on? (HB) Well thank you, and I did it on development aid. And yes, I should be done with everything this spring. It’s hard to find the time, of course, that’s why it’s taken me 10 years to get my masters, haha. PI: So you guys just got off the 70,000 Tons of Metal Tour, how did it go? How does it feel to be back on dry land, haha? (The World's Biggest Floating Heavy Metal Festival. a total of 40 bands and 2,000 fans for a 4-day Caribbean adventure on a luxury cruise ship) HB: Haha yes it went very well. There were a lot of bands we knew, actually there were like 5 or 6 Finnish bands. So yes it was a lot of fun, a lot of drinking! But it feels good to be back here, to be on the bus. You know you can’t be on a cruise forever, it’s quite rough to do. (PI)Yes I can imagine, would you do it again if you had the chance? (HB) I would probably not go as a tourist, but as a Musician I would definitely do it again. I loved it. PI: Can you tell me, how are you treated in the US compared to how you’re treated in Finland? HB: I would say in Finland we are a little bigger, the venues are bigger and a little more organized. Here it is more a low key thing, more down to earth. (PI) Do you like that better? (HB) I really don’t mind, as long as everything works out I am happy. And we always have the same crew, so we know the stage will always be ready when we need it and there will be no surprises. PI: Can you explain the title "RELENTLESS RECKLESS FOREVER? HB: There is really no explanation for it, haha. It just means that after 10 years of doing albums, we are still doing the same thing that we want to do, and the thing we started with, and without doing any compromising. We are still doing our thing, that’s what it essentially means. (PI) Do you feel that you have continued on the same path that you originally wanted? (HB) Yeah, definitely, we never changed. PI: So how did it feel to work with famed rock producer Matt Hyde (who also produced for Slayer, Monster Magnet), on your new album Relentless Reckless Forever? HB: It felt really good. He is a really, really nice guy and that’s why we chose him. We saw that he could produce a really good record and he was a great guy. We all got along very well. He was very enthusiastic and committed to the whole process. We really enjoyed working with him.
PI: In your songs, a lot of your lyrics talk about, or tend to fixate on hell and the devil, can you explain to me what your personal beliefs are on those things? HB: A lot of our lyrics come from daily situations, and normal things such as love and hatred. Its all metaphors I would say, like the devil maybe standing for a girlfriend or something haha. There are no actual religious meanings or anything, its all just symbols. PI: A song on your latest album asks the question “Is it worth it”, do you believe it is? HB: Yes, totally I think it is. When we were starting out we had no expectations, and we did everything step by step to get where we are now. But yes I believe it was all worth it. I wouldn’t change anything. PI: Talking about another one of your songs, the very popular “Are you dead yet?” So if you don’t mind, can you tell us why exactly aren’t you dead yet? HB: Haha! Well, I really haven’t done anything bad that would cause me to be dead yet, I would say I live a quite safe life. So that’s probably why, I would say, haha. Of course accidents can happen, but let’s hope not! (PI) Haha, yes, we don’t want any of those. PI: So after a long time of touring here, can you tell me, what is something about America that you love, and even that you hate? HB: I really love the diversity, both geographical and culturally from this country. From Miami to Minnesota, and from Texas to Manhattan, I love how everywhere is so different. You know, two days ago we were in the port of Miami and now we’re in Pennsylvania, and it’s crazy to see how different it is. Like the climate and everything, it’s nice to see so many differences, and see so many different things to do in one country. (PI) You’re very correct on that one. So what’s something that you hate? (HB) Well, I miss the city life. For example, here, there no like real cities, there’s just the “office hours” cities. Like tonight here in Reading, on a Sunday afternoon the city is dead. There’s nothing open. I was walking around and couldn’t even find a coffee shop that was open. That’s one thing I miss, and one thing I don’t like most about American cities. Of course there is places like in New York and Los Angeles where that isn’t the case, but that’s the biggest difference I see between here and Europe. PI: So you guys have traveled all over the world, and you’re in America now, I have to ask, who has the hottest women, Finland, or America? HB: Like I said about America, you have so many diversities that we just can not compete. We has such a small country, that there is no way we can compete with your great.. big.. diverse.. multicultural nation. Haha! PI: Can you tell us, what is your favorite reason for doing this, or that makes you stay in this business? What makes you wake up in the morning and keeps you doing what you do everyday. HB: We have amazing live shows, they are always good. We get to really connect with our fans. Also seeing different places and different people. Those two combined is my reason. PI: So what’s next on the agenda for Children of Bodom? HB: Well these next 35 tour dates, we’ll do this tour, and then we go home. And then we will actually start writing new songs for an album in May and then we’ll go back on tour for summer and keep writing for the that album. Hopefully we can start recording at the end of the year. PI: Well Henkka, I have to thank you so much for sitting down with us and giving us a chance to get Plug’d In! HB: Of course! Thank you for having me!
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Dear Dead Abby Q. A girl at my school dropped her IPod during lunch. She didn’t notice it. I picked it up and brought it home. The next day she came in with a new her parents bought her because she lost her other one. Should I tell her I found it? M.B. A. Why didn’t you give it to her when you found it? Why’d you take it home in the first place? You wanted to keep the thing, but those nagging thoughts inside that wouldn’t let you rest peacefully about it…it’s called a conscience. Be glad you have a little bit of one left. A lot of people don’t. It’s not too late for you, young one. Do the honorable thing and tell her you found it. I don’t tell people what to do. I give advice. It’s your choice if you take it or not. Q. My boyfriend and I fight about everything! I’ve had enough. What do I do? K.F. A. If you’re unhappy, break up. There is no point in going through life completely miserable. Life is short. If you’ve tried talking things through and getting to the underlying reason of the fighting and nothing changes, then cut your losses and move on. Q. Did you know that the Giants we’re going to win the Superbowl? Can you tell the future? If so, wanna make some money with me? Anon A. No. No. No. Q. This kid in my class gets picked on and beat up every day by my friends. Should I try and stop it? It’s not really my business so I don’t think I should get involved, but I feel bad for him. They just pick on him cause he looks weird. What should I do? J.R. A. Nice friends you have there. Why are you friends with people like that? So they won’t pick on you? People need to grow a pair and stand up for themselves and what’s right. You obviously know what they’re doing is wrong. You’re probably scared that if you say something, you won’t be one of the cool kids anymore, aww, poor baby. What goes around comes around. Someday when you wish someone would stand up for you, or extend a hand, will they? Once you graduate school, high school, college, whatever, you will realize that there are much more important things to life than how cool you were in school. Q. I’m thinking about dropping out of school because I got offered a really good job working for a car dealership. Schools been really hard and I never have time for anything and the $ at this job is good. If I leave school am I making a bad decision? S.D. A. If you drop out of school, you’re an idiot. You might enjoy it now, but what if you get laid off or fired? What if you hate your job? What will you have to fall back on? McDonalds? There’s a career. Shift manager at McDonalds because you dropped out of school and have no marketable skills. Unless that’s what you like. Free food, bossing teenagers around, cleaning up shit and puke, yeah, I’m sure someone out there has high aspirations to land that job.
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Memoirs of a Band Whore: Church Stories Memoirs of a Band Whore: Church Stories This is another Philadelphia story. After this experience, I am 100% convinced I am going straight to Hell. Like, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, just go to the fiery pits and burn. This is perhaps THE most jaw-dropping story I have. When I told my friends about this one, they were speechless. I just hope my father never finds out about this one because he may exorcise me on the spot and / or disown me. The tour was The Discovery Tour. The bands were: Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, Carnifex, Structures, and Betraying the Martyrs. I was really gonna stay home and sit this one out, but when Marc Okubo (guitarist of Veil of Maya) told me he'd guest list me plus one, I had to go. Since it was a Monday and my girl had to work the next morning, I took one of my very good male friends with me. I was concerned about this - how am I gonna meet more band dudes without my typical partner in crime? We took the train to Philly (because, after my Vampires Everywhere experience, there was no way in hell I was paying 30 bucks to park in Philly again). The show was in Center City at the First Unitarian Church. We arrived and I exchanged hellos with Marc and the other Veil of Maya guys ( I had met them on the 2011 Summer Slaughter tour, this story to come in another issue....). I thanked him for the guest list and we went our separate ways. It was clear these boys were all business until their set time. Lame. So my friend and I watched the show. It was actually good, usually I'm dying to drink and bang, but I was enjoying myself. I took notice to the fact that Betraying the Martyr's vocalist, Aaron Matts, looked very familiar....oh yes, we were facebook friends. He was so sexy - tall, covered in tattoos, trendy Euro hair & style, and THAT ACCENT. This band was straight from Paris, France; however, he was from England, and he had that hot British accent and the ability to speak fluent French with his band mates. OMG. FOREIGN BOY. My friend and I were not interested in Carnifex's set. We just went outside to chain smoke. I was done up for this show - but not the normal. My heels were a lot smaller and I wasn't in a short dress. Vocalist boy kept walking by my friend and I, and we kept exchanging glances. Finally he approached us, sat down, and began talking with us. I could listen to him talk for forever. He was flirting with me, and we were definitely exchanging sex eyes. He mentioned drinking, and of course I realized this was how I could keep him hanging out with me the rest of the night. We immediately linked up. My friend went back into the show (he understood exactly what I was trying to do - my friends know me very well). I walked with this boy and his band mate down the street to get some four loko. These foreign boys were great, they walked around with their alcohol and didn't give a fuck. Aaron was sharing his four loko with me, and I was getting a nice buzz. He was naughty. He kept making sexual comments at me. He kept putting his arm around me, holding my hand, grabbing my ass, and kissing me. Fuck yeah. I liked where this was going. Time out from the story for a second. One of my favorite things to do is walk around a show, being led around by a band boy that everyone recognizes. People look at you. Girls are dying to be you. It's fucking great. Then they take you to their merch table. People came up for pictures and autographs, and you get to stand by your man-for-thenight's side and flaunt your shit. I love the ones that ask you if you’re the band boy's girlfriend. Sometimes the band boy will play along with it. Sometimes they don't. Then the fan will be like, "You guys are soooooooo cute together!" And I'm just like, fucking duh. Fucking duh.
Anyways, Aaron was doing all that. He led me around the whole venue. He didn't leave my side. I was definitely his prized possession for the night, and he was mine. And this is where it all starts to get really good. He led me through the crowd and through a door. We were alone in the hallway that led backstage. He pushed me against the wall and the make-out fest began. This fucking dude wanted to bang right there. And I'm all like no, people are gonna walk here, lets find somewhere else. Next he's leading me up the stairs, through another hallway, and there it is: the church. Pews, alters, all that holy bullshit. I thought he was gonna bang me right there on a pew, but instead he led me out to the communal. He didn't waste any time. I was up against the wall, he was whipping it out, and the next thing I know I was in banging heaven (oh, the irony). It was incredible. Some of the best sex of my life. And the fact that he talked dirty to me in a BRITISH ACCENT made it that much better. When we finished, my mind was blown. I was now just realizing the details of this situation. Not only did we just bang in a church, but my shirt had an inverted cross on it, Born of Osiris was playing loud and clear downstairs, and we left the used rubber on the floor. Yep, Jesus definitely hates me now. It's official: there's a special place in hell reserved for me. We returned to the show. It was more than obvious we just hooked up. And I can't understand French, but I knew he was telling his band mates what we'd just done, simply by their reaction and his expression. "Don't worry, I'm telling them it was fucking great," he assured me. Oh god. Fast forward the rest of the show. We continued hanging out. I found my friend and we decided it was time to go back to the train station. Aaron kissed me good-bye outside in front of everyone, and I left. My friend and I proceeded to get stuck in Philly that night. We read the train schedule wrong and missed the last train home. Can't be lucky with everything in life, I guess. Thank god I know so many people. I found us a ride back to the station. And thus ends my story. The things I learned from this experience: 1) Foreign boys are great in more ways than one. 2) I actually really like Betraying the Martyrs. 3) I don't need my friends boobs to get laid at a show. I can do it with just my ass too. 4) I still hate Philly. 5) Churches are great for things besides praying and praising God, they're great for sex too. 6) I'm going to Hell. I definitely took metal to a whole new level. I don't know many girls that can proudly say they fucked a touring metal vocalist in a church, while wearing an inverted cross shirt, with metal playing in the background, and had the balls to leave the rubber behind. But I can. This is what sets me apart from everyone else. NO ONE can get on my level of zero fucks being given...I wonder who ever found that condom anyways....hmmm..... Alright. We gotta have a little disclaimer here. In no way do the opinions of this article reflect the opinions of Plug’d In Magazine. Nor do we attest that the information is correct. We didn’t write it, we just edited it. This posting was submitted by someone who was cool enough to give you a glimpse inside their world…whether you agree with it or not. Our job is to bring you some interesting shit and let’s face it, this shit is interesting. M.D. Editor
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5 Popular Zombie Survival Tactics (That Will Get You Killed) By Robert Brockway Everybody has a zombie contingency plan. A unique and ingenious stratagem they've spent hours contemplating that ensures they and their loved ones will stay alive in the event of a zombie apocalypse. The only problem? You've got the exact same essential plan as everybody else: go raid the gun store, get out of the cities as fast as possible, find a sturdy base to fortify and hole up in, use a melee weapon whenever possible to conserve ammo and--if the worst does come to pass and you find yourself facing down a crowd of the undead--take your time, aim carefully and make every shot a head shot. Jesus, you're not going to last five minutes. Here's why: #5 Raiding the Gun Store First things first: You need a firearm. The time for "common sense gun control" went out the window the second grandpa came back from the afterlife to make a sandwich out of your face. No matter what your political stance was before the uprising, you fucking love the Second Amendment now. You want the biggest, shiniest, loudest monstrosity possible. If there's a gun that shoots a thousand bullets a second; that's great. If there's one that shoots a thousand flaming bullets a second; even better! If there's a gun that shoots out other guns that all fire thousands of flaming bullets in mere seconds--like some sort of pyramid scheme comprised entirely of shredding death infernos-well, that would be just dandy. But even if you already have the god-king of firearms at your disposal, you're still not ready. You need to arm everybody in your group, you need spares just in case and you need ammo. In short, you need to get to the gun store. The only problem being: So does everybody else. The closest gun shop to your house is also the closest gun shop to a thousand other people's houses, and at least a few dozen of them are going to get there before you. Assuming that the place isn't clean out--probably because the shop is either locked down like a fortress, or because the owners are barricaded inside and would rather like to keep their livelihood and defensive measures, thanks--you still need to get your arsenal. See, owners of gun stores tend to like guns, and people that like guns not only generally want to keep them, but are also quite capable of using them. "You can have my gun... when you come down to my place of business and ask politely. I've got a lot, take one!" Now you and a thousand other people are on the outside of a suburban fortress, hurling "pretty pleases" at a half-insane, heavily-armed, trained marksmen inside. Not only are you probably not coming away from the gun store with a shiny new weapon; you'd be lucky to get out of there without an impromptu sunroof installed in your skull. #4 Get Out of Town A major city is the absolute worst place to be in the event of a zombie uprising. The population density alone spells trouble, so the farther you can get away from civilization, the better. At the very first sign of trouble, you need to get right the hell out of there. In fact, everybody does. And what happens when everybody in a city needs to get somewhere at the same time? Like, say, during rush hour? That's right: deadlock. It's just that this time, there's a bit more emphasis on the "dead." One man's traffic jam is another's buffet line. Blindly following your knee-jerk flee response has dropped you straight in the middle of Super-Rush-Hour, a hellish place where you sit futilely trapped in a confined space, surrounded by people who may or may not already be infected, but are certainly standing around looking delicious to the zombie hordes. You just wanted to get out as quickly as possible, but now look at you: Stuck in an unmoving meat-line with a thousand other morsels and the only thing your car is doing is keeping the freshness in until the ravenous human can-openers get there. #3 Fortify Your Base Shelter, along with food and water, is one of the three main essentials absolutely necessary to human life. Just because
there's no more room in Hell for the dead, that doesn't mean you no longer need a roof keeping your head dry. So you'd better get busy either finding or building yourself no less than an impenetrable fortress, and stay there until this thing blows over, right? Not so much. Putting yourself in a siege situation only works if there's the possibility that the invading force will stop. But you're not dealing with people here. Holding out against an army of people works because people can be reasoned with, they might have to leave to get supplies, or perhaps they'll just weigh the pros and cons of the situation and leave. Not like zombies. "It's been two months, so uh ... you guys need anything? Coffee? Blankets? No? Nothing? Brains? Oh, OK! Brains it is." Zombies don't get bored or impatient, they need nothing to keep them alive (because they're, you know, not) and they're not really known for their logistic prowess: No cons will be weighed here. Food is a pro. You are food. You are there. So there are only pros here. They will wait for you forever. But you will run out of supplies eventually, and every day you stay put in your nigh-invulnerable bunker is another day zombies pile up outside. Zombies aren't a threat because they thin out gradually over time - they're a threat because they fucking multiply. Zombies beget zombies beget zombies, and they do their best begetting while scrabbling incessantly at your door for months on end because they can hear you crying inside. All "holing up" in a stationary location does is make the zombies want it more. It makes them savor you. #2 Conserve Ammo: Use Melee Weapons When Possible The zombie apocalypse is a rough and tumble place, and most of us manage to rack up ER-worthy papercuts even at our current passive office jobs. In short: You're going to have open wounds, and exploding heads tends to be a bloody affair. So if all body fluids infect, blood included, then bites are the least of your worries. Consider this: For the sake of argument, let's pretend you don't spend your free time reading about zombies on the Internet and are, instead, a human being at peak physical condition. Now, go outside and find the nearest, smallest wild animal. Good? OK, now dive-tackle that son of a bitch and try to take a bite out of it. How did you fare? Did you manage to get even a lick out of that squirrel? If yes, then holy shit! You really did that? That was just a hypothetical scenario. You're crazy as hell. Don't waste your time here, man. The zombie apocalypse is the least of your worries. The Devil is probably possessing your scrotum right now; you've got bigger fish to fry. But if you didn't manage to get a taste of that woodland critter, well, that illustrates the point nicely: Grabbing an unwilling victim with your bare hands and taking a bite isn't easy. Things want to live, and they tend to move around a lot when you attempt to eat them, just like you will when grasped by a zombie. Just avoiding bites is not the problem. However, showering an attacker with your head-juice when it is bashing in your skull with a cricket bat is quite a different matter. That's a fucking cakewalk. Bashing in a head at close range means you're going to get blood everywhere; if you had so much as a scrape, now you're a zombie. It's much better to use up a bit of your ammo supply, rather than risk taking a crimson shower in skull leavings from the infectious undead. #1 Always Aim for the Head Everybody knows that the only surefire way to kill a zombie is to destroy the brain, and we've already established that you want to be as far away as possible when you do that, so at some point in time you're going to be shooting zombies in the head. That's actually one of the only good things about a zombie apocalypse; headshots are awesome! But think about that for a second: Headshots are impressive in movies and video games because they're the hardest of all possible shots. Taking your time and waiting for the right moment is all well and good if you're picking off roamers for a disturbing afternoon's entertainment on a leisurely Sunday picnic, but if shit goes down and you're faced with a crowd of zombies (they do tend to crowd, you see, quite rude like that) your last concern should be surefire kills, it should be getting the fuck out of there, finding a safe corner to sob in, and then finding a change of pants (in that order). Relax. It became OK for men to cry somewhere around the time you had to blow your brother's undead face apart. Yes, headshots are the only way to kill the undead, but not the only way to stop them. A broken leg isn't just a figure of speech; it's a fucking leg that is broken. As in, it doesn't work anymore. Regardless of the level of pain you are capable of registering, a shattered femur or severed spine renders anything essentially immobile. So quickly spraying waist -level fire into an approaching onslaught is a far better idea than lining up headshots for bonus points. Plus, you've got to think: If there's even the slightest tinge of humanity left in these shambling monsters, a nutshot is still going to at least wind the male ones. There's a limit to what death can take away; ball-sensitivity might still be in play.
http://www.cracked.com/article/126_5-popular-zombiesurvival-tactics-that-will-get-you-killed/
Impact: Sal Lococo of Sworn Enemy Interview by Michael Demos and Danielle Welgemoed Taylor A little while back we caught up with our good friend Sal Lococo at Reverb in Reading, Pa as Sworn Enemy was getting ready to open up for Biohazard. It’s always fun talking to Sal and this time proved no different. We talked about music and the band, but things definitely got interesting when we started talking about Politics. Sal told us all about being an American, where he gets his inspiration to write, and exactly who he’s going to vote for in this year’s election…M.D. PI: Sal, the last time we saw you was at Tsunami Fest. You’re back here tonight at Reverb opening up for Biohazard. What’s your opinion of the club man? You love it down here? SL: I think the club’s pretty awesome man. It’s got a great setup. The only problem for me personally would be that if we were ever to headline a club like this, it’s a little too big for us I think. I prefer the smaller ones, you know? You can pack them out; People tight together. I like it when it’s like that, you know? Hey, this is a great club you know? Frank is great. The people who run the place are great. Chris is great. Everything about this place is really cool and the last time we were here we had a lot of fun playing the show, had a great fucking time and you know... I have nothing bad to say about the club at all. It’s awesome. PI: You guys are opening up for Biohazard tonight, or actually, supporting Biohazard tonight. What do you think? How’s your relationship with those guys? SL: It’s always been a good relationship, you know? They’re from the same neck of the woods that we are. Big inspiration in my life. I grew up loving the band and you know I’m really glad we got so many opportunities to play with them over the years. It’s been great just to hang out with those dudes and chill out and hear the stories and shit. That’s the shit that I love. PI: I was talking to Billy a little bit earlier about hardcore. I wanted to ask you, what is your definition of hardcore music? SL: Hardcore music, for me when I think of hardcore music, I put it in perspective like this. Cro-Mags. Agnostic Front. That’s hardcore music to me. Ya know? Today you have a lot of bands that form to this category called hardcore. It’s been broadened. It’ has been, like, widened. The range of bands that are in it, but you can’t call a lot of bands today that say they’re hardcore, hardcore. You have bands that have that sound like Death Before the Sun, or Terror, AF, Cro-mags, there’s a very distinctive hardcore sound. Madball. You know that these bands are hardcore bands and then again you get bands like All Out War that get thrown in the hardcore category just because of lifestyle association. It depends on what band you’re talking about at the moment. It’s hard to really put a thing around it you know? But, I know what I consider hardcore and I know what really is hardcore and I know what’s not really hardcore. So, you just gotta know it. It’s not something that can be explained. You just know or you don’t. That’s it, you know? PI: Are there any newer bands that might of come out in the past couple years that might be carrying that hardcore torch? SL: If there is, I don’t know. I’m out of the loop. I’m just an old man now. I just like to sit home, watch TV and relax. (Laughs) (PI) Still rockin’ it though! (SL) That’s the fire in me, I never lose that. I always want to play. Going
to shows and seeing other people perform and shit just drives me to do what I do. I can’t be at a show and not think like “fuck man, I want to get up on stage’. It’s just…I always want to perform and I always want to do my best. I always want to make people go crazy. I live for that. That’s my drive in life. I’ve seen a lot of it. So, I think I did pretty good over the years and if I lived to die tomorrow, I’d be a happy camper. PI: Right, That’s cool. Saw your new shirt down there. It’s actually got one of the shots from Tsunami Fest. That’s kind of cool, man. SL: Well, were all talking about getting a picture shot for the back of the shirt. So, we were going through so many photographs, even events that we played in Europe and shit, and that was just…It was…It caught the eye you know? It was like ‘Yeah, That one!”. It just so happened to be here and we’re playing here again. Maybe we can have a duplicate performance of that night. PI: Nice, How long do you see yourself doing this? SL: Until the body fails. I mean, so far, it’s pretty good. I’m still in good health. My knees are fine. I can still hop around a little bit. I don’t know, realistically? I don’t see myself quitting anytime soon. So, as long the younger guys in the band keep me motivated, it’s fine. I will keep going. So, maybe come 70. PI: What’s new for you guys? SL: Working on some new tunes; trying to get our act together. That’s about it really. (PI) Any video support? (SL) Well, That usually comes with a label and right now we don’t have a label. So, you know. That comes with making new music and shopping it around. Everything that we need is all dependent on us writing new stuff. So, once we get some new shit together, then we can start shopping for label, manager, blah blah blah, this guy, that guy. We just gotta write new music first. PI: Today, 2012. What would be your motivation? What would you put on the new album? What are you looking around and seeing and saying ‘You know what? I’m going to write about that!’? SL: I always deal with life situations, and shit that happens around globally, as well as myself. There plenty of pickin’s. All you have to do is turn on the news and pick a topic and write about anything. The news is never anything good. It’s always negative. I wish I had a negative outlook. No pun intended on that one, but you know it’s very easy. World events, that’s probably the biggest thing that I always write about, all the shit that’s been going on, from September 11th until today. That’ probably the easiest thing for me to write about, because it’s what I’m most knowledgeable about because I’m always on the internet looking up all the current events going on in the world today. Some people might think the internet is for stupid shit, well, I use it for stupid shit too, but I like to know what’s going on around my surroundings. I like to know, god forbid, if the world is going to end tomorrow. I like to know. I like to be in the know. It’s really not difficult for me to pick something. I can pick and choose whatever I want. It doesn’t take much for me. I could just see something, I can see a clip for maybe ten seconds, see what they’re talking about, and I can write about it.
PI: 2012, election year. Who are you looking at? SL: They all suck. I’m not looking for anybody. I want an Independent, somebody who has nothing to do with nobody. Right now, the way things are run in this country, I’m not going to badmouth America, because it’s where I live and I love it. I’m straight up. I’m more of an American than any American can be. I live for this place and I wouldn’t want to be born anywhere else, because there is nobody that has a country like we do. You know what I’m saying? But the people with the power in this country are so corrupt. I mean, when is enough, enough? How much money do you need? How much power do you need? Really, seriously, you know? It’s like, is it time to share the wealth yet? Can’t you see we’re going into a depression? I mean, something has got to be done about it. It’s just… It’s retarded how, what is it? 1% of the population controls 99% of its wealth. Come one man, that’s a ridiculous statistic right there. It used to be once up on a time, a middle class, an upper class and a lower class. The middle class is gone. Now you’ve either got money, or you don’t. You know, and there is not much that can be done about the changing right unless it starts with the people at the top. It’s gotta work from the top down. It ain’t working from the bottom up, because if it works from the bottom up then you’ve got anarchy. PI: Anyway Sal, I want to say thanks for sitting down with us giving us a chance to get Plug’d In, SL: My pleasure, man, definitely, anytime brother.
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By Vikki Sin As someone that’s pretty obsessed with music, I go to a decent amount of shows, from local to arena level and everything in between. I write for the magazine, and I’ve done my share of working with different artists in different capacities, so I’ve spent some time on every side of the spectrum. Sometimes, I’ll be standing in a venue, tired from 3 solid, sweaty days of concert madness, thinking to myself, “Someone should really address proper show etiquette”. So, over the years I’ve mentally compiled a list of behaviors that I’ve witnessed that irk the shit out of me. Before we get into the hectic summer schedule of festivals and 100 degree dive bars, I have a bone to pick with some of you people. First of all, I understand hygiene is a tricky subject with some fans, especially in certain genres, but for the love of fuck, can you at least throw on some deodorant? It’s not like that should even need to be explained. Furthermore, a room full of loud noises and other people isn’t full license to fart and piss all over the damn place. You know what’s metal? Walking to the toilet. Let’s just all grab on to that notion and run with it. Oh, and while you’re in there, try your hardest to not rub your bloody tampon all over the stall. Challenging, I know, but probably a good thing to make a mental note of. It’s nice to be excited to see your favorite artists, and it’s great to be drunk or fucked up on some other substances, but there are certain things that push the line of acceptance: for example, the whole “shoving everyone in one direction like a herd of cattle” thing. I don’t care what the reasoning, it’s fucking stupid. I almost died at a Manson show once because I was bent parallel to the floor about an hour before he even came on stage. I’m someone who’s okay right in the action, using my old roller derby hip checking moves, but I’ll never understand the point of that. Don’t come to a show and beg for money. The rest of us don’t have any either. After all, you were able to pay to get in to the show, so I don’t feel sorry for you and I’m not funding your meth addiction. Musicians are not going to remember you from “the one time in Jersey when you signed my CD”. These people meet 50,000 people a day and they have so much going on, that no matter how significant something seems to you, they probably don’t remember. That’s not to say they don’t ever or that they don’t appreciate you, but the chances aren’t good, and you’re just making it awkward by saying anything like that. Conversely, I have no respect for artists that go out of their way to act like they’re too busy to interact with fans. It’s my number one “grinds my gears” issue with musicians. Because, after all, these people are the reason that you get to live the way you do. You should certainly have time to sign as many autographs as possible, or at least be apologetic and humble if you can’t. I’ve met a lot of down to earth artists, and it makes me want to support them that much more. Most of the bouncers in the world need to reevaluate what that title entails. When you take on a job at a place that hosts concerts fairly regularly, you probably shouldn’t be supremely annoyed with that fact. I know it’s cutting into your GTL time to have to fish lil’ Billy and his broken arm out of the Emmure pit, but it’s time to accept that that’s what happens at a rock venue. We don’t appreciate paying $30 to get treated like the lowest form of life on Earth. (Unless it’s GWAR. Then it’s encouraged.) I hope to see everyone out this summer supporting music of all kinds, but please, make sure you shower first.
vikkisinspeaks@plugdinmagazine.com
The Rant: Frank Phobia “I never lost faith in music until now” Frank Phobia is a decent dude with a shit-ton of experience in multiple aspects of the music field. Currently he is GM/ Talent Buyer for Reverb in Reading Pa. Frank has seen inside the industry that most people don’t even know exist. He decided to bestow some of his knowledge and tell us exactly what irks him about bands today…M.D. Frank: I’m just going to rattle off the top of my head, and my notes. I’ve played music for 22 years in a band called Anthrophobia, produced records for the past 15 years, owned an independent record company that I’ve run for the past 11 years, I’ve been booking shows for over 20 years, I owned a skate park, I owned a club, and worked for every club in Pennsylvania basically that does live music. I’ve never lost faith in music, until now. Right now what I’m seeing is beyond pathetic, but I can’t be angry because I don’t think it’s on purpose, I think bands for the most part just don’t have a clue. I think that it’s not a vicious thing that they are doing, I just think that they need to be better educated and really think about it as a business as much as it is music. Not to be angry at anyone specific but let’s start with the fact of your instrument. How about you learn how to play it first? Learn how to play your instrument and take some lessons. If you’re self taught, you know what? You can always be better. Write some songs. Before you want to put them online or before you want anyone in the world to hear what you’re doing, don’t put the cart before the horse. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “oh book my band, book my band” and I’m like “okay cool, you’ve got a 30 minute set” and they show up and they have 5 songs, that’s it, and they play 15 minutes. That’s not acceptable. Practice, practice, practice. Get better, write songs, and think about hooks. Think about it, when a song is over ask somebody what they liked about that song. If they can’t hum it to you, it’s not a good song and it didn’t have a hook. Don’t leave the house until you have some hooks. When you have your show, show up on time, be professional, don’t look at your shoes when you play, don’t look at the neck of your guitar. If you can’t make eye contact with your audience, why do you want to play with an audience? If you want to look at your guitar, sit at home in your bedroom. The other biggest, hugest thing I see from bands in their infancies is overplaying their home market. Okay you’ve got 50 friends that want to come see you, great, those 50 friends are going to turn into 40, 30, 10, 5 real quick because you know what? They’re going to be nice and polite one time and come check you out and pay to get in. After that, if you suck, they are going to kindly have other plans that night. Be smart about what you’re doing. Don’t over saturate at home, work real hard, get a couple things together, or even shoot a low budget video. Get something together and get out of town. Look, Reading PA is centrally located so close to you. Get out there and play out of town. Do not think you’re going to be a rockstar living in Reading Pennsylvania, playing in Reading Pennsylvania, and ending your career in Reading Pennsylvania. Don’t be angry about where you’re on a bill. If there are 5 bands and you’re third not fourth, the time that you’re talking about is a half hour. Just make that band that is playing after you work harder, you know? Go in there and be the best you can be. The other thing is to expect no money. If you’re drawing hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a venue, you will get paid or, if you’re not, you should be. But the bottom line is just don’t expect money. Another thing, don’t leave a show. Alright, you got a show, you’re on a show and there are 5 bands…it’s all about networking people. Sitting on Facebook or MySpace is not marketing. Getting out, looking someone in the eye, meeting them, watching what they’re doing, learning from them, and letting them learn from you is. Talk about your experiences, talk about where you’d like to go, talk about helping each other, don’t look at it as a competition because you’re all in the same god damned boat. You’re all equals. You all live, breathe, eat shit. You all are trying to write songs.
When you’re at a show meet as many people as you can and find out reaction, maybe they like certain things about what you’re doing, maybe they don’t. Pay attention as to what songs are going over and what songs aren’t, you know? Maybe you’re going down the wrong path or maybe you’ve got some bright spots with a certain song or two. It’s really hard to listen to your band while playing it. You need to be objective, step back outside the box, ask some people what they really truly think and if you could change things about your band what would they be? Get some constructive criticism. If you go in a studio, try and get someone that isn’t apathetic or passive, get someone with a good ear and leave with a good product even if it’s two songs. If I listen to a band, I know by the first songs chorus if I am going to book your band or not. If you don’t have a hook, you have an intro and you don’t hit your first chorus for 3 minutes the bottom line is that I’m bored. Everybody else is too. So it’s all filler no killer. Worry about the hook, worry about writing songs, worry about practicing, worry about being a rockstar 5 years from now because this day in age everyone is doing meet and greets, everyone is coming out to their merch table to meet you because they can’t be rockstars anymore. Aerosmith and Kiss are rockstars. Anyone being born now that’s playing music is not a rockstar and its going to be a long time before someone sees another Foo Fighters show in a stadium. So, hang in there. Do it because you want to do it, do it because you have it in your heart, do it because you have it in your soul and not because you think you’re going to be a rockstar and get rich because guess what? It’s not going to happen. Goodnight. Got a Rant you want to submit? Drop us an email:
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