| JULY 2008 | ISSUE 20 | ISSN 1754-3746 |
GOLDBLADE
.
LISTEN!
.STREET DOGS .THE BRIGGS .THE QUAKES
PLUS!
.THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM .GROWN AT HOME
WARDOGS, AFS, OFFICER DOWN, LESS THAN JAKE REVIEWED: UK SUBS, ALKALINE TRIO, OFFSPRING, H20, ARGY BARGY, THE SLACKERS and more...
Listen. Always. EDITOR/Co PUBLISHER_ Cerven Cotter editor@distortedmagazine.com
ADVERTISING/Co PUBLISHER_ Nikola Cotter nikola@distortedmagazine.com ART/WEB/LAYOUT_ www.pixeldeath.com
SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR_ Steve ‘I’ll get you a job’ Noble steve@distortedmagazine.com CONTRIBUTORS_ John Robb, Willa, Tim Drunk, Fungal Punk/OMD, Mr Funnel, LibraSnake, Giles Bidder, Joe the hamster and Errol the mouse.... Contact information_ Distorted Magazine 9 Bridle Close, Surbiton Road, Kingston Upon Thames Surrey, KT1 2JW, UK info@distortedmagazine.com www.distortedmagazine.com Distorted Magazine is published by Distorted Ltd. ISSN 1754-3746 All content is copyright protected © 2006 - 2008. Distorted is a trademark of Distorted Ltd. Views expressed in the magazine’s content belong to the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers. The contents are believed to be correct at the time of publishing. The publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors, ommissions or for changes in the details given, © 2006 - 2008 Distorted Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in a whole or in part of this magazine is strictly forbidden without prior written consent of the publishers.
I
’m sure you’ve had the little inside voice tell you something is going to happen? A few months back I had this but like a stubborn idiot I ignored it - June saw it come back and bite me in the ass - I could hear it laughing, “I told you so!”. Moral of the story? Always give some consideration to that little voice inside, it is normally right - and trust noone!
Speak to the hand!
You’re finally reading the July issue of Distorted - sorry it is a little late but we had some important shit to take care of, and we knew our loyal readers would understand, sometimes life just gets in the way. Never the less, this issue marks a first for us. We’re stoked to have our 1st audio feature - Mike of the Street Dogs talks about thier new album, so head on over, turn up your speakers and listen. We also get the new Goldblade album lowdown from John Robb, chat to newly reformed ska act, Grown at Home. Psychobilly royalty, The Quakes explain why they’re finally coming back to the UK after a 15 year absence.... Next month? Well, we’ll be on schedule that I can promise. Enjoy the current issue of Distorted, and don’t forget to stay in touch with us. Hope you like our new look website! ~ Cerven Cotter Distorted Editor
ON THE COVER: Goldblade. Photo by Karen McBride . THIS PAGE: Less Than Jake. Š Willa.
Featu
Grown at Home
The Quakes...
GOLDBLADE...
The Street Dogs .
The Gaslight Anthem The Briggs .
ures
e... 16
. 20
26
...40
...42 ... 56 REGULARS
Editor Notes...... 03 JOHN’S COLUMN... 06 Distorted Girl ... 08 Label Spotlight ... 10
ARE YOU GOING? ... 12 Support Slot....... 14 Under the Radar....... 36 Reviews...... 48 Favourites...... 60
Mutiny! The John Robb Column
People, as Arnie is won’t to say, ‘Let’s do the kabuki’. I’m having month.
an
insane
Every minute is crammed with action and that’s the way it’s got to be in punk rock. Last weekend I was hosting four discussions at the Tony Wilson Experience a pretty cool 24 hour event in Manchester dedicated to the late great broadcaster who was the first person to put the Sex Pistols on a national TV. Wilson put the band on his ‘So It Goes’ show in the autumn on 1976 (two months before the Bill Grundy incident) where they played out with a classic version of ‘Anarchy’. Rotten’s insolent stare at the camera was priceless. Tony also released the Joy Division albums on his Factory records label. So whatever you think of the Hacienda etc he had rock ‘n roll credentials a mile long. Last year Tony sadly died of cancer so as a very Mancunian way of building a statue to him we put up a huge tent up and filled it with 200 students and invited people like Steve Coogan, a quan-
tum physics professor, author Irvine Welsh and New Order bass player Peter Hook and loads of top names in music and art into an event for a 24 hour non-stop talk about everything. It was an amazing experience. Maybe we should do something similar for punk rock because we all meet up briefly at festivals when people are in varying stages of chemical madness! Sometimes we have to get our shit together to make sure our culture doesn’t get pushed aside. Communication is everything! The Rancid tour has been announced for November and is the premier punk tour of the year, we have got one of the support slotswhich will be a fine evening. Rancid are such a great band, I know some people get all sniffy about them but they are not listening properly. Rancid seem to have the knack of writing endlessly great songs and they are still 100 per cent punk rock in my book.
This tour will matter. Last month I had to do this event in Manchester where I had to interview Wire on stage. Wire played a gig afterward and sounded stunning- like time had never happened. If you don’t know Wire came out of Punk- they are the first ‘Live at the Roxy’ album and they managed to make 2 and sometimes 3 chord songs sound like complex beasts. Their sound was grey concrete slabs of guitar chords with these great melodic vocals on top- they were artsy and they invented post punk but their simplicity and feral power also made them a key influence on hardcore. Without Wire there would be no Minor Threat- if you ever get the chance ask Ian Mackaye or ask Henry Rollins about them and watch their eyes light up! If you want to own one Wire album check out ‘Pink Flag’ their debut- it’s the bleakest and heaviest you can hear where loads of groups have nicked ideas from. A couple of weeks after that, I flew out to Serbia to headline a punk festival in Novi Sad. It’s been ten years since we last played in Serbia and there is a lot of bad history gone down since then. Thankfully it has retuned to some semblance of normality and we met loads of great people out there. They were the kindest and coolest people I’ve met for ages and they gave me a great book about the
Novi Sad hardcore scene- unfortunately it was all in Serbian but even looking at the pictures you get a real sense of the history and the energy of the scene. On the festival tip, I’ll see you all in Blackpool in August for Rebllion- the number one punk festival in the world and then on September 6th for the X Ray Spex gig at the Roundhouse! Finally the killers of Sophie Lancaster (the ‘Goth’ girl who was kicked to death) are appealing against their sentences. Now call me old fashioned, but if a gang of you kick a defenceless girl to death so badly that the ambulance crew can’t tell and her also battered boyfriend apart, then there can’t be much room for manoeuvre in the sentencing department… Lets keep this case fresh in our minds and not less the killers sneak out. As our mate, Arnie, would say ‘Hasta La vista baby!’ John Robb is the author of Punk Rock: An Oral History and is the frontman of Goldblade.
Distorted
Girls! Rachel Grubb
Age: 32 Height: 5’6 Hometown: Minneapolis, MN Occupation: HIS Coordinator Favourite punk bands: The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Current 93, Death In June, Strawberry Switchblade, The Velvet Underground, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Bauhaus Website: www.myspace.com/celiacyanide
‘‘
I am a positive person who works hard at everything I do, and never stops! As an actor, I love horror movies, but I also enjoy playing a variety of roles. I do modelling for fun, and as a way of expressing myself. I like to do Pin-Up, horror, and other creative photo shoots. My friend Brooke Lemke and I run SilentBut-Deadly Productions, a nonprofit all female film production company. We have both taken turns in the director’s chair, and hope to keep making more films together!
‘‘
NOTE: Competition only open to SOUTH AFRICAN’s - no flights included, tickets only
PHOTO: Joshua Lemon | MARCH 2008 | page 07 |
L AB E L
S P OT L IGH T
Inside the companies that put out the music you buy.
Deathwish Inc./Malfunction Records Genre of music the label puts out: Hardcore...for the most part. If “awesome aggressive” music was a genre of music, that’d be what we do. When was the label started: 2001 Who are the individuals behind the label: Jake - Co-Owner, designer, dog whisperer Tre - Co-Owner, label manager, internet expert Janelle - E-Store/Mailorder/Warehouse queen, celebrity gossip specialist Vera - E-store assistant, German translator Rich - Web, Accounting, Design, Distro Dude Nicole - Publicist/Promotion, Street Team mom Andy - Booking, party animal history of the label: Deathwish is a brand started by J. Bannon and Tre McCarthy in 2001. Started primarily as an aggressive record label, Deathwish has also branched out into other counterculture oriented businesses. You can find Deathwish involved in Records, Apparel, Fine Arts, and Mixed Martial Arts, among other endeavors. In 2007, Deathwish acquired respected hardcore/punk label, Malfunction Records. Malfunction was founded by long time friends Linas Garsys and Tru Pray. Under their direction since 1999, the label released quality music from many including: Internal Affairs, Ceremony, Cast Aside, Count Me Out, Bitter End, The Hope Conspiracy, Meltdown, XO Skeletons, Piece By Piece, Give Up The Ghost, and more. Together, Deathwish and Malfunction are now one label family.
In 2008, Deathwish/Malfunction acquired the existing catalog of Perfect Victim Records (formerly called Stab & Kill Records). Perfect Victim was founded by long time friend “Perfect” Mike. From 2003 thru 2006, under his direction the label released a number of releases from bands like: Slumlords, Forward To Death, S.O.S., Blue Monday, On Our Own, Sub Zero, and more. Though there are no plans to resurrect the label, Deathwish/Malfunction will continue making the back catalogue available for years to come. Current band roster: 108 Bitter End Blacklisted The Carrier Cold World Converge Doomriders End Of A Year The Great Deceiver Holyghost The Hope Conspiracy
Integrity Internal Affairs Irons Killing the Dream Life Long Tragedy Meltdown Narrows Pulling Teeth Reign Supreme Rise and Fall Shipwreck a.d Trap Them
Top release since the label started: Converge “Unloved and Weeded Out” CD Website: http://www.deathwishinc.com http://www.myspace.com/deathwishinc
| MARCH 2008 | page 07 |
A R E YO U GOING? MIGHTY SOUNDS FESTIVAL 18th-20th July 2008 Olší u Tábora, Czech Republic
Mighty Sounds 2008 is the 4th and biggest Mighty Sounds Festival yet. With over 12000 visitors expected this year, the site has been radically enlarged to accommodate this fast growing Ska/Punk/Rockabilly extravaganza. A third live stage has been added because of the huge international interest from bands wanting to play and people wanting to party. There will also be 2 DJ stages and a theatre stage. The festival takes place in beautiful meadows in the heart of the Czech countryside, 65 miles south of Prague. The production of the festival has developed over the years and as well as the bands there is a huge amount of entertainment on offer. The DJ stages will provide tons of Dancehall, Reggae, Rocksteady, Ska, Punk, Rock’n’roll, Metal, Breakbeat, Jungle, Hiphop, Rock, Hardcore, Electro and anything else you could wish for. Besides the music, there will be a host of other free attractions; A football tournament, paintball games , fussball tables, workshops, theatre performances and sideshows. Most importantly, there will be a wide choice of food available and many thousands of litres of ice cold beer at only 70p a pint! There will be no Reading or Glastonbury style mudbaths - it has never rained at Mighty Sounds! In fact it got so hot and sunny on the final day last year that fire engines were brought onto the site to hose down a grateful crowd.
This years line-up will be as eclectic and international as usual, featuring the renowned old-school reggae artist MC Dennis Alcapone, The Mad Caddies, NYC Ska legends The Toasters, Citizen Fish, The Real McKenzies, Turbo ACs, Demented Are Go, Born To Lose and the cream of European acts such as The Upsessions, Rotterdam Ska Jazz Foundation, Fast Food The Real McKenzies. © William Jans. Orchestra, Dr Ring Ring, Skaos, Mr T-Bone, Yellow Umbrella, Irie Revoltes. After last years triumphant final show by Jesse James at Mighty, the organizers have in 2008 also booked a huge contingent of UK underground bands; Failsafe, Random Hand, Sonic Boom Six, Buzzkill, Crazy Arm, The Ruined, Love & A 45 and F-Bats as well as old-timers The Subhumans and Vice Squad and the finest contemporary Rockabilly band in the world – The Hitchers, from Teeside. Weekend tickets, including camping, cost approximately UK£20 and are available from www.ticketrpo.cz, www.ticketstream.cz, www.ticketportal.cz www.mightysounds.cz www.myspace.com/mightysounds | MARCH 2008 | page 07 |
with...
WARDOGS WARDOGS is a punk rock band consisting Greg De Hoot, Wayne Arms, Jake Prechet and Nate Horror. These four ‘rejects’ formed the band on Halloween 2007 in San Fransisco and now they’re due to release their debut 7”, Spread the Disease. We spoke to Greg to see what was going down...
How did the band come together?
We all are “rejects” from other bands. After the Lucky Stiffs broke up, I wanted to start something truly “punk”. Wayne I met while on tour, he had just moved to San Jose, and was not doing anything but his acoustic stuff. Jake I knew from the scene, and his band Mislead Citizen had just broke up, so he was just sitting around. I called them both and told them that I wanted to start a band that I could really believe in. They both were 100% down! We got this guy Ryan Kwon Doe who use to play in the Queers and Sings for Atom
Age, to help us out on drums. When we got together, it was apparent to all of us that this was something completely different than what any of has done. As for Nate, we had always wanted him in the band, but he was playing with Rat City Riot, but soon after Wardogs formed, he left RCR. So once he had got his life order and was ready to play music again, we asked him to join.
You’re putting out your first EP on Asian Man Records and Solidarity Recordings. How did that come
All photos by Ally Sin
SUPPORT SLOT
about? Why did you decide to do a split label release?
Well that was more of a surprise than ever. When I was told that Mike wanted to be involved in this release, at first I though it was a joke, because Asian Man does not just put their name on anything, also I cant remember the last “street punk” record they put out. So when I found out it was really going to happen, I was so stoked to be working with one of the most respectable labels out there. How it happened, well I don’t like to explain miracles, HAHAHA! As for Solidarity, Randy hit us up and really wanted to put the EP out, he is just starting his label, but he is putting so much heart into it, and the records he is putting out are awesome so we really wanted to help him and knew he was just as down as we were. So instead of choosing we said lets put it out on both. Luckily they both went for it.
What do you guys write music about? Life experiences?
We write about what we know, we always make sure that we write things that people can relate to. Most of our “themes” in our songs are about self respect, taking account for your situation in life, and saying you never have to settle for what others are telling you. You can do ANYTHING you want, but when you are going for your dreams don’t step on others along the way, because if you do, you are no better then those who tried to step on you.
What does the immediate future hold for the Wardogs? Are you hitting the road soon?
We are playing some GREAT shows with our friends (Kepi the Band, RANCID, Adolescents, Street Dogs), writing all the time, and hopefully doing more recording. There is talks about tour in the US, Europe and
Japan. We are getting a lot of support from so many different people, who knows what will happen. The greatest part about life is not knowing, so I am not going to pretend I have any idea. We will just keep doing what we have been doing, stick to our ethics, and hope for the best.
Any reason/meaning behind the name of the band? Who did your album artwork?
Well, the name came from the G.B.H. song Wardogs, it’s a great song. Also we all are Wardogs, everyday is a war against something in our lives. As for the artwork, that would be me. I came up with the rat with wings, because here in SF, that’s what we call pigeons, then Jake found this quote about rats in this book, “they exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth, and yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.” And that’s why we use it as our logo, besides what’s the quickest way to spread the disease? Give rats wings.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you for this opportunity, and your continued support. It really means a lot to see people getting behind this band, we can’t do this without all of you helping us. Support your scene, get out there and do something you believe in, spread this disease any way you can, and hopefully we will all be infected. As the great Joe Strummer once said, “I think we’re going to have to forget about the radio and just go back to word of mouth.” www.WARDOGSATTACK.com www.Myspace.com/WARDOGSattack
Words by Ale Noble. Photo courtesy of Gavin Rolph.
LOCAL BREW With a fresh line-up and a reinvigorated purpose about them, Grown At Home are back on the dusty roads to a new beginning as it were. Their infectious ska-powered pop punk(sic) is gaining new fans and pleasing old ones as they find their way through glass ceilings and on to your stereo.
GROWN AT HOME
So how are the merry crew doing? You changed line-up earlier this year, so tell those who don’t know the band who fills the line-up?
Bob: Hey hey. We’re all doing very well thanks, everything is very exciting in the Grown at Home camp at the moment. Our line up now consists of ; Cookie- Vocals/ guitar, Sam- Valve Trombone/ vocals, Bob- Drums, Willis- Flugelhorn/ vocals, Andy- guitar and Alanbass. The new members are all super talented and seriously nice guys allround.
And tell us honestly, did you receive flack in the bands beginnings with the name (American pop punks- Homegrown)?
Bob: HAHA, yeah all the time, some of the bands we’ve toured with use to introduce us as Homegrown just to see how we’d react, but it quickly faded away, I’m sure they
get mistaken for us all the time,? Ha ha. Sam: Plus they broke up in 2001. Good band though.
How is the band’s sound, best described by the band?
Bob: Hmm, that’s always a hard one, but I’d have to say Ska-core power pop-punk/ show-tunes. Maybe throw the word party in to the mix and you’ve got it. Sam: We generally like to let other people describe our sound.
Which bands have influenced you?
Bob: I think having quite a large band, influences differ between each member, but the bands and music that have been there from the start for us would have to be Lightyear, Big D and the Kids Table, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Police, Link 80, The Specials, Capdown, Cat Empire, Slow Gherkin Sam: Lightyear have influenced us musically as well as shown us how to be in a band on tour,
I can’t think of a word to describe that kind of influencing, but you get the idea..
“I feel 18 again. Lots of plans and new stuff is happening.” You have been on a bit of a sabbatical as a band, what’s been happening in the past few off months and what have you got planned?
Bob: By the end of last year we had been touring pretty much non-stop since summer 2005 and you could tell certain members wanted to move on and do other things, which was never a problem, but when that happened it left a rather large question mark over the bands future, so the remaining members got together and we decided it didn’t feel like the end for Grown At Home or even close, but it felt more like the beginning. (That sounded very cheesy didn’t it?) And so we recruited a few new members, jammed together and just had a lot of fun, with the new songs coming together quicker than ever we started recording. It was great because the band has never flowed this well musically so it’s very exciting. We now plan to get back on the road as soon as we can and we’re bringing an EP out in the next few months with hopes of an LP release by the end of the year. I should say that we do feel very privileged to be given another chance at this.
Sam: Yeah, its ace. I feel 18 again. Lots of plans and new stuff is happening. I can’t wait!
So tell me more about the new EP?
Bob: Well first off it’s awesome!! Our original idea was to record the new songs as they were being written, with hopes of bringing a release out by the end of the year. So we had our first batch written and they were sounding great so we decided to record them with a friend of ours called Weaver at Tower studios. By the end of the session they were sounding so good we wanted people to hear them as quickly as possible, and so the EP idea came about. We’re so excited to get our new stuff out there, I can’t wait for our fans and other people to hear it, It’s a much more mature sound now. Sam: My best tromboning to date. I usually hate recording but I’m already looking forward to getting back in the studio! So far all the feedback we’ve had has been awesome.
Sounding good and the potential LP? Do you think another full length record could be completed that soon?
Bob: Yeah absolutely, we’re hoping the end of the year for an album release. We’re still writing all the time and songs are coming together quicker than ever so it could be before. We’re going to take our time with this album though. We felt as a whole that our last album (Assemble) wasn’t everything it could have been and we don’t want to fall into the same mistakes we did last time, so
GROWN AT HOME we’re not going to rush it when it comes to the recording and production side, we promise we won’t get too anal over it though, it’s not gonna be Grown At Home with The Sydney symphony orchestra quite yet. Haha. Sam: I’ll be writing the string section parts as well as recording the sounds of children laughing for some cool overdubs. In all honesty I am so excited to get another full length record out there.
Nik (ex band member) has a pretty funny personal account of the bands history. Is most of that spot on? Bob: Haha, I think everybody’s account of what happened then is gonna be a bit different, but yeah it’s pretty spot on, very good times had by all involved. You could tell by the time he’d made his decision to leave he didn’t want tour anymore and by the end I think most people could see that in his performances. It must have been a hard decision for him to make, so big love to Nick (and Jay and Chris come to think of it.) Good times guys!!
The band is back on the road again, is that a happy place for the band?
Bob: It was always a happy place to be. We all loved touring and still do, it’s like a holiday where you get to play shows every night. It’s the time you’re not touring that makes touring hard, if that makes any sense? It’s hard to work and pay rent and bills if you’re on the road a lot of the time, so when you get home from a tour you’ve then got to snap back in to the ‘real world’ pretty quickly if
you want any money before you go on the next tour. I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m moaning because I appreciate every minute of it, it’s just it can be difficult to switch off sometimes, But yeah it’s definitely a good place to be. I think we just have to be more aware of members needing a break from time to time, it can be very mentally and physically tiring. Sam: Recently I’ve been sleeping in the van when we’re not on tour just for fun, and it’s cheaper than a taxi home.
What are the main ambitions for the Grown At Home? ?s the new unit gelling well?
Sam: Aim for the stars and even if you fail you’ll be among the stars. Its clichés like that, that we’ve based all future plans on. But seriously we’re a great unit and everyone is 100% on board for the future! Bob: We’re gelling better than ever, this new line up is great, they are all such awesome musicians and we’re all already having the best time. Our ambitions have changed somewhat, mainly to do with where we want to take the band. Before we were living by a very strict DIY ethic, and we almost found that we hit of a glass ceiling in regards of exposure for the band, so this time round we’re making a much more strategic plan of where we want to be, it’s all very top secret, ha ha Watch this space it’s gonna be Awesome! Check out www. myspace.com/grownathome for updated gig listings, free downloads and more! Hope to see you all at a show soon.
Words by Mr Funnel.
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Photos by Diana Price
THE QUAKES
SHAKING THE UK 20 years ago when I was young, a young fellow from Buffalo, New York arrived in London wanting to start a band. He left again and got a band, THE QUAKES. 20 years later one of the leaders, make that royalty, of the US Psychobilly scene return but after a 15 year absence. I met Singer Vince Orrexx on the internet, when I say “met” I mean chatted, via email. All I want to know is what’s up with us Limeys, do we stink or somethin’? Vince was quick to reassure me...
“Part of the reason for us not playing in the Uk for so long is the fact that the scene in the UK is not what it was in the 80’s and promoters could not afford to bring us over...not even from France, and we are talking about just expenses not gig fees. We were willing to play just for expenses.”
Gadzooks? Is the UK scene that unwelcoming, even to veterans such as this band that we can’t even pay for a ferry from our Gaelic cousins? Is this why I am at home typing this when I could be out drinking? Luckily it appears not! “There are a lot of new young promoters and fans around now. We have been touring consistently on the continent every year. I am looking forward to being back in the place where psychobilly started and where we spent a good deal of our time squatting.”
“I like to play in new places regardless of how much we will be paid”
So still traveling like crazy what is you favourite country to play,and how does it vary country to country? “These days I would have to say the USA especially LA which to me is the heart of the scene. I like to play in new places regardless of how much we will be paid etc. recently we have been to Poland, Hungary,Czech Republic,Russia,Ukraine and so on.”
Losing money on tours whilst
THE QUAKES the exchange rate isn’t in your favour, you ever think “why the hell am I doing it” and how does balancing everyday life work out for you? You gotta have it down to a fine art now? “Yes - there is very little reward other than the fans who tell me that they love The Quakes. I work for my self so work is not a problem if I need to go on tour. It can be fun if you are with the right guys. If had a lot of line up changes over the last 5 years. I’m real happy with Juan and Kenny (current line up) now.”
Did you enjoy London in the 80’s? Surely a golden era of Psychobilly? “I came over on my own in the summer of 85 and in ‘86 to try and start a band with no luck. I returned in the fall of 1987 with The Quakes. We had no gigs or anything lined up we just sold all of our stuff and went there ala The Stray Cats which is why we decided to parody their album cover. It was a great time in London and we were able to play at The Klubfoot before they knocked it down.”
Leading from that you have seen the scene evolve over the years. As a veteran, some say the psychobilly scene a little,
well, insular. Do you think this is part of the reason it remained so authentic and do you feel its is authentic? “I’m not into authenticity. The ‘Psychobilly scene’ thankfully encompasses a wide variety of bands that are not ‘pure’. The word ‘authentic’ reminds me of the rockabilly scene - it really has no place in psychobilly. I think this scene is made up of MOSTLY free thinkers.”
20 years is a long time, I have changed from a child that rides bikes round the park with his mates looking for discarded cigarettes and pages of pornographic magazines when this band started what’s changed? Saviour came from a little known independent label based in LA!
“I would like to put out another CD this year but its getting harder to do. I started Orrexx records to release our own records in 2001. With so many ‘file sharing’ sites on the internet, it is real hard to sell enough CDs to make your money back on the original investment. You get to a point where its just not worth it to make a CD knowing you will not get back your money. A lot of kids here think that music should be free and they dont really want to pay for it especially when they can get it from one of those sites.”
You reckon there is something we could do about this and does it have a place. In some ways the internet is good for spreading the word, but should it be ‘goverened’ and how do you think artists will have to adapt to survive?
“The biggest change has been Hellcat records. Before then the scene was almost dead and still unknown in the USA. I remember meeting Nick 13 (Tiger Army) in a record store in Berkley California through a mutual friend. He said he was doing this album and needed a bass player. I gave him Rob Peltiers number and really didn’t think much of it at the time. That was 1997. When I saw that Tiger rmy was opening up on big tours with Social Distortion,Dropkick Murphys, Rancid etc. All of a sudden kids here started to find out about psychobilly and it has been good ever since.”
“I dont know, I’m trying to figure out how I can continue to make CDs and just get my money back... not even make a profit...I guess it would help if I wrote better songs. I don’t want the internet to be governed- I want the government OUT of free enterprise!”
So what next for you, as a band, personally career wise etc?
www.thequakes.com www.myspace.com/thequakes
So on that political note, anything else ? “We have been receiving lots of e-mail from the UK for a long time and I cant wait to play there again - We will be playing songs from all of our records and lots of the old stuff.”
THE QUAKES
Words by Cerven Cotter. Photos by Karen McBride.
“...we wanted the gigs to be riots and we wanted to wake up before we were dead!”
COVER FEATURE: GOLDBLADE
Scene Pirates Goldblade are a punk rock band
who formed from the ashes of the Membranes in the mid nineties. They arrived to change the world and make some ‘riotous righteous noise’ at the same time. They are an underground noise guerilla unit dedicated to kicking out the jams, spraypainting over boredom and pushing the live experience to its very limits. Frontman, John Robb, reveals everything about the new album, Mutiny!...
So why was Goldblade formed? What was the plan?
We were born out of a mixture of kung fu films, feral music, sharp suits, freerunning punk rock bop and revolutionary rhetoric. Our fans are encouraged to form their own brotherhoods or sisterhoods in each city they live in and take the skull and crossbones ritual…its an underground society and one that is spreading like a virus. We wanted to take the three-chord trick and make songs that existed outside the cultural constraints, we wanted the gigs to be riots and we wanted to wake up before we were dead! Music is to get lost in and punk rock is so intense that it does this - we also like to have fun and we like the sense of community of punk rock. It’s the last revolt - the only music with any life left in it! Lots of rock gigs are like going to a supermarket, with cash tills as you leave, ha ha and indie means nothing - it once meant independent- it meant DIY and making your own music on your own terms now its major label bands groveling to the music press for something called ‘credibility’ whatever that is! - fuck ‘em. Rock ‘n roll is slang for fucking indie is slang for er, weedy music! In all this cultural confusion maybe that’s why they asked us to be the band for Eurovision next year! They said that we had the stage prescence to transcend national boundaries…
You’re about to release your latest album, Mutiny. What other records have you put out?
There are four albums the fifth one, Mutiny, comes out in September and is the best one yet with the sound honed down to perfection we can’t wait for the people to hear it! You’ve heard it Cerven and you know what I mean!
Honestly the new record is spot on with some awesome song. Despite the ‘pirate’ theme, are you calling mutiny on the punk scene? How do you feel about the scene these days?
We are always calling for ‘mutiny’ on any scene! We are always calling for colour, we are always saying ‘wake up’. Every day I question what I do - there’s no sitting on laurelstheres no complacency- every day is a mutiny. Every time you watch Big Brother or a Soap Opera, someone has stolen half an hour off your life and you will want that back one day. We are at war with popular culture. We are not John McCirick. We are Goldblade! We are the skull and crossbones crew, a spectacular ship storming rush of colour. The punk scene is strong, its underground which is the best place, no-one can fuck with it there, it exists on its own terms, the old bands have never sounded better and there
COVER FEATURE: GOLDBLADE are new bands all over the place, Outl4w, Middle Finger Salute, Guns on the Roof, Strawberry bBlondes- loads of new bands - Fucked Up from Toronto are genius… this is just a handful of what’s out there. These bands aren’t chancers they are seriously good and they are carving out some space on the circuit…. the punk festivals like Rebellion are crucial - everyone meets up and everyone hangs out and the bond gets stronger…punk is a big family and its getting bigger… the punks are the last true outlaws - the last rebels and the last youth culture that remains untouched… every time a high street store sells a Ramones t shirt to some dimwit trendy we all laugh! Maybe the punk virus will infect the clean fashion buffoon…when I was in Barcelona last year the local squatters had spotted a posh shop selling ‘punk’ clothes and sprayed ‘get your hands off our fucking culture’ on the window which is a stroke of genius and a great name for an album which I might use some time…the punks are the musical pirates, the rock ‘n rollers who sail just beyond the horizon… By the way do you know where the term ‘on the wagon came from’…its because when they took the prisoner to get hanged they would pass pubs and get free drinks from the pub landlords for the jailers but the prisoner was not allowed any drink because he was, on the wagon!
I read somewhere before that you consider yourselves pirates. Why? Is there an alignment between pirates and punks? Musical pirates maybe, flamboyant clothes, swashbuckling style, outsider swagger, long voyages searching for booty m- there, you can see all the parallels wherever you look. In punk history terms, check out Vivienne Westwood interest in pirates and the colouring in of early punk with pirate motifs that Adam Ant and Bow Wow Wow picked up on…the great thing about punk was all those weird mixtures of hints and ideas that gradually unraveled with punk itself. Even three decades later its potent mythology and ideas are still mixed up inside its mess of contradictions. And we spend hours unpicking them and adding our own as we go along…I realsised this when I wrote my book ‘punk rock an oral
history’ last year.
Are you guys happy with the way the new album has turned out? What was it like putting the whole thing together?
The album is our best yet, wait till it comes out and tell us what you think of it! We honed the songs down to perfection, they are anthemic and they are wake up calls. We twisted them inside out in our search for ‘future punk’ we wanted it to be bold and big and powerful and to make a punk rock album that had the energy, the ideas, the action and the vision that punk demands but also to sound like nothing else. It had to be original but also a great rock ‘n roll record that would make you want to freak out and make you think. We already play several of the songs live and they always rock the house so we know the album will work. Putting it together was hours spent on trains going up and down to Brother Pete’s in Birmingham and sweating over the Garageband on my Macbook, which makes amazing sounding demos…we then recorded it at Pat Colliers studio in south London whilst he was in-between producing the Cock Sparrer and Argy Bargy sessions- two other great albums and all on Captain Oi! - the best punk label in the world…you gotta check out the new Argy Bargy album- best British punk album for years.
Any specific highlights on the album you want to talk about?
They all work in different ways, lots of anthems but lots of surprises too. I’m really proud of my singing! Ha, ha. Normally you want to do it all again but it hits all the right points for me… makes me wanna go and listen to it again. Often you wish you could make the songs sound better or change things but this record is perfect. I’ve
COVER FEATURE: GOLDBLADE
“...so even if no fucker buys it I’m happy with it and that’s what counts!”
listened to it over and over and I can’t find any fuck ups and I never get bored of it…so even if no fucker buys it I’m happy with it and that’s what counts! ‘Riot Riot’ is Goldblade in a running riot…tear gas in LA at a festival, riot cops attacking the crowd in a Moscow festival - we’ve dealt with this stuff first hand…the song captures the adrenalin of a riot but wonders who actually wins, it acknowledges that you have to stand up for your rights but at what cost? ‘Jukebox Generation’ celebrates all the great songs firing out of an imaginary radio because you will never hear them on Radio Humdrum that is most stations in the UK…but its imaginary so I pick the songs and they are the great songs we all swear by full of life and vigor and the singers are sadly nearly always dead and I like the idea of the songs floating round the room like souls of the dead singers and how they still sound full of life - like the spirit cannot be crushed. ‘America destroys all it’s heroes’ Looks at the way everyone gets to the top and is destroyed by drink, drugs and corruption whether moral or sexual corruption. The flesh is weak and the sharks are waiting to pounce…it mentions John Lennon and Martin Luther King, it looks at Mickey mouse and the way his career was destroyed by a serious drug habit and it also looks at the troops in Iraq- young potential heroes dying in a pointless political war… ‘Mutiny’ is a swashbuckling trip - a
celebration of the Goldblade ethic, an X rated romp on the high seas ‘City of Ghosts’ - I love this tune, a spaghetti western atmospheric guitar twang and lyrics looking at burned out cities full of plastic and trash, deep into the night and the city is deserted and the newspapers blow down the street like tumbleweed. ‘Beyond God and Elvis’ is a pyschobilly romp about god and religion and iconography, the way the religious void has been filled by empty celebrity culture, it looks at the extremes of religion from the Spanish inquisition to Jesus - who would have been appalled by the way TV evangelists have hijacked his revolutionary zeal. He was a good man and took on the complacency and decadence of the religious order of his day. ‘Where have all the rude boys gone’ it’s the seventies- you’re in a youth club, its kicking off… fast forward thirty years and the memories have become stained, the people have burned out, some are dead, some are collapsed on the settee- all that youthful excitement and optimism has gone. ‘Kids of Today’ is about wisdom and the terror of youth…and is like a classic youth culture film, a sort of quadrophenia but not necessarily about mods, the words spill out about youth culture, pop culture, it also contains the word ‘cunt’ which should cause us some problems! ‘Do the neo-con’ the Bush regime were an all time low in America, this is a song that turns their right wing rhetoric into a comic strip, compar-
COVER FEATURE: GOLDBLADE ing their greedy pug faces to farmyard animals - that’s why we stuck animal noises all over the song - its like animal farm but uglier…dark humour abounds! ‘DIY’ … a call to arms to the youth- saying make your music you own, it’s your culture, don’t let anyone tell you what to sound likefrom the Simon Cowell TV shows where he sneers at the youth to the record labels desperately trying to mould everyone into the latest thing… music is self expression…make it as it comes out…you don’t have to be a brilliant musician just create! ‘Rverybodies on drugs’ is a wry comment on modern culture, everyone is running around with their chemicals from a little toot on a Saturday night to coffee which is legal because it makes you work harder makes you wake up and get to work in the first place! Drugs are very much part of modern life and this song has a look at this from the coke in parliament to street drugs. It doesn’t take sides. Its just an observation - afterall drugs are part of the human psyche- unless your me and you got bored of them years ago! ‘Riot squad for Toxic City FC’ is a song about football - the players act like rock n roll stars and the fans get punished if they step out of line, it looks at fan culture and it looks at governments who
“...the words spill out about youth culture, pop culture, it also contains the word ‘cunt’ which should cause us some problems!” can be the worst hooligans, it looks at the way they trade on your loyalty and sneers at the greed of the chair people who run the clubs and their unscrupulous greed and the way that its killing football. ‘Wake up, wake up you’re already dead’
is a call to arms. Ignore the billboards, take your life into your own hands don’t sleepwalk into the world like a zombie.
You have written some great anthemic songs, is this something you strive for or does it just kind of happen during the songwriting process. Can you tell us a little more about how you guys write?
us because we are ‘too noisy’ or ‘too old’ or ‘too punk’ ha, ha, every reason they give us is so pointless… the charts are like the premiership in football, the big rich acts get to do what they want… for instance we cant get advance orders for the single on iTunes, the biggest download service, but Madonna can…
What are your touring plans like? Will you be keeping your shirt on during shows?
The idea of Goldblade is communication and if people can sing along with the songs then that makes communication easier. It’s a great feeling when the crowd is singing along, it looks fantastic. So, yeah, we do strive for anthemic songs- the songwriting process is a trade secret- we get the people who write songs for Kylie Minogue to write stuff for us!
We are playing with Xray Spex at the Roundhouse on September 6th and then touring the fuck out of the UK in October. Cant wait to get on the road again and see everybody- we’re gonna have a real good time! I will never keep my shirt on, its hot work up there. And the more feral and wild things get, the more naked I have to be!
Goldblade was on a mission to crack the Top40, how is that going? Did you get the support you needed?
In today’s world of uncertainty what three things can fans be certain of from Goldblade?
We managed to get into the top 75 and the support we got was great, we appreciate everyone helping to get the track into the charts. The charts are of course rubbish and they deserve fucking up, a bunch of pirates rampaging around in their pointless listings is a perfect idea. It means that the radio have to give you another reason for not playing your record! As they don’t go near
1. 110 per cent live show with sweat danger and excitement a holy roller of a live fuck of adernalised mutiny! 2. No rock star bullshit- even if we were rock stars! 3. Good shoes
What makes a band a punk band these days? It really seems as if ‘punk’ is noth-
COVER FEATURE: GOLDBLADE ing what it used to be. Would you consider yourselves a punk band? Why?
It’s an open term, anyone can use it but we all KNOW. I don’t care if bands sell millions of records it doesn’t stop them being punk, punk was pop music in the first place, in 1977 the bands were pop bands so lets get less stressed out over definitions… punk can be anything but you know and we know what punk is, it’s instinctive and nostalgia is irrelevant… in 1977 everyone complained about the bands Nothing is ever as good as what it used to be! It’s a trick of the mind!
Are there any new bands you’re exited about?
I hear great stuff all the time, it doesn’t have to be punk…the younger punk bands I mentioned earlier are great new punk bands, then there is Kid British who are like rap crossed with the specials from Manchester, Crystal Castles who make distorted electronic music…the music scene is better these days than its ever been, I hear great stuff all the time, it’s hard to keep up but I do!
If you had to choose three individuals to ‘walk the plank’ who would they be and what would be the reason?
I‘m a pacifist and like to believe that the voice of reason will always prevail.
Would you get Keith Richards to play in the band if he dressed up like his character in Pirates of the Caribbean film? What about Johnny Depp?
Keef Richards can play in the band even if he dressed in bellbottoms! He is still brilliantly iconic and a fantastic guitar player…. always loved him. I heard through the grapevine that Johnny Depp was a bit of a fan of Goldblade and he’s a cool dude whose been in some great films so he would be welcome as well.
Anything you’d like to say to your fans and possible new fans out there?
Welcome aboard, sorry if you were press ganged but its gonna be worth the trip me hearties!
Under the radar with FungalPunk OMD.
AFS “All I want to do is abuse Americans”
The Arthritic Foot Soldiers came together in 2004 and since then have made quite an impression (particularly with myself) with their unblinkered, totally focussed drive towards achieving what they want to do. A minor blip in personnel didn’t halt the AFS machine and recent evidence has proven the band to be keen to take on new musical directions and challenges. Their previous releases are high on quality and musical insight and I suggest if you haven’t checked out this brigade of rheumatic rockers then you should do so immediately. I caught up with the 4 wheeled fuckers and had a chinwag regarding the band, its ethos and their general joys and gripes with all that transpires.
AFS - elaborate please and tell us about how it started, what its main concept is and a bit about your individual sleazy musical backgrounds. Carl - It’s all Jon’s fault. He just asked me one Sunday morning while skateboarding, ‘can we form a punk band’? He hadn’t really been in a band before, so at 41 he decided it was a good time… so blame him. My musical background has taken many a strange turn! From rock to thrash to techno to big beat, to hard-house. Bret - I’m good mates with Rob and have been for a few years now, I had no idea who Carl and Jon where when Rob asked if I was interested in playing bass for AFS. I’d had a few beers at the time and we both agreed it would be a good crack. My official introduction to Carl and Jon was both bizarre and uncomfortable, being that precisely one week later, I found myself on stage at 10.30am with a group of angry punkers miming the lyrics and bass line of ‘Happy People’ for the music video of the track. I didn’t even know Jon’s name. Yeah, cheers lads. Jon - Mmmm… that conversation outside the pub on a sunny Sunday after a mornings skateboarding, I never imagined the band would be where we are at now, I’d have been happy just releasing the ’Texas Idiot’ EP and disappearing into Punk Rock obscurity – my Teenage Dreams had already come true ! Rob - I play drums … opera? (not the Winfrey type)
It is more than obvious that the AFS members bring a vast array of influences to the table and this in itself increases the remarkable output of the band. Tell us about some of these influences (both musical and personal), and give us an insight into the massive work ethic as regards product. Carl - Nice question there Dave, yes we all have a wide range of musical influences here, we are old enough to see that you have to take off your blinkers so see what’s good in music, for me it’s from The Dickies to Stuck Mojo to Rage. My ethic is I’m a musical whore / workaholic but saying that I try in all my work to play well and encourage others to put energy into what they do. Personal influences are a tricky one, well it ain’t my family as they are a bunch of doubting fuckers, I would say the one person that has singly helped me achieve my goals in music is Tim Walker at Voltage Records. Bret - I’m actually a guitarist by trade and have spent the last 15 years indulging in a confusing array of styles and genres. My main influences hark back to the early 90’s when bands like Rage and NIN blistered onto the scene with their brand of fuck you metal. More recent favourites are bands like Muse, Pennywise and NOFX. I’m a strong believer in riff driven tunes coupled with the sort of attitude that cannot be branded or easily re-created. The recent movement in Brit pop over
Under the radar with FungalPunk OMD. the last few years appears to have eluded me, don’t get me wrong, change is good because it keeps us on our toes, but there is an awful lot of shite out there at the moment. Jon - I guess being a band virgin I just throw myself wholeheartedly into what we do. We have a motto ‘We do what the fuck we want’ and I think some of the directions we are moving to musically prove that we are not going to be pigeonholed as just another ‘Old School’ Punk Rock band. Music influences-wise I grew up on a diet of late 70’s Punk, Dub, early Iron Maiden/Motorhead etc, so I draw a lot of my ideas both musically and lyrically from that era. Personal influences would have to say my dear ol’ Mum despite the large pile of shit she was dealt later in life she accepted her fate, got on and enjoyed her life never once complaining and always putting others first. Rob - I play drums!
crowd of people whom clearly couldn’t give a toss where you come from just as long as you are not a fake, that being the case then you might get lynched or at least booed off the stage. I regret to admit that in my teens I was a part of the punk clique until I realised that all the bands who stay within their comfort zone never get anywhere. Jon - Colliers at Radcliffe, small, sweaty, smelly and the best fucking crowd any band could wish for on a Sunday afternoon No bullshit, just a bunch of guys and gals out to enjoy music and a beer or three. The whole clique thing within the Punk world has been hanging around since I was 13, it didn’t bother me then and certainly doesn’t bother me now, come watch us play – if you like us all well and good – if not then fine, as I said earlier ‘We do what the fuck We want’ - Period. Rob - Cant remember / I don’t know, ….There is no clique, are there any other bands?
What are the most memorable gigs you have played so far and how do you find getting shows to play in this clique-orientated scene? Carl - Thatched House supporting the Subs, we just played our bollox off and as always Radcliffe Colliers, it’s just a great crowd. As for the punk gig and clique - I just ignore it. I have never liked just playing to my mates. Bret - The Radcliffe Colliers, a great
An American Tour looms so rumour has it. Can you clarify this and explain how all this came about? Carl - Let’s just say we are heading over to Wisconsin in August to record our 3rd album with Turkey Vulture Records, which I think will be amazing for us as a band, and if that sells well there has been talk of a US tour in 2009. Bret - I knew about the American expedition to record the 3rd album before I joined the band and I swear
it had nothing to do with agreeing to join the band wagon, I mean band. Jon - Strange but True. Rob - All I want to do is abuse Americans. Your addition to many compilation CD’s is amazing and I am curious as to where all these contacts come from. What advice would you give to bands who want to get their stuff heard? Carl - Mmmmm where do I start here, I just have a knack of finding labels looking for tracks, and I have a mind set of “if you’re on it, people will hear ya”. Advice to bands is to be on as many comps as you can, they NEVER do you any harm at all. Jon - That would be down to Carl and his relentless drive, enthusiasm, inability to sleep and craft for charming every fucker he comes into contact with! Must be a Ginger thing……... Rob - Are we on any? Being a bit of an ‘Underdog’ nut I am interested in what new bands you have seen lately that have impressed you and you think I should be interviewing in this magazine ha, ha. Carl - Head Clinic & Sense of Urgency. Bret - Driver 8 & Atlas www. myspace.com/atlashq. Jon - Outl4w and some bunch of
“I have never liked just playing to my mates.” crazy fucks who played before us at The Thatched House recently, didn’t catch their name but a maniac blend of Punk/Ska/Hardcore (Sense of Urgency I think). Rob - None of them…. Did I tell you I play drums? What future treats can we expect from the AFS army and what message have you got for the punk populace reading this. Also give us any appropriate contact details where we can check you out. Carl, - Well we have a split 7 inch blue vinyl out with The Bullet Kings called “Prime Cuts EP”, we have the US album “Immature Nobodies” that will be out by Christmas 08/09, and we are doing a mini album for the UK market later in the year. Bret - As above. Jon - Hopefully a side project from Carl and myself which will surprise people and keep the very cynical Punk Rock world on its toes… Rob - Dog biscuits for children! www.afs.me.uk http://www.myspace.com/arthriticfootsoldiers
Words by Steve Noble
Lighting the way Although hard core punkists will try to tear them down, there is an undeniable affection growing for New Jerseys soulful, All American roots driven foursome, THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM. There are clear comparisons to American Steel, The Loved Ones and a handful of other bands that play their rock and roll heart on sleeve, sharing their middle class ethics and history. But they do seem grounded, sincere and able to take things in their stride which further increases their likability. On the tail end of their stint through Germany, we caught up with singer/songwriter, Brian Fallon to find out more about the band.
The past year had seen quite a giant leap for Gaslight Anthem, with much made of their dramatic rise in popularity and exposure; signing to SideOneDummy records, a handful of critically acclaimed releases leading up to that and a pending full length on their new label to boot. Their background in terms of sharing a hometown with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and The Bouncing Souls in New Brunswick, New Jersey too has already received much press, emphasising some of their more obvious influ-
ences. S: Tell me how the band came together, you all have come from previous different bands, so how did you form to join and start Gaslight Anthem? B: Well we all kind of knew each other from the area, had some mutual friends, and they just kind of put us together. We introduced each other, and just all figured we had all been in bands that hadn’t really toured or gone for it, so we all just said, yeah maybe let’s try this together. S: Why do you think it worked, did it click from the beginning or was it hard work?
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
B: No it kind of clicked, not really sure how it worked like that, but it’s not really often that, that happens. S: I Suppose you don’t want to question why something does work, rather when it doesn’t. B: Exactly! (laughing)
I put forward to Brian the reputation that precedes the band, representing a nearly grass roots type bluesy -worker class ethic and very American sound. That’s the brush they have been painted with, and I asked if he does read what is said about him or the band? B: Um, I try not to, like if they are reviews, I try not to read them, it affects you. S: So it does affect you? You’re not going to be one of those brave-faced people that say people can say or write what they want? B: Noooo. Absolutely not, I think if someone says something bad about you it hurts your feelings. S: Ok and what about the other side, what if something positive is said? B: It seems that it doesn’t mean as much as when people say mean things ya know? Like the positive things you never really believe. S: So how would you describe yourself then, a realist a pessimist an optimist? B: Um, I’m an idealist, so you will be disappointed. S: Haha, well idealists are normally verging on pessimists. B: Yeah that’s the trick (laughing)
“I like to play in new places regardless of how much we will be paid”
The bands first full length for SideOneDummy is out in August in the UK and the US, the former strangely seeing a earlier release date. The album itself ‘The ’59 Sound’ is expected to propel the band further into the spotlight and is highly anticipated by mainstream and genuine press alike. S: And from what I understand it’s the first time you have worked with a producer and the studio time was longer than previously? B: Yeah definitely. S: So how did it affect you guys in the studio and the work on the album? B: Alright (as if preparing for something revealing) I think it focussed us more than we ever have been before. There are a lot of ideas that come out very randomly and they just come out immediately, and we want to try them all the time. So it was good to have someone focus the good ideas from the bad ideas. S: And did you know him previously? ( Flogging Molly guitarist Ted Hutt, producer on Chuck Ragan, The Bouncing Souls) B: Well we talked to him on the phone, but we had never met him before, but he was great and came well recommended. S: And what about when you got together in terms of interaction, was a there a period of gelling? B: Um, I got along with him right away and it seemed like he was the right guy to do it, and I really liked his style. He was an en English Guy. And he was very easy to get along with. He was never condescending and never thought that he
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM knew more about anything or anyone. Or knew more than us about anything. He was very open and heard our opinions and what we wanted, making sure that was more important than “Bang- you should do this”- right away. S: Did you have a distinct approach in terms of what you wanted to do? B: Yeah for sure we definitely knew that we wanted to make a throwback record to the 50 and 60’s and that type of thing and this was a big focal point for us.
In terms of sounds -elements of folk, classic American storytelling and soul and country-esque punk rock sounds are how I would describe Gaslight, without trying to pigeonhole them. I don’t want to dwell on labels but in terms of influences they were distinct in previous records and I asked Brian who they looked to on this album? B: Um, we looked to the old soul singers from Detroit and Memphis, like Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, James Brown, that what we were going for. S: Were those artists one’s all of you already enjoyed? B: Yeah, well we really got into those artists on the way to making the record, something we got into together. S: Ok so what would you find playing in the band van on the road? B: All sorts; soul records mostly and a few punk rock records, but the soul records were pretty standard for the past six months.
I started to suggest they had a
few months now to sample their new songs for the upcoming record on live crowds before he stopped me in my tracks. B: Oh no, we wrote the record on the road actually, and we never played them live before. We are actually playing the songs for the first time live now. S: So this is the first time you have got to cut your teeth on the new songs? B: Yeah we have never played them before, so we just had ourselves to judge if they were good or not. S: So have you been good judges? B: I think we made a record that we are happy with and that’s all you can do. S: And the feedback on the tour? B: Kids have not been too specific but I know they like the title track, ‘59 The Sound’, that’s been going down pretty well. S: I’m a big fan of ska myself and a few bands have been doing throwback records themselves. I think you’re the first to do so with the rock and roll. B: Yeah we wanted to do that. S: So what was the reason though? Did you wake up in the middle of the night and have a brainstorm? B: (Chuckling) No, I have always been into Elvis Presley and all the old soul music and that always effected me when I was young and I thought it was powerful, and that’s where everything I listen to is from, there would definitely be no Bruce Springsteen if there was no Elvis. So I wanted to look at the people that I looked up to and where they came from. S: Ok, and you have mentioned previously, you wanted to write songs for the purpose of playing live.
B: Oh yeah completely, that was the point. We wanted a record that translated well. S: Do you have any favourites on the record? B: I really like ‘Miles Davis and The Cool’. That’s my favourite I think. Miles Davis is the epitome of cool.
Couldn’t agree more. Gaslight Anthem has seen the same unchanged line-up over their short, two and half year’s existence (featuring bassist Alex Levine, drummer Benny Horowitz and guitarist Alex Rosamilia) which is a fortunate blessing. I did however ask if they got under each other’s skin when touring as much as they do. B: Yeah of course, but you try and realise its outside things and not really the people. So we talk a lot and it’s more talking it out than dishing it out. S: Is it one of those situations where its friends first and band second? B: I think we have a mutual respect for everyone, I think. S: Is there anyone that’s the most irritating on the road? B: I don’t think so, we all pretty irritating to each other! Yeah a rotation of irritation.
I was interested to find out more about Brains and the band’s song writing process, as it is the lyrical content and heartfelt emotions of the songs that have endeared them so much to a growing fan base.
B: Well usually, we have a fleshed out song in the rehearsal place and everyone adds their own parts over it and we kind of decide where the key changes or the tempo changes are at. So it’s just a skeleton that comes into the rehearsal room and then we all flesh it out. S: And the lyrical content does that come from you alone? B: Yeah I write the songs myself. S: So how does the song writing process come about? B: Well I have a few little things I do. Sometimes I will sit down with a guitar and strum around and sometimes sit by a piano and I will try and find a melody. I listen to it back for a while, and play it to myself and talk and about what I’m thinking at the moment. S: And you prefer that in isolation? B: Yeah if I could have my way I would have a room , well in the Jersey shore, hidden away from the world, but right now I have to go in the van between sound checks or something. S: Something to aim for in the future? B: Yeah for sure.
Gaslight Anthem are undeniably a hard working band. Their current stint in Germany is quickly followed by appearances on the Warped Tour in the US, before heading to Australia and the UK for the first time. I wanted to know if it had been the first time they were seeing the world for themselves. B: The drummer (Benny Horowitz ) had been to Europe before in another band so this was the first time for the rest of us
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM as a band. It’s been pretty cool, the people I have met, the people that have come over from the UK, they are the coolest and there are a lot of friends we have in Germany now. So it’s really nice. S: So any expectation for Australia and the UK? B: I don’t know, I have heard that place is magical. It’s going to be cool. S: Has the rapid rise and current success, record release and label signing phased you? B: To be honest we have not really discussed it, we are all really grateful and don’t want to analyse it too much. So we are kind of grateful that we are in the position that we are. But I do think that after this record we will not release another for, well a normal time, like a year and a half. S: Because you will be on the road for the next 18 months? B: Yeah probably. Yeah we enjoy that as a band.
I wanted to know if motivations and reasons for why the band started had remained unchanged and asked about the advantages of not necessarily being a young band. B: Well I think the reason we started is the reason we still do it, we just wanted to play. That was the main focus for us. It would be nice to have a apartment or something, which I don’t have know, but it would be cool to have basic living things and tour all the time. It’s harder when you are older. There are more expectations and you feel like, “man my life should be sorted out by now” and
sometimes things are not so sorted out when you are in a band. S: These are expectations you place on your own shoulders? B: Yeah I think everyone feels that way when they hit the mid to late 20’s “Wow what am I doing with myself now.” S: And that comes through on this record. B: For sure. S: Do you get embarrassed or ashamed about writing about personal aspects of your life? B: No, well the reason I write is that I really need to get it out. I don’t have any other reason and put it out there and if someone takes to it, fine that good. It’s more like a therapeutic thing. S: Medicinal maybe, and saves money rather than having a shrink. B: Yeah (laughing) it definitely saves the money.
I was conscious of reading previously that Brian was not a Sex Pistols fan but had made obvious references to Joe Strummer and The Clash on previous records. So I asked him the old -across the pond feud question-of who would be the American rival to The Clash. B: I don’t think there is a rival, I think The Clash take the cake. S: They own the whole thing? B: I think they own everything, but if there was second in command, It would have to be The Ramones.
REVIEWS Mutiny
GoldBlade (Captain Oi!)
Well well, this is one brilliant album. I’m sure you’ve heard the single, Jukebox Generation by now - and if you like that, there is whole bunch more just like it instore for you in this new release. Packed with 14 anthemic tracks, Goldblade will surely be starting a riot in your living room or where ever you may choose to listen to it. The lyrics are spot on, lots of commentary about the world as it is today backed by enough venom to make you think - and sing along at the top of your lungs. Mutiny is a must have album for 2008. Get a copy as soon as it’s available. – Tim Drunk
Come All You Madmen The Briggs
(SideOneDummy)
It took some repeat listens to convince me, but this is a strong and solid record from the LA band, mixing the best elements of the Boston street punk sound
with folk, rock and hero embellished sounds. With guest appearances scattered through, this toned down, anthemic, politically and personal charged record has honed in their own defined sound. With sing along catchy verses, plenty of grit and emotion a plenty, The Briggs have laid a personal marker. – Steve Noble
Fractures
Killing the Dream (Deathwish Inc)
Hardcore has become a funny genre, with so many blends of heavy music coming together it is rare to find a hardcore release that stands out in the crowd. Killing the Dream have produced the best hardcore album for 2008 in the form of Fractures. Its sense of urgency and honesty is incredible and has restored my faith in hardcore. Powerful is one way to describe it, beautifully brutal, another. With lyrics that everyone can relate to, riffs so thick they choke out pop culture and hooks so sharp you won’t be able to turn away. Kill-
ing the Dream may only be two albums into their career but if this 2nd album is any indication, they look set to play themselves into every hardcore fans’ collection. – Tim Drunk
Agony & Irony Alkaline Trio (V2/Cooperative)
The pop sensibilties of Alkaline Trio have always made them a popular band. Depsite their very dark lyrical content, the world seems to adore them - proof that if it sounds ‘friendly’ then they must be happy, oh that makes me laugh... anyway... Agony & Irony is Alkaline Trio’s major label debut and as these things go, they’ve produced a sterling album. It’s catchy as fuck, hypnotic and a real pleasure to listen to. I won’t say it’s their best work, I still think their previous albums such as From Here To Infirmary and Good Mourning are classics. Perhaps it’s the lack of ‘punk’ in the new album is what I’m missing. However, Agony and
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS
Irony is a must have if you’re a fan of this twisted trio. Check out Lost and Rendered - it’s a classic. – Tim Drunk
State of Grace The Street Dogs (HellCat)
There is a definite shift on to a path anew for The Street Dogs with this record, of sentimental, personal, raw and impassioned songs, lyrically and musically leaping ahead of their previous 3 records. It won’t kick you in the gut as much as previously, but will creep into your heart space and lie as a sleeper record of modern day folk punk perhaps reaping more deserved appraisal in years to come. Predictions aside, this homage to their heroes, their family and peers is the niche album that will set them apart from the crowd and drives home their honesty and power whether dealing with topics apolitical or not. Thank goodness for this mighty exhale of fresh air! – Steve Noble
Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace The Offspring (Columbia)
“Ah fuck them” - yeah, I heard you say that when I mentioned the name The Offspring... sure I echo your sentiments because I have written this band off ever since they released that shit after doing Smash. Seriously, Smash, Ignite and they self-titled release are the only records worth listening to. Well, that was true ‘til they released their new album. Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace is an album that really restored my faith in the band. I don’t know what Dexter and co. have been doing but somehow they just got it right with this new album - as the co-publisher of Distorted said, “They got their mojo back!”. Don’t believe me? Take a listen and then let me know what you think. I’m happy to welcome The Offspring back into my music collection. – Tim Drunk.
The Likes of Us Argy Bargy (Captain Oi!)
Smack! That is what the opening track of this new album will do to you. Argy Bargy may not be a bunch of young lads, but these scene stalwarts will teach everybody a lesson or 10. Gang vocals abound, awesome hooks, it’s a classic Oi! album. Lovely little guitar leads are layered in all the right places, sweet basslines float in the background while Watford Jon’s vocals urge you to open your mouth and sing along. ‘There is gonna be a riot’ is a going to be a crowd favourite, it’s perfect for a small packed venue. If you want your music with no frills and just straight up, grab this album from Argy Bargy, it will be on repeat before you know it... or else there is gonna be a riot! – Tim Drunk
All Day
The Pietasters (Rockers Revolt)
This is a energetic but super soul filled return for band after a absence
R EV IEWS Don’t take our word for it, make up your own mind!
of five years. From super slow grab your women tight numbers to, rock that dance-floor and let your hair down songs spanning decades of sounds on one tight record. The Pietasters, seemed to have missed their own absence from the music world and have reminded us with a kick in the eardrums and the mojo of your soul that these ska-soul brothers are here to stay... – Steve
Grown at Home Grown at Home (Cash for Pigs)
Three tracks from the reformed GAH, and horns and guitar driven skapunk pop tinged treats suggest the future is a bright one. The vocals are sweetly harmonised and the bands refreshed approach and energy filters through. There is still a place for 3rd wave inspired skapunk it seems, and if you want a room shaker and stirrer why not throw on this. – Steve
Self Medication The Slackers (Reflection)
Not many bands release more than teen number of albums but the latest release from the New York ska stalwarts, is a reggae heavy-rocksteady but super sweet collection of old skool numbers, mixing many styles of American music into this storyboard collection. The Slackers are so effortlessly smooth and cool and full of quality that its annoying! This feel good record will transplant your mind to anywhere you want to be, if your Summer is not what it’s meant to be. – Steve Noble
Nothing to Prove H20
(Bridge 9)
I’m sure many of you, like myself, haven been waiting for hardcore heroes, H20 to put out a new album. However, the 7 year wait is sure worth it! Nothing to Prove is spot on. It’s classic H20 from start to finish. They get help from the likes of Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio), Lou Koller
(Sick of it All) and Roger Miret (Agnostic Front) to name a few. Guest vocal appearances aside, this is a great record. Retaining their signature NYC meets SoCal sound, H20 have returned to the scene with a winner. – Tim Drunk
Takin’ it ova
International Super Heroes of Hardcore (Bridge 9)
With songs like, Screamo gotta go, Captain StraightEdge and Hardcore Hokey Pokey, the ISOH really know how to have fun with a scene that is normally too serious for it’s own good. it’s even funnier that they wrote a song called Madball’s Got our back - yes they’re friends with them. With such silly song names you’re thinking the music is stupid too - ah, wrong. The songs are really well written and fit perfectly with the lyrics... who the fuck are these guys then? The International Super Heroes of Hardcore are also know as New Found Glory... I kid you not! – Tim Drunk
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS
BOOKS
ONLINE VIDEOS
Jimmy The Squirrel
Jimmy The Squirrel (Do the Dog)
Tis’ the year of great EP’s. This Nottingham based five piece deliver some terrific songs, barred knuckle raw and rocksteady ska and reggae hinged by keyboards and sweet-lick guitars. The vocals don’t hurt at all either. Uplifting and catchy, another fine example of UK’s expanding ska scene. – Steve
Destruct/Rebuild Cellphish
Sometimes when I hear a punk band with horns I get bummed, the horns seem to take away the aggressive edge and you are left with a half arsed bunch of songs on a record that could have been brilliant... Enter Destrcu/ Build by Cellphish. it’s got all the power, speed and aggresion you need from a great punk band and they make use of horns! The horns actually add to everything they do. Do yourself a favour and be sure to listen to ‘Choppers Eye’ - it is a killer! For fans of bands like the Voodoo Glow Skulls and maybe even the Mighty Mighty Boss Tones... maybe... – Tim Drunk
You’re asking for it...
The Misconducters The first impressions of this four track EP is... very cool. Some interesting guitar work - and I like the vocals. Raw enough to be stay off
the airwaves but clean enough for you to hear the message. The artwork depicts a flock of ‘censored’ sheep on the cover, with that image alone it ins’t very difficult to understand where this three piece is coming from. There are some rockabilly influences within their songs but just enough to add some dimension to what is a great full speed punk rock EP. – Tim Drunk
Live & Rockin’ Demented Are Go (CherryRed)
Any DAG fan already has this in their collection and if they don’t they can’t be a true fan, right? Right. 14 tracks of pure psychobilly madness on one release including ‘Busted Hymen’, ‘Human Slug’, ‘PVC Chair’ and ‘Rubber Rock’. Go get demented, go get your psycho on - just go do something else, like reading the rest of this issue. – Tim Drunk
R EV IEWS Don’t take our word for it, make up your own mind!
SHOWS & GIGS LESS THAN JAKE Barfly, London, UK 13 June 2008
No words... just photos by Willa.
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS
FLOGGING MOLLY Astoria, London, UK 31 May 2008
Never have I seen The Astoria more packed than this night, and rightly so. The growing popularity of Flogging Molly on the back of another fine output “Float”, seemed to invite the sweated rammed mass to share the spills of beer and the smiles of joy despite the conditions, with a sense of complete unity. The sound was impeccable and Dave Kings presence as frontman, conductor and puppet-master of the proceedings, as his and the band’s sense of sheer disbelief and shared excitement in what lay on front of them, and the voices thrown back at them at each wonderful song after song deep into the warm night. On a perched raised floor surrounded by likeminded fans each grinning, singing, miming and consuming what evolved into one of the best gigs the venue has surely seen, it was impossible not to get swept up in the atmosphere. There every now and again is magic in the air at a show, and Flogging Molly through songs new and old could seemingly fill the entire double tiered room with it in abundance. - Steve
Drewvis / Dirty Revolution / Robb Blake, Rebelation / Newtown kings Rhythm factory, London UK 7 June 2008
The smallish East London venue, filled as the night progressed to a nice comfortable level of numbers and the growth in numbers was matched by the quality of the bands on stage. I sadly missed Drewvis but Dirty Revolution, with their brash socially consciousness song matter and upbeat songs, played well and were received so. One man band Robb Blake, despite his fine effort doesn’t tick my box, with computer assister drum beats , the solo guitar and voiced presence is a odd one and quite surreal. Newtown Kings play a terrific set of dub filled reggae ska that sets the crowd a moving on the dance floor. The large ensemble band are still one of the finest acts in the genre and a beacon of light for the cluster of throwback bands hailing the era of sounds of a old mixed with the future. Rebelation too continues the trend as the evening’s headliners with the vibes of harmonious skanking and horn heavy rocksteady beats.. – Steve
RE V IEW S Don’t take our word for it, make up your own mind!
Send us your gig reviews! info@distortedmagazine.
CAPDOWN / VANILLA POD / LEIF ERRICSON / PLANETS The Pitz, Milton Keynes UK 7 June 2008
When I pulled up in the car park of a family-friendly leisure centre, I could tell that something special was happening that night. In a half full, dark side-room venue known as The Pitz, Planets tore through a solid set of alternative hardcore and exceeded what most people were expecting from a teenage opening band, and got a side of the room dancing. I’d never even heard of Leif Erricson before, but I’m definitely going to be looking out for them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything go wrong with tight, fast and energetic punk rock. 13 years after forming, Vanilla Pod hit the stage and flowed through a 90’s pop punk sounding set with infinite catchy 3 word choruses, whilst giving the headliner their appreciation almost after every song. CapDown entered the stage to waves of grins and played one of the tightest sets I’ve seen from a band – which isn’t surprising after 10 years and how-many tours. It was definitely satisfying watching the room erupt out of the corner of my eye, whilst my eyes were glued to Jake as he strutted around the stage like he owned the place. But for a re-re-scheduled show, I would have preferred something a bit more special from CapDown’s last hour. I mean… yeah, they had an encore in which they played ‘Ska Wars’, but there was not as much interaction with the crowd as I would have liked; no stage invasions, stage dives, human pyramids… nothing THAT special that you would laugh about with mates next year and reminisce about as ‘the good ol’ days’. – Giles Bidder
UK Subs / The Filty mallow M der Squad The Ivy Lea 20 June 2008
After battling hour traffic o Sheerness on The first ban Murder Squa fan, but if yo check these g local lads Th low Men wh of punk and sound. Then we had Burn who pr of old style p mer having a bass pedal kn nently fractu dedication. Finally we ha the bar was p get a good tu room was ele pit and lots o sics like “Wa erupted. Ch newbie SickJet either sid I left feeling good stonkin – LibraSnake
/ All Flags Burn / ilty Staypuft MarshMen / Kick Kick Muruad af Club, Sheerness
g my way through rush out of London we made it to n the Isle of Sheppy in Kent. nd on were locals Kick Kick ad. Personally I am not a big ou like ‘shouty’ hardcore then guys out. Next up were more The Filthy Staypuft Marshmalho provided a good blend rock with a more modern
d venue favourites All Flags rovided a solid performance punk, even with their druma knackered knee (not his nee... phew) and permaured shoulder... now there’s
ave the U.K. Subs. By now packed as these guys always urn out at this venue. The ectric with a set long mosh of singing along to clasarhead” to which the place harlie did a sterling job and -Boy fitted in superbly with de of him. thoroughly refreshed from a ng ‘Subs gig.
> ALBUMS > EPs > BOOKS > GIGS UK Subs © LibraSnake
Soundcheck:
Officer Down
Members:
When & where did they play their debut show:
Will - Vocals/Drums Gammon - Vocals/Guitars Shay - Bass/Vocals Alistair - Guitars/Vocals
13th May 2005 @ The Paul Pry, Worcester
Best gig played:
27th July 2007 @ Zvera Open Air Festival in Saldus, Latvia
THEY PLAY:
punk/hardcore
Dream tour:
Releases:
Led By Lies, Christians & Money (EHC Records 2006) When The Bombs Drop (Tent City Records 2008)
Influences:
c
Strike Anywhere, Leftover Crack, Public Enemy, Bad Religion, Pennywise, No-Ca$h, Anti-Flag, F-Minus
How long have they been together: Since March 2005
Supporting Strike Anywhere
Drink of choice:
Gammon - Guiness Will - Vodka/Red Bull Shay - Fosters/Carling Al - Magners
Bands They Recommend:
The Something, Somethings, The Infested, Global Parasite, Splitside, The Lobotomies, Public Serpents, The Extinguishers
URL: www.myspace.com/officerdownuk
Words by Mr Noble
Warped Mind’s of Madmen
THE BRIGGS
Enjoying the summer event that is the Warped Tour in the US, The Briggs spent some downtime in front of a computer screen somewhere, to reveal all on their newest release ‘Come All You Madmen’, which is poised to take them out of the loony bin into the safe confines of the space between your ears.
Right let’s talk new record- ‘Come All You Madmen’? To whom are you referring?
Jason: We are referring to the individual who feels like the underdog in his life. The person who told that he is “mad” to feel the way he does and to speak out about how he feels. It’s an honest rally cry to that individual.
I’m told the record was written while on the road with the Dropkick Murphys. Was there a conscious decision to write the record then? Did their affectionate brash Celtic /folksy music paint its Boston
brush over the band?
Jason: Well we decided that we wanted to start writing music while we were surrounded by inspiring music and inspiring shows. We became aware of the energy of what was going on around us and fed off of it. Bad Religion and Dropkick Murphy’s were both very inspiring to watch every day.
I’m sure! The band is quoted as “Influenced by writing with a live feel to the album” Do you also pick up elements of companion touring bands sounds?
Jason: Yeah sure. We had been tour constantly all of last year so there were a lot of cool things that you see that work with the crowds and things that get the audience involved. Mostly, we were inspired
by the atmosphere of the live show in general. We wanted to write music that would feel great to play live.
How many songs did you have when the process started, is there a democracy in deciding which songs get cut? Jason: We had a handful of songs together. Most of them rough sketches or ideas. Joey (brother) and I write songs separately and then collaborate a little bit on each of them with each other. Once we feel we have a good shell of a song we bring it to the band and see if it translates from acoustic guitar to the “plugged in” approach. It becomes somewhat obvious right then if we are really feeling a song or not.
And Joe Gittleman, who also worked on label-mate’s Big D and the Kids Table album, produced the record. What influence and input did he have?
Jason: He was a very special part of making the record with us. He brought a lot of discipline to the song-writing process. He even collaborated in the song writing process on “What was I thinking?” His involvement in the making of the record was crucial. It was a lot of fun!
And there is a transparency on the album in terms of writing about personal material and losing any inhibitions? Jason: Yeah, well in a way some of the lyrical content on the record could read
like an internet blog or a random diary. We have had to deal with a lot of shit in the last few years from having to sell everything we own to people telling us to give up what we are doing to having friends going to war to our pets dying while we are out on the road. We just put all of that experience to music.
So tell us about the guests who appear on the album, the songs they feature on are pretty distinct and powerful.
Jason: Well we worked with Dickey from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on ‘Charge into the Sun’. He just came in and made it his thing. We didn’t even need to tell him what to do. I grew up a very big Bosstones fan so it was amazing to have him be a part of it. It was a lot of fun working with Ken Casey and Brian Baker as well. Both are legends in their own right.
I know it’s like picking a favourite child, but what two songs are your personal stand outs and why on this record?
Jason: I love “This ship is Now Sinking”. It is a bit of departure from the average Briggs song. I just really like the chorus and the lyrics. It’s a lot of fun to sing. I also really like the song “Molly”. It’s a very orchestral song with strings and piano. It’s a very heartfelt Johnny Cash kind of track.
The sound of the record is working class street punk with rich folksy veins running through it. Personally it took
THE BRIGGS me a while to get into it, but the claws are deep rooted now. How do you feel and would you have changed anything? Jason: I feel that I want to become more and more comfortable to write music without any real boundaries and really explore things more musically. I wouldn’t have changed anything about this record though. I just want to write more music and keep trying to get better at it.
Ok so let’s talk current eventsYou’re on this summer’s Warped Tour, this is your 4th appearance? Is it a good opportunity to play all the new songs?
tle practice amp playing The Dammed! WOW! Fucking rad!
Is each tour a learning curve, the real schooling of a bandpicking up bits and pieces form bands you share the stage with?
Jason: Yeah for sure. Every band we have toured with; even the ones we don’t like as much have given us something from the their show that we like to steal and use in our own set.
After Warped tour you head to the UK for some big festival appearances, Have you played Reading or Leeds before? How do you rate UK crowds?
Jason: Yeah for sure. We actually just started and are on our 3rd day. The new material is going over very well. It’s great to just start playing the new material right away.
Jason: Never played these festivals before. I heard that they are amazing though. We did play Leeds this year with Dropkick Murphy’s. That was amazing! The kids were crazy.
What are your expectations of the tour and which bands are highlights for you?
Any other plans for the end of the year you can share?
Jason: I hope to meet and see Against Me! for sure. They are an amazing band. The Aggrolites too. I hope to just make as many new friends as possible and get our music out to those who want it!
In terms of touring credentials you have played with some of the big guns. Any personal highlights?
Jason: Hanging out with Brian Baker in the back of the Bad Religion bus playing guitar with him through a shitty lit-
Jason: We will be doing a headlining tour of Europe and the UK in October/ November.
And final pearls of wisdom?
For those of you going to the UK for the first time; bring your own ketchup. They charge you for it at McDonald’s over there.
A few of my favourite things...
Roger Manganelli LESS THAN JAKE
1. Band: Descendents-All 2. ‘77 punk band: Iron Maiden 3. Drink: Jager-Bomb 4. Food: Burritos 5. Book: Anything by Kurt Vonnegut 6. Album: Screeching Weasel’s My Brain Hurts 7. Movie: Brain Candy & Evil Dead 8. Gadget: Helicopter 9. Pet: Cat named Beaner 10. Things to do aside from band stuff: Inhale, Exhale, Repeat