Soulcraft #2 by Worlds Appreciated Kitsch Records

ta ble of con ten ts

09 // Preface 10 // All Out War 14 // Big Cheese 18 // Freddy Alva 24 // The Fight 30 // Redemption Denied / Tried ‘n’ True 36 // Drain 43 // Interlude 44 // Wondergirl Photography 50 // Sean Taggart 58 // Higher Power 64 // Gouge Away 68 // Bandage 72 // Blvd. Of Death 76 // United & Strong 82 // Death Before Dishonor 86 // Skateism 90 // Nick Paleologos 95 // Outro

PREFACE So, now it’s time to do something creative, be it a fanzine or a blog, write lyrics, listen to more music, watch documentaries and good movies, work out, catch up – even via social media – with old friends, and maybe plan your next moves, after all this is done. And it will be done sooner or later.

Volos, Gr, March 18, 2020 - currently listening to ‘Endless Noise’ by The Fight

t’s been almost 4 years since the release of the first issue of Soulcraft no.1; 4 years striving with life changes, hustling for money, working, touring, playing & booking shows, releasing records, etc. Many times in between the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2020 I felt the urge to start working on issue no.2, but this was always getting postponed due to a variety of reasons, including time limitation and scene frustration, among others. Since a few days now, the whole world is in quarantine, battling against Covid-19, the new thing in our lives; a virus that is transforming our cities in post-apocalyptic landscapes, a virus that has already killed thousands of people all over the globe, while it is trending (sic) no.1 in every social media platform and TV news. The whole situation sucks big time, but since I’m isolated at home along with my girlfriend, I decided to make something good out of it, and what’s better than start working on issue no.2 of my beloved zine?! Being literally unemployed, since all my upcoming tours and culture-related jobs are cancelled (or hopefully postponed), I guess I will find the time to make issue no.2 happen. I am writing this on the 5th day of quarantine and let’s hope that everything will return to normality long before I finish this issue.

Enough with the virus… Issue no.2 is once again dedicated to all the hard-working people in the hardcore scene, either playing in bands and running labels or drawing artwork and taking photographs. This issue features as much fresh stuff as possible, without leaving aside the oldies yet goldies. Issue no.1 included tattoo artists and veganism, too, but in this one I am going to expand the borders more and feature whatever I think it’s related, being graffiti, skateboarding etc. I am writing this pre-face without having worked on any interview or whatever. I have a draft plan but I decided to do it freestyle and choose every day which band I would like to interview or who I am going to ask to contribute to this issue. I am really psyched with today’s scene and I’d love to represent it in Soulcraft no. 2. Let’s see how it goes… Yours truly, Apostolos Mokas

I definitely understand that doing a zine amidst the Covid-19 raid is not the remedy, but I also believe that hardcore can still offer an outlet to self-isolation and the feelings of depression or frustration that many people are suffering from these days. Hardcore is still up to date and the small bubble it used to be has nowadays exploded to society, filling the air with freedom, equal rights and positive vibes.

Artwork: Ultragrim | ultragrim.tumblr.com Pictures (preface, interlude & outro): Lina V. Contact: soulcraftfanzine@gmail.com Store: soulcraftfanzine.bigcartel.com Online: issuu.com/keepitreal Thank you.

ll Out War’s ‘For those who were crucified’ (released in 1998) was one of the records that opened a new window in the extreme music world back in the days and led me to discover heavy, metallic hardcore. AOW is definitely one of my fav bands of all time, so it was more than a pleasure for me to talk to the vocalist, and driving force of the band, Mike Score about their latest album ‘Crawl among the filth’, the new world order and his job as a teacher.

Bozeth, original member of Merauder. 1993 is when we really started to play a lot of shows outside our home area. By 1993 we were playing out as much as possible and when we really started traveling all over to play shows. At the time, and even now, it was very difficult for us to find like minded and like sounding bands to play shows with. We did manage to find some life long friends during that time period though. There was a lot of turmoil throughout the 3 decades of your career, line up & record label changes, breaking ups and reunions. But after all, AOW keep going on after all these years with you as the only original member. How hard was / is to maintain the band and what’s the driving force behind it?

Interview conducted in mid April 2020. Pictures provided by Danelle Dombrowski. www.facebook.com/Alloutwar666 www.instagram.com/alloutwar_official Hey Mike! Thanks for accepting this interview. What’s going on in NY these days? Are you in quarantine?

So, a critical question! AOW started back in 1991 or 1993? I’ve heard 2 different opinions, so I guess it’s time to clear this out!

All Out War has had its ups and downs with many line up changes all the way up to 2013. Erik and I have been constant since 1992, but the current line up first started playing together in 1998. Between now and then different people have come and gone, but the 98 line up got back together in its entirety in 2013. Since then we have released two full lengths and one EP. It’s the most consistent and productive All Out War has ever been musically. The driving force behind this band has always been the passion for the music. We don’t care what outsiders think, don’t care about scene politics, and do what we want. We have always been outsiders and we will continue to be. We like it that way.

All Out War actually started rehearsing in the fall of 1990, but our first show was in the fall / early winter of 1991. AOW grew out of former members of a band called A.W.O.L. and Chris

Do you want to shed some light to your breaking up in 2004? The band announced that you were unable to continue and that’s why they stop. What happened back then?

Thank you for your interest in doing an interview with All Out war. It is much appreciated. Right now, everything with the exception of essential businesses are closed and we are living a very secluded existence. I’m working from home and spending time with my family. Life is unreal at the moment.

Life happened. There was a time when things built up around me and I needed to step away and people needed to step away from me. I’m happy we worked out our differences and moved on. I’m very happy with the current state of things with All Out War.

much more on this time around. Lyric-wise, what did influence you this time? Can we translate the filth as the world we live in? The current state of politics, organized religion, and the hypocrisy that is humanity has been a constant influence on me lyrically. As I watch the stupidity of humanity spiral out of control, and somehow reach new heights with social media, my lyrical influences continue to grow at an alarming rate. I used to think apathy, while quietly embracing ignorance, was humanity’s biggest problem, now I think people pretending to care while constantly parroting ignorance is the true danger.

Let’s get to the present… You released ‘Crawl Among the Filth’ in 2019, a record that, in my humble opinion, revives the vibes of ‘For those who where crucified’, one of my favorite metallic hardcore records of all time. Do you agree? Give us some info for your latest opus. Thank you for the kind words on ‘For Those Who Were Crucified’. It was a great time in the history of the band. Crawl Among the Filth was actually our attempt to move away from FTWWC. I guess it’s hard to move away from who you are, but we did try to add some different influences. We were going for a much rawer sound on CATF and wanted to push things in an even more metal direction. Andy and I have been listening to a lot of black metal and grind over the past few years and that influenced the writing on the new record. We are currently working on a new record and hope to incorporate those elements

Your day-time job is a teacher. How difficult is to educate children today, living in a sea of madness curated by social media & TV news? How do you manage to fit your schedule between teaching and playing with AOW? Is it a huge mood change for you every time you leave school for a rehearsal or a show? My own personal world view does not come into

Debord’s ‘Society of the spectacle’ is more present than ever. What’s your opinion on this? The new laws are here to stay.

my job at all. As an educator, the most important aspect of the job is to provide students with critical thinking skills so they have the ability to translate and process information to develop their own world view. It is very difficult to balance teaching, family life, and band responsibilities. That is the main reason AOW doesn’t play out that often. In the future All Out War will play out even less. We won’t break up or stop writing music, just play less live shows.

Once laws are in place they seldom go away easily. I think Covid 19 could easily pave the way for more restrictions to personal freedoms. Governments have consistently used public safety as a vehicle to over extend their reach. The flock is easily startled and once fear sets in the need for security leads to blind support for the ruling class.

Hardcore was always pro (self-) education, showing the right path, etc. Did music affect your job decision? By the way, what principles of hardcore would you choose to teach your students?

Do you follow today’s hardcore / metal scene? What are your favorite bands currently? How do you define the term metalcore? For me, it’s bands like you, Integrity, the H8000 scene and the likes, but for the mainstream media is something completely different.

I have always been interested in history, socioeconomics, and human culture. Those interests have contributed to both my love of hardcore and career choice. The work ethic of being in a DIY scene is something all people could use. I think hardcore has always had its share of hypocrisy when it comes to what / who is accepted and not accepted, but at its roots and in its purest form hardcore ethics are a beautiful thing. Forging your own path, creating something out of nothing, and working towards a common goal are all things that make you a better person.

I follow the new metal bands much more closely than hardcore. Gatecreeper, Wake, Devil Master, Fuming Mouth, Xibalba, and Funeral Chic are among my favorite bands currently. I know these bands aren’t necessarily new, but they are new enough for me. At this point I don’t even know what metalcore is or is not. By the late 90s, I really thought it became such a bullshit term. Metalcore to me is Leeway, Carnivore, Crumbsuckers and bands like that. I’ve always considered All Out War a metal band with friends in the hardcore scene. Musically, we were never really influenced by any hardcore bands. Our association with Victory Records sort of lumped bands like AOW and Ringworm into a scene we were never really a part of or accepted in. We’ve played our fair share of shows in both the metal and hardcore genres. The shows I enjoyed playing the most were shows with Disassociate, Starkweather, Crisis, Darkside, Confusion, Candiria and similar bands. We were all bands without a home and so were the people who came to those shows. Ugly music for ugly people... no boundaries and everybody who was a fan of aggressive music were accepted and welcomed.

AOW had a strong tour schedule including a tour with Ringworm and returning to Europe in late June. The Ringworm shows already got cancelled, let’s see how it goes with the rest… This pandemic is already affecting the world and consequently the music scene. Any predictions for the future? I, unfortunately , have no predictions at this point. I’m wondering what will be considered “normal” when this is all over. Pandemics throughout history have been the catalyst for many cultural changes. Will this cause a major shift? It’s not out of the realm of possibilities. When this is all over, we could be looking at a brand new world. Besides that, governments are passing laws for mass control, gathering restrictions and tons of prohibitions. We already live in the society of surveillance but the new laws are getting out of hand. Big Brother is a joke compared to what we have to cope with. Guy

Thanks for the interview, stay safe and hopefully see you in Europe anytime soon! Last words are yours! Stay safe and healthy. Thanks again for the interview.

oday’s hardcore scene is getting so damn great, with lots of up and coming bands working their asses to deliver good stuff to the world, that makes me feel super stoked. ‘Punishment park’, released by UK’s Big Cheese in March 2020, is ‘the shape of hardcore to come’, in my humble opinion. Razor (vocals) replied to my questions about the Leeds hardcore scene, Brexit, NYHC and the relation to the title of their new record to the ‘Punishment park’ film from 1971.

Cheese and also work part time fixing jeans for a Swedish denim company. Meg plays guitar and is in the fashion world, Louis plays guitar and plays full-time in Higher Power with our drummer Alex and Joe our bassist is an Apple Genius.

Interview conducted in late March 2020. Pictures by Alex Samayoa (no.1) and Septic Schizo (no.2).

It’s funny because everybody else except me was opposed to calling the band Big Cheese but they soon came around ha ha. I liked the idea of it being this kinda obnoxious in-yourface thing but not arrogant, you know? I don’t think we had any long term goals with the band, particularly with Higher Power taking off around that time, but I know we put a lot into making a half decent demo. I guess things panned out pretty well!

Big Cheese means an important person in the business or something. Why did you choose such a name? Was your goal to leave a big mark on the hardcore scene?

bigcheesehc.bandcamp.com www.instagram.com/unitedkingdomofbigcheese Hey Razor! What’s up mate? Please introduce yourself! Who else is Big Cheese and what do you do for a living? Do you also play in other bands or are you involved in the scene in any other way?

You come from Leeds, a city with a prolific hardcore scene through the years. Bands like Rot In Hell and lately Higher Power, Violent Reaction or The Flex come from your city. There must be something in the water

Hey Apostolis, I’m doing well. Currently isolated in my house in North West London amidst the chaos that is the Coronavirus. I sing in Big

there! How’s the scene nowadays and how’s life in the north?

record that in my opinion and as I posted in my social media is ‘the shape of hardcore to come’. Definitely a big step from your previous EP ‘Aggravated moppery’. Give us some behind the scenes info and how did you end up working with BBB Records (in co-operation with Quality Control Records of course)?

I grew up in a town half way between Leeds and Manchester but spent about 6 years in Leeds. I moved to London last summer so I can’t really comment on the scene in Leeds anymore, but I was sad to see numbers had started to dwindle and less bands were playing out. At least with shows I was doing. With that being said, Leeds has some great venues which was a good hub for all of our bands to grow and the scene to flourish. Some of my favourite life memories are from my years in Leeds and I‘ll never forget them.

Thanks mate, I really appreciate that. I think it was a given that we were gonna release an LP on QCHQ because Ola has been so kind to us over the years. QCHQ is a perfect DIY label and the collaboration just made sense after doing two other releases with her. Sam at BBB reached out to us as we were half way through writing the record and after a quick discussion,

You recently released ‘Punishment Park’, a

all parties agreed to do it. It was all pretty easy and we just sorted it all out via a group chat.

with that specific film and how does it connect to your music?

Your sound is heavily influenced by 80s NYHC and bands like Cro-Mags, Breakdown and Warzone to name a few. What fascinates you in this kind of sound?

Punishment Park is a great film. It’s pretty harrowing and I’m drawn to its format because it’s really not that far from reality in some areas of the world. Police states, extreme censorship and surveillance etc. I referenced the film in a song and loved the title so we decided to name the record after it. It then helped shape the overall package and created a solid theme to really get behind. When relating it back to my own experience, 2019 Britain felt like some kind of twisted funfair, just without any fun ha ha.

I would have to say all of the rhythms and styles prevalent in NYHC are what fascinate me and always have. Whether any of the what seems effortless to the listener was ever totally deliberate when the bands were knocking all those infamous demos and records out; going from fast 230bpm parts to slower, more primitive parts in an instant is so jarring in a good way. It’s very organic. As a drummer primarily, I was brought up listening to and playing a lot of different styles of music and NYHC seemed to be an amalgamation of a lot of them and it just seemed to click with me. There’s also a touch of NWOBHM Motorhead style metal / punk, am I right?

The cover artwork is amazing. Who designed it and what do you want to represent with this? My man Nicky Rat. He designs pretty much everything now. Faust (Andrew Fletcher) designed both our demo and 7” covers and Nicky kept with the general theme with the Big Cheese. Now he’s sat dining at his table in the center of Punishment Park. I wanted it to represent the band at present and tie together as many of the lyrical themes from both this record and Aggravated Mopery as possible on paper.

Yeah you’re right! Me and Meg are always listening to that stuff so I guess it found its way in there. Do you write the lyrics? I have noticed that lately, with the rise of music streaming platforms, only a few care about reading lyrics when they listen to a record. Thus, less and less bands write quality lyrics. How important are the lyrics to Big Cheese and what topics do you cover?

You’ve already tour the States twice. What differences do you see between the scene there and the one in UK / EU? Any big plans for more touring in the future? UK and Europe are always fun and hospitable. I love the States and we have made a ton of friends there. The only downside for me is folks getting aggro over the smallest thing and scrapping over nothing. It does come with the territory but fighting gets boring when you realise there is a much bigger and badder world out there. I’ve lost friends to mindless violence and I hate to see it tarnish good shows. The world over has been very receptive of Big Cheese and shown nothing but love. We’re grateful to play out anywhere we’re invited and although nothing is set in stone, we certainly plan on touring this record when the pandemic subsides.

I think good lyrics are integral to hardcore punk. It’s easy to piece together a couple of buzz words but I’m always conscious of not being too on the nose and try to come up with something a bit more imaginative. It’s also important to take a stance on certain things and I guess a bulk of my lyrics on the new record are pretty socio-political. Unique to our situation here, we were writing during the whole Brexit shitstorm so what I was penning at the time reflected how I felt about the whole thing. A lot of the other stuff are tongue in cheek commentaries and ramblings from the depths of my mind and stories from my day to day experiences.

Thanks a lot for the interview. Stay safe!

‘Punishment Park’ pays homage to the 1971 film of the same name. What’s that special

Cheers mate, likewise!

Freddy Alva F

Hello Freddy! What’s up in New York? How do you survive the whole Covid-19 crisis?

reddy Alva is an aficionado of hardcore music (especially NYHC) and graffiti. He has released the legendary New Breed compilation back in 1989 (and the documentary that followed 27 years later), runs Wardance Records, and is the creative mind between Urban Styles book, NYHC Black Book and American Hardcore Black Book, all presenting the strong relationship that hardcore music and graffiti art have. This is the first interview I’ve done for the 2nd issue of the fanzine and Freddy was the fastest one (among all the interviewees) to reply. Check out what he has to say upon graffiti, hardcore and NY.

Hey man, things are getting worse every day here in NYC, as you well know being in Europe, the forecast is pretty grim all around. Doing things like this interview keeps me from looking at the non-stop news channels so thank you for that! In all seriousness; we will all survive this & it will hopefully be, one day, just a ‘remember when’ anecdote... Give us a brief CV of yours? When did your involvement with the hardcore scene start and when did graffiti draw your attention?

Interview conducted in late March 2020. Pics and artwork provided by Freddy Alva.

I got into HC during my sophomore year of high school due to 2 reasons: I’d always been heavily into listening to as much music as possible & that led me from new wave stuff like Billy Idol to more punky sounds like The

www.instagram.com/urbanstyles_book wardance.bigcartel.com

Clash & The Ramones. The other reason is that around that time I met some kids in my school that had a band called Occupied Territory & they indoctrinated me into what they were into; mainly going to the CBGB’s HC shows as well as really being into the Bad Brains. I first became acquainted with graffiti by moving to NYC in early 1979. I distinctly remember these incredibly multi-colored images on the trains running on the elevated subway tracks, they were like cartoon characters come to life & that instilled a life-long passion for this culture.

174 from ‘85 to I guess now, had an ok hand style, was never good at piecing & only got up on trains like 3 times so I never consider myself a true writer, more of a vicarious observer. Your book Urban Styles: Graffiti NYHC was definitely successful but you didn’t stop there. You recently released the NYHC Black Book and you have more on the works. Share with us some more info about your projects! My book was a way of paying tribute to 2 subcultures that mean the world to me & to show how they synergistically fed off one another with the end result being a unique urban fusion that could only have happened at a certain time & place. It was really rewarding to showcase a good number of old friends whose work I’ve admired musically & visually, the 2nd edition of Urban Styles is 372 pages, with dozens of interviews & hundreds of photos. As of late I’ve been doing what can be considered additions to the book in the form of zines. First

Do you play in a band or do you do graffiti yourself? Yes to both with varying degrees (or none) of success. I played guitar in 2 short-lived bands: Guts & Glory (Oi!) & Last Cause (NYHC). I was terrible at my instrument so never pursued playing in other bands, some of the guys I played with went on to Oxblood, Everybody Gets Hurt, Taste Of Fear so there’s that, kudos to them. I wrote ZR ONE from ‘81-’84 & YOURS

find the glitch in the hive?

one was the NYHC Black Book where I asked 44 graffiti writers to do tributes of their favorite NYHC bands. The second zine that just came out is themed American HC Black Book with the same format of asking artists to contribute, this time 55 of them. I hope to do a 3rd one after this insanity dies down, this time it’ll be the International HC Black Book.

I have mixed feelings on the varying degrees of mainstream success. On one hand it’s cool to see people in both HC & Graffiti making a living off their passion, definitely beats a regular 9 to 5 job. What I do have issues with is corporations co-opting street graffiti & using it as a “cool” harbinger of soon to be gentrified neighborhoods. Hardcore & punk rock are parts of large festival packages but I still see a healthy parallel underground scene with DIY shows and independent stores / record labels. Street art is a whole different monster with a large portion of its participants seeking commercial success so I would consider that a separate thing than the the traditional graffiti I love & endorse.

Your work is very professional. Do you do this for a living or you are just a hardcore / graffiti aficionado?! Definitely not for a living, ha! I have a career that I love, been an acupuncturist for the past 16 years, luckily enough it helps support side projects of mine. Also, my book was published by a couple of independent publishers that really believed in my work so I’m eternally grateful for that. Thank you for the props on the work being professional level; I always strive for the highest quality as far as presentation, paper / photo quality, graphics etc.

From a sociological aspect, graffiti tells the stories of people in certain periods of history. Do you think that in the era of social media its importance is still big? Graffiti can still tell a story, for example from my own experience, as a generational tool. I’m thinking of a couple of writers I know in their late teens now in NYC; their fathers were writers & yes the whole social media angle changes whatever graf they do but the same problems of coming from limited opportunities & racial / class issues remain. What they write is, as the famous writer STAY HIGH 149 used to say, still the voice of the ghetto. Graffiti can be political in a common sense topical way, without being agitprop, so I still see it as a valuable tool for self-realization.

Why does hardcore is so connected to hip hop in your opinion? Is the street credentials or more? Do you follow hip hop? If so, what’s your opinion of today’s hip hop scene and what about the whole trap trend? I think that the direct sonic approach of both genres are kindred spirits and share visual aspects that reflect a unified aesthetic. The street connection is there but since hip-hop is so mainstream, has been for decades, the point is moot. The last hip hop scene I followed & was into was early 2000’s ‘backpacker’ rap so I am clearly out of touch with what’s happening now. I have heard some trap & dug the more experimental beats but I really dislike the slurred rhyming style, that just might be a reflection of my age as my 18year old niece & all her friends love trap so what do I know?

What are your favorite graffiti artists that were also playing in hardcore bands in the 80s and 90s? Mackie Jayson is the one that comes immediately to mind. He’s an incredibly gifted artist that is a legend on trains & on paper, not to mention his sick drumming skills with the Cro-Mags / Bad Brains / The Icemen. I would also include Djinji Brown from Absolution, Chris Beee from Everybody Gets Hurt, Lukie Luke from Gorilla Biscuits / Warzone, Rich Derespina from All For One / Hell No. There are so many more, just pick my book up!

Both graffiti and hardcore used to be subcultures that remained in the underground for many years. Nowadays, this has changed; you can see hardcore bands joining large scale festival tours, while graffiti has transformed, in a big percentage, into the legal kind of street art that you can see in galleries and museums. Do you think that both movements have been exploited by the mainstream or they just managed to

Any current NYHC graffiti scenesters that we should check out?

the time. A few years ago you also produced the documentary film for this tape. Can you please delve deep into that period of NYHC? What was so exciting and what motivated you to elaborate on the tape and release a documentary 27 years later?

Definitely, look up: -Mike Gallo, bassist for Agnostic Front, does amazing paintings with a NYHC theme. -Andrew Monserrate does incredibly detailed sketches with a HC / punk theme. -Chris Robots Will Kill, a writer that has crossed over to the street art scene but never forgets his roots in NYHC graffiti. -BAGZ, amazing writer with a fondness for all things Token Entry related. -MQ, what can you say? He was killing it in the 80’s & now. -FCEE, always reppin’ NYHC to the fullest.

The New Breed tape holds a special place in my heart as it’s sort of like a high school yearbook for me. I grew up and or went to school with a lot of people that played in bands on it, we worked tons of shitty jobs together, hung out all over the city with them; in short it’s more than just a static piece of music for me. The time period it chronicles, 1987-1989, was, now with the benefit of hindsight, an incredibly fertile time for NYHC and the bands it documents left a lasting influence on the scene, whether though what they did back then or the newer projects

Over 30 years ago you released the NEW BREED compilation tape along with Chaka Malik from Burn. A tape comp. featuring the most hot & up and coming names of NYHC at

they went on to form in the 1990s. In 2016 I was talking to my good friend John Woods and we were thinking of doing these brief 5 minute interviews with some of the participants as a way of updating whatever became of them. The footage that we filmed was so good that we couldn’t stop at the 5-minute mark so we decided to make a full length documentary. Luckily, John had directing experience & we brought in the talented Orlando Arce as our editing guru. The end result topped all my expectations, we did a bunch of local screenings with positive reaction & we had planned on doing a proper DVD release but life & other projects got in the way. Flash forward to now & with everything going on we’ve decided to put everything up online sometime this week (today is 3/23/20). If it can help anyone take their minds off the horrific situation we’re facing, for at least an hour or so,

then it’ll all be worth it. Please keep an eye up for that, coming to Vimeo & YouTube really soon (ed. Check it out online here -> vimeo.com/402534230) Thanks for the interview! NYHC records top5 to finish it in style! Kraut “An Adjustment To Society” LP Antidote “Thou Shalt Not Kill” 7” Cro-Mags “Age Of Quarrel” LP Burn 7” Citizens Arrest “A Light In The Darkness” 7” Yes, I put out out the Citizens Arrest 7” so I’m extremely biased, thanks for the interview & stay safe!

y first encounter with The Fight from NY was some months ago when Triple B Records put out the ‘Endless noise’ 12”… and I was totally blown away. Old school hardcore with lots of UK82 and oi! influences in the vein of Negative Approach and Sheer Terror; you hardly get this in the hardcore scene nowadays. I had a chit chat with John, the bassist, who is also involved in the East Coast Collective, one of Long Island’s leading teams when it comes to promoting shows, about The Fight, hardcore, politics and the pandemic.

Island, NY. I guess technically we formed at The Jamhouse in Lindenhurst considering that was were we had our first few practices as a full band if you want to get a little more specific. You recently released ‘Endless noise’ via BBB Records. Give us some more info about the record and the collaboration with Triple B. “Endless Noise” is a 12 Inch EP that features 7 new songs and an intro that consists of clips from news broadcasts, each clip actually revolves around the topics of each song but they get layered so you can’t really hear what they’re saying – ya know, endless noise. This is our second EP and first record with Triple B. The Triple B collaboration comes from me putting out our first record then giving some copies to Sam to put up to his webstore which ended up selling quickly, so we made a “Triple B pressing” which was just a new colorway + screen-printed cover (which was good because there was typo on the back of the original covers) and he sold those quickly as well. After that I made a joke about him putting our next record and he was down. I think we sold out of /200 variant today so I guess I don’t have to worry about Sam regretting his decision ha.

Interview conducted in mid April 2020. Pictures provided by the band. thefightli.bandcamp.com Hey John! Thanks for being generous in answering my questions! Please introduce yourself? Who’s in The Fight, when and where did you form? You know, the typical stuff. Hey Apostolis! Not a problem, thanks for interviewing me! My name is John (Scanlon) and I play bass in The Fight. The Fight consists of myself, Kyle (Vocals), Lil D (Drums), Quinn and Dylan (Guitars). We formed in 2016 in Long

the news that influence you?

The Fight play a kind of old school hardcore that I personally love but it’s not that popular in today’s hardcore scene that it gets more poppy than ever. I definitely hear a big Negative Approach influence in your sound. What did influence you to lean on this hardcore spectrum? Yeah our style definitely isn’t what was “in” at the time we started but it’s slowly being more acceptable in the “hardcore” realm. It’s weird because punk and hardcore used to just be intertwined but slowly over the years kind of separated, especially these days. We just wanted to start a band in Long Island influenced by bands we loved and wanted to show kids in LI you didn’t have to be “heavy” to be a hardcore band. We also just wanted to play some punk shows too. If we had to choose, our influences were definitely the whole UK 82 scene, Negative Approach, Poison Idea, Breakdown, Sheer Terror and others.

The Fight is just an expression in the sense of “The Fight for…” which could relate to plenty of different topics. We usually cover topics relating to health care, politics, the justice system, more or less anything relating to why the world can be shit due to government. We sprinkle in a stereotypical theme here and there, i.e. depression, but that’s always going to be important. I personally don’t write the lyrics so I can’t really state which books / movies are influences to my singer but I did write a majority of the lyrics to the song “Counting Days” on the new record which was just influenced by my own thoughts of depression, and some influence from Morrissey songs, pretty sure I took a line or two. How is the situation in The States right now? Is the pandemic moving Trump out of his throne?

Do you think that hardcore has become very safe? It seems that less and less bands care about society or politics anymore. So one question to provoke you; is hardcore still relevant or a passing fad for youngsters to pretend to be angry and stylish?

Living in New York during this is pretty surreal, streets that are normally flooded are currently empty and all you hear are ambulance sirens bringing people to hospitals. At 7pm every day I hear my neighbors cheer for Medical Workers. I haven’t been able to see my friends / family for the past month+ which is obviously depressing. I’m hoping things get a bit better over the next month or two but obviously no one really knows how long this will take and if it’ll come back just as bad before we eventually have the vaccine. I don’t think this is going to effect Trump at being re-elected honestly, the Democrats pretty much fucked themselves by putting Joe Biden as the front runner when he can barely form sentences and he’s facing a sexual assault allegation so I doubt he’ll win over the legion of Trump fanatics. I wish my country wasn’t so idiotic but such is life.

Hmm that’s a good question, I definitely feel likes it’s more safe in a few different ways. On the violence at shows side – I think that’s great and I was never big into the “macho” shit at shows so it being a scene where everyone is actually united and has a good time with me is way better than having to worry about what beef you have / what weapon someone is carrying so that safe side is totally ok with me which is funny to say coming from a Bulldoze superfan. Lyric wise, I totally agree it’s safe, I feel like a lot of current bands fall under the same themes lyrically and kind of don’t stand out. Hardcore is way more impactful when the lyrics are very personal or political in my opinion. Comes more from the heart ya know? I think hardcore is still very relevant but there will always be some part timers that come into the scene and are only into as a fad. Those kids will fade and the people who actually care / into it will be there for years to follow. That’s how it’s always been.

Back to music… You play lots of shows with The Fight and usually diverse ones with mixed up line ups. What would be your favorite 4 bands that you’d love to share the stage with in a 5-band line up right now? Yeah we’re basically down to play whatever, we played a fest last year where we were the only punk band and the rest of the bands were beatdown bands – I like to joke that they never listened to us and just put us on cause of our

Btw, what are you fighting for? What are your favorite topics you want to cover lyrically with The Fight? Name some of the books, movies / series or even articles on

are some of your favorite shows you have organized so far?

name. We obviously like to stay in our lane but we don’t mind branching out because maybe you’ll end up getting someone into a different style of music than what they’re used to. I don’t think we stole any fans from the beatdown fest though sadly. That’s a good question but I’m not sure if you mean current bands or dream line ups so I’ll give you both!

Yeah I’m a co-owner of East Coast Collective, we put on shows on the Island in all different genres and in venues ranging from 225 caps to 1500 caps. I do indeed do it for a living, it’s been my main job for the past 5 years or so, I also am a “secret partner shhh” of the Amityville Music Hall. Favorite hardcore show was definitely the Silent Majority reunion followed by the Gorilla Biscuits shows I did this year. Non-hardcore was probably either Cannibal Corpse, Bone Thugs (because there was a gun fired 5 feet away from me), or Saves The Day.

Current: Exit Order – Warthog – Restraining Order – Dead Heat Dream line up: Breakdown – Negative Approach – Sheer Terror – Poison Idea

How is the scene in Long Island? Even though almost all the old NYHC still tour / release records, it seemed to me that there was a huge generation gap between the now and then of NYHC. But recently, lots of

You are also involved in booking / promoting shows with East Coast Collective, based in Long Island. Give us some more info about this. Do you do that for a living? Which ones

cool bands (with Backtrack – R.I.P. – being a great ambassador) are putting NYHC back on the map. What’s your opinion about this?

I guess that’s all. Wanna add something? Let’s finish this with a bang! Top5 NY related movies of all time.

The scene is great right now. Almost every scene has it’s ups and downs over the years but right now we have great turn outs and a decent amount of local bands. There were always bands over the years but none of them really got that big / toured. We had a lot of hometown pride that the rest of country / world didn’t see. The NYHC touring flag started riding again once Backtrack started touring full time, since then people kind of kept an eye on Long Island and opened up the opportunity for part time bands like Incendiary, King Nine, Rule Them All, and many others to become recognized without having to tour nonstop. Hangman is a band from here that is trying to tour full time so much respect to them for trying to get out there and keep it going.

Thanks for the interview! Umm for anyone reading this try to be more open minded when it comes to music, don’t typecast or pigeonhole anything. Also be more open minded when it comes to normal life as well, I’m not on some hippy tip or anything but just try to chill out a bit and be more accepting – don’t walk around with a chip on your shoulder cause at the end of the day you’re going to die like the rest of us and be forgotten like the rest of us, so no need to treat some people better than others. Uhhh I’m honestly terrible with movies except romance ones so this list will be funny: Goodfellas - A Bronx Tale – Home Alone 2 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – uhhh Elf

Kasper, what’s up brother! Welcome to Soulcraft fanzine 2! How’s life amidst the pandemic? How’s the situation in Belgium’s healthy system?

met Kasper back in April 2019, we spent some quality good time on the road and since then we meet on a regular basis every time I’m near Belgium. Kasper fronts Redemption Denied, does Tried ‘n’ True Booking and the fanzine of the same name, and he is one of the most dedicated guys I’ve met in the hardcore scene the last years. Moreover, he is a doctor and that makes this interview even more interesting, since we live in the age of the pandemic. He was super kind to find some spare time, amidst working endless hours every day, to answer to my questions. And this is definitely one of the best interviews of this fanzine. Period.

Hi Apostolis. Appreciate the invitation. Belgium has been in lockdown since March 18th. So life has changed drastically over the past few weeks. Only essential services and stores remain in business, borders are closed, outdoor activity is heavily restricted by government regulations. I luckily have the privilege to still cross the border and be around people for work.  Some areas are affected more severely than others, but healthcare capacity remains sufficient to provide adequate care for the time being. Death toll and hospital admissions have currently stabilized over the past few days, so let’s hope that all investments are paying off.

Interview conducted in mid April 2020. Pictures provided by Kasper Hermans. www.facebook.com/redemptiondeniedhc www.instagram.com/redemptiondenied triedntrue.org www.instagram.com/triedntruehc

Your nickname is The Doc, simply because you are a doctor. Pretty busy times, I guess... What force drove you to choose this kind of

profession? I can’t recall any other doctor in the hardcore scene so it always seemed intriguing to me to ask you this ‘Hardcore saved your life so you began saving other persons’ lives?’! What similarities can you ideally find between being, on one hand a member of the hardcore scene and, on the other hand, taking care daily of people’s health?

to it. Perhaps that plays a role in why many people end up working in health care and social sectors. You sing for Redemption Denied, one of Belgium’s stand-out bands the last years. Give us a short biography and share with our readers the band’s latest news please. RD is a hardcore band from Belgium / The Netherlands. Current line-up features Kevin and Joey on guitars, Lennert on bass, my brother Joris on drums and me on vocals. We started out in the summer of 2011 after a few local bands (World Gone Mad, Blade, Unbreakable) called it quits, and wrote the demo which came out as a self-titled 7” in 2012. Released “Nothing Remains” in 2014. Played our share of shows and toured extensively until mid-2016, followed by about a 2-year hiatus until 2018. We just finished recording 10 new songs for a full-length album that will be out later this year. Release date and info will be available as soon as this pandemic ends. We’re hitting a few good festivals and doing a short run of shows with Earth Crisis this summer if circumstances allow it. Looking to be on the road and head to new places as much as possible thereafter.

There’s actually a few in hardcore that I know of: drummer for DOWN TO NOTHING, and one of COLDBURN’s current guitar players, for example. Honorable mention for Dr. Know, of course. To address the first part of your question: I genuinely wouldn’t be where I am right now if I hadn’t found hardcore. I got into loud music when I was about 14-15 years old. My dad had been diagnosed with terminal cancer around that time, and both me and (even more so) my twin brother found an escape in rather self-destructive behavior. Coincidentally got introduced to hardcore through local youth centers and skateboarding. Basically offered us a community that embraced / contained ‘fuck-ups’, while at the same time offering an outlet that was far more sustainable. Turned vegan and SXE when I was 16, which really changed things around and probably kept me out of trouble. Eventually also made it easier to perform in college and get accepted for specialist training etc. as well. After secondary school, I initially really didn’t know what I wanted to study nor do professionally in the long run. I took tests through a career advice center that told me I should enroll for Psychology or Audiology / Logopedics. None of which interested me enough to have a go at it. Ended up joining a group travel to India that summer with money I saved from working on the weekends. It involved volunteer work at a school for disadvantaged boys, visiting orphanages etc. Left a lot of long-lasting impressions. Just connected the dots and figured I wanted to do something that allowed me to travel and help other people. Decided to study for entry exams for Medical School as soon as I got back home. I feel like the community aspect of hardcore really sets it apart from many other things. At the same time there still is a lot of ethical and political reflection, which offers a chance to look at what’s going on in society from a thirdperson / outsider perspective if you open up

What kind of redemption are you seeking for and who denied this to you? Did you take the name from the Blood For Blood song or it’s just a coincidence? Which bands have influenced you both musically and lyrically and why? Name is based on the BFB song. When Davy (our first guitar player) came up with it during one of the early rehearsals, I actually recall that no one was into it… But it only became a more apparent issue when we got closer to releasing the first record. We wanted something that somehow covered a part of what we were about and sounded a bit different. Redemption Denied managed to stick with us long enough, and other alternatives didn’t make the cut, so we eventually just went with it. Obviously we all have our own musical preferences as individuals. But e.g. (early) Hatebreed, Death Threat and Stigmata are examples of bands that we’re all into and that will undoubtedly have influenced the song-writing to some extent. Maybe some more All Out War, Kickback and Machine Head in the newer songs. Just bands

that can really get that feeling of urgency and anger across while staying straight forward and relatively close to the roots musically without having to resort to songs that sound like 3-minute long breakdowns.  As far as lyrics go, I guess I do have some favorites. I definitely read too many Earth Crisis booklets when I first started going to shows. Possibly still do. I really like a lot of Pat Dubar’s lyrics for Turning Point. Trial’s ‘Are These Our Lives’ is among the favorites as well. 100 Demons. One King Down. Battery. Just to name a few.

possible… I believe the biggest factor is that all of us were either really motivated or crazy enough to make things work up to a point where we’d usually be able to accept most opportunities when offers came our way. Never paid to play - please NEVER do - or any of that crazy shit. All of us have been around for quite some time and were / are active in multiple bands so that definitely helps to build somewhat of a network as well. Also eternally grateful to (still) be surrounded by friends that helped us along the way by learning all songs on short notice or driving us around. There’s a lot of great memories and stories... Loved the TRUE SPIRIT tour #1 with NO TURNING BACK, STRENGTH APPROACH, WORLD EATER and RISK IT. Everyone on that tour just really bonded after trying to evade menstrual blood and handing out ‘special’ whisky during some of the most horrific sleep-overs to date. Tour with TERROR and NAILS for the ‘25th Hour’ was beyond great. Stepping on stage hoarse voiced from singing along to RIVAL SCHOOLS and listening to unreleased NO WARNING songs on the backseat of a night-liner… First Ukraine-Russia tour really stands out as well. Touring through a civil war, being seconds away from getting caught by armed military police whilst smuggling merch and instruments across the Russian border on a train with tourist visas. Toured with BACKTRACK twice, but recent farewell tour with HANGMAN and HIGHER POWER was pure gold. Best part for me is mostly about getting to make awesome memories with close friends, playing music or seeing bands I love every night and meeting / catching up with a lot of cool people everywhere.

How hard is to be a European hardcore band in a US dominated scene? How do you feel when US bands get all the hype and great Euro / UK bands are underrated? What’s your favorite bands of today’s hardcore by the way? I never felt like that, to be honest… Obviously, when looking at the chronology of things, a lot was happening in the US before anyone around here had ever even heard about hardcore. But throw any ½ decade period at me from early 90’s forward and I’d be more than happy to point out bands that were at least on par with anything coming out of the US, possibly better. Arkangel, Kickback, L’Esprit Du Clan, Dead Stop, Justice, Rise & Fall… There’s plenty of old and new EU bands that are hyped on the other side of the pond as well. Try putting your old merch online and you’ll know within 30 seconds. Some current favorites: FORESEEN from Helsinki. Really liked the new NEVER ENDING GAME and QUEENSWAY records and would love to see them make it over here. ALL OUT WAR are still releasing awesome new material. WORST DOUBT from Paris and ANGST from Hannover definitely are promising young(er) bands. I’ll go and see KNUCKLEDUST any time I can. TERROR never disappoints. Clearly impossible to write down a comprehensive list that’d do justice to all bands worth mentioning.

Besides being a doctor and singing for RD, you run Tried & True Booking. Could you give us an insight into how things work with T&T? Where do you usually do shows and how can a band get in touch with you if they want to play your area?

You’ve shared the stage and toured with lots of cool bands, including Backtrack and Trapped Under Ice. How hard was to get hooked with these tours? Which one stands out the most for you? Any funny stories?

TNT books shows in the eastern part of Belgium and southern part of The Netherlands. Initially started out in 2013 as an effort to primarily help friends’ bands from other countries get decent shows in my area when other bookers were slowing down. But gradually moved on to bigger things thereafter. Bands or bookers usually just get in touch with me or vice versa, and we’ll just discuss possibilities depending on what’s on

Yeah, looking back I guess we’ve been blessed with a lot of really good tours so far. We have always just tried to play as many shows as

the table. I try to do the occasional fundraiser show as well. Easiest way to get in touch is to just contact us on social media (IG/FB: @ triedntruehc) or through the website (triedntrue. org).

of a bigger and long-standing tradition. I have a big box of old(er) fanzines, and every single one is a time capsule that offers a glimpse into specific time or place. In contrast, a lot of things on the internet easily feel more superficial or unfortunately prone to disappear into oblivion faster than one might expect. We all thought Myspace was forever, right?

Tried & True last year transformed into a super cool fanzine, too. Issue no.1 was released in April 2019. Any plans for issue no.2? It took me 4 years to start working on the 2nd issue of this fanzine, so I definitely understand the delay. How important are fanzines nowadays?

Belgium used to have a great scene many years ago. You got your H8000 / edge metal / core movement back in late 90s and then in between 2000-2010 all these awesome bands like Deadstop, Rise & Fall or Justice used to be ambassadors of the Belgium scene in the worldwide hardcore. How’s the scene nowadays? Am I wrong or it has decreased in numbers of attendance and bands? If so, how did this occur?

Issue #2 is in the works. Most interviews are completed, and must say we’re really stoked so far. But a lot of the other stuff is unfortunately being delayed by a multitude of factors, not all COVID-related. Should all be done by summer time nonetheless. Fanzines rule. There’s always been somewhat of a special element to holding a DIY zine. The ‘mojo’ of the look and feel that make it a hardcore / punk zine from a mile away. Also love just how clear it is that it took a lot of time and effort to produce, and as part

We get this question pretty often. As you state yourself, everything seems to come in waves. I guess that the people that make a big deal out of it are the ones that possibly lost track at some point or don’t show up at shows that often

you like One King Down?! Cheers bro, stay safe!

anymore. Of course it’s different from a couple of years ago, but Belgium’s still doing OK in my book. Cool things seem to be happening in the Brussels area, with a lot of new and more 80’s / punk oriented bands. And we just had a huge sold out Liar reunion show / H8000 book release etc. with young bands on the bill as well. Enough to get excited about. If anything, I feel like everything seems more fragmented now. Little niches and sub-sub-subgenres that for some reason don’t really mix anymore. There’s multiple simultaneous shows every weekend within a 3hr drive radius. Makes it harder for promoters to take risks because it is more difficult to draw bigger crowds for separate shows. However, it does offer lots of options for new bands to get on stage etc. which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’d really love to see promoters just get in touch and work together more proactively, maybe try some mixed bills to keep people open minded. I’ve been working with Coma Bookings a couple of times now and has been great.

You know I have a spot for OKD. Just one of the first bands that really solidified my transition to hardcore music. Coming from a more metaloriented background, I really gravitated towards hardcore-punk because of many things as stated earlier. But OKD was one the final pieces of the puzzle that drew me in for life. ‘Bloodlust Revenge’ is a masterpiece and would still be regarded as such if it came out tomorrow. ‘Prey To Human Silence’ and ‘More Hate Than Fear’ remain in the short list of personal anthems to this day, and will still blast “Hasp” (from ‘Gravity Wins Again’) through my earbuds to e.g. get amped for the last kilometers when running. And, as it happens to be, really awesome guys as well! Beyond stoked I had opportunity to tag along for the recent run of EU / UK shows, thanks again brother. To anyone reading this: check out the extensive interview I did with Matt Wood in TNT #1 and find out for yourself. Number 2 coming at you soon! THE DOC, OUT!

Let’s finish this with a bang. How much do

Can you introduce Drain and its band members to the readers of our zine? Who’s in Drain, when and where did you form?

ne of the most significant hardcore records that was released in the middle of the pandemic crisis & the quarantine that followed was Drain’s ‘California cursed’ by Revelation Records. One of the best records released in the past years, in my humble opinion, bringing a fresh air to the hardcore scene of double twenties. Sam Ciaramitaro, Drain’s singer, was kind enough to reply to our questions from his home in Southern California.

Drain is Tim Flegal on drums, Cody Chavez on guitar, and I’m Sam and I front Drain! Drain started in 2014 in Santa Cruz, California. ‘California cursed’ is the title of your debut album. What’s hidden behind the lines of the title? What influenced to write a record like this both musically and lyrically?

Interview conducted in early April 2020. Artist photo by Malachi Green Live photo by Sam Jameson

Most Drain songs are just written by me about things that I personally feel, but the title track for the record was based off of a recurring conversation we would have with each other when we were on tour. It is difficult to juggle finances when playing in a touring band, and a lot of that has to do with how expensive it is to live in California, conjoined with how saturated the state is. The thought of being able to live in a place with really cheap rent always sounds great until we get there and realize how good we have it at home. Santa Cruz is one of the most beautiful places in the world in my opinion, and it can be a real love / hate relationship at times, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

drain831.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/drain831 www.instagram.com/drain831 Hey hey! Welcome to Soulcraft fanzine 2! Do you follow hardcore / punk / whatever fanzines? Hello! Thank you so much for reaching out and having us! Truthfully, I really don’t follow any fanzines. I have always enjoyed ones that I’ve been apart of, but with regrets, I do not follow any.

Since writing the song, I actually moved down to Southern California and miss it terribly, the lyrics mean more now than they even did when I was living there.

recording. Lastly, there is a band called Poor Choice from Long Island that just dropped a single called “Elevate” that I have really been enjoying. I can’t finish this without giving a shout out to our really close friends who feel like extension members of Drain: Hands of God, Gulch, Absence of Mine, Scowl, DARE, Lead Dream, and Sunami.

How were the vibes in the studio when writing the new record? You co-operated with Taylor Young (Nails, Twitching Tongues, etc.), one of the most hard-working guys in the scene now. Give us some behind the scenes info of the recordings!

You have signed with one of the most, if not the most, legendary, hardcore labels in the world, a.k.a. Revelation Records. How did it happen? How do you feel being in the same roster as Gorilla Biscuits or Youth Of Today? Do you ever feel that you are carrying the torch of these bands?

The vibe was great recording this latest record. Aside from our very first demo in 2015 that no one has ever heard, we’ve done every release with Taylor, so we came in feeling super comfortable. Taylor has watched us grow and our sound changed over the years too, so it’s been really awesome to get in there and get all of our brains on these tracks and do whatever we can to make them the best we possibly can. We came in with a vision for what we wanted the record to sound like and Taylor captured it and then went beyond. He is just super knowledgeable in the genre as well as his craft, so he knows exactly what to do to make the parts that need to stand out, sound huge.

I met Adam from Rev years ago through a mutual friend in Santa Cruz, and we had loosely remained in touch through him. I would have my buddy send him all of our new releases and see what he thought, but it never amounted to much. It wasn’t until we played Sound and Fury 2019 that we won him over and had him want to make a record with us. It is honestly the craziest feeling to think about it like that hahaha. The first time that it really hit for me was when we got to meet some of the folks at Rev and we got lunch. I was sitting next to Sammy Siegler and he was talking about playing drums on the Project X record and that was one of the first hardcore records I got into when I was like 14 years old. My gut kind of dropped haha. I’ve honestly never really thought of us as torchbearers, but I guess to some degree we are! We all try to stay pretty level headed and down to earth, so that thought has never really crossed our mind! The thought of kids remembering us in 15 years, the way that we all know past bands on Rev’s roster, really trips me out! It’s totally surreal!

I definitely believe that your sound is super fresh, something that the current affairs of the worldwide hardcore scene was missing. What’s your opinion on today’s scene? Any stand-out bands? I honestly love today’s scene. I feel like there are a lot of bands that we sound similar to, but we also have something that makes us stand apart from the rest, and it’s great. I also think it’s so rad that there can be a festival where every band sounds different from each other but no one sounds out of place on the bill. We have been very fortunate in meeting so many amazing people who play in great bands, through touring and festivals, that it makes it very difficult to just pick out a few stand out bands, but I’ll give it a shot. We recently toured with a band called Life’s Question who has a super unique sound combined with unmatchable live energy and feeling. They have been on repeat for me for months now. There is a band called Simulakra from Delaware that we have had the pleasure of playing with a few times over the past months, and I cannot get enough of them. It’s pulverizing heavy hardcore and their live set exceeds their

You are playing lots of shows, even from the start, and the release of your first EP called ‘Over thinking’. How important are the live shows for you? How hard is to fit in your schedules daily jobs and touring? Any touring moments that occur to your mind right now? For us, live shows are everything. We’ve always strived to put out good recorded music, but be able to play it even better live, and I feel like for the most part we hold up to that. There is nothing worse than when you are really excited

hardly ever see bands lasting for a decade or so nowadays. People get easily bored or burnt out. Why do you think this happens? Is hardcore a passing phase for young kids that fades out at their late 20s?

to see a band and you know the songs like the back of your hand, and they start playing and it just doesn’t deliver like it should. We try to never do that. Touring definitely was difficult at times, but for the most part we just worked jobs that were going to be flexible with us and our schedules. There has never been a time where we said no to an opportunity because we had to work. I guess that is the one pro to not having a job you necessarily are passionate about. It makes it really easy to pick up and go as needed. I think the harder part of leaving for tour is leaving behind your life to go and push what you are passionate about. For the most part, we’ve all had girlfriends / pets / families that we have to say goodbye to for weeks at a time, which is a lot harder than getting work sorted, but its just one of those things that you have to do when you love this lifestyle and want to push it. As far as moments go, I definitely remember a few situations where we weren’t necessarily on tour, but trying to play shows down in LA and had work the next day in Santa Cruz (roughly 6hour drive). There was one time we did a live set at the college radio station at UCLA at 10pm and had to play / interview and then drive back to Santa Cruz so our bass player could be at work at 5am. That was rough haha.

I feel like it definitely can be a passing phase for people who are here for the wrong reasons, but I feel like the people that have it in their blood will always be there, in some capacity. I feel like its really based off of the short attention span for a lot of hardcore fans. Something can be HUGE for 6 months or a year and then be just a distant memory within like two years. So I totally understand how a band could want to call it quits after a couple of years, because it is really difficult to go out there on the road and play for people (or lack thereof) who just don’t really care. I feel like there are of course the greats that will stand the test of time and will always play to loving fans because of their drastic impact on the genre, but those are dime a dozen and not every band has that impact. To me, hardcore is very much a “time and place” thing, where you just have to be there at that time / place to really see it, feel it, and experience it. And I honestly find beauty in that. Drain has a little bit of attention right now, but that can all go away at the drop of a dime, and if it does, I’ll just be happy that I was there and got to experience it when I did.

It’s true that most hardcore bands these days play for a few years, release a couple of good records, then quit and that’s all. We

The new pandemic has unveiled new options for the music ‘business’ including live streaming of shows and better promotion of e-shops. Culture is devastatingly affected by Covid-19 and it seems we have to deal with a new situation from now on. What’s your point of view on this? Moreover, how hard would be to overcome all this and re-build the social and human relationships and restore our daily lives? Yeah, Corona Virus really has shaken the world up and completely changed the way that we operate. For us, we had to drop two festivals, United Blood in Richmond, Virginia, as well as Wild Rose in Calgary, Alberta. One was going to be right before the record dropped and the next was to be shortly after. We were fortunate in that we were able to sell merchandise that was going to be going for those shows, but it is definitely a bummer. I think that on one hand, I’m really happy that everyone is stuck at home because it means that people won’t have much else to do when this record is released, so they’ll probably give it a spin at home. However, I definitely wish things were back to normal and that we could release this and play some shows around it. I think that the Code Orange live stream was unreal and I really enjoyed the Year Of The Knife live stream, because I love that band, but I don’t think it will be any type of replacement for shows. I think as soon as things are safe, we are going to see an oversaturation of bands going out on tour and people going out

to shows. I feel confident that people will jump right back into regular face to face interactions and that relationships between people may even deepen because of the new found appreciation for life as we know it. I know you had some plans like playing United Blood Fest etc. but I guess you have to re-consider everything. Any plans for the summer or maybe autumn / winter 2020? Coming to Europe maybe? Yeah, unfortunately everything is off the table for now. We did have a tour lined up for the summer, but it might be getting cancelled as of now. I’m not totally sure what the situation is yet. As soon as it’s safe to, we are going to get out there and do a full U.S. tour, but my next goal is to go to Europe or Japan. I don’t know if we have a lot of fans in either place, but I would be ecstatic to go play overseas. Hopefully we’ll be seeing you out there soon ;) Good luck with the new record and hope to catch you live soon! Thanks for the interview, last words are yours! Thank you so very much for your time and for the opportunity to share some about myself and about the band. As some final words, be good to yourself and to others. DRAIN is your friend.

interlude interviewed a bunch of cool bands / people, a couple politely turned me down and a few never replied. By the way, I definitely love it when a band, that I like so much and follow since their early days, become big and more well known, but on the other hand I hate it when it turns out to be so fucking hard to interview them and have to deal with so many different people in order to send a dozen of questions. Nevertheless, I feel so lucky that there’s tons of good stuff in this issue; if all goes by the plan I’ll send all the stuff to my graphic designer, Mitsos a.k.a. Ultragrim, before the end of April, fingers crossed.

Volos, Gr, April 11, 2020 - currently listening to ‘California Cursed’ by Drain

weeks passed after I wrote the preface piece and things are getting (sur-)real. The pandemic is still on the rise (almost 2 million cases worldwide and around 110,000 deaths), while Greece is fortunately not that much affected when it comes to cases and deaths. The already fucked up economy is getting super extra fucked up and one thing that worries me the most is what happens next. Lots of jobs lost, people running out of money and the unavoidable financial crisis is taking the place of the hygienic crisis sooner than soon. Me and my girlfriend have already planned (before the virus broke) to move out of the beautiful and sunny (but still a shithole) country called Greece, so we are kinda more worried about what the future holds for us. One thing’s for sure though; we are gonna give our 101% to overcome all this and get the best out of it. Nothing can bring us down!

So here are my resolutions for the quarantine that it seems that it’s going to end in mid May the latest: • Send this issue to the pressing plant • Watch more than 7 Jim Jarmush movies (already watched 5 thanks to Lina) • Read (eventually) the H8000 hardcore book

So days go by, we have already reached the 30th session of quarantine and I have already accomplished some of the goals I put on day 1. More work out (whenever I am not lazy ofc), good movies / series, more music and books than usual, a new radio show called Fresh Cuts, streaming every Monday (www.mixcloud.com/ FreshxCuts) and huge progress on issue 2 of my beloved fanzine, the one you are reading right now. All in all, I try to be as creative as I can, while donating my time the best way possible. Concerning

the

fanzine,

have

• Finish 2 of the papers I have to deliver for my Master • Order less food and cook more • Write lyrics for my band, My Turn • Discover new bands & watch more cool TV series I am not gonna blah blah more! Let the bands and the images do the talking! See you on the Outro piece.

already

o, I始m Nat, 28 from Leeds, UK. I始ve been shooting shows since I can remember, but hardcore shows have and will always be my favourite kind. Nothing beats the atmosphere & the level of crowd interaction which is incomparable to other genres I have experienced.

It really does still make me so happy seeing people in merch with photos that I始ve taken on. Never did I think when I started shooting at local shows, when I was a teenager, that some of my favourite bands would be using my photos for merch and records - let alone getting my work printed in mainstream magazines - which is now my job. Mental.

I have been fortunate enough to be involved in the amazing UKHC scene for a fair while now, I feel very blessed to be part of such a strong scene, which has only ever encouraged and supported me. I始ve had my work used by various bands worldwide over the last 10+ years on a mixture of different types of merch / records etc.

Hardcore is something I will always be thankful for. You can find more of my photos at: Instagram: @wondergirlphoto Website: www.wondergirlphoto.co.uk

sean taggart S

ean Taggart is the guy that has drawn covers, flyers and merchandise artwork of some of my favorite, and probably yours, since you are reading this zine, bands ever! Agnostic Front, Crumbsuckers, CroMags, Murphy’s Law, Carnivore, Napalm Death or even Backtrack, Twitching Tongues, Downpresser, you name it! I was super happy when he agreed to do that intie for Soulcraft, so I tried to ask him as much as ‘not typical’ questions I could ask. Enjoy!

meaning that I make a meager amount of money from selling my art. Sometimes, actually a lot of times, I have to take full time jobs. My most recent one was at the national grocery chain. Sol Rosenberg or Jack Tors are pretty much my favorite Jerky Boy characters. They’re a little more silly and outrageous. Honestly I’m rarely in the city these days, but whenever I’m in the E. Vill. I eat at Mamoun’s, great shwarma! People usually refer L.E.S. when really, they’re talking about the East Village. Katz’s is where I go when I’m down in the Lower East Side. I grew up down there, so it’s kind of annoying to hear people mix the two together. Dudes from Queens and Brooklyn are to blame for that! Ha!

Interview conducted in early April 2020. Drawings provided to SF by the artist himself. www.seantaggart.com www.instagram.com/seantaggart

The situation with the pandemic in US, and especially in NY, is pretty rough right now. Is there anyone in charge to blame for all this shit except that racist argument that a Chinese guy ate a bat and all evolved from there?

Hey Sean! Please introduce yourself to the readers! Age, occupation, favorite Jerky Boys episode, best junk food place in L.E.S. I’m

perpetually

under-employed

artist,

Oh man! First off the world has been overdue for a pandemic, so it really doesn’t matter where it came from right now. If it turns out to be wet markets from Asia, so what? Dormant microorganisms in the thawing tundra are ready to emerge, who knows what kind of Pandora’s box that’s going to be! Yet another example of the enormity of the global climate crises. Or just as easily come from our shitty agricultural practices, Mad Cow Disease anyone?

I’d challenge them, but y’know compassion is something you can’t talk someone into. I can thankfully, say that quite a few of them have flipped their stance and understand that people are people, good and bad.

How did you start doing art for bands? I know it’s a super boring but it’d be very cool if you can share some history info for our readers!

For me, hardcore is for disaffected youth. A way to blow off personal, societal steam. Music for angry misfits, aggro nerds, and unloved knuckleheads. After a while, the conformity of non-conformity started to bug me. I wasn’t alone, we lost a lot of misfits and nerds. Eventually the knuckleheads were pretty much the only ones left. Modern hardcore is not made for me and it shouldn’t, it’s for now, today’s youth. I did see the Bad Brains at Afro-Punk fest in Brooklyn, 8 years ago. Great show!

Do you follow today’s hardcore scene? What was the last show you attended and the last record you got? How relevant is hardcore and its values today?

I was friends with them all, it was just me making a contribution to the scene. When bands actually got signed and there was some money around, I was lucky enough to be able to do it and get paid as well. But think about it, if the NYC happened elsewhere in the country, Duluth Minnesota for instance, I doubt very much we’d be talking right now. Not to take anything away from our scene but it sure does help to be in the greatest city of the U.S.

Let’s get back to art. What’s your favorite art movement and the one you can identify with? Except of designing hardcore record covers, I see you are into some abstract art, too. Give some more info about what you enjoying drawing the most.

Your recent art exhibition is the ‘There’s no I in hate’ and it was supposed to run right now in Sing Sing Kill Brewery. The exhibition depicts your take upon racism in America. How racist is the American culture in 2020? And what about the hardcore subculture that you are close to?

I own a fair amount of art, and I have to say that living with abstract art is really cool. Abstract paintings have a way of unfolding itself to you over time. Representational art does this too, but abstract art more so. Dada is my favorite movement. No Dada, no punk rock! German Expressionism is a close second. I love all art, from Bugs Bunny to Caravaggio.

Racism tried to invade it but I think it has failed. America is, has and always will be racist. The only way to stem the tide would be a unilateral change, i.e. reparations to African Americans, a reinstatement of the sovereignty of Native Americans + reparations, an actual eradication of poverty. Clearly that goes against the 1%’s agenda, so realistically it’s never gonna happen. Fortunately, I’ve never been a realist! As for the scene, I’m not really a part of it anymore, so it’s hard to say. But judging by the pro-Trump posts I see in social media I’d say racism is alive and well in the NYHC scene. Back in the day I had plenty of friends who used words like nigger, Jew (funny how the actual name of a group of people is used as a slur), and spick freely. Speaking for myself I turned a blind eye to it. Kind of like a racist having a black “friend”, I was non-racist with racist “friends”. Sometimes

Favorite classic artist? Which original painting would you like to buy and keep at your house if you were super rich? Or steal if you were invisible? I wouldn’t steal any, because art is for the people. If I were rich enough to privately own great art, then I am an enemy of the people. Although an early Max Beckmann would be nice ;) What’s your opinion on street art and graffiti getting legal and in galleries?

Yeah I’m kind of divided on that one. I grew up NYC in the 70s so I wrote graff, I sucked but it was fun! So when graff started hanging in galleries I was happy for the writers for getting some props and $$$ but it smelled of rich elites co-opting as usual. As for street artists, I was, back in the day, a big fan of Haring and Basquiat but when they broke in the art world I thought it was more co-opting. Plus, I didn’t think they merited that much success. My opinion on that has pretty much reversed now. Modern street art all looks pretty samey to me. Go to NY, Berlin, Rio, Tokyo it looks the same. There’s no sense of local voice whatsoever. Very dull. Aren’t you bored to get asked from hardcore bands to draw their records? Do you think they care about your art or just to have your name in the credits list? ‘Artwork by the legendary Sean Taggart’, you know what I mean. Have you designed something that you don’t like, that a band asked you too, only for the money? What’s not to like? Actually it’s a treat. I get to tap into my younger self and make the sickest art I can! I turned bands down for years thinking it would be disingenuous for me to do it. After all I hadn’t been part of the scene for years and that would be breaking the rules! Ha! Now I realize kids look at my generation in the same way we looked at previous generations. Artist Big Daddy Roth comes to mind. Top5 of cover records of all music styles and eras (yours not included!) please! Don’t worry I’d never put myself on that list! Top 5 I’d pick today (definitely will be different tomorrow), in no particular order: The Birthday Party “Junkyard”, art: Bid Daddy Roth Funkadelic “Standing on the Verge of Getting it On”, art: Pedro Bell Nazareth “No Mean City”, art: Rodney Matthews Black Flag “Damaged”, photography: Ed Colver The Velvet Underground & Nico ‘s/t’, art: Andy Warhol Favorite Bad Brains song? Dub! Ha ha no! Right Brigade!

Hey guys! Hope you are doing fine! How’s life without shows and tours?

igher Power definitely released the record of the year; ’27 Miles Underwater’ is next to Turnstile’s ‘Time and Space’ a scene sound-changing record. I follow the band since its early stages and they always surprise me with how good is the stuff that they deliver to the scene. Having signed to Roadrunner Records, they still remain true to the hardcore ethics, while touring the globe. I talked with Max (one of the 2 guitarists that play in HP), who I know since he used to run the Leeds based hardcore label Neutral Words Records, about HP, social change and the future.

Life is weird right now. Obviously, the world being on lockdown has put all plans to tour on hold for everybody. We are trying to stay productive though and write music and come up with other ideas to engage with our fans during this weird time. The last years have been super busy for Higher Power; non-stop touring around the globe and an amazing new record. It seems that the band exploded and is getting bigger and bigger when days pass by. How do you feel for all this? What’s the ultimate goal you want to accomplish with Higher Power?

Interview conducted in mid April 2020. Pictures by Nat Wood. Design by J Town.

Ultimately Higher Powers goal to begin with was to just be a recording project for Jimmy and Alex. So with everything that has been going on and

www.higherpowerleeds.com www.instagram.com/higherpowerleeds

all the tours we’ve done it’s already surpassed the expectation. I think this has made it a really exciting band to be in though because we’re all so open to new opportunities and offers we get. I guess we just want to try and achieve as much as we can, while we can.

lucky to have an amazing recording studio very local to Leeds around that time run by our friend James Atkinson. On top of that we also had ‘The Flex’ house, which was actually 3 different houses over about 6/7 years. We all used to practice, play shows and hang out here and single handily I think that gave us the scene that we had for so long.

What about your other bands / activities? Is there time for anything non-band related? What do you like to do in your free time?

Your last record is a blast. Give us some more info about it. How’s the feedback till now? How is it working with a major label, like Roadrunner Records, and how demanding is it? What has changed in your opinion on the perspective of the band since you left the DIY part of the industry?

Louis and Alex play in Big Cheese; which is probably my favourite current UKHC band. Louis also makes beats / raps and other music as well. Me and Ethan have a few other projects that are dormant too, it’s just really hard to find the time in between everything HP has going on. In terms of other things we all like to do... I screen print and make merch in between touring when I can, as well as gaming. Jimmy tattoos and makes clothes and goes on walks with his dog Harley. Ethan is a bad ass designer so he is busy working on stuff for HP or other bands; if he ain’t doing that then he’s gaming as well. Louis, like I said, loves to make music of all type so he’s always working on something new. And Alex loves to cook food, walk his dogs and play FIFA.

The differences would be... We have somebody willing to invest and help us create the best music and albums we can. We had access to things we never thought imaginable (preproduction time / studio / engineer and producer) which all benefited us more than we ever could have imagined. I honestly don’t think we ever left the DIY mindset behind though. We were all so hands on and invested in the music, from the writing to the recording... everything

You come from Leeds, one of the best places for hardcore in the UK right now. You have lots of cool bands, the Outbreak festival, etc. Higher Power is the 2nd band coming from Leeds that I interview in this issue (Big Cheese is the other one). You still live there? How did you manage to create such a strong scene? We have been very blessed for a while with regards to the scene in Leeds. I think we all moved here around the same time around 2011-12 amongst a bunch of other friends. As well as that we had an amazing DIY practice space come venue pop up and we also were

people hear is literally everything we had within us in the studio. You hear horror stories of labels interfering with the sound and direction of the record, but honestly Roadrunner just put 100% of the trust in us and our music, they just helped us make sure it sounded the best it could!

see. Brexit will indefinitely effect all musicians from the UK who aim to tour or travel in Europe. Fuck Brexit. It seems that thanks to bands like you, Turnstile and the likes, there’s a big change in today’s hardcore scene. More and more bands aren’t afraid to mellow down, experiment or add more commercial elements to their music. What do you have to say on this? What are your main influences musically? Top5 of the records you’ve listened to lately?

You tour a lot; have you ever felt that constant touring will wear you off? What’s a day in the van or nightliner for Higher Power? Any funny stories or bad incidents? We tour so much that we literally never leave any stone unturned. We talk to each other about everything and anything because if we didn’t, we’d all go insane. Some of those conversations are about the wear and tear of touring so much and the effect we notice it has on other bands. I think that I’m very lucky, and as a band we are lucky, because we do vocalise everything and one thing I noticed is when there is friction between members of bands it shows on tour. We don’t ever want it to be something awkward or something none of us look forward to cause it sucks for everybody else to be around. And besides why the fuck would you do something if you didn’t love every minute of it?

Hardcore has been a wide open spectrum in terms of sound and approach pretty much from the get go, but especially the 90’s. Bands like Quicksand, Leeway, 108 or Snapcase, all sonically sound very different to Merauder, Breakdown or Madball you know? But they are all hardcore. Expanding your sound doesn’t always mean going commercial, sometimes you just aren’t as angry when you’re writing songs. My top 5 musical influences but for now... (no order) Alice In Chains - Dirt Rage Against The Machine – s/t Deftones - Around The Fur Leeway - Open Mouth Kiss Metallica - And Justice For All

What’s the main difference between touring in UK / Europe and outside of it? Do you think that Brexit is gonna affect in any way Higher Power?

Are lyrics still important to hardcore? Can social change come through music? What topics do you like to cover in your lyrics? More personal stuff as far as I can figure out, right?

The U.K is our home so we love it and it loves us. Europe has the best hospitality but shows can be hit or miss. America is insane, I love touring there but it is so wild. Canada I think collectively was our favourite place we’ve ever toured. It had all the craziness of America but not everyone was a psycho. It had all the nice bits of Europe and the hospitality but not so much of a language barrier. And to be honest some of those drives were the best I’ve ever been on for the views and things to stop and

Jimmy was very introspective in this album and a lot of the lyrical content addresses change, disconnection, ending of relationships and a lot about change and the 7 year cycle (a theory by Rudolf Steiner). I didn’t contribute directly to the writing of the lyrics but Jimmy goes over

them before and while recording so we are all pretty involved and clue up about what he is trying to say. In terms of being political and the lyrics being important? I think now more than ever that people need to be stood up shouting and addressing all the craziness going on in the world. Naturally, I think, when the political landscape globally is as hostile as it is now, it breeds more politically minded people to come out of the wood work and stand up for what they believe. Lyrically all that matters is if it is real and has substance and truth. I definitely dig your artwork and merch designs. Who are your favorite graphic designers in the scene right now? I strongly believe that art goes hand to hand with music in the hardcore scene. How important is art for you? We do a lot of the artwork and designs ourselves as Jimmy is a painter and me and Ethan can do graphic design easy. In the scene though my personal favourites are @palithekid, @chrism.wilson, @nicky.rat, @simonerl, @ franknaddocks, @hoseayway. There are so many other amazing artists and designers involved but these are people who I’ve worked with and loved their work for years. Any plans after the pandemic is over? More touring? New record? ALWAYS WANT MORE TOURINNG. ALWAYS WANT TO WRITE MORE MUSIC. Honestly once this is all over I’m never gonna want to sit on a house ever again. Thanks for your time, stay safe! Last words are yours! Stay positive and reach out to people if you’re struggling and do the same for others. Don’t suffer in silence.

t may not be a die-hard hardcore band but Gouge Away is one of the most interesting bands that independent music has to offer the last years. Having moved from the hardcore / punk sound to a more noisy rock / Jesus

Tyler: Right now we’re all trying to stay home as much as possible because of COVID-19. An extensive tour we are supposed to be on right now has been postponed so we’re trying to come up with creative ideas the band can do to

Lizard alike stuff and having taken their name from a Pixies song, Gouge Away is definitely a band that you should pay attention to. All 5 band members spent some time and replied to my questions concerning their new 7”, touring memories and the political situation. Read below and find out which are their favorite Greek artists, too!

fill that space. Christina: Right now the studio apartment I’m sharing with Tommy is full of merch so we’re trying to sell some shirts to help alleviate the financial hit while we eagerly await the news that we can tour again. Who’s in Gouge Away and what do you do in your daily lives? Is Gouge Away a full time band? Is anyone playing in other bands, too?

Interview conducted in late March 2020. Band photo by Angela Owens. www.gougeaway.com www.instagram.com/gougeawayfl

Tyler: I would say that we are a full time band. We tour a lot and even when we’re home there is always something to be worked on. We still

Hey hey! What’s going on on Gouge Away HQ?

have jobs though and my daily life includes going to work and spending time with my partner

and dogs. A few of us play in other bands but those bands aren’t very active.

with Jeremy Bolm from Touche Amore. Christina: I definitely feel like Gouge Away is full time. I’m constantly finding something to work on for the band. As we’re stuck at home,

Dylan: There’s Tyler (bass), Tommy (drums), Christina (vocals), Mick (guitar) & me; also guitar. I’d call Gouge Away full time. We’re home just enough for us to keep other jobs and side hustles so that we can make rent and feed ourselves. Everyone has other artistic endeavors that don’t get as much attention obviously. Christina & Tommy have made some awesome zines that are loosely related to Gouge Away, most of us take photos, some of us have other bands etc.

I’m trying to get into my own visual art again and maybe learn some guitar. You recently released the Consider / Wave of Mutilation 7”; both the new song and the Pixies cover sound great, congrats! Give us some behind the scenes info concerning the release. How’s the feedback so far?

Tommy: Since our tour with Circa Survive was postponed, and I was laid off from my dishwashing job, due to COVID-19, I’ve been spending my days practicing drums, and making silly drum videos. Hopefully we will be able to write some more music while we’re stuck

Dylan: Thank you! Consider was one of those tracks we tried to over-write for a while, and then one day in the practice space it just fell together effortlessly. The band has gotten a lot of flack from internet wieners about being named after a Pixies song, and covering a different song is our way of owning it. That track is also a slammer

at home indefinitely. I also play drums in AXIS with Dylan and Tyler, and Hesitation Wounds

anyway so, win win. We recorded that 7” and a couple other things to tape at Atomic Garden

East with Jack Shirley in 1 day. We sandwiched the recording day in between some shows we were doing on the west coast that were put on by Culture Abuse & Vans.

ours. The best part about working with them is that they’re so easy to deal with. We talk to them almost every day and they’ve become great friends of ours who come hangout and eat with us whenever we’re in their city. In my opinion there is no bad thing about working with Deathwish haha.

How did you decide to cover a Pixies song? It’s obvious that you are huge fans of posthardcore / noise rock and bands like Fugazi / Jesus Lizard but what’s so special with Pixies?! What else do you enjoy listening to?

Dylan: The best thing is all of it. There is no worst thing. Tommy: Deathwish is awesome and it’s super easy working with them. I’ve always loved the label, and it’s an honor to be a part of their roster. They might be a big label but working with them is just like putting out records with your friends.

Tyler: We had been joking for a while about covering a Pixies song as a fun and silly thing to do. I didn’t realize that apparently many people on the internet hate when bands are named after songs, so this was kind of our way of embracing the criticism. We already had plans to record a few songs so we took advantage of the studio time and recorded the cover.

Give us some info about rescue.org, an organization you donate 25% of the sales of the 7”. What’s your view on the current political situation? We are currently amidst the hardest times after WWII, how do you see music helping people take a positive stance and find an outlet into this worldwide crisis?

Dylan: Fugazi & Jesus Lizard are definitely big ones for all of us. We all listen to a ton of different stuff, The Strokes, The Weeknd, Radiohead, Pissgrave, Land of Talk, Andy Stott, Jesu, all get played in the van by most of us pretty regularly. Also, Greek plug: Vangelis is God! Dead Congregation is sick!

Dylan: The IRC’s mission statement is “The mission of the IRC is to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future.” Displaced people is obviously a global issue, but with the ongoing crisis with our southern border, places like Syria & Lybia, and undoubtedly future issues with the UK postBrexit, organizations like the IRC need all the help they can get; probably now more than ever with Covid-19. The current political situation is pretty terrifying & bleak. Our country’s issues are pretty well known, our immigration and foreign policies are disgusting and so is the vast majority of our government. Racism, xenophobia and pretty much every other form of prejudice is spreading, the economic crisis your

Tommy: I love doing covers and we can rarely all agree on a song to cover so this is one that just happened to work out. I love Fugazi and Radiohead, Rancid, John Coltrane, Alan Jackson, Aphex Twin, and this really cool band from Atlanta, GA called Slow Fire Pistol. Like ‘Burnt Sugar’ LP, the new 7” is out on Deathwish Inc. When did you start working with them and what’s the best and worst things working with a big label like Deathwish? Tyler: We started working with Deathwish in 2018 after they helped distro an older 7” of

country just went through, China, the middle east etc. It’s all pretty scary. But music is always a good platform to use to address these issues and it’s beautiful and inspiring when people use it that way. We’ve been encouraged by our peers and bands before us to be socially active so hopefully that continues.

any job I’ve ever had, but I love it more than anything and there’s nothing I’d rather be doing. Most of the time. Heh.

You’ve toured with the likes of Ceremony and Touche Amore. What was your favorite tour till now and why? Which is the dream band to tour with for you? What about post-tour depression, have you ever felt it? People think that touring is like partying and having fun every night, but sometimes the situation is not exactly like this… Touring is hard (depending on the size of the band of course) and can cause fights and mental breakdowns. Playing 150 shows a year is not the easiest thing to do. What do you think about this?

It’s true that you have mellowed down musically in the last records. Are you going to return to hardcore / punk in the future or you have found the right sound for you? Is hardcore / punk still relevant to the world’s problems?

Mick: I loved the Drug Church / Seattle’s New Gods tour as well. Had a lot of fun and made many friends.

Tyler: I think that we want to continue to write aggressive music whether that aligns with hardcore / punk or not. I don’t see us writing anything that sounds like our first record because we want to keep trying new things and that would feel pretty unnatural. Some bands do write the same record over and over and it works for them but I don’t think that’s us.

Tyler: I really love touring but it’s not easy. It really wears on you physically and mentally. Rest is the most important thing for us to keep doing it and I think people don’t really understand that unless they’ve toured extensively. I’m usually very excited to get home and sleep in my own bed at the end of a tour. Any kind of depression I develop with regards to touring is due to having to go back to my shitty job along with all the other aspects of life that kind of fall apart because of this.

Mick: I’d say we’re always trying to channel aggression in new ways. On the first LP I was the drummer, afterward I moved to guitar. I don’t really write the same way that record was written. I think we collectively enjoy the direction we’ve been going. Any future plans? Hope to see Gouge Away in Greece one day. Last words are yours!

Dylan: It’s hard to pick a favorite and it changes as different memories come and go, but right now I’d say probably the east coast / UK tour we did with Culture Abuse. It almost killed us, but it was the first tour after Burnt Sugar’s release, we did a lot of cool stuff, Culture Abuse gang was incredibly kind, and we met Yoschi who is the second coming of Christ. Post tour blues almost always hit me pretty hard. Touring is definitely not vacation, it’s work and it’s more taxing than

Dylan: Lots of future plans, they’ve all just been put on hold and postponed with the current situation. More tours and music and all that good stuff. Would love to come to Greece, hope to meet you there when it happens! Mick: We just did demos for a pile of new songs and we’re gonna see if we can come up with some more!

BANDAGE I

have been following Bandage since the beginning, co-releasing one of their records, sharing the stage with them a lot of times with my band, and even sharing a house with Drossos (vocals / bass) for a couple of years. Bandage is one of the most unique and lovely bands in the Greek punk rock scene and Drossos one of the nicest dudes I ever met and one of my best friends (even though we live 350km away from each other), so I needed no further reason to include them in the fanzine. Who cares that they are not playing hardcore at all?! Read what he has to say and get ‘Build’ now!

home, even though at a minimum pace, I listen to music I had shelved for quite some time, I play a bit of music of my own, watch LOST with my favourite person in the world and play video games. My parents need some assistance with groceries and other necessary amenities and time passes slowly but gradually. As to when this quarantine and the general franticness will end, I’m afraid it will not be any time soon. Extreme measures may take a step back during the summer but I think the year 2020 will not go back to being “normal” one little bit. How hard are these times for independent music, small-scale bands / artists and punk rock especially? By the way, melodic / skate punk rock is not the trend anymore, nothing like it used to be 10 years ago for example? Why did this happen in your opinion?

Interview conducted in early April 2020. Band picture by Theo Vranas. www.facebook.com/bandagepunkrock www.instagram.com/bndg_band

Small scale bands and artists is actually a very fitting term, generally. I would say that this crazy time we’re all experiencing will be having a rather intimate effect, as in small-scale independent musicians will not have a chance to express their camaraderie through music with people they are interconnected with and simply will not be able to have a good time through performing their music on any level. The general outline of

Hey Drossos! Welcome to Soulcraft 2! How do you spend your time during the quarantine? When do you think this is going to end and how? Hey Soulcraft! Thanx for interjecting into this difficult time for me and all of us, by having me being interviewed. I am still able to work from

this outbreak will clearly have a more severe impact on the general musical scene that relies on their shows and output to make a living. As for the second part of the question, I’m not entirely sure what happened to the skate punk / melodic puck scene, as I don’t really consider my band a part of that scene anymore, musically anyway. On a personal level, while I am in no way willing to “shit” on the skate punk parade, I have outgrown the musical and lyrical content of that genre. However, to be honest - and to the best of my possibly limited knowledge - I would actually contest this argument; I think globally the skate punk movement - especially a more technical and contemporary part of it - has come to the forefront of many stages in Europe and across the world with still anyone being able to “make it big”.

song writing in a more organized fashion, preproducing everything on a very basic level in order to single out our favourite ideas on the new songs, as well as try a more personal direction with our lyrical content, avoiding anything we think is generic, which characterized most of our songs in the past. “Build” ended up having a theme and the theme lyrically was Loss on every possible level. Musically we tried many new things and headed for a more emo / poppunk aesthetic. We worked on the songs for nearly two years before recording them in the spring of 2018 at Villa Giuseppe, here in Athens. You keep writing personal lyrics, what inspires you? Why did you choose the word ‘build’ for the title of the record? What do you want to build with this record and by playing in a band after all these years?

Bandage recently released an amazing record, called ‘Build’, in 2019, can you shed some light to the release of your 2nd full length? When did you come up with the idea and how long did it take you to finalize it?

As I am the one writing most of the lyrics in the band, for our new record I wanted to express myself in a way that I imagined a person like me could maybe empathize with. Hope that makes sense. The songs of my favourite bands I relate to the most are very personal, due to the simple fact that most of us tend to go through similar but essential situations in life. The premise of the title for the record resonates

Firstly, thank you for the kind comments on our new record, they are much appreciated. After the release of our first full length record, North by Northeast, we wanted to approach our

from the simple realization that through every single difficult experience in life there is a lesson to be learned and that this is a way of avoiding the repeatability of past mistakes of any kind, a way of “building” a stronger personality through experience.

a band and I was eager to do things I hadn’t tried before and to always keep moving forward as much as possible. Without that kind of drive, everything dies down eventually, I guess. In retrospect, I wish we had moved a bit faster with making more music and I especially wished we had played more places than we have until now, that we would have seen more, you know? On the other hand, I have this feeling about our little band that in our extremely small framework, while we were affected and even inspired by many bands and people in music, we formed and stuck to our own personality as musicians and did many things exactly how we wanted them without actually “copying” anything from anyone.

There’s a ‘pop’ vibe in the new record. What influenced your writing and what are your favourite bands nowadays? The band is almost 10 years old now, so, as individuals in it, some of us have found different musical paths to follow through time, some of which not even in the punk genre. However, I personally was completely overthrown by this modern emo / pop punk wave that has been becoming increasingly popular year by year. Bands like The Story So Far, Knuckle Punk, Citizen, Turnover, Trash Boat and many many more were on a terrifyingly abundant rotation for me. All of that somehow shaped the songs on Build I wrote the music and melodies for. Right now I’m listening to Four Year Strong, Movements, Tiny Moving Parts, Spanish Love Songs, PUP, Pinegrove but also some hip hop like Leikeli 47, Tyler the Creator, Common, Lizzo, Cautious Clay and others. Not sure if our upcoming material will involve hip hop (wink).

How’s the Greek punk rock scene nowadays? Sadly, I hardly see any unity, only a handful of friends coming together and creating things or just people going with the flow… Or maybe I’m getting old and start losing my faith in positivity, haha! I don’t know about this one. If we’re talking about English speaking Greek punk bands, my main concern, if you can call it that, is I see no new Greek punk bands coming out and I’d like to think I keep my ears open. I know trends come and go but we’ve always had a rich history of bands playing some sort of music associated to punk and now it seems it’s mostly “older” bands still playing. Right now I’d say the Greek punk scene is at an all-time low. Maybe it’s a decade thing, who knows? The funny thing is, globally there is a ton of music coming out, within the wider range of punk / hardcore. I don’t know about the unity aspect either. I mean, yeah no one really seems to want to keep this engine going, or even help boost it, but there’s no audience for it basically at the moment and that in my opinion is the main problem. You could argue that it is the band’s job to jolt the audience’s interest, but Greece is a really bad example for that argument. I can name a good list of non-Greek bands that had no audience in their home town or greater area and found a way to tour farther and farther - but in a logical geographical field, not having to switch continents for example - and make something happen or be part of a greater movement. Greece is at the bottom of Europe and - let’s face it - this type of music is heavily westerninfluenced; a culture our reality here is still far

Bandage play for quite a long time. Usually bands come and go after a couple of years. What keeps it together for you in Bandage? You had your line up changes but after all the core remains the same. What do you regret changing and what not changing through all these years? For me it was always about progress, apart from the obvious interest of making your own music and performing it. I think we basically became a band when in Greece there was little to no punk rock of the late 90’s and the 00’s left and a few new bands started playing at the time as well, paving the way for what the new era for bands was, I believe. Until 2010, touring abroad excessively or even just every year for a few weeks each time wasn’t ever a norm, bands here never even thought of proper merch or music videos and having your own equipment at shows to play with, your own distinct sound as a personal choice, how to make a proper record that doesn’t necessarily cost a ton of money and so much more. It was an interesting time to be

from.

it’s split four ways. Many aspects of keeping a band going require tremendous energy and time and, while it’s proven that the more time you put into a band the more you get rewarded, it is almost impossible to maintain a daily job AND work with the band full time. If there were a way to financially secure our everyday lives, we’d have the band be a full time thing, but we never tried it and I don’t think anyone seriously considered it. Doing a hobby, that you love, full time wouldn’t affect your passion and dedication for it, on the contrary; it would fuel it and you’d do a great job with it, exactly because you love it so much.

You have toured for more than a couple of times abroad. What differences have you spotted in the punk rock scenes around Europe? Any plans for further touring when all this paranoia ends and we get back to normality? The main difference is that of organizing things. Greek promoters and bands have gotten CRAZY better at organizing a proper show, treating and paying the bands decently, feeding and housing them, but it can still get a hell of a lot better. Another thing is, Greece barely has any decent small venues for a - let’s say - 200 cap show. That doesn’t help the organizational part of things. Other than that, I don’t really see many differences. We had various shows planned here in Greece in March and April, but the pandemic storm hit exactly on cue for these shows and we were also in the midst of planning a European tour for September, but I’m really unsure it’s possible at this point, mostly due to the fact that, even if shows are actually possible by then, you need to be able to plan it months ahead and all the shows - big or small - that were supposed to happen globally around this time are for now being postponed for the fall of 2020, so there’s going to be a TON shows then, theoretically at least. Let alone all the financial aspects this crisis will bring in months ahead and the actual potency to tour… I hope we can somehow make things work out.

Does punk rock have an age limit? Is it a passing phase for youngsters to rebel against society’s needs? I know my questions are provocative, since I’m also close to 40 and still screaming my lungs out in basements, but I’d like to read your perspective! I have this thing in my head, where I can’t stand watching people rock out in their 60’s or whatever. In most cases it’s just too much for me. Music definitely doesn’t have an age limit in general, even performing it. But I think at some point a venture like punk rock, which takes so much energy on stage and during a performance, has a limit, at least for me. I think, however, there are many ways of transitioning into different things still surrounding the genre of punk and even making or playing that type of music live, that’s how I’ve considered it for myself if the band-thing keeps going on any level for many more years. I just believe you don’t have to necessarily do the same thing you were doing when you were 20-30-40 and as you move forward because it feels and looks unnatural and sometimes ridiculous. Anything is possible, but it looks forced on so many occasions that I think aging should be a factor in how you choose to progress further by playing music, especially in any kind of rock band.

What do you do in your daily lives besides Bandage? How hard is it for a local band to play shows, tour and also maintain a normal job (usually providing a low income in Greece…)? Have you ever tried to do Bandage full time? Or do you think that doing a hobby that you love full time may affect your passion and dedication for this? For all of us, Bandage is a hobby. An expensive hobby, but also one that pays off in a lot of ways that don’t necessarily have to do with money. Everyone in the band is occupied with something other than music here in Athens, in order to pay the bills and generally get by, as well as keep the band going on various levels. We make some of the money we invest back but for the most part it’s a negative margin. Sometimes by a lot. It’s cool, though, and also important that

Thanks for the interview, it’s always a pleasure. Stay safe and let’s hope the world won’t end soon so we can share the stage again! Thank you for having me and always being supportive of Bandage. Good luck with the fanzine and stay positive and strong, as always!

found out about HCPP through a fanzine that my friend Kasper (of Redemption Denied fame; interviewed somewhere else in this zine) gave me after the One King Down tour back in May 2019 (woah, time flies…!). It was a super interesting small fanzine dedicated to Carl The Mosher, a legendary NYHC figure that has played in bands like Dynamo, Underdog and The Icemen. Some months later I listened to Edoardo’s (the guy behind the fanzine and HCPP) band on Spotify and since I really love NYHC (especially the 80s / 90s / early 00s scene), Blvd. Of Death stuck on my mind and I kept listening to the demo on repeat. It’s been a while since the last time I interviewed a band from Italy, so here you are!

develop mental disability nurse. I’m a HC singer during the spare time lol. First things first, I read your name for the first time through the HCPP fanzine about Carl the Mosher (NYHC legend, having played in Dynamo, The Icemen, Underdog, etc., he passed away in December 2013). What’s up with this zine? HCPP FANZINE aka the Carl The Mosher issue is the best thing I did in my life. I’m so proud of how it came out. It’s an entire zine reflecting the legacy of CTM, told by the people who know him best and some of us who knew him a lil’ bit. As I said on the intro of my zine, I don’t understand why Carl’s so rarely mentioned as other members of the NYHC all of fame and it sucks. That’s why I did this tribute!

Interview conducted in late March 2020. Pictures provided by the band.

You seem to be super passionate about old NYHC and New York in total. What attracts you the most to those years? What are you favorite underrated bands of the time?

blvdofdeathhc.bandcamp.com hcpprecords.bandcamp.com www.instagram.com/edohcpp Hey Edoardo! Thanks for being part of this zine. Please introduce yourself!

NYHC! There’s no other scene on the planet with an energy that can compete with! Underrated bands / records from the time?! Let me think...

My name is Edoardo Zavarella and I’m a

Breakdown - Plus Minus, Fit Of Anger both demos, Absolution rehearsal demo ‘88.

few years ago and then I asked my paisans to help me out on jamming some new songs that I had in my fridge and I were thrilled on the final result so why not to do a new band? A few days later while chatting with Freddy Alva (New Breed Tape Compilation, NYHC Graffiti Book; ed. check his interview in this issue) I sent him some preproduction so he said: ‘That’s mid - 90’s Queens Style, so Blvd Of Death aka Queens Blvd could be a cool name.’ So yeah he came with the name!

HCPP is also your label. Tell us some more info about it? How did you decide to release that Dynamo live tape? Any plans for future releases? There’s no much to say about HCPP Records (just needed to get a name before printing the tape, it’s not a real label lol). While chatting with Justin P, I asked his permission to make that tape for the NYHC lovers like me and you. He said: go for it! This set included 2 unreleased trax + some classics. All songs have been remastered by my man Will Hirst (Restraining Order, Violence To Fade, Maniac) at Gate 4 Studio and they sound sick! You can download the whole set for free via bandcamp!

Your first EP was released by Edgewood Records in USA, also home for Trail Of Lies & Dead Heat, among others. Are you happy with the feedback so far? Any plans for playing a NY show in the future? I love Richmond HC. It’s the best current USHC scene in my opinion. All those bands, labels including Edgewood Records represent the real NYHC Style attitude revival of our era. When I got the final master from Arthur Rizk (ed. producer – Cold World, War Hungry, Eternal Champion and more), I immediately asked some help to my boss Craig at Edgewood to spin that shit around the States and he was cool with it. We def psyched on how it came out,

Being a 90s NYHC aficionado is also obvious in the band you sing for, Blvd. Of Death! When did you form the band and what’s the story behind it? Where are you based and who else is in the band? Btw, why did you choose that name? My old band Rage Cage came to an end a

myth around it and on the other hand underestimate the current scene and bands… What do you think about this?

guys did an excellent job and promoted well the EP around USA. You originally come from Switzerland, according to your FB info. When did you move to Italy? How’s the scene over there nowadays? It seems that after a long dry period, more & more hardcore bands come from Italy nowadays? Are you also connected to the Swiss scene, too?

Look... Ok, here’s what I’m thinking. A lot of new bands are overestimated. So much people on that preach support fanzines but never buy em... Support your scene but never buy a records... I’m tired of those fuckin posers. HC has turned into social media HC shit, and seems like HC kids are just waiting for the next hardcore drama just to make wood from the fallen trees. Hope em are just short term tourists...

I was born in Geneva but my mom and dad are 100% Italians. I returned to Italy in 1995 when I was 9. About Italian hardcore bands let me think... In a time where not much keeps my interest Mother and 3rnd7er are doing cool things. To be honest with you I’ve never been connected with the Swiss HC scene. Please send me a few names to check it out, thanks!

By the way, do you follow any reunion shows? Which show was a bummer for you and which is one you’ll never forget. Judge was definitely disappointing for me, for example… What’s your stance on the reunion shows in general?

Sometimes I wonder if we (me included) overestimate the past and create a

I missed most parts of those late reunion shows

the future? How hard will it be to get back to normality?

since they didn’t played around my area... From what I’ve seen on pics and vids my 2 fave shows are Altercation at BNB and Alone In A Crowd in Philly!

Except for healthcare workers, work and social life is largely at home now, but there’s real unity in the country’s shared sacrifice. Right now it’s like those kinds of movies when there’s a virus of infections of some kind. It’s crazy. Dear Italy get well soon! I’m sure you’ll rise again.

Back to Blvd. Of Death, what’s your plans for the future? Any tours when the pandemic ends? With which bands you would love to share the stage / tour with?

Stay safe bro! Need your top5 of 90s NYHC to end this with a bang!

I don’t want to make plans and illusions but I’ll try to book 4/5 shows in December (USA East Coast). A band that I’d love to share the stage with? Icepick!!! Goldrush forever!

Thanks Apostolis!!! It changes time to time but it’s always in the same ball park.

A question I couldn’t leave out… How hard is living in Italy nowadays? Of course, the whole world is affected by this fucking virus, but it seems that Italy is affected the most till now in Europe with more than 6,000 deaths already (update: the deaths in early May 2020 were close to 30,000). What about

Right now is: Breakdown - Blacklisted Cold Front self titled LP Crown Of Thornz - Mentally Vexed Everybody Gets Hurt - N.Y.H.C. demo Show Of Force - The Wildfire Studios demo

Hey Christian! How’s life in Berlin nowadays? Do you remain United & Strong in front of the pandemic?

nited & Strong is a hardcore band based in Berlin. Since their inception in 2001, they have played shows in 25 countries in 3 continents, while having released a bunch of cool records / EPs etc. I met Chris 5 years or so ago and since then we have become friends and meet a couple of times a year! He is definitely one of the last persons I hugged or shaked hands with before the quarantine, since me & my girlfriend stayed at his and his girlfriend’s place in Berlin in early March 2020. Besides being a super nice guy, he fronts UAS, one of the most hardworking yet underestimated hardcore bands in Germany. Read his great answers while listening to UAS’s latest album called ‘Colorblind’.

Hi! I guess it is the same like everywhere, staying home and reducing all contacts. That means we are not rehearsing or meeting as a band. But we try to work on some new stuff during that break. United & Strong started back in 2001, almost 20 years ago. What motivated you to start a hardcore band and what empowers you to keep going on? The motivation wasn’t the same for all of us back then but I can speak for myself that I always wanted to be more part of the scene than just going to shows, I wanted to play shows, go on tour and have something to say on stage. What keeps us going, and here I can speak for all of us, is the friendship and the joy of playing shows, sharing the energy with the audience, meeting new people, still have something to say and having an outlet of the daily grown up life with all responsibilities we have in our jobs or as being parents. This is all worth the effort you

Interview conducted in early April 2020. Pictures provided by the band. www.unitedandstrong.de www.unitedandstrong.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/uasHARDCORE www.instagram.com/unitedandstrong

need to run a band for nearly 20 years.

in his wallet, it was just 20€ so I told him to show them his wallet in hopes they just take it and leave. They did and we kept on driving terrified and traumatised over night to the next show. Booking a tour in Morocco without any personal contact was one of the harder challenges. We basically didn’t know if there will be a single show of the three ‘booked’ ones and if anyone will show up at the airport. In the end it turned out really great, we played all 3 shows without any bad story to tell. A funny story happened during our Brazil tour. We played this beautiful beach town, half open air just beside the beach. Perfect day, perfect show. We stayed in the house of the promoter where he lived with his parents. The family is all asleep and we are also getting ready for bed using the toilet for all kind of businesses. After Bianca’s big business there was a massive problem, she just couldn’t flush it away. So we all get in the bathroom to help her. Because as good guests you don’t want to leave unfinished business. But we couldn’t make it with the water from the toilet so we searched the house for a bucket without waking up anyone but couldn’t find anything. All we found was a big vase standing in the living room. We filled it up with water and solved the problem.

You have a reputation of playing the ‘weirdest’ (even though I do not agree with the term) places in the globe. Do you use hardcore as a vehicle to visit the world, too, or you just want to spread your ideas to far away from home places? It is definitely the fascination of playing places where most bands don’t go mixed with a big interest in the Ex-Soviet Union and basically all countries that have been behind the iron curtain. Only playing shows in Germany might be lucrative and you can earn a lot of scene points but it can also become boring. If you want to be a real tough guy band playing heavy breakdowns you should cross a border between Ukraine and Moldova in the middle of the night with a van full of equipment and merchandise or play a show in one of the most dangerous favelas of South America. Playing shows in clean German youth centres in front of your wannabe gangster beatdown friends does not make you tough. Have you ever been in a dangerous situation while on tour? What’s the hardest place to play a show and from which place do you have the funniest stories to share with us?

What differences do you notice when touring areas like east Europe or Brazil compared to a laid out tour in mainland Europe?

We have been in lots of nerve wrecking border crossing situations, we can make a zine with all those stories. Most of those situations turned out to be quite funny. Which wasn’t quite funny was when we got attacked by Nazi hooligans in Bulgaria in 2009 after we broke up our set because of their presence at the show and them saluting Hitler.We packed our stuff while being kicked, spit and insulted. When we were about to leave the backyard I told our bass player to better close the window where he sat. Just few seconds after a stone hit the glass beside his head. The window did not break and we left being chased by them through the city.Another scary situation happened after the first show we ever played in the Ukraine. A kind of military jeep followed us to a gas station where immediately everything shut down as soon those guys stepped off their car. With their hands on their guns they told us they were ‘special’ police taking us and all our stuff. Our friend with Russian skills had to negotiate with them and at one point I asked him how much money he has

The big difference is that we are very spoiled in west Europe, it is easy to set up shows with places like youth centres supported by the government, squats or subcultural venues. In eastern Europe you rarely find those kind of places and the promoters and scenes need to be creative making their own places or renting disco clubs, pool billiard saloons or even a bowling place. We played all kind of different venues there. To be a little exaggerated I would say in supposed fucked up countries compared to the west we often play in very fancy venues, while in the west you end up playing in fucked up squats. One thing that was always special and touched me the most in Brazil and Russia is that people show so much respect for you that you actually came all the way to play for them. Something you will never experience in west Europe where you are supposed to be so fucking thankful as a band that you can actually play.

Even if you are active for so many years, playing good music while representing positive vibes and a stable socio-political stance, UAS was never a hyped band to come out of Europe. Why does this exist in your opinion and how frustrating is it for you to see new overhyped bands jumping in big tour packages or getting all the big bandsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; support slots? Did you ever try to become bigger?

short period. So if you do not make it as a band during the first few years, you will most likely not become a hype band that will be put on big tours, labels and so on. We obviously are not that kind of band because we exist since 2001. So at this point the train has left for us as we say in Germany. On the other hand, we never really forced to become bigger in terms of hype, labels or booking agencies. I mean we tried 15 years ago but at that time we were just not good enough and not experienced enough. Which might improved over the years but instead of kissing asses, making friends with people just to push the band or becoming a member of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cool guys clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (quote of a wise guy called

Very difficult question and hard to answer without being subjective. I will give it a try. Hardcore is a young and fast scene. Most bands exist for a short time with achieving relatively much in that

There’s a big change in hardcore nowadays; many bands following the Turnstile sound or mellowing down, getting more poppy, you know. There’s also a nu-metal revival filtered through hardcore, as far as I can see. It’s not necessarily bad, I really enjoy a bunch of this kind of bands. What about you? Is old school not cool anymore?

Carl), we did our own thing. Touring uncommon places, not going with the trend music and style wise and only making friends with real people who mean something to us. Being objective we have to admit that we are maybe just not good enough, that we do not invest enough time in the band, in the song-writing, in recordings or in building a network with people from the ‘industry’. It is easy to sit at home old and grumpy and blame it on the hype bands. On the other hand, there is not much we should complain about in terms of what we achieved as a band. Playing 25 countries on 3 continents is not that bad.

It is hard to tell what old school is nowadays with this big retro hype in the hardcore, fashion and the skateboard scene for instance. The 80s are cool, the 90s too and tomorrow it might be something horrible from the 00s. I never thought we are old school or anything but I guess we are

just because we are close to our 40s. People always followed trends and there will always be a certain sound and ways of dressing or even moves in the pit and on stage fashionable. We also copied that when we started. But we stuck with it and the new kids catch up with what is fancy now. That’s how it goes, I guess. I personally do not like it when things are mellowing down and I never really liked nu metal, when I got into hardcore we only laughed about Slipknot, Korn and whatever was on MTV while we listened to Madball, Earth Crises or Disembodied. That was heavy music by all means. But since there is also a 90s revival of the heavier sound in the hardcore scene I am fine at least with those kind of bands.

or metoo are much more present than before. In the hardcore scene you can definitely see more women than when we started but it is still far from being equal. Having Bianca in the band taught us a lot about patriarchy and we could experience sexism first hand. You cannot imagine how much shit she took, guys telling her that she played well but she should use a solarium against her white legs. Or the classic situation that she is told the food is just for the band. And small things like bands or promoters introduce to us but not to her. Even in 2020 I cannot see that those things will change. I mean Bianca is a grown up woman with two kids, she couldn’t care less of guys giving her shit. Besides enjoying hardcore, you are a big skateboarding fan. Top 5 of skate clips we should all check on you tube? Do you also skate?

You are vegan / straight edge and UAS is openly an antifascist band. How up to date are the alternative lifestyle and politics in the hardcore scene? How hard is not to fall into clichés and really talk about social change?

You already asked very good questions but with this one you won my heart. I am not a nerd but I love skateboard videos and I still have my VHS collection in my shelf with all the classics of late 90s and early 2000 videos. Those were the golden times for skateboard videos, you waited for years and when it came out you watched it over and over again. Nowadays I watch each day a new clip with amazing skateboarding perfect filming and editing. So it is very hard to pick out favourites. My all-time favourite skateboard company is Toy Machine. Especially their videos from the golden times are legendary. So please check out ‘Jump Off A Building’ and ‘Welcome To Hell’ by Toy Machine. For the Ex-Soviet flair please check out the videos by Patrick Wallner, a recent film by him is called Hotel Uzbekistan. An already legendary online clip is the Gravis part by Dylan Rieder. One of the best skateboarders of our time. He passed away because of leukemia a couple of years ago. The last outstanding clip I saw is Jarne Verbruggen’s ‘Professional Life’. Crazy skateboarding and lots of humour! I still skate and I would say from March till November I try to skate at least once a week.

We always tried not to fall in any cliches and therefore I never called myself straight edge although I never drunk or took drugs in my whole life. My diet is plant based but I still have shoes with leather so practical I am not a real vegan. But anyway, back to the question. In the hardcore scene there are a lot of rules you have to follow, same goes with being antifascist or antisexist. It is something you just have to say on stage and people can nod their head, check. But after the show you will call someone who pisses you off a faggot. Or you proclaim to be against consumption and exploitation but you have a big sneaker collection at home. I wish the scene was more reflected and honest. It is hard also for us not to fall into those mentioned cliches but at least try to be true to yourself and practice what you preach. Moreover, you have Bianca on drums, how hard is for a girl to be a member of a hardcore band nowadays compared to the past? We usually see girls in the shows, but hardly on stage (unless they are stage-diving). Do you think that patriarchy is an issue in the hardcore scene?

I guess we covered almost everything. Thanks for your time!

It is an issue in the whole world and it always will be. This world is fucked because of men ruling it. Obviously there is a little change in the whole society and topics like equal payment

Thank you Apostolis for the interview and your support!

eath Before Dishonor came back with a new record after almost a decade. I did this interview back in August 2019 for Down For Life fanzine but since not all of it was included in the issue, I decided that it deserves to be featured in Soulcraft 2! DBD is still here, representing Boston hardcore, and their new record kicks some serious ass; you better check it out! Bryan Harris (vocals) answered my questions.

get this out and make sure people didn’t forget about us. Also get us back out there and touring more than we have been. I think hardcore is strong and thriving. There’s a lot of great younger bands making moves, also getting on bigger crossover tours. I think that is really cool, it helps expose people to hardcore that may not really know about it. The only thing I think it was missing in my opinion was a new Death Before Dishonor record, haha!

Interview conducted in early August 2019. A part of it was originally published in Down For Life magazine, issue 8. We publish it under their kind permission. Graphics provided by the band’s A&R.

The world is going crazy… Wars, shootings, poverty (update: and imagine that Covid19 wasn’t present at that time). What’s DBD’s stance in these harsh times and do you believe that hardcore can still give an outlet to people?

www.facebook.com/deathbeforedishonorhc www.instagram.com/deathbeforedishonorbhc

The world has always been crazy but definitely more so now. Things are just chaotic and out of control. With that said I feel like hardcore is more important now for the fact that it is an outlet. It was an outlet for me my whole life, I would escape the chaotic stuff in my personal life by going to hardcore shows or listening to hardcore music. Hardcore is different from the outside world. Yea sure there are sometimes problems from the outside that affect hardcore but ya know what, the music and the shows is what you make of it. To me it always has been our own community where you don’t need to conform to the regular world!

It’s been a decade since ‘Better ways to die’ and you just came back with ‘Unfinished business’. Why did it take you so long to release a new album? Give us some more info about it! Well it was a combination of reasons. After we released Better Ways To Die, we toured pretty hard for a few years. Then we had some line up issues, once we got that sorted we were still playing shows and touring here and there. Then some personal stuff was going on, so it was a combination of everything. Last year ended the personal things and we were very eager to get this record done. Zeuss had time to record us at the beginning of this year so everything just finally fell into place. What business did you leave unfinished?

Musically you always liked to mix hardcore / crossover metal with street punk and oi! influences. The songs of the new album are in the same spirit; you do this intentionally in order to give space to all your influences or it comes naturally?

Well we always wanted to get another record done, we have had most of our ‘newer’ lineup (Colin on guitar and Ben on drums) for about 7-8 years. They had music to contribute, plus we never stopped being a band. We toured a little less and less the last few years but we were still a band. So that’s where the title of the record came from. We still have more to say!

I feel like the new record is the traditional DBD sound, with a more modern take. We definitely have all those influences. They all come naturally when we write. We are into all different types of hardcore, thrash, punk etc., and that really comes out in our music when we write. It’s something I have always loved about the DBD sound; you can’t pinpoint one ‘style’.

What urge you to release a new album? How do you see the hardcore scene today and what is missing?

You recorded with Zeuss (well known for his work with Hatebreed among others), how was the whole process? And Bridge 9 released the record once again, how’s your collaboration with the label?

Honestly it was just time, we were eager to

It was our first time working with Zeuss and it was awesome. This was the first record we recorded with someone different since 2005. We always wanted to work with Zeuss, we actually started talking to him maybe 2 years ago about this record. He wanted to do it but was also really busy. It worked out because we had personal things going on. He hit us up in December after he saw some Madball dates we had booked in the North East and the last show was very close to where he wanted to track the drums. So, we started recoding at the end of January. He was great to work with, very down to earth. He made the process really easy and he absolutely killed it on making sure the record sounded great. He is the man!

with them on the ‘Friends Family Forever’ record back then it has been great. They are just awesome. More than a great hardcore label, Chris has been a good friend, amazing supporter of DBD. It’s cool to be on a true hardcore label, and the fact that they are in the same state as us, always at shows we are at, it makes it feel like more than just a ‘label’. I have been talking about doing this new record on and off for at least 4 years, maybe longer. Chris was always down to do it, even when it took forever to get done, he was never changed his mind. So, a big thanks to Chris, Ryan and everyone at Bridge 9 for always being there! What are your future plans? Heavy touring for the promotion of ‘Unfinished business’?

As for Bridge 9, I mean we have been with that label since 2005. Ever since we started working

Yea we are currently trying to figure out our tour

plans for the States in the fall, we hope Europe in the winter. We have some festivals already booked for next summer in Europe that I’m excited for. Yea we are gonna be out a lot more than we have in the last 4 years supporting this record. Hopefully we can make it to as many cities, and countries as possible.

from Pittsburg, Inclination from the Midwest. And of course, not a ‘new’ band, but Risk It!, from Dresden Germany! As far as bands reuniting, I think it’s cool. I mean there are a lot of legendary and influential bands in hardcore that some kids nowadays never got to see. So it gives people an opportunity to see these bands live.

Do you follow today’s scene? What are your favourite bands and what’s your opinion about all the old bands reuniting lately?

Thanks, last words are yours! Just want to say thanks for taking the time to interview us! Big thanks to everyone that picked up our new record ‘Unfinished Business’ on Bridge 9, it really means a lot. Come check us out on tour soon!

Yea definitely, I still go to a lot of shows in Boston, well as many as I can so I’m always trying to check out younger bands. Here is a handful of bands I have been into lately… Buried Dreams, Instigate, Years Apart, out of the Boston area, I really like Ecostrike, and Bloodbather from Florida I think. Facewreck

What’s the idea behind Skateism? When did you start and what motivated you?

hristos Simos, a.k.a. Moch, is the founder and art director of Skateism, ‘a biannual publication for the underground and overlooked in skateboarding’. Skateboarding used to play (and still plays in a way) a big part to the underground hardcore / punk culture in the past, since both scenes were initiated by outcasts and street people. I decided to talk to him and ask some basic stuff about the magazine, which is an oasis amidst the full on masculine and competitive skateboarding scene of today.

The idea behind Skateism was to break conventions in skateboarding, basically we came to the point that we couldn’t find any pleasure in doing the same content as other skate magazines, so it was either we stop doing it or we focus on things we love - things which push the community forward. Skateism is a non-profit international magazine and online website; how many people are involved and from which countries do they come from?

Interview conducted in late April 2020. Pictures & artwork provided by the interviewee.

It’s not a non-profit, we just weren’t able to make profit. In the last year or so we’ve finally been able to build our dream team of writers, producers, etc. Currently the core team is 7 people. Emanuele - online editor and Norma social media manager, they both live in Canada; our photo editor Sam lives in L.A., Osh - editorin-chief, lives in Amsterdam; Maria - online editor, lives in Copenhagen, Imke - community manager, lives in the Netherlands too - but we work with many, many contributors from all over the world.

www.skateism.com www.instagram.com/skateism Hello Moch! Thanks for the interview! How’s life? What’s going on in Skateism’s HQ right now? Hey hun. Life rn? I think life is on pause currently since this pandemic hit our doors. Skateism’s HQ is currently closed, with only me in the office. The rest of the team are working remote or from home. But we’re used to that, that’s how we did things for years...

How do you see today’s skateboarding scene? It seems that the competition is much bigger, with tons of good skaters and a thriving business with the Olympics involved, huge skate events, sponsors coming outside of the skate scene etc. How much has skateboarding changed the last couple of decades?

it within five minutes, you’ve forgotten about it… So what it means to be a “great skater” is more about your cultural value, than what tricks you can do - I think. Skateism also co-operates with commercial – multi-national – brands. How do you cope with this in terms of being a kinda anti-systemic skateboarding magazine but working with the industry on the other hand?

I think skateboarding is changing slowly, but then we are always looking for the brighter and more exciting side of the culture. So perhaps we just see it more. But there’s no doubt that in the last decade the charity movement, womxn and LGBTQ+ scenes are getting more support than ever before. But there is more work to be done, always… Skateboarding is getting more and more mainstream, I can’t really say this is a bad thing if it brings more people to it in an inclusive way. I am not a huge fan of corporate contests, but there are positives as I say. The weirdest thing is that everyday now, on Instagram, you see the “best trick ever done” - and you’re over

As we said earlier, skateboarding is changing, brands should follow, that’s how it goes. Money is at the top. People who need exposure on the bottom. We are a bridge between them. Somebody needs to make shit happen. In which way can skateboarding offer a change to the world, empower & motivate people to take a stand and work together? By removing prejudice, ignorance and exclusion from the streets - where everyone is equal,

because everybody falls down the same way.

change in skateboarding.

You are working a lot with the LGBTQ community and you encourage girls skating. Is skateboarding still a man-conquered world? What problems do young women or queer people face and how has this changed compared to the past?

You also co-operate with NGOs like Free Movement Skateboarding, SkatePal, Skateistan and the likes. Can you give us some more info about it? Which other organizations should our readers check? There are hundreds. More pop up every day, it feels like. Charity / NGO / Non-profits are crucial for making skateboarding global, inclusive, and a tool for social change. If you want more info on any of these, simply check out the aid / charity section of our website. Every story we’ve ever done is there.

I think it is a male dominated world generally, that is all the more evident in small cultures like skateboarding. But that doesn’t reflect anything on the minorities within skateboarding. Womxn and LGBTQ+ folx can / will / do skate as well / better than men. It’s simply that they haven’t had the support, both commercially and psychologically, from the powerful around them. That could be brands, that could be other skaters, that could be their families. If every skate magazine took the risk of employing these people, covering these people, rather than fighting over the biggest “dude-down-aset” photo, we would quickly see a huge sea-

That’s all I guess! Keep up the good work, the world needs projects like Skateism. Last words are yours. Thank you for supporting us with the interview, and educate your bros. x

Those who walk the earth… -a short, fiction storyby Nick Paleologos*

‘Stay home’ a banner on the main square reads. Nadir smirked as he tears down the soaked piece of paper, holding a plastic bag full of goods, given to him and his family.

‘Stop acting weird Nadi! You are scaring me with this nonsense’ she reacts. Storm clouds are gathering again and everyone is preparing their tents and makeshift homes for the worst. No one worries as much as Nadir today though. He has that feeling in his stomach, like he did on the day his home turned into a pile of debris; a gift given to him by the barrel bombs.

As he walks up the meandering road to the camp, he softly sings a lullaby his grandmother taught him before embarking on the bus to the unknown European shores. ‘Sing this to your children and I will always be alive. Your eyes might mist, you will feel your chest heavy but you will have the warmth of my blankets and the smell of my soup. This will be your home.’

‘My Fatima, bring the kids in, those clouds look threatening’, despite knowing it wasn’t the weather. Ismael’s eyes are red and his breathing feels heavy. Nadir touches his boy’s forehead and he is burning up. They all fear that the virus has visited their family and they dread for the worst.

Amidst the small ponds created from last night’s downpour, Ismael and Asma jump in the mud with their boots. Nadir prepares the kettle for the evening tea. The song cannot leave his head today and he starts to worry. ‘Something seems wrong today, Fatima’ he whispers to his wife.

The first rain drops fall as the night starts covering the camp. The smell of the wet soil covers that of the burning wood and all you can

hear is the rain. Silence all over.

other hand he brandishes a shepherd’s crook which he lands directly on Fatima’s legs. She screams in pain, Nadir leaps and gets a second hit on his face. ‘You should have stayed home you fucking Taliban’.

In the tent the boy starts coughing persistently. Nadir runs out, through the raging storm, to the tent where Abdul-Naser, the GP doctor from Herat, lives. Wandering around in the dark he keeps looping a verse from the lullaby inside his brain ‘Rima, Rima the one who loves you shall kiss, and the one who hates you will go away’.

‘Riots have erupted yesterday at Vial camp in Chios, between migrants of different origins’ dictated the lady with the engaging blonde hair, on the 2pm TV news.

Silence breaks, men shouting in Greek, ‘Your time has come, scum of the earth’. A raging horde storms the camp, breaking and beating, like a bunch of wild dogs in a sheep shed. Crying, pleading men and women scatter as the hellishly enraged mob terrorizes the residents bounded by the downpour. Nadir pushing through the rumble darts back to his family.

‘We should have stayed home’ said Fatima to Nadir, all covered in mud and blood, next to their broken down ‘home’, embraced as tight as possible around their terror-stricken children. *Nick Paleologos is a professional photographer and a D.I.Y. musician.

A bulky, long bearded man has snatched the sick child, shaking him like a ragdoll, screaming at the top of his deep, threatening voice. On his

www.sooc.photos www.instagram.com/sooc_images

outro more, show all the love we have in our hearts to our beloved ones, be creative, spend our time in a quality way, help the ones that are in need, scream our lungs out for a better world and leave toxic things behind us. Hardcore is more relevant than ever, hardcore is awesome right now and I have to say that I feel blessed to have found it.

Volos, Gr, May 2, 2020 - currently listening to ‘Blackened persistance’ by Congress

o, if you are reading this, you probably have already browsed the pages and checked out the stuff that issue 2 delivers. It was definitely hard work but a pleasure to do that zine amidst the pandemic and before the upcoming crisis.

Tons of thanks to every single one that contributed in one way or another to issue number 2, to everyone that supported me in any way, to my beloved Lina for putting up with my shit for so long (I love you!), to the handful of real friends that stand by my side in this harsh reality (real friends are the ones that are there for you not only in the good, fun times) and my family for being here for me since day 1.

As for my resolutions… The quarantine restrictions end in 2 days, and all the content of the zine is going to Ultra Grim to design the final outcome right then. So I guess it’s gonna hit the pressing plant and get on the street in early June 2020, or so. Fingers crossed! Movies wise, I watched EXACTLY 7 Jim Jarmush movies, but also a shitload of other good stuff, be it series, documentaries or old / new movies. I finished the 640-page long H8000 book and I cooked (together with Lina ofc) more than I have ever cooked in my whole life, haha! Haven’t written any My Turn lyrics, though, I just need the motivation and inspiration!

One thing that I learned from the quarantine and all this pandemic crisis is that I should never take anything for granted. P.S.1 My post-graduate thesis is on the hardcore movement in Greece, so expect something cool in 2021.

Times are super hard and no one can deny that, I am very worried about the future but everything is going to turn out fine after all, let’s try to be as positive as we can! And also, let’s be less arrogant, explore and love the nature

P.S.2 Let’s hope Soulcraft 3 will be released before my 40th birthday; that means before December 2022, haha!

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100

Soulcraft #2

Articles inside

Skateism

Nick Paleologos

Outro

Blvd. Of Death

Death Before Dishonor

Bandage

Gouge Away

Sean Taggart

Higher Power

Freddy Alva

Drain

The Fight

Big Cheese

Interlude

Preface

Redemption Denied / Tried ‘n’ True

All Out War