Soulcraft #1

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ta ble of con ten ts

07 // Big Mouth Strikes Again

The kids will Have Their Say 10 // Peace Of Mind 14 // Reality Slap 18 // Backtrack 22 // Atlas 26 // One Last Round 30 // King Nine 34 // Cold Reality 38 // Take No More 42 // Tides denied 46 // Twin Red

Violent Ink 52 // Colo Lopez 53 // Ars Punx 54 // Panos Ntolas 55 // Cobe Edge

Oldies yet Goldies 58 // Strife 62 // Terror

Through the Lens 68 // Fields Have Eyes Photography

Not Just Music 74 // Bamboo Vegan 76 // Flour X Punch

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BIG MOUTH STRIKES AGAIN Fly the soul craft On your own Don’t miss the soul craft

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nd yeah, here I am presenting you the first issue of the brand new fanzine called SOULCRAFT, borrowing its title by a Bad Brains song, a band that is a huge inspiration for me.

It’s been 6,5 years since the release of the 10th and last ever issue of my first ever fanzine, Keep It Real, and almost 6 years since Think., the personal publication/book that was the aftermath of Keep It Real. All those years I’ve been struggling with the urge of creating something new, a new publication, the second issue of Think (Think Twice), a new fanzine (working title - Violent Times), etc., with all those attempts not coming to an end.

Sick & tired of blogs (used to run mine for almost a decade) & internet blah-blah, I choose to return back to basics, back to the awesome smell of paper (trying to treat it as ecologically as possible), back to the greatness of a straight to the point hardcore/punk fanzine. A fanzine that depicts the reality of the modern scene, a fanzine that is also nostalgic for the old times, and last but not least dares to take a stand when it comes to politics, whenever is needed. No frills, no fills; just hardcore the way I like it to be!

So, after countless hours of writing reviews, articles and interviewing bands for internet websites & blogs, getting lost in urls and online junk for more than 6 years, it was about time to get back to the roots. From now on, you can read my thoughts and everything I wanna say only in SOULCRAFT. Being 34 years old, I’ve seen lots of stuff in this hardcore/punk so-called scene, which by the way I still call my home, even though I barely know who is living next door and who I can trust, I’ve been through thick & thin, through lots of frustration & happiness, through almost everything. And I still feel blessed for having the same passion as back as in early 2004 when I was writing & poorly designing the first issue of Keep It Real fanzine.

Stay gold,

Interviews policy: We will interview the bands or individuals we want. Our taste is good, no worries.

Please do not send interview inquiries.

Reviews policy: Bands & labels feel free to send us your demos, tapes, CDs & vinyls. We accept only physical stuff, the real one; please do not send download codes & mp3 files. We definitely understand that not everyone can send free copies to all the fanzines out there, but we are kinda picky & old school in this, sorry.

Ad policy: Get in touch for rates & further discussion. We mainly ‘advertise’ friends & labels/distros that carry SOULCRAFT but we won’t say no to a new mutual co-operation.

Credits: Artwork by Ultragrim Dis-sign www.ultragrim.tumblr.com facebook.com/ultragrim onlythrash@gmail.com Cover designed by Balasz XBX Design www.facebook.com/xbxdesign All interviews were conducted in spring of 2016, except the Strife/Terror ones (2013).

All photos were either provided by the bands or taken from the world wide web. Sorry if I used any without permission, I did my best not to do so. Thank you to everyone that contributed in the first issue of this fanzine, to my other half Aliki for always helping me in all my activities and being a driving force behind Soulcraft, to my family & real friends, and of course to the hardcore/ punk scene and the straight edge.

E-mail: soulcraftfanzine@gmail.com Big cartel: soulcraftfanzine.bigcartel.com

Apostolis

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The kids will have their say 9

Peace of Mind G

ermany is the mecca of the modern hardcore scene nowadays. Tons of new bands, labels & amazing feedback during the shows. One of the youngest bands that draw my attention lately was Peace Of Mind from east Germany. They just released a new 7” via Powertrip Records and they play shows like there’s no tomorrow. Keep an eye on them.

Photos provided by the band.

haus. They will release a 12” LP this summer!

So please do me a favour and check em’ out, they totally deserve it! :-) And I was playin’ bass guitar in a black metal band, but that´s history.

So Peace Of Mind is my one and only project and I want to fuel it with power and strength.

You’ve recently released your first 7” via Powertrip Records, one of the most hard-working hardcore labels in Europe nowadays. Give us some info about the 7” and your co-operation with Powertrip.

www.facebook.com/peaceofmindhardcore powertriprecords.bandcamp.com Hey hey! What’s all this fuss with Peace Of Mind?! Hehe! You are a pretty new band but you have already managed to gather a strong fanbase and that’s sick! When did you form? Did you play in any other bands before?

Yes, we decided to publish an EP first to get some attention and perhaps to get in touch with hardcore labels, and so the partnership with Powertrip Records began! I think Hannes, the founder of Powertrip Records, saw something like “potential” in us and began to promote us!

At this point I want to thank him for everything!

The “Hardcore Scene” and the whole music branch need more people like Hannes! He gave us the possibility to reach new listeners all over the world for our first 7” and spread our values through it! Apropos values, that´s the most important thing which we want to share through our music. So our 7” is not only about my own thoughts and feelings and the attempt to express them. Values like anti-fascism, lived solidarity and to fight against all political oppression, that´s also a mindset which connects us to Powertrip Records! Even if it´s hard to express and mediate such values, we’ll give our best to spread out our point of view!

Hey Apostolis and thanks for your interview request! Well, it all started last year. Peace Of Mind, that´s Bulma on drums, Patrick playin’ bass guitar, David playin’ the so called “Riff Monster”, hehe, and me, Louis, doin’ the vocals.

We formed in the early 2k15. We’ve got the same taste in music and all knew each other for a long time before, so we decided to create our own music to share feelings and ideas through it. Actually three of us play in other bands at the moment! Patrick and David playin’ in a deathcore band and Bulma is “drummin’ around” in a punk band. The deathcore project tries to find a new name atm, and the punk band is called Noi-

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You are obviously influenced by the modern hardcore scenes of NY / US and mainland Europe. What are you favourite current hardcore bands and do you listen to any of old school hardcore? I ask you this because it’s pretty sad that nowadays kids listen to all the new bands (some of them are great of course) and tend to forget about the roots.

For example in Wiesbaden, Münster, Dortmund or Cologne! Beautiful venues and freaky shows.

But the “Underground Hardcore” trend definitely lives in east / middle Germany! You need some bands to listen to? I’ve got a bunch of awesome bands I can tell you! Go check out Vlada Ina, Deluminator, Harm / Shelter, Soulground, Light it Up, Gone To Waste, Demonwomb and Felony! Awesome bands and awesome people!

Yeah, you are right. I think, at the moment, we all listen to bands like TUI, Risk it!, Expire, Turnstile and stuff like that. But nevertheless, old school hardcore will always be our favourite.

Because we all started to listen to ”hardcore” with bands like 7 Seconds, Bad Brains, Madball, Youth of Today. They all brought us into that matter called “Hardcore”. Just like: “Don’t forget the struggle, don’t forget the streets. Don’t forget your roots and don’t sell out!” So our point of view totally agrees with this statement!

Something odd… Your band name reminds of the Krishna-core hardcore era; there was a time when hardcore was very connected to spirituality and even religions. I guess Peace Of Mind have nothing to do with this, but I’m curious, what’s your opinion about bands preaching about religion or religious organisations via hardcore? Do you feel the same for bands spreading out political messages, veg(eteari)anism, straight edge, etc.?

How’s the scene in southeast Germany, where you are based? I have some personal experience of really good shows there, much better compared to west Germany shows, am I right? Any bands that our readers should check out?

I think we need to distinguish between religion and political messages, veg(eteari)anism or straight edge. In my opinion, religion is not always a bad thing, because some values like charity or helpfulness are important in our modern society, particularly with regard to the current situation worldwide. People flee from war, exploitation, religious fundamentalism and political oppression. We need to help them to grant them a new, peaceful start in a new life. But when religion starts to restrict your life and the life of other people, we are in duty to smash this suppression, because everybody shall live the way they choose and want to! So, in my opinion, religion is not comparable to values like straight edge or veganism, especially because those

To describe the scene here in middle/south/ east Germany with 1 word? Fantastic! About 3 years ago, many promoters came to light and the scene prospers nowadays! I think this is not correct. I can talk for Peace of Mind. It´s always hard to promote us in West Germany, cause of the distance and the time we need to get there.

However the shows in West Germany are pretty awesome. We had some of our best times there!

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are just suggestions for a better and healthier life. “this is no set of rules.. I’m not telling you what to do” - Thanks to Minor Threat’s ‘Out of Step’, this quotation applies with our point of view!

were definitely the one in Budapest with Justice and our hometown show in Rauenstein. Crazy shows and incredible crowd, thanks for that!

We definitely enjoyed every single place we’ve been. Everything got something special, you know that feeling Apo :) Yes, we gonna hit the studio at the end of April to record our second 7”! After that we plan a tour for the end of 2k16 or the beginning of 2k17. Hopefully in foreign regions and places we’ve never been before!

What ‘bout Greece perhaps?? Hehe!

I have noticed that you are very concerned about anti-semitism, paying tribute to the holocaust victims, demonstrating the Israeli symbols, etc. Give us some more info about it!

Top 5 favourite hardcore and non- records of all time?!

In my opinion, the goal of all political education is that Auschwitz never happens again. German offenders of the 2nd world war are no victims.

It’s the duty of the whole world to show solidarity and respect to the jewish people and to enable them a normal life. Sadly, this happens way toο rare. So, we stand with Israel!

Uh, that´s hard. I’ll try to do it, but not in that order :) Hardcore: Trapped under ice - Big Kiss Goodnight Expire - Pretty Low Malevolence - Reign of Suffering Bad Brains - Bad Brains Youth of Today - Break down the walls

You are very active when it comes to playing shows recently; actually you recently (end of March / early April 2016) did a european tour. Share with us the best & worst parts!

Any stand-out shows / moments? Which city / country did you enjoy the most? Moreover, do you plan any more tours for the future?

Non-hardcore: Lana del Rey - Born to die Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin The Doors - L.A. Woman & The Doors The Clash - London callin The Rolling Stones - Exile on main st.

We try to hit the road everytime we can in order to escape the daily life and to meet new and awesome people, just like u last summer Apostolis :-) Hopefully it will happen again soon!

Worst parts? We had no bad moments at all!

Every single show was a blast! For me, the best part of such a tour is the travelling, to see new places and to meet awesome people like our new buddies in Demonwomb! Stand-out shows

Thanks a lot! Last words are yours!

Stay anti-fascist! Keep the faith and don’t sell out! Thanks for paying attention to us and the possibility to share our thoughts!

Keep it positive! POM

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got higher. When did you form the band? Did any of you play in other bands before?

ortugal used to have a strong hardcore (and straight edge) scene back in the past. I used to follow bands like Pointing Finger & the likes. Some years ago, while in Serbia, I got a CD from the Lisbon based band Reality Slap and it hit me immediately; imagine a mixture of NYHC with a modern twist. I talked with Johnny right after they finished their Iberic tour with Take Offense (mid April 2016). Check out the interview, listen to Reality Slap & make sure to visit Lisbon, one of the most beautiful cities in south Europe.

Yeah, Gus and I have been friends since forever, and this whole thing started when we started writing riffs just for fun at home. This was around 2005 and we would go to the studio occasionally to play the songs we had written at home, he playing guitar and me playing drums.

Some years later, I think it was 2008, we decided to record a demo with the help of Pedro who is an amazing drummer. I think we played the first show in 2009 but I could be wrong ahah.

I used to play guitar in a straight edge band called Eternal Bond and later I toured quite a lot playing bass in Devil in Me. Gus never had any other bands.

https://www.facebook.com/realityslap https://realityslaphc.bandcamp.com Hey Johnny! How was the tour with Take Offense? Give us a short tour report!

You live in London, while the rest of the band is based in Lisbon, Portugal. How hard is for you to rehearse and play shows?

Hey man, what’s up? It was great, we just got back last night and played a last minute show in Lisbon after driving straight from Barcelona.

The guys in Take Offense are really cool and that made everything easy since day one. Some shows didn’t have much promotion but others were great to play and everyone was really into it. Touring in Spain can be hard sometimes since it involves long drives but when you’re meeting cool new people and having fun at the shows makes everything worth it in the end.

When I first moved to London, we thought it would be harder but I don’t think it affected much the way we work. We never really practiced much, and now it’s no different. Since we’ve been touring more and more it gets easier. We just had to adjust and adapt the way we write songs, but we figured everything out now; but that was maybe the biggest reason for the absence of new material until now.

As far as I know, Reality Slap started out as a project but from one point and on it became a regular band since the expectations

Portugal is getting back on the hardcore map with lots of shows & festivals lately.

People are gathering from the whole Europe

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for the European hardcore pool party and this is great. Moreover, Devil In Me & For The Glory are doin’ good abroad. How’s the scene there?

Portugal always had a great scene overall.

Great bands and really active people involved in it. Geographically speaking we struggle a bit when it comes to touring and maybe getting known in the rest of Europe. There’s always ups and downs with every scene and I guess Portugal is no different, people come and go, but the ones who stay try to keep it as good as possible.

We have a lot of very good bands that if they were North American or from the UK or Germany would be much more respected. Shout out to Shape and Push, two new bands from Lisbon that are really good.

I have also noticed that you have a strong DIY scene with lots of squats or even autonomous centres. Do you think this exists because of the economic situation? I mean Portugal, like Greece, was hit by the crisis and poverty the last years. How’s life going there right now? And, also, are those scenes (the DIY and the more ‘commercial’ one) united or separate?

Yeah man, we do. I think we always had a strong DIY scene and it’s not just happening now. Obviously the economy affects everyone and people respond to it. Last year a really cool cultural centre has opened in Lisbon called Disgraça and this is really cool. They have a venue for shows, vegan kitchen, library, they organise talks, benefits, movies /documentary screening and it’s all non profitable. These kind of spaces help the scene a lot and allow people to work locally together in a more constructive way. We needed something like this in Lisbon since there are a lot of places like this throughout Europe and we were still missing one.

this at a distance. We loved writing these new songs and the way everything came out together in the end. So I can say that we will be releasing stuff more consistently. We’re already writing new stuff for the future.

It’s a common truth that bands from mainland Europe have more chances to tour and play with bigger bands than the chances they have the ones that come from southwest or east European countries. Did you notice something like this with Reality Slap?

Oh man, that is so true. It would be so much easier to play festivals with bigger bands and more people on a weekend if we just had like a 3/6 hour drive to that place. We wouldn’t need to ask so much time off from work cause we could just do it in a weekend or so. In our case it’s

It’s been a while since you’ve released a record. When should we expect something new? Any plans for the future?

Yeah, I know, it sucks. We have recorded a new EP with 8 songs last year and it’s due to come out really soon. It’s called “Limitless” and we’re all very excited about it. Me and Gus are the core of the writing process in this band and I think we figured out an efficient way of doing

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harder to get more active in the circuit I guess.

Not only that but also and unfortunately some people treat this too much as a business only and that affects everything. I felt that more often that expected, it’s more important who you know and where you come from than how good and hard working you are.

up. The idea of the name came from a Madball song (“Across your face”) and it fitted perfectly the message and concept of what we wanted to represent with this band. There are so many things I would change in this world man, but there are also a lot of things that are so perfect the way they are. It would be amazing if everyone could just stop for a second and look around them, care a bit more, connect a bit more with what surrounds them. You can never change the whole world, what you can do is live life the way you feel it’s best and change things around and within you, that’s already a big change.

How did you come up with Reality Slap as a band name? Are you disgusted with reality?

What would you change if you were given the luck of the world for one day?!

Reality often sucks, that’s why so many people try to run away from it, wouldn’t you agree? But it is also amazing and beautiful, it’s a matter of how you choose to face it. Obviously some people really need a reality slap to wake the fuck

That’s all I guess. Thanks a lot! Cheers!

Thanks man, keep it real and I hope we can make it to Greece very very soon. One Love.

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f you aren’t already aware of Backtrack, it means you miss a lot from today’s hardcore scene. Backtrack from New York is probably one of the best & let’s say ‘famous’ bands in the recent years. I talked with Ricky about the band, the label he is involved and his fanzine, Moment Of Truth.

Our current line-up is James on the mic, Me & Chris Smith on the Guitars, Danny Smith on Bass, and Little Steve on Drums. Me, James, and Chris have been in the band since the beginning basically. Danny is Chris’ little bro and hopped on around 2 years ago. Little Steve just started playing with us last year but he’s a great fit for us and a great drummer. Although it is fun sometimes and gives a different vibe every tour when you have different friends filling in, we’re looking to keep this the stable line-up long term.

You definitely did see Ruben w/ us before, he’s filled in a few times and is truly one of my favourite people in the world and my little brother. As for bands, Little Steve plays in Lost Souls (their new record rocks), and fills in for Malfunction sometimes. I play in another band called Manipulate who just released a new EP this year and I’m working on another project also that should be ready later this year maybe.

www.backtracknyhc.com www.facebook.com/BacktrackNYHC Hey Ricky! Nice to have you on board.

What’s going on in the Backtrack’s HQ? Yoo! What’s going on? Right now Backtrack is laying low. We have 2 shows in NY, we’re playing a benefit show for the passing of a dear friend Rob Mcallister, with a very influential Long Island band, Silent Majority. We’re also playing Bane’s last NYC show ever. 2 shows that are very important to us as a band and ones that we are very excited for. We’ve recently announced a European Tour for the summer where we’ll be playing some cool festivals we’ve never played before along with some club dates w/ our bros in Turnstile and UK dates w/ our bros Higher Power. We may be setting up a few US shows also but right now the main priority is a new LP.

It’s been almost 2 years since ‘Lost In Life’ was released. Meanwhile, you’ve toured constantly, playing almost everywhere in the world. Any plans for a new Backtrack release?

Yeah we definitely toured harder than we ever did before with Lost In Life. As for a new release… we have a ton of material right now, around 25 songs worth of demos. We’ll hopefully start pre-production on a new LP in May. Nothing else I can really say about it just yet, besides that these songs are coming out great so far. Musically it’s some of my favourite stuff we’ve done.

What’s your current line up? It’s seems there’s only 3 stable members in Backtrack.

Will you continue this way and keep using session members? I remember seeing you with Ruben from Take Offense a couple of times. By the way, some of you are also playing in other well known bands, please give some info to our readers.

You are also involved in Flatspot Records & Moment Of Truth fanzine, right? Give us

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some details and ‘biographical’ information.

not used to them and I like doing stuff out of our comfort zone occasionally, but I do prefer packed small club shows with people pitting and diving. That’s the true spirit of what we’re about and the type of music we’re playing. There’s a ton of great bands in Europe right now: Broken Teeth, Higher Power, Redemption Denied, Cornered, Animal Instict, Belief, No Turning Back, Risk It, the list goes on.

Flatspot Records is a Hardcore label started in 2004 by Che who still runs the label with me.

Backtrack put out our demo on Flatspot and me and Che have been close since then. At United Blood 2013 we were hanging out and talked about me doing the label alongside Che and it just worked out like that. We’ve been able to work on a ton of great projects since then and I love doing a label. 2016 is by far our busiest year with close to 10 releases coming out on Flatspot. That’s pretty crazy to me since this is a 2 man operation but I really enjoy putting out records for bands that I think are great. Some of the stuff that’s came out or is coming this year is: Mizery, Manipulate, Friend Or Foe, Suburban Scum, The Extermination Vol.3 and there’s more that we’re waiting to announce. www.flatspotrecords.com

How do you see hardcore in 2016? In my opinion, there’s lots of cool bands & tons of bad overhyped ones. I feel pretty sad when I see the merchandise sales increasing and more bands releasing online albums instead of the real thing, but I also feel blessed to be in a scene with so many nice individuals all over the world, still keeping the flame alive.

What do you think about the current situation of the so-called scene?

Moment Of Truth is a zine that I started doing in 2013. I just wanted to put out a cool zine that I had fun creating and interview bands that I fuck with. It’s a fun project and I get to interview friends and older heads in the HC scene. I love creating things and being able to hold them in my hands, same as working on a record and finally being able to hold the LP and flip through the liner notes. It’s a great feeling and that’s the motivation behind this. I’ve been way busier than normal so I’m probably only going to do around 1 issue a year when I can find the time to get it done. Check out the Omission Hardcore Fanzine that just came out this year… looks incredible!

I think it’s great to be honest. The scene is always changing and evolving and that’s not a bad thing whatsoever. As for bands merch sales increasing and them releasing records online it’s the changing of times. The reality is less people buy music, more people are on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Those are great ways for people to hear or discover your music. If they’re going to not buy your record because they can listen to it and everyone else’s records for $10 a month but buy a shirt or hoodie to support the band, that’s a good thing.

There’s a new breed of bands that are holding things down right now like Mizery, Regulate, Lost Souls, Red Death, Countdown, etc. and they are all creating cool shit. As I get older i’ve been seeing more and more of my peers complain about what’s going on in HC right now and turning into the jaded old dudes we thought were wack when we were 20. The reality is there’s great shit out there if you actually listen and there’s great shows if you actually go.

You are playing Europe this summer, sharing the stage with Turnstile & Higher Power.

You are also playing a bunch of awesome festivals. What’s your favourite country/city to play when it comes to Europe and do you prefer basement/underground club shows or big fests? And what bands from Europe would you recommend?

Is any of you straight edge? What’s your opinion about the recent incident with Rotting Out’s vocalist getting busted for drug trafficking? It wasn’t the first time that members of hardcore bands were involved in criminal activity like this…

Very excited to play with Turnstile and Higher Power. Both of those bands do their own thing and have a sound that’s really unique in my eyes. I’m definitely looking forward to all the shows big & small on the tour. Some of my favourite places to play are Switzerland, JZ Riot in Germany, Belgium, etc. Big fests are definitely fun every once in a while because we’re

Vitalo and Steve are Straight Edge. I don’t really have a comment because I’m not into speaking on other peoples business. He’s his own man

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and can do whatever he wants. I love Rotting Out as a band and Walters always been good to me.

I just know that there’s definitely some bands that could give a shit about HC that pop up out of nowhere to make a few bucks and that’s wack. Something that I think is incredible is a band like Maximum Penalty. The band got back together and straight up wrote the best “comeback” record you could imagine. Instead of just playing songs that are 15-20 years old over and over again, they wrote a record that I think is amazing.

It seems that every band from the 80s, except Minor Threat, is back… Pretty weird on one hand, dope on the other hand. What’s your opinion about this? Best band re-union you’ve attended?

It really depends on the situation. It’s definitely a bummer sometimes when a band gets back together and plays the same set 200 times of a record you worship and milks it for all it’s worth. It is definitely exciting to see for someone who wasn’t there when the band was originally around but at the same time when is it time to give it up? I don’t really know the answer to that.

I guess that’s all. Thanks for the interview, hope to see you around soon. Last words are yours!

Thank you brother.

Listen to the Countdown demo: countdownhc.bandcamp.com/releases

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ATLAS 22

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You are about to release a new single with a 7” to follow. Any more details? Is there any label that is going to support it? Will you tour afterwards?

tlas is a new hardcore band, based in South California, featuring members of Cold Stare & Take Offense. They started in the summer of 2015 and they are pretty active since then. Jared (guitar) & Noah (vocals) were kind enough to answer to my questions.

Jared: Well, the goal initially was to put out the single on a 7” as well, but the label we were going to work with fell through, so it will be put up on Spotify and our Bandcamp, and whatever other social media we can deal with and maybe possibly one day put it out on vinyl if there is any demand. I’m very excited about this single because we worked with Jillian Calkins who is an amazing jazz singer who collaborated with us on one of the songs. The second song is a really nice transition into the next EP we’re about to start working on. Also, the single has been mixed and mastered by Paul Miner, and for any audio nerds out there who don’t already know, he is the bass player of Death By Stereo and also owns a studio called Buzzbomb Studio where he engineered records for Terror, Take Offense, DBS, AFI, the list goes on and on. As for the new 7”, it’s a 4 song EP and there is no label supporting it yet. We plan on shopping it around once everything is recorded / mixed / mastered. I would love to tour, and Europe is our big goal, but full time touring, due to work commitments, will most likely not happen. My goal is the hopes of having enough support where we can do a week here and there throughout the year and hopefully make it over to Europe sometime in 2017 / 2018. So show so us some love out there, haha!

www.facebook.com/atlaslgcv atlaslgcv.bandcamp.com

Hey Jared and Noah! Nice to have you in the fanzine. Give us some info about Atlas!

Some of you have played in other bands like Take Offense & Cold Stare, right? How did you decide to form a new band and what’s the main goal of Atlas?

Noah: Our main goal with Atlas was to allow people to actually feel the music. We put a lot of time, heart, and emotion into the music and in my opinion I think it shows.

Jared: For me I wanted to be in a band where I had more control of the writing process. In Cold Stare, a band I love playing for, I don’t write any of the music. That being said, I also think that I give everyone the opportunity here to have their say on things. It’s more of a group effort.

Also, Joe (drummer) and I shared an interest in starting something a little melodic, and after some practicing with the two of us, the additions of Noah and Fielding fell into place.

I bet you know that Atlas was in Greek mythology the Titan god of endurance and astronomy, condemned to hold up the sky for eternity after the Titanomachy. How did you come up with such a name? Do you follow the Greek mythology or Atlas was more of a parallel for something you had in your mind?

Jared did Mind Disease & 1039 Records some years ago, releasing a bunch of quality hardcore records. None of them are still active as far as I know. What happened to both labels? Lack of time, money or interest?

Jared: 1039 was something that my friend started and to my knowledge he does still release on occasion. Mind Disease still “exists” but has been inactive for some years. I have been trying to get back into for a while but just haven’t had the bands to put out, nor the time / money to do so. That won’t be forever though, in fact I really enjoy doing the label stuff and there is a new band starting out called “Instinct” which may be the first release starting back. So stay tuned!

Jared/Noah: We are familiar with the Greek mythology and I think there is the obvious connection how the pressures of the world can get to one at times can seem daunting, but the name was also part of one of our local bands song titles which is what sparked the first that at using it as a name. Names are hard to come up with. We wanted something short and sweet and “Atlas” just fit in right away and everyone was happy with it.

What’s missing in today’s hardcore scene compared to the past? Is Atlas here to fill

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in that missing part? What’s in your opinion the most decent hardcore bands in today’s scene?

relate to; shifty friends, supporting your scene, and the struggles of everyday life.

You’ve been in Europe with Cold Stare. What differences do you spot between US & European hardcore? In my opinion, a lot of people in Europe imitate the US hardcore scene and standards/clichés, varying from the dressing code to even the violent crews that are active in the States. On the other hand, there are a lot of passionate people especially in Eastern Europe, working the DIY way, still thirsty for shows & hardcore/punk.

Jared: I’ll let Noah drive this one, but I will say that my intention was by no means to fill any missing part. There are a lot of good bands out there. If nothing else I just wanted to be a part of it and if nothing else, be recognised for writing quality music. That is and forever will be priority #1. As for decent bands I can only speak about those that I have spent enough time with to know them personally enough so my list would be Take Offense, Fire & Ice, Naysayer, PSO, New Morality, Bane, and Backtrack. All these bands have really great people in them and they sincerely and genuinely care about this scene that a lot of us call home.

Jared: I think there may be some clichés that have rooted themselves overseas, but at the same time I realise that with a sub-culture of any kind comes certain things like dress codes that we will use as a way of establishing how we’re perceived in the world and “who” we are. That’s more sociology than anything. It’s human nature to assimilate. But also having traveled around there, I agree that the East is doing everything it can with arguably less resources and putting out some really cool stuff. I think the DIY mentality will continue on no matter what. It may just be harder to find…

Noah: I feel like the hardcore scene today is all about who’s cool and who dresses the part.

That shits whack as fuck. Hardcore is from the soul. Just because you have a comb over and some khaki shorts with a “cool” band shirt doesn’t make you hardcore from my perspective. I wouldn’t say we are here to fill the missing part, we are just here to play music that we have put a ton of time into and enjoy the time we have together. Most decent band in the hardcore scene would have to be Instinct from Lemon Grove. These kids are 16-17 playing music with passion and singing about things that we can all

Noah: I haven’t been to Europe yet, so I can’t speak on that, but I will address violent crews while we’re on the topic… when I look in the pit at a hardcore show and I see everyone swing-

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ing on each other all I think is “what a bunch of jocks”. What ever happened to the slam dance?

The love for the music is just as important as the love for each other. Hardcore is a violent culture and it always has been and I understand that, but just imagine someone’s first time at a show and some big ass meat head comes mobbin’ through the crowd “crowd bashing” and socks that kid in the face, hardcore is most likely ruined for that kid. I guess I’m just tired of people trying to be all “anti-violence” and “PC” but can watch the senseless violence go on right in front of them and be cool with it. I guess the point I’m trying to get at is that there’s better ways of getting out that aggression than swinging your fist into someone else’s jaw. I love hardcore and all that it’s done for me in my life, and I wish to pass that feeling on to people who need it most in their life as much as I do in mine.

EP on Spotify), Drug Control (another good group of dudes - straight edge band, youth crewish), PSO (skate punk band, all 4 members are brothers, and they all skate and are crazy sick at it. Find their instagrams), Instinct (newest addition, young kids with crazy potential).

As far as I know, you are straight edge. How important is this to you and what’s your definition of straight edge?

Jared: I would consider myself straight edge but I never speak of it. Frankly, it’s a choice I made for reasons no other than my own and I have plenty of friends who are not and I love them all the same. It’s not really that important to me. I’m having a blast in this band because Joe and I have been friends for years and he’s one of my favourite people in the world. Noah I’ve known for a long time and this band has been brought us closer together. I share the newest friendship with Fielding and we’re learning about each other day by day. All of us have different backgrounds and straight-edgeness has never been an area of concern

How’s the current scene in California? Any standout bands/labels/booking teams?

Jared: California has been strong for a while.

LA has been killing it for years. So since a lot of people already know a lot about the LA scene I’m going to focus on bands from our own city that many people probably haven’t heard of and I’ll keep it short. San Diego scene consists of: Take Offense (if haven’t already done so check them out now!!!), Meth Breath (awesome dudes - straight edge band. You can check out there

Thanks a lot! Looking forward to your new release!

Jared: Thanks for asking us to a part of your zine Apo!

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ld school hardcore music is not that famous in Greece, but we are lucky to have a couple of dedicated hardcore bands, with One Last Round being among them.

Their new album is going to be released sooner or later and it’s definitely a banger. Check out the interview & watch out for them!

loud, aggressive, primitive, fucked up music for fucked up people. We all also listen to different styles of music that sometimes find their way in our songs but, as a band, we all collectively enjoy playing hardcore and oi! music, simple, raw and to the point.

There’s also a huge hardcore/oi! revival in the worldwide scene. What are your favorite bands / records of the new era of hardcore/ oi!?

www.facebook.com/onelastroundgr onelastround.bandcamp.com Hey! One Last Round is not a new band but it seems you took everything more serious since last year. Am I right? Give us some info about the band; you all played or still play in other bands as far as I know.

There’s a ton of good bands out now playing different “styles” of hardcore, punk and oi! music, too many to mention, and everybody is doing their own thing and putting their own twist to it which keeps things fresh and interesting.

Some of our favourite recent bands in that style in particular (active or not) are: Battle Ruins, The Flex, Cold Stare, Violent Future, Rival Mob, Night Prowler, Rixe, Shrapnel, Vacant State, Out Crowd, Violent Reaction and the list goes on and on, it’s a great time for our style of music right now.

One Last Round rose from the ashes of Soberphobia, our previous band, which was abruptly stopped when our brother and bass player Dima passed away. We decided to continue under a different name and so One Last Round was born with ¾ members of Soberphobia. Our lineup is and will be Pan on vocals, Pavlito on guitars, Fotinos on thunderous bass and Jorge on drums. We started rehearsing and writing music as O.L.R. in 2011 but the band took the back seat for some time due to personal problems and the fact that all of us were playing in other bands that were more active. We decided to get things going again and this time more intensively because we missed it pretty much and realized we needed it more than ever. Pan and Pavlito both played in Ten Beers After, a punk rock/οi! band that is no more active, Fotinos plays in the ska outfit The Smoking Barrels, Jorge plays in Hat Trick, a skinhead rock ‘n’ roll band, and more recently Pan started a new band called Nomos 4000, a punk rock juggernaut, look out for them.

You all live in Athens, Greece. How’s life in the middle of the crisis and how hard is for a hardcore band to survive into this storm?

We live in Piraeus actually (laughs). Well, it’s not that our sales dropped or anything, we didn’t have any to begin with, so it’s pretty much business as usual as far as playing music and being in a hardcore band goes. Life sucks and the many years of fake prosperity and absolutely no planning came back to bite us in the ass. People are still preoccupied with mindless things, they still think they are entitled to things they never fought for and take everything for granted.

Corporations, banks, and the media keep milking what’s left of the country, more and more people work for ridiculously low wages or don’t get paid at all, social security is a bad joke, we ‘re caught in a web of bureaucracy that doesn’t work, people in need get no help at all, unemployment is through the roof, politicians keep accommodating their voters and their corporate buddies, the Church has turned completely jingoistic and spits poison even worse than before, and so on. Obviously that’s the case with many other countries but the shit hit the fan here since we got the I.M.F. and the EU involved, who do nothing positive to solve the so called crisis but lend us money that we obviously can’t repay.

Your first 7” was one piece of amazing NY/ Boston hardcore record with lots of oi! influences. How do you manage to combine these 2 different music styles?

It’s not a conscious decision, it’s not like we write a song and say “let’s oi-fy it a bit”. It’s the music we’ve listened to for the bigger part of our lives and it just comes natural. Without punk rock/oi!, there would definitely be no hardcore music anyway, so these styles are not that different after all, it’s just a different take on

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The only good thing to come out of all this chaos is inspiration, so we have something working in our favor and the constant effort to rely on ourselves and ourselves only.

in a band is almost a dream and on top of that we are somehow geographically isolated as a country which obviously makes it harder to tour, e.g. a Dutch band can play 4 different countries, all in a few hours’ distance. Greek bands to look out for: Against All Odds, My Turn, Corpses, Molisma, Kamikazi, Gutter, too many to mention actually… you better find out for yourselves you lazy bastards!

Greece has a shitload of good hardcore/ punk bands that rarely tour abroad. As a consequence most people are not aware of greek bands. Why does this happen? Is it only a money problem or something deeper? Any bands from Greece that our readers should definitely check?

You seem to worship old school Slapshot, Warzone, early Agnostic Front & the likes.

What was the main reason that made those bands legendary? Is it something that today’s scene lacks of?

Money, actually the lack of it, is obviously the main factor that greek bands don’t tour as much as their european counterparts. Taking time off work simultaneously for the x number of people

For one thing they were first obviously and

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they defined what hardcore means, both music and lyricwise, they were innovators. Each of the early/older bands had their own distinctive style, background and attitude and that made them unique. In the eighties, a definitive decade for hardcore, you had DYS and the Cro-Mags, Breakdown and Immoral Discipline, Suicidal Tendencies and Underdog, Negative Approach and Murphy’s Law, all different styles, and these are just some of the “well known” bands from the USA only, dozens of bands from around the world put out a 7” or a cassette demo and then disappeared during that era, but the common thing they all shared was originality. Even if you’ve never heard of, let’s say the 4-Skins, you are sure to have listened to them filtered through a newer band that they influenced. Today’s scene or scenes are more segregated, too many subdivisions, too many subgenres, each sticks to his / her own thing, so while there’s a lot of variety in our music all around, it’s only the “big” bands that actually draw different kinds of people under the same roof.

someone to finally flush it down and get it over with. People prey on people, stupid mindless conformed clones decide our fate, corruption is deeper than ever, people lose their jobs and their houses to foreclosures, idiots get in debt for things they never needed in the first place, senseless materialism, constant war, religious hate, people buying their identities and obsessing with their image, worshipping celebrities as earthly gods etc. etc. There’s always a reason to be mad, you just need to look around and observe what’s going on. Music is our way of actually having a say and be heard through all the bullshit. As far as the hardcore “scene” goes, there was never actually a scene to speak of here, just individuals doing things for the love of it, people going to shows, hanging out with their friends and that’s it. It always was kind of cliquey, the idiotic lifelong question being “who is DIY” and who is not, as if greek bands ever had a choice of not doing things themselves.

Things are watered down, people want to act tough because they saw it on a YouTube video and just copy what they see and the whole thing for a lot of people is superficial, something to be occupied with until the next thing comes. We ‘d rather play for 10 people that get our stupid sense of humour and can relate to what we are saying than a 1000 spoiled little assholes who are just there for showing off. While we’re at it, the next person wearing an Asking Alexandria t-shirt or something shitty like that and claims to listen to or “be” hardcore, will get punched in the teeth, haha.

I heard that your new songs will be sung in greek language. Why did you decide that?

When should we expect a new release?

Will you continue working with Lone wolf Records? By the way, how did you end up working with a label from Czech Republic?

Well, that’s half the truth literally haha... we just finished recording our first LP which will have 10 new songs, half of them in greek and half in english. We needed to express ourselves more directly and obviously screaming in your own language makes things easier in that respect, plus it puts our own mark on the music we play and helps us sound a little different from the norm.

Our new release is pretty close, hopefully before June, but nothing is definite yet. Lonewolf Records was one of the labels that received our first demo plus it had released the Soberphobia CD some time ago. We got a positive response for a 7’’ so we were more than happy to collaborate again.

How’s ‘Athens by night’? This is a song title of yours but I guess lots of people are curious about this! Thanks for the interview!

Athens is just like any other big city actually, whatever you’re looking for you’re gonna find it, and then some. Dirty things are going on all the time, people from all walks of life, retarded violent corrupted cops, junkies, dealers, poverty stricken and homeless people, thieves, muggers, and on the other hand trendy assholes who want to party like they just don’t care and get down in da club, people living in complete ignorance of what’s really going on, safe in their remote high class neighbourhoods, and at times, complete and utter chaos on the streets.

Sounds familiar? Thanks for your interest and the interview. Check us out and send us hate mail at the links stated above!

Lyricwise, you seem very angry & frustrated, what are the things that bother you the most, both in society and the hardcore scene?

Every person with some common sense should be either angry or depressed or both. The whole world is in the toilet and we’re waiting for

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some more info about the upcoming release and your co-operation with the label.

ing Nine is one my favourite NY hardcore bands of the modern era. Their record ’Scared to death’ was definitely one of the best hardcore records to be released in the last years. I sent them over a bunch of questions and they were cool enough to not miss the deadline. The photos they sent me are not the typical photos you see in a hardcore fanzine, though, so I used just one of ‘em.

The 7” was actually a spur of the moment decision. We were working on demoing some songs with Taylor Young (The Pit Studio) while we were out in California with Gods Hate and we all agreed we needed to put some material out since its been awhile since the release of Scared to Death. The release is called “The Art of War” which is being released by Closed Casket Activities.

www.facebook.com/kingninenyhc Hello! It’s been 5 years since you started the band, did you ever imagine you are gonna get that far?. By the way, how did you come up with such a name? Are you interested in poker/playing cards?

You are based in New York, a place so much connected to the living history of hardcore.

How’s the scene there nowadays? Which bands of the past do you still follow and which new ones should we check out?

There’s a lot of kids starting bands which is great but the lack of venues in the New York area that will cater to small local hardcore bands is at an all time low. There’s more ways to support the scene other than going to shows and playing in bands. If you have the smarts to organise a show at a venue go for it.

No way. We started playing together in each other’s basements and I can honestly say we never thought we would do much more than that. It’s a privilege to get to do what we do.

We’ve all played in bands before this so we know what kind of work it takes to get noticed but we were lucky, that work actually paid off this time. This band has had a longer list of members than some may know, and one of the original members who are no longer in the band came up with the name which derived from a Twilight Zone episode. Poker’s cool if you have a lot of free time but I’m not a huge poker guy, I’d rather throw dice.

How’s life in New York 15 years after 11th September? Is the state of fear still present?

How connected to this were the lyrics of your latest album ’Scared to death’?

I work in NYC and have been for the past 4 years now and I see the difference from what the city was like when my dad took me to the Twin Towers where he worked for 11 years. I’m an electrician so I’ve been dying to get on the

You just released a new song online that is going to be on a 7” you are working with Closed Casket Activities Records. Give us

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jobs to help build the new Trade Center. I have def seen the emotional damage it did to my father and my girlfriends’ father, and the look they get whenever it is brought up. The fact that they have a gift shop at the museum makes me sick but that’s another story. Looking around now you don’t see a lot of people that were living in NY so it’s hard to imagine a lot of these people were affected by the attacks or understand it the way native New Yorkers do. But that doesn’t dis-

miss the fact that people are scared. Penn Station and Grand Central Station have constant surveillance from police to military. New York isn’t the same since 9/11 and it’s hard to imagine it will ever be the way it was again. Scared to Death is definitely influenced by the attacks because those attacks changed the world. It begun a war that should’ve never been started and who knows will ever end. When the attacks happened the band and I were middle school

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in hardcore in any other way (except of attending shows) besides King Nine?

I’m a union electrician which is a pretty demanding job. You aren’t promised a steady income for your whole career so taking off from work to play shows isn’t always an option. As a band we all have jobs and have talked about what it may be like if we were a full time touring band.

We all believe that it shapes us differently than bands that are on the road all year round. We’re part of the normal grind that everyone in society is involved in so we never lose the sight of what we talk about in our music because we still are embedded in it.

Lately the scene is overflowed with tons of labels, most of them merchandise ones, what do you think of this? There’s also many booking agencies and I’m not talking about the small scale / DIY ones. Is hardcore another kind of alternative business after all?

Cocksuckers.

An odd question… Your logo is a graffiti tag, are you into graffiti? Moreover, lots of bands and hardcore kids nowadays are into hip hop music & style (they imitate even the dress code style). Do you listen to hip hop?

Do you think both hardcore and hip hop movements are affiliated?

Yea I think it’s safe to say we all used to go out and do graffiti as a band, It’s a big part of NY culture. Hip Hop is also a huge part of NY culture so it’s easy to say both of those things influence us. I personally am a huge hip hop fan, I listen to Kendrick Lamar at least once a day and always have Biggie’s “Ready to Die” in my car.

I made sure I could recite every lyrics off that album when I was in high school. I don’t really think the hardcore scene and hip hop scene are too closely affiliated but I think the underground hip hop scene and hardcore scene share a lot of the same values.

and high school kids, so we’ve spent half of our lives in a war. That brought questions that we’ve yet to have answered and we’re always left asking why.

Donald Trump for president. Your thoughts on this?!

I guess you are gonna tour more from now and on, and you also play shows regularly.

What do you do for a living and how easy or hard is to keep a balance between your ‘normal’ life and touring? Are you involved

He’s a loser, and a disgrace to the USA. Thanks for the interview! Hope to see you soon in Europe!

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old Reality is one of Hungary’s best hardcore bands right now. Balasz, their singer, also sings in Touch and is

playing in Wasted Struggle and a new guitarist who is also playing in The Last Charge. I really hope this is gonna be a strong line up.

involved in No Regret Productions, one of the leading booking crews in Budapest. He also drew the amazing cover of this fanzine. It was definitely a pleasure talking with him.

As far as I know Budapest used to have a strong hardcore / punk scene back in the days. There was also a huge straight edge movement. How’s the scene in 2016?

coldrealityhc.bandcamp.com/ www.facebook.com/coldrealityhc

Back in the days everything was different. I have been going to hardcore shows since 2006 so I have just heard stories how it was before but in my first years everything was different compared to today. The unity was bigger and a lot of people went to the shows. Everybody went crazy, you know, sing-alongs, stage-dives, mosh etc. and now… I don’t know. Of course, if Madball, SOIA or H2O is playing in the town a lot of people are going to watch them but for me it is not the same. Those folks are going to shows only once a year, they are so proud to be part of the hardcore scene but they don’t know

Is the reality in Budapest that cold?! Give us a short biography of the band! What motivated you to start a hardcore band?

Right now it’s going warmer finally haha. We started the band around 2012 and since then we’ve released a demo and an EP and now we try to work on a full length. The members of the band have changed a lot in the last few years even now we have a new drummer who is also

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take a stand and contribute positively to this fucked up situation?

anything about what is going on right now. They don’t know anything about the new bands and it usually pisses me off. And of course if a “smaller” band is coming here like Take Offense, No Turning Back or King Nine then about 40-70 people are attending the show.

Our government is full of assholes and the whole situation here is fucked up. There are too many proud Hungarians here, you know, who are proud of their country, proud that they are Hungarians with a racist mind. The Hungarian hardcore scene is too small to make a change about this situation. Of course during shows sometimes there are some movements: collecting food, clothes, blankets for the refugees. It’s a really great initiative. Sometimes I feel that the Hungarian people are too afraid of doing anything.

You are involved in No Regret Productions, give us some more info about this. It seems that you are very active, reviving the feeling I was talking about in the previous question. Is it easy to book shows in Budapest?

What’s the feedback from the young & older hardcore kids?

Yeah we try our best but it’s not so easy to do something here. Usually a lot of bands are writing to us if we can help them with organising a show but unfortunately we cannot do it always.

I try to help where I can but to be honest I am tired of doing shows for 5 people, and sometimes the bands don’t really understand the situation. There are a lot of bands for which I really would like to help and to do a show but I have to be realistic that if I am doing a show for them only 5-10 people would come and it’s not good for the band because firstly we have to pay for the venue and the rest of the money (if there is something) is for the bands. It’s also not good for us because then I feel terrible to not being able to give them more money. So now we do have to think about what we can do and what we cannot do; we need to make a decision. A lot of people are really thankful because we are doing shows and this is the only reason why I am still doing it.

Let’s get back to Cold Reality… I follow your band almost since the beginning and what it definitely strikes me is that you are very dedicated in what you are doing. What do you wanna achieve with the band? Is it just a way to have fun or something more?

The most important thing for me has always been the hardcore scene: going to shows, supporting the bands. That’s why I wanted to start doing shows and that’s why I wanted to start a band as well. On that time there were not too many good bands here, especially in this kind of hardcore that we are doing, so I just wanted to try. After the demo we got a lot of good feedback so after months and years it became more and more important for me. Of course it’s also a way to have fun but it’s also helping me a lot. I can sing about my frustrations, what it pisses me off and I am sure a lot of people are feeling the same as me and they can identify themselves with the lyrics.

The Hungarian government didn’t accept refugees and moreover there were also violent anti-refugee incidents emerging from nazis & football hooligans. I definitely know that the majority of the citizens are against this, but what’s your perspective? Do you believe that the hardcore movement can

Your belong to Powertrip Records’ roster, as a couple of more bands that are interviewed in this issue. It seems that Powertrip is becoming the leading force of European hardcore. How did it come to co-operate with

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them?

er she edited her post. It was about everything that she has experienced as a promoter. The main point is that I think she overreacted at this whole thing.

After finishing the recordings for ‘No Escape’ we looked for a label which was interested in releasing our EP and then Hannes (owner of Powertrip Records) wrote me back that he is interested about it. It was really a big opportunity for me because Powertrip is one of the best labels in Europe right now with a lot of great bands like Demonwomb, Gone To Waste, Hollow Truth, Lowest Creature, etc. So we just can’t say enough how we are appreciating his help and his trust.

By the way, you are also playing in Touch, which actually consists of 2 Cold Reality members. Touch is a more rock-ish Underdog, early 90s hardcore band, am I right?

I was super excited when my friend asked me if I want to start this band with him. Especially because I always wanted to do a Lion Of Judah kind a thing and also because it’s so different from Cold Reality. Firstly, for me it was like a project band but now it’s the same like CR. Both of them are really important to me. I am really happy because we have a lot of good feedback, a lot of people are enjoying it and surprisingly all of the tapes are sold out.

You are touring a lot recently; what’s your favourite place to play and what comparisons do you draw between eastern Europe’s and mainland Europe’s scenes? What was that story with the girl accusing you of being sexist or so?!

You are also design for hardcore bands.

With which bands have you co-operated till now and what’s your way of dealing with it?

What’s your favourite hardcore artists?

Kosice has always been my favourite place to play! Every time we played there people went crazy. For example, we played there with Agnostic Front and one guy just started putting himself on fire and went to the pit like that hahah. I think in Eastern Europe people are more thankful and more people are supporting the bands. Maybe because in mainland Europe there are too many great shows almost every week, I don’t know… About the story in short.

We went to play a show in Germany and my friend helped us to book it. I mean, I only talked with him before and I didn’t even knοw his girlfriend. So I didn’t know who she was and also she didn’t really help us because only my friend came to us and said hello when we arrived. Of course during the show I said thanks to both of them for helping us with that show and after she just disappeared and went home. We didn’t even have a chance to talk to her at all. So we wrote her a letter, thanking her for helping and giving us a place to stay. And for some reasons she got mad. But I think it wasn’t about us. Lat-

When I have time and when I am not lazy I am doing it, yes. I did designs for bands like Bane, Broken Teeth, Demonwomb, Hollow Truth and also I’m usually doing the designs for Cold Reality of course. One of my favourite designs is the one I did for Hold X True a few weeks ago.

It was an honour for me because they were always one of the most important bands in my life.

The other fav I did is for Contra from Budapest!

If you are into 86 Mentality then you have to listen to them! My favourite artists are Sean Taggart, Christopher Wilson, Steven Kulesza and Chad Lawson.

Thanks a lot, keep up the awesome work!

Thank you so much for including us in this fanzine! I really appreciate it!

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You come from a country which is not that well known for its hardcore scene, even though you have a lot of shows going on lately. How hard is to be a hardcore band in Bucharest and Romania in general?

ake No More is a new hardcore band from Bucharest, Romania. I saw a huge potential in them, and even though they are still really young, they’re definitely a band to watch out for. After all, hardcore is not present only in USA & mainland Europe; hardcore breathes & exists in Eastern Europe, too.

Well, we had a great scene back in the days; there were a lot of bands based in the west part of our country and in Bucharest but the strongest scene in the kind of DIY hardcore/punk was in the west, although, unfortunately that didn’t last much. Nowadays the scene is pretty weak regarding hardcore as a genre, but on the contrary there a lot of bands influenced by metalcore/deathcore etc. or even powerviolence/ sludge/crust. When it comes to straight hardcore bands or bands like Take No More (we are influenced by the USA metallic hardcore scene, bands like Merauder, All Out War, Stigmata), there’s only a few. Being a more traditional hardcore band in Romania is not that hard; we get along with all the bands of the metalcore/ deathcore/post-hardcore scene, there are many great guys and we have the same crowd at every gig so I think nobody really cares what are you playing, since we are a small, underground scene. Of course I would love to see people at my gigs because they are digging our kind of sound as a band (a sound we are trying to bring

www.facebook.com/TNMCREW tnmcrew.bandcamp.com Hey! Introduce yourselves to our readers!

How old are you, who’s doing what and when did Take No More take shape and start being active in the hardcore scene?

Hi! I am Rares, most known as Tzana and i play guitar and do some backing vocals. Unfortunately some of the band mates are not here so I’m gonna talk for them a bit, haha. Take No More is also Mihai Parchisanu on vocals, Robert aka Dante on bass guitar and Malin Neamțu on drums. We are a young 4 piece metallic hardcore band from Bucharest, Romania.

Our band joined the hardcore scene in August 2014 with our first gig with the powerviolence band Sickmark (check them out, great band), although we started making songs and covers in March 2014.

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back), but in general I enjoy all the fanbase in this scene.

ex-vocalist of Mediocracy and current vox of Killer Viktim). On the first EP the artwork and logo was made by our friend Bony.

Any other cool bands coming out of Romania? I know some legendary punk bands but it seems it’s a totally different scene…

You’ve played a bunch of cool shows with bands like Madball and so. Have you done any tours? If so, where did you play and what’s your favourite city to visit & play?

By the way, I first learned about your band from my brother Georgi from Expectations.

He told me you played some shows together and he was very enthusiastic about you!

Some very cool bands from Romania are our good friends from Drop Out Of Life (powerviolence/metallic HC), the boys from Killer Viktim (crust/d-beat), First Division (beatdown/spinkickyourtable-core) and Rock N Ghena (good straight hardcore band from Constanta). Sorry if I’m forgetting someone, hahaha. Killer Viktim and Drop Out Of Life just released a split on 0331 Records (also our label) check that out now!

Shout out to Georgi and Expectations, great great dudes and great band, saw them live first in 2013 and by the end of the gig I was standing at the merch table, great band, don’t sleep on them! No, we didn’t tour yet, we’re planning on this... but first we need to get our school stuff done. I would like to play in UK the most, that would be like a life goal for now hahahah. But mostly it would be sick if we could tour the East Europe and the Balkans area; for example, Sofia the strongest HC scene!

Your new EP ’Shackled’ is coming out in the next months. Probably it’ll be out by the time this fanzine is printed. Give us some info about this. Do you work with a label or it’s gonna be self-released? What are your main influences both musically and lyrically?

Tell us some more things about the hardcore scene in Romania. Is there a lot of people attending shows? Any straight edge? Are politics involved? Do you ever have problems with nazis during shows?

Yes, our second EP “Shackled” will be released via 0331 Records by the end of this summer I hope, stay stoked. Our musical influence, as i said, is from bands like Merauder, Kickback, All Out War, Obituary, mostly OG death metal and metallic hardcore. On the first EP “The Real Deal” we have a more straight kind of sound and a positive lyric writing influence; it’s mostly about unity and enjoying this genre at full force… but on “Shackled” there will be a ton of anger, thats all I can say.

We don’t have any problems with nazis at our concerts, we see once a year 2-3 of them at a gig but mostly they know that they are not welcome. From what I know from my older friends involved in the scene, they used to have more problems with them in the past, unfortunately.

I think we have like 10 people in Romania that are straight edge, I used to be too but yeah I’m weak, still appreciate the movement and culture though. There are politics involved.

Your artwork is sick. Who’s responsible for it? I’ve seen lots of cool designs in your FB page.

Our artwork was made by our friend Dragos Bere from Cluj Napoca and the fine logo was made by VZR Graphics by Catalin Oltei (also

I’ve been to Bucharest a couple of times and it’s a very beautiful city, especially its centre

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is awesome. On the other hand, I know you had (or maybe still have) IMF like Greece and I know a lot of people are poor & desperate.

I have friends in Romania for 5-6 years now and they are striving to find a job and make a living. How’s the current situation there and what’s your opinion about the world crisis going on the last years?

mixtape? By the way, do you listen to any other music styles?

The united scene, the angry music and the passion of creating music is what got us together; we love playing and making music, playing gigs, sweating and feeling the music on stage. For me the ideal mixtape would include Negative Approach, Straight Ahead, Cro-Mags, Breakdown, Merauder and Cold As Life.

And we all enjoy other kinds of music; Malin is into oi! and jazz, Mihai into some pop punk and old school hip hop, while Dante and I enjoy most of the west coast scene of hip hop, old school and new age trap, soul, g-funk. Music = life.

Well this is a very sensible topic. In Romania there are a lot of corrupt politicians that are ignoring a huge part of the necessary needs for the population, and unfortunately every time people see a potential in a new politician, he ends up like the others. Most of the teenagers want to go out of the country because to make a living here is very hard, there are people with college degrees that don’t have a job.

Thanks a lot for the interview! Keep up the great work!

Let’s get back to hardcore! What motivated you to get into this music & way of life?

Which bands will you include in the ideal

Thank you VERY much for the interview, it was a pleasure, keep on supporting the hardcore scene!

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had the chance to share the same van with Tides Denied for almost two weeks in early 2015 and I can assure you that they are some of the most dedicated people in the hardcore scene nowadays. They are based in a small town near Kassel, Germany, but they play lots of shows all around Europe every now & then. Their new split 12” with Soulground is out in the streets, grab it whenever you can.

with Soulground. We recorded the songs back in September 2014 and wanted to release a split but the bands we planned to share the record with, unfortunately changed plans or split up before things got serious. So time passed by and we focused more on playing shows and tours.

In early 2015 we thought it would be pretty cool to ask Soulground from Berlin if they could like to do a split record with us. We knew these guys from several shows we played together and became friends with them. They were just about to record some new songs and they liked the idea as well. For us things could not be more perfect, since we liked Soulgrounds’ music and the dudes behind it. ‘Remedy’, our latest record, was released back in 2014 on Backbite Records and Moritz was interested in releasing more of our stuff. Soulground became part of the Powertrip family last year and after both bands teamed up, the labels did as well.

www.facebook.com/TidesDenied Hey guys! How is life going in the Tides Denied’s campus?

Hey! First of all we want to thank you for doing this interview with us. We’ve never done this before, so we really appreciate it. We just finished writing a new EP which will be recorded within the next days and still the pre-order for our split with Soulground is running! So we are doing quite well at the moment.

I had the pleasure to tour with you in early 2015, since then lots of things have changed including your line up. Moreover, you’ve toured a lot since then. Give us some updates!

You just released a split 12” with Soulground via Backbite & Powertrip Records.

How did it come to work with this band and label? This is your first official release after ‘Remedy’ 7”, right?

After the tour with your band, My Turn, Gregor unfortunately decided to leave the band. He set other priorities in life and couldn’t put as

Actually it took some time before we teamed up

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Foundation for example, while some others openly talk about straight edge and vegetarianism/veganism. What’s your stance on all this? Why do you think those movements are mostly widespread in Germany and mainland Europe?

much effort in the band as he wanted to. But we comprehend his decision and we are still good friends. After Gregor’s last show in Kassel we found substitute in Jonas pretty quickly.

We knew him from some local shows and he played in different local HC bands before. So we hung out together and it was just a perfect fit. Since then we played some runs of shows with different bands. We toured France and Belgium with Almost Equal in April and we have been to Austria, Czech Republic and Poland with Seconds of Peace in November. Moreover we played loads of shows all over Germany, including a weekender with Giver last month. We already have been or became friends with these bands while being on tour. If you haven’t yet, check them out! They’re all good dudes!

We believe that politics and activism are important parts of the hardcore scene all over the world. But sure it is a privilege to be part of a politicised scene here in Germany, whether we talk about anti-fascist locations, bands or promoters. A certain part of the European hardcore scene is directly linked to left-wing politics, but the bigger part doesn’t care that much. There are people trying to make use of an image just to expose themselves and on the other hand there are people that don’t care at all. So it’s not as political as it could be. None of us is edge, but we have a lot of respect for this. We think it is okay to drink or smoke as long as you don’t piss other people off. And it’s okay not to drink looking at it the other way around. It’s a choice you’ve made for yourself. Different from that is our stance towards nature and animals. We all live a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle and we think it’s important to reflect your habits. If you are concerned about the way humans treat animals as products or food, there is no single reasonable argument for eating meat.

What I like the most about your band is that your style is unique. Of course, you’re influenced by other bands, but you have that uniqueness that moves me. So, what are your main influences and what did you have in mind when you formed Tides Denied?

Thanks for the kind words! I guess when we formed Tides Denied we just wanted to play hardcore and as many shows as possible. We didn’t have any band in mind that we wanted to sound like, but of course we were influenced by the hardcore bands we listened to at that time like Terror, Madball, TUI and Backtrack. But our influences changed a bit when we played more and more shows, saw different bands and just dug deeper into the hardcore scene. Also we have different tastes in music and enjoy other genres as well. All in all we listen a lot to old school hardcore, (skate-) punk, but we are also into hip hop, indie and alternative rock. I guess all these influence our style of hardcore/punk.

What are the topics you deal with lyric-wise?

You prefer straight to the point lyrics or hidden messages and a more poetic way of writing lyrics?

There are different topics I deal with when it comes to writing lyrics. I prefer writing about personal experiences and put them in a context with social issues in general rather than dealing with topics that does not affect me as a person.

For most of the time I am not the one who writes about political topics specifically, but I think that everything we do (or do not) is kind of political.

The German hardcore scene is very focused on politics & activism. Tons of bands are supporting organisations like Hardcore Help

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My way of writing lyrics changed a bit with time.

As we wrote our demo songs a few years ago I wasn’t really aware of what I was doing. I tried to put my feelings about several things into words, but to be honest it didn’t turn out with the meaning it supposed to have. On our newer releases I tried to get things more straight to the point and focus on our message.

Let’s go back to touring! What do you like the most and what do you hate during a tour? What’s an ideal tour for you? Any preferable bands and maybe any funny moments till now?

The cool thing about being on tour is waking up in a new city every morning and get to know so many different and inspiring people. You hang out with your best friends, do what you love for a couple of days and it broadens your mind.

What sucks about being on tour are days off and not enough food ;) We all have bands in mind that we like a lot but we think it’s more important to be on tour with guys you are friends with. When you are cool with each other it is the most fun. We experience a lot of funny shit when we are together but do you remember the day Jonathan dropped his mobile phone in the toilet after our show in Linköping? That was funny, because while everyone was surfing on the internet he just could not do anything other than getting mad.

Claudius, Jonathan and Gregor played in a punk band together, Justus played guitar in another one and Jonas played in a couple of hardcore bands before he joined Tides Denied. We were all into bands like NOFX, Bad Religion, Strike Anywhere or Wizo and somehow stumbled upon some bigger hardcore bands like the ones mentioned above. The guys in Gone to Waste used to set up some shows in Warburg, a small town next to our hometown, and we got in touch with more underground hardcore bands like Eisberg or Cornered. But different to this we think the style of music that you used to like is not

How did you enter the world of hardcore?

There’s a motto stating ‘never trust a hardcore kid that has never listened to punk’, do you agree with this? Nowadays, younger kids aren’t even aware of the roots of hardcore and they blindly follow it as a trend, but there’s also tons of kids that got into hardcore via a different than punk path and are very dedicated and sincere. What’s your opinion about this?

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important. You cannot expect 16 year old kids nowadays to know bands like Minor Threat or Bad Brains. We think this is a process of growing into and not some kind of rules or a plan you are given. But for sure the mentality that you get to know by listening to punk music is defining the way you handle things. It helps you a lot but it’s not a requirement.

First of all we are going to record a new EP which will be released later this year, hopefully. We are going to play a bunch of shows in late May in order to release the split 12” with Soulground and after that we are going to tour Europe in June! See you there!

Thanks for the interview! Any last words, shoutouts or fuck-yous?

Any plans for the future? I guess you’ll tour your asses to support the split record with Soulground, hehe!

Support local hardcore shows, go veg(etari)an, don’t try to be cool – be yourself. And fuck AfD the racist scum.

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WIN RED was founded in 2011, at that time under the name of Client. and with a musical output that can be described as a mixture of melodic Hardcore, Punk and Alternative Rock. 5 years, two EPs and one album later the 5 guys just released their second album Please Interrupt through Evil Greed, one of Europe’s leading hardcore labels. Instead of a typical interview, we asked the guys to write a bunch of words for each song, unveiling their thoughts and lyric procedure. Enjoy!

In Twin Red, Alex and I write all of the songs.

Since both of us now live in different cities, it is hard for us to write songs together. This is why the songs on Please Interrupt were all written either by Alex or by me. For us this is a good and a bad thing: It’s good because you can make it your song and put in all the ideas and inspirations you have while writing it. But at the same time, the song gets limited by only including your influences.

So when we practiced the songs for the recordings, a lot of them were pretty much already in their final form with Alex and me only adding some second guitars or solos to it. In the end we are all happy with the turnout though.

Pictures & band logo provided by Evil Greed. www.facebook.com/twinredband twinred.bandcamp.com evilgreed.net

For me the most interesting part of writing music

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The first song on the album is called Replace My Head. This is actually my favorite song on the record. I wrote almost the entire song, including the drumming. The only thing that was added to it was Alex’ solo, which I think is the coolest part of the song (I’m always looking forward for the solo to begin). The song is about being at home in your familiar environment but wishing about being somewhere else. It’s about the thought of spending your time in a place or situation you don’t want to be in and the concern of missing out on something somewhere else. At the same time you don’t really want to lose the things you have where you are right now because you don’t know if you’ll find what you’re looking for and if it will make you happier than you are right now. The chorus Your head feels like it’s water, flowing on the floor tries to

is adding the lyrics to it. It is always surprising for us to play a new song with me singing to it for the first time. Sometimes, adding lyrics to a song makes it seem like a completely different song. I get the chance to add some new melodies and highlight certain parts. It’s always great fun.

I guess the coolest part of writing lyrics is that you’re inspiriting your music. You’re not just adding words, you’re also adding a story. And by that you’re making it possible for the listeners to create tons of pictures in their imagination which again creates individual moods and atmospheres.

Below I’d like to run through some songs and lyrics on our new album Please Interrupt.

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describe this struggle: your thoughts are everywhere and you can’t really make up your mind or decide what’s best for you.

close to you as possible. There’s a lot in life that tries to get the best of you. But as long as there is somebody you can trust and hold on to, you don’t have to worry about that because you’re not alone. So yeah, pretty happy and positive, right? Hold on to your friends.

The song Distance allies to a very similar idea.

Another song on the record is called Burned

By The Sun. This song tries to deal with failing at something you really wanted to accomplish while others point their fingers at you, saying “We knew you couldn’t do it”. There is something I learned in life and it’s the fact that failing is a part being human. That is why I wrote that sometimes your crown gets broken but you can still wear it with pride. Most people laughing at you in these situations couldn’t have done it any better. It is always so easy to blame others when at the same time you have your own cross to bear. The most important thing is that you get back up and try to do it better or differently the next time.

The last song on the record is titled Way Out. It is about a friend of ours who took his own life earlier this year. We weren’t really too close to him but close enough to be really shocked and concerned by his suicide. We’ve known him for some years and he was one of the first to book a show for us. He sometimes was a little strange and I know quite some people that didn’t really get along with him and his attitude. I always thought he was a strange but funny guy that had done very positive things for the music scene.

That being said, he was the last person I could have imagined to commit suicide. At the same time though, how does a person that is likely to take his or her own life, look like? What are typical signs? I don’t think that there is an answer for these kind of questions. Depression comes in a lot of ways and some people are very good at hiding their true thoughts and feelings behind a smiling face. I’m not in a position to judge his decision. I think nobody is. However, death is the final exit and I’m asking myself if there could have been any other decision, any other road to take. These questions will remain unanswered.

Waking Up Tomorrow is the sixth song on the record. I guess this song is the happiest song on the record lyrically and musically. It might even be the happiest song I’ve ever written, haha. It’s about knowing a person on your side that makes you forget the rest of the world. This person can be your best friend as well as your significant or anyone you feel a special connection to. It is important to keep these people (or pets) as

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The person I am talking about had a blog on the internet that I didn’t know of before. I found out about it the day I heard about his passing.

On the blog he described his struggle in detail and explained how it affected his life until he reached the point where he completely lost track. I didn’t know what to feel while reading it.

Of course, I was sad but I also was angry and I couldn’t understand his perspectives on certain situations. But again, who am I to judge or even understand?

As you can see, I included lots of different thoughts, ideas and fears into these lyrics.

While writing the record, we didn’t really try to follow a certain concept or anything. I just wrote about whatever affected me during the process of this record. Some of these songs are very personal and deal with fears and hopes of my own life. This is why I chose the album title to be called ‚Please Interrupt‘: Good and satisfying things happen as well as bad and destructive things. Sometimes you feel like you can reach the sun, sometimes the weight of the world is on your shoulders, trying to get you on your knees.

The phrase ‚Please Interrupt‘ is meant to be as an exclamation to anyone who can answer some of the questions I cannot answer myself, you know like ‚Please interrupt my words if you have an answer to my questions or if you can take away the fears I have or if you can promise that good things will stay as they are.‘ But as I mentioned earlier, I also tried not to be too personal in my writing. Maybe one day someone reads one of our songs and thinks ‚Man, I can really apply this verse or this chorus onto a certain situation of my own life.‘ I mean, this would be exactly what I tried to do: Even though I am talking about things that happened in my life, I want to leave room for different interpretations. Make my song, your song.

But it was his farewell letter that made me think a lot about everything I have in life and the fact that one day I’ll also be gone. (I tried to write down these thoughts in the song ‚Won’t Get Around‘.) Some verses I use in ‚Way Out‘ are actually lines that I took from his blog. I’m not calling the person by his name right now because I don’t really want the song to be about just him. For me of course this song will always be about him, but besides the fact that I don’t have the right to publish his name and his private story, I’d like to keep the song as openly and anonymously as possible so that other people, that have made similar experiences and lost someone in their lives, might relate to this song. To me it was important to write these lyrics by including quotations, because in this song I am telling a personal story of which I am not the narrator.

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COLO LOPEZ Madrid, Spain

Hi everyone! My name is Colo Lopez and I was born 29 years ago in Eibar, in the Basque Country, although I’m currently living in Madrid. I’ve spent most of my life drawing and listening to hardcore/punk music and I was always amazed by the tattoo culture. I started tattooing in 2007 while I was still attending college and as soon as I finished, back in 2010, I started tattooing full time. First it was at a commercial shop, then I spent two years on the road and now at my current tattoo studio in Madrid, called Veneno Tattoo. Both tattooing and punk gave me the chance to meet a lot of friends and travel to many countries, and I feel I can never get tired of this life. Every year i’m more and more excited about it! My instagram page is @cololopeztattoo, I hope you enjoy watching my works as much as i enjoyed doing ‘em! Cheers!

Instagram: @cololopeztattoo FB: www.facebook.com/xcolox E-mail: colo.electric@gmail.com

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ARS PUNX Moscow, Russia

Hello! I’m Ars Punx (Arseniy). I’m 27 years old. I started listening to punk rock when I was 13. In punk I found myself. My whole life I love to paint.

I was bad at school because I always preferred to draw and draw and draw…

I love tattoos since my childhood. When I was a kid I draw on my body something with a pen and when I grow up I decided to try to do tattoos.

So I started tattooing at the summer of 2012.

What I tried first was a Misfits logo on a friend’s leg. 2 years later, back in 2014, I opened my own tattoo shop, named True Colors Tattoo. I have also done some European guest spots, but I hope I’ll be able to explore more countries like a guest artist, visit more hardcore/punk shows and make new friendships! You are welcome if you need a tattoo!

My Instagram: @arspunx My shop’s Instagram: @truecolorstattoo FB: www.facebook.com/truecolorstattoo

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PANOS NTOLAS Larissa, Greece

I am Panos and I am 32 years old. My favourite kind of music is punk rock and old school hardcore. When I was young my hobby was drawing and listening to music. Growing up, my hobbies became my job. I studied graphic design but tattooing won me over. My interest for tattoo started when I was studying in Thessaloniki. I made designs for a friend of mine who was tattooing in his place. When I came back to Larissa my friend Dimitris asked me to make a logo for his new tattoo studio and then he asked me to work there. Dimitris helped me a lot to learn anything about tattoo art and with his tattoo machine I made my first tattoo (a black flag logo) on a close friend of mine during the summer of 2011.

After 3 years, me and Dimitris opened our new tattoo studio together still named Walk The Line tattoo. The rest is history. The styles that I like the most are: old school, realistic and neo-traditional. I love to travel everywhere in the world for live gigs and guest spots.

Instagram: @panosntolas WTL website: walktheline.gr FB: www.facebook.com/panosntolas

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COBE EDGE Vigo, Spain & Berlin, Germany

Hi! My name is Xacobe, I’m 34 years young and I’m from Vigo. My hometown has a strong punk scene since the early 80s and I was surrounded by skinheads and punks since I was 15. I started collecting tattoos at that time and playing guitar in HC bands since 1999. In 2004 I became straight edge and I started working in a tattoo shop (the best in my hometown; Tatuajes Costa Oeste) as a piercer. In 2009 I started doing tattoos as a professional and I started to travel abroad. I worked in Leon at Last Port Tattoo Studio with the super talented Gonzalo Muñiz, then I moved back to my hometown, then I moved to Düsseldforf and right know I opened my own project with my partner in crime Marcos Ortega in Berlin, Germany. The shop is called Out Of Step Tattoo Parlour and it’s located in Friedrichshain. We are super proud of how it works.

We have the Italian legend Gakni working with us and lots of guest artists like Kristian Gonzalez, Dani Queipo or Colo Lopez. We are always happy to have people coming by and checking our stuff. And walk-ins are always welcome!

Instagram: @outofstepberlin and: @cobeedgetattooer FB: www.facebook.com/outofstepberlin

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trife was and probably still is one of my fav & most influential bands to me. I did this interview with them in early 2013, around the same period as the Terror interview, since it was for the aforementioned -never released- fanzine. Check it out!

Photos taken from the world wide web.

We have been off and on over the years…

Mostly playing one or two local shows every year. Back in 2010 we got offered to play the Paris Extreme Hardcore Fest with Agnostic Front and Skarhead… This prompted a lot more offers and we played California’s premier HC fest, Sound & Fury, that year followed up by and East Coast tour with Death Before Dishonor.

2011 brought us to Japan, South America, Europe and Mexico. We played some of the best festivals in Europe as well as This Is Hardcore Fest in Philadelphia. We all got very inspired by the live shows, and we thought that if we were going to continue to play that we should write some new material… Songs that are more true

11 years passed since your last album. Welcome back. Where did you find the urge to continue releasing records? Do you think that today’s scene lack of some quality hardcore?

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to the band where we are in our lives now, and new songs that we would be excited about playing. I actually think there are a lot of great current bands these days. Bands like Terror, Down To Nothing, Rotting Out, Alpha Omega, Cruel Hand, Xibalba, Incendiary, Suburban Scum, Backtrack, Take Offense, and many more. If you think hardcore is dead in 2013, you are looking in the wrong place!

Hardcore will always have it’s ups and downs.

The main difference is the internet, and how easy it is to access, spread, and get information and music. This can do wonders for the HC scene, and it can do great harm. As a kid, I would need to find a ride to the nearest record store (Zed records in Long Beach) that was over and hour a way to buy record and zines…

I would study every release I bought and read every zine over and over… Now everything is accessible at your finger tips… Kids buy into the hype and it is really hard for that hype to last and that is in every genre, not just hardcore. If we weren’t passionate about hardcore, the music, or the message, we would not be here today.

What differences can you cite between the early Victory years and hardcore 2013? I want you to be honest... Are you still passionate about hardcore and what represents? Is that flame still burning inside you?

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NOBODY in a hardcore band is getting rich…

We do this because we love it, and because we have a message that we want to get out, and because it is who we are!

is something that we made clear back in 2002 when we released Angermeans. We aren’t trying to pretend that we are something that we are not, and we are up front and honest about our personal choices. The straight edge movement is something that we still all support and respect… But we also feel that militant views turn a positive personal choice into something negative. We started this band 20 years ago… We have inspired many and we continue to spread our positive message. At the same time, we felt that it was very important for us to get back into the studio and write some new songs that reflect

I don’t even care whether you are or you are not straight edge and I hate all this buzz about you breaking the edge and selling out your ideas. But how easy or difficult is it for you to sing some die-hard straight edge lyrics you wrote in the past?

Strife is no longer a straight edge band, and it

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has worked with some of the best HC bands around today including Rotting Out, Alpha Omega, Suburban Scum, Touche Amore, and others. We felt like they were a good fit for Witness A Rebirth.

Igor Cavalera is your new drummer and due to this I was expecting a more metal affiliated record, but you returned with a hardcore dynamite, more into your 90s stuff than ‘Angermeans’. What influenced you to write such an album?

Witness a Rebirth is definitely a lot more focused that our past releases. We all knew exactly what type of album we wanted to write, what we wanted the production to sound like, and I really feel that we were successful in achieving that.

Witness A Rebirth is a fast, straight forward, and powerful, in your face hardcore album! It doesn’t stray from the path or our traditional hardcore formula, and is exactly the album that we wanted to write.

What’s your opinion about all this re-union hype. It seems that every hardcore band from the 80s and 90s is reuniting. Only Minor Threat are out of this...

I think that it is great. As long as the bands are doing it right, and really putting an effort into making sure that their current incarnation stays as true to the original as possible. It is allowing kids all over the world to see some of their favorite bands, and it is definitely putting a smile on many people’s faces.

Some recent stand out reunions for me have been: Chain of Strength, Unbroken, Texas is the Reason, Gorilla Biscuits, and Quicksand.

We are playing with Judge at BNB Bowl in NY in May, and I couldn’t be more excited for that. who we are as a band in 2013. I think the lyrics on the new album are some of the most honest and sincere lyrics that we have ever wrote.

I guess you all have families right now. How hard is to be in a hardcore band when you grow old? What pays your bills at the end of the day?

You chose to co-operate with underground labels for the release of ‘Witness A Rebirth’.

Was it something like a statement that hardcore should stay out of big business as Raybeez said? Or it just happened?

We all have other responsibilities. At the end of the day, we do this band because we love it.

Do you regret anything in Strife’s life?

Thanks for the interview.

We wanted to work with labels that were excited to work with us, and labels that we felt were making positive contributions to hardcore. 6131

Never Look Back!

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learn in this life... Which things did you learn from the hardcore scene and which are the ones you wanna teach to the new generation?

his interview was conducted with Scott Vogel 3 years ago for a fanzine that never came out. It’s still up to date, though, that’s why we decided to include it in Soulcraft #1. Photos taken from the world wide web.

Hardcore has taught me a lot. To be me and not worry about what anyone else thinks about that me. To think for myself and have an open mind to things in life that the mainstream doesn’t want me to understand. Don’t let violence or competitive shit ruin what’s being built. To see bands for what they truly are and know that this is more then music.

‘Still here after all these fucking years’. How do you feel about hardcore in 2013?

I feel good man. HC seems to be in a good place. Right now we are on a USA tour with H20, Backtrack and Code Orange Kids. Great mix and it’s been fucking perfect. We’ve done part of the East Coast. Florida was great. Now on to TX. There’s bands ands kids all over the world that care and do it right. Terror is solid.

Life’s pretty good.

You insist to scream that ‘this is our stage’ and ‘this is our mic’ in every show you play and this is definitely great since hardcore is not about borders, bouncers and divisions.

But at the end of the day is hardcore for

There are a lot of hard lessons we have to

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everyone? Or is just a passion for middle / upper class teenagers? I mean, the entrance of the shows is getting expensive, the same goes to merchandise and in addition to this all this financial crisis make kids poorer...

hyping specific bands and leaving aside the rest to die?

I don’t live in Greece but I’m sure there are kids their into Trapped Under Ice and Backtrack and newer HC bands. If not I would def suggest to search and look for new music as well as revisit the classics. Terror always takes out younger bands to show the world what’s up. Hype is just that, hype. Word of mouth can only go so far. A band has to have that energy and be on point and that is only up to them.

Yes it is definitely for everyone. Of all races, ages, faiths, classes and it’s universal. Yes I do want people to be on stage and scream. Yes I do love to travel and see what HC is on all forms across the globe and yes I still believe.

Moreover, what’s your opinion about today’s scene? Here in Greece kids do not care about new & upcoming bands. It seems that Hatebreed, Terror, Madball and the likes is the deal and they never scratch the surface to see what’s behind and below. What do you think of kids and band members over-

Terror is one of the most committed hardcore bands since your inception. What are the main differences between today’s Terror your Buried Alive days and how hard is to play too many shows and have to say almost the same things every night to an audience

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in the middle of nowhere?

The biggest difference is I’ve tried to learn from the things that ruined my old bands and not let those same things destroy terror. Being in a band and touring is stressful and members do butt heads or lose interest. Luckily we’ve been able to roll with all the punches and keep this growing. It is hard to play so often. At times I’m burnt out. But I still feel so much life and truth in this band so I push on.

How hard is to make your passion a full time job that pays your bills? Do you think that the fact that you have to depend on your passion in order to survive affects your overall attitude towards the hardcore movement?

Its not the easiest or sure shot life career choice but the rewards are far beyond money. The value I put on those I’ve met and places I’ve been can’t be judged by my bank account. As a full time band you do bend a bit and do things maybe you wouldn’t but just a little. Terror will always be real and honest.

How do you see all these reunions taking place lately? Isn’t it better to embrace today’s hardcore scene instead of wasting our time and money in order to watch one more band that released a cool record back in the 80s / 90s and its members disappeared until hardcore became popular again?

Yes I believe it is. I respect the root but live for today. Some reunions are cool but at this point it beyond overkill.

Till when do you think you can sing in a hardcore band? By the way, how old are you? Is there a plan for the moment you quit this?

I’m 39. Till my heart isn’t in it I’ll be here. No plans. Live fast till the wheels fall off and then I’ll worry about what’s next. Fuck it, I’ll be alright ha ha!!!

Keep the faith. Thanks for the interview.

Thank you. Malfunction, Rude Awakening, The Chosen Ones, Outcrowd, King 9; check those bands out.

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FIELDS HAVE EYES PHOTOGRAPHY

C

hoosing just a few pictures to be featured considering i loved every single show I’ve ever photographed made this task nearly impossible. So, I’m Knat (it’s pronounced just Nat, but the “K” makes it look cooler), i’m 25ish and since 2006 there should only be a few hardcore/punk shows I haven’t attended in Athens.

Photo documenting shows started around 2008 when I got my first professional camera while studying photography. During shows I’ve broken my ribs, I’ve dislocated my knees, I’ve attacked the floor with every part of my body, but still, as long as I have a camera and a right arm you will be able to find me near a stage, clicking.

Through the years I’ve heard a lot of bad comments about the way i photograph, but what some people don’t like is what makes it, let’s say, different. At least different to how other photographers choose to shoot around here.

My job is to capture the moment and I try to give movement to my moments, not just produce a still image.

You can find my pictures at: fhephotography.tumblr.com instagram.com/mokof (mostly boring personal stuff)

Top to bottom: Beartrap // Censored Sound // Propagandhi // Witchcult Opposite: Face Your Enemy

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First Column top to bottom: 10ToGo // Anchor // Holy // Insect Radio Second Column top to bottom: My Turn // No Weather Talks // Off // Wolf Down Opposite: No Turning Back

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know Fotis for 12-13 years. I still remember back in 2004 or so when we used to spread out straight edge flyers in local shows… His fanzine, Take Your Shot, was one of the few dedicated hardcore fanzines that ever existed in Greece the last 15 years. I also had the pleasure to play in a band with him from 2010 to 2013; that was My Turn. Fotis and his girlfriend opened a vegan shop 4 years ago; Bamboo Vegan, so it was more than essential to have them share their thoughts and also food advice in this fanzine.

Enjoy!

something for the welfare of animals and people. There are fun times, and there are stressful and hard times. But it’s so much better than working a job you hate for an unethical business (and trust me, I’ve had many of those jobs).

Spreading veganism is still the most important thing. Our culture is slowly changing, and is strongly questioning the vile habit of meat-eating and the consumption of other products of violence. Slowly, one person at a time, we are turning into more compassionate ways of living in the world. Or at least, veganism is growing to an extent that it challenges the mindset of even the most ignorant meat-eater. Veganism is here, and it’s here to stay. It’s not going away as long as there people like you and me.

Something I would like to say is that in my eyes, veganism must point us to a wider context of co-existence which actively promotes compassion and tolerance not only towards animals but for people too, including all ethnic, economic, sexual etc backgrounds. Animal rights and human rights go hand in hand, I can believe that so many people seem to forget that. Veganism is not just about proving we’re right and attacking meat-eaters. It’s not about who’s the most righteous vegan. I just feel it’s important to extend a helping hand to everyone, and try to

www.bamboovegan.com Running a vegan shop in a country like Greece might not be the easiest task; but if anything, these last four years have taught us that if we can pull that off, then almost nothing is impossible. PMA! Joking aside, it’s really been a crazy ride so far.

Clichéd as it sounds, I am doing something that I love. It’s something that me and my partner created on our own from scratch, in a true DIY spirit and ethic. What’s more important though, is that I am fighting a good fight, helping to do

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Mexican “Chimichurri” Style Vegan Chicken

For the chimichurri: Soy medallions 4 cloves garlic 1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro 1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup veg broth

make society a better place.

Throughout these last four years I’ve met tons of interesting individuals from Greece and all around the world: from business people and celebrities, to crazy traveling punks and hardcore bands with vegan members that played a show in Athens. I have learned that it’s important to just try and treat everyone the same, because in essence all people have one story: they long to be treated nicely; therefore the average person coming through the door is really my job. I am talking about the person who needs a bit more respect in their everyday dealings. I hope that I can live up to this, no matter how tired I am or how bad of a day I might be having.

I guess that before closing I should say that I feel ‘blessed’ or something, like so many people do when they are interviewed about their jobs, their lives etc. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that way. I am just doing my best like everyone else and I still see problems to be fixed and goals to be met. I am trying to better myself on a personal level through my job, but in all honesty I am so far from perfection as anyone could imagine.

There you go. You just had a look into the mind of an awkward vegan straight edge guy, with a shop, a kid and two cats, and still enough time to worry and stress about everything.

For the additional marinade: 1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce

Preparation: Cut the soy medallions in small pieces or strips.

Stir fry in oil and garlic. Add herbs and vinegar and let the mix cook for a while, until soy chunks have absorbed the flavor. Eat wrapped in a vegan pitta bread with vegan cheese and the sauce of your choice (we usually go for guacamole)!

Add spicy stuff like jalapeño peppers if you like.

Oh... And nachos, lots of them!

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flour x punch V

The Recipe:

For The PB Blondies: 3/4cup (170g) chunky peanut butter 1/3cup (80ml) oil 1cup (225g) brown sugar 1/3cup (80ml) nondairy milk 1cup (120g) flour pinch of salt 1/2tsp baking powder 1tsp cinnamon

Preparation: Preheat oven to 170°C and grease your brownie pan. In a mixing bowl whisk peanutbutter with oil and sugar. Stir in the milk. Then fold in flour, baking powder salt, and cinnamon. Knead dough until soft, then transfer to baking pan and press the dough into place. Bake for 22 to 25min, do not overbake! Make the fudgy frosting while they cool in the pan:

egetarianism & veganism always played a big part in the worldwide hardcore/ punk scene. We got in touch with Flour X Punch, a new team, providing mainly sweets in hardcore shows around South Germany. www.facebook.com/flourxpunch FlourXPunch is a non profit D.I.Y. bakery, selling vegan treats at hardcore shows. Decadent sweets, straight from my diabetes HQ based in South Germany, to feed all the hungry mosh-potatoes. I’m selling all the stuff by donation, to support a variety of human and animal rights organisations. One of them are “Hard To Port” - an organisation dedicated to work toward ending the commercial whale hunt in Iceland.

1/2 can full fat coconut milk (200ml) 200g dark chocolate, chopped

Add the coconut milk to a medium sized saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring often to avoid scorching. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped chocolate and stir untli it starts to melt.

Remove from heat and whisk until its thick and creamy, then pour over the cooled brownies.

Refrigerate until firm.

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