NO HEROES ISSUE NINE

ISSUE NINE CONTENTS FEATURES

Paper Arms ... p.8 Trash Talk ... p. 12 Bouncing Souls ... p.14 Polar Bear Club ... p.16 Baroness ... p.18 Alexisonfire ... p.26 Antagonist A.D. ... p.28 Cancer Bats ... p.30 The Ghost Inside ... p.36 Ben Shoots Terror & H2O ... p.42 The Gaslight Anthem ... p.48 Your Demise ... p.50

THE USUAL

Editor’s Letter ... p.6 Quickfire: Phantoms ... p.10 Generation 2010 ... p.11 Quickfire: The Black Pacific ... p.52 Contributors’ Best of 2010 ... p.53 Bands You’ve Never Heard Of ... p.55 No Sleep Til ... p.56 New Music ... p.58 Obituary: Best of 2010 ... p.62

The views and opinions expressed in No Heroes are not particularly those held by the publishers.

All content is Copyright to No Heroes 2010.

For information including contributing, advertising and general comments email: info@noheroesmag.com www.noheroesmag.com

Editor-In-Chief: Sarah Petchell Photo Editor: Craig Nye Content Editor: Lindsey Cuthbertson Music Editor: Oliver Cation All layouts by Cooper Brownlee and Sarah Petchell Words: Sarah Petchell, Lindsey Cuthbertson, Oliver Cation, Scotty Harms, Jem Siow Photos: Craig Nye, Chris Cooper, John Hatfield, Ben Clement, Nic Bezzina Logo by Joel Birch of Umbrella Creative Studios Cover: Cancer Bats Photo: Craig Nye This Page ... Photo by Chris Cooper

EDITOR’S LETTER When I think about the people that I have working with me on this magazine, I know how fortunate I am.

Not only are they talented writers or talented photographers, but a fair few of them are also talented musicians involved in some of the most promising and exciting young bands that are coming up through the scene. So I thought with this Editor’s Letter I would introduce you to them all and to their bands.

This magazine’s Music Editor, Oliver Cation, is in a band called Fixtures.

Sounding like Converge with some Botch and Young Widows style riffing through it, the lyrics are pissed as all hell, depicting a world of so many faults. Performance wise, what this band delivers on stage will leave you stupefied! Each and every member exerts their all and get pissed off at the slightest mistake, even if the audience may not pick it. With a split 7-inch with Reality on the way and big things to come, this is definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Speaking of Reality, this band is fronted by our sometime photographer Lachlan Hicks. Their debut EP, Directions, drew praise from around the scene, but newer material sees them moving in a heavier and much more angry direction. Not only do they have

their split with Fixtures on the way, but late last year they headed down to Melbourne to record their own 7-inch with producer Jay Maas (Defeater).

This should be on it’s way very soon.

One of my newer contributors, writer Jem Siow, plays guitar in a band called Endless Heights. They used to be known as You’re Ghost Is A Gift, but the name change brought a new maturity and a new passion to this young Sydney band’s brand of melodic hardcore. It’s fast, it’s energetic and the songwriting belies a maturity that far exceeds their tender years.

Finally there is Ill Vision of which photographer Ben Clement. This is tough guy in the vein of Terror, Madball and the like. It’s pissed off, you can mosh to it and I think my favourite parts are the fast parts in songs like ‘Grime Flex’. Definitely look these guys up next time you’re in Melbourne. They’re just starting out, but I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about them in no time!

As for this issue… Our cover boys for this month is Canada’s Cancer Bats.

We caught up with them for an exclusive interview and cover shoot, where they talked about how good Canadian music is the result of good Canadian weed, how important it is for them to be connected to their fans and their

PHOTO: CHRIS COOPER urge to tour the whole of Australia in a van. I would like to see this happen.

Baroness talked to us about supporting Metallica and what life is like for them, post Blue Record after having played a sold out show at the Annandale. Vigil and Aaron from The Ghost Inside talked to us about how growing up and moving on is not always a good thing, while we also chatted to Stu from Your Demise. There’s the start of our interviews from Soundwave, with Trash Talk, Polar Bear Club and The Gaslight Anthem all taking the time out of their schedules to talk to us, as well as our first ever Photo Essay shot by Ben Clement of the Terror and H2O Sidewave in February.

To top it off, there are interviews with Adelaide’s Paper Arms, The Bouncing Souls and Antagonist A.D., as well as the usual Quickfires (this issue with Sydney’s Phantoms and The Black Pacific). Add to that our coverage of No Sleep Til with awesome photos by John Hatfield, a sum up of Generation 2010 and a wrap up of 2010 as a whole and this is the biggest issue we’ve ever produced.

Until next issue, Sarah x

BEST oF 2010

AT LEAST ACCORDING TO THE CONTRIBUTORS OF NO HEROES...

SARAH PETCHELL

SCOTTY HARMS

john hatfield

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

photographer

1. Split - Robotosaurus and Coerce 2. Rohnert Park - Ceremony 3. I: A Turn For The Worst - I Exist 4. Eyes & Nines - Trash Talk 5. Symptoms & Cures - Comeback Kid

1. Periphery - Periphery 2. Rohnert Park - Ceremony 3. Disambiguation - Underoath 4. Deep Blue - Parkway Drive 5. Symptoms & Cures - Comeback Kid

CRAIG NYE

BEN CLEMENT

PHOTO EDITOR

PHOTOGRAPHER

1. Rohnert Park - Ceremony 2. Diamond Eyes - Deftones 3. Always Disgusted, Never Surprised - Ramming Speed 4. Directions EP - Reality 5. Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones Cancer Bats

LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON

1. Keepers Of The Faith - Terror 2. Endless Roads - Miles Away 3. Existence - The Burial 4. Diamond Eyes - Deftones 5. Our New Life Above The Ground Avalanche City

JEM SIOW WRITER

OLIVER CATION

nic bezzina photographer

1. Kvelertak - Kvelertak 2. Diamond Eyes - Deftones 3. Spiral Shadow - Kylesa 4. Snakes For The Divine - High On Fire 5. Fallen House, Sunken City - B. Dolan

lachlan hicks photographer

CONTENT EDITOR

1. Dogs Blood EP - Alexisonfire 2. Deep Blue - Parkway Drive 3. I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone - Crime In Stereo 4. Fake History - Letlive 5. The Wild Hunt - The Tallest Man On Earth

1. I: A Turn For The Worst - I Exit 2. End Measured Mile - Make Do & Mend 3. Lock & Key - Cruel Hand 4. Kvelertak - Kvelertak 5. Deep Blue - Parkway Drive

1. Split - Balance & Composure and Tiger’s Jaw 2. Youngbloods - The Amity Affliction 3. There Is A Hell... - Bring Me The Horizon 4. Keep This To Yourself - Transit 5. The Great Western Basin - Coma Lies NC

chris cooper photographer

MUSIC EDITOR

1. Endless Roads - Miles Away 2. Diamond Eyes - Deftones 3. Hardcore For Hardcore 7” - The Rival Mob 4. All Day - Girl Talk 5. As Above, So Below - Phantoms

gigs that deserve a mention...

Converge @ Manning Bar The Dillinger Escape Plan @ The Metro Theatre Dangers and Graf Orlock House Show

1. The Great Western Basin - Coma Lies NC 2. Long Live - The Chariot 3. As Above So Below - Phantoms 4. Prologue EP - Endless Heights 5. Split - Robotosaurus and Coerce

1. Based On A True Story - Sick Of It All 2. Endless Roads - Miles Away 3. I: A Turn For The Worst - I Exist 4. Doomsday King - The Crown 5. Eyes & Nines - Trash Talk

Hardcore 2010 @ Factory Theatre Generation 2010 @ Seaford Community Centre Parkway Drive September Tour Baroness @ The Annandale

Sometimes gambles pay off.

Sure, they’re risky ventures, but more often than not the best opportunities and experiences are a result of throwing caution to the wind and taking a chance.

Paper Arms’ vocalist/guitarist Josh Mann is from that school of thought.

The Adelaide punk rock quartet were throwing names around for producing their debut record late in 2009. For all the names brought up, Mann’s suggestion was a bolt out of the blue.

gamble. Schreifels is a musical legend, while at the time of the discussion Paper Arms were still just a band gaining some worthy buzz around select pockets of the country.

But for some reason, the more the members of Paper Arms thought about Schreifels possibly being their producer, the more it made sense.

and helm the production chair for what became Days Above Ground, a debut that made people all over the place sit up and take notice.

“It wasn’t really even a discussion. Josh happened to try his luck by sending Walter an email via MySpace,” says drummer Tom Crosby.

“Doing pre-production with Walter didn’t change the sound a lot but it did refine it. Basically from there the album flowed really well,” says guitarist Max Hunt.

Mann can still remember what he wrote to Schreifels. “I said, ‘we’d love to have you over, we’ll pay for you to come down’, and he didn’t write back. So I left it for a week or so and then wrote back. I said to him, ‘Do you realise that it will be the middle of summer here while it’s winter over there?’ Then I got a response.”

“We knew that we wanted a raw energetic sound, so we pretty much recorded the whole album live. So we did have an idea about reflecting the energy that we put into writing the songs in the finished sound of the record,” says bassist Mike Smith.

“It’s such a privilege. I’m a bit of an optimist so I’ve always written to people like that and hoped for the best. This time it all worked out,” says Mann.

What about Walter Schreifels?

Yeah, you heard that right.

Walter Schreifels. The dude that spearheaded the second wave of the straight edge movement in the late eighties, playing in seminal bands such as Gorilla Biscuits and Youth Of Today.

The guy who fronted posthardcore pioneers Quicksand.

The veteran that led indie punks Rival Schools.

This was the quintessential

The gamble paid off bigtime.

Schreifels agreed to come out

While it may have been Paper Arms’ debut LP, the members of the band have been icons in the Adelaide punk scene for many years. In other words, Days

Paper Arms

WORDS: LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON

in between. I’d been playing around for a while and I’m not going to say that I was bored, but I definitely wanted to do something a little bit different.

When I met these guys we were at the same time at the same place wanting the same thing,” he says.

At first Paper Arms even found it hard to find bands of similar ilk to play with. But as most punters discern the good from the bad, the hard work slowly began to pay off with larger crowds and more attention.

Now it’s gotten to the point where the American alternative media are interested in Days Above Ground.

“We went into playing shows knowing that this sort of thing wasn’t really happening and assuming that it could be tough to reach people,” says Smith.

Above Ground is the culmination of all their years slugging it out unknown to anyone outside their city.

“Max, Mike and I were in a band called Avert Ruse for a while until Max went overseas. Josh has a big Adelaide punk rock history and while Max was away the three of us started jamming.

When Max came back we put it all together, so in various ways we’ve known each other for quite a while,” says Crosby.

“We probably knew that there was something special going on from jam number one,” adds Smith. “We’ve all played a bit of music and this is something that we’ve done with history so now it’s just really fine tuned to what we want to do and what we love to do.”

Mann sums up the band’s inception in another way. “In Melbourne there’s a tradition of this sort of genre but in Adelaide it’s either fast punk or hardcore, and not a lot of space

We had stamps hand-made and stamped and numbered every demo. It’s the same with the record. A lot of care and thought has been put into it and that is something that’s just as important to us as the music,” says Hunt.

Less and less people are feeling the same these days, with Mann outlying how much peerto-peer file sharing and downloading has affected the record sales of smaller bands.

“My first band launched a CD in 2001 and we sold 250 copies.

With the album for Paper Arms, we put a lot of work into it and I feel like it’s a much more mature product. We sold sixteen copies at out launch. It’s a huge difference, a massive shift. It can’t help but impact on you,” says Mann.

Mann agrees. “We have all loved this genre for a long time, but this is my first experience of actually writing this kind of music. I’ve basically had to learn how to play guitar in a totally different way…”

“In this day and age people aren’t even stressed about owning physical copies of albums anymore, which freaks me out. I like to have it sitting on the shelf and have the artwork, but a lot of people aren’t even stressing about that anymore,” says Crosby.

“…and break down the songs, work out what’s going on in them and fine tune it,” Crosby concludes. “Mike and I have worked hard during writing and rehearsing to get the bass and drums in tight rhythmic patterns which is stuff that in other bands we’ve never really done before, in terms of attention to detail.”

“The coolest thing about this band is that all of us will never treat it as something that we really stress about making money out of or investing time and energy and relying on it. Straight away that opens it up into being more doable.”

It’s not just the music that gets a thorough going-over in Paper Arms. The artwork and layout for Days Above Ground was also heavily thought out and scrutinised.

Paper Arms don’t want to leave their day jobs, because as you soon understand, they have the best of both worlds. And if Days Above Ground is an indication of how good their worlds are, then they’re pretty incredible places to be.

“With an industrial designer, two graphic designers and a photographer in the band design and how it looks is a really big thing for us. Our demo was something like a design project.

DAYS ABOVE GROUND IS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH POISON CITY RECORDS.

Phantoms

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST CAED FRANCIS BY OLIVER CATION You are single handedly Phantoms was the only interruining classic hip-hop and state band to play the masbasketball. How do Phantoms sive Generation 2010. How decide upon merchandise was the experience of playing designs? in Melbourne to a different I do most of the merch designs sort of crowd? and I do it based upon stuff that Melbourne has treated us very I would wear. I don’t like upside- well every time we’ve been down crucifixes and shirts that down there. It was a privilege say “DOG FREE YOUTH”. to be a part of such a big show.

The crowd was very different, You’re about to release a 7” with a lot of new faces, but the split and embark on a nation- response was still great. al tour with I Exist. How did the Bad Romance between The 7” comes hot on the the two bands begin? heels of your debut album As I watched I Exist at Takedown Above, So Below Below.. Does it still ’09 and was blown away. A tour hold a place in your heart or was organised between both are you moving on? bands and we it off over a few As Above, So Below is still our too many alcoholic beverages, main focus. We haven’t really or Dr Peppers in my case. toured the record yet, so we have something planned for Some people still consider around June. We’re definitely the combination of Jack Napi- not moving on just yet. The er with the old guy from Rex record is still pretty relevant to Banner a weird one. What how I feel about the world and did you want to achieve with I still would like to get it to as the band and are you on your many ears as possible. way to achieving it?

Well, Kelly wasn’t originally in The story behind the Bad the band. We just set out to play Romance 7” is now pretty shows and hopefully to tour. common knowledge, but tell We have no illusions that we’re us about Wet ‘n Wild, Wizards going to live off hardcore or that and Vikings Of Doom anyway. we’ll become the next Parkway Both bands love Wet ‘n Wild. If Drive. We just wanted to have heaven exists, I bet it’s a wafun. terpark! Wizarding involves lots of alcohol and masking or duct How important is the live extape. I, however, don’t partake perience for the band?

Playing shows all around the country is a blast. For any hardcore band, the live experience is what it’s all about. In my opinion, if you don’t like playing shows then you shouldn’t be playing hardcore.

You completed the Endless Roads tour with Miles Away and Hopeless late last year.

How was that tour for you?

Frenzal Rhomb got into a time machine in 1998, went to October 2010 and hid in the boot of our van to document our tour.

The result was the song ‘Never Had So Much Fun’. It was crazy!

in the event. Vikings is more of an I Exist thing. I only take part in the Viking handshake.

The artwork for this split is above and beyond anything seen in recent times. What is going on with it all?

Red, our guitarist, features on it because he was left out of all the press for As Above, So Below. The rest are just things that are comical and relevant to our bands. The cover is based on (or ripped off from) the poster for the movie Grown Ups. What’s coming up for Phantoms after the tour?

We have a re-release of As Above, So Below on vinyl and a national tour in June. We’re hoping this will include shows in Perth and Tasmania. We also have some bigger shows too.

Who are some of the best new hardcore bands coming from outside of Sydney?

Warbrain, Ill Vision, Iron Mind and The Hollow.

Will every member of Phantoms admit to pissing in the pool?

We don’t piss in the pools. But Kelly stole some cheese from a 7/11 to throw at Jacob Bannon, and while he was doing that he pissed in their fridge.

PHOTO: JOHN HATFIELD

Generation 2010

WORDS: OLIVER CATION – PHOTOS: JOHN HATFIELD appetiser for the carnage to follow.

It was then left to Her Nightmare to tire everyone out before Carpathian closed this amazing show.

Her Nightmare came out and schooled the other bands with a masterclass in brutal hardcore, igniting the pit and bringing out many of those who had claimed mosh retirement or to be too old for shows.

A two-year break between shows meant this was never going to be the most precise performance, but it didn’t matter. Intense aggression brought palpable danger to the building, with songs from across the band’s discography played including ‘Content’, ‘Prisoner’, ‘Innocent Seven’ and ‘Lock And Load’.

Two years after their final show in Western Sydney, Her Nightmare returned to the stage for one last hoorah in front of their hometown crowd. There were half a dozen other bands, which played the bill that was Generation 2010, but Her Nightmare was the reason that everyone was there.

fate. Exhibiting a great deal of new material, they received a muted response, with the crowd holding themselves over for the chaos to come. Some older songs, like ‘Guilty Feet Ain’t Got No Rhythm’ and ‘The Strand’ got the crowd moving, but there was still three bands left.

The show was opened by Melbourne locals Warbrain. Comprising of members of Carpathian and Hopeless, the all-star, hard riffs outfit have turned heads in a short time. Live they display a love of what they do, but more time is needed for the band to find their feet musically. There are definitely promising times ahead, however.

Hopeless got the first significant reaction of the day. Their debut album Dear World got another airing, the audience climbing over itself to sing along. Delivering a polished performance in the growing heat of the day, Hopeless was the perfect

Hard riffs were the order of the day with Sydney’s Phantoms up next.

Being the only out of town band, they brought a gang of friends and showed off their new album As Above, So Below as well as split with I Exist and a few choice covers. Phantoms have achieved a great deal in a short time. Their collective experience translated into an engaging live show and supremely catchy songs.

Melbourne’s hardcore veterans Iron Mind continued to bring the riffs. Their set engaged the local crowd, but acted as little more than a stop-gap to the other bands. Iron Mind has the ability to decimate crowds, but in a room this large the band lost much of their appeal.

The Broderick suffered the same

By now Carpathian are running tired, having crossed the country countless times since Isolation was released. The songs are old and the performance standard.

Even songs from Nothing To Lose do little more than remind us how amazing this band once was. The unveiling of some newer material promises a return to past glories, but while some still delight in the beanie-wearing hardcore Carpathian popularised, there are more who crave something new. Maybe the opening bands of the day and their hard riff hardcore is an indication of what is to come next for Australian hardcore.

TRASH TALK WORDS: SCOTTY HARMS

TONIGHT IS SHOW NIGHT. BUT FOR NOW, IT’S TIME TO KICK BACK FOR SPENCER POLLARD. “I’M CHILLING OUT, WATCHING FUTURAMA, RELAXING BEFORE WE’VE GOTTA GO TO THE VENUE AND START LOADIN’ IN FOR THE SHOW.” THE THING WITH POLLARD IS THAT HE TURNS THE INTENSITY OFF LIKE A SWITCH – WHEN ON STAGE WITH HIS BAND TRASH TALK, HE THROWS THE BASS AROUND, SCREAMS INTO THE MIC AND CONTRIBUTES AS MUCH AS HE CAN TO THE CHAOS. “Sometimes, Lee (vocals) will say, ‘Hey, you struck me in the head with the end of your bass,’ and that happened or this happened,” Pollard says. “A lot of times you don’t really notice it as it’s going on.”

“Basically we’re in our own world,” he says. “There’s been a lot of shows where I haven’t cared what’s going on in the crowd - everyone’s just kind of in their own world, doing their own thing, and I think that’s a big part of us as a band.”

For the members of Sacramento-based Trash Talk – lead vocalist Lee Spielman, guitarist Garrett Stevenson, drummer Sam Bosson and Pollard – ‘doing their own thing’ is not just some punk rock motto they repeat at every opportunity.

Wanting a more hands-on, DIY approach, the band walked away from Deathwish imprint Malfunction to form their own label, Trash Talk Collective.

“It’s something that we all wanted to do; there was intention to do it, but we never took the steps to do it,” Pollard says.

“It came to a point in the band where we decided we were going to go it alone.”

Forming a label gives them the ability to release whatever they want; apart from Trash Talk’s most recent two LPs, a book was released last year, featuring photos and artwork compiled by the band. More importantly, Pollard says it gives unknown artists the opportunity to be seen.

“In our travels we get to see a ton of cool stuff,” he says. “It’s a way to use our platform to allow people to see the work of other people; to see the work we like.

It’s a way for us to get the word out on some people who otherwise might not be recognised - people who are doing very creative and great things.”

The creative machine of Trash Talk has this year focused on their new studio album, Eyes & Nines, produced by The Bronx’s Joby J Ford. “Joby’s a good friend of ours,” Pollard says.

“Typically in the studio it’s pretty relaxed for us – just smoke a lot of weed, hang out, drink some beers and let the recording happen.”

Though the recording process was relaxed, it was undertaken

with more thought; where previous work simply came out of recorded practice sessions, Eyes & Nines was the first Trash Talk record where material was demoed first.

“This time we actually spent a few days in the studio recording some tracks, then did a tour and came back and recorded the album. With this one, we had a little more time to develop the songs, develop lyrics; a little more focus in this release.”

The results speak for themselves; the partnership between Joby and the band meant a clean, well-written and furious record was always going to be a high probability. “Joby listened to the songs and told us if he thought the take wasn’t good, he would bounce ideas off of

“Typically in the studio it’s pretty relaxed for us – just smoke a lot of weed, hang out, drink some beers and let the recording happen.” us,” says Pollard. “It was good to get an outside opinion on what was going on, especially from somebody we really like and respect.”

Another respected punk identity the band has worked with is Keith Morris. The one-time Black Flag and Circle Jerks frontman provided guest vocals on Trash Talk’s East Of Eden/ Son Of A Bitch seven-inch something Pollard says he’ll always remember.

“It was crazy - we were all punk-

rock starstruck,” he laughs. “He rode his bike down the studio and called us from a payphone across the street and let us know that he was there. He was a real down to earth, normal guy, but at the same time he’s got all this experience in Circle Jerks and Black Flag.

“Just being able to talk with him that day with us in the studio and hanging out with him was an experience none of us will ever forget.”

As tonight’s show rolls closer,

Pollock sits back from his chair in front of the TV and reflects on the best parts of being in a band - a collective - like Trash Talk.

“Playing in a band is the best part of playing in a band,” he laughs. “Pretty much playing in this band is our life, and we’re enjoying it. Travelling is a huge perk – being able to go around and see the world, without having to hold down steady jobs in order to do so. It’s a great thing.”

EYES & NINES IS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH TRASH TALK COLLECTIVE/SHOCK. .

THE BOUNCING SOULS WORDS: SARAH PETCHELL Prolific is a word that constantly gets thrown around when people talk about music. Sometimes its use is warranted and sometimes its not, however in the case of The Bouncing Souls… Now this is definitely a band to which the word “prolific” applies.

Formed in New Jersey in 1987 with the intention of partying and having something to do while the members were still in high school, the heights to which the band exploded were definitely not expected by its members. Nor was the longevity with which the band would stay together. Let’s face it. Punk and hardcore are genres of music where the life expectancy of a band is, on average, perhaps five years.

So what is the secret to this quartet’s longevity? Vocalist Greg Attonito offers this by way of explanation. “My wife simplified it when she said that we

care about each other and we care about our audience. And that’s to break it down to the bare minimum.” This simple, yet poignant explanation speaks volumes for the mutual respect this band has not only for one another, but also for their audience.

“It really breaks down to developing a relationship with your bandmates and people see that,” Greg continues. “People want to come and see us, and we actually enjoy making music and interacting with people. If that wasn’t there then I don’t think people would keep coming back.”

Yet this is a band that has been together for over 20 years.

They’re a band that pioneered the type of pogo moshing style of pop punk (typified by Fat Wreck bands) that was popular in the early-to-mid 90’s. Looking at the progression of the genre and the resurgence in the popularity of these sorts of bands in recent years, effectively The

Bouncing Souls have seen the trend come full circle.

Yet the band simultaneously remain oblivious to this. “I’m at the point, and the band is at the point, where we just kind of do what we do. That’s what we’ve been doing since the beginning to the point where we kind of have an inbuilt fan base now,” Greg says.

“New people come and go, but there are still older generations of people that still love The Bouncing Souls. They probably have a few CDs at home, but might not come out to all the shows because they have a couple of kids or whatever. But it’s still there.”

However the change in the audiences that frequent shows is not the only change that a band of The Bouncing Souls’ longevity is aware of. There is a fundamental awareness by the band of the way things were and how they differ to the way things are now. Some of these differences

take the train to the record store with maybe like twenty bucks to spend on records. You think about that now and I feel like it was a much more real reality where we were forced to be out there in our world. You had to go out into the real world to look for entertainment.”

This feeling of nostalgia for the real world he occupied as a teenager is not something that Greg and his bandmates pine for. What he would prefer is a balance between the convenience of technology today with the necessity of occupying space in our world beyond sitting in front of a computer game for hours.

After all, there are merits to the technology. Greg explains, “We have the internet and all these other technologies that we can work with. Now everyone knows when the band is playing. Even me talking to you, we can communicate online for free and all that sort of thing was unimaginable in 1990.” may come down to age or as Greg puts it the fact that they are all now completely different people to who they were in the 80’s when the band started out.

“Asking about how we were in the 80’s and how music was in the 80’s, it was our reality and it seemed so much more simple.

I guess it could be that simple now, because your reality is as simple as you make it.”

But there are disadvantages to this longevity, and it is not a condition that is confined to Greg only. Many bands that have been around as long as The Bouncing Souls find it hard to be motivated and inspired by new music. As Greg phrases it, this is a condition that leaves him asking “What is wrong with me? Am I really an old, grumpy man?

After talking himself into a bit of a circle with this semiphilosophical discussion, Greg continues, “But back then it was simple. Our world was our little town, our basement jam room, having a couple of bucks to buy beer and our record collection of maybe 20 or 30 records and that was it.

“But I think that’s just part of life.

Every once in a while I’ll find some new music that is interesting to me, but it’s not like it was.

It just comes with experience as well. You can’t expect to be in your 30’s and still be excited by everything. You’re not going to be that way your whole life so you have to figure out what it is that you’re feeling now.”

“It was a whole different reality where things almost had more meaning. People didn’t have iPods with thousands of songs on them, so things like going to the record store were an event. We would skate to the train, then

For Greg, this just leads to another moment of nostalgia for the way that things were. “I’ve definitely had moments where I’ve wished that I could be as stoked about a band as I was.

I miss that but it is also a part

of getting old and moving on in life.”

So how then does he feel, a veteran of nine Warped Tours, seeing the direction it has taken with the more diverse range of alternative music on offer, as opposed to the more traditional skate-punk of the early 90’s? “Throughout our history on Warped Tour we’ve had really growing pains as a band.

But this year, for the first time I was at real peace with the whole experience of it all. I had an epiphany and realised how disconnected from it all I actually was.

“I mean, I could be some of these kids’ dad! I just wasn’t the tour that we started out on all those years ago. I felt like my dad at one of our shows. I’m just from a different generation to these kids, and when Warped started we were all from the same generation.”

If moving on in life is what The Bouncing Souls are all about at this point in their careers, it begs the question as to precisely what place the band has and what role it plays in the grand scheme of things. At this point in time in the lives of the band members, it has become a balancing act but for Greg not in the typical balancing life at home against life in the band.

Instead it is about balancing the positive against the negative.

“It’s so much a part of me that I obsess about it and it imprisons me. But it’s also so much a part of me that it has liberated me,” he says. “Like anything, it is something that has made me who I am but is still constantly evolving as the people within it constantly evolve.

“We all have a negative side to ourselves, and we have to interact with that as well as the negativity in the world. Each one of us has to find out how to manage. Music is definitely one of those ways of managing this, but in the end we have to still figure out our own ways to manage those things.”

The phrase ‘Polar Bear Club’ might start your imagination spinning: an artic group of furry carnivores? Possibly an expansion to that children’s online penguin forum community?

Or just another name for one of those crazy technical death metal synth bands? Not even close.

What this name most importantly refers to is a passionate, energetic and straight-up, bangin’ New York five piece who are bringing fresh and new grounds to the definition of modern rock ‘n roll. And while their punk/rock foundations may stray from the rest of their Bridge 9 league, it’s the hard work-ethic and sincere honesty residing at the core of this group which bridges the gap between them and the hardcore world.

“We have a lot of different elements to Polar Bear Club. You know, I think sonically it’s hard to say where we fit,” vocalist Jimmy Stadt says. “I guess we sort of fit with harder, hardcore rock and maybe even pop/ punk now. But lyrically, we fit in sort of the indie scene as well.

We’ve been able to cross those bridges. “ Travel through their debut, Sometimes Things Just Disappear and you’ll hint at the Small Brown Bike and Lifetime influences. Experience sophomore, Chasing Hamburg and the Jimmy Eat World/Hot Water Music inspiration seeps through; you’ve become a part of the Polar Bear Club journey.

And whilst not the most conventional musical and lyrical fusion, Jimmy’s ready to admit, “Most people at first think you know, that’s a weird pairing. But we just do it and we’re confident about it so there’s no choice but for it to make sense to us.”

In an industry saturated by the generic and overdone, it’s exactly this steadfast quality and willingness to explore what comes from within which separates them from the herd.

It’s why you’re often going to find Polar Bear Club amidst a

bill of acts from vastly different spheres – a testament to the widely appreciated nature of their music. In fact, the group not long ago finished a six-week run of the Alternative Press tour across the States, sharing the stage with some of the world’s biggest heavy acts; Bring Me The Horizon, August Burns Red and This Is Hell to name a few.

“The kids at these shows are younger, they’re like highschool age. I think kids going to concerts at that age are just generally more open and accepting to new bands and they more just want to rock out. It was cool to sort of work that crowd and play to a completely different crowd than we’re used to.”

And like many other experiences Jimmy finds no hesitation in finding the positives of their circumstance. “It was challenging, but you become a better band when you do that sort of thing. Kids were super receptive to us…. The best memory of the tour was honestly the last night during Bring Me The Horizon’s set because I think every member of the tour was on the stage and we just fucked that place up. Like they were so mad [laughs] but it was just so much fun.”

We’re pulled into a somewhat nostalgic yet gratefully reflective moment in conversation as he delves into the experiences of his band collectively. “I’m glad we’ve done it that way because we’ve made so many good friends with so many different types of bands, that we never would have met if we just sort of, stayed in our comfort zone.”

Through this he takes us along the Polar Bear Club voyage, their roots and how they came to be. And what Jimmy arrives at is the sole purpose and existence of the group. “We had all done different bands that had aspired to be what Polar Bear Club is now… but just could never find anyone who cared.

We kind of gave up those bands and started this, Polar Bear Club thing.”

Jimmy moves on to describe that, ‘Polar Bear Club thing’ as a once-upon-a-time, ‘very casual’ and ‘weekend band’. “But then we started getting attention. And it just got to the point where it was like, this window is open for us to go do this, and be in the band that we always wanted to be in, and we’d be fools not to go through it. It was about if we don’t do this now we are going to regret it for the rest of our lives… and we need to do justice to the person I was at 17 years old in a touring punk band trying to ‘make it’, whatever that means.”

His voice begins to stutter while looking forwards, and once gathering an appropriate sentence, begins to sum up what this band means to him. “Paying respect to those dreams that maybe died after failing. Playing a good show is just the whole reason why we do this. To write music that we like, which hopes to connect with people. It’s all encompassing. But I’m so glad

POLAR BEAR CLUB

WORDS: JEM SIOW

we did because our lives are freaking awesome!”

Speaking to the frontman, I’m graced with the opportunity of seeking Jimmy’s first-hand experience as a lead vocalist to one of modern hard rock’s most critically acclaimed acts. And it’s with no hesitation that he brings us into his universe: “I’m the voice. There’s a big, soulful element to the singer because that’s the human aspect of the band… You share your voice with everyone else in the crowd who also has a voice. You’re really every man in the band.

It’s that complicated but it’s also that simple at the same time, you just gotta do your thing. And if you do it positively and confidently people will respond to it.”

Old timers will be accustomed to the thematic turbulence this group shakes up. Where tracks such as ‘Eat The Dinner, Bury The Dog And Run’ create a hole of angst-filled personal depression, others like ‘Living Saints’

fill with a bright perspective of this often gloomy world. And beyond the role of simply a vocalist, Jimmy is whole-handily behind this case, sharing with us some of his most profound inspirations as a writer.

“My favourite Elvis Costello song is, is called ‘Just About Glad’. It’s this song about this relationship that never was but, maybe sort of could’ve been, or should’ve been and it’s all these sort of, tiny little jokes… but then he hits this line about the girl crying, and having a tear in her eye and it’s just that much more sad because you’ve laughed with him first… It’s that much more sad because you know them as a human.”

Holding the human at the heart of their spirit, Polar Bear Club prevails in the modern music world where superficiality appears so significant. Without a doubt, it’s the sheer natural authenticity of their approach that flames their torch throughout the stages they reach, and

will continue to do so for years to come.

For Australian readers, don’t think twice about witnessing the energy when they return in February through the Soundwave Festival before recording their third studio album, planned to release sometime later this year. Whether it’s through punk shows or rock shows, metal shows or pop shows, there’s one fact certain with this group; as long as they keep Chasing, Polar Bear Club will never disappear.

“No matter what you do as a band, everything can strip away, strip away, strip away, and it all just comes down to the music.

You can do away with all the bullshit, but the music is the last thing left. And that’s truly what keeps us going.”

CHASING HAMBURG IS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH BRIDGE 9

BARONESS WORDS: SARAH PETCHELL – PHOTOS: NIC BEZZINA

Savannah, Georgia may not seem the most likely place for a progressive metal scene to flourish. It is in a region of the United States so steeped in a history containing civil war and the slave trade that Baroness’ brand of metal seems an anomaly. But if you look below the surface, you find that there is a whole, lively scene here of which Baroness is the most notable.

You can add to that list the likes of Kylesa (who’s guitarist/ vocalist, Phillip Cope is actually described as the Savannah metal scene’s godfather) and Black Tusk, and the picture that emerges is one of bands that enjoys sludgey riffs, a laid back tempo and an aggressive heaviness that all merges into one cohesive and defining sound.

As I said, Baroness is the most notable of this group, attaining international recognition with only two albums and a handful of EP’s under their belts. They earned a prestigious support slot on half of the Australian leg of Metallica’s Death Magnetic World Tour last year, and simultaneously wowed audiences with a string of East Coast sideshows, including a sold out show at Sydney’s Annandale Hotel.

It was arguably the release of their second album, The Blue Record, in 2009 that solidified the Baroness truly as a band on the rise. The acclamation the album received in the critical press garnered them enough attention to not early earn them a spot supporting Metallica, but also a spot on the 2010 Soundwave line-up (with the likes of Isis, Meshuggah and Faith No More).

That same year, they supported Mastodon on a jaunt around the United States and their festival participation continued as they were added to the lineups for Coachella and Bonnaroo.

I have spoken to Baroness’ John Dyer Baizley before, just following the release of The

Blue Record, so finding out what had been going on for the band between then and now seemed like an excellent place to start.

“Between Soundwave 2010 and now we’ve basically just been touring,” John starts. “We almost haven’t been off tour since then. We’ve been around the States a couple of times and have seen Europe twice since then. There have been some pretty cool, big tours.”

But the touring experience for the band is a lot different to the touring experience for a lot of the younger bands that dominate the Soundwave bill. “When we get out on the road it’s not so much about the nightlife – clubs and partying and all that – because that’s exactly the same everywhere, “ Baizley explains.

“For us the most fun things that we get to do is to get out in nature and actually see something unique.”

He gives the example of the first day they arrived in Brisbane on the 2010 Soundwave.

“The first day that we were there, we were in Brisbane and they set us up at this nature conservatorium and we basically spent the whole day surrounded by exotic wildlife.

That’s the kind of thing that we love doing while we’re on tour…

It was definitely the right way to start that tour for us.”

The sheer extent of the touring that Baroness have done between then and now is simply mind blowing. The scale of it indicates a band that must love the touring experience deeply, however you have to remember that this is not a band that is touring for the parties and the fun. While dalliances with nature and exotic wildlife are more appealing, there is one factor that they love about touring above all else.

“When we started playing music was just to tour. Most easily, the band is just a cool traveling experience for us. When we

started off it was about touring to see the whole country, and then we eventually went to Canada, England and Europe,” says John. “Then this year we got lucky and got to go to Australia and Japan. That’s a really big deal for us! We all have friends that will never get the opportunity to go there, even if they pay to go there. We have to go there, basically, on almost a paid vacation. That’s why we love it so much.”

As mentioned, since Soundwave Baroness have been back to Australia as the opening support for Metallica on the November run of shows that they did.

As ever, when talking to anyone from the band, the humility that seems to run deep shines through. This wasn’t really a career defining moment for the band, but instead a lesson in keeping that ego in check, and not in the way you may think.

John explains that for them the experience was all about playing in front of new people and the lessons that that taught them. “For us, [playing with Metallica was] all about getting an opportunity to play in front of a new audience and with Metallica I would say that 95 to 98 per cent of their audience hasn’t heard of us. So that becomes sort of a perfect scenario for us.

“I don’t pretend that it’s going to be easy and that all their fans are going to fall in love with us instantly, but the opportunity to try our music out on new people is always great for us.

It’s a good challenge, it keeps us sharp and opening up for a band like Metallica is a good reminder that no matter how many people come out to see you when you headline, there is still a huge populous out there who just have no idea who you are. It keeps your humility in tact.”

The question that begs to be asked is whether or not Baroness are Metallica fans. John replies with an emphatic, “Absolutely! I don’t know many musicians who aren’t,” he then

proclaimed Master Of Puppets as his favourite Metallica album (a point he and I will have to disagree on as clearly …And Justice For All is the superior of those first five.) and stated that he could speak on behalf of the entire band and declare them all fans.

has extended far beyond that of packaging for his own band.

So is opening for a band that you idolise, like Metallica, an awe-inspiring experience or is it just a weird situation? John says, “I’m sure it’s going to be a really, really weird situation but I enjoy situations like that. I mean, the first show on that tour is going to be the biggest show we’ve ever played.

“In my experience there really is no difference between making music and making art. It just comes from the same spot and it is the exact same drive in me to make music as it is to make art,” he explains. “I’ve always considered Baroness a great outlet for me both musically and artistically. I couldn’t even imagine not having the two go hand in hand.”

“It’s going to get weird and I hope it gets weird. If it doesn’t, then something is wrong. We need that weirdness to build the experience of being in that sort of situation that we’ve never been in before.”

Perhaps that sense of weirdness is even more important to Baizely given the weird and wonderful style of his own art.

As well as being the frontman of Baroness, Baizley is also an accomplished artist whose work

He has also designed packaging and tshirts for bands as noteable as Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Kvelertak and Darkest Hour. To him there is an intrinsic connection between the two.

To that extent, Baroness is an extended art project for Baizley.

“Within everything that encompasses the wholeness of the band, everyone within the band can express whatever their artistic tendencies are in some way and in whatever fashion they may take. That’s not just the music we make or the drawings I do.”

He continues, “We’ve chosen

not to think of it as a business or a profession as much as we consider it a passion of ours.

That is a different starting point than most full-time bands, and when you approach it from a passionate standpoint the end goal is not the bottom line, but instead from an internal feeling that we’ve done something interesting or creatively challenging.”

And that was the point with The Blue Record. When I last spoke to John, we talked a lot about how pleased he was with every facet of that album, especially in relation to the band’s progression as musicians and songwriters, as well as his own progression with his vocals.

Considering that it was almost 18 months ago when the initial conversation took place, it would seem like it was time to move onto the next thing, to start writing the third album. But at present, that does not appear to be the case.

“We’ve been touring so much on this record that it almost seems to me like this record came out yesterday, in a lot of

ways. I feel exactly the same way about it as I did back when we spoke before.” John goes on to explain that the album continues to challenge them.

“It has provided us with an onstage challenge for the past twelve months, and has kept us really involved with out music throughout the touring cycle and throughout the whisperings of writing a new album.

“It has kept us on the edges of our proverbial seats because it’s not an easy album to perform. Every night we get up on stage and there is no sense of routine to play it where we could even consider being robotic about playing it. We have to be sharp or else it fails musically on stage.”

Tackling challenges head on is the way that Baroness have always done everything and it’s another way for this truly humble band to stay grounded.

“I truly believe that it is the right way to keep your head on your shoulders and to keep your heart in the game,” says John.

“I really think that once musi-

cians feel entitled and that they’ve earned everything that they’ve got, then your attitude changes – the way you write music and everything that you do changes. I’ve seen it wreck so many people and so many bands that with us we always feel proud and privileged that we get to do what we do.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. At the end of the day, we feel very lucky that people pay attention to us.”

Sometimes the tables turn however, and there develops a situation where Baroness challenge their audiences more than they challenge themselves. Take, for example, the A Horse Called Golgotha 7-inch single release.

The b-side to that release was a previously unreleased cover of The Descendents classic, ‘Bikeage’.

A progressive, sludge metal band playing a punk cover?

Whether this is indicative of the sheer range of influences that Baroness are citing or an experiment in postmodernism gone awry, the decision is one that takes a certain amount of

balls to follow through with. I mean, The Descendents are exactly the first band that comes to mind when you think about Baroness…

However, even the decision to do a cover song, let alone a Descendents one, was borne out of a challenge. “Within the band we’ve all got such divergent tastes in music. For example, if you were to ask all four of us what our top five records of all time are, you’re going to see very few repeat records.

And because of that the whole concept of doing a cover song has been really tough for us for a long time,” says John.

“So when we were in the studio we had a little bit of extra time, spontaneously had the idea to record a cover song and it was actually really simple for us to choose this particular song because it was one of the only bands and one of the only songs that we could all agree on. It was just one of those songs and one of those bands that had an impact that may not be obvious or apparent, but it is real.”

Whether it is challenging touring situations or writing songs that are challenging to play live, Baroness are a band that thrive on the problematic scenarios that their position as one of the fastest rising metal bands on the planet has secured for them. If you look at the progression from one album to the next, from one EP to the next, you can hear how these challenges have done nothing more than continue to build the band and to allow them to grow as better musicians, better performers and, in the case of John Dyer Baizley, a better vocalist and a better visual artist.

So if The Blue Record lived up to the expectations that not only the band put on it, but also the expectations of Baroness’ rapidly expanding fanbase, then it will be an exciting wait to see what album number three with deliver and how it challenges the band this time round. If the challenges of that album shape Baroness in the same way that The Blue Record has, then Baroness are going to cement themselves as one of the legends of modern metal.

THE BLUE RECORD IS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH RELAPSE/RIOT!

WORDS: LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON - PHOTOS: CRAIG NYE

Nine years ago Alexisonfire were nobodies; just four high school teenagers and a man in his early twenties jamming in a garage somewhere, slowly crafting their sound and direction, sweating out the hours chasing the melodies and rhythms that came flying out of their heads.

At that stage of a band’s career no one thinks of global popularity.

Getting noticed in their local music community and writing enough songs to play a show are more realistic goals for a band just starting out. Alexisonfire achieved those two goals within a year of their inception, and within the space of another year those sparks that had flown in the band’s first practice session had developed into a wildfire that was consuming punk scenes all over their native country of Canada.

What had caused this explosion in alternative awareness was the release of Alexisonfire’s selftitled 2002 debut album. These five friends from the area around St. Catharine’s, Ontario (vocalist George Pettit, guitarist/vocalists Dallas Green and Wade MacNeil, bassist Christopher Steele and drummer Jesse Inglevics), had created an album that was as vibrant, eclectic and vigorous as their live shows. Coupled with a humorous approach to making music videos, Alexisonfire immediately set themselves apart from the crop of bands that were making their mark on the North American punk landscape.

musical evolution. They went from a band who threw everything they had into the melting pot and took what came out into a musical force with a clearer focus about their musical direction. Case in point: ‘No Transitory’, ‘Accidents’, ‘Happiness By The Kilowatt’. All three songs took the band in different but successful directions.

The following year, 2005, saw them win a JUNO Award for New Group Of The Year. Remember how Parkway Drive won an ARIA last year for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album? Well Alexisonfire won their award going up against the best new musical groups from every genre of Canadian music.

It was incredible. All of a sudden a post-hardcore band covered in tattoos and with a front man who screamed was a household name in Canada. 2005 also saw the band first tour Australia, with Parkway Drive as support.

If Alexisonfire’s career was a novel, and each album represented a chapter, then Crisis would begin this story’s second part. After original drummer Inglevics left, Jordan ‘Ratbeard’ Hastings took over the drum stool and helped steer Alexisonfire in an entirely new musical direction.

Crisis was a fast paced record that, over time, has come to define what the band is all about: interweaving melodies and rhythms, intelligent vocal interplay and anthemic songs inspired by the struggles of the working class.

Take a song like ‘Water Wings’ as an example. There are three vocalists, all with different styles, complimenting each other in a way that is hard to fathom. It’s an aggressive track that retains all of its emotion.

It grabs your attention from the moment you hear it, and years on it remains just as endearing.

One of the main achievements of Crisis was that it set Alexisonfire apart from the rapid influx of bands into the Myspace-emo-screamocall-it-what-you-will demographic.

For some unknown reason, Alexisonfire were getting lumped into that category. After Crisis dropped, it hardly happened again.

Alexisonfire went on to sell 50,000 albums, and helped the band begin to tour in Europe and more of North America. They were gaining a reputation that was set to explode in 2004.

By the time 2007 rolled around, Australian audiences were well and truly besotted with the Canadian five-piece. They followed up a club tour that year with a slot on the Soundwave Festival in early 2008. Members of the band joked to the media that they considered buying a holiday house in Australia to share the use of during their time off between tours. That was until they discovered that they all had time off at the same time, so that plan wouldn’t really work out.

The reason for this explosion was the release of Watch Out! Alexisonfire’s second album was an experimental foray into studio wizardry and the range of Dallas Green’s incredible voice. Looking back with hindsight, it was also the first example of Alexisonfire’s

2009 saw Alexisonfire’s latest album come out, Old Crows/Young Cardinals, aka Crisis 2.0. Continuing down the gritty path that Hot Water Music paved a decade previously, the album comes to life when performed in a live setting, which was shown to crowds around the country when the band swept through on their tour last October.

That context of dense, squalling guitar effects and breakneck rhythms explains the direction that Alexisonfire have taken on their latest release and first ever EP, Dog’s Blood. It features four songs that, while varying in musical direction, connect together through their similar dirty, distorted sound.

This change in direction couldn’t have come at a better time. After two albums that sound very similar to each other (albeit in a great way), Alexisonfire could have quite easily pigeonholed themselves with another release in the same vein as its predecessors. Instead, they have taken a direction that few would have imagined until they witnessed the heavy live juggernaut that they have become.

It’s hard to pick standout players – usually you can expect either Green or Pettit to shine and the rest of the band to lift them up out of the shadows. Not this time around: on Dog’s Blood every member of the band provides integral moments that make the EP one of the best short releases of 2010. If it isn’t Green and MacNeil creating guitar parts that sound both roomy and pummelling at the same time, it’s the rhythm section of Steele and Hastings that turn the latter minutes of ‘Black As Jet’ into some aggressive stoner rock masterpiece. And from the moment he opens his mouth to bellow his tales of dark suburban woe, Pettit puts in an unforgettable vocal performance.

It’s been a long and successful journey for Alexisonfire up to this point. They have taken leaps and artistic bounds since first exploding onto the punk music’s consciousness back at the beginning of the noughties. They may have grown older and evolved, but one thing that has never changed about them is their honest and sincere approach to their art. It is never more evident than on Dog’s Blood.

ANTAGONIST AD INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST SAM BY OLIVER CATION PHOTO: BEN CLEMENT

Antagonist AD have been around for 6 years now, for those unaware of the bands history, give us a quick run down.

“Shows every weekend all over New Zealand, wrote a CD, 1157 Records, somehow manage to get to Australia (big ups to Tommy Dollars and Stronghold), Trial & Error Records, write another CD, more shows in Australia and New Zealand, somehow manage to get to the Phillipines, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic and Austria.

“We’ve met a million good people, seen amazing bands, eaten the best food in the world, eaten the worst food in the world, having the best and worst times of our lives, lost money, strained our personal relationships, discovered vegan treats worldwide including Lord Of The Fries, have tried to say something meaningful, some sleep, long drives, speeding fines, beaches, coffee, living the dream…”

You have just released a new 7” Old Bones Make New Blooms – what does this release mean to you personally?

“At the time of me writing this to

you it’s STILL not out. Originally, we planned for a SEPTEMBER 2010 release, which got pushed back to October, then to November and then to December 7 and finally to no idea when.

Ridiculous, right?

“Now it seems like it should be out by the end of February 2011. At the moment it’s doing my head in and it’s all out of my control, but we were SO EXCITED about these songs back in August. We are still excited, but we just wish we had the damn thing out already. Now that we’ve waited all this time, it has been a bit of a pain for us.

“Personally, this release means a new era for Antagonist, at the least for me but I’m sure for the other guys too. I think there are a few riffs on there, but as a whole it’s a more stripped back hardcore release. We really wanted to relax and just have fun writing and recording it all.

It was also nice to revisit one of our original songs ‘Death Traders’ (originally released on a shitty demo we did in 2005), and kind of modernise it to suit our current sound.”

The new 7” contains the song ‘Homesick’ and reading the lyrics some people may be surprised by it. What does that song mean to you?

“Are you ready for a horrible ramble? The idea for ‘Homesick’ was originally intended to stretch over the entire 7”. Overall, it was about growing up in a small town and just seeing how modern culture, capitalism and globalisation changed the town, reaching right back to touch on colonialism and what was instilled from there. It then went further down the rabbit hold to how that affects myself and those around me.

“I read a book called American Rust by Philip Meyer, which was about a small town in America where the local saw mill closed down and the people that were subsequently ‘trapped’ there as a result. Things like the youth trying to escape and their big dreams and aspirations getting lost over time. I found a lot of correlation within the book to my youth growing up in small town New Zealand. Instead of a saw mill it was the local meat works (yes, I do find that ironic) that got shut down.

plays a big part in that?

“Not really, I think it’s just the group of guys we have together.

There has only been a handful of bands from New Zealand in its entire history that have had the aspiration and drive to play outside of the country (or even more than four hours away from where they are based).

“Hard work and dedication is just that. I think if anything the only way that being from New Zealand impacts us is that it makes it harder both physically and financially.”

You have just recently completed a European tour with 50 Lions and Gravemaker.

How was that experience for the band?

“It was awesome! It was so rad to see 50 Lions killing it so far from home. Kids were losing their minds for them. Gravemaker were sweet too. It was a really cool trip and we were just so stoked to finally make it Europe and be a part of it.”

Did you notice anything distinctly different about Europe and Euro Hardcore that you don’t see in Australia or NZ? “Well, everyone is still wearing Deez Nuts, Parkway Drive and Carpathian shirts. But you still feel a good connection with the old school roots. There is so much anti-facism and anti-racism stickers and grafitti everywhere. Way more people CARE about the things that are actually important over there. It was cool to see that; more of a connection with the punk scene in terms of symbolism and message.”

“I guess the short answer is that I’m proud of those lyrics. They mean a lot to me. Every line is symbolic and full of meaning.

It’s about spending most of my life in this small town and then returning and having no real connection there. “

Does the band have plans to tour internationally to other places such as the USA or perhaps more remote like South America?

“South America would be insane! If we can go anywhere, we will. We are still paying off our last trip, so if we can get on top of that debt we will look further abroad for sure.”

Antagonist have always been a hard touring band. Do you think being from New Zealand

You played the New Zealand leg of the No Sleep Til fes-

tival, how was that experience?

“It was mostly bad as there were a lot of terrible bands.

Don’t get me wrong, the idea and promotion behind it all was amazing and there were great bands there like Parkway, Dropkicks & Gwar. I’m just bitter because I watched We Came As Romans and died a little inside.”

You continue to be highly vocal in your support of animal right and anti-consumerism.

Do you think the message is getting through and changing opinions?

“I think so for sure. Obviously not all people are going to hear, listen, recieve or even understand what I’m trying to say. But the amount of messages kids email or facebook the band and me personally blows my mind.

Seriously, to think I could have helped one person in anyway is absurd, so it really means the world when those kids message in.”

What is the current state of NZHC and who should Australian hardcore kids check out?

“Ricky Bobby! The bands vocalist is a dwarf, but they do alright despite that. Booze and Matt play in another band called The Burial who are killer. I play bass in a band with a bunch of the guys who used to be in The Bleeders and Brick Vs Face.

We’re called Leeches. Cry Wolf and Die Alone are also good, but I think their lives are coming to an end very soon.”

Favourite vegan snack?

“At the moment it’s my DIY protein shakes – a handful of almonds, blueberries, pomegranate seeds, banana, a tablespoon of peanut butter, ice and soy milk, all versus the blender.”

Anything else you would like to add?

Thanks heaps for the interview and thanks to anyone who take the time to read this thing! Read American Rust by Philip Meyer if you want – it’s a good book.

CANCER BATS

WORDS: OLIVER CATION – LIVE PHOTOS: BEN CLEMENT PHOTO THIS PAGE: CRAIG NYE

OFTEN MARGINALISED, ESPECIALLY IN AUSTRALIA, CANCER BATS ARE A BAND FINDING THEIR FEET GLOBALLY. UNCLASSIFIABLE AND SUPREMELY ENTERTAINING, NO HEROES SAT DOWN WITH LIAM (VOCALS) AND MIKE (DRUMS) WHO MAKE UP HALF OF THE FUN-LOVING CANADIANS THAT ARE CANCER BATS, THROUGH OUT THE COURSE OF OUR CONVERSATION, WE TALKED ABOUT DR DRE, METALLICA, BURGERFUEL AND MAKING THEIR PARENTS PROUD. While sitting in the band room that is upstairs at the Annandale Hotel, Mary Jane Kelly are below us, warming up the growing crowd downstairs. There’s a feeling of anticipation in the building, especially following the meet and greet the members of Cancer Bats have just finished with some competition winners.

When the doors opened, the venue was two-thirds sold, with the show announced less than a month prior.

By the way, this is a school night – a Wednesday in the middle of a cold and miserable September. And yet, people are

willing to brave the night air and the inevitable hangover they will face at work the next day to see these crazy Canucks destory this small venue.

Cancer Bats feel almost at home in Australia by now. They first visited the country shortly after the release of their debut album Birthing The Giant back in 2006. They played the same venue, only that time it was half empty. Now, this is their third trip in as many years. Mike suggests that technically it is their fourth, having headed to New Zealand after their tour with Bullet For My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon before returning for these headline shows.

This frequency of visits means the band have developed an

inevitable comfort with their surroundings. They spent the day of the interview in Newtown, getting burgers and chilling out.

They even have an opinion in the continuing debate between Burgerfuel and Burgerlicious (their preference is Burgerfuel if you were really wondering...).

They were even recognised by the guy behind the counter.

Being recognised used to be a rare thing for these guys, but they do admit that it is getting more and more common as they play bigger shows and get on more magazine covers (just like this one). What they are quick to stress though, is that the interactions they have with their fans, whether they be at a show or in the outside world, are always relaxed.

“We never want to be an, ‘Oh my God!’ band. We like the fact that it’s a chilled out thing,” Liam says. “Like in the meet and greet we just had, we were discussing Andrew Stockdale’s [from Wolfmother] giant afro

after we saw a photo of him on the wall.”

Cancer Bats just want to be as accessible to their audience as possible. Whether that means selling merch themselves no matter how big the show and signing whatever the fans want.

But possibly most important of all, they just want to chat and hang out with the kids at their shows, rather than hiding away in their dressing rooms. Liam explains, “You get to learn about shit by hanging out with the kids. You figure out what they like.”

He acknowledges that other bands they play with don’t do the same sort of fan interaction Cancer Bats are able to do, for the simple fact that they would be mauled by the kids. Or they have no interest in their audiences as people – they would prefer the time for extra sleep or to drink. On the other hand, hanging out with the crowd and being chill is natural. “I am just a dude!” Liam stresses.

This time around, Cancer Bats found themselves in Australia as a part of one of those massive triple bill shows Soundwave Touring are famous for.

They are touring with some of the biggest British bands since Iron Maiden, calling Bullet For My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon tour mates. The venues of up to 6000 people capacity, including the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney a couple of nights earlier).

It’s a far cry from the club venues that this quartet are used to. The band are finding it a struggle to translate their live show to such a large stage and a more formal setting, with actual security and barriers. They are the first to admit that they feel more at home in places like the Annandale Hotel. After all, this is a band that is known for getting up close, straight into the audiences’ faces, sweating intensity from their pores.

All the while, they’re delivering their own hybrid of punk at full volume.

“It is a challenge,” says Liam.

“And the first challenge is obviously cardio. Just running the length of the stage to keep the crowd entertained.” However, it is something the band has slowly adapted to as the venues they play progressively get larger and larger.

“The other thing is that we’re told very specifically not to go into the crowd,” Liam continues.

“I mean, getting a thirty-yearold, sweaty man crawling on you isn’t exactly the best experience ever.”

If this were me, such an experience would actually solidify my love of a band. There’s nothing quite like an up-close and personal meeting between you as an audience member and the seemingly untouchable band members during the raw, passionate moments of a show.

But rules are rules, and the guys from Cancer Bats have worked hard to get where they are today. They do what they can to electrify their audience

wherever they are. And from the audience reaction that night at the Annandale, those guys are definitely doing something right.

Watching them take to the stage later that night, it is apparent from the first notes of the first song that this is a band that really could not care less about album sales, selling out arenas or how much money they’re banking. They brought a few old friends with them along for the trip to act as roadies. But even then, the choices are more to do with hanging out than thinking they are too important to set up and tune their own instruments.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is a very relaxed band, something their intensity and passion on stage belies. The relaxed atmosphere is apparent in even as I interview the band.

Sitting between Liam and Mike on an old couch, I feel at ease and so do they. It is not a formal interview, in spite of the hovering presence of the record label

to ensure that everything goes according to plan.

Mike plays with a long stick throughout the interview, not because of nerves or boredom, just because it’s fun to. It even gets to the point where they’re comfortable enough to ask questions and get to know the Australian Hardcore scene a little bit more, and then what we know about Canadian Hardcore even more.

For example, we start discussing their love of black metal, doom and sludge bands. Specifically Liam’s love of black metal, doom and sludge bands. Grand Magus and Bison B.C. are two bands that both Mike and Liam rate very highly. We ponder on what is in the water that makes Canadian music so good. Or rather, what is in the weed...

When asked about their own influences and how the band developed it’s own distinct sound, there is no clear answer.

This isn’t a band that went to

a Bon Jovi concert, had a moment where they locked eyes with Jon Bon Jovi and suddenly knew that they wanted to rock.

Their sound is a mix of old punk like Black Flag, southern metal like Pantera, black metal like Darkthrone and more traditional hardcore elements like New York’s Madball. What you get in the end is a sound that is truly individual and a sound that allows them the flexibility to constantly experiment with on each release.

Given the diversity of their influences, it is no surprise that when asked about their dream collaborations, Mike immediately answers “Dr Dre” and Liam “Dave Grohl”. But however much they may dream, both know their dreams will probably not become a reality.

You cannot, however, discount the collaborations that Cancer Bats have had in the past.

Collabs with friends of theirs like Alexisonfire are well known

and no surprise. Others, like that with Tim McIrath from Rise Against on ‘Harem Of Scorpions’ came as a surprise to the band as much as to fans. “We put forward the idea as a joke,” Mike explains, “And then Tim said yes to it” Realistically, it should come as no surprise to a band often described as a band’s band.

Ignored by mainstream fans, it has often been up to journalists, record labels and other bands to champion Cancer Bats and propel them into the limelight.

But it isn’t all about how others feel about Cancer Bats.

Mike and Liam are quick to give shout outs the new talent coming from the far north, as you can see in the special edition Canadian BYNHO. Cancer Bats are a unique band with both their sound and their attitude. They look at what they do as a privilege, staying true to the original ethics of hardcore.

They know how to put on an engaging live show on any stage and have the desire to stretch their musical scope. If you have never listened to the band, take this into account. They will share a beer with a punk, sign an autograph from a Metallica shirted kid, have a chat to a Burgerfuel employee and they cover a Beastie Boys song.

Whether that be through collaborations with Tim McIrath, close friendships with Alexisonfire and Bring Me The Horizon, or magazines like Kerrang presenting them early in their career as a band to look out for. The band have even found critical acclaim in winning a Juno Award Cancer Bats: good music, better (the Canadian equivalent of an dudes or good dudes, better ARIA), an honour which Liam music. You decide. and Mike claim helped them BEARS, MAYORS, SCRAPS & find approval for their career BONES IS AVAILABLE NOW path from their parents.

THROUGH ROADRUNNER.

bands youve never heard of canadian edition BISON B.C. From: Vancouver Label: Metal Blade I’ve written about Bison B.C. before, but when you get a ringing endorsement from two members of Cancer Bats, it’s fair enough to remind you about them. This Vancouver based band is every head-bangers wet dream, and you only have to see this bunch of hairy dudes wearing dirty denim to know these guys can riff! Two albums into their career, and they’re drawing comparisons to the likes of Kylesa, High On Fire and Baroness, with their riff-based metallic perfection and enough punk rock angst to keep things raw and exciting. Play their second album, Dark Ages, as loud as possible.

BAPTISTS From: Vancouver Label: Southern Lord For a band that has been around a year, their output is exceptional! Baptists released a debut, self-titled 7-inch through Southern Lord that is equal, if not better than most of their genre.

So here’s where they stand musically: if you mixed Converge, Neurosis and Black Sabbath you would get one fucked up mix of sludgy, metallic hardcore that would be as equally appealing to hardcore fans as it would to metal fans. At its crux, for a band this new I’m surprised and excited to hear as well formed and defined a sound as Baptists have delivered.

JAWS From: Vancouver Label: Unsigned Yes, there is a Canadian band!

And this JAWS are a fast paced hardcore outfit from Vancouver, who are reminiscent of Pulling Teeth with that characteristic Canadian rock & roll swagger.

This is a fast, pissed off band doing hardcore how they want it in the cold north. Not signed to a label, not releasing anything and by the look of it, not giving a shit.

This is a band that I doubt will be treating the boards of a Soundwave Festival anytime soon, but if you ever happen to be in Vancouver keep an eye out for this band. Cancer Bats promise you won’t regret it!

BURNING LOVE From: Toronto Label: Deranged Records Formed in 2007 from members of Cursed and Our Father, Burning Love started as a side project to challenge the members and fans by striking out in a different musical and aesthetic direction. Mission accomplished!

The idea was to bridge the differences in age, generation and frame of reference for the members. And the inevitable result is a band that mixes influences as varied as Black Flag, Hot Snakes, Kyuss and Turbonegro, to make some loud and definitely riff driven punk songs. Think a dirtier, grittier The Bronx and you start to get on the right track.

THE GORGEOUS From: Montreal Label: Distort Entertainment This one is an odd one as the band broke up years ago, so all you can really do is go back, listen to the songs and imagine.

The band is, however, crucial. Members went on to join Barnburner, Boogieman JD and more. The one album they did release, Great Lakes, is superior to most releases before and since, as its intricate tech metalcore and melodic vocal and lead guitar combine for a vital feeling album, despite its age.

It doesn’t matter that you will never see this band live because you still need them in your lives.

After all, “If you don’t know, act like you know.”

BARN BURNER From: Montreal Label: Metal Blade ‘Barn burner’ is a term that can be used to describe a particularly entertaining and exciting sporting event, or someone who burns down barns. Either way the monicker is appropriate for this Canadian Metal Blade signing. In terms of sound, this is Black Sabbath and Sleep riding a horse made of punk rock, with one fist raising the horns high, the other displaying a ‘bong on’ sign. Barn Burner have members from The Gorgeous, have toured with the likes of Cancer Bats, Bison BC, Iron Age and 3 Inches of Blood and a few releases under their belt. Check them out.

THE GHOST IN

NSIDE

WORDS: JEM SIOW – PHOTOS: BEN CLEMENT

Listen, dudes in hardcore bands can shed a load about life too. Under the masquerade of tattoos and brash aggression, there’s both a heart and mind that’s married truth with a gleaming diamond ring. In just twenty-six years, vocalist and front man, Jonathan Vigil has seen more of this world than most have in a single lifetime.

In just nearing five, The Ghost Inside have experienced more in their days than most bands do in a single decade.

Through their sophomore fulllength release Returners, they tear a hole into what is reality for them and undoubtedly, us all – allowing us to look through their lens and simultaneously illuminating the shades of grey that colour our surrounds. Confirmed by both Vigil and guitarist Aaron Brooks themselves, two years since debut album Fury and the Fallen Ones proved an awakening for the Californian heavy-hardcore hitters; an awakening they just couldn’t keep a secret.

“For the longest time I had this impression in my head that everything in my life was going to be the way it was and that nothing was going to change,” Vigil reflects. “I noticed one time that my dad had grey hair and I realised that he wasn’t going to live forever… I’d be expecting a certain place that I’d always

hang out at to be there and I’d go there and it’d be torn down.

Friends would stop hanging out.

We live in an ever-changing world… the world is really turning.”

More than a conceptual piece of work, Returners was their chance to amalgamate themes of life as felt through their own fingertips. And its tracks (such as the epic ‘Chrono’) delve most into the facets of existence that somewhat “frighten” this quintet.

In a hesitant manner, Vigil spells it out in his own words. “It’s just knowing that I’m not young anymore. Like, I just always assumed that I would be able to do this forever and be a kid.”

Unashamed, he continues, “I’m twenty-six years old, going to be twenty-seven soon you know.

I’m getting old and that’s scary to me. I wrote that song as a wake-up call to everyone that’s ever wanted to do something with their lives but never got a chance to.” It’s this simple, “just know that the future is coming, so make the most of it.”

If anything, Californian rising stars, The Ghost Inside are true practitioners of the words they preach. No strangers to the Down Under, their contribution to the all-star tour that was Parkway Drive, The Devil Wears Prada and 50 Lions in 2010 marked their third time in

this country.

Couple such a trip with their previous support of I Killed The Prom Queen’s ‘Say Goodbye’ Tour in 2008, and Deez Nuts’ Summer 2009 nation-wide summit and it’s no surprise that the group shine as almost local stars within Australia.

And in uprising from a tradition of medium-scale shows, the quintet confess to still getting used to the sheer scale of their demand. “We’re used to more intimate shows than that you know. We’ll walk on stage and be like, ‘Oh okay, there are people here!” they share in humour.

Like walking in the footsteps of a giant, fans can imagine the mental weight dragging any international supporting Parkway Drive.

Nonetheless, Brooks speaks, sharing their gratitude amidst crowds of sometimes six thousand kids. “We’re lucky enough that their fans are pretty receiving. They’ve been great, like we’ll get done playing a song and five thousand people making a bunch of noise is pretty intimidating…. The first [show] was pretty, I dunno. I couldn’t tell if I was playing a show or if I was just trying to play and get through it and not mess up in front of an entire city’s population,” he shares in laughter.

Vigil adds, “To be honest, I don’t ever get like nervous or that kind of stuff. I only really get nervous at home shows because all my friends are there.

I was more so just like, ‘Oh my god, this is insane.’ It’s a feeling you can’t, really, describe.”

And in struggling to describe, he paints it in this fashion: “We’ve played venues that are the size of the stage, and now we’re playing a stage the size of a venue in a fucking, in a park you know?!”

As he continues on to explain, it’s not only the physical space that takes a while to become accustomed to, but also the demands which accompany such a feat. “Things like this are more of a concert you know, the Parkway shows. You kind of have to put on a show. It’s less about interaction and more about like, doing something, making a show I guess. It’s very different for us but it’s very fun because we don’t often get to do this.”

While confidently bearing the title of one of today’s fastest growing metallic hardcore acts, it’s so clear from such words that they are far from the ‘rockstars’ they may appear to be.

Beneath the skin bouncing on that “a hundred foot-wide” stage is really just a natural human being who is ironically, unnaturally chasing, as opposed to

simply envisioning, a natural human dream.

Beginning in 2006 under the moniker of A Dying Dream, their former face was torn shortly after the release of EP, Now Or Never in which they divided and shortly after, rebirthed as The Ghost Inside. Two fulllength albums, several line-up changes and countless international tours later, the band finds themselves relentlessly chasing teenage dreams still burning within their adult bodies.

“Everyone in our band dreams of this kind of shit,” Vigil shares.

“We’ve been very fortunate where we’ve had a lot of help from friends, and had a lot of things fall into place for us.

We’re very lucky to be where we are.”

Letting us into their world, Vigil and Brooks walk us through these teenage dreams that refuse to extinguish. “When you start a band…. you never really think it’s going to happen. You kind of just play as hard as you can and hope it works out.”

Brooks continues, “When you start your first band, it’s like your first goal is to play a show, and once you’ve played shows at home your next goal is to play a show in the city next over and it’s just there, and there and there and there.” Bursting

with confidence he says, “Every step you take you just have more and more stuff you want to do. A year ago we wouldn’t have been like ‘Oh we want to go and play in front of five thousand people’. That was not relevant… And now that it has happened it’s like, we want to go to every country imaginable, even if we lose a million dollars doing it we want to go play in like South Africa.”

In reminiscing on their roots, the life that The Ghost Inside leads is sketched as if a fantasy tale; magically pulled together in ways the members could never have foreseen. If anything, it speaks for the sheer calibre that the worldwide hardcore scene has matured into and the opportunities it poses for bands across the globe.

“The things we have done have far, far exceeded our expectations. When we started this band we had no direction, no goals … It was like we were just in a room, wrote a record and then started touring. And luckily it caught on you know. Like this is our third time in Australia – a lot of bands we know have never even been to Australia!

So we’re stoked on that, that’s a dream come true to me.”

Being ‘here’, at this stage of their life largely translates to their collective vocation as

a full-time touring band. The quintet is currently completing a North-American tour alongside familiar buddies, Parkway Drive, Set Your Goals and The Warriors before embarking on tours of both Europe and Japan.

Maybe it’s safe to say that on top of being musicians, they each individually hold roles as full-time tourists.

Additional to being described as a long-term ‘vacation’, the pair reflect on the other joys that come hand in hand with living out such an occupation.“Being a band from the United States, we love going everywhere else in the world a lot more, not just because it’s travelling, just because people have a lot more appreciation for music.”

Sympathetically, Aaron adds: “I mean, if you live anywhere in the United States, you can go to a pretty good sized show four nights a week. So it’s like, if you know that the band that is playing is going to be back in six to eight weeks, it’s not a

big deal, you’re not excited you know what I mean? When we come to places over here, like, people have been waiting for it, that kind of situation.”

Simply, to sum the American scene up: “there’s way more places to play, there’s twice as many bands, there’s tonnes more going on as far as the music scene ‘working’, but there’s not as much appreciation for it.” And to sum the Australian scene up (through their eyes): “anytime one of our friend’s band’s from home comes over here for the first time, they go “Oh my God, Australia is the best place ever!!””

Things may seem so simple as that they fell into place for The Ghost Inside. And asides from the constant touring, aside from the full-scale promos, aside from the internet sensationalising and widespread global media, just like every band with The Ghost Inside everything comes down to the music. Like a moth with no cocoon; if there

is no material, there is no flight.

It’s the ideal balance they’ve struck between both melodic and heavy - fusing metallic tendencies with a passionate and emotional chord – which champions the essence of The Ghost Inside; capturing fans from all spheres of the heavy music world.

Speaking on their debut, Fury and the Fallen Ones, “It was the first time for anybody in like an actual legit studio where we had some time to work on it away from home… For anyone that was in The Ghost Inside at the time it was the first time there was an actual chance that people would hear it.”

Vigil clarifies. “It was like, ‘Okay, this getting put out on a label [Mediaskare], so people might actually here this.’ I think we took it a little bit more seriously, but at the same time we had no expectations” Jumping on assumptions, such a musically free-caring nature

most probably catalysed the creation of a sound so uniquely theirs; a sound founded upon a fusion of both hardcore and metal elements. And like following up any release that has recruited fans from across the globe, sophomore Returners – on top of their line-up complications – posed an unavoidable obstacle for the group.

“Knowing that we have spent these couple of months writing it, a couple of months recording it and finally getting it out like… you know a lot of people will instantly not like a band’s second record but the reception’s been pretty good.” Vigil confesses, “For me has been the biggest payout - knowing that we wrote a follow-up record that people can get into. That for me, means a lot to me.”

Playing a fundamental role in the song-writing process, Brooks covers his side of the coin: “I wrote the majority of the record so it was kind of nerve racking for me to be like, ‘alright

well here’s a bunch of songs that have had nobody else’s input on it’, it was just whatever I could come up with.” Combining the traits of forefathers, Bury Your Dead, Misery Signals and Shai Hulud, his diverse blend of metallic hardcore has played a pivotal role in the group’s critically acclaimed success.

Paralleling both the musicality and live showmanship propelling their success is a big soul, very distinctively residing at the core of Mediaskare veterans, The Ghost Inside. In a scene largely divided by political views and social codes, TGI enforce an ethic of tolerance and respect towards the lifestyles which diverge their society.

No where is this more evident than in a statement made by Vigil while on stage the night this interview was performed: “So we’re a straight-edge, drunk, Christian, Atheist, vegetarian, carnivore band. But we’re having fun and that’s the point.”

Touring the globe, chasing dreams, writing records and giving a whole lot of r.e.s.p.e.c.t seems like the main game for Californian superstars, The Ghost Inside. And whilst they might not exactly be metal, and they might not exactly be hardcore, there’s a sure amount of certainty within me that this group is without a doubt, accepting.

Their willingness to respect the codes and ethos’ of different worlds, albeit music or even this very one we live in attests to the tremendous heart and mind forming the core of this group.

Maybe that’s the product of their fusion; mixing sounds, ideas and band members from different walks of life to create, quite simply - one big, fat, hearty, soul.

And with a world of experience to share, there’s no silencing the golden trumpet that is The Ghost Inside. Probably more appropriately, The Soul Inside.

ben shoots h2o & terror PHOTOS: BEN CLEMENT – THURSDAY 3 MARCH, GERSHWIN ROOM

The Gaslight Anthem

WORDS: SARAH PETCHELL Let’s go back in time to the Annandale in 2008. This was the first time that I had seen The Gaslight Anthem live, a band that I had only heard about a few months before but had become obsessed with. Sink Or Swim, their debut album, was on high rotation and the single ‘The ’59 Sound’ was on constant rotation. The album of the same name was yet to be released, but with the hype surrounding it, it was inevitable how packed the Annandale would actually be.

What The Gaslight Anthem did that night was set the whole Annandale afire with their infectious enthusiasm. Everyone sang along at the top of their lungs to ‘We Came To Dance’ and stood still while being

incredibly moved during ‘The Navesink Banks’. They played tracks from The ’59 Sound that no one knew at the time but would have become staples in their set by the time they toured here again during Soundwave 2011.

There is a vast difference between playing the Annandale Hotel and a stage at the Soundwave Festival. To The Gaslight Anthem club shows and festival shows each have their own pros and cons, however at least for guitarist Alex Rosamilia, at the moment festivals are fun for providing the opportunity to play with bands that they would never normally get to play with.

“We’re playing with Slayer, Iron Maiden and Queens Of The

Stone Age. Those are all bands that we would never normally get to tour with.”

It is interesting to ponder the way in which the band have moved on from the raw, suburban Americana sound they had on their earlier recordings to the more polished, and to an extent more widely palatable sound on American Slang. And it is also interesting to see precisely at which point in their careers this working-class New Jersey quintet started getting compared to fellow working-class New Jersey musician, Bruce Springsteen.

Looking back on the band’s history and having spoken to member’s of the band before this interview, all four members

praise in the popular, mainstream press.

“I still don’t understand it,” Alex says while The Gaslight Anthem were on tour in Utah. “We’re been playing even larger venues than what we did the last time around and they’re still packing out. I don’t know why I’m being allowed to play to this many people, but I am so I’m just taking it for everything that it’s worth right now.”

He says this with a genuine shock and humility, which became a running theme throughout the rest of the interview.

For example, Alex has no idea why this band is getting as big as it is. “I guess the obvious answer is that people like our music,” he laughs. “But I don’t know why what we do is developing more of an attachment to these people than what other bands do. I would like to think that it’s because we write better music than other bands, but that’s very presumptuous and egotistical for me to say. come from modest New Jersey backgrounds. They’ve worked jobs as varied as lifeguards and cooks in small restaurants.

So it is fair to say that this band has come a long was since their formation in 2005. They are now at the point where this is a full time occupation for them all.

And there is definitely no rush to get back to the kitchen or selling shoes anytime soon.

The fertile New Jersey punk scene was the perfect starting ground for their unique punk style that mixed equal parts of the aforementioned Springsteen with Motown and the rough, emotional punk grit of the likes of Hot Water Music and Jawbreaker. Their 2007 debut, Sink Or Swim garnered them accolades from zines and music blogs alike, definitely setting the underground on fire with buzz.

The rise from these humble beginnings has been astronomical. The praise in zines and on music blogs soon moved onto

“It’s like asking what made The Beatles big. No one really has an answer to it. I’m not saying that we’re as big as The Beatles. I don’t want to pull any of that wortbigger than Jesus shit.”

One thing is for sure, that the famous working-class, New Jersey work ethic certainly had a formative effect on who the band have evolved into.

It was that work ethic which enabled them to get in a van, drive around and play shows for no money during those first months in which the band was finding its feet. Alex reflects, “It was that work ethic that instilled more in us than any New Jersey band ever could.”

Being so in touch with their roots and having such an awareness as to where they have come from has kept the band grounded. The fact that it still surprises Alex that they are playing larger venues every tour, to increasingly packed out rooms is incredibly telling that

there are no rock star notions or egos at play here. Even Alex’s reaction to certain questions throughout this interview demonstrated this. To one question that started with, something along the lines of “from some research I’ve done about your band”, he responded with “It’s so weird that people research me now.”

If you listen to the entire discography of The Gaslight Anthem (at least the full-length albums), each of the three albums has a very distinct and individual sound. In Alex’s mind it is these distinct sounds that sets them apart from one another. But what sets American Slang even further apart is their approach to the process of song-writing. “We were just trying to do our own thing,” he explains. “We weren’t trying to sound like other bands, but were just trying to create our own sound. I think we got to about 80 or 85 per cent with that. We’re not quite there yet.

“I also think the songs are a lot more dynamic than the songs on previous records.” This point is certainly true as frequent mentions have been made about the Motown influence on American Slang, something which the band are not trying to hide. “There’s definitely more of a soul vibe to some of the songs.” The other thing that sets it apart is the increase in the number of slow songs on American Slang in comparison to Sink Or Swim and The ’59 Sound.

“We just wrote good songs this time around,” Alex says. However the shyness and modesty returns when he corrects himself and says, “I mean, I hope we wrote good songs this time around.” Judging by the reaction of the crowd at Soundwave, the increasing discussion (mostly positive) around the band, and the aforementioned increasing size of venues and the number of people packing them out every tour, I would say that the fans, new and old alike, think the songs are pretty good as well.

YOUR DEMISE WORDS: SARAH PETCHELL Your Demise are a band I stumbled upon a few years ago.

I remember first seeing their name around the place when Architects toured Australia with Parkway Drive a few years ago. Their singer, Sam Carter, was wearing a Your Demise long-sleeve on stage. So I went home, checked them out and was surprised to find a tough as nails hardcore act that threw in some metal riffs here and there and broke up their songs with some dubstep interludes.

Yes, you read that right, dubstep interludes. But before we discuss whether or not the decision to include these interludes was a wise choice, it is important to reflect on where the band has come from.

Formed in 2003, this five-piece started out as a local hardcore band around the Brighton and Salisbury areas of England.

They’ve released three albums since then including 2009’s Ignorance Never Dies and last year’s The Kids We Used To Be. They have also developed quite the reputation as a band to tour with, having toured Europe and the United States a number of times with the likes of Comeback Kid, Bury Your Dead, The Devil Wears Prada, Parkway Drive and Misery Signals.

To the member’s of the band as it exists now the decision to include the aforementioned dubstep interludes was not one that all of them wanted to make.

Their original singer, George Noble, apparently had certain ideas about how the band should sound and what they should be playing.

“On Ignorance Never Dies, that sound was very much dictated by our old singer and how he wanted it to be,” explains guitarist Stuart Paice. “He was such a dictator about how we wrote and it and wanted complete control, to the extent that anything that we wanted to do was ignored.”

It is actually refreshing for once to hear a band talk in candid detail about how a member change profoundly affected the band and their sound. Too often you hear mild tales of new energy being brought, however

in the case of Your Demise the change of vocalist actually allowed the band to take the shape they wanted to take.

“Everything we wrote on The Kids We Used To Be was what we wanted to do,” says Stu with a smattering of self-satisfaction.

“If we wanted to put a heavy part in a song, we would put a heavy part in a song. If we wanted to put in a fast part that sounded like Pennywise, then we did.

“To put it in perspective, there are songs on Ignorance Never Dies that were the singles and George hated them because he had no part in writing them.” Stu continues, “And yet, they are some of our most popular songs and some of the best stuff we’ve written.”

To the band this freedom to write what they wanted, without the control of an overbearing, dictatorial front man, was an opportunity they relished.

The freedom of the democratic process of songwriting, where

all the band’s members are involved, was something that Your Demise takes great pride in when they talk about The Kids We Used To Be. “All the ideas that we had were thrown out there and the album became what it is,” Stuart says. “I think what I’m most proud of is just the fact that we didn’t hold back. Everyone had their own input into the album and we all look on the album really fondly because of that experience.”

A Dull Moment’,” says Stu of their propensity for having little adventures while touring. He then goes on to describe an incident that happened during their tour of the UK with Break Even, Letlive and Stick To Your Guns. “We got pulled over by the police, the van got weighed and we got fined for having too much weight in the van and for having too many people in it.

Apparently, you’re not supposed to have 12 people in a van.”

It is also that experience that has enabled Your Demise to head to Australia and tour the country in support of their third album. To Stu, the whole experience of heading to Australia still surprises him. “I didn’t ever really think that I would ever be in a band that would at any point be good enough that people in Australia would want us to come out there.”

But this isn’t the first time the band have had a run-in with the police while on tour. “Last time we were in Canada, we got pulled over by the police because they thought we were doing drive by shootings,” says Stu as he tries to recount the story without laughing too hard.

“It was crazy that they thought we had done it! They made us get out of the van, put our hands on our heads and kneel in the snow, while we’re all just in our undies, freezing.”

One thing Stuart definitely was not looking forward to was the inevitable trips to the beach, especially after the horror stories that Break Even had told him when they toured Europe together in February. “I’m absolutely terrified of that blue octopus that lives in the sand, It lives in the sand and it kills you,” says Stu and he’s definitely not kidding.

“I’m a bit of a pussy when it comes to that sort of stuff and I hate the ocean so I probably won’t go near it. I have a fear of seawater. It’s that whole thing with only five per cent of the ocean having been explored.

I’m not down with that at all!”

In perhaps the ultimate irony, the first couple of days that Your Demise spent in Australia were in Perth. They met up with the guys from Break Even, who took the English lads to the beach. Within ten minutes of arriving, Stu was stung by a jellyfish.

Incidents like jellyfish stings are not uncommon when Your Demise are on the road together. “We have a little motto between the band that is ‘Never

With all this experience under their belts the band has changed dramatically since that first album all the way back in 2006. “Things are so, so different,” Stu admits. “The first album was very much based on the mentality that we’re hardcore kids and we’re in a hardcore band making a hardcore record. We thought that it was tough as shit with all balls out.”

In the end what it comes down to is that this is a band with a well-formed sense of exactly who they want to sound like and who they want to be. As far as they are concerned, that was robbed from them at first because of an egomaniacal vocalist.

The reality is that The Kids We Used To Be is the best work Your Demise have delivered to date. It flows better, the songs have more heart and they lack pretentiousness. It’s a band that loves what they are doing and aim to show that as much as possible through their music.

THE KIDS WE USED TO BE IS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH SHOCK RECORDS

the black pacific WORDS: LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON

Most Pennywise fans got a rude shock in August 2009 when vocalist Jim Lindberg announced his departure from the seminal Californian punk band. Perhaps it was not because of the actual departure of Lindberg that shocked people, but the sudden announcement that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Now fronting his new band The Black Pacific, Lindberg’s love of making music had him jamming with friends literally days after he left Pennywise.

“The day that I made the decision to leave Pennywise I called up some friends and started playing with them that same week, but I never really planned anything. It just got to a point where it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Somethings were said that I couldn’t really let go of. That didn’t mean that I was going to dwell on that. I wanted to continue making music and do what I love so that’s exactly what I did,” says Lindberg.

“Although I had tonnes of great experience with Pennywise, it had felt like it had run its course for me personally. So to be able to start fresh again and begin back at the bottom was very gratifying for me and it renewed my energy to played music.”

Essentially Lindberg and The Black Pacific were starting their careers

from square one all over again.

Now with their self-titled debut album released the band has more than just Lindberg’s reputation to gain attention.

“It was a challenge for us to go out there and build up a new fan base. We played our first big show yesterday, and there were a lot of Pennywise people in the crowd. A lot of them came up to me after the show and told me how much they liked it. We got a great response so I really feel like if people come to us with an open mind they’re really going to enjoy the music,” says Lindberg.

“This is something that I’ve done since I was twelve years old. I love playing music, I love writing songs and I love getting out there and performing them, so I think it’s a great new band and I’m looking forward to getting out on the road and playing.”

In many ways Lindberg felt like he had something to prove with The Black Pacific’s debut record.

“I wanted to show that I can make a record that stands on its own, I wanted to show that rather than just being the singer for Pennywise I also wrote a lot of the music as well,” he says.

This manifested into Lindberg writing every note on the album, and having a very active role into how

the album was produced and presented for the public. “I wanted to be able to pick a guitar and do it on my own, and also record the album the way that I wanted it to sound.

I wanted it to be heavier, quicker, more low end, I wanted it to hit you right in the chest. I also think that some of these songs would fit on a Pennywise record. It’s not like I’m going to stop being Jim.” The similarity in sound between Pennywise and The Black Pacific doesn’t seem to worry Lindberg though. Put it down to Lindberg having a recognisable musical style that he is unwilling to compromise, not matter which band he is playing in. Lindberg didn’t worry about how the music of The Black Pacific might sound as he was writing, he was more worried about writing as naturally as he could.

“I tried not to overthink it too much.

I wake up every day and write a new song…and I can’t really edit what comes out of me. The songs are something that I feel very deeply and strongly about,” he explains.

“This is the only way that my voice sounds good. On this record I wanted to play the music that I do best but also add and expand on the form somewhat. There are a few songs that stray from the formula somewhat.”

Bands You’ve never heard of ALL PIGS MUST DIE MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/allpigsmustdie Label: NONbeliever So All Pigs Must Die is the latest project from a member of Converge, namely drummer Ben Koller.

And if this band were a director it would definitely be Darren Aronofsky as it’s clear from the opening bars of their songs that their intent is to assault and unnerve the listener with their uncompromising lyrics, sound and imagery. The influences at play here are varied, drawing from the likes of Black Sabbath, Disfear, Electric Wizard and too many more to name. The main thing is that this is a mix of powerful riffs, relentless tempos and a sinister presence that will have you chewing your fingernails and hate-moshing all at once. Their debut release, a 12” five-track, self-titled EP produced by Kurt Ballou, perfectly encapsulates all this. Sarah Petchell

LISTENER MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/listener Label: Independent This isn’t hip hop, this isn’t country music, this isn’t beat poetry, and this isn’t performance art either.

It is instead was mainman, Dan Smith, refers to as “talk music” and it is truly breathtaking. From tiny basement shows to nightclubs and wherever else will have them, Listener are taking their message to the people. You may recognise Smith from Deepspace 5, but this is a completely different beast.

Equal parts harrowing, scary, insightful and hopeful, this is music that could lift a depression or bring about one. Listener’s guest spot on The Chariot song ‘David De La Hoz’ brought them to No Heroes’ attention in the first place, and since we’ve been addicted. Irrelevant of the genre, good music needs to be recognised, and this “talk music” is most definitely good music. Oliver Cation

AT DARK Website: http://atdark.wordpress.com Label: Unsigned Not a great deal is known about At Dark, but what we can tell you is this. The pedigree of the band is awesome. You know as soon as you see Jarrod Krafczyk (The Amenta) attached to a band, that serious music in involved. The one show they have played was with Embodiment 12:14 and Samsara.

The recordings released so far are only meant to serve as a quick introduction to the band, yet they have created music more accomplished and exciting than the collective Sydney metal scene combined. The tense metalcore sounds are reminiscent of Cult Of Luna, Misery Signals and Poison The Well, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. There will no doubt be much more from this band in the future and with any justice they will be the band on everyone’s lips by the end of 2011. Oliver Cation

RAMMING SPEED MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/officialrammingspeed Label: Candlelight Records I first heard about Ramming Speed from a photographer friend of mine in the UK, who had seen them play in some dingy basement in Leeds. He raved about them for weeks after and I inevitably caved and checked them out. I was hooked! If you want face smashing, mind melting thrash punk then this Bostonian five-piece is for you! If you throw in a bit of grind and just enough crust, you get a musical concoction that will send you into a head banging and fist pumping frenzy. Check out 2008’s Brainwreck for 13 tracks of carnage. So grab your denim, patched up vest and your stomping boots and I’ll meet you all in the proverbial pit! Sarah Petchell

GHOLAS MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/gholas Label: The Hidden Archives of Dar-Es- Balat Gholas declare straight-up that they “write songs about books”. And if you know your Dune lore you’ll figure out what sort of books they’re writing about (sci-fi clearly). So this New Jersey four-piece have combined elements of shoegaze, doom, hardcore and metal into a delicious balance of tunes that needs to be listened to very, very loudly. Think Isis (at least sonically) and you’re on the right track. In late 2010, the band released their debut album, Загадка, to critical acclaim. Not bad considering that the entire record is based on Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps I love this band because of the literary references, but irrespective of this, they’re filling a void for me that Isis’ departure from the music world has left. This is one for the nerdy, doom lovers. Sarah Petchell

BURDENS MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/burdenspa Label: Harvcore/Get This Right Records Hardcore is always better when it has a bit of groove and swagger to it. I’m not talking the swagger of Southern Rock influenced hardcore, but more the swagger of a band that mean business so get out of their way. From first listen, this five-piece from Pennsylvania, immediately draw comparisons to the likes of Mother Of Mercy, New Lows and Rise & Fall. The rhythm section sets a pace that varies from a relentless pummeling of the auditory organs to a groove which provides the perfect soundtrack to mosh to. With three releases under their collective belts – a demo from 2008, a split 7-inch with Cut Short and a 7-inch of their own called You Can’t Save Us All – Burdens are definitely a band that deserve more than just a passing glimpse. Get a hold of the tracks.

NO SLEEP TIL SYDNEY A new festival on the calendar is always something to look forward to, the event seems even more tantilising. Set in the Entertainment Quarter at Moore Park, No Sleep Til Sydney hosted two indoor stages (the historical Hordern Pavilion and the jet-hanger Royal Hall Of Industries) and an outdoor stage nestled next to The Forum. Add in a bunch of high pedigree international artists from across genres and age groups, and there really was something for everyone.

Up first on all three stages were local Australian acts. Heroes For Hire opened the punk stage with their inoffensive pop-punk and faux-offensive between song banter. However the early crowd was more interested in covers of ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ and ‘Josie’ than causing a ruckus.

On the other hand, Confession started the Hordern stage with a headline peformance, substantially filling the venue with punters.

Kids were pogoing and moshing like crazy for Michael Crafter and mercenaries, who played songs from last year’s Cancer and a Limp Bizkit cover that confused some and electrified others. House Vs Hurricane battled the sun to win GWAR

over those that didn’t want pop punk or nu-metal, but their sound fell on deaf ears to all but die-hard fans as they struggled in the outdoor atmosphere.

Break Even followed on the outdoor stage and fared much better.

Their motivational, melodic hardcore was perfect for the growing crowd. Tracks from The Bright Side were given another work out, with each song met with singalongs and applause. Singer Mark Bawden delighted in the crowd interaction and the performance of the band was far too energetic for the time of day.

Opening bands out of the way, it was time to fry some bigger, international fish. Suicide Silence remain a favourite of Australian metalheads and hardcore kids alike. They dominated the outdoor stage with a performance of material stretching across their back catalogue. While Suicide Silence encouraged the audience to grow, 3 Inches Of Blood played indoors at the Hordern to a criminally empty room.

Frenzal Rhomb delivered a set of classics and new material alike, and even though they’ve been

playing the same set for years, this one trick pony is always enjoyable and easy festival fodder as the band do not take anything seriously. On the other hand, August Burns Red definitely take what they do seriously, performing in full force on the Hordern stage to a packed room. The band delivered a masterclass, on-stage performance with every piece of banter and every microphone swing perfect.

Over on the punk stage, I wanted to enjoy the return of the heavy drinking, hard singing The Dropkick Murphys but this wasn’t the place to do it. Surrounded by people more interested in their mid-strength beers and catching up, it was a relief to retreat to the outdoor stage to watch the undeniable highlight of the day, Alkaline Trio. A band notorious for their unconquerable style, they showed flair and showmanship while delving deep into their back catalogue to excite the audience.

From ‘Warbrain’ to ‘This Addiction’, Matt Skiba and company delivered a sun-soaked, feel good display in how festivals should be and at the end of the set the audience were left craving more.

PARKWAY DRIVE

FRENZAL RHOMB

WORDS:OLIVER CATION – PHOTOS: JOHN HATFIELD

THE DESCENDENTS

The award for the disappointing set of the day went to NOFX. Fat Mike can work a crowd by trying to talk and sing while eating chicken, professing the joys and advantages of homosexuality, or just being an ignorant American. However with 11 studio albums and near on 30 EPs under their belts, NOFX still resorted to comedy routines and stalling tactics, proving that in 2010 they’re a one-night stand with a clown. Perhaps that was what they wanted.

From one comedy act to another, GWAR took over the outdoor stage with so much fake blood and profanity that you couldn’t help be entertained. Hearing Oderus Urungus discuss sex with Oprah Winfrey was enough to make it a worthwhile show to see. The impaled police officer was a bonus, but seeing the audience around me with slack jaws and looks of confusion, amusement and utter joy explained why GWAR have been doing this for over 25 years.

It was left to local heroes Parkway Drive to attract the biggest crowd.

Playing the Hordern (a venue they have sold out) Parkway commanded the crowd, making up for the slightly fewer numbers by pulling out some older songs and playing with the professionalism, enthusiasm and humility that we have come to love about the band. They showed what good songs played

with passion and skill can achieve.

The local boys did good.

The three headliners – Megadeth, The Descendents and A Day To Remember – brought home the festival, and they couldn’t have been more different giving people a choice as to who to finish their day with.

First up was The Descendents.

Much had been made of Milo and company finally venturing down under, and the anticipation was thick in the air. This was a masterclass in punk rock, even though the band didn’t play the life changing set many had hoped for. What did happen was that the audience saw Descendents classics played with the skill and proficiency that comes with the age and experience of these guys. It was what most hoped for: seeing their favourite songs played live when so many thought they would never get the chance to.

A Day To Remember packed the outdoor stage. The sound wasn’t great as the vocals were drowned out and the overall mix sounded jumbled. What mattered more was the enthusiasm – when Jeremy McKinnon told people to crowd surf and let their friends stand on their back, the audience obliged.

Being a pop punk band, there was pogoing aplenty, both on stage and in the crowd. And being a mosh

band, there were breakdowns from the band and moshing from the crowd. Playing tracks from across all three albums, the newer tracks melded well into the set, making for an engaging and fun performance.

The main attraction was Megadeth. This set saw them play their classic album Rust In Peace in its entirety. Unfortunately, it looks like the metalheads stayed home.

I was expecting the Hordern to be full of metal horns and whirling hair, but instead there were some diehard fans at the front and a splattering of metalheads. Perhaps this comes down to the marketing of the festival, but I was deflated to see Megadeth performing to such a small crowd. The band’s performance reflected the audience in front of it. The performance was so sterile and pedestrian that people were heading to the exits before the set was even finished.

No Sleep Til was never meant to be a massive festival, but the size and shorter day was more comfortable and the hand-picked bands made it memorable for the right reasons, especially with the Australian favourites stepped up and shone against some lackluster internationals. Whether the festival will return in 2011 is questionable, but this one was a success in entertainment and organisation.

new music You’ve got to love evolution. Alexisonfire certainly do. Their exploration into the great musical unknown of Canadian post hardcore continues with their most recent release, the EP Dog’s Blood. Its four tracks are the band’s most visceral, hard-hitting and expansive material to date. What’s most pleasing about Dog’s Blood is that Alexisonfire have finally realised that they can write a great song without a reliance on the vocal input of Dallas Green. Instead they take a ‘less is more’ approach, and when Green brings home the closing minutes of the title track, it hits you for six. If this is a sign of how Alexisonfire are going to progress and involve in the future, then it’s going to be a pretty wild journey. Hop on board now. 4/5 Lindsey Cuthbertson

Dog’s Blood EP – Alexisonfire Distort/SHOCK One of the great success stories of 2010, The Amity Affliction are back with a release to follow up the wildly successful Youngbloods. Glory Days is a collection of the bands self titled EP, the follow-up High Hopes EP (already re-released earlier in 2010) and four throwaway tracks from Youngbloods. You can read my review of Youngbloods from a few issues ago and see that I’m a big fan of this band, but this release reeks of a label and band cashing in on impressionable kids. The band no longer plays songs from their earlier releases and it can also be assumed that the now out of print first few EP’s are so widely available for illegal download that anybody who wants them will have them. As for the music, the older songs still stand up as a good reflection of how the band has progressed, but the rejected songs from Youngbloods were rejected for a reason. I can’t wait for the greatest hits album. Oliver Cation

Glory Days – The Amity Affliction Boomtown/SHOCK Bad Juju surprised me. The brand of melodic, punk-based hardcore that Anchors plays is one that doesn’t usually appeal to me. But there is something here that I find interesting, aggressive and yet fun. This Melbourne five-piece have delivered a performance that can only be described as ballsy. What becomes apparent when listening to this album is the debt this band owes to late 90’s-punk, the likes of Strung Out and Propaghandi, with the riffing definitely casting my mind back to A Wilhelm Scream. However, while perhaps not completely original, the technical complexity of the songwriting as well as the simple brutality of the lyrics make this album a memorable one. Taking on the broad theme of the crushing of society’s expectations, in this respect Anchors are more like Refused or Social Distortion. One thing is for sure: I cannot wait to see if the intensity of the listening to this album carries over into the live setting. 3.5/5 Sarah Petchell

Bad Juju – Anchors UNSIGNED Remodelling is the master plan for UK metalcore giants, Architects in their latest 10-track effort. Forget the tricks and gimmicks of previous releases for The Here And Now redesigns the unique coat of arms they once bore. Whacked-up time signatures: gone. Pummeling breakdowns: caput. Level 11 overdrive: diminished.

In the wake Alexisonfire and Deftones, Architects revisited their garrison and equipped themselves with a new arm of weapons. Featuring soaring vocal lines, fast chord progressions, mellow slow-songs and more bounce than a Limp Bizkit playlist (okay, maybe not), The Here And Now represents evolution and change.

Whilst a stretch beyond fans’ comfort zones, what’s important is that this new style is well attempted with a distinct spin thrown in on each element. The Here and Now: no Hollow Crown, but all positive progression.

3.5/5 Jem Siow

The Here & Now – Architects Century Media/EMI Lets face facts, you will either dismiss the Chariot as a religious band and decry them as all that is wrong with music, or you will listen to their music and remember what it is like to have sex for the second time (the first is awkward as hell; this is fluid). The emotional release and intensity of Long Live overwhelms any issues people may have with the lyrical content. Josh Scogin knows how to pen a song, and here he has constructed 10 technical metal masterpieces, each harnessing fury and chaos just enough to avoid premature celebration. ‘Calvin Mackenzie’ and ‘David De La Hoz’ are the highlights of a near flawless album, with special mention to Dan Smith from Listener and his intense lyricism on the later. Often categorised next to Norma Jean and Underoath, Long Live should propel The Chariot past both in terms of musical exploration and songwriting. This is breathtaking music for those who dabble in technical metal. 4.5/5 Oliver Cation

Long Live – The Chariot Good Fight/RIOT! Some of us here at he mag love this album and some of us hate it. I’m here to tell you all that the people that hate it are idiots because what Conditions have accomplished with Fluorescent Youth is a rare thing – a combination of earnest, meaningful lyrics, with an arena-rock like sound that make them sound as if Saosin and Anberlin had a baby together. With this, their debut full-length, Conditions have transcended the barrier between accessible rock and music with substance, maturity and a lyrical wisdom that belies the youth of the band’s members. Album opener ‘The End Of Progression’ is a strong-willed statement of what the listener can expect from Fluorescent Youth, while ‘Keeping Pace With Planes’ shows the band at a more aggressive level. For me, it is ‘Better Life’ that best defines what this bad is about – catchy melodies, vocal hooks aplenty and music that will stick with you long after the album has finished. 4/5 Sarah Petchell

Fluorescent Youth – Conditions Good Fight/RIOT!

new music You know what is going to happen when you put members of Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden together. You know what is going to happen with members of Blink 182, The Offspring and 30 Seconds to Mars. But was there anyway to predict what Fall Out Boy, Every Time I Die and Anthrax was going to sound like? Luckily, The Damned Things sounds like raw sex and rock and roll on their debut album Ironiclast. Keith Buckley had often showed glimpses of his amazing vocal performances on ETID tracks, but here his range, his swagger and his sensuality are all on full display and succeeds. The triple guitar assault delivers some meaty rock and roll, not the most memorable, but you will air guitar like a fool while listening to it. This is a band not out to prove anything (they already have with their original bands) so this is all about fun, and it shines through in some feel good rock and roll music. 3.5/5 Oliver Cation

Ironiclast – The Damned Things Epic/SONY There are bands that divide opinion and A Day To Remember are one of them. Their meshing of pop punk and breakdowns has some lording them as the future of alternative music and others decrying them as a one trick pony with no substance. Their new album What Separates Me From You will do nothing to deflate either argument. Once again, the band has delivered catchy choruses, sing-a-longs and enough tough guy riffage to ensure maximum beatdown. If you were a fan of their breakthrough album Homesick, you have another nine tracks of the same (All Signs Point To Lauderdale doesn’t count, it’s terrible) to keep you company.

That’s not to say that this is pop-mosh by numbers as it’s heavier and its more melodic that before and with some with some radio friendly songs like ‘Better Off This Way’ and not to mention the ridiculously catchy single ‘All I Want’. A Day To Remember is either your favourite band or never will be. 3.5/5 Oliver Cation

What Separates Me From You – A Day To Remember Victory/RIOT! Considering that his is the band that wrote Dopethrone, one of the seminal doom metal albums, it makes you wonder where a band that awesome can go from there. Let’s look at the statistics: Black Masses is album number seven for Jus Oborn and his cult, and on this album they have refined their sound, not so that the songs are individually better, but so that they flow better. Also, the level of technical musical skill has increased (as one would expect) but not dramatically so. However, where this album does let me down a little is that some of the heaviness of previous albums is lost in favour of a full embrace of their 70’s influences and an overall more accessible sound. The exception to this is the almost nine-minute album closer, ‘Crypt Of Drugula’. This instrumental piece sounds like Sunn O))) in places with a sinister ambience, punctuated by thunderclaps. 3.5/5 Sarah Petchell

Black Masses – Electric Wizard Metal Blade Records/RIOT! Lyrically, I have no idea what’s going on (it’s in Japanese) so this entire review is based on the atmosphere built by the music Envy have created with Recitation. I remember hearing Envy for the first time and being blown away by the heavy, sludgy progressive hardcore act that they were back then. Nowadays, though vocally this still may be the case on Recitation, musically they have swapped the oppressive heaviness for uplifting melodies, drumming that still bears some semblance to their hardcore heritage and overall positive mood that still makes Envy an enjoyable band to listen to. That being said, this genre of progressive, postrock is better performed by the likes of Pelican or Russian Circles, so Envy leave me pining for those days of the claustrophobic heaviness. 3/5 Sarah Petchell

Recitation – Envy Temporary Residence Records Its been a long time between albums, having delivered the uncompromising Killafornia in 2006, this new First Blood album, Silence Is Betrayal came out of the blue. The aggression and violence found on the debut album has not been forgotten on the sophomore release. Nobody could ever tell vocalist Carl Schwartz what is false in this world, as he rages hard throughout this album about conspiracy theories, social injustice and everything else that has pissed him off in recent years. This results in one of the most honest and spiteful albums to come out of hardcore in years. Nothing is out of bounds: the song ‘Detach’ contains audio of a plane crashing into a building and the line “To see those planes crash into those buildings, I knew there had to be more than this.“ This is hardcore without gimmicks and you wont find anything more aggressive or delivered with more conviction. 4/5 Oliver Cation

Silence Is Betrayal – First Blood Trustkill Records This split is a snapshot of two of the most promising Australian bands on a stratospheric rise in popularity and more importantly great songwriting and solid hardcore. The dirty weed smoke filled backroom doom and dirge hardcore of Canberra’s premier stoner band I Exist (sorry Pod People) is mixed with the tough as nails, crowbar to your groin, straight up hardcore of Sydney’s answer to gang violence Phantoms. And whichever side you listen to first, you are banging your head. This is a collection of two bands on top form and in great humour.. The backdrop theme and artwork of a water park means that this isn’t just another stern-faced, hardcore affair. Because it’s a split, its only short and unfortunately you are left wanting more, but perhaps think of this as the cheese and crackers with the feast still yet to come. 4/5 Oliver Cation

Bad Romance 7” – I Exist/Phantoms Resist Records

new music “We’re here to destroy the world…” From the opening lines of Lucky Me it is clear what Killing The Dream’s intent on this record is, even if perhaps that’s not what the line is meant to mean. The point is, that in the seven tracks that follow we see a more mature Killing The Dream that is exploring new sides of hardcore’s sonic landscapes. This is a hard-hitting and explosive as previous releases, especially in the rhythm sections (check out the frenetic drumming and the bassline that follows it during ‘Walking, Diseased’), however the band have embraced a more melodic approach to the guitar lines and vocally. ‘Testimony’ sounds a bit more like the hardcore of bands like La Dispute, with the spoken word chorus. And the most surprising part is the inclusion of clean vocals in the chorus of this track. While not the band’s best output, Lucky Me is definitely an exciting indication of where Killing The Dream are headed. 3.5/5 Sarah Petchell

Lucky Me – Killing The Dream Deathwish Inc. If I could describe Pebble in one word it would definitely be cute – from the sugar-sweet vocals of Sheena Ozzella to the subtle, tinkering xylophone accents in ‘Wise People’, Lemuria’s third album delivers a saccharine sweet serving of indie punk. However, saying Pebble is merely cute does not do justice to the complexities that give this album the dynamism, intelligence and beauty that has already set this up as one of my favourites of 2011. When you add the harsher vocals of Alex Kearns and Adam Vernick, and the melancholy lyrical content, the darker elements of this album start to come through the melodies. The crowning glory of Pebble is the second-last track ‘Chautauqua County’. From the delectable “woah-ohs” to the bass guitarsnare combination, there is yet a track to top this one for me this year. 4/5 Sarah Petchell

Pebble – Lemuria Bridge 9 Records This EP of two songs is less than five minutes of music and a tiny snapshot of who Madball is in 2010. It is also an indication of where they are heading in the future. So what can we expect from Freddy and company? Madball – that’s it, that’s all we will ever get. A band that sticks so strongly to its guns that you have to believe in them. There is a point on every Madball release that you have to stop and think whether maybe they are taking the piss, delivering the same hardcore rhetoric and hard riffs they always have, then you snap out of it and realise that they believe everything they say, they stand by what they play and that’s why they are so important to hardcore. Madball exist as a benchmark for other bands to strive towards, and even on this stop gap release, they deliver a masterclass which reaffirms them as a the kings of their realm. You want Madball? Then listen to Madball, there is no replacement. Oliver Cation

The Real American Hardcore 7” – Madball All sorts of accolades are thrown at My Chemical Romance. Each album seems to be applauded louder and louder as redefining genres and appealling to all ages. The Black Parade brought theatrical stadium rock and emo together. Now Danger Days looks to bring emo together with garage rock and disco, as it combines the distinctive pinning of Gerard Way with scratching guitars and twinkly synth parts. The radio voiceover tracks just make me think of roller skating and the bastardization of The Warriors, something not aided by the bands distinct image change. This isn’t groundbreaking stuff, it’s a cut and paste random note to kids who don’t understand the references and their parents who want nothing more than their kids to listen to music with clean vocals and little foul language. There’s some catchy songs, there’s some great riffs and you will be singing along and bobbing your head throughout, but this is not the revolution. 3.5/5 Oliver Cation

Danger Days – My Chemical Romance Reprise/WARNER If I say Newcastle, I’m sure you would say a number of different things, perhaps not necessarily positive thing eithers. What you are unlikely to say is epic punk hardcore with a bucketload of emotion and melody. One Vital Word have launched themselves into relevance with Early Days. The title track is on par with any punk rock song penned in this country and the rest of the EP is equally as anthemic. The only downside to be found is perhaps also its strength; I cant figure out what it reminds me of. It is a collage of so many sounds including Every Time I Die, Rise Against, Death By Stereo, Comeback Kid and Gallows. So lets call it Punk Hardcore and just enjoy the hell out of something that is as fresh and catchy as this. 3.5/5 Oliver Cation

Early Days EP – One Vital Word Pee Records Lets state upfront that this release will break absolutely no boundaries, and that’s fine. Renegade are obviously a band that spent their younger days listening to Black My Heart loud while moshing hard in their bedrooms. I know I did. And what you get from this young, five-piece across the eight tracks on offer with Breaking The Boundaries is exactly what you expect. I’m talking about hard riffs, breakdowns, an lyrics about sincerity, friendship, family and Sydney hardcore. Following in the footsteps of bands like Hatebreed and Terror, the lyrics spit rage that is easy to relate to and engaging for the audience this is targeted at. This is hardcore by numbers done proficiently by a young band wearing their influences on their sleeves. One for the fans of hard riffs. 3/5 Oliver Cation

Breaking The Boundaries – Renegade UNSIGNED

new music Safe Hands from Newcastle have always been a live band, their amazing live show makes up for their forgettable name and lack of solid release. Now comes Oh The Humanity and its finally possible to enjoy Safe Hands in your bedroom without holding a house show and risking breaking all your Batman collectables. Oh The Humanity is the sort of technical metalcore you expect of bands like Norma Jean, with a little more doom and a little more rock and roll groove to make this something special. As the EP progresses, the songs get catchier and more intense, this release rewards multiple listens and will become a favourite for those that also enjoy bands like The Chariot, Poison The Well and Underoath. A cracking debut release to be sure.

4/5 Oliver Cation

Oh, The Humanity EP – Safe Hands Pee Records The album starts with a five minute song of slowly growing feedback and noise, Do not be confused though, as this isn’t what The Secret are like. Like the opening credits of a horror film, the band are building suspense, and also like a horror film you are about to wet yourself. When the second track, ‘Death Alive’ kicks in, then you know what is really happening. Fast riffs, harrowing feedback and evil demonic vocals, replace the noise and feedback. If this is what all Italian hardcore is like, I’m moving there. These 12 tracks are as good as anything you will hear in 2011. The fact that the band has found a home on US underground label Southern Lord gives you an indication of what they are all about – The Secret are here to rape our ears. As ‘1968’, the final track, starts to fade out, remember to breathe deeply a few times and return to your normal life, if you can. 4/5 Oliver Cation

Solve Et Coagula – The Secret Southern Lord It has been seven years since Social Distortion last released any new music, but it has been well worth the wait as Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes represents one of the most consistently brilliant releases in their discography. Combining a punk fuelled energy with enough old school rock & roll riffing to keep the swagger present. Here, the bands influences are worn on their sleeves, with ‘California (Hustle & Flow)’ sounding like the band have been listening to too many Bob Seger records, but not in a bad way. On the other hand, ‘Machine Gun Blues’ could have been on almost any early 90’s punk album, with its steady beat and the crashing cymbals and gritty feedback. However it’s Mike Ness’ inestimable ability to weave a story through his lyrics that makes it almost impossible to dislike any of the country-punk tinged tracks on this album.

3.5/5 Sarah Petchell

Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes – Social Distortion Epitaph/SHOCK Tigers Jaw unbuckle their belts and fill up on a full-course of quirky riffs and catchy vocal lines in their sophomore full-length release. The imagination is at the centre of this album; the result is Two Worlds and an album that is of greater substance than previous works, attesting that the Pennsylvanian four-piece are far more than just slow chord progressions and organ synths. Spanning eleven tracks, most bring a new element to the fore of Tigers Jaw, raising the bar once again and testifying the need for this band to bring their breed of indie-rock to new shores. Whether it’s through the hallowing organ/guitar interplay of ‘Test Patterns’ or the catchy half-time guitar leads of ‘Return’, Tigers Jaw push all the right buttons for a fifth time; bound to cement footsteps across cities in 2011. 4/5 Jem Siow

Two Worlds – Tiger’s Jaw Run For Cover Records Following the departure of Aaron Gillespie from Underoath, it was under question how this vital member change would affect the band. And now that Disambiguation has seen the light of day I feel it fair to say that the band that has emerged is one that is newly invigorated and evolved in a darker and more mature way.

With vocalist, Spencer Chamberlain taking on all the vocal work, his grittier, clean vocal adds a whole new dimension to the band’s sound. The point is that from the opening explosion of ‘In Division’ to the closing feedback of ‘In Completion’, Disambiguation represents Underoath at possibly their most focused to date, and rather than this being at the loss of a drummer, I would credit it to the maturity of a band at album number six. 4/5 Sarah Petchell

0 (Disambiguation) – Underoath ROADRUNNER RECORDS With See How You Are The Warriors have definitely struck all the right chords and delivered an album that is leaps and bounds ahead of anything they have released before. Vocalist Marshall Lichtenwaldt sounds like he is screaming until the veins are popping out of his neck and the guitar work is delivering some tasty riffs, especially on tracks like ‘Here We Go Again’. It’s a shame the pinnacle of the album is the second track, ‘The War Unseen’, but what a way to draw you in with it’s awesome riffs and plentiful gang vocals. Admittedly, things slow down in the latter half of the album, but it is still worth listening the whole way through for the heaviest track on the album, ‘Panic’ and its guest vocals by Parkway Drive’s Winston McCall. While The Warriors aren’t reinventing the wheel here, this album is enjoyable nonetheless. 3.5/5 Sarah Petchell

See How You Are – The Warriors Victory/RIOT!

obituary THE BANNER Hometown: New Jersey, U.S. Years Active: 2003-2010 Essential Listening: Each Breath Haunted (2005) Initially, the band broke up for a brief period in 2006 before reforming with their original vocalist.

They then announced in January 2010 that they would be breaking up for good. But that was not the end as The Banner spent the remainder of the year working on what would be their final album, Born To Ruin (which still has not been released) and coming up with new merchandise designs. So whether this counts as the band disbanding, I’m not sure. The Banner rewrote the rules of playing hardcore, by constantly being that one band on a bill that didn’t quite fit in. Their first few releases jumped around stylistically, as if they were trying to do a little bit of everything.

But Each Breath Haunted is where the band really hit their stride and found their sound – dark and pummeling metal, with enough hardcore thrown in to make sure pits keep moving.

CRIME IN STEREO Hometown: Long Island, U.S. Years Active: 2002-2010 Essential Listening: Crime In Stereo Is Dead (2007) 2010 was a tumultuous year for Crime In Stereo. Firstly, they released I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone. Prior to this album, the band had been moving away from the fast and melodic pop-punk sound that had previously defined the band. On releases like Is Dead, Crime In Stereo were moving into more melodic territory, playing with textures and soundscapes more reminiscent of Brand New. I Was Trying… was the perfect combination of melodic textures with the honesty and passion of their punkier, previous work. Then in August, Crime In Stereo announced that they would no longer be making music together anymore. Citing no reason in particular, this will not be the last musical endeavour for the members, with Alex Dunne and Kristian Hallbert already mentioning that they have been creating new music together for a long while.

DROPSAW Hometown: Newcastle, Australia Years Active: 2006-2010 Essential Listening: Missing Limbs (2007) In their time together, Dropsaw became one of the most well respected bands in Australian hardcore. The Newcastle five-piece earned this respect through their unique blend of heavy hardcore and metal, so unique due to influences ranging from Ringworm to Sly Stallone. Their debut fulllength, Missing Limbs, was well received as a breath of fresh air, and they backed this up with a ruthless touring schedule that saw them share the stage with some of the biggest names in international hardcore, including Evergreen Terrace, Parkway Drive and Cruel Hand. The Dropsaw had the opportunity to travel to the U.S. to record album number three, Hard Justice, with As I Lay Dying’s Tim Lambesis. One thing is for certain: Dropsaw have left a gaping hole in Australian hardcore, especially with the absence of their heavy as fuck, trademark Dropsaw sound.

THE FALL OF TROY Hometown: Mukilteo, U.S. Years Active: 2002-2010 Essential Listening: Doppelganger (2005) If you take the progressive nature of bands as old as King Crimson and Yes then mix it with the modern, experimental sounds of bands like At The Drive and The Blood Brothers, you start to get an idea of what The Fall Of Troy sounded like. What is even more surprising, especially after listening to their work, is that the incredibly loud sound these guys generated came from a mere three-piece act. The technical guitar riffs complement both the shrill screams and soothing vocal melodies, while the speed and precision of the rhythm section perfectly accents each melody.

While The Fall Of Troy’s earlier output surpasses their later material, this was not mentioned as a contributing factor to the band’s demise, which was announced in February 2010. Instead, “it’s simply the three members of this band are on three different paths in our lives”.

FINAL FIGHT Hometown: Los Angeles, U.S. Years Active: 2004-2010 Essential Listening: Half Head, Full Shred (2009) Final Fight were a band that took the influences of their home state of California to heart. Playing a brand of melodic hardcore akin to that of Comeback Kid, they injected a bit of the punkier sound typical of Fat Wreck bands, while also playing around with odd time signatures and a creative use of complex chords. At their core, Final Fight were not a band pushing genre boundaries but they did challenge some of the conventional hardcore song structures, especially with their final release Half Head, Full Shred. Instead of following the conventional verse-chorus-bridge structure, the songs had more flow often climaxing towards the end of a track rather than somewhere in the middle to a very satisfying conclusion. What Final Fight represent is that hardcore is something that should be positive, passionate and fun, while emotional, intelligent and inspirational.

ISIS Hometown: Boston, U.S. Years Active: 1997-2010 Essential Listening: Oceanic (2002)

2010 wrap up

Without question Isis were masters of the post-metal genre. They combined technical guitarwork, with ambient soundscapes and pummeling rhythms into an original and crushingly heavy sound that has seen them influence so many band after them. Founded in Boston in 1997, Isis borrowed from and helped to evolve a sound pioneered by the likes of Neurosis and Godflesh. 2002’s Oceanic is perhaps the largest statement within Isis’ recorded output. With its grand and hypnotic waves of sound, requiring multiple listens before you are completely hooked, it also saw the band move on from a largely metal and hardcore influenced sound, to the more ambient and familiar form of post-rock. Their final show was played in June 2010 in Montreal, which poignantly was also the first city they ever played in.

LEWD ACTS Hometown: San Diego, U.S. Years Active: 2004-2010 Essential Listening: Black Eye Blues (2009) I didn’t get into Lewd Acts until their last album, Black Eye Blues. Coincidentally, it was also the bands first full-length after a slew of demos and EPs that stretch back as far as 2004. Lewd Acts were a band that morphed raw noise into an original and sonically interesting sound, which exemplified the razor sharp precision and dynamic instrumentation that made them one of the most exciting bands, especially at a time when hardcore was embracing it’s metallic elements. Instead, Lewd Acts chose to go harder and faster. What stood out the most was vocalist Tyler Densley’s poetic and bruising storytelling. The candour in his lyrics is gruff, but only to hide how truly sad, tragic and true to life his stories are. Right up until their demise in mid 2010, Lewd Acts were a band that habitually defied the rules of what hardcore should be, and that is their greatest legacy.

POISON THE WELL Hometown: Miami, Florida Years Active: 1997-2010 Essential Listening: Tear From The Red (2002) While hiatuses do not always represent the end of a band, considering the length of time that Poison The Well have been together there appeared to be a certain finality to the announcement of an indefinite hiatus. They had been together for almost 13 years, had toured the world countless times and have released some of the best music in the metalcore genres, including 2002’s Tear From The Red. Considering that it was made for $6000, it contains the seminal ‘Botchla’ and ‘Turn Down Elliot’. By the time that they had finished the touring cycle for The Tropic Rot, including a robbery that saw a large chunk of their equipment stolen, the band felt it was time to take a step back from it all to pursue other musical interests. I’m yet to find a band that will fill the void that Poison The Well have left, and I only hope that this hiatus is not as final as it seems.

RUINER Hometown: Baltimore, U.S. Years Active: 2004-2010 Essential Listening: Hell Is Empty (2009) A couple of months prior to Ruiner’s announcement that they would no longer be making music together I interviewed their vocalist, Rob Sullivan, while they were on tour in Australia. I remember walking away from the interview thinking, “I think Rob was hinting that the band would be breaking up”. My gut instincts proved right. Ruiner were perhaps one of the most upfront, unpretentious and hardworking hardcore bands of recent years. In their first 18 months together, they played over 200 shows and they travelled to Europe six times, twice to Australia and also China and Southeast Asia. 2009’s Hell Is Empty represents the pinnacle of Ruiner’s discography, even though it would be the band’s final album. Nearly 1000 people turned up to the band’s final show, the perfect testament to how important this band had become to the hardcore community.

THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES Hometown: Seattle, U.S. Years Active: 2002-2010 Essential Listening: Oxeneers (2004) The things that first attracted me to These Arms Are Snakes was that Brian Cook from Botch was a member and the video for ‘Horse Girl’ from 2006’s Easter. From there it progressed to the fact that this post-hardcore band mixed sinister sounding guitar licks with snarly vocals and spaced out, almost ambient sounds into something that, at the time, was original and a perfect middle ground between the heavier hardcore sound and something more indie punk. Even though the band had made the announcement that they were disbanding in 2010, These Arms Are Snakes had been largely inactive since 2009, even though they had discussed the possibility of a fourth album with the press and had recorded tracks for a split with Minus The Bear and a compilation of cover’s of Nirvana’s In Utero. Unfortunately, none of these have ever seen the light of day.

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