No Heroes Issue 7

ISSUE SEVEN – AUGUST 2010 PARKWAY DRIVE SHAI HULUD RUINER HARDCORE 2010 REALITY UNEARTH REFUSED CONFESSION VERA GOATWHORE FUGAZI

ISSUE SEVEN CONTENTS FEATURES

Confession ... p.8 Reality ... p.10 Shai Hulud ... p.12 Parkway Drive ... p.20 Ruiner ... p.30 Refused ... p.36 Unearth ... p.38 Hardcore 2010 Wrap Up ... p.40 Vera ... p.46

THE USUAL Editor’s Letter ... p.6 Quickfire: Goatwhore ... p.7 Bands You’ve Never Heard Of: All Australian ... p.47 New Music ... p.48 Obituary: Fugazi ... p.52

Editor-In-Chief: Sarah Petchell Photo Editor: Craig Nye Content Editor: Lindsey Cuthbertson All layouts by Cooper Brownlee, Sarah Petchell Words: Sarah Petchell, Lindsey Cuthbertson, Oliver Cation, Amelia Murray Photos: Craig Nye, Chris Cooper, John Hatfield, Dan Bedford, Ben Clement Logo by Joel Birch of Umbrella Creative Studios Cover: Parkway Drive Photo: Craig Nye This page ... Photo by Chris Cooper

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'S LETTER PHOTO: CHRIS COOPER

In a truly unfortunate turn of events, Sarah Petchell, the creator, backbone and workhorse of No Heroes, has been struck down! All I could make out over the phone was it had something to do with not being down for the core, university work and the new Arcade Fire album. Though please fear not readers, for I will fill the gapping hole she has left. I could use this open mic opportunity to tell you why I wont be voting Liberal or why I have a huge dislike for shoulder blade swallow tattoos, I shall instead delve into a topic that holds some interest to me.

Personal opinion is passed over music in nearly every case. You sit and listen to something, deciding whether it appeals to you or if it’s more filler wasting your broadband or cash.

When you connect with music in a strong way, it is often the lyrical content that becomes meaningful to you. We all know someone with their favourite band’s lyrics inked on them. But are these words that we place so much meaning in written by poets or musicians? Is Tom Gabel a poet? How about Jacob Bannon or Pat Flynn? Is Michael Crafter?

Personally, I place a great deal of importance in the words of Peter Kowalsky – the man is talented and passionate, but is he a poet or just a musician? Is there a difference?

Is the poetry and meaning of lyrics reduced in significance when you take into account capitalist ideas?

Is it our interpretation that makes us so passionate about them, or is it their original construction?

There are so many more questions along this train of thought, and I believe most are unanswerable. At the least, different people will have different opinions, in the same way they do about music. There is no answer here, just something to think about, and that’s what I encourage everyone to do: think.

With an open mind and an inquisitive soul, let’s take a quick look at what we have assembled in the coming pages for you.

Easily the biggest Hardcore export this country has ever seen, Parkway Drive are back in the charts with new album Deep Blue and gracing our cover with some exclusive photos and an extensive interview about all things Parkway Drive.

We caught up with veteran metalcHulud while they ore pioneers Shai Hulud, were making their way round the country on their second Australian tour for a staggeringly honest and amazing interview – a must read to be sure. Ruiner are heaving their final death rattle and the interview in these pages (their last Australian interview ever) reveals some of the tensions and difficulties in the band.

Refused, We have an interview with Refused and if you don’t know Refused you may have clicked on the wrong magazine (because Sarah probably

wouldn’t want you reading it if that were the case…). This interview was a special treat for us to be able to do especially in the wake of the re-realse of the epic The Shape Of Punk To Come. In our Obituary section, we take some time to reflect on the Fugazi; a band that highly influential Fugazi meant so much to so many people.

Metal powerhouse Unearth also sat down with us for an interview on their recent tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, and we got a quickie with Goatwhore to top it off.

While this issue has its share of foreign bands, its also a tribute to the excellence of Australian hardcore, metal and punk music. We have the cover stars, Parkway Drive waving the flag overseas, and we also caught up with the infamous icon Michael Crafter to talk about his new Confession. We grab a hold of band Confession emotional Canberra firestarters Vera and one of Sydney’s up and coming Reality. There’s an all-Austrastars, Reality lian Bands You’ve Never Heard Of section to keep you completely up to date with the finest fresh bands this country is producing and finally we have a comprehensive review of the most prestigious festival on the heavy music calendar Hardcore 2010.

That’s all from me. For your sakes, hope that Sarah is back by the next issue. But please spread the word, support local music and don’t be like Sarah – don’t listen to Arcade Fire.

Oliver Cation

You guys toured Australia back in April. What were you expecting from these shows?

“We try not to expect much when touring. It’s not a negative thing, but we like to go into tours and such with an open mind. We’re out to have a good time and do what we do in a live setting. By no means will we come rolling in and be half-assed about our set. We will preform in any kind of situation the same, whether we have a packed venue or 20 people to play in front of.

“Don’t get me wrong, if the place is packed and people are going nuts it does add to the total atmosphere, but you do run across calm shows every now and then. We were all quite excited about the opportunity and that it was our first time to play on Australian soil, I think that was an added inspiration for the overall outcome.”

Have you heard much Australian metal? How do you think it differs to the American and European scenes?

“We did a tour last year and The Berzerker was part of the package.

Excellent guys playing some sick grindcore. Also, the label we did our first two records with (Rotten Records) put out a couple of records by a band called Damaged from Australia as well.

“Every scene seems to have it’s own way of approaching music. The above-mentioned bands did a lot of different things within extreme music and have leant a hand at being purveyors of a style, which they then expanded upon. I think that’s an important aspect of being a band no matter what part of the world you come from. That is what sets bands apart everywhere – the ones that take risks to expand and broaden the ideas or the ones that just sit back and never evolve.”

How did you find recording with Erik Rutan? Being such an esteemed member of the heavy metal community, how do you think this influenced the sound of your new album, Carving Out The Eyes Of God? God “Recording with Erik Rutan is great!

He is not only an excellent sound engineer, but he is also a very unique musician with an exceptional ear. I think the mixture of his abilities and ideas with our own created a pretty solid experience within our recording adventures. He pushes us as musicians and we push him as an engineer. We all have different ideas and we try to sort through them all together to get the best outcome.

GOATWHORE

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST BEN FALGOUST BY AMELIA MURRAY

There are no unwritten laws of this is how it has to be. We try everything and anything we conjure up to come up with the best scenarios for the final product.

“I also think that his past knowledge of recording with Morbid Angel have played a big role with the ideas and advancements he has made as an engineer and producer. I also think as he continues to work and keeps an open mind he grows more and more with every recording as a producer/engineer.”

Your new album has been described as a return to your traditional ‘metal roots’. Was this intentional?

“Partially intentional and partially unintentional. I think we’re just regressing back to the things we grew up on, and are returning to cycles of listening to old favorites. This inevitably starts to bleed into our writing structures. These old elements are being revived and mixed with our own ideas and a few more modern ideas.

“We wanted to do a more traditional and basic record. Something that was more metal than just some subgenre. When we say metal, we mean, Motorhead, Judas Priest, Metal Church, King Diamond, Bathory, Venom, etc. It was those bands that basically got us into metal in the first place.”

Goatwhore have been influenced by several different kinds of music, from thrash, to black metal, to hardcore. What sort of audience do you see your music appealing to?

“I think it has the possibility to ap-

peal to numerous audiences. Maybe some more than others, but we aren’t afraid to tour with different types of extreme metal acts because of this. Depending on the type of tours we get more or less response, but we still gain new fans by taking the risk.

“I guess you could sort of see us as an evil crossover band in a way. We can’t please everyone so all we can do is play what we feel and what we like. We have a deep well of early influences and it comes across quite a lot in our writing. I guess it’s quite gratifying when you choose to write and play styles you enjoy and others outside of the situation enjoy it as well.”

How do you feel about sites like Myspace popularising the once very underground black metal genre?

“MySpace actually made a lot of underground styles popular. I think with the invention of the internet, it was a tool that would change music drastically. For example, the easier accessibility to all kinds of styles of extreme music, to search and find bands easier and to come across new projects at an earlier stage.

“It has its good points and its bad points but overall it’s a tool that new bands, as well as old bands, use to help get recognised. Of course, trends are created through this but trends and the people that follow them will come and go. The extreme underground was here before the internet and will still be churning out new and extreme ideas when MySpace is dead and gone.”

IT’S A COMMON FACTOR WITH CONFESSION’S VOCALIST MICHAEL CRAFTER THAT YOU EITHER LOVE THE GUY OR HATE HIS GUTS. FOR AS LONG AS HE’S BEEN INVOLVED IN AUSTRALIAN HARDCORE (AND THAT IS THE MAJORITY OF THE PAST DECADE), CRAFTER HAS HAD THAT EFFECT ON FANS OF THE BANDS HE’S IN. NOT THAT HE MINDS – I DOUBT THAT MANY PEOPLE IN ANY MUSIC SCENE IN AUSTRALIA COULD BE RECOGNISED BY THEIR LAST NAME ALONE. THE MAIN FACT THOUGH IS THAT AS LONG AS PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT HIM, HIS MUSIC IS BEING APPRECIATED. “People hated I Killed The Prom Queen when I was in the band, then I joined Carpathian and suddenly everybody hated them too, and now it seems that everyone

hates Confession as well. I don’t care because I’m used to it,” the front man says from his home in Melbourne.

this August for a run of shows in Queensland, Crafter hints that the follow up album to their debut is just around the corner.

Crafter and his band Confession are at the tail end of an incredibly successful touring cycle in support of their debut album Cancer.

As far as enraged albums go over the past few years, Cancer is the pick of the litter.

“Just lately we’ve started to think towards the next album and how we’re going to go about it.

It’s starting to get to the point where we’re a little bored doing the same songs all the time. So we’ll be putting new songs together over the next three or four months and then looking at doing something next year for a new CD,” says Crafter.

Formed in 2008, the Melbourne metallic hardcore group have quickly established themselves as a band to pay attention to.

Some of the attention could be put down to Crafter’s presence in the band; his resume boasts experience in bands such as I Killed The Prom Queen, Carpathian and Bury Your Dead. But the real reason that Confession have worked their way into the collective consciousness of their fans is a relentless work ethic and a collection of songs that live up to the hype that Crafter brings to any bands that he’s been a part of.

While Confession are hit the road

“I still like the songs, and there are a few songs on Cancer that don’t get played. I don’t think we’ve given all of it a go so next time we tour I think we’ll do more of the stuff that isn’t played as much.“ From start to finish, Cancer pulls no punches in the lyrical department in. Full of aggression and rage, for long time followers of Crafter’s music, this is about as pissed off as he gets.

CONFESSION INTERVIEW: LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON

“I guess it’s because kids love the shock value; they love to shock their parents, they love to come home with a shirt with “Get fucked” printed over the back of the shirt...” when I started writing the lyrics [for Cancer]. “It eventually came to a point where I realised that I had to be blatantly obvious about it while I was writing, just swear and basically write people off.”

The lyrical themes of Cancer flow very fluidly together when listened to in its entirety. While the bulk of it was ready and in Crafter’s notepad when it came time to record, some of the more memorable moments of the album were created in the spur of the moment.

“It wasn’t necessarily about one thing in particular, but a bunch of issues. It really comes under the fact that people take everything for granted. No matter what, even if somebody is stoked on life and loves what they do for a living, loves their friends, loves their family, they’ll still take something for granted. It could be something simple – you take for granted the town you live in – but we all do it.

“So I think the fact that we live in Australia means that we’ve been given something pretty good.

I’ve been all over the world and I reckon everywhere sucks compared to here,” he says, before having a laugh and continuing his answer.

“So there’s that, and then there’s also the fact that some friends of mine were taking a lot of shit for granted where they started taking heavy amounts of drugs to the point where some were full blown alcoholics or drug addicts.

And I saw these people taking everything for granted, and basically become scumbags. So I had those kinds of issues in my mind

“I had a lot of stuff written down when we went into the studio and I tried to adapt that to the songs being written, but there were also some parts of Cancer that I just made up on the spot”, Crafter explains. “There’s a bit in ‘She’s Not What She Seems’ where I say “Get fucked” where I was actually supposed to say something else and stuffed up. But when I heard it I thought it sounded way better.

I knew that when kids would sing along they’d really sing along to that part especially, because it’s offensive.

“Now we have it on everything – we have it on all the merch, on banners beside the stage that say “get fucked”. I guess it’s because kids love the shock value; they love to shock their parents, they love to come home with a shirt with “Get fucked” printed over the back of the shirt.”

It’s ironic that something that happened so off the cuff has progressed into one of Confession’s biggest money-spinners. That crude catch cry has become synonymous with the band’s music and also the most requested item

of merchandise that Confession have.

“It’s ridiculous,” Crafter exclaims, “We’ve printed these shirts three times now and on the past Amity tour they were the ones that sold out the fastest and we must have made up about a thousand. We didn’t do them for one tour and that was all kids were asking for.”

Imagine the thousands of parents all over Australia currently spitting chips over their child’s new addition to their wardrobe.

“Oh, definitely, and probably even more so if their kid comes home with both the shirt and the shorts with “Get fucked” on them,” Crafter answers with a laugh punctuating his sentence. “But at least their kids are going to shows, not listening to dance music, going to music festivals at fifteen and taking drugs.”

This sort of outspoken comment is no rarity with Michael Crafter, but that’s part of his charm. No matter what is stacked in front of him, neither he nor his band will sidestep the obstacle and refuse to tell it like it is. Some know that trait as calling a spade a spade, or in this case it may just be Crafter being Crafter, but either way Confession and its front man are getting a reaction.

And as long as that keeps up, Crafter is happy to cop all the criticism on the chin. After all, once somebody stops talking about you, you’re no longer relevant. And if that’s the case, then Crafter’s importance in Australian heavy alternative music will not diminish any time soon.

REALITY

CONSIDERING THE RELATIVELY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME THEY’VE BEEN TOGETHER, REALITY HAVE BEEN MAKING SOME SERIOUS WAVES IN THE SYDNEY HARDCORE SCENE. NOT EVEN A YEAR OLD, THESE FIVE YOUNG GUYS HAVE ALREADY SCORED SUPPORT SLOTS FOR CARPATHIAN AND THE AMITY AFFLICTION, AND HAVE RELEASED AN EP, DIRECTIONS,, THAT IS MAKDIRECTIONS ING EVEN THE MOST JADED SIT UP AND PAY ATTENTION. VOCALIST, LACHLAN HICKS, TALKS ABOUT WHERE REALITY HAVE COME FROM AND WHERE THEY’RE GOING. IF THIS IS THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIAN HARDCORE, THEN I’M PSYCHED FOR THE COMING YEARS! How did you guys get together as a band in the first place?

INTERVIEW: SARAH PETCHELL – LIVE PHOTOS: J

“We had known each other for a while and knew we had the same tastes in music. Tom and Mitch wanted to start a band and actually asked my brother if he wanted to sing and he asked me. Then we got Donny on bass because I grew up with him and knew he would be down for it. After a lot of stuffing around, we finally got a full time drummer; Jesse, who was a friend of us all and fit in perfectly!”

Where do you draw your influences from? Both in terms of music and just life in general? Anything in particular that you read or watch on TV/ film?

“Loads of rad hardcore band like Verse, Champion, Hope Con, Ceremony, Carpathian and American Nightmare, as well as bands like Sigur Ros, Crime In Stereo and Placebo. There’s a massive range of musical influences. In terms of lyrics I am influenced by lots of reading and even movies, but most of all what is going on around the world.”

How do you think your surroundings – both coming from Camden and I guess Australian society in general – impacts on the music that you write?

“I guess there is not much of an impact on us, but the people around

us definitely affect our music. The fact we live in Camden and there is no real scene out here we don’t have many people to bounce ideas off.”

What’s your take on the Sydney Hardcore scene?

“The Sydney scene is amazing at the moment, there are so many rad bands doing amazing things! Though there is not much of popular following of many really good bands, as kids are still psyched on mosh. This still rules as shows are selling out most weekends!”

What are the best and worst things about it?

“I guess the best thing is the rad bands and people. The worst thing would be the lack of good venues and the lesser amount of hardcore bands that don’t play mosh.”

Was it hard as a relatively young band to get a foothold in the scene?

I mean, you guys have had some decent support slots in the short time you’ve been around…

“It was hard and I feel we are still developing our position. Being from the outer suburbs makes it more difficult as most of the bands doing simlar stuff to us are from completely different areas. So I guess that has

JOHN HATFIELD

affected us as well.”

How important to you is hardcore in general?

“Hardcore is extremely important, I mean it is a massive part of our lives. It is both our greatest hobby and obsession.”

How did you get into hardcore in the first place? “ I guess by listening to bands like AFI and Black Flag, then finding more bands on the internet or in magazines. It was then just getting to some shows and really enjoying it more than anything.”

How important is it for hardcore to have a message?

“I think it is extremely important for all music to have a message, particulary hardcore. The fact that it is aimed at a younger audience means that the music has an opportunity to make an impact on someone and that can only be positive!”

I guess it’s fair to say that your demo received a little bit of criticism, however your EP has received a lot of positive feedback. What changed between the two that made such a marked difference?

“The demo was terrible and that was

mainly due to poor vocals – I sucked really bad. But it did lead me to work really hard on my vocals and I feel I have done really well to improve. Musically, we spent more time on the EP and all worked harder to achieve these results.”

You’ve named the EP Directions Directions..

What does the title mean?

“It is from the track ‘New Direction’, which is about the paths you choose to take in life and where they lead.”

What sort of themes are you trying to get across with the EP? “ The songs differ a lot but the most important theme I wanted to address was that of homeless people, especially youth, and the fact that we should be doing something to help those in need in our own backyards.

What’s it like playing live shows?

How much fun is it? What sort of feeling do you get from it?

“Playing live is the most important part of the band, it is so much fun!

We all feel that live shows are much more important than recording.”

What are you, personally, aiming to get out of being in Reality?

“I have gained heaps of confidence in myself from being in the band

and fronting it. I’ve also met some great people. I just aim to meet more people and have heaps of fun!”

What sort of goals do the band have? What are you trying to achieve?

“We want to tour, plays shows in as many places as we can. Hopefully record and release a full length LP.” What’s next for you guys? I hear rumours of a split EP perhaps?

“We may do a split but that is all just a rumour at the moment. We are recording a bunch of songs at home in a few weeks to release a cassette.

The we are recording a few songs later this year to hopefully release a 7”.”

What local bands should everyone be checking out at the moment?

“Persist, Fixtures, Legions, Endless Heights, Phantoms, I Exist, as well as any and every band making any kind of music.. They all deserve a listen and some support!”

What’s the one thing that no one knows about your band that everyone else should know?

“I will have to get back to you on this one...”

SHAI HULUD

INTERVIEW: SARAH PE

ETCHELL – LIVE PHOTOS: JOHN HATFIELD

THIS INTERVIEW WITH MATT FOX, THE BRAINS BEHIND THE SEMINAL METALCORE ACT, SHAI HULUD, WAS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING INTERVIEWS I’VE EVER DONE IN THE ENTIRE TIME THAT I’VE BEEN DOING MUSIC JOURNALISM. IT’S NOT EVERY DAY THAT YOU GET TO TALK TO SOMEONE WHO’S CAREER HAS SPANNED 15 YEARS OF HARDCORE HISTORY. NOR A BAND THAT HAS GONE THROUGH SO MUCH CHANGE BUT HAS STILL SURVIVED (AGAINST THE ODDS …

THIS IS A STORY ABOUT GOOD GUYS!).

Conducting the interview was also an interesting prospect. As you can see, Fox likes to talk! And talking we did … In a freezing van for two hours.

I’m not complaining because the end result is what you read here – one of the most honest and interesting interviews that has ever been in the pages of this magazine.

How does it feel to be back in Australia? You guys toured here quite a few

years ago.

“It’s awesome. I never know what to expect when we tour, especially when we take such a break between visits. Usually bands come sometimes twice a year, or at least every year, so I was really concerned that most people would have forgotten us or that we would be completely rebuilding. But based on one show, last night, I think last nights show was better than all of the shows that we played in 2005!

long time, so it feels great to be back here.”

“So far it’s been great. We’ve got a great team that we’re working with.

Everybody started grab-arsing and getting along very quickly. So, you know, we feel comfortable with who we’re working with and, like I said, based on just one night show, it seems like the tour is going to go pretty well.”

“The honest answer is no, I don’t think the band is in a good place.

But that said, for not being in a good place, I think that we’re in the best not good place that we can be. It seems that within the past few years that we’ve regenerated some interest and people finally realise ‘Oh, they haven’t broken up’. Overall, bands that we started out with have all been doing a lot better than we have for many, many years and have clearly had more opportunities afforded to them, but, again I’m thankful to at least be making lemonade out of lemons.

I know at last night’s show they actually had to close the club off to people because that many people wanted to come in to see you guys play…

“That’s crazy! We don’t experience that too much. So how flattering just from the reaction and the reception.

There was that positive vibe before we even started. I felt such a positive energy and I haven’t felt that in a

How do you feel about where the band is at right now, like, I mean like, at this point in time after everything you’ve sort of been through as a band, do you feel like everything are guys, the band are in a really good place?

“Do you want the honest answer or the answer I’m supposed to give, because there’s truth to both?

“The answer that I’m supposed to give is, ‘Yeah, I feel everything’s awesome’ and while I don’t feel that way, but again, that’s due to the

ever changing line up and such huge delays in albums and our lack of web presence because I am just not so internet friendly myself.

“You know, I see all our friends’ bands and every other band, and they update their Twitters and their MySpaces and I can’t be bothered with it. I’d love it if somebody else in the band would do it because it’s just not my personality to let somebody know everything that happens.

If you want to find, you’ll find it. You know that’s how I did it when I was a kid so I don’t feel the need.

“But due to all these factors, I feel we are somewhat in the shadows and it’s unfortunate. Then again, due to our hard work and Metal Blade’s hard work in releasing the album a couple of years ago and incessantly touring, I think that we’re coming slightly out of the shadows. It is clear that of all the bands that started in our era that have maintained until today, we’re clearly on such a smaller, different level than they are.

Sometimes it hurts, especially when the band tries so hard and we care so much. When you put your heart and soul, and sweat, blood, piss and tears into something, and it doesn’t work as smoothly as you’d like it, it’s

definitely painful.”

I guess that there is a really big element of luck to it as well.

“Luck has never been this bands strong suit.”

You’ve brought up really interesting thing about the internet and not really caring that much about whether you have a strong internet presence, Do you think the internet has kind of destroyed that privacy barrier and that kind of mystique?

“I guess so. I’m very open. You know what I mean? I could meet somebody and in five minutes they would know my whole life story. I have nothing to hide. I’ll tell you the great things and the bad things about me in one shot. So, I’ve been told this, even before the internet boom, that you need to keep some things a mystery.

“I have some degree of knowledge of when to speak and when not to speak, but you know, I’m also very happy to let people know I pick my nose constantly or just the stupid shit that I do. So I don’t think there’s ever been much of a mystique about Shai Hulud because it’s just not my nature and a lot of my personality is the band’s personality.

“But, regarding the internet factor, well sure it does destroy the mystique, but I don’t know how much that affects us just because we’re not the type of band that hides anything. It just seems like these days, band’s are destroying their own mystique. What are they talking about on their Twitter accounts all day? I don’t go on Twitter and I don’t check it so I don’t know what the hell people are talking about, but isn’t that whole website designed to destroy mystique? To let everybody know what you’re doing 24 hours a day? I guess the internet has destroyed the mystique, but is the mystique even really important these days? I don’t know.”

Do you think that comes from being from a different era in hardcore as well? I mean, hardcore when I was growing up and from when you guys were starting out was a hell of a different beast to what it is now.

“Yeah, it seems so. But also I think that when you get into something when you’re younger you see it more idealistically and as you get older you see if more realistically. So how different was it, I don’t know, but I was wearing rose-coloured glasses back then.

“As far as I’m concerned, whether

I saw it idealistically or not, things were a lot better back then. I’ll tell you this, my friends when I was 20 and they were 30, they were telling me how much things sucked then and I thought everything was great.

Bands from that era that I still love, I remember my friends telling me that those bands sucked. I played bass in a kind of independent rock band and the guitar player and I shared a lot of music in common, like Dead Milkmen, Naked Raygun, and Dead Kennedys. I was also 20 years old so I loved NOFX and Econochrist. He didn’t like those bands then, and I remember thinking that these are really legitimately good bands so what isn’t he getting? But I think as you get older, your filter for what gets in becomes so much finer and even if something is great and you can recognise that it’s great, there’s still something in you that thinks you don’t need it because you’ve got that music that you had from 20 years ago.

“So to tie up the point, I don’t know how much different things really are, but I know with age the nostalgia of what was pervades you and sometimes maybe clouds your perception.

Regarding my perception, sure I could rave about 1995 hardcore and I don’t even have enough knowledge to even form a sentence about 2010 hardcore. It sure feels different to me based mainly on the reactions of the shows as I see a lot more violence and a lot more ignorance, and I see that’s it also acceptable and cool to be violent and ignorant. It’s something that I can’t relate to and if that’s indicative of 2010 hardcore then, fuck, 1995 was better at least from my corner of the hardcore scene.”

As you said, Shai Hulud has gone through a lot of lineup changes and it is surprising that you guys are still around considering this. So how strong is your survival instinct in relation to this band?

“I think if there’s anything we’ve got, it’s going to be our survival instinct.

And it’s still pretty strong. I don’t feel old in the grand scheme of life, but in hardcore I feel pretty old. I mean, there’s me, maybe Aaron Bedard of Bane, maybe Scott Vogel [Terror], the guys from Sick Of It All and I’m sure there are a few others, and we’re all pushing 40. It doesn’t get any easier, especially when you’re still struggling.

“One thing I can say about Shai Hulud is that the band started based purely on the fact that we were five,

nerdy, fan boys and, if you ask me, that’s the way that bands should start. That means five people are getting together and they want to create something that makes other people feel the way the music inspired them made them feel. That’s how we started. We heard Metallica and wanted to write something that made somebody feel the same way I feel when I heard ‘Battery’. Then I heard JFA, a melodic, skate-punk band from the ‘80s that made me realise that you could be fast, aggressive, sloppy, angry and pretty at the same time, and when I heard it, it made me want to do that. So we started on a really genuine basis, because we heard something and really responded positively to it.

“That’s one thing that’s been consistent in the band. No matter how many big tours we don’t get offered, no matter how many times we play to a crowd that likes the simple moshier band than our band, the one thing that stays consistent is that when we write a cool riff we still say, ‘Yeah, that’s cool! I can’t wait for somebody else to feel something from that.’ So I think the genuine love for the music has never died and I’m never going to get out of hardcore. I might get out of current hardcore, but I’ll be 75 and someone can put on Uniform Choice and there’s no way that I’m going to say, “That sucks!”

“If the band were based on trying to have status or trying to be popular or trying to make money, we wouldn’t have survived because we have none of that! We never have and I doubt we never will.”

See it’s really interesting you say that, and this is fact. When I was getting into hardcore and I was talking to older friends about what I should be listening to, Shai Hulud were inevitably a band that would be brought up along with your usual Gorilla Biscuits, Minor Threat, whatever.

“WOW! What a compliment! That’s insane! Well, that may very well be the case in other countries. I don’t feel that that’s the case in the US at all. I feel that we’re very, very low, if registering on the totem pole at all.

And that’s one thing that I like about other countries.

“It may be a bitter part of me, but it seems like America is more focused on what’s cool. Shai Hulud has never been cool. I mean, I like Star Trek. I don’t like fucking Nike Dunks. I don’t even know what a fucking Nike Dunk is! I don’t wear flat-brimmed hats and I don’t do any of those things.

I wear a fucking Star Trek tshirt, I pick my nose and I have Superman boxers on right now! And I don’t give a fuck! I think those sorts of things really play a part into your popularity in America, whereas in other countries the focus really is more on the music.”

Obviously there is the sci-fi connection of the band name – Shai Hulud being an animal in one of the most prolific sci-fi novels of all time [[Dune Dune for those that don’t know]. So my question is, do you ever regret naming the band Shai Hulud?

“No, never! Not once and I love it.

After we parted ways with Geert, our 27th vocalist or whatever (though he was technically the second), we felt that we really should change the name and I guess we announced a name change.

“I really don’t want to admit that we did as it was such a era of confusion. I didn’t know what to do, I still don’t know what to do and I’ve never known what to do. So we announced that we changed the name, but then ended up keeping it because Shai Hulud is just such a great fucking name. We thought that with our music, lyrics and the inate humour that goes with the band, everything that we are we gave all that to the name Shai Hulud, irrespective of the weight that the Dune connection has.

“We were so proud of the fact that we chose the name and everything that we gave to the name, that upon reflection after we announced that we had changed it, we decided that we were going to keep it. For better or for worse, and if that meant that we were going to be dragging it further through the mud, then so be it! This our band, this is our name and we have done everything to it, so we’re going down with it if that’s what has to happen.”

Do you have any plans at the moment for new material at all?

“The plan is that we have some material already and, the universe permitting, the album will see the light of day by the summer of next year. My goal is to finish writing by the fall and record by the winter. But keep everything that you can possibly cross, crossed!”

Can you give us a few sneaky hints as to what it’s sounding like so far?

“Yeah, I can give you a few sneaky hints. Shai Hulud has so many different sounds and I think the only reason that I realise that is because

people keep telling me that every album sounds different. If people hadn’t been telling me that for so many years, I don’t think I would believe it or think it.

See, I disagree with that. To me, I think musically all the albums have cohesion but what makes them sound different is that every release has a different vocalist.

“That’s never been brought up before and I’m glad that you’ve said that, because to me the music has never sounded that different even though that’s what I’ve been told.

I understand that when I listen to Misanthropy Pure that it’s heavier and that it sounds better, but I don’t necessarily think that it’s a metal album and we’ve been getting that a lot.

“All we wanted to do with this album was take elements from everything, that we’ve ever written, put it into one album and make the most dynamic album possible. When I’ve been talking about this album there are two bands that I have been talking about in relation to it – Nuclear Assault and Propaghandi. They’re at opposite ends of the spectrum to one another, but what I love about both bands is that if you get one of their albums, the album is their own sound but it’s always peppered with cool shit! It’s never just a straight album and I love the rise and fall and dynamics of them all. That’s what I really want the next Shai Hulud album to be.

“Thus far, we have one song that is slow and heavy, while being intricate and melodic. The last song that we wrote is a short, melodic, fast, hardcore song that probably won’t break two minutes. Based on the material that we have so far, I love it, because all the songs express and convey different feelings and dynamics. The sneakiest hint that I can give you is that it’s going to be an extremely dynamic album, where every song you don’t know what angle we’re going to come from. It could sound like something from That Within The Blood Ill-Tempered or it could sound like something from our first demo.

“In fact, speaking of our first demo, when Shai Hulud started there were a couple of songs that were written and one of them went into our sideproject and the other one has just been in limbo for years. So I started playing the riff of that song a few years ago and someone asked what it was and I was like, “This is probably the second Shai Hulud song

that was ever written and was never used.” The person thought it was awesome so I played the whole thing and we’ve decided to tweak it and put some solid lyrics to it and use it on this new album.

“So the album is going to go in a lot of different places from short, fast, brutal hardcore to slow and brooding, more melodic metal. I am excited about and I hope somebody else is too.”

To talk about your old material for a second, do you feel that the songs you wrote over ten years ago are still relevant to you as a person, or has the relevance changed now that you’re 37?

“I think the only thing that has lost relevance to me is some of the lyrics.

Musically, the music is one hundred per cent relevant. I don’t necessarily love the representation, the recording or the mixes, but when I hear some of the songs and recognise the content of it, I still think it’s cool and fucking love it. Our singer was talking about the song ‘Ending The Perpetual Tragedy’ and thought that we should play it. I listened to it again, remembered how good a song it actually is and got excited because we hadn’t played that in a long time.

And that song was written close to 10 years ago now, so the music is definitely still relevant to me. I’m not ashamed of any note that we have ever played.

“Some of the lyrics, though, were written when I was a kid and I don’t feel that way anymore. Not that I’m not a romantic, but I was romantic, young and naïve when a lot of Hearts Once Nourished… was written. So a lot of the songs were about love loss and woe is me, and I just don’t feel those love woes anymore to the extent that I’m going to pick up my pen and write a sad, love song about them. One of our most popular songs, ‘My Heart Bleeds The Darkest Blood’, some of the sentiments in that song I just don’t relate to. If someone were to play me that song by another band today, I would be like get over it! So lyrically, not all of Shai Hulud’s songs are relevant to me now at 37 as they were when I was 23. Most of the ones about hatred and anger, oh fuck yeah, they’ve gotten worse! I think I relate to the song ‘Profound Hatred Of Man’ more now than I did then.”

At this point in your life, especially having been in the band for such a long time, how big a priority is the band for you now?

“That’s a question that’s interesting to reflect on and think about. The band is the biggest priority in my life.

I was in an accident recently and I had to call a lawyer to help out because the insurance wasn’t going to pay for a medical bill. He was asking me the details of the accident and it happened while I was laying in the back of a van. He asked what I was doing laying in the back of a van and I said that I’m in a band and we were on tour. His response was, ‘How old are you?’ and I just thought, ‘Fuck!’

“Sometimes it gets really hard to make it as much of a priority because of that fact. Not that age has anything to do with it, but it’s more about the standards of society. 37 years old with no money to your name and you haven’t had a steady girlfriend in years – I’m doing things that people in their early 20’s do, like living off the cuff.

“All that said, the band is still the biggest priority in my life. Part of that is because of noble reasons and part is because there’s nothing else I can do. I don’t want to go back to school and I’m not going to work at McDonalds. I know my music and I’m comfortable with it, and I really believe in my band’s songs and words and the relationship we have with people that like our band. Based on those facts, it’s hard not to prioritise the band first.

“Maybe if I had something to fall back on, I might start thinking about it now, but I don’t and if even I did, I don’t think I would want to because that would starting over with a clean slate. I don’t know if I have the strength or motivation or the work ethic to do that. I have it to keep the band going, but I don’t think I have it to start over. “

PARKWAY DRIV INTERVIEW: LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON – LIVE PHOTOS: DAN BEDFORD THIS PAGE: CRAIG NYE

VE

“We were more about getting the feel of the album across as opposed to the clinical precision that we were used to. We wanted to make this album as tight as possible, but at the same time not sacrifice the music’s humanity...”

IN AUGUST LAST YEAR, I TOOK A TRIP DOWN TO BYRON BAY TO ATTEND THE PREMIERE SCREENING OF PARKWAY DRIVE’S DVD. IN A CINEMA WHERE NEARLY EVERY SEAT WAS TAKEN, I WAS AN IGNORED IMPOSTER IN THE CORNER AS THE TOWN’S HARDCORE COMMUNITY – FRIENDS, FAMILIES AND A SELECT SCATTERING OF FANS – GATHERED TO CELEBRATE WHAT WAS AT THE TIME THE FIVE PIECE’S CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT TO THEIR ALREADY SUCCESSFUL CAREER.

The members of Parkway Drive sat in the middle of the cinema among close mates and tried their hardest not to draw attention to themselves. When the DVD finished and received a round of applause, they hosed down any calls of “Speech!” with a shy shake of the head and a smile.

In the eyes of many teenagers around the country, Parkway Drive might be a band of men who they revere as Godlike musical figures, but on that night among family and friends they were just five quiet blokes who demonstrated humility as well as they do breakdowns.

At the time they were busy writing what we now know is their third album Deep Blue, and writing

feverishly at that. They had a lofty benchmark to topple; 2007’s Horizons not only consolidated their massive fan base, but it expanded it in a way that not many thought possible. It has been a long time since a band came out of Australia and stamped their mark upon the world with such heavy handedness.

With Horizons Parkway Drive did just that (though this process was more than begun following the release of their debut, Killing With A Smile and their subsequent signing to international punk label tour de force, Epitaph). They did The Warped Tour and sold out show after show in both Australia and Europe.

Once back in the comforts of their

old Byron Bay haunts, with the past few years behind and with the beginnings of a concept for an album before them, the songs for Deep Blue began to come to them thick and fast.

“We set about trying to write an album as an actual album, not a bunch of songs simply thrown together, and once we started writing we didn’t really stop. It just went and went and went,” says vocalist Winston McCall from his home in Byron Bay. “We had an idea of how we wanted it to flow so once we wrote a song with a certain sound, we wrote the next song to either compliment that or juxtapose it. We kept it all in mind and we didn’t hit any sort of writer’s block. We

just kept at it until the album was done.”

Listening to Deep Blue from its haunting beginning to its urgent conclusion bears testament to McCall’s words. It is a fluid album both in its lyrical message and its musical focus. Some of the credit comes down to the production work of Joe Baressi (who has worked with the likes of Bad Religion and Queens Of The Stone Age), but as a matter of fact, if it were not for scheduling issues McCall and the rest of the band (guitarists Luke Kilpatrick and Jeff Ling, bassist Jia O’Connor and drummer Ben Gordon) would not have been working with him at all. “(Working with Joe) came about

through sheer coincidence. We had tried to work with Adam (Dutkiewicz, guitarist for Killswitch Engage and producer of Parkway’s first two records) again for a really long time, and he was trying to work with us as well, but we just couldn’t get the schedules together,” says McCall.

“We had absolutely no idea who to work with once we realised that we wouldn’t be working with Adam and then Joe’s name came up. When we looked at his resume we thought, ‘He hasn’t done anything that sounds like this before’. At first we were a bit skeptical about that, but then we thought that it could be a really good idea to work with somebody who doesn’t have any preconceived ideas about how this

“There’s nothing perfect about people playing instruments. If you play it in a human way there is no way that you can sustain one hundred percent energy for every single hit throughout a song or even remain in time. There are so many little variables that make music what it is; it’s these little human elements that make music so personal...”

“…it’s beyond comfort, it’s beyond rich and poor, it’s just… there’s this mass of humanity working for the minimum of humanity just to add some decimals to a bank account. It’s not survival. There is nothing human about it...” music should sound and just go on the music alone.

ers and sets it apart from its predecessors, 2007’s Horizons and 2005’s Killing With A Smile.

“He’s been doing this for so long Whether the album would have that it worked exactly how we been better or worse if it was wanted it to. We went in and recorded with Parkway’s original went on feel. If it sounded and felt producer is entirely academic right to us we just went with it. We now, but Baressi was clearly the were more about getting the feel right man for the job once the of the album across as opposed album is listened to in its entirety. to the clinical precision that we were used to. We wanted to make “There’s nothing perfect about this album as tight as possible, people playing instruments. If but at the same time not sacrifice you play it in a human way there the music’s humanity.” is no way that you can sustain one hundred percent energy for With a new producer also came a every single hit throughout a song new way of capturing Parkway’s or even remain in time. There music on tape. With Adam D, who are so many little variables that has also helmed releases by As make music what it is; it’s these I Lay Dying, Underoath, Unearth little human elements that make and of course, Killswitch Engage, music so personal, otherwise you recording was a very structured just end up with techno beats,” and highly technical affair. With McCall says with a laugh.

Baressi, a lot of what is heard on Deep Blue are real instruments, “At the beginning when we were played live and recorded off the thinking of working with Adam floor in their own time. again we were also thinking of making a record that sounded “It wasn’t actually the band paydifferent, but it would have also ing live in the sense that it was been a comfortable experience all of us together, it was the raw because we would have known sounds of the guitars coming out what to expect and how it would of the amplifiers and the drums have been recorded.” being played as drums,” McCall explains.

There is nothing comfortable about listening to Deep Blue “Generally these days the differeither. A concept record about a ence is that you will go in and man who travels down to the botyou’ll play the guitars, and if it’s tom of the ocean to understand not tight enough you’ll fiddle and find his place in the world, it around with it on a computer and is also where McCall delivers a use little tricks to make sure that picture perfect diatribe against each note is hit perfectly. With the society that he and his band drums most of the time they’ll get mates find themselves a part of. a totally different drum sound off a computer and substitute each It is a society where people slave individual hit for this other bigger, away in jobs they hate for materidifferent sound. We just wanted alistic purchases that do not imto record it so it sounded like a pact on their survival and practice band playing naturally. It leads selfishness over charity. McCall to a very tight sound but also it is no longer a young man raging leads to every drum stroke sound- against the world for all that he’s ing exactly the same.” worth. He’s seen a enough of it now to really understand what he And this raw element of Deep is talking about.

Blue jumps out of the speak-

“It comes with age and with experience. I couldn’t have written these lyrics back when we wrote Killing With A Smile. It’s not so much a dulling of anger or having a vendetta against the world, it’s more of an album of calm loss and disappointment. It’s far more of a personal album because of that, rather than just coming out and saying ‘I hate this, I hate you’.

It’s more of an album that says, ‘Look what’s going on and what it’s doing to yourself and your mind’. I like the lyrics on Deep Blue the most out of anything I’ve ever written. I don’t know if people are going to get it, but they certainly mean the most to me,” McCall says.

For those that do function in the nine-to-five working world, a song like ‘Sleepwalker’ will either prove to be confronting or cathartic. It brings to mind a famous quote by Tyler Durden from Fight Club: “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need”.

But this is not a catch cry for violent revolution by McCall; instead it is a furious meditation on society’s existential effects on a human being, particularly those in the world who have foregone their personal dreams, happiness and goals for comfort and financial safety.

“It’s strange that people do (this) though. It’s weird: the more I travel and the more cultures I experience the more I ask myself why we have created these societies in this manner. It’s so odd that so many people are working towards the common goal of making so few even more…” McCall stops talking for a moment, gathers his thoughts, and continues “…it’s beyond comfort, it’s beyond rich and poor, it’s just…there’s this mass of humanity working for the minimum of humanity just to add some decimals to a bank

account. It’s not survival. There is nothing human about it. We have created this odd society that works in this manner and there’s no reason that we should be living like this. There are essentials to living, but to be craving what we crave and to push ourselves the way we are heading is just so bizarre.”

McCall and the rest of Parkway Drive know that they have a more unique view on society than others. Traveling the world year in, year out and entertaining people is their job. They see aspects of many cultures in a way that not many are afforded, and while it makes him as pissed as hell, he does not take this odd sense of voyeurism for granted.

“But at the same time I have a girlfriend who I’ve been with for a long time who works – and she works her arse off. But there’s also this voyeurism coupled with the fact that we don’t live in this isolated bubble of existence of being out of our city or hometown and getting our information through whatever filter we have through television. We travel to all these places all over the world and see first hand how society operates. We actually get to see the repercussions of what we do in Australia when we buy certain products from overseas,” McCall explains.

“So it’s like drifting through the world in this sense of voyeurism, but it’s not a nice one: it leaves you saying, ‘I can see the problem, I know how to fix it, but I can’t’. It’s hopeless. It’s horrible.

We live a blessed life in this band.

It’s amazing what we do, but at the same time it’s horrible to see how the world really operates.

“Need has gone out the window.

It’s desire and that’s it. Desire and ego seems to have taken over survival and passion. It’s

this desire to have more and by having more one will acquire more power than someone else.

That’s what drives a lot of people, and that really drives a wedge between the haves and havenots. How can there be this much money and this much wealth in the world and three quarters of the world is starving to death? It’s bizarre.”

Even more bizarre is the size of Parkway Drive’s fan base the world over, and in particular in Australia. Only six years ago, Parkway was playing to about one hundred people at the Youth Activity Centre in Byron Bay, and played second out of five bands.

Now they headline the majority of shows they play, and it’s no longer hundreds of people they play for but thousands. It doesn’t matter if you like hardcore, punk rock, metal, emo, or anything else in between. Their crossover appeal is evident in the smorgasbord of subcultures that frequent their shows.

“It’s not an insular scene anymore,” says McCall with a small chuckle.

However, can that influx of supporters affect how a band operates and creates their music?

“We’ve never been a band who has given much thought to what people expect of us,” he answers.

“When we began writing music together we never did it with this in mind. We were more focused on writing music for us and that we would have fun playing live and listening to. We’ve always followed that formula and if other people like it then they like it.”

It must be comforting then to have so many people like what you do, but it’s even more comforting to know that rather than play it safe and release another album in the same vein as Killing

With A Smile or Horizons, Parkway Drive are not afraid to explore their pop punk roots in ‘Home Is For The Heartless’ or even slow it down in a song such as ‘Alone’.

Nothing is off limits because as much as they adore their fans, at the end of the day they are playing music to entertain themselves.

But playing metal-inspired music in the past decade seems to come with a cost. Metalcore has become a dirty word to many, tarnished with repetition, mimicry, limited ideas, and formulaic compositions. Parkway Drive hasn’t escaped with being tarred with this same brush by music journalists and fans alike.

But then again, play a Parkway song anywhere and you’ll immediately know who it is. They’ve developed a sound of their own, and McCall believes that if having your own style means having to live with being tagged with the aforementioned insults, then it’s more than a worthy trade off.

“To be honest, I’d be happy if no one knew our songs because we write this for us. The fact that people do is really nice. Maybe the fact that this genre especially has blown up so much that anything sounding like this is very susceptible to trends and what is ‘in’ at that point in time that people write less of what they want to hear and more than what someone else is playing. It seems like any influence they do have is taken directly from what’s going on in that point in time and from a specific source, like they want to sound like band X or band Y. “We’ve never really gone out to try and sound like everyone else.

We’ve come out and said that we want to be heavy, we want to be fast, and we like certain bands, but we haven’t said that there’s a band that we want to sound

“We live a blessed life in this band, it’s amazing what we do, but at the same time it’s horrible to see how the world really operates.

Need has gone out the window. It’s desire and that’s it. Desire and ego seems to have taken over survival and passion...”

“To be honest, I’d be happy if no one knew our songs because we write this for us. The fact that people do is really nice...” like and then go about trying to imitate that. We’ve always done it in our own little way. The music style that we have is one that is played a lot, but at the end of the day it’s us being us, not us being someone else,” he says.

The band still record demos in the infamous ‘Parkway House’ featured heavily on last year’s DVD and most days when they’re home one can still find them somewhere in the surf around the Byron region. Success may have found them, but they’re not letting it dictate the music that they write or the environment in which they write it.

But go back to the band’s early, formative days; the split releases with I Killed The Prom Queen, even the Don’t Close Your Eyes

EP, and play it next to Deep Blue.

What you’ll be hearing is not the sound of a band repeating themselves but a gradual progression of maturity and songwriting dynamics.

“You progress as people and you progress in the way you write the songs and how you play them.

There’s definite progression in what we’ve done, but it might not be as obvious,” explains McCall.

“We still have the same goal as we did from the very start when it comes to writing music, it’s just those little extra bits that you go along through life and through playing more, hearing or seeing things being played and it all just seeps in there and it’s just this osmosis of influence, rather than massive sledgehammers of

change.”

Speaking of change, McCall recently made the jump from front man of band to co-director of the band’s video for their latest single ‘Sleepwalker’. It was shot guerilla style by both McCall and Aaron Briggs of Motion Circus through Brisbane at absurdly early hours when the city was vacant and still in slumber. Was this something that McCall always envisaged doing?

“Not very long at all!” he says immediately. “It didn’t come out of this burning desire of mine to do it, but more came out of the fact that it’s very hard with the budget and means that we have to create something that we are completely happy with. It stemmed from doing the DVD ourselves and hav-

“...it was strange walking around a city I am very familiar with and finding it completely deserted. But that’s what most of my life is; anytime I look at a city is after we play which can be as late as 3am in the morning...” ing a hand in every aspect of the production of it that we came out with something that we were one hundred percent happy with. So when I had this bizarre concept for the clip we realized that there would be no way that we could expect somebody to get this across in the exact way that we wanted to.”

“It was really awesome because we worked with an amazing camera called ‘The Red’ – it’s what they used to shoot District 9. So neither of us had ever used a camera like it before so we had to learn how to use it and then drive up three days in a row from Byron to Brisbane before dawn.

So we just stalked around the empty streets of Brisbane, climbing walls, getting these shots with the CGI in mind.”

Early morning wanderings of any city are a little haunting. While McCall was dodging the cops and scaling walls all around Brisbane, he couldn’t help but feel that sense of bewilderment in the world that caused him to write the lyrics for Deep Blue in the first place “That’s when you realise how bizarre things really are, when you look at all of it (the city) and think to yourself, ‘What is this here for? No one is sleeping in these buildings – but you heard the rant before,” he says, cutting himself off with laugh before he breaks into stride.

“But it was strange walking around a city I am very familiar with and finding it completely

deserted. But that’s what most of my life is; anytime I look at a city is after we play which can be as late as 3am in the morning.”

We part ways and I am left thinking about our conversation for several hours afterwards. I start asking myself all the questions that McCall has raised while explaining the lyrics for Deep Blue and whether I agree with his stance or not. But then, after a night spent musing over my responses, I can only come to one conclusion: McCall has succeeded in what he set out to do in the first place. He’s made me take stock of my situation in the world and reevaluate it. The fact that his words are set to one of the catchiest heavy records to come out of Australia for a long time is only the icing on the cake.

INTERVIEW: SARAH PETCHELL – LIVE PHOTOS: BEN CLEMENT

RUINER

HANDS DOWN, ROB SULLIVAN WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT PERSON I’VE EVER HAD TO INTERVIEW EVER! HE IS UNAPOLOGETICALLY AN ARSEHOLE. HE WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS, LEAVE NO HOLDS BARRED AND IF HE DOESN’T WANT TO ANSWER A QUESTION OR DOESN’T CARE FOR YOUR QUESTION HE WILL LET YOU KNOW. THAT BEING SAID, WHEN YOU GET HIM ONTO A SUBJECT HE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT HE OPENS RIGHT UP AND, LIKE I SAID, WILL TELL YOU PRECISELY WHAT HE THINKS AND PRECISELY HOW IT IS. This interview was conducted while the band were on tour here in Australia earlier this year, and I daresay that it’s probably the last they did before announcing that the band would be splitting up after they had completed their tour commitments. I felt a little vindi-

don’t get bothered by anybody so I don’t care. But, you know, there are certain places you don’t go.

There are areas in Baltimore you just straight don’t go, like just, if you’re white, don’t go there or at certain times of the day you just don’t go there. The thing about The Wire is they film most of that The first thing I want to ask you East Baltimore but it’s suppose is as someone who has never really been there, what’s Baltimore to be West Baltimore and part of actually like cause I really on have that reason is because they can’t film there, they had too many isThe Wire’s version to be honest with you. sues.”

“Its like The Wire. I mean, there are nice parts of it they definitely What was it like growing up there, don’t talk about on The Wire but in that sort of environment? Or in a sense of crime, yeah it’s is it you don’t know any better so pretty bad. don’t really stress on it.

“I don’t know, the town I grew up “I live in the city and I grew up in in is pretty white trash and the a town directly next to the city so middle school I went to, see I there is really no difference and ended up going to a Tech School when I moved into the city I actu- for High School so it changed the ally moved to a better part of the dynamic a little bit.” city than the town I lived in and now I live in a pretty shitty fuck“But the middle school I went to, ing area. I live in a really bad area about two years after I got out, now. They actually filmed part of it installed metal detectors and The Wire by where I lived. that sort of stuff but I don’t know.

To me it was totally normal and it “I don’t know, I love it there. I didn’t really bother me as I undercated after Rob (on behalf of the band) made this announcement as I walked away from Rob after this interview thinking, “I’m pretty sure he just hinted at the fact that once they got back home the band would be breaking up”.

stood it. The high schools in Baltimore City, and this is why I did not go to high school in Baltimore city, are fucked. They have problems. There is shit that happens in those schools that doesn’t even make the news because they don’t care to report it. Like I know there has been shootings there and bomb threats and stuff and they don’t even report on it.

“There is lots of stuff in Baltimore that don’t ever get reported on, because no one cares because white people aren’t involved. Let something happen to a white person in that city and everyone hears about it. That’s just how it is. It sucks!”

Because then they can create moral panic and things like that.

“Yeah. Like the moment something happens in the tourist area – like the shooting that happened in the harbour last summer.

That’s like the tourist area of Baltimore and they like to keep it nice and make sure it stays that way. And that area is starting to spread out wider and wider

because they’re dumping more money into areas down there.

“Anyway, there was a shooting down there and you would have thought a fucking war was happening in Baltimore, I mean everybody was freaking out. You couldn’t go downtown without seeing a cop because they just put on so much more patrol and the story changed like four times after the initial announcement of the story. One of the radio show hosts is actually a guy that was an actor on The Wire. So he hosts a radio show now, and usually if you’re listening to him and something happens you hear the real story first. Then within two weeks, if it’s changing, you hear the changes and its kind of funny how it happens. It’s really fucked up!”

With all this context, I have to ask how has Baltimore and your experiences kind of influenced, not just what you do with Ruiner but I guess kind like how you live your life as a whole?

“Where I grew up I’m definitely,

definitely the epitome of that area. I have been told by many people that they can never imagine me living anywhere else. The East Coast in general it comes with a certain humour and a certain attitude and Baltimore in itself screams that because it’s kind of like this middle city between bigger cities. So like everyone kind of walks around with a chip on their shoulder, which is kind of me in general.

“But you know, we’re technically bigger than Washington DC but we don’t get treated like we’re bigger. Then Philadelphia is directly above us. Philadelphia and Baltimore are extremely similar cities, but Philadelphia is twice the size of Baltimore. Then you have New York right above that.

Then the real funny thing is that Baltimore holds a worse crime rate than all of them. If Baltimore had New York’s population, 4,000 people would be murdered a year. Like we have a 300-person murder, and if we flipped the population per capita we would have 4000 murders a year. But,

like I said, it ain’t happening to white people so everyone kind of ignores it.”

I guess the other question is that you hear about the New York hardcore or Boston hardcore, but what is the community like in Baltimore, if there is one?

“There is one, like you said there’s like a specific style to most cities and Baltimore really doesn’t have that. I mean, the bands that get out the most out of Baltimore are three drastically different bands. It’s basically us, Pulling Teeth and Trapped Under Ice, and there are really no similarities between those three bands. And, in some degree we’re all friends and it’s just, it’s funny.

“In mentality, us and Pulling Teeth are very similar people. We all came up together and we operate very similarly. Like we’re very DIY bands – our labels do very little for us short of putting out our records, but everything else is handled by the bands. So the two of us are pretty similar.

“Trapped Under Ice took a different road but there are definitely lots of differences in Baltimore.

Even the other bands that are starting up or have been around for a while but haven’t broken out as much are very different. There are really no bands that are similar whereas a lot of times in some of the other cities you get bands that are. It’s like, ‘Oh, they’re from that area’, because they kind of sound like this band cause they’re from the same area.”

that one.

“There are always different roots embedded there, but with that song it was about how things became safe and that’s what I don’t like – people being so fucking scared to say whatever they think and getting really caught up in opinions of others. You know, how they feel they should be reacting to something or how other people should view them. I think it comes off as a joke sometimes, like they hold high the standards set by someone else way too high and feel that they should be living up to that. It’s just sort of nauseating at times.”

Have you noticed that in other places you’ve travelled at all?

Because, realistically speaking, hardcore is an American thing so there is going to be an element of appropriation.

“It sucks to say it, but the biggest problem when it comes to like Europe or Australia or Asia – anywhere other than America – is that that’s what is going to happen. I can’t explain it without sounding arrogant, but yeah. America is where hardcore originated. At the end of the day, hardcore and the whole style of it came from America, so it’s really hard when it starts getting out there and spreading because people take it from what it actually is and just take what they see, what is presented to them.

I guess on a more positive note what Baltimore bands are there that are kind of coming up that people should be keeping an eye I just want to talk about one of out for? your songs for a second, ‘Two “There’s like a new grouping Words’, from Hell Is Empty beof youth crew type bands like cause what I kind of take from Mindset and this band called that is you’re talking about how Craze. It’s all dudes that are in hardcore has become sort of a bunch of bands, it’s kind of this thing where it’s all style over like this group of guys that are substance. Do you really feel that all in the same bands and move modern hardcore has kind of lost around and then play in different its way a bit and its kind of betray- bands. There’s this band called ing the roots of where it came Sacred Love that kind of has this from?

Burn sort of thing going on. Then “I don’t even think it’s specifically there’s a band called Deep Sleep hardcore in general but instead who have actually been around a more or less the people. I don’t while but they play more of like an want to lump it down to just that aggressive kind of thing. It’s regenre because I don’t even really ally good. There’s a band called like considering a band just like Surroundings who are kind of like

Rise & Fall but more even more dirtier than that. We have a lot of different bands going on and I think, if anything, Mindset is probably the band that’s going to pick up when some of us slow down in the coming years.”

In terms of song-writing and lyricwriting, how important is honesty to you especially I guess, given some of the superficiality that’s going on in the scene I guess?

“In life in general, I can’t stand it if someone can’t just be straight about something. I understand getting caught in situations where you don’t know if you can tell if telling the truth is the worst thing or if keeping it to yourself is the worst thing, but in all degrees in life I respect honesty over just about everything else.

“When it comes to lyrics, I fucking hate when I realise a band is fronting on where they stand on things. One of the biggest things that ruins a band for me is when I meet them in person and they don’t live to a standard they set, which I can understand that has probably been felt when people meet me, but I also don’t think I present myself as a nice person so really, when someone thinks I’m a prick I don’t really understand why they didn’t get that in the first place.

“But I’ve meet tonnes of the bands coming up that I really liked and you know, they got me in some ways and really make me feel like, “Fuck you’re the reason I like I want to be doing this”. I’ll find out something about them, I’ll see them do something, we’ll be on tour and I’ll be, ‘What the fuck man? Why are you such a douchebag? Like why are you such a sketchy arsehole?’

“It’s the kind of dude that would get up on stage and preach about all sorts of things about positive lifestyles and shit like that and then like go out and scam on the first girl that homes in on his vision. And just shit like that.

There’s lots more examples I could give of why things bum me out. At least come straight with it.

If you’re that kind of person, be that kind of person. I don’t give a

fuck. Just be that. Put it out there.

Just be who you are. Don’t try to hide it so you can put on a fucking face for people so they like you. I just hate that shit.”

The next question then has to be how important is to you that your lyrics and the music that all you guys are delivering does carry a message then?

“I mean, I don’t know if it’s important to me in the sense that I want other people to really feel it, because I don’t care that much.

It’s just more or less me venting, and that kind of comes along with it. I mean, granted, I get on the soapbox about plenty of shit because I’m egotistical enough to think my opinion matters.

“For most part, I think it’s important that people have an opinion like that and they do speak out.

Even if I disagree with it. Sometimes I hear bands talk and say something I totally disagree with it and it’s the first thing out of my mouth when I pick up a microphone, because I think that there should be other opinions.

But I am glad that they did that.

I’m glad that they are willing to put that out there. I just think that people aren’t willing to share enough blood anymore. I mean, they’re too fucking concerned with what other people think.’

I saw on your MySpace that before you guys arrived here you did a tour of Asia, specifically China and Malaysia and places like that. What was that like? I’ve heard heaps of bands have gone to Malaysia but I’ve never actually heard of, particularly hardcore bands, going to China.

“China was different. Coming from the US where you have seen big cities, you have not seen shit until you go to Asia and you’re like, ‘Wow, there’s so many people here”. They’ve got 30 million people in one city. That’s fucking insane! You can’t go anywhere, you can’t do anything and you just run into people all the time. You’ll be driving for like an hour and still you’re in the city.

The thing I am really curious about is what is the scene really sort of like in China?

“Everywhere we’ve been in Asia – because we have done Japan now, China, and all of South East Asia – South East Asia was a lot like fucking anywhere else except that the language barrier makes it difficult to communicate. But as a whole, it’s pretty similar.

“China, no. You’re talking about a country that in a sense the government has stopped the intake of this type of music and of media outlets. Just to get our Visas there we had to make sure that our normal jobs, on paper weren’t things they were going to tell us we couldn’t be. Like one of the guys works at a print shop and it was like, “Oh, you’ve got to change that. They’re not going let you over there just because you could work for a print shop that works for a newspaper.” They don’t want anybody, any media outlets over there.

What’s the most rewarding thing that you’ve got out of being a part of Ruiner? [Really long pause] Nothing?

“The most rewarding thing? I can name all the unrewarding things..”

You can go ahead and do that if you want…

“No, I’ve been dwelling on that for too long now. I don’t know, I’ve gotten to see the world pretty much in a manner no one else does. It sucks that it sometimes comes down to seeing it out of a window or just saying you’ve been somewhere when you haven’t really seen shit. I’ve still gotten to do it and that’s better than most.

The town I grew up in, fucking not many can say that and I mean that’s awesome.

“I have met a lot of people in my life that, when this is said and done, I will be legitimately upset that I will never probably see them again and that, I think, is the rewarding experience to know.

Even though that’s a depressing thing, not many people actually get to say that they’ve met people that had such an impact in their life that they think about someone in is in their life everyday.”

Who would have thought that 12 years after they broke up members of Refused would still be fielding interviews about their old band? The four members of the seminal Swedish hardcore punk band certainly didn’t. So for this interview to take place is a massive thing. No Heroes’ first Obituary was on Refused, and rightly so: since they released 1997’s The Shape Of Punk To Come their musical legacy and aura just keeps growing and growing. This was aided by guitarist Kristofer Steen, who in 2006 released his documentary Refused Are Fucking Dead which addressed the band’s breakup in 1998.

An even more awesome point to note with this interview is that it is with guitarist Jon Brännström, who in twelve years has only done two…and the second is with No Heroes. This may be the last time that the members of Refused open up about their old band ever again.

The last time any interviews about Refused were done was

over four years ago. What’s it like fielding questions about Refused again?

“I’ve actually only done one interview, until now, in the last 12 years and that was the one with Kris, for the documentary. So, it feels a little weird and selective amnesia has also set in. On a positive note, I’ve not grown tired of taking interviews. Thus, I don’t hate it as I used to.”

The members of Refused all seem to be people who are musically forward thinking and try not to repeat what they’ve done in the past. Can it get frustrating having the legacy of your old band shadowing your career?

“I don’t know if what you say is true. David (Sandström, drummer) and Dennis (Lyxzén, vocalist) have both been working mainly with quite straightforward rock bands, which is line with what Refused was, and they have been successful in doing so.

“I’ve been writing and producing and Kris has been directing film and opera, career choices not so

close to touring with a punk band, but none of us have been actively trying to move away from what we did with Refused.

“I’d say we were more focused on renewal and avoiding repetition when we were still together as a band. When we broke up we had already started recording a new album and if that had been released as a Refused album, we would surely have buried our legacy deep in confusion and ridicule.”

The Shape Of Punk To Come was written when you were all still in your early twenties. Looking back on it thirteen years later, how would you have written it differently?

“Yeah, we sure were kids. I was actually still a teenager when we did that album. I guess there are certain degrees of shamelessness, spontaneity and carelessness that comes with being a kid that had an impact on how we wrote songs and also made career choices.

REFUSED INTERVIEW: LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON

think it was remastered, though.

“Epitaph wanted to put bonus tracks on the CD, an idea that we opposed. We are still proud and happy with the record and did not want alter its shape or form, since we put quite a lot of work into arranging it as a complete album, rather than a collection of songs.

So we decided that all extra material, apart from being of high quality, should be on separate discs and not interfere with the graphical layout of the album.”

“I suppose I spend more time thinking and analysing when I make music nowadays, which is not necessarily a good thing.”

A lot of bands have cited Refused and in particular ...Shape... as one of their biggest influences.

When you were writing the album, what was your own personal ...Shape...? ...Shape...

“If your asking about our influences, I think they can be heard and seen quite clearly in that album.

For example, I stole riffs, samples and arrangements from Sonny Rollins, Diamanda Galás, Afghan Whigs and DJ Shadow, while Dennis, Kris and David had their own, quite diverging sources. I suppose the only musical influence we could all agree on, at the time, was Slayer.”

Why the decision to remaster the record now? Is this the way that you’ve always wanted the album to be presented?

“The contract with Epitaph had expired and after renegotiating they wanted to some kind of rerelease campaign. I don’t even

You said in the DVD that the band went to a new level with the writing and recording of ...Shape...

Where do you think that you would have gone next had the band stayed together?

“I know where we would have gone next. We were heading for creative megalomania and disaster. As I mentioned we had started recording a new album, but since we couldn’t stand each other anymore it was done in four different studios. It was basically going to be four conjoined solo projects. Shit idea, to be honest.

I’m quite happy we split up when we did, because I’m sure we couldn’t ever have done a better album than …Shape…”

What bought about the decision to leave all inhibitions aside and completely experiment on the album?

“I wouldn’t say we did. It was a less conservative album than our previous ones, and other hardcore albums at the time, but it’s not that experimental and groundbreaking in my opinion. I guess we felt more comfortable and self-confident in our writing than before, hence less restrained by the quite stale norms surrounding the hardcore scene at the time. But it’s still a quite straightforward punk rock album, I think.”

Do you remember how the band reacted when your audiences first heard the record?

“Yeah, we were kind of disap-

pointed. Mostly at ourselves because we felt we couldn’t do our songs justice in the live setting.

“Also, the interest in us, and the hardcore scene in general was diminishing at the time - at least in Sweden - so the attendance to our shows was quite low. It actually took quite a few years after we split up until people started thinking and talking about …

Shape… as a somewhat important record.”

Have you become more attached to the album over time, or is there now a distance between you and ...Shape...? ...Shape...

“I was very pleased with the album at the time and I still am. I don’t listen to it often, but when I do, I still feel kind of proud.”

Since ...Shape... was released, are there any albums in your opinion that have had as big an influence on the make up of punk music as your album has had?

“In my opinion, there hasn’t been a truly ground-breaking punk rock release since Bad Brains’ Rock For Light. Great albums, sure, but not important in that sense.

The 90’s and 00’s haven’t been decades where punk rock has brought us much musical and political advancement. Luckily, there has been stuff going on within other scenes and genres.”

Dennis said not too long ago that “the legend is better than the actual thing”. Twelve years after Refused split up, do you think you were as good as people now make you out to be, or better?

“The main reason some people praise us is because they never got to see us live, never got to hang out in Umeå while the hardcore scene was at its peak and so on. Had they been around, they wouldn’t think much of it. If we would reunite for a tour, as has been suggested, we would soon after be forgotten, I think. So, I’d have to agree with Dennis on that.”

UNEARTH INTERVIEW: SARAH PETCHELL

FOR ANYONE THAT HAS EVER SEEN THE MASSACHUSETTS METAL BAND, UNEARTH, LIVE THEY WOULD KNOW JUST HOW AMAZINGLY ENERGETIC, FUN AND ENTERTAINING THEIR LIVE SHOW ACTUALLY IS. AND IT’S NOT AT ALL IN THAT CHEESY, ROCKSTAR WAY. IT’S JUST FIVE DUDES, HAVING A BLAST ONSTAGE WHILE DISPLAYING THEIR FORMIDABLE CHOPS AS A TECHNICALLY TALENTED BAND. HAVING JUST FINISHED A TOUR OF AUSTRALIA WITH THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, UNEARTH ARE MOVING ON TO TOURING EUROPE AS WELL AS WORKING ON WRITING THEIR NEWEST METALCORE MASTERPIECE – THEIR SIXTH FULL-LENGTH ALBUM – DUE OUT MID2011.

JUST BEFORE THEY TOURED AUSTRALIA THIS PAST JUNE, NO HEROES CAUGHT SOME TIME WITH VOCALIST TREVOR PHIPPS TO DISCUSS JUST EXACTLY HAS BEEN GOING ON IN THE UNEARTH CAMP AND WHAT THEY HAVE COMING UP IN THE NEAR FUTURE. So what’s going on for you guys right now?

“We’re gearing up for our world tour.

We start May 23 in Japan, head to New Zealand and then Australia with a final three-week stop in Europe. All in all, we’re gone for just under six weeks and about 30,000 miles of flying.”

You obviously have your Australian tour with Black Dahlia Murder coming up. What are you most looking forward to in relation to the tour?

“The shows are always the thing I look most forward too. There is nothing like getting on stage and raging out some metal tunes for people who are into it. It’s the best feeling on the fucking planet for me.

Where is the strangest place you’ve ever toured and what was that experience like?

“The strangest place we have ever been on tour, so far, was Moscow, Russia. It’s not that the city and the country are at all strange. In fact it is the opposite of strange, as it seemed like most of the European cities we have been to. The reason why it was strange for me was because I was alive during the tail end of the Cold War and because of the propaganda that was fed to us at the time it made it seem like we would never step foot in Moscow. Standing in the Red Square in front of Lenin’s tomb was definitely a trip for me.”

How does touring so much affect your lives?

“My life would be drastically different if I wasn’t in a touring band. It is hard to put in words at how different things would be, but it would be insanely different.”

Does it mean that Unearth is a fulltime for you all, or do you still have other jobs that you come home to?

“Unearth has, collectively, been our full-time job since 2004 with the release of our Metal Blade debut The Oncoming Storm. Ever since then

venue and we always love coming back home to our fans here at home.

They have supported us since we started over 10 years ago and they continue to be there for us every time we come back.”

How much of an influence has it actually been on Unearth both in terms of your music and your ethic as a band?

“Being from Massachusetts definitely helped us find who we were as a band. Growing up, going to local hardcore and metal shows and playing in shitty high school bands got us all in the mind set to put on high energy live performances and to fine tune our writing skills. Without the competition for shows and the instilled love of aggressive music, our band wouldn’t exist.”

What changes have you noticed in metal as a whole between starting out as a band and now?

“Nothing is really all that different from what it ever was. Certain sub-genres have popped up, certain trends have come and gone, but the over-all scene is the same.

we have circled the globe a bunch of times, toured six to eight months a year and have released three fulllength albums and a DVD. “A couple of us do other things to keep us busy though. I have a record label called Ironclad Recordings (www.ironcladrecordings.com), Ken has a recording studio (System Recordings) and Slo wrote a gambling journal called Bet on Black.”

What is the Massachusetts metal scene like?

“It is very competitive, but also very supportive. Bands like Converge, Bane, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, The Red Chord, All That Remains, Have Heart and a bunch of others over the years have given the scene a competitive edge to the bands.

“It is up to the fans as to what “style” of aggressive music becomes the next trend to come and go, but metal and hardcore as a whole isn’t going away and things will continue to recycle itself as it always has done.”

Do you have any plans in the works for a follow up to The March?

“We are currently writing material and hope the have a new album out next May or June (2011).”

If so, can you give us any sneaky hints as to what it’s sounding like?

“Never!!!! We will push our limits musically, as we always do, and there will be some changes to the sound and vibe, but our songs will always have the same Unearth feel to them no matter what we do. It will be aggressive, heavy and in-your-face metal.”

“We are all friends, but also pay attention to what each band is doing in relation to their albums and tours and we use that as an inspiration to push the band beyond what the others have done.

What is the writing and recording experience like for you guys? What do you get out of the whole process?

“Writing and recording is both a creative release as well as a physically and emotionally draining experience.

With so much emphasis on creativity and getting good takes in the studio, it can wear you down. But the reward of creating music outweighs any stresses your body and mind endure.

“The fans are also very supportive.

We shot the video for our song ‘This Glorious Nightmare’ at our home

“Every record, every song, every riff and every lyric is a challenge, but an experience we all love going through

time and time again.”

One thing I’m curious about, especially because you are in the process of writing a new album, is how do you feel about your older material now that you look back on it?

“Every record you make is a snapshot of who you were and where the band was at that point in time.

Sometimes you can go back to old material to get inspiration to write again and sometimes you can use it as a reference.

“That being said, you always want to keep moving forward and get inspired by different things. If every album sounded exactly the same you would get tired of the same old song over and over again.”

Has there ever been a moment where you’ve gone, “Shit, we’ve just surpassed everything we wanted to achieve with this band.”? I mean that in a positive way...

“There are always new goals to reach. When we first started, a goal of ours was to play with a national band, then it was to record a demo, then it was to get signed. Then it was to tour, then it was to tour with bigger bands, then it was to sell a certain amount of albums, then it was to tour the World, and so on...

“There are always new things to strive for, more countries to play, bigger festivals, different bands, to create new music, etc. We will always continue to push for bigger and better things, but also keep our musical integrity in place. It is a fine line to walk in underground metal, but we have done it since 1998 and plan to continue to do so.”

After all this time is it still fun? And do you ever worry that it will become just a job for you?

“If I ever hear someone complain about playing the music they wrote, around the world to people that enjoy it; I will rip their fucking teeth out!

“For real though, there isn’t anything that could ever make me feel like this is just a job. It is a job, but not one to ever complain about. A lucky few have the gift of music and even fewer get the chance to showcase those skills and talents to others around the world.”

Can you see yourself being in this band or at least making music of some sort for another 12 years?

“I can see doing this until I’m old than Ozzy!”

HARDCORE 2010 FOR THE PAST 11 YEARS, GRAHAM NIXON OF RESIST RECORDS AND NIGEL MELDER OF TRIAL & ERROR HAVE PUT ON THE ANNUAL HARDCORE FESTIVAL. IT BRINGS TOGETHER SOME OF THE BEST LOCAL TALENT IN THE HARDCORE SCENE, AND OCCASIONALLY EVEN SOME OF THE BEST FROM OVERSEAS. IT’S A DAY FOR BUILDING NEW TIES, STRENGTHENING OLD ONES, HAVING A DRINK OR 12 AND JUST ENJOYING THE BEST THAT THE WEEKEND OF SHOWS – THE 18+ ON THE FRIDAY NIGHT AND THE ALL AGES MOST OF THE DAY SATURDAY – HAS TO OFFER. 2010 was no exception to the incredible lineups that have graced the stages in years past, with Mindsnare, Toe To Toe, Extortion, 50 Lions, I Exist, Dropsaw, BLKOUT!, Hand Of Mercy, Relentless, Ill Brigade, Ghost Town, Phantoms and Persist on the bill.

After the weekend, Graham Nixon granted us a short interview to recap the weekend and talk about it all from his perspective as the organiser of the whole weekend.

This year was the first in a while to have an Australian lineup. Why was that?

“The only reason I have added US bands in the past is because they had been looking to tour Australia around the same time, so it has always made sense to include them on Hardcore. In saying that, the bands who have toured, the shows interstate have never really done great, and therefore the tours have been tight financially. This year I decided it would be better to just concentrate on an all-local line up, rather then bringing out a band just for Hardcore.”

You downsized the festival this year to smaller venues (i.e. from Roundhouse to the Factory). Why was this?

In hindsight, was this a good choice?

“The first year I moved it to the Roundhouse it did great and was close to sell out. Then the following

year also worked, but the last one at the Roundhouse just didn’t do the numbers needed for a good show there and the costs involved. Even this years all ages show did lesser numbers than previous years, so it would have been a nightmare if it was at the Roundhouse. In this sense, yes it was a good choice to move it and until the Factory shows sell out in advance, it makes no sense to move it to a larger venue.”

Asides from the venue and allAustralian lineup, how did this year’s festival differ from that of previous years for you, both from an organisational and experience standpoint?

“Nothing from my end was different.

There is a little more work involved with co-ordinating an international band for the shows, so it was good to not have to worry about that and just being able to focus just on the weekend itself. The fact that the venue on the Saturday was downsized made it was slightly less stressful.”

The other standout thing about this year’s lineup was that it represented a diverse range of hardcore bands – classic hardcore to more modern metalcore. Do you think Australian hardcore is made stronger by its diversity?

“The scene would be stronger if people embraced the diversity, however I don’t think they do. You very rarely see mixed bills these days as you did ten years ago, as they just dont seem to work. Punk kids don’t like Hardcore kids, who don’t like metalcore kids, who don’t like pop kids, who have issues with emo kids – and all while everyone seems to be too cool to actually admit to liking anything. It seems people these days would much rather be negative towards things then to enjoy what we have available to us.”

How gratifying is it for you to see older bands like Mindsnare and Toe To Toe playing alongside newer bands like BLKOUT and Relentless?

“As there are not that many older bands around, I guess they have to play with someone! But yeah, it is good to see the different generations of bands playing on the one stage and both their respective fans getting into the bands.”

What sort of statement do you think that makes about the longevity of hardcore music?

“Hardcore music has been around for many years now, so their will always be a new batch of bands coming through, I just think the more the younger bands play with the more established bands, the better off they will be. There will always be bands playing hardcore music, but how good the bands are that are coming through will determine their longevity!”

The length of the all ages show (all afternoon and most of the night) is very conducive to social interaction.

Do you think the social aspect is important to the event? And even to hardcore in general?

“The best thing about the Hardcore weekend is the social side of things.

People get to catch up with people from interstate or people who they may not have seen in a long time, so really the bands are just the soundtrack to the people within the hardcore scene coming together. It is a very long day, but in saying that if it was shorter, it wouldn’t be much different from a regular show.”

What were your highlights from the weekend?

“It’s always great to see the enthusiasm from the younger bands excited to play to the larger crowds and also catching up with a lot of people I very rarely see, but deal with on a regular basis via email or phone. The highlights were seeing Mindsnare and Toe To Toe on the same bill. I Exist were great! Relentless have improved a lot, while Blkout are always fun to watch. And the fact everyone seemed to have a good weekend is a highlight in itself.”

What’s the main thing that makes you want to do this year after year?

“It’s a great way to bring together the Australian scene, both bands and hardcore music fans, and to showcase the best bands we have. When the Hardcore Superbowl finished in 1998, I decided in 2000 to do a similar thing. Now, 11 years on, I still have the same reasoning behind doing it.”

So will there be a Hardcore 2011?

And if you’ve thought ahead that far, can you give us any hints about it?

“I’m sure there will be. I generally start mapping this out in December and look at a line up in January or February. So stay tuned!”

HARDCORE 2010: RE IT’S AN OBVIOUS STATEMENT, BUT THE ANNUAL HARDCORE FESTIVAL HELD IN SYDNEY IS A FIXTURE BY WHICH OTHER EVENTS ARE PLANNED AND JUDGED. THE CULMINATION OF THE COLLECTIVE EFFORTS OF RESIST RECORDS AND TRIAL AND ERROR RECORDS, THE FESTIVAL ALLOWS FOR TWO IMPORTANT THINGS TO OCCUR. FIRST, THE PRESENTATION OF THE BEST-ESTABLISHED AND UPCOMING TALENT IN THE SCENE AND SECOND, A REKINDLING OF FRIENDSHIPS OF PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER AUSTRALIA. HARDCORE 2010 WAS NO EXCEPTION. The festivities kicked off on the Friday night with an 18+ show at the Manning Bar, but unfortunately, as is often the case with 18+ crowds, the earlier bands were largely ignored.

Opening Sydney band Ill Brigade started off proceedings with their old school take on hardcore, their set a mixture of new songs from their In This Age 7”, their previous effort The EP and their usual splattering of covers which were met with some early enthusiasm from the audience. On such a big stage, Ill Brigade fell flat as their style of hardcore better fits a sweaty pub or an all ages matinee.

Ill Brigade were followed by more established Sydney bruisers Relentless, their set a chance for the band less to show off some new cuts from forthcoming album Set In Stone.

New songs were met with much head-nodding, while older songs from the Opposition To Control EP were met with genuine enthusiasm from the growing crowd. Relentless front man Trent Baldock has learned how to control an audience, his presence and sincerity is unquestionable which allows him to connect with people while the rest of the band deliver hard punishing riffs. Relentless represent the future of Australian hardcore, and while they still have some way to go, their display on this night was convincing.

BLKOUT started the interstate invasion next, bringing their Perth via Melbourne and New York sounds to the stage and were met with the largest response yet. Taking tracks

EXTORTION

EVIEW

from their newest album Total Depravity and 7” No Justice No Peace, BLKOUT stomped their way across the stage. While the response from the crowd was enthusiastic, the performance fell flat, with the vocals weak and the songs flowing into one another, making the set ultimately forgettable. A half hour set and a large room perhaps do no justice for this crowd favourite.

BY OLIVER CATION

While the opening bands gave the growing crowd the opportunity to grab a beer and talk to some old friend, Extortion took things to the next level. The energy in the room doubled as Extortion began their usual aural assault, delivering a tight set stretching across their countless releases. Being a band with such a large back catalogue, there was always going to be songs left out, but people seemed satisfied with those performed. Extortion overcame the problem of being a band better suited to a smaller stage better than other bands, and their onslaught proved successful and memorable, especially for their uncharacteristic failure during set closer ‘Demolition.’

PHANTOMS

While other bands struggled with the size of the room, Toe To Toe revelled in it, filling the Manning Bar with enthusiasm and ferocity. For a band that many had previously dismissed, Toe To Toe were a true revelation, showing up their younger counterparts with precision, passion and a memorable performance. The crowd, now appropriately lubricated with alcohol, reciprocated all the energy that was thrown at them. An oldfashioned pit formed and there were sing-a-longs galore. While delving into the past to play some classics, Toe To Toe played many songs from the new Resist released Arturo Gatti.

Hopefully lots of younger fans will look at this band as a blueprint on how hardcore should be done as Toe To Toe continue to prove their relevance in 2010.

Mindsnare is Mindsnare, if you don’t know yet, you aren’t paying enough attention. Once again, they were the main attraction and seemingly the only band in the world when on stage. The pit erupted furiously, the old and young coming together to pay homage to the undisputed kings of Australian hardcore. Without a release since Disturb The Hive, the set was made up of songs from across their back catalogue, to the delight of all fans young and old. In absolute top form, Mindsnare filled the venue with noise and atmosphere, a fulfilling end to part one of the weekend.

BLKOUT

MINDSNARE

Day 2 started in the afternoon sun, the cobwebs and tired eyes of many people on display. The atmosphere was much more relaxed, the outside courtyard in the sun a meeting place for old friends and new.

There was anticipation in the air as doors opened and hotly tipped Sydney band Phantoms began their set. With a tough sound and a bigger crowd than their early time slot should provide, Phantoms slammed through songs from their upcoming album As Above, So Below and crowd-pleasing demo offerings. The band are excellent on stage and won many new fans with one of the most memorable sets of the weekend.

Persist, followed on Local band, Persist stage. Persist have played hundreds of shows and this was one of their biggest. It’s a shame that it seemed like a standard Persist performance.

Their new EP The Untold Story was given an airing as well as their fan-favourite ‘Promises Kept’ cover.

Maybe time of day was a factor here, but the performance was lacklustre – Persist have been better.

Gold Coast’s Ghost Town reinjected life into the day. Their more abrasive metallic take on hardcore got the foot tapping and the brain thinking.

Vocalist Sam did the hard-yards to entertain the audience, his whirling dervish of hair and spit the perfect focal point for Ghost Town’s intense onslaught. The audience didn’t know what to make of Ghost Town, but I was captivated and impressed.

I Exist were the band of the weekend and you could ask anyone and the majority would agree. With four (yes FOUR!) guitarists and a stage show two men short of Slipknot, this was truly a memorable performance. The wall of sound emanating from the stage was staggering, confronting but oh so inviting. The songs were delivered with flair, stage moves aplenty and audience reaction a necessity. You will never again see kids moshing to a Sleep cover. This set was funny, powerful and unrepeatable. I Exist aren’t a conventional hardcore band, but let’s hope they are the future of Australian Hardcore.

Hand Of Mercy were never going to have an easy time following I Exist, but with their own throng of fans, they attacked the stage and did the best they could. Hand Of Mercy shows only go one way, with people throwing arms and piling on top of each other. The odd band out on this particular day, Hand Of Mercy persevered and put on a solid, if not memorable show.

Half way through day two, and it began to show. The high spirits of the afternoon were replaced by an increased intake of alcohol and Red Bull. The crowd was still amped by the time Dropsaw took the stage.

With a new album Hard Justice, more touring and recently becoming a quintet, Dropsaw are going from strength to strength. ‘Fictions Largest Character’ and ‘The Cobra’ all went down well.

BLKOUT again failed to ignite my interest, as their set was lacklustre and the songs blended together.

While the audience provided a good level of interaction, it didn’t appeal

GHOST TOWN

50 LIONS to me.

50 Lions are now a fixture of hardcore in this country. They are a tight live unit, playing their tough blend of hardcore perfectly across their hectic touring schedule. Across their various releases, the style has changed, their most recent effort Where Life Expires perhaps being the least catchy and bouncy, something which affects the audience response. A set which promised so much, 50 Lions came across as forced and contrived. Highlights included older songs such as ‘Life In The Dogbox’ and ‘The Realness.’

Extortion’s performance was equally brilliant to the one the previous evening, with a new selection of songs and a different atmosphere. While a portion of the audience lost their minds, the majority stood dazed and confused at the aural onslaught which hit them. One of the unfortunate things the barrier that effected the band’s ability to interact with the crowd, especially when the band thrives on an audience being in their face. However, Extortion still proved to be one of Australia’s best bands, their note perfect speed assault being a highlight of the show.

It was all in the hands of Mindsnare to bring home Hardcore 2010 strongly. Mindsnare delivered a crushing set, altered from the previous night, for those diehards who came out for both. From the legendary intro of ‘Bulldozed,’ through ‘Cold’ and ‘Burning Black,’ Mindsnare were unstoppable and flailing limbs, ruined vocal chords and sweat met them head on. There is a special atmosphere to a Mindsnare show, one of danger, anticipation and that thought in the back of your mind that you are about to see something special that you will remember. There is no doubt that many people them for the first time will now be converts to the Melbourne legends.

Hardcore 2010 was a true snapshot of the scene in Australia at the moment, showcasing the best bands, like I Exist, Ghost Town, Extortion and Phantoms. It also demonstrated that older guys can still throwdown hard: Toe To Toe and Mindsnare outshining many younger bands with ease. Most importantly, Hardcore 2010 showed the great unifying quality the genre has. The weekend was filled with good music, old friends and an atmosphere void of pretention or aggression. We await Hardcore 2011 with eager anticipation.

VERA Give us a little bit of the history of the band? Who are you and why are you together?

“This band is called Vera and we’re a band because we enjoy playing music and each others company. We started in the summer of 2006/2007 as a terrible four piece.

Back then we didn’t know what we were doing, so we kind of just wrote our terrible attempt at ‘heavy’ music and played a bunch of shows. The line-up changed around a bit and we eventually became a five piece. We played bad metal/hardcore under the name Vera Cruise for a about a year and half, with no intention of ever recording. Then we had a break when I went overseas. When I got back we rewrote the whole set and started taking the band seriously.

The change in sound came with change in name.”

It’s about time you released an album. Are there any plans to record again in the near future?

“We are currently recording three or four new tracks that are hopefully being released on a split 7” with Collapsed from Melbourne. I have no idea when this will come out or if it ever will. This might just turn out to be another demo.”

You play a style of music that is packed full of tension and emotion.

Do you use music as your release, or are you emotional all the time?

“Most of the lyrics I write are just thoughts and feelings written on paper. I guess for me singing them is like a release. I write a lot about personal experiences. About love, loss and, to an extent, self-hate. I’m never one to talk to people about my problems and I think this way it lets people into my life. I have a pretty strong stand when it comes to issues I feel kids should be addressing or questioning.”

You mentioned that you have a strong stand point when it comes to issues kids should be discussing.

Did you want to expand a bit further on what you mean by this?

“With half our band being vegan or vegetarian, I think voicing the issue of animal liberation is something I would like to address in the future.

I’m neither, but I do believe that the unethical treatment of animals is wrong and I think I could write about it from a different perspective. Things like homophobia and the

INTERVIEW with VOCALIST ADRIAN JUNG: OLIVER CATION PHOTO: JOHN HATFIELD

open use of the F word in normal conversation is something that I feel uncomfortable around. I would like to write more about that in hopes of changing that mentality, even if it is only in our little community.

“I think kids these days are bombarded with information and facts from all different mediums. The media and entertainment industries project unrealistic views of boys and girls and setting a standard that is near impossible to reach. Bands have addressed this and talked about body image and how it affects girls, but I feel like guys have the same problem, but is rarely talked about.

“I’m hoping to start a flyer stall at shows we play so kids can pick up some reading material and learn more about the problems that surround us. Maybe not so much about the things I have just talked about but things like youth depression and anxiety awareness, equal indigenous rights and thinks like that.”

What are the major influences on Vera as a band, musically?

“We take influences from so many different bands and genres that I could list it forever. Everyone has their own influences and brings them to the band’s sound, but some that stand out are Life Long Tragedy, Sinking Ships, American Nightmare and Modern Life Is War.” Canberra is known for its excellent musical output, so what is it about the place that makes it so fertile for creativity?

“I feel that because Canberra is fairly isolated and has a lower population that when trying to start a new band you rarely take influences from other local artists. Kids thrive to be differ-

ent and it creates bands playing a diverse range of styles.”

Who are some of the best up and coming bands in Canberra at the moment?

“This list could go on forever! I feel like Canberra is killing it at the moment, but I’ll start by stating the obvious and say I Exist and Dead Kings.

With Albro back in town, I Exist is going to sound huge. Our boys in Reigner have some new really heavy angry stuff, which is really good.

FH are a new band that has been working really hard putting on shows.

There’s a band called Something Must Break that has started playing shows. They’re all really young dudes playing a style of music that is full of emotion. Apart from that you should check out our friends in Yoko Oh No, Carcass Brains, Observer, Loveshy, Knives to the Throne and Jerkstore.”

As is the unfortunate case in many Australian cities, Canberra struggles with All Ages venues. How is the scene these days?

“There are a couple of Youth Centres doing some great things, but booking shows is the biggest problem. It makes it hard to book All Ages shows at the Youth Centres when most only book a show a month. I felt for a while the Canberra scene was a little inconsistent. Touring bands come through Canberra all the time but there would be no one going to them and other times there would be surprising amounts of kids turning up. It is steadily getting a lot better which is good to see. There are new kids coming out to support the local bands and showing their support.”

Anything else you would like to add?

“Beaniecore and Classy-Jacket-Core is what’s up! Read No Heroes mag and listen to more bounce.”

Bands Youve Never Heard Of ALL AUSTRALIAN EDITION – COMPILED BY OLIVER CATION

MARATHON MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/marathonruins Do you like Converge? If the answer is no, keep reading. If the answer is yes, jump to Marathon’s MySpace and listen to this band immediately (don’t close this window though). Marathon are a relatively new Brisbane group playing a hectic brand of hardcore that would fit right in with the current crop of Deathwish bands. They have just released their debut EP Never Safe on Arrest Records, a follow up to their 2009 demo Providence. For a band that has been together little over a year, they display great promise and are likely to take their place alongside the more established bands of their style with ease. By the time you read this they will be nearing their second trip down the East Coast, so do yourself a favour and search out the show closest to you.

IVENS MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/daveivens Ivens is different. You may think you know what the blend of political, heartfelt and brutal hip hop combined with industrial noise and soundfiles sounds like, but until you have experienced Ivens, you only think you know. Ivens is a Melbourne based Hip Hop artist, a man who fits as easily among art rock and noise line ups as he does alongside other hip hop artists. His music is appealing and distancing at the same time, presenting social commentary (something too often forgotten in hip hop) that makes you think while entertaining you. If you want some sort of reference, think Sage Francis and Godflesh in a head on collision. It is often stupidly said that white men shouldn’t participate in rap or hip hop. This is dumb and Ivens is proof. Step outside your comfort zone and be confronted by a man who actually has something to say.

ELEGY MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/elegyoz Heavyweight Sydney metalcore crew, Elegy, are looking to make a name for themselves in 2010, and with a pedigree like theirs it will happen. Elegy is comprised of members from bands like As Silence Breaks, Jack Napier and Die Trying, with a sound that is halfway between On Broken Wings and The Banner. If you enjoy music that pins you to the wall and keeps beating your over the head, do yourself a favour and keep your eyes open for Elegy as they hit your town in 2010 and release a follow up to their 2009 demo. With so many bands abandoning the pioneering sounds of metalcore for deathcore and screamo sounds, it is amazingly refreshing to see a band playing tight, hard and technical metalcore tunes in 2010.

TRAINWRECK MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/trainwreckmelbourne When a bikie gang asks you to change your name because it conflicts with theirs, you change your name, and so we have the rechristened Trainwreck. With a sound blending the best elements of metalcore bands like The Ghost Inside, Misery Signals and Poison The Well, this young Melbourne band have a strong killer sound. Their pedigree, from bands such as House Vs Hurricane and The Rose Line shows that they know their way around both their instruments and the stage. They have just completed an East Coast tour with Brisbane heavyweights Time Has Come in support of their debut, self-titled EP and will be out on the road in the months to come playing anywhere they can. Heaps of bands try to be heavy and interesting at the same time, but where they fail Trainwreck succeeds.

WHEN CHIMPS ATTACK MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/whenchimpsattack It doesn’t matter who the members are, who is releasing their CD and if it will be on coloured vinyl, or if they are playing with Carpathian soon. Because when music is played with such creativity and urgency, nothing else should matter. This is why When Chimps Attack, a noise four piece from Sydney, are important. You will most likely be able to catch the band playing songs of their debut album (released on Christmas Day last year) in underground clubs and sweaty pubs and this is where their angular riffs and spurted vocal delivery is most commonly accepted. It wouldn’t matter if they were playing an outdoor festival in summertime, the music would still be vital. Botch, Don Cabellero, My Disco and Steve Albini are all names thrown around when describing the band’s sound, but your best bet at gauging what When Chimps Attack sound like, is to get out to see a live show or buy their CD and decide for yourself.

LEGIONS MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/legionshc Legions are a hard-hitting, straight-up hardcore outfit hailing from Sydney’s fertile North Shore scene. Despite their young age (most members only just 18) they deliver music with passion and strong intention.

Their sound is reminiscent of old school New York hardcore with an ample dose of modern style – think Breakdown, Sick Of It All or Trapped Under Ice. This is music that demands audience participation, punching floors, speakers and everyone close by. Legions have been snapped up by Brisbane’s Arrest Records for the release of their debut, self-titled 7-inch, which should see the light of day around August. When Legions bust into your town in the next 12 months, don’t make the mistake of missing them.

New Music Deep Blue sees Parkway Drive assert their dominance yet again as Australia’s best heavy alternative band. Not because they play music better than anyone else, but because they know who they are, what they want out of music and proceed to chase after it with their signature style. Their latest album stands head and shoulders above Parkway’s previous releases, both in technical delivery and ambitious creativity. The most endearing element about Deep Blue is that Parkway Drive have explored more emotions than just unadulterated rage. This is an album that I can’t stop coming back to because of this, and trust me, Deep Blue is an ambitious and cathartic experience that you won’t be able to stay away from either. Lindsey Cuthbertson Sounds like… As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red, Bleeding Through

Deep Blue –Parkway Drive Resist/SHOCK Eyes & Nines is a departure from the normal Trash Talk output. The calculated destruction and rhythmic fury of previous releases has been replaced by a dirty, loose collection of songs. While still packed with songs under the two minute mark, it is those that are longer which are perhaps the most telling – the 4 minute 30 ‘Hash Wednesday’ is a plodding, doom-laden, dirge showing Trash Talk to be more than a one trick pony. The songs on Eyes & Nines lack the punch of older material, which makes this an easier listening experience, perhaps allowing the band to find a broader audience. The fury is still there, the intensity is still there, but the punch is missing. Oliver Cation Sounds like… Extortion, Fucked Up, LIghtning Bolt

Eyes & Nines – Trash Talk Trash Talk Collective/SHOCK The Amity Affliction have stepped up to expectations with their sophomore full-length, as Youngbloods is as catchy and intense as any previous recordings and will please the ever growing Amity audiences. What makes this album different from previous album, Severed Ties, is the tone and lyrical content of the album. Youngbloods sees a serious, contemplative aspect emerge from Joel Birch’s lyric writing, with many of the songs dealing with the troubles of youth and growing up. While there is obvious struggle in the lyrics, the final message by the albums final song ‘Fuck The Yankees’ is that anything can be achieved. Youngbloods is a strong album. It is musically and lyrically engaging and will only signal a continued rise for this ever growing band. Oliver Cation Sounds like… Bring Me The Horizon, The Getaway Plan, Enter Shikari

Youngbloods – The Amity Affliction Boomtown/SHOCK Let’s cut the crap here: The Gaslight Anthem are our generation’s Bruce Springsteen, except with more tattoos and less saxophone solos. No matter which way you try to spin it, American Slang may be nothing new to your ears, but can you think of another recent band who nails it with such spirit and energy? I doubt it. The New Jersey natives’ third LP finds them exploring soul and perfecting the pastiche of old-and-new-school American rock that The Gaslight Anthem does so well. Cases in point, the swinging rhythm of ‘The Diamond Church Street Choir’ and the defiant, raw emotion of ‘We Did It When We Were Young’. For long time fans of The Gaslight Anthem and those who have just come across them, American Slang will please you both. Lindsey Cuthbertson Sounds like... Bruce Springsteen, The Hold Steady, Manchester Orchestra

American Slang – The Gaslight Anthem Side One Dummy/SHOCK The Ghost Inside’s debut album, Fury & The Fallen Ones, was a surprising debut providing an excellent combination of hardcore song structure with metal-based riffs and choruses as catchy as herpes. With Returners the band haven’t produced anything new or ground-breaking, but have successfully created an album that shows the extent to which this band have perfected their sound. This time they’ve also mixed a little more melody into the mix, which makes it even easier to sing along and gives the songs more dimension, While ‘Unspoken’ is the perfect anthem with gang vocals galore, ‘Chrono’ sees the band experimenting with more melodic guitars. While it is a shot back to two years ago, the added melody and darker-tinged lyrics are what make this album enjoyable. Sarah Petchell Sounds like… Parkway Drive, For The Fallen Dreams, Stick To Your Guns

Returners – The Ghost Inside MEDIASKARE Ceremony fans, stop punching yourselves in the head, and start tapping your feet, as this isn’t the album most were expecting. Rohnert Park marks a distinct change for Ceremony. You’ll tap your foot and bob your head gently through 13 tracks of slowed down, old school hardcore punk reminiscent of Black Flag and Flipper. While certain tracks still contain the sort of venom that Ceremony is known for, such as ‘Sick’ and ‘The Pathos’, on this release they are outnumbered by meandering floor gazing numbers like ‘The Doldrums (Friendly City)’ and the instrumental trio of ‘Into The Wayside’ parts. Ceremony have still delivered a dark and evil album, but it should take most one listen to know if this is for them or not. Oliver Cation Sounds like… Black Flag, Joy Division, Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Rohnert Park – Ceremony Bridge 9/STOMP

New Music Adelaide’s two best bands, and arguably two of the best Australian bands, teaming up for a split release is exciting. The anticipation of this release among fans of both bands was palpable and the songs presented here live up to the expectations. Robotosaurus’ input sees the band in a mellow mood with more droning and intense songs, following on from the progression they made with Manhater. While the speed continues on the slow side, the songs just keep getting better, ‘User’ is perhaps the best thing the band has ever recorded. Coerce in comparison sound fluffy, but still with an intensity and driving passion. The six minute ‘Duhamis’ is their highlight. Neither band outdoes the other, they both shine especially on their duel, opening track ‘Untitled.’ You need this record in your life. Oliver Cation Sounds like... Robotosaurus and Coerce having a love child of awesomeness!

Split – Robotosaurus + Coerce CAPITAL GAMES RECORDS Instinct Over Influence does not lead on from where The Emptiness left off. Instead it takes a sharp left turn as with a new drummer and vocalist, the sound has changed noticeably. This is still a Samsara record, but the giant breakdowns of ‘Mans Worst Enemy’ are gone, replaced by the speed and crushing riffs of tracks like ‘Logic.’

Samsara have kicked up the metallic hardcore a notch. This album is darker and with a cracking solo or two. My only gripe would be about naming the instrumental outro ‘Breathe’. Its sheer predictability and lack of originality is a shame, but ultimately a minute issue. I predict sore necks and arthritic hands; this album encourages headbanging and throwing horns. Samsara are set to become the kings of metallic hardcore in Australia once Mindsnare abdicate the throne. Oliver Cation Sounds like... Mindsnare, Slayer, Ringworm

Instinct Over Influence – Samsara Trial & Error/STOMP With Weight Of The World, This Is Hell have maintained their consistent form, delivering an album of hard edged melodic hardcore in their distinctive style. For those uninitiated with This Is Hell, Weight Of The World is as good an introduction as any to the band. The album is packed full of fast driving rhythms and meaningful strained vocals.

For those who have been a fan of previous albums by the Long Island bruisers and were looking for change, the production on this album is superior to previous efforts and there is a heavier feel, but at its core, this is the same This Is Hell of old. The band may suffer as trends move on to heavier styles of Hardcore, but This Is Hell still have huge amounts to offer. Oliver Cation Sounds like... Allegiance, Blacklisted, Bane

Weight Of The World – This Is Hell Rise/SHOCK Coma Lies NC have always been a band with massive potential, as previous efforts flagged them as a band with a fresh sound destined for big things. With The Great Western Basin, big things are coming. Armed with a new vocalist and the best songs the band has written to date, Coma Lies NC look to make a mark on the Australian scene.

Songs like ‘Natural Selection’ and ‘The Resilient Brain’ show the strength and dexterity of the band at full speed, while slower, epic tracks like ‘We Are Thorns’ and ‘Bhuvan’ are truly magical and otherworldly. This style of complex riffing, time changes and prog-meets-metal-meets-mosh genre bending will not be for everyone, but with songs this strong and a newly invigorated live performace, Coma Lies NC should change a lot of peoples minds. Oliver Cation Sounds like… Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Botch

The Great Western Basin – Coma Lies NC UNSIGNED Norma Jean have always been a favourite band of mine. Putting aside their ‘message’, the music is complex and groovy and essential listening. Norma Jean’s last album, The Anti- Mother, was met with some hesitation by critics and fans, so it is a great relief that new album Meridional is such a success. Stepping away from Ross Robinson for the first time in a few albums, this is a fresh Norma Jean, bringing elements of older albums, but combining them to be vital once more. While a song like ‘Deathbed Atheist’ is destined to be the ‘single’ of the album, songs like ‘Barstardizer’ and ‘Everlasting Tapeworm’ are some of the best Norma Jean have produced. If you have loved anything Norma Jean have ever released, buy this album. Oliver Cation Sounds like... Underoath, Converge, The Chariot

Meridional – Norma Jean /SHOCK While Never Safe is an EP which rages and thrashes, Marathon are a band that aren’t taking things slowly. Less than a year into their lifespan, the band has unleashed a disc with spades of tense emotion, perfect timing and moody guitar work. The comparisons to Converge are always going to be made, and in this case that is a compliment, because they have nailed a sound that so many bands fail at miserably. Marathon pull off short sharp songs with ease as well as longer droning numbers, ‘Young Man, You’re So Cold’ and ‘Silence Where Sound Ought To Be’ sitting alongside each other in perfect harmony. Run in a circle, punch your bedroom door and do a back flip, Marathon are here. Oliver Cation Sounds like… Converge, Botch, Robotosaurus

Never Safe EP – Marathon ARREST RECORDS

New Music Invictus is a powerful album, pummelling the listener throughout without respite. This can work in two ways, on one hand this is a record which is uncompromising, tough, and more metal than you can truly handle with two ears, on the other, once you have listened to one song you will be finished with the album and go off in search of something with a little more melody. This is the most consistent Heaven Shall Burn album since Whatever It May Take and will hopefully attract new fans to the band as the vocal delivery, guitar and blast beat drumming all make Invictus a powerful statement of the German bands intentions. Start with ‘Against Bridge Burners’ and if you like that, strap yourself in and dive headlong into this album. Oliver Cation Sounds like… xMaroonx, Darkest Hour, Deadlock

Invictus – Heaven Shall Burn Century Media/EMI With The Two Chief World Systems Lungs has delivered an album that is rife with rage and passion, melody and enough of a punk, raw edge to make this album an excellent collection of songs that strike the perfect balance between technical riffing and simple vocal delivery. From ‘The Making Of Phineas Cage’ who’s melodic riffing and pounding hook makes the track stand out, to the pounding rhythm and melodic guitar lines of ‘Slips Or Lamark (baldwin wins)’, the album is consistently achieves what it sets out to do. That is, deliver an album that is as passionate and technical in its delivery, as the message is firmly tongue-in-cheek. This is definitely a statement as to why Lungs are holding the position as the statesmen of Australian melodic punk. Sarah Petchell Sounds like… A Death In The Family, Paper Arms, Hot Water Music

The Two Chief World Systems – Lungs POISON CITY RECORDS Reality are able to display a quality in their music that many more established bands have lost in recent years: honesty. Reality’s debut EP Directions shows a young band wearing their heart on their sleeve. This is the music they want to be playing, unencumbered by record labels or interest in audience numbers. The music itself is reminiscent of early Miles Away, Break Even and Champion, characterised by driving hardcore but with plenty of melody thrown in for good measure. The lyrics deal with typical issues of discovery and fear, the vocals are strained and heartfelt giving them added power and conviction. Reality are a young band but on their first EP, they display great promise, a promise which will hopefully avoid the influence of corporate forces. Oliver Cation Sounds like… Champion, Miles Away, Verse

Directions EP – Reality ARREST RECORDS Endless Heights debut release Prologue sees a young band attempting to shine in a scene packed with bands that dwell in apathy. Endless Heights stand head and shoulders above many bands of their age and experience because they choose to focus on the positives in life. This EP is one that grows on you as you listen to it, combining the sounds of emotional, melodic hardcore and powerful pop punk riffs. This online free release EP demonstrates great promise from a band that you will be hearing heaps more from in the near future. The passion and conviction showed in these songs, combined with musical skill well past the band’s average age makes this essential listening for anybody with a passing interest in melodic hardcore or beanies. Oliver Cation Sounds like... Have Heart, Modern Life Is War, Paramore

Prologue EP – Endless Heights UNSIGNED Do you remember the first time you ever picked up an instrument and tried to jam with somebody else? How you’d strike your instrument with reckless abandon and a severe lack of respect for how music should be played? Well, the UK’s Rolo Tomassi have gone and turned that into an art form. Their debut was a seizure of bizarre rhythms and discordant melodies and with Cosmology this quintet of talented, young musicians deliver another batch of songs even more experimental and aggressive than the last. The Spence siblings are the stars of the show; James’ keyboard work is integral to Cosmology’s many nuances; while Eva’s vocal performance ranks up there with one of the best in heavy alternative music. Free time jamming will never be the same again. Lindsey Cuthbertson Sounds like… HORSE The Band, The Blood Brothers, The Dillinger Escape Plan

Cosmology – Rolo Tomassi SHOCK For someone who had heard of Rosetta for many years but neglected to listen to them, A Determinism Of Morality is the perfect way to be introduced to this American post-metal monolith. For pre-existing fans of Rosetta (and Isis as well – it’s hard not to draw similarities between the two) – you’ll know the drill: slow building, atmospheric songs of over five minutes in length punctuated by sporadic vocals and repetition. On paper it doesn’t look all that appealing, but Rosetta have crafted an album of songs that have the depth and creativity to actually take you somewhere. The closing title track has a hypnotic nature about it that draws you in effortlessly, and is a perfect illustration of what this album is capable of. A Determinism Of Morality is Rosetta hitting their peak. Lindsey Cuthbertson Sounds like… Isis, Pelican, Red Sparowes

A Determinism Of Morality – Rosetta TRANSLATION LOST

New Music The thing Integrity is most known for is their propensity to throw musical curveballs throughout the course of their albums, and it is this fact that has earned them their place as one of the most revered hardcore bands ever. In this way The Blackest Curse is everything that an Integrity fan would want from the band, especially considering the amount of time between releases. The album continues the band’s formulaic and cohesive musical vision to provide fans with ten tracks that range from quick shots of hardcore fury like ‘Secret Schadenfreude’ to miniature sludge metal opuses with ‘Before The World Was Young’ to Slayer-worship on ‘Simulacra’. All of this combined goes to show how relevant, 20 years on, Integrity are to the state of modern hardcore. Sarah Petchell Sounds like... Ringworm, Rot In Hell, Pulling Teeth

The Blackest Curse – Integrity Deathwish Inc/STOMP Toe To Toe has returned in 2010 with resolve and determination. Once a band playing festivals and being the premier hardcore band in the country, the band has not lost its ability to pen a catchy tough tune. Arturro Gatti combines the best aspects of classic New York hardcore bands like Sick Of It All and Agnostic Front, while also being able to deliver a sound that is fresh and intense. Being their first album in ten years, and the respective members now settling down with families, you could excuse them for slowing down, but they don’t. Each song is the same bar stool throwing, floor punching, teeth gritting experience they have always delivered. There are dozens of bands who should look to this album as a blueprint of how solid hardcore sounds. Oliver Cation Sounds like... Toe To Toe, Sick Of It All, Agnostic Front

Arturo Gatti – Toe To Toe Resist/SHOCK Now with three albums, under their belts it’s easy to see why this Newcastle quartet has developed the following that they have. And even though there is nothing new going on with Hard Justice, it’s hard to perfect a formula that works so well already. That being said, what has changed is that the band has become even better players at their instruments and JRock’s vocal delivery is tougher and more earnest than ever. While the title track, ‘Hard Justice’ is an unrelenting assault on the ears, ‘Dead Dream’ slows things down a bit by using a sludgier riff and a beat that’s more reminiscent of NYHC than the sped up, almost thrashy riffs that dominate the album. This is a tight album that proves that Dropsaw are at the peak of their game. Sarah Petchell Sounds like... Ringworm, Her Nightmare, The Dead Walk

Hard Justice – Dropsaw Trial & Error/STOMP Wait for your next sun filled day off, buy a hammock or a rocking chair and pour yourself a tall lemon ice tea. Now you are ready to listen to the new A Death In The Family release, Origins. ‘Lion Hearted,’ ‘While You Were Away’ and ‘From Nothing To Nowhere’ are the standout tracks, each one being beautifully crafted and lyric fuelled. There are still the classic A Death in The Family tracks here, but after two full length albums of similar songs, its refreshing to deviate from that routine, especially when none of the more gritty songs stick in the brain like tracks from This Microscopic War were able to. By no means the best thing that ADITF have released, but this band is still producing amazing punk rock music. Oliver Cation Sounds like… The Gaslight Anthem, Lifetime, Mid Youth Crisis

Origins – A Death In The Family Poison City/Resist/SHOCK Having been around for 21 years, in one form or another, with only two other full-lengths and an infrequent gigging schedule, it’s amazing that given the quality of the output that Starkweather are not bigger than they actually. This Sheltering Night is further proof of just how forward-thinking Starkweather are in terms of metallic hardcore and also proves that this is a band that definitely has aged well. The album is dark, rich and full of so many layers that it will take months to decipher them all. Guitar solos sit alongside creepy atmospherics, which sit along jazz-based breakdowns and vocalist, Rennie Resmini’s almost unhinged vocals. Almost impenetrable at first listen, this is definitely an album of epic proportions if given the time and effort it demands. Sarah Petchell Sounds like... This is actually so unique that the only way to describe it is as Starkweather

This Sheltering NIght – Starkweather Deathwish Inc/STOMP If you like your hardcore fast and heavy, then Battletruk are the band for you. With their sophomore release, Acid Death, this West Australian quintet have propelled themselves forward, into a realm that is faster and heavier than their debut, Born To Kill. With 13 tracks, the longest of which comes in at 2:08, you know that this album is going to be the quickest assault to your auditory senses that you’ve ever experienced. The track ‘Fuk Them’ sees vocalist Cory Day spitting poisonous lines like “The gratitude was kept/Showed me no respect/And I never will forget” which set the tone for the entire album. Full of thrashy riffs, consistently pummeling drumming and a vocal delivery that spits venom, Acid Death is everything that every skater/punk/hardcore kid could ever want! Sarah Petchell Sounds like… Poison Idea, Extortion, Shark Attack

Acid Death – Battletruk DESTRUKTION RECORDS

IN 1987 IAN MACKAYE WAS LOOKING AROUND TO START A NEW BAND. MINOR THREAT HAD BROKEN UP A FEW YEARS EARLIER AND HE HAD BOUNCED AROUND FROM ONE HARDCORE BAND TO THE OTHER EVER SINCE. HE WANTED TO START PLAYING GUITAR, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY WANTED TO BREAK AWAY FROM THE MUSIC CURRENTLY BEING PLAYED IN THE WASHINGTON DC SCENE AND MOVE BEYOND HIS REPUTATION AS THE SINGER FOR ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HARDCORE BANDS OF ALL TIME. So he got a few friends together – bass player Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty – and started jamming on compositions that sounded like reggae-inspired punk. Canty was playing in Rites Of Spring at the time

with band mate Guy Picciotto. After turning up to a practice to hear what MacKaye and his friends had been working on, it was not long after that we was asked to join.

It was at that point that Fugazi solidified their lineup to that of the musical pioneers that they are renowned as being today.

Fast-forward to March 2006 and I had wagged my first class at University to go down to the basement of the library and check out their CD collection. Among all the albums resting on the shelves I came across Fugazi’s In On The Kill Taker and thought I’d take a listen.

From the moment I’d started to get into punk rock I’d read about Fugazi, but had never listened to them or have them recommended to me by anybody. “What the hell!” I thought to myself as I slipped the disc into one of the many CD players down there. “What’s a better time than now?”

I skipped the first song after nearly half a minute of resolute silence but didn’t press anything once ‘Public Witness Program’ came through the speakers. This was good, really good.

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The music was intelligent without being complicated and the energy emanating from the CD player was unbelievable.

I got a stern look by the lady in the listening booth next to mine because my foot was tapping so much. I borrowed In On The Kill Taker and made a copy for myself that very same night.

After exploring through their immense catalogue of music for a few years, I fell for Fugazi in a big way when I came across their 2001 album, The Argument. It eventually became their last release, and I don’t think that a band can go out on a better note than an album like that.

At the time, I was writing music prolifically and The Argument was a huge influence on what I was creating. The way MacKaye and Picciotto could create such intricate and unique guitar melodies without swamping their music with complicated arpeggios or blitzkrieg scale runs was an unbelievable inspiration to me.

But it wasn’t the music of Fugazi that inspired me so much; it was more of what they believed as a band. Fugazi

“They also revolutionised what it meant to be DIY...”

LINEUP LINEUP: IAN MACKAYE GUY PICCIOTTO JOE LALLY BRENDAN CANTY CAUSE OF DEATH: TECHNICALLY, FUGAZI HAVEN’T ACTUALLY BITTEN THE DUST. THEY WENT ON HIATUS BACK IN 2002, WITH ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS BEING THAT CANTY WANTED TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH HIS YOUNG FAMILY. COMPULSORY LISTENING

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

refused to be involved with any publication that advertised alcohol. They also revolutionised what it meant to be DIY: they never made merchandise as they didn’t see the need to pay somebody to sell it for them on the road; they always did their best to keep their ticket prices at or around five dollars; and as a way of distancing themselves from MacKaye’s hardcore roots they stamped out any forms of violent dancing at their shows.

“How?” you may ask. They simply asked nicely those who were getting out of control to stop what they were doing, and if they didn’t they were given their five dollars back and asked to leave. Fugazi always kept a bundle of envelopes with them that contained a five-dollar note inside just for situations such as these.

I guess the main thing that Fugazi taught me was that boundaries are there to be challenged and broken, both in life and in music.

Sometimes punk rock can be so confining in its perceived style, when I believe that the true nature of it is to have the freedom and courage to do whatever you feel like doing without any sense of restriction. Fugazi spent

their entire career upholding this virtue.

Technically, Fugazi never ‘broke up’: the band went on hiatus in 2002 and it doesn’t look like they’ll be reforming any time soon. The band members are all still good friends, and while they all do different musical projects they still help each other out.

Early last year I had the privilege to interview bassist Joe Lally about his solo career, which featured cameos

by MacKaye and Picciotto. He was more than happy to talk about his memories of touring Australia with Fugazi many years ago and it meant a lot for me to be able to talk to a member of one of the bands that had the most influence on me, many years after they had ceased to make music together.

13 Songs (1989)

In On The Kill Taker (1993)

That’s when you know that Fugazi were something special. Because eight years on from their last show we are all still discussing them and their music. It’s hard not to when a band is this true to themselves, their music and their art form.

BY LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON

The Argument (2001)