No Heroes Issue 8

ISSUE EIGHT CONTENTS

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

FEATURES

Norma Jean ... p.8 Strike Anywhere ... p.10 Midnight Funeral Records ... p. 12 Dangers ... p.16 Death Before Dishonor ... p.24 Dropsaw ... p.28 Periphery ... p.32 Evergreen Terrace ... p.36 Soilwork ... p.42 The Dead Walk Second Reunion Show ... p.50

THE USUAL

Ed’s Letter ... p.6 Quickfire: Coma Lies ... p.7 Quickfire: Hand of Mercy ... p.44 Bands You’ve Never Heard Of ... p.45 New Music ... p.46

Editor-In-Chief: Sarah Petchell Photo Editor: Craig Nye Content Editor: Lindsey Cuthbertson All layouts by Cooper Brownlee and Sarah Petchell Words: Sarah Petchell, Lindsey Cuthbertson, Oliver Cation Photos: Craig Nye, Chris Cooper, John Hatfield, Ben Clement, Lachlan Hicks Logo by Joel Birch of Umbrella Creative Studios Cover: Dangers Photo: John Hatfield This page ... Photo by Craig Nye

EDITORS LETTER PHOTO: CHRIS COOPER

HOLY SHIT! Anyone who was at the sold out Parkway Drive show at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion last month will know exactly what I’m talking about. That was 6000 people collectively showing that hardcore isn’t this small underground thing that it used to be. It can have universal appeal and it can completely blow your mind.

That was 6000 people moving together and moshing together. At one point there were six separate pits that opened up on the floor.

Not to mention the biggest circle pit I’ve ever seen. Or the crowdsurfing Oompa Loompa. Or the intermission to change over the stage set.

But most importantly it was fun, and it leaves me asking the question, “Just how much bigger can these guys get?” Will we be seeing them play the Sydney Entertainment Centre next tour? Acer Arena (ok maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration)?

The point is that, in case you doubted it, that night was proof that this is a band of epic proportions and that any band with the drive,

ambition and most importantly, the work ethic of a band like Parkway Drive can achieve what they have done.

Anyway, onto this issue.

On the cover with have Dangers Dangers.

Having toured Australia with their brother band, Graf Orlock, a couple of months ago we caught up with frontman Al and their drummer Alex for a chat about touring with a promoter for the first time, social commentary in music and why Al would shoot his brains out if he was in The Dillinger Escape Plan.

Dropsaw are about to go on an extended hiatus, so Oliver caught up with J-Rock at one of their last shows about recording their newest album, Hard Justice, with Tim Lambesis (from As I Lay Dying), Stallone versus Schwarzenegger, and the best and worst strip clubs in Australia.

Also Craig Wainwright from Midnight Funeral Records talked to us about what he has in the works, Death Before Dishonor chatted to us about their Australian tour, and Strike Anywhere got a little bit political on our arses!

Periphery took time out from the support of Dillinger Escape Plan to let Australia get to know them better. Josh James from Evergreen Terrace/Casey Jones chatted with us about what it’s like to tour with both bands at once and explain why that was the only time Casey Jones will ever tour Australia, and Norma Jean talked about their new album, the amazing Meridional.

As Soilwork are on our shores right now, we spoke to Speed about the legacy this amazing metal band has and their impending tour. There’s a review of the recent second The Dead Walk reunion show, an Obituary on the mighty Gorilla Biscuits and Quickfires with two of Australia’s best upand-coming acts, Coma Lies and Hand Of Mercy Mercy.

On top of that, there is the usual Bands You’ve Never Heard Of and more new music than you can poke a stick at! I’ve never understood that phrase...

Until next issue – where there’s some pretty cool shit in store!

Sarah x

COMA LIES ARE ONE OF NEWCASTLE’S BEST BANDS. WITH THE REST OF THE CITY FLUCTUATING BETWEEN ABSOLUTE SHIT AND MOMENTS OF BRILLIANCE, COMA LIES LET THEIR LIVE SHOWS AND TECHNICALLY AMAZING MUSIC DO THE TALKING, WHILE PARTYING HARD. ON THE OTHER HAND, IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT THEIR SEARCH FOR RECOGNITION HAS BEEN HINDERED BY COUNTLESS LINE-UP CHANGES AND A LACK OF LABEL INTEREST. THEIR DEBUT ALBUM THE GREAT WESTERN BASIN, WAS RELEASED EARLIER THIS YEAR AND IS ONE OF THE BEST IN ITS GENRE OF THE LAST FEW YEARS. TAKE NOTICE AND READ THESE SHORT QUESTIONS WITH THE MASTERS OF EGO BOXES THAT AREN’T REALLY EGO BOXES. First up, is facial hair crucial in hardcore?

“Being 25 years old and still only needing to shave my baby face once a week, I’d like to think it isn’t.

However, beards and, to a lesser extent, seedy mo’s are definitely becoming a more popular choice amongst the hardcore community.”

You have gone through all sorts of line up changes. Is the current line-up solid?

“Real solid. We’re all on the same page when it comes to why we’re in the band and where we want it to go.”

You have just released your debut album The Great Western Basin. How is it being received?

“Anally, for the most part, which, in our opinion, is the best way. Kids that love our style of music have been blown away and the most rewarding part is when people who previously hated on the band turn around and become fans after hearing the CD. It’s a good feeling.”

It was recorded in the US with Steve Evetts, a man responsible for other amazing albums [Every Time I Die, The Dillinger Escape Plan]. What was that experience like?

“It was kind of daunting. Very hum-

COMA LIES

INTERVIEW: OLIVER CATION

bling. Extremely frustrating. Mostly fun. Always drunk.”

work to having our live show sound as much like the recording as possible.”

Was it worth heading to the US to achieve the final result of the album?

“Financially? Fuck no. Spiritually and mentally? Hell yes. The whole trip was great in the experience of it all that we got, as well as making friends and contacts for future endeavors over there. That sort of stuff is priceless.”

The band comes from Newcastle. Is it a terrible place to live, as everyone else thinks, or do you have Newy pride?

“Newy rules. Anyone who says otherwise can fight me. Seriously though, summertime, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Maybe Penrith…”

You self released the album, so considering that most publicity is done online nowadays, were you confident in being able to successfully promote the album yourselves?

“It’s not hard to post Facebook events, make a MySpace look pretty, or post a thread on BGO. We prefer to do the old-fashioned types of promo like poster runs, flyer drops, magazine ads etc. The Internet is for nerds.”

The album is amazingly complex to the average music fan. Was it difficult transitioning from recording to playing the songs live?

“Because the rest of the band are very musically talented (and dickheads)they thought it’d be a sick idea to write songs with weird time changes and super intricate riffs and beats. This makes the songs considerably hard to play live.

“But we practice a lot and pride ourselves on being known as a very tight band so we put in the

Who are the best bands Newcastle has to offer in 2010?

“Caverns. Safe Hands. The Hollow.

Cannons Mouth. Inhale The Sea. Dropsaw... And us.”

You are a band who uses ‘ego boxes’ – what’s that all about?

“They’re not ‘ego boxes’. Gummo and Andy (guitarists) sometimes put their amp road cases at the front of a stage to chuck a leg on when playing if there’s no foldbacks. It’s just for comfort.”

What is the next step for Coma Lies in achieving world domination?

“Crush capitalism, get Oprah pregnant, buy more WMD’s with our new baby mama’s cash.”

Why should every person who read this go out and buy The Great Western Basin?

“Because Thorpie says it’s ‘fully sick!’ ” The Great Western Basin is available now through Coma Lies’ MySpace.

NORMA JEAN “WE’RE CURRENTLY ON THE ROCKSTAR MAYHEM TOUR AND ABOUT FOUR SHOWS IN. SO FAR EVERYTHING HAS BEEN GOING GREAT. WE’RE REALLY EXCITED TO BE ON IT AND IT’S ALWAYS FUN HAVING AN OFF-DATE IN VEGAS,” SAYS NORMA JEAN GUITARIST, SCOTTIE HENRIE. LET’S FACE IT: THE ANTIMOTHER WAS NOT THE ALBUM THAT FANS EXPECTED NORMA JEAN TO MAKE, EVEN DESPITE COLLABORATING WITH PAGE HAMILTON OF HELMET AND CHINO MORENO OF DEFTONES. BUT WITH THEIR FIFTH EFFORT, MERIDIONAL, THIS ATLANTA FIVE-PIECE HAVE RELEASED AN ALBUM THAT IS A SELF-CONFESSED “RETURN TO ROOTS”.

Harbouring the combination of melody and heavy dissonance that Norma Jean have made their trademark, Meridional is simultaneously a return to form and a solid foot in the arse of their critics everywhere.

Scottie spoke to No Heroes about what it was like writing the album, splitting with Solid State and where they’re heading to next.

Meriondal is out in Australia now. How excited are you about its release?

“Oh we’re real excited. We’ve been waiting a while for it to come out.”

With the writing and recording process, did you do anything different this time around?

“Yeah, we actually did a couple of things differently. Usually we will clock off from touring a couple of months before we head into the studio to write. This time around we spread that whole process out over the course of a little over a year. This meant that we were able to come back to songs and write over a longer period of time, instead of kicking it all out by lock-

INTERVIEW: SARAH PETCHELL ing ourselves in our practice space all day, every day for two months.

This definitely had an effect on the songs.

“We also recorded at home in Atlanta, where most of us are from, instead of going out to like Los Angeles or Seattle or any of those places. Wherever we have recorded in the past has always been super far from home so it was something new for us. And it worked really well as here was a lot less stress on us to work from near home.”

I guess if you’re in your comfort zone as well, then it’s going to make the process a whole lot easier.

“Yeah, exactly. We were a little worried that there might actually be too many distractions if we did stay at home. It actually a lot more focused because we were in the studio the whole time that we needed to. It was a great process.”

What were the best and worst things about writing and recording the album?

“The best thing was trying out these different things and getting to be close to home while we did it all. There really was nothing bad about the process because it really

was great start to finish. There’s nothing that I’m bummed out about with the process.”

One of the comments that was made about the album a while ago, was that the album was a return to your roots, with “roots” kind of being defined as the mindset that Norma Jean collectively had when you were starting out. What exactly did that mindset entail?

“I think one of the things that we really tried to do on this record was to mesh the songs. We wanted to make each song individually heavy but also having melody in it, as opposed to having a super heavy song and then a melodic song.

“Over the whole record, I think it became more of an album by the songs having more of a flow to them and making sure that every song was exactly how we wanted as far as certain parts that we wanted in it.

“The songs kind of took over from there. As far as writing goes, we didn’t want to force anything into them that didn’t need to be or leave anything out based on how long it was. We definitely tried to stay away from thinking that way.”

Would you say, based on you saying that you let things hap-

pen when writing, that the writing process was a lot more organic this time around?

“Yeah, I would say it was. I also think that part of that was in that we did do it over such a long period of time. We were able to step back and examine where the song was heading, as opposed to trying to force it in a certain direction based on how long we had to write. But it was a very natural process and it was great to jam at home.”

One of the biggest things that happened to you guys between albums was the change in labels. What made Norma Jean decide to split with Solid State after so many years?

“We’ve been on the label for 10 years and we all sort of signed to it when we were like 17 or 18 years old. It wasn’t anything more than it was the end of our contract with them and we decided to talk to a bunch of other labels and even talked to people about the possibility of releasing it ourselves.

“The thing is that from the first phone call, there just seemed to be something different about Razor & Tie. They were just really amazing and personable, and not just a big corporation interested in pushing units. They allowed us to have complete artistic control and let us

do what we needed to do.

“Even to this day, everything that we’ve wanted from them artistically or everything that we’ve wanted to do, they’ve allowed us without putting up a fight at all. It’s just a very natural partnership. It just felt great from the minute that we started talking with them.

After so many years on the road touring, do you still enjoy doing it as much as when you first started out?

“Yeah, it’s still amazing and it’s fun.

I can only speak for me personally, but I’ve gone from being 17 and out on the road non-stop. If we had a legit tour booked it was about getting out there and seeing the world. Now, I’m 31 and while it’s still fun playing shows, I just got married in March so I have to learn to balance it and deal with certain things that I didn’t have in the past.

“Like I used to care less if I came home during the year. Now I have to balance missing my wife because I love being around her, but at the same time this is what we do and what we’ve been doing for so long and I love that as well. It’s definitely a different feeling but it’s still great playing shows, writing music and recording it.”

Meridional is out now through Shock Records.

STRIKE ANYWHERE INTERVIEW: LINDSEY CUTHBERTSON age. For nearly an hour he exSTRIKE ANYWHERE’S presses his socially activist views RECENT BLITZKRIEG more clearly than any politician OF AUSTRALIA MAY BE that has ever taken the podium in ONE OF THE LAST TIMES question time. Fast-forward two THAT THE US POLITICOhours and his band is whipping PUNKS TOUR OUT OF the crowd into a fervor with their THEIR HOME COUNTRY politically-charged anthems.

FOR A WHILE. “WITH THE WAY THE ECONOMY IS Over the course of our interview, RIGHT NOW, TOURING IS Barnett expresses articulate views on countless topics. These are just JUST GETTING HARDER a few choice examples into the AND HARDER,” VOCALgreat mind of one of the most intelIST THOMAS BARNETT lectual punks you might ever meet.

EXPLAINS AS WE BEGIN OUR INTERVIEW OUT THE Barnett on the social differBACK OF CLUB 299, THE ences between Australia and VENUE FOR THEIR BRISAmerica BANE SHOW. “America has a huge amount of Barnett is nearing forty and has the wisdom of someone twice his

where everyone wants other people to do the work for them. It’s a much more religious culture than Australia. There’s a certain amount of entitlement and adolescent critical thinking that runs rampant through all sectors of the society in my country.

“There’s a fetishisation with certain aspects of history that is just ridiculous and dangerous.

And there’s enough danger on the streets with how much gun culture has made things in our country.

There’s violence everywhere, and then there’s violence of people’s fear and suspicion about the violence, which does the other leg of the work.

mass psychology pathologies, “It’s way more of a mess when compared to Australia. Even though you’re isolated you have a more international sense of place and time. America looks at its history like it’s a movie that’s already happened.”

Barnett on Anti-Authoritarian Movements

“There needs to be a reestablishment in the public eye of what an anti-authoritarian left movement could look like. Everyone associates that with a brutal strong man destroying media access, like with Hugo Chávez or what happens in China, where they’re really just doing capitalism better than what capitalism is.”

Barnett on the effects of capitalism and the Global Financial Crisis

“That’s what I think punk rock is really about. We’re there to tell any of the sacred cows in politics to go and get stuffed. There’s a song on the end of our newest record [Iron Front] called ‘Western Scale’, and it’s all about how capitalism has failed us, or the idea of passionate defenders of the free market even to the point where their children are starving and they still think that they’re a part of the game.

“You feel like saying, ‘No, you’re not. You’ve just been given no other options and no other views than this unblinking eye of Fox News telling you that all of these other social programs are taking away your freedom. Freedom to

do what? You’re not an entrepreneur, you don’t own stock in any of these banks, but why are you all of a sudden their biggest cheerleader, why are you willing to die on your sword for this behemoth that doesn’t even give a fuck about you?’

“It’s almost like what C.S Lewis said about the devil. Of course, we’re all atheists, but I still see it as a great piece of truth. Lewis said that the greatest thing that the devil did was convince the world that he didn’t exist. That’s how I feel about the capitalist state.”

Barnett on The Sex Pistols

“The industrial system has been something that seems to have been built to destroy us and our sense of self and make it easier for us to be used as tools of the system to be exploited and divided from our true natures. I think that’s why everyone is so unhappy and so fraught with the need to be

distracted.

“If you relate this back to The Sex Pistols, shock value punk of that era was very philosophical and was almost jousting against the spectacle, not trying to follow in the jackboots of the left or right wing.

To them it was all a kind of fascist control. So then we move into American hardcore, particularly in the area close to where we grew up, in Washington DC.”

Barnett on Straight Edge

“When Minor Threat were talking about something like straight edge it wasn’t a dogmatic armour of purity. I think straight edge can be an important thing, even though our band isn’t. But a part of our audience is a part of that community in every city that we go to, and our label has a lot of straight edge backgrounds and roots.

“But it [straight edge] was going against that sense of, ‘What are

we going to do tonight? I don’t want to be alone by myself, I don’t want to be alone by my friends, we don’t really need to talk’. It’s like anything that can challenge you or make you grow does not make you a better consumer or a better worker. So then we’re given all of these epic distractions and addictions and poses so we can recreate a night where everyone speaks in quotes to each other but don’t know it. They’re not scratching beneath the surface and forgetting that they can and that they should.

“That’s another thing that punk rock is about: it’s about stimulating us into making us angry enough to want to go back to the way in which we used to love each other, the way we used to have friendships and a circle of friends that felt like family, and have something that goes beyond just every forgettable weekend night until we get old.”

MIDNIGHT FUNERAL INTERVIEW: OLIVER CATION – PHOTOS: CHRIS COOPER You’ve always been known as MIDNIGHT FUNERAL a heavy contributor to the MelARE BRINGING BACK bourne and Australian Hardcore THE WAYS OF THE OLD Scene and your newest venture SCHOOL RECORD LAis an independent record label, BELS. THEY ARE COMMidnight Funeral Records. Tell us a little bit about that: how it PLETELY INDEPENDENT, came about and what you’ve FIERCELY CREATIVE AND achieved so far.

INTENT ON RELEASING “After the wife and I stopped doing MUSIC THAT IS ONLY OF Sightline Records, I really wanted THE HIGHEST QUALITY AS to be involved with a label again, WELL AS OVERLOOKED but didn’t want to hassle Nigel about helping with Trial & Error as

BY THE MORE CORPOI had before, so I started thinking RATE MASSES. about what I wanted to do.

CRAIG WAINWRIGHT IS THE MASTERMIND BEHIND THE LABEL, AS WELL AS BEHIND BANDS SUCH AS IN NAME AND BLOOD, THE SEDUCTION AND CURRENTLY THE OMEN. HE IS ALSO ONE OF THE NICEST GUYS IN VICTORIA, GIVING UP HIS VALUABLE AND SCARCE TIME TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.

“For a long time I wasn’t inspired by anything that was going on.

Then I heard the I Exist demo, got onto my mate Patrick (who was helping the band out with some stuff) and asked for a contact. He put me onto Aaron, and about four months later the I Exist 7 inch came out and Midnight Funeral Music was born. :The label was originally supposed to be Shane from Seduction and myself, but he lost interest and I decided to go on alone. The origi-

nal idea was to release a record a month and only press 100-150 of each release, then use the money from the last one to fund the next one.

“In hindsight, this is a great idea, if you’re in the USA or Euroland, but when you have what is probably the most unreliable pressing plant in the world (and the other one we have is the most expensive), then you’re pretty much fucked from the start. And to be honest, I have tried my best to keep the money in Australia and press my records locally, but the odds are always against me for some reason.

“As I am writing this, I have a 7 inch in production, which is a now defunct band from Perth called Defeat. They recorded an EP/Demo and it never got a proper release.

Rohan from Extortion asked me to put it out, so I gave it a listen.

When I heard it, I thought it needed a vinyl release and decided to press a short run of 7 inches. Apart from that, I have done another two 7 inches (I Exist and Seduction), a tape for some unreleased In Name

RECORDS and Blood demos and the debut LP, Lone, for an amazing band from Perth called Suffer.”

Midnight Funeral is special in that it is focused mainly upon vinyl and tape releases. Is there a specific reason for this, and do you think vinyl and tape still play an important role in hardcore and other underground music genres?

“The reason I don’t work with CD’s is because I think they are a dying (or dead) format. That and any dickhead can start a CD label without much thought or preparation at all, but pressing vinyl takes planning. You have to talk to people about where they have pressed, who cuts the loudest masters and what experiences they have had with the sales dudes at the plants.

The digital age has progressed past CD’s with people downloading so much music (both by purchasing and pirating) and this has helped propel along a resurgence in vinyl (with digital downloads of course).

“And to be totally upfront, I love records. They have better-sized artwork, a different (and, in my opinion, better) sound. There is also the almost ritual-like act of pulling out an LP/7 inch, checking out the sleeve art, putting the record on the turntable and then dropping the needle on that ingroove. It makes you enjoy the music even more.

“In regards to tapes, I love hearing stories about tape traders in the UK getting bands spread around by trading tapes with other metal heads/grind lovers/dirty punks. It makes me remember trading shitty mixed tapes and music from the radio when I was in school and I love it. Come on, those of us old enough to actually have to have used tapes have all made a mixed tape for a girl/boy at some stage.

It’s just great!”

As well as focusing on vinyl and tapes you are meticulous about the presentation of your releases. Why is this so important to the label and what are some of the crazy ideas you have had for the packaging and extras of Midnight Funeral releases?

“I don’t think you have enough

pages to print some of my over the top ideas, but I really focus on the presentation of the release, as well as what artistic vision the band has for the visual representation of their musical piece. It is all part of what makes a record a record for a band (and the listener too).

“So many releases have shitty art (not in the design so much, but in the execution of the actual intended packaging, especially in Australia) and I love a good record with awesome art/packaging. I really want the person who is dropping their hard earned cash on a release from my label to enjoy the overall aesthetic of the release as much as the music pressed into its grooves.

“The most adventurous packaging I have done so far was the Black Cranes EP artwork for The Seduction. I screen printed and hand assembled all the covers, printed and cut all the inserts, burnt all the CD’s and printed and cut up the patches for that release. The band were supposed to all be involved, but since the band ended, no one really gave a fuck, and I ended up having to do it all. They do look good though, so I am super proud of the end product.

“Labels like Magic Bullet are a real inspiration, as they put so much into the art, sometimes more so than the actual music on the release. They have done stuff like hand painted covers for releases limited to 10 and shit like that. I am not quite at that point “The cost is the real reason I don’t anything super crazy just yet.

Pressing small runs of local stuff means I can’t afford to do it without losing a shitload of money on a release.”

How do you go about selecting artists for the label?

“If I like a band, I’ll make a call or drop an email and hope that they’re into doing it. Or in cases like the Blood And Piss – 4 Dead and Happiness And Authority – Mid Youth Crisis LP reissues, I just think of releases that I would love to own on record and I try and make it happen.”

SOME NOTABLE TITLES FROM THE MIDNIGHT FUNERAL DISCOGRAPHY...

SOME NOTABLE TITLES FROM THE MIDNIGHT FUNERAL DISCOGRAPHY...

Many other Australian labels also plan tours for the bands on their label. Since you have experience with booking shows around Melbourne, have you thought about branching out into tour promotion for the bands you release?

“Not at all. I am upfront with the bands I release at the start, letting them know that I won’t actively seek shows or tours for them. If someone asks me, I will always try and get one of my bands on a show or tour, but I just don’t have the time or energy to chase shit like that for bands.”

What are some of the future plans you have for Midnight Funeral? And what are some of the releases we will see in the near future?

“I have so much stuff planned, I need to find more money for it all. But I do have the following planned: Defeat – S/T 7 inch (in production) I Exist – I: A Turn For The Worse LP (in production) Risk and Reason – Debut 7 inch EP Party Vibes – Debut 7 inch EP Abraxis – S/T LP 4 Dead – Blood And Piss LP Mid Youth Crisis – Happiness And Authority LP I also hope to work with Suffer again in the future.

Aside from Midnight Funeral bands, who do you see as the best new bands in Melbourne and across Australia?

“There is Helta Skelta from Perth, and Search and Destroy & SXWZRD from Adelaide. That’s probably it at the moment… “ You yourself have been part of a few prominent Melbourne bands in your time, perhaps the most successful of those was In Name And Blood, who recently performed a special one off Reunion show. How was that for you?

“The show was good fun, and it was good to hang out with Corey again, as I hadn’t hung out with him much since the band ended a few years ago. I always look forward to seeing Rohan.”

Some people were critical of the show, accusing the band of cashing in on their popularity and playing a nightclub for the one off pay cheque. How do you react to this?

“People can think what they like.

It was supposed to be up to five shows actually, with two in Melbourne, two in Queensland and maybe one in Sydney, but everyone’s time-tables couldn’t accommodate it all in the end. The show at Next was the first booked as Corey works for Destroy All Lines and Cam was a big fan of the band. When Corey mentioned that Leith was back for a short time before relocating to Euroland permanently, Cam asked if we wanted to play one of the shows at Next.

We thought it was a good place to start.

“As for the money thing, yeah, we did get paid pretty well for that show, but we could have easily made twice the money booking a show at the Arthouse and charging a $15 door. But we didn’t. Next is an affordable place for people to get into to and it made sense to us, as we used to love playing club shows. But the reason we did the show, was because Leith was only in town for a short time, and didn’t know if he’d ever be back in the country long enough to do shows ever again.”

Did the Show reignite your passion for the band? Could we see more shows in the future?

“To be honest, no. I wasn’t emotionally invested in the show until I was on stage ready to play. Once I saw the people there to see us looking stoked, I got into it. The only reason I did it was because Leith asked me to. Most of the songs we played were written over five years ago and my life has changed a shitload since then. It felt kind of weird to sing some of them. It was what it was.”

After INAB, you went on to form The Seduction, a band ill fated by line up changes and plagued vinyl releases. Did you learn anything from the band and did you achieve everything you wanted with the band?

“Not at all. There were so many things planned that fell apart when the band ended. The 7 inch almost ended the label – Shane and I are still paying off debts attributed to the release. I was furious! I had booked so many shows for a tour, including Perth, and that’s what caused the end of the band. After that we were supposed to do a SE Asia Tour. I won’t go into it anymore, but no, I didn’t achieve everything I wanted to.

“I did learn a lot, mostly about be-

ing in a band with friends and how high my expectations of everything are. When you have such high expectations, disappointment is bound to rear its ugly head.”

These days you are playing with established Melbourne thrash metal heavyweights The Omen.

How did this come about and how have you fitted into the band so far?

Basically, I saw an ad that the guys put up looking for a singer, I tried out and got in.

“Things are coming along really well. There is another new guy, so it isn’t so bad, and I have known the dudes in some capacity or another for some time; it feels great. They also all have the same aspirations and are of similar ages with real jobs and lives outside music, so it is all going along very smoothly. Almost too smoothly…

I also have to do very little in The Omen, so it’s a breath of fresh air for me in that respect.”

What are the upcoming plans for The Omen?

“We have just self recorded a new 7 inch called Room 5, which we are releasing ourselves (the band, not Midnight Funeral). Then we

plan to tour, meet some new people, drink good coffee and hopefully we can ruin some peoples’ nights. We have already started to write the new album, which is fucking ripping already.”

the one band at a time?

I have been working on an idea for a “band” called Terrifyer for a few years that has never got past one jam with a line up, but this year it starts as a renewed idea.

The Omen has been able to crossover genres, playing both metal and hardcore shows. Is it important for the band to be able to sit on this fence and would you like to see more combined mixed bill shows being played?

“I don’t know if it is important as such. We are just in a position where we are lucky enough to be able to pull it off. We get to play with some of the best bands around as we can slide on in wherever.

“It will now be a series of 7 inch records, with each being a different style of hardcore/punk/metal and each with a different line up made up of friends of mine. Each 7 inch will be pressed at about 150 copies and up to five shows played in support and then move on. I am really excited about it to be honest!”

Any final thoughts or announcements, recommendations or shit talk to add?

“Thanks a lot for your time – I enjoyed answering these questions. Support local bands, labels (especially micro-labels like Midnight Funeral, Hobbledehoy and the like). Buy a local band’s tape, demo CD, 7 inch or LP. Buy a zine.

Or, even better, start a band or zine. Go to shows, mosh hard and don’t forget to do a barrel roll.”

“When I first started going to shows, most of the lineups were mixed bills and I fucking loved it. It doesn’t seem to happen so much any more with hardcore bands, and it kind of bums me out. But you can’t force people to be into something else. I am just lucky enough to have an open mind.”

Do you have any other plans for bands in the works at the moment, or are you happy with just

All the releases talked about in this article are available through the Midnight Funeral online store: midnightfuneral.limitedpressing. com/

DANGERS ARE THE BAND OF THE MOMENT. IT’S NOT BECAUSE THEIR RECORD LABEL TOLD YOU SO, OR BECAUSE THEY’RE ON THE RADIO. IT’S NOT EVEN BECAUSE THEY HAVE SICK MERCH. DANGERS ARE THE BAND OF THE MOMENT BECAUSE THERE IS NO OTHER BAND OUT THERE THAT IS PRESENTING SUCH HONEST AND VITAL MUSIC. I TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY DURING THEIR RECENT AUSTRALIAN TOUR (WITH BROTHER BAND GRAF ORLOCK) TO SIT DOWN WITH FRONT-MAN AL AND DRUMMER ALEX FOR A DOWN-TO-EARTH AND EYE OPENING CONVERSATION ABOUT ALMOST EVERYTHING IMAGINABLE. You recently released your follow up to the acclaimed Anger, with Messy, Isnt It? How was the writing and recording process this time around?

Al – “Well, we went through some member changes and stuff right before we started writing, because we wanted to have a more solid band. Alex, our drummer, joined the band just when we were starting to write which was pretty awesome. We saw him play in his old band, Catch A Breath, and we were like ‘That dude is an awesome drummer! Let’s get him to drum for us.’ So basically the writing process was Alex in his house playing music and me playing guitar for like six months.

“We live like an hour and a half away from each other so every weekend was probably like an hour and a half drive to just write. I would have an idea for guitar and be like, ‘Here are some ideas,’ and then he would do some drums. It would just be back and forth and back and forth, and that probably took about six months, maybe more, until we got a solid 20 ideas for songs that we liked. Justin was in the band by that point, and he started editing through stuff with us, deciding which parts fit and what should go where.

“The overall writing and recording

DANGERS

INTERVIEW: OLIVER CATION – PHOTOS: JOHN HATFIELD of it took probably a year. By the time the music was all recorded, I had compiled lyrics about stuff because I have stuff I write like everyday. The recording of the music probably took another three or four months because stuff happened; like a drum track got erased and part of the hard drive failed when we were transferring stuff over.

“But it finally got to the point were all the music was done and recorded, and I was like, ‘Oh shit! I have to write the lyrics for this.’ Basically I have a notebook of stuff I cut through. It was a long process but I think in the end I’m more proud of this record than I am of anything I’ve done artistically in my life. I really like that we took that much time with it.”

How much of an input do you have in the visual aspect of the band, and how did the cover art for the new record come about?

Alex – “It took a fucking long time to come up with an idea. First we thought of doing something that was like a clear insert and that the picture would change when you put the record in. We had all these cool sorts of ideas, but it was getting closer to the release date and we had to put it out because it had been two years since anything.”

Al – “All the imagery for the band is really frustrating, because none of us do anything. I do photography by myself, but nobody in the band does any sort of artwork, so anything like art or merch we are all just like, ‘Fuck, what are we going to do?’ Especially because we also like to make it pertinent to the band and meaningful – we don’t just want to put some random shit on a shirt. We try to balance it out. We want to make some money back on it, but we want to make it mean something too.

“Basically, the idea behind the album (and I’ll say it incase the people reading don’t know) is that there’s a writer called Richard Brautigan and the suicide note that he left was, ‘Messy Isn’t It’ and that’s all it said on it. He shot himself in the head and a lot of the ideas for the album came from that. What does suicide mean?

What does death mean? What

place does that put us in life?

“A lot of the lyrics that came out, for me at least, were about how people were spending their lives.

My Aunt is on the cover. It wasn’t a big deal convincing of her as she’s an artistic person and she understood the artistic merits of it.

Plus I let her read all the lyrics of it beforehand. It’s very much about the despair you get to in life living in suburban sprawl and when everything is just ok and things are going nicely. To me that isn’t living.

I’m the sort of person that likes extremes, one way or the other, just give me something to feel.

“The artwork was very frustrating to develop, but it fits very well with the name of the album and where it came from. We’ve had people talk to us about suicide: it’s not about suicide though. It’s just trying to take an honest look at suicide and what it means to be alive and to take your own life. The artwork is provocative on purpose. It’s like, ‘Here is the cover, now turn it over and read the lyrics’ because that’s how you get a more full-bodied idea of the whole concept.”

So that’s why the layout is the way it is, to get people to engage more with it?

Al – “Yeah. I get people emailing me all the time asking if I have a full copy of the lyrics because they can’t read them properly. But that’s part of it. We want people to really sit down and read it. One of my favourite records of all time is Background Music by American Nightmare and that’s the same way – you have to go in and piece it together.

“We didn’t know how we were going to do it. Adam from Graf Orlock does all our art and he had all my books and just said, ‘Fuck it! I’m going to do it like this’ and I was embarrassed because I have chicken scratch handwriting, but that’s how I read it in the studio.”

You’re midway through your first Australian tour. How has the experience been so far and how does it differ from playing in the States?

Alex – “We came out here with Graf and we were thinking nobody

would know who the fuck we were, that we would ride Graf Orlock’s coattails because they had been here before, and it’s been crazy.

It seems like some of the shows kids were more excited to see us than Graf and its just like, ‘What the fuck? How does anybody know who we are out here?’

“It’s pretty fucking awesome. There will be like 30 kids and they will be getting into it and enjoying it, where as some shows we’ll play and nobody will care that much.”

Al – “For us, it’s a foreign place but it’s also the same language so that makes it easier than if our first foreign tour was to someplace like Germany where there is more of a language barrier. Our songs aren’t that amazing and they aren’t that intricate. The ideas behind them are the main reason we’re here and people get into our band.

I enjoy the music and think it’s awesome, but a lot of the time you’ll see people get into our band because of some of the lyrics that are there.

“So coming to Australia without that language barrier, it clicked with a lot more people. Even last night,

when no one really knew us in Orange, it’s a really fulfilling thing for me to see people enjoying it, people we’ve never seen or we’ve never met before and never shook hands with at a show before.

like, ‘That’s so far away! Why the fuck are you following us?’ I guess it’s because there are not a lot of bands coming through here. Not a lot of kids do that in the States.

The most I’ve seen a band would be like three times in a row.”

“Back home, no matter where we play, I know that some of the same people are going to be there, that that one kid is going to come up and grab my neck during that song or that one will go crazy. But here every night is a new adventure to us. The way I feel about it is that I get to see a brand new country and I’m learning a lot about myself and how I relate to the world.

How does it differ working with a promoter than booking tours entirely DIY? “We have never had anyone book a show for this band apart from Justin and me and that has been for five years. I’ve only booked one bad show in my life, and it was really bad.

“On top of that, every night I get to do this awesome thing, and even if it were to two people, I would still be having a great time. Every night I’ve said we will probably never be back here again but I do want to come back in the summer time.”

Alex – “Another thing I noticed was that people have been following us for three or more shows which is kind of weird because they’ll follow us all the way from Brisbane to Sydney. We’re just like, ‘Where the fuck do you live?’ and they’ll say like Brisbane, and we’re then

“It was hard to relinquish the reigns a little bit. Justin has taken over more of the business stuff, but he has been here before so I trusted him. I know Justin had some trepidation about doing it with Daniel (Strikehard Bookings) because he’d never met any of them, but I thought, that there is no way I can book a show in Brisbane Australia.

I don’t know where the fuck to play!

“So I’m in two minds. Part of me is like, well this is Australia and Australians do it their own way, so let’s do it however they would do it, but the other part of me knows

that when Fugazi toured, they would never have done this. They would have found the places that were all ages and they would have made sure the shows were all $5 so the kids could get in, because that was Ian Mackaye’s rule. And for me, that’s the standard I try to live up to. Then again, we aren’t as good as Fugazi, so we can’t do that. Maybe if I wrote better music we would be able to be that moral about our playing but I’m not and we can’t.

the scene, then that kind of stuff is going to happen. I was expecting it, I dealt with it and I moved on.

We have the video of the whole thing. They were pretty upset, and I talked to them and they went away.

“It does feel weird at certain times, but I’ve decided to ignore that for this tour, because its still a very DIY operation. Meeting the Strikehard Bookings guys, nobody is making big bucks and we are all hoping to break even, so if we do that then that’s great.”

“I hope that if we get to go back to Sydney to play we get to play an all ages place that has the same intensity of shows. There doesn’t have to be any bouncers hurting anyone.

For those people that don’t know, how was Club Blink on Friday?

Alex – “We supposedly caused a miscarriage. I didn’t see it happen, so that is hearsay. Graf caused a rib to be broken.”

Al – “Here’s the thing: you play a venue with bouncers and people who aren’t used to the music and

have this quota to meet where we have to make a record or a two record contract and all this stuff. We know Justin and we can tell him exactly what we want to do.”

“Sorry if you were there and got hurt.”

Al – “The four of us are of the same mind. It’s a very low glass ceiling on this sort of music and I don’t want to be in this sort of band to be huge. We have friends or acquaintances who go on tour with this sort of loud music for six months out of the year and come home and don’t have a job and they live in a closet and they are considered ‘bigger’ bands. That’s their thing and they like it, but for me, I do much more important stuff with my day to day life back home, like the relationships that I have with family and friends, the job that I do and the schools that I’m going to.

Has being on an independent label, no less one run by a band member, hindered you in any way and are you determined to continue operating as a DIY band?

Alex – “It’s awesome because we are friends with everyone and it’s not this business sort of thing, and we aren’t on some label where we

“I think it’s cool to be in a band with four people that value their private time above the band. When we decide to do band stuff, it’s band time but when we’re not, we’re working on our own lives. Alex is finishing up school, Justin was working for the city, Tim is going back to get his degree in law and I’m finishing a degree in writing.

“It was weird playing Sydney so many times and each time I saw some of the same people. But at that show there was a bunch more people than at the others and I was like, ‘Wow, ok.’

“All this stuff we do that isn’t the band is the important stuff and that’s what we try to talk about. If we were in a different sort of band, which some of us may be in the future, and we wanted music to be our lives, this outlook would be a very bad idea.

“But music is our outlet, and if you want your outlet to be fulfilling you must control it. You can’t have someone telling you what to do.

For me I would have it no other way. If Bridge Nine or Deathwish came to us and asked us to be on their label, I would turn them down.

We just played with Soul Control, who are on Bridge 9, and their shows are the same size as ours.

We aren’t the hype band and we don’t have that sort of following.”

Dangers are very much a band that has something to say, and you pack your songs full of social commentary and message. Do you ever feel like there should be a separation between the music and then message?

Al – “I’ll put it this way: I really loved the Andrew W.K show I went to four years ago, but that has a different sort of feeling where it’s an enjoyment thing. I had a good

time and that was it. When I’m going to personally be playing music I don’t care about having a ‘good time’. I care much more about having a meaningful time and to me, having watched other bands play, you can watch a band have an amazing, crazy set for 20 minutes and people will loose their minds for those 20 minutes, but all it was was those 20 minutes.

“For me, if I’m going to play music, it’s not about having a message necessarily but I do want it to be as close to a transformative event as possible, if not for other people, then especially for me. I want each time that I’m about to yell and scream my guts out that it means something to me.

“I think that’s an important thing that doesn’t happen if all you’re doing is performing. We don’t really perform music. We are playing it, but it isn’t a performance-based thing. You can watch the Dillenger Escape Plan perform and it’s crazy, but I would shoot my brains out if that’s the band I was in because I would be like, ‘What the fuck did I just do every night?’ I would feel like a circus act.

“Even if I’m in bands in the future, and this is the one misconception I would like to clear up about our band, a lot of the time people think we want them to think what we think. Like all of us are vegetarian and we never really talk about that.

I don’t drink or do drugs but I don’t talk about that. None of us believe in God, but I suppose that’s something we are pretty adamant about because religion is a silly thing.

“The misconception is that we want you to think what we think, but in reality we just want you to think – period. If you’re at our shows and you’re able to question something, then I’m saying that you’re also thinking and that’s a positive thing.

The important thing is asking questions. Any music I play. I would like people to leave with questions in their head.”

Your fearless exploration of topics which you find to be unjust or wrong in society has led some to criticise your lyrical expression. Are there any topics you feel shouldn’t be discussed?

Alex – “Songs about Straight Edge and brotherhood are pretty stupid and unimportant.”

Al – “There is nothing taboo. The songs mean something different to me than they do to them because of my very personal approach. But if Alex ever wanted to write lyrics, I would work with it and see how I could use it. As a person that sings lyrics, it’s really difficult to sing anything that you don’t believe in.

Klux Klan just for the sake of it, I couldn’t write about white power like, ‘White Power is bad, we shouldn’t do it.’ It be more a matter of, ‘I’m sitting in a diner in Alabama and the guy next to me is telling me how he hates niggers.’ As a half black person, I have something to write about. So the criteria is honesty.”

“The only criteria that we have is being honest. All of the stuff that I write is honest and it’s life experiences. Propagandhi became an important band to me because of their song ‘Back to the Motor League’. There’s a part in that song which talks about his little sister in the back of the car. Or in ‘Dear Coach’s Corner’, where he’s talking about trying to explain to his niece what was on the TV.

You are vocal about your support for same sex marriage and partnerships between all people.

Throughout Australia and the majority of the USA, gay marriage is still illegal or unrecognised. Do you foresee a time in the future that this will change?

Alex – “Someday. People are more tolerable these days.”

“If you have the right moment in your life to talk about, then all these other things open up. It’s not just a song for a song’s sake, but instead it’s about this moment, and if you have these moments in your life, then nothing is taboo because it means something to you. If it actually happened we would write about it.

Al – “Yeah, I liken it to the rise of vegetarian stuff. Like we were in Crookwell today and were able to get a vege burger. Small little ideas, once they make sense to someone, will start making sense to other people. I really do think that it seems to be that the further you get away from water, for whatever reason, the further you get from populated places where you have to interact with people who are different to you, the more

“I couldn’t write about the Klu

intolerable you can be. I spent some time in Arizona in my life and it’s still very racially segregated and very closed minded.

“Gay marriage isn’t going to happen anytime soon, but because of the internet and how liquid media is at this point people who wouldn’t normally be exposed to gay people are now seeing them on TV and maybe over 20 or 30 years it’s going to become common and people wont have a problem with it. Probably not in my lifetime, but it has to change. That’s the optimistic side of me. The pessimistic side of me says that the sun will burn us up before we perfect ourselves.”

You have a few songs that deal with people accepting unfulfilling lives as being normal, (“I’ll clap when I’m impressed and stay at home mum…”). Does this awareness come from any particular events in your life?

Al – “My mum had me and she wanted to be an art teacher her whole life. She had two failed marriages where her husbands cheated on her and she became a single mum and gave up on a lot of her dreams so we could do ours.

Being a spoilt rich kid growing up

“There is a line in the last song about Justin: about how he had to take over a mortgage after his girlfriend left him. Everything is more literal than not. Read the lines of the last song: ‘I’ve seen my friend’s girlfriend masturbate’. That’s true!”

Alex, what have you learned from being the baby of the group?

Alex – “When I joined the band I was 19 and was still at that age where I was like, ‘Oh, hardcore is sick!’ and doing dumb things. As time went on it became so unimportant as other things like school began to take that place. I really started to get into school because of them (Dangers). Everyone has a Masters degree and that inspired me to do that too.”

Al – “Anytime he says he has to go to school we say that’s ok, it’s fine, so no show.”

Alex – “The idea of teaching is sick and I would love to do that. Al works with kids and that’s cool.”

Can you give us ignorant Australians some recommendations for great new bands coming out of California and the USA? Al – “If you’re into Dinosaur Jr, you should listen to Forming. They’re on Vitriol, and even though it’s a live experience the recordings are still great. Ghostlimb are also on Vitriol and Justin (Graf Orlock and Dangers) is also in that band. It’s probably my favourite Justin band.

was great, and I got all of these things, but I’m looking at it now and realising that I would never have a kid if it meant giving up on writing or my creative outlets. It makes me love my mother unconditionally: I could not have done what she did.

“It’s a weird thing where I respect her for doing it for me, but I could never do it and it causes a lot of anxiety in me and makes me question my worth as a human being.

I’m 27, and 20 to 30 is this time where you’re searching for what you want to do. It’s not forever, but it’s the time to figure out what you will leave behind. For me I have this need to affect people. I’m a very provocative person a lot of the time, but outside that I would like

to make other people’s lives better and I don’t know how to do that and I’m really frustrated.

“A lot of what this band is at this point is trying to figure that out. I know that I can’t even affect my best friends a lot of the time in a positive way, so how the fuck am I going to affect someone who doesn’t know me in a positive way? There is a lot of frustration that comes out and it’s all very personal. If there’s a song on the record about my dad doing cocaine, that happened. If there’s a song about my co-worker who is like, ‘Fuck this, I want to go home because I’m so tired’ and we work with kids, that happened. It comes back to that criteria of truth.

“We play a lot with a band called Comadre. They have been around for a long time and if you like to clap your hands you should listen to them. Punch is getting big, they’ve got a lot of stuff to say. It’s not a totally unique sound, but it’s definitely a very impressive band to watch.

“On the West Coast, there’s a band called Power, that we play with. The guys that are in the band are from the Tiki House in Washington. I think Power is fucking sick. Their live show is out of control – it’s very tight and enjoyable, and their lyrics are really honest too. They’re kids from a really shitty town who talk about being kids from a really shitty town.

“Other bands coming out on Vitriol that are awesome are Glasses, from Europe, but their new split (with Comrade on Vitriol) is awe-

some. Owen Hart, haven’t done anything in a really long time, but their new album is really good.

Their guitarist, Tony Wolfe, is the best riff man; riffs for fucking days!

And also a band that Tony is in called Marrow from the North West who are loud and awesome.”

You’ve said that you see the band as having a glass ceiling, but what about into the future?

Do you want to be doing this band in five years?

Al – “I don’t think we ever think about it in years and I think even months is dangerous. Once you start thinking about it chronologically it’s a bit rough. I would still like to record one more album as I feel like there is some more fine tuning to do. Now that we have all been in the band together I think there is one more record that we could write that is one final statement from the band.

“I’ve got some stuff that I’m writing that I want people to see, but I’m not sure about the others. We want to go travelling too, as we still have to go to Europe and Japan would be cool.”

Alex – “We’ve got to get through this week first.”

How important is the Vitriol mantra, “Write what you want to read, play what you want to hear,” to you as a band and an individual? [Al pulls up his sleeve to reveal the words tattooed on his arm] Al – “It’s a line from a Ghostlimb song and it’s my favourite line that anyone I’ve known has written. I think that’s where we all get in line as a band. As much as we might dislike each other at certain points, we are all very much into the idea that if you want to go and do something, you go and do it. We each go about it different ways with the things that we are into, but if it’s a job, a girlfriend or whatever, make it the way you want it to be. Don’t sit there and complain about it.

“None of us deal well with complaining. We are sarcastic about it but if there is something that’s bothering you, do it another way and fix it. It’s not that fucking hard!

Especially in music, it’s not that fucking hard, and in life, if you sit down and really think about something there is always a solution to make things better than they are.

“I want to write with my life so it

has that meaning to me as well.

For Dangers as a band or an entity, we don’t take time to make excuses for anything and sometimes people come to the show and find that alienating and might leave hating us. That’s totally fine with me because it probably means that you have a bad taste in music.

I think that when you leave you’ll be thinking one or two questions and you can improve your life, and that’s something you didn’t have when you walked in the door.”

Alex – “Don’t be stupid.”

Anybody in particular?

Al – “Tim would say you should read Peter Singer. Justin would say to read Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn,” Alex – “Henry Miller.”

Al – “I want people to read my favourite writer, who is a guy called Donald Barthelme. Read more and listen to less music.”

And finally thoughts?

Alex – “Skate or Die.” Al – “People should read more books.”

Messy, Isn’t It? is available now through Capital Games Records.

INTERVIEW: SARAH PETCHELL – PHOTOS: BEN CLEMENT conventional sense, but when you DEATH BEFORE DISstart off it’s depends. Boston is HONOR HAVE BEEN A strange because it goes through its STAPLE IN THE BOSTON motions as a city itself – like at one HARDCORE SCENE SINCE time there will be a lot of different THEIR INCEPTION IN 2001. places doing shows, then that will die off so venues will be few and FUSING SPEEDY, METALLIC RIFFS WITH A RHYTHM far between.

SECTION THAT SETS THE “When we started, there was more PACE FOR A FURIOUS stuff going on in the suburbs so MOSH, THEIR BACK TO that was how we came up. It took BASICS APPROACH TO a little bit to really break through into Boston itself because there AMERICAN HARDCORE HAS WON THEM A LEGION just wasn’t enough clubs that were into hardcore, punk or anything like OF FANS BOTH AT HOME that. A lot of stuff that happens in AND ABROAD. Boston doesn’t specifically hapJUST PRIOR TO THEIR RECENT AUSTRALIAN TOUR, NO HEROES SPOKE TO VOCALIST BRYAN HARRIS ABOUT HARDCORE, BOSTON AND THEIR MOST RECENT EFFORT, 2009’S BETTER WAYS TO DIE. Just to start off with, what does hardcore mean to you?

“To me, I guess, it’s a bit of everything. As a band we tour so much and put so much time, energy and heart into it that it has become a part of everyday life. Over all, it’s the way you live, the way you carry yourself and the way you conduct your band. So yeah, just a little bit of everything.”

How has being from Boston shaped your band and what you guys have become as a band?

“I think the city itself, asides from the music scene, is a working class city and that obviously affects how we are as a band. Growing up, there have been a lot of bands that have come up that have been from here that have helped mould the band.

“It’s weird because you tour so many places and see so many different types of cities and the way their shows are. It makes you realise that Boston is unique in itself and I think that definitely helps shape how the band is.”

Boston must have been a pretty competitive environment for the band to come up in.

“I wouldn’t say too competitive.

It’s not really competitive in the

pen in Boston. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the suburbs around Boston and a lot of smaller scenes that all exist within an hour of the city.

“We’ve toured quite a bit and you see this sort of thing everywhere.

Everybody talks about California, specifically LA, and a lot of the times the better shows are in Orange County which is half an hour to an hour outside of LA. You know what I mean?”

Well yeah, it’s similar out here.

There are shows in the city but a lot of shows, especially All Ages shows, are out in the suburbs.

And you do need these All Ages shows…

“Exactly! Particularly with this type of music because there are a lot more younger kids than older, I guess. I mean, there are still older people but I would say, as far as hardcore goes, not a lot of people stick through it as they get older.

And even if they do stick with it, their priorities change as they get older, so at shows a lot of the audience are under 18.”

It is becoming an issue though.

At the beginning of this year an All Ages venue here in Sydney lost its licence to have All Ages shows there so now it’s only for 18+. And the whole point of having shows in the city is that it’s a central place for everyone from the suburbs to come to.

“I agree because Boston is kind of the same way. There needs to be more shows in the middle of the city because, asides from the kids that already live in the city, it’s a lot easier for someone from

the suburbs to travel into the city rather that vice versa. I mean, a lot of people that do live in the city (at least in Boston) don’t have cars and stuff like that.

“There are train systems, but the ideal is to have an All Ages show in the city that people can travel from everywhere to and it’s a central point. It means that there are more people at shows and means that places will be ok with punk or hardcore shows and will attract those sorts of people, and bands and the people frequenting them can be comfortable with that.”

What’s the worst trend that you’ve seen come up in hardcore in recent years?

“I would have to say just trends in general. I think a lot of people will say that when they started going to shows hardcore wasn’t as trendy, but I think it was but people didn’t know about it as much. It’s weird because the internet has done so much for hardcore, but at the same time it has helped label bands within hardcore.

“I don’t know whether that is really a trend or not, but that really does affect the general. It’s not a matter of being a hardcore band, but it depends now on the type of hardcore you’re playing. That really messes things up. I think “I think the only exception is with Straight Edge though. It’s weird because people seem to think that it’s a label, but nowadays bands seem to be more open about whether their band is Edge or not.

People that are Straight are really going to appreciate a Straight Edge band but I don’t think they only go to Straight Edge shows.

“When I started going to shows in the mid-90’s – and it could have been that I didn’t really know what was going on because I was just starting out – but it seems to me that I would go to a show and see more of a mixed bill. I would go to a show and see a heavier band like Madball, with like The Bruisers who were more of a street-punk/ Oi! band.

“But they all still had the same ethic and there would be more of a diverse crowd at the show. Like

you would see skinheads and punk kids, mixed in with the hardcore and metal kids. I wouldn’t say they all got along perfectly, but they still coexisted and that made shows a lot more fun, in a way, because there was a lot more people.

“Nowadays you just don’t see that because even within hardcore, like we said, it has become a lot more separated. Bands are classified and identified as a specific type of hardcore rather than just a hardcore band. And kids that pick and choose their specific type of shows, it’s cool to support the bands that you like, but they’re never going to find out about a newer band until you see them live and supporting the bands that they’re actually there to see.”

“I mean, yeah you could find out about bands on MySpace or whatever, but seeing a band live is a completely different experience.

When I was coming up, there were so many times when I would see a band for the first time live, and think them so amazing. So I would buy the CD, take it home and it would suck. It’s just completely different to see a band live than here them from a website.”

Is that something that’s exciting for you about touring? I mean, seeing what bands you’re going to be playing with?

“Yeah, it’s definitely cool to play a city in a different country and to go there not knowing whatever is going on within that scene. We tour so much and play with so many bands that it’s obvious that there are a lot of great bands out there.

But when you do see a band in the middle of nowhere in Germany, and this local band from some small village is totally amazing, that’s always cool to see.”

You’re most recent album, Better Ways To Die, has been out for a while now. Looking back on it, are you still stoked or are there some things you wish you had done differently?

“I’m still excited by it. We still throw it in when we’re driving and we’re still excited about it. I mean, the shows are still great and the kids are still singing along to all the words, so you can’t judge anything

by CD sales. But I think it’s the best record we ever did, so it is a bit of a bummer that the sales aren’t as good as the last record.

But as far as kids downloading it and knowing it, the shows have

been great with kids participating and singing along, and that’s exciting to us.

“This is our best record though.

Every record we’ve done has been great, but we really had more time with this one to put our influences into the music. Like we got to experiment a little more and put some punk and thrash influences in there, but it’s still essentially a hardcore record.”

Death Before Dishonor have toured quite extensively, so what is the weirdest place you’ve ever toured to?

“We haven’t actually toured South-East Asia yet. We’re doing that after the Australian tour. But as for now, as far as weird places, we did our first Central American tour. The shows were great but we had these crazy drives. Like there was this one 27 hour drive from El Salvador to Costa Rica, and we had to go through Nicaragua and Honduras. That was pretty sketchy.

“At the El Salvador show too, at the end of the show someone actually got shot outside because everybody had guns and was crazy there. It was weird. The show was

awesome but there was some fight between kids as they were leaving the show or something. Then the next thing you know, we have to stay inside because there is a shoot-out outside. It was insane!

“Then we’ve been in some weird Eastern European cities that seemed to be cool. We went to Belarus one time where we had two shows. One was shut down by secret police and the other show was completely amazing. The kids are awesome, but the country and the way they treat Americans is really weird. We’ve been to a lot of places and I know that because of political stuff Americans get looked at a certain way here and there, but these guys really looked down on Americans.”

You guys played This Is Hardcore this year, and have played Sound & Fury before. What are those shows like for you guys?

What does the band get out of these sorts of shows?

“They’re cool. We’ve played huge hardcore and metal festivals in Europe, and you’re talking of tens of thousands of people at these events so it’s insane. The ones in the States aren’t as big, but (at

least for me, probably because I’m from here) it feels like a lot more people know one another so it’s rule cool to see people go out of their way to put together a festival.

“The States are a little bit different because there are a lot more bands and it just makes it a lot more harder to do these sorts of things. It’s cool to see a promoter put something like that together and then to see all the bands come together to play together.

“It’s also a risk for everybody involved, so it’s cool to see festivals like Sound & Fury and This Is Hardcore continue year after year.”

So apparently Death Before Dishonor play, on average, 250 shows a year. How does that crazy touring schedule impact your lives?

“It’s a lot of constant moving for the most part. You definitely put your personal life on hold. Our original guitar player, who writes all the music, just got married to the singer of Walls Of Jericho, and he’s touring a lot less because when you tour as much as we do, it’s just so hard to go forward with buying a house or being married.

“So we have a fill in guitarist at the moment. He’s still a part of the band, but he’s just going through an important time in his life. Everybody else, on the other hand, we don’t really have much going on because when you tour as much as what we do, even time off is just time off between tours. So you spend that time trying not to spend money, or working jobs to make a little extra money. You just keep your mind on the road all the time.”

What’s next for you guys?

Where else do you have to go from here and what is there left to cross off the Death Before Dishonor to do list?

“We just want to try and play in as many places as possible. I love playing in new places. Like I said, after the Australian tour we’re playing South East Asia for the first time and then I don’t know.

We’ll probably tour for the rest of the year and then knuckle-down to write a new record and keep going.

As long as we’re all loving what we’re doing, we’re just going to keep pushing forward.”

Better Ways To Die is available now through Bridge 9 Records.

DROPSAW

INTERVIEW: OLIVER CATION PHOTOS: BEN CLEMENT & CHRIS COOPER record. The production and the DROPSAW ARE AN AUSsongs are stronger than anything TRALIAN HARDCORE have released earlier. The way INSTITUTION. WITH THREE we its been taken probably wasn’t the ALBUMS AND COUNTbest. We did the Evergreen TerLESS TOURS UNDER race tour first, and that was the THEIR BELTS, THEY HAVE week it came out, so the songs were new to everybody and not MADE THE DECISION TO everybody had heard it. It was late HANG UP THE GLOVES, into stores too, so we had a bit AT LEAST FOR A WHILE. of drama there. But this tour with NO HEROES CAUGHT Samsara, more people are getting UP WITH MONSTEROUS into the songs, so it has been going well so far.”

FRONTMAN, JARROD “JROCK” MACINTOSH, TO You made the trip to LA to TALK ABOUT THE NEW record the album with As I Lay ALBUM HARD JUSTICE, dying frontman Tim Lambesis: TOURING, STRIPPERS how was that experience?

“The first day we had to go to the AND FIGHTING. First up, you have just released your third album, Hard Justice.

How has it been received so far and are you happy with the record?

“I couldn’t be happier with the

studio, I had to call Tim and get the address and everything. I rang him and he told us that when we got out the front to give him a call because As I lay Dying were actually finishing their new record in there.

“So we were walking into a house

with all of As I Lay Dying. And Killswitch Engage dudes were there as well because Adam D was recording. It was pretty surreal walking into that house. But they were all cool and we partied that night, which was a lot of fun. The experience of meeting them was really good. We weren’t sure what to expect, but they made us feel really welcome.”

Did they make fun of the Australian accents?

“Straight away. The fridge at Tim’s house was broken, so we wanted to get an esky to put our beers in.

We asked them, ‘Where around here could we get an esky?’ and their reply was, ‘What the fuck is an esky?’ They had no idea! We were trying to describe it to them as that thing that you put cold stuff in, and they eventually figured out what we meant and were like, ‘Oh, a cooler.’ So they called it a cooler, and there were a lot of things they had different names for, which was funny.

“Working with Tim and Daniel Castleman, they have worked on all the Sworn Enemy records and that’s the reason we went over there: Sworn Enemy are probably the biggest influence on our band. Working with them and the experience they have got, it was great getting tips and pointers from them.”

Were you anxious about him modifying the Dropsaw sound at all considering your respective bands are quite different?

“He didn’t really have that much to say about it. It was more a matter of him listening to the songs and suggesting ways we could change them, pointing out cool things to try. It wasn’t him telling us what to do,but it was him giving us input. If we liked it we did it, but if we didn’t, we wouldn’t put it in there. We had the final say in the end, so it was a good mix.”

Did you have the chance to see AILD perform whilst you were overseas? Did you pick up any stage moves from Tim or think about growing your hair long?

“Not really. They were just finishing up the record and they had Colin Richardson from Europe fly in to mix the record. He was living at the house for a month and a half and they were just focusing on that.

“I was really hoping Austrian Death Machine were going to play while

Was there any tension between your differences in religious beliefs?

“Not at all, actually. It was pretty funny because Impending Doom were living at the house at the same time, and they are Christian and they would give us shit for being anti-Christian and we would give it back to them for being Christian. They got us to do gang vocals on their record, and the line was like, ‘We are the voice of heaven, we are the sounds of war’ or something like that.

Would you perhaps like to record like that in the future?

Jrock – Recording for a month did all of our heads in. By the time we actually finished the record, none of us wanted to hear it, because we had heard the songs so many times it had done our heads in.

Once we got back to Australia we sat on the record for a couple of months and it was tough to not let people hear it. If you have some-

we were there, but they didn’t.”

Was it interesting to see how a band as big as As I Lay Dying did their recording?

“Yeah, it was everything perfect.

In Australia the most we’ve ever spent recording is a week and we went over there and spent 30 days on it or something. But bands like As I Lay Dying, they mix for like a month and a half, plus they had the weeks and weeks prior to lay down the tracks. It was weird to see a process so long. It opened our eyes and showed us how the big bands do it.”

Would you perhaps like to record like that in the future?

“Recording for a month did all of our heads in. By the time we actually finished the record, none of us wanted to hear it because we had heard the songs so many times it had done our heads in. Once we got back to Australia we sat on the record for a couple of months and it was tough to not let people hear it. If you have something, you want people to hear it.”

Was there any tension between your differences in religious beliefs?

“Not at all actually. It was pretty funny, because Impending Doom were living at the house at the same time, and they are Christian and they would give us shit for being anti-Christian and we would give it back to them for being Christian.

“They got us to do gang vocals on their record, and the line was like, ‘We are the voice of heaven, we are the sounds of war”. So I’ve walked in, and Sam and Doomer have come in too, so we’re like, ‘Righto, what’s the first line?’ He tells us and Doomer is just like, ‘Ok, well I’ll see you later then’ and walks out straight away. They all laughed and we had a joke about it.

“But we got along so well with those guys, and they are used to touring with bands that aren’t Christian. As I Lay Dying tour with bands like that all the time, so we didn’t have a problem at all.

Lambesis has Austrian Death Machine and you have The Cobra, so who is truly better between Arnie and Stallone?

“We had that argument a couple of times actually, but there was no resolution. Actually, there was a resolution: they are both great.

It was Tim’s house, and he had Arnold Schwarzenegger DVD’s all over the place, so we watched them and we had brought some Stallone DVD’s and we watched them too. It was an action packed holiday, that’s for sure.”

And was the re-recording of ‘The Cobra’ anything to do with this tension?

“When we last recorded it, there were parts that I wasn’t quite happy with and parts that I thought could be made better. It’s one song that we really enjoy playing and it fits in the record really well. At first we weren’t going to do it and there were a few other songs we were going to do, but we were running out of time because we had to fly out in February. So we thought, let’s re-record ‘The Cobra’ and make it better. We’re stoked on how it is now.”

You hail from Newcastle, is there anywhere better in the world, or is it a shithole like everyone else thinks?

“Yes, everywhere. But really, I love Newcastle. When I go away and come back, I realise how much I do like it. It’s good to go away though. We were all saying to each other while over in the United States, how good it would be to live over there, but I think we were living in a holiday environment.

I think everywhere is good on a holiday, but if you were living there normally and working and living that life it wouldn’t be the same. I love living in Newcastle and playing shows there.”

You are a quite hard touring band, having recently done the Evergreen Terrace/Casey Jones Tour, and currently being on the road with Samsara. How important is touring for the band?

“Well it’s funny you say that actually. We’re about to go on a break for a long time. All of us have jobs, a couple of us do uni, one of us has a baby and we are all getting pretty busy with other things. We know we are never going to be a huge band, nor are we trying to be like that.

“We tour for fun and at the moment

with how hectic our lives are, it’s taken the fun away from touring, especially when we are missing work and not getting paid for it and that sort of stuff. It’s getting harder and harder as things go on, and so we made the decision to give it a break for a while. We will probably start back up when we are really craving it.”

How have you found the current run of shows with Samsara?

“It’s great touring with them, as they are such great dudes. But Brisbane was dead – there weren’t many people at the shows, which was disappointing but we still had fun and we still appreciate all the people who did come out to the shows.

“NSW has been really good so far.

Newcastle last night absolutely killed it, tonight (Blacktown) was fun and Hot Damn was pretty fun.

We have Canberra tomorrow then Adelaide and Melbourne next week and they are all shaping up to be good.”

You are a band that has a reputation for a bit of partying, whether that be strip clubs or booze. Is it important to have

fun out on the road?

“You have to. If we’re not having fun, there is no point in doing it.

We’re not the type of band who is trying to get huge, and so it’s all about the fun. When we get up to play we are having fun and we hope that everyone else watching us is having fun too.

“Partying is definitely something we all like doing. We have settled down a bit from what we used to be like, but we still get out there and have a few beers and hit the strip clubs. We are loving it at the moment, so that’s good.”

Which is the best strip clubs to visit in Australia?

“Dallas, Dallas in Melbourne. It has cheap private dances, things always get rowdy there and we always get in for free because there is a big group of us.

“It’s strange though, because all the people in Melbourne tell us that it’s the worst and we just love it. So we are just weird dudes.

“While we were in the states, AILD told us that PBR was the worst beer and not to drink it, so we went out straight away and bought

a slab of it and we found that to be the best beer in the states, so something is definitely going wrong with us.”

Where is the worst strip club in Australia?

“The worst one we went to was one in Perth. There was nowhere to sit down and chill so we had to stand around and beers were heaps expensive. Beers are always expensive at strip clubs, but this took the cake. I can’t remember the name of the place, but that was the worst.”

When Dropsaw returns from hiatus, are there any plans to take the bands overseas?

“It’s not something we have ruled out, but there are so many bands over there, and when we don’t have a big name over there, it would be quite hard for us to tour.

But if we got an offer, we would definitely do it. We would have to work things out with work, we’d have to think about it, but its not something we have ruled out.”

Hard Justice is out now through Trial & Error Records.

PERIPHERY

ONE OF THE BUZZ BANDS OF 2010 HAS DEFINITELY BEEN PERIPHERY. FROM THEIR SHOWS WITH THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN BACK IN MAY TO NOW, YOU SEE THEIR NAME CROP UP IN INTERVIEWS WITH OTHER BANDS, AS WELL AS ACROSS FORUMS AND BLOGS THE INTERNET WIDE. AND WITH GOOD REASON! COMBINING THE ATYPICAL RHYTHMS AND TECHNICAL PRECISION OF MATH ROCK WITH THE BRUTALITY AND HEAVINESS OF METAL OF ALL SORTS, THIS YOUNG SEXTET HAVE ACHIEVED A LOT IN THE SIX YEARS SINCE MISHA “BULB” MANSOOR STARTED WRITING SONGS FOR THIS PROJECT. They’re a band that is constantly pushing the envelope, both in

INTERVIEW: SARAH PETCHELL – P

terms of songwriting and in how they deliver their music to their fans. To date, the band have recorded well over 100 songs and continue to deliver new songs on a regular basis, even though their debut album only hit the shelves earlier this year. Each and everyone of these songs are available for listening online, and this is what earned them the support of metal fans worldwide, before the label contracts were even drawn up.

While they were here in May, No Heroes spoke to Misha and Alex Bois (one of the band’s three guitarists) about where they have come from and what exactly makes Periphery tick.

After announcing that the tour gave Misha “more free time than when I’m at home” the interview kicked off with the question…

What’s it like opening for Dillinger?

Misha – “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is our tour and we let Dillinger headline because we didn’t want them to feel bad.

No, we’re very, very much the opener.”

So I guess there might not be as much pressure?

Misha – “On the contrary, a lot of times you do feel pressure as the opener because your job is to make the big band’s life easy. And that’s fair because they’ve worked their way up and deserve it, and we want to do it.

“It’s really cool for us because these guys have always been on a pedestal for me. They’re on of my favourite bands and I’ve had to try so hard to keep it together when I talk to them, but they’re just dudes!

And I love that.”

What were your expectations coming out here of what touring Australia would be like?

Misha – “We had no expectations.

I mean, Alex and I have both been here before for vacation but never for tour. So we really only had to go on what other people had told us touring Australia was like. We didn’t know how the crowds were going to do either. But the thing is that the shows have been phenomenal!”

Alex – “Like we actually have fans.

We’re on the other side of the worlds and we have people that

PHOTO ON NEXT PAGE: CRAIG NYE

know our music so it’s pretty cool.”

Misha – “We have more people at shows here than what we do at American shows. There’s only a few cities that would really compare with this. And still, there are lines of people waiting to meet us at the merch stand.”

Periphery are the new guys on the block out here, so how would you describe your music?

Misha – “We’re progressive metal and we like to cover as much ground as possible. We try to do a little bit of everything and try to do it as best as we can and hopefully you agree that we pull it off.

“We love so many different styles of music, so why try to cram as much of that in as possible. We also write a lot of material, so our album is very long. I wanted that because I felt like we wanted to give as much bang for buck.

Hopefully, it’s a nice broad debut that will allow us to go in whatever direction or experiment in whatever direction, without it being too far off of this.”

branch of in whatever direction you need to from here. How important is that freedom to Periphery?

Misha – “It’s extremely important and that was a big reason why we did it. A very good example of a band that did it, and it hurt them but I still love them to death, is Thrice. Remember Artist In The Ambulance and how awesome that was, then Vheissu comes out and I just couldn’t get into it! It was so far off, but listening back now it’s my favourite of theirs.

“But that’s the thing. Everyone expected another metalcore-ish, pop album, and Vheissu just was so much more mature and adult and out of left field. So what we’re doing is trying to establish that we want to go off in different directions. And perhaps we’ll have an album that most people won’t get, but it will just be that that album is that experimentation.

“We really just want to have everything, and if we’re going to do something full-time you might as well make the most of it.”

you’re doing…

Alex – “You have to!”

Misha – “We all love our job and the only way we’re going to keep loving it is to do exactly what we want. We want so many different things that this is the only way that we can do it: just doing whatever in the moment is right. You don’t want to do the same album over and over again.”

Alex – “It works for some bands, like Slayer. Certain bands stick to their sound and it works for them and that’s what they want to do.

But you want to see a band kind of evolve and mature.”

Misha – “Right. My favourite bands are the ones that don’t stagnate and do evolve.”

I guess that’s a good place to take the interview then. What are your guys favourite albums of all time, if you had to pick right now?

Alex – “Vulgar Display Of Power by Pantera.”

Misha – “Never heard of them.”

It’s really interesting that you mention wanting to be able to

And if you’re going to do it fulltime you may as well love what

Alex – “This guy is crazy! He’s not

a Pantera fan, can you believe it?”

Misha – “Death Of A Dead Day – Sikth.”

Alex – “Black Album – Metallica.

Misha, all your albums are post 2002!”

Misha – “OK well I’m going to forget something anyway so let’s go with a crowd-pleaser. Scenes From A Memory by Dream Theatre.”

Alex – “See that’s a band I don’t like! So let’s go Megadeth’s Countdown To Extinction.”

Misha – “I know a guy where you guys can get your ears checked, because Dream Theatre is good music.”

Alex – “Devin Townsend’s Accelerated Evolution and Synchestra.”

Misha – “Throw Alien in there while you’re at it. Actually, can we do everything that Devin Townsend has ever touched?”

Yes. Misha – “Cool. Also thrown in the

Final Fantasy VII soundtrack in there, just because I can.”

Alex – “Ok, so are you going to go play Dungeons & Dragons now?

Ashes Of The Wake by Lamb Of God. So as you can see, we have very different tastes in music.”

Misha – “What’s your favourite album?”

The Shape Of Punk To Come by Refused. Hands down.

Misha – “Oh man! See I told you I would miss one. That totally makes the list! That album has some of the best mixing ever. EVER! That’s what people (i.e. me) listen to when they want to learn how to mix. The EVERYTHING on that sticks out ridiculously. So let’s tack that one on the end there. Thank you for bringing that up.”

Obviously you guys have real broad influences and musical likes, so how did Periphery form and get together in the first place?

Misha – “We met on the internet at match.com.”

Alex – “We really did! Misha and I met on the internet. I was playing in a band called Different Self at the time and we were touring around. Then Misha found us on MySpace and contacted us, and we became friends.”

Misha – “It’s funny because they were one of the first friends I ever had on Myspace. This is 2004 and you can see from our friends lists that we were some of the first people to join. And it just made sense at the time that the first thing we would do, would be to add local metal bands. I think we both looked at influences, so if the bands listed influences like Meshuggah, Tool or Dream Theatre we added them.”

Alex – “Ours were like Meshuggah, Tool and Metallica! So that’s how he found us. He gave me a CD of all the demos and stuff that he had ever worked on, on his own. I took that out to L.A. when the band moved out there. Then I wasn’t feeling that band much anymore, so was moving back home to the East Coast to finish off college.

When I got back, Misha got in

contact and we started to jam. And many lineup changes later, here we are.”

Considering that you met online, that Misha, when the band was starting out you were posting all your stuff on forums, and also that all your material is available online, how important is the internet to Periphery?

Misha – “We wouldn’t exist without it. Actually, it’s more a matter of we wouldn’t be relevant without it.

That’s what puts us in a very sensitive position because a lot of the older school labels and the more traditional labels hate it and see it as the destruction of music.

“The way that I look at it, and maybe I’m a little bit naïve, but to me it’s just the same shit, different day.

There’s always something. First it was radio, then television and now it’s the internet. But the successful people always adapt, and that was a criteria when we were looking for a label.

“We wanted labels that could adapt and understood that even though you could wish it away, it wasn’t

going anywhere, and could plan a business model around it.

“But when used right, it works so well. I mean, the internet has gotten us everything. It’s free and increases the accessibility of what we do. I mean, people in countries we’ve never even heard of can and do hear our band. So yes it sucks in certain ways, but it’s there, and there is so much there that if you redefine your business models there are ways to counteract it.”

I guess the thing is that digitising, whether the internet or whatever, impacts EVERY business model.

Misha – “Exactly! My girlfriend is a photographer and learned photography in a darkroom. And ever since digital cameras and sites like Photobucket became available, no everyone in the world is a photographer and everyong that has an SLR is a photographer. It’s not an exclusive thing anymore.

“And it’s the same with music.

Before if you wanted to record you had to go to a recording studio and for out a ridiculous sum on money

to have a professional record it for you. Now anyone can record themselves at home in their bedroom. I mean, that’s what we did.

“But this is the thing. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just changing the rules. And the people that can and do adapt are the people that are going to come out on top.”

What goals and aims do you guys have for this band?

Alex – “I think it’s the same as what everyone else wants to do.

We want to make music for a living. We want to writing, record and perform music on a day to day basis without having to do anything else.”

Misha – “We just want it to be a sustainable career. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves because we play progressive metal so we’re never going to be huge. But I do think that it’s realistic. Especially with the internet, I think that there are enough people out there that would be into it that this could be that sort of career for us. It’s not an unreasonable thing to ask for.”

CASEY JONES

INTERVIEW: SARAH PETCHELL – PHOTOS: BEN CLEMENT

EVERGREEN TERRACE / casey jones

EVERGREEN TERRACE

BEFORE YOU READ THIS INTERVIEW, I RECOMMEND THAT YOU GO BACK TO ISSUE 2 AND READ THE INTERVIEW I DID WITH JOSH JAMES BACK THEN, BECAUSE THIS ARTICLE REFERENCES SOME OF THE THINGS WE DISCUSSED WAY BACK THEN. FOR THOSE THAT DON’T KNOW, JOSH JAMES IS THE GUITARIST OF EVERGREEN TERRACE AND SINGER OF STRAIGHT EDGE OUTFIT CASEY JONES. EARLIER THIS YEAR, BOTH BANDS TOURED THESE SHORES AND WE CAUGHT UP WITH JOSH JAMES TO REHASH SOME OF THE TOPICS WE DISCUSSED OVER A YEAR BEFORE AS WELL AS TALK ABOUT WHAT IT’S LIKE TOURING WITH TWO BANDS AT ONCE. SO THIS

INTERVIEW IS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT EVERGREEN TERRACE AND A LITTLE BIT ABOUT CASEY JONES. WHAT THESE SHOWS AND THIS INTERVIEW HOPEFULLY POINTS OUT IS THAT JOSH JAMES IS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST DUDES I’VE EVER INTERVIEWED! HE DOESN’T TAKE WHAT HE DOES THAT SERIOUSLY, AND IN THE WORLD OF HARDCORE THIS IS REFRESHING. OK, so I spoke to you about 18 months ago when you were here for Soundwave. The logical starting point would be, what’s been going on between then and now?

“Oh man! Soundwave was awesome. Really, when we got back from Soundwave, our minds were blown and we all felt like we were a real band. And we really felt like, ‘That was the best tour ever!’

“But since then we wrote, recorded and released a new record called

Almost Home that came out last September on Metal Blade. Since then we’ve just kept the usual Evergreen Terrace schedule of just touring, touring, touring and writing and recording. It’s just been the same thing.

“Obviously, us heading back to Australia for this run was pretty cool for us, and we’re super excited to be back here because Australia was the first time that we ever toured internationally back in 2004. Plus it’s also like going on vacation rather than going on tour, so no one really feels like we’re about to embark on this shitty long tour. It’s more about hanging out with friends, going swimming and then playing some shows too.

“Oh, and Soundwave was our old bass player’s last show, so he got the boot when we got home. That was the biggest change. Except for our drummer, Kyle, getting into this terrible accident where he broke shoulder, crushed his elbow and they told him that he was never going to be able to play drums again. Then after ten surgeries and hundreds of thousands of dollars he got a new arm and is back playing drums with us.”

Last time we spoke, you mentioned that what you were most looking forward to about coming back out here was eating ice cream with pancakes. Did that happen for you?

“Of course. You know, when you play Soundwave you get to stay in all these fancy hotels so we just had room service bring it up to me.

Then we just put it all on the bill so we’ll probably never get invited back for Soundwave because I’m sure they got a rather large room service bill on Evergreen Terrace’s behalf in every hotel we stayed in.

“We attempted to pretend we were Nine Inch Nails and have it sent up to their room instead, but it didn’t work out.”

Did Trent Reznor catch you?

“Yeah he did, then he told me he wanted to fuck me like an animal.

It got weird.”

What has the response to Almost Home been like? Six

months later are you still stoked on it?

“I’m personally really pumped on the record. There’s only a few select songs that we’ve been playing live, and the other day I popped on the record just to kind of see if there were other songs I wanted to play live. I hadn’t listened to it in a couple of months and I really enjoy listening to the record.

“We’ve made this rule that now that we’ve been a band for ten years we’re allowed to start wearing our own merch and liking our own band. So I think things like that are starting to take effect.”

But the thing is that the band that you were ten years ago isn’t going to be the same band that you guys are now…

“Oh no, not at all. We had our ten year anniversary show in January with Stretch Armstrong (who were playing their final show) and Bane came down for it. It was just awesome and it was crazy to think that

we have been a band for ten years now. I can’t believe it!”

What’s the best thing about the album for you?

“That’s a tough one. The best thing to me, versus the rest of our discography, I would say is the songwriting. I think sometimes people aren’t sure what Evergreen Terrace actually sounds like because we kind of have two kinds of styles: like a melodic style and then a more heavier style. I think on this record there’s a really good balance between the two.

“So overall the record just flows really well together and the songwriting is definitely the best we’ve done. Plus it’s just really catchy.”

You’re playing these shows as a part of Casey Jones and Evergreen Terrace. Is that something that you do often?

“Yeah, Casey Jones doesn’t do too many shows. But I will say that looking back on Casey Jones’

“We’ll probably never get invited back for Soundwave because I’m sure they got a rather large room service bill on Evergreen Terrace’s behalf in every hotel we stayed in...”

CASEY JONES

EVERGREEN TERRACE

“It was the most non-thought out decision the band has ever made!

We put more effort now into saying, ‘Where do you want to eat when we pull over?’ than we put into what do you want to name the band...” actual touring history I would say that a good 50 per cent is with Evergreen Terrace. So there’s been a lot of times that we’ve gone out on like a 30 date tour, and then I’ve gotten 10 days in and regretted signing up for both things at once.

“It’s cool because this is the first time that Casey Jones has ever been to Australia, and it will probably be the last time just because the state of the band is that we’re not a full-time band and people have real lives and real jobs.

One of the guys has just started teaching at Boston University and another has gotten a job at a Mayo Clinic, so there is real life, adult stuff starting to happen for them.

“We’re pumped to be given the offer and be able to take advantage of that, especially (like I said) because touring Australia is like a vacation. I’m not even focused on playing the shows really, because things are going to be so much outside of the shows. I mean, the shows are going to be a blast, but it will get tiring sometimes.”

How do the live shows differ between the two bands?

“I think Casey Jones has more of an anthemic, punk rock feel to it live, and I think that there’s more of a sense of underground passion in a way. Because the band is a Straight Edge band, there is a meaning behind the band and like an actual philosophy to the band.

“A lot of times when you see a band like that, with a general philosophy, there is an energy and a presence there that builds up.

“Personally for me, it seems more intense, but that being said I sing for Casey Jones so I have more of a connection with the crowd and more of an interaction with it, so it definitely seems more intense for me.

“Then with Evergreen Terrace, isn’t up there with a set of rules or regulations or agenda, it’s just strictly for fun. The philosophy is to party and have fun. I think that both bands have a really good, positive energy to their shows. You don’t want to murder someone after you finish the show!

“It’s a really good vibe, but it’s two different types of positive energy.

I think one is a passionate positive energy and the other is a play around, let’s have fun positive energy.”

I don’t think I’ve ever asked anyone I’ve interviewed this (and I’ve interviewed Earth Crisis).

What exactly is your take on Straight Edge?

“It’s weird because so many people sit back and deconstruct exactly what Straight Edge is to get right to the root of it. For me, I’ve been Straight Edge for so long it’s something that is a part of me. If Straight Edge didn’t exist, I would still be the way that I am. It’s just part of who I am and it’s something that I’m passionate about, but it’s also something that I don’t go around and force it on anyone.

“I think I can speak on behalf of everyone that has ever been in Casey Jones when I say this, but Casey Jones has never been a band that has a problem with anyone that isn’t Straight Edge. And it’s never been a band that goes out of its way trying to convert everyone to become Straight Edge.

“It’s a life philosophy that the five of us live by and it’s a good outlet for me to have that I don’t have with Evergreen Terrace. It’s an outlet that is fun and healthy, and it’s good for me to have that release.

“Casey Jones is the only real release that I have for the passion that I feel for Straight Edge. I’m not going to walk around the movie theatre and X-up, then smash someone in the face for smoking a cigarette.

“The thing is that when Casey Jones plays we will talk about Straight Edge and we will talk about our opinions, views and ideas. And I think that is what punk rock and hardcore is for. I think that politics – life politics, government politics, opinions and views – that all belongs in music, because that’s how you express yourself.”

One last question: Who came up with the name Evergreen Terrace in the first place? And if

it was you, can you remember which The Simpsons episode you were watching when you came up with the idea?

“It was not me. It was our original bass player who was only on our demo and never on an actual record. His name was Josh Smith.

We actually had our first practice and somehow wrote two songs in one practice. Then we drove to a show and played it. We thought it would be really funny to write two songs at practice then go play a show that our friends were playing.

And Drew and I, for some reason or another, were both wearing backpacks and so Drew said that we were called the Backpack Boys. That’s just the worst band name in the world.

“When we were done, we were like that wasn’t as shitty as we thought it would be. It was actually kind of fun, so maybe we should do it again. I remember eating a chicken sandwich at Wendy’s and our bass player says, ‘We should call ourselves Evergreen Terrace because that’s the name of the street the Simpsons live on.’ The rest of us were like, ok that’s good.

“It was the most non-thought out decision the band has ever made!

We put more effort now into saying, ‘Where do you want to eat when we pull over?’ than we put into what do you want to name the band. Not one other person gave an option and not one other person denied it. It was just alright on everyone’s behalf.”

At least it’s better than the Backpack Boys.

“It is a lot better than the Backpack Boys. I don’t even know what it sounds like. I am genuinely embarrassed any time I have to repeat that story or the name the Backpack Boys. It reminds me of the Hardy Boys actually, which could have been cool.

“But if we stuck with the name we would have had to have had some gimmick, like us all wearing backpacks on stage, and we would be stuck here now in our late twenties and early thirties wearing backpacks, and that would just be awkward.”

SOILWORK

INTERVIEW: SARAH PETCHELL OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST 13 YEARS, SOILWORK HAVE ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES AS ONE OF HE MOST PROLIFIC AND IMPORTANT BANDS IN THE SWEDISH METAL SCENE. FORMING DURING THE SECOND WAVE OF SWEDISH DEATH METAL, THEY HAVE OUTLASTED THEIR PEERS AND CONTINUE TO PRODUCE ALBUM AFTER ALBUM OF MUSIC THAT IS AS FURIOUS AND HEAVY, AS IT IS MELODIC AND CATCHY.

(in a good way) and just a little bit more intense, I guess.”

Soilwork has been around since 1997. What sort have changes have you noticed in the Swedish metal scene between then and now?

“I wouldn’t say that I’m really involved in keeping track of everything that’s going on. It’s really way more of a diverse scene nowadays than it was during say the second wave of Swedish death metal in the mid-nineties. Back then, bands were sounding very similar and today all of those bands that are still around all have their own sound. I mean, Dark Tranquility have their own sound and we have our own sound. So it’s a lot more diverse.

ONE THE EVE OF THEIR FOURTH AUSTRALIAN TOUR, WE SPOKE TO VOCALIST BJORN “SPEED” STRID ABOUT THEIR MOST RECENT ALBUM, THE PANIC BROADCAST, THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND SWEDEN, AND WHAT EXACTLY IT’S LIKE TO BE ONE OF THE LEADERS OF SWEDISH METAL.

“And then there are also a lot of young bands coming up that love to play metal here. When we go around the rehearsal space where we’ve been for ten years, there are so many kids playing metal and over the years the types of metal that they’ve all been playing has changed so much. It’s pretty funny in that respect.

So how many times, exactly, have you been to Australia now?

“We were in Australia for the first time in 2004 and the second time in 2005. And then we were there also in 2008. So we’ve been there three times.”

Are there any up and coming bands that we should all be checking out?

“There’s a band from our home town called Hearts Alive that’s a really cool band. They’re signed to a really small label at the moment, but hopefully they’ll get a little bit bigger and get a better deal.

What sort of an experience were those shows like for you?

“I mean, the shows are absolutely amazing! It’s like taking a Japanese crowd, a European crowd and an American crowd and put it into one to get an Australian crowd.

It’s such a great crowd made up of such great people. Every tour we’ve done there has been great and we’ve had a blast there.”

What are the differences between Australian crowds and Swedish crowds?

“I would say that the people are a little bit more spontaneous than in Sweden, a little bit more rowdy

“I feel that our Swedish scene, right now, is a really interesting and diverse scene. We have everything represented here as far as different music styles are concerned.”

“I’m not really keeping track of all the young bands. I just know that there are a lot of bands there.

Unfortunately for us, we do a lot of touring so we miss out on going to a lot of local shows where normally I would enjoy doing that. When I’m home that’s something I always try to get to these shows.”

So your album, The Panic Broadcast, came out a few months ago. What is your favourite thing about the album?

“Again, diversity. It’s really over the top and there’s everything on

offer. It’s just ten songs that leave you gasping for air because it’s so intense that you can feel the album so much. There’s just so much presence in it.

“And it sounds a little bit more pissed off and then it’s so intense, atmospheric and melodic all at the same time. I just feel like it’s a great album to listen to because you discover new things every time you listen to it, and that’s how I want an album to be. That’s the appeal of doing a full-length album.

You hear the first song and then you hear the rest of the album, instead of just flicking through it.”

How does it differ from your previous work?

“Well let me put it this way: I haven’t been this proud of an album since Natural Born Chaos.

I feel like we really expressed ourselves on this album and we really pushed ourselves on it. I’m not saying that we didn’t do that with the albums in between, just that we really managed to top and impress ourselves with this new one. We didn’t look back this time and we didn’t think too much.”

In between the albums you lost two band members and regained Peter. How did that impact upon the writing and recording process?

“We usually have written our songs individually without them fitting together, but rather separately.

We’ve been bouncing ideas back and forth and now that we’re living all over the world – I mean three of us live here in Sweden, and then Peter living in North Carolina – it kind of makes it hard for us to get together and write songs.”

Do you plan to ever go back to writing an album together in the same room?

“It would be a cool thing to jam out some songs together, but we’re so used to this now, and it’s been working well for us on every occasion. But it hasn’t really been that different from the last album. I just feel that we’ve written songs that are tighter and more angry.”

The Panic Broadcast is available now through Nuclear Blast/Riot!.

HAND OF MERCY INTERVIEW WITH ADAM Mc & JOSH C: OLIVER CATION For those who don’t know, give us a bit of a history of the band.

“The band started in early 2005, with Josh Zimmer and myself. I found the other Josh at a Civic Video – he looked like Otto from The Simpsons, so I had to get that fucker in the band. We were looking for a bass player and a singer for like a year and had no luck. So we started going to local shows and just asking everyone. Eventually we stumbled upon Scott at a Parkway Drive show and asked him if he wanted to try out for the band as a singer. He said, ‘Name the time and place.’

“A week later, Scott brought a bass player with him, Mr Van Den Bok. Van could shred some serious bass and Scott could hit notes better than Britney, so we welcomed them into the Hand Of Mercy camp. We then wrote six horrible songs and started playing shows in September 2006.”

Your debut album, The Fallout, is out now on Dogfight records.

Are you stoked on it?

“It’s going to be a riot! We can’t wait to get these new songs out as we’ve really busted our balls on this album. We were a bit short for time in the studio, but we got most of what we wanted done and we couldn’t be happier with how good I am on guitar.”

You have previously released 2 EPs on Viper Death Lock, the new album is on Dogfight Records, another independent Sydney label. Was there any reason behind that change?

“Viper was good for us but we were just going in a different direction to most of the bands that are on that label or that have been on that label. We just wanted a fresh start with the new album and to be on the same label with bands we love and play with all the time.”

It has been a long process to get the album released. How has the band changed in the time between Trash The Party and now?

“We have all done a lot of growing up since then. When we first started out three out of the five of us were all 17 or younger. Our taste in music has expanded so much as well. We don’t try to kid our selves because we don’t like

certain types of music (like top 40 radio, which we all jerk off to on a regular basis), so that helps in progressing and helps us not to get pigeon holed by everyone else.”

This is the first album for Hand Of Mercy. Did the songwriting and recording process differ for you as a band from the EPs? “It hasn’t been that different to the past few times we’ve recorded.

We’ve done it at the same place with the same dude every time (Dave P at Electric Sun). I think we’ve just become better and more prepared so that when we get in there and record we don’t waste as much time as we did before, which means we can afford to look like a real band and record outros and interludes.”

You are going out on the road with Confession and Sienna Skies, on the “Keeping It Bogan” tour. What are you looking forward to most about the tour?

“Hanging out at all different states’ finest Mexican restaurants.”

With the “Keeping It Bogan” tour, is mosh back?

“I’d say nu-metal is back, more than anything. We’re trying to get red baseball caps made that only fit properly if you wear them backwards.”

You have played lots of great support slots with bands such as Parkway Drive, The Black Dahlia Murder, Enter Shikari, etc. What has been your favou-

rite band to play with?

“That would have to be Parkway.

I’ve wanted to play with them ever since I was 18 and who else could we support that would enable us to play in front of 3000+ kids at one show? Plus the drummer from TBDM tried to pump my missus in a shower. Not cool bro...not cool!”

Who are the other local and national bands you think people should keep an eye out for?

“One Vital Word , Pledge This , Endless Heights, Empires, Time Has Come, Dream On Dreamer.”

What can we expect to see in the near future from the band?

“More touring, better stage props and less hair.”

You recorded a video for “Mr Nasty Time” from the new album. How was that experience, and when will we get to see it?

“It was cool and something I never thought I would get to do, but it was also pretty strange. We asked a bunch of friends and kids that were friends with us on MySpace or Facebook to come along as well. It was a bit awkward playing in front of them all to a backing track for 8 hours. At the same time we had a BBQ and drinks so it was more like a massive party than anything else. It’s out now.”

Have you ever thought about changing the band members’ names so there is no more confusion?

“Nah, because then we wouldn’t get to call each other all the nicknames we’ve thought up over the years when we should have been writing songs.”

BANDS YOUVE NEVER HEARD OF OCTAVES MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/octaves Label: Hotfoot Records When Poison The Well announced their hiatus earlier this year, the search was on to find a band to fill the void they had left. Enter Baltimore’s Octaves. Octaves are creating tunes as full of whimsical soundscapes as they are heavy and dissonant. Take the track ‘Fix The Fern Back’ from their debut EP Greener Pastures! The first bars sound like something straight from a The Bled record, then halfway through you get a soaring, female vocal that lifts the track from sounding identical to a million other post-hardcore bands to a sound that Octaves have marked as distinctively their own.

It is these unexpected turns (for example the intro to ‘Be Angry At The Sun For Setting On A Set Of Suns’) that mark Octaves as one of my favourite finds this year. Sarah Petchell HIVEMIND MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/hivemindfl Label: Death Truth Recordings Hivemind is part of the fertile scene in Florida, USA, playing some of the most aggressive hardcore you will hear in 2010. The band is comprised of four young guys and a veteran of the scene but have gained a great deal of respect from their peers and audiences. Already they have shared stages with the like of Cro Mags, Blacklisted, Remembering Never, Trash Talk, Energy and Donnybrook to name a few. Hivemind deliver raw aggression, their music sounding like a cross between Cro Mags, Slayer and Integrity. You will become angry (or angrier) at the world if you listen to Hivemind, but that shouldn’t worry you. Pick up their most recent 7’ Foreboding Winds and hope that one day you get to witness them in the flesh. Oliver Cation NEVER CONTENT MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nevercontenthc Label: Arrest Records Never Content aren’t the biggest name in Australian melodic hardcore, but right now they are the hardest working. Booking shows up and down the east coast week after week and recently releasing their debut EP Midnight At Six. The band has a sound best described as a combination of Comeback Kid and Kids Like Us, and play it with real passion. Formed in Wollongong on New South Wales’ South Coast within the last year, the band has made giant leaps towards recognition, taking it upon them selves to let you know they exist. With determination, motivation and some damn good tunes, it won’t be long until you know about this band and will be seeing them in the flesh, no matter where you are. Oliver Cation CEREBRAL BALLZY MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/cerebralballzy Label: Unsigned With a politically incorrect pun for a band name and a bio that announces the band’s priorities to be skateboarding, beer and pizza (in that order) it’s hard to take Cerebral Ballzy seriously. However, then you start listening to any one of their under two-minute thrash punk songs and you’re hooked.

It’s fun, infectious and most importantly fast as fuck! With track names like ‘Sk8 All Day’ and ‘Causing Havoc’ you know exactly where these guys stand, however they’ve caught the attention of the likes of Trash Talk (who have taken C.B. on their current European tour). It’s taken me a while to track down their You’re Idle 7” (with the cover made of griptape) but it was definitely worth it! You’re going to hear big things from these guys very soon! Sarah Petchell CARAVELS MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/caravels Label: Topshelf Records Ok, I’m cheating a little bit with this one because these guys are on tour with Octaves at the moment. However, while these guys may be lumped into the post-hardcore genre together, Caravels is an entirely different beast. Instead of the emphasis being on dissonance, these guys have blended brooding modern hardcore and gloomy post-rock into a progressive sound that offers few hooks to incur instantaneous satisfaction. Without these hooks the listener is forced to listen to these guys again and again, with each listen unveiling more of the musical secrets this band have layered into their tunes. It’s a difficult listen, but ultimately one that is rewarding – their debut EP Floorboards is a sign of great things to come for this supremely talented band. Sarah Petchell MOUNTAIN MAN MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/mountainmanhc Label: Think Fast! Records There have always been standout bands that come out of the US. If you think back through bands like American Nightmare, Champion or Have Heart you get the idea. But all these bands have disbanded or moved on and now it’s time for another wave of inspirational bands. Mountain Man stands alongside the likes of Dangers as being it. With a sound somewhere between early Ceremony mixed with Extortion, this is a sound so vital and antagonistic that it demands you react. For those people bored with the constant trend hopping that happens in hardcore, Mountain Man rise above with music that should appeal to everyone and will be life-changing for some, their debut album, One, making a declaration of intent that people will have to sit up and take notice of. Oliver Cation

New Music Anberlin are one undeniably catchy band. In fact, their songs are so contagious that any of the first six cuts off their fifth album would start a pandemic if played on the radio. Light Is The Way, Dark Is A Place is far more consistent than its 2008 predecessor New Surrender. What this means, for those who are not long time fans of Anberlin ,that from start to finish this is an album of great hooks, sing-a-long choruses and slick production. Stephen Christian’s vocals are a standout as always. But it is the aspect of musical teamwork and composition that sees Light Is The Way, Dark Is A Place continue Anberlin’s fine musical form.

3.5/5 – Lindsey Cuthbertson

Dark Is The Way, Light Is A Place – Anberlin UNIVERSAL For 30 years California’s Bad Religion have worked their way to iconic status in punk rock by perfecting their fast and melodic style of music. Bad Religion know what they like to play, and beside a few changes in tempo and musical expression, not a lot changes from album to album. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough new ground broken on The Dissent Of Man to warrant repeated listens. Bad Religion have done better albums than this. While long time fans of the band will rejoice in another studio offering, one has to wonder whether ploughing the same patch of turf for 30 years keeps them relevant. There has to be a point in time when reputation does not justify stagnation. The Dissent Of Man may be just that.

2.5/5 – Lindsey Cuthbertson

The Dissent Of Man – Bad Religion Epitaph/SHOCK Bitter End are not your typical hardcore band, and their sophomore release Guilty As Charged, demonstrates that this is not a band content to stay within the stylistic confines of the metallic hardcore genre. In fact, while the first half of the album is marked with attitude and riffs aplenty, the second half of the album sees the band taken an unexpected, melodic turn. It is this unexpected turn from the Slayer-esque lead guitar of the title track to the track ‘Suenos Muertos’ which fuses acoustic work with heavy percussion. But the standout track is ‘Broken’ with a sludgy intro evolving into a haunting and clean melody, layered under heavy guitar work that ends the track on a high note. So while the first half of the album is predictable, it is surprisingly the second half in which Bitter End’s experimentation demonstrates the true depth of this band.

3.5/5 – Sarah Petchell

Guilty As Charged – Bitter End Deathwish Inc. When Jim Lindberg announced last year that he was leaving iconic punk group Pennywise, you couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to walk away from music entirely or start a new band. Now fronting The Black Pacific, Lindberg delivers an album of melodic punk rock anthems with a bitter edge. The formula’s familiar, and The Black Pacific could be mistaken for Pennywise 2.0 judging by the compositional make up of each and every song. Either it shows how important Lindberg was to the sound of Pennywise, or that after twenty years in the one band he doesn’t know anything else. Luckily for him, The Black Pacific is not a disappointment. The album’s production is slicker than oil, and so too are the songs. But a little musical diversity certainly could have helped Lindberg shake the shadow of Pennywise hanging over his head.

3/5 – Lindsey Cuthbertson

The Black Pacific – The Black Pacific Side One Dummy/SHOCK Bring Me The Horizon are the band everyone loves to hate, me included. But with album number three, There Is A Hell... I can’t hate any longer as this quintet have furthered the sound established on Suicide Season into an accomplished album. The hooks are catchy, lyrics entirely sing-a-ble and the riffs so infectious that you will find yourself humming them all day. That being said, there are generic parts (like the verse in ‘Visions’), however these generic parts are followed by some of the most innovative work on the album. For example, the chorus of ‘Visions’ is melodic and atmospheric which sits nicely alongside the moshtastic verse and obligatory ending breakdown. Then there is ‘Don’t Go’ which is BMTH as you’ve never heard them!

Thoughtful, melancholic and emotional. And it works!

4/5 – Sarah Petchell

There Is A Hell... – Bring Me The Horizon SHOCK Coliseum have returned with a new full length and a new attitude. House With A Curse signals a sonic change for the band. This is still a Coliseum album, the distinct vocals and driving guitar still dominate the experience, but they have added a spittoon full of melody to the mix. While the band has always written memorable hooks and choruses in their personal style, the production and music was always jumbled. On House With A Curse, the music has been given room to breathe. Songs like ‘Man Was Never Meant To Fly’ and ‘Cloaked In Red’ show off the melody and more defined ideas of the band. There are still faster songs here, but fans of Coliseum’s grittier work may be best to proceed with caution.

2.5/5 – Oliver Cation

House With A Curse – Coliseum Temporary Residence/INERTIA

New Music It appears that a sweeping trend amongst some hardcore bands these days is to get atmospheric. And in this case, atmospheric usually means down-tuned distorted guitars reverberating over cavernous drum beats and not a lot more. On Symptoms & Cures, Comeback Kid go ahead and give atmospheric hardcore a whole new meaning. They do this in two key ways: the first is that they use a duel-guitar attack and make it sound like a heavily layered wall of sound; and the second is that they show that a band doesn’t need to take the tempo down to be atmospheric. The majority of Symptoms & Cures is played at break neck speed and is arguably Comeback Kid’s most focused effort yet, and when you look at their back catalogue, that’s saying a lot.

4/5 – Lindsey Cuthbertson

Symptoms & Cures – Comeback Kid Victory/RIOT! From the first ten seconds, you will be swinging your arms with maximum fury. Cruel Hand have released their best album yet in the form of Lock & Key. Borrowing from Metallica and combining it with the best elements of modern hardcore, their sound is punchy and overall addictive. The production is intense, the guitars chugging with a power not heard on Prying Eyes and the vocals, especially in the choruses, have a deeper sound. If you are looking for distinctly different songs coming from left field with informed lyrics about the state of the world and the emotional self, this isn’t going to be for you. But if you like head-walking, floorpunching and getting sweaty, press repeat.

3.5/5 – Oliver Cation

Lock & Key – Cruel Hand Bridge 9 This was the first time I had heard End Of A Year, and boy was I glad for it! From the opening lines of the spoken word first track ‘Composite Character’ to the closing of ‘Philip Hose Farmer’ the thing that strikes me the most about You Are Beneath Me is how lyrically powerful this album actually is. And it is these emotional lyrics that lend the album its heaviness. It’s honest and emotive, confrontational and pure in a way that is rare in modern hardcore. I mean, the opening track is a sardonic guide to indie life, that takes the piss of that scene in a way few bands are brave enough to. Musically, the vocals are rugged and gritty, and while the guitars are full of enough hooks to catch a giant fish, there’s enough dissonance there to mark this as some truly original indie rock.

4/5 – Sarah Petchell

You Are Beneath Me – End Of A Year Deathwish Inc. The Fallout sees a local Sydney band take a huge step up, producing an album of an international standard.

Equal to anything coming out of Australia in recent times, Hand Of Mercy have produced a fun, heavy and catchy slice of modern metal/hardcore. While not a dramatic change from previous EP’s Trash The Party and Scum Of The Earth, The Fallout sees the HOM sound develop, with clean vocals, more restrained usage of breakdowns and a swag of melody making this a much more accomplished effort. There is no distinct weaknesses here, with even the joke song names not as cringe-worthy as some other bands in the scene. If there is any justice, this album will propel Hand Of Mercy to greater heights, as this is music kids can sing along and loose their minds to. It’s heavy but fun, and most definitely awesome.

4/5 – Oliver Cation

The Fall Out – Hand of Mercy Dogfight Records This album starts with a chant, then a classic rock and roll riff, before exploding with speedy black metal blast beats and Norweigan lyrics. Not really what anyone was expecting. Kvelertak are a blend of hardcore, rock and roll and black metal, and seem to delight in confusing their audience by doing whatever they want, throwing in out of place solos, clean choruses and stomping southern guitar. Well I’m confused, but I’m also delighted. This is above all else a fun album. Unless you speak Norwegian you will have no idea what Erlend Hjelvik is saying, but it seems to matter very little, just bang your head and scream along what you think he’s saying. You will hear more about this band soon if this album is any indication of their talent.

4/5 – Oliver Cation

Kvelertak – Kvelertak Indie/RIOT! Kylesa have always been an impressive band but with Spiral Shadow, their fourth full-length, they have exceeded all expectations. This time around the band have taken a different route with their song-writing. At times it’s catchier and way more melodic that its predecessors, and not to the detriment of the band. In fact it’s when the band veers off into previously uncharted waters that the album really takes off. Album stand out, ‘Cheating Synergy’ features swirling guitar work, reminiscent of psychedelic rock, while ‘Back And Forth’ is tight and up-tempo. Spiral Shadow also makes greater use of Laura Pleasant’s vocals than previous albums, and the result is that this howling banshee adds another dimension to an already brilliant band’s sound. By not playing along with expectations, Kylesa have delivered one of my favourite albums this year!

4/5 – Sarah Petchell

Spiral Shadow – Kylesa Seasons Of Mist/RIOT!

New Music A relatively new band on the scene, Lovers Grave have been quick to capitalise on the interest surrounding them, releasing Dead City, their first EP on Stomp. Lovers Grave have delivered an EP with lots of fury, lyrical devastation and great guitar work, but will have to work hard to avoid accusations of being a band mimicking other current sounds, especially Architects and Misery Signals. If you like those two bands, you will find lots to like here. The production isn’t world class and there is room for improvement when a debut album sees the light of day, but for a first release, Lovers Grave have stated their intentions and no doubt many ears will be turned their way because of it.

3/5 – Oliver Cation

Dead City EP – Lovers Grave STOMP Miles Away have returned with their third full length album, Endless Roads. The band is known as a relentless touring unit, and this has started to show in their music, the sounds presented here are more mature and considered, the guitars drone more than on previous records, there is more clean vocals and less gang vocals, the album is melancholy and adult. In many ways this makes Endless Roads the best album sonically that Miles Away has presented, songs like The Constant, Ghostwriter and Anywhere will burrow their way into your head and bug you for days and are likely to become staples in Miles Away’s energetic sets. This isn’t going to sit well with fans of Miles Away early work, but this is maturity and development in the best possible way.

3.5/5 – Oliver Cation

Endless Roads – Miles Away Resist/SHOCK Press play, start bouncing, nodding your head and tapping your foot, possibly also with balled fists and your eyes closed, don’t stop till the album finished. As Above, So Below is as close to modern hardcore perfection as I have personally seen. Phantoms deliver catchy tough hardcore, equal parts classic thrash and New York hardcore as it is more modern sounds like Guns Up and Terror. Each track has its own feel, but everyone will incite aggressive headbanging and a memorable line to be ingrained in your cranium. An average song length of 2 minutes adds urgency and ensures there is no filler amongst these 12 tracks, highlights including ‘The Death Of’ and ‘The Horse Latitudes’. In 2010, Phantoms are truly keeping the faith, not just talking about it.

4.5/5 – Oliver Cation

As Above, So Below – Phantoms Trial & Error Records The Red Shore have had a turbulent career, most recently they faced changing labels, management and vocalists, but out of it all, they have produced a cracker of an album in the form of The Avarice Of Man. While this is still at its centre a Red Shore album, The Avarice Of Man changes up the formula once again, delivering an album with more metal and more death, and a lot less ‘core.’ The Red Shore have shed many of the deathcore elements present on Unconsecrated, but more important to most fans will be what is still the same. There is still ungodly vocal destruction and misanthropic lyrics, machinegun drumming and guitars like the winds of hell. If you want to be skullfucked by a band, I would recommend picking up The Avarice Of Man. 3/5 – Oliver Cation

The Avarice Of Man – The Red Shore Roadrunner Records Set In Stone marks the true birth of Sydney band Relentless. On this disc they have grown into a formidable unit, the recording is a step up from their Opposition to Control EP and marks Relentless as true contenders to the Australian Hardcore crown. The album is packed full of hard hitting tunes that will have people nationwide punching floors. The influences are very clear on the album, if you don’t like Madball then this probably isn’t for you. Because of the narrow range of influences the album starts to drag towards the end, this is hardcore in its purest form. Relentless know what they want to sound like and they have achieved it well here. The question is are you hardcore enough.

3/5 – Oliver Cation

Set In Stone – Relentless Dogfight Records Shinto Katana have returned with sophomore album We Cant Be Saved, an album which is devoid of subtlety or mercy. If you are familiar with Shinto Katana, you know generally what to expect from this album, not deviating too far from their debut Cold Streets, this new album, their second on Dogfight Records, is 11 tracks of destruction and venom. Dave Naylor’s vocal delivery remains hellish and bowel movement inducing. The new dual guitar attack has added depth to the sound, while also amazingly making it even heavier.

Many of the songs deal with themes of hatred and loss, ‘Sylar’ and ‘So Long Stranger’ are highlights. Whether it is meant to or not, this album will make you defecate in your pants. And I’m fine with that.

3.5/5 – Oliver Cation

We Can’t Be Saved – Shinto Katana Dogfight Records

New Music If you’re a fan of The Sword’s earlier work, then prepare to have their entire back catalogue blown to smithereens! A concept work telling the tale of the archer Ereth banished from his home planet and has been charged with a quest to restore his home planet’s balance, Warp Riders is as heavy in riffs as it is in concept.

The riffs slung between guitarists Cronise and Shutt are as mighty as the battle fought by the concept’s hero.

Then Cronise’s vocals rise and fall with the tale he tells, and never have they sounded better. This truly is The Sword living up to their potential, with so much improvement over Gods Of The Earth. If this is their ides of improvement and progression, I cannot wait to see what’s in store for album number four.

4/5 – Sarah Petchell

Warp Riders – The Sword Kemado Records/SHOCK If you have eyes, you will have seen the merch adorning half the scene currently. A marketing success if nothing else Keepers Of The Faith has kept Terror on top of the pile. And thankfully, the music backs up the hype well. Terror were never going to be a band to take huge risks or change up their style. If you likes previous releases, you will love this. Tough vocals and harder riffs, even when Terror throw in a bit of melody (‘You’re Caught’) you are still left punching something and singing your lungs out. The lyrical themes continue the Scott Vogel tradition of blunt assertions and calls to arms, while the title track will likely become an anthem for many. This is hardcore by numbers driven home with a sledgehammer in the best possible way.

3.5/5 – Oliver Cation

Keepers Of The Faith – Terror Century Media/EMI When I was about 20, ‘Slit Wrist Theory’ from 36 Crazyfists’ debut was one of my favourite songs. But after a series of lackluster albums, the band faded off my radar. With Collisions & Castaways, the Alaskan quarter have demonstrated a return to form and have delivered perhaps their heaviest release to date. While not the best starting point for new fans to the band, this is definitely what longtime fans of the ‘Fists have been waiting for. Marked with up-tempo verses merging into sluggish, demented choruses (‘Anchors’) and stamped with metalcore overdrive (‘Mercy And Grace’), there is enough here to keep fans of metalcore entertained, even though instrumental parts like ‘Long Road To The Late Nights’ may lead to a snoozefest before woken up when the next track kicks in.

2.5/5 – Sarah Petchell

Collisions & Castaways – 36 Crazyfists Roadrunner Records Trainwreck are a fresh-faced Melbourne band playing complex metalcore. The first song on this, their self titled EP, is called ‘Armageddon-the-hell-outta-here’, and that sort of sums up Trainwreck’s approach to their music. They are having a bit more fun playing this style of music and it translates into the songs. Though heavy and intense, they aren’t formulaic or generic. The band is influenced by the likes of Misery Signals, Norma Jean and Poison The Well, which is never a bad thing. Driving guitars, passionate vocals and a perceptive use of breakdowns, gang vocals and ambience makes this EP a winner from start to finish and promises a great future for the band. If you like your hardcore and metal with a bit more brain, Trainwreck is what you need in your life.

4/5 – Oliver Cation

Trainwreck EP – Trainwreck UNSIGNED This is a demo CD, the very origins of Vigilante. It’s six songs thrown together to give people a bit of an insight as to what Vigilante is and will be. And this demo is better than most releases this year. The six tracks here are pure hardcore, with lyrics about social injustice and riffs straight out of the 80’s. While the sound is being channelled straight from the 80’s it still sounds vital and urgent today, and it will be hard to keep yourself idle listening to this demo. With a line up that includes a who’s who of Sydney hardcore in the last 10 years, Vigilante was always going to be something special and based upon these initial songs, Vigilante is going to be something to keep your eyes and ears open for.

3.5/5 – Oliver Cation

Demo – Vigilante UNSIGNED With The Kids We Used To Be, Your Demise are delivering a hardcore call to arms that is as defiant as the first track’s shout of “2010 bitch!” Here is a young band that is taking no prisoners. The first recording with new vocalist, Ed McRae, it signals a departure from their awesome debut. Heavier, more intense and with much better production this is going to be an essential album on most hardcore kids’ “Best of 2010” lists.

That being said, it’s also an eclectic album. ‘Life Of Luxury’ incorporates the urgent pace and slick melodies of the likes of Comeback Kid, while ‘Scared Of The Light’ pays homage to all the right and proper old-school influences. From the very start, this album is a punch to the gut that you won’t have recovered from by the time the album ends.

4/5 – Sarah Petchell

The Kids We Used To Be – Your Demise SHOCK

THE DEAD WALK AGAIn THE DEAD WALK SECOND REUNION SHOW 26th AUGUST 2010 WORDS: OLIVER CATION – PHOTOS: LACHLAN HICKS

WHEN THE DEAD WALK PLAYED THEIR LAST SHOW AT HARDCORE 2008, PEOPLE WERE SADDENED BY THE END OF A DEFINITELY WELL-LOVED BAND.

to win over every person that would take notice, the hotly tipped Sydney band impressing with a few demo songs and a ton culled from their upcoming debut 7’.

There is no doubt that this band will one day be the main attraction – the bandwagon is waiting, jump aboard!

THEY HAD BECOME A FIXTURE IN THE SYDNEY AND NEWCASTLE HARDCORE SCENES FOR THE MEMBERS OF BOTH, AND HAD INJECTED HUGE AMOUNTS OF HUMOUR AND FUN INTO A GENRE OFTEN PRONE TO BOUTS OF SEVERITY AND MISPLACED SELF-IMPORTANCE.

Ill Brigade are a classic band as they are specialists at this type of show. Even though they have only been around for a few short years, and been on most peoples’ radars even less, they know how to get a crowd involved and moving. Throwing all the mandatory shapes, both guitarists are a pleasure to watch, complemented further by a vocalist that makes up for his size by being more energetic than anyone else in the room.

Their initial reunion show was met with great anticipation. The January show in the sweatbox that is the Sandringham Hotel in Newtown was a memorable event for all that attended. So it was then understandable that the announcement of a second reunion show in August was met with similar jubilation, especially given that the underage punters could attend giving the whole affair a more inclusive atmosphere.

So with high expectations and the knowledge that whatever was about to happen would be memorable, Sydney Hardcore gathered at the Bald Faced Stag on a rainy Sunday night to witness a night that demonstrated everything great about hardcore.

Sydney locals, Legions, opened the show and displayed much enthusiasm and true grit. Their onslaught of songs were bolstered by an enthusiastic performance and a crowd pleasing Cro Mags cover.

Considering it was quite early on a Sunday night, the crowd watching the band was understandably underwhelming. Many were more interested in a few beers and the mandatory socialising with old friends.

Perhaps realising that they faced an uphill struggle, Legions fought

Playing only their catchiest songs from their back catalogue such as ‘Flex Your Head’, ‘Ill Brigade’ and ‘Bad Attitude’, a few tracks from THE DEAD WALK

“Animated zombie frontman, Dolan, ...was high kicking and launching around the stage, truly a spirit possessed...”

their most recent In This Age 7’ and the mandatory slew of covers, Ill Brigade had the floor moving with recklessness. A rainy Sunday night suddenly felt like a memorable show.

Newcastle heirs to the throne, The Hollow were next. It was only fitting that the band that will succeed The Dead Walk and Dropsaw at the top of Newcastle hardcore would take part in this show. The Hollow are a band with a future that is intensely bright.

Their tight live performance again

shined through and transfixed many, each beat being awaited by tapping feet, clenched fists and bobbing heads. The Hollow played mostly new songs and those from last year’s self-titled EP, with the result being a slightly muted crowd.

Their more intensebrand of metallic hardcore, akin to Integrity, Rise and Fall and Converge, was perhaps out of its element here.

No doubt The Hollow made some new fans at this show, but it was never a secret who people were here to see.

The Dead Walk-ed the earth once again to an astounding reaction. A sea of bodies crammed their way up the front, the lubricated punters formed the mandatory mosh pit half way and the people up the back of the room positioned themselves for the best view of the chaos in front of them.

THE DEAD WALK

THE HOLLOW

At the previous reunion show, the heat, lack of fitness and practice hindered The Dead Walk’s performance slightly, however none of these problems were to be seen tonight.

Animated zombie frontman Dolan showed the form of a much younger ghoul, as if he had only been dead for 20 years. He was high kicking and launching around the stage, truly a spirit possessed. The rest of the Zombie crew followed suit, thrashing and making shapes like they were trying to win the crowd for the first time.

The choice of songs was broad, with tracks from the demo and EP given equal space alongside album tracks and even ‘Hunt.Kill.

Bury’ was brought out from the Hunting Humans 7”.

A Misfits cover was always on the cards, but when ‘Last Caress’ started it was still an amazing moment to behold. A constant stream of brain thirsty ghouls made their way onto and quickly off the stage and towards Dolan to singalong to the songs of their past.

You can’t listen to songs like ‘NCHC Lesson 1’, ‘No More Room In Hell’, ‘Return Of The Boom Bap’, ‘The Ghouls’ and ‘Still Ragin’ without wanting to hurt something.

Luckily on this night there was no injurues, just a shitload of fun times, and the past and future of Australian Hardcore on display.

ILL BRIGADE