RMP Magazine #6 by RMP Magazine

Interviews 8 10 12 14 18 20 22 26 28 32 34 38 40 42 44

Into It. Over It. The Story So far Iron Chic Rocky Votolato Strife The Ataris Comback Kid Notington Scorpios Smoke Or Fire Russ Rankin The Wonder Years Walter Schreifels Trapped Under Ice Flag

Cd Review From page

48 till page 57.

RMP- Magazine May

Intro

Let me start by saying that I feel blessed that I’ve been given the opportunity to lead the RMP crew and put an amazing magazine together. This is “my” first issue. It´s been a year since I started working for RMP as a reporter and I enjoyed every second of it. As a team we combine interesting content and a great lay-out. And I am very proud of that. In this issue we had a talk with a lot of bands that rocked the Groezrock stage. RMP serves you a top notch selection of legends and future legends. From Flag to Iron Chic, from Walter Schreifels to Trapped Under Ice, and many more. It´s been a pleasure for me to get to know these artists a bit better. It´s even more of a pleasure to share these interviews with you! We hope you enjoy reading our magazine and get to know a bit more about your favourite band or discover new bands! Thank you very much for reading RMP magazine and feel free to share the download link with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Keep your eyes peeled for the next issue that will appear online at the end of June. RMP will have a chat with Modern Baseball, Deep Purple, Editors and many others.

Lisa Leysen

Head editor of RMP magazine

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In memory of

Jeff hanneman

1964 - 2013

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Jeff hanneman With every hand I had to shake and every picture I had to take a sadness loomed inside of me. Jeff Hanneman, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to miss you. -Dave Lombardo (Slayer) Our Brother Jeff Hanneman, May He Rest In Peace (1964 - 2013) -Pantera Tragic and shocking news about Jeff Hanneman. He is going to missed by so many. What a sad day for Metal. RIP man. -Slash (Guns Â´n Roses) Sad to hear of jeff hanneman passing. R.I.P Slayer -Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) RIP Jeff Hanneman. Icon. -Chimaera R.I.P. Jeff Hanneman, brother in thrash. -Testament

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RIP Jeff Hanneman. Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.

RIP Jeff Hanneman. Our deepest Condolences to Slayer & Jeffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family. -Five Finger Death Punch We are deeply saddened by the passing of Jeff Hanneman and would like to express our condolences to his friends and family. Like many other bands we were extremely influenced by his guitar playing and songwriting. His impact on the metal scene was truly huge. Rest in peace Jeff, you will never be forgotten. -Canibal Corpse Riff in peace Jeff Hanneman. SLAYER. -Gallows Jeff Hanneman will always be a metal god. A true master, he gave energy and excitement to millions, and will continue to. -Andrew WK Rest In Peace Jeff Hanneman! A True Heavy Metal LEGEND! -Hatebreed

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Groezrock is his 20th show where he´s alone on stage to sing `Into It. Over It.` songs. He loves being alone but misses the camaraderie of being in a band sometimes. Vocalist Evan Weiss is openhearted about feeling alone and tells us more about his almost uncountable amount of side projects. “If I’m awake, I’m writing music.”

It was easy to find a record label, I dont like scratching someone´s door “let me in.”

Do you remember how you felt when you played your first show as Into It. Over It.? I played in a band for years, like for ten years, and then started Into It. Over It. My first show was with Polar Bear Club in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and I was shaking. The whole time I barely played. I was so nervous; I hated it. All I could think was, “Where’s the band?” I played in bands all leading up to that, but doing something by yourself is so hard. Did you feel a little lonely? Yeah, absolutely! I hadn’t got that confidence yet. The only way to get that confidence is by playing more shows; just keep doing it. It wasn’t until the first long tour that I’d ever been on, that I finally got okay with playing in front of people by myself. And even today, I was nervous as hell! Crazy stage, playing up there, especially in Europe. You can’t tell exactly if everybody‘s feeling the same things you’re feeling. When it’s a festival full

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of louder bands, much louder bands than myself, you get a little concerned. What’s the biggest advantage and disadvantage of playing solo? The advantage is that I can do whatever I want. I say whatever I want. I can play whatever I want. There are no rules. I can come and go as I please. It’s all me, and I can be in control of it. The disadvantage is that I miss that camaraderie; I miss surrounding myself with other people. I think they both have their pros and cons. When I’m starting next year, touring with the band, I want to still be able to play solo shows. What’s the best or worst moment you’ve had with Into It. Over It.? The worst moment was on a time I was on tour in Gainesville, Florida. We had a show fall through, and we wound up getting a show at this record store called Wayward

Council. I played, and the band I was on tour with, The Former Thieves, played right after me. When I was playing, there were three people in the room that were watching, and there were two homeless, train-hopping guys standing in the front, passing a bottle of whiskey back and forth. They were playing their harmonica over me playing the guitar. But their harmonica wasn’t in the same tuning as the guitar, so it was an out-of-tune harmonica with the two of them yelling at me, playing the guitar at the same time. That was rude! The best moment was when the full band played The Fest in Florida, last year. It was amazing. It’s my favorite weekend of the year. The show was unbelievable. The crowd was great. It was a full room. The energy was awesome. Who influences your music and writing? These days, it’s a lot of friends

Interview - Into It. Over It. who are in bands. My girlfriend Kate plays in a band called Kittyhawk, and my friends play in a band called Everyone Everywhere. Seeing Title Fight yesterday was awesome. Those people that I’ve known for so long, making something that’s so great, it makes me want to push myself to continue to get better and do better. So really, I think it’s my peers who are, at this point, what influences me the most. Stylistic influences on me growing up would be like Sunny Day Real Estate or Braid, a lot of ‘90s emo bands. Now, it’s just about this community of musicians, continually pushing each other to do better and be better.

some Belgian experience! What’s in store for the future? Well, I’ve started a couple of other bands. I’ve started a band called “Pet Symmetry,” which is with my buddies in a band called Dowsing. We’re doing a 7” on Asian Man and then we’re recording our LP at the end of July. I play in a band called “Their/They’re/There,” with Mike Kinsella from Cap’n Jazz. We released an EP, and we’re going to record new material next month. I’m like about halfway done with the new Into It. Over It. EP,

which should be out in the fall. Stay Ahead of the Weather, which is another band that I’m in, has started writing new material. So, this year that I’ve been home is just constantly busy. If I’m awake, I’m writing music. By Lisa Leysen

facebook.com/intoitoverit

Did you have to chase labels or did they contact you? When I wrote “52 Weeks” I did that completely alone. Then No Sleep Records approached me when it was over and wanted to put it out. I don’t think I’ve ever chased anybody. I think everybody always comes to me and been excited to release something. Everyone’s been excited to come to me and put out a record. It’s actually been pretty easy to be able to do that. I don’t like scratching someone’s door like, “Let me in.” How do you pick a song title? These days, I just grab a lyric that I think sums up the song pretty well. I agree with you that naming songs is really, really hard. With something like “Twelve Towns,” it’s really easy. I just name it after the town and go off with that. Doing the new record, I’ve been struggling over what to name a couple of songs. I hate it. If you were the Groezrock booker, who would you put on? They really did a good job this year! There are like so many bands that I really, really love. I want to see Fugazi. [Laughs] What do they have to do to make that happen? Groezrock has been awesome. This has been an awe-

Next album : Title unknown

Fall 2013

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Interview - The Story So Far

We interviewed The Story So Far bassist, Kelen Capener. He talked to us about the meaning behind the band’s lyrics, their Tumblr fan girls and some recent events the band had to deal with.

By Lisa Leysen

facebook.com/thestorysofarca Next album : The Story So Far / Stick To Your Guns Split “7” 18 June

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Iron Chic is a five-piece band from Long Island and has ex-members of Latterman and Small Arms Dealer. In 2008 they released their first EP recorded by guitarist Phil Douglas. They worked together with Yo Yo Records but recently got an offer from another huge record label. Iron Chic has a very DIY spirit, do their own artwork and are overwhelmed by their own success. ”I never thought that this band from our basement would play in Belgium on a huge festival. It´s crazy.”

Phil Douglas - Guitar, Vocals, Jay Lubrano - Vocals, Robert Mcallister - Guitar, Michael Bruno - Guitar, Gordon Laffler - Drums.Two years ago, you played a very small club in Brussels. For Groezrock, you played on a big stage. How do you like the change? Jay: It definitely makes you feel good. We used to play basements and house shows, but when you get the same level of energy from a big crowd, it really makes you

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feel good. It’s awkward, but we enjoy it.Phil: We always did DIY things, so this big format is new to us. A mixture of shows is good; we still do small shows too. The album, “Not Like This,” sounds like a perfect, almost calculated, album from beginning to end. When you go into the studio, do you know how you want the EP/album to sound, or do you go in and get ideas? For example, the first

song, “Cutesy Monster Man,” sounds like it’s meant to be the first song on the album. Phil: I record all the records in my basement. “Not Like This” was recorded in demo form already and [we] did have an idea of how the order should be. When we record, we still change transitions and stuff. It was somehow calculated, but new things happen in the studio. Jay: It was weird because we had a lot of the music written first, but when we came to

Interview - Iron Chic the lyrics, Phil said that “Cutesy Monster Man” was going first. He just thought it was a good way to start our record. It wasn’t so predetermined, but it was obvious that that song would be the first song. We actually finished that song later in the process. The lyrics didn’t make sense to me until I finished the song. I wrote it down, got it out and then I realised afterwards what it’s about. It’s how I get my issues out, and that’s also what “Cutesy Monster Man” is about, about me yelling at people to make myself feel better. It’s what I do to release stress. I would be way more miserable if I wasn’t able to just scream at people. [Laughs] Your artwork is always very creative and has an awesome style. Who makes it, and do you know what inspires him/her? Jay: Gordon and I do the artwork. Gordon: We talk about the style and what we want to do. Jay: We are both interested in art, so we discuss art anyway. In my former bands, I was the one who always did the artwork alone because I was the only one who could do it. It’s nice to do it with Gordon now. I try not to take over too much. If there are two t-shirt designs, we’ll each do one. Our styles are kind of similar too; we both love monsters. To me, it is important to have a visual component to go along. It you look at Black Flag, you see the bars, and you know it’s Black Flag. RVIVR too, they always have black and white artwork and the same font, and you know it’s RVIVR. It’s almost like branding. Phil: I remember that RVIVR discussed their artwork for the new record. We are very colourful, and we have monsters, while RVIVR has black and white. Jay: People compare us to RVIVR because of the Latterman connection we have (Phil used to be the singer of Latterman, and Matt from RVIVR used to play bass in Latterman). But you can look at

a RVIVR album and an Iron Chic album, and you’d know which one is which. I think that’s important. You guys recently posted three songs to Bandcamp under the title “Spooky Action.” Can we expect a full-length any time soon? Jay: Yes, we are working on new material, and we should be done recording by July. It should be out by early October, hopefully in time for The Fest in Florida. We have eight songs already, and a few songs from “Spooky Action” might end up on it. We always write a little extra, so we can pick and choose. Phil: When we’ll be back home, we’ll write a few more songs and record them. You guys have a record deal with B9. I want to hear all about it! Jay: It’s a bit weird for us because we have our hands on every little aspect of being in this band -- the artwork, recording and releasing the records. There’s not a single thing that we don’t have control of ourselves. It will be a bit strange to maybe not have full control over things anymore.

We talked to the guys at Bridge Nine, and they made us feel very comfortable. We can still have creative control, but we’ll have less shit to deal with. The less shit we have to deal with, the more we can write and play. I think that all of the Iron Chic songs have a specific sound. How do you create that sound? Do you have any secret equipment or techniques to create that sound? Phil: As far as the vocals go, Jay knows what he wants; he’s very quick and precise. As far as the music itself goes, I just do a million mixes.

Jay: We are very lucky because we practise in Phil’s studio, which is actually a smelly basement. If we practise and we just wrote a new song, we just record it and listen to it, see what we like and don’t like. The general process is that Phil comes up with a guitar part, everyone learns it, and they play it five or six times before I come up with lyrics. All of the sudden, I have 15 songs I have to write lyrics for! What would you be doing if you weren’t on tour? Jay: Smoke weed in my room and look at the internet. I do try to make a living with my artwork. Rob, who is not here, works at a kindergarten, which is strange because he’s the weirdest of us all. Rob and I were talking about growing weed, and he said that he wanted to grow it at work. He works in a fucking kindergarten! Now I hope his boss is not going to read this. Phil: I’m a security guard at night. Gordon: I work as a lab technician, and I have to beg my boss to get time off to tour. What else do you want to achieve with the band? Phil: We hope everyone will love our new record. We just want to have a good time; this is what we do. Gordon: I never thought that this band from our basement would play in Belgium on a huge festival. It’s crazy. Jay: I’m not sure if it’s about achieving; we really do it because we love it. We’ve been blessed to come halfway across the world to play music. We are very lucky. It’s what we do for fun, but it became a little bigger than that.

By Lisa Leysen

facebook.com/ironchicband Next album : ‘Spooky action ’

Out now!

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When Rocky Votolato played the Revival tour in Europe last year, he showed his talent as a singer/ songwriter, alongside other acoustic acts, like Chuck Ragan and Cory Branan. When he was added to the Groezrock line-up to play the acoustic stage, we at RMP magazine decided it was time to get to know Rocky a little bit better and have an in-depth interview with him. We talked about his experience as an acoustic musician, his former movie career and his tour experience.

Rocky, welcome back to Belgium. You played here last year with Chuck Ragan and his Revival tour during your stop in Antwerp, last October. Today, you played the acoustic stage. How was it? Yes, people where having such a good time. I saw a lot of people singing and dancing around. I am really happy with this show. It seems as if the attention for acoustic folk music within the punk rock scene has grown a lot over the years. Do you have an explanation for the sudden

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interest in this type of music and why so many former punk rockers decide to go acoustic or solo? For me, I was early on doing the acoustic thing. I was one of the first people. I started making acoustic albums in the ‘90s. That was like ‘99. I always had a punk band, Waxwing, but then it was happening really naturally. I had a lot of songs that sounded more acoustic, so I started making records. I’m on my new album

now. I’ve been doing it for so many years now. I’ve got seven albums out and a couple of EPs. I was always grateful that the songs were there and kept coming up. I think it’s cool that a lot of people are doing that, guys like Chuck Ragan, Tim Barry and a lot of guys from popular punk bands. Yesterday, Scorpios performed with Joey Cape, and Tim from Rise Against also played a song with them. Nice! I love Tim. He just started a solo project too. He hasn’t made an album yet, but he did the

Interview - Rocky Votolato

Revival tour with us in the United States. That guy is just life-saving; he’s such a nice guy, really the nicest guy I’ve ever met, in all the music communities. We just spent weeks together in a bus in the US, really cool guy. And there he is, on the cover of your magazine! For the second part of the European tour, you will be joined by your brother, Cody, to assist you with some electric guitar. You’ve already played in bands with him in the past, and he has his own career as tour guitarist for Wesley Eisold’s project, Cold Cave. How is working, playing and touring with your brother? Amazing! He was in a band called Bloodbrothers back in the days too. His style of playing is so unique, and he plays in our band now, Waxwing. We just got back together, so we haven’t been playing together for eight years, and now we started to play shows again and write new songs. So that’s really exciting. We’ve just been spending more time together. He recorded on a lot of my albums, so it really made sense to make him play on my tour. And he plays electric guitar, so that brings a lot of energy to the show. I’m looking forward to it!

go to those house shows, and there are 30 people, no PA, just your voice and a guitar; I love that. It’s a much cooler way to connect with people.It’s special to do those smaller shows. I like them both. It depends on the show itself, if I’m having a good day or not. If the shows are getting too big, as in 1,000 or more people, then I would like to have a band with me. If it’s too big, it’s hard with just an acoustic guitar. I’ve played with Death Cab for Cutie, and there were 5,000 people. It was hard with just one guitar. It was hard to

record deal blew up for Waxwing. I was doing my solo thing, and I was like, “I’m going to focus here.” That was 2003 that we stopped playing. But that was then; I’m really glad we’re back now. It has always been a creative outlet. I think this is why it’s happening for so many artists that are in punk rock and hardcore. It’s limiting to just have one way to express yourself. You can do anything. Just have an acoustic song, and the band thing is something different. I think that’s why it’s happening.

Your latest release, “Television of Saints,” was released last year. “We just got back together, so How has the response been to the new album we haven’t been playing and the tour? together for eight years, It has been awesome, and and now we started to play I’m having a great time! shows again and write I’ve been doing so much touring over the last year. new songs.” It’s the first one I released on my own in the US because I’ve got a record label in Europe. That was a fun, new experience. The response has been great. I’m already working on a new album; that’s keep their attention; you want to how it goes! have a loud guitar. With 30 people in a house, it’s just perfect. The Revival tour has been great. I’ve done the one in Europe, and Your solo career started after On the European tour that just I’ve done the one in the States, playing for years with your kicked off, there’s also some livso it was quite a bit of touring. ing room shows – small, intimate band, Waxwing. In the past, you I’m so grateful for the opportueven contributed to music that shows hosted in someone’s nity to do that. It was so good to was featured in hit TV shows living room with limited seats. meet all those people: Tim from like “The OC.” Is your solo work Today, you play a big stage durRise Against, Dave Hause, Cory something that developed over ing Groezrock. What venue do Branan, Emely barker (she’s gothe years and didn’t necessarily you like playing the most? ing to come to the London show). fit with your previous bands? I just like any show where people It’s great to meet all those incredYeah, that’s definitely how it are having a good time. They are ible artists. worked. When Cody signed with a different experience but both are V2 with the Bloodbrothers (they valid and awesome for different Was it difficult changing your got a major label deal), that’s reasons. You get something differset list for each show? ent out of playing big shows; there’s when Waxwing got major deals Yes! Sometimes I played a song from labels too. They got signed, more excitement, energy but then that I literally learned half an hour and he was in that band, so that a lot of intimacy is lost. Then you before. It’s a whole new experi

RMP- Magazine May

Interview - Rocky Votolato

ence. You learn to play the songs in a way you never would have. It’s a different kind of energy; that is fun. There’s a little bit of anxiety and stress too. The good energy and the vibes are there, and that’s what the tour is all about: the comradery and everybody feeling part of one thing. There’s like a humble spirit to it. It’s such a good tour. Chuck Ragan is such a visionary. That he put that tour together is so fantastic! What’s your main influence in music? It’s weird; the most influence I get is from punk bands; that’s the world I came from: punk rock and hardcore, bands like Fugazi, Jawbreaker, Drive Like Jehu. I was always influenced by singer/ songwriters too, but I didn’t realise that until later.

I was super into the scene in Seattle; a lot of the songwriter things came later. That was really the scene. I remember the very first Jawbreaker show I saw. There weren’t a lot of people there, but I remember saying, “Okay, I’ll be a musician for the rest of my life.” In the past, you released split EPs with Matt Pond, Seth Warren and Chad Price. If given the chance to work with any artist possible, dead or alive, who would you choose? Oh man, that’s a huge question. Probably George Harrison from the Beatles. I love his music so much. Or Cat Stevens. I really like those guys. Or maybe Kris Kristof-

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ferson. He’s great songwriter too, so I have like three. What have you done today? Running around! I got to do a signing, I played a show, I saw Tim Vantol who played before me, and that was great. But that’s all I’ve done today. I wanted to see PJ Bond, a buddy of mine, but I didn’t get to see him play. I really want to see The Narrows, who are from Seattle. I got to see more stuff yesterday, since I was at the festival earlier. But we drove today from Berlin, so I was in the car most of the time. I’m hoping to see Into Another. Yesterday, I saw Polar Bear Club, and they were great. In 2000, you played a role in the movie “Edge of Quarrel” -- a story about punks and straight edge kids getting into gang style fighting. How did you end up playing the part of a straight edge kid. Are you now, or have you ever been edge? So funny! I’ve never been straight edge in my life. I just know some of the people from Trial and Dave

Larson, who runs Excursion records and made the script. A lot of the underground hardcore scene from Seattle asked me to do the movie. It was really fun. I actually met my wife when I was making the movie, and so here I am, still married 14 year later. What do you think of the Groezrock festival? It’s awesome. This is one of the best festivals I’ve ever been to. Hope to do it again someday. Last question: when on tour, what’s your staple diet, and what do you think about the food at festivals? It’s awesome today. The food here is delicious! As long as there is vegetarian food, I’m pretty easy to please. Since I’m a vegetarian, a lot of fruit and vegetables and stuff, some tofu. By David Marote

facebook.com/rockyvotolato

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FOR INFO & TICKETS, STAY TUNED ON www.hEllFEST.FR RMP- Magazine May

RMP- Magazine May

Interview - Strife

By Lisa Leysen

facebook.com/Strifelosangeles

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Kris Roe and his band the Ataris have had some turbulent years during their career. Kris is one of the only original members still left after many line-up changes. He will perform two times during the Groezrock festival. The first day, performing a solo acoustic set, and the second day, playing with The Ataris. It’s time to get to know the new Ataris and hear all about that much awaited new record and more.

Welcome back to Belgium. Today, you played an acoustic solo set, and tomorrow, we get to see the full band perform. How was today, and what can we expect tomorrow? Yeah, today was great -- a good turnout and a lot of people singing along with the songs. It was great seeing all those people coming so early to watch me play. I’m hoping that tomorrow will be the same, and we’ll see a lot faces there as well.

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A couple of years ago, you released an EP with two songs off the upcoming album, “The Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Rumours regarding this release have been spreading since 2007. Could you enlighten us as to if this album is coming soon? Well, it’s funny you mention that. We recently recorded the last songs, so we’re all ready now and looking for a way to release this soon. So keep an eye out in the future.

Interview - The Ataris

Then our song got picked up by some radio station in California and started to play it all the time.

Your latest EP was released through Vinnie’s (Less Than Jake) label, Paper and Plastick. Will you continue to work with him? We offered it to different labels, and Vinnie was up to it. He really liked the songs and wanted to help us out, so we’ll see what comes next. He’s a great guy and a good friend, so I’m hoping we can work together again. His way of releasing albums is very fresh and exciting. With the solo project, you play a lot of acoustic Ataris songs and some covers. Do you have any songs that are reserved for the acoustic set and not for the band? Not so much. My songs usually end up as Ataris songs; otherwise, they don’t get out there. It seems that my songs always work out both ways, so that’s cool.

Aside from music, you’re also into photography. You take many pictures, some of which you use as artwork for The Ataris. How would you describe your photography, and what does it mean to you? My photography is really just a sort of a hobby thing. I don’t take it too seriously. I just love shooting things that look abandoned or are in decay. I mostly shoot old buildings that are near-collapsing and stuff like that. I’ve used some of it for the The Ataris records in the past, but I don’t know if I will be doing that again in the future. I just love taking photographs. The one song that is most commonly linked with The Ataris is “The Boys of Summer,” a Don Henley cover. How does it make you feel that a lot of people only know you through

a song that’s not even yours? [Laughs] Yeah, we never really excpected it to become such a hit. We just loved the song and wanted to cover it. Then it got picked up by some radio station in California and started to play all the time. It ended up being one of our best-sold songs, and we still love that song, even if it’s a cover. Hey, even Don Henley once told us he loved our version, so I’m cool with that. It’s a nice gateway to learn our other work I guess.

By David Marote

facebook.com/theataris Next album : ‘The Graveyard of the Atlantic.’ Unknow

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They got everyone excited by announcing a nostalgic tour with Scott Wade and with their debut, ‘Turn it Around.” This four-piece Canadian hardcore band has everyone, including us, looking forward to their appearance at Groezrock. And it’s at that festival that we had a little chat with Andrew, the current singer of Comeback Kid.

It’s been a while since Scott has been the lead singer of Comeback Kid. What was it like touring with him again? Was it what you hoped for when you started this band? Yeah, we’re on this “Turn it Around” tour right now, and it’s going as well as it could. We were a little scared because Scott hasn’t sung for seven years, so all we could think was, “Please Scott, don’t lose your voice!” He lost his voice maybe once, but he

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got through the show, and he is getting stronger now. All the shows had an awesome vibe. I love playing guitar again, and it’s super fun, like we intended it to be. “Turn it Around” came out ten years ago, which is a long time. When you play it now, can you relate to it? Can you still find yourselves in the lyrics or is it just nostalgia? Maybe a little bit of both. It’s definitely nostalgic, but you can

relate to it, and I still have the same mentality as when we wrote those lyrics. Where do you get inspiration for your lyrics? Pretty much from life experiences and talking about what you’re going through. When I was writing lyrics by myself for the last couple records, it was a lot different than when we wrote “Turn it Around” and “Wake the Dead.” Scott and I were writing together and gave

Interview - Comeback Kid

each other ideas and stuff; it’s different when you’re on your own. You’ll play the Etnies stage, which is the smallest stage here. Everyone is stagediving and stuff. Did you have any say in this? When we came up with the idea to do this tour, we based it on today’s show. We requested to play that stage at that time. Last year, I saw videos of Gorilla Biscuits and the year before, H2O, and we thought, “That’s exactly where we want to play.” I thought it would be awesome. You guys are doing this concept because of your debut, but which album is your favorite? My favorite album is a toss-up between our latest one, “Symptoms + Cure,” and “Wake the Dead.” I think there are really strong songs on both of those but also a couple of weak ones. [Laughs] They’re equal to me. How and why did Comeback Kid come to life? Were you a bunch of friends who thought, “Let’s do this,” or was it a work in process? I and the other guitar player of Comeback Kid, Jeremy, had a band called Figure Four. I was the singer of the band, and we started Comeback Kid so that I could play guitar. Figure Four was a lot heavier, and I wanted to do something more melodic. Since the last ten years, a lot of bands have done our style in music, but I think at the time, we were doing something fresh. I wanted to bring skate punk and fast hardcore together, mix them up. Hardcore is not an inherent choice for a lot of people. Did you grew up with it, or did you roll into it later?

I was into like punk stuff when I was a teenager, but I met a friend who showed me “California Takeover,” a live CD with Earth Crisis, Strife and Snapcase. Then I found out about bands like Harvest and Minor Threat, and it all came flooding into my life to where we are today. As a respected hardcore band, youngsters look up to you. They listen to your lyrics and interoperate them. How do you view the example you set for young people? I don’t really think about that so much, actually. I do what I do, and I try to live my life the way that I feel is right. People can take from that or not. Hopefully, people take good things from whatever I do. Do you have any advice for them? In starting a band and anything you want to do in life, just be creative. Don’t let the kind of straight and narrow people hammer you down.

This world is not black and white, and you can always make your own reality if you want to. There are a lot of options, so be creative and try your best.

What’s so special about it? Sonically, it sounds amazing; it’s beautiful. When I first heard it, I thought it was a girl singer, but actually it’s a guy. It’s really ambient and cool rock with amazing drums. They also do different time signatures all the time. It’s interesting and beautiful music. How do you combine life on tour with you family and friends? Do you think it’s hard to be away from them for so long? It’s definitely hard. I don’t think I give enough time to my family, and having a relationship is also a huge challenge. I don’t live where my parents live, and when I go home, I try to spend as much time with them and with my brother and his kids as possible. But I’m not around that much, so it’s good I don’t have any kids or animals. And do the other members of the band have relationships? One’s engaged, one’s married and our bass player is getting married, that’s why he isn’t on tour with us now. Thanks for the interview, Andrew!

By Aranka van Dongen

facebook.com/Comeback.Kid

Next Belgian shows :

20/7 - Dour festival (Dour)

If you were put in a record store and someone told you that you could only take one record to listen to for an entire year, what would that be? Oh, I don’t like picking favourites; that’s so hard for me! I would say “Frengers” by Mew. It’s one of my favourites of all time.

RMP- Magazine May

7/8 JUNE YSSELSTEYN INFO & TICKET

PA R K W A

A DAY TO R

FUNERAL FOR A F ALEXANDRIA • TH THE COMPUTERS

ATLAS LOSING GRIP BACKFIRE! • RANDOM I HAVE NONE • TH

PALM READER • NOT A

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THE ROYAL • ARIZONA • WASTE

TS: WWW.JERAONAIR.NL

Y DRIVE

REMEMBER

FRIEND • ASKING HE GHOST INSIDE

• CANCER BATS

• NO TURNING BACK M HAND • APOLOGIES, HE JB CONSPIRACY

AVAILABLE • CLIMATES

ED BULLET • 101’S • 18 MILES RMP- Magazine May

We sat down with Nothington’s vocalist, Jay, and bassist, Ryan, to talk about the band’s best and worst moments and why kids should play football instead of music.

You guys have three full-length albums and an acoustic 7”. What inspired you to record acoustic songs too? Jay: I wanted to see if we could pull it off. It was a challenge. I wanted to see if it would work, and I’m happy I tried it. Your band and Tsunami Bomb have a connection to each other. Can you tell us more about that? Jay: I’m the only one left that was in Tsunami Bomb. The drummer of Tsunami Bomb still records with us

RMP- Magazine May

What makes Nothington different from the other bands on Groezrock? Ryan: We have better facial hair! Jay: Our fans are cooler than any other band’s fans.

asked to be a permanent member of the band. [Laughs] Jay: Best moment -- Playing Groezrock Monster Stage this year! Worst moment -- Getting dumped by my fiancé at the Grand Canyon. I wanted to jump down. No joke.

Best and worst moment during your time in Nothington? Ryan: Best moment -- The day I was asked to be a permanent member of the band. Worst moment -- The day I was

How hard is it to come up with a title for a song? Jay: It’s really not that hard at all. It´s something that catches your brain. I start with the title and then I write the song around it.

and plays with us often, but he has kids, so he can´t really go on tour.

Interview - Nothington

Ryan: Every song title is a lyric in the song, basically. Do you have to be a in certain mood to write a good song? Jay: Different songs come in different moods, but I usually have to be upset. In general, it’s about a girl or something bad that happened in my life. Then I just say, “Fuck it, I´m going to get this out on a guitar.”

Any advice for young bands? Jay: Yes, don’t do it! Just pick up a football and learn how to play football or pick up a pencil and learn how to write.

The music industry is dead; it’s dead in the water. If you’re a 14 years old and you want to play guitar, don’t do it.

What do you consider your best album and why? Jay: “Roads, Bridges and Ruins” is my favourite. The hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life is writing that record. I love our new album, but I still feel different about “Roads, Bridges and Ruins.”

You’ll never play outside of your town. I’m sorry; no matter how good you are, it won’t happen. And gas prices are crazy.

Ryan: I wasn’t in the band yet, but it’s my favourite record too. There’s a lot of anger in it. Jay: I was very upset. Now I´m fine and emotionally stable. [Laughs]

Ryan: It is hard for bands to tour now. Venues also pay less and less. It’s not that it’s about the money, but paying for travelling, food and gas is crazy. If you really want to do it, just know that you’ll

be sacrificing a lot. You’re making it your lifestyle, and you’re making a life decision of putting off being a responsible adult in society and become a fun-having, song-writing adult. Jay: (Yelling) “You’re totally fucked! What’s in your immediate future? Jay: We´re writing a new record that hopefully will be out before the summer, and it’s going to be fucking awesome. By Lisa Leysen facebook.com/nothington

RMP- Magazine May

Interview - Scorpios

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RMP- Magazine May

Interview - Scorpios

By David Marote

facebook.com/Scorpios

RMP- Magazine May

Bush Give away On page 46 - 47

Out now !

INSTITUTE - Distort Yourself • The band revolving around Bush’s Gavin Rossdale! • Including four exclusive bonus tracks! • Long ago sold out album - finally reissued! Consisting of Chris Traynor (who is also a member of the current Bush line-up), bassist Cache Tolman and drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Guns ‘N Roses)

Out now !

BUSH - Live!

After more than 20 years of band history, fantastic live shows and touring the whole world various times, BUSH’s powerful performance have been captured in stunning HD quality for the very first time. Filmed at the Roseland Theatre in Portland (Oregon) on September 18th, 2011, the band played an energetic 90-minute set to a cheering audience, including all-time favourites like ‘Glycerine’, ‘Everything Zen’ and ‘The Chemicals Between Us’. The CD package of “Live!” bundles the limited edition of the BUSH’s latest studio album “The Sea Of Memories” plus the live DVD in a high-quality box.

GAVIN ROSSDALE - Wanderlust

Release 03/06

• First and only solo album from Bush’s lead singer Gavin Rossdale! • Long out of stock album – finally available again! • Including four exclusive bonus tracks!

Release : 03/06/2013

RMP- Magazine May

RMP sat down for a shameless interview with Joe (vocals) and James (bass) of Smoke or Fire. They talked to us about the changes in the scene, going solo and how to diffuse a tense situation by taking off your clothes.

You guys have been around for a while now. How have you seen the scene change? Joe: I’m from Boston, Massachusetts, and when I was in the scene there, everything was very DIY. There were so many venues that were all “all ages,” and that went away. All the bands that I loved are back now, so that’s great. James: The musicians we were inspired by still continue making music. This seems to be the year of the reunions. It’s totally different now because there’s more money involved. Not just for people who

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set up shows; kids just have way too much money nowadays, instead of being broke-asses. I got into music because my dad had guitars. If a dude doesn’t want to go to college, he just asks his dad to buy him a Marshall amp and a brand new guitar. We learned to play music on shitty instruments. Spoiled brats are in the scene now. Joe: Now we sound old and grumpy. James: We have the right to be grumpy; I don’t care. We had to eat Taco Bell because we we´re so broke.

What’s your favourite song to play live? James: I think “Neon Light.” It’s kind of an oddball, but the melody is great, and the harmony is a catcher. We always get a good reaction when we play it live too. Joe: Yes, it’s my favourite one too. There´s even a strange story behind that song. When we wrote the album “The Speak Easy,” Ryan, our drummer, said that we needed one more song, but I couldn´t really think or another one. I had my acoustic songs, so I just played one, but I didn´t

Interview - Smoke On FIre

believe that it would work for this album. So I sang “Neon Light,” and within 30 seconds, the entire band was playing along with me. When we finished playing, Ryan said that we had to put it on the record, so we did. Can you tell me more about your writing process? Joe: It always changes. It used to be that me and Jeremy wrote songs together and discussed things. While writing our last record, Ryan really helped out. He is really enthusiastic, and he tries new things all the time. James is also a new member, and we also write very well [together]. We really made it with the four of us this time. What would you be doing if you weren´t on tour? Joe: I cook, and I bartend; that’s my other job. James: I’m a bouncer at a club. All these other meatheads who work the door get their asses kicked, and I’m the only dude that hasn’t been punched in the face. No one wants to fuck with me; people kick their selves out. The door makes me hate-filled, but I’m a good door guy. I also work as a dressed-up garden gnome, during baseball games. I serve people beer. [Shows picture of him dressed as a garden gnome] What’s the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened on stage? Joe: I used to throw up after every show because I used to cram way too many lyrics in songs, so I couldn´t breathe. I lost 40 pounds

on tour once, just because of that. I didn´t eat anymore. I threw up on stage once in NYC on our former drummer´s drum set. They gave us these big sandwiches before we played, and I was planning to take just a little bite, but I just had everything. During the second

There were so many venues that were all “all ages,” and that went away. All the bands that I loved are back now, so that’s great.

song, I was throwing up, but I didn´t miss a beat. When we finished that song, I apologised to the stagehand, but he said that it was the greatest thing he ever saw because I didn´t miss a beat. James: It’s actually not embarrassing for me because I have no shame; it’s more embarrassing for our drummer. I used to be very drunk all the time. I was on tour with The Bled, and some dudes started fighting. I was really drunk, and I started to take all my clothes off, tucked my penis between my legs, and I yelled, “Do you guys want a piece of me?!” Everybody looked at me, stopped fighting and started taking pictures. I actually felt bad for our drummer because he had a horrible view.

Joe: I know a funny story about Jeremy. We played on a very strange stage once; there was this huge whole in the middle of it. While playing, I suddenly didn´t hear the guitar anymore, so I looked back and see Jeremy´s feet sticking out the hole. Do either of you see yourself ever having a solo career? Joe: I’m working on a solo record now. I want to be able to have the opportunity to play a different style of music than we normally play. James: Not at the moment. I’ve almost done every style of music but not reggae because I´m too Hispanic for that, and I don´t smoke enough weed. What’s the best concert you’ve ever seen? Joe: I think that it´s probably Refused, last year. But I´ll probably pick Avail; they’re the best live band I’ve ever seen. James: That’s a very difficult question. I think Ryan Adams in Arizona, three years ago. But I remember losing my mind at a secret show that Refused did in a bar for 100 people; they even played an Earth Crisis cover. They were half-drunk and covering a straight edge band. Thank you for the interview! By Lisa Leysen

facebook.com/SmokeOr FireOfficial

RMP- Magazine May

Russ rankin Russ Rankin is mostly known as the blonde ball of fury running across stage with Good Riddance and Only Crime. But recently, Russ kicked off his solo career with a debut album, titled “Farewell to Catalonia.” Groezrock was his first solo performance on European solo, and we talked to him about his new path and other career choices.

Russ, first off, congratulations on your first solo album, “Farewell to Catalonia.” What drove you to record and play solo? Well, I’m a songwriter, and I always have a guitar around and am thinking of song ideas. Normally, I would convert it to a Good Riddance song. Good Riddance was not playing, I had these ideas coming, and my friend, Tony Sly, who is no longer with us, said I needed to play them. You don’t need a band; he was already doing it. He said just play them by yourself; compose them as solo songs and just play them to get along, ‘cause I’m not the greatest guitar player. So I started doing that. For the release of “Farewell to Catalonia,” you teamed up with Vinnie Fiorello’s (Less Than Jake) label, Paper and Plastick. Was Fat Wreck not up for this release? How did you end up with Vinnie and P+P? Well, Fat Wreck Chords wasn’t really interested in this release, and Vinnie was, so I ended up going to

RMP- Magazine May

work with him. I’m just glad that I can get my music out there. Aside from your solo career, you’re mostly known for being the lead singer of Good Riddance. Last year, you guys reunited. How was the comeback? It’s been fun. We’ve been able to play some good shows;everybody gets along, and we’re having a good time. Yeah, so far, it’s been pretty cool. We’re surpised that people still know who we are. When Good Riddance quit in 2007, and before you released your solo album, you also put out two records with Only Crime. How’s the band doing now? I’ve heard some rumours regarding a new release. Because everyone is being busy, we’ve had a lot of member changes. We’ve had a lot of stuff happen, and we started working on a new album in 2008, but then all those weird things kept happening with band member switching. We have two band members who are not in the band anymore. Now, we’ve got Bill,

who has his own studio and plays in the Descendents and All -- a very busy guyWe’ve slowly been working on this album since 2008, and it’s finally finished, and we‘ve got a label. There should be an announcement soon about our album. Aside from being a musician, you’re also a scout for a hockey team. How did that come about, and what exactly do you do as a scout? I love hockey. I always wanted to work in hockey, and I was lucky enough to have a friend who is a Good Riddance fan and who used to play in the National Hockey League. He was part owner of a team in the Western league. The Western league has teams from the Western providence of Canada and the Northwestern of the United States. Californian players are allowed to play in that league. So there is a need for people who want to watch California games to see young players, like Bantam -- 15 or 16 years old. So my friend helped me got me the job. Five years later, I switched teams.

Interview - Russ Rankin

Now is the first year that I’m with that team, and I love it. My job is to watch Bantam-aged kids who are 14, becoming 15. My job is to scout them for NHL teams. I love to scout; I love being in the ring. You’re also a journalist from time-to-time. You have a column in AMP magazine and have written for other publications.. Could you tell more about this? Yeah, I quit AMP, but I’m going to start writing for a new magazine, New Noise. Why do you write? A friend of mine, who was editor at AMP at the time, asked me, ten years ago, if I wanted to write a column every month. I said, “Sure,” and that’s it. I love to write. I’m very opinionated, so they were cool enough to give me a forum to do that.

RMP- Magazine May

Interview - Russ Rankin

Normally, I would convert it to a Good Riddance song. Good Riddance was not playing, I had these ideas coming, and my friend, Tony Sly, who is no longer with us, said I needed to play them.

You have been straight edge and vegan for years now, but unlike many other straight edge or vegan bands, you don’t discuss it that much in your lyrics. You do have politically-charged lyrics and include themes like animal rights, but you don’t tend to preach like some. Good Riddance is not a straight edge band, so it would be disingenuous to write such lyrics when everyone else in the band drinks; it seems silly. I’m just a singer in a band, who happens to be straight edge and vegan. Two others in the band are vegetarians. Good Riddance, as a band, supports animal rights, but I’m the only straight edge person in the band. You’re pretty active on social media. When you post something, it often has a political slant. Is that a means of communicating something to your fans? I’m trying to put information out there that is interesting or cool or may compel someone to look at the world in a different way because that’s the only way we can change things. I became a vegan because of bands like the Cro-

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Mags and Youth of Today. Without them, I don’t not know if I would be this way. I’m grateful to the bands and individuals that opened my eyes to a different way of life, so if I can do that for someone else, that’s great.My position is very left, liberal, green; a lot of people in the United States disagree with me, very strongly. So I’m not “right,” but hey, that’s what I think. Also, in the mainstream media, it’s not that much covered. I’m like, “I know you watch the news and believe the media, but this is what I found out . . ..” I learned about politics by listening to the Dead Kennedys, not by listening to the news. With your solo career, you started out by playing shows as an opener for Tony Sly. His recent death must have shocked you when you first heard about it. Did Tony help you in releasing this record? Tony helped me tremendously. It was his idea to start the solo thing in the first place. He let me play shows with him. He is a big reason why I’m doing it. He just said, “Why don’t you play those songs by yourself?” And I had never thought of that. He gave me

a lot of suggestions, and he was cool enough to let me open a lot of shows for them, which helped me get more comfortable. A lot of artists are starting solo careers, these days. What are your thoughts on that? I think that when you have a lot of music that doesn’t really fit a band, you can do it. It’s a cool outlet. It’s a cool vibe. You can interact with the audience a bit more. What is your favorite NHL team, and why should they win the Stanley Cup? My favorite team is the New Jersey Devils. But they are eliminated from the playoffs, so they won’t even be in the picture this year; that’s too bad. By David Marote

facebook.com/goodriddance facebook.com/Russ Rankin

At the Vans Warped tour â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;13 RMP- Magazine May

The Wonder Years is one of the fastest-growing Pop Punk bands around at the moment. They brought out their fourth full length album beginning of 2013 but it is has not been a road without bumps for the six piece from Pennsylvania. We think it is fair to say that The Wonder Years had to fight to become what they are now. We talked with lead singer Dan “Soupy” Cambell about their journey into maturity, their struggle and their

The Wonder Years is a somewhat crowded band, having six members and all. There aren’t many bands in this genre with that many musicians. What’s it like working with this group of people? It’s been really good. We’re a six-piece because Kennedy, our drummer, quit briefly. When he was gone, Nick joined in his spot. A few months later, Kennedy asked to come back, and we felt like, as friends first and foremost, that we couldn’t tell either of them they couldn’t be in the band. We started working as a six-piece, but in the end, it was very beneficial because each member brings in a new set of influences and talents.

RMP- Magazine May

Many bands have people constantly coming and going but not you guys. You just had Mikey Kelly leaving in 2009. Except for this small bump, you’ve been spared. What is your secret? Well, as I mentioned before, Kennedy was gone briefly but couldn’t handle being away from us too long. I think it’s just because we’re kind of a mellow, low-key band. We don’t really get too rambunctious, and we’ve been friends longer than we’ve been a band, so we know when the other guys need space. Speaking of band members, you kind of have a unique one --

Hank the Pigeon. When did you come up with this funny figure? Is there a story behind him? Hank’s more of a mascot. We had been working with this concept that a pigeon represented the band well in it’s early years because a pigeon is unwanted by almost everyone but manages to thrive in every city in the world. We felt like we were unwanted as a band but that we were determined to succeed anyway. We took this idea and thought that a physical manifestation of it would be great for our album art, so we had the suit built and have been using it since then for a plethora of things.

Interview - The Wonder Years

We felt like we were unwanted as a band but that we were determined to succeed anyway.

This year, you released a new album called, “The Greatest Generation.” This album feels slightly more mature than the previous ones. Is there any validity to that claim? I think so. This album is a collection of memories and situations that build to a cathartic moment when I realized that all of the battles I fight in my life, against myself or the world around me, were just holding me back from my eventual goals and that I was using them as a series of excuses to justify not working towards being a better person.

acting with the world around me. It’s something I’m working on.

I understand this album was leaked before release. What goes on in your heads when such a thing happens? What is your opinion on illegal downloading? I don’t consider it a leak. The record hit the internet when we mailed out the first round of preorders. I feel like it’s more of an early release because it came out on our terms. People download music sometimes; it’s not the end of the world. I’d prefer they buy the record. We work as hard as we can to make records that are worth the ten bucks.

You can say The Wonder Years had kind of a struggle as a band and with growing as a band in general. Why was it so difficult? I think it was because we went to college. In the long run, I actually think it helped the band, but early on, no one wanted to work with a band that was only able to tour during the summer months. And so we had a few frustrating years where we were selling records and bringing kids out to shows but no label or manager or agent wanted to invest in the band.

Keeping in mind your extensive list of recordings, I can only assume you guys have a very busy lifestyle. How do you balance it with your personal lives? It’s a challenge at points. A few of us tend to be workaholics, and it oftentimes can get in the way. I find myself checking e-mails and doing work when I should be inter-

With all this effort you put into the band, do you feel that the juice was worth the squeeze? (“Passing Through a Screen Door”) I think that song really goes with the “grass is always greener” phrase. I see my friends with their wives and children and get jealous of their stability. They see us and get jealous of our freedom and travel. I love what we do. Sometimes I’d like that stability, but I love what we do too.

a TV series from the 80’s/90’s. Why borrow the name? Is there a connection between the series and the band? We were a joke at the beginning. Legitimately, we were only meant to have one practice, write one song for fun and then be over. We picked an arbitrary band name because no one was ever really supposed to hear it. By Jesse Mouart

facebook.com/thewonder yearsband Next album : ‘The Greatest Generation’ Out Now !

The name, “The Wonder Years,” comes from

RMP- Magazine May

Interview - Walter Schreifels

By Lisa Leysen

facebook.com/waltertown

Next Belgian shows : 15/8 - Pukkelpop - With Quicksand (Kiewit)

RMP- Magazine May

Interview - Trapped Under Ice

By Lisa Leysen facebook.com/trappedunderice

RMP- Magazine May

Flag is best known to most as the legendary Black Flag and features some of the original band members, such as Keith Morris, Dez Cadena and Chuck Dukowski. To complete their current line-up, they added Descendents members Stephen Egerton and Bill Stevenson. Being such punk legends, RMP just had to interview Keith and Chuck during their first European date of the Flag tour at Groezrock. Read on to find out why they decided to hit the road again and whether the stories are true regarding Black Flag’s work ethic and the violence that sometimes accompanied their shows.

You recently kicked off the Flag tour and played a few shows. Now you’re in Europe playing the Groezrock festival. How has it been until now? Keith: We are three shows in, if you count the Moose, four ever since this line-up of guys. [This is the] first in Europe, here at the Groezrock festival. It’s been great; we’re playing bigger stages now, and so it’s difficult to get acquainted; it’s difficult to get the feel on a big stage with the crowd. We like to meet everybody on the show, but that’s quite hard now.

RMP- Magazine May

Four of you have played in one of the many versions of Black Flag during its career. From there on you all went your separate ways. What led to the reunion and the need to play these songs? Chuck: Are you familiar with the band No Age? Dean and Randy called us up. They had a show in downtown Los Angeles, and they wanted us to play some songs with them. So they put Keith and I on vocals and bass, and we played about six to eight Black Flag songs. It was wild and crazy, like it always was. The police were getting crazy, the fans were getting

crazy and it was super fun. That left a good taste. Then six months later, one of the biggest promoters in LA, who had started out with Black Flag and who I worked closely with in the past, called us. He asked us to do a speech at his anniversary show. So I was like, “Instead of a speech, why don’t we play, since the Descendents are on the line-up as well?” We called Bill and Stephen and asked, and they were excited to do it. It was super fun and exciting. So we decided when everyone got a break in their schedule to do some more. So now we’re here.

Interview - Flag

We’d gotten to a point where a lot of the bands in L.A. had no venues to play. The LAPD was closing things down and making it diffIcult to have a party. DIY is a term that fits Black Flag perfectly since you built your own network and resources over the early years to do your thing. It’s an approach that has inspired many to take a step forward and do the same. What made you guys go about it that way? Was it out of necessity? Was it a trial and error process? Chuck: It’s the big legacy of punk rock and hardcore; we did it out of necessity. Keith: Another big word there is “survival,” and another big word there is “stupidity.” Just you know, throwing things together, booking shows from a telephone booth when you’re out on tour, hoping that there would be a place to play when you got to the next town. We’d gotten to a point where a lot of the bands in L.A. had no venues to play. The LAPD was closing things down and making it difficult to have a party.Like Henry Rollins would say, “It was time to get in the van.”

Chuck: That’s what I wanted to do from the beginning: just go out and play. I figured out a way to do it. No one was going to do it for us on that stage. Maybe now, there are people who want to do it for us. We figured out how, and we did it, and that developed a network. The band was known in the past for its energetic shows and the violence that went along with them. Were the shows and scene really that violent, or is this just a skewed form of romanticising the past? Keith : Sometimes, a lot of it was blown out of proportion. I remember the first time Rolling Stone wrote something about the L.A. scene; it was in a gun violence issue. It was right after John Lennon got shot. All they focused on was the violence. You could have violence at a heavy metal show. You get a bunch of drunks, and somebody says the wrong thing. Or you could have violence at a line-dancing, square-dance country show. “I can’t see the band; your hat is too tall.” You can get people together, and all it takes is for one or two people to get uptight, and the situation gets ruined. Chuck : For sure, you’ll have violence at the football game. It’s like you’re having a TV party,

and someone wants to watch a different show, and you’re like, “I want to watch this, and give me back my beer.” Before you know it, there’s violence happening. Now we even have the luxury of two bands playing Black Flag originals. There’s you guys, and there’s Greg Ginn’s Black Flag. We’ve all heard stories of Greg being a difficult person to work/ live with and that he’s mainly the reason for Black Flag having so many changes over the years. What’s your opinion on his Black Flag? Keith: We’re not really concerned about what he’s doing. People try to turn it into a competition. All we do is get up and do what we know and try to keep it as true and real as possible. Chuck: We got together to play, as I told earlier. I would never get on stage with Ginn again; he has done me many deep wrongs. I can’t trust him, and I don’t like him. I really disbelieve he will honour the music. Whatever he does, we don’t care about it anyway. We got our thing going on, and he has his. By David Marote

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Reviews Surge Of Fury In My Tox City

Release 2009

Score:: 80/100

Surge Of Fury has been around for a while now, their first demo released in 1999. Now here it is, the thirth full- length album by Surge Of Fury, straight outta Liege. The album contains 15 tracks. When i started to listen to ‘In My Tox City’ I heard a low-tempo beatdown. I noticed that the album is less ferocious then ‘Fury Deluxe’ and ‘It’s Gonna Be’. “In My Tox City” is a mix of straight-ahead raging speed and vicious stop-and-start brutality that definitely gives the band a unique style. Songs like “Dedictation” prove that Surge Of Fury are much more than competent at injecting the hardcore basics into their sound. But what sets SOF ready apart from the pack is the pounding, choppy groove that pulsates troughout the course of the album. Filled with original songs, manic speed and huge beats sure to get the crowd moving. “In My Tox City” Is a great album for people who like beatdown.

By Steffie Peeters

Rescuer With Time Comes The comfort

Release 15/01

Score:: 80/100

For fans of Touche Amore … With only this description to go on, I’ve set my hopes on a passionate, emotional album covered with pain, truths that will hurt. This nicely covered in a sauce of instrumental rage. High Expectations at the beginning, above average satisfaction at the end. Rescuer is a fine addition to the genre of “Emotional Hardcore”. Songs like ‘Faded Youth’, ‘Birds Of Prey’ and ‘Shame’ have been put on repeat without any kind of shame. “With time comes comfort” doesn’t gives you the time to take a breath and relax. It takes you by the neck and drops you in a whirlpool of frustrations and anger. Vocalist JP Marra succeeds in bringing the message about a world in pain or how he likes to call it: “And maybe I’ve ruined everything, But I’ll never regret the time I’ve spent Fighting for something more in a helpless world.”

By Arne Vangheluwe

RMP- Magazine May

Reviews Parker This Is Parker

Release 10/05

Score:: 90/100

Parker is a Belgian post-hardcore band. The band is formed in 2012 and has members of Campus, When Hope Escapes and Her Concept. “This Is Parker” is their debut EP. It contains 4 songs.The first song is called “Nights In Shining Armor”. The intro very calm and is building up to the moment a good melodic guitar and screams are starting this EP. It’s a good song where there’s a good mix between the screams and the clean voice. The melodic guitar sounds very good and is well set together with the other instruments which creates a powerful and convincing effect. “The Oath” is the second song of the EP and is a harder song than “Nights In Shining Armor”. What I really like in this song is the changeover from the scream to the clean singing. It happens in one word and not where you expect it to change. There is also a calmer part with clean vocals and the scream on the background which makes this song a very variated song, which makes this so interesting to listen to. Third song is called “Everless”. It’s a song with mostly clean vocals, only on the end are the screams taking it over. It sounds wonderful and makes this EP an EP with a lot of different songs. With each new song you hear, you’re a little bit surprised because it sounds very different from the song before. Last song on their debut EP is called “Changeling” and is a great final of their wonderful first EP. All i can say is that “Parker” is a band we have to keep an eye on!

By Jonas Hoflack

Hessian Manegarmr

Release 13/05

Score:: 80/100

Hessian is one of the tripod arms of the Belgian Church Of Ra, together with fellow Ghent based bands Amenra and The Black Heart Rebellion they have spitting out a dark wave of hardcore injected metal. After a few splits with Pale Creation and Amenra they got picked up by Southern Lord and their debutalbum has recently been released upon the world. “Mangegrmr” is a sonic assault to your ears and is deeply based into black metal with elements of hardcore and even crust punk sippling through. From uptempo tracks such as “Plague Monger” to slow epic tracks of impending doom such as “Father of Greed” and “Vamacara”. “Manegarmr” has elements for all those that are into dark, aggressive noise. Hessian is raw and uncomprising, sonical and even visual with a decaying rat amidst creepy crawlers. If you like a grim atmosphere then Hessian is your desired choice of entertainment.

By David Marote

RMP- Magazine May

Reviews ALKALINE TRIO My Shame Is True

Release 02/04

Score:: 85/100

Alkaline Trio is back with their signature dark-love affliction. Chock full of inclement weather, splashes of self-loathing and plenty of vices to numb the pain, “My Shame Is True” has something for everyone. The band has been in it’s current line up since 2003 and 10 years on they continue to keep things fresh while remaining true to their punk rock and roll roots. There is a definite polish on Shame but it’s the kind that reflects nicely in the right light. Percussionist, Derek Grant deserves some love for strategically balancing the ebb and flow of Matt (Skiba) and Dan’s (Andriano) songs over the years. His tight and tremendous ability rings out on new tunes like “Only Love” and “I’m Only Here To Disappoint”. The subtleties within the backbeats add another dimension to the songs, which beautifully fills them out. Mr. Skiba is in classic form on the lead single “I Wanna Be A Warhol” (“Take a trip, take a big handful of these and swallow”) which is both a nod to the great Pop artist (Andy Warhol) as well as a personal well-wish and testament to Skiba’s own musical legacy. “The Torture Doctor” packs the satiety so many fans long for, as catchy as it is confessional, a prime slice of AK3 pie.Though each member showcases refined talents on this record, it is Andriano who is the highlight. He has evolved into a true talent of a songwriter. The tender hearted “Young Lovers” finds the serenader advising one to live in the moment and appreciate the love they have, despite the world’s negativities. The aforementioned “Only Love” flows through a similar vein with an elegant wash of piano throughout. “And life is death, so die well with some good distractions, at the end there is only love”

By Michael Pupillo

Steak Number Eight The Hutch

Release 18/03

Score:: 70/100

Steak Number Eight is a four headed atmospheric sludge band that I know since 2008. They played a gig on a local Festival. And as a 16 year old pussy I was amazed by their talent, bombastic noise and age. After they won Humo’s Rock Rally in 2008, the roads were open for national and even international success. After 2 UK tours and a impressive first album “All Is Noise” , “The Hutch” was made to blow people’s minds again. And how. This album is more dynamic than before. “Cryogenius” gets you directly in that SN8 mood which go through your skin and bones. “Black Eyed” had success in Belgium and got into the top 20 in ‘De Afrekening’. The songs that you must remember are “Photonic”, “Exile Of Our Marrow” and “Slumber”. Very eccentric on the album is the last song “Tearwalker”. It starts with a peaceful intro. But with every note it gets harder and louder. One of the greatest songs on the record. But my personal favourite is “Ashore”. It has a clear sound with a very good refrain. I think this could be a very good second single. See you all on 9th of June at Grensrock in Menen, alright? By Paulien Verfaillie

RMP- Magazine May

Reviews Heaven Shall Burn VETO

Release 22/04

Score:: 95/100

Do you know these kind of bands who deliver each single year a new album? Most of the time those albums are cheap rip-offs of their previous records and aren’t put much time and thought into it. On the other hand we have bands we forget they exist because of the lack of producing new work. Heaven Shall Burn is such a band who doesn’t produce each and every year, but you really can’t say they are forgotten. Each and every album is a divine masterpiece and an equal successor to their last work. This is no different with “VETO”. In their last albums they always started off with a classic piece of music, which was like a silence before the storm of raging guitars, battering drums and a deafening scream which made your balls pop back into your underbelly. With “VETO” they said goodbye to the classic music, but they still start off slowly, so an equal train impact will hit you while you’re not paying attention. But this raging music is not only what you’ll get from our East – German friends. As their reputation goes, the album is also filled with vulnerable guitar pieces who give the perfect blend of feelings in your stomach, which leads to those awesome goose bump moments. Their artwork is, as usual, beautiful. But this time they took another approach by using a classic piece of art as cover for their album. It is the painting of Lady Godiva, which goes perfectly with their views in social problems and statement on animal rights. Also their cover “Valhalla” (yes, the one from ‘Blind Guardian’) gives a new and fresh twist to the typical Heaven Shall Burn sound, probably has something to do with the guitars and vocals from René Liedtke (Blind Guardian). This is not the only surprise on the album, but we don’t want to spoil everything. If you’re not convinced after listening, you must be rather emotionless or not a fan of music. You can always check their new promotion video “Land Of The Upright Ones” or their new movie clip “Hunter Will Be Hunted”. I think it is fair to say the crown of metal and its core genre still lies in Germany. Sorry America, go back to your mothers breast and let the big boys play outside.

By Jesse Mouart

Mxrcxl A Laughing Matter

Release 19/03

Score:: 75/100

Mxrcxl or actually Marcel is a dutch one man project that evolved into a complete band over time.A Laughing Matter is the third release by Mxrcxl and the first one where the man himself, Marcel, does not hold all positions in the band. Compared to his earlier works like previous EP Dump you can hear the impact of the band into a fuller and more epic sound. This musical centipede with an affinity for the letter x is difficult to put into a certain category. The EP does hold a certain vibe to it but allows to shift atmosphere in a flick of a second. A Laughing Matter holds four songs that drift amidst the noise we associate with grunge, rock, punk and even a dash of metal to top it off. To my conclusion the man deserves another vowel for this nice EP, so from now on go listen to Marcxl! By David Marote

RMP- Magazine May

Reviews Old Man Markley Down Side Up

Release 05/03

Score:: 80/100

Old Man Markley is a band consisting of 7 members which was formed in late 2007 in Los Angeles. Their first gig was at a bar in Pasadena that was attended by an at-capacity crowd and the bar sold out of beer and people were dancing on the bar and tables.And 2 years after their debut album “Guts n’ Teeth” time has come for a new one, “Down Side Up”. Old Man Markley is not your typical punk band, nor are they a traditional bluegrass band. Instead, they combine elements from both styles into a fantastic mix that leads to ‘a boot stomping good time for fans around the world’. “Down Side Up” starts off with “Blood on My Hands”, an up tempo song at which you’ll automatically start tapping your foot. Mandolin, banjo, washboard, fiddle,… all the elements for a great bluegrass/folk/country song are included and they execute it perfectly!This continues for the other 12 songs at which sometimes a female voice is added, or some of the other instruments get a more vital role in the song. All in all, this combination of punk with bluegrass (or folk/country at some points) is amazing. At times it might remind you of Flogging Molly or bands alike, though Old Man Markley is more focussed on bluegrass and therefore not like any other band. By Roel Vanobbergen

Off The Hook The Walk

Release 01/02

Score:: 85/100

Hardcore knows a lot of influences, but originally it came from the hardcore punk, talking about old hardcore bands like Sick of It All, Black Flag and Suicidal Tendencies. But in the years following, the hardcore grew out to be something mainstream, something that every metal/punk listener also listens to. Off The Hook, grabs back to the roots of the hardcore, but will the German based hardcore band also please the fans of the old hardcore bands? Let’s start with the first song “The Walk”, it gives us the sense that we are dealing with a typical hardcore album, a peaking guitar pick along with the well-known hardcore riffs through it. After that, the drums start to kick in, which isn’t a rare thing either. But still, they do it the good way, it sets the tone of the whole album, because most of the riffs aren’t going to change tone at all. But a fan of hardcore like me, appreciates that, I give the opportunity to feel the strength coming from lyrics, and also to set some two step moves along with the crowd. The second number “Shit you call life” does this all over, but it adds some crowd shouts and a well-placed breakdown in it, which really doesn’t bother at all. After that we get a fast-paced stream of intriguing lyrics, like a grab to the throat, all along with a very fast instrumental music background. They being said, I’m very pleased with the record in overall, it’s nothing like the down-tempo most of the hardcore bands gives us nowadays, because they added enough of those fast paced moments which keeps the fans of hardcore, and even hardcore punk going. So please, give this one a listen, you won’t regret it at all!

By Stefan Van Den Broek

RMP- Magazine May

Reviews Deez nuts Bout It

Release 08/04

Score:: 70/100

Hard-core/hip hop Australian band Deez Nuts are back with their brand new album “Bout it”. It’s been 6 years of touring and making this catchy, fun and simple music. This album has to be one of the best. “Bout it” is their third full length release and Deez Nuts are still very much a ‘marmite’ style band as you either love them or hate tem but I guarantee when you hear this all the haters will become lovers. The title and opening track “Bout it” is a bulky opening and really gets you interested into listening to the rest of the full length album. It makes you want to start a party in your living room or where ever you are. There is truly a variety of songs on this album with a mixture of other hard-core artists featuring on tracks. Sam Carter from the song ‘Band of Brothers’ adds his guest vocals onto this track and has made the song tremendous. The song starts with an acoustic guitar and then Sam comes in singing the chorus. It is so catchy and his singing is delightful. Frontman JJ Peters does his distinctive part on the song and the duo make the song unique, adding in gang vocals from the rest of the members throughout. The album powers its way through by giving out an ‘I don’t give a crap’ attitude, just like the other albums do. Deez Nuts haven’t disappointed me on this part. However, a lot of the songs go on about drinking and smoking, even though this is mainly what Deez Nuts sing about, it does tend to get a tad boring if you have been a fan of them from the very beginning like I have. Deez Nuts have proved themselves once again, and this album is truly worth a listen for all you hard core music lovers.

By Holly Reijs

Neck Deep A History of Bad Decisions

Release 19/02

Score:: 75/100

Neck Deep is a young and punky quintet from Manchester, UK. Thanks to the airplay they have received on BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show in 2012, their first EP Rain in July turned a lot of heads and ears. A History of Bad Decisions is the band’s new EP just before they are heading back to the studio and record their debut album. Vocalist Ben Barlow’s voice has a raw edge that really appeals to me and is very recognisable throughout the three songs on the EP. Despite the familiar sound of voice, the three songs on “A History of Bad Decisions” are entirely different from one another. “Up in Smoke” is a fast paced track with a slight aggressive tone of voice. Tables Turned on the other hand maintains the speed but in a much poppier way. This results in much more emphasis on the lyrics, which are a proof of a very mature state of mind. “Head to the Ground” is by far my favourite song on the EP. The acoustic sound doesn’t downplay the edginess at all and the familiar melody begs for a second play.

By Chenling Zhang

RMP- Magazine May

Reviews

The Brains The Monster Within

Release 16/04

Score:: 75/100

How do you combine horror, psychobilly, a happy sound, metal and punk music? The Brains show us on their new album “The Monster Within”...and it works. While listening to this album you will find yourself laughing, jumping, trembling and singing along to The Brains’s catchy, but scary sound. However, if you’re weak at heart and you like your peace and quiet, maybe you should reconsider giving this album a listen. Blood, murder, and destruction are main themes and each and every song is quite speedy… So, if you’re a bit crazy and like funny, fast, frightening songs, I would certainly recommend this album!

By Renske Gommer

Terror Live By The Code

Release 09/04

Score:: 83/100

Terror, a well-known name in the hardcore scene, a band almost every hardcore-metal listener heard about or is fan of, are still going strong after 10+ years, and their latest effort “Live By The Code” is ready to break some new grounds. But as the hardcore lover in me asks himself, will this record beat the fame of “K.O.T.F” the record that gave Terror their nickname as the Keepers of The Faith, or will it live on as one of the underdogs of that golden record that changed the way we look at hardcore? Terror is known for their keeping their fans entertained, and in “Live By The Code”, we get the same fun factor as found in “K.O.T.F” and previous records. And this combined with staying pure in the lyrics, makes Terror as strong as they’ve always been. Song titles as “Shot of Reality”, “Hard Lessons” and “I’m Only Stronger” emphasize this pureness, because mostly the lyrics are about sticking what you believe in, respect and betrayal. And Scott Vogel’s voice is the only one who can bring these lyrics in the best form possible. And yes, many bands did the same and are talking about the same themes over and over again, so it can be seen as a cliché thing, but Terror manages to sound it like it’s something totally new. So we discussed about the vocal part of the album, which is top-notch, but how are the instrumentals? Let’s be honest, the instrumentals aren’t that important in hardcore, because the lyrics are what really make a difference, but still the riffs and cuts Terror used on this cd are really well structured and well placed. Per example, at the track “Shot of Reality” the riffs perfectly mangle with the vocal rage that’s coming from Vogel’s throat, and the guitars really start to kick in at the latter half of the track, which make it perfect song to mosh on in various circumstances. Of course, there are moments that the record seems to weak down a bit, but like I already mentioned, you won’t really care, because of the other jewels which are present on the album. So to answer the question I asked earlier: Is this record good enough to beat their previous effort, the legendary “K.O.T.F.” ? No, but they came damn close to it, because “Live by The Code” really is an enjoyable and rough record, and the lyrics are great too, but the main downside, it’s all done before, and painfully enough, by themselves. But nevertheless, I enjoyed it, I hope you guys will enjoy it!

By Stefan Van Den Broek

RMP- Magazine May

Reviews Face To Face Three Chords And A Half Truth

Release 08/04

Score:: 85/100

Face To Face is a well known Punk rock band from America. They played festivals like Groezrock in 2012 and this summer, they will play Ieperfest in august.Their new album, released through Rise Records, is called “Three Chords And A Half Truth”. The record is comparable with their previous release “Laugh Now, Laugh Later” : a great album that stands! A mix of great punk rock guitars, a great voice and lots of sing along pieces. Best songs on the album are “Right As Rain”, which was also the first single of this new album and “Jinxproof” because Face To Face proves with this one that they have also the possibility to make a wonderful slower song!This is an album that all the fans should check out! Also fans of Bouncing Souls and Good Riddance will like this record!

By Jonas Hoflack

The Real Danger Down And Out

Release 15/03

Score:: 90/100

“The Real Danger” comes from The Netherlands. And plays a mean piece of melodic punkrock since 2006. With their recently released third album out on Tilburg based Shield Recordings they return for some more chewing bubblegum and whopping ass, and it looks like they’re all out of bubblegum. For “Down And Out” the dutch fivepiece went all the way down and under to get the legendary Stephen Egerton from Descendents fame to to the entire mixing and mastering of the record. And that link with the Descendents is where to place their music, with melodic guitars and the vocal chord of Michiel Walrave this band could be part of the Fat Wreck or Epitaph roster in the nineties. From “Work It Out“ to “Summer’s Gone” you hear the influence of bands such as Face To Face, Good Riddance, Ten Foot Pole, Propagandhi and Strung Out for instance. There’s even room amidst their 11 original songs for a cover of “Swann Street by 3”. The Real Danger is just around the corner, and you should go see them.

By David Marote

RMP- Magazine May

Thanks to . . . Directors Kenny Leys CEO - @KennyLeys Lisa Leysen Head Editor - @LisaLeysen David Marote Managing Editor - @DavidMaroteBE

Design Jolien Krijnen Chief designer - @JolienKrijnen Ray Slavenburg @rayslavenburg Lena Stahl

Editors Douglas Koziol @Manos15 Frederik Geuvens

photography Arne Desmedt @ ArneDesmedt Daniel Buyle @DariaColaes

RMP- Magazine May

Writers Jesse Mouart Aranka van Dongen @ArankavanDongen James Black Steffi Peeters Arne Vangheluwe Jonas Hoflack Michael Pupillo Paulien Verfaillie @PaulienVrf Roel Vanobbergen @RoelVanobbergen Holly Reijs Stefan van Den Broek Chenling Zhang @chenlingzhang Renske Gommer

Website Yasmine Philtjens Quentin Nourisson

RMP on AIR Nele Waegeman Andy Vilters

RMP- Magazine May