TABLE OF CONTENTS
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15
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DEATH BY STEREO
DAN PALMER TALKS ABOUT THE MESSAGE
THE BRAINS
TALES FROM THE UNDEAD
THE LUCKY ONES
LIFE BACK FROM TAKING A BREAK
NEXT ISSUE
THE LEGENDARY JIM ROSE AUTHORITY ZERO, CIVET
BLACK SHEEP OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
DESIGNER JASON BOLDUC PHOTOGRAPHY JASONBOLDUC JIM SMITH COLUMNISTS JASON BOLDUC JIM SMITH NAOMI KELLY PROOF READER NAOMI KELLY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS STUMBLE RECORDS MIKE MAGEE / STOMP RECORDS JAMES WRIGHT/KEROSENE MEDIA IRIS CONCEPTS ALIX COOK / REBEL MUSIC SPECIAL THANKS TO S.C.E.N.E. MUSICFEST Within Punk Zine is an indpendently produced Zine. We are always looking for contributions in the form of written works, design,editorials, interviews,photography. If your intrested in keeping the scene alive contact us at withinmagazine@hotmail.com.
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J.B: So your blazing riffs reminds of many guitar legends.. DEATH BY STEREO DAN: Jeff Hannemen ? VIKING FUNERAL RECORDS BLACK SHEEP OF THE AMERICAN DREAM J.B : Ya Slayer I’ve seen them in Toronto at a show called Heavy T.O DAN: Last time I saw Slayer I actually accidentally punched a girl on the top of her head so.. (LOL) No really there was this little Asian girl sitting down in front of me and I was like ya.. ahh all pumped and of course you’re at a Slayer concert so you’re fist pumping the air, and this girl had dark hair and it was all dark and stuff so ya I fist hammered her head. And I said “I’m Sorry” but that’s kind of what you get for sitting at a Slayer show. J.B: Ya especially if you’re right by the pit, the thing I remember the most was right during the DAN PALMER song “Reign In Blood” there was this big Guitar battle between Kerry and Jeff. INTERVIEW : JASON BOLDUC J.B: So anyway, from Indecision Records to Ep- COURTESY OF KEROSENE MEDIA itaph to the whole Warp Tour thing on and off S.C.E.N.E MUSIC FEST the bill, what made you guys jump off the tour?. ST CATHERINES,ON 2012 DAN: Ahh off the Warp Tour thing Okay? J.B: To a period of Hiatus and then back to ‘Death is My Only Friend’, do you think there’s more change from ‘Death is my only friend’ to ‘Black Sheep of the American dream’? DAN: I’m not so sure with ‘Death is my only friend’, we spent so much time on that record. We worked it and reworked it over and over again. And maybe over thought a lot of things, but we were very proud of it. And then it seemed like we were bumming out a lot of our fans and they were like “wow” it seems like you guys are really trying something different. And we really wanted a good produced record and we did it from the same guy as Green Day and he had all these crazy instruments and stuff. And the end result was a good record because we spent so much time on that record, and it’s kind of disheartening that nobody really likes that record because we spent so much time on it. And then we were like fuck it, the first ten songs we write will be the next record. And it’s like fuck it that’s good enough, and it’s not that we didn’t like it we just didn’t nit pick it so much. So that’s what we did with the previous records and maybe that’s why it doesn’t sound like the
DAN PALMER , PHOTOGRAPH: IRIS CONCEPTS
previous record. J.B: Well you guys did have some lineup changes also, so how is that going?. DAN: Yeah the new line up is great, I say that every lineup though (Laughing). No actually it’s just hard doing the tours, remember you mentioned the hiatus before? We didn’t hit Canada so much but we did North America, Japan, Europe and other places, so it gets to you after a while. J.B: Do you think the scene is better over in Europe than it is here? DAN: Ya I actually think it is to tell you the truth, I think Canada and Europe are similar and are more open minded and it seems they are more into it, so it tends to be more fun to play those places. Although it seems people in Canada and Germany seem to like our music more because it has
that punk kind of metal twinge to it. Nowadays it seems like Metal core is streamed everywhere in the U.S, not like it isn’t here but people tend to focus more on that I think. J.B: Ya I think the hardcore scene evolved into that because it means more now and people tend to feel it more. DAN: Yeah exacatly. J.B: So the formation of the Death Squad, It’s trying to keep you closer to the fan base?. DAN: Ahh Tony Gonzales is the guy behind that, he does this radio show out of Ventura California and he always comes to our shows and he’s pretty cool. So we were like are you kind of into doing this? And he’s like “yeah” so he kind of takes care of that part of it. And there’s different sections of it, Spain, South America, Mexico, Europe and I don’t think we have one for Canada?. Man we need to work on that, what are we doing? Got to get something going for that, we should definitely look into that. I think I will go and tell Tony about that “Hey man stop slacking”. J.B: Ahh how do you like being on Viking Funeral Records?
DAN: “Fletcher” Ya he’s pretty rad he’s always done good for Pennywise and stuff and we’ve gotten rowdy with him and stuff and had fun so it’s kind of rad being on his label. You know he’s not like some dude sitting in an office, you know he’s done the same shit we’ve done. He’s had some shitty tours and stuff and understands, he knows you can live through this shit and then some so he knows where we’re coming from you know? He knows what we go through on tour at a level not quite like Pennywise but like them and it’s not easy and that’s another reason for lineup changes. You know, people can crack. We just drove thirty two hours to get here. Our van trailer tire went out, the replacement was all fucked up we finally get in and had to get our shit fixed again at Canadian Tire. And all the shit costs money and it’s stressful and shit and you get sick on the way, our singer is sick he’s taking it easy in the hotel room right now. It’s brutal sitting in a van that long and eating shitty food and stuff, just life on tour you know. So we get to the Hotel today at twelve thirty closer to one and everyone’s up our sleeve and we’re like dude we just played Winnipeg like a night ago, do you fucking know how far that is? and we’re here right? Like man it’s the other side of the country holy shit you know? J.B: Actually Winnipeg has quite the scene I’ve heard. DAN: Ya actually I really like playing Winnipeg. J.B: Efrem and you were the founders so on the new record did everyone have their own ideas and came together or did you work as a whole and collaborative sacrifice?. DAN: It depends you know some records it’s so that and the last record was more help from everyone else so it’s cool. I mean most of the time it’s Efrem and I running stuff but this time J.P the guitarist and drummer Mike had stuff and also our original bass player Paul Miner helped write and produce the record also. So that kind of helped too because he helped on the vocals and stuff too so it was definitely good having him back on the list. J.B: So “Punk Rock” to “Hardcore” to “Metal” that seems to be your current trend and sound, are you guys trying to stick to that mix for the new album? DAN: Ahhhh.......? J:B: I mean you guys had more of a raw Hardcore sound, now it’s more Melodic Metal for this one?. DAN: Ya it depends we kind of just write what comes around you know what I mean? We really don’t think about it too much we just kind of go with it. I mean we shit around and come up with this weird stuff and we’re like “I don’t know if we can pull that one off ”. We don’t try to stay within that certain perimeter of what’s it’s supposed to sound like. And in way I think that kind of hurts us because people don’t know what the hell we are. Are you “Punk”? are you “Hardcore”? Are you “Metal”? Exactly what the hell are you guys? And we kind of touch on all of those, but at heart I feel we’re a Punk band.
EFREM SCHULEZ , PHOTOGRAPH: IRIS CONCEPTS
J.B: I guess you don’t want to fall into one category so you kind of tend to cross them all. DAN: I think we’re not looking to be particularly in one category it’s really just what we write and we don’t think about it. And we try to stay within the scene, maybe we do play a little too many guitar solos for a punk band you know what I mean (Laughing). J.B: I don’t know I just love it so it’s a good sound for me. J.B: So what do you think about the crash of the industry and how it’s changed that you have to tour so much now just to make it?. DAN: Well we’ve always toured just to make a living, we definitely don’t sell a lot of records as we used to and nobody does. And the realization of that is it’s shitty but what are you going to do?. And now everyone has to tour you know and it’s like since
everyone is touring it’s a really competitive market to get shows. Some shows where you used to get a good turnout now there’s not because of the last eight shows that just played you know. But then again with the whole downloading thing you know we will go play a place like Ecuador and they can’t buy an Epitaph record for eighteen bucks because they make $300 a month so you know it’s cheaper for them to hear us that way. And they will download it and come to the show and buy some merch because they don’t have a lot of money. So I try to look at the positive things of the way things are right now. I mean if 50 people come out to see us that’s a good show and you can’t download a t-shirt. J.B: You guys have toured with a lot of good punk bands what would you describe as the perfect tour?. DAN: Ah that’s a tough one, we’ve always gotten along good with “Strung Out” and they’re good friends and musically I think we fit good with them. It’s funny we’ve ventured off with different bands like we’ve toured with “Thursday” for a while and did a tour with “Slipknot”. Certain bands might not have been the bands that we should have toured with
PAUL MINER , PHOTOGRAPH: IRIS CONCEPTS
but it’s kind of cool to do that thing, like we did a short tour with “The Cult”. And we’ve done a lot of cool things and I’m like “Wow” I can’t believe we’ve done that. But back to the question, “Sick Of It All” “Agnostic Front” they’re kind of punk hardcore and fun to play with to get some melody in there.. Actually we toured here with “Planet Smashers”,“Sick Of It All”, “A.F.I”,”Catch 22” and “Rise Against”. It was 2002 and it was an insane line up you know, and back then I think Rise Against was opening? I don’t think they would be opening anymore (Laughing). J.B: Analog versus Digital. Which do you prefer? DAN: Analog always sounds better, digital though is so goddamn convenient. And I mean I can load thirty thousand songs onto an mp3 player, drive thirty hours and not hear the same shit. How do you fight that? But when I’m home drinking some whiskey ya I want to throw on some vinyl, listen to some old Van Halen you know, some crackle. You know nobody sounds like the record anymore you have drum editing, multiple tracks, auto tune everything’s fucking perfect. And you’re talking about metal bands but it’s like the same fucking mix over and over again just mixed in different you know. And it’s so fucking clean and it’s boring you know because it sounds the same. I like to try different things; I play a lot of different musical styles at home. So we kind of write that way so it’s like okay more solos here or more rifts there and fuse things together
you know. It’s like I don’t want to be the attention and like to be showing off, and especially with guitar work it kind of steps on the vocals a bit. So I kind of like to give everyone space, it’s not just a guitar instrumental band you know. J.B: Do you think the Metal core bands are over saturating the market and lot of bands are going that way because it sells? DAN: Ya you know it seems everyone is so separated, you have all these subdivisions you know, metal, hardcore, punk and all that. It’s hard to keep up sometimes to what’s going on these days. There’s all these bands that sound the same, and all these names like “Bread and Butter”. And I’m trying to listen to it and I’m like “What the Fuck is this”? And they might be a good band but I don’t know what the fuck is going on you know? It used to be before you had to play for a while before getting anywhere. Now with the pro tools they release an Album before they even played one single show. It’s like, when does a record sound like shit? I mean except for the “Misfits”, my favorite band and some of their recordings are so sloppy and it’s so good you know it’s got personality it’s not copy and paste shit. I think labels these days throw a bunch of bands against a wall and whatever sticks they work on them. There’s no time for development anymore, I think a lot of it is timing you know does anyone really give a shit these days? J.B: Each generation is changing it is punk but you know it seems like it’s gone mainstream now. After all there are only so many four chords and it’s evolved to metal to give it that space and technical approach to it. DAN: I think it’s been technical for a long time like “Thin Lizzy” has a lot of leads and its technical riffs for its time. And they’re one of the true inventors of that style of that time you know, and I think that’s the key, write decent stuff instead of throwing stuff around the riffs. J.B: I always refer going to a “Hardcore” show as going to Church. Is there any kind of message you guys gave in this album? DAN: There’s some meaning to some of the songs in regards to racial indifferences. Like Efrem’s dad trying to cross the border into the States twenty eight different times just so he could become a American to give his kids a better life you know. And also my family are immigrants from England and they were illegal for a while. So there was those things that were personal but political at the same sense. Because of that whole immigrant backlash things in the States and everyone’s got a scapegoat to bail you know. And the shitty thing is the Mexicans always seemed to get blamed the most, when in reality we all came here one way or another. And everyone looks at everyone wondering ‘What the Fuck are they doing in this country’ And that’s the messed up thing. Everyone comes in different shapes and sizes and that’s a beautiful thing you know? J.B: I’ve noticed a lot of Neo Nazi’s starting to come to the hardcore shows?
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DEATH BY STEREO CONTINUED DAN: You know is it that people are not caring enough anymore and standing up and saying you know what “Fuck Off ”. Do they not care anymore about these things? Is it, you know, “well my hair looks good you know”. Are they aware of what’s going down? So they don’t give a shit as long as they get a great t-shirt you know what I mean? J.B: Well the oldschool guys and the true believers are standing up but they are still afraid of causing this big scene you know. It would turn out to be a big throw down when you’re trying to enjoy a show you know. And these people are just hearing a message somewhere in there and taking the wrong perspective on the issue. DAN: Ya but people are like, “Well they’re not bothering me so I’m not going to bother them”. But he fucked up thing is they’re still there, you know and no one gives a shit to set it straight I guess. And they’re winning, putting hate and fear and intimidation in people you know, that’s a pretty fucked up thing. J.B: I don’t think they understand about the unity and the message about the positivity. And I was wondering if there was any confrontation in the States over that. DAN: Ya we used to go and beat the shit out them so they wouldn’t come around you know, we’re trying to keep the shows positive you know. J.B: Any final thoughts to give? DAN: Ya don’t become a rock star! Go to school, become a fucking accountant, put the fucking guitar down become something more.
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THE BRAINS
STOMP RECORDS DRUNK NOT DEAD,ZOMBIE NATION RENE DA LA MUERTE,PAT KADAVER,COLIN THE DEAD,BRAD INTERVIEW BY JASON BOLDUC COURTESY OF MIKE MAGEE STOMP RECORDS S.C.E.N.E MUSIC FEST ST CATHERINES,ON 2012 The Monster Within is an unholy collection of 14 mind-bendingly brain-melting tracks that will explode in your earholes like a hell-born volcano. The impossibly fast and unbelievably tight rhythm section of Pat Kadaver (skins) and Colin The Dead (stand up bass) threaten to push the limits of sanity and safety to the very edge… Rene D La Muerte’s (vox/gretsch) haunting croon sends shivers up the spines of even the most jaded listener while his signature guitar stylings fuse the rockabilly sounds of the 50’s with the intensity of an industrial chainsaw. The Brains continue to blur the lines between rockabilly, psycho, surf, punk and rock n’ roll; kicking down genre barriers and demanding undying loyalty at every show they play. Incorporating elements from whatever the hell they feel like, The Brains concoct an irresistable brew of Motorhead-esque ferocity and sexed up latin swagger while adding a pinch of rockabilly revival and a whole lot of booze-fueled punk rock mayhem. J.B: So what was it like touring with the legend himself KIM NEKROMAN? COLIN: It was actually pretty fucking crazy. I mean when I first started playing bass he was really fucking good and well known. But you know what they say you know “Don’t meet your heroes” Because you could be disappointed. It wasn’t because I was disappointed because he is just as good live as he is in his records. You would think that he’s this crazy party animal but he’s been doing it for so long that he turns up plays a wicked set then goes and relaxes like nothing happened. J.B: That’s because he’s methodical!
RENE DE LA MUERTE
COLIN: Ya he’s super methodical, they tour around in a big old school RV, he drives, he tour manages he does everything. The guy is a machine. RENE: Well that’s what it was like meeting your hero you know it was cool for me too. We did a tour with them in Europe and it was really cool. He gave us a lot of pointers too, like Kim is always busy all the time. He’s never really talking he’s always just go, you know, and that’s cool and since we we’re in the same bus with him it gave us time to talk to him and some pointers to tighten up our ship you know. COLIN: Guys like that, that have been doing it for so long as just like well-oiled machines, and there’s always something to learn. J.B: I was going to mention that from album to album you guys are getting faster and tighter.
COLIN: Ya that’s kind of the direction we’re going. RENE: YA well we have a studio too. So we do “what we want, when we want”, it’s good that way. We have about four new songs that might come out about mid-November (2012). The new songs are really upbeat and they’re really fast and it was fun. We learn how to work with each other so it gets faster as we go along. J.B: Do you think it’s hard to break away from the horror theme? RENE: We don’t really try to stick to the typical sound but we do like it and we like to play faster, but he likes the fast stuff, I like the swing stuff and it’s technical on rhythm and drums so we all bring it together. RENE: It’s not like we’re stuck... COLIN: Ya it’s not like we’re really stuck in a box; I mean some bands tend to stick to the
horror theme. On the last album we moved away from it. The lyrics are still pretty brutal but its less zombies and vampires and shit. It was more about real shit you know, we were talking about serial killers and shit and beating the shit out of people and parties. And with “Take what I want” with all that “Jack the Ripper” shit it worked out good. J.B: Wicked video on that by the way! RENE: Ya we actually had problems with that video here in Canada actually! Because it was so violent and stuff. J.B: Especially lately with all the mass killings. RENE: Ya crazy shit man. JB: And then all that shit with Bath salts! And people freaking out. COLIN: It’s like “WOW” “People are really taking this pyschobilly BRAD (RYTHEM GUiTAR) PHOTO J.B shit to heart”. J.B: LOL the zombie apocalypse. COLIN: And then it’s Bath Salts and not pyschobilly and shit. JB: But why no make up any more? RENE: I got tired of it and it’s not good, I got an eye infection in Romania. After a show I was in the bathroom and there was no water and soap and the water was all brown and shit, then I said fuck it and went to bed. And then Collin’s bed cracked in half and shit... COLIN: YA it fuckin snapped in half (CRACKKKKK) and I’m sitting there and all these little fucking cockroaches are like “EEEEEE” and it was dark and I said fuck it and tried to go to bed. RENE: Little. Those fucking things weren’t little. COLIN: Ya those fucking things were like nine volt battery size.
RENE: That bill was all fucked up I woke up in the morning turning over the pillow and I was like “AGHHHHH”and all red eyes and shit..And said fuck this shit. COLIN: That’s the other thing, we have a new line up and that (the makeup) was the old thing to do. J.B: YA really good line up actually. COLIN: YA we have Brad, he’s the new rhythm guitar and I can go vocals now and Pat’s second newest on the drums and backing vocals, and I’m third newest and RENE is the oldest. Well what can we say he’s just old? Really old (Laughing) he’s the only original member left. RENE: Good thing... COLIN: We’re just “The Brains” cover band I guess. COLIN: Actually you’re talking PAT KAVADER (DRUMS) PHOTO J>B about the Nekroman tour and when we did the tour here he couldn’t cross the border because of some bullshit. They tried to pin all sorts of shit on him, he has no criminal record and there’s no reason, they were just total dicks. So we had to do an American tour without and we were like, if it works and we’re having fun and it was just me, Brad and Pat. And we were like damn, there’s no original members on this tour, we were like damn we’re a “BRAINS” cover band, we’re like “SHIIIIITTTTTT”!! RENE: We decided to get guitarists because we were at a show in Germany last year and saw our friends “MAD SIN”. And they’re guitarist was like, hey do you want me to play a song with you guys? And we’re like ‘sure’ so we tried it and two guitarists sounded way better and sounded more like the
album. So we kept the idea and Frank the original drummer became the guitarist and Pat became the drummer. And then Frank couldn’t do the tour anymore so we needed a second guitarist so we called Brad. J.B: So are you guys all from the Montreal area? COLIN: NO not really we all live there now but... BRAD: NO I’m from Alberta they picked me up when they were out there last year, and Colin is from the same town which is Jasper. COLIN: Ya I was living in his basement actually. BRAD: YA I would feed him some carrots every now and then. COLIN: Carrots and every now and then maybe some Everclear if I was good. BRAD: Some Absinthe maybe, smoke him up in the morning. Motivation you know, get the fuck outta bed give him a shot of whiskey, smoke a joint, shove him out the door go play. You play. Play that fucking thing... JB: You ever notice the difference in Absinthe, you ever have the German stuff? BRAD: Ya here it seems like it’s watered down and shit and there you go there and it’s like “PSHHHHHHH” “What the fuck” shit. COLIN: Your heads all fucked up and shit... BRAD: And then you’re fucked like... “OH SHIT” “Who let the fucking elephants in here”? J.B: As long as you don’t do the Red shit of doom from the “Czech” I heard that shit is intense. COLIN: No we’re waiting actually for that we haven’t gone to the Czech on tour yet. A couple of our drivers on our European tour are Czech and they’re just fucking crazy. RENE: We actually did go to the Czech with the original line up of the Brains actually, but we didn’t have a chance to try that. We drank a shit load of wine and beer but no Absinthe. J.B: So STOMP REOCORDS? Do you guys like being on that label? COLIN, RENE: OH YA it’s like a family... RENE: The singer for the Planet Smashers is our manager so it’s pretty cool. So it’s pretty cool, we have direct contact with the company, it’s cool and better that way. J.B: YA I always check out Mike’s Facebook pics of his office, always looks like a good place to hang out. He went on vacation once and left the shark in charge to take emails... lol. COLIN: Even the office parties are stuff of legends. Like after the shows and stuff, if the bars are closed and stuff and nothing going on we just go to the office. There are always three cases of Jaeger and a mini bar with booze from all over the world there. BRAD: AHH oh god the mini bar...
COLIN: And one of the things for the label is when bands come off tour we will all bring a bottle back and put it on the shelf. And at the Office party you end up drinking weird shit from fucking “TIMBUKTOO”... There’s like a snake in the bottle. Or pure fucking alcohol with pills floating in it...so those are the worst office parties...take two call me in the morning. BRAD: It was probably computer cleaner and we were like “This looks like booze”. “Taste like booze”…”Fucks me up like booze”. J.B: SO what do you think of the whole scene with Montreal being larger than Toronto and stuff like that? COLIN: It’s good, really good it’s not all clique-y and stuff you go to a lot of places and even the bills have rockabilly mixed with pyschobilly and stuff. But here they stay apart because pyschobilly is too fast or rockabilly is too slow. Where people have these ideas in their head, where those two sounds can’t mix you know. And they’re like ‘oh this is our crew’. Not Montreal, you play a show there and you get Punk Rockers, Pyschobillies, and Metal Heads, whatever. RENE: Actually more metal heads you know than anything in Montreal. COLIN: You get more average Joes off the street come in and stick around and go ‘this is fun’ you know. So that’s the really cool thing about Montreal I guess. JB: Any comparable scenes here in Canada to Montreal? RENE: Ya Vancouver is pretty cool, Victoria is pretty cool too. COLIN: Toronto is starting to get there like five to ten years ago it was really divided, now it’s still divided but it’s starting to all come together. Edmonton and Calgary are cool little places too I suppose. J.B: Every time I check up on you guys it seems you’re always touring around. BRAD: It smells like we’ve been on tour. COLIN: In a month or two we’re taking a little break to work on the new stuff so it should be good. We love being on tour if we didn’t like it we wouldn’t do it right, but with the way it is out there now you really have to rely on touring so it’s all part of it. And touring and playing festivals and selling merch you know that’s how you get by now, it’s enough to keep you going you know. Unless the only way to really get rich is endorsements or putting your songs on a TELUS commercial or something, in which I don’t think that will ever happen. J.B: Actually my favorite is still “No Brain No Pain” shirt. RENE: We reprinted that actually and that record was on Stumble Records from here through Stevie. JB: I noticed on that album you guys had intros to the songs and you guys broke away from that.
RENE: Actually on the last one “Drunk not dead” we had a song that had an intro of just brain breaking loose. COLIN: Ya you mean kind of like “Four beast Ride” RENE: Actually Zombie Nation was made after that fucking movie...fuck what was it called... COLIN: Evil Dead... RENE: SO in Evil Dead you have this tape player and you know it wakes up the zombies. So in Zombie Nation we did the same stuff with the Intro and stuff. And with the last one we did that but it’s just rain and stuff so...we didn’t break off that it’s just... COLIN: It’s a little different than the clips on the first album. It’s not like the radio thing with the zombies breaking in and shit... RENE: Plus you don’t want to repeat yourself to and you want to come up with different ideas and stuff. J.B: I actually have that as my Ringtone on my phone ”MMM MORE BRAINS” and everyone looks at me like what the fuck? RENE: LOL that’s a good idea that’s pretty cool... COLIN: We don’t want to limit ourselves and you always have to leave room to grow and expand. We don’t make a conscious effort to write stuff, when we go in to make an album whatever happens kind of happens. And then after you do a couple of songs you’re like “Man this is going to be Hard as Fuck”. RENE: We come up with shit as we go along, we sit down for about a month and write stuff. COLIN: We do about 20 different songs and then about 13 will actually make it. J.B: Is it Analog or Digital? RENE: Digital. I record a lot of different bands and stuff and I like to play around with it. And it’s just digital pro tools and it’s very good quality you know. And it’s our stuff and our studio so we don’t have to go anywhere else to make our stuff so it’s a lot easier that way. You know it’s so much fucking work doing Analog, you got to take care of all the equipment and make sure there’s no interference and shit...plus it ends up in an MP3 player or computer or Ipod anyways right? Analog is cool and it sounds good but it’s so much time and now with all these cool plugins that are coming out it sounds just like analog. J.B: Do you think that’s why there are so many bands coming out now because they are self-producing stuff? RENE: Oh ya they come out with a really good album and they play live and it’s like what the fuck? They sound really horrible. COLIN: When there’s too many that say I’m a singer or I’m a band but it’s just really
clever auto tune and editing on the board. RENE: And it sucks because there are so many people saying they’re engineers and they have all the gear and stuff because they have money but they don’t know shit. Really they don’t have the experience and have done their dues or spent the time. And that part of it really sucks you know. Like you record a bass track and the plugin Sais adds more boom or less boom and that’s not mixing properly that’s letting the machine do it for you. So a lot of people think they don’t need a producer or real people and they put out these albums and a half good album or half good live you know. And it affects the people that really know their shit and have been there and done that. COLIN: On the same token it helps bands that don’t have a chance though to get heard and maybe they live in small city or small town and wouldn’t get signed right away. It gives them an opportunity to get their music out there and put it on the web. And then maybe if they are a good band they can take it to the next level, so it goes both ways.
COLIN THE DEAD (BASS) PHOTO J.B
THE LUCKY ONES
STUMBLE RECORDS The Booze Sessions 2010 , “Heartbreak, Hangovers and Punk Rock” 2012 INTERVIEW BY J.B STEVE STUMBLE
S.C.E.N.E MUSIC FESTIVAL ST CATHERINES,ON 2012
VOCALS: STEVE STUMBLE PHOTO J.B
J.B: So Booze session heartbreaks, hangovers and is a little bit more upbeat for a change. What’s up with the new record?. STEVIE: The Titles? Ah the new session was called ‘Booze sessions’ in this tiny little place. Well it was an old record store that they ripped down to build an art centre. A director built a little studio down in the basement so we recorded there. And we drank a lot of booze to record it just to get that sound, so it’s called ‘the booze sessions’. J.B: And the Second Album? STEVIE: I think it should be called St. Paul and Queen. Robbie insisted it be called that but I guess I’m a fucking pushover. J.B: And the change up
on Heartbreak? STEVIE: I guess that’s what most of the songs on the album are about. J.B: So who filmed St. Paul and Queen? Stevie: Mark and Kevin from Garden City media. J.B: They did a nice job on it. STEVIE: I know, the video turned out great, we spent like $500 on it and we thought it was going to turn out shitty. Then when we saw it we were like, wow it’s pretty good. J.B: LOL well I was pretty impressed for what it was. STEVIE: There wasn’t a really big need for it; I mean the video kind of shot itself. I mean the way the video goes and the lyrics about each pub and stuff.
BASS: ROBBIE KNUCKLES PHOTO J.B
J.B: So oldschool punk rock, it’s still around - do you feel the scene is changing at all? I mean after all you own Stumble Records and you travel around lots? STEVIE: I don’t know because I listen to punk rock all the time. I think it’s never gone away and I try to go find the bands that I like. But it’s weird because of all the reviews of the albums it’s like no one plays this music anymore. And I’m like ‘what the hell are they talking about?’ but maybe it is true maybe it’s fading out (lol). J.B: Well it seems the scene is changing to the Grind Core and Metal Core sound. I always ask everyone that question if that’s the direction they’re taking. And it’s actually nice to have that old school punk rock sound.
STEVIE: Well that was the thing when we started the band we wanted to have fun and we were like a drunk punk party band. I don’t know punk rock got boring and political and stuff and wasn’t fun anymore. I was like every show I went to I was like this sucks, so we created our own stuff to listen too. J.B: So what’s with the start up after the little break there? STEVIE: I never played anything in band and Robbie and Chris where writing some songs and they said, ‘Hey we need a singer’. And then they asked me and I was like “Aghhhhh I don’t know ahh”. And then, ‘I’ll come out for a couple of practices and see what happens’. So I went out to the first one and was like “Oh fuck this is terrible” and then went to the second one and “Oh god this is terrible terrible again” And then the third one I went out and I was like “what the fuck why is it all of a sudden
clicking again”. And I was like “huh” this might work,and here I am two albums in and many beers later. J.B: any possible tours in the future?, or just stay local?. STEVIE: Ahh we’ve bee trying to get over to Europe,and we have the money to go because some of our songs got played for a t.v show (Lost Girl). We’ve got offered to go with this other band but it would be for supporting them ,so we would be the opening band you know and I don’t know if it would work out for them. So I was like “Aghh” so were going to try and get there at some point. And then we might go to Austrailia next year, it should be some fun. J.B: I heard the Australia tours are some serious shit..a lot of fun?. STEVIE: Ya they do they package things the promoters get all these punks bands to go together and it’s good fun. And they said you might lose some money on the tour, and I’m like well how much we talking about? And they’re like “well a thousand to two thousand bucks” and I’m like that’s $500 bucks between each guy, when am I going to get to go and see Australia for like $500 bucks, I was like shit ya okay screw it let’s go. J.B: Ya if you look at Mark Adkins and Guttermouth they tour Australia a lot but Alex there drummer is from there. But it seems like the European market is picking up more than here in Canada. STEVIE: I was talking to a Manager over there and he was like you guys gotta come over here,don’t even bother over there. And I was like really alright,we’ve been talking DRUMS:ERIC HUTT PHOTO J.B
to Lars from Rancid a lot and he has his own band we might tour with them. He’s just trying to figure out his schedule with rancid because that’s what pays the bills. J.B: Ahh ya that’s the way it goes you know,that’s the other question I have for you how do you feel about the whole record sales and music industry going down. Everything is downloads and social media now so it’s harder to make money now?. STEVIE: I don’t know to me it’s the way it use to be it’s like the early 80’s and late nighties if you can’t find it in a store you have to go to the shows to get it. SO it’s supporting the bands more , and the record stores never carried anything but top 40 back then and it’s kinda the same way now.Im sure it will come full circle and someone will find some great way to make it a money thing again. I don’t even own a mp3 or Ipod player,old school it’s vinyl all the way. Now I have to hire someone to all the labels for social media and stuff because im a computer retard. J.B: actually I heard you can get your ashes put into vinyl with your favorite music now. STEVIE: What?. J:B that’s the art of vinyl though, but at least were trying to get a zine going again and bring it back to the way it was. It was nice GUTITAR: CHRIS NOWICKI to hear you back up
front singing again. STEVIE: Ya it was kinda fun being out again ,before there so much pressure and stuff to succeed and be something. And now there’s no expectations and it’s taking off a lot better than expected. J.B: The best question is why is it so weird seeing juice in your hand?. STEVIE: I know got I.D. at my own festival can you believe that?. I was like oh well at least security is doing there job. So ya no booze on stage or out of the special occasion booth over there. They are really strict on those kinda of things but they did give it to me, so in a way that’s cool. J.B: any final thoughts for anyone that’s coming back on to the scene?.
IT”S NOT LUCK YOU NEED AVAILBLE
APRIL 2,2013
CHRIS WALTER
AVAILABLE MAY 20,2013
Chase the Dragon Populated with unforgettable characters such as a corpselike hitman plagued with OCD, a death metal bassist in serious need of anger management, and an extremely unlucky drug addict, Chase the Dragon is so wickedly entertaining that adjectives such as “crazed, “outrageous,” and “savage,” fail to do it justice. From start to finish, Chase the Dragon is fast-paced and darkly humourous—a story about bad luck, a story about fate, a shitkicking, backslapping, riotously disturbing page-turner guaranteed to leave readers with aching ribs and a slanted view of the world around them. This is more than a novel—this is a hot-blooded rebuttal to everything kind and decent. Let the chase begin.