Here Comes the Hurricane Interview!

1- Who are you and what do you play in the band?

Wadup baby, the name is Filion and I kinda sing in Here Comes the Hurricane

2- This is a question I intend to stick by as a starter. So in your opinion,
What is hardcore? And what has it done for you?

When I started listening to hardcore music 10 years ago, it was all about friends and unity. At first sight I thought it was a weird movement but then it kind of grew on me. Back when I started listening to hardcore, I was listening to bands such as A Death for Every Sin, In Dying Days, who were both popular in Montréal at the time, then found myself opening to bands like IRE, Morning Again, Converge, Trial, Buried Alive, Strong Arm, Mushmouth, Another Victim, Cave In etc. At the time I was 16 years old and I was pretty stoked about the whole experience, meeting new friends, and also started to travel to see shows and shit. It was good time, I grew up in the hardcore scene, and nowadays its different from what it was back then, however change is not really a bad thing, as now a days you have bands not only touring North America, but all over the world creating a worldwide movement for hardcore music.

3- Since hardcore is a very message sending scene, how do you try to do your part in sending a positive message to the kids who come to your shows?

I just try to let them know the support for the scene is really important, you have to support the guy who book the shows in your town, gotta show up at their shows, you also gotta support to both local and touring bands, because in all reality without support from people going to shows, there isn’t a scene.

4- Is there anything in or slowly moving into the scene that you think takes away from the meaning of it? if so what?

Hardcore is not what it used to be, that’s for sure, I think that it has changed a lot and it will never be the same. We’re getting old and all the kids now don’t know what hardcore was years ago, but you know I’m not the best person to talk about the scene, maybe you should ask this question to Earth Crisis! Ahah!!

5- its no secret that being a musician is a struggle and probably even more so in the hardcore scene.
So what keeps you moving and playing music at such hard times?

I had some “non hardcore” projects in the past, I’ve been part of this French Hip Hop/Electro band in the past and things were pretty huge for us here in Quebec but I had to come back to my roots. I felt the need to because hardcore was and still is a part of me. When the boys created the band (Here Comes The Hurricane), I thought it was the right time for me to come back to the hardcore scene. My passion for hardcore and the energy in the scene are the biggest reasons I play in a hardcore band. However, it’s not just my passion that keeps me going, it’s also the people who come to see my band, when I play live, I want to see the crowd getting crazy, the kind of crazy the hardcore/punk/metal scene has to offer.

6- Growing up, what bands did you listen to or go see live that made you want to be a part of what they were doing?

A Death For Every Sin, they were the biggest Hardcore band out here and their shows were out of control!! The first time I saw Converge back in 2001 was one hell of an experience too ahah!!

7- Are there any political problems bothering Here Comes the Hurricane at the moment? If so what? How are they affecting you?

We are not into politics, we don’t wannna change the world but if we could… Right now, as we speak, I would do anything to help Haiti as fast as possible. Even with all the countries around the world are having problems delivering their humanitarian aid to the country, it is important to do your part to help them.

8- Another important question I like to ask is: for the kids who have that dream of playing music, what advice could you give them on how to make it? (through recording, live shows, writing, etc)

First of all, you gotta meet people who would fit in your future project. Being in a band is like running a business, gotta find the right people and gotta work hard for the same reason or goal, then use all the contacts you have and start playing shows here and there. I hate talking about money but its part of business, you need money if you want to record, put a demo out, tour and so on. After all of that, you need good luck! ;)

9- How important is playing live to you? How important is it to keep up an energetic show?

This is the only way we’ll get new fans, if they never heard our music before we’ll have to impress them, but we always play like no ones ever heard about us so… we’ll just try to keep playing live that way!

10- Whats your take on humanity right now? What do you think needs to change to make a positive difference in the world?

Maybe we all should try to learn more about different cultures and religions, so we all can have a common understanding. Racism is one thing everyone needs to work on, because after all, we are all human.

11- What do you think Here Comes the Hurricane has to offer music and the scene?

NOTHING! Just kidding, You know it’s hard to give a solid answer, but we just try to bring a different flavour, we have lot of rock riffs and we turn it into old school hardcore and then a solid metal/hardcore breakdown! We try to bring different types of music and blend it all together…at the end it’s still hardcore!

I like to keep my interviews short and sweet, so that’s it man! If there’s any band
plugs, album plugs, etc. Anything about
your bands you want to throw out there to the readers go ahead!

YO! for those who are impatient to hear our new stuff we’ll hit the studio at the end of April to record 10 Songs, with Antoine Lussier (Emmure, Ion Dissonance) Warning! It’s going to be killer!!

We are also working on alot of shows right now with our good friends from President, so expect to see us real soon through east coast of Canada (Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince-Edward-Island and Newfoundland)

This summer we’ll try to make it into the US, we can’t wait for that!

That’s pretty much that, thank you Ethan for this interview!
And make sure to download our 2 song Demo for free, spread the word!

Visit our MySpace page at Herecomesthehurricane.com
Info and Booking? Info@herecomesthehurricane.com

This Is Hell Interview

For starters, who are you and what do you do in the band?

Rick. I play guitar and do some vocals here and there

Ok, perhaps the most important question in the interview. In your opinion what is hardcore (or punk)
and what has it done for you?

Its many things; its become so complex in my mind... it's also so simple though. Thats one of the things I love about it. I can get into a 2 hour conversation on "what hardcore is and means to me" or i can also sum it up with "hardcore to me is an enlightened mindset that couples around a certain, albeit broad, spectrum of music"

hardcore and punk have shaped every aspect of my life and mindset. every thing i do, every decision i make in life is influenced by what i've learned through hardcore. if i never listened to a hardcore band or went to a hardcore show again for as long as i lived, i would still be living a hardcore lifestyle. its just the way my brain works now. although if i couldn't be involved in hardcore music as well as the mindset and lifestyle i would go nuts.

There's no doubt that the scene has changed drastically over the years, what are some of the both good and bad things
coming to the scene that you've noticed? and how is it affecting the scene?

i get this question a lot and i usually avoid it because what's good and bad varies from person to person and i don't think its exactly right all the time to do the whole "back in my day" or "when I first got into hardcore..." thing. i hated when people shit on what the scene was about when i was younger because they were older so i am tentative to do that now. so much of hardcore is the mix of personal effect and communal gathering so it can be similar to 2 or 3 or 500 people but it can also be different for every single person involved. without completely avoiding the question though... the internet has changed things drastically. its easier for bands to tour and really make a go of things. on the other hand it's so much harder to stand out because there are 17 bands from every town in the US doing the same thing. people don't make handmade flyers anymore. people barely even pass out physical flyers anymore. there is one thing i will definitely say has changed and sucks. attention bands and promoters... if all your promotion is done through the internet, you are not trying hard enough!

Everyone has their opinion on downloading. What is your opinion on downloading and how do you think it's
affecting the music business?

Its affecting the music business because its harder for people to make money. if a band can make money, that is good because it perpetuates the band. on the other hand, free music and illegal downloading is awesome. lets be honest, i download 95% of my music illegally and expect that from others too. i rather someone steal our music on the internet than not listen to us at all because they can't find our cd or don't wanna risk $10 on something they might not like. labels need to make money because if they don't then bands can't record and release music, so its a rough spot. if people steal our shit from the net then come to a show and support us or buy a shirt, then its rad. people do need to remember though that stealing the new aerosmith record and remaining an uninvolved listener is much different than stealing a Terror record. you need to support the hardcore bands because its a hard life to be a touring hc band. everyone needs to be actively involved and supporting the bands in some way aside from putting a record on their ipod.

To move on from questions about the scene, another question i like to ask is..for all the kids starting
bands what advice can you give them on how to make it in the music business?

if i had advice on how to make it in the music business, i would follow it myself and try to make some money. this is what i've done that has amounted to no "music business success" whatsoever so i guess if you wanna make money and be famous do NOT follow this mold...

a) play music you like regardless of whether its cool or not

b) do tours outside of the spectrum of your own bands style whether your scene thinks you are cool or not

c) don't do things to satisfy whiney internet personalities even if they are the tastemakers

Is it important to This Is Hell to give out a positive message through your music? If so, what do you
think is important about keeping a positive message going?

honestly, not really. its important to give a realistic message and a realistic reflection of what's going on in our heads and hearts as opposed to portraying a positive message. life isn't always positive. it's not always negative. life is real and thats what we do this band for; to express things going on in life and using the music and lyrics as a vent and an outlet for expression.

i think it is important to be positive in many ways. i am big fan and advocate of constructive criticism but i am also a big fan of honesty. there's a time and a place to be honest to the point of being a prick but there's also a lot of times where if you don't have anything positive to offer, keep your fucking mouth shut.

Are there any political problems bothering This Is Hell at the moment?

i'm not the CNN watching type and i think the majority of people that are, do loads and loads of posturing and that in itself turns me off to politics on a grand scale. that might be kind of crass but to me the world shouldn't be as complex as people try to make it out. the fact that there are not equal rights for gay/lesbian/transgender couples is really strange and inhuman. the fact that there aren't equal rights across the board for HUMANS is weird to me. thats breaking it down to the most elementary terms possible but still, its not a complex topic at all. "hey, you're alive? you have the same rights as every other human alive" not a hard concept to understand. its human nature to try to establish a dominant position over those around you i guess. i've seen that since i've been able to form memories and understood that at an early age. i guess thats another aspect that drew me to hardcore... there are (or shouldn't be at least) castes in hardcore. we're all of a different mindset of the outside world and understand community on a different level than mainstream culture and its not a "trying to get to the top" thing like it is every single other place in the world. everything in politics is about amassing power over others. i'm more interested in controlling myself and taking care of myself than i am about what other people are doing. this is a tangent from the original question.

Growing up, listening to hardcore and punk bands and going to shows, what bands inspired you most? and made you
want to do this as a job?

i was always into music, even before hardcore so i'll break it into two different sections...

Def Leppard made me wanna be in a band, Metallica inspired me to really REALLY play guitar,

Sick of it All made me wanna be in a hardcore band, Minor Threat made me wanna write lyrics in a hardcore band, H20 made me wanna go out and make touring my life

I stole that mold of sectioning off bands like that from the dude recording our new record right now. he has 5 records framed over his console each with a "....made me wanna..." significance.

It's obvious that musicians are struggling everyday to keep things moving. What keeps you moving at such hard financial
times?

we keep tricking people into putting us on shows and putting out our records. without promoters and record people making things happen in that way, we'd be done as a full time band. it's so hard to do a hardcore band full time. thats why the majority of hardcore bands don't last more than a few years at most. going on tour 2 or 3 times a year and making no money whatsoever loses its appeal once you start getting older and see that it can't last forever. for some reason we've been able to make this last longer than other bands. if we would have called it quits after the first 2 or 3 years, we would have ended while we were still a "cool" or "hype" band but we kept going. most bands in hardcore of our generation stop at that point because after you're not revered on the B9 message board anymore, its real hard to stay "relevant." hardcore kids are super fickle in this day and age and anyone that denies that is a fucking liar. thing is, we were never concerned with being a cool band, we're concerned with making music we love and is reflective of us and going out and playing shows with bands we like, all over the spectrum, and playing for the kids that are really into what we're doing. was it cool when there were tons of kids going nuts at our shows? yeah totally, but heres where the real payoff is... when you are no longer a band kids are "supposed" to like and you see the ones that come to see you every time you play a certain area that flip out and feel what we are doing whether its 2, 3, 15 or 200. the genuineness of a few kids is much more rewarding then 300 kids playing mosh contest to our band as background music or trying to impress their friends with how many times they can grab the mic even though they don't know or care about our lyrics.

What do you think This Is Hell has to offer the scene?

honesty and intensity. we've never lost that intensity and we've never lost that honesty. in my eyes we are more vital now than we were when we first started. that spark should never be lost in hardcore. Sick of it All never lost it.

I prefer to keep my interviews short and sweet, so that's it. Now's the time for your final thoughts, albums plugs,
band plugs, etc. If anything at all and thanks for taking the time to do this interview!

We have a new album coming out in June on Rise Records that we're about to finish up in the new few days (mid fed, we'll be done by the time this is out). One of my other bands ICE AGE has a full length "Dead Kings" that is coming out this spring on Motel Art so check that out. Listen to Wu-Tang Clan, watch WWE and TNA wrestling, read Wolverine comics and get tattooed by Christian Peters at Devil Rose Tattoos in Blue Point, Long Island if you're in the area.

lemme know when this goes up!

Thanks a lot dude

Rick

--
www.myspace.com/thisishell
www.twitter.com/thisishell

Prayers for Atheists Interview!

Introduce yourself and what you do in the band?

J: Jared Paul, I write most of the lyrics and do a lot of the vocals. I also make my eyeballs bleed booking our tours on-line and handle a lot of the tour managing duties.

A: Alan Hague. I write and record the music - guitar, bass, drums. I also sing. Cousin Tom plays bass and does back-up vocals, and Marco Aveledo beats the shit out of his drums like nobody I've ever seen.


First and foremost. Your band seems to have punk and maybe even hardcore roots. If so, what does hardcore and punk mean to you? and what has it done for you?

J: The parallels between Punk & Hip Hop are crazy. Both working class movements; both grown out of a desire and ability to convey a message with whatever equipment could be found. I have never been anything close to "middle class." I grew up in a broke ass white trash neighborhood. Joey Felicio gave me Public Enemy's "Apocalypse 91" at the bus stop in junior high, and Hip Hop became my main music: PE, KRS, De La Soul, Tribe, Gangstaar, old Cypress Hill, Black Sheep, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Del, old Ice Cube. I found Punk later and when I did, it hit me like a freight train: Minor Threat, Operation Ivy, Bad Religion, Dead Milkmen, Dead Kennedys, Descendents, NOFX, old Pennywise. I started going to any punk show I could get to and made a whole new family but never stopped listening to Hip Hop. Then Sage got me into Anticon, Buck 65, and Atmosphere; and our room mates got us into hardcore: Earth Crisis, V.O.D., Converge, Quicksand, Inside Out. Great songs are great songs and great music is great music, whatever genre. These bands changed my life; pointed me in directions I would've never gone on my own.

A: I heard Black Flag's "The First Four Years" when I was in 7th grade. I never looked back.


I hear a lot of Rage Against the Machine in your music. Did Rage have any influence on you?

J: I think Rage put out 3 of the best albums of our time. And they've put in an incredible effort to encourage folks to get involved in the counter-culture and educate themselves. I don't think my writing or delivery is very Zach inspired... but who knows? He's one of the most underrated emcees of all time; people don't even think of him as an emcee! It's crazy. He raps his ass off.


What kind of message do you try to get across in your music?

J: Each song is different. Overall the message: GO CHECK OUT AMY GOODMAN ON WWW.DEMOCRACYNOW.ORG!!


Politically, there are tons and tons of problems. What issues do you think are the worst and need to be addressed first?

J: Corporate personhood, environmental corporate pollution, the industrial military construct, the prison construct, and countless others. They are all THE WORST and need to be addressed immediately. The best you can do is find the issue(s) you're most passionate about changing and dive in. Learn as much as you can, and use that in whatever projects you sign on to.


I only recently started listening to Prayers for Atheists. So sorry if any information is incorrect here, but you are an atheist and vegetarian band? Straight edge too? If so how important are all these things to you? What do they mean to you?

J: It's a mostly Atheists band, but not completely. I think Cousin Tom's still got some god in his life. Alan and Marco are vegetarian; cousin Tom is vegetarian while on tour and I've been vegan for 13 years. Cousin Tom, Marco, & I are all dead sober, but we don't claim Edge. We have a lot of sXe friends and we love sXe bands but we're not getting tattoos or anything and we don't hate people who drink.

A: Actually, I wouldn't count Tom out from the atheist side just yet. He bought Christopher Hitchens' "God Is Not Great" on our last tour.

What do you feel is the reasoning for the blindness and cold heartedness that humanity has come to? For a good example. The tragedy in Haiti. Everyone knows what happened over there yet people still think it's alright to crack jokes about it. How does this make you feel? and Who or what is to blame for these problems with humanity?

J: The tragedy of Haiti is that it launched the first successful country wide slave rebellion in the world and still ended up socially/financially/politically crippled after having to pay France FINES for kicking the empire's ass. The superpowers of the 19th & 20th century (U.S. included) strong armed them into it with threats of military reprisal, embargos, and other financial penalties. They had to pay a fortune in fines and have lived in poverty since. Even recently our government assisted with the coup against Aristide and helped to insure the denial of Haiti's applications for World Bank loans. It's been the poorest nation in the West for decades. Why did no one care till after the Earthquake?

A: In American culture particularly, there's a huge emphasis on the importance of the self over others. Advertising coaxes people into focusing on themselves ("What kind of car reflects the true you?" and other such nonsense). Capitalism itself encourages the idea that everybody is selfish and should be: if everybody acts selfishly, then wealth will be generated, and the invisible hand of the market will somehow spread that wealth throughout all of society. Which, of course, contributes to the spread of the myth that if somebody's poor, then it's their own fault, so nobody else has any responsibility toward them. You know, forget Social Security, forget Medicare (don't even mention the socialist horror of universal healthcare!) because everybody should take care of themselves. Benevolence is too idealistic.

Whereas, if it weren't for benevolence and working together in general, we wouldn't even have survived as a species long enough to form civilization! Combating this extreme form of selfish individualism is an important step toward a more humane world.


For kids starting bands and wanting to make it somewhere in the music business, what advice could you give them?

J: Stay home. There's a million-gillion bands out there. Get a degree in something that matters or study up on jobs that you can do that mean something to you that don't require a degree. The world is on fire and there are so places to plug in. Be a trial lawyer, or a social worker, a great teacher, an environmental lobbyist, an Independent journalist, an organic farmer, work for a campaign reform non-profit org (peep: www.KnowMore.org). Anything that allows you to make a difference. If music is in you so marrow deep that you have no choice other than to keep making it, then make the best art you can and that's all that's important.

A: Do your own thing. Don't try to be the next Casualties or the next this or that. Do what comes naturally to you.


What's it like working with Sage and being on his label? How's everything going with that?

J: Fucking awesome. They went out there and kicked ass for the album. They are a huge part of why PFA has gotten so much traction in such a short amount of time. We're goddamned lucky to be onboard and we know it. Speaking of which, one of the biggest indie Hip Hop albums of 2010 is coming out on SFR: "Fallen House, Sunken City" by B. Dolan. I've got my copy (pre-release) and it's BANANAS. It's as good as a Sage album. It's gonna be SFR's "Personal Journals." Mark my words. One of the best political rap albums I've ever heard, hands down. And that's kind of how SFR is... you won't find a harder working person anywhere in indie music and he expects the same of the acts on the label. B., Sleep, Buck, Cecil, all phenomenal writers who work hard at their craft, but they're all on their grind trying to push their projects and match the work Sage and the SFR staff do. Booking our own tours, following our album's progress online, constantly being accessible to supporters, and never settling for anything other than the best lyrics and music we can possibly put into these songs. No short cuts, no half-assing.


To me Prayers for Atheists is a very interesting name, where did it come from? If anything at all, what inspired the name?

J: Prayer is older than religion, man. It doesn't mean "beg god for help and you get what you want." It means that people have always spoken to the universe, spoken to ideas and memories that give them strength. It's a phenomenon that's older than speech and you don't need god or heaven or hell to do it. There are many ways to flip the meaning. That's definitely one of them.


What is your opinion on all the mainstream music out there now? Pop, rap, radio rock, etc.

J: I'm a Jay-Z fan. Not of all his choices, but of him as a person and as a writer he's nuts. It's mostly just sad, though. I mean, even as late as the late 90's you could still hear great bands with integrity on the radio: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Tori Amos, Tool, Rage, even Alanis Morrissette. Nowadays, it's unbelievable. It's so uniform and shitty, listening to the radio is like listening to one long commercial... like one long phony string of caricatures and exaggerated cartoons of what music might sound like somewhere if you could only find it.

A: There's definitely been a trend of pop music becoming more shallow as time goes on. Just completely devoid of any meaningful content. But the important thing is that music lovers/listeners obviously want content, so the demand for good music is there. It's just that the supply (at least from the mainstream) is non-existent.


How important do you think it is that kids follow their hearts and don't let anything stop them from being who and what they want to be?

A: It's everything. Idealism alone can't save the world - we need action - but idealism is one-half of the equation. If Rosa Parks didn't feel, on a very deep level, that Birmingham's segregated public transportation policy was wrong, she never would have kick-started the bus boycott that's in history textbooks today. Follow your heart - but don't forget to guide it with your head.


And on that subject, although record companies and what not really opened up a ton of different options and privelages for bands, do you think at all that in some way they turned music into something that it isn't? By turning it into something to make millions of dollars off of.

J: Most record companies suck. They exist to make money and it has clearly demeaned and dumbed down the quality of modern music.


Ok, I stick to short interviews, i just try to keep them as meaningful as possibly. So that's it man. Any final thoughts? Band plugs, album plugs, etc.

J: Just that we think Howard Zinn was one of the most important voices in American history, PERIOD. He's a hero of ours, we mourn his loss, and we want the whole world to know how important his work was to the causes of justice, peace, and equality. Also: B. Dolan's album Fallen House, Sunken City will be out on March 2nd! Sage's album "Li(f)e" will be out in May! The new Prayers For Atheists full length is on the way! www.StrangeFamousRecords.com -- www.Facebook.com/PrayersForAtheists -- www.FallenHouse.com -- Corporate watchdog search engine run by B. Dolan: www.Knowmore.org -- MOST important news we know of: www.DemocracyNow.org

A: Also, we'll be hitting the road, touring the U.S. and parts of Canada this June and July. We'll announce tourdates once they're solidified.

Interview with Brian of Outbreak

Ok, who are you and what do you do in Outbreak?

Brian. Guitars + racists jokes.

What, in your opinion, is hardcore (or punk)? And what has it done for you?

Hardcore to me is a place of learning and where I sweat profusely... and it has allowed me to be a guitarist in a band that travels world wide even tho I'm not good at the guitar. Haha. But seriously...

Is it important is it to Outbreak to write about the harsh reality that we live in?

Sure. Just day to day life... or what ever the fuck goes on in Ryan's head...

For all the kids starting bands and wanting to make it somewhere in the music business, what advice
could you give them to keep their heads up and push through the the struggling

Just make sure you write music you're really into so you don't get burnt out as quick.

Are there any political problems bothering Outbreak? What?

Too paranoid for politics (track 13)

Have you noticed anything in or coming to the scene that is really taking away from the meaning of it all?

Yeah, every other hardcore kid.

You always hear bands make speeches about how "we're all here for the same reasons" but that's not the reality of it at all. Kids are at shows for all sorts of different reasons, weather it's to mosh and took tough in front of peers, meet boys/girls, out of pure boredom, stage dive in front of photographers so they can have a picture of themselves doing a front flip on the Internet somewhere, or what ever else... My point is everyone is there for different reasons (even tho we pretend we're all there for the message and to support the touring bands) so everyone is bringing in to the scene bullshit that others want out. Hope that answers the question.

When playing a live show, how important is it to Outbreak to keep up the energy and put on a great show?

We have a goal to stay airborne the entire set..... Including our drummer Perkins....

Ok, i want to take a minute at talk about your new album. For one I love it and to me the artwork you chose
really helps bring the album to life. Who did the artwork for the new album and what was the inspiration behind it?

Thanks! We're all definitely stoked on the record as well. Ryan e\Eyestone did the album artwork as well as a bunch of our shirts over the years. We wanted it to reflect on some lyrics from the record. Yes, the number pad on the TV in the center of the artwork does say 666. And yes, there is a monkey doing drugs in the corner...And yes, we are a satanic band.

Speaking of inspiration, what bands growing up did you listen to that really made you want to start a band and
do what they were doing?

The Offspring, NOFX and Blink 182 got me into punk rock when I was 11. Some would argue that they are not a punk bands, but those that argue that can also go fuck themselves...so...that settles that.
I grew up in hong kong where there were no touring bands coming in or out of the city/country, so it really is awesome to get to tour and play in the same venues all those bands did when they first started off.

In my opinion, hardcore and punk music are two of the best scenes or genres in music. Pretty much solely based on the
message. What's your opinion of all the more mainstream music our there? Whether it be pop, radio rock, rap, etc.

Don't like it, don't hate it. But glad all the genres are there so it makes hardcore/punk that much more personal.



There's no doubt that downloading can be blamed for the slow but sure fall of record companies and music as a business.
What do you think of downloading? and how do you feel about people who post Outbreaks music to download?

i back it. I don't personally down load music but its not because of ethical reasons, it's cause I am a retard when it comes to computers so i don't fuck with it. In this day and age, it would be awesome if kids downloaded the album and then bought the vinyl when we roll through on tour. But i don't really care, I like the fact that our music is getting out there. Then again, maybe our singer Ryan who runs Thinkfast records might have something else to say about this. haha.

Ok, we all know what an Outbreak is, but what exactly did it mean to you when choosing it as a band name?

it does not have a significant meaning...it just sounds bad as fuck.

Ok, i try and keep my interviews short and sweet, so thats it. If you have any final thoughts that you want to touch on
feel free to do so or maybe throw out some band plugs, album plugs, etc.
And thanks for your time!

Soul control rules.

Thanks for the interview! Let me know where this is going. thanks again.

Brian

Stray from the Path Interview

Ok for starters, who are you and what do you play in the band?

my name is Tom, i play guitar in Stray.

In your opinion, what is hardcore? and what does it mean to you?

Hardcore to me was an outlet for kids like myself to channel their creativity, belong to something positive and be in an environment where anybody can accomplish something. I mean Stray started in a garage like any band and our first show was at Castle Golf in long island. Now we are on the Never say die tour playing to 400 - 800 kids a night and have our records in stores next to Stone Temple Pilots. Hardcore made it possible for me to accomplish that. Hardcore has always been about believing in something that you thought mattered, and staying true to that no matter what. Just because music is in the "Scene" does not make it hardcore. If that were true, then you can say brokencyde was hardcore. They are everything that is disgusting with the scene, and those fucking idiots are taking advantage of the scene and it makes me sick.

What do you think of the scene now days?

Its getting much better. There was a time where it was shot to shit and we couldn't play a city without a fight. Everybody forgot, or didn't know in the first place what these shows are about. But its starting to be sick now. I don't think there was a single fight on the tour we are on so far, except for these 2 hillbillies yelling at eachother in nashville.

Either as a band or speaking just for yourself. What is your inspiration?
What keeps you going in the hardcore scene?

I personally do not like struggling to come up with my rent money every month because I like to play my guitar. But making a song with your friends and seeing some kids that can get inspired by something myself or someone in my band has created, its a feeling that is indescribable. I keep going because I feel that my band can be successful by getting our music out to a wide audience, and be able to get by in life. I think that all the hard times myself and my band mates experience will pay off one day. To borrow a line from Airheads, I think we are all pissed off and screwed up enough that we can write a song that can live on forever.

Enough about the scene. For up and coming bands, what is the best touring,
recording, live show advice you could give them?

Stop with the press kit nonsense. The only way that you can get anywhere is by touring your ass off. You need to stick through terrible tours, being depressingly broke and dealing with shitty situations. And when you play live, just put your everything on stage. Passion will speak before anything.

What concerns you politically at the moment?

Honestly, what I have been thinking about more often that usual is that I don't know what to believe. I feel that I am always being lied to by someone. Even the people who say they are serving a good purpose making some documentary, I still feel like they are bending shit to benefit themselves.

Is this interview straight forward enough for you yet? ha

Yes, but i like it haha

Anyway. It's no secret now that you get compared to Rage Against the Machine A lot.
So obviously there has to be some inspiration coming from Rage in your music.
How big of a part has Rage played in your life growing up as a music fan and then
starting Stray?

Yeah we get it allllll the time now. Which is cool, but we don't want to put ourselves up at the top with a band like that. I get worried because I don't want people to expect a certain something from us like they expect from RATM. The most thing we have in common is that we are honest people that want to make an impact. The first real album I heard was Evil Empire on casset, and I used to listen to people of the sun over and over again. When I started playing guitar, I found out that he used a alan key to make that noise, and I was shocked. I looked into the shit that Tom morello used and its so sick. People think hes "all pedals" which is fucking retarded. Like us, hes just another person fed up with the same shit that everyone else does, and he just makes his own shit. He can play almost anything that anybody else can play, but I don't know a single person that plays like him. That inspired me the most, is that Tom morello didn't give a shit about what was cool, he made his guitar sound like a Cow in the song mic check, he thought it was awesome, and thats all that mattered.

What do you think Stray from the Path has to offer the hardcore scene?
or what do you hope you have to offer?

Something new. And we have been getting a lot of that recently. Kids have been coming up to us, who have never seen us before and say shit like "I never have seen anything like that before" which is unreal to us. Our music is serious and we want it to make people feel good and hear something thats not like anything else.

When you started Stray did you ever see it coming to the point that it has?

Nope haha. I was talking with our buddy frank from the world we knew, who we are on tour with. We grew up in the same town, and our bands started around the same time. We were in alabama playing a show to almost a thousand people, and I said "did you think 6 years ago we would be here together?" shit was cool.

Interview with Stick to Your Guns

Who are you and what do you play in the band?

My name is George Schmitz (Schmitty) and I play the drums in Stick To Your Guns

I plan to stick to this as my first important question so,
what, in your opinion, is hardcore? how has it changed your life?
what has it done for you?

Somebody asked this to us on our formspring today. It's such a difficult question to really pinpoint and I'm sure answers vary from person to person. Hardcore to me is a lot of different things. It's a place where I feel at home. It symbolizes unity. Hardcore has always been a place of ideals to me too. Whether it be being straight edge, christian, atheist, vegetarian, meat eater-Hardcore provides an outlet for us to express these feelings. It's such a positive influence in my life and has provided me with so much. Through Hardcore, I've been given the opportunity to see the world, meet amazing people, and do what I love the most. Without Hardcore in my life, I don't know what I'd be doing. I can easily say that hardcore saved my life.

How important is "sticking to your guns" and having heart to Stick to
Your Guns? and What kind of part does straight-edge play in the band?


Ideals is what built this band. This band was founded on positive intentions and to this day still runs on it. Having strong convictions is lyrically what all of our songs are about.


For 4 of us straight edge plays a very big part of our life. I know that for me personally I couldn't live without it. At the same time, we don't want to be in people's faces about it. It's important to us, but at the same time, to each his own.

Is there anything in or slowly coming to the hardcore scene that you
think is taking away from the meaning of it, that the scene could really do
without? If so what? and elaborate on it please.

Something I tend to keep seeing is older kids putting down younger kids. Hardcore is a place for everybody and nobody should be excluded. It doesn't matter if you were around for the cro-mags era or the guns up! reunion shows. Be a positive influence to kids getting into the scene. We should be educating rather than neglecting. Show kids the bands that you love and maybe they will even lead you to something new to your ears. We love all of our fans regardless of what they are into.

Ok moving on from the scene. What bands really inspired you to play music
and for what reasons?

I know for me, Green Day, Blink 182, and NOFX are reasons that I wanted to play music. They're still my favorite bands to this day. Later on I got into a lot of metal core bands like Evergreen Terrace and bands of that sort. Those types of bands led me to hardcore. But bands today that inspire me are Terror, Trapped Under Ice, Propagandhi, Ignite, The Bronx, and a whole laundry list of other bands. So many bands that we've toured with have inspired me to be a better musician or influenced me in so many different ways. They're so many awesome bands out there today that are killing it out there.

For kids who are in bands and want to make it somewhere in the scene, what
advice do you want to give them? (recording wise, touring, playing live,
and writing)

Tour your ass off. You will get shit on when you start, but hardwork will pay off. You'll play shitty shows, your van will break down, and you will be broke, but just stick it through. Practice as much as you can, and always keep writing. That's all you can do.

Are there any political issues bothering STYG at the moment? If so what?

Health care reform has been something bothering me for a while, but I'm so out of the loop with everything these days. Touring and recording has really cut me off from important political issues that are affecting my life haha. It's something that I need to get back into.

STYG really puts on an amazing live show. How important is it to you, to
keep that alive? and keep that energy up.

It's the most important thing you can do as a band. Sometimes you'll be tired, or just not in the mood but you just have to bite your lip and give it all you got. Play every show like you'll never be able to play again. You have to give it all you got, I mean it's your job right?

Was it hard at all to come from Orange County, which is a very privileged place,
to become accepted by kids or bands in the hardcore scene? and what
made you seperate yourself from that sort of "privileged state of mind"? If
you know what i mean.

I actually am not from Orange County so I can't truthfully answer this question, but I know that although Orange County has the facade that everybody is very privileged, I can assure you there is still plenty of hardships and struggles to endure. I know that Jesse has had to sacrifice a lot and give his life to this band to keep it a float. I think that is a stereotype that Jesse strides to break. Jesse's father does a lot of humanitarian work and I think that exposed to him to a lot of the issues facing today which is why Stick to your guns is a band with a message.

Well thanks a lot for your time that was put into this interview. Is
there any final words you'd like to throw out there? Band plugs, album plugs, etc.

Check out the new Winds of Plague, the new Stray From The Path, the new Emmure, go see Terror/Emmure on mosh lives, go see stray/wop on the never say die. Go to shows! Support your local scene! Give back to your community and educate yourself. Keep an eye out for our new record.


Hope Division May/June 2010.


Thanks for being a part of my first interview with this band!

MYSPACE
MERCH