2/5/10
2/4/10
New Tours to Check Out
For further information on the tours and too see the dates a little better visit any of the following myspace's.UNEARTH
STICK TO YOUR GUNS
VEIL OF MAYA
THE GHOST INSIDE
CARNIFEX
EVERGREEN TERRACE
DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR
STRAY FROM THE PATH
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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.
2/3/10
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 GunsI 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!
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