Interview With The Carrier

This is something else I wanted to put in Issue 3 but since I have been getting a good amount of readers, heres something new.

Who are you and what do you do?

Yo what’s up, my names anthony I’m from the carrier I do vocals.

Lets not waste time, tell me about the best show you’ve ever played, you know, best fuckin’ crowd?

Best fuckin’ crowd’s definitely gotta be Johnson City, we played there three times this summer and every single time was fucking off the hook, those dudes down there are the best dudes on the planet. Everyone comes out to the shows and its always tons fun, everyone goes crazy and its always nuts.

When did you get into hardcore and why are you still into it?

I got into hardcore maybe the end of my freshman year of high school, I had a dude who was into underground music and hardcore and shit, and he got me into it, and I just loved the vibes and the people the went along with it. It was a positive thing for me to get into, and I stay in it because I love the music and I love the people, anyone who contributes to the scene are always the best people in the world.

How do you feel about the band Limp Wrist?

Limp Wrist, I don’t know much about them but I know one of my buddies really loves them. Props to them because everywhere I go I hear about them, wasn’t their singer really flamboyantly gay? (yeah) Ah! Thats awesome, I back that, I back homosexuality, I’m not gay but I don’t think anyone should discriminate against homosexuality, because you can love someone else from the same sex, I don’t think thats wrong.

 

Speaking of that talk about the stereotypes in hardcore, the minorities, the few black kids, the gay kids, the straight edge kids…

There’s a lot of stereotypes in hardcore, even if you go to a show and there’s a dude wearing a multi-coloured hoodie that zips all the way up to his fuckin’ skull, like its all stereo types, I mean, you’d think in a scene thats so small that there wouldn’t be as many stereotypes, but you know anyone can go to a show and you see a dude that doesn’t look like he fits in but I mean he’s there for the same reason that everyone else is, I mean everyones there for the music, everyones there for the vibes, everyones there for the love of it you know? So I don’t think there should be any stereotypes in hardcore… even though there are. There definitely are, there is no denying that.

What’s the worst thing about hardcore right now?

Well one thing is the gas prices, but that has nothing to do with hardcore… it seems like its trendy to be into hardcore these days, I wish it WAS trendy, because then I’d have some money, because right now I have no money. We’ve been on tour for I think, by the end of the summer when we all get back to the real world and society, we will have been on tour for nine and a half weeks and none of us have any money now. But like I said its all for the love of the music, the worst thing about hardcore, is that it seems like its a trend, you know? Some bands will play and like 200 kids will be there, and another band will play and there will be like 8 or 9 kids there. And its cool that you want to support hardcore but you should support all touring bands because touring is not cheap or free.

What’s the best thing about hardcore?

The best thing about hardcore is the music, and the dudes and everything involved in it, I mean everyone has been to a show where there was an awesome vibe, awesome music, and awesome people. Like tonight, tonights been awesome, tonight has been one of the best shows we have played on tour,  and I mean, one show like this will make up for 10 shows that sucked, you know? Thats just the way it works.

Any last words?

Last words? Big up to The Bonus Army, just signed a record deal with Rock Vegas Records, best band out of Boston, Mass. So just keep going to shows, supporting your scene, gas ain’t cheap so buy some merch if you can afford it, if you can’t, give ‘em a few bucks we understand if you cant give us anymore money.

You mean the best band besides On Broken Wings?

No, The Bonus Army is the best band period, they have a new cd coming out on Rock Vegas which should be out late 2008-2009. Make sure to check that shit out.

Fucking WordPress does this thing hat it double spaces my things if i hit enter once, I am getting mad

I have buttons on the way, some have tits on them.

Jake Bannon Interview

Jake Bannon, one of the most influential people in modern hardcore, with a band as enormous as Converge, and a label as monumental as Deathwish Inc. this is one serious fuckin’ dude. Yet still, he is humble and nice enough to answer a few questions for me about hardcore and his life. This was in the print issue of UNAW, so if you have it, you have seen this, if not, here you are!

Who are you and what do you do?
My name is J. Bannon. I am involved in a variety of things in the independent music/art community and have been for over half my life. I’ve been creating artwork for bands and labels for a number of years now. As an extension of that, I started Deathwish in late 2000, early 2001 with former Converge Tour Manager, Tre McCarthy. The label has been extremely busy since then. I’ve been making music w/ Converge for nearing two decades, I have also been creating music on my own and other collaborators for a good while. Some of those projects include, Supermachiner and now, Irons. I also have continued to write and record music on my own. I have two releases planned for 2008 for some of that material.

When and how did you get into hardcore and what did it mean to you then?
My brother was very much a fan of metal in the early.mid 80’s, and he passed on many of the releases he felt were too “heavy” for him, to me. From him, I learned about Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Metallica, Slayer, etc. That’s what I was listening to when I started skating and riding bmx. I discovered hardcore and punk through that bmx and skate culture. That’s a pretty common road for the generation of hardcore community I come from. I really appreciated that the bands and people involved didn’t look any different than me. That was very empowering to me. I didn’t feel the division that I felt between music and listener that I felt while listening to Metal. Soon after I went to my first shows in the city (my father lived in East Boston), so I spent weekends there at his apartment, then I’d take the train to shows and record stores, basically immersing myself in hardcore/punk/metal scene every chance I got. Not long after that, I started playing music, looking for possible band mates, etc.

Do you remember your first show if who played, where, what happened?
First show I ever went to was at the Rat in Boston, around 1988-1989 I believe. I was terrified. I was dropped off across the street, and I made my way over to the show. There were people much older than me everywhere, and I felt invisible. I stuck my head in the door, paid some money and stood in a shadow in the back of the room for what felt like an eternity. I believe Poison Idea headlined, w/ Sheer Terror opening, maybe Swiz too? I didn’t retain a single second of memory of music though. It was total sensory overload for me, I was 13. After that, I went to a DRI show at the Paradise, and a few random shows after that. Eye For An Eye, Kingpin, and Arise were pretty much dominating Boston at the time, so most people attended every show they could when they would all play. My interest became real serious when I went and saw AF, SOIA, Wrecking Crew, and Burn @ The Channel. And I religiously went to shows @ The Channel/Edge, until it closed it’s doors in late 1991. Even Metal shows. I saw Meliah Rage, Suicidal Tendencies, Exodus, Carcass, Napalm Death, all there at the channel.  For me, that era of 1990-1994 had some of the greatest shows that have ever happened in Boston. It was a true melting pot.

What does all of this mean to you now?
A great deal. I found a great deal of myself at those shows, and in many ways I grew up in that. It was the beginning of my interest in something that would eventually become woven into the rest of my life. I’ll forever be appreciative of that.

When you started Converge, what were your major intentions?
Just to play music that moved me, that interested me in some way. Like all bands when you first start, you emulate what’s around you for a brief time. We did the same. We emulated Slapshot and Wrecking Crew, like all bands did of the day. After a year or two we started coming into our own, finding ourselves creatively, etc. As time passed, we grew and our sound evolved into what it is today.

You are obviously a very influential person, but who are your personal influences, with things like song writing and making art?
I am a fan of art and music. I don’t feel there is one person that I appreciate more than others, more just a huge melting pot of them: Starkweather, Swans, M. Gira, Neurosis, Dan Higgs, Leviathan, Nausea, The God Machine, Laughing Hyenas, Godflesh, Integrity, Ringworm, Rorschach, Only Living Witness, Diamond Head, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Sheer Terror, Ulver, Satyricon, Deathspell Omega, Jesu, Celtic Frost, etc. Those are just the more musical things that interest me.

When considering signing a band to Deathwish, what are things you consider?
We release music that we appreciate on a variety of levels. Aside from that, there are no set guidelines to our decision making. As importantly, we only want to work with bands that want to work with us. We don’t get into bidding wars, or any ego driven nonsense like that.

What is the best thing about hardcore right now?
That it exists. That is still continues to give a platform to interesting art/music.

What is the worst thing about hardcore right now?
I honestly just choose not to pay attention to the music/art that is not interesting to me, so I really don’t have much to say about those things.

Last words?
Thanks for your time, it is appreciated.

Could you also give me a 7 song playlist of things you are jammin’ to right now?
Judas Priest “Cheater”
Crowbar “Planets Collide”
Swans “You Know Nothing”
Crowbar “Repulsion…”
Neurosis “A Chronology For Survival”
Danzig “Soul Of Fire”
Led Zeppelin “Achilles Last Stand”

Interview With Dan Yemin

When I e-mailed Dan a few months ago just talking about his music he was one of the nicest dudes in the world, when I e-mailed him again and asked him for an interview he was more than receptive. Upon receiving the reply to my questions, everything was in capitals, I had to change it. It was way worth it, he is definitely one of the smartest, nicest and most legit dudes in hardcore, as you will see displayed in the next few paragraphs

Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Dan, I sing for Paint It Black, play guitar for Lifetime and play bass for Armalite, I’m also a psychologist and a husband. Which comes first depends on the present circumstances and what time of day it is

What bands have you been in and which was your favourite for whatever reason?
That’s sort of like asking a parent which child is their favourite. Unfair and impossible to answer. I will say that the current line up of Paint It Black has the most amazing work ethic I’ve ever encountered in my years of making music. The degree of seriousness with which the band prepared for recording “New Lexicon” was seriously amazing

When you first started with Lifetime, how far did you want to take things and did everything that happened exceed your expectations?
I thought maybe if we were lucky, we would put out a 7 inch that some people might like, maybe make a small mark on our little corner of N.J. Despite all its flaws the most amazing thing about punk and hardcore is that persistence and heart will eventually yeild results. We’re living proof.

Which band has had the biggest impact on your life?
Again, there’s no real way to answer this. Each distinct period of time making music has had an important impact in its own way. Early Lifetime taught us patience and stubbornness, mid period Lifetime taught us to fend for ourselves, and mid to late Lifetime taught us the importance of song craft, collaboration and production. Kid Dynamite taught me the humility of starting over, and how to turn defeat and disappointment into something special. It taught me about second changes and momentum, and the perils of being a control freak. Paint It Black taught me about resilience and emotional alchemy, and that i need music more than I realized. It taught me about taking responsibility and refusing to accept defeat, and again about the perils of being a control freak, it continues to teach me how to trust, how to let go and the importance of patience and humility. Its taught me how to say more with less, and sometimes even to say less with less! Thats just off the top of my head.

What was going on in your life hardcore wise when your stroke happened?
I had this fantasy of making a record where I would write and record all the music and have different vocalist on every song. I wanted it to be about community and friendship and not letting quitters stop me dead in my tracks. It was going really, really slow.

Is there any way you have drawn experience from your Psy.D. and applied it to your writing?
Definitely, people always ask if I find my work depressing. Just the opposite, I find it inspiring to be a daily witness to the best of the human capacity for resilience. That constantly informs my writing

Why did you decide to continue playing music after such a monumental thing like a stroke?
Facing mortality at such a young age forces you to re-evaulate your priorities. I had been working 60-65 hours a week, not playing music. Death woke me out my “normal” adulthood. For that I’m grateful. Every damn day.

What is one thing you would change about the current hardcore scene?
Less Intergrity, more “This Is Boston, Not L.A.”
(And just to clarify, I like Integrity a lot, but I don’t need to hear 30 other bands play that style of music).

Who has been your biggest influence through your entire life, musically, and education etc.?
If I have to choose one, it would be Ian Mackaye. For obvious reasons.

What is one record you would recommend to everyone?
Just one? You’ve got to be kidding! Here’s a good start. If you have these albums, then you’re allowed to make music:
Minor Threat – Out Of Step
Bad Brains – S/T
Germs – GI
Black Flag – Jealous Again
The Clash – S/T
Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
Circle Jerks – Group Sex
7 Seconds – The Crew
Generation X – S/T
Naked Raygun – Throb Throb
Husker Du – Metal Circus
Descendents – Milo Goes To College
Dag Nasty – Can I Say
Verbal Assault – Trial
Gorilla Biscuits – Start Today
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
Sex Pistols – Never mind The Bollocks
Side By Side – You’re Only Young Once
Token Entry – Jaybird
Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions
Boogie Down Productions – By All Means Necessary
Verbal Assault – Trial
Wu Tang Clan – Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers)
Youth Of Today – We’re Not In This Alone

What is the best thing about hardcore right now?
1) Bands taking risks and pushing boundaries: (Fucked Up, Blacklisted, Have Heart, Verse, Crime In Stereo, Cloak/Dagger, etc.)
2)Bands doing various versions of early 80’s style really well, with a modern twist (Career Suicide, Government Warning, Ceremony, Trash Talk

What is the worst thing about hardcore right now?
It’s a toss-up between jocks, fake gangsters, and hairstyles. There’s probably some stylistic area where all three over lap. Paving over all that would be a good start.

Last words?
Thanks for the support…

Intro/Ceremony Interview

I know a small number of you who will read this have gotten your hands on one of my print zines by the same name, alas, I can’t afford to do it anymore, the time and monetary investment is just not possible at this time. So this is my “Webzine”, I will post some good stuff on here, I promise, such as what follows…

Ceremony came to Toronto with Sabertooth Zombie and Life Long Tragedy on June 1, it was an unreal show, each one of us was soaked in sweat and emotion jumping over one another to get the chance to scream the words. It seemed almost every single body in the place was there for Ceremony, with each and every person in sight, losing their fucking mind when they began playing. It’s hard to express how I feel and how I know everyone else feels when you can go off like this, you don’t care what anyone else thinks, and you have no intention on slowing down. If you read the interview with Ceremony in the print edition, it was with Ryan, as Ross explained off the record, they used to do interviews like complete jokes but have since stopped, Ryan didn’t get the memo, so I asked all the same questions to Ross. This is an interview with Ross.

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

My name is Ross J. Ferrar and I do the vox in the band, and I do the lyric writing, some of the art, most of the conceptual work really.

When you started this band did you have any real goals in mind?

Not really, when we started the band we weren’t really sure what we wanted to do with it, originally in the very very beginning it was going to be called Violent World, which is a take off on The Misfits but we decided to change that. We were going to play slower music too, like more sludgier kind of New York kind of slow hardcore, but then we changed that, and we were like lets just do fast hardcore, just do old school type of shit, and that was sort of the start of Ceremony. You know the EP has slow songs and fast songs, Kersed was kind of the beginning of Violent World, but then we wanted to do different shit like, Its Going To Be A Cold Winter, thats when we wanted to start doing more thrashy music so from then on we started to do some more thrashy music, and we kinda wanted to keep it fast and agressive we do slow stuff of course but we like to keep it fast.

Playing music as pissed off as you do you have to have some sort of inspiration and source of your anger?

I do most of the lyric writing like I said, and I’m not a very angry person most of the time, I can’t really…the muse for the music is more when I am in certain times in my life, if I am going through hard times, I will write about Ceremony, I don’t really write about anything in ceremony when I am in a better place and have a good piece of mind, a lot of the music has been written while I was in jail…for various crimes, and thats kinda the best way to do it, its mostly times of desperation when im writing lyrics and doing stuff like that, Anthony writes stuff all the time because hes a musical genius, but lyrically its mostly societal shit and the government and religion and all the shit you read about in general.

You don’t tour a lot, but when you do its with sweet bands, what your favourite tour you have been on and what made it so rad?

Favourite tour is the tour we are on right now because we are with all of our best friends from the city we grew up in North Bay, we’ve only played about 7 shows but its still the best tour because we are surrounded by the people we love and we get to have alot of fun and fuck around all day, its great.

How do you personally feel about downloading music?/ people downloading your music?

Nah, I don’t care about all that.

Whats your favourite album right now?

Probably the beatles sgt. Pepper, because i dont have an ipod or anything right now, so I’m just kinda listening to everyones music on tour but thats probably been a solid album for the last 3 months.

Whats the worst thing about hardcore right now?

I don’t really know, I’m not really political in hardcore or in the scene or anything.

Whats the best thing about hardcore right now?

Probably Sabertooth Zombie, they are very much an inspiration to me, being around Cody the lead singer, he is very much a muse in my life, and he is very eclectic and excentric and articulate and all that shit. He is a very amazing front man and person.

Last words?

Still Nothing Moves You.

We then got up and commenced walking back towards the venue, on the way he explained the whole joke interview thing and how they did it because Black Flag used to to it. Then a few sets later Ceremony went on, this is what happened…