Monday, December 31, 2018

See Ya Later 2018

Musically 2018 was a much better year for my particular tastes than 2017 was. I can't even find my list of favorite records from last year which may not be a coincidence. 2018 however brought with its shit storm of awfulness politically some really fantastic records. Hardcore in particular had a banner year with nothing but potential for some really great records to come. In fact I found so much new music that I thoroughly enjoyed this year that I ended up with a total of 14 full lengths on my list as well as a very lengthy list of honorable mentions, many of which I enjoyed very much but either didn't listen to quite enough or never fully clicked with me. Considering I struggled coming up with 10 albums I loved last year I'd say that 2018 had a definite musical glow up. I usually don't rank my favorite records of the year but I do separate them by format. Here's what had my ears in 2018:


Search For Purpose – Eternal Emotion (Plead Your Case)
Image result for search for purpose eternal emotionThis is the first full length by this up and coming melodic hardcore outfit from North Carolina who features members of several current hardcore bands from the area; Magnitude, Ecostrike etc. Search For Purpose combine the sounds and feelings of bands like Turning Point and Stretch Arm Strong with the energy and passion of Battery to create a very solid piece of modern melodic hardcore. They are still a young band who hasn’t quite reached their songwriting prime in my opinion but this debut full length is definitely several steps up from demos. I’ve always been a sucker for melodic hardcore and with the current resurgence of that style I find Search For Purpose to be one of the best out there at the moment. If you’re looking for a break from the metalcore throwback or the beatdown riffs that are currently dominating the scene at the moment throw this on for a nice change of pace but make sure to X up and throw on your best stage diving shoes first.


Camp Cope – How To Socialise & Make Friends (Run For Cover)

Image result for camp cope how to socialize and make friendsIf you enjoy indie rock that focuses on the bass, has entire songs that are a sing-a-long part and sounds like it could be playing in a coffee shop circa 1994 (which I mean in the most sincere way possible) you need this record in your life. Camp Cope manage to deliver intense feelings about their experiences as musicians in the male dominated music world through well-crafted melodic rock songs that you can singalong to from start to finish. Vocally their singer Georgia McDonald has a voice that will make you want to get lost in repeated listens on your bedroom floor. At times the band seethes anger and frustration but do so in a way that makes you tap your toe and bob your head and sing every word. I find their sound to be incredibly authentic and refreshing and can’t compare it to anything overt. These are memorable songs written by young and energized individuals who are forcing their way into the musical landscape whether people like it or not.



Mindforce – Excalibur (Triple B)
Image result for mindforce excaliburEXCALIBUR!!! The debut full length from the Hudson Valley’s Mindforce was highly anticipated by this hardcore lover and boy does it bring the groove back to the ‘core. Throughout this past year I’ve become quite fond of this band and could not wait for them to drop a full length. While there are more current hardcore bands that have my ear than there have been in many years I feel as though many of them are still finding their sound on the songwriting front. Mindforce are a band I feel the complete opposite about. From their demo to their 7” to their split with Dead Heat it has been clear that this band knows who they are, what they’re going for and has the chops to write killer hardcore songs that could fill an LP with ease and that is testament to the many years the collective members of Mindforce have been giving their musical talents to hardcore. Perhaps the best thing about this album is that it is not one thing, which can be so easy to fall into especially in hardcore. At times there’s parts that would appeal to fans of thrash metal and crossover. Other points offer technical guitar work and melodic leads. And then there’s the groove mosh that should straight up abolish the idea of mosh retirement. Innovative songs with a level of creativity and nuance that I feel has been missing from hardcore for a little while, clear and direct vocals that are easy to singalong to and unmatched energy and groove in the music. I can’t say enough good things about this band.

Image result for wrong feel great

WRONG – Feel Great (Relapse)
Loud. Crunchy. Noisy

Image result for drug church cheerDrug Church – CHEER (Pure Noise)  
If Weezer didn’t became the lamest parody of themselves and enlisted Seaweed to play their songs you’d get Drug Church. They continue to produce some of the best rock music of the day that does their influences justice without sounding derivative. I eat up everything they put out and while past albums have all had standout tracks CHEER is easily comprised of single worthy tracks for at least half the record. CHEER has everything you’ve come to know and love from Drug Church, biting lyrical wit that doesn’t take itself too seriously, vocal hooks using the most absurd words anyone has ever sang along to and riffs, riffs, riffs. This time around they’ve added some clean guitars and more melody in the vocals as well as tighter song structures that add a really nice layer to their already solid foundation of well written rock songs. 


Red Hare – Little Acts of Destruction (Dischord/Hellfire)
Image result for red hare little acts of destructionThe current generation of hardcore seems to have little to no interest in the bands of yesteryear and simply like what’s going on right now. There’s many arguments for and against that school of thought and considering the formula of “old guys from the 80’s/90’s have a new band” usually produces less than lackluster results I don’t blame anyone for not blinking an eye when another new band surfaces under those pretenses. The case with Red Hare and their latest album, Little Acts of Destruction, 100% proves that theory wrong. This is a band of individuals who not only curated a very specific blend of harDCore but have continued to expand upon and refine it through their various bands over the years and with Red Hare they are collectively producing some of the best material of their musical careers. This does not sound dated to me in the slightest. It is clearly of a very specific region and with that comes a particular sound and influence. DC Hardcore is the name of the game here and each member sounds fresh and energized. This is one “old guy band” to not overlook.

Image result for turnstile time and spaceTurnstile – Time & Space (Roadrunner)  
The Turnstile record for the listener that thought Turnstile wasn’t for them. Throw out your preconceived notions of what this band is cuz they straight up annihilated everyone’s assumptions and expectations with this one. While this is a “rock” record classifying Time & Space as one thing or another really misses the point of what this record offers and that is simply, a good ass time.




Culture Abuse – Bay Dream (Epitaph)
Image result for culture abuse bay dreamThis is music for going to the beach and taking life as it comes. At first I was not feeling this record. I really loved their debut, Peach, and found Bay Dream to be basically devoid of its grunge-influence and heavy but poppy sound. After a few listens however it was clear that just about every song on here was memorable in one way or another. I kept finding myself saying, “oh yeah track one is really good, track two has that part I really like and then track three has a great melody” and that momentum just keeps going throughout the record. For all there was to frown about in 2018 Culture Abuse gave us a reason to smile with Bay Dream.



Fiddlehead – Springtime and Blind (Run For Cover)  
Image result for fiddlehead springtime and blindI don’t think I know anyone who’s heard this record and doesn’t love it. When their 7” dropped a few years ago I welcomed the change in sound for Pat Flynn as a vocalist and thought he did a great job in a much more melodic band than he’s been known for. Those that know me know that I am a huge fan of just about everything he does and he continues to prove both his lyrical and vocal prowess have not gone anywhere with time in his delivery on Springtime and Blind. I admittedly have a difficult time listening to this album however due to the subject matter which deals with how Pat and his family have dealt with the loss of their father. As someone who has a complicated relationship with their father it is nearly impossible for me to not listen to this album through the filter of my own family and not feel disappointed, guilty and apathetic. All that aside, the music is very good and the lyrics honest, heartfelt and emotional. Having a singer who’s known for hardcore front a band that is playing post-punk/90’s emo really adds a great dynamic of energy to their songs and especially their live show. Fiddlehead don’t play hardcore but in their delivery you can tell that the songs are put together with hardcore song structures in mind. This album is made for crowd participation. It’s made for you to connect with it. It’s made to make you feel and for better or worse that can often be a rare thing in music.



Pretty Please – Fur Model (Self-Released)
Image result for pretty please fur modelI discovered this album from my friend Ryan “HEX” Canavan’s blog where he reviews records throughout the year as they’re released. His judgment is the only “music press” that I trust although I’m sure he’d roll his eyes a few times over at the thought of considering himself music press. We have a lot of similar tastes and he does a great job of finding killer new bands to listen to, a lot of which are not on my radar. Fur Model is a perfect representation of 90’s grunge and hard rock influence done well. This album is perfect for the moodiness and complacency of life. Everything sucks so why not turn up the volume and listen to some guys who are just as over it all as you.

Image result for GEM new highGEM – New High (Self-Released)  
Boy do I love this. Call it college rock, call it power pop, call it alt rock, it really doesn’t matter what you call it this is a fantastically catchy record with solid instrumentation to supplement the vocal hooks. The singer of Fury plays bass here for those that are interested in that stuff but don’t expect any hardcore to creep through. To me this is what the band in a 90’s teen rom com sounds like. If that’s a positive for you then seek this out.  




Superchunk – What A Time To Be Alive (Merge)
Image result for superchunk what a time to be aliveI adore this band and got very into them over the last few years so my excitement for a new album was high and Superchunk proved that they can still write a great punk record. Inspired by the state of the nation Superchunk have given us a perfect collection of songs that overflow with frustration, sarcasm and disgust played through the catchiest hooks and melodies. This is their fastest, most pissed off material in a very long time and it still sounds fresh which is testament to their ability to write great songs.




Failure – In the Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing From Your Mind (Self-Released)
Image result for failure in the future your body will be the furthest thing from your mindI don’t love this as much as their last album, The Heart Is A Monster, and if it was anyone else I may have written it off for that reason but the simple fact of the matter is that this is a Failure record and that makes it better than just about everything else by default. This is my favorite rock band. I can’t say enough good things about each individual component of this band and the way they put songs together. Failure have a way of combining styles that I typically don’t care much for (psych rock, classic rock) but when they filter them through their sound what comes out always sounds good to me. They did a few different things on this album, namely the opening track which has an electronic dance feel. It’s a cool song but ultimately not a Failure song and certainly not a proper album opener in my opinion. From there just about every track has me saying “yeah this is the song” and you can’t ask for more than that in a record. This theme has been repeated throughout my favorite albums of this year but nowhere is it truer than with this new Failure record; if you love rock music you simply need this.


Extra Arms – Headacher (Self-Released)
Image result for extra arms headacheLocal boys Extra Arms hail from Ferndale, MI, where I happen to live, which gets bonus points from me. This has been a solo project of singer/guitarist Ryan Allen for several years now. The band used to go under the moniker Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms but for Headacher they have a solid band now and have shortened their name. I’m not familiar with their earlier work but this one is a phenomenal power-pop record. The songs are just great pop/rock songs that do a really good job of consolidating influences to the point where they’re recognizable as reference points but don’t make the bands sound obvious and derivative. I don’t love the use of synths on the album and most of the backing vocals are un-necessary in my opinion. Beyond that this shit rocks and I’m so proud to say that they live in the same city as me.


EP’s
Taken - With Regard To
Sunstroke – Second Floor/SEVEN
Rule Them All – An Alignment Of Polarity
SUPER THIEF – eating alone in my car
Motor City Madness – Hardcore Madness
Moonkisser – S/T
Coming Down – S/T
Godcollider – S/T
Truth Cult – S/T
Way Out – Arc Of Descent
True Love – The Pact

7”s
Mil-Spec – Changes
Blacklisted – Slow Moments b/w I Should Have Been A Murderer
Line Of Sight – Dissent
Modern Life Is War – Tribulation Worksongs Vol’s 1 & 2
Envision – A World Unseen
Ex Youth – Oakland Intervention
DRK BLU – What It Is

Demos
Antagonize
Envision
Ekulu

Honorable Mentions
Winds Of Promise – S/T
Remission – Enemy Of Silence
Pianos Become the Teeth – Wait For Love
Teenage Wrist – Chrome Neon Jesus
Hot Snakes – Jericho Sirens
Gouge Away – Burnt Sugar
By the Grace of God – Above Fear
War On Women – Capture the Flag
Joyce Manor – Million Dollars To Kill Me
Tile – Come On Home, Stranger
Waste Management – Tried and True
Hundreds Of Au – Communications Link Re-Established
Self Defense Family – Have You Considered Punk Music?
King Nine – Death Rattle
Warfare – Declaration
Graf Orlock – An Examination Of Violent Cinema, Volume 1
Screaming Females – All At Once
Daughters – You Don’t Get What You Want
Pig Destroyer – Head Cage
Sloan – 12
Terror – Total Retaliation
Shook Ones – Body Feel
Shame – Songs of Praise

Looking Forward To in 2019
Fury – TBA LP
Abuse Of Power – What On Earth Can We Do?
One Step Closer – From Me To You EP
Wolf Whistle – Private Hell or the Afternoon Blueness From A Windowsill in Acushnet
Bob Mould – Sunshine Rock
Deftones – TBA LP
Magnitude – TBA LP
La Dispute – Panorama
Swervedriver – Future Ruins
Tool – TBA LP
Torche – TBA LP
Misery Signals – TBA LP
Antagonize – TBA LP
Clear – Youth To Youth?
Supertouch – Guide To the Stars?

Monday, January 23, 2017

A Year In the Past

I really did not intend for my next entry in this blog to be almost a full year later. Perhaps 2017 will see me actually putting this to more use. While I'm a few weeks late 2016 has ended and the annual "Year End Best Of" list of records that I enjoyed throughout the year is a tradition that I still love participating in so here we are. Below you will find a detailed list of the records I liked most, somewhat and not very much at all this past year in addition to what I'm most looking forward to seeing released in 2017.

 I've read quite a few Year End Record Lists so far and the consensus seems to be that 2016 was a great year for music despite the overall general theme of awfulness that characterized much of the non-musical aspects of life this past year. While there were a number of records released that I enjoyed, as this list will attest to, and am thankful to have, I did not find myself becoming enthralled with many releases this year as opposed to last year which was a blockbuster music year for me and my musical tastes. 2015 saw the release of phenomenal debut full lengths from Fell To Low, Sweet Jesus, Cloakroom and Mutoid Man. Stellar follow up's from Loma Prieta and Drug Church. Not to mention the return of both Swervedriver and Failure with their first records in 17 and 19 years, respectively. Every entry on my list of Top 11 (I tend to not be able to choose 10 records for some reason) records released last year was without a doubt a favorite of mine that saw repeated listens from me throughout the year. Even my list of Honorable Mentions from 2015 was quite long and included many fantastic records including albums from Title Fight, Adventures, Torche, Kowloon Walled City, Axis and loads more. Indeed, I had a hard time picking my favorite records last year and ended up relegating many of them to the Honorable Mentions list. A few of those honorable mentions from last year ended up becoming favorites of mine this year. All in all there was not only more music released that I enjoyed last year, I just happened to enjoy 2015's releases quite a bit more than 2016's. Perhaps the issue was that I didn't listen to enough varied material this year. My list of records that I wish I had spent more time with is size-able this year and there are many more popping up on the year end lists of others that I have yet to hear at all.

That does not mean that 2016 was without moments of musical excitement for me however. The year saw the first new material from the mighty BURN in 15 years as well as a new 7" from the original Dag Nasty lineup for the first time in 25 years! I am optimistic for 2017 as the majority of my most anticipated records for the new year are ones that have been rumored since last year, and a few for even longer than that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will finally see new albums from the reactivated Quicksand, the hardcore super group Open City featuring members of Paint It Black, Bridge & Tunnel, Ceremony and more and my most anxiously awaited record in recent years, the second LP from Chile's Remission, Enemy Of Silence, which has been in the works for several years now. We also get BURN's first full length in 2017. But I digress, without further ado here is my 2016 musical year in review.

Full Lengths (In Order)

Fury - Paramount (Triple B)


This one surprised me. I did not like any of their previous output but gave this a chance as I try to keep an open mind with new releases. I was happy to find that Fury have adopted the metallic yet melodic sound of their Orange County Hardcore forefathers with some of the East Coast's more progressive hardcore influence. No one is really playing anything quite like this in hardcore right now. This record reminds me of Against the Wall's aggression, No For An Answer's intensity, Battery's heavy youth crew style and the introspection of Supertouch. This record makes me want to dive off of everything in sight and mosh it up.


Joyce Manor - Cody (Epitaph)

Image result for joyce manor codyAt this point I think it's safe to say that Joyce Manor can do no wrong. I am a total sucker for their brand of pop-rock/pop-punk/power-pop. However you'd like to describe their sound it is simply rocking and infectious. I find myself singing these songs constantly. There's an almost Beach Boys like similarity in the summer time, feel good nature of the vocal melodies on this record. They slowed down the tempo just slightly on Cody as opposed to previous efforts and while some of the tracks still feel a bit rushed they have dialed in their sound to really hit home that pop-rock goodness. I was finally able to see them live for the first time in 2016, which is no one's fault but my own, at Wrecking Ball in Atlanta, and they were fantastic. I think just about everyone knows about Joyce Manor at this point but on the off chance that you don't and you like pop rock give this a spin.

Candiria - While They Were Sleeping (Metal Blade)

Candiria return with their first full length in 8 years and prove right off the bat that they have not lost the energy or ingenuity that makes them who they are. The opening track title track is an onslaught of heavy, math-y riffs, breakdowns and jazz parts. The clean singing that was at the forefront of their last two records is here once again but it's mixed with front man Carley Coma's seamless vocal range. These guys are the kings of technical metalcore that is so much more than just that. I had the pleasure of seeing them at Black N Blue in 2015 and they stole the show the day they played. I could watch this band play forever.



Ignite - A War Against You (Century Media)


Another record that was long overdue. Ignite finally followup 2006's Our Darkest Days with their first new material in a whole decade. I love this band and anxiously awaited more of their melodic hardcore perfection. Even though their best days may be behind them I still enjoy what they produce. It is a shame that they are not better received in the US. They've gotten a bit more formulaic this time around, Zoli's lyrics are at times more cliche'd than past work but vocally he still belts it out like no one else. His voice never fails to give me chills. On A War Against You, Ignite deliver more of the polished, driving melodic hardcore punk that they are known for. This is my least favorite record of theirs overall but it is still highly enjoyable and has a few of their best songs yet in my opinion. Lead single "Nothing Can Stop Me" is an absolute force of a melodic rock anthem. I played the hell out of that song alone when it was the first track released from the record. Tracks such as "Rise Up" and "Where I'm From" detail experiences lead singer Zoli Teglas has had as an Hungarian immigrant to the US. "Where I'm From" makes me tear up every time I hear it. While a good portion of the record deals with self determination and rising up from the obstacles one faces in life the bands political side is still felt on tracks such as "This Is A War" which talks about how culture affects information in this day and age and "Oh No Not Again", a song telling of the affects of war and invasion from the perspective of those who live in the invaded country. On "The Suffering" the band address racism asking "Are we broken with this hatred inside? Time is standing still as the years pass us by". I'll take an Ignite record over most anything else.

 Dangers - The Bend In the Break (Topshelf)

Despite my anxiousness for this record I was unsure of it on the first few listens and it wasn't until reading the lyrics and their explanations that the record fully sunk in for me. Still, I don't love every track musically but the lyrical genius cannot be denied. Al Brown of Dangers has a way of addressing frequently covered topics such as poverty, despair, racism, that feels newly inspired. The songs that talk about female objectification by men and how men justify their sexual actions in the name of being a slave to their desires are the ones that struck me most deeply. Track # 9, "It's The Devil I Love" tells of his realization that the male relationship with women is a terrifying contradiction. When women are young girls they are to be cared for and protected by men. However when they grow up they become sex objects for male desire and us men justify this by saying that we're slaves to the pull of lust because lustful is what we are. Dangers make me think and Dangers make me feel and for that I will always love them.

Image result for whores gold
WHORES - Gold (eOne)

I am very new to the noise rock genre but I absolutely love these guys. Riffs galore. Chaos. Melody. Sludge. Stoner rock. Super catchy singing amidst the screaming. This record is perfect for banging your head in protest of your shitty life.




 Hollow Earth - Dead Planet (Good Fight)

Those who know me well are probably just as surprised as I am to see this record make my year end list however I cannot deny a great record when I hear it. Despite being some of my good friends Hollow Earth's music has never quite clicked with me, for whatever reason. I have always given them praise for their work ethic and their passion for the art they create but have rarely found myself listening to them on my own. With the release of their second full-length, Dead Planet, I am finally hooked. This thing just rocks. I love that they have abandoned the fast paced approach for a nice mid-tempo groove that gradually builds to crushing climaxes, a move that suits them best I think. Melody is very strong here and comparisons to everyone from Neurosis to Baroness to the Deftones come to mind. Hollow Earth make creative heavy music that is simply too enjoyable to be bothered by genre classification. It is a shame they are not more well known. As I said earlier, this shit just rocks.

Pity Sex - White Hot Moon (Run For Cover)

I wore out Pity Sex's debut full length, Feast Of Love, the summer it came out. I was at a particularly low point in life at the time and their melancholy shoegaze-y pop was the perfect soundtrack for my feelings of woe. Following up Feast Of Love was no easy feat I'm sure and those looking for part two of that record, myself included, should look elsewhere. While White Hot Moon may lack the sheen and bravado of its predecessor it is still a solid listen. I found myself particularly attached to track # 6, Plum, a song about the fruit that was loved by Britty's mother which she uses as imagery to describe how her mother's death affected her father. It is a very emotionally heavy song that is accentuated by Britty's wonderful vocals, making you almost forget that the lyrical subject matter is extremely somber. I can't help but tear up on each listen.

WRONG - S/T (Relapse)

Image result for wrong relapse recordsHoly riff-central. This record plunges along like a freight train of heavy guitars and chaos in the form of some serious Helmet worship. If you're looking for a reason to bang your head until it falls off this record is your ticket.






Deftones - Gore (Reprise)                                                      


If I had to pick a favorite band of all time it would be the Deftones. I have loved them since I was in a young teenager. Once I got into hardcore in the early 00's I fell off with their output after their S/T record was released in '03. Consequently I missed out on the release of both Saturday Night Wrist and Diamond Eyes entirely. It wasn't until Koi No Yokan came out in 2012 that I was propelled back into the Deftones universe. That record knocked me off my feet and cemented itself as one of the highest points of the bands career. A feat that is very hard to achieve on your 7th full length album. Naturally I had very high expectations for Koi No Yokan's followup. I waited anxiously for the release of Gore, paid close attention to the singles released before the album, read every bit of news about the making of and release of the record I could find. Then release day came, I listened from front to back and was extremely disappointed. Not only did the record not grab me immediately on first listen as Koi No Yokan had I found myself wondering what I had just listened to once the record was finished. This sounded like a very watered down imitation of the Deftones to me. At this point I'm sure you're asking yourself why I put this record in my Top 11 of the year since I don't seem to like it at all. Well, after seeing them twice this past year the new material they played live sounded a lot better to me than it did on record and I found myself slowly warming up to Gore, song by song. Now I can say that I genuinely like the A side in full. There's something I really enjoy about each of the first 5 or 6 tracks although I still contend that "Prayers/Triangles" is a very poor choice for an opening track. The B side still has moments where they flounder in my opinion but overall I have come to enjoy the record as a whole and I've very glad that the Deftones still exist and continue to do things their own way, despite what I may think of it at times.

Great Reversals - Mere Mortals (State Of Mind/Bitter Melody/Hydrogen Man)

Image result for great reversals mere mortalsI can be a very stubborn, stupid man especially when it comes to music that my friends make (see the review of Hollow Earth's Dead Planet above). It took me years to finally warm up to Great Reversals music and admit that I do in fact really like it! The band have been friends of mine for many years now and I have watched them progress immensely through the years with each release. Like many bands they got off to a rocky start but I am proud to say that Great Reversals have really hit their stride in recent years. Their last few EP's, To the Ends Of the Earth and Natural Burial, have been packed with passion, introspective, emotion and intensity. I could tell you which bands Great Reversals most closely resemble or what decade they sound like and they would easily go in one ear and get lost in the mix of a plethora of other bands that have similar influences. What I will say about Great Reversals that cannot be said of every band is that they make me feel and I don't just mean the urge to mosh or to break something. Their lyrics make me think about what they're saying and how it applies to my life as well as the world around me. Their singer Aaron Whitfield's delivery dares you to engage with him. That is a rarity within this thing we call hardcore. "I'm lucky to have known so little woe, but can't escape the shame of the world's pain that I'm lucky enough to ignore". Powerful stuff.

Honorable Mentions
Aeges – Weightless
Helms Alee - Stillicide
Graf Orlock – Crime Traveler
Primitive Weapons – The Future Of Death

Records I Wish I Spent More Time With

World Be Free – The Anti Circle
Bob Mould - Patch the Sky
Culture Abuse – Peach
Nothing – Tired Of Tomorrow
Creative Adult – Fear Of Life
Super Unison – Auto
Harley Flanagan – Cro Mags
Garret Klahn – S/T
Shai Hulud – Just Can’t Hate Enough x2 Plus Other Hate Songs
Hollow Earth – Parting Remains EP
Child Bite – Negative Noise
Saosin – Along the Shadow
Thrice – To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere
Hesitation Wounds – Awake For Everything
True Love – Heaven’s Too Good For Us
Russian Circles – Guidance
Dog Party – Till You’re Mine
SECT – S/T
Angel Du$t – Rock the Fuck On Forever
White Lung - Paradise
Foundation - Turncoat EP
Corrective Measure – S/T 7”
Seattle’s New Gods – How’s It Going To End? 7”
Sick Of It All – When the Smoke Clears 7”
Outlet – Memento Mori
KEN Mode – Nerve 7”
Self Defense Family - The Power Does Not Work In the Presence Of Non Believer’s 12”
Self Defense Family/Null – We’ll All Be Reunited Under the Ground Split 7”

7”s/EP’s/Splits
BURN – From the Ashes 7”
Red Hare – Lexicon Mist 7”
Mindset – Nothing Less 7”
Dag Nasty – Cold Heart b/w Wanting Nothing 7”
Praise – Leave It All Behind 12“
AXIS | Seraph the Light – Collab 12"
Self Defense Family - Colicky 12”, Superior 12”

Disappointments
Basement – Promise Everything
Balance & Composure – Light We Made
American Football – LP2
Jimmy Eat World – Integrity Blues

Most Looking Forward To In 2017
GIVE – Electric Flower Cult 12” EP
Clear – Youth To Youth
Remission – Enemy Of Silence
Quicksand – TBA LP
BURN – TBA LP
Cloakroom - TBA LP
Tool – TBA LP
River Black (ex Endeavor, Burnt By the Sun, For the Love Of, Revocation, Municipal Waste, Discordance Axis) – TBA LP
Mutoid Man – TBA LP
Converge – TBA LP
Blacklisted – TBA ???
Modern Life Is War – TBA LP
Sweet Jesus – TBA 7”
FREE - TBA 7"
Fiddlehead – TBA LP
Open City – TBA ???
Supertouch – Guide To the Stars LP ???
Verbal Assault - Re-Issues ???

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Dan Yemin in the Paint It Black van in VA Beach March 2009 Part 1

This is the first of several interviews I conducted many years ago that were intended to be in Issue #3 of my zine which never came to fruition. In March of 2009 while I was interning at PETA I had the privilege of interviewing Dan Yemin before Paint It Black played VA Beach with Propagandhi. This is the first of 2 parts of my interview with Dan. Without further ado here is Mr. Yemin and I talking about Paint It Black, politics in hardcore and a lack thereof, some history on DIY shows in Philly, BURN, living in Michigan and more!



On the cover of CVA, that face, is that someone in particular?


No.

Does CVA stand for anything?

It does. It stands for Cerebral Vascular Accident which is technical for a stroke.

Does that have anything to do with what you went through?

Yea that’s exactly what I went through. That was the whole point. That’s the reason the band started. It’s kind of obvious but it’s kind of personal.

Does that tie into the theme of that record overall for you?

Yea, definitely. It’s about survival.

Going along the same lines for the other 2 records, the titles of both Paradise and New Lexicon, do they go along with the overall theme of those records?

Paradise is pulled from the song Micaragua on that record. The line is “I see paradise and you see pavement” which is basically about cycles of colonization I guess. So Nicaragua, which was originally colonized by the Spanish then after gaining independence or kind of being politically colonized by the US cold war style in the ‘80s during the Reagan years and is now being colonized by American real estate developers, post-industrial contemporary capitalism. I was on a surfing trip and kind of eaves dropped on the conversations of a lot of real estate developers who were coming in to basically exploit people’s naiveté and build condos, it’s like the 3rd wave of colonization basically and it’s kind of disgusting. And of course it’s disguised as development and it’s disguised as economic empowerment for the locals. So the term “paradise” is an irony about things looking great and being terrible. Which I think is the American way. I think it’s the foundations on which our modern cultures are built; a high gloss coating over a load of shit. Paint It Black has always been about drawing people’s attention to the hideous things that are done in the name of power and nationalism and profit but there’s also a ray of hope in our songs. There are a lot of things I don’t believe in or disassociate myself from but at the end of the day what I really believe in is the capacity for resilience and love and goodness. Through art and through music we kind of lift ourselves up, as a band and as fans of other bands participating in somewhat of a counter culture that I think is part of a longstanding American tradition of protest music. I think we try to find some transcendence to lift ourselves up so Paradise is, in a non-ironic sense, about that effort as well.

And for New Lexicon, how does that title relate to what you’re talking about on that record?

New Lexicon is about attempting to always recreate and craft identity as a hardcore/punk band and also the idea behind the departures in production on this record. Hardcore means one thing to me but 80% of what’s marketed as hardcore in 2009 is not recognizable to me as hardcore and I’m not going to fight people over the word. The word is not what’s important, it’s a short cut, it’s a symbol for something and it’s because a symbol for something else that I don’t recognize in a lot of ways. Mass culture, warped tour, consumerism and thuggish violence and I want nothing to do with that. When the symbols and words that we rely on to describe ourselves and what we do are no longer valid or useful we have to create new ones and that’s what New Lexicon is about. Lexicon is basically a fancy word for dictionary, to create a new language for communicating through music because the old language is misleading, I think. Like dudes in baseball hats and tap shirts and mesh shorts doing karate moves and intimidating the fuck out of people that are there to enjoy themselves and learn something – that has nothing to do with what we are about. Metal masquerading as punk that’s heavy for heavy’s sake, as background noise for displays of macho bullshit – also not what we’re about. When it really comes down to what’s hardcore and what’s not hardcore they can have the word. Taking that whole dialogue and transferring it over to the music and the production and the song writing. It’s not a radical departure, it’s a significant distance in how a punk record is typically made, written, recorded and produced. I think we took a real departure in the production so it’s partially about that as well. We recorded with an old punk guy then we did post-production and mixing with a hip hop guy. To the best of my knowledge it hasn’t been done so I was excited about that.

I never saw them but I believe you made a blog online about what the songs were about on CVA when that record came out?

I did.

Was that the only record you did that for?

Yea.

I know you asked people what they thought, whether they wanted to see a similar thing with New Lexicon.

Some people did, some felt that they didn’t need it.

 Is there a particular reason why you chose not to do so for both Paradise and New Lexicon, not only with the songs themselves but also with the overall theme of the record as you just reiterated to me. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten all of what you just told me on my own and I really love that kind of insight. Is there any reason why you chose to leave those things out?

I like the idea of people coming to their own conclusions. I also like the idea of explanations and I was really split as you probably saw on the blogs around this album. I was really split down the middle as to how to handle it. Somebody ended up coming up with a great idea which was asking people to submit their idea’s as to what the songs are about and kind of put it all out there and hide my own explanation in there with all of theirs and let people see a full array of ideas. It ended up being a lot bigger of a project than I imagined. On the one hand I want people to know what we’re singing about and on the other I don’t want to….I think punks are smart and I want people to imbue the songs with their own meanings as well.

Song explanations and hearing a front man talking about what the songs mean live between songs are things that I love and you don’t see too much of that these days. Definitely when I started going to shows your average band doesn’t do that as opposed to back in the ‘90s.

Politics aren’t involved anymore.

I’m always appreciative of the bands that do and even some of the really outspoken, radically-minded bands don’t put explanations in their records or don’t say anything about them. I always make it a point to ask why they don’t do that and a lot of bands say something similar to what you said, they want people to figure it out for themselves and have their own interpretations which I definitely understand. At the same time, definitely with New Lexicon, a lot of it goes over my head.

Do you think it may be a bit of a cop out on my part? And please be honest with me.

Coming from the stand point of a somewhat younger kid in hardcore in this day and age I think you’re maybe giing too much of the benefit of the doubt to assume that the majority of them are going to think about the songs themselves, from my opinion.

Fair enough. In an interview or onstage I’ll talk about anything. Were there any you wanted to talk about further?

Let’s go with “Why Film the Carnage.” What record is that on?

That’s on the first record. 

“I can’t build as fast as you tear down, I need some relief. I’m driving nails with my skull while you pull them out with your teeth.”

 It is about, it’s one of many songs that are about people distorting what punk is about and being destructive, mostly verbally destructive. There’s also the destructiveness of people being physically aggressive or intimidating at shows or on the internet. There are people that do a lot of work then there’s the people that don’t do anything that are free to spend a lot of time and energy publicly criticizing the people that do do a lot of stuff to produce culture and make it accessible to people. I think it’s a pretty common human tendency but kind of feel that if people spent as much time trying to be productive as they did trying to tear people down there’d be a lot more cool stuff going on. “What makes you think you can fuck with this it’s our sacred ground. You defile this with your bottom line.” People over-focusing on the business aspect of running a band or a record label. You know things being all about the financial bottom line and that not really being what’s important in this music scene, sub culture, in music in general.
I think there’s a lot of themes that run throughout all 3 records, “rip out the heart, parade the corpse around.” That’s a metaphor for punk and hardcore basically, when you criticize and make it about money it becomes a shell of what it was and what it’s meant to be and that makes me angry. It’s hard to do (talk about) those (songs) because it was like 8 years ago.

This is a “Paradise” song, I don’t know the name of it….”when it feels like I’m swimming against the tide. Our heads are stupid but our bodies are wise. I find hope in your hands, lips and eyes.” Is that about a particular person?

No. It is about finding solace and redemption in physical intimacy. You could also say it’s about fucking which would also be true. It was written a year after my first wife left and I left like a lot of things in my life kind of fell apart for obvious reasons. I had a stroke and got divorced in the same year, roughly. It’s really about feeling saved, comforted and redeemed by physical intimacy and sex; close, naked physical contact with another human being.  And there are a lot of references to angels in my songs. The older ones are references to women that I dated when I was single after I got divorced. When the term emerges in a newer song it’s a reference to my current wife who is the most amazing person ever.

Have you ever wrote a song that’s about physical intimacy on the flipside, how it can be a very empty façade at the same time?

Nope, I have not. I try not to live that way. I try not to find comfort in falsehoods although I’m sure at some point I have. It’s nothing I really relate to or something I’d really want to write about unless it was an experience I had a strong feeling about which I don’t.

Going back to the records overall…

That was a good question by the way.

Thank you. I’m really into gender issues and sexual politics. A lot of the time I feel that way myself; very detached. Being physically involved but having no desire for any sort of emotional attachment so I can definitely relate to those issues.

There’s part of it that I didn’t really write about which is that when I was newly single I was dating and I was physically intimate with people but I was incapable of commitment and I think that was really frustrating to some of the women I dated and rightly so and I think I could’ve been a better partner to some people at certain points in time. But I think I was doing my best.

 Do you think that’s a part of human nature? Do you think we all kind of have a degree of emotional distance at one point in our lives?

I think so, I think there are times when we don’t have what it takes to give ourselves fully and freely to someone else. So we put up these barriers to maintain our own sense of integrity because we fear kind of being engulfed by that other person and we’re not ready for it.

Artwork…if you want to start with CVA and go through all the records just like we did with the titles of the records and how that tied into what you’re talking about on each of them. Does the artwork have similar relations?

The artwork on CVA is too blunt, I’m not a fan of it anymore. It looks cool and a friend of ours that’s extremely talented designed it but I think it’s to blunt at this point. I’m not comfortable with that degree of bluntness. It’s a very literal translation of what the records about. Overly literal even. A tank running over someone’s head….it’s kind of…heavy handed is the word I’m looking for. It’s a good looking record but in retrospect I’d probably do it differently. Paradise…we went through a lot of early designs that were way too heavy handed and literal and I realized my mistake was telling the graphic artist too much about the themes of the record. He was really trying to make sure it was apparent in the art what the record was about and I didn’t want it to be that apparent. I wanted it to be jarring and somewhat literary, I wanted it to look like a paperback book you’d see in a used book store and say “wow, I know what this is about.” I wanted it to be less clean, less pretty but also in some ways reflect the tone and the content of the record. I think some artists…some graphic designers are more like fine artists and if you tell all of what the records about that’s fine, it’ll kind of sink in and influence what they create. And some graphic artists are very much like technicians and if you tell them too much as to what the records about the result will be obvious and heavy handed. With New Lexicon that was really Andy’s thing. He really wanted something dark and sterile and beautiful and something that really conveyed alienation in post-industrial….post industrial alienation and loss in a way that was classically beautiful but also ugly. And in a way that was also very clean. He had a lot of big ideas about that. And certainly what we didn’t want was any more pictures of dudes with guitars jumping so we took it to a friend of ours from the punk scene. He used to roadie for Snapcase back in the day. His name is Clint and he has a graphic design company called Tomorrow and we talked to him a lot and he came  up with some ideas and he wanted to lay it out like a coffee table art book. Picture, text. Picture, text. Have it look kind of minimal and I think it came out pretty close to exactly how we wanted it.

How long have you lived in Philadelphia?

16 years, 17 in August.

Can you talk about DIY shows there, R5 in particular, if you’ve played any particular role with them? I’m sure you’ve seen the rise of DIY shows in Philly with R5 and the Blacklist thing with Robbie before that….

I’ve seen it from the last several generations in Philly. Andy could better talk about some of this. He’s directly involved with R5, I’ve sort of been a witness. When I moved to Philly there was not much going on in terms of shows. In some ways I’d say the efforts of all but also from the efforts of a few very dedicated people it’s become a place where….it’s gone from a place that people would skip when touring from DC to NY to a city that no one ever skips on tour. And I think that’s due to the efforts of very few people. Will Gervasi who was the bass player for Policy of Three, 400 Years and most recently R.A.M.B.O. he and some other people started the Cabbage Collective in the early ‘90s and were putting on shows in different rented church basements and things like that. Did a lot of amazing shows over the years and when one place would get shut down they’d find another place rather than give up and be like, “oh I guess we’re not doing shows anymore,” they’d find another space and another space and another space. Once they sort of established a foundation Robbie came along I think roughly around the same time Sean (Agnew of r5 Productions) started doing shows. Sean used to only do the ska/punk shows that came to Philly, Robbie was doing the more traditional hardcore stuff and then Cabbage Collective was doing a lot of the really DIY stuff though all these shows were DIY, they were in rented church halls. Cabbage Collective did more of the ebullition, gravity records styled bands, dischord kind of stuff. Robbie did more of the…

Is this ’95 we’re talkin?

Yea around ’95.

So probably the early Victory stuff.

Yea, Victory, Equal Vision, Revelation that kind of stuff.

Like the New England youth crew revival era, Ten Yard Fight, Floorpunch…?

Yeah there was some of that. He’d do a BURN show, a Floorpunch show. Well maybe he missed BURN but there was certainly Orange 9mm shows that he did. Early H20 shows before they got too big for The Church. Robbie did that kind of stuff and then Sean did…I mean ska/punk was huge in the mid 90’s and this other guy Mike would do a lot of the pop/punk shows. There were a lot of people doing shows by this point in a lot of places. By ’95 there was a huge scene where you could have The Bouncing Souls playing at the Trocadero which holds like 1300 people on the same night as Lifetime and Damnation playing at the church which holds like 500 people on the same night as Universal Order of Armageddon was playing a church hall in West Philly and all three shows would be sold out. I just remember that night particularly thinking “wow, what other city besides NYC and the Bay Area can have this much going, all these shows competing and all doing well?” I just remember being really thrilled at that moment and a perfect place to be if you want to see music.

Was there a problem with violence back then?

Oh there was always a problem with violence.

Overtly?

I think there’s less violence now actually. I think most of the shows where you would expect there to be a problem with violence are run by someone who can regulate that. Who can and will regulate that. Most of the other kind of shows violence isn’t an issue.

Was there a point when things got “bad” in the Philly scene?

It’s been up and down, cycles, cycles. There’s always some crew of people that are quick to throw fists but tend to stay in the hard, hardcore that’s derived from the NY….when I think of NY Hardcore I think of Gorilla Biscuits and the first Sick Of it All 7” but when people nowadays talk about NYHC, that kind of tradition like Madball and stuff like that…the kids that cause trouble would most likely be at those kind of shows. I don’t go to those kind of shows so it’s not really an issue for me unless my friends band is playing. Macho shit makes me sad, I’m not really prepared to deal with how I feel afterwards. It’s not like I’m not supportive of all people trying to do something positive and constructive with music, I do but when it’s clear that a few big, aggressive people are dominating the mood in a place and the rest of the people are intimidated I can’t stomach it, I can’t be around it. It makes me want to quit so I don’t typically go to those kind of shows. 

When the Cabbage Collective started doing shows, prior to that did you say there wasn’t really anything going on in Philadelphia?

Not much, there were some bars that were doing all ages shows every once in a while.

So that whole DIY mentality with Sean and Robbie and whatnot, that just kind of was born out of no one else doing anything like that at the time?

Not that I’m aware of no. Philly had been known in the ‘80s as a really scary place, before the era you’re talking about. Philly was a lot of skin heads.

The only band I can think of from Philly from the ‘80s was YDI.

Yea, they’re awesome. They still play every once in a while. There was also Ruined and Decontrol.

What do you think can be contributed to the fact that that mentality is still in Philadelphia?

I don’t know. We talked about this in another interview recently and one of the ideas I had was it’s always been kind of an underdog city. It’s the oldest American city, it’s got a lot of stunning architecture and cultural stuff goin on. Parts of it are beautiful. It has the largest in city, urban park in the country which a lot of people don’t know. Fairmount Park, it starts behind the art museum and runs all along the river on both sides and way up into the North West. It’s way bigger than Central Park…it’s the largest green space, dedicated park that’s in the confines of a city in the US. In the 20th century Philly was a very solid working class city. Most of the people made their living, paid their mortgage and feed their families through manufacturing jobs. In the second half of the 20th century when manufacturing jobs got exported to either the southern part of the US or overseas because labor was cheaper all these manufacturing facilities closed down and it really devastated the city. Since then it’s been fighting an underdog complex and an inferiority complex and clawing its way back up to respectability. I think there’s something about that that inspires stubborn dedication and refusal to admit defeat. That is way more important than talent. I have my doctorate and I’m not a genius. I’m smart but I have my doctorate because I’m persistent, you know? That’s just another example, stubborn persistent is way more of an effort than inborn talent.

I’ve seen a few shows there and that sort of thing really hasn’t been an issue. But I have heard things either from reading something Robbie wrote when he had problems with violence at his shows long ago and was just curious if that group of individuals in particular had more to do with it than others.

Here’s the thing and this is definitely not a cop out, this is straight up. It’s always been a different group of people over the years. It’s only at a very specific type of show usually and I think what happens a lot of the time, the up-side of it is that when people out grow indiscriminate violence they can become really productive. The reason is that things are pretty safe right now is that Joe doesn’t let things happen at shows where things would be likely to happen. He has a tremendous amount of influence and is at a point in his life now where he knows he owes a great debt to punk and hardcore and the way he expresses that is by not letting bad stuff happen at the shows where we need somebody to not let that stuff happen. And at the rest of the shows it’s not really an issue. Paint It Black and Avail at the church, you don’t have to worry about that. Paint It Black and The Loved Ones at the church, you don’t have to worry about that. We did a fest, a 3 day fest for our New Lexicon record release weekend. We didn’t have security, no troubles. It was like… very diverse lineups. One day it was us, The World Inferno Friendship Society, The Marked Men and Dustheads and another day it was more traditional hardcore; Have Heart, Crime In Stereo, The Hope Conspiracy, Damnation A.D., Let Down….no trouble, nothing even approaching trouble. Not even bad vibes. I think the content of the music has everything to do with how people behave to that music.

Do you guys print your shirts on one brand in particular or have you switched?

Well we used American Apparel except on this tour where we ended up under the gun and our printer for some reason didn’t have American Apparel for some reason in stock, which he usually does and said that if he had to order it, it wouldn’t get to us in time. As it is we had to get the shirts shipped to us directly at the first show of the tour in FL and that’s on us. There’s been way too much stuff goin on and we didn’t get to the question of t-shirt orders until a week before we left. Usually when we’ve ordered they’ve had American Apparel there but for some reason they were under-stocked or whatever and on this tour we have a bran that I can’t vouch for. But in general for the last 4 or 5 years we’ve used American Apparel for our shirts almost exclusively.

Is that a conscious decision to be aware of where the labor comes from?

Absolutely.

Is that something that’s been done in your previous bands?

No. This band is more overtly about my politics.

Do any of your songs touch on those topics, of being aware of where your products come from?

Yea, being aware of the responsibility as a consumer for your actions. Lifestyle politics has limitations but I think it’s an important place to start.

Would you say in regards to the sales of t-shirts in hardcore/punk that it’s an under-represented issue?

Yeah, I think people talk about that less now than they did in the 90’s. Actually I’m especially embarrassed that we’re on a Propagandhi tour with shirts that aren’t American Apparel. We’ve had nothing but AA for several years now so it kind of sucks. There’s also the reality of if we’re going to take time off from work we cannot lose tons of money on tour.

Have you ever given any thought to bringing literature with you on tour?

Sometimes we have people table with us, we don’t carry literature ourselves. It is very hard to narrow down our sets of beliefs to the things we could carry. We should probably do more of that. A friend of ours that tables with Animal Rights information travels with us on the West Coast. She’s traveled with us the last several times. If you want to talk about one persons dogged persistence my friend Tara got the pomegranate juice company, POM, to stop testing on animals pretty much single-handedly. They wanted to make all these health claims for pomegranate juice so they would induce disorders in lab animals and then see how the pomegranate juice affected them. She had a website for it and they tried to sue her and she eventually got a major distributor or store to agree to stop carrying it and the company said, ok we give up. Most people would’ve backed down when they got served with a lawsuit.

Going back to the shirts for a minute, are you aware of some of the criticisms of American Apparel and how do you reconcile that with your decision to use their shirts as a hopefully more ethical alternative to other brands in terms of labor?

I think the ignorance of other options. It’s pure laziness on our part as to why we haven’t investigated a little more into the claims of sexual harassment and stuff like that.

Right. I know a lot of people have issue with the way that guy in particular handles his marketing and how he treats his female employees and that the worker conditions overall are just very sub-par but those are just things that I’ve heard.

The advertising campaigns are soft porn pretty much, that’s something I don’t worry about or think about. I still think they’re a better solution than the other brands that are available.

Are you familiar with the brand Gildan? I’ve just recently heard that they’ve made a public statement that all of their clothing is made in a democratically run, union supported environment. Hellfish, the screen printing company from CA, who work with a lot of hardcore bands these days have supposedly confirmed that Gildan is in fact sweatshop free now.

Thanks for giving me something to chew on.

Two more things, first, the band BURN; are you a fan?

First 7” and live. Live in their original incarnation there was no better band.

Can you elaborate a bit on the first time you saw them or a particular time?

The first time I saw them was opening up for the Gorilla Biscuits in New Jersey and I was just astounded.

Had you heard them prior to that?

No, they were playing before the 7” came out. Revelation in the 80’s and early 90’s took forever to get shit out. There was a big joke that there were advertisement in Maximum Rock N Roll that would say “Out Now” but it’d be a year before the record actually came out. They were notorious for that. BURN was just astounding. They made stuff that was very punk yet very experimental. Their fast beats were like almost Discharge beats and then they would have these bludgeoning slow parts that weren’t thuggy and not really metal-y either, they were just kind of weird. And then these jazzy drumming parts that were like..the closest thing I can think of is like Sonic Youth or something like that. They were genius, they were super tight, super just pounding, pounding. When Alan Cage quit BURN to do Quicksand full-time I was very upset. They were an outstanding band and they were about something and the singer had real energy.

Were you ever a victim of one of his infamous stage dives?

No but I have to say that people say he invented the kickboxing dance which is a negative definitely. I saw them a lot back then, 90/91.

 I never saw them so I always try to talk to people about them.

They opened for GB and GB in the late 80’s and early 90’s were one of my favorite bands really but most of the time sounded like they hadn’t rehearsed in months.

Last one. I believe you went to the University of Michigan for college, is there anything that stood out to from that time period?

You know it’s funny because I used to get mad that none of my favorite hardcore bands from the North East came through the area but in retrospect I was really lucky because what was big in 1986, 87, 88 in Ann Arbor was Sub Pop and I got to see all those bands way before they were famous in a tiny, tiny room with a stage like a foot high. Saw Nirvana, Soundgarden, Tad, The Melvins, Dinosaur Jr. Sonic Youth all at this place called the Blind Pig which no way holds more than 200 people. Saw Poison Idea at a place even smaller than that. Saw a lot of cool shows. Saw Dinosaur Jr. like a dozen times before they were big. I saw Big Black in this coffee shop in the basement of one of the dorms, so I was really lucky. What I wanted to see was Youth of Today and the Gorilla Biscuits but they didn’t come through really and I didn’t have a car so I saw what did come through which was some pretty amazing music.

Is there anything about MI you remember? Was that your first time in the state?


No, my Dad went to Grad School there so he’d taken me to visit a couple of times when I was younger. I’ve been to Kalamazoo for a weekend; I’d been up North for a weekend to go camping. A lot of MI in the 70’s and 80’s was devastated economically because of changes in how manufacturing is handled. Detroit, Jesus, the city’s been in trouble for some time. I was always scared of Detroit. I went in to see bigger shows and to go to the Art Museum a couple times. Ann Arbor’s a pretty idyllic place. I rode my bike around and ate hummus, drank coffee.




Breaking the Ice

Welcome to my new blog! I will keep the first post short and sweet. Here is what you can expect from this blog; interviews with various people I find interesting, this will not be limited to members of bands but will also include people I know creating art and doing interesting things that I find worth talking about. In addition to interviews the blog will also feature record reviews of new and upcoming records. I haven't written record reviews in many many years and to be honest find the majority of them to be long winded and uninteresting to read. Rarely does a record review influence my decision to buy or check out a record. However my friend Ryan Canavan has been writing record reviews for years and years and I find his to be incredibly insightful and entertaining reads. I will literally read any review he posts and often find new bands I really like through reading his reviews. I feel like that's rare, at least for me. The first few posts will be old interviews I conducted many, many years ago that were originally intended for a new issue of my zine that I never published.

Thanks for reading and I hope you ind something you enjoy in the forthcoming posts.