TERROR

MORE STAGEDIVES IN THE MONITORS
A few moments with Terror from Los Angeles
by Jason Walsh

The fourth annual Black ‘n Blue Bowl in Brooklyn saw many of New York’s finest hardcore bands, both old and new, converging on Studio B for a day of organized chaos. However, with all the groups from the five boroughs, there was one who flew in to represent the West Coast scene. Terror from Los Angeles played a flawless set to a receptive crowd that nearly tore down the building.

”I think it’s awesome to be the only West Coast band that’s playing mainly with all New York hardcore bands,” said guitarist Martin Stewart. “I think it says a lot. It’s an honor to be asked to come all the way out here to play with all these legendary New York bands.”

Frontman Scott Vogel was excited to not only be playing the formerly dubbed Superbowl of Hardcore, but to be among some of his favorite bands as well as childhood heroes.

“Madball is my favorite band in the world,” Vogel said. “I’ve never seen Breakdown. Agnostic Front is very influential.We’re based out of LA, being so far from New York we don’t get a chance to play here that much. The weather’s great, everything is set up very smooth, they’ve got kegs of beer, and it’s my 35th birthday so what more could you want.”

Having played many big festivals, the guys said sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and something like the Black ‘n Blue Bowl could spin out of control very quickly. However, they tipped their hats to the promoters, saying that the guys really have the event under control.

“It’s crazy because it’s so professionally done, but done by people that do what we do,” Stewart said. “As professional as it is, it’s not just some big-time promoter doing this and that. It’s all run by, well, I wouldn’t call them kids, they’re definitely not kids, they’re all grown men. It’s people coming from what we all come from. They’re doing everything so perfect, so right.”

The Black ‘n Blue show kick starts Terror’s European tour with Ignite, Strung Out, and Death Before Dishonor. This marks their 9th time on the road in Europe and Vogel expressed that he enjoys hanging with his brothers and sisters across the water.

“I think one really cool thing about Europe is at a Terror show you still get skinheads, punk rock kids, drunks, hardcore kids, and straight-edge kids. You get a good mix. When I first started going to shows, that’s the way it was. Over here in the U.S. now you really don’t see that too much.”

Vogel said that the hardcore scene in Europe is still very pure and alive, something that sometimes tends to be lacking in the States.

“I’m not the judge and jury of what’s hardcore and what’s not, but a lot of stuff that’s labeled hardcore these days, I’m not attracted to it, I don’t understand it,” Vogel said. “Over there, I think, in Europe, they still really respect the roots of hardcore, the sound, and still support the older bands like Agnostic Front and Sick of it All. They do great over there and then in the U.S., bands that have never even heard of them that have been around for a year draw three times as many people as them, which is kind of odd to me, but it is what it is.”

The European tour has Terror seeing some destinations they’ve never played. One of those is Russia.

“I’m seen some videos and talked to bands that went there,” Vogel said. “They said it’s really, really crazy so we’re ready.”

Terror just finished their new record, “The Damned, The Shamed,” which will be released in June of this year. They were back in the studio with long-time friend and producer, Zeuss, who has also worked with the likes of Hatebreed and Shadows Fall. Terror also recently signed under a new label, Century Media, and are happy with not only the new home, but the new record as well.

“I can’t be more satisfied with it, but you hear that from everyone in a band when they record their own record,” Stewart said. “It’s not like they’re going to sit here and say ‘Yeah, we recorded a record. It sucks.’ We all think it’s awesome, of course. It was fun recording it.”

Vogel says that this is not just another Terror record and fans will have something to look forward to hearing.

“There’s definitely some elements on it that are going to catch some people off guard,” Vogel said. “I think people have Terror labeled as this straight up hardcore band. Every song sounds like A+B=C. There’s definitely some elements in there that are going to catch people off guard. I think it’s the first time we wrote a full record from start to finish. It’s an album, not just a bunch of Terror songs.”

A new term has evolved in the vocabulary of the hardcore scene. Vogel is well known for his on-stage antics and humorous banter in between songs. A website has arisen with tons and tons of these quips (www.vogelisms.com) and it was not only my obligation, but my duty to ask him what are “vogelisms?”

JW: Before I came up here, my friend Steve at Def-Star, made me check out this website, and I was clicking and clicking and clicking and just laughing my ass off. You know where this is going?
Martin: (laughing) Vogelism.
JW: Yes, sir, and I gotta tell you, the one that just killed me the worst was…
Scott: Gonna be not true. Whatever you’re going to say is not going to be true.
Martin: (laughing harder) You should let me answer this question.
JW: Maybe I should, but the one I saw I told it to people at my work and they didn’t get it, but it was “Hey sound guy, can I get more stagedives in the monitors?”
Scott: That actually is true.
Martin: That is a true one. I think I know him well enough to speak for him now.
Scott: Thank god.
Martin: It’s obviously not serious in any way but…
JW: I got that…but it’s kinda funny…Is it a fan site?
Martin: I still haven’t been able to find out who does it because I’ve wanted to contact them and submit some of my own. I’ve read a ton of them on there and some of them I don’t remember him saying and I don’t think he would say but I know for a fact that there’s been nights…well, four out of five of us in the band, we drink, sometimes before we play, and sometimes too much before we play, so there’s nights where it’s kind of cloudy of what went on throughout the set. It could be we’re reading them and not remembering that they happened. That could easily be the case.
Scott: There’s definitely certain things on there, just words I would never use, but I mean sometimes when we play we have a very serious vibe, sometimes when we play we have a very, you know, “have a fun time” vibe.
Martin: I think it’s cool. I think we could work with this person . I mean because someone could hear about it and check it out and maybe put like a banner for the new record up on there.
Scott: Get some money or something…
Martin: Yeah, maybe some money or copyright the word “vogelism.”
JW: Gonna be in the dictionary…

(Laughter ensues and the interview ends…Fade to Black.)

http://www.terrorhc.com/
http://www.myspace.com/terror
http://www.vogelisms.com/