Sick of it All - Based on a True Story

by Jason Walsh
photos by Helena BXL

(for Hails & Horns Magazine)

Four years have passed since the legendary Alleyway Crew from Queens have dropped a new collection of songs for anxious hardcore fans to devour. “Based on a True Story” marks SICK OF IT ALL’s second collaboration with Danish producer and engineer Tue Madsen, who first worked with the New York Hardcore legends on the 2006 “Death to Tyrants” LP. This is SOIA’s ninth full-length studio endeavor and harkens back to the roots and fury of the underground movement from which they came some quarter century ago. From beginning to end, “Based on a True Story” is a relentless, full-on assault that captures the true nature of one of the five borough’s greatest hardcore outfits. Heavy, destructively fast, and menacing, it again proves SICK OF IT ALL remains at the top of their game.

New modern-day anthems emerge from the current release, like “Dominated,“ “The Divide,“ and “Lowest Common Denominator,” continuing to cement the band’s impact as an immovable force in hardcore. “Based on a True Story” is just what old-schoolers needed to fuel the fires of yesteryear, while the next generation of upstarts have a chance for a history lesson in what is the standard for NYHC.

I had a chance to talk with frontman Lou Koller, just back from Denmark, where they recorded the new album at Starstruck Studios in Copenhagen. Koller explained how they came to find themselves tracking in the darkness of Scandinavian winter, the future touring of the band, and the imminent arrival of his firstborn.

JW: How are you doing tonight, man?

KOLLER: Pretty good, pretty good.

JW: And how are things going for the band right now?

KOLLER: Uh, everything seems to be going really good right now. The album came out and it’s getting good reviews, and more importantly, all of our fans seem to like it. I have friends that peruse all the different hardcore, punk, and metal bars and they’re saying everyone is speaking well of it so I’m psyched.

JW: Well, that’s good, and it’s good to hear good things from people out there about something new that you put out. I’ve been a fan for a while and let me tell you, this new record hits hard. It’s one of the best things I think you guys have put out in a long time. You’ve got to be really proud of it.

KOLLER: Yeah, definitely, I mean we are proud of it. Back when we did “Death to Tyrants,” we thought we had to prove why we were going to be around. That was like our 20-year anniversary and we had to prove why we were still around and I think it took us in the right direction and we’re just going from there, you know.

JW: Tell me about recording this. You didn’t do this one over here in the States, did you?

KOLLER: No, we went to Denmark. We went to Denmark this time.

JW: And what made you decide to go there?

KOLLER: Well, we had done “Death to Tyrants” with Tue Madsen, we asked him to come here to New York and we did it in Brooklyn. We were all real pleased with the whole result and the sound and he was telling us, “you know, if I was in a studio I was more familiar with, I could really do something…I could make it even better.” We didn’t believe him, but we were like, “sure, y’know, we want to work with you again when we get to that point, we’ll try whatever you want.” When we called him up to do the new record, he was like, “can you come to Denmark?” and he worked it out. For some reason, it cost us less for all four of us to fly to Denmark and we lived in the apartment at the studio, and it was cheaper than flying him here and putting him up in a hotel for a month.

JW: Right…so how long were you over there?

KOLLER: Like three-and-a-half weeks.

JW: So what was it like being over there? I mean, you’re not at home and everything is unfamiliar, and you’re trying to lay down this new stuff. What was that like?

KOLLER: What was good was that it was November, so it was winter and winter over there is very dark all the time and it rained a lot, so we had really nothing to do but concentrate on the record. We’ve been through Denmark a lot and there’s clubs that we’ve played there that we love, but just because of the fact that it was so dark and raining all the time, we concentrated and got the stuff done really fast.

JW: So did that dark and somber mood kind of lead into this record?

KOLLER: (laughs) You know, inside the studio it was more lighthearted. We just wanted to get it done because we were really psyched about the songs we had written and when we sent the demos to Tue, he loved them. He was like, “yeah, I think this is some really strong stuff,” and it all just clicked in there. You know, the darkness outside…I think it was more of the fact of just staying in and recording as opposed to recording here, where when we were doing stuff in Brooklyn, a lot of friends dropping in, which is good but then it kind of takes you out of the moment. Some of the guys would be looking at their watch, like “well, I’ve got to leave to beat traffic home.” There, it was all just hanging out and recording the record.

JW: So, you guys were kind of captured.

KOLLER: (laughs) Yeah, yeah. But there was cool stuff going on, too. We were all walking to the supermarket one night, and Tue points at this apartment building right around the block and he goes, “yeah, that used to be the studio (formerly SWEET SILENCE STUDIOS in Copenhagen) where METALLICA recorded ‘Ride the Lightning’ and ‘Master of Puppets’” and we were like, “oh, man, y’know, that’s like history right there.” The producer, what the hell is his name (FLEMMING RASMUSSEN), he produced “Master of Puppets” and “Ride the Lightning.” He came in to talk to Tue one night when we were all recording and it was cool meeting him. That was fun, yeah.

JW: That’s very cool. So you were there, you got a lot done very quickly, and you had a pretty cool experience. Now, you’re back home, so where does SICK OF IT ALL go from here?

KOLLER: Touring. Promoting. Pushing. We’re really psyched. We’re really happy that people like the new songs. We’re really excited to play them and we did a small test run almost. We went out with AFI in England for about two weeks and we put three new songs in the set, one of which was released on our MYSPACE, and people just loved them. Even the two they didn’t really know, they really got into. So we were psyched about that, but now it’s just a matter of touring. The only thing is, instead of going out right away, like now we should be on the road, me and my wife are having our first baby in the next couple of weeks actually.

JW: Wow…

KOLLER: Yeah, yeah, y’know, because Armand, our drummer, has been through it twice already. We’ve taken the first month after the album, we’re just flying out and doing some festivals in Europe and then a couple shows on the East Coast, and then more towards the middle of summer, we’re going to start doing like the West Coast and all that, you know. Come fall, it’s full touring all over the world again.

JW: Very cool, but first and foremost, congratulations.

KOLLER: Thank you, thank you.

JW: So you’ve got to be a little nervous and racked right now. You’ve got this new record out, and you have all this stuff you need to do, but you’ve got a baby coming, dude.

KOLLER: Yeah, that’s the only thing that makes me nervous. Everybody’s like, “all you’re having a kid, it’s your first one,” and you know what, my wife’s really smart, y’know, I’m not worried. She knows everything about it, she’s read every book, done everything, all the research. I’m not scared around babies. The only thing we’re trying to do is, we live in a one-bedroom apartment, we’re just making room, y’know, and that means getting rid of a lot of stuff that I love, but you gotta do that (laughs).

JW: Hey, you know Lou, that’s what storage facilities are for.

KOLLER: Exactly (laughs).

JW: That’s very cool. So, coming into the year, you’ve got to get through all this, y’know, what you have going on in your personal life and all, are you planning on going out on the road with anybody? Is there anything set up right now or are you guys just waiting to see what happens before you start booking anything?

KOLLER: There’s stuff in the works…what stinks is that a lot of bands that we wanted to tour with that wanted to tour with us, like the guys in MUNICIPAL WASTE, they just finished touring on their last record in the States. But, we were talking to the singer and he has a hardcore band (NO FRIENDS). They’re really good. They’re like a harder-edge DAG NASTY and we’re thinking of taking them out on some our East Coast dates. THE CANCER BATS just released a record, but they’re on a bunch of bigger tours. Just a different band that we’d like to tour with. We have stuff in the works for the fall. I know Europe, we’re probably going to go with…EVERGREEN TERRACE I think is one of the bands that’s been talking to us, asking if they could go on the European tour with us. They’re a good band with a younger following, which is something we need to incorporate, y’know, trying to get more younger kids into the band again.

JW: And you know, it’s amazing. You guys have been doing this a long time and there’s so many generations of kids, adults, parents, hell, even grandparents, that are still going to shows. What’s it like still going out there after all this time, seeing the diversity of faces in the audience?

KOLLER: To me it’s amazing, because we have a big following in Europe, to see people who have been coming to our shows since we first went there in ‘92, bringing their kids and their kids are teenagers now and their kids are “oh my god, I can’t believe my parents know SICK OF IT ALL,” like we’re some kind of big rock band, y’know. To us, that’s amazing. The kids over there really get the band and we’ve done shows with all these young and up-and-coming bands, like BRING ME THE HORIZON. We played a show with them and when their fans actually stayed and watched us and MADBALL. We did a festival together in Holland and we had all these young kids at our merch booth, buying our shirts and all this other stuff. I was looking at the promoter who was at the festival and I go, “you see, if we could just mix these bands more, y’now, to keep it going.”

JW: And that’s just further proof that hardcore is going to live forever.

KOLLER: I hope so (laughs). I mean there’s so many good bands, young bands coming up, and you have, like this year, some of the older bands like MAXIMUM PENALTY put out a great record, KILLING TIME’S record was really good. You have new records coming out from MADBALL later in the year, and you know that’s always great.

JW: No doubt. No doubt. So, to people out there that might read this and haven’t had a chance to pick up the record, what would you say to encourage them to grab a copy and come out and see SICK OF IT ALL.



KOLLER: This is the record that I think we’ve captured our live essence, the sound and the power we have when we’re live. We’ve tried that for years and we’ve come close, “Death to Tyrants” was the closest. This one is definitely right, but ten times bigger. It just sounds bigger. It sounds like live and in your face and it encompasses all of SICK OF IT ALL. We’ve never shied away from being heavy and aggressive, but we also love, y’know, we grew up, also along with the metal stuff, we grew up loving sing-a-long punk stuff and Oi stuff, like SHAM 69 and ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE, stuff like that, and the MISFITS, and we put that in our sound too. I think what we’ve learned to do is how to weave all that together seamlessly where it’s not like, “ok, here’s the heavy song, oh, this is the sing-a-long song.” People won’t even notice when it goes in.

JW: Now my last question for you, Lou. All these years later, is this still fun for you?

KOLLER: Yeah. I always say if it’s not fun, I’m not going to do it anymore. And I mean, we’ve done it all from, we started off in van tours, then we hit buses, now we go back and forth, depending on the economy of the tour. We just did the tour with AFI through England in a van, and we had some eight-hour drives in the van. The funny thing was the way the van was set up, when we got to the airport, we opened up the doors and there were six seats, three and three facing each other. We looked at each other and climbed in and said, “well, either this will make us stronger or we’re going to break up after this tour because we have to stare at each other‘s faces the whole time.” And it worked, we had a great time. We were just cracking each other up the whole time.

JW: That’s great. So at the end of the day, there’s no slowing down SICK OF IT ALL?

KOLLER: Not yet, not yet (laughs).



“Based on a True Story” is available on Century Media Records. SICK OF IT ALL will be busy on the road the rest of this year supporting “Based on a True Story.” In September, they hitch up with STREET DOGS, DEVILS’ BRIGADE, FLATFOOT 56, and VICES for some dates in the Southeast, then link up with WISDOM AND CHAINS and THE MONGOLOIDS for some shows in the Northern U.S. and Canada. Following this will be runs in Europe, including the NEW YORK UNITED tour with MADBALL in October and the PERSISTENCE tour in December with EVERGREEN TERRACE, UNEARTH, SEPULTURA, and the long-anticipated reformation of Boston’s BLOOD FOR BLOOD.

Shortly after this interview, Lou and Melissa Koller brought Aurelia Josette Koller into the world. The hardcore legacy continues…



Hails & Horns article and stream of "Based on a True Story"



www.sickofitall.com

OLD MAN ARMY

OLD MAN ARMY

by Jason K. Walsh

Dedicated to Richard Alfrey Sr., Christian Walsh, and anyone else who inspired someone to drop in…

Every skater has a story of where it started, and in many cases, where it ended. For me, skateboarding began at a young age in the 70s, when my grandfather cut out a plank of lumber, bolted on some roller skate undercarriage, and took me atop a hill in Glendale, California. My christening was a push and the helpful advice, “hold on.” I crashed, got up, and climbed back up the hill. That’s what separates skaters from the rest of the world. They get back up again and climb the hill.

In my small world, skateboarding wasn’t a hobby or just something I liked to do. It was a lifelong obsession and part of who I was and what defined me. I was never good enough to consider it a profession, nor did I care. It was just something I did without thought, like eating, drinking, breathing. As time passed on and life became more demanding, as it does, I skated less and less, until one fateful night when a miscalculated frontside air spun my knee 270 degrees and tore my ACL beyond repair. In 1999, at 29 and now barely able to walk, skateboarding left my life. Loss…a part of me died. For a decade, I struggled to find myself without that void ever being filled.

It was my son’s 15th birthday, shoveling snow and breaking ice at a concrete public skatepark in the ghettos of Kalamazoo that skateboarding refound me. Showing my boy, who had now taken an interest in boardriding, how to carve on wet and treacherous transitions, I took a backside kickturn high on the slippery cement quarter pipe. That long forgotten feeling of momentum and motion was back, and in the dark, reckless corners of my brain, I thought, “I can grind that.” A couple runs later in the frigid Michigan conditions, I did. I’ve been hitting metal on metal ever since. I am the OLD MAN ARMY.

“We are a skater owned and operated business whose focus is on the older skater. We don’t claim to know dozens of professional skaters, nor do we care to. OLD MAN ARMY could care less about the name on the bottom of a deck. We have more respect for the old guys and underground rippers that are true to the roots of real skateboarding. Our goal is to unite the older skate crowd, the one’s who grew up when skateboarding and punk rock walked hand in hand. If you’ve had to spend an hour cleaning out a ditch or pool to skate for fifteen minutes before getting kicked out, or better yet, arrested, then the OLD MAN ARMY is for you. If you were skating parking blocks and park benches for hours on end and never got bored, you’re already a soldier. If you can’t stand the sight of a swimming pool full of crystal, clear water, then get off you ass and “join the army.” Our mission is to unite the lifers and soldiers of skateboarding. Other companies pour money into their designs with hopes of luring younger skaters into buying their products. Let’s face it, that’s where the money is. Chances are, if you’re 30 or older, you didn’t start skating last week. Let’s join forces and take back what belongs to us. We are the few, the proud; we are the OLD MAN ARMY! 30 TO LIFE.”
-Mission Statement/ Company Profile, OLD MAN ARMY

During the 90s, with the fall of the corporate giants in the skate industry and the rise of the “independent” company, anyone had the opportunity to start their own line of boards. However, as time continued to pass and skateboarding progression evolved technically, the boards got smaller and the “DIY” companies became corporate again. Skateboarding is now a billion-dollar entity, a far cry from the early days when some hooligans from Venice were first charging backyard pools. Now, the new designs shooting out of assembly lines and warehouses are tiny, freestyle-sized decks, which does absolutely no good for the bigger, more aged rider.

Enter OLD MAN ARMY. Long time session friends from Arizona, Brian Bullis and Mike Furst, decided to turn their crew’s nickname, derived from the derisions by younger groms at their favorite local spots, into their own company. Catering towards the more antiquated shredders, their board designs are bigger, their products more appropriate and functional, and their message of soul is on point. OLD MAN ARMY is for the 30+ crew. I had a chance to talk with OMA veteran, co-owner, and founder Bullis about how the Army was formed.

I’m going to start at the beginning. When did you get into skateboarding? When did you find skateboarding, or when did skateboarding find you?

Skateboarding kind of found me in like ‘79 or so. I went to a bowling tournament with my parents in Germany and there was a guy doing a demo on the roof of the building and I just kind of discovered it by watching him. It was kind of like a barrel jumping type thing, you know, just stuff like that. I got my parents to buy me a board that day and that was pretty much the birth of that for me.

Have you been riding ever since?

You know, I was riding like down the street to school and stuff but I wouldn’t say I was a skateboarder at that time. Until I moved to Arizona in ‘79, and then I kind of started picking it up a little bit, like in the early 80s.

Very cool. But up until this point now, have you been riding pretty much continuously ever since ‘79?

Yeah, pretty much been riding ever since then. Once I got the feel of it here, you know. In Germany, it was a different situation, but here people actually skated and kind of getting into it like that.

Tell me about how OLD MAN ARMY came about?

OLD MAN ARMY started as just a bunch of guys going out to the park, constantly being the oldest guys out there. All the kids would always call us the “old guys” or “grandpas” or whatever and that was in like ‘99, so we weren’t really old, but as far skating goes, I think you’re getting old once you get into the late 20s (laughs).

How did this turn from being the crew at the skate park, or wherever you guys were going to, to an actual company?

It was kind of like everybody was always interested in it, like, “oh, cool, OLD MAN ARMY.” Everybody wanted stickers and shirts and shit like that and everybody wants it for free. My partner Mike (Furst) finally convinced me to just try to make a company out of it and put out more boards, put out more stuff, create a website, and all that crap that goes along with it. So, it was pretty much Mike that kind of the only one who expressed an interest and was willing to shell out a little bit of money to get this thing going.

When did you guys start it up?

Started about five years ago I’d say. 2005.

Now the thing about this company, myself being a 40-year-old guy whose son got me back into skating after a bad injury ten years ago, I’m out riding with him, finding myself doing a kick turn, then a grind, then looking up skateparks and finding terrain to ride again, ditches on the side of the road.

I see a lot of that.

So, the thing about this company that’s appealing to me and people like me is the fact that it’s geared towards the older skater. They’re not the little toothpick decks that progressively the skate industry only puts out now. You guys put out stuff for the older guys. Tell me about that.

Yeah, we’re geared towards older guys. You know, we like to try and put a little bit of soul back into it. It seems like a lot of it got sucked out when it all turned into “popsicles.” By no means are we limited to old guys. We got some younger guys that are into it as well. We just wanted to try and get back into doing some little bit older style shapes that are still functionable, you know, with the nose and stuff like that. We’re just trying to keep it fresh and a little bit kind of unique, as opposed to just the standard “popsicle” stuff. Trying to do some wider shapes, trying to bring back good graphics, and we’re just trying to keep it going.

Five years down the road, has this been a fun project for you guys?

Oh, it’s been the best. It’s our passion. I still got to go to work and shit but I come home every day and look at my emails, check out the website, and just try to keep in touch. Like I said, it’s my passion.

One of the things I did notice about the website is your forum section has a huge following. There’s tons and tons of people on there, corresponding back and forth about skating, selling gear, whatever.

Yeah. It’s bringing a lot of people out of the woodwork. It’s kind of a community, you know. It’s more than just a company. Of course, not everybody on our site rides our boards and everything, but the site brings a lot of people out.

Now you’ve been alive for four decades now, it’s 2010, in the next ten years, man, do you think you’re still going to be doing this?

I’m going to do it as long as I can walk, man. I want to continue to do it. I’ve blown both my knees, broke some ribs, fractured shit here and there, rolled my ankle last weekend…still went skating this weekend. It’s just something that I’m going to do, you know, until the wheels fall off.



Anyone who remembers Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Stacy Peralta, and the Z-boys contribution to skateboarding is of the OLD MAN ARMY. Anyone who was stunned the first time they watched videos of Tony Hawk and the Bones Brigade is of the OLD MAN ARMY. Anyone who’s swept a ditch, built a ramp, or scoped parking lots, industrial complexes, and backyards while driving around is of the OLD MAN ARMY. Anybody who gets back up again and climbs the hill is the OLD MAN ARMY.

www.oldmanarmy.com

CEREMONY

by Jason Walsh

For the past few decades, the Bay area has a long standing tradition of spawning original and memorable punk and hardcore bands, and as time has grooved along, the sound has transformed as well. CEREMONY is one of those bands that infuse these different styles and influences, while making their voice unique and ultimately their own. Formed in 2005 under the name VIOLENT WORLD, the guys from San Francisco’s suburbs have put together an impressive collection of music to date and made quite a name for themselves. “Rohnert Park,” their third full-length release, drops this June on Bridge 9 Records, and sees the band continuing to experiment with phrasing and elements rather than cranking out clones of their previous efforts, “Still Nothing Moves You” and “Violence Violence.”

As word of mouth spreads, certain bands begin to experience more appreciation, which in turn creates more responsibility. The rigors of recognition can take its strain as a once beloved project with roots in a garage transforms into an all-encompassing entity. I had a chance to talk with CEREMONY frontman Ross Farrar about the new record, “Rohnert Park,” how it was influenced by their hometown, and how as time moves along, things continue to change, but not necessarily for the better.

Tell me about this new record you guys have coming out on Bridge 9 Records.

It’s called “Rohnert Park” and the title of the record is the town that all of us grew up in. It’s a small town, 45 minutes north of San Francisco. It’s a suburb and since most of us have lived here our whole lives we decided that it could be a good title for the record. Most of the stuff that we’ve done thus far has been about Rohnert Park pretty much.

So what is about that area that’s special for you guys and the for the band?

Well, that’s the weird thing about it. It’s not special, per se, it’s more of something that we’ve kind of loathed for a long time. Growing up here, there wasn’t much to do and pretty much hated growing up here. But now that I’m getting older and I had to move back to Rohnert Park from the city, I’ve kind of figured out that I actually like living here. It’s quiet, nice, and just now recently I’ve found the pleasure of living in the suburbs. I used to hate it but now I like it.

That seems to be a classic ongoing theme, in a lot of punk and hardcore bands from back in the days, talking about growing up some where that you hated and when you finally went on the road, went to the big cities and all that, you kind of return to that place and realize, “hey, it wasn’t that bad to begin with.” The alternatives can be worse.

Yeah, definitely. Before I moved back to Rohnert Park, I was living in West Oakland and it was really crazy. The neighborhood I was living in, there was shootings happening all the time, a house burned down right next to me, just all kinds of crime, violence, terrible shit happening all the time. So, when I moved back to Rohnert Park, it was kind of like a breath of fresh air again.

And it’s funny how you draw inspiration from this place that you didn’t really like but now it seems it’s come full circle for you.

Yeah, definitely. I didn’t think it was going to happen like that but a lot of the stuff I’ve been doing lately, a lot of the writing and all that, is kind of a muse for Rohnert Park, just growing up here.

So what drew you to music? How did you get involved in music?

I got into music because of punk and hardcore. I wasn’t into music before that. I’d kind of listened to, I don’t know, bands that my friends listened to or my parents or whatever it was. About a year before I got out of high school, I met these kids that were into hardcore and they started taking me to shows and that’s when I started getting into music. I think that was in 2001, 2002, and right after that, about a year after I got out of high school, I started some bands. Started a band called HAMMER TIME, and then a year after HAMMER TIME I started CEREMONY and just been doing that ever since.

What is it for you about performing music, writing music, and going out and playing music…what about that calls to you? What makes you wake up in the morning and go, “Man, I love doing this. I want to keep doing this?”

Well, that’s the thing. I’m not too sure about that because I still haven’t figured it out. When we started CEREMONY it was just a little punk band from Rohnert Park and we were playing shows and things started to escalate from there. And as far as it being my passion or thinking about it when I wake up in the morning, I don’t really do that because I have so much other stuff that I’m going through and dealing with right now, and we haven’t really been doing much as a band lately. We just finished the record, we haven’t been touring, we haven’t really done much. We’ve only done that AFI tour and that was for two weeks but besides that we haven’t really been doing much lately. As far as what drives me to do it, as of right now, just doing it because it’s all I’ve been doing for so long now. I’ve been doing it now for about six years so. It’s kind of weird.

So is it not fun for you anymore?

No, it’s still fun for me but it’s not the same. It’s not the same as when I first started doing it. It’s gotten bigger now, we’re doing bigger stuff, things are more demanding. It’s not as fun as it used to be. It’s still fun but it’s a little more daunting now than it used to be.

So is it just you’ve been doing it a while, you’ve got kind of a bigger following, bigger reputation now, do you think that’s taking away from when you guys first started? You know when you guys first started, you were like, “we’re going to start a band…we’re going to have fun, have a good time doing this,” and now you guys are at a different point in the band’s career. Is that possibly what the problem is?

Yeah. It’s probably a mixture of that and like just being an asshole. A jaded little asshole. Yeah, it’s been a long time and I don’t really know what’s going to happen next. We just wrote this record and we’re going to tour on it and then probably fucking happen again and again or maybe not. I don’t know. Kind of one of those things that I’m not too sure about I guess.

So have you had a chance to go through the record, now that it’s finished, listen to it top to bottom? What do you think about it?

Well, whenever we record a record, there’s always a lot me listening to it over and over again, trying to figure out if I like it or not, and with the new record I would say there are parts that I like but like anything else, I’m still unsatisfied with it. After I listened to the record, I feel like there could be more things I could have added. Could have made things better. But all in all, I feel like it’s pretty good.

The record comes out in June. Before that happens you guys have a few shows in California and then you guys are heading over to Korea and Japan. Tell me about that.

Well that’s an interesting story because one of our friend’s band has been to Japan numerous times. A lot of people have gone there and said, “hey, why aren’t you guys going there, what’s going on?” We’ve had a problem with that for a while because we put our record out on a label in Japan. There’s only two labels in Japan that put out the hardcore records and one of them went under. That was the one we put our record out with so we couldn’t tour because the guys that put out the record also bring the bands over. So he was out of business, he wasn’t doing tours anymore, and since there was only other guy out there that was putting out American bands and bringing them over, we were kind of screwed in that situation. So, we just now got hooked up with they guy who does tours in Japan so this will be our first time going there. It’s really exciting.

I was going to say, this being the first time, have you ever been over to Asia before?

Defintely not and I fell like it’s going to be a definite culture shock for me. I’ve heard lots of crazy stories about Japan and it’s going to be interesting to say the least. I’m going to bring my camera and take lots of pictures. I think that’s my biggest concern at this point, just taking pictures when I get there.

And that’s good because you’ll have those memories when you come back, this being the first time you guys go over there together. It will be cool. I think it will be a good experience for you and hopefully a good tour for you.

I know. I hope so.

After that the record releases and you have some East Coast dates. Who are you going on the road with that, do you know?

Not really sure yet. We might go with a band called PUNCH which is also from the Bay area, a punk band. Besides that, I’m not really sure. As far as East Coast bands, I’m not sure who we’re going to be touring with yet. I have no idea.

So do you guys still do a lot of shows in the Bay area?

We haven’t been doing any shows because we’ve been doing the new record lately. I guess the plan is not to play any shows until the new record’s out. That’s been a long process to say the least. We haven’t put out a new record in about a year and a half, so we’ve been playing shows here and there, but as far as playing a ton of shows, we definitely haven’t been, which would be good. We’re actually are going to be playing a kid’s 18th surprise birthday party. It’s going to be fun. I guess he’s a big fan of CEREMONY, it’s like one of his favorite bands so we’re going to show up at his house before he gets there and as soon as he comes in, we’re going to start playing. That’s the consensus right now.

18th birthday party, you guys are just going to crash his party and play a show. This is going to blow this kid’s mind.

Yeah, he’s going to be really pumped about it hopefully.

Very cool. Like I said the record comes out June 8th, you have a lot going on. What would you say to people out there that read this, why should they check out the new record from you guys?

Well, the biggest reason I think is just to hear it because it’s much different than anything else that we’ve put out so far. There’s all kinds of weird things on the record that people wouldn’t expect. We have about three interludes that are tied to each other in a certain way. I can’t let it out yet but they’re tied out in a certain way. You’ll find out. And, it’s not as fast and aggressive as the other records. It’s more punk, verse-chorus-verse-chorus-esque songs. There’s also some mellower songs. Even mellower than punk verse-chorus songs, if you can imagine that.

KILLING TIME

by Jason Walsh

One of New York’s greatest hardcore bands is back after a long overdue hiatus with a new album that brings the roots of the old school back to the forefront. “Three Steps Back” is the third release from Killing Time, but it has been fourteen years since their last offering, “The Method.” Even further down the timeline was the band’s debut, their most respected and remembered album, the classic “Brightside,” which further showed the NYHC movement’s progression as the 80’s wound to an end.

Killing Time, which began initially as Raw Deal, spawned from the remnants of two of the city’s classic outfits, Token Entry and Breakdown. Anthony Communale was the frontman from Token Entry that joined forces with the core members of Breakdown: Carl Porcaro, Rich McLoughlin, and Anthony Drago. Over the past few years, Killing Time began playing shows again and feeling the energy and passion of the music that lay dormant for far too long. Mutually agreeing to continue the band further, the guys have put together a full-length of all new material, the 12-track shotgun blast of sound entitled “Three Steps Back.”

The record is the music of the streets…of New York. Blending all the five-borough elements with the older, nostalgic influences of the style, “Three Steps Back” is truly a walk back to when NYHC music was of a higher caliber. With the new collection of hard-hitting tracks out on Dead City Records, Killing Time has been busy this year, with the release party in Brooklyn in February alongside Vision and Ensign, as well as dates with the Cro-Mags along the Eastern Seaboard. The future of the band, in this case, depends on its core members. They’re not into it for the money or record deals or whatever other jaded promises corporate music execs might dangle to performers. They are in it for its truth, and the camaraderie of good friends making great songs that people will get. When it is no longer fun, Killing Time will most definitely cease to be.

I had the opportunity to talk with drummer and lyricist Anthony Drago on the rebirth of one of New York’s finest.

First off, how are you doing? A new year...things going good?

Things are going good. I’m psyched that the new album is finally out
there. It’s been a big part of my life for the last two years and for
that whole time I’ve been dying to have people hear it. I’m extremely
happy with the way it turned out.

You guys have been playing together more actively over the past few
years. How did that come about and how has it felt doing it?

Carl proposed the idea of doing the reunion shows in 2005. It sounded
really good to me. At that point, we hadn’t played together in over seven
years. During that time, we would only see each other at weddings and
funerals, like relatives. I guess we all just needed some time away from
it for a while but I seriously fucking missed the band all of those
years. The 2005 shows helped us to realize that this band is a huge part
of each of us. In 2006, the band toured Europe and in 2007, we hit Japan
for the first time.

After you do a band that makes you happy and you enjoy doing, when all that stops, how hard is that for you afterwards?

It sucks. You miss writing songs and playing shows but most of all you miss your friends. We’ve had incredible times together. My friendship with everyone in the band is centered around the music. It’s the reason we all became friends in the first place and it’s the reason that we’ve remained friends all these years. We’ve all taken breaks from the band to take care of personal shit that needed attention but you do miss it like crazy.

And when you guys first started doing shows again, how did that make you feel?

I found it surprising that we were welcomed back with such enthusiasm in 2005. I mean, it had been seven years since we played together on stage. The first shows went so well and we were having such a fun time with it, it felt like we had never stopped. I’m glad everyone in the band felt the same way I did about moving forward. We figured we should ride this thing out until no one wanted to see us anymore.

Talk about putting this record together and why you guys decided to do
it now?

We agreed to write a new album while on tour in Japan at the end of
2007. We started the rehearsals right after the holidays. It was decided
that we would do it back in my folk’s garage which is where we all met
for the first time and where we wrote the “Brightside” album. The space
isn’t the most comfortable and the sound in the room is horrible but
there’s something about that room that brings out the best in us.

Where did these new songs come from and how did they come together?

Carl and Chris came to that first rehearsal ready to go. By the end of
that first practice, we had the beginnings of what eventually became the
tracks “Inheritance” and “Mingus” on the new album. Chris took over on
bass in 2006 and this was his first chance to write material for Killing
Time. He and Carl just started writing such kick-ass songs. All of it
was true punk influenced NYHC from the very start. What struck me the
most was how raw and uninhibited the music sounded. The music inspired
most of the lyrics that I wrote for the album, bringing out a lot of
things that I had been dying to say for a long time.

What are some of things on this record that you are proud of...some personal highlights?

“Flight Plan,” the opener on the album, really sets the tone. It’s a real kick-ass song that Chris wrote solo. It wasn’t long after we first heard it that we decided that it would be the opening track. With “24,” I think we definitely pulled off something out of the ordinary for Killing Time. It’s another one of Chris’s riffs. The song is very catchy and melodic. The lyrics and vocal lines all just seemed to come to me all at once because I was so focused on capturing one moment in time and Anthony pulled it off perfectly. Carl’s heavy riffs on “Spaceheater,” “Cropduster,” and “AKB” really add a darker side to the album. My personal favorites are probably “Mingus” and “Lookout.”

I listened to it the other day and it has that old classic NYHC sound
that isn't very present today in a lot of the younger bands out there.
Tell me about when it was finished, when you got to listen to it from
top to bottom, what it sounded like to you and where it might have
brought you to.

I think that each one of the songs is unique. Each one has its own
vibe, yet they all work well together. We were able to blend a lot of
our influences into this thing yet the result was genuine Killing Time.

What was it like returning to the old practice garage so many years
later? Was there kind of a strange vibe going back there?

The vibe in that room is “Let’s get to fucking work!” It always has
been. I’m glad the other guys agreed to use the space. We share a
certain mindset in that room and speaking for myself, it makes me feel
young again, at least for a little while.

With time, different genres and styles of music come and go. What is about NYHC that keeps it still relevant in this modern day and age? What is the draw of the music and lyrics that continues to inspire people?

It pretty much boils down to expression and acceptance. The music may change as certain influences become more predominant but it’s the lyrics that really set it apart. I don’t think there’s any better scene for self expression and no other audience that is more accepting and open minded. I’m mostly drawn to its honesty and energy.

Lastly, what would you say to someone, who might not be familiar with
Killing Time, of why they should check out the new album?

If you don’t know about or don’t quite understand what NYHC is, this
may be the album that can explain it all.

LARRY AND HIS FLASK

LARRY AND HIS FLASK
forward by Melissa Jones
interview by Jason Walsh

Six guys from Oregon take the stage in Norfolk, Virginia. It’s safe to say most of the people living in Hampton Roads have not seen these fellas and really don’t know what they’re about. But, Larry and his Flask surprised us. They were the first of two opening acts at the Dropkick Murphys concert at the NorVa. Usually during opening acts, concert-goers are seen socializing and drinking as they wait for the headliner. This was not the case with this band. As soon as we heard, “Hello everybody, we’re Larry and His Flask,” and the band started playing, the people of the NorVa stopped and listened.

Our ears heard a great combination of folk, punk, and rockabilly, with a splash of hip-hop coming from their voices and instruments. It’s truly refreshing to see a band that combines a banjo, trumpet, and mandolin with hard rock voices. Watching Jamin and Jeshua Marshall, Ian Cook, Andrew Carew, Kirk Skatvold, and Dallin Bulkley rock out on stage is incredible. These guys have full beards and jump around like crazy people. They play hard and anyone who gets to see and hear them live on stage can feel it.

It’s amazing that these guys started out as a three-piece punk band in a garage. They’ve expanded to a sextet playing on the streets of Redmond, Oregon, their hometown. And now, they’re touring with Dropkick Murphys.

AMP contributor Jason Walsh had a chance to catch up with Ian Cook shortly after the tour began and talk about this unexpected turn of events for LARRY AND HIS FLASK.


JW: Where you at right now?

IAN: We are in Kansas City, my friend. Beaumont Club tonight.

JW: That’s a good place. I used to live in Missouri. That’s a good place for shows. Are you excited?

IAN: Yeah, super excited. It’s the first time we’ve been here, playing this place. It looks awesome.

JW: So tell me about the tour with DROPKICK MURPHYS. You guys kicked it off in Norfolk, Virginia back in February. Has it been a lot of fun?

IAN: It’s been exciting, man. It’s one of the hugest things I’ve done so far. We’re all just super stoked. The whole time we’re like freaking out, kind of like this little band of kids in this big wide world. It’s kind of crazy for us and it’s been so amazing. Everybody’s been super nice and it’s been a better tour for us to be a part of.

JW: So how did you guys get hooked up with this tour?

IAN: We actually got a chance to open up for DROPKICK when they came through our hometown in Oregon. We were like one of the only local bands that got a chance to try and open up for them on their tour. They ended up really liking it a lot and we got hooked up with doing the tour through that pretty much. The band really liked us and they were doing this St. Patty’s Day tour. The timing just worked out perfectly, I suppose.

JW: I talked to Al Barr about a week before the tour started and I saw Strung Out was on the tour but I had to ask him, “who is LARRY AND HIS FLASK?”

IAN: (laughs)

JW: He was like “I don’t really know,” but then he told me how you guys had played with them before and how they liked what you guys brought. So how did this all start for you guys. I read you guys started off as a three-piece punk band and it kind of evolved into what it is now. Tell me how that happened.

IAN: We were all pretty much just high schoolers. Just kids playing like, you know, punk rock in our parent’s garage. We started just playing a lot of shows around the area when we were growing up and it just kind of evolved over the years. We got more members after a while and then it turned out, about a year and a half ago, the drummer that had always been our drummer and a really good friend just decided he didn’t want to play anymore. We lost our drummer and then we’re kind of like, “well, what the hell are we going to do? We didn’t know where we’re headed now.” We always had been kind of more interested in roots style music and more acoustic stuff, so we just broke it completely down and just went completely acoustic. We even started off, like no amps, no electricity, nothing. Just a band on the street, a house party, wherever you need us. We just kind of built it from there in the last year-and-a-half and started just getting amped up and plugged in and then starting over, pretty much from scratch. It’s just kind of turned into this six-person crazy hillbilly jamboree now. It’s a wall of sound.

JW: I checked out some of the songs and the songs are great, but watching the videos of you guys on the street corners. I looked at this and I thought these guys look like wild hillbilly pirates that escaped from the insane asylum, just tearing up a street corner. I’m sure people on the tour are digging what they’re seeing.

IAN: (laughs) The response to it has been, well, we really were like kind of holding our breath about it, you know? We weren’t sure how the audience was going to take it and it ended up just great. Everybody loved it, seeing a bunch of huge beards jumping around being a bunch of assholes on stage. It’s pretty nice apparently.

JW: I’m glad you guys are having a good tour and people are digging what you’re doing. This is the tour DROPKICK MURPHYS do that leads into Boston for their big week, the St. Patrick’s Day mayhem that’s up there. Do I have this right. Are you guys going to be doing some recording for your first release when you get to Boston?

IAN: I believe so. We’re working our way toward doing it right now. Like kind of gaining momentum and the funds necessary to make that happen. We’ll see how it turns out. We’re all really excited to get some new stuff recorded and kind of solidify ourselves as a band, because we don’t really have a formal recording. It’s just kind of a hodge-podge of self-recorded stuff and random jam sessions. A lot of videos and stuff like that, but nothing formal, so we’re all really excited that hopefully that works out.

JW: When you first started playing punk rock songs in a garage and just being real loud, did you ever-ever-ever think that you would end up doing what you’re doing now?

IAN: No…well, I could definitely say that I’d would never think that band, turning into what it is now. At that time I wasn’t even a singer in the band. I was just the guitar player. Jamin (Marshall) who is our drummer now, he was just the singer, just jumping around going crazy, screaming his ass off. I would never have guessed it would have evolved into something like this at all.

JW: After this tour is done, you’ve got some other dates coming up. What’s the rest of the year hold for you, aside from trying to get some recording done.

IAN: Umm…I don’t know. It’s like we’re standing on the edge of a precipice right now. When this tour gets over, it’s kind of like an open slate and we’re going to see what comes of it. After we’re done with the DROPKICK leg, we’re going to tour back to Oregon ourselves. We’ve worked out a little bit of a tour all the way back home. Then after that, it’s just kind of…you know, we have a few dates here and there, but we’re going to see what happens you know.

JW: So for people out there, who might have missed you on this tour, and they happen to see that you’re coming to their town, what would you say to them to convince them to come out and see you guys

IAN: I’d say if you like having a good time, having a party, you know, we’re just down to do the same exact thing. If they like having a good time listening to some good music…we’re just all about getting down and hanging out, drinking, and having a good ass time.

http://www.myspace.com/larryandhisflask

INCITE: Max Cavalera

Words with Max Cavalera
Interview by Jason Walsh
photos by Helena BXL

A talk about his stepson Richie’s band INCITE and their new album “The Slaughter”

JW: How you doing? How’s the tour going?

MAX: The tour is going good, man. We’re in New Orleans. The tour is going great. Very good shows, the crowds going crazy, so it’s really good.

JW: The main reason I wanted to talk to you was about Richie’s new album, “The Slaughter” with INCITE. Tell me about the new record and how you feel about it.

MAX: Oh yeah, I’m very proud of it. I think they did a great job. Richie’s been monitoring music since we was really little, he was born into it. A music family that’s ours and he’s been singing since back in the NAILBOMB days, he used to come on stage with me with NAILBOMB, since he was very little. So, I’m very proud that he’s finally made a record that he worked really hard on. I really didn’t have much to do with it. I stayed on the outside. I told him as much as I can and took him on tour in Europe and America (with SOULFLY), but I let him do all the work and he’s got to find out for himself, you know, to do this kind of stuff.

JW: You toured with the band several times now and this is your family, but when you finally heard the finished product, how did you feel about it.

MAX: Really happy for him, you know. It’s a dream of his for a long time to make a record and he’s finally done it. So yeah, very happy for him.

JW: Now you’ve been in his life to see him grow from a boy to a man. What’s it like seeing him do his own thing now and how do you feel about watching him grow into this new person?

MAX: Yeah, it’s very cool. Like I say, one of the first times he had something to do with music was in NAILBOMB, when he came on the stage, and it was the biggest show NAILBOMB ever played, one of the biggest shows I ever played with 120,000 people and he came out with a guitar and did a little intro for one of the songs. I would be shitting my pants if I was that young, 7 or 8, and going out there and doing it. It was killer. My brother gave him a Mohawk the day before the show, shaved his head, and so, yeah (laughs). It was really good to see him through the years getting more and more into music until finally finding his own band and make his own music.

JW: Stepping back and watching what he’s doing, does it remind you of yourself when you were young and first starting out?

MAX: Yeah, but a lot of the stuff that he does like flyers, passing flyers at the shows, and getting contacts with bands, it was a lot of the stuff that I did back in the beginning, so that reminds me of me.

JW: I talked to Richie the other day and he’s on tour with you guys right now, helping you out, doing the merch stuff and all that. How important is it for you guys to keep this thing a family thing? In every aspect of what you guys do, it seems like you’re always surrounded by family.

MAX: It’s really important because we don’t know any better. We always have been this way because from the beginning, from me being married to Gloria, which is my manager (and Richie’s mother), we always work as a family on the road and we always brought our kids on tour with us and now we give them jobs. You know, they sell shirts now and my other son’s here doing the drums. It’s really good to see them working on the road with us. Our family is very important. It’s something that’s been with me. It’s important in SOULFLY, it was important in SEPULTURA when my son Zyon was born, there’s a photo session I took with his name tattooed in my knuckles. His heartbeat is actually the opening of “Chaos A.D.” I recorded that while he was still inside of Gloria, like in utero. So, yeah, family’s very important.

JW: So what’s the future hold for you guys? Where do you go from here?

MAX: Well he’s going to find his own tours. He’s already looking for it. He didn’t want to stay opening for SOULFLY all the time, so he has to find other bands to tour with and I think he will. Just going to keep working. You know I’ve got a new album to make after this tour, going to make the SOULFLY new album. I entered the studio in November and the album comes out this year (“Omen” releases May 4).

JW: Very cool. Any chance of a second release from CAVALERA CONSPIRACY anytime soon.

MAX: Yeah, actually we’re going to do some stuff and eventually make a new record but not until later. It’s something that’s not officially “when” yet, but it will come some time in the future.

INCITE: Interview with Richie Cavalera

INCITE - THE SLAUGHTER
A few words with Richie Cavalera about the new record.

by Jason Walsh
photos by Helena BXL

Founded almost six years ago by a young member of the Cavalera family,
INCITE’s early days was a fun project between friends. As the band progressed, so did the passion and drive for vocalist Richie Cavalera, who wanted to get serious and bring the band to the next level. Adding new members to the current lineup, INCITE is now a tight wrecking machine of speed and intensity. With some accomplished tours under their belt now, the band from Phoenix has released their debut full-length, “The Slaughter,” which is an amazing collection of great metal that will be blowing out speakers around the world.

Though only 24, Richie Cavalera is no stranger to the metal scene. His stepfather is the legendary Max Cavalera of SOULFLY and SEPULTURA. Richie grew up with music and Max and family have provided the perfect education for someone getting their own band together. Backed by Zak Sofaly on drums, Dis on guitar, and Marrufo on bass, these young, up-and-coming headbangers are getting ready to take over.

There is a lot of history in the SEPUL-SOULFLY-TRIBE, both good and bad. Richie’s brother, Dana Wells, was murdered in a “suspicious” and unsolved crime in 1996, the same year Max left SEPULTURA, the band he had begun with brother Iggor, in one of the biggest breakups in the annals of metal. From these ashes rose SOULFLY and a resurgence within the Cavalera camp as they healed. Then just a few years ago, brothers Max and Iggor Cavalera came together for the CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, the first time the two had collaborated musically since Max left SEPULTURA. The Cavalera family has continued to grow and now from this lineage comes Richie Cavalera and INCITE.

I had a chance to talk with Richie about the new album, how the family and Dana’s memory inspires him, and how far the band has come from their early beginnings in Arizona.

JW: So you got a new record out. Tell me about that.

RICHIE: Yeah man. Five years in the making, finally got to record “The Slaughter.” Just really happy, man. It’s exactly what I could have wished for in an album, man. The sound, the songs, the music, it’s all kick ass dude. I’m really fired up.

JW: I got a copy of it and I put it to the road test. For me, the best way of listening to a new record is to drive around in my truck and have it up real loud.

RICHIE: Hell yeah.

JW: And I got to tell you man, it’s the best metal record I’ve heard this year.

RICHIE: Fucking A, man, thank you. I like how you said the road test because I do the same thing. I have to drive around and listen to a new CD before anything. That’s killer, and I’m appreciative of what you said, man. That’s kick ass.

JW: Yeah, it’s good stuff. So, tell me about putting this band together. It started with friends and from what I’ve read that didn’t work out so you got some other guys to come together what the band is now. Tell me about these guys and where they came from and how this current lineup of INCITE came to be.



RICHIE: Yeah man, well the friend thing, you know, it was cool while it lasted. You just argued a hell of a lot more. People just aren’t as serious about what you’re trying to accomplish and it taught me a lot, which was cool. So when I started looking for my new members, I had a good idea of what kind of people I was looking for. Really just put my ear to the street, man, and hit up every friend that I had in music and asked them about bass players and guitar players, because that was really my struggle to find. I had a drummer in mind (Zak Sofaly) that I knew growing up and you know it wasn’t a close friend, but was an acquaintance so I knew he was definitely the right one. The guitar player, I actually found him on Myspace which you know, I don’t really like the whole networking shit but it saved my life in finding him. He flew out from New Jersey one day and never went home. It’s been killer, man. He’s one of the coolest people I’ve ever met and really surprised me to come out from New Jersey and just give up your life and really shows your dedication to what you’re trying to do. What more can you dream of than having somebody with that kind of dedication.

JW: And I tell you what, listening to the record, the one thing that I probably pulled out the most from it was the guitar lines. His name’s Kevin right, but he goes by “Dis?”

RICHIE: Yes sir.

JW: Man, he shreds.

RICHIE: Yeah. Yeah, he’s a trip man because he sent me this CD with thirty songs on it and it sucked, but there were thirty riffs that were real catchy and had real good substance to it. We brought him out and him and Zak really kicked it off, man. Dis wrote every riff on the album. He’s an amazing writer and player as well. I got really lucky with him, man. I’m really happy.

JW: We got to talk about growing up in the family you grew up in and just being surrounded by music since probably you can remember. What kind of experience was it like being surrounded by Max and the whole Cavalera family, making you become who you are today?

RICHIE: Yeah man, it really started from the day I was born. My mom owned a club in Arizona, you know, an original metal club. Really came around that, you know POISON used to play there, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM, Rob Hallford used to come by, and that was really what started our history in metal, you know. Gloria (Richie’s mom) started managing bands like SACRED REICH and ATROPHY. You know, there was always bands at the house, you know, always friendly and really getting me into bands like S.O.D. and the old school D.R.I. You know that was like my first love of music and then 1988, Max and Sepultura, my mom found them and it’s been killer having Max, you know. Seeing the things I’ve gotten to see and the bands and the music. I’m one of the biggest fans of it and to have every day be on tour or seeing a show or meeting a band that I was a big fan of when I was a kid has been very special for me. It gave me a great upper hand in the music scene to see what kind of crazy shit goes on and be prepared for it. I definitely look at it as a blessing for sure. I love every moment of it.



JW: What kind of influence did Max have on you when you decided you wanted to start a band?

RICHIE: Well, he was big because I would always be at the SEPULTURA practices, you know, like five-to-ten-years old, always playing his guitars, and he kind of noticed that and as time went along he started pulling me up on stage to play “Policia” with SEPULTURA. I was probably eight-years old, not knowing anything about anything, you know, just going out there headbanging and trying to look cool. You know, he’s really been there for me about music. I was really like his first son and always into music, always there for him to just talk about music. It was really interesting having him. He really helped me learn how to be on stage and carry myself well out there and I feel very lucky definitely to have that kind of teaching and inspiration in my life for sure.

JW: That’s awesome, man. So, I’ve got to ask you, man. When you were thirteen-years old, it was a really bad year. That was the year your brother died and it was also the year SEPULTURA split. I mean for a thirteen-year-old kid, who this has been his life up until this point, how did you cope with this? How did you get through and remain strong through that tough time?

RICHIE: It was crazy…because it was real puzzling, you know, because you’re so young. You don’t understand exactly what’s happening and they try to explain it to you, but you just…you really don’t get it, man, because like you said, something that’s been there your entire life. You know, having Dana really…we didn’t think about SEPULTURA as much because Dana, that was our main focus, really put everybody past, ok this is just a band, you know but this is life. It showed what was more important to us all. Music, you know, carries on. Max went and did SOULFLY and I think that first album was really an explanation of how our whole family was and what we went through during that time for sure. Because, even about two months after SEPULTURA broke up, my youngest brother Igor Jr. got diabetes as well. I mean it was just one disaster after another, man. You know it all happens for a reason so hopefully we’ll see the good out of it, you know.

JW: Did persevering through these experiences, I mean has that translated into your music and your writing? All the things that you’ve endured, especially during that period, can you find that in the music that you’re doing now?

RICHIE: Oh, without question, man. Dana was huge in my life. I definitely include experiences in my life in all my lyrics. I don’t let anybody in the band write lyrics because I want it to be from my heart and be something that means something to me that I’m talking about every night. Not just out there saying words that sounded cool together. It’s definitely part of everything I say in my songs. I have a song that’s actually a b-side on this record and it’s called “Absentee” and that’s actually for Dana. It’s definitely always in my life.

JW: Very cool. So, you guys have been hitting the road quite a bit with SOULFLY, but you just got back from a tour a couple months ago?

RICHIE: Yeah, we were in Europe, man. It was unbelievable. We got to do 57 shows with SOULFLY in 59 days. It was like the best training we could have ever had to really gear up. We did a bunch of tours with SOULFLY previous to that and it was more just getting our feet wet, kind of experiencing what it was like. That Europe tour was really like where we came together as a tight band and were really coming out there focused on what we had to do to take over. That tour was incredible to me, playing in front of three-to-five-thousand kids a night, it was just unbelievable to us. Great to get our name out there as well as learning the stage performance.

JW: And that’s the thing. On a tour like that, you’re hitting some pretty big audiences, especially being in Europe. They come out like crazy to see metal tours like this.

RICHIE: Hell yeah.

JW: Did you feel like you were getting in front of a lot more people than you would have expected if you were to hit the road in the States by yourself?

RICHIE: Oh, without question, man. We’d done, like I said, a couple tours in the States. We were always the first band and there would only be 50 people there but you know that never bothered us. We always felt that playing local shows, that if there was two people there, we were going to go out like there was ten-thousand people there. That’s one thing that’s cool with this band is that we don’t really focus on the crowd or how big the venue is. We know what we have to do and we go out there and do it, and I think that’s what is really cool about us, you know. If you see us in a small place or in an arena, you’re going to see the same INCITE show from us.

JW: Very cool. And back to the whole family thing, you’re going on tour and you have family all around you everywhere you go. That’s got to be a special experience for you all.

RICHIE: Yeah, for sure, man. That’s a big part of what we are, you know. It’s great to have those strong people around you that are there for you and there for the cause, not just there to make money or there to get attention or get a job out of you. Having the family is definitely something I’d like to continue with INCITE for sure. I mean I’ve really, really enjoyed my entire life, being able to be with my parents and being able to be with my friends. I definitely see INCITE doing a lot of that in our future too.

JW: Now that the album is out, what’s the plans with the band? You guys going to hit the road?

RICHIE: Dude, we’re going crazy, we want to hit the road so bad. We just got a booking agent and right now we’re submitting for every single tour there is. We’re just hanging back waiting for somebody to get some balls and take us out with them (laughs). We can’t wait, man. Worst case, we’re just going to hop in our van and do a whole west coast run by ourselves. Do some local shows with local bands just to get out there. Like I said, we’re going crazy just sitting.

JW: You have this thing you’ve put out, like you said five years in the making, and something you’re really proud of, but now you’re just waiting for it to hit people and I know the whole band is just itching just to go.

RICHIE: (laughs) It’s fucked up because…like I’m out here right now with SOULFLY and selling my merch as well as promoting INCITE, handing out flyers every night, and then we got my guitar player, who is doing Mark Rizzo’s guitar tech and we’re just going crazy every night having to watch bands and not being allowed to come out there and rip it up. It’s definitely been tough. It’s going to make us just that much more hungrier when we get to hit the stage again. I think it’s good and it’s bad, you know. We’ll learn to live with it.

JW: What would you say to the folks out there reading this? Why should they buy this record?

RICHIE: Man, go buy this record because it’s 24-year-old kids doing something that they love, playing music that they love, and not trying to recreate the wheel or copy every band. We’re just having fun and playing good ass music and I think people will really relate when they see us live or hear the CD. I think they’ll hear the vibe we’re putting out and know we’re not some bullshit. We’re here to stay and we’re here to fucking bring metal to every person on this Earth, no matter how.

INCITE will be doing two tours, some 50 dates, across the U.S. and Canada this year, first with SOULFLY and ROTTING CORPSE starting in March. Following this, the metalheads from Arizona are looking to head to Europe. Check them out when they roll into a city near you and grab a copy of “The Slaughter.”

CRISIS of CONFORMITY : Fistfight in the Parking Lot

REVOLUTION MOTHER

An interview with Mike Vallely
by Jason Walsh

New Jersey native Mike V has been one of the most recognized professional skateboarders for the past two decades, always separating himself from the pack through his aggressive, go fast, go big, try anything mantra. He has had a successful career, sponsored by Powell Peralta, World Industries, and in most recent times, Element Skateboards. He has been scattered across the pages of every major skateboarding magazines, finding his way into dozens upon dozens of videos, and filling skate shops across the world with his signature decks, clothes, and even shoes. However, there is a side of the hard-charging thrasher that many of his fans might not know. Mike has always had a deep passion for music.

It all began in 1984, when a young skate rat from Edison, NJ saw Black Flag for the first time at the age of 14. The show drastically changed him and his spirit for hard music never ended. In 2002, he formed Mike V and The Rats, an experimental hardcore project which fulfilled his desire to perform music to live audiences. It was three years later, with the band gaining positive reactions from crowds and Mike enjoying his role as a frontman, that he decided to take the idea to a more serious and focused level. With Rat’s guitarist Jason Hampton in tow, they brought in Orange County hardcore veterans Brendan Murphy on drums and Colin Buis on bass. Revolution Mother was born.

The band has spent the past four years, touring when they can, with the likes of Tiger Army, Bad Religion, Danzig, and Social Distortion, along with a European hitch with Funeral For A Friend. Revolution Mother has just released their second studio full-length, “Rollin’ With A Mutha,” which has a Rollins Band feel with crunchy, overdriven, heavy rock flavor. I had a chance to talk with Mike briefly about the new record and Revolution Mother’s plans for the year.

First off Mike, how are you doing this year? What's been going on with you?

Life is good. Our new CD is out. I'm very excited about it and I can't wait to get on the road and perform these songs. I'm skating and rocking. That's what it's all about.

Tell me about the new record "Rollin With Tha Mutha" It sounds great and harkens back to those glory days of early hardcore.

Thanks. Although, I don't see us as a hardcore band and I'm definitely not trying to harken back to anything, but the early hardcore days definitely had certain energy about them and a spirit that I feel I am and always have been plugged into and a purveyor of. Like I say on the record, I'm an old school motherfucker and I make no apologies for it.

What was the process of putting this one together and how was it different from the band's past endeavors in the studio?

We recorded the majority of the new album in our own warehouse studio in January of this year with Fred Archambault producing. Half of the record was written prior to setting recording dates and having a record deal (Ferret Music) and the other half was written days before entering into the recording process. This record is definitely way more focused than our last one for sure. We had a very clear vision this time of what we wanted to accomplish and we are very happy with the results.

What does the band have going on for the rest of the year?

We hit the road with Clutch in the U.S. in September and October and plan on being busy around the world for the next year or so supporting this thing. Our time is now.


Talk about your early introduction into hardcore as a youth in New Jersey? I read your first show was Black Flag in Trenton in 84. I'm assuming that was at City Gardens? What about that experience changed your outlook and how you perceived music afterwards?

Yep, City Gardens. My life basically began there at the age of fourteen seeing Black Flag. There was something about the intensity of the experience that has remained with me until this moment but also that show just made music accessible to me. Before that show, I dreamed of being in a band. After that show, seeing that band, made me actually do it. Black Flag was about action.

Why now at this stage in your life, is this something you want to do?

I'm not saying music isn't a rather new career choice for me after being a pro skater for over twenty years, but at the same time it was never really far from what I've always been doing in my skating and in how I live my life. I've always been more of an artist than an athlete. Music is a very natural extension of who I am. I don't see this as a stage in my life. This is my life.

More importantly, has this been a fun experience for you? Being older and wiser and a proven professional in skateboarding, has it been rejuvenating for you now at nearly 40 to be taking on this new challenge in life?

I'm young at heart. Always have been. Age isn't an issue, never has been. When I was 16 and skating with the top pros in the world or now at the age of 39 and skating with the top pros in the world , I don't sweat it. Never have. I just do what I do. I love life and I live it, all the way. If I wasn't having fun you wouldn't be taking to me.

Aside from the band, what does Mike V the skateboarder, the husband, the father, have going on this year?

Just living it all. There's no real division. No separate hats. Mike V the singer is Mike V the skater and husband and father and bad ass motherfucker. What you see is what you get.

Any last words?

Get the hell out of my way.

WRECK THE HALLS 2009

Street Dogs/Roger Miret and the Disasters/Stigma
by Jason Walsh
photos by Jez Beasley

As 2009 wound to an end, in a year that was one of the most difficult in recent times with a crippled economy that affected nearly all Americans, some of the underground’s greatest ambassadors came together for a December run of more than a dozen dates to spread seasons greetings to all. Street Dogs, led by Mike McColgan, headlined this jaunt that has become an yearly tradition.

“Usually, it’s an annual thing,” McColgan said. “We do an East Coast tour every December, which culminates with the final shows being in our hometown of Boston. We started it back in 2004 and we’ve tried to make it an annual thing every year. We’re really looking forward to doing the East Coast dates and the 19th and 20th in Boston. It’s just a good way to kind of wind down the year and all that. We always strive to give people their money’s worth, I mean especially nowadays when money is so tight. We never take for granted the hard-earned money that people spend to buy a ticket and when we put a lineup out there, we want to put a rock solid lineup out there.”



The tour kicked off in Houston on December 9, following the Street Dogs 20-date European run with Civet, still in support of their fourth full-length, “State of Grace.” Along for the ride on this ambitious bill will be Roger Miret and the Disasters and Stigma, side projects of Agnostic Front hardcore innovators Roger Miret and Vinnie Stigma.

“The real deal,” McColgan said. “Legends and forefathers and godfathers of punk rock, y’know. They’ve been good to us on the way up and we want to give back a little bit so that’s what that’s about, and we just want to give people a great package, y’know.”

Miret, who has fronted the New York Hardcore outfit Agnostic Front since the early 80s, found time in his always busy schedule to add his Disasters group to the roster after a request from a former collaborator and current Street Dog.

“Well, it’s been a while since the Disasters have done any East Coast dates so we decided we’d go do this tour,” Miret said. “Johnny (Rioux) had called us from Street Dogs, and Johnny used to play with the Disasters, and asked us to join the tour. Then, I suggested that we get Stigma to join too. The whole package came out great and we’re excited.”

Founding A.F. member and Lower East Side statesman Vinnie Stigma, who has played guitar alongside Miret for nearly three decades started a solo project, Stigma, this year with fellow Front bassist, Mike Gallo. This is the first time Stigma has set down the guitar and stepped to the microphone as a lead vocalist.

“First of all, I think I sing better than I play guitar, y’know?” Stigma said. “I love talking to the people and I don’t know, it’s just a different approach to everything. I pace it the way I see it and well, the music is different anyway so every show has got its own little niche to it, but I have no problem with that. I sing, I play guitar, tell a few jokes…I don’t give a shit.”

Stigma released his first full-length solo album in 2009, “New York Blood,” on I Scream Records. The idea came from an old friend while on the road with Agnostic Front and has turned into a beloved endeavor for him.

“One day I was on tour with Hatebreed and Agnostic Front, and Jamey Jasta put the idea in my fucking head and we ran with it from there,” Stigma said. “When we first went into the studio, we didn’t know what kind of record I was going to make. We thought we were going to make like a fun record, a joke record, a hardcore record. We didn’t know what direction we were going to go in. We just wanted to go for ‘shits and giggles,’ but we wound up making, y’know, a pretty decent record. Now we know we have a direction for our next album, you know what I mean? Now we know what we’re going to do.”

Stigma is also currently working on material for a new Agnostic Front record as well, which the band will look to record in the coming year and after all these years, making music is still something that keeps Stigma inspired.

“I’ve got like nine or ten songs of that already that we’re working on and I’ve got about six or seven songs for the next Stigma record. I can’t believe at my age, I’m still producing music. It’s who I am, but you do have to take it serious, like a job also because you want to make it right. You want to do it right. Sure, I love it and have fun with it, of course. That’s the idea, because if you don’t, don’t do it.”

The NYHC representatives joined the Street Dogs following a South American run with dates in Argentina, Chile, and Peru, and ten dates in Europe with Ignite. For Miret and Stigma, this stretch of shows will be the first time the two projects will be traveling alongside one another with their respective incarnations.

“Yeah, it’s actually the first time we’ve toured together,” Miret said. “We’ve played a couple shows together in Brooklyn for the Rumblers show (Miret’s Car and Motorcycle Club), but we’ve never toured together, which is something we’ve talked about doing. We’re going to incorporate a little bit of Agnostic Front to our set, togetherwise. Vinnie will come up and play a song with me and so will Mike, so there’ll be little moments of Agnostic Front which will be fun.”

While on the road, the Disasters were bringing along a sample of new material for fans at the shows to check out. This may be the first preview of the group’s fourth full-length studio release and long-awaited follow up to 2006’s “My Riot.”

“It’s a single, there are actually three new songs,” Miret said. “It’ll be with us on the tour. We’ve been working on a full-length album, which we’re kind of ready to record. We’re just getting everything together and then take it from there.”

Now that the Wreck the Halls tour has wound to an end with the close of 2009, Agnostic Front will be busy in the new year. As part of the 25th anniversary of the releases of their first records, “United Blood” and “Victim in Pain,” not only has the band released a remastered CD of these classics on Bridge 9 records, but they are returning to the original 1984 lineup in celebration of the milestone. Hardcore enthusiasts heading to the venues this year will see Rob Kabula and Dave Jones taking the stage alongside Stigma and Miret.

“We haven’t played together since ‘84,” Miret said. “This is the classic lineup together again doing vintage AF songs and some classics. We couldn’t be more excited to do this. 2010 starts off with Agnostic Front dates in January on the West Coast followed by Agnostic Front dates in all of April in Europe followed by Agnostic Front dates again touring in Europe and in between all that more Agnostic Front dates on different coasts. We’re going to be recording a new album next year too. I’m going to be a pretty busy guy.”

Agnostic Front won’t be the only band hitting the studio this year. Street Dogs will be heading to the Blasting Room in Ft. Collins, Colorado to start work on their fifth studio release. For McColgan, time spent creating and performing their music has been rewarding and exciting, and the ability to do it their own way has always been at the forefront.

“It’s been amazing,” he said. “We’ve always done things on our own terms and played whatever type of music we wanted to play and to be aligned with Hellcat Records has been amazing. We’ve worked on 25 new songs and we’re getting ready to go into the studio to make a new record. It feels really good. We just came off the heels of a successful European headlining tour and we’ve the biggest crowds we’ve ever seen over there. It just feels good to do what we want to do and play what we want to play and really not pay attention to fads or what’s hot and what’s not. We could give less than a fuck about that. We play, say, and do what we want and we take care of those who take care of us. We do it the old-fashioned way. We earn it. We don’t fake it, we take it.”

McColgan said the band has had a chance to try out some of the new material on fans and continued to do so throughout the Wreck the Halls tour. He felt the feedback on the tracks has been positive.

“We’ve been working some of the new songs in with existing songs and we’ve found that the response of the crowd has been really good. I mean, I think we’re returning to our roots with some of our stuff and playing fast and playing more aggressive. It feels good, y’know.”

Lastly, did the most recognizable guitarist ever to emerge from the NYHC scene make any New Year’s resolutions this year?

“I think I’m going to go back to the gym,” Stigma said. “I was supposed to go right now to the gym, but I’m going to go regular to the gym. I’m going to stop drinking and smoking. I’m going to take my vitamins and then I’m going to break it two days later. You know the routine. You’ve been through that before. I’m going to lose weight. I’m going to diet. I’m going to do all that, yo.”