Saturday, March 31, 2012

Posted by xjustinx | File under : , , ,
Nothing Stays Gold was a short lived band from Rhode Island that featured Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage) and Joe Cantrell, who previously played in Corrin together.  This EP came out on Devils Head Records, which was run by Toby of Aftershock, and has seemed to fly under the radar compared to the notoriety of some of Jesse's other bands.


Nothing Stays Gold - self titled
[1998 - Devils Head Records]
http://www.mediafire.com/?8vdxp8r9pz995s1
Posted by xjustinx |

In addition to the Thursday show for the Revelation 25th Anniversary weekend, Kiss It Goodbye will be playing a handful of shows up the West Coast immediately afterwards.

6/8 - San Fransisco, CA @ TBA
6/9 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
6/10 - Seattle, WA @ The Highline



Posted by Anonymous |

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Posted by XhcnoirX |
One of the distinctive styles/sounds of the 90s which is still quite popular these days, is the Clevo sound made popular by bands like Integrity and Ringworm, also referred to as Holy Terror. One of the current bands playing this ferocious and metallic style is Human Demise from the Netherlands. Because of these influences in their music, they also appeared on the 'Harder They Fall' Integrity tribute compilation from 2007. Starting back in 2004 with members from various bands, they've been going strong ever since. After several releases, their second full-length 'Of Wicked Men And Their Devices' was released recently on WTF Records, after a long delay.

This album contains 12 tracks (2 of which are instrumentals) and if you're into the Clevo/Holy Terror sound or 90s metalcore in general, you should check out this album and band if you haven't done so already. HD still sounds as vicious as ever, but have also evolved as a band and as musicians. Their 2 guitarists sprinkle around more leads than before, without going overboard, and the production is top-notch, it's very clear but also powerful. The vocals still have that Human Furnace-like rabid dog quality to them, which is a definite trademark of the HD sound. Musicwise, there's a great mix between almost chugga-chugga like riffs and more technical riffs, while the songs as a whole are songs indeed, and do not sound like thrown-together bits & pieces which happens all too often these days. And best of all, this is still awesome 90s-inspired metalcore, not metal with hardcore influences. The lyrics offer plenty of food for thought and are far from stereotypical, which is always good. The artwork also stands out immediately, which is something that gets touched upon in the interview below. All in all, this is one of the best albums I've heard this year.

You can download 2 tracks from the album on Human Demise's website.


I also asked guitarist Willem and singer Maurice a few questions about the band and this new release.

SITP: Could you give us a biography of Human Demise and maybe explain the influences of Human Demise as a band? You guys seem to have quite different tastes individually but it all comes together well with HD.
Maurice: In 2004 guitarist Paul, drummer Ivo and myself wanted to play metalcore in the vein of Integrity, Ringworm and Strife, because in those days there weren't many bands that played that style. After bass player Jasper joined us, Human Demise was born. We recorded a demo, played a lot of shows, released the EP "Whitechapel Demise", a split 7" with Worth The Pain, our first full length "The Odditorium" and of course our new record. In the first five years of the band we went through some line-up changes, but for the last three years the line-up has been stable. As a vocalist I am of course inspired by Human Furnace of Ringworm and Dwid of Integrity but also by Stephen Bessac of Kickback, Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation and Wrest of Leviathan. Most of the time I listen to a lot of doomy stuff, but I don't think these bands influence Human Demise, perhaps a bit of the dark atmosphere our songs are drenched in.

Willem: Indeed we all have very different tastes in music, ranging from Dutch folk singers to the well-known classical composers and anything in between. What we have in common are hardcore and metal, more specifically 90's era metallic hardcore. This provides a firm base from where we try different things. On "Of Wicked Men..." we have tried to come up with something more interesting by combining all of our individual influences and I think we succeeded. Not that we're forcing things in a specific direction, the music came quite naturally. The addition of Jeroen Koeleman on guitar has really helped this process take shape as he is a very diverse musician and open minded about trying new things. Some of your readers might remember him from his former bands Dead Rivers and Stockholm Syndrome.

SITP: What happened with this album? It was recorded quite a while ago and was originally planned for release last year?
Willem: We tried to come to an agreement with a label which in the end didn't have the time and resources to release our record. Unfortunately this took up a lot of time. Both parties came to the conclusion this wasn't working to our satisfaction so we parted ways on good terms. Our good friend Tim van Kleven of WTF Records had shown interest in our new record but always encouraged us to pursue a record deal that could bring our music to a greater audience. He had already done a tremendous job in releasing our first full-length "The Odditorium" and the split 7" with our Finnish friends Worth The Pain. We’re very satisfied with what he has done for Human Demise in the past, so working with him again felt very natural.

SITP: What inspired you musically and lyrically when you guys were writing this album?
Maurice: The lyrics I wrote for this album are inspired by different themes. For example "Raptio" draws parallels between marriage by abduction nowadays and the capturing of women in the Roman Empire. "Falling empires" is based on the collapse of the Greek and Roman Empire and the prognosis that the same will happen to the USA. "Scapegoat" is about the Buck Riders that terrorized the Kempen region in the Netherlands and Flanders in the 18th century. Innocent people were sent to jail, tortured and executed. Another theme we used that never gets old is organised religion. Both the fanatic side ("False idols vs. false altars”) and how the church in small villages still can have a huge influence on families that are living there ('Baptized'). Most of my lyrics are considerations of several topics, sometimes containing a mild form of judgment. My intention is get people to think about the topic and form their own opinion.

Willem: Despite the line-up changes we've been going through in the past, we've established a stable line up and of course our sound evolved with these events. More and more metal influences crept into our sound, this can be heard in a more thrashy guitar picking technique as well as an increase in double bass drumming. But these are only minor examples, the real influence lies in the atmosphere which is a lot more gloomy than on our other releases. In contrary to what Maurice said earlier I do believe everything you hear or experience influences your writing, be it on a conscious or subconscious level. The songs came to fruition in very different ways, that's why "Of Wicked Men..." is a lot more diverse. A song can start from a riff, beat, lyric or even a certain feeling we wish to put across. From there on there's a lot of arguing and trying different options before settling on the final result. Some of the lyrics were written by Jasper ("Godspeed", "V61.20") and myself ("False idols...", "Solitary death march" and "From bigotry"). Jasper took a more psychological and philosophical route with his lyrics, at least that's my interpretation, while my lyrics with the exception of "False idols..." are of a more personal nature.

SITP: Could you tell us something about the artwork and the artist? It is quite striking and every panel in the booklet seems to have a connection with the lyrics that are printed with it.
Willem: After running into an acquaintance named Willem Jansen, Jasper had a lot of good things to say about him and his work. Willem had just graduated from art school with an amazing interpretation of Mary Shelley´s Frankenstein and based on those drawings we immediately knew this was the right man for the job. Willem Jansen is a very talented and devoted artist and he really went all out on this project. We provided him with the lyrics and recordings of the finished songs and gave him carte blanche. We couldn't be happier with the result. He has also been studying to become a tattoo artist and the progress he has made is mind boggling. Follow these links to see more of his work:
http://wtjansen.blogspot.com/
http://bunkertattoo.wordpress.com/

SITP: Any last words?
Willem: During the recording sessions for "Of Wicked Men..." we recorded an extra track which didn't really fit on the album. It's scheduled for release on a compilation which is still being worked on. Thank you very much for your interest in our music. We wish SITP all the best, keep up the good work!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Monday, March 26, 2012

Posted by Anonymous |

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Posted by xjustinx | File under : , ,

This cassette came to me in a large box from Jav quite some time ago, but for some reason, I just now got around to converting it.  This is a great sounding soundboard recording of Eighteen Visions at the Showcase Theater on 1/11/98.  They run through most of the songs on Lifeless and also play two tracks that would later appear on Yesterday Is Time Killed.

"This one goes out to the Monster Crew."

Eighteen Visions - Showcase Theater [1/11/98]


Saturday, March 17, 2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

Posted by Anonymous |

Let's begin this interview by discussing The Albatross, your new webzine. Discuss the webzine and the circumstances leading to the creation of it.

A lot of what The Albatross is kinda just lets me be a nerd. When I was in Communication Redlight, there were a lot of awesome bands that we got to play with. Jeff Caudill, Popeye Vogelsang, Samiam, Ex Number Five, Vision, plus a bunch that I’m not even remembering right now. It was awesome that I was meeting these people who I admired so much when I was a kid and now they’re (kinda) my contemporaries. If I was 14 and tried to hang out with a 21 year old, it would have been a totally different ball game.

Around the same time, I was talking to a friend and started talking about the "Cup of Coffee Theory". Basically, I think that there’s a number of musicians who we don’t necessarily want to get nerdy about their bands but we genuinely want to hear their point of view about life. Everyone connects that way with at least one band/musician. You’d just wanna get a cup of coffee with the people you really respect as musicians and as people. Literally, "let’s go get a cup of coffee and talk about life".

So the situation came up where I’d really love to have a "cup of coffee" with someone. However, when you’re hanging out and drinking all night at a bar, it’s the last thing you really want to do. So, after a little while, I guess, I just thought about a way that I could ask some really cool people some cool questions. Try to bring out who they are as people (insecurities and all). I wanna know about what makes them write the music that they write.

That was, in essence, the birth of The Albatross. I don’t wanna know about where you got your band name. I wanna know about what was going on in the band 10 years ago. I wanna find a connection to why that person's music connects with me so much. So that was kind of the start.

The other side of it is getting a retrospective look at why the band failed. You know, you ask a dude why their band broke up a week after it breaks up and you’re going to get a different answer than if you were to ask them 10 years from now. I want that honest look at it and I’ve gotten a plethora of great answers, whether it be someone who finally owns up that they were the ones being a jerk or if it was just the lifestyle.

I had done a little bit of research and I didn’t really see any "exclusive" reunion blogs, which kind of goes hand in hand with the interviews that I wanted to do. Sites like Stuck In The Past and some others helped form the idea of going to one spot for specific information on a genre or a scene but I really couldn’t find one source for reunions, interviews and related news.

I remember the first time we (Rob from Redlight and I) met Caudill and we had a few drinks and got a little nerdy with him. Towards the end of the night, I asked him if he got weirded out by people being giant fans. He replied that he appreciates it a lot more than he used to. I thought it was a good question but that could have been the alcohol talking. By the end of the night, he started telling us about this new band that he was starting up with Popeye (from Farside). A few months later, we thought he was nice enough, so we sent him an email asking if they wanted to do a split 7" with us. They, of course, said yes.


Discuss the other members of The Albatross's staff.

We kinda just got a rag-tag crew. Right now, it’s mostly just friends who I need help from. For example, in Communication Redlight, we had Nate Gluck (Vision, Ensign, Strength 691, The Fire Still Burns) fill in on bass. Really awesome dude who helped us out a lot in the band. About a year later, Strength 691 did a reunion show and completely blew me away. I remember talking to him after the show and just saying, "man, I’m really angry that no one gave me a Strength tape when I was 15 years old. We need to do an interview for this thing I’m trying to do."

The problem there was I wasn’t a fan when I was a kid and when Strength 691 was in their prime. I didn’t know what nerdy drama happened in the band back in the day. I’ve done a few interviews where right off the bat, I tell the band I'm interviewing that I don’t know who they are (I hate trying to fake it - I usually get caught) but I knew that Nate would have a lot of great stuff to say if someone just asked him the right questions. So I asked my buddy Greg (from The Wait, a band that we used to play with) to do the interview for me. He got pretty pumped about it. We attempted to do a video interview for that too. We’re still chipping away at it.

I got another kid named Colin who I’ve seen at a few shows who really loves being 'involved' with anything to do with music. So over the past few weeks, he’s been posting too.

I hope that it changes sooner or later but right now, I’m doing about 99% of it and it’s time consuming. I end up getting into two hour conversations with people and then have to figure out how to transcribe it. With transcribing, you can either pay someone to do it (but you still have to go through everything) or you can spend about 4-6 hours doing it yourself. Then there’s the regular blog aspect too. I get stressed just thinking about it.


You've conducted interviews with a number of '90s notables (Popeye Vogelsang, Jon Bunch, Sergie Loobkoff, etc.). Do you have any other interviews lined up with '90s people that you can talk about?

They've really been killer so far. You can start to piece a 'whole story' together after the first batch of interviews with dudes from that time period. It’s really fun. There’s also a lot of consistencies and themes that you see run through each of the bands. I kind of focused on the 'post-hardcore' time period because that’s a lot of what I was listening to when I first got into it. Well, that and ska (and I’m alright with that).

You watch documentaries like American Hardcore and you see how the East Coast got introduced to the West Coast (and vice versa) and you see a lot of those same types of things happen with the 'post hardcore' era, starting in ’88 and going all the way through the 2000s.

There are a bunch of people I’ve interviewed that are still just audio files sitting on my computer. Like I said before, it’s either time or money and I barely have either.

I (apparently) do something pretty unique with my interviews and it’s actually pretty un-journalistic. I let the interviewee read their interview and "approve" it before I put it on the site. The way I look at it, I want a sincere story and I want someone to be honest with me when I’m talking to them. I want them to be comfortable and not worry about saying the wrong thing. The funny thing is, the interviews rarely get changed. Any changes that have been made are usually wrong information or facts that the person forgot because it was 20 years ago.

I was doing the interview with Kenny Inouye (Marginal Man) and he said that was the first time that he’s ever had someone offer that. That kinda makes me feel like I’m on the right track. If someone’s too worried about giving an "official" answer, I feel like you can always tell.

So, the list of interviews on my computer and in my head right now include Texas Is The Reason, Damnation AD, Ex-Number 5, Strength 691, Mace, Split Lip/Chamberlain, Gameface and, of course, part 2 of Popeye’s interview.


As a writer and as an interviewer, who are some of your influences and why?

To be honest, I don’t really consider myself either. I mean, if I end up being good at this, maybe it’ll be because I don’t really know anything. I love watching documentaries because they get to tell a full story and really paint a picture about what’s going on. I was talking about American Hardcore earlier and whether you believe it’s accurate in it's conclusions or not, I believe it did weave a story about how everything was connected in the early '80s. And compared to the book, a lot wasn’t even in the DVD.

The other week, we all sat around one night drinking and I think we went through three documentaries while we were all hanging out: Daniel Johnston, Fishbone and American Hardcore. All three tell crazy stories that you can’t even get out in a two hour conversation with someone. I wanna try to squeeze that quality of story into an hour conversation.

As far as my writing style, I think that I’ve always been partial to the "conversational" style a la CS Lewis or someone like that. I like to write and read like it’s a conversation. Hell, I’m sure that you can tell that strictly from this interview! I want someone to read an interview like they’re actually asking the questions and reading this stream of thought that comes from the answer.


What are some of the things that make The Albatross stand out from all the other music websites?

As far as the interviews? I can only hope that I’m asking questions that a bunch of people are thinking about but have never been answered. Especially from bands that they never thought they’d hear from again. You know, to hear Popeye talk about what "Moral Straightjacket" is about, or hear Jon Bunch talk about how he’s "broken" and wants to give people hope. That’s the kind of stuff that I’m interested in. I don’t want to write interviews, I want to write conversations that two people are having over a cup of coffee (see what I did there?!).

I’m trying to expand the blog part without veering too much from what I wanted to do. There’s definitely some cool stuff going on though. I just started a weekly "feature" a couple of weeks ago called "What Are You Doing?!" that just highlights the fact that Popeye and Caudill are in Your Favorite Trainwreck, or Nate from BoySetsFire is in I AM HERESY. That’s all the stuff that we sit at a bar and talk to each other about.


Discuss your now defunct band Communication Redlight.

Aren’t you supposed to wait 10 years or so before you ask that? Communication Redlight broke up last August because it just became time. It was heartbreaking for all of us. We put a lot of time into it and all have great memories of it. When we started, some of the "older" guys kinda took us under their wing because we just acted like it was '96 everytime we played. Hell, when YFT came out, we covered Gameface and Farside songs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoJ08L7VZok

That’s kinda what we became and we were alright with that because any time a band from that era was coming through, we’d be asked to play. For me, it was awesome to get pigeonholed like that because part of what I was doing was trying to make those crazy memories (like doing a 7" with the guys from Gameface and Farside). "Do something that you can tell your grandkids about." That was kind of the mantra that I would say to myself any time an opportunity came up.

After a while though, stuff just got tougher. Last year, we had played a few reunion shows with our friends in Folly. During those three weekends, one of our guys moved up to the Catskills and another guy lost his car. It would take Frankie (guitar) two hours to get to New Brunswick. There were no two members that were closer than 40 minutes. Practices got harder. I remember we played a show with Weston in Hoboken and we hadn’t practiced in like 5 months. It just got hard, so we decided to end it on good terms before we all started hating or resenting each other. It’s a shame but it was going to happen one way or the other.


What are some of your favorite Communication Redlight songs and why?

It’s gonna sound a little cheesy but I really like all of them for different reasons. "1013" and "One More Song" are my favorites from the first round of songs. I went through a pretty weird and rough divorce when me and Rob (guitar) first started Communication. My ex-wife cheated on me a few weeks before we got married and it (obviously) didn’t end well. I was pretty heartbroken and really messed up, so I turned to music.

You know, I always used to say that my first love was music and I gave up on that years ago. So I went back to it and really found a passion that I haven’t felt in about 5 or 6 years. The first round of songs (the One More Song acoustic EP) was mostly about that whole messed up situation of being married and my wife not leaving me but still cheating on me. "Advantage To Crush" was actually a song from me and Rob's old band (the band was actually called advantage to crush) which was a song that was written 8 years earlier when I first had a crush on my ex-wife.

After we got Frankie, we got a little "tougher". I was over my ex and as much as I needed that release or therapy at the time, I also hate sulking over stuff. The pity party was over. "I Am The Mercy Factor" and "Intent Proceeds Content" are some of my favorites from the later stuff. I think that they really helped define what we were starting to turn into and where we were going. They started to have the tone (lyrically) of the songs that I used to write. I’m glad that I got back to that. I really hated complaining about girls.


As a singer, who are some of your influences and why?

Bad Brains, Jeff Buckley, Five Iron Frenzy, Supergrub, Jeremy Enigk, The Slackers, Skinnerbox, Sense Field, Farside, Chisel, Descendents... the list could go on and on. There are specific things that I like about each dude, so it's hard to pick a top list. It'd really have to be like a "top 20 list in no specific order" type thing.

Being that I never really played an instrument, I always listened for dudes who I thought had great melodies. Even in hardcore, you can hear someone with great melodies. Bands where singers screamed their asses off but you could find a melody and dynamics, not just a tonal center. CIV was great. Walter, Shai Hulud, Strongarm, etc.

The anger, emotion or whatever you wanna call it hit me a good portion of the time but when I was younger, I felt that angst in the melodies and words before I realized how brutal the instrumentation was.

It took me a long time to listen for a singer as "fitting the band" rather than just sounding good. I think Clutch's self-titled album was the first time I really heard that. I hated his voice on that record when I first listened to it but those grooves were so good, I couldn’t stop listening. Eventually, I couldn’t imagine anyone else singing anything over that record.

You know, doing these interviews and hearing some sincere answers to questions and not just a paragraph (or sentence) really makes me want to make this interview long. I don’t really like it and I don’t feel like anyone should listen to me and I don’t have anything good to say. Gives me a new found respect for what I do.


Are you currently doing anything band-wise? If so, please discuss.

Right now, I guess, I’m just taking it easy. I’m having some fun with something called Mase Montana. It was actually a piece of what Communication Redlight really was. I’m basically recording a bunch of acoustic covers with some of the people that I’ve met over the past few years. It’s fun, laid back and I don’t have to write lyrics. Sometimes it’s hard to be just a singer of a band because there’s so many other singers that I would love to be in a band with, but I’m too scared that I’d screw up what they got going. This is a fun way for me to drink a few beers and have fun.

There are about 6 songs up there now and I probably have another 5 waiting for me to mix and sing over. I’ve done covers with some great bands too. We’ve done everything from Cyndi Lauper and Sam Cooke to The Descendents and The Lemonheads, with members (oh, I’m totally pluggin') of The Wait, Eyeswan, The Fire Still Burns, Your Favorite Trainwreck, The Scandals, Gaslight Anthem, Not The Bees and a few more that I'm forgetting right now. I’d love for it to be an ongoing project. I don’t think I’ll ever give up playing music again and hopefully soon, I'll be doing another full band.

I think that the only other person from Communication who's still doing music (right now at least) is our drummer Brad. He’s doing some heavy stoner rock type stuff. It’s brutal. I think they just booked their first show and, in true punk rock fashion, don’t have a name yet.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Posted by Anonymous |

In 1995, I got this idea in my head that I should make a documentary about the Hare Krishna hardcore/punk band 108. I liked the band but I was more interested in the people behind the music. What would make somebody become a Hare Krishna? What would make somebody get into hardcore and become a Hare Krishna? What would make somebody who was into hardcore become a Hare Krishna and then do a band?

So I asked 108 singer Rob Fish, who I had met in the summer of 1994, if I could make a documentary on them. He laughed, talked with the guys in the band and we were all set.

I don't know if I actually answered all of the questions that I had when I started this project. I do know that I didn't want to make a documentary promoting Hare Krishna so much as I wanted to make a documentary promoting a band that I liked whose members just happened to be Krishnas.

This movie has only ever been officially released in the VHS format. There has been talk of it coming out on DVD (and if it ever does it will be loaded with extra features - in fact a DVD was prepared at one point but it never happened). Eventually, I stopped making the VHS available simply because the band had reformed and this movie wasn't so much an accurate representation of 108 as it was a representation of 108 at a very specific time.

Recently, to my surprise, it has been digitized and put online without my permission.

I guess I should take it as a compliment that somebody cared enough to bootleg a movie of mine. At the same time, I just wish they would've asked. No hard feelings though.

I hope you enjoy CURSE OF INSTINCT: 108's FINAL TOUR.

Thanks to 108 for being so open and candid when we made this movie together almost 20 years ago.

Evan Jacobs
producer/editor/videographer of CURSE OF INSTINCT: 108's FINAL TOUR
http://anhedeniafilms.blogspot.com/
Posted by xjustinx |
 
 Wolfpack Collective is a collective group of bands OF ANY GENRE and people that stretch across the US and Canada. Each band will have their own page on the website (currently underway) where their music will stream. Bands will be organized by geographic location which will make it much easier for bands booking tours to find contacts for booking states and for anyone to stream new music!

Checklist for WPC Bands:

1. Promo picture of your band-This can be a live show photo, photos your friends took of the band, whatever you would like to use to represent your band as a whole.
2. Band logo- People who create flyers for shows that your band plays can take the logo off of the WPC site, this will increase our traffic in the sense that assuming, the person designing the flyer will have to come to... WPC to retrieve it
3. Bio- Include information about your band, where you’re from, your Facebook/BandCamp/Whatever URL. This will be representing your band on WPC, we won’t write a bio for you. You must include where you are from, the entire point of WPC is to get a geographic map of bands and essentially, contacts.

Record Labels, Clothing Lines, Promoters, Any Affiliate can send me a Bio, a photo and a weblink and I will include those on the Affiliates page

Once you have completed this checklist email everything to joshviaduct@gmail.com and your submission will be reviewed and if everything is accounted for, you will be added to the band roster.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/217805174983909/

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Posted by Anonymous |



Bookmark this site to be kept up to speed on all things Anhedenia, including the Orange County Hardcore Scenester DVD release later this year.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Posted by xCHIPxSEM | File under :
The dudes in Nueva Etica hit me up to let us know that they have their first DVD coming out soon and they posted a teaser for it. You can check it out below...when it's available, we'll have the info posted.




Link
Posted by Anonymous |



This is Pennywise's first album with Ignite's Zoli Teglas on vocals.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Posted by Anonymous |

Although the $25 tickets for all 3 nights of the Revelation Records 25 Year Anniversary shows at The Glass House in Pomona, CA are all sold out, there are $100 VIP packages still available for Friday, June 8th (Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Sick Of It All, Bold, Supertouch and Shai Hulud) and Sunday, June 10th (Gorilla Biscuits, Underdog, No For An Answer, Statue, Shai Hulud and a surprise guest).

The VIP package includes:

25th Anniversary show LP on vinyl (limited to 225 copies)
25th Anniversary show poster version (limited to 225 copies)
misc. Revelation Records items
misc. sponsored products

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Posted by xjustinx | File under : , , ,
For The Love Of's debut record, "Feasting On The Will Of Humanity" was originally self-released through their Signature Records label before it was reissued by Ferret Records less than a year later.  I'm not sure how many were pressed via Signature, but I don't seem to see them pop up very often, so the numbers could have been down around 500.  When Ferret reissued the CD, a lot of the original art was retained, but it was still heavily redesigned, as you can see below.











Thursday, March 1, 2012

Posted by xCHIPxSEM | File under : , , ,
So I admit that I get easily sidetracked but I finally followed up with Scott Vogel for part 2 looking back on the bands that he's been a part of. Well here we are with part 2 (yes, finally). This time I covered Despair, the first band that Scott was in that really made some waves, not only in the US but also overseas. I'm currently working on questions for the Buried Alive interview so if you want to ask something, hit me up. Without further ado, here's Scott looking back on his time in Buffalo's Despair.

Stuck In The Past: How did Despair form?
Scott: Buffalo hc was at a really cool point just before Despair formed. Bands like Slugfest, Against All Hope and Discontent all played shows together and hung out at shows ect., so when bands were breaking up, new ones would form. I think this is how Despair started. My first memories of the band would be at the Against All Hope practice place writing the first songs together. No one in the band lived close to each other so we would all just show up, load the gear we had on and try to write songs and laugh and not be so serious I guess. This week I did a guest vocal spot on a new band from Montreal. They wrote me a nice email telling me how it would be really cool to have me on their record, ect. so of course I did it. But what I'm getting at is after spending the day with the bands frontman, I learned they don't have a demo out, aren't touring but they already have a manager, are talking to booking agents and labels like Epitaph are offering them record deals. This blew my mind and now typing this out and thinking of how Despair began just shows me how much had changed. We were kids that went to shows together and wanted to maybe put out a 7 inch if things went well. Maybe play in Syracuse and Erie. ha ha ha

SITP: Who was in the original lineup?
Scott: Me , Phil was on drums (really great all around musician, played guitar in Against All Hope and - was in lots of buffalo hc bands - currently a dad to a few children i believe), Joe Garlic (Garlipp) on guitar (total weirdo, I mean weird - currently tour manages ted nugget ha ha ha , for real), matt denty on guitar (pretty normal, down to earth guy - i heard he's like a millionaire from inventing some computer thing or something), Brian Fligger on bass (liked to party, I think he still does. I've seen him at a few Terror shows in Buffalo this year, seems cool).

SITP: How quickly did recording come about? How soon were you approached about releasing a record?
Scott: I think when we had about 8 songs we decided to record a demo. I'm sure we just went to some studio we could afford. We got the songs done and at the same time I was living with this kid Kurt. He pushed carts at a grocery store. One day he found a purse left behind with a band evelope with 1000 bucks in it. So of course he kept that shit. He came home from work and asked if we wanted to do a 7 inch as the first release (on the label) he was going start with the poor old womens money.So we gave him 4 songs, which became the 1000 Cries EP, and put the other 4 out on a demo tape. It was cool living with him as I would see the mail orders coming in and we would ship records off to Europe and all over. We all made zines and went to shows all over . DIY stuff. HC stuff. Kinda like what I'm doing now living at Fort Reaper .

SITP: With Despair, was this the first time you went to Europe?
Scott: Yeah, we went twice. I mean this was a dream come true. The shows were all very small unless we got to jump on with bigger bands but we felt like we were on top of the world. Getting passports and flights to Europe for your band was pretty fucking cool. At shows, there were always a few kids that knew the songs and sang along and we sold some shirts and explored Europe.

SITP: Give us some of your more memorable moments in the band.
Scott: We always had great shows in Buffalo, Toronto, Erie and Syracuse. A lot of energy and good times. Playing with Strife in LA was so cool. The first real tour I ever did was with Despair, Brother's Keeper and Harvest. It'd was a few weeks down to Florida in the winter. Playing the Syracuse new years day shows and the first Hellfest was unreal at the time and then the full USA tour with Hatebreed was so fun.

SITP: How did you hook up with Trustkill?
Scott: Trustkill was a zine at first i believe (ed. It was). Josh (Grabelle) was going to school in Syracuse and the label just started when we where ready to do a record. He had a few records out and seemed like he was doing it pretty serious. I'm not sure how it all started or who approached who but it all came together and i think it was a cool combo at the time.

SITP: A lot of people may think of Initial Records as a label that catered more to the Emo crowd but they actually released quite a few hardcore records. How did you guys end up going with Initial after releasing records with Trustkill?
Scott: well first off I love Falling Forward, Enkindles and all that shit but yes he did This World Rejected, Pitbull, Ricochet and a lot of hard stuff. I believe I really liked the label and sent him a demo which i got a letter back saying thanks but no thanks. But I guess as time went on Andy (Rich) and I stayed in touch and Despair was doing records with Initial. That label was great to us. Much respect.

SITP: Tell me about the Hatebreed tour during the summer off 1997.
Scott: Pure madness. Lawlessness. Me and Jamey booked the tour and we hit the road for a month. Seeing the Hatebreed machine grow every night and bulldoze every city was so cool. We drank a lot, played wiffle ball, caused a lot of trouble - played shitty shows, played great ones. Tony Victory came out to Cali and signed Hatebreed and asked Despair to do an EP. That was pretty unreal man. Tazzors pulled on trannys, stabbings, dirty videos made, ha ha ha ha. Good times man. RIP Boulder.

SITP: What caused the band to break up?
Scott: We went to Europe again right after this tour (the tour with Hatebreed). Like over two months straight of touring. Some dudes couldn't live like that so they said I'm out. The rest of us said fuck it, its over and it was.

SITP: Do you ever miss playing in Despair? Any chance of playing another show to revisit those old songs?
Scott: Cool band but I don't miss it. No Despair reunion needed. Reunions are cheap for the most part. Dudes that turned there backs on HC and ate there words realized they have no other crowd to play to or they want to feel that I'm so cool on stage again. They are going through the motions and don't even believe in the words they are saying... or they need money and use HC. It's all cheap. I mean believe me there are exceptions but this is what I see mostly. I'm at a show almost everyday. Terror is the realest band I've ever know. I'm living for today not 95.