Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Struggling


Will be purchasing a camera soon to make this blog a little more frequent, maybe post my records or some shit? Entertain myself for a bit.

I'm working on the second issue of The Harsh Truth as we speak it will have No Tolerance(Boston), Fit Of Anger(NYC), Ill Brigade(SYD) and All In Brawl (ACT), might do a re-print of a old Agnostic Front interview if i feel like there should be more info.

The first issue is still sitting in my house cause i'm really, really lazy at promoting it.
Check it out - $2.00 from me or $3.00PPD in Australia.

To purchase, pay-pal to theharshtruth@live.com, international orders e-mail first please!
I am down to swap zines also.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

I AM REALLY EXCITED!!!

TO BE DOING THIS SHOW! I'm fucking psyched to put on a show for such good bands and such a good lot of my friends, 100+ people confirmed to attend on facebook, if that many people come out i'll be super psyched!!

The demise of Shock Value will also feature the re-birth of Pressures On, which is very exciting all in one bundle.
Thick Skin are probably my favourite band to see in Brisbane, so much fun, always.
Lookin' In and Frozen Over should prove to be a lot of fun as well, i think Frozen Over have only done a maximum of 2 shows before?
People Rain sound wayyy different to what they used to but i don't mind, they do antidote now!
Fires Of Waco as always will be a good time to chill out and enjoy the music, amazing band.
Come out or i'll find you and mosh your house to pieces.
BYO. MOSHJECTS

Saturday, August 14, 2010

This is what's new...

I'm going to post more often from now on as something extra to do, now that my 'zine is pretty much done and all i need to do is collect some pictures then cut and paste the sucker. 100% psyched to have it out finally, should come to about $3 or $4 posted.

30 - 50 of these will be printed with limited "New Breed Tape Compilation" books, complete with inserts, photos, demo tape covers, lyrics etc.

My stack of records is getting somewhat thicker and thicker as the weeks pass, cause my bank account to look thinner and thinner...i've also come into a bunch of fairly awesome tapes too, which will get posted about as well.

Sick People XO has had it's first jam, yesterday and we've got one song, an intro/song and a leeway cover so far...nothing but good things to come i hope, got plenty of ideas for the future.

I'm planning on putting out a compilation of Australian bands titled "State Of Hardcore" which will feature a bunch of the 'strayan New Breed bands, wake up to the real deal, things are good.

Peace out.
Keep the faith.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

zinezinezine

Things are very much making a progress on my zine, the real print version of The Harsh Truth!
Artwork will be done by old man BE of Had It/Deadstare/Taking Sides fame.

it will be featuring a fair bundle of stuff that i hope people will enjoy...Freddy Alva(New Breed Tape Comp/Wardance Records), Streetsweeper from Boston, Search and Destroy from Adelaide and One Life Crew from Straight Edge..those are the interviews, there's also reviews and an article i wrote on my appreciation for Underdog, bit more little tid bits but that's the main jist.

Hopefully it should be $2 posted or there abouts, out around the end of July.

I printed up The Atlanta Youth report a couple weeks ago now, just stapling them all together in my spare time but i will be taking some to sell at the BLKOUT/50 Lions show at Shed 5 next Wednesday..$1.50 for 52 pages of Hardcore!

Peace out, keep the faith and recognize the real deal.

SPXO still reigns. DxC still lives.

Friday, May 14, 2010

been a few weeks

I've got a few interviews underway that will be going in a printed copy of The Harsh Truth and hopefully once those are done i'll be right onto cutting and pasting, i'll also do the usual reviews and all that kinda jargon.
Quite unsure as of right now, who i will ask to do the artwork...though i got a few people in mind.

Also got a mini-zine planned dedicated solely to a very extensive interview with an NYHC mainstay including some old photos, new photos, old fliers and new fliers. It'll be titled "All the chips on the table" but that's only part of the name!

P.S some people might want the infamous Street Youth EP, so i'm gonna dub it from my tape copy and upload it soon!

PPS. I am printing Australian copies of US Zine "Atlanta Youth Report" featuring: Rival Mob, Hardisde, Free Spirit, True Life + more, plus artwork by the ever mystical Chris Morgado of The Wrong Side.

DXC LIVES. SPXO REIGN.

Peace.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

SLOW TIMES

Shit is pretty slow right now, i got no internet so i'm not going around hooking up interviews but once i get it back on Wednesday i'll hopefully be getting a couple underway and due to certain people being on my back, i might actually just put some of my stuff into a real hardcopy print zine...with the help of a few friends, so keep a lazy eye out for that.

Also, going to buy a cheap camera so i can finally make some posts about my recordzzz.

Go check out the best NYHC blog on the internet(also features a bit of non NY stuff): BLOGGED AND QUARTERED http://bloggedquartered.blogspot.com/

SPXO are writing songs without a drummer cause we're fucking sick, so hopefully be comin' at ya sooner than later.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

GRIM....

It's getting late and i'm in the worst mood so here's a blog post for anybody that possibly looks at this which i doubt?

SPXO news, we have no bass player and most likely no drummer for atleast a few months and if anybody knows anyone who is not a dickhead and enjoys their early to mid 80s hardcore, with a bit of a soft spot for Leeway and Rest in Pieces, get them in my direction!

Positive note! I got a fair few things come for me lately and on the way which i am entirely stoked about, most of all being these(in no particular order):
  • Sick Of It All: Blood, Sweat, No Tears - Cassette Tape, In-Effect Records
  • Sick Of It All: Blood, Sweat, No Tears - OG LP, In-Effect Records
  • Rest In Pieces: My Rage - OG LP, One Step Ahead
  • Uppercut: 4 walls - OG LP, ???
  • Urban Blight: More Reality - 12" EP, Slasher Records
  • No Tolerance: boston straight edge - 7" demo
  • Underdog: S/T 7" - Re-release, Bridge 9
  • Pegasus: S/T 7" - Ep, Six Feet Under Records.
Plus on top of those there's is a bunch of other stuff, got the sick of it all VHS the other day, got leeway stuff coming in the mail.
Interview wise, doing three at the moment...one is from australia, sydney to be exact! the other two are from america, one is in my opinion HUGE and from good ol' New York City (sob story that'll make you pity)...the other from Virginia, keep an eye open!

LAST OF ALL; I WILL THIS WEEK DO MY POST ABOUT THE FIRST RECORD I BOUGHT!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

SPIN DA WAX

So, i am yet to make a post about my records, plan on doing one in the coming few days. even though i guess i don't really have much that is mind-blowingly awesome.

The point being in reality i buy my records so i can enjoy the artwork/colour of the wax and music on them, not to be some "collector" because i have never even thought about having them to just sell when i want something else.

With all this being said, i'm going to post every so often about records i own that i really dig as a whole and think people should have a bit of a squiz at and enjoy!

Remember everyone, records actually have music on them, they don't just gather dust till you can sell it for $$$!!

First post will be the first record i ever bought!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

C.T.Y.C!

Music based post comin' at ya right here! This one is about one of the best bands to come out of the 80's and early 90's yet i don't know enough people who have heard them, the best mix of Slayer, Breakdown and a bit of Oi! coming straight out of Detroit. So the band is called Cold As Life and they ain't no joke...well except to some if you consider anything after they got their new singer, their original singer "Rawn Beauty" who was with them from '88 until '93 was sadly shot dead in '93 causing the band to go on a hiatus till '97.

The most some people may be familiar with Rawn if not having heard Cold As Life before would be the song "C.T.Y.C (RIP)" by Madball which is about the passing of Rawn.

So anyway, back to business below is a download link for a compilation of stuff they did from 1988-1993 which is some of the roughest, hardest tracks of their time and the little tinge of Oi! just puts it over the edge.


Thursday, March 18, 2010

Posthumous - The Walking Dead, Think I Care from xBostonx.

THE MOTHERFUCKING HAMMER!!! MONGREL

My Photos | THINK I CARE

I Couldn't have been more stoked to do this interview, it was actually a lot easier than i expected, not that asking the questions was hard but i'd somewhat lost hope tracking down Jason seeing as the Eating Rats website and Myspace are defunct, as well as the Think I Care Myspace, but luckily i found an e-mail address and struck gold!

A big thanks to Jason for doing this posthumous interview on behalf of "Think I Care", hope all you cats enjoy reading this one. Myself and D.SAW put a bit of effort and collaboration into this so i hope we covered just about everything you'd wanna know!

*Dean's questions are noted with an (s) prior to the question. **They are also in purple cause he is a poof

Welcome to the party! Thanks for doing the interview Jason, give us a run down of who Think I Care was...did you ever have any members changes?

The lineup most people are familiar with is Shawn Bredberg guitar, Joe Shumsky bass Aaron Shumsky drums, and myself on vocals. We had a replacement drummer for a few gigs and the last US tour named Colb. But he never recorded with us.

You guys were around from 1999 - 2006, correct?

2000 was our first show with the lineup mentioned in the last question, but before that I played bass and Joe Shumsky sang. We played a handful of shows like that and put out a demo. So the band think I care probably got started in 98ish

Being around for so long and having 4(or 5?) releases out of those 7 years, not including the Fucked Up live 7"...you guys would've seen your fair share of tour time, or did it take people a while to wake up to Think I Care?

We never really toured. We did two full us tours and a couple trips to California. We were a bunch of broke ass kids who really couldn't afford to drop everything and tour.

(s)Unfounded I assume, but over the years I have heard the odd rumor every now and then of TIC reunion shows. What’s the likelihood of this ever happening? Seems most bands who manage as much as TIC did, always get around to the odd reunion or two?

I’ve heard the same rumors but we’ve never talked about doing it. If we did do it would probably be a somewhat scab lineup, and a real quick set.

(s)Is there anything you wish you could have achieved with the band? Or were you happy with how TIC ran it’s course?

I would of liked to go to Europe or Australia. We had 2 opportunities to go to Europe but couldn't really swing it. Once it was with RnR and I wasn't really feeling how the tour was shaping up, so I bailed. I really did not want to headline a tour our first time in Europe. And another time b9 asked us to go with Righteous Jams after we broke up, but I didn't want to do it.

Think I Care's most recent release before breaking up was World Asylum which was on Bridge 9, a lot of people shit all over B9 how do you feel about this, was putting the album out through Bridge 9 an easy transition from the previous labels? What labels were the ones prior released on?

The transition was easy because our prior label Walk all Night was awful. As far as shitting on it that’s fine. I personally don’t like 99% of the bands he’s dealt with, but Chris Wren (B9 guy) was always cool to me. He’s at a point where he probably doesn’t make as much off the label as you would think so he has to put out some more commercially appealing stuff to keep it moving forward. But that’s just me speaking for him and I could be wrong, my opinion I guess. Before B9 we did Walk All Night and as I said that was awful. Deadalive did our 2nd 7” and LP, and that was cool. 1st 7’ was on a small label called Boiling Point.

The band didn't stay together much longer after the release of World Asylum, was it just all reaching a boiling point after the years had you all had enough of it or was there further issues?

There were so many issues with the release of Mongrel and it burned us out, me especially. We were out of gas and Shawn and I were close to just shutting it down. Then b9 asked if we wanted to do a record and we figured we'd stick it out and see what happened. It just didn't click the way I wanted it to. So mid way through our last tour I told the other guys that I was all done when we got home. After that I didn't care about anything and had a lot more fun with it. We had an agreement with B9 for a second record but I just told them we were done.

Speaking of previous releases and labels, I’ve heard a lot of talk like "their only good stuff is the first two 7"s" and I also read in one of the TOHC interviews that after you put out the S/T LP you wouldn't play any of the 7" songs...what was the reason behind that, tire of the same old songs and narrow minded critics?

1st 7" I think is pretty bad. We didn't really know what kind of band we were. I was 16 and it was my first band. 2nd 7" I like. It has a lot of energy and I think we were figuring out what to do. It was a simple as learning song structures and tempo changes. The reason we shied away from playing those eventually was... we were literally playing almost every weekend to the same 30 kids in a shitty basement in Boston. We took a break and wrote the LP, and felt we had played those enough, and if you missed it you missed it.

I personally reckon the "Mongrel" 10" is the best mix of being fast and being hard grooves, do you have a personal favorite record that you guys did over your time?

I like world asylum. I wasn't real happy with the recording on mongrel or world asylum though. For me I liked each release we did better than the one prior.

What songs got the best response? What Sheer Terror song did you cover?

Hammer, Disease, Broken Neck, Burn, Nature of the Beast.... always kind of depended on the crowd. We played a lot of different style shows. We covered Spoiler pretty regularly.

I've heard TIC likened to Sheer Terror meets DYS, how do you feel about being linked to such prolific(and controversial) bands, an honour or just frustrating?

It’s fine. Every band has to be compared to something. I’ve heard so out of no where stuff but it's all in the ear of the beholder.

Negativity and rage seem to be ripe in TIC lyrics, were you the only person who wrote lyrics for TIC?

Eventually, some of the first 7" were songs from the demo era when I played bass I didn’t write.

One of the TOHC interviews has a lot of jokes about sounding like Merauder and the likes, what's the go here, in-joke?

Ha that was just a running joke over that particular weekend.

You put out the TOHC Zineography through Eating Rats with the FU/TIC Live 7", how'd all of this come about?

In the early stage of the band, we played a fest in Pennsylvania. My friend had xs tattooed on his hands and some huge skinhead looking guy started talking to him. My friend told him he was here with TIC so he checked us out. Sounds kind of corny. But that was Steve Wiltse, the guy who did the town of hardcore zine. And from that point on we had a great friendship with him. If you’ve read the zine you see that he went out of his way to help get our name out there. So I just asked him if he’d b into doing the book and he was. Coincidently b9 did the schism book a little before so I asked Chris for advice and it all came together after a ton of work. Steve is definitely on of the better friends I’ve made through HC.

(s)You dissolved Eating Rats a few years back now, just after the TOHC book. Why?

The thing was a god damn money pit. I wanted it to go out on a good note so I decided TOH was it.

(s)You managed to put out a fair bit of amazing stuff with the label. Looking back now, can you think of anything in particular that you were proud to release? And to contrast is there anything you regret doing? Anything that you wanted to do, but didn’t get the chance?

The TOH book cause it was so much work and pretty successful. I like all the stuff we did but if I could get in the time machine I might of just keep it to local Boston bands that I was friends with. I became friends with Lewd Acts (from Cali) and we managed to do a week with them out there, but it was just different working with people that you don’t really know. They have been by far the most successful band on ERR and I fear that we may of stunted them a bit. That and the TIC record are the only 2 releases that completely sold out. So I wouldn’t say I regret doing it from my end but maybe they would do things different.

My friend was over in America last year for a bunch of festivals and he managed to catch a WRONG SIDE re-union and he mentioned to me the singer wouldn't stop talking about TIC, did you expect TIC to have that kind of an impact?

That’s Chris, and he was around for pretty much our whole existence and did some shirt designs for us. I’m not so surprised that he would say something because he’s a friend of the band, but I am surprised that since we aren’t a band anymore kids who never seen us are into us. Whatever staying power the band might have is surprising.

Are you doing anything these days band wise or are you doing other things to occupy your time?

Not to active in the band thing. I work, own a house have a fiancé. A bunch of boring grown up stuff.

(s)What’s happening with Dead Black, if anything at all? I heard rumors of a break up, but never anything from the band yourselves.

Dead Black is a state of mind and can never be broken up.

(s)I know of the Dead Black demo tape, and I have heard talk of a mix tape. What’s the deal with this mix tape? Craig Mack uploaded a track on his blog too. Where does this one come from? How much Dead Black recorded output is there?

The demo. Then we did a mix tape with demo songs a couple of new ones, re recorded stuff, and a live set. With a ton of retarded effects and samples going on through out. Not sure what Craig put up, but I thought he was doing a comp or something. We recorded a 7” but my vocals were awful cause I was sick so I shelved it for now. We always talk about playing and recording though.

A lot of people once their band ends, seem to fall behind on shows and current bands, did this happen to you or are you still as stoked as you were when you started?

Definitely not as much. I still go out to friends shows in Boston and stuff. Like Mind eraser rival mob. I was never really into a lot of current band when were playing, not to sound like a jackass or anything. I rarely cared when whatever hot band was coming through anyway. Of course there were some exceptions.

Here's some fun filled ones right here and old one with a twist, Top 5 Records in your opinion from the 80's, 90's and 00's!

80 Cromags “age of quarrel” Misfits “walk among us” Nirvana “bleach” Bad Brains “rock for light” Negative approach “tied down”

90 Melvins “Houdini” Hatchetface “volume 2” (find them if you can big influence of TIC) all the eyehategod stuff Alice in chains and soundgarden

00 Mind Eraser “glacial reign” Rival Mob “mob rules” no warning “ill blood” new lows and waste management

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Old men kickin it, Had It Interview.

If this name doesn't mean anything to you then you may just be sleeping under a rock, Had It are easily in the top 5 of bands going around australia at the moment, specially in the new breed.
Their demo fucking kicks ass and so will their EP out on Arrest Records Australia in a few weeks...this is the interview i did with their singer BxE, go ahead...read and enjoy!

First up i guess the easy part is for those who don't know (and also stuff i might not know), who does Had It consist of and have any y'all been in previous bands? I know you've been in Deadstare and Taking Sides, also the current drummer was or is in Toe To Toe?

Boogs on bass...Kevin Rage Page on scorching sensual solos,Liam on crunch, Mook on the pink drum kit...the other guys have been in Frontside,Charcoal Human,Taking Sides,Discussion with a Gun,A.V.O,Black Fucking Eye and yes Mooky was in Toe To Toe at one stage...with a pink drum kit.

What's the deal with Had It, what's Had It about for you in comparison to your previous bands?
The Deal! PAY THE PRICE! 'Cause we're comming on strong!....sorry you made me think of Brotherhood...it's just about doing a band playing the type of hardcore we grew up listening to...we don't give a fuck about hype or trend..we just do what we do and if people like it...good and if not..good.

Was it an intentional plan on bringing more of that boston meets non-cheesy new york style to Australia...?
Like i said above...we all grew up listening to this stuff...we got into punk and hardcore through thrash metal or actual old punk bands....not through listening to metal"core" bands with teased hair and make up.

You guys did the demo like mid 2008 am i right, 5 originals: Grandmaster, Frustrations, Celebrities, Harsh Reality, Fight For Nothing and a cover of It's The Limit by the legendary Cro-Mags? Give a bit of a run down on what each songs about to you personally.
let me sum all these songs up instead of individually because i dont think my attention span is that great...we speak of social injustices...basically they're about showing Australia how Tron is Livin!!! for the cityeeeeeeeeh!

I got a hold of one recently actually and Nathan chucked on an extra song something about "falling headfirst to my face, reminded once again my efforts are a waste" what's this song called and is it going to see a better recording on the EP, cause it's tough as shit!?
Oh yeah that's Avalanche..the first song on the upcomming cd..it was probably the unmastered version or un mixed or something...I guess it's about pressures of life and stressing out and trying to deal with all this shit over your head ready to cave it in.

How's the reaction been since you guys did your first show with Ceremony in 2008 at Hermans Bar, have people slowly realised what the fuck is up or has it been all good from the get go?
it's up and down...i think some kids may be slightly intimidated by such rugged handsome older men playing hardcore...whatever...it's picking up though i think..last show we played with Jungle Fever was dope.

Toe To Toe/Deafwish cast show last year, you guys played that along with a few other sydney bands was that a bit of a different show to be doing? I'm not even sure i know what it's supposed to be...

yes it was different, and there was no weird beefs over who really ruled the streets of sydney...I love Def Wish Cast..they deserve way more support and respect than those fruity groups like Bliss n Eso or Hilltop Hoods etc..hardcore hip hop...not hip pop

Just recently you guys have joined up with Arrest Records Australia, why them? do old men stick together hahahaha?
They asked us to join them...and yes us old men stick together...we were on the cusp on doing the release all d.i.y and playing in local homeless shelters in support of the release and i guess Greg from Arrest didn't want to see us head down that path.

On a more personal opinion level, how do you view australian hardcore at the moment and what would be your favourite bands currently running?
Umm i don't think about it too much to be honest...i mean i love hardcore and I want it to be a community rather than the commodity it seems to be turning into more and more...bands i personally like Ill Brigade,BlkOut,White Male Dumbinance,Reckless Aggression,Straight Jacket Nation...probably more...

definitely know you're an advocate of the chain mosh B.E does much of it go down in Sydney? i know nobody would ever think of it up here...probably cause we're pretty gay!
I dont know..if you get Neil Bramley drunk enough and hand him a chain he'll mosh with it i'm pretty sure,all the while making biting commentary on the "kids"....The best chain moshing actually went down in Adelaide I think the first Crafterfest during The Dead Walk and Jungle Fever...both myself and Meatdog (in his Australian Morgado phase) had lengths of chain and we terrorised the crowd...and the crowd really seem to love this.


I know you're pretty vocal with your opinions on most formats of communication, do you think that people who have a big mouth on the internet should be able to handle the backlash if someone doesn't like whats said once it carries over to the real world?
Yes you should be fully accountable...talking shit is talking shit...dont say it on the net if you're not prepareded to say it or back it in real life...if someone takes you up on something you said on the net and you say "oh man it's only the internet!" you will sound like a complete idiot...

So you speak alot about not jumping on trends, dealing with day to day shit, sticking behind your words...this to me translates into a bit of a "some peoples toes have got to be stepped on" mentality. take it your not a big fan of people pacifying due to friends and "social standing"?
Oh man...i think hardcore should be a place to step on toes,wether they be the toes of other people involved in hardcore or the larger society...although don't do things just to get a reaction or make yourself seem controversial...which is what alot of people seem to to...dont bother commenting if it's just to try and be edgy...anyway you know the old saying about opinions.

Confessed thrash metal fan, will Had It ever cover breaking the law ahaha...?
Only if we can dress up like Rob Halford circe Turbo Lover

I've read shit in Dumb Hardcore and on the internet about you having beef with some bloke from Pathetic Human, what's the dealio?
Oh it's squashed...long running misunderstanding that escalated into something more due to chinese whispers....

Heard that there was some little issue with a snotty kid saying that Had It were too old for Arrest OZ?

Ok...this is embarrassing on all fronts,but who gives a fuck so here it goes...Boogz messages me some garbled text message that seriously like "Dude blog Arrest says we're too old fo hardcore" but spelt worse and not entirely in that order...sorry Boogs but you're dyslexic,anyway it translated to we were too old for hardcore according to someone...so i message him back saying What? who said what?...and he said I'll tell you later 'cause i'm at work...anyway when i finally saw him i said "wher eis this fucking thing you're talking about" turns out it was the write up Greg Arrest gave us that was nothing but positive but he called us "older members of hardcore" and i said What the hell is the problem with that Boogs? hahah he was like "i'm not old!" hahahah yes you are !!! we all are.

Australia hardcore supergroup, who'd be in it and what would it sound like?

ahhhh fuck i dont know John Von Blast on drums,dolan on vocals,Beltsy on guitar and Doug Defence on bass...it would sound like a mix of Infest and Outburst...the show would be held in an abandoned train station covered with graffiti...

Top 5 hardest intro's in your opinion and why?

Ok....I'm counting the intro of We Gotta Know...that shit is a prelude to dancefloor violence. Arms Reach intro,good times and plenty of mosh memories. Dumptruck/The WrongSide Feeding Time at the Zoo...so good. any Infest instrumental track (except maybe Son of the Sun...it sounds like a theme song for Wacky Racers..and old cartoon that featured Penelope Pitstop and Dick Dasterdly...anyway you're all too young to know ) and lets see...i'm not gonna say Rise and Fall...played right the fuck out so I'm going with March of The White Trash by the mighty Breakdown.

And is it true that an Age of Quarrel a day keeps going soft at bay?
either this or Before the Quarrel is totally acceptable.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Pure Holy Terror. Abraxis interview from october last year

Keep in mind that this interview is pretty old and somewhat dated, i did this many moons ago before they had a line-up, done a show or even had the album out. Was done for a zine i was meant to do but i just frankly couldn't ever have the energy or time planning to do it so here's probably my favourite interview I've ever done with the one man machine Andy Wounds.

PROCEED TO READ!

Abraxis may be a little unbeknown to some, can you explain what Abraxis is as a whole?
Abraxis is, and will always be, simply my musical output, since my deptarture from AGAINST, I had a lot of songs to record, mostly hardcore/metal style. But Abraxis is more than just a hardcore band to me, its my absolute freedom to record music, art, words. Being now part of the holy terror, I can work with similar artists who have the same ideas about music. It seems like people have this idea that its a one man band studio style, It was some ways. The songs written an recorded, the thought put in was by me alone, until I got back jamming with Brett, But as far as the other parts i havnt found the right people to allow into Abraxis. Once i am set it will be full blown chaos. Shit talkers and backstabbers are always there to knock this project down.

When abraxis finally comes to doing shows, will you be looking to play alot of shows or do you see shows as more special when they are few and far between?
yeah, actually today i started going over the music with some friends. Shows, its going to be like every other band ive played in, start from the bottom and work my way up. It helps being a writer in old bands like AGAINST, FROM THESE WOUNDS, FXFX, and playing shows with bands I grew up with, but im not going to use it like stepping stone, im going to work like i always have, ill be playing as often as i can. wherever i can.

The HT seems to have a very similar occurrence with members in bands, in being that it's members can be few and far between, sometimes in separate countries even. Does this improve the overall quality of the music, having members that are completely like minded?
Alot of bands are very secretive of whos in their band, which adds to the mystique, but comes across like its one person. Some are just studio bands that play every now and then so they can be from the other side of the globe. I do think it adds abit of quality to the music, your not just collaborating with your friend around the corner who isnt into the same stuff as you, so you find people out there that are very like minded and it works easier, plus the cultural difference comes through too.

As far as i know you've put out a demo and have an album just about ready to release on Frequency Deleted, is there anything else in the works for Abraxis?
Im always recording, So far theres the demo i did last year and the new CD out shortly. I still have some songs not quite done, but due to the last year ive had, most of my equipment and recording gear is at my old address. I have some songs ready to go which im hoping i can organise a 7" or split with one of my fellow Holy Terrorists. But I am always updating songs on the myspace, like the Portishead cover, songs that are just spur of the moment things. Songs that may not really fit into a genre or maybe just a song i am willing to give away because i believe in it. Somethings missing in music these days, someone willing to give their art for free just because they back it.

Alot of your songs are based around very dark topics, do you feel that people ignore the true darkness in this world?
I dont think they ignore it, i just think its not there for them personally. Some people end up drawn to darkness because of where theyve come from and then theres just the evil. But theres good and bad in all of us.

On the album, there's the Integrity Cover: 'Abraxis Annihilation'. Why this particular song, where does it fit in with the whole theme of the album?

The cover, no real reason. While me, mackey an Brett were jamming we played that an hollow, I liked the mid break an the intro alot music wise, the album it's from I learnt how to play guitar to. The dynamics in the song vocally are great, if you read dwids words an play the song it's very different an in the studio it was the hardest song to record. Theme wise it doesn't really stand to far from the rest an I thought using it's lyrics as a jumping board for the life of Abraxis.

The album has artwork done by GIVE UP, an artist commonly known for doing street art and posters. Why did you choose him to do the artwork?
Firstly, His art is amazing. He is part of the HT and after seeing the designs for bands like Palehorse, Rot in Hell, How can you really not ask? Plus he was keen to do it and was really easy to work with, He nailed it and hes a rad dude, get his book. very impressive

Being a 'god free' band of sorts, what's your take on all these bands just stating blatant disbelief for anything?

I think you can tell someone trying to be defiant and someone just speaking thier mind. Straight edge, Christian, Godfree, its all the same, you can talk it up but make sure you back it up, your willing to die for god, kill yourself, you really believe a blonde haired blue eyed messiah from the middle east died for your sins? A person who walked on water only to be named in history by two historians, one being a liar and the other only just saying the name jesus. How can you put your life into a book. A book written by god ? courtesy of john the baptist. The WORD of GOD, written by someone else? your straight edge? great, stay the fuck away from drugs, you cant tell me how bad they are if you never tried them yourself, your edge before your 18? You cant even drink yet legally anyway, look at all the greatest bands ever an whats their main drive behind the music… drugs. Except Earth Crisis, cos im sure the Strife boys sold out. Ive been friends with straight edgers who would score for me on tour, Christian bands doing covers of Zao for my old band. I dont think you should have to spout out about how hard you are. My songs have always been about that, people who know me properly know thats what im about, we had songs in Against about it, Forever fighting was about it. I never intended to sound like a godfree band, I just wrote about liars, an one of the greatest liars or lie is Christianity, religion, Dark times bring out the darkness and thats what it abraxis is about about, friends fucking you over, enemies trying to get the best of you, people you trust going behind your back, ending in an actual insane asylum. My musical background has always reflected this, except for some, but the music was able to go beyond the boundaries of the message.

A fair few Holy Terror bands, ala Integrity, Rot In Hell, The Banner... are very into extensive packaging and presentation, providing lots of added extras/rarities to their releases. Is this something that you feel is equally as important to the releases as the actual songs themselves?

Presentation is always something i have really loved in a release, Labels like Southern Lord and the other labels supporting most HT bands really do go that extra mile, be it Vinyl only releases, LTD pressings, its not AS important as the music but it definatly makes supporters actually BUY a cd, DVD vinyl. But to me, music is the starting point, I mean you can find a dime a dozen of bands with CDs out, but it doesnt mean shit cos its in a box, if the music sucks, it sucks. The most important thing about bands with some artistic integrity commonly found in bands like, Vegas, Sunn0))), Merzbow, Striborg, Goatsnake, Pulling Teeth, Agoraphobic nosebleed, Converge, is that they make the art as important to the music for themselves, not because it will sell a shirt. They make art worthy of the music. 7" s and LTD pressings are almost a way of the past compared to all the weak metalcore carbon copies out now.

Favourite albums of all time, regardless of genre.

Mindsnare - hanged choked wrists slit, Dillinger Escape Plan - calculating infinity, Ringworm - Birth is pain, Mayhem - wolfs lair abyss, Mayhem - Grand declaration of war, Integrity - Humanity is the devil, Origin - S/T, Deftones - white pony, Weakling - dead as dreams, Venetian snares - doll doll doll, Tool - AEnima, Reprisal - where heavy gloom dominates, Suffocation - Despise the sun, Zao - Liberte ex inferis (Sp?) Shining – Halmstad, Burzum – filosifem, Congress – angry with the sun.. it goes on

If you could have any one person, living or dead contribute to Abraxis, who would it be and why?

too many people, Dwid would be good, Aaron Turner? Merzbow? the Melnick twins before 2000, Neurosis, The twins from Wish for Wings

What is the best live show you've ever seen, weather it be hardcore or not?
thats hard too, every show mindsnare did on the Against, Mindsnare Samsara tour. Opeth the first time they came. Ringworm, Raised Fist, Satyricon, American Nightmare. too many, Blood duster when FTW played with them, pretty much anything Beltzy has done.

Why is Mindsnares cover of Iron Fist so fucking awesome?
Iron fist? Anything Beltzy does is gold. That guy is Australias best guitarist no lie!

Name any one song that you would like to see any one band cover and why?

Any song...Deathcrush by mayhem played by mindsnare or in the shadow of the horns by darkthrone played by blood duster. Oh an funeral moon by mayhem played by mindsnare too!!

Common question, seeing as this zine is aimed at people who may not have tapped into this side of hardcore, whats with Manson and the Flying Fish?
Manson should be set free, the fish.. its iconic to the HT... cant really go deeper

Any people to put a thanks out to or a fuck you out to, living, dead, imaginary?

Thanks, fd records, dwid t from vegas, kasner, give up, nigel, dave samsara, graham, greg against.

Fuck off to all the people who went cold as when I left against, like I'm a fucking leper.
Fuck Fence sitters. Fuck god, fuck jehova, praise Satan ,praise the goat, praise boyd rice, praise the tides to wash this all away.
Praise the drug dealers in my area praise cocaine, praise valium, praise Xanax. praise the hardcore bands who know who chubby fresh is and fuck the Nchc take that how you want, fuck sideways hats, fuck listening to dance music while a hardcore band is playing live, praise Satan.
Praise the holy terror alliance
Fuck bridge nine for making the hardcore world turn into a bunch of copycats and fuck haters who say Abraxis sounds like integrity, I ripped off day of mourning and left for dead. Fuck off
Fxfx forever true, this interview goes out to Gaz an the with wings twins
Andy Wounds
www.myspace.com/Abraxishc
www.holyterror.com
www.myspace.com/chuckedguts

Monday, February 22, 2010

Interview with Jorge Riviera of New York Masterkillers Merauder

Coming soon!

Plus hopefully a few Australian interviews and Euro stuff too.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Hopefully

This will kick off and become somewhere i can put up interviews i've done with bands that i really dig or that i feel i want to get to the bottom of.
Also going to post updates on my band "Sick People" (XO) and on my slowly but surely ever growing stash of records!

Sick people are currently just jamming, we really need to get the ball rolling or i may go insane...but the day will come, i will be the dwid of this band, i will keep going until it happens.

Peace, 'till i hopefully get my first interview up on here...

LOWER(south)EAST SIDE