Signifying Nothing

Rain On The Parade

By admin on Mar. 2, 2006.

This is the interview I did with Rain On The Parade in April of 1997. Originally in What Was Said Fanzine.

1. Okay, who is in the band and all that crap?
My name is Ronnie and I sing. DII plays one guitar. Justin plays the other. Matt jumps around with his bass. Chris just joined the band. He plays drums.

2. Have you guys gotten any shit for the lyrics to Body Bag?
You know, with the way all this metal slop has taken over hardcore in the past few years, you’d think we’d catch some slack for writing a song like Body Bag.  You’d think somebody would stand up and say, “hey fuck you man!  You’re talking about me, aren’t you?”  Well, the record is coming up on it’s first anniversary and I’ve never once talked to anybody, or gotten a letter from anybody about that song, unless it’s along the lines of “it’s a funny song,” or that they think I’m hitting the nail right on the head.  I think the reason I don’t hear from any of these kids who like all of the shitty bands on Victory’s payroll comes down to one thing.  Deep down inside, they know how lame that music is.  They know it’s not hardcore.  They’re just having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that they belong on the couch banging heads with Beavis and Butthead instead of being at a hardcore show.  I’ve got some news for you kids-it’s not too late to come back.  Just head on down to your local record exchange with your Victory collection in hand and trade that useless slop in for some good old tyme hardcore.  Then write a letter to Tony Brummel and tell him that if he wants to push his label as a “hardcore” label maybe he should put out some hardcore bands Victory Style.   Who the fuck are you trying to kid?

3.Where do you think the hardcore scene is going right now?
I think hardcore is back on the upswing.  There are a lot of good bands out there right now, and I’m sure a lot will follow.  It seems I am seeing more bands like Floorpunch and less like Autumn.  To me, that is a welcome change.  It just amazes me how hardcore could get so untracked.  I mean what were a lot of these kids thinking when they started their bands?  How did the guys in Earth Crisis arrive at the conclusion that they were a hardcore band?  I know that Karl has been around for a while, and he knows the difference between Slayer and Minor Threat.  Their sound falls next to Slayer, so how can anybody in that band say they were a hardcore band?  If you want to play metal, play fucking metal, but don’t slap the name “hardcore” on it and pretend so you can sell a shit load of records.  I think one thing that Earth Crisis and Victory Records both know is that if the descriptor “metal” had been hung on Earth Crisis, a lot of hardcore kids wouldn’t have given them a chance.  They lied and a lot of kids took the bait.  If any of the aforementioned bands have a problem with my line of thought, that’s just fine by me, because I’m pretty damn offended by their version of “hardcore.”

4.What do you think of the “PC”ing of the hardcore scene?
Actually, I think a lot of that is starting to die down.  I’ve heard the word “faggot” being tossed around quite a bit lately.  I mean, for PC kids the only word more offensive is the “N” word.  Does that mean the scene is suddenly turning into a sea of homophobia?  No, I don’t think so.  Kids are calling each other names.  Nobody is running around New Hope saying it.  I think a lot of kids just like to push the envelope and say what’s forbidden.  When I was in fourth grade, all we did was run around and call each other “fag.”  I didn’t know what it meant.  It was just a funny word, and my parents got upset if it came out of my mouth, so that made it pretty cool.  I think that’s what is starting to happen now.  PC is cool when it applies to the situation.  It just gets tiring when you’re not really doing anything terrible but some Buddy Holly look-alike in five dollar duds is always in your face anyway.  Some of those kids need to calm down.

5.Any thoughts on all the big reunions coming up like Agnostic Front, Bold, Up Front, etc?
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t totally stoked for the Black Flag reunion tour to roll into Philadelphia.  They broke up just as I was starting to get into hardcore, and they are definitely one of the bands I wish I had the chance to see.  Now, because Ginn is running out of money, I’ll get the chance and I’m real happy about that.  I think bands like Black Flag and Agnostic Front should be able to do reunions just because they were such prolific bands.  I think it’s good for kids to see these bands doing it the way it used to be done.  Bold and Upfront are kind of a different story for me.  Maybe it’s because I’ve seen both several times.  I don’t know.  They were good bands, I guess, but why not just do new bands in the vien of Up Front and Bold, instead of rehashing?  I see Black Flag and Agnostic Front as timeless music, where Bold and Up Front were just another generation of straight edge.  Don’t get me wrong, they were both good bands, but they were easily replaced.

6.When did you get into hardcore?
I got my first dose of hardcore in a ninth grade remedial reading class.  Mark Cozgrove gave me my first taste of Suicidal Tendencies and I’ve been hooked ever since.  I guess that was around May 1986.  I didn’t get to my first show until a year later when I had friends that could drive to Trenton.  Agnostic Front, Underdog, Mcrad, and Timmy and The Dub Warriors.  I remember it well.

7.Are you doing anything for the last Hardware?
Definitely.  I want to be there when Hardware takes its last breath.  Originally, I had a Circle Storm interview, along with a column set up for the next issue; but Brett told me that the deadline was for June, so I’ve decided to use the material for another zine, just because it would be outdated by the end of the summer when I guess the last Hardware is supposed to come out.  I’m not sure what I want to do for the last issue.  Whatever I do, I want it to be absolutely awesome.  I really want to help Hardware go out with a bang!  Dave and Brett, thanks for taking me on board.  I don’t think all of the zines in this scene can fill your shoes.  This is just a huge loss.  Hardware will be missed.

8.What are the future plans for Rain On The Parade?
We’ve got a bunch of shows coming up throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  We’d really like to play outside of the area, but we apparently don’t have those kinds of contacts yet.  If anybody out there is interested in having us play their area, please drop us a line.  What else?  We’re recording our album at the end of the month (March).  It’s going to have fourteen songs on it, and hopefully we’ll have it out in time to tour it this summer.  We plan on heading out west for a couple of weeks during the summer, hitting California, Washington, and Arizona, to name a few off the top of my head.  We’d also like to tour the east coast for a couple of weeks as well.  Like I said, we just need to establish some out of state contacts.  We also have tracks coming out on compilation records.  We’ll be on the compilation that will come with the new issue of Tension Building.  Also, we’ll be on the Growing Stronger compilation and the sampler CD that comes with the next issue of Extent Fanzine.  I think I covered it all.

9.Have you been in any other bands?
Chris used to drum for Ensign.  Justin used to sing in a band called Disregard.  DII, Matt, and I had all dicked around in small local bands before, but nothing that was memorable.  Before Rain On The Parade my claim to fame was that I used to do Fuck You Fanzine.

10.What is the history of Fuck You Fanzine?
That was a time in my life when I was absolutely disgusted with just about everything in the scene. A lot of good bands broke up, and a lot of bad bands took their place. Metal was starting to creep into things. The kids playing their guitars started caring more about playing intricate, skilled music rather than jumping around playing the simple three chord music that I grew up on. The scene was just turning into something completely different and I didn’t like it one bit. To make matters worse straight edge kids were turning into real pricks. At that point (1992) I had been straight edge for six years and I couldn’t remember a time when all my brothers were so snobbish, petty, and just flat out retarded. I was all tourqed up, but I was pretty much the only person I knew who felt this way about how things were turning out. One night, I was watching a movie called Pump Up The Volume which is about this guy (Christian Slater) who runs a pirate radio station and basically pisses off all of the right people with his broadcasts. Nobody knew who he was, which drove them all more crazy. That really stuck with me. I liked the idea of being this kind of voice coming out of nowhere, hitting as many nerves as possible. So I sat down behind my trusty Macintosh one night and whipped out a four page zine that made fun of a few people and praised a few others. I had originally signed my real name on it, but my girlfriend at the time had told me that it was so bitter that she would have thought somebody else had written it if she hadn’t seen my name. So I kind of took that to heart and decided to choose a pseudonym. I settled on Chuck U. Farley, The Sargent of Straight Edge. Chuck U. Farley because that’s the name that Slater’s character in Pump Up The Volume used to register his post office box. The Sargent of Straight Edge because I saw myself as the guy who was going to kick the scene’s ass back into shape. So I finished the zine and sent it out to any band or zine whose existence just really stuck in my crw, and then I sat back and waited to see what happened. A week later, just about everybody I had sent the zines out to had written me back. The responses ranged from “what’s your fucking problem?” to “I’m going to kill you!” That, coupled with the mail I got from write ups in fanzine reviews, made me want to do more. The more mail I got, the nastier the zines got; I was pissing off everybody that I thought was killing hardcore and I kind of got off on that. So I was always thinking about what I was going to do for the next one. The shit hit the fan when I endorsed an idea called “moderation” which basically said you can still be straight edge if you drink a beer (and only ONE beer) because hey, in moderate amounts, beer is just a beverage. Just about everybody who read that wrote to me to tell me that now they were certain I was an idiot. That whole theme pretty much overshadowed the zine until its demise after issue seven. I wrote a farewell letter explaining why I was ending the zine and why I had decided to hand over my x’s and try out the party thing. As lame as it sounds, I was so at odds with straight edge kids at that time that I just questioned why I was doing the whole straight edge thing anymore. I know you’re supposed to do it for yourself, but I literally hated 95% of the kids that were around at the time, and I think I just started grabbing beers to separate myself from those kids. Of course, looking back now, that was probably the most idiotic movie I’ve made in my life. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but in hindsight, I really blew it. It took me a couple years to realize that.
11.Hypothetically, who do you think would win in a fight: Earth Crisis or Vegan Reich?

Most definitely Earth Crisis. As much as I don’t like that band, at least they played out. They get up on that stage and say what they mean and take a certain amount of abuse for it. Especially in New Jersey. It’s not like they don’t deserve all of the shit they put up with, because they do. I just think it takes a certain amount of balls to get up on that stage, like they did at Chatam, knowing full well that while half the kids in attendance were there to see them the other half were there to see them fall. Vegan Reich wouldn’t even play out because Sean was afraid he’d get his ass kicked. He just hid behind his records.

12.What bands today do you think are really doing something good?

Bands like Hands Tied, Purpose, Rancor, Over The Line and Atari have been rocking my world lately. Youngblood is a brand new band that I think is going to take a lot of people by surprise. Then there is the cast of usual players who got things rolling again like Floorpunch and 97a. There’s so many great bands nowadays and not just because the whole hardcore revival thing has caught on fire. I don’t consider any of these bands “rehash” like some assholes would like you to believe. People are just playing hardcore again. There wasn’t a whole lot about hardcore that was “hardcore” from like 1991 to 1995, if you know what I mean. Sure, there were some bands, but a good band like Mouthpiece was far and few between during those lean years. I like the way things are turning out and I think things are heading in a good direction.

13.What do you think of hardcore getting attention in the mainstream press like MTV, CNN, etc?

Hardcore is just too underground for your average Rage Against The Machine jock to find. “Normal” kids read magazines, not fanzines. They buy stuff on CD not records. They go to concerts, not shows. They don’t get it and they never will. I don’t think the occasional feature on MTV or CNN is going to change that anytime soon. These kids just don’t get it. Rage Against The Machine has a lot of good things to say, but the only words these kids hear is fuck you I won’t do what you tell me. Hardcore kids are evolved. Many of them care. Many of them act. Many of them are open to new ideas and new ways of thinking. A lot of “normal” kids just spin their wheels all their lives. They don’t fit our mold. I don’t think there is anything to worry about. If this scene survived Victory Records it can survive anything.

14.Will there be another issue of Unsportsmanlike Conduct?

There will be another column of Unsportsmanlike Conduct that will be included in the final issue of Hardware this summer. I’m not sure whether that column will leave the pages of that zine though. I’ve been telling a lot of people that I’ll help them with contributions for their zines but I may just end up doing one of my own. I went to a couple of shows this weekend and didn’t come home with any zines. Anytime that happens I get bummed because I love zines. There just aren’t enough out there right now. Unsportsmanlike Conduct sounds like a good working title. Or maybe I’ll just start doing Fuck You Fanzine again.

15.On Sunday you seemed very baffled by positive and negative atoms. What are you going to school for?

I go to Kutztown University where I am a telecommunications major. I also have a minor in speech. Yeah, I kind of blew that joke as far as my terminology went. I think I meant “ions” but I’m not sure. I heard that joke in my Biology class where I am currently riding in the valley of C & D land. I’ve never been too good with either science or math. One thing a lot of people throw in my face is the whole don’t mix an acid with a fucking base/because it will blow up right in your face part of Body Bag. I’ve had people tell me that they would neutralize each other. Recently, when I was in the studio laying down some vocal tracks I asked Pete the engineer about that one. Before he brought his studio, he was an engineer for NASA. He’s had intense schooling and the guy is just brilliant. So I asked him about that one. He told me there are several cases where mixing an acid and a base would cause an explosion, so I was relived. I thought I had pulled a real boner there for awhile.

16.What do you listen to when you’re not listening to hardcore?

Outside of hardcore my favorite music is probably the kind of stuff I grew up on. ACDC’s Back In Black, all the Van Halen records with David Lee Roth singing, and early Cheap Trick stuff. All of that stuff was kind of hard for its time. When I was in 6th grade I used to come home from school when my parents weren’t home from work yet and pull out the tennis racket and jump around my room pretending I was in ACDC. I always played the rhythm. I never wanted to be the lead guy tied down with all of the finger work. I just wanted to play the chords and jump around. I still listen to that stuff when the mood hits me. I found The Beatles a few years ago. I also dig Weezer and Social Distortion as well.

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Top 100 Of The Nineties: Endpoint-In A Time Of Hate

By admin on Feb. 6, 2006.

Endpoint
In A Time Of Hate LP
Conversion Records
1991

This is a personal choice. When I was a young punk Model was put on a mix tape for me (turned out said mix tape maker just copied the east coast side of the Voice of 1000’s compilation and said it was a mix) and I loved it a lot. In A Time Of Hate, the LP the song comes from, is a great record of slightly metallic youth crew hardcore with great lyrics about the environment, straight edge, and drunk driving. I’ve always had a soft stop for this one and probably listened to it a lot more in my teens than I did “classic” bands like Bold or Youth of Today.

Endpoint’s later records go from decent to pretty bad in my opinion. They got some chances and got pretty mellow as the years went on. They’d also do a cover of that stupid Rick Springfield song Jesse’s Girl which would haunt my high school years, but let’s tell that story another time. If you like Endpoint I’m sure you already have these records.

This record is out of print as far as I can tell. I’m shocked it hasn’t been reissued by anyone. The Louisville Hardcore wiki page has more information.

Here is an mp3 of Model.

These songs are posted for sample purposes. I post them so that people can be turned on to cool music and hopefully return the favor for someone else. Each mp3 will be up for one week and then will be taken down. please support the bands and labels by buying these records and checking them out when they play your town. DIY hardcore punk bands deserve your support as an alternative to Clear Channel/MTV/RIAA nonsense.

If you are the artist or copyright holder for this song and would like it removed please email me and it will be removed in a timely manner.

Members of this band went on to be in Black Cross and By The Grace Of God.

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Bold-The Search: 1985-1989

By admin on Oct. 3, 2005.

Bold
The Search: 1985-1989
Revelation Records

I am sure you know Bold’s material by now. I have never been very impressed with Bold; although, strangely, I have amassed quite the live show collection of them. This CD combines all of their material-the highly overrated Speak Out, the decent Looking Back, plus some compilation songs and the famed Crippled Youth ep. My biggest problem with Bold is all of the filler. For every Clear and Wise Up there are another ten songs of fourth rate youth crew hardcore. On Looking Back, for every Speak Out there is a Hateful. But you take the good with the bad I suppose. Wise Up is still one of the best tracks to ever open a compilation though. The Crippled Youth ep is pretty cool even if it is a bit of the corny side. If you are a fan, this is essential. This is a very complete and well done discography. If you’re like me and you’re not really a fan, you might skip this one and hold onto your old records.

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Newz U Can Uze

By admin on Aug. 29, 2005.

Holy crap, a lot of Newz U Can Uze

• After a couple years of work, Bridge Nine Records is going to be putting out the Schism Fanzine book. I have not had originals of the Schism issues in a couple years, so I am excited to check it out again.
• In sort of Schism related news, Ronny Little has a new interview with Alex Brown up about Schism’s precursor Loveseat.
• Porcell is now playing guitar for Bold yet again. I am not really a fan, but good luck to those guys.
• I am looking forward to the Generations compilation on Revelation Records. There are some great bands on it like Mind Eraser, Robot Whales, and Mental.
• Scumville is a new UKHC archive. Some of my favorite bands like Voorhees, Heresy, Napalm Death, and Discharge have come from the UK. I hope that this site takes off as Kill From The Heart did.
• Strange Reaction has had some awesome posts up lately. They have profiled Scared Straight, a favorite Nardcore band of mine. As I note in the comments, Scott Radinsky played pro baseball for the White Sox, Dodgers, and a few other teams. As of a few years ago he owned a skate park in California. He was interviewed for It’s Alive Fanzine and seemed like a very cool dude still. Strange Reaction also has a great post up about Government Issue.
• Punknews has the fall dates for Henry Rollins’ latest spoken word tour. Hopefully I’ll be hitting up one of the New Jersey shows.
• Bystander Fanzine has a really awesome interview up with Djini from Absolution. I have always wondered how Djini would be in an interview, and I was not let down by this at all.
• The Beastie Boys are posting acappella songs on their website to encourage fans to create remixes. They even have a forum for people to talk about and share them. I am not really into or know much about the remix thing, but this sounds cool.
• Triple Threat has a new website with live mp3’s from their upcoming record.
• Jello Biafra is going to be doing a 2^nd record with The Melvins entitled Sieg Howdy!. I was really into their first record, and was very pleasantly surprised to find out that Jello was the one who came to The Melvins with a lot of the more hardcore (that sound a bit like Bl’ast! I think) sounding songs. Also coming from Alternative Tentacles this fall is a new record from Articles of Faith singer Vic Bondi. Punknews has all the info here.
• Signifying Nothing’s friend Bart from Ghent Decontrol Fanzine has started his own music blog. So far, he has a preview of his latest issue (NYHC Tribute) and there is more to come. Looks good.
• Ladies From Neptune has an interview up with the old band Heibel. Good stuff; check them out if you have not.
• Meanwhile, across the hardcore blogsphere, check out these posts on The Master Tape Compilation, Deadguy, Gastunk, and The Angry Samoans.

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Hands Tied

By admin on Aug. 1, 2005.

I did this one with Tim from Hands Tied in September of 1997.

1. What is the history of Hands Tied and what is the current lineup now?

Hands Tied started around the same time Mouthpiece was calling it quits. I guess it was sometime early summer 1996. Hands Tied was an idea that came up during the 1995 Mouthpiece summer tour. At the time, we knew that Mouthpiece was going to be coming to an end soon. Matt, the guitarist from Mouthpiece, Ed the Mouthpiece roadie, and myself (Tim) all talked about starting a new band. Shortly after that tour Matt moved to Kentucky, therefore he was quickly out of the picture. Ed and I still wanted to get something going, so we started looking around for other members. At the same time, Ed and I were looking for members, Sean, the Mouthpiece bassist, and his friend Pat were starting to get a band together. Sean played me a tape to see if I was interested in singing for them. I told Ed about it and we decided to give it a try. Shortly after we started to get things together, we recorded a two-song demo that we just sent out to labels. We ended up doing a seven-inch with Equal Vision Records. We played a few shows and then the band started going through some internal problems. Sean had different goals for the band than Ed and I had, so Sean left Hands Tied. Shortly after, Pat left because he felt like he couldn’t go on without Sean. Ed and I started looking for new members immediately. We ended up with the lineup of:

Tim-Vocals
Ed-Bass
Espen-Guitar
Matt-Guitar
Geoff-Drums

We’re presently playing out again and preparing for a west coast winter tour.

2. I mentioned to you on Saturday that it will be one year this weekend since Mouthpiece broke up. Any thoughts on the past year?

The past year hasn’t gone as smoothly as I would have liked to seen it go. The member changes took up most of the summer of 1997. It took us awhile to find new members, practice, and get tight; and then it took awhile to start getting shows again. Things are starting to pick up now. My biggest disappointment is that the summer is almost over and we haven’t really done much as a band. We wanted to tour, that didn’t happen; we wanted to record for an LP, that hasn’t happened yet. Like I said, things are definitely starting to pick up. We’ve gotten a few new songs and are planning for a west coast winter tour. We’re also getting a lot of offers to play some really cool shows over the next couple of months. We’re going to be working very hard to get some goals accomplished. Hopefully you’ll be seeing and hearing a lot from Hands Tied in the near future.

3. How did you acquire your new members?

Well, we’ve known Matt Smith for a couple of years, and knew that he was into doing the same kind of music that we were. When we found out that he played guitar, we figured that we would give him a try. I met Espen about a year ago. He’s from Norway and came to visit America about a year or two ago. He stayed with us and went to a Mouthpiece show. He came back for another visit about half a year later and that’s when we talked about him possibly moving out here and playing for Hands Tied. As with Matt, Espen was also totally into doing the same style of music. Geoff, our drummer, I’ve known for as long as Mouthpiece was together. He probably went to every Mouthpiece show we ever played, at least in this area. He has been playing drums on and off for a few years. Once he actually got a drum set and we were in need of a drummer, we gave him a try. So far everything has gone better than I could have ever expected. This new lineup is so much better than the original lineup because we’re all on the same level. We all have common interests and have the same plans for the band. I couldn’t ask for things to go any better.

4. Will there be an LP soon?

Well, right now we’re working on getting together a lot of shows for the next few months. Since we haven’t been playing this whole summer, we want to try to make up for lost time. We did have an entire LP’s worth of material written before the member changes, but we decided to trash those songs. Sean and Pat wrote most of them without Ed and I around, so we didn’t have any input. We really didn’t like any of the songs that much anyway. Those songs probably would have been rewritten before we recorded them even if the other guys ended up staying in the band. As for now, we have about three brand new songs that we have written with the new lineup. I’m very happy with the way these new songs are coming together. The newer songs have more of a harder, pissed off sound to them. Definitely not as cheery as the seven inch stuff was. In my opinion, this new stuff sounds more like Antidote than Gorilla Biscuits. Hopefully we’ll be ready to record an LP this winter. There are no guarantees but I think it’s very possible. We’ll just have to see how things go.

5. Was the song on the Tension Building Fanzine compilation recorded when the 7” was recorded?

Yes, we recorded the seven-inch and the Tension Building song at the same time. We weren’t completely sure what songs were going to be on the seven inch and which song was going on the compilation. I guess we just decided after we recorded. That song, “Lost Ground,” was kind of chosen by Steve from Tension Building to be on his compilation anyway. Steve was there when we recorded everything, so he had his choice.

6. How involved are you in the internet?

I actually try to get on the internet once a night. Sometimes I don’t get a chance to get on for a few days. I usually just check out a few selected pages, check my email, and that’s about it. I rarely go into any chat rooms. Almost every time I log on, I find people talking shit about me, my band, and my friends. After awhile, it just becomes ridiculous. I highly doubt any of these people know me personally to talk about me. The funny thing is that not once has anybody actually confronted me face to face. They simply talk shit on a computer, sign a fake name, and I end up never hearing a word from them again. They’re just a bunch of spineless cowards with nothing better to do with their boring lives. These cowards mean nothing and they will be on their way out of the hardcore scene as soon as they graduate high school. I have three words to say to these pieces of shit…get a life!

7. What webpages do you like? Anything non-hardcore related?

My favorites are Revelation, Equal Vision, Straight-Edge.com, Impact, Hold True, and Meltdown. Other than hardcore related webpages, I like NBA.com, Sneaker Nation, Nike.com, and a few other Air Jordan and sneaker related webpages. There’s actually so many incredible webpages, I just don’t have enough time in the day to check many new ones out. I usually go to any of those pages I mentioned and check out their links also.

8. What do you think of Michael Jordan’s new contract?

Michael Jordan has been such an underpaid player for so many years, he deserves whatever he gets. He is hands down the best basketball player of all time. There is not one player around today that plays with the same dedication and emotion that Jordan does. When Jordan wants to win a game, he wins it. He has brought so much excitement and newfound interest to the game of basketball and the NBA that he deserves to get paid whatever he feels he is worth. If that new contract assures that I’ll get to see another season of Michael Jordan playing basketball, I’m all for it.

9. Do you think The Bulls are going to win another title?

If Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are playing for The Bulls, there is a very good chance that they will win another title. As a matter of fact, I’d have no problem guaranteeing another championship out of those guys. Once they leave Chicago though, it will all come to an end. There are a lot of great young teams out there in the NBA, but none of them can really compete with the well experienced team of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

10. What do you think of Dennis Rodman?

I think he’s an incredible rebounder, probably the best in the NBA, but I think some of his off court antics are ridiculous. Whatever though, as long as he plays his heart out and keeps diving for those rebounds, I’m content.

11. Any upcoming shows of note?

We’re playing a show in Long Island NY on the 19^th of September and on the 20^th we’re playing in Buffalo. We’re getting a lot of shows together right now, but nothing is really definite. I think we’ll be touring Europe in January, but we still have a lot of planning to do for that.

12. I keep hearing about a show on the 21^st in New Brunswick?

We were planning on playing a show at the Down Under in New Brunswick on the 21^st of September, but the show kinda got cancelled. There’s a show in NYC with Agnostic Front and Killing Time the same night, that’s why they didn’t go through with the NJ show for us. It looks like the show will be rescheduled for sometime in October.

13. Was the transition to new members hard?

The transition to new members took about a month for us to get everything down well. We got all of the old songs down tight, and started writing new material soon after. Right now, the band is doing better than it ever has been. I’m totally happy with the direction our new songs are heading in and the lineup as a whole is so much more in tune with one another. We all pretty much have the same plans, goals, and expectations for Hands Tied. Right now, our guitarist Espen is in Norway trying to apply for citizenship here in America. His visa just ran out, so he had to go back there and get some things straightened out. While he’s gone, we’ll probably get somebody to fill in for him, but hopefully he’ll be able to get back here soon.

14. What is the most punk thing you’ve ever done?

Can’t say I’ve done too many “punk” things in my lifetime, but there’s one thing that comes to my mind. It must have been the first time I ever saw Sick Of It All, probably 1989. It was at City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. I was upfront singing along, having fun, being psyched, when all of a sudden, somebody picked me up and forced me to the top of the crowd. Now what you have to understand is at this time, City Gardens didn’t permit stage diving. They had about four huge bouncers that would grab any stage divers, ruff them up and then psychically throw them out the back door. Getting caught stage diving by one of those huge bouncers was definitely not something you wanted to do. Once I got on top of the crowd, I ended up on the stage. I looked into the crowd and saw all four bouncers eyeing me up and motioning to each other to get me. At this point, I’m scared to death, so I dive off the stage. It’s pretty much all I could do to get down anyway. Next thing I know, this kid pulls me down from the crowd and pushes me down to try and hide me. I’m on my knees, hiding, scared shitless, sweating, having trouble breathing, and being unable to see nothing but legs and shoes. After about two minutes, the kid who pulled me down brings me back up. He says, “You’re clear. They gave up on ya.” I guess I was safe at this period, but my body was so psychically shocked from the whole experience that I threw up on the back of some punker dude with a black leather jacket on in front of me. Believe me, it was a lot of throw up too. The guy didn’t know and I surely wasn’t going to tell him. I guess I survived though, I felt pretty punk after that was over.

15. Did Mouthpiece ever play City Gardens?

Yes, Mouthpiece played City Gardens four times. The first time we played there, it was with Insted, Vision, and Eye For An Eye, the second time we played with Shelter and Into Another, the third time we played with Down By Law, and the fourth time we played Iceburn and Endpoint. City Gardens was definitely the best club in New Jersey. I went to my first hardcore show there in 1987; it was The Descendents on their last tour. I feel like I grew up going to that club, I definitely saw quite a few incredible shows there. I’m just happy I got to play on that stage a few times, it’s too bad that I’ll probably never get that chance again.

16. What was your reaction to Raybeez’s death?

I was completely surprised. At first, I thought it was just another internet rumor, but after awhile the talk began to sound very believable. It’s not often that you hear about somebody in the hardcore scene dying. I think it’s because hardcore is such a young music, most of the people involved are still fairly young. I definitely liked Warzone, but never knew Raybeez personally. It’s a definite loss to the hardcore scene and he will be missed. Luckily, he was able to record some very good records that will forever leave an impact on people. He will never be forgotten.

17. Who are you voting for in the November election?

As for the upcoming November election, I’m not really sure who I’m going to be voting for as of yet. I know car insurance in NJ is outwardly ridiculous and disgustingly expensive, so whoever has the answer to that will probably get my vote. I don’t see Whitman making any vital changes with the insurance thing so far, so I probably won’t be voting for her. I’ll definitely have to look into things a little more, I don’t feel I’m 100% sure as of yet.

18. What labels did Hands Tied talk to before settling on Equal Vision?

We didn’t really talk to any other labels. We sent a two-song demo type tape out to a bunch of different labels, but Equal Vision was what we were shooting for. I had known Steve EVR for a while and he had always wanted to do something with my old band (Mouthpiece), so when this new band came together, we thought we’d give Steve a try.

19. With the new lineup, will there be new cover songs?

We’ve been practicing a few different cover songs, but haven’t quite nailed one down yet. It seems like whenever we do a cover song by an old band that we like, nobody in the crowd knows it. That kind of ends up defeating the purpose of doing a cover song. We’ve been playing “City To City” by DYS and kids just haven’t picked up on it. Early towards the beginning of the band when we did “Clear” by Bold and “We Just Might” by Youth of Today, kids seem to know those songs. But when we go a little further back and try playing covers by bands like DYS or The Faith, kids just don’t know the songs. We’ve dabbled with the idea of doing a Negative Approach song, an Antidote song, or a 7 Seconds song, but haven’t figured out which one we’d definitely want to play. Hopefully, by playing older cover songs, it might open kids up to older bands that they might not have taken interest in if it wasn’t for us. Ultimately, I just want to play something that I like and have fun when we play it.

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