Uprise
By admin on Nov. 7, 2005.
I interviewed Uprise at Fieldsboro on
Interview is with Matt, Steve, and Greg. I added some pictures to my Flickr archive.
Who’s in the band?
Matt-Okay, I’m Matt, the vocalist, Steve on drums, Frank Pooch on guitar, Drug Free Mike Z on guitar, Greg Rise on bass.
So you got a demo and a 7” coming out?
Matt-Originally in September of 1995 we released the Bustin Out Of Morris County demo which had four songs on it. It doesn’t say it on the demo, I just call it that.
That’s awesome.
Matt-If you heard it, you probably wouldn’t like us anymore
Steve-We didn’t know what we were doing, we just wanted to get something out
Matt-Only Steve knew what he was doing. Nothing against the other kids in the band.
Hardware said it was the first generic demo they’d heard in a while.
Matt-Just kick us while we’re down don’t you…just kidding
Well now, I know you’re good
Matt-Now we’ve gotten a lot better, a couple guitar player changes, basically it’s been me, Steve, and Greg the whole time. Mike joined the band in March maybe and with him we recorded the Positive Youth On The Rise demo which has six songs on it, three of which will be on the 7”
On Orphaned
Matt-On Orphaned Records
Cool
Steve-It should be out early February
Matt-Yeah, early February
So what’s
Matt-In north
That’s when I lived there
Steve-A lot of sincere, dedicated kids
I used to live in
Matt-That’s where our guitarist is from
Yeah!
(At this point, some girl talks to Matt for a couple minutes)
Lots of girls dancing tonight
Matt-Yeah, it was cool
I was dancing and there were like girls all around me. It was cool.
Matt-Cool
That’s what I want; more girls, not just for the sake of more girls…
Matt-It’s like the 7 Seconds song Not Just Boys Fun, hardcore is for everybody
I notice with the new school kids the girls just stand in the back and hold their boyfriends bags. Fuck that.
Matt-People shouldn’t be coat racks. They should go to shows to have fun.
Greg-They all just bring book bags to shows to show off their vegan patches.
Yeah what’s up with all the Earth Crisis patches?
Matt-They suck anyway. But we won’t talk about that…
(We go on to talk about crappy Victory bands. Anyway.)
So the 7” is coming out?
Matt-Yep, six songs, three new
What do you think of the whole metal thing?
Matt-Metal
Sucks
Matt-Yeah, we’re a hardcore band. What do you think, Steve?
Steve-Well, some metal is good…
Matt-He likes some bad bands
Steve-The only thing I have to say is everyone should be open minded
Metal’s metal, hardcore’s hardcore
Steve-People shouldn’t be like “this doesn’t belong here”
Matt-I think it sucks. We take our influences from hardcore bands, not metal bands. All my favorite bands are not hardcore bands by any means but I’m not coming to band practice saying “let’s put a little piano” and shit, you know what I mean?
My favorite musician is John Coltrane
Matt-It’s good to be a talented musician because then you can put your talents into hardcore
TAPE ENDS…SWITCH IT OVER
Matt-Okay, Greg, what were you saying?
Greg-I was saying Matt curses too much
Matt-Sorry about that
Greg-He needs to work on his cursing problem…we apologize for Matt’s cursing problem
Matt-What’s wrong with that? I have the mouth of a trucker
Who gives a fuck
Matt-Exactly
Who gives a shit
Matt-Who gives a fucking shit. I get a little excited when we play, what the fuck?
The bands are excited tonight. That’s good because I see a lot of bands and I want to start dancing but they aren’t moving so I’m not moving
Matt-If the band doesn’t like what their playing how can you?
Closing comments?
Matt-Look for our record coming out on Orphaned Records. Six songs. Basically support all the
Greg-People should appreciate what we have because others don’t have shows.
Matt-Hope everything’s good.
Weapon X
By admin on Oct. 12, 2005.
Weapon X was a band who only played one show at the Manville Elks Lodge on August 9th 1997. Members of Weapon X have also been in Ensign, Vision, The Purpose, Black Turns Green, Kurbjaw, A Death In The Family, and some others. Here is the flyer from the show. I remember the week before Floorpunch, Vision, and 25 Ta Life played the same venue. In fact, Manville would be a consistent venue for a few years after this. Sometimes I really miss the place. It was easy to get to (go around the circle, go up six lights, make a left!), the people who ran it seemed to be really cool, and I always knew no matter what show I went to that some of my friends would be around. Anyhow, here are some things I remember from this show-
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Weapon X opened and sounded good. Of course, at the time anything that was not “metal” sounded good to us. Something about body bags and all that stuff you know? They busted out two covers at the end of their set, Insecurity by Turning Point and In My Way by Judge. They sold shirts (with the Calvin edge logo that I think is on the ep too if I remember correctly) and had 200 clear vinyl eps. I got a shirt and an ep. About a year later, in one of my first eBay sales, I sold both for a lot of money.
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In My Eyes and Fastbreak got crazy reactions if I remember correctly. Those early In My Eyes shows were pretty amazing. Fastbreak were still good at this point.
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I remember Justin buying, for both of us, the Time Flies and Count Me Out demos. At the time they were just two more youth crew bands to us, I never would have thought both would get as big as they did.
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This was also the first show with the new lineup (I think?) for Hands Tied. I remember being really excited but not many other people watched them! Despite all the cool shows in the summer of 1997, two big things were missing for most of the summer: Hands Tied and Floorpunch. We went outside to go to the car (for some reason we packed our lunches for this show!?!) and Justin and I overheard a couple “scenesters” openly talking shit about Hands Tied. This bummed me out hard. I wish 26-year-old Bill could go back and let 17-year-old Bill know that he had better be prepared for many bum outs in the next few years.
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Despite the lure of singing along to the words hope is good, don’t do drugs, we skipped Shutdown to go get something to drink down the street at Quick Check. On the way down the street, we saw some workers cleaning up a nasty car accident. This older woman was standing on the curb, so we asked her what happened. We started talking and she, surprisingly, started asking us about “the concert at the lodge.” We made small talk for a few minutes and she seemed to really get where we were coming from. I remember feeling really good about that.
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I do not remember anything special about Ensign’s set. I probably saw them about twenty times that year, so most of it is a bit blurry.
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We did not bother watching Good Riddance. Well, Courtney may have; I know I stayed outside and tracked down Nate for Weapon X interview below.
For a long time this was the only Weapon X interview ever done, but apparently someone in Europe did one a few years later too. Present for this was Nate, myself, Justin, Pete Smith, and Justin’s sister Courtney. This is an amusing interview for me; the comments certain interviewers make in here would seemed ridiculous shortly after. Courtney’s brief cameo near the end of the interview would become a Manahawkin catch phrase for a while after. Sorry Courtney; we were assholes back then, especially me.
Bill-Who is in Weapon X?
Weapon X is Nate Edge on vocals, Chris Youth on bass, Positive Paulie on drums, and Shaun Edge on guitar
Bill-Are you gonna play more shows?
I want to
Bill-I haven’t gone off like that since Redemption 87, and that was the first band of the day!
Awesome
Pete-In My Way did it for me
Bill-Turning Point and Judge covers
It was good people were singing along because I couldn’t remember part of it…
Pete-My day isn’t complete without listening to the Judge 7”
I always mix up verses
Bill-Who from Strength 691 is in Weapon X?
Just me
We bullshit for a couple minutes…eventually the conversation gets into this dick measuring crap about hockey. I was not too into this back then and I really cannot stand it now.
Justin-Ronny Little was saying how the Flyers were going to win it all but they went down.
Pete-The Flyers and Rangers can both go down. Now the Devils on the other hand…
Justin-Yeah
Bill-Here we go again…
I’m all about New Jersey but I’m just not a Devils fan…not really a big sports fan
Bill-With the Turning Point cover a lot of people seemed to not know it or even the Judge cover. What do you think of that?
Doesn’t really bother me… I did Judge because, well…Judge is Judge! The thing with Turning Point is I love Turning Point ever since I first heard them. They’re so awesome; I always wanted to cover them. The closest I came was Strength 691 was going to cover Guidance but we never got around to it.
Bill-Has Ensign been supportive?
Tim pretends to hate it
Justin-That’s so you stay in Ensign!
Bill-You’re like Porcell…in so many bands
I told Tim some of the stuff is four to five years old. I had stuff written for a long time. I really wanted to do vocals for old school straight edge hardcore. I had people but I would get a guitarist and by the time I got bass the guitarist would’ve sold out.
Justin-You have a striking resemblance to Jimmy Gestapo…just a little
It’s the glasses; I have pictures of us hanging out
Justin-Awesome guy
Bill-Jimmy rules
Take them off and you get Civ
Bill-Yeah, wow
Justin-RJ…(Laughs)
Bill-Our friend RJ looks so much like Porcell
Awesome
The conversation turns towards band reunions. Judge and Wide Awake come up; Justin makes some embarrassing comments about loving Wide Awake.
Justin-What do you think about old bands getting back together?
Let’s put it this way…one minute you’re in your face straight edge, supporting the scene, and when the scene went bad they broke up and now their back for the money. I don’t want to name names…
Bill-That’s our job!
That’s what Ressurection on the demo is about
Justin-Never seen the demo
Real small press
Bill-Are all two hundred seven inches clear?
Yeah
Bill-Are you going to do a 2nd press?
I want it to be like a Schism release…like New York Crew…if someone else wanted to repress it I’d be into it but I’m not going to
Bill-Is Weapon X going to be playing any of the Ensign/Good Riddance tour dates?
No because they’ll all be here and I’ll be on tour
Bill-Be funny if you played to the pop-punk kids…
That’d be awesome; the guys in Redemption 87, when they were out here for that weekend, said Weapon X should fly out, the kids would love it.
Bill-They’re playing their last show tonight
Justin-That’s funny because when Redemption 87 came out here Eric said New Jersey was the best place he’d ever played
Pete-Zoli said the same thing when Ignite came here, he said in California the kids have no energy
Well New Jersey is the best
Pete-When my brother came home from California with Hogan’s Heroes two years ago he said they loved them, especially at Gilman St.
Bill-Did you see Justin’s construction gloves?
Yes they’re awesome. I was going to get a pair but didn’t have time
Bill-You need chains and construction gloves for the whole Judge thing
I think I’m going to go for the whole Underdog thing and get football jerseys
Justin (suddenly peaking up)-Play Frontside Grind!!!
I wanted to do Back To Back
Bill-Play Say It!
Can’t…
Bill-During Ensign’s set Tim was like “you want to hear Say It?” and everyone was like YEAH and then he’d say “nope”
Bill-What happened during Shutdown’s set? We weren’t here…
Stupid shit
Justin-There was some kid raving tonight
Bill-Our whole high school is ravers
Courtney-I’m in the middle school, I’m not a raver
Pete-You could exchange their skate shirts for an Earth Crisis shirt because they already have the pants and shoes, you wouldn’t know the difference
Bill-I can’t tell sometimes
I remember when I started skating everyone was into hardcore
Justin-Token Entry
Bill-Ok, let’s finish up
Thanks for the interview; we had a great time tonight, awesome show
Justin-What do you think is the worst hardcore record ever?
Hmm…gotta think on this one
Bill-New Strife?
Pete-I’d have to go with Billingsgate
Bill-Ray and Porcell…that record just sucks
Yeah that would get my vote definitely. Ok I have to go help load
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Ten Yard Fight
By admin on Sep. 13, 2005.
I did this one with John Lacroix in the fall of 1996. This was while Anthony was still around; in fact, I believe it may have been a week or two after the Hardcore Pride 7” came out. Originally in What Was Said #1
Who is in the band, and what do they play?
Wrench-Vocals
John-Bass
Chris-Guitar
Anthony-Guitar
Ryan-Drums
What do you have out and coming out?
We did a demo, which we made 700 of and now it’s being repressed on vinyl by SOA Records. We did a 7” called Hardcore Pride on Big Wheel which will now be repressed on Equal Vision Records. We have a split 7” with Fastbreak coming out on Big Wheel and a bunch of compilations.
How did you hook up with Fastbreak to do the 7”?
We are always looking to find bands that play a style like ours and it seems that they were doing the same. I think they are an amazing band. I even interviewed them for my zine, Extent. We played some shows with them and became good friends with them and everybody’s always asking us to do a split 7” and a long time ago we talked about doing one with them.
What do you think of the boycott of Equal Vision because of their Krishna affiliation?
I think it’s outrageous. I’ve known Steve Reddy for awhile now and he’s one of the most sincere people I know. He’s over thirty years old now, he’s still involved and he’s still straight edge and he still loves all the bands he puts out. His business is good, he takes care of all his bands, and he runs a smooth operation. If somebody wants to boycott the label because of his religion that’s as fascist as it comes. If the kids knew everybody’s personal lives in hardcore everybody would be boycotted for some reason. Hardcore kids today seem to want to set the rules for how people in the scene should live and that’s bullshit. Support everybody who’s proven they are sincere by their actions. Steve Reddy and Equal Vision are deserving of as much support as anybody can give.
You played your record release party with Earth Crisis. What do you think of the militant stance a lot of people are taking on things like straight edge and animal liberation. Is anyone in the band vegan or vegetarian?
All of us are vegetarians in the band; some of us are vegan. We haven’t really considered ourselves an animal or vegan band. I, myself, agree with a lot of the things bands like Earth Crisis are saying now and what bands like Vegan Reich said awhile back. But I don’t want people to think that the rest of the band thinks the same as me. I think they generally don’t. I just understand the stance and I don’t always think it’s the best stance, but I let people accomplish things the way they feel is necessary. Some people have accused us of being militant straight edge or being alienating; the truth is that we are understanding and mostly open-minded people and I think a lot of times lyrics can be misinterpreted and twisted around. Basically, I let people think the way they want to think and do things the way they want to do them. If someone’s lyrics or just the way they speak seems harsh, that doesn’t mean they are stupid or violent or anything.
Have you ever played with Slapshot?
Slapshot haven’t played around here in years. We’ve never played with them but we’ve asked and never got a straight answer.
What do you think of the current resurgence of youth crew style hardcore in bands like Cornerstone, Floorpunch, Ten Yard Fight, Hands Tied, Fastbreak, Rancor, etc?
I think it’s great. For a while, you couldn’t see bands like that and people looked down on a band for playing that style. A lot of people forgot what the point was to hardcore in the good ole days. I don’t think it’s really coming back, but now it’s easier for a band to get respected for doing their own thing and that’s awesome.
What do you listen to when you’re not listening to hardcore?
I listen to almost everything; with my zine, I get all kinds of indie stuff. I mostly listen to The Smiths, Morrissey, Lush, Echobelly, and a lot of pop punk and old punk. I even like a little Wu-Tang here and there. I like a lot of stuff that I guess people call emo or even metal. I like The Promise Ring and Earth Crisis and will listen to both interchangeably.
How did you get Ryan from Undertow on drums?
He flew out to go on tour with Shift at the time and Ben was supposed to be leaving for tour with Battery (he played bass for them at the time). But then, he got arrested and was put on house arrest for six months. After the Shift tour Ryan decided he wanted to spend some time in Boston. He lived with Ben and our friend Pete cause their roommate ran off to the Midwest to get married or something. Ben was on house arrest and Ryan really liked the band and we hit it off pretty good so it was just natural. I don’t even remember thinking about it or asking him. We would fuck around a lot and just play at my house and he just started playing and he decided to stay in Boston for a little longer. He ended up going on tour with us and recording twice, so he was pretty much just another member.
What was it like working with Brian at his studio?
It was good. Brian does a good job. We would get pissed off at us a lot for being loud or whatever. I guess it’s hard to work with somebody that you know really well and are friends with. We got into a lot of debates and our views seem to be a lot different than his. There was actually one problem that we had where a stupid argument went way too far, but we all let it go pretty much.
How are your views different from Brian’s?
He just has a different opinion of hardcore.
What compilations are you guys gonna be on?
Right now, we have songs coming out on a Boston compilation by Big Wheel, a compilation that’s coming out with the new issue of Tension Building, and one being put out by Crucial Response in Europe. We are also talking over a few other offers from Supersoul and Blackout. We aren’t doing anymore comps because we are trying to save up songs for our LP.
Any good stories from shows?
We’ve had a couple of fights and that sucks. One time Josh and Tony from Commodity Fanzine brought a bunch of pink footballs and started throwing them at us. It was pretty funny, except I tried to catch one and missed the bass break in Proud to Be Straight.
When did you get into hardcore?
I got into hardcore and actually punk more specifically when I started skating and that was about nine or ten years ago. A few years later, I actually started traveling and going to shows in the city and in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and places like that. I’ve been straight edge for about seven years.
When will the LP be out?
Hopefully just after the new year.
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Saves The Day
By admin on Aug. 9, 2005.
I was never a big fan of Saves The Day. Nevertheless, Sean McGrath was always a good friend. Mike McKenna did this interview for me in the spring of 1998.
First off, tell me who’s in the band and who does what?
Sean plays bass, Bryan plays the drumkit, Anthony and Justin play the guitars, and Chris sings.
Give me some bio information if you could?
Well, personally, I played in Mouthpiece for several years and then started a band called Hands Tied. After quitting Hands Tied, I got together with Chris, Bryan, and Justin and started Saves The Day in the late spring of 1997. Anthony did a band called Purpose previously to joining Saves The Day.
I know some people dog you guys because they say you sound a lot like Lifetime… if I was in a band I ‘d take that as a complement! What’s your reaction to such criticism?
I think that comparison comes up because we do a style of music that not a lot of bands do anymore so kids automatically reach for the one band in their very narrow musical outlook that has a similar style. I think our new record will put an end to that comparison.
You guys have a demo out now and were supposed to record for Special Forces Records, but you ended up signing to Equal Vision. How did this happen?
Well, the demo was done the very first day of this band’s existence. Very soon after Aaron (Special Forces) asked us if he could release the demo as a 7”. We thought it was a cool idea. Almost immediately following we got quite a few offers from lots of labels. Since I worked with EVR in the past and knew they would be the best thing for us, we signed to them. No hard feelings with Aaron we still think he is great. It just came down to recording budgets and distribution.
You’ve just finished recording your LP for Equal Vision. What will it be called?
Can’t Slow Down
I noticed at shows that you guys play songs off the demo but also have some new material. Will the LP have mostly songs from the demo or more of the newer stuff?
There are three songs from the demo and eleven brand new gems.
People have been making a big deal about the New Jersey scene, particularly the NJHC scene. Do you feel that bands like Vision, Ensign, and Lifetime have made NJ respectable?
Those bands are great and there are many more great bands from this area. The kinds in the NJ area have, for the most part, great attitudes and make the scene one of the best.
I know that you guys have plans to tour out west in March. Any other shows lined up?
We have a lot coming up. Plus a full summer tour.
Are there any types of shows you’d rather play (i.e. hardcore, punk, or emo) or is that irrelevant?
We will play wherever we think we will have fun.
What albums are you looking forward to the most in 1998?
Fastbreak, Automatic, Floorpunch, and Madonna.
What made you want to play in a band?
Mike Ness from Social Distortion at City Gardens.
Closing Comments?
Nah, I’m alright.
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Arms Reach
By admin on Aug. 3, 2005.
I did this one with Luke through the mail sometime in early 1999. Arms Reach were one of the best bands of the 90’s, I wish there was a proper discography so more people could be turned on to these guys.
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Who is in the band?
The Arms Reach unit consists of Christy (22)-guitar, Amy (21)-guitar, Squelchy (22)-drums, Ben “bass of death” (22)-bass, and me, Luke Crew (23) on vocals.
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I think it’s really cool that you guys did a split demo, how did that come about?
Well both us and Found My Direction started around the same time (March 97) and were both from the same area/scene here in Australia (Newcastle). We’d been pretty good friends with those guys for awhile so it just seemed like a really cool idea to do a split demo together. It was a great way to help each other out and get both bands off the ground; it worked really well.
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I heard you guys cover Floorpunch, that is awesome!
Yeah we played Keep It Clear when we first started but it’s been awhile since we’ve played that. Floorpunch are rad, come to Australia please! Since then we’ve played covers by Infest, Agnostic Front, Ringworm, Youth of Today, Siege, Gorilla Biscuits, Citizens Arrest, Final Exit, and Price of Silence. We go through covers like Sabu goes through tables!
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What is going with Talk is Cheap Fanzine?
Talk is Cheap is dead! We were planning on doing a last ever issue but that idea kind of just died in the arse. As you probably know, Craig Edge is the biggest shit talker in the known universe and if I did another zine with him, it would have just gotten me in trouble! I get myself into enough shit doing my own zine called XSpiritX and Craig does his own thing in Edge of Quarrel Fanzine.
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I think the lyrics to Right To Breathe are totally right on. Is cigarette smoking as huge down by you as it is here? Personally, I think cigarette’s are for scumbags.
A lot of my friends go out to nightclubs, pubs, and shitty places like that which are filled with fucking cigarette smoke, but I don’t go out at all unless I’m going to a hardcore show because I can’t stand surrounding myself with the shit. Usually the bigger, over eighteen, shows attract a room full of fucking posers who just stand there holding lit cigarettes whilst a handful of poor fuckers try and dance without choking to death!
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Top five records you listen to?
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Infest-Slave 12”
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Minor Threat-Filler 7”
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Youth of Today-Can’t Close My Eyes 12”
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Negative Approach-7”
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Agnostic Front-Victim in Pain LP
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Turning Point-7”
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Negative FX-LP
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Black Flag-Damaged LP
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DYS-Brotherhood LP
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Project X-7”
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Born Against-7”
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Chain of Strength-True Till Death 7”
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Crossed Out-7”
Fuck, is that five yet?!
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What is Rest In Pieces about?
Christy wrote that song about her fifteen-year-old cousin who killed himself with his father’s gun. It’s basically about how easy it is to obtain firearms and do yourself or other people damage. Like how over there in America some kid just grabs a gun, walks into a school and blows away fifteen people. Fuck guns! People who think guns are tough or cool can suck my dick. It’s totally unrealistic but I’d love to see every gun in the world destroyed.
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Craig wanted me to ask you about wrestling so do you get ECW in Australia?
No, we don’t get it on the regular stations, only on pay TV which I can’t afford. A friend of mine tapes it for me though so it’s cool. My favorites are Sabu, Rey Mysterio JR., and “The Franchise” Shane Douglas; he’s a champ and so is his manageress Francine. We still get the WWF over here but that is so fucking lame and tame these days not like the glory days of The Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man Randy Savage, Junkyard Dog, and Leaping Lanny Poffo!
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What bands/zines are really cool down in Australia?
Heaps of em! If you like the brutal and unpolished style of hardcore punk there’s Fallout, A.V.O., No Grace, Bleeding Face, T.B.K., Conation, Heads Kicked Off, Nihilist, Mugshot, etc. For old style bands there’s Found My Direction, Toe To Toe, XClaim!, Frontside, Next Step, etc and for newer style/NY style bands there’s Grim Reality, Straight To A Tomb, Mindsnare, Ultimatum, etc. We have a fairly diversified scene down here where all these bands play together regardless of music/political differences. Most shows attract a pretty mixed crowd too, hardcore kids/punks/straight edge etc, which is awesome! There’s heaps of cool zines around too numerous to mention, but the best Aussie zines would be First Failure, Sniff N Patrol, Edge of Quarrel, Refuse To Accept, and Satan Sauce. Aussie hardcore fucking rules!
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Ok, closing comments?
Thanks heaps for the interview and interest in Arms Reach and Australian hardcore Bill. G’Day to all you radical NJ/PA kids and bands… 97a, Floorpunch, Rain On The Parade, Hands Tied, oh and long live the mighty Turning Point and Release (show me what you fucking got!!!)
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