Top 100 Of The Nineties: By The Grace Of God-For The Love Of Indie Rock 7″
By admin on Mar. 2, 2006.
By The Grace Of God
For The Love Of Indie Rock 7”
Victory Records
1996
I remember Victory sending out a newsletter sometime in 1996, probably the summer, about their new releases. The usual garbage like Snapcase and Earth Crisis had new releases, the One Life Crew controversy was covered, and there was an announcement about a new band called By The Grace Of God. This band was supposed to have members of Endpoint and apparently had recently played their first show, playing three songs and a Judge cover. At the time of course crap like Snapcase was huge, real hardcore bands like Devoid Of Faith and Floorpunch were starting to gain momentum, so hearing dudes from Endpoint were doing a band that covered Judge was a good thing.
I got the 7” shortly after. I was pretty floored by it. It sounded, by the time period’s standards, pretty “modern” but was still hardcore and a definite return to the older Endpoint style. Throw in a cover of fucking Plastic Bomb on the CD and I knew this band was good.
I saw them live twice. One at Manville Elks Lodge with the scab version of Deadguy & C.R.. The other time was of course at the infamous show in Yardley PA. I actually missed the whole thing! Our friends in the band Rad opened the show but then Saves The Day was playing so I walked down to the Wawa at the end of the street. By the time I had come back everything had happened. Whoops.
By The Grace Of God would go on to record another record for Victory and then one more record on a smaller label. Members of this band have gone on to be in Black Cross, Good Riddance, and Elliot.
Here is an mp3 of Fissures.
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.
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By The Grace Of God
By admin on Sep. 6, 2005.
Mike McKenna did this interview for me also. By The Grace of God has gotten a bad reputation in some circles but I’ve always thought that first 7” they did on Victory totally raged. Plus it’s hard to deny a band that covers Bringin It Down and Plastic Bomb. This was done with Tommy, their drummer, sometime in 1998.
What’s going on in Louisville?
Right now Louisville is doing just fine. We are going through a stage right now where a lot of great new hardcore, punk, and indie rock bands are coming out of the woodwork. Some great new bands you should check out are:
Five Times Fast
Flight 19
The Aasee Lake
Automatic
Tri-tet
Half Seas Over
The Dangers
Espionage
…just to name a few. The only thing that kind of sucks right now is that there are barely any places that will hold all-ages shows. There is a place called Sparks where about 90% of the punk shows are. The club is really cool to us and the people who work there are very cooperative, but the room the bands play in sounds like crap. Rumor has it that some kids are trying to find a place to start a collective but I hear that like every six months and nothing ever happens. I hope it works out this time.
I noticed that By The Grace Of God changed their lineup recently. Who are the new members and have they played in other bands before?
Our two new members’ names are Robby Scott (who replaced Jay Palumbo on guitar) and Brian Roundtree aka “Tree” (who replaced Jon Mobly on bass). So far, everything is working out just great except that Tree tends to hang out with hippies in drum circles and ends up coming to practice all stoned and smelling like patchouli.
By The Grace of God started as an “all star” band of sorts. How exactly did it come about, and more specifically when did you become involved?
By The Grace of God started because Rob and Duncan missed being in a hardcore band together since the breaking up of the all-mighty Endpoint. Duncan went around Louisville and found the biggest straight edge losers he could and asked them to be in a band. So we had our first practice and wrote three songs (Goliath, Pallbearer’s Hymn, and Navigator) and played them over and over again, then a week later we played our first show on a whim with Earth Crisis. Shelter was supposed to play but their van broke down or something so we got up after the opening band and used their equipment and played our three songs and a Judge cover. The room went nuts. It was so fun and exciting but also very sloppy.
The Perspective album sounds more developed than the 7”. Is this because more time was spent in the studio, or was it because at that point By The Grace of God was a full-time band?
Well…neither. The songs on Perspective came out not as aggressive because that’s how they were written. We all didn’t sit down and say “hey, let’s write some more polished hardcore songs.” Hopefully, our next release will be much more aggressive the way I personally like it.
Some people would label By The Grace Of God as a political band. Obviously, there are some very political songs on your records but do you feel that this perception of the band in any way constrains you?
Not really. I am not really educated enough on politics to be as political as I want to be. When Rob writes his lyrics, he sometimes shares them with us so we can all put our ideas to mold it into a better song.
Are the messages reflected in such songs as November’s Lie and Red Hand Plan representative of the feelings of the band or are they mostly expressions of Rob’s ideas?
The songs November’s Lie and Red Hand Plan are expressions of Rob’s ideas.
Does By The Grace of God have any plans to head back into the studio in the near future?
By The Grace of God plans on going back in the studio in April to record songs for a new 7” on Three Little Girls Records out of Louisville, and some for some compilations.
Everyone knows By The Grace of God is on Victory. How did that come about? I mean, nothing against Victory, but why not go with Initial Records, who you not only work with, but is also a hometown label?
Just for the record, By The Grace of God is not on Victory anymore. We didn’t leave on bad terms. We still appreciate everything they did for us but in the long run Victory wasn’t the right label for us. Victory came into question about what labels we wanted to be on because Duncan’s old band Guilt was on Victory and Tony told Duncan that he wanted to put it out. We figured that Tony would probably get it out the fastest so we went with it. It worked out great because our record came out like a couple of months after we recorded it. The reason why we haven’t done anything with Initial is totally over my head. I wanted to release something with Initial from the get go, but it didn’t work out that way.
On the back of the Perspective LP there is a little box which says STRAIGHT EDGE IS A NON-VIOLENT MOVEMENT. I think that is really cool and more straight edge bands should promote non-violence. Do you think that violence in the straight edge community is as bad as everyone says it is?
I think it depends on what scene you are from. Here in Kentucky, we have a semi-violent scene but there are never any fights. The scene here is a lot different than say, New York or New Jersey because it seems that kids dance a whole lot more violent up there than they do in the south. I am strongly opposed to mindless violence and I think it has no place in any hardcore scene. If people have the brain to just talk things out instead of fighting, things wouldn’t be so bad in some scenes. I might get called a sissy for saying this but it’s just the logical thing to do…plain and simple.
What’s new with your other band, The Enkindels?
The Enkindels just finished the recording for our new LP Buzz Clip 2000. It is by far the best Enkindel release yet, much more melodic punk rock than emotional hardcore. We are going to be touring like hell this summer and hopefully go to Europe this winter. I love playing in all sorts of different genres of punk. I also play in a band called The Life Of An Ocean that’s different than anything else I’ve ever done.
What were the bands or albums which made you want to play hardcore?
There are tons and tons of records which made me want to play hardcore, but if I had to narrow it down to three records it would be Minor Threat-Out of Step, Gorilla Biscuits-Start Today, and Bad Religion-Suffer. But still today there are great records that are coming out that totally motivate me like Ten Yard Fight-Back On Track, and Good Riddance-Ballads From The Revolution.
Right now, in your opinion, what are the worst problems in the hardcore community?
Violence, sexism (yes, sexism…look around, it’s still there), and superiority.
What albums are you looking forward to in 1998?
I am looking forward to the new Ink and Dagger LP. I think Don and Sean are going to blow everyone’s ass apart with this next one. The Saves The Day LP. I am also looking forward to the next Boy Sets Fire release.
Any closing comments?
It seems like every five or six months I get a new record that totally blows me away. Recently I got the new Good Riddance LP and it is so fucking amazing. The music is incredible and the lyrics are ingenious. I can’t wait to see them live so I can run around and scream my head off. Check it out; if you don’t you are seriously missing out.
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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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