Signifying Nothing

Ringworm-Justice Replaced By Revenge

By admin on Jul. 25, 2006.

Ringworm
Justice Replaced By Revenge CD
Victory Records

After being disappointed by the last few Ringworm releases, I went to listen to Justice Replaced By Revenge with a bit of apprehension. Their demo and The Promise are classic and essential hardcore records. Nothing they have done has come close since. This record is a step back to the right direction however. The classic Ringworm style is here, albeit a bit updated. There is, at times, too much double bass and chugga style that ruins so many newer hardcore bands. For the most part, that doesn’t take away from the songs though. Once in awhile I cringe at the drumming but Ringworm seem to have put out a record that, while not a classic, is pretty good overall. It took a bunch of listens for me to get into this, so I would say judge for yourself.

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.

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. 

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.

Rain On The Parade

By admin on Oct. 12, 2005.

John and Justin did this interview in May of 1997 for a zine called We’re Not Gonna Take It, which they never finished. We ended up finally using it in 2000 for Parade Brigade #2.

This interview was conducted at the basketball court down the street from the New Providence Hall during Ensign’s set. Also present were myself and one of ROTP’s friends named Lee. I think I asked one question. John and Justin handled the rest. Ronny Little and Matt Smith give answers.

Who is in the band and what do they do?

Ronny-Right now it’s me, Ronny Little, I sing. Matt Smith plays bass; Chris Ross plays Drums, Justin Phillips and DII on guitars.

When did you start as a band and what was the purpose?

Ronny-Well, I started the band in the summer of 1994 because a lot of bands today aren’t playing the style of hardcore that I want to be hearing except for Mouthpiece and a few others. I just decided that it was time for me to take a whack at this hardcore thing because I’ve done bands but I never actually wrote the music that we were playing. This time I was actually writing the music and I learned how to play guitar, so I could be in a band where I liked the music.

Did any of your other bands ever release anything?

Ronny-I was in a bunch of shitty bands that started out good but they ended up playing really lame shit and that’s why I wanted to learn how to play guitar, so we could go through the process and not write lame songs. So then, I got my shit together, and Rain On The Parade is the first band I’m completely happy with.

We know Rain On The Parade is a Half Off song, but why did you pick that song to name your band after?

Ronny-I was listening to a lot of Half Off when I was starting to write all of the songs. Actually, our original name was Glue, but we decided that a lot of bands use that, like punk bands, but that was before Justin. It was Glue when it was just me and DII and these two guys who really didn’t care about the band. So as soon as they were out DII and I were looking for new members but nothing really came together until the summer of 95 and that’s when we changed our name to Rain On The Parade.

What do you think is the worst hardcore record of all time?

Ronny-I’ll let Matt go first since he’s been silent.

Matt-This list is too long.

Ronny-Probably one of the bands I was in during high school.

Matt-Any band that played before Stand Up played; the bands that didn’t even headline over Stand Up were the worst.

Ronny-Unisound was a really shitty club in Reading PA that all the worst bands would play, but it was cool because all the worst bands would get to play with good bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Token Entry, Judge, Turning Point. I’d have to say that the Unisound bands were the worst hardcore bands around. I really want to choose someone but I can’t. It’s weird because I always knock bands left and right but when somebody asks me I can’t remember the shitty band’s names.

How about the cheesiest bands?

Ronny-Matt think back, what are some really bad records you’ve brought?

Matt-Billingsgate.

Ronny-Billingsgate, yeah! And Even Score, they got it; they are even cheesier than Victory Records shit.

This leads to our next question-Are there any Victory bands that you like?

Matt-By The Grace Of God

Ronny-Yeah, By The Grace Of God; they’re the only band I’d say I like

Do you guys like Murphy’s Law?

Both-Yeah I love Murphy’s Law!

The reason why we asked that is because a lot of people that are straight edge today are so close minded, they say, well Murphy’s Law aren’t edge so we can’t listen to them.

Matt-That’s dumb. I’m straight edge

Ok here we go with the generic style-Do you guys skate?

Matt-Yeah, I skate

Ronny-I skated in high school but I was never really good.

What was the downfall of glam rock?

Matt-Grunge. When grunge became cool and mullets weren’t. People traded in their construction boots and Ratt t-shirts for Soundgarden shirts and Docs. That was the downfall of glam rock.

Ronny-I think the downfall of glam was just how conservative the 90′s got all of a sudden. The 80′s were very wild, the styles were ugly, the crazy patterns and florescent colors. The 90′s we are seeing a lot of bands not wearing costumes on stage. I mean, Twisted Sister-look at them. You know that they don’t walk down the street like that. You know that they don’t walk in for Thanksgiving dinner like that and go HI MOM! in their makeup and big hair and plus I think that glam was just bad. People in the 90′s just woke up.

What do you think of Ebonics?

Ronny-Ebonics? I thought we were talking about hardcore?

Matt-Speak English. Ebonics is a thing people learned like five years ago. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

Ronny-I know that, that is the way people talk in the ghetto and stuff but sometimes I hear it at a hardcore show.

Matt-I worked in Philly with mostly people from the ghetto and that is how they spoke and I refused to listen to them when they started speaking in Ebonics. I would always be saying “what?” Then they would speak white boy or something and they would explain it to me. They can speak English but they choose not to.

Ronny-I think it’s a racist thing to be honest, you know I don’t think racism is something that is reserved for white people. I’ve seen a lot of fucked up shit and I think that it’s just one more barrier that they are putting between us. I’m speaking a language that I was taught in school; they can be speaking it too. I understand that there is a lot of animosity, that’s fine, actually that’s not fine because I’m not glad it’s there. But they could make it a little easier, I’m not saying all people are like that though. When I hear it at a hardcore show I know that these kids lived in suburban homes and stuff like that. Ebonics just separates people, I don’t know why we can’t just speak the same language.

What band best represents hardcore?

Ronny-Minor Threat or SSD

Who would win in a no holds barred steel cage match, Barney or Grimace?

Ronny-Grimace has that retard strength. There is a reason why dinosaurs are extinct, they were weak. Grimace will pound his ass!

What is Grimace?

Ronny-Grimace is a facial expression, not a purple whatever the hell he is

Before you mentioned Minor Threat was the best representation of hardcore, what do you think of Embrace?

Ronny-I like Embrace

How about Fugazi?

Matt-They’re alright, I mean they never set out to be a hardcore band

What about the whole no dancing thing?

Matt-They aren’t really a danceable band. People see them as an alternative band. I mean, why would you want to dance to Fugazi anyway?

Ronny-I think they play good rock and have been consistent at it for years. Every album they have recorded has been either good or at least ok. Repeater is awesome!

What about Black Flag? What do you think of the rumors of a reunion?

Ronny-I love Black Flag! Is that reunion thing happening? I’ve been hearing about that for years. If they came around to Philly I’d definitely see them. I’d be the first one out, whipping out my credit card and getting tickets from Ticketron.

What do you think happened to Rerun?

Ronny-I think The Doobie Brothers beat his ass after he tried-

Matt-To bootleg tapes and when they saw the tape recorder fall out, they stopped the show. Then they went to Rob’s place and worked it out.

What’s up next for you guys?

Matt-We recorded nine songs and eight of them are on our 7” that is out on My War Records.

How about a full length?

Matt-It was supposed to be out as a full length but it got messed up. Most of the songs weren’t ready so we will try to do that next.

This question is kind of awkward, but if you could see any band do a cover of any band, who would it be and what song?

Ronny-I’m not really big on covers, you know what, I would like to see our band cover Rain On The Parade!

So Ronny, is that Government Issue song named after you?

Ronny-(totally clueless) Sarge?

Nevermind…

Ronny-When Government Issue was playing I was listening to Van Halen and AC/DC so I don’t know.

Most important question of the night-Favorite Van Halen singer?

Ronny-You don’t even have to ask that. Let me make this clear, there was only one Van Halen singer and that is David Lee Roth. They were Van Hagar when David left ok?

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.