Signifying Nothing

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 9^th 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-

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 2^nd 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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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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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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