we left Worcester at like 4:30. before the show we went to bueno y sano in northhampton before the show to get some grub. i got a grande seitan burrito with extra cheese, it was great but it messed with my stomach pretty bad. anyway after that we made our way to the venue, it was early (6:30) but there was alredy a lot of kids outside. the venue was cool, good sized stage but it was really long so everyone was in the back, almost no dives, bummer. im sure its awesome for bigger shows. also the people working security are hardcore kids too so they know what's up. anyway i didn't watch the first couple bands attentively cuz i was catching up with some buddies and i was still recovering from that burrito (that shit was the size of a small child) so bear with me. the first band was called swamps, they were young and sounded like trash talk/ceremony. not my vibe at all but kids dug it so that was cool. it seems most people that were into em didnt stick around for the rest of the gig... it was a school night after all. then Lifeloss played, from what i heard it kind of sounded like AN/Panic. they were pretty tight too. again not exactly my jam but i can appreciate it. revenge got up there next, you could tell it was their hometown, kids were going nuts. they were supposed to play DYS wolfpack but one of their guitar players didnt know it, bummer. their set was really hard though. born low played after, i watched from the back with Keith and Zach and at one point the pit was wall to wall stage to sound booth. that was awesome. not much else to mention about them, they have that reaper records style which is cool. backtrack hit the stage after, they opened with the first song off their 7", i started moving but kids were burnt out at that point, that's what happens on 6 band bills. they played most of the 7", a few demo cuts and their song off America's Hardcore. no complaints, great as usual. they're coming up to Canada with Expire, Grave Maker and Wisdom In Chains in February apparently, that should be pretty neat. Cruel Hand played last, they played a lot of tracks off the new LP, which i find is dope. i notice they have a sweet thrash vibe to them now, that's awesome. they also played an old track, Under The Ice, which remains a favorite of mine. overall cool gig, we drove Keith back home then went back to Worcester and crashed.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
KEITH ALERT - INTERVIEW.
Keith is a cool dude. I met him and all the Alert dudes at This Is Hardcore 2009 and we've bumped into each other at shows I trek to ever since. When i started this thing he was one of the first people I wanted to interview, so here it is. Enjoy.
interview done over AIM November 2010.
Karl St-Pierre: ok imma make questions up as we go. you ready!?
throwingxbricks: yeah
Karl St-Pierre: ok state your name, age, place of living and the band/bands you play in.
throwingxbricks: I'm Keith, 22 years old. I live in Springfield, Mass and I play in Alert, and another band I'd rather not mention haha
Karl St-Pierre: word. what do you play in alert and that mysterious band you won't talk about
throwingxbricks: Bass in both bands. I also play guitar in a band called Use Your Head! but I'm not really sure on the status of that band
Karl St-Pierre: aight so how exactly did it begin? what was your first show and first record?
throwingxbricks: For hardcore? First show was kind of mixed but this band from New Hampshire called Mercury Switch played here and that was pretty cool I guess. Not really into them now but it was all new to me so I got hooked on going to many local shows after that. First record? It's hard for me to remember it was either Bane - The Note or the first Suicidal Tendencies record which my friend's mom gave me
Karl St-Pierre: thats cool. so as far as i know alert is a straight edge band, how long have you been straight edge for exactly?
throwingxbricks: Going on 5 years I think. Once I found out what it was I was all about it. I've never really done any drugs or anything before stumbling upon hardcore.
Karl St-Pierre: what's the status of alert right now? who's in the band at the moment and are you guys playing any shows? what's in the future?
throwingxbricks: Puffer on vocals, Kyle on guitar and Brendan on drums. We're basically in the process of writing a couple more songs for a 7" that should be out this winter on Six Feet Under Records. Once we do that I'm not really sure what the future has in store but I know we're all really excited to be doing this record.
Karl St-Pierre: what should we expect for the new record?
throwingxbricks: Definitely expect a similar sound. We didn't do anything groundbreaking or very different that our usual stuff, but I think these songs are more solid and I definitely think this record will be better than the demo. For sure
Karl St-Pierre: word. i dig the demo alot so i'm stoked to hear the 7". how did Alert start and how many OG members are left in the line up?
throwingxbricks: We started summer 08. I had met out original drummer Will earlier that year as well as Kyle and found out they were interested in starting a band influenced by that whole Youth Of Today era sound. Wide Awake, Judge, Side By Side, all that stuff, so everyone got together though at the time no one knew each other except through me. The rest is history. Last winter Will left us to pursue other things and we picked up Brendan.
Karl St-Pierre: you guys were supposed to play This Is Hardcore this year, what happened to that?
throwingxbricks: Hahahaha yeah we were supposed to play a couple songs but it was supposed to be a surprise I guess and some friends found out and posted it on a message board. No more surprise so we didn't play. Not that big of a deal, though.
Karl St-Pierre: is anyone in the band vegetarian/vegan?
throwingxbricks: I'm vegetarian and Mike is vegan. Kyle and Brendan aren't but when we had Will he was also vegetarian
Karl St-Pierre: word. staying on this topic what would be your favorite vegetarian song
throwingxbricks: No More. Awesome song and music video
Karl St-Pierre: definately. that video is also the epitome of style, no doubt. in a normal week, approximately how many hours do you lurk ebay for gear?
throwingxbricks:Honestly I haven't lurked ebay for a while. I just don't have the funds for that anymore, though I once in a while glance to see if I can find that Wide Awake red Schism shirt I've still be trying to track down
Karl St-Pierre: who's your favorite band in 2010 so far?
throwingxbricks: Does Sick Of It All count?
Karl St-Pierre: no.
throwingxbricks: It's really hard then because so many current bands I like a lot. I'd probably have to go with Waste Management or Step Forward
Karl St-Pierre: 1982 or 1988?
throwingxbricks: 1988. most of the bands i like are a lot are from that era, and if i could grow up in any era in hardcore it'd be in nyc between 1987-1991
Karl St-Pierre: nikes or vans?
throwingxbricks: nikes. grew up with nikes all my life and only owned like 2 pairs of vans ever
Karl St-Pierre: Stop And Think demo 1 or 2?
throwingxbricks: 1st
Karl St-Pierre: the way it is or new breed
throwingxbricks: fuuuuuuuck. the way it is. but it's close.
Karl St-Pierre: i think that about wraps it up. anything else you wanna add?
throwingxbricks: Keep an eye out for that new record and for all the youngins reading start bands, make zines, and keep on supporting hardcore bands. Keep this shit alive! XXX
http://www.myspace.com/alertstraightedge
throwingxbricks: yeah
Karl St-Pierre: ok state your name, age, place of living and the band/bands you play in.
throwingxbricks: I'm Keith, 22 years old. I live in Springfield, Mass and I play in Alert, and another band I'd rather not mention haha
Karl St-Pierre: word. what do you play in alert and that mysterious band you won't talk about
throwingxbricks: Bass in both bands. I also play guitar in a band called Use Your Head! but I'm not really sure on the status of that band
Karl St-Pierre: aight so how exactly did it begin? what was your first show and first record?
throwingxbricks: For hardcore? First show was kind of mixed but this band from New Hampshire called Mercury Switch played here and that was pretty cool I guess. Not really into them now but it was all new to me so I got hooked on going to many local shows after that. First record? It's hard for me to remember it was either Bane - The Note or the first Suicidal Tendencies record which my friend's mom gave me
Karl St-Pierre: thats cool. so as far as i know alert is a straight edge band, how long have you been straight edge for exactly?
throwingxbricks: Going on 5 years I think. Once I found out what it was I was all about it. I've never really done any drugs or anything before stumbling upon hardcore.
Karl St-Pierre: what's the status of alert right now? who's in the band at the moment and are you guys playing any shows? what's in the future?
throwingxbricks: Puffer on vocals, Kyle on guitar and Brendan on drums. We're basically in the process of writing a couple more songs for a 7" that should be out this winter on Six Feet Under Records. Once we do that I'm not really sure what the future has in store but I know we're all really excited to be doing this record.
Karl St-Pierre: what should we expect for the new record?
throwingxbricks: Definitely expect a similar sound. We didn't do anything groundbreaking or very different that our usual stuff, but I think these songs are more solid and I definitely think this record will be better than the demo. For sure
Karl St-Pierre: word. i dig the demo alot so i'm stoked to hear the 7". how did Alert start and how many OG members are left in the line up?
throwingxbricks: We started summer 08. I had met out original drummer Will earlier that year as well as Kyle and found out they were interested in starting a band influenced by that whole Youth Of Today era sound. Wide Awake, Judge, Side By Side, all that stuff, so everyone got together though at the time no one knew each other except through me. The rest is history. Last winter Will left us to pursue other things and we picked up Brendan.
Karl St-Pierre: you guys were supposed to play This Is Hardcore this year, what happened to that?
throwingxbricks: Hahahaha yeah we were supposed to play a couple songs but it was supposed to be a surprise I guess and some friends found out and posted it on a message board. No more surprise so we didn't play. Not that big of a deal, though.
Karl St-Pierre: is anyone in the band vegetarian/vegan?
throwingxbricks: I'm vegetarian and Mike is vegan. Kyle and Brendan aren't but when we had Will he was also vegetarian
Karl St-Pierre: word. staying on this topic what would be your favorite vegetarian song
throwingxbricks: No More. Awesome song and music video
Karl St-Pierre: definately. that video is also the epitome of style, no doubt. in a normal week, approximately how many hours do you lurk ebay for gear?
throwingxbricks:Honestly I haven't lurked ebay for a while. I just don't have the funds for that anymore, though I once in a while glance to see if I can find that Wide Awake red Schism shirt I've still be trying to track down
Karl St-Pierre: who's your favorite band in 2010 so far?
throwingxbricks: Does Sick Of It All count?
Karl St-Pierre: no.
throwingxbricks: It's really hard then because so many current bands I like a lot. I'd probably have to go with Waste Management or Step Forward
Karl St-Pierre: 1982 or 1988?
throwingxbricks: 1988. most of the bands i like are a lot are from that era, and if i could grow up in any era in hardcore it'd be in nyc between 1987-1991
Karl St-Pierre: nikes or vans?
throwingxbricks: nikes. grew up with nikes all my life and only owned like 2 pairs of vans ever
Karl St-Pierre: Stop And Think demo 1 or 2?
throwingxbricks: 1st
Karl St-Pierre: the way it is or new breed
throwingxbricks: fuuuuuuuck. the way it is. but it's close.
Karl St-Pierre: i think that about wraps it up. anything else you wanna add?
throwingxbricks: Keep an eye out for that new record and for all the youngins reading start bands, make zines, and keep on supporting hardcore bands. Keep this shit alive! XXX
http://www.myspace.com/alertstraightedge
Sunday, November 14, 2010
THE RIVAL MOB / FREE SPIRIT / STICK TOGETHER / OVERPOWER / PLANET DANGER: A REVIEW.
Chris, Victor, Danielle, Paula and yours truly left Montreal around 9am. Spoiler was supposed to roll but was tied down with a cold or whatever he had told me haha. anyway the drive down was pretty uneventful. we made the traditional Brockville Harvey's stop to chow down on some veggie burgers, got into town around 3 or so and just kicked it and ate food. Chris got a haircut.
we made our way to Rancho at around 8:30 or so, i met up with some of my buds that came up from Buffalo, and went to say what's up to everyone til the gig started. as Planet Danger were setting up i made my way up the stairs and changed into my newly acquired lime green Stick Together shorts (it's like a sauna inside rancho. no way i was wearing pants all night) and hit the pit...
Planet Danger from Barrie Straight Edge opened the gig, they have a hard sound reminiscent of what's coming out from the Reaper roster. they are MUCH better live than on their recordings. their crew were definately representing on the floor, i thought that was cool. i couldn't help but get in the action myself at some points. Bob shouted out MTL SXE and was wearing a Plus Minus shirt. that's what's up.
i didn't watch Overpower, i heard they opened with NA ready to fight. thats cool.
Stick Together came on next, as usual they brought it, sans Ned who was on tour with Title Fight. if you haven't heard them, they remind me a lot of Release and harder sounding YC bands from '88. played Breakdown and CW gonna bust as well as the demo cuts, a few new songs to come out on a 7" and another song that will come out on a SFU comp that talks about racism in hardcore, "i dont care if some people wanna go in corn fields and burn crosses and shit, but if you see that shit happen at a hardcore throw those people down the stairs" or something close to that was what hoodrack said before playing the song, awesome. near the end of their set one of the overhanging speakers' chain got off somehow so the speaker was only hanging from one chain instead of two. the soundguy got a little heated, but it's to be expected when that stuff happens. to the delight of most the front monitors were gone, i still have no idea why they keep them there. anyway fuck all of that, Stick Together ruled. WBSE.
Free Spirit played after, and by now the people who didn't know, know. solid both on record and live, they opened with the first track on their 7", played the song they have on AHC and a handful of others, but mostly 7" and demo material. they played a NA cover i didn't recognize at all and closed with Straight Ahead... THAT was awesome. "because i care, i'll take a fucking stand!"
then Rival Mob came on... shit got crazy real quick. i picked my spot on the side of the stage, at that point i was pretty winded so i just wanted to watch and sing along. tons of dives, tons of pitting, great stage banter as usual, no YOT cover, i was kind of bummed but what are ya gonna do. i think they played their whole HC4HC 7" and a few tracks off the 12". kids were really going off, for the first time when i said "im gonna take it easy during RM tonight" i actually did. kids were asking for another song but they weren't having it.
i really can't say anything else about this show, again lots of dives, lots of pitting, a handful of drunk idiots tryna sweat people on the floor but it is to be expected at shows in a bar. peace to Greg, Vik and Mike le Mosheur for setting this thing up. it was around 1 when we rolled out of there, we decided to hit the town and get some burritos... just so happens the joint was smack dab in the middle of the clubbing area of the city, it made for some pretty good laughs. on the real though Toronto has amazing food and the place we went to was a good example of that (i think the girl taking the orders was having a bad night but that's another story). we went to brie's to crash for the night, got up around 9:30 and went to Sadie's, another TO tradition, for breakfast. Chris and i got awesome vegan chocolate chip pancakes, they fucking ruled. we took off not long after that, dropped D'Arcy, Brie and Danielle off at the TTC station and went home. the drive back was pretty boring too, i ate doritos, m&ms and got a couple of cream cheese bagels at tim hortons. it'll feel good to eat real food later tonight...
a la prochaine,
-Karl.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
REVIEWS.
EASY WAY OUT - DEMO
those dudes are from the niagara region, i met some of them at TIHC fest this year. anyway i ended up DLing the demo. right when the first note hit, i noticed the production sounded really raw and powerful, something which in my opinion lacks a lot in newer HC demos. good riffs, there's a clear Lockin' Out/NYHC influence but those dudes manage to maintain their own sound without completely stealing riffs. the only thing i could comment on is, the vocals should be a bit more amped/intense but on the real tip, one of the better demos i've heard in 2010. hopefully those dudes continue in the same direction they're headed and play shows around.
http://www.myspace.com/easywayouthc
http://www.myspace.com/easywayouthc
DISENGAGE - LOOK BACK
a new band from wilkes-barre featuring the dudes from bad seed/title fight, disengage dropped their look back e.p. in the late summer on back to back records, and let me tell you, it's a total banger. it sounds like a mix of warzone and insted, yes that's awesome how this 7" is. my favorite song on this is the self titled one, especially this line: "i have faith in this hardcore scene, cuz it depends on you and me!". i also really dig the Magnus cover, it even features Dan CW on guest vocals. i love songs about being angry and shit as much as the next guy, but posi edge shit was my first love and it's nice to hear a band execute that perfectly.
www.myspace.com/thewilkesbarrestraightedge
a new band from wilkes-barre featuring the dudes from bad seed/title fight, disengage dropped their look back e.p. in the late summer on back to back records, and let me tell you, it's a total banger. it sounds like a mix of warzone and insted, yes that's awesome how this 7" is. my favorite song on this is the self titled one, especially this line: "i have faith in this hardcore scene, cuz it depends on you and me!". i also really dig the Magnus cover, it even features Dan CW on guest vocals. i love songs about being angry and shit as much as the next guy, but posi edge shit was my first love and it's nice to hear a band execute that perfectly.
www.myspace.com/thewilkesbarrestraightedge
WRITTEN OFF - DEMO
yo, from the birthplace of the Slugger comes Written Off, and they dropped their Louisville Straight Edge demo last summer. an obvious LOC influence, i'm really digging the re-emergence of this style. they kick things off with a pretty decent intro, the first few songs are pretty cool but i really prefer the second half of the demo. the vocals are pretty good, i wish the guitars were louder but aside from that i really can't complain. 10 minutes of chill mosh. if you got down to Jungle Jamz you'll definately dig this.
http://www.myspace.com/writtenxoff
yo, from the birthplace of the Slugger comes Written Off, and they dropped their Louisville Straight Edge demo last summer. an obvious LOC influence, i'm really digging the re-emergence of this style. they kick things off with a pretty decent intro, the first few songs are pretty cool but i really prefer the second half of the demo. the vocals are pretty good, i wish the guitars were louder but aside from that i really can't complain. 10 minutes of chill mosh. if you got down to Jungle Jamz you'll definately dig this.
http://www.myspace.com/writtenxoff
Monday, November 8, 2010
LIFERS INTERVIEW.
Those two cats are behind arguably the best zine that came out of Mount Real in recent history. I got 'em to answer a few questions and tell the people what's really good... it's a bit dated but i figured you guys could stll enjoy.
interview done via e-mail spring 2010.
Karl: whats up guys, how's everything? what's keeping you busy these days?
Hugo: Life is good, right now I'm unemployed which is kinda shitty, but it gives me more time to work on interesting things like the next Lifers issue, drawing flyers and playing guitar. I'm also working on the music for some short movie my friend is making for school so that's really cool.
Tremblay; Yo dude, life is good. I was on the road with Beneath The Massacre and Dying Fetus all over Europe for almost a month, it was pretty crazy. I just got back to work a couple days ago, and I can't wait to get back to school in September.
-you guys lived in MTL all your life right? how was it growing up here?
H: I lived in Montreal nearly all my life. I was born here, then moved in a small town on the south shore when I was 4, then moved back to Montreal when I was 7 because my mother was getting depressed in "the woods." Both of my parents grew up in Hochelaga/Centre-Sud so that can explain why we moved back to Montreal fast. I grew up in the east-end of Hochelaga, which I guess is definitely not the fanciest place on earth but still a good place to live. Growing up was cool, started skateboarding around 9-10 so me and my friends were always skating in a pack, exploring other neighborhoods trying to find skate spots. We were all living near a metro station so it was 15 minutes metro rides to downtown, the Olympic stadium and other skate spots. Skateboarding was the only thing we thought about until we discovered girls and listening to music on drugs. But other than that, growing up was pretty smooth, even though the neighborhood was really poor in some parts and some people I knew got caught up in some shit. I never had any real bad experiences, and I always had people that were there for me so I never really fucked up bad. I think I've done ok so far. I just learned that one of my childhood friends has lost most of his teeth because he's a heavy meth user now, that's kinda fucked up.
T: I lived in Longueuil all my life, mostly the same thing as living on the island, I was closer to Downtown than anybody who was living up to 20 minutes away from it. It was great, I was into lot of shit when I was younger, I was into drugs and girls. I moved to Montreal 5 years ago.
-when exactly did you start getting involved in hardcore? what's the first hc record you bought? first show you attended?
H: I discovered what the "hardcore" scene was around the end of 99/early 2000. I was a young cat who mostly listened to punk rock & hip-hop but I was always open-minded when it came to music, I was always buying with records and trying to learn about more stuff. Music was always important in my parents house so I grew up with a urge to discover music. I remember browsing to my pops record collection all the time, just looking at album artwork and learning to read and stuff. The first time I heard The Misfits, Black Flag and Minor Threat was in some skate videos, but I really had no clue about who they were, what they had done or what they were about, they were just punk bands to me but I was really into them, and still am to this day. Anyways, around the beginning of 1999 I bought a "Victory Style" comp and fell in love with bands like Snapcase, Hatebreed, Integrity, Buried Alive etc. From then I started getting more and more interested in HC and went to stores like the Underworld or used cd's places downtown, and also learned tons off the internet with sites like QCHC, which basically just made me learn that there was a local scene here in Montreal, but there was also shows in smaller cities and that made me even more interested. To know that there are other little "scenes" out there with people doing bands, booking shows and basically the whole DIY thing made me even more into it. I've had seen a couple punk shows before that, but the first time I went to a show to see a hardcore band was Snapcase with Down By Law & Mustard Plug at the Spectrum in March 2000. That was the first time I saw a "modern" hc pit and seeing people going off was awesome. Then the next show that made it for me was Hatebreed, Cold As Life & The Hope Conspiracy at the Rainbow in May 2000. That show is the one that confirmed that I'd be fucking around with this thing for the next couple years. Cold As Life scared my ass shitless and I was blown away. At the end of Hatebreed's set, I went to the bathroom in the back to get some water and there was this guy with a broken nose and blood everywhere. Hatebreed played an encore and the guy just ran back to the pit. That was cool. And after that I just started going to shows all the time, the Montreal scene was active and had a lot of bands so I attended every show that I could.
T: I started going to punk shows when I was around 14. I was always at Warped Tour, Snow Jams and all that shit, so I was watching Hardcore bands like Sick Of It All, H20 and Straight Faced. I was really into those kinda bands, and I had no idea what Hardcore was back then. A lot of my friends from Longueuil were into Hardcore at that time, so I started going to shows with them. I don't think I remember the first show I went to, probably Cro-Mags, Earth Crisis, All Out War and Shutdown at Rainbow, or something before that. First CD I got was probably Hatebreed - Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire, I think it's one of the most influential Hardcore records of the 90's.
-what have you been listening to lately? Favorite bands right now?
H: I listen to so much stuff that it's kinda hard to narrow it down, my music mood changes every 2 hours and I love listening to music on shuffle, but right now I listen to a lot of Neil Young, especially "Chrome Dreams", KenLo Craqnuques beat tapes & a lot of Type O Negative. Some records I always listen to are Dinosaur Jr "You're Living All Over Me", Carcass "Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious", Smashing Pumpkins "Gish", Motörhead "Bomber", The Misfits "Earth A.D.", E-Town Concrete "Time 2 Shine" & "The Second Coming." I listen to old Kool G Rap almost everyday and rap is always predominant in my headphones. I also love late 60's / early 70's soul & funk and there is a some records that I couldn't live without. But if you want to narrow it down to HC, Crown Of Thornz, Leeway "Desperate Measures" always, Cold Front LP, Maximum Penalty demo and "East Side Story", Burn, and all the NYHC classics for sure. As for current HC, I love Steel Nation, Bad Seed, Dead & Dying, Terror, Trapped Under Ice, T.N.S. and Omegas. I love the last Death Threat 7" and "Peace & Security" is still an amazing record. Also looking forward for the new Bitter End LP and even though they are not HC, my man Louis's new band Solids is going to be one of Montreal's finest bands in the upcoming years.
T: Favorite bands right now: Enforcers, Death Threat, Trapped Under Ice, TNS, Steel Nation, Said & Done, Sons Of Disgrace, Kickback, Maximum Penalty, Backtrack, Naysayer, Fire & Ice, and Bitter End. Playlist of the week: Roc Marciano – Marcberg, Merauder - Master Killer, Dead End Path - Death Walks Besides Us 7", Kool G Rap – 4,5,6, Downpresser - Age Of Ignorance
-you've been doing Lifers for a while now. how did that start? who came up with the idea of doing a zine?
H: The idea came when we came back from the 07 Superbowl and I think the goal was to start a blog that would interview not only musicians but also the people who were part of the scene for some time. We were eating at Just Noodles on St-Laurent and Tremblay went to the bathroom and came back with the name Lifers. So after doing a couple interviews and stuff on the blog we knew we had to do a printed zine, and since I love zines and I do ok when it comes to graphic design and stuff I started working on the first issue. The first issue was 72 pages, cover included, which is kinda big for the first issue of an unknown zine. It took me like 2-3 months straight to do the page layouts and we had Spoiler to do the cover art, and I think it is, and will become, a classic HC artwork. It was our first attempt at doing a zine, and I think we sold about 500 copies in a year and a half. We wanted to send a ton of copies in Europe but the shipping rates were so expensive that we couldn't afford losing more money, so we sent some copies here and there and were able to sell them at shows in Quebec and the USA. We had bands like Terror and Trapped Under Ice who really helped us out and brought issues of the zines with them on tour. The second issue had less pages but was more well-done in my opinion, and the cover art was also great, courtesy of Dylan Drug Dogs. We talked about doing it a bi-yearly thing, but it is so much time and with other things going on it is hard to keep up. Issue 3 will be out this year for sure though. The word will be spread. I'm glad we have this project going on and I'm proud of what he have done so far.
T: We are still doing it, not on the same level, but we are still here. Issue 2.5 & 3 are coming soon!
-what about Plus Minus? how did that come together? how are the reactions for the demo? what's your plans with the band right now?
H: Plus Minus started with Simon, who wrote a couple riffs and jammed them with some drummer. He started working at my old job and we were talking about music, and thought it would be a good idea to form a band. I've been playing guitar for a couple years but I'm far from being a great player so I was kinda hesitant at first, but we tried anyway. We asked Ben from Final Word who was Simon's roommate at that time and he was into it, our friend Louis was also down to play drums and then we asked Tremblay if he'd be down to try to sing. We jammed together for fun, came up with the intro and the first song, then just started practicing every week. We were lucky enough to have the right people behind us to get us on the best shows all the time so that helped us get a little more serious about our thing. Simon came with the Plus Minus name, mostly because of the Breakdown album, but there is a little more meaning behind that name besides being just an album title. It was also the first name we all liked so that was it. The reactions for the demo have been pretty good, for some of us it was our first time recording something "serious" so it was a little stressful but I think we did well. Overall the reactions were good and pretty helpful for the most part. Some people were a little weirded out by the vocals on the demo at first, which I thought made us stand apart, but Tremblay wasn't satisfied with them so we respected his choice and let him record them again. Our man Rick Grenier just finished the new mix so it should be available pretty soon. I think this new mix with the new vocals really does us justice, it really corresponds to the energy we try to bring live. As of right now, we are writing stuff for an EP we'd love to record this September. We currently have 2 new songs and a new intro which are definitely a step beyond our demo days in my opinion and I can't wait for people to hear them. We found a studio in Quebec City which we are pretty stoked on, so right now I just want our stuff to be as tight and hard as possible. We just started another band which is basically PM with a different singer and drummer, the band is called Enforcers and is real different from PM music-wise, we have a couple songs now and they sound like a catchy mix between "Age Of Quarrel" and OLC. Fred from Final Word is singing, and our boy Chris Hogan from Brazzers is hitting the skins. So expect Plus Minus and Enforcers to play most shows together as of this summer. Simon and I are also starting to mess around with different styles, we have a couple alternative jams that will hopefully make us rich one day. Be on the lookout for Black Jesus. Oh and I gotta mention that we will be printing new tapes for the "new" demo with a different artwork, we'll probably have them for our upcoming shows in late May and late June.
T: We were hanging out with Ben Bass for his birthday at Blue Dog. I knew wanted to start a band, Ben was into it, so were Hugo and I. Simon got Louie on the phone a couple days after that, and two weeks later we had our first song. I think people liked the demo, except maybe for my vocals. I wasn't really satisfied with the job I did, that's why before I left for tour, I recorded all that stuff for a second time. I'm very happy with the new vocals, and I'm sure people will be more into it that way. It's a lot more pissed and it sounds like what I'm doing live. The new demo will be out this summer! Now we got two new songs and an intro, we wanted to record at least four songs this Fall for a new EP or a split. We are looking to do some weekends in Quebec, Ontario, and maybe the States pretty soon. We can't take the band full time on the road because we got jobs, bills to pay, dogs, girls and all that, but we want to play as many shows as we can.
-what other projects were you involved in before Lifers and PM?
H: Nothing much honestly, I've been doing show flyers for the last 5 years or so and I'm still into it, more than ever. Tremblay rapped in a joke rap band that was pretty hardcore content-wise and I made them the filthiest, sickest design. I'm looking at it now and I find it to be pretty fucked up haha. I had a band with some close friends during most of high school, and it was basically us learning how to play music. We recorded riffs and songs on a old reel to reel recorder, tape decks and all this old analog gear, in the trashiest basement you'd ever seen.
T: I sang in Reality Check for a while, the band was around in around 2006, 2007 maybe. I don't remember. We played two shows and that was it. I was also in a shitty rap group called LCL and that's about it.
-best show you attended? best show you played?
H: Even though we've seen so many great shows in Montreal, travelling for shows in the US is always the best because of the stories and all that, so some of my favorite shows were out of state. Leeway/Merauder in Clifton Park, NY in 2006, Merauder/100 Demons/All Out War in Brooklyn in 2007, Killing Time at The Pyramid in 2008, Only Living Witness in Cambridge 2008. Carcass at the Medley in 2008 was amazing, they ended their set with the last riff off "Carneous Cacoffiny', which is my favorite Carcass song. Danzig singing Misfits songs with Doyle at the Medley in 2006. I did my longest headwalk in existence during the intro to "Not Of This World". Obituary at Foufs last autumn was unbelievable, a hundred times better than the time I've seen them before in Clifton Park. Public Enemy in 2008 doing "It Takes A Nation..." in it's entirety for the Montreal Jazz Fest, Chuck D being one of the best frontmen I've ever seen. Ice-T at Foufs in front of like 100 people top. Negative Approach at the 2008 Superbowl, not as insane as I've thought it would've been, but still some awesome memories from that set. As for best show we played, I would say the Guns Up show this past January at L'Inco, it was our first time playing there, the place was packed, people knew the songs, moshed, and we were tight. That was a good night.
T: The best show I've seen is Death Threat & 100 Demons in Montreal at l'Inco in 2001. The weekend we did with Death Threat, Revenge and TUI was crazy, especially the one in Quebec City.
-breakdown or raw deal?
H: This is really hard, but if we are talking about demos I would have to go with Raw Deal. I love the Breakdown demo and "Safe In A Crowd" is one of the hardest songs of all time, but I'm definitely feeling the RD demo better these days. If we're talking post-demos, then I just can't answer, because you just can't compare "Jail Of Depression" to "Fools Die."
T: Breakdown.
-age of quarrel or best wishes?
H: "Age Of Quarrel" without a doubt, but "Death Camps" may be my favorite Mags song. I really love both, but "Age Of Quarrel" is unfuckwithable and has "It's The Limit" and that's the ultimate Mags song in my opinion. AOQ is simply flawless, compared to BW which has one of the worst songs of all time, "Fugitive". But I gotta mention that I LOVE "Alpha Omega". There was a point in my life where I listened to it more often than fucking AOQ.
T: Age Of Quarrel.
-biohazard s/t or urban discipline?
H: S/T, even though I love UD. The snare sound is awful but I like it. The songs are much more degenerate, it is the kind of record that I can considerate a riff bible. "Skinny Song." Imagine that record with the budget they had for "UD" or even"State of the World Adress." Bobby Hambel is the man.
T: That's a tough one. I will go with the Self-Titled because of Skinny Song.
-favorite sneaker?
H: Hi-top Dunks, nothing fancy, "Be True To Your School" colors especially. I've been meaning to cop a pair of classic white Stan Smiths for a while but I always pass on. I love my Wallabees, they're the best. I also love my pair of Infrareds, but I'm definitely not a "sneakerhead" and I'm not wasting paychecks in shoes.
T: Damn another tough one. Top 5: Air Max 90, Jordan 4, Air Max 95, Nike Dunk High, Air Max Light
-that's it. thanks for your time! any last words? shout outs?
H: Peace to all the Lifers Crew dogs in MTL, QC City, TO, USA & Germany, Jayzee the dog, Gilles Café L'Inco, Lafleur St-Denis, Coaticook Ice Cream, Karl leader of the dive bomb in MTL*, and finally, no peace to all of those dirty chickenheads running around.
T: Thanks for the interview son. Be on the look out for Plus Minus new demo, Lifers issue 2,5 & 3. Shout out to Lifers Crew Worldwide, BTM Crew, AOWNICK, Bmize, Drug Dogs Zine, SP, TUI, Steel Nation, all my dogs from Montreal, Quebec, and all over the world.
*ed note: every Jedi has his Master... give thanks to Tony Frenchman for the tips haha
H: I discovered what the "hardcore" scene was around the end of 99/early 2000. I was a young cat who mostly listened to punk rock & hip-hop but I was always open-minded when it came to music, I was always buying with records and trying to learn about more stuff. Music was always important in my parents house so I grew up with a urge to discover music. I remember browsing to my pops record collection all the time, just looking at album artwork and learning to read and stuff. The first time I heard The Misfits, Black Flag and Minor Threat was in some skate videos, but I really had no clue about who they were, what they had done or what they were about, they were just punk bands to me but I was really into them, and still am to this day. Anyways, around the beginning of 1999 I bought a "Victory Style" comp and fell in love with bands like Snapcase, Hatebreed, Integrity, Buried Alive etc. From then I started getting more and more interested in HC and went to stores like the Underworld or used cd's places downtown, and also learned tons off the internet with sites like QCHC, which basically just made me learn that there was a local scene here in Montreal, but there was also shows in smaller cities and that made me even more interested. To know that there are other little "scenes" out there with people doing bands, booking shows and basically the whole DIY thing made me even more into it. I've had seen a couple punk shows before that, but the first time I went to a show to see a hardcore band was Snapcase with Down By Law & Mustard Plug at the Spectrum in March 2000. That was the first time I saw a "modern" hc pit and seeing people going off was awesome. Then the next show that made it for me was Hatebreed, Cold As Life & The Hope Conspiracy at the Rainbow in May 2000. That show is the one that confirmed that I'd be fucking around with this thing for the next couple years. Cold As Life scared my ass shitless and I was blown away. At the end of Hatebreed's set, I went to the bathroom in the back to get some water and there was this guy with a broken nose and blood everywhere. Hatebreed played an encore and the guy just ran back to the pit. That was cool. And after that I just started going to shows all the time, the Montreal scene was active and had a lot of bands so I attended every show that I could.
T: I started going to punk shows when I was around 14. I was always at Warped Tour, Snow Jams and all that shit, so I was watching Hardcore bands like Sick Of It All, H20 and Straight Faced. I was really into those kinda bands, and I had no idea what Hardcore was back then. A lot of my friends from Longueuil were into Hardcore at that time, so I started going to shows with them. I don't think I remember the first show I went to, probably Cro-Mags, Earth Crisis, All Out War and Shutdown at Rainbow, or something before that. First CD I got was probably Hatebreed - Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire, I think it's one of the most influential Hardcore records of the 90's.
-what have you been listening to lately? Favorite bands right now?
H: I listen to so much stuff that it's kinda hard to narrow it down, my music mood changes every 2 hours and I love listening to music on shuffle, but right now I listen to a lot of Neil Young, especially "Chrome Dreams", KenLo Craqnuques beat tapes & a lot of Type O Negative. Some records I always listen to are Dinosaur Jr "You're Living All Over Me", Carcass "Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious", Smashing Pumpkins "Gish", Motörhead "Bomber", The Misfits "Earth A.D.", E-Town Concrete "Time 2 Shine" & "The Second Coming." I listen to old Kool G Rap almost everyday and rap is always predominant in my headphones. I also love late 60's / early 70's soul & funk and there is a some records that I couldn't live without. But if you want to narrow it down to HC, Crown Of Thornz, Leeway "Desperate Measures" always, Cold Front LP, Maximum Penalty demo and "East Side Story", Burn, and all the NYHC classics for sure. As for current HC, I love Steel Nation, Bad Seed, Dead & Dying, Terror, Trapped Under Ice, T.N.S. and Omegas. I love the last Death Threat 7" and "Peace & Security" is still an amazing record. Also looking forward for the new Bitter End LP and even though they are not HC, my man Louis's new band Solids is going to be one of Montreal's finest bands in the upcoming years.
T: Favorite bands right now: Enforcers, Death Threat, Trapped Under Ice, TNS, Steel Nation, Said & Done, Sons Of Disgrace, Kickback, Maximum Penalty, Backtrack, Naysayer, Fire & Ice, and Bitter End. Playlist of the week: Roc Marciano – Marcberg, Merauder - Master Killer, Dead End Path - Death Walks Besides Us 7", Kool G Rap – 4,5,6, Downpresser - Age Of Ignorance
-you've been doing Lifers for a while now. how did that start? who came up with the idea of doing a zine?
H: The idea came when we came back from the 07 Superbowl and I think the goal was to start a blog that would interview not only musicians but also the people who were part of the scene for some time. We were eating at Just Noodles on St-Laurent and Tremblay went to the bathroom and came back with the name Lifers. So after doing a couple interviews and stuff on the blog we knew we had to do a printed zine, and since I love zines and I do ok when it comes to graphic design and stuff I started working on the first issue. The first issue was 72 pages, cover included, which is kinda big for the first issue of an unknown zine. It took me like 2-3 months straight to do the page layouts and we had Spoiler to do the cover art, and I think it is, and will become, a classic HC artwork. It was our first attempt at doing a zine, and I think we sold about 500 copies in a year and a half. We wanted to send a ton of copies in Europe but the shipping rates were so expensive that we couldn't afford losing more money, so we sent some copies here and there and were able to sell them at shows in Quebec and the USA. We had bands like Terror and Trapped Under Ice who really helped us out and brought issues of the zines with them on tour. The second issue had less pages but was more well-done in my opinion, and the cover art was also great, courtesy of Dylan Drug Dogs. We talked about doing it a bi-yearly thing, but it is so much time and with other things going on it is hard to keep up. Issue 3 will be out this year for sure though. The word will be spread. I'm glad we have this project going on and I'm proud of what he have done so far.
T: We are still doing it, not on the same level, but we are still here. Issue 2.5 & 3 are coming soon!
-what about Plus Minus? how did that come together? how are the reactions for the demo? what's your plans with the band right now?
H: Plus Minus started with Simon, who wrote a couple riffs and jammed them with some drummer. He started working at my old job and we were talking about music, and thought it would be a good idea to form a band. I've been playing guitar for a couple years but I'm far from being a great player so I was kinda hesitant at first, but we tried anyway. We asked Ben from Final Word who was Simon's roommate at that time and he was into it, our friend Louis was also down to play drums and then we asked Tremblay if he'd be down to try to sing. We jammed together for fun, came up with the intro and the first song, then just started practicing every week. We were lucky enough to have the right people behind us to get us on the best shows all the time so that helped us get a little more serious about our thing. Simon came with the Plus Minus name, mostly because of the Breakdown album, but there is a little more meaning behind that name besides being just an album title. It was also the first name we all liked so that was it. The reactions for the demo have been pretty good, for some of us it was our first time recording something "serious" so it was a little stressful but I think we did well. Overall the reactions were good and pretty helpful for the most part. Some people were a little weirded out by the vocals on the demo at first, which I thought made us stand apart, but Tremblay wasn't satisfied with them so we respected his choice and let him record them again. Our man Rick Grenier just finished the new mix so it should be available pretty soon. I think this new mix with the new vocals really does us justice, it really corresponds to the energy we try to bring live. As of right now, we are writing stuff for an EP we'd love to record this September. We currently have 2 new songs and a new intro which are definitely a step beyond our demo days in my opinion and I can't wait for people to hear them. We found a studio in Quebec City which we are pretty stoked on, so right now I just want our stuff to be as tight and hard as possible. We just started another band which is basically PM with a different singer and drummer, the band is called Enforcers and is real different from PM music-wise, we have a couple songs now and they sound like a catchy mix between "Age Of Quarrel" and OLC. Fred from Final Word is singing, and our boy Chris Hogan from Brazzers is hitting the skins. So expect Plus Minus and Enforcers to play most shows together as of this summer. Simon and I are also starting to mess around with different styles, we have a couple alternative jams that will hopefully make us rich one day. Be on the lookout for Black Jesus. Oh and I gotta mention that we will be printing new tapes for the "new" demo with a different artwork, we'll probably have them for our upcoming shows in late May and late June.
T: We were hanging out with Ben Bass for his birthday at Blue Dog. I knew wanted to start a band, Ben was into it, so were Hugo and I. Simon got Louie on the phone a couple days after that, and two weeks later we had our first song. I think people liked the demo, except maybe for my vocals. I wasn't really satisfied with the job I did, that's why before I left for tour, I recorded all that stuff for a second time. I'm very happy with the new vocals, and I'm sure people will be more into it that way. It's a lot more pissed and it sounds like what I'm doing live. The new demo will be out this summer! Now we got two new songs and an intro, we wanted to record at least four songs this Fall for a new EP or a split. We are looking to do some weekends in Quebec, Ontario, and maybe the States pretty soon. We can't take the band full time on the road because we got jobs, bills to pay, dogs, girls and all that, but we want to play as many shows as we can.
-what other projects were you involved in before Lifers and PM?
H: Nothing much honestly, I've been doing show flyers for the last 5 years or so and I'm still into it, more than ever. Tremblay rapped in a joke rap band that was pretty hardcore content-wise and I made them the filthiest, sickest design. I'm looking at it now and I find it to be pretty fucked up haha. I had a band with some close friends during most of high school, and it was basically us learning how to play music. We recorded riffs and songs on a old reel to reel recorder, tape decks and all this old analog gear, in the trashiest basement you'd ever seen.
T: I sang in Reality Check for a while, the band was around in around 2006, 2007 maybe. I don't remember. We played two shows and that was it. I was also in a shitty rap group called LCL and that's about it.
-best show you attended? best show you played?
H: Even though we've seen so many great shows in Montreal, travelling for shows in the US is always the best because of the stories and all that, so some of my favorite shows were out of state. Leeway/Merauder in Clifton Park, NY in 2006, Merauder/100 Demons/All Out War in Brooklyn in 2007, Killing Time at The Pyramid in 2008, Only Living Witness in Cambridge 2008. Carcass at the Medley in 2008 was amazing, they ended their set with the last riff off "Carneous Cacoffiny', which is my favorite Carcass song. Danzig singing Misfits songs with Doyle at the Medley in 2006. I did my longest headwalk in existence during the intro to "Not Of This World". Obituary at Foufs last autumn was unbelievable, a hundred times better than the time I've seen them before in Clifton Park. Public Enemy in 2008 doing "It Takes A Nation..." in it's entirety for the Montreal Jazz Fest, Chuck D being one of the best frontmen I've ever seen. Ice-T at Foufs in front of like 100 people top. Negative Approach at the 2008 Superbowl, not as insane as I've thought it would've been, but still some awesome memories from that set. As for best show we played, I would say the Guns Up show this past January at L'Inco, it was our first time playing there, the place was packed, people knew the songs, moshed, and we were tight. That was a good night.
T: The best show I've seen is Death Threat & 100 Demons in Montreal at l'Inco in 2001. The weekend we did with Death Threat, Revenge and TUI was crazy, especially the one in Quebec City.
-breakdown or raw deal?
H: This is really hard, but if we are talking about demos I would have to go with Raw Deal. I love the Breakdown demo and "Safe In A Crowd" is one of the hardest songs of all time, but I'm definitely feeling the RD demo better these days. If we're talking post-demos, then I just can't answer, because you just can't compare "Jail Of Depression" to "Fools Die."
T: Breakdown.
-age of quarrel or best wishes?
H: "Age Of Quarrel" without a doubt, but "Death Camps" may be my favorite Mags song. I really love both, but "Age Of Quarrel" is unfuckwithable and has "It's The Limit" and that's the ultimate Mags song in my opinion. AOQ is simply flawless, compared to BW which has one of the worst songs of all time, "Fugitive". But I gotta mention that I LOVE "Alpha Omega". There was a point in my life where I listened to it more often than fucking AOQ.
T: Age Of Quarrel.
-biohazard s/t or urban discipline?
H: S/T, even though I love UD. The snare sound is awful but I like it. The songs are much more degenerate, it is the kind of record that I can considerate a riff bible. "Skinny Song." Imagine that record with the budget they had for "UD" or even"State of the World Adress." Bobby Hambel is the man.
T: That's a tough one. I will go with the Self-Titled because of Skinny Song.
-favorite sneaker?
H: Hi-top Dunks, nothing fancy, "Be True To Your School" colors especially. I've been meaning to cop a pair of classic white Stan Smiths for a while but I always pass on. I love my Wallabees, they're the best. I also love my pair of Infrareds, but I'm definitely not a "sneakerhead" and I'm not wasting paychecks in shoes.
T: Damn another tough one. Top 5: Air Max 90, Jordan 4, Air Max 95, Nike Dunk High, Air Max Light
-that's it. thanks for your time! any last words? shout outs?
H: Peace to all the Lifers Crew dogs in MTL, QC City, TO, USA & Germany, Jayzee the dog, Gilles Café L'Inco, Lafleur St-Denis, Coaticook Ice Cream, Karl leader of the dive bomb in MTL*, and finally, no peace to all of those dirty chickenheads running around.
T: Thanks for the interview son. Be on the look out for Plus Minus new demo, Lifers issue 2,5 & 3. Shout out to Lifers Crew Worldwide, BTM Crew, AOWNICK, Bmize, Drug Dogs Zine, SP, TUI, Steel Nation, all my dogs from Montreal, Quebec, and all over the world.
*ed note: every Jedi has his Master... give thanks to Tony Frenchman for the tips haha
check these out:
INTRO
Yo, this is my first attempt at a hardcore blog/zine. I tried to put together a paper zine but i got lazy so this is all I got. I hope you like it regardless. Peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)