Extortion Interview

Here's an interview I did with Rohan of Extortion for TheSharpEndZine a while back. It was before I really got into any good PV, so please PV heads excuse the noobness of some of my questions. Yhew.

Members? Roles etc?? 

My name is rohan, i "sing" for the band. not very well i might add. forget lyrics at the drop of a hat. in all the previous bands i've been in i played bass.

dan plays bass, surfs and previously played in pc thug and dead hand. he also is looked upon with distain by the hardcore scene for his occassional hairstyle.

dean is a machine. he also plays drums. our previous drummer (rhys) left for england, so i asked him to play and he's picked it up pretty quick and we're back to writing new songs again. he played in some perth hardcore bands in the mid nineties (nailed down, heist, rupture and a few more).

jay plays the axe, lives off poker winnings and is the richest member of the band whilst also being the slackest. also goes by the name grindsnore due to requiring close to 73 hours of sleep a day.

I think it would be reasonably fare to say that Extortion play a style of hardcore that is for the most part still fairly underground within Australia. The music comes across to me as a fairly thrashy, punky blend. What sound are you guys trying achieve when putting together new songs? Is the whole thrash sound what you’re trying to get at? 

well, we wanted to do a hardcore band primarily influence by early 80s boston and early 90s california hardcore, i guess thats why its sounds "punky". hardcore pre-mid nineties was pretty much just fast angry punk (boston style being fast as fuck). and pretty much every band i've been in has been pretty fucking fast, but that just comes down to me liking fast music. so extortion was always gonna be fast, if thats what you mean by thrash sound? i come from a weird parallel universe where the fast parts of songs float my boat more than the slow parts. not that i don't enjoy a good breakdown, but a rad fast beat and riff makes the blood go to my head and the veins pop out like my head is gonna explode, blood, gore and lymph flying hither and thither.

What bands would you rate is big influences? 

as stated in the answer to the previous question-"we wanted to do a hardcore band primarily influence by early 80s boston and early 90s california hardcore" for anyone who doesn't know what that means, early boston bands like siege, negative fx, dys, ssd, deep wound, gang green and jerrys kids. all fucking fast as fuck. these bands also went on to influence the grind scene in UK in the mid 80s (napalm death, heresy, carcass etc). late 80s/early 90 californian bands like infest, no comment, neanderthal and crossed out took what those early boston bands did and "kicked it up a notch". they "pushed the envelope" and as a result created music that hits you "like a tonne of bricks". also got a bit of basic grindcore like napalm death, repulsion and terrorizer in there. just the brutal fast shit eh. whilst i'm name dropping bands, we like to add the occasional weird slow bits, so i guess flipper and sabbath would be the bigger influences there?

Hailing from Perth, do you guys ever feel alienated from the rest of the Aussie scene? Would you say that bands like Miles Away (kind of) recent popularity has really exposed the Perth scene to the rest of the coun-try, if not the world? 

never really think about it to tell the truth. i dunno about the rest of the band, but i personally am more focussed on the next recording and the next show. speaking of shows, its been pretty good recently. shitloads of bands touring over here and enough people going to the shows to make it worth while. so yeah, whilst we are isolated the rest of the country is coming to us (us as in the people of perth, not us as in the members of extortion, that'd be fucking stupid) so we're not really missing out on too much.

What are a few less known bands that are really sounding good at the moment from the your area? 

battletruk and pillar of hope are pretty gnarly. there is a new band called 9 must die, who i haven't heard yet, but the guys in the band don't listen to the dogshit they call "good music" nowadays, so im keen to check them out.


Here in Brisbane it’s fairly obvious that their is a good division between the scenes. On one hand we’ve got bands like Against and Mourning Tide playing the shows at The Basement then we’ve got bands like Mouthguard playing separate shows. Though with that said we have got band like Just Say Go! and RBAY trying to mix it up, but for the most part both scenes are fairly separated. Is is similar in Western Australia? Are there separate metallic and more underground scenes? Do the two co-exist? 

its pretty mixed over here, and it kinda has been since hardcore bands started popping up again around here in about 2000/2001. there are a lot of new metal and emo/metal fusion bands popping up and playing their own shows which is cool, but the music ain't my cup of speed so i generally give those shows a miss.

How has the Perth Hardcore scene grown and progressed in the last few years? 

as i mentioned 5 bazillion emo-metal and death metal bands have popped up outta no-where, a lot of new kids are going to shows. all ages gigs are pretty big nowadays and everyone wears heaps of black. its not good in the heat. kid will be dropping off like flies on the street come summer. it used to be real small, mixed bills cos their weren't enough hardcore bands to do a all hardcore line-up. i dunno how it got so metal, its weird.

How do you see it growing in the next few years? 

i have no idea. other than playing shows i'm not really involved in the scene so much, my finger is not on the pulse. it will be interesting to see how many of the kids, most of which are still in school, will stick with the music and how many drop out. its bizarre how big it is in perth considering the population, it'd be twighlight zone levels of weirdness if it got even bigger.

To date the band has a demo and a 7” under your collective belts. You’re also on the verge of releasing a new LP ‘Degenerate’. How has past material been received? Do you find you’re moving many 7”s outside of Perth? Where else have you guys been doing really well? 

yeah, we've almost sold out of the 7". most of it has gone outside the state actually. when we went on tour with jaws we sold over 100 7"s in sydney and newcastle and ended up not having enough for melbourne cos thats all we brought over. the 7" got a good review in maximum rocknroll, and felix from havoc records bought a stack of them to distro over in america. henk from kangaroo records in netherlands did the same for europe. its cool that dudes who deal with so much music are into it. there are a lot of average or flat out shithouse hardcore bands out there and we try our best not to be too sub-standard.

Tell me a little about the 7” just to get me up to date. Where and when was it recorded etc? 

the 7" was recorded in july of 2005 at bergerk studios over here. we've recorded there with previous bands and were happy with the results, we really wanted a more analouge sound. no shitty triggered drums, no stupid pro-tools over production bullshit. we recorded 16 songs, only 11 fit on the 7", the other 5 are going on a split 7" with jed whitey that was recently organised and should be out in the next few months on missing link records. due to endless delays the first e.p got fucked around and we didn't get the 7" until about a month before the tour (april 2006).

And what’s the deal with the new LP? Will it be available on both record and CD like past releases? 

yeah, the LP is coming out on deep 6 pretty soon, and the cd will be out a little later. in australia common bond will be organising the cd release, and will be out on october the 2nd.

How long did it take to put together? Where and when was it recorded? 

we recorded at begerk again, feburary this year. it took one weekend to get the first guitar and drum tracks down then another to do the second guitar tracks plus any little fiddly bits to fix up. vocals and mixing were done in a few afternoon sessions. we recorded 25 tracks but cut it back to 18 for the album, so we've got a few left over for a split or something.

As of yet you guys haven’t made your way up to Brisbane. Fair enough your following probably isn’t huge up here but bands like The Faux Hawks recently made the trek. Can us Brisbanites expect to see you guys any time soon? It would be awesome if so. 

no.

Where else have you guys been able to tour? 

we did newcastle, sydney and melbourne in april, just a few days due to most of us being unable to take too long off. hence not going to brisbane or adelaide. most of us have full time jobs.

Rohan you have handled all of the Extortion artwork so far as well as doing stuff for Go For Broke! and the cover of this very publication. Where else have you contributed work? Where did you learn to draw so well? 

i've not been taught to draw, i just picked it up from scribbling all over anything since i was a kid. i was into comics for a long time, but kinda stopped collecting cos most of them are fucking stupid.

i've drawn art for a couple of local bands like negative reply, dead hand and i did the jaws demo cover. i used to draw flyers for shows too, but i'm not really involved with putting shows on, so i haven't done many. also did the cover of the secret 7/jahilia split 7", they're south east asian thrash bands that got in contact with me via a guy from singapore thats living over here at the moment. its a good record, i'm ashamed to say i drew a skeleton on a skateboard as the cover art. pretty generic stuff, i shoulda been shot in the face for that.

Do you find yourself getting alot of requests to contribute artwork? 

not really, but then i don't really go outta my way to advertise that i draw shit. which is kind of good because working full time leaves me with not too much spare time and whilst i do enjoy doing this stuff, i wouldn't want to be forced into drawing all the fucking time for little to no gain.

Most of your work that I have seen has been scenes of violence (security guards bashing on kids, dudes holding knives to other dudes necks etc) or scary shit in general. Is this the shit that runs through your head? 

i dunno, it just draw whatever i think would look cool. its never until later when someone tells that drawing a braindead mary driving a kinfe through the body of the baby jesus is more than a little offensive that i even notice. most of the time i'm just worrying if the form and rendering is okay.

extortion music is about fuck-ups, dealing with arseholes and shitty situations. it makes sense that the artwork should follow suit.

So after the release of the new LP what are the bands immediate plans? Any thoughts on big touring or anything like that? 

we haven't really made any plans apart from recording in december so we won't be able to tour til at least early next year and even then its a maybe. the album was recorded in febuary, so we've got a shotload of new material we wanna get recorded, which is the priority. we're not really as geared towards touring as many other bands are. myelf and dean work full time jobs so its a fucker to organise taking enough time off to do a full tour.

Outside of hardcore / thrash / whatever what else are you guys into? Alot of dudes get into skating etc. What do you guys do to pass your time? 

i skate a bit, but just to get around. im shithouse and can't do tricks. dan surfs and doesn't skate but can still ollie better than me. jay never leaves the house except to play poker. fuck knows what dean does. we all smoke mad bongs.

I managed to get my hands on the Collapse 7" the other day. Impressive. What happened there? I know that Piotr had to return home but say he ever came back would there be a Collapse reunion? 

piotr didn't go straight home, i'm pretty sure he's working in malaysia in the polish embassy right now. he has mentioned he would like to come back and do a reunion show or two some time, but as the guitarist (and previous drummer in extortion) rhys has left for europe, it won't be possible for at least a few years when rhys returns. as it is, its pretty unlikely. the collapse breaking up was pretty shitty. it was a band we were all happy with the direction we were heading but it didn't seem right to continue after piotr left.

the collapse recorded earlier this year, a few songs that we were going to record before piotr left, but had to can due to our drummer, james, contracting the bubonic plague the weekend we had booked to record. me and rhys did the vocals on the newer recording. it may be released sooner or later.

Do you ever get any people asking about any of your past endevours like that? Anyone ever ask about AIDS or The Collapse or HOK? 

occasionally. usually in zine interviews. to save time i just wrote up a bunch of stuff in a text file on my computer and copy and paste it into the appropriate place. you'll find most of the answers in the zine can be found in other interviews we've done.

Thanks Rohan. Any threats? 

yes.

I've got a hard on for 5"s

For some reason 5" records turn me on. Maybe cause i've only got 3 of them? Probably.

Got this Hatred Surge record today. It was released about 5 weeks ago and limited to only 100, so I just missed this thing when I went to order from Rescued From Life Records. eBay hunting I went then.

It's clear.

I've had this RZL DZL 5" for probably more than a year now. Cool as. Reminds me of the days when pop groups released CD singles in those shitty cardboard sleeves. No idea of the pressing.

Smoke weed.

My first 5" record. The infamous Converge s/t 5". Black of I think 1000? Well I know they pressed 1000 of it, but it was pressed on white too, so I'm not sure if each colour was 500 or 1000. Either way, mine is hand numbered 675/1000 (couldn't get a good pic, my camera sux). The 2 songs on here are 2 of the bands best efforts ever as far as I'm concerned. Downpour was the first Converge song I ever heard, and it's still my favourite by a longshot, and the Vio-lence cover is sheer brutality.

New stash

In Disgust- "Reality Choke" 10" (clear wax): First heard about this band about 6 weeks ago in an issue of Mindless Mutant Zine. Well actually, I had already heard them on the Trapped In A Scene comp LP that 625 did, but didn't take too much notice. Glad MM turned me in the right direction. Fucken really good southern Cali grind violence. Reminds me alot of Magrudergrind. 

Self Destruct- "All My Friends Are Dead" 7" (black wax): The Endless Quest turned me onto this band. Pretty good Black Flag styled stuff straight outta the UK. To be honest with you though the only real reason I picked this ep up was for the really phat cover art. A top view looking down into some dudes bedroom. Really detailed. Looks rad. (click the photo for a closer look).

Harms Way- s/t 7", and "Imprisoned" 7" (both black wax): Another band I read up on in that issue of Mindless Mutant. They've been described everywhere as a PV band, so I guess that's why I looked into them, but to be honest I'm not getting much PV at all. More like straight up seminal mosh with the odd faster bit here and there. The bands bassist is the singer for Weekend Nachos. Maybe that's where the PV descriptions come from? Anyway, the "Imprisoned" ep has been out for more than 18 months, and the other one has just come out in the last month or so. I managed to get both from Rev though, so I guess not many dudes are frothing on this band? I'm not really either, but I'm definatley not ashamed to have these 2 eps in my collection.

Creatures- s/t 7" (black wax): Cool kinda fastish, thrashy stuff from the states. Rev describes these guys as a negative band "that brings to mind Think I Care and Sheer Terror". Eh maybe? Not as good as either band, but still alright. Grabbed from Rev.

9 Shocks Terror- "Mobile Terror Unit" 7" (purple wax): The repress of this ep on Havoc. I said it about h100's: need I say more? Classic Clevo.

Braindead- "Priest Killer" 7" (black wax): Got into this English PV unit when I fell in love with Rot In Hell, as the two have a split 7". A pretty proven take on modern PV. Moshy in places, mega fast, and pissed off. Great power guy vocals, reminds me of Infest etc.

Hammer Bros.- "The Kids Are Dead" LP (green wax): Just another band I came across by lurking the spazz. Pretty freaking good moshy stuff. I got the Mp3's for this album and the LP before it, and I'd say I do like that older stuff better though. I'll get it on eBay one day I guess. I had to catch 2 buses across town last weekend. The entire trip I blasted Hammer Bros. Was a good bus ride.

Breathing Fire- "Years Of Lead" LP (clear wax): Haven't listened to this album yet, but I know it'll destroy worlds. The 7" did, and I love PV, and I love Painkiller, so I fear not.

Four Corners Comp LP (black wax): Came free with another order I did. Bunch of youth crew bands. Not siked, but hey it was free yeah?

Gehenna- "Upon The Gravehill" LP, and Disco LP (black and green wax respectively): I'm on a HOLY TERROR BENDER. Duh. Rad art on both. Love this band.

9 Shocks Terror- "Zen And The Art Of Beating Your Ass" LP (purple/pink wax): Another classic repress. My favourite 9 Shocks stuff by far.

Catharsis- "Samsara"double LP (black wax): eBay winner. See below post.

Bunch of tapes. Too tired to write a description for all. And besides I haven't listened to all of them yet. The middle one in the top is a friends band. Shock Value. Hai gaiz! Good 80's inspired stuff. They do Black Flag covers, so they gotta be cool right? Middle bottom one is Suffer from Perth. Sweet sweet Crossed Out worship. Interview in the first ish of Downsided. The CD there is a Japanese band named Sex Messiah. I grabbed this from Borg and Endless Blockades. Pure GISM worship. Good mix too. Great demo. The others are Men's Interest and Mentally Challenged, both from Painkiller, and the Shortlived demo.

Catharsis "Samsara" LP

As some of you may know, Catharsis have been one of my favourite bands as of late. In paticular, their album "Samsara". So I grabbed this one on eBay a few weeks ago. It arrived today. Got it for a pretty good price too, but as you'll see there's a reason for this...

See the tears at the top there? Yeah. And in general the sleeve has definitely seen much better days. But I don't mind, I got the LP, and it rules. I can still get a better copy down the track.

If the actual wax was in any sort of disrepair, I wouldn't have bothered with this one, but as you might be able to see, the vinyl is near perfect.

Aside from the cover art, the best thing about this LP is the insert. It's divided into 4 sheets, with 3 songs on each. Cool as artwork on each sleeve too.

So all I want now Catharsis wise, is the 7" and the "Passion" LP. Any of you out there wanna help?

Mindsnare Interview

Here's an interview I did with Melder for issue 5 of TheSharpEndZine. Was reprinted in an issue of Sick Of Goodbyes too I think? Right Chris? Anyway, read on...

You guys have just put out your new 7” through established Aussie records label Short Fuse Records. How has the record been received? Did you manage to get rid of all of them?

We only just got as it took so long to get here but in a few weeks we have already got over 400 out there so that’s cool. Feedback so far has been good,  As time goes on you get closer to being that band that should have called it quits….Maybe the next record?

Why the decision to do a wax only release? With the current popularity of hardcore in this country currently do you think that alot of your younger fan base may be of the more CD buying nature?

Well I am sure if the CD kids want it they can download a rip or whatever. This record was always going to be on a 7”, it’s been in the works for at least 8 years. Back then vinyl was pretty common.

Do you worry about alienating that group in this respect?

I never really think about that. If kids hate us because 4 songs aren’t available on a CD then good on them. They should probably hate us because our songs are shitty, not the format it’s delivered on.

As I said Short Fuse helped you put out the release. The label has been responsible for numerous notable Aussie bands in the past including Arms Reach and AVO. How did the hook up with the label come about?

We have been friends with Clint for years and he offered it to us a long time ago, its our fault that it took so long…he was really patient with us…props to him. Mind you, putting any record out and dealing with any band is a bit of a fuckaround.

Why not just use Trial And Error to do the wax?

I don’t like putting out our records. We always try to do them with someone else as it’s two lots of people working on an album and we just like doing things on different labels. I always do Mindsnare records when the other labels are done with it. I like putting out other people’s records, that stokes me more.

Early orders of the record were also available with a limited edition skate deck. I haven’t seen the board. What was the  idea behind it?

I wanted to do something different and over the top. I thought a skateboard with the limited vinyl would be cool so we had the limited records made to look like a wheel. We got fucked around by the board manufacturer so we have now had to get them made in the States. If you try to keep the money in Australia and do the right thing you get fucked over. The result is a better board though so if people want to skate them they are getting a better deal, they are being done in the same factory as Black Label and Element.

Who handled the art work for the deck, where did you get them made and how many were produced?

There’s a 100 boards and the art was done by Andy Bloodstains. He also did the artwork for our Bootleg cd, he’s a long time friend of the band and can often be found up the front of the Melbourne shows on turps.

The record is available in colours etc. In Australia currently if you want to have a record pressed in colour it has to be done overseas, black is all that can be done here at the moment. Where did you have the record pressed?

Somewhere in the UK…no idea where as that was on Clints end. Coloured vinyl is huge at the moment, I go through stages of buying it or refusing to buy it. It doesn’t sound as good as black. Can I hear the difference? Probably not…I am just full of shit. I had a huge argument with the merch guy for Battery in Germany once as I refused to take a coloured LP from him.

The 7” was originally supposed to be available for sale on the Ringworm tour that you guys recently took part in but alas it wasn't ready yet. What happened there?

Usual long winded ‘we got fucked around because of vinyl’ story but we took preorders and anyone that went for it got a patch that was limited to those people. I guess that’s something..right?

Speaking of the Ringworm tour, what was it like? How was it playing every night with such hardcore legends?

It was a blast, we had a lot in common with them as well as the Dead Walk. Some people got their noses out of joint at some of the shows because of some peoples attitudes…fucking weak cunts. This is hardcore not a fucking love in, what the fuck did they expect at a Ringworm show.

Mindsnare also just more recently took part in a country wide tour with American legend thrash metal band Kreator. What was that tour like? How did it contrast to the Ringworm tour?

Completely different, I didn’t even talk to them, they weren’t really around but that’s cool. Those guys have been doing it for so long they don’t need to get punished and make small talk with us. Not to mention the Euro’s have a dry outlook anyway and we are all about having a good time. The shows were hard work but we knew that going in and we are not the band that wants to sit in our comfort zone…it’s good to cop a bit of shit every now and again…character building. Sydney turned out to be the strongest for us which is a bit of a turnaround for a city that turned it’s back  on us ten years ago.

Even though you may not have a big a fan base as a band like Parkway I think it’s safe to say that Mindsnare is currently Australia's best and most established hardcore band. Would you think it’s safe to say such a thing?

Nah not at all. There’s probably 10 bands out there that sell more records than we do and are way more popular. We wouldn’t want to be as big as Parkway as we don’t have the time to put in, not to mention they are a better band. There’s a lot of bands blowing up now and that’s a good thing, a lot of people that are backing them will be gone in a couple of years but some will hang around and that’s cool. I’m stoked for the Parkway guys. 

You guys probably have one of the longest running current histories within the scene. How has the Australian scene changed since the earlier days?

I think it has it’s ups and downs. All in all, the scene is a lot stronger these days and the shows are well attended. I saw a lot of good shit years ago and things that could never be replicated but from where I am standing there are some really good bands making really good records…We have really stepped up and not only caught up to the rest of the world in song writing and production but  we are getting to the point where some of our bands will be setting some world standards.

And more specifically, how has Melbourne changed?

It hasn’t a lot. It has always been stronger than other city’s across the board, There has always been pockets of this and that blowing up here and there like Adelaide All Ages and such but Melbourne has been the most consistent. It’s a hard town for bands as well as we have always had an ‘arms crossed’ thing happening here that you don’t see in other states. People will come out to check the band out but you don’t get instant love and recognition and that’s a good thing. Bands have to earn that shit or they are just another piece of shit hype band. Stronghold kept coming back and making it happen, the last show I saw of theirs at the Arthouse was amazing. They kept working at it and got the reward, there was a lot of hype around them and they lived up to it, there are bands out there that definitely don’t live up to the hype.

Where do you see the Aussie hardcore scene going n the next 3 years? Do you see the popularity continuing or do you see it dissipating a bit?

I hope it drops a little and we shed some of the fashion kids. By saying that I don’t mean what people are actually wearing, I mean kids that are living their ‘Hardcore Phase’, There are a lot of good bands coming up not to mention in the next two years we are going to see bands like PWD, IKTPQ and Carpathian all releasing new albums so it’s going to be interesting to see if everyone keeps selling more than 10,000 copies. On the other end of the hardcore scale there are a lot of bands that completely opposite to those bands and it’ll be good to see them sticking it out and even more popping up. Hardcore has got pretty glitzy and it’s good to see with it’s rise that there are bands and people who still embrace the counter culture with lyrics or zines and such. Where does Mindsnare fit in with all this…not really sure?

The internet: is it a good thing or bad thing? How do you think it has helped hardcore in the last 5 years?

It’s a good thing. People can get their message out there, it’s a lot easier for bands to be heard overseas and find music that would have been a lot harder to  find. It has helped it blow up to proportions that were not even imaginable 10 years ago here, some would argue that isn’t a good thing and may be right. There is a lot of shit talking going on but that happened back in the day as well, it’s just back then people would actually say it to each other and fight instead of hiding behind ‘it’s only the internet’

I know you guys don’t have a myspace or anything like that. What do you think of the internet giant?

I think it’s awesome, it definitely puts bands in control of being heard and self promoted. It’s good for people that want to get fingered as well. I’m not looking to finger anyone so I may sign Mindsnare up…we’ll see.

I’ll assume that Mindsnare isn’t a full time job, what do you guys have to get up to to pay the bills?

While the band does earn money when we actually play, we just spend it on rehearsal, storage, studio time(hardly ever), flights and things like that. It’s been a long time since we split any money as there always seems to be a bill to pay. We never have to put money in which is a pretty good position to be in. There are a lot of bands that actually earn money from all of this and don’t work but they spend their money on similar things as well only on a grander scale. There is also a shitload of bands that don’t break even on a tour even after it has been well attended once you factor everything in.

And with full time work and members participating in other bands etc doy uo gusy have trouble making time for the band? Is Mindsnare still after this time your number one priority?

Well it is and it isn’t. When you have been doing it for as long as us you just tend to do whatever the fuck you want. We only do things that everyone wants to do, if someone is against something then we don’t bother. We wouldn’t be a band if we did things for our ‘career’. We do this for the same reason we have always done this. It’s pretty weird that people still find us valid and worth their time, at the same time I completely understand anyone writing us off that has just gotten into hardcore as we don’t really fit the myspace mould and what they have been sold on what hardcore is.

The current line up includes such a diverse back ground with members coming from such a contrast of legendary Aussie bands like grinders Bloodduster to punk long runners Frenzal Rhomb. Do you think having such a contrasting line up helps the band create good tunes?

Well Beltsy writes all the music and pretty much has it all mapped out in his head. It’s never set in stone and we all have input but it usually works out that he knows best. It wasn’t until we dragged Gordy in from Frenzal that what Beltsy wanted could be realised and that really opened the band up and saw Matt really stepping it up a notch. Some people would argue that the older stuff is better. I wouldn’t agree as I think it sounds dated but fuck but if a band is lucky enough for people to care one way or another then you must have done something right.

So with the new 7” out now and tours duties for the year complete, what is next for Mindsnare? Any idea of when a new full length could be on the cards?

We have almost finished writing the new record which will probably be out June ’07. We have no idea of the title or anything but it is coming along well and hopefully people will like it. If I can bothered doing a myspace we will have some demo tracks up by the end of the year.

Words for the Aussie scene? Thanks etc?

Keep downloading. Fuck bands and labels that cry about ‘loss of income’, if you like something you have downloaded then go and see the band live. You can still buy the album or a shirt and have the band see your money and support or at least some a couple of dollars from the door price. Downloading lets people check out albums to see if they like them. Sure you are gonna loose some sale but if you band is any good then you will also gain them and shows will become bigger. I think the internet is a great leveller and ensures that good bands do get heard and have a better chance. Shows have become a lot bigger with downloading and at the end of the day music should be live.

Allan Reid Interview

Following is an interview I did with Allan Reid of Just Say Go way back for issue 5 of TheSharpEndZine. Overall I was pretty happy with this interview, as Allan always gives great, in depth answers, and I’d say it’s probably the best interview from that issue. As you know the band broke up not too long after this interview and Allan promptly headed over to Germany to pursue his other band Connections with friend Toni Kraetzer of Something Inside. Allan has managed to kick start a record label while in Europe named What Remains Records, and he’s on the verge of releasing the Connections 7”. Check it out, then read this interview for old times sake.

The latest full length has been out for a while now. How’s the response been? people liking it?

The response to Revive has been awesome, alot of people have given us great feedback and the one thing that really surprised me was a lot of kids being able to understand and relate to the lyrics. Sometimes I think I’m loopy and no one will be able to make sense of my words so it’s pretty cool when young kids who are getting into hardcore get what I’m trying to say.

Having help from resist must be pretty good?

Graham is a great help. I think he has been doing the label for about 8 years now so when it comes to getting help and advice from him it’s really reliable and points us in the right direction, not just as any old hardcore band, but for Just Say Go! as an individual band. He basically streamlines everything that we’re doing so we aren’t wasting time taking the long way around.

Now I’m sure you have probably had to answer this one a million times but I still haven’t found out why- how did the deal with Resist come about?

We were set to put Revive out with Common Bond Records, but as we moved further into the process of putting the release together, the relationship between the band and the label became a bit messy, the main problem was miscommunication from both sides. So with such a weird vibe hanging over the band/label connection we decided to look around to see what else was available. I got in touch with Graham for advice on getting our recording to other labels to check out and asked him if he’d be keen to give the recording a listen. I sent him an unmastered copy of Revive and he liked it. From there we just mapped out a plan to get the release out.

Is it some big contracted deal where you have to be exclusive with Graham or is it on a pretty loose basis?

With us we have no contract, I have no idea about other bands. For us so far everything has been based on verbal agreements and I guess pretty loose. I don’t mean lose as sketchy but loose as on flexible. That suits us fine as contracts lead to legal stuff, brainy stuff and in the end we’re just hardcore kids!

Without coming across as an elitist knob I’m curious if you ever had second thoughts about signing up with a lable with such a metalcore  / mosh reputation? I think it’s fare to say that JSG! is the black sheep at Resist at the moment.

We didn’t really have any second thoughts when we decided to release Revive on Resist. Graham has always been really helpful and supportive of any bands I have been a part of, and I’m in no way close to him as a friend or business associate or whatever. He is just a helpful kinda guy and I think at heart he is still a wholesome hardcore kid. As for Resists metalcore / mosh reputation, I think that comes from the big bands, if you look at Grahams early releases like Where’s The Pope, Found My Direction and Ceasefire, you will find a strong, traditional hardcore set of releases.

To date JSG! has released the demo, One Chance To Live and Revive all on CD. It almost seems almost like a practical step that a band of your nature would release something on wax. How come you guys haven’t yet?

Since we formed the band has been keen to do a 7” record, but with the price of pressing vinyl you have to be a hyped band that will sell a lot of copies to make it worthwhile for labels. recently a few labels like Viper Deathlock and Washed Up have been doing 7” releases which in my ind has got kids into buying records, which means a lot more bands in the near future will be doing vinyl. As for Just Say Go! stay tuned for a 7” sometime fairly soon!

Any plans for that possibly happening? I really think it would do well.

We definitely have plans to do a vinyl release, and it looks like a definite possibility sometime next year, but nothing is certain until the release is on the shelves. As I said it is in our plans so keep an ear to the ground.

Your bro recently left the band and was replaced with new drummer Josh also of Not Of This and RBAY. What happened there? Was it weird not having Gareth in the band anymore after such a long time?

In the first year and a half of Just Say Go I really thought that if my brother left the band I would feel uncomfortable without him. I am pretty sure I said that in another interview. But for a few months before my brother’s departure I was really holding him in the band. He had talked about being sick of the hardcore scene and not wanting to do a band a few times and I had talked him around and kept dragging him back in, thinking that being in a band was a good activity for him, or anyone for that matter. Within the last month of his departure, a few things became evident to me that I’d overlooked. Gareth had very little interest in Australian hardcore and definitely didn’t want to circulate in the “scene” week in week out playing shows and traveling for 10 hours or more for single shows. The drive to be in a band was no longer there and his musical interest had expanded and moved further away from hardcore. At the point when he left the band, I had gotten to the point of physically fighting with him after arguments about the worth of the band and the upside of being involved in the hardcore scene. I’m pretty sure leaving the band was a massive weight off his shoulders, a weight that was largely my fault for keeping him going for the time that I did. As for his replacement, Switch, who played drums for Not of This and currently plays in Right Back at Ya, he was an obvious option for a replacement. Switch has always been a friend of ours as individuals and as a band. He also used to ask my brother about his style of drumming and watched my brother drum a few times to pick up ideas and techniques. In my mind he wasn’t technically “the best” but his feel for the music we played in both musical expression and message was spot on. Switch has slotted into the band almost perfectly and we’re happy to have him on board. 

And how has Switch been doing? Slotted in well?

Switch has slotted in really well. Everything from the “in jokes” to the style we play seem to come fairly naturally to him. It’s almost like he was in the band all along.

I asked Craig and Stu the same thing (as a joke)- what’s it like being RBAY with melody?

Haha I’ve never heard that comparison. I think the only big comparison between JSG and RBAY is shared members and fast music. Other than that there a lot of big differences in both the sound and ideals of both bands.

What did you think of RBAY doing JSG! covers a little while back? I assume that you heard?

I didn’t know they did them at shows, I heard about them jamming on them though. I think it’s a copout and RBAY should be ashamed of themselves, as half the band already knew the songs from being in Just Say Go!!! Where’s the challenge!!! Hahaha. 

Stu did vocals on Revive, on Leave Your Mark. How did that come about?

To be honest that was a fairly spur of the moment decision. I had always planned to have a guest vocalist sing that section of Leave Your Mark but didn’t really decide until the day we recorded who was doing it. Basically Stu has always supported the band as a friend and someone who loves hardcore and is a rad dude as well. There isn’t really anyone more fitting to a song like Leave Your Mark.

Youth crew hardcore in Australia besides you guys seems virtually non existent. Am I just being ignorant? Why do you think that a genre f such nature is still so underground here? I can’t imagine why there isn’t more youth crew bands around. You guys always seem to get huge reactions at shows, you’d think more kids would be starting youth crew bands.

That’s a tough question to answer. As for Aussie bands doing youth crew influenced hardcore, there are a few popping up here and there. For me the bands that spawned from the Youth Crew era of hardcore are the bands I love, so naturally when I play music it is going to be fairly closely linked to the sound of those bands. I know a lot of kids appreciate the same bands as I do but maybe not enough to do a band, maybe something else stirs them more? I guess that theory also applies to the kids who give us the reactions you’ve mentioned. They could love Just Say Go and really get into our sound, but at the same time be a little more into another sound more, which to me would logically send them in that direction with their own tunes. I also think a big contributor to the fact that not many Youth Crew influenced hardcore bands are getting around Australia is maybe because of its popularity compared to other sub-genres in the hardcore scene. As much as it sucks, the fact remains that what’s selling is what’s being sold.

Like I said you guys always seem to get good reactions at shows, with AA definitely being the big ones. I haven’t seen an over 18’s JSG! show in a while, What are those like these days? Alot of the other over 18’s shows I go to are shithouse.

Over 18s shows are definitely no comparison to the all ages shows in Brisbane these days. I think the 18+ kids have grown up and found new things, which is cool, and the timing of the kids coming up in the scene has meant they can’t come to 18+ shows. It just seems like part of a cycle that hardcore scenes go through with older kids growing out of hardcore and younger kids just getting into it. Sometimes the gap is there, sometimes it isn’t. I also think with 18+ shows that Brisbane had a bit of a ‘mass appeal’ scene going with places like The Depot and 299 opening. Those older kids with an interest in alternative music and being in a large group of people with common interests, they now have a place to do that while also cutting out the hardcore kids who want to go nuts and spill their drinks. I mean, when you look at Mary Street in its peak, we would have 300 or 400 payers at a local show, but I don’t doubt for one second that a large percentage of the crowd were there to listen to loud music, get drunk and take someone home. They can now do that elsewhere without breaks for bands to setup and the hardcore show happening around them.

Being around for as long as you have I guess it’s fair to say that you’ve seen a huge amount of change within the local scene. Why do you think the North Coast scene seems so down at the moment?

I think for starters, the “North Coast” scene was a lot of hype built on the foundation of a good idea. The whole NCHC idea was for the people involved in the existing hardcore scene to fall under one name, to carry everyone together and really belong to something. But shortly after the NCHC idea was instigated, it became a clothing brand, a tattoo banner and as I said a load of hype. The scene in Brisbane then was pretty big, Mary Street and the Lions Den were reasonably big name venues on the national circuit, if that is grouped and labeled, that label then gets a lot of attention. Brisbane still has a pretty cool hardcore scene. The hype has cooled, a lot of the older kids have moved on, but at the same time a lot of the younger kids are really getting into hardcore and a lot of them have new ideas and beliefs that will become the future of Brisbane hardcore. I’d challenge you to look at any hardcore scene around the world with a substantial history and not find those sort of cycles happening. In all I think the North Coast banner has run its course and done its job for Brisbane hardcore and the downside of Brisbane hardcore at the moment is that it is on a low.

Do you see it getting better? I guess as all then underage kids turn 18, as long as they stick around, a good future could be in sight?

I definitely see it getting better. Maybe not as an over 18’s scene (who wants that anyway) but all ages hardcore up here is really going strong. There are a lot of young kids out there really psyched on hardcore and enjoying everything Brisbane has to offer bands wise. A lot of these younger kids have awesome attitudes and really support the local hardcore scene. There are a lot of good bands starting up and a few kids pushing for regular all ages venues in Brisbane and nearby towns. As for the all ages kids turning 18, I wouldn’t wait! We just need to find more AA venues, 18+ venues won’t keep doing hardcore shows when most of the payers are straight and they need bar money to keep their business going.

As a youth crew band a lot of subject matter that you tackle with JSG! is obviously of the more positive nature. I notice that you’re very straight forward with your words. Do you ever get to the point where you’re just so sick of it all? Have you ever just wanted to walk away from the scene and never come back?

There have been a few times recently when I have felt like walking away, and have temporarily had to walk away from situations in the hardcore scene that have really set me off. I was at a Halloween show in Noosa and one of the kids singing in a band completely destroyed a young girls reputation by calling her a skank and wishing death upon her in front of over a hundred impressionable underage kids. This kid was Christian (last I heard) so I was really wondering where the redemption was for that girl in being sentenced by a scenester. That was one of the more recent points where I had to really walk away before I lost my head and started really cutting into that kid. In the long run I don’t think I could walk away for good. I really love hardcore, musically its something I have become very close to and still love almost every aspect of hardcore. There have been a lot of incidents where I have really felt my heart sink and I have been literally too disgusted to stay in the room and I have had to walk away to chill out and gather my thoughts (like the incident in Noosa) but in general I feel like its where I want to be and something I want to be a part of for years to come.

On Our Hands is a cruelty free / vegan themed song. How passionate are you about leading a cruelty free lifestyle?

My beliefs when it comes to animals and the way humans treat them are that we don’t need to slaughter them for our own needs. In this day and age we have alternatives to sacrificing an animal that can sustain a healthy life. If I was stuck in the desert and I was starving to death and a lizard sat down beside me I’d probably eat it, no questions asked, but when we are breeding animals with massive deformities due to chemicals injected into them to produce more meat from one animal, just to kill them for food, I don’t think it is fair and would much rather the alternatives. I’m vegetarian because I wont have an animal suffer for my needs when my needs can be satisfied without that animal suffering. 

While straight edge is reasonably big within Brisbane I think veganism / vegetarianism isn’t nearly as popular. Do you think that is so? Why do you think that there isn’t as many veg kids around?

I actually disagree there. A few years ago the vegan and vegetarian edge kids in Brisbane were few and far between, now there’s a whole new bunch of kids coming up who are either vegan or vegetarian and feel very strongly about it. There was a time when vegan edge in Brisbane came down to Meatdog and almost Meatdog alone, no one else was doing it with such a strong attitude. Now there are kids popping up everywhere who are giving cruelty free lifestyles a shot.

Do you think that as a straight edger veganism is absolutely necessary?

Definitely not. When you look at the origin of the straight edge lifestyle, the motto or slogan was “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t fuck.” I’m not even sure if the mastermind of the straight edge ideals was vegetarian at the time. I think that straight edge, being a lifestyle based on abstinence, is easily associated with veganism and vegetarianism and definitely is an easy step for edge kids as it is another substance to abstain from.

At the recent Bald Hills show during JSG!’s set you touched on the militancy topic, putting forward that straight edge should be more about offering alternatives rather that just punishing non believers etc. What are your views on extreme militancy? I know you have militant mates?

First and foremost, none of my mates are militant. I don’t think anyone in Brisbane is militant. The topic I was trying to touch on was that acting militant, with slogans that are all about isolation and termination of people who oppose your beliefs, isn’t doing shit for anyone, especially when its all about death, dying and killing. Not long ago there were a load of slogans getting around that were (in my opinion) just dumb and weren’t going to change squat. “Smoking kills, I hope you die” is as likely to encourage a non smoker to quit as “smoking makes you look sexy to the opposite sex.” Last year I lost my uncle to lung cancer, and before he was diagnosed his organs were failing due to alcohol abuse. That event was a pretty heavy thing for me to get my head around, and I’m in no way a special case when it comes to edge kids losing people close to them to substance abuse. So what I want to know is, how many of the “militant” kids throwing these wannabe militant slogans around would have given that person close to them an opportunity to change and get more living out of life then go downhill to an end riddled with suffering and sorrow for those left behind? There aren’t many people that I want to die, and if militancy is about making a difference then make an honest effort to make a difference, don’t just slap slogans on your myspace profile to seem like your some kind of revolutionary.

Thanks so much Alan. Any thanks etc?

Thanks for the interview and thanks to everyone involved in Just Say Go from kids singing along to the people doing shows!