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Swamps Interview

23.08.12

Swamps are a fairly recent hardcore band from Western Massachusetts USA. Combining a heavy mix of stomping metallic riffs and New York style hardcore they are a hard hitting band who seem to be making quite a name for themselves. Upon reviewing their new release 'Seven Sides' (which is a fantastic record), I thought I would catch up with Swamps for a short interview.

Can you please introduce yourselves and give us a recent history of Swamps.

Swamps is Andy McQuade, Nicholas Bechard, Tom Margeson and JJ Degen. We’re a hardcore band from Springfield, Massachusetts and have been playing music for about a year and a half. We have a couple releases out right now, an EP called Corroding Kings and a double 7-inch that was just recently put out by FDR called Seven Sides.

‘Seven Sides’ has just been released and sounds awesome! What can people expect from listening to this record?

Well thank you, we appreciate that. I think people can expect a more structured and harder-hitting Swamps.  For us as a band, this is a big step up from Corroding Kings. A lot more time and effort was invested in writing the new songs and I think it shows. People are saying that it seems like we’ve found our sound and we definitely agree.

What motivates you to write the music that you play?

I think just a mutual love for hardcore music. We like the music we play and want to keep creating it.

What messages and points are you trying to get out to people through your lyrics?

Not necessarily any messages or points. We’ve never really been the “preachy” type or attempt to prove anything through our lyrics. We write songs about things that piss us off, feeling shitty about situations, girls, etc.

Why is hardcore important to you?

Hardcore is important to us because I think it somewhat serves as an outlet. Whether that outlet be playing on stage or going off at a show, I think it’s all therapy for us. I’ve also always been attracted to the fact that hardcore is DIY and really anyone can be a part of it and be free to express themselves.

What is the hardcore scene like in your area and does it differ when travelling to different states?

Our scene is cool. It has a lot of history as well as a lot of current bands. It’d be nice to see more bands surface from our area though and more touring bands come through as well. Scenes definitely differ when travelling to different states. Even when we play right next door in Connecticut it seems like a different world. Some places have really tight knit scenes and others don’t. It’s really hard to judge a scene based off one show though.

If there was anything you would like to change in the hardcore scene, what would it be?

I guess violence, fights, stupid shit like that. I know it’s hardcore and things like that are going to happen but I feel like a lot of people who go to shows are more in it for the violence and not so much the music or supporting the bands.

What bands have influenced you the most since you started?

No specific bands really. We all listen to a lot of different types of old and new hardcore and I think that gets brought to the table when it comes down to writing and structuring songs. For me personally, I like a lot of New York hardcore so there’s obviously going to be some of that influence in there. But Swamps has never really tried to go after a specific sound or genre of hardcore and I think (or hope) that’s what’s going to make us stick out as a band.

Are there any particular bands you have or would feel privileged to share a stage with?

Yeah absolutely. We’ve already gotten the pleasure of playing with a few of our current favourite bands such as Soul Search, Take Offense, Expire, Rude Awakening, Suburban Scum, etc. and that was really awesome. I myself am a huge fan of every band that’s on Reaper Records so obviously it would be great to play with any of those bands (Madball, Terror, Trapped Under Ice, Backtrack, Fire and Ice, Naysayer, etc).

What are your plans in the near future? Is there any chance you guys will be coming to the UK anytime soon?

This winter we are hopefully setting up a west coast tour and also in December we will be heading to Puerto Rico for a weekend so that should be awesome. We’ve been keeping in contact with a band called Spires who are from the UK and we’re possibly trying to set up a little tour over there in the near future. So yeah hopefully we’ll be over there soon, we’d love that.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, are there any other shout outs or comments you would like to make?

No problem, thank you for wanting to interview us and hopefully we’ll be making our way out to the UK sooner rather than later. Shout out to Frequency Deleted Records.

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Anchor Interview

23.11.11

On the 6th October I went to see Trial, Anchor and Run With the Hunted at The Borderline in London. I got speaking to Anchor during the show and they happily agreed to participate in an interview for this blog. Anchor are a Straight Edge Hardcore band from Sweden and have recently released their full length Recovery which has had some great responses so far. I hope you all enjoy the following interview.


Hello, would you please introduce yourselves and what your roles in the band are.

Hi, I'm Ulf and I play guitar in Anchor. Mattias also plays guitar, Fredrik plays the bass, we got Calle on drums and Claes on vocals.

How did you guys meet and how did Anchor form through your friendship?

We've all met each other through shows/touring with other bands. Claes and Mattias were two of the founding members of Anchor and Claes played together with Fredrik in a previous band, so that's where they found him. My old band Balance did our first tour with Anchor in 2008 and since then those guys have been good friend of mine, and before joining the band I filled in a couple of times when someone couldn't make it, so me becoming a member of Anchor came pretty naturally, I think. I wasn't in the band when Calle joined, but I think he just knew they were looking for a drummer and said he'd be down to do it. All of us come from different backgrounds and it's quite amazing how we all ended up in this band together. I'm thankful and happy we did, though.

I know you live a Vegan and Straight Edge lifestyle, so why did you make this choice in life and how does this affect the music that you love to write?

I became vegetarian about 10 years ago, and going vegan was just an extension of that for me. There are plenty of reasons for being vegan or vegetarian, but for me it just comes down to that I think that the meat and dairy industry, and the abuse of animals that comes with it, is a selfish, evil and unsustainable tradition that I just can't support. I found out about Straight Edge at age 13, and I've never been drunk, never did any drugs or anything. It just never appealed to me, and it still doesn't. Our outlook on Straight Edge and veganism finds it's way into our songwriting one way or another. From obvious things like songs about sobriety and the meat industry, to indirect things, such as spending the weekend in a rehearsal room playing music 14 hours a day, still thinking there's nothing you'd rather do, even when all your friends spend their weekends at parties or in bars and clubs. Straight Edge and veganism are strong personal values for us, so it probably influences everything we do, more than it doesn't.

There are strong messages through your songs that reflect on animal rights, do any of you participate in any activities regarding this issue outside your band?

For me personally, Anchor is the most I do when it comes to activism, aside from occasional protests and such. I think that goes for most of us, but I'm not completely sure. Some activism is probably best kept a secret.

What is the hardcore scene like in the areas that you come from and how has it differed from the places you have visited?

I think the hardcore scene in Sweden is very similar to most places in western Europe. I think the quality of bands is really, really good right now. Kids don't realize how lucky they are to be able to see great bands any given weekend, even if it's “just a local band”. On the tour we did with Trial and Run with the Hunted, we played in some eastern european countries that not a lot of bands go to, like Macedonia and Romania, and those places were amazing. Kids were so appreciative, and there were actually quite a lot of people that weren't actually involved in the hardcore scene, but just fans of hard music, that came to the shows as well, so it was a nice mix of crowds in all ages.

Are there any bands that have been a great influence for you as people and also on your music?

There are a bunch of bands that has meant a lot to us personally. For me, a local band called Outlast, as well as Gorilla Biscuits shaped me a lot when I was just getting into hardcore. For the others in the band, I'm sure that some other bands were important. For Anchor, bands like Judge, Quicksand, Unbroken, Strife has been important when shaping our sound.

Are any of you involved with any other bands currently?

Mattias has a band called Painted Wolves. Claes is jamming occasinally with some elderly men in Stockholm. I think Fredrik started something in Oslo with Oscar who played drums in Anchor before. Other than that, we have some projects every now and then, but nothing serious.

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You have accomplished a huge amount over the years; do you have any more achievements to gain in the future?

We want to see new places. South America and Australia are two continents we hope to visit within a pretty near future, if all goes well. Of course we want to push ourselves further as songwriters and musicians as well. I'm quite curious to see what's going to come next musically for Anchor.

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I am a huge fan of your new album Recovery, what feedback have you received from people so far?

We've had nothing but good reviews, actually. Some have been amazing, even. The record seems to be going well, and I'm happy it is, cause we worked hard on it and I'm very proud of how it turned out. Robert at Refuse Records allowed us to really go all in when it came to the layout and packaging, so the vinyl looks absolutely amazing.

The hardcore scene is always changing; it has always has its ups and downs, what are your own views on hardcore and what does it mean to you personally?

This is a question that I think becomes both harder and easier to answer with time. Over the years, I've come to realize in how many ways hardcore has influenced me, and how much it still plays a huge role in my life. So my “relationship” with hardcore becomes more complex over time, but at the same time it becomes clear how much it means to me. Simply put, everything I do in my life right now, that has made me into the person I am, has some kind of connection to hardcore. I play in a touring band, I do a fanzine, almost all my friends are people I've met through hardcore, I study graphic design – which I got into because I started doing fanzine, the list goes on. I have no idea who I'd be or what I'd do if it wasn't for hardcore.

Thank you so much for taking the time outside your busy schedules for doing this interview, is there anything else you would like to mention or any shout outs you would like to make?

Thank your for the interview! Look out for the Unveil LP coming in 2012. Be good to yourself.

Don't Give a Fuck Interview

27.08.11

Last month, I was contacted by Don't Give a Fuck the two-piece hardcore band, to do an interview and here is what they said...

Hello there, could you introduce yourselves and tell me what you do in the band.

Matt: Hey Ben. Thanks for the interview. I'm Matt. I play drums and sing in the band.

James: My name is James.  I play guitar and also do vocals.

Did either of you play in any other bands before creating Don’t Give a Fuck?

Matt: I've played in a bunch. I was in two bands with James prior to Don't Give A Fuck, though. A Bane style hardcore band named Envision, and this posi With Honor kind of band named That Within. You can find them if you look real hard on the interwebz. 

James: I played bass for How Artists Die, kind of melodic metalcore stuff before doing That Within and Envision with Matt.  

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What made you both decide that being in a two piece band works better?

Matt: Well for me, I just hate most people. I've noticed over the years that a lot of people just want to write music to sound exactly like other bands, or to get laid, and I didn't want any of that. This kind of thinking has held me back in previous bands, to the extent of me being told not to play certain beats on the drums in order to stay within our desired genre. I think that is stupid. In this band I just wanted to let loose, go crazy, and do as much as I could possibly do, without having to worry about what we come off as.

James: I just got sick of working with people that didn't play on my level of musicianship and having to limit what I created to accommodate them.  We had a bassist that did our demo with us that was able to do it but then he moved to Indiana anyway.   

What sort of aspirations and ideas do you have to write your lyrics?

Matt: This is the first time I will ever admit it, but my half of the lyrics on the EP were based on times I have felt completely helpless and alone because of my decision to be Straight Edge. I've had to go through some fucked up things I don't think I would have had to if I only chose to have an occasional beer, and that pissed me the fuck off. It says a lot about the society we live in, and I tried my best to expose a small part of what I feel to be mainstream ignorance on the EP. I've been writing lyrics for the new stuff recently, about some fucked up things I have had to go through because of Christianity, since the last EP. 

James: I just want to be non cliche and honest as possible.  Hardcore in the last few years has been about doing what some bands from the 80s have already done.  Most newer bands' singers from day one go into writing with a bag full of phrases and ideas that came from someone else and spit the same shit out without putting any of themselves in there.  

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Do you have any plans for releasing a full length?

Matt/James: Not anytime soon, but we are aiming to release another EP, hopefully by the end of this year. There are a lot of questions we left unanswered in the first EP, setting it up for a followup album. 

You’ve played some shows with some impressive bands. Are there any tours you will be planning to go on in the future?

 Matt: It's hard to say who we will tour with in future. All I know is that we will tour. I'd love to do something again with Shai Hulud. 

James: I would love to go on tour with anyone that brings people open to us, whether it's metalcore, hardcore, sludge, etc.  Rosetta or Adai would be sweet though.

What are you opinions on the hardcore scene in your area and how do they differ to other places you have been?

Matt: James may disagree here because he is a promoter, but I think our scene sucks. It's been nicer almost everywhere else we have played. 

James: There are a lot of newer bands and our scene is growing really fast.  For whatever reason though, no newer NYC bands really seem to get attention outside of the city, which is probably the biggest difference, as most other scenes have those bands that are known.  

What is your take on Straight Edge and do you both adhere to this lifestyle?

Matt: I am proud to be Straight Edge, but I am generally embarrassed by most Edge kids I meet. It seems to me like most of them are just a carbon copy of one another. It is very rarely that I find someone doing their own thing with it, that isn't concerned with whether or not they are following in Ian MacKaye's footsteps, unless of course, they are one of those people that claim edge that have no idea who Ian MacKaye even is. My point is this: The idea that being Straight Edge somehow gives you an advantage over a drinker or a drug user, is absurdly paradoxical. Awareness, and ignorance can both be found in all walks of life. My advice to everyone is to do what is best for you, without hurting other people in the process. 

James: I'm not straight edge.  It doesn't really matter to me what someone else chooses to do.  

What sort of music do you both like listening to and what influences your band musically?

Matt: I appreciate anything that is well-thought out, or anything with good drumming. 

James: I really like the early 00s hardcore/metalcore bands such as Another Breath, Killing the Dream, etc., as well as the new wave of screamo bands like Pianos Become the Teeth.  Those are probably the biggest influences on the riffs that I write.  

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Are there any long term goals you wish to achieve with this band?

Matt: I achieved everything I set out to on the first EP. My current goal is to expose ignorant christians on the next one, and to finally show my background in jazz drumming. No beat I did on the first EP will be on the second. And you know, eventually get signed so we can afford to do more. I'd love to tour the world. 

James: I want to push myself to the limit as a musician, and just keep doing things that haven't been done before.  

Thank you so much for your time and patience, are there any last comments you would like to make?

Matt: Thanks for the interview man, and thanks for reviewing our stuff. Keep doing what you do, because it makes a huge difference in the scene. My message for everyone else- Think for yourself. 

James: Thanks for the interview! 

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Image courtesy of Clifford Douglas
 

My Turn Interview

04.05.11

My Turn is quite a recent positive hardcore band based in Athens, Greece. They formed together in 2010 and play a mix of fast punk and youth crew hardcore. Recently we have been in contact and I thought I would share with you an interview that I asked them to do. I hope you enjoy reading this.

* Can you please introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit of how you got together?

M.: Hello! I’m Mark; I play drums in the band. Me, Apo and Fotaras knew each other from hardcore shows in Athens and we wanted to make a hardcore band. Sergios joined us a bit later and there ya go… My Turn!

F.: Hey I am Fotis and I play guitar. I don't do drugs but I got that vegan riddim and praise the one and only Lord Krishna! Um, yeah. First of all let me say thanks for the interview. I checked your blog and it rules so I am glad that we will be on it. We got together in the summer of 2010 when me and Markos wanted to do a band and make some of our own hardcore in the vein of our favourite bands. Apostolis joined in on the vox duties and a little later and after some search we found Sergios, the wickedest bass player ever. We are a tight bunch of young muthas.

A.: Yo, I’m Apostolis and I shout and preach for My Turn. We were formed during the summer of 2010; it was fucking hot, so we went on vacation and started rehearsing regularly in September, when we found a lovely boy called Sergios. He was hotter than summer, though.

* 'Noble Intentions' was released in 2010, what has the feedback from this been?

M.: Well I guess we are still promoting the album in a way in the sense that we are making sure as many people as possible have access to it. Until now the feedback has been pretty good, but as I always believe, this is to be proven in the future. There is still time to see if people will embrace it.

F.: The feedback has been great considering we've been together for such a short while. We did a tape version and then a few CDR versions and all of it got sold out pretty fast. People seem to like the underlying melody in our core and I couldn't be more happy about it. I mean, we play hardcore for sure, but we are also influenced by other stuff like melodic stuff like 90s punk rock and some of us even pop punk, Markos likes Michael Bolton (just kidding), so that 'other' type of influence def comes out in the music. We don't pretend to be the hardest dudes ever so we put some melodic punk in our sound and I am really glad that people like it.

A.: As far as I can figure out, the feedback is way better than what we have expected. We are almost famous nowadays, you know. I’m kidding, haha! Seriously, we’ve sold out / given away for free all our tapes and CDrs, we did some cool interviews for some cooler fanzines and we get offers for live shows everywhere in Greece (plus some propositions for the rest of Europe) every now & then. I don’t need something more. I’m still single though; it’s a huge lie that hardcore / punk singers get all the attention… Haha! Bad joke.

* What were the inspirations that went into your artwork for your EP and who created the ideas?

M.: I think that Apo is more appropriate to answer this question. All I have to say is we love animals and we generally liked the idea of having an animal-related cover (and artwork in general). For me the octopus came out of nowhere (I first saw it when we got the covers in our hands) but it looked really cool. Aggressive yet positively funny. As you may know we had some “special” covers for the Italian show we did in Milan and they were more Italy-related. I love them both! 

F.: I have no clue as we gave to this guy, Bill, who is Apostolis's friend and he did it on its own accord, but I love that damn octopus! He created a niche, like other bands have zombies, bears with cut-off heads, sharks and what not. We have the fucking octopus!!

A.: Bill / Jerboa Illustrations took care of the awesome artwork. Everything is handmade. I told him that we need something crucial featuring an animal or something like that; he came back with this cute octopus spitting ink in a human’s face. So, to be honest, I dunno what the inspiration for this design is… I dig it, though. It’s like the revenge of animals against human’s oppression… Or maybe I exaggerate… The tape cover is completely different, featuring a weird human’s face; it’s done by Ultra Grim Disign. As Markos wrote, we had some special covers for our Italian show, as well…

* Which bands influenced you the most to want to create this style of music?

M.: Well, in My Turn we sort of put our personal taste when it comes to hardcore music. For me it’s something between youth crew hardcore and punk rock. I guess the other guys will have some more influences.

F.: Well I guess we all love youth crew and fast hardcore, stuff that we grew up with etc. The whole spectrum of this hardcore style is an influence for us but we all have our own favorites. For me as a guitarist, some bands that have influenced me are Shelter, In My Eyes, Kid Dynamite, Face To Face, Dag Nasty, Good Riddance... Maybe some non-hardcore influences would be taking pop stuff like the Smiths and Cure and making some hardcore out of it, but though I don't listen to that stuff too much.

A.: We all have different backgrounds concerning our music taste. Of course, there’s a boiling point called hardcore / punk that defines us. I don’t like stating names, though. We are into melodic and energetic hardcore / punk with a positive outlook. Nothing more, nothing less…

* What thoughts do you have on the ever changing hardcore scene and have you noticed a change to your local scene? While we are on this subject, would you be able to give us an insight into your local scene?

M.: In my eyes the hardcore scene was and is a quite little scene. There is a small core part but most of the people are passers-by. The “scene” here, if there is such thing anyway, is something like that too. There are bands but they don’t work all together as a scene.

F.: The scene like you said is constantly changing and for me that's a good thing. I have no problems with change, it's stagnancy I don't like. Some of the new stuff (trends, music styles, clothes, 'must listen' bands) I don't like but it's not like it really bothers me. I think that the faces and people change but the main message behind hardcore remains the same: unity, integrity, independent thinking. I see hardcore as a living philosophy, so I don't care about the coating as long as the message remains true. The scene in Greeceis like everywhere else I guess, there are hyped bands and good bands, good kids and haters. I take the good with the bad and don't worry about it too much.

A.: The scene changes almost every day. A scene consists of all its parts, so when the parts change, then the scene does so. It’s natural and logical. Trends come and go, kids come and go, that’s the way it will always be. We try to stick to our values and represent our beliefs in the kindest way. Moreover, we play music that comes straight from our hearts. We never chose a music style considering what’s hype and what’s fashionable nowadays. We definitely know that we will never be a hyped band and we don’t even care about this. Concerning our local scene, there are a lot of individuals and some bands that work really hard to support it, and this is very promising for the future. We need much more action, though!  

* I thought 'Noble Intentions' was a fantastic listen, are there any particular messages that you wanted to get across to the listeners?

M.: Thank you very much. The general message is positivity in everyday life. However since we are living in this society we are affected by what happens around us. So this reflects on the, sometimes, “negative” spirit. But the general point is: “shit happens, raise your head and move on”.

F.: Thanks a lot! I don't write the lyrics (Apostolis does) but we do talk a lot about our message as a band. We want everyone in the band to agree on the stuff we promote. I guess we all agree it's about a message of positivity (we are all fans of PMA!), and of course anti-violence and anti-hate. There is too much of it going on in the world. It sickens me to see people so disenchanted with life on earth that they don't care if the person next to them is down in the dumps. Violence can also be more subtle than that, it's in our lives in the sense that we ourselves sometimes turn into opressors, towards our friends, our girlfriends, our family. So we try to promote some positivity and understanding and the sound itself promotes an energetic and upbeat way of life. For me it doesn't get any better than that (promoting a worthy message), that's why I love doing this band so much.

A.: I’m glad that you like it. We like it, too, haha! We wanna spread out positive messages and defeat the misery that is floating around in our scene and our society. The lyrics deal with personal issues, describing emotions and exposing frustration, anger, love and hope. We are not here to tell you what to do, but we can help each other to do something together…

* Are your members involved in any other current bands?

M.: Fotaras is the only one who does. He plays in a punk rock band called “Lost Meanings”.

F.: I play(ed) bass in a punk rock band called Lost Meanings, I'm not sure what our future will be. I also play guitar in a doom metal / punk band with some friends from my neighbourhood in the vein of Pentagram, Goatsnake, St Vitus etc. I play hip hop beats on the drums on their spliff breaks. One day I hope to have enough money and time so I can make my own vegan straight edge hip hop project (a big dream of mine). I will have Apostolis rap to it while I make some tight beats.

A.: We all used to play in some bands in the past, but we are now focused on My Turn. Fotis is playing with Lost Meanings, every now & then, though.

* On a final note, what are the future plans for your band?

M.: We plan to play as much as possible, write better songs and on top of all stay healthy and active. Thanks a lot for you time. Take care and be happy!

F.: I aim for us to gain ridiculous scene cred, and intimidate people with absurd behaviour that they will somehow take for no reason at all. This is obviously a joke, but sometimes things are actually like that with some people. Go figure. For MT, plans would be to finally convince Sergios to turn straight edge (chances are slim), and to get our asses in the studio to record our next release. I just can't wait. It will be tighter, faster, better, more melodic, more everything. Maybe we'll manage to do a small tour somewhere in Europenext fall as this is our biggest (achievable) dream so far. All you kids out there you gotta keep the faith and don't believe the hype! Respect people and non-human animals alike. Remember you don't need alcohol, you don't need cigarettes, you don't need 'e'. All you need is you.

A.: We are writing new songs, so I guess that sometime sooner or later we must enter the studio to record them! Moreover, we have a bunch of shows scheduled and we have to concentrate on them. Thanks a lot for the interview, we really appreciate it. Go veg(etari)an.