Interview with the Taxpayers

I had heard of the Taxpayers through a wild story about a band in the Northwest that lived in a storage space to record an album. I heard that they would lock themselves in and had to have someone else let them out. I don't even want to think about the smells of the place - that alone gives me the willies.

Then the Taxpayers were featured in Razorcake as the cover story in issue # 73, an impressive feat by all means. After reading the story, I picked up a copy of their seminal album God Forgive These Bastards: Songs from the Forgotten Life of Henry Turner and A Rhythm in the Cages. I was put off at first by a band that could wield such a dynamic selection of instruments from the trumpet to the accordion to handfuls of spaghetti, but simply could not stop listening. God Forgive These Bastards has since become one of my all-time favorite albums. I have spent a godforsaken amount of time obsessing over it, magnetized by the lyrics and the accompanying novella (called God Forgive These Bastards: Stories from the Forgotten Life of Georgia Tech Pitcher Henry Turner.) I'm really excited to have them featured on my blog.

Self-confessed "Goof-Punks," The Taxpayers are a band that combines many subgenres of punk rock and folk music while also showing a reverence for all things blues and jazz. It's almost overwhelming how much is going on in their songs and it's a testament to the gargantuan ideas the band is wrestling with as they craft songs. But if you see them play, they really are quite goofy. There's definitely no such thing as dumbing-down their music, but the band is really into making people happy at a show.

They recently toured the United States with Anarcho-Folk-Punk band Ramshackle Glory (and ended up playing the final show at Chicago's Swerp Mansion), which is one of the all-time best touring partners in my opinion. Their sets are a blaze of frenzied fun and awesomeness.

I'm totally honored to be able to post this interview and I think that you should listen to everything that they have recorded.

You can check them out on FACEBOOK, buy their stuff at USELESS RECORDS, take a look at their own WEBSITE or check out their albums on Spotify.

Jordan: Who all is in the Taxpayers? How did you guys meet? When did you guys decide to form a band?

Rob Taxpayer: The Taxpayers are me (Rob), Noah, Danielle, Phil, Kevin, Andrew, Alex, and occasionally Eric.  Our friend Nate used to play bass, but doesn't anymore.  We met in lots of different ways.  Me and Noah met because we both explicitly wanted to start a band that sounded like the Minutemen.  Then we slowly gathered others as time went on - Danielle was a friend that we talked into learning an instrument, we met Kevin when he moved in next door and stopped by to play trumpet while we were practicing, we met Phil on a stolen row boat on the Columbia river where he falsely told us that he owned a bass, Andrew joined after we saw him all over the country on various tours, we met Eric when he was on tour with a band from Minneapolis, and Alex came up to us pretty early on in the band and volunteered to play saxophone.

J: You all live in different states now - how do you guys practice/write new music/tour?

RT: Well, we don't practice, for one.  We just meet up somewhere on the planet to start a tour, and then part ways when it's over.  As for new music, I'll usually write the skeletal frames of songs - the lyrics, basic structure - and then email them to everyone else.  Then we'll get together at some point in the year, see what works, add to the songs, break 'em apart, and see what sticks.  For this last album, Cold Hearted Town, we did it all (including recording) over a two week period around Christmas when we could all be in the same place.

J: What is the process for writing a song? It seems like you guys have a pretty wide variety of music from more punk-oriented songs to ballads.

RT: It's different for every song.  Sometimes a phrase will come out of the blue and the song will be built around that phrase.  Sometimes I'll write a little story and then force the story into a song format.  Sometimes a melody will linger around for years until it finally fits somewhere.  Then, once I've captured the idea, everybody else will take a shot at the song - Kevin might say, "Oh, we should speed that one part up to 4/4, drop out the guitar, and bring in this saxophone melody", or Andrew will play a super cool guitar part that makes us decide to play the song country-style.  But like I said, the process is a little different for each song.

J: I think you guys are a band that can write not only a great tune, but lyrically weave a story better than a lot of people. Where does the inspiration for these stories or lyrical style come from?

RT: I've always liked bizarre, abstract fiction, and a lot of those elements wind up in songs.  I also really enjoy songs that tell stories that seem to encompass much more than the two or three minutes it takes to listen to the song - there's a ton of examples, but the line from Bruce Springsteen's "Promised Land" - "On a rattlesnake speedway in the Utah desert, I picked up my money and headed back into town...".  And then he never comes back to that!  What money was he picking up?  What kind of deal went down in that desert?  It's so mysterious, it's fun to think about, and I think really good songwriters will have a whole story figured out in their minds for each little line like that, even if the entire story doesn't fit in the context of the song.   

J: I've been listening to "God Forgive These Bastards" a lot and I read the accompanying book. Where did this come from? How did you guys write and record the album?

RT: When it comes to specific things, like the Henry Turner character from "God, Forgive These Bastards", the inspiration for him came from a bunch of places - first, there was a guy I used to always see under the Broadway Bridge whenever I'd go fishing, and him and me would drink beer together while I fished and he'd tell me these fantastic stories - some of which became inspiration for Henry Turner's life.  Other aspects of Henry's life came from real events I discovered after researching things about Georgia, where I decided Henry should be from.  Some of it was just purely invented.  It's fun, making things up!

J: How about Cold-Hearted Town, your newest release?

RT: For Cold Hearted Town, I was going through a period where nothing I wrote seemed like it was very good.  I had some different concepts, tried writing a comic book that the songs would be based on, but none of it really clicked.  So I decided to do the thing that Robert Johnson did and made a deal with the devil.  The devil gave me this really fucked up story about a terrible nightmarish town where horrible things happen.  I have some different ideas about why they happen in the town of Blackridge, but I'm afraid to say publicly...

J: How do you guys record? Do you have your own set of equipment?

RT: We have friends record us.  We'll usually pay them a little money (way less than they deserve) in exchange for a demand of their constant attention and flexibility until we're pretty happy with what's recorded.  Then, we'll have a few central places where the recording happens, garages, houses, etc, and some extra field places like parks and busy streets.  Our friend Michael Miew Love did the Exhilarating News, A Rhythm in the Cages, and a good portion of God, Forgive...  Eric Frame did To Risk So Much for One Damn Meal.  Our friend Trevor Oats did Cold Hearted Town.  They all do amazing jobs.

J: How do you guys promote a DIY ethos? What do you all think the role of DIY should be in music? Is there a correct way to make and do music in your opinion?

RT: DIY is increasingly becoming the only way, due to technological changes in the way the world works and the slow dismantling of the traditional music industry.  Which is a good thing.  There are still idiots who will pay a manager 60% to sell their product to all the indie outlets, but those idiots don't get rich and famous like they used to.  The difference today is that you can tell pretty quickly who's in it for the riches and the fame, and who'd be doing it in a dark hole with an audience of stray cats just because it's a part of who they are...but is there a correct way to do music?  Nah.  There are jerks that make good music and extremely ethical people that make terrible music (see: the folk punk scene), but it's up to the listener to decide who they're gonna pick, how, and why.

J: You guys just recently toured with Ramshackle Glory. How did that go? Were there any highlights on the tour?

RT: It was good!  They are great people.  One of the odd things about their band is that they've reached celebrity status in a scene that has traditionally been anti-celebrity, and I know it drives them crazy.  Hats off to them for handling it in such a poised and graceful manner.

J: What do you guys usually do in the car between stops?

RT: Listen to books on tape.  Check in to see what pop-country radio is churning out.  Occasionally bicker about insignificant things.  You know - typical family vacation stuff.

J: Did you guys have any standout meals or haunts while touring? Any places that you guys seek out?

RT: We always stop at Pismo Beach in California.  There is a good clothing dumpster behind a church in a Laramie, Wyoming.  We found a really cool arcade in Nashville this last tour that has all the machines hooked up to free play!  As for meals, there used to be a place in San Diego that had one dollar subs that were pretty okay.  I think they might have shut down, though.

J: Are there any bands or records that have stood out to you guys so far this year? Even stuff that maybe you heard for the first time this year.

RT: To be honest, I haven't listened to much music lately.  Tour can be music-overload, so it's nice to take a break from it for a little while at home.  But there is a cool band from Providence, Rhode Island called Downtown Boys that I heard this last tour!

J: What all is in the future for the Taxpayers? Anything you guys have laid out?

RT: I don't know.  Probably nothing for a while.  I think everyone is feeling sort of burnt out after being so busy the past few years.  We will probably take a break for a while and then record another album.  Maybe we'll take a loooong break.  Maybe not.  Who knows?

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

RT: Hey weirdos of the world: be nicer to each other!  We're all we've got!

Interview with PJ Sykes of Hoax Hunters

I was lucky enough to be able to go down to Raleigh, NC to not only catch Hopscotch Music Festival, but also help sponsor and play at a day party with Cherub Records and Negative Fun Records called Let Feedback Ring. I was playing as Architeuthis pretty much out of dumb luck since one of the bands had dropped out and so I went on-stage first. We had thirteen bands play a whirlwind of dynamite rock n' roll from the beerbuzz madness of Dripping Slits to the sludge-driven Hog. The band that played after me, however, really blew my mind. They were called Hoax Hunters, a band led by PJ Sykes who is most widely known for his photography.

To coin a cliche and make a really awful pun, Hoax Hunters truly let feedback ring. I mean, there was enough feedback to make all my 90s indie-rock dreams come true. I was grinning ear to ear throughout their set, a really fun mix of anthemic hooks with a recognition of several rock n' roll subgenres.

Afterwards, PJ and I talked a bunch throughout the other eleven sets before splitting. I asked if he'd be hip to an interview and he was kind enough to accept. Generally, at this point of when I write an interview, I'll talk about links and where to hear records, but PJ included these in the interview, so I don't really have to do that.

If you haven't gotten the point yet, though, Hoax Hunters totally rock. This is what PJ had to say when he was explaining them to me.

Jordan: Who all is in Hoax Hunters? Where did you guys start? How did you guys start? Did you know each other for a while?

PJ: Hoax Hunters got started after I took a three year break from playing live music. I was burned out and my photography started to take off so I focused my energy on that endeavor. After a few false starts I mentioned to my friend Tim Falen I needed a new rhythm section. He joined on bass and played the drums on our demo ep. Mutual friends kept telling me to try out James O'Neill on drums. Tim and I had never met so we set up a few "blind date" sessions and things went really well. Over the last year we have all gotten to be friends through playing music. 

J: What is a Hoax Hunter?

PJ: Someone who plays in the band Hoax Hunters. Also, Hoax Hunter(s) is when I play solo without Tim and James. 

J: How would you describe the music that you guys make? Do you have any particular influences that come to mind in terms of bands or sounds?

PJ: I usually just say we are rock band. I love so many different types of music. As I'm answering your questions I'm listening to live Johnny Cash bootlegs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. For this project I would say, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Fugazi, Husker Du, Bob Mould, Superchunk, Foo Fighters, Bluetip, Dinosaur Jr, and The Minutemen. 

J: How does a song get written for you guys? How long does it take to make a song?

PJ: I write most of the songs at home on my acoustic guitar. We then rehearse them and the band puts the on final touches. We also like to try out stuff live before they are really complete. Sometimes I'll just have a really rough idea with some riffs and we will jam on it until something happens. Most songs come together pretty quickly. However one of the songs has been around in pretty much the same form since the late 90s. It never seemed to work until Hoax Hunters. 

J: What all have you guys released so far, both physically and digitally?

PJ: Hoax Hunters - s/t demo EP (digital / download card with buttons) 

http://cherubrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ch021-hoax-hunters-ep

PJ: Hoax Hunters / The Snowy Owls - Record Store Day split 7" (square lathe cut 7" limited to 40 copies / digital)

http://cherubrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ch023-hoax-hunters-snowy-owls-split-2

J: How often do you all play? Do you have any places that you play regularly?

PJ: We play live at least once a month mostly in Richmond, VA. We have played DC, Fredericksburg, VA and Raleigh, NC. Soon we will start playing regionally more often. 

J: Do you guys get to tour ever?

PJ: We plan to do some short 2 or 3 day "tours" but nothing extensive is planned. 

J: When you play a set do you try to get as close to a studio-recorded sound as you play or do you get to let loose a bit more?

PJ: To me they are two different things. I like to play loose live and record more true to the songs. 

J: What all is in the future for Hoax Hunters?

PJ: We are working on a full length album this fall. We plan on releasing a new digital single this year and drop the album early 2014.

J: Do you have any favorite bands or records that have really stuck out to you guys this year?

PJ: As a band we all really dig the band METZ. http://www.subpop.com/artists/metz

J: Do you guys have any other projects that you're working on?

PJ: James plays in The Snowy Owls http://thesnowyowls.com/ now. Tim plays in The Diamond Center http://www.diamondcentermusic.com/ and Hot Dolphin. http://hotdolphin.bandcamp.com/ I photograph bands http://www.pjsykes.com and help run the series Live At Ipanema. http://ipanemaveg.com/lai/

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

PJ: Thanks for the interview! 

Editor's Note: Face it, bad puns are the only puns worth making. Think about it.

Premiere of Alpha Cop's "Low Flags" Music Video

Within the last six months, Negative Fun Records, a joint project between two friends living in New Hampshire and North Carolina respectively, has become more than a little exciting. The label's first releases, the Red Hex "Shoulda Known" single and the Dripping Slits/She Rides split single, are as excellent as they are different. Both have some sort of punk infusion going on; that being said, the split has a clear hard rock or metal influence rather than being straight punk records.

Needless to say, I was not prepared for one of the label's upcoming releases. When I first heard the Alpha Cop/Carton split, I was shocked. The two songs on the record are another example of juxtaposition at its finest. I'm not going to give too much away, but it should appeal to fans of most genres to say the least.

I will talk about Alpha Cop though. Alpha Cop is a band that has its roots wound through the Western United States before it ended up in Raleigh, at least for the time being. Their song "Low Flags" is a blast of virtuosity bolstered by a mastery of sonic progression. It begins with angular guitar strokes tickled by finger picking, a syncopated drum pattern, and a yearning voice before descending into a heavier attack of guitar chords. The song is a suite of sorts composed of four movements. The final movement draws out a crying violin that trails into silence. It's a complete song, but it leaves the listener with an air of questioning. This paired with the lyrics about the fall of a Native American village paint a starkly beautiful picture.

You can check out the new single on the Negative Fun Bandcamp! HERE

The band also created an excellent and equally mysterious music video, which I am more than honored to premiere on my blog. Check it out!

Interview with Kate Eldridge of Big Eyes

I have a huge confession. I had this interview done a while ago and have honestly been slacking a little bit when it comes to posting on my blog. There are reasons for that, but none worth really reporting; plus, you know what happens when you make excuses - you make an ass out of u and me. So, first and foremost, sorry Kate and the rest of Big Eyes for taking so long.

And that's not even the worst part. Kate and I had done a phone interview but I seemingly did not hit the red record button (talk about amateur!) and we lost a great conversation. But Kate was really gracious and helped me out with an e-mail interview that covers a lot of the topics that we originally discussed. I'm really grateful to her for helping me out because I know it was a hassle.

Anyway, Big Eyes are a rock n' roll band that has some of the best vocal melodies I've ever heard. Kate has completely mastered the domination of a song. Her guitar work is impeccable even while the rest of the band sounds confident (and even moreso on their newest record Almost Famous). Where the background leaves off, Kate takes over and creates some absolutely dynamite songs. Between down-to-earth lyricism and a truth-be-told delivery, Kate has it all for a vocalist. Kate is truly a special songwriter that takes honesty to a really intimate level, as her lyrics have gotten even more blatantly poignant throughout her career.

To put it simply, I have never heard a Big Eyes song that I wasn't in love with. Big Eyes do punk and pop and rock n' roll well. It's impressive for such a young band. Then again, the band has released a lot of material in their brief career and toured a staggering amount, including a joint-venture with Mean Jeans last summer and Audacity as well.

This band is going places and I strongly recommend checking out their FACEBOOK and buying their new record on GRAVE MISTAKE

Jordan: Who all is in Big Eyes? How did you guys get started? How did you all know each other?

Kate: My name is Kate Eldridge and I play guitar and sing.  Chris Costalupes plays bass.  Dillan Lazzareschi plays drums.  Big Eyes originally started in NY with a completely different lineup (other than myself).  In late 2009 I recorded a handful of songs on my laptop, I showed the guys I originally had playing with me the songs and we became a live band.  I relocated Big Eyes out here in Seattle in September 2011 with our original drummer, CJ Frederick, but due to health issues he became unable to continue playing with us, and we recruited Dillan.

J: What all have you guys released?

K: Our first 7" came out in early 2010.  We released a 7" single ("Why Can't I" b/w "Your Lies") and an LP ("Hard Life") on Don Giovanni in 2011.  Grave Mistake released our "Back From The Moon" 7" single in 2012.  We have 2 splits, one with Audacity on Volar Records and one with Mean Jeans on Dirtnap Records.  Our new LP "Almost Famous" will be released on May 14th on Don Giovanni.

J: You guys now live in Seattle, but I know you were originally from New York. What has the change been like?

K: It's so much easier to have a band out here!  New York is really expensive.  Our practice space rent is really cheap, van insurance, etc.  It's mellower out here too.  People aren't as high strung.  I don't have to work as much as I did in NY because my house rent is so cheap, so I can spend more time focusing on the band.

J: How has it been being on a label that generally puts out hardcore records when you all play such a different style of music? Clearly it's punk-influenced but there's a lot of pop-sensibility in your songs too.

K: It's been really cool, even though there's some major differences with us and the rest of bands on the label, I think it's a perfect fit.  We have a pretty straight forward vibe, and so does that label.  No frills kind of shit.  

J: What ideas, bands, events would you say influence the songs you write?

K: Most of my songs are about anger, sadness, heartbreak, dark thoughts.  I'm influenced by the people around me and day to day minutia.  I can be a very angry and emotional person, so I try to use Big Eyes as an outlet to vent all those negative thoughts and feelings. 

J: What was the process of touring and making the split 7" with Mean Jeans? That band rocks! Any good stories?

K: Mean Jeans rule.  We immediately hit it off with those dudes when we first met them back in the fall of 2011.  We were both planning on touring down to Awesome Fest in late August 2012 so we decided to save some gas money and all pile in to one van.  The shows were all awesome!  We decided to put out a split together where we covered one of each others songs, cause we are all big fans of each others bands.  Great guys, great times!  

J: How has the recording and songwriting behind your upcoming album been different from the stuff that you all have done before? Would you say your songwriting has matured or you've become more comfortable writing songs?

K: We put more thought and effort into the recording of this record and I think it shows!  It has a much fuller sound than our first LP.  I've been told that this new LP has a "darker" vibe than our earlier stuff.  Lyrics for my songs have gotten so much longer than our first few songs.  There's more complex changes and ideas in the songs as well.  I would say my song writing has been maturing :)

J: Do you guys have any plans to tour after releasing your next album? Any specifics you can talk about?

K: We are heading out on a 4 week tour to the Northeast in late May.  Really excited for this tour!  Some great shows.  We are playing with our buddies/Grave Mistake labelmates Night Birds in Washington DC and Richmond.  Playing with our buddies/Don Giovanni labelmates Shellshag in Brooklyn.  Really looking forward to our Northeastern Canadian shows!  We always have a blast up there.  Hitting a handful of Canadian cities we've never been to on the way home as well (Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary).  This is gonna be a good one.  Official dates will be released soon.

J: What are some bands that you like playing with or that you currently like to listen to?

K: There's some really awesome bands that are around right now!  Audacity, Mean Jeans, Flesh Lights, Criminal Code, Swearin', The Shivas, Guantanamo Baywatch, La Luz, obviously there's more but those are the first ones I could think of.

J: What else do you see as being in the future of Big Eyes?

K: We take whatever comes our way.  Our new LP comes out on May 14th, 2013 on Grave Mistake Records.  We have been getting asked to play some really rad shows lately!  More interviews and write ups.  Things have been getting better and better!  We are going to Europe in October, very excited for that.  We will be working on lots of new songs and we are always keeping ourselves super busy.

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

K: Thanks for interviewing me!  You can check us out at www.bigeyesband.com, on Twitter and Instagram "bigeyesband", and on Bandcamp http://bigeyes.bandcamp.com

Interview with Sickoids

I don't know how many times I have listened to 2012's Sickoids' LP off of Residue Records. I first heard about it in Maximum Rock n Roll about the time that I was moving back to Chicago from Durham. I didn't really know what all was going on in terms of music there, but I did want to keep my interest in hardcore alive and so I would read Maximum Rock n Roll and pick up fliers whenever I saw them, which eventually got me into my first DIY spaces. Needless to say, I missed the Sickoids playing here, but eventually I hope to see them again.

One of the major things I noticed when listening to the Sickoids record along with the lyrics sheet was the maturity and intelligence in their lyrics. I was really blown away actually. There's a lot going on in that record when listening to it - people coming and going in, death, war, and a general unease with life. That and the uncanny ability to throw really great hooks and anthemic choruses on top of a violent amalgamation of irritated guitars and panic-attack drums made the record really stick out to me. I was totally hooked.

They just put out a brand new record released by Sorry State Records and Grave Mistake Records (two of my all-time favorite record labels). It's a six-song twelve inch that can be streamed on the SORRY STATE BANDCAMP and purchased as well from either label. In addition, you can check out the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE or follow the band on their BLOGSPOT

Jordan: Who all is in sickoids? How long have you guys been playing together? How did the band start?

Sickoids: SICKOIDS is Rob (guitar), Vince (drums), and Eric (bass).  Rob and I were in another band together (Witch Hunt), and when it became inactive, we wanted to keep something going.  We began writing songs in 2010, and we acquired Eric towards the end of that year.  We played our first show in March, 2011. 

      

J: What's the name sickoids from?

S: The name was pulled directly from the SUBHUMANS (Canada) song 'Death to the Sickoids.'  We were looking through some of our favorite records - for band name inspiration, of course.  After going through 100s of potential names (even considering some of the hilarious results on the band name generator website), SICKOIDS just made perfect sense.

J: What all have you guys released? What's the history of releases you've done?

S: We released a demo in March 2011, a full length in March 2012, and our next 12" titled 'No Home' is coming out this month (April 2013).

J: What have been some of the bands you've enjoyed playing with?

S: We've been lucky to play with a lot of great bands: NIGHT FEVER, BUKKAKE BOYS, MANIPULATION, CULO, BLOODKROW BUTCHER, RATFACE, NIGHT BIRDS, MUTANT GENES, NEGATIVE DEGREE, PERDITION, BOSTON STRANGLER, TRAUMA, DOUBLE NEGATIVE, STRIPMINES, among many others.

J: Do you have any bands from your home that you particularly like?

S: Philly was our home, but we all recently moved to other cities.  Bands worth checking out from there include: BAD ENERGY, BAD SIDE, THE BROOD, BACKSLIDER.  Apparently the best current Philly bands have names that start with 'B.'

J: On your self titled record on residue, you talk a lot about war and social issues and alienation. How did those come to be so important?

S: The lyrics stem from things going on inside our heads.  So, they're not really limited to one approach or agenda.  Though, they tend to focus more on personal matters, rather than broad political new items.

J: Similarly, how does a song get written? What roles do you have in terms of the songs getting made?

S: One of us will bring a riff or two to the table and the others will add their own parts as they see fit.  Sometimes someone will have the entire song more or less mapped out.  We all have ideas or suggestions for all the instruments, and we're all pretty good about adapting to what works best for the song.  We've developed a really chemistry playing together, so things tend to fall into place quickly and naturally.

J: Your logos on your shirts are really intense from someone hanging to a man with a gun to a child to frank booth. I was surprised by the frank booth since it was so different being separated from things in real life. Where do the designs come from?

S: Even though some of the things going on in the shirt designs might seem random or separated from actual lyrical content, they do convey a mood.  That's something that's crucial to our artwork.  Rather than spell something out blatantly, we prefer to make it a bit more abstract.  When we look for new things to use in the art, we tend to levitate toward that kind of content - whether it be from a magazine or movie or AP photo from the library archives.  In the end, usually some sort of overall (dark) mood comes across.  

J: What is a live show like? How different is that from practicing? Do you have certain things that become staples of a performance?

S: One thing that has always stayed the same with our live sets is not stopping between songs and basically bursting all of our energy into that 15-20 minute block of time.  In that way, we try to make the music speak for the band, and playing as hard as we can is the best thing we know how to do.  

J: What was the process of putting out a 12 inch on residue?

S: We set out on a week-long tour just weeks after playing our first couple shows.  That's not always a good idea, but we felt that there was no point in waiting around.  We all agreed it just had to be done.  We played an awesome show in Chicago (it was probably the best set we had played as a band up to that point), and after the show we were hanging out with Jordan (Residue) and some other friends.  He liked our set and told us he'd be down to do a record for us when the time came.  We were obviously really stoked to hear that and glad that we were dumb enough go on tour after less than a month of being an active band.  As soon as we had enough songs, we recorded them with our friend, Steve Roche (Permanent Hearing Damage, Philly), and Jordan did a great job of making it a tangible thing!  We were all really happy with how it came out.

J: How was that record different than the new one on grave mistake/sorry state? Was the recording process the same? How was it working with those dudes?

S: The process was more or less the same for 'No Home.'  We knew that those guys were down to put it out for us (after talking to Daniel when we were on tour with the first LP - Alex got on board a bit later), and we knew we HAD to record the songs before we all moved out of Philly.  We knocked it out in basically one weekend, just weeks before we packed it up for Oakland, LA, and Richmond.  Again, Steve made it sound great, and the last six months has been getting all the artwork together and ready to print.  Alex and Daniel have really solid taste, and they know their shit when it comes to putting out quality records!  With all of our heads together (and all being in different cities), it took a little bit longer to produce, but we definitely came away with a better package in the end.  We're actually incredibly excited to see the finished product!

J: Do you guys have any other plans in the future?

S: Our only plan after the record coming out is to tour Europe for a little over 3 weeks in June.  The tour is being booked by Flo from Trapdoor Tours, and Chris from Hardware Records has been cool enough to press both of our LPs in Germany for European distribution.  

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

S: Thanks a lot for the interview!!

Interview with Ryan Patterson of Coliseum

I first heard Coliseum on their Parasites EP, which was released in 2011, right at a time when I was getting into harder and darker music. The first thing that really hit me was the powerful bassline, because the intro to the first song, "One Last Night," features a very prominent bassline that reminded me a little bit of the Australian Postpunk band feedtime. But then the guitar and the vocals came in and I knew that I was dealing with something very different.

Coliseum is a band that has mastered pacing in both song and album. It's a band that totally deconstructs the soft-loud-soft dynamic and applies it to any part of a song that seems like it could work. It helps that all three musicians are very good at what they do, being able to make something minimal seem full before an inevitable crescendo that devolves into oh-so-awesome ruckus.

They've put out a bunch of records, from their newest release Parasites, a release that seems to take the idea of a parasite, in terms of living through something else, and apply it to their style of music, including more psychedelic reckoning and variation. Needless to say, I was very impressed once I heard the record. Their older records like Goddamage and House With a Curse seem much more inspired by many subgenres of metal to me than the swirling postpunk of Parasites. Of course, these are blanket statements, and far from the truth that one gets from listening to any full-length record by Coliseum.

Their new album Sister Faith is available on Temporary Residence on April 30

You can check them out on FACEBOOK, their WEBSITE, and get hip to their music on their BANDCAMP.

Jordan: Who all is in coliseum? When did you guys start making music? How did you all know each other?

Ryan: I'm Ryan Patterson, I play guitar and sing. Kayhan Vaziri plays bass and Carter Wilson plays drums. The band formed in late 2003. I met Carter the day he auditioned to be in the band, we had a few mutual friends who put us in touch, and I met Kayhan through Carter, they have been best friends since they were kids. 

J: Your music has a ton of different styles in it. Did you approach making music with the style in mind or did it happen organically? What was the process like?

R: Originally the band started as a fairly straight forward dark, heavy punk/hardcore band, with a fairly specific sound in mind. We wrote and recorded our first album before we'd played a show, so once we started touring and playing full time we pretty quickly added more melodic and discordant elements, more influences from bands on the Dischord, Touch & Go, SST labels and that kind of world, music that was very close to our hearts and in our blood. (Our second release, the Goddamage EP, was heavily influenced by Pegboy, for example.) Over the years it changes with us, it evolves, devolves, ebbs, flows, etc. Each record is a snapshot of who we are at the time we wrote and recorded the songs. Just like a snapshot of a person at different points in their life, each time it will be different in some way.

J: How do you guys end up writing songs? Does someone take most of the duty and the team follow?

R: I generally write most of the material on my own. I demo blueprints of the songs then give them to the other guys to get familiar with at which point they add their take, make their respective parts better and more interesting and we deconstruct and rearrange the songs if we chose, or just leave them as they were originally written if that seems best. Sometimes we develop songs from small ideas at practice, sometimes songs start out one way and end up completely different, sometimes the other guys bring in songs or parts and we develop it from there. On our new album Sister Faith, Carter brought in an entire song he'd written and demoed. We worked on it, then eventually deconstructed it down to the one riff that stuck out the most for me… That song became "Used Blood." Most of the songs start with my ideas, but it really becomes a Coliseum song when we've all collaborated on it.

J: What lyrical themes do you tackle? What do you think the importance of lyrics are in your music?

R: Anything under the sun, anything that's moving me at the moment. Life and death and everything in between. There is no one specific theme or idea behind the band or the lyrics I write. While the perspective is often dark, it's not usually despairing. I couldn't sum all of our ideas up in just a few words, it's best to let the listener read the words and decipher them for themselves. The lyrics are very important, very personal, and very much a part of the band as a whole.

J: Combining the two previous questions - how do you know when a song is done? Is there a certain feeling you get from it?

R: It just feels right. It's really hard to say, generally it seems to wrap itself up in the right way. I couldn't put my finger on it specifically.

J: Tell me a little about the new album. Is there anyone new on it, including band members, labels, or engineers? What has the process been behind that?

R: Sister Faith is our first album with Kayhan playing bass, he contributed some keyboards and baritone guitar to the record as well. It's our third time working with J. Robbins, who produced, recorded and mixed the album, but it's our first time doing an entire full length with him. He mixed House With A Curse and recorded half of the Parasites EP then mixed the other half. It's on Temporary Residence in North America, who we've worked with since House With A Curse in 2010, but is being released by Holy Roar Records in UK/Europe and Daymare Records in Japan and it's our first time working with those two labels. We're very happy with and excited about Sister Faith, personally I feel like it's the record I've been wanting to make my entire life.

J: Do you guys have plans to tour? Any specifics you can talk about?

R: We're touring a lot coming up and I'm sure we'll be touring quite a bit the next few years. We're touring the UK for a week with Narrows in late April/early May, then headlining the Eastern half of North America with some great bands opening including Red Hare and California X, then we're supporting our longtime friends Baroness for a couple of weeks, then headlining in Europe all summer… Probably more after that.

J: What bands do you guys tend to play with? Anyone you run into a lot?

R: We have a lot of great bands that we've toured with a lot and I'd consider part of our close group of friends on this journey; Burning Love, Torche, Baroness, Russian Circles, Young Widows, Converge, Kylesa, Boris, Doomriders, Victims, and many more. It kind of ebbs and flows depending on who is doing what or what world each band is bouncing around in at the time, but those are some of our closest friends and we've had amazing adventures with all of them.

J: What are some of your favorite albums of all time?

R: Off the top of my head: Bad Brains' I Against I, Killing Joke's first album and Night Time, Fugazi In On The Killer Taker and End Hits, Wipers' first three records, pretty much everything John Reis and Rick Froberg, Soul Side's Trigger, everything Swiz, everything Ignition, Crime And The City Solution's Shine and Just South Of Heaven, Wire's Pink Flag, Gang Of Four's Entertainment, Dinosaur Jr's Green Mind, the first two Big Star records, almost everything Dischord, Touch & Go and SST, X's Los Angeles… I could go on and on.

J: Do you think there's a golden era of music? How do you see the method of music making and releasing now as opposed to when you all started?

R: Music is always the best currently, because it's currently happening, it's real, it's right now. I'm as susceptible to nostalgia as anyone else, but ultimately nostalgia is bullshit… I'm all about right now. Even if you like music better from a certain time or place, that time is over and there's beautiful and powerful art being made right this second that needs your support and passion. I love films from the 70s, the "golden age" of American cinema, but it's my duty to support films that move me now, because without the support now there will be no tomorrow. That's how I feel about music. Would I have loved to have been a few years older and experienced DC in the mid to late 80s? Certainly, that would have been fun. But I have those records, I can pull them out whenever I want. But I can't go back in time, no one can. So I move forward, I look at right now and I look at the future. I buy music, I support the artists that I like and sometimes even the ones that I don't necessarily love but that I think are valid and sincere. Music making is essentially the same as when I was a kid… I sit in a  room with a guitar and come up with songs, I go and play them with some other people, we play shows and record those songs. We put them out in a format that someone else can listen to in some way. I've never been a hugely successful musician, at least in terms of popularity or sales, so I can't say that I've seen things change all that much for me personally because I have been most active and most well known since the early to mid 2000s when things were already on the trajectory they're currently on now. I can't lament how things are, I just do my best and move forward. 

J: Anything else you'd like to say?

R: Thanks for the interview!

Interview with Tenement

I first got into Tenement when I read about them in Razorcake a while back, but I didn't get to see them until a few weeks ago at the Not Normal showcase, where Ralph from Not Normal was celebrating the release of his wonderful compilation album "Welcome to 13," a reflection on the world not ending in December of 2012, but continuing on (for better or for worse) at a time when that seemed just about all a body could do. The Not Normal showcase lasted over six hours in two segments that were roughly three hours each. About twelve bands played from the new gruffly aggressive Skrapyard to the frenzied fun-dripping Lumpy and the Dumpers. Tenement, as they later state, was kind of the odd man out, in terms of music style. Tenement plays a sound much more rooted in pop-sensibility.

What amazed me about Tenement's set was that even though the circle pit became less violent, the pogo of the punx simply changed to a different movement. And everyone at Swerp Mansion seemed to know all the lyrics of the songs, which was awesome. People were crowd surfing and moshing in one big conglomerate rather than the free form every man for himself pit I had been used to. It was really cool to see all the hardcore kids get into a band that was so different from the rest of the groups (and there were a lot of bands).

Tenement's album Napalm Dream is a furious blast of rock n' roll mixed with punk rock energy. The first song "Stupid Werld" is an anthemic rager ending with a sing-along chorus crooning "Living in, living, living in a Napalm Dream." For some reason it just makes a lot of sense. When I hear it, I think "yeah, I kind of am living in a napalm dream" (once again - for better or for worse). Tenement is a band that is really fun, first off, but it's a band that I find that people find impossible to dislike.

You can check out their Facebook page HERE, their Tumblr page HERE, and their bandcamp page HERE

Who all is in Tenement? How did you guys start? Did you know each other before starting the band for a while?

Jesse: Right now it's Amos, Eric, and I.  We've had some line up changes over the last 6 years but the core has been Amos and I.  I suspect we've found a stable line up.  We all grew up in Wisconsin. Amos and I went to the same high school in Neenah.  During high school we got into the typical punk/hardcore stuff and went to shows all around Wisconsin.  Around the time I was in my freshman year of college, Amos got ahold of me to play some music. And we've been playing in Tenement ever since.  We picked up Eric after some unfortunate shit happened and we needed a competent like minded drummer.

What was it like starting a band in Appleton, Wisconsin? Are there many bands there that you guys play with or enjoy listening to?

Jesse: We grew up in a small town and that was our scene and we don't really know any better.

Eric: I grew up in Hartford, about an hour south of Appleton. There were no bands except for crappy high school jam bands. There was a ska band called "Straight Edge Crack Whores" from the nineties. 

Amos: Jesse and I spent our adolescence going to crust/hardcore punk shows. And that was really the only kind of "scene" that existed in Appleton at the time. No less, it was really important to us, and what we probably took away from it most was the urgency in the sound and presentation. There was one really great pop group in the Appleton area when we were growing up called Yesterday's Kids. Their LP, "Can't Hear Nothin", is still one of my favorite modern Rock N Roll / Power Pop / Pop-Punk records. Lookout! released it, and to us, that was a mark of prestige, or something. That record is probably the reason why I wasn't ashamed to listen to stuff like The Beatles or Big Star even as I was so infatuated with punk and hardcore. They suffered a premature break up and reformed as The Obsoletes, with more alt. country influence. And they were still great. And as a seventeen year old kid, I spent alot of time sneaking into bars to watch them drunkenly slur through the songs that defined that period of my life and the town I grew up in. 

What all have you guys released? What labels have you been on? How has it been working with the labels or people from them?

Amos: Tenement has two proper LPs and a handful of singles and EPs. "Napalm Dream" was released on vinyl through Mandible Records from Brooklyn, New York. They approached us about releasing it after coming to see us at Death By Audio in 2007. That should give you a good idea of how long that record took to materialize. Hang Up Records from La Crosse, Wisconsin did the CD version which was quite a gamble, considering CDs are so difficult to sell in America right now. He straight up payed for us to record drums for "Napalm Dream", and we're very grateful to have worked with such a generous, honest guy. Cowabunga Records from Chicago did the vinyl for "The Blind Wink", after picking up a copy of the hand dubbed cassette version we were passing around in 2011. We met him in 2010, at a show in Chicago we played with some big shot pop-punk band that will go unnamed. Drugged Conscience, Burger, and Dead Broke have all given our full length records cassette release, and they're all really wonderful people that we've become friends with over the past few years. And I think that's important. You should be able to trust and respect them; whether they're making you millions or not. 

What is the recording process of songs like? Do you guys have specific roles in terms of songwriting and recording?

Jesse: The song writing process is funny. Most of the time Amos writes the bulk of the material, which is then filtered through  the rest of us. I'll do my own bass parts or add/subtract to a suggested one Amos might have in mind.  Then we might record it right away and never play it live, or Amos will just write and record the entire thing by his lonesome. Alternately we may write it then play the hell out of it and through that process change the song in some regard. The recording process for the last LP was that Amos recorded a bunch of demos, and I provided a song that Amos helped with.  We then went through the demos and got them ready for studio treatment if you will. I personally really like writing a song, then playing it a lot live and making those changes and finally recording it.  But I also know Amos has a different outlook on that type of stuff than I do.

Amos: Sometimes a recording will be a really compulsive thing that I undertake by myself, while writing the song. If it ends up with some sort of exciting quality or energy, it might end up on the final record eventually. I'm of the opinion that a song should be dealt with in a way in which suits it, even if it means that some of us play something unusual or don't play at all. Drums are my first instrument and my most natural creative outlet, so I can be rather picky about the drum parts. Which is probably hellish for Eric. 

Eric: It's kinda funny, but everytime I record drums for a song, I learn it the same day. I have not had any creative input toward songwriting so far, but my brain is churning.

What do you guys record on?

Jesse: A little bit of everything really. Refer to Amos.

Amos: Whatever suits the song, or is most available at the moment... be it eight track machine, Pro Tools, or cassette. 

Do you guys record in a studio? Your records sound pretty polished. Would you ever record in a studio if you have not?

Amos: We sometimes record in a studio setting, if it's decided that it will be the proper treatment for whatever we're working on. Napalm Dream was recorded at several studios around Wisconsin by our friend Justin Perkins, who has produced alot of other great records too. He puts his mark on everything he does, and It's a mark I've come to love over the years. It works really well for some of the music we write.

When I saw you guys perform at the Not Normal showcase in Chicago, you played a house show with a bunch of hardcore bands. Is this indicative of a Tenement performance?

Jesse: We'd gotten some practice in and the backlined gear sounded a lot like our own. I think it was a good example of a Tenement set.  However, it lacked a "Moment".  But i'm glad all the hardcore kids got into it. I felt we were the odd band out that night.

Eric: My favorite style of music is hardcore, so getting to play with HC bands all the time is great. It makes us play harder; maybe faster. 

Amos: Out of tune...out of key...RAW POWER. Most of the punx are tone deaf anyway, am I right???

You guys are clearly punk influenced and rock n roll influenced. What or who do you think has impacted or influenced your songs or recordings the most?

Jesse: Early on I think the really obvious stuff stuck out a lot, but at this point we're really influenced by a ton of stuff outside of the punk/HC/pop realm.  We've always been into the visceral power of a live hardcore band and feeling of Black Flag, which has informed the way we play live.  But now 6 years down the line we're all into some wild bullshit music nerd shit, be it skronky free jazz, house, R&B/SOUL, rock, pop, experimental classical, whatever... it all manages to show up some where.  

Amos: Black Flag and The Ramones have been very stationary influences with this band since day one. They probably always will be. Some of the more subtle influences that are no less important right now are folks like Ray Charles and Charles Mingus. Masters in mood. I've been listening to alot of lounge, exotica, third stream jazz, and ballad vocal stylings by the likes of Clyde McPhatter and other soul/jazz singers of the period. Those will all probably have an effect on our next record in some way or another. Some people probably won't like that. It's been a long time since I stopped caring about what everyone else liked. 

What do you think of the punk scene that you guys have encountered so far? I personally think it's alive and vibrant with people who really care. But do you think there's anything missing in it or stuff that your band can do that other bands don't do as much?

Jesse: A lot of punks are ignorant people in some regard.  Punk at times feels like a rigid dogma.  But at the same time it has undefinable qualities that still attract me to it.  This might sound silly, but I think punks in general should develop a stronger understanding of jazz music. It's more like "punk" than one might think.  Obviously this isn't the rule, and most of my friends I've made in my adult life have been through some affiliation with punk. 

Eric: Punk will always be like mold growing. If you remove yourself from the underground, the underground will still always remain. The internet has ruined going to shows in a sense. Instead of having to go to a show to hear what a band sounds like, you can have their whole discography downloaded in a few minutes. There is nothing we can do that other bands can't. Make sacrifices and take chances. 

Amos: The punk scene in America has been very kind to us, and we've got to be grateful for that. However, I feel like alot of folks involved with DIY punk have really self righteous attitudes and morals, and the social cliques at alot of punk shows have made them feel no different than the halls of a high school, or any other facet of normal society.

What have been some of your best experiences playing live? How do you judge a successful live show?

Jesse: The best times are when we have a moment... where something unique and unscripted takes shape.  Sometimes it's when an audience expresses their distaste for us. Like when we played with screeching weasel and some people didn't like some noise. As long as we leave an impression on someone, good or bad.

What is in the future for Tenement? More live shows and records? Any specifics?

Jesse: More music.

Anything else you guys would like to say?

Eric: Listen to Uh Oh (WI), White Wash (Canada), and Lumpy and the Dumpers (MO).