FAMINE part 2

Following on from my mildly successful chat with Robbie i thought id follow up with Famine's other axe man/driver/grunge icon Mr.Lee.I got to know Lee from when he was playing in Dublin hardcore legends Barntown Water Tastes Like Blood.Their myspace has definitely gone to shit for obvious reasons and why the fuck they are telling you to check out Lindsay Slowhand is fucking beyond me.They must have been high.
I toured with Barntown/FF so i would like to think i know these guys a bit.I definitely know Lee is a stand up dude and i appreciate the time he took to answer my dumb questions.
GO!

What brought you to hardcore and what keeps you here?

I only really started listening to hardcore properly back in like 2005/2006. Nelly asked me to start a hardcore band with him and that’s how I first met Iano. I guess that was my first introduction to the hardcore scene.

There’s so many things about it though that keep me here. Playing shows and getting to tour have to be the main things. Because of this band I’ve gotten to go see tonnes of mad shit in Europe and play some great shows along the way. The people are incredible too. I’ve met such great people through hardcore and 90% of the friends I’ve got have been made at shows.

The music’s ok too :-p.



When you started what was your goal for Forging Friendships?

I don’t think we had any big plans. Robbie, Cruise and Iano just wanted to get a band together and I was lucky enough to be asked. At first we just wanted to write and record some songs and get to playing shows. Like any band, I guess. But I don’t think we had any more foresight than that at the time.


The first show you guys played was in your house and it was killer. What do you remember about it?

Praying that my kitchen ceiling didn’t cave in. That and being way too drunk. Oh yeah, I also remember you, Lee Brown and Robb were wearing the same Only Fumes and Corpses shirt, haha. Such a good night though. I love house shows.
Fucked floor.Too much mosh.


Did your family ever know there was a party?

Oh yeah, I told them all about it. Nothing broke - except for my sitting room floor, but I was able to fix that - so they were grand.


I am told you’re responsible for writing the parts that are perfect for circle pitting to. I owe you a handshake and a beer.

Haha, really? I never really noticed but I’ll try write more just for you.


Famine tour a lot. What do you notice in the difference between shows at home and on the mainland?

I think shows in Ireland and the on the mainland are kind of similar. You see bigger attendances on the mainland but that’s obviously a lot to do with the fact that Ireland is a small and somewhat isolated country. I think the mentality and atmosphere at shows though is fairly similar on the whole. Touring bands are treated really well on the mainland, which I think is true of Ireland too. There’s definitely a big difference though between how bands are treated there as opposed to in the UK. There are a lot of solid promoters in the UK but there have also been many times we’ve played there and left with no payment, food or a place to stay afterwards. I’m pretty sure that’s never happened to us on the mainland, which is really cool.



Also what differences do you notice in hardcore in general between the two?

There’s a lot more dedicated venues and shows in youth centres, squats and art spaces on the mainland which I think is really cool. Shows are almost always in bars in Ireland which sucks because of age restrictions and the difficulty and cost involved in setting up all ages shows. We’ve got the Exchange now, which does all ages gigs, but we really need more places like it that are run for young people and whose primary concern isn‘t to make money from alcohol.


When you started to play the songs off ERLBH I noticed such a difference in your playing. I dunno it seemed more technical. I could be wrong, i have little or no knowledge music wise like that. Did you feel you had more scope to play around with the new songs you were writing?


Yeah, I think that by the time we came to start writing for an album we had become more confident in our writing and had started to develop more of our own style. Also, Jonathan had just joined the band. The first song we wrote for the album was at our first practice with him so I’d say his drumming sort of helped us to push the band in a slightly different direction. We also wanted to try some new things. Doing a full length, you can throw in stuff that you wouldn’t on a 3 or 4 song demo so that gave us the freedom to experiment a bit I guess. I’ve always preferred bands who have the ability to somewhat change their style from release to release and I think that’s what we try to do. Even the new stuff we’ve written since the album sounds fairly different, I think.


The Famine jet crashes in the Andes. Which member do you eat first?

One of the dead ones.


Ok lets do this. Your favourite...

band from the 80s:
Metallica.

band from the 90s:
Nirvana.

band from the 2000s era. I refuse to say noughties:
Me too. Modern Life Is War.

current band:
It’s hard to say because it changes so much but at the moment I’d say Bitter End or maybe Rise and Fall.

reunion show you would kill to attend:
First Death.

Lol.Record you'd kill to own:*cough*Mine would be a Famine test press*cough*
*cough*An In Time test press*cough*
HA!Me too dude.Me too.

Ok I kept you long enough. Any thanks you want to send out?

All the DHC bands, all the people who give us shows and put us up at home or abroad and you of course.
Thanks Lee dude.

THAT photo.

Soundtrack to this entry:
Infest-slave lp
The Vinny Club-behave remix
Where Fear And Weapons Meet-the weapon
Useless ID-discography
Carry On-a life less plagued
Iron Age-constant struggle

Part 3 coming soon but in the meantime
Listen to Famine and buy their shit.

Hardcore Archaeologist

This is probably my favourite blog that i read.Each entry is fairly random but there are themes/subjects that run through some entries.I like the way its just images for the most part.
Check it out HERE

Part 2 of the Famine very soon.

Modern Bullshit

FAMINE part 1

With the release of Famine's new 7" on the horizon-ish i thought i'd devote some entries to a band close to my heart who also happen to be good friends of mine.
I also realized through Robbie that the day he sent me back the answers was exactly three years after they played their first show.This wasn't intended but its definitely awesome.

The first part of this deal is with Robbie fucking Kirwan.When he's not dancing like a prick he's shredding hard and will be doing so at a venue near you very fucking soon.
Take it away Ken doll crotch.

How long have you guys been around?
We played our first show in Lee's house on the 24th of March 2007. It's the 24th of March 2010 now. Creepy. I guess we started practicing in December/January.

Was this your first band?
Yeah, this is my first band. I'd messed around with a few others but nothing ever came of them.
First show.Crucial guitar and probably the most crucial shirt ever

I remember your first show being awesome...and breaking Lee's sitting room floor. What do you remember about it?
Yeah, that was great. I remember Iano dedicating Saved by the bell to Zach and I had no idea who he was. So glad that he turned out to be the best guy. And Cruise falling over was pretty memorable.
First show 24/03/2007

Famine have a ridiculous amount of circle pit parts.Who is responsible for them?i want to shake their hand.
Lee definitely wrote all those parts. I've never even seen anyone but you and Poland circle pit at our shows though.

What are you stoked on music wise right now?
Blacklisted. Cornered from Netherlands. Fire & Ice. I'm still pissed that Rhythm to the Madness called it a day. I'm most looking forward to the new Bitter End LP as well. Locally, I'm looking forward to the Crowd Control LP, the Frustration and the Blind splits and hearing Iano's new band.

Tell All Your Friends or The Devil and God?
Has to be Tell All You Friends. But not by much...

Who would you most like to do a split with and on how many colours would it be on?Think of me.
Blacklisted. There would be 3 colours. 200 black. 200 yellow. 100 splatter. Obviously I'd keep a test press for you.

Awh :)
Ok Gavin in Donnycarney wants to know why he hasn't seen you set it off since First Death played in Bradford in 2007?
Haha, I don't remember setting it off. Bradford was good though. This new ankle problem is causing me some difficulty so I think it will be a few years before I set it off again.

He also wants to know Is pissing in a sink better than pissing in a toilet?
When there is 5 drunk girls trying to get in to the only toilet in Mcdonalds, which doesn't have a lock by the way, pissing in the sink while holding the door shut is the only way to do it.

Demo with art by Ciarán Parnell.Available only on their first UK tour.

What will it take to get you guys to press the FF demo to vinyl?Even if i finace it?
The guys were talking about doing a demo discog tape for tour so you'd never know.

Any final words/shout outs?
Looking forward to the Ironclad show. myspace.com/ironcladhc
Shameless is the best TV show.
Fuck work and fuck my ankle.
Love you, Chris.
Peace out.

Listen to shit
Buy shit

To be continued....

Soundtrack for this entry:
Charlotte Hatherley-grey will fade
Insted-the bonds of friendship
Times Together-the changing of the leaves
Famine-every road leads back here

off i go

now this is convenience




action shot fail

there is a light that never goes out.And its nice to come home to.
As per usual i listened to Atari for most of this ride.What can i say?I just love them that much and they are perfect to cycle to as well as skate to.They are my ultimate jam.
I also listened to Charlotte Hatherleys solo record on this ride.Her songs are too good.

And as expected when this song came on i was singing at the top of my voice.
I love you Shaz xoxo

Soldiers Take Half Release Show

Be at this show.

I'm sick of doing nothing so far today so im going skating or maybe a cycle.
The possibilities are endless.

xwantx

For Andrew

My brother recently had a baby with his wife.I am beyond stoked for him.
I know he'll make the best father ever cause he was the best brother ever.
Brett Barto from Atari sang this song out to his brother at a show back in '97.
I could never right words that express my idolising of him so i am just posting
the lyrics.

Tomorrow,i'll think of what we said
and remember us right here.
So full of life this day,so full of hopes and dreams.
And if we reach the end too soon before our time
i promise i'll remember and dream again sometime.
All the other kids could never see just what you've
done for me.

You've kept me up with one strong arm when all
my strength was gone.
i won't forget,i won't turn away
waht i've recieved i can't repay.
Because of you im here today,
I',m here today because of you.
Tomorrow,the lessons that i've learned
i'll try to pass them on.
And keep alive your memory for the others
when you're gone.
Because someday when you leave the new faces
will appear
And i owe it to you to tell them of a friend
i held so dear.


If you want to hear Atari click here
This song appeared on the Rebirth of hardcore put out by Supersoul recordings and
you can check that out here

Everything

I asked my friend Mitch to write up something about Undertow for my blog.
I did it so i could also get an education about this band as well as to spread it to other people.
Mitch is THE authority on all things 'Tow and his collection will verify that.
He also runs the Undertow fan page on myspace which you can view here.Any questions please send them here.Take it away Mitch.

Seattle and the Pacific Northwest region of the US and Canada is known today for putting out some of the best hardcore of the last decade. From now defunct bands such as Seattle's Champion and Go It Alone of Van-City, to current ragers Get the Most and Not Sorry, the NW has been producing some of the best jams since the early late 80's/early 90's. However, the scene that is now recognized as being one of the today's best was once small and nearly non-existent. In late '88, a group of kids heavily influenced by local acts like Brotherhood, Inside Out and Youth of Today started jamming. In a city with a small and dying scene, these kids formed a band which would drastically change throughout the years, but carry on the remaining life of the straight edge and NW hardcore in general.

The band, which they named Refuse, was comprised of Joel DeGraff (vocals), Mark Holcomb (guitar), Josh (Bass) and Ryan Murphy (drums). Refuse recorded an eight song demo, printed up some XL shirts, and played some shows around the Seattle area. Shortly after, the bassist broke edge and was kicked out of the band. He was replaced by John Pettibone, another local edgeman. At this point, the band changed their name to Undertow and recorded a 4 song demo in the fall of 1990. Seth Lindstrom was added as a second guitar, and the band recorded two more songs which appeared on a split with Resolution (ex-Brotherhood). Those tracks also comprised the elusive and little known "Edge of Quarrel EP", a vinyl mispressing of the Resolution split (limited to 110 copies, Overkill Records).
Mitchs shirt collection

Due to disagreements within the band, Joel eventually peaced out and John moved over to vocals. James Stern stepped in on bass, and the band recorded two songs for a split with San Diego's Struggle on Bloodlink records.

1992 brought "Stalemate", a five song demo which was originally slated to come out as a 7" on Overkill Records. The demo was eventually pressed on vinyl by Dave Larson's Seattle based Excursion records. Songs on the demo, such as "Stalemate" and "cutting Away" (which was originally written and recorded while Joel was on vocals, but rerecorded with John for this release), became staples of Undertow's live sets and sign along favorites. Seth and James left the band, and Demian Johnson filled in on bass. The lineup signaled the end of the revolving door of band members, and Undertow was set in stone. In 1993, the band completed and released "At Both Ends LP", the only full length record the band released, and often times looked at as the pinnacle of the band's existence. The albums covered subjects including love and loss, homophobia and religion. Though these topics were present in much of the metallic hardcore in the early-mid '90s, few were able to convey them in the raw and emotional way Undertow did. Though Undertow was a straight edge band, the traditional edge themes were barely present in their lyrics on any of their releases, including this LP.

By 1995, the band had slowed down a considerable amount. The new wave of violence in the Seattle hardcore scene disheartened the guys, and members had moved on to other projects. Undertow released the "Control EP" on Overkill records, which was their final release as an active band. The band broke up in '95, but reunited shortly afterwards to play a European tour with Ignite and a final show in Seattle. Undertow reunited for one night in December of '97, headlining a show with Seattle’s Murder City Devils, and local newcomers, Botch. Indecision Records put out a four song self-titled 7" in 1999, and released a comprehensive 28 song discography, which contained every song the band recorded with John on vocals.

Upon the 2009 release of Brian Peterson's "Burning Fight", a book containing discussion and interviews about the '90s hardcore scene and the bands within it, book release shows were announced. The first show would take place in Chicago, and the other in California. Undertow was booked for the Cali show (along with Unbroken, Swing Kids, Threadbare and Portraits of Past). They also played a surprise set the night before the show at the Che Cafe in San Diego. The band played a final reunion show in their home town of Seattle in October of '09 with Unbroken, Strain, Converge, and a couple other local/touring bands. According to words spoken at the show by members of the band, this is the end of Undertow and there are no plans for another reunion.


Here is Mitch's epic Undertow vinyl collection.You will need to click this to make it bigger.

He also trades tapes and all footage he gets he uploads to youtube.Linkage
Undertow 07/10/1994 New Jersey
Undertow 07/14/1994 New Jersey
Undertow 04/02/1995 Corona,California

Going cycling at night is actually one of the best feelings.I didn't have a clear plan or route i was going to take i just ...went.The fact that i could just pretty much cycle in the middle of the road for most of the time was awesome but it led me to just keep going random ways.At one point i could see the spire so i had to backtrack a bit.
I saw more foxes than people on this ride.They were awesome.
I'm stoked to go again.
near enough start time
and temperature
shakey hands
pisshead


There were two dudes asleep in a van just to my left here.I only noticed when i was leaving.Good times.

Turn it around

A friend of mine recently posted up a picture of his Comeback Kid collection and i thought i'd ask him a few questions about it and CBK in general.Rune,BUST!

You have an awesomely impressive CBK collection,what was the first piece you got and where did you pick it up?

My first piece of CBK vinyl... they more or less got me into hardcore, so.... I'm not old enough to have YoT or Minor Threat as my first encounter - unfortunately. I got my first CBK vinyl at a local record store about 4 or 5 years ago. My friend had just sold parts of his collection (he was the dude who introduced to CBK and to hardcore) at this store, and about a week later I saw Turn It Around in that store on red vinyl priced at 100dkr ($20). I knew it was my mates record - I snagged it right away, haha!

What attracted to you CBK in the first place?

As mentioned before, CBK - Turn It Around was the first real hardcore record I listened to (well, and 7 Seconds - The Crew) I thought it was so hard and straight forward and I just loved their former vocalist on that record (Andrew who sings now is solid as well). Still today, I see Turn It Around as one of the best hardcore releases within the past 10 years - if not the best. It's flawless. COmeback Kid wasn't as visible a youth crew band as other really bands like Champion or The First Step. None the less I constantly find myself mentioning Promises Kept, What We Know and Turn It Around as the best youth crew hardcore albums since the millenium.. it might be wrong though!

Did you have a few pieces and say 'fuck!now i have to finish this'?

Actually when I decided I needed to finish this collection I had recently bought a couple of the really expensive stuff (Turn It Aroudn test press and Friends press) from Matthew Jordan (imissversealready) and that's when I realised: hell yeah, I can this shit together! Now it gets further between I get a piece for the collection, well only missing 3 records it gets a little hard. Matthew actually had one of the the 3 missing records, but I wasn't quick enough back then!
Besides that, I had serious doubt whether or not to actually finish the collection, because I didn't know if I wanted to include the Victory releases. They weren't as collectible as the debut (which is insanely collectible), and it was hard to enjoy Wake The Dead and Broadcasting on the same level, given they do not reach the potential of Turn It Around, which is a masterpiece. The other two are good as well, but not in comparison. On a final note, I had trouble collecting anything from Victory because I had read so much about the owner of Victory being such a douche, haha :)

Best CBK song?

Die Tonight.
It's just such a powerful song. Scott's vocal is so angry and intense. CBK did a tremendous job with their song structure on that album. It's just hardcore where you need nothing else, and Die Tonight captivates all this perfectly. I could have gone for other songs on that album, and on a different day, I probably would...

Do you collect shirts as awell?

Given that a lot of CBK shirts are ugly as hell, no. I have never actually understood the concept of collecting shirts.... I've seen people pay $50+ for a worn out Insted or Chain Of Strength shirt... I really don't get that. It's cool to collect anything, but collecting shirts doesn't do anything for me. I could probably pay more for a shirt I really wanted if I knew that print was hard to come by, but not for collectible purposes.

Broadcasting was a bit shit.Discuss.

Broadcasting was... different.... Broadcasting was Victory-infected. I agree that it's the least succesful album they've released, but I wouldn't say it's shit. CBK wanted to try out new things and I'm sure a bunch of people will say that Broadcasting is their best work. It's just hard to get that over your lips when Turn It Around was the first thing I listened to. Broadcasting has it's good moments, but in my opinion they went too far out on something they couldn't contribute to. They started doing something that musically required more avant garde-thinking in my opinion. Also their sound changed too much when they signed with Victory and their music changed in a typical Victory-way... Maybe they didn't have as much freedom, I don't know...they probably did... When Wake The Dead (CBK's first release on Victory) came out, I almost feared that the next release would go even further in the Victory-way... They need to get off that label and signed on to B9 or something like that.... Of course the sound of their two previous released aren't all because of Victory...

We're on a road trip,which five cds are we going to playing?
comps are allowed.

Resolve - Won't Stand By
True Colors - Rush Of Hope
Turning Point - Discography 2LP (because we have a portable record player!)
No For An Answer - You Laugh EP
Four Walls Falling - Culture Shock

None of these records need any elaboraton, right?

Not at all.I can definitely get behind that selection.Especially Resolve.

No Comeback Kid because I can't mention any band I've listened to as much as CBK, so I have to make room for other things on this trip. Turn It Around would be an obvious choice though.

Where are we going to on this road trip?Keep in mind we've never met and i could be intolerable.

Well, setting aside that we actually are going on a trip soon you and I, I'll pick a new destination! I think I'll assume that you're a pain, so I'll probably bring you to a place where there's other people. H20 is playing my city next month, so we're gonna attend that and then head up to xmalthex in sweden where we'll hang near a lake by a pineapple-forest - OG SWEDISH STYLE!

Best show you've been to in the last six months?

Broken Distance/Pressure/Critical Point/Balance/Hårda Tider @ Hemgården, Lund in Sweden
The swedish kids are cool to be among... (especielly when their locals are playing)

What bands are local to you that people should be checking out?

That's a good question. Denmark has a dreadful hardcore scene to say the least. But if we can make our piece with it not being a sxe band ;) then I'd definitely advise people to check out this band from Copenhagen called Night Fever that's more or less the only decent hardcore band in Denmark.

How stoked are you to be rooming with me in SF?

Stoked as hell buddy!

A final note: please notice how Mental - History 101 sounds like Comeback Kid - Lorelei :D or the other way around...

Lorelei Gilmore,I FUCKING LOVE YOU!
Thanks for answering my questions duder.I owe you a pepsi.