BILLY CLUB SANDWICH

If you're into NYHC, you gotta know this band. BCS has been around for years, dropping some new music every couple of years and never disappointing, playing a great mix of NYHC, hard moshing and fun. I saw them play a home match in the Pyramid NY last year, and believe me, show was off the hook.
Right before they came to Europe for their latest tour, I had a little talk with BCS:

- For those who don't know Billy Club Sandwich, introduce the band. Who are you? Where are you from? Since when have you been around? What do you stand for?
Glen: BCS is Martin on vocals, Tony Malone on guitar, Gary Muttley on Bass, and Glen on drums. We are all from in and around NYC. Currently, Gary and Martin are in the Bronx, Glen is in Harlem and Tony is in Westchester. The band started in late 1990 but we didn’t play our first show until May of 1996. More bands should take their time before they come out! Don’t embarrass yourselves! Haha What do we stand for? I guess, drinking, smoking, eating, playing hard music and having a good time…We’re not really a political band. We have some songs that are political but we don’t have a set agenda about anything you know? We just write about different shit that we see around us. We try to keep it light and fun. Music is a form of entertainment and there for should be entertaining, too many bands are just straight serious. What’s the fun in that?? This band’s music is hard but we still want to have a good time and we try to keep the shows more like a party. That’s why we kept such a crazy name: Billy Club Sandwich, it goes with all of that, it’s a hard name but it should still make you laugh.- BCS will release a new album, tell me what can we expect from it?Glen: The new cd "The Usual Suspects" just came out in the beginning of October on Dead City Records in the US and Rucktion Records in England. And it’s gonna be distro’d in Japan by Juke Boxxx Records. You can expect more of the same BCS craziness! New York Hardcore with a touch of Metal. There are some big sing-a-longs in these new songs. Really catchy shit. The production is dope! The layout is hysterical!! Our boy, Jimmy Dreadz, hooked up some crazy photoshop work for us and the cover is a cartoon of us by M40 that looks so much like us it’s just crazy! There are less samples on this record but there are some of the familiar BCS "extras" including an outro beat.

- What's up with the Charlie Brown shirt? Where does that come from?
Martin: Well I’ve seen a lot of shows over the years… I’ve seen great bands, but you know… smoking… drinking… I try to remember but it’s tough. So I decided to go with the Charlie Brown shirt… You may not remember the name of the band but you will remember a big brown Dominican wearing a Charlie Brown shirt!!!

- Something which I always thought to be really crazy, is the piano on "D.E.A" on the "…Hold The Bolgna" 7". What's the story behind that?

Glen: Well, first off, you have to understand that BCS has never had much money to record with. That’s why it’s usually taken us 3-4 years to put each release out!! Our demo, 7" and the split 7" we did with EGH, were all done at NYU when I was going to school there. They were all done as class projects for the classes I was taking=they were free. We didn’t pay for a recording until the "Superheroes At Leisure" CD. So, a class requirement when we were doing the 7" was that one of my classmates had to play on a recording so he could grade how I acted as an engineer. I was sitting there thinking, "This is a Hardcore recording! Who can I have play on this record? And play what?" No one in my class knew anything about this kind of music (of course- this was 1997). I started talking to kids and this one dude who played piano wanted me to play drums on his project. So in return I was like, "Okay, but then you gotta play piano on my project." He agreed and then I had to think where to try it! "D.E.A." with the funk parts and all the other crazy breaks just seemed like the best choice. I wish I had put the piano louder in the mix because it IS crazy but I didn’t know which way to go with it and we had limited time to mix it. But we’ve always been down to try different things, you know, add some production to certain songs, take things beyond "just Hardcore". "D.E.A." also had hand drums on it and we’ve always liked putting 808’s (Rap style kick drums) in songs (the new cd has plenty!) Actually on the 7" we didn’t have access to 808’s yet so I tried to fake them by playing big hand drums and recording just the low end! Some people give us shit for having samples, 808’s and everything but too many people in this scene are so closed-minded now, it’s pretty sad. This music was based on breaking the mold and doing your own thing but for at least 15 years now it’s like 98% of the bands out there just do the same, "safe" thing. And I guess, people from outside of NYC have a different view of Rap music, and since so many bands have already done such a terrible job of mixing Rap and Metal/HC that people just hate it, but you have to understand that Rap music came from NYC. We all grew up hearing it everywhere our entire lives! It didn’t "find" it’s way to us in the late 80’s/early 90’s like the rest of the world. We knew about it almost from the jump. Remember that two of the guys in this band are from the Bronx. The cradle of Hip Hop, so it HAS to effect our music. Wow, that was a great question! I’ve never been asked about that before! Thanks…

- You're coming back to Europe. What did you think of the previous shows, stoked to get back here?

Glen: Oh man, we had a great time in 2004! And had always wanted to go back but it’s the same for us as always, no money… We barely scrapped enough together to do THIS tour coming up. The shows were fun in ’04, we didn’t have any problems. We are starting in Paris on Oct. 16th. This time we are playing 9 shows in Europe. 8 of them with Onesta from France. And 4 of those shows are with Backfire also so I expect those to be really good! They are good friends of mine too so I know what a bunch of fucking maniacs they are!! It’s gonna get real messy with these two bands together in Holland! Haha And we are finishing up the tour headlining the "Running Riot Fest" (formerly "Ninjafest") in London on Saturday, Oct. 25th. When we played at the Underworld in 2004, it was our best show of the tour so we are hoping that people haven’t forgotten about us after all these years but with Rucktion putting out the new cd LBU and the rest of the peeps there should be ready for us!!

- You have songs in both English and Spanish, which works out really well, but it isn't done by too many bands. Why do you do this?

Glen: Well, Martin is Dominican and Puerto Rican, but growing up the Bronx, he speaks both languages and like I said, we always wanted to try to do something different so that was one instant way to do something very few bands were doing. Once again some people talk shit about it and we have run into some racial problems over the years because of it but what are you gonna do? Better to try and be different and stand out then just be "another band". It also works because some phrases just come out better in Spanish than in English. Also, you have to realize that while NYC has every kind of person living in it, it has A LOT of Hispanics- haha, so Spanish is all around us. The rest of BCS doesn’t speak much Spanish but you can’t help but pick up some words living around here. NYC is so bi-lingual that almost everyone calls a delicatessen a "bodega", you know, a small convenience store on the corner. In fact, that’s the title of the opening track on the new album, "Bodega". The song is about going to the store to buy some beer, condoms, or whatever it is you happen to need. That song has the most Spanish out of all of the new songs. A couple of the new songs are only in English but the mix is still there.

Check out the band:

http://www.myspace.com/billyclubsandwich

http://www.myspace.com/billyclubsandwich

http://www.myspace.com/billyclubsandwich

Backtrack NYHC

Yo, here's a band from New York called BACKTRACK. Coming from NY and naming your band after one of the best NYHC songs ever, you can figure out what to expect. These guys are around since the beginning of 2008 an already gained a lot of experience by sharing the stage with bands like Sick Of It All, SubZero, Merauder, Cro-Mags, Death Threat, Madball...
Here's a talk with them about the band, NYHC, Long Island and more. Check it out and support these guys.

- What's up with the band 'Backtrack'?
Backtrack is a new hardcore band from Long Island New York. I'm James and I sing. Ricky the rager and Chris play guitar, John plays drums and Nick plays bass. We all live on different parts of Long Island. Some of us live close to the city, some of us live in the sticks. The NYHC scene is strong right now, so were siked to be a part of it. There are a lot of awesome bands on Long Island and in the city area, new zines are coming out of NY which is something that was missing, a lot of people are booking shows. I'm real stoked on the core in ny right now.

- How did you guys in the band all meet each other?

Ricky: Well me and our drummer John play in another band together, called The Fad. I've played in a band with our bass player Nick in a band before, called Black History. I met James through mutual friends and our other guitar player Chris has been friends with James for a long time. Originally the band was Me, John, one of my best friends Brian, and James because me and John were jamming and Brian and James wanted to start a band too so we just combined and then it eventually evolved into this lineup.

- You’re still a young band, since when are you around, and what did you record already?

Ricky: I'd say we started somewhere around January 2008 give or take. Since then we've recorded a 5 song demo. We've also been demoing out some tracks for and EP 7" we plan on putting out Early 2009.

- What can we expect for the planned 7"?
Ricky: I'm more than stoked about how the new songs are coming out. I'd say the songs are heavier but still have a lot of elements from the demo. We'll be announcing what label it's coming out on soon. Besides that Flatspot Records is putting out our Demo 7".

- Let's talk about music. You clearly play NYHC, but how would you describe your style yourself, and which bands do you see as an influence?

James: We all love NYHC but it would be hard to list bands that are a common influence. It's hard enough for us to all agree on a cover, but so far we have covered Warzone, Outburst and Life of Agony. I'd say our major influences are Madball, Warzone, Breakdown, Cro-Mags, Killing Time, Leeway, Outburst... mostly NYHC from the late 80s and early 90s. That's my list I'm sure it will be different if you ask every member of the band. Soundwise I guess you could say the same, well that's what we’re going for at least. We all just wanted to start a hardcore band on Long Island that was influenced by the bands we love.

- The Killing Time influence is already clear from the name. Next to Backtrack being one of the hardest HC songs ever, why did you pick that name?

James: We got the name backtrack from the Killing Time song. That song means a lot to me, its hands down my favorite hardcore song. One step forward, one step forward, one step forward, two steps back..that line sums up my life for the past two years. There’s been a couple of consistent problems that have been setting me back in the past couple of years, I felt that the name fitted our band. I'm caught in the void between anger and depression.

- Do your lyrics reflect these feelings?

James: Yea the lyrics on the demo reflect those feelings. I'd say that will come out more on the 7''.

- Though, you’re a young band, you seem to be playing all the hot shows in NY. Shows with SOIA, Merauder, Death Threat, SubZero, Madball, EGH, Cro Mags, Murphy’s Law. It’s a big audience you reach there. Who’s pushing you on all these shows?

Ricky: We've had a lot of help with getting on some pretty sweet shows. Cousin Joe from BlackNBlue Productions has been hooking us up a lot and it's been awesome of him to help out a newer band like us. Wes from Death Threat has also helped us out, along with our dawg Ronie and Steve Huey from Long Island.

- You say the NYHC scene is strong. But I gotta say I have a mixed feeling about it. When I was at the Superbowl, the place was indeed packed, but the next day it was SubZero, Maximum Penalty, BCS and others playing in the Pyramid, and there was like max 100 people. I mean, that's a crazy show. And I heard from some other NY heads, that NYHC is still pretty much dead. What's up with that?
James: I wasn't at the Pyramid show, but I was at the Superbowl. The Superbowl of hardcore speaks for itself, NYHC is not dead. There are a lot of factors as to why the pyramid show didn’t do well.-It wasn't all ages... this discourages a lot of younger kids from coming out. Even kids who are of age might not go because they know the shows is going to attract an older crowd which can be weird for a younger kid. I personally hate shows that aren't all ages... I'll still go but I can see why people would avoid them.- It was the day after the Superbowl, a lot of people can't get off work for two days in a row. If you could pick between seeing Breakdown, Madball, AF and a bunch of other sick bands or seeing the line up at the Pyramid what show would you pick? I know both line ups were awesome, but some people were faced with a dilemma. The hardcore reality is... NY is fucking expensive. A lot of people have to work 6 days a week just to pay bills. To take off for two days to go to shows is hard to do if you live in NY. That show is not a good show to judge NYHC by. We're playing with Death Threat and Merauder on Saturday, that will be a solid NYHC show. I'm siked... NYHC is still on top.

- Long Island, where is that, is it still NY City?
Long Island is not NY City. It boarders Queens. Some parts of Long Island are pretty close to the city, but Long Island's kinda big so some of us live pretty far from the city. I can get to Manhattan in like an hour if I'm driving fast. In the end, Long Island hardcore is New York hardcore. I've read people say on the internet "Backtrack isn't NYHC, they’re from Long Island" but Long Island is part of New York. Long Island has a different scene than NYC but still, we must be united as one. So to anyone who says LIHC isn't NYHC..suck it!

- Long Island hardcore, that's NEGLECT. Tell me did you ever singalong FUCK LIFE and got Brian's blood on you on one of their shows?

Yo neglect rules but I’ve never seen them play. I’m 20 years old... Neglect is straight up 90's shit. They have played a bunch of reunions on Long Island but I never went to any of them. I've definitely moshed in my room to Neglect before, and that’s a fact. Our bassist is actually second cousins with Derek the guitarist of Neglect, that’s pretty sweet. Brian from Neglect comes in to my job once in a while. Every time he's wearing the same Neglect shirt and he looks super pissed.

- Yo tell me. How does Brian look like these days. Is he still into hardcore, and does he still cut himself? And where do you work that this guy passes by?

James: Brian looks like an average dude... with a "Fuck Life" head tattoo. He always wears a Neglect shirt when he comes in to my job... so I would assume he's still in to hardcore. I don’t know if he still cuts himself, I haven’t gotten that close to him. I see the dude like once a month so I can't comment on what he does in general. I don’t picture him teaching 5th graders (due to the fact that he has a head tattoo that says fuck life) but I'm sure he has a job and a normal life. I work at a pizza shop as a delivery driver that’s where I see him. I always think about trying to talk to him but I don’t really know how I’d be able to do that without sounding like a dork/fearing for my life.

- Next to Neglect there also was VOD. Any other great bands worth mentioning?

VOD was awesome, they actually just played a Long Island show a couple of weeks ago. We were on tour but I heard it was wild. There’s a ton of awesome older bands from Long Island. Silent Majority is my favorite Long Island hardcore band, ever. Other bands worth checking out are Mind Over Matter, Kill Your Idols, Crumbsuckers, Milhouse. That’s mostly the 90's shit I’m in to. In the early 2000's there was a bunch of awesome bands Strongpoint, Gabriel, Subterfuge, The Back Up Plan, The Heist (scraps and heart attacks) but most of them didn't get much exposure out of New York.

- And what about present Long Island bands?

Present LIHC is awesome. Two nights ago we played a show with Crime in Stereo/Capital/Agent/Fake Problems and there were probably 300 kids there. Shit was wild, best show I’ve been to in a long time. There’s a lot of young kids siked on the core, a lot of awesome bands. For the past couple of years Long Island had melodic hardcore on lock with bands like Agent, Capital, Crime in Stereo, Thieves and Assassins. I love all those bands but until recently there wasn't a lot of heavy hardcore bands out which bummed me out. In the last year we've had bands start up like Incendiary, Short End, Curtains, Days, Point Counterpoint, Wolverine... a bunch of awesome bands. Different styles, all good shit. I couldn't be more siked on Long Island right now. Long island just needs a youth crew band. Soon.

- The NYHC style is very popular at the moment. A lot of non NY bands playing it like, Bitter End, Trapped Under Ice, Iron Boots (rip), Mongoloids, No Turning Back...

Do you like what these bands are doing, any other bands we need to check out playing this NY-style?James: The NYHC style has been popular for as long as I can remember. But it seems like right now bands are more in to the 90's style of NYHC. A couple of years ago it seemed that bands were more influenced by 80's NYHC like Underdog, Warzone, Leeway, Outburst. All those bands you mentioned are awesome and I'm really into what they're doing. At the same time those bands are doing they're own thing, so it’s cool. Other bands to check out... Bad Seed and Brick. Bad Seed is from Wilkes-Barre they sound like Merauder, hard as shit. Brick's from Baltimore and they have a mix of NYHC and Clevo style, it's tight. Both bands are awesome and they're only gonna get better. Short End is another band from NY playing the NYHC style… they don’t have a demo yet but when it comes out its gonna be huge.

- We mentioned Killing Time earlier, who will release a new album. Are you siked?

James: New Killing Time record could be awesome. Brightside is in my top 3 favorite records of all time. I have mixed feelings about the method. I'll definitely check it out. I just hope Underdog doesn't put out a new record.

- The Underdog reunion tour was top notch. And there has been some gossip about a new record. Why don't you wanna see it come out? If there is a band in which I’m confident they'll make a decent reunion album, it's Underdog.

James: I've seen Underdog at least 5 times since they started playing again in 05 and every time has been incredible. Underdog does not have one bad song and it would be devastating if they put out a new record and it sucked. I'm not saying they couldn't pull it off, but it's a serious gamble doing a new record. I'd rather just have them stick to the classics.

- Let's talke some more about NY, what's the best NYHC show you've been to?

James: Best NYHC show was probably "the last matinee" at CB's. Underdog/Killing Time/Bulldoze/Icepick/BCS. The show was packed. It was Underdog's first reunion(since the 90's), Killing Time ruled. Bulldoze was sketchy. Icepick covered Sheer Terror. It was an awesome show. Another show that was up there was the Superbowl 06… The line up was much better but I went to that show straight from the hospital pretty much. I was in a sling and i couldn’t move around at all so it kinda sucked. The show was sick tho.

- Any NYHC show you really wished you were but weren't?

A recent NYHC show I wish I was at was Outburst/Merauder/Dynamo/Backlash at CB's in 06. Outburst put out one of my favorite 7''s ever. I was on tour at the time so I couldn't make the show. I was pretty bummed but the show on tour that day was sick, so it's all good. There’s a thousand older NYHC shows I wish I was at. A bunch of old Long Island shows I wish I was at too. I've seen flyers for sick shows that were in the town I was born in. It's devastating to see a flyer for a show with The Crumbsuckers and Breakdown playing in the town I was living in at the time, when at the time of the show I was probably learning how to walk or learning how to count. Shitty

- Next to the upcoming 7", what's the plan with the band? What can we expect?

Ricky: Basically what we plan to do is play out as much as possible. Maybe a split 7" down the line. We're defintely going to keep busy.

- Any last words, shout outs you wanna do?

Ricky: Shoutouts to all our friends from long island and all over ny for that matter, all the awesome bands and people we met and played with this last tour, brick, bad seed, crown of kings, blacknblue productions, che flatspot, the agent, incendiary, and everyone who i forgot.

Check out the band

http://www.myspace.com/backtrackny

NJ Bloodline

Excuse me scumbag? I'm gonna keep it short here because NJ Bloodline doesn't need an introduction and Wreak has a lot of things to say! Make sure you show up Saturday 13 on their Belgian show to party hard on the dancefloor, because that's what these scumbags wanna see!

NJ Bloodline is coming back to Europe. Are you looking forward to it?
We always look forward to playing anytime and anywhere. Only thing we can ever expect is to see and play with some old friends, as well as just have a great time no matter what happens. We're easy, all we need is somewhere to plug into and a room to play in, we'll be fine with that.

What is the current status of the band? Are you officialy back together?
Yes, NJBL's back together and we have been at least since last year as opposed to just reunions every so often. It's a little difficult to plan stuff as often as we'd like being that all of us work, Ian's in school, and Joey's in either CA or FL most of the year. We really don't even play locally at all anymore that often. As you may have noticed our last shows were in Puerto Rico, then before that maybe a month and a half prior to that. For the next few months Eric from E-town Concrete is actually going to be filling in for us just to play around NY and NJ.We do have some new material in the works, but that's all a matter of how busy Frank, Ian, or myself is.

So it's fair to say NJBL is taking it easy at the moment?
Exactly, couldn't put it better myself.

Must be a good feeling after all the hard work in the past to be able to pick out shows you really want to play?
Well if it was up to us we'd be playing 2 sets about an hour and a half long each. The shows that mean the most to the kids are the ones we have to do.

How and when did you decide to get back together?
We tried a few times and it was a pile of arguments between me and Frank. Both of us were in Homicidal at the time too.Well about two years ago when E-town Concrete decided to end their run we were asked. Frank and I had already been talking once again and made plans to get NJBL moving once more.


So was NJBL something you missed doing? How does it feel to be back in the game now?
NJBL is my baby, I'm the only original member so... - this is what keeps me alive. I just regret not being able to spend every living moment in a metal box with my best friends every day. You would have to come on a tour with us to understand.

Do you remember the previous European tours / show?
I remember everything well, US shows as well. We have fun with every second regardless. As far as Europe well let me just leave no comment on that one.

Let's get back to the beginning. When and how and with who was NJ Bloodline formed?
January 1992 I introduced some friends that played instruments. I went along to hang out and watch, then ended up singing the few cover songs they were doing which was primarily stuff by Cro-Mags, Leeway, Killing Time, Breakdown, and Warzone. We realized there was a connection and we would definitely be a band. Within the following month we finished off our first three songs (sorry folks but if you write a song in 10 minutes, it's probably not going to be very good). The songs were something different that the stuff out at the time. We had a lot of straight up punk/thrash/hardcore, but also a lot of blues with some rap, reggae, southern rock -influences. The stuff was different, and it stuck out more than what we were hearing from other local or national groups. By Sept we had six songs plus a designated cover song, "New Release" by Killing Time. That was Jim Marela on Guitar, Mario (Guitar) and Tony Simoes (drums), then me on vocals. Our friend Joel from the classic NJHC band "The Human Offense" filled in for us on bass for the first two shows, the first being Friday November 13th 1992 with Biohazard, Dog Eat Dog, and Enrage at Studio One in Newark, NJ, and we were only going by the name Bloodline. Our second show was with Bad Brains on Dec. 3rd, 1992, and by that point we started hearing about other bands with the same name. I got news of a hardcore band from Minneapolis named Bloodline, so we became NJ Bloodline. The name stuck out like a sore thumb, kind of like our music, so we defined the name and it defined us too. By our third show we added J-Crime on Bass and we were complete.

In the early days, did it take NJ Bloodline a lot of time and effort before getting recognised?
In general, how were these early shows? Well just imagine our first show being in 1992, and playing with Biohazard, the show would be packed regardless who was on stage at the time. We did get a great response at our first show, and by the second show we got people moving. It progressed well, and actually by our third show there had been enough of a buzz (and also enough people talking shit...) going around North Jersey about NJBL so naturally that set turned out to be insane. We established ourselves as a "party hard dancefloor band" by the end of that show and over the next few months.

How was the NJ scene in the beginning of the nineties? I guess everyone immediately thinks about New York when it's about this period.
Well, NYHC was really strong at this point. Being from North Jersey though, we were all pretty much part of the NYC scene, and many of the shows happened near us. I grew up 10 minutes from CBGB's but still on the NJ side. I and alot of my friends were closer to CB's than alot of kids from NYC. Of course just saying you were from Jersey, many times you didn't get the attention that a band claiming NYC did. I personally didn't care, none of us did, we all just played when and wherever we could.NJ started getting really strong in like 91-92. The shows went to being packed for a national/headlining act with a couple locals, to packed by just locals. Everyone came out too, metalheads, skins, punks, skaters, etc. The bands were really a wide spectrum too. All of the bands had the NJ-thing about them, but also something distinct about them too. It was a good time to be a teenager.It's funny because I was talking to Mike the Gook last night (from Cold as Life, Sworn Enemy, Agents of Man, and now Vehement Serenade, we had a little party for him) at a death metal show (oh and one thing you all need to know about North Jersey as well as Brooklyn, death metal and hardcore bands played together constantly and shit was cool!), and he expressed one thing he loves about this area is how you don't see really metal heads and hardcore kids at the same shows anymore except here, nor do you see them dance the way they do here.


Which are your favourite NJ bands? I know bands like E-Town Concrete, NJ Bloodline, Floorpunch and Fury of Five for instance all were from NJ, but did they have any affiliation with eachother?
Well everyone knows each other pretty much. As far as E-town (E-town actually stands for Elizabeth, NJ our/my home town), I've known those kids forever and they actually played their first set on NJBL's equipment. Also Eric from E-town Concrete is married to our guitar player's (Frank's) sister. Fury are all pretty much good friends of ours as well. I live near those guys actually now since I moved to the Jersey shore. I first met Stickman ( AKA Ismean) in I think 1990 when he had a band called Locked Up In Life. The era when we were all around and the "NJ tough-guy style" or whatever was in full bloom, we were all pretty much always hanging out together. It was Fury, 2nd to None, E-town, NJBL, and Fat Nuts -always hanging out together. Good times...

How did Locked Up In Life sound like? Who else was in that band, and did they record anything?
I believe Mike Terror was also in Locked up in Life. Fury actually covered one of the LUIL songs called "Megablast to Hell". Stickman also had another band called Position of Power. The only thing either of those bands released was demo tapes.
Both bands were really heavy and dancy. I call it "stompy", others may refer to it as "beatdown". It's definitely more high energy than what you would call "beatdown".

New Jersey bands have a certain hip hop flavour to them, take ETC, 2nd To None and NJBL. What's up with that?
Just a bunch of ghetto rats, nothing more anyone can say.

Between the first demo (1993) and the next recording were 5 years. What exactly happened in this period?
For starters 2 lineup changes... After about 2 years since the start Jim and Jay left, each to sort out their own problems. Joey (my best friend) joined on bass and pretty much started teaching himself the instrument from that point. Tony played drums for maybe another few months then left due to a new job. We recruited an old friend named Ray Chojnowski (R.I.P. my brother) to play drums. The new rhythm section spawned songs that were more along the lines of "shake your ass" type material. It wasn't funk, it was good dancy beats delivered heavily as fuck. One common factor of NJBL was soul, any member of the band had to have it. Joey met Frank after another year passed and we were on hiatus. They got together with Ray and then called me after two jam sessions because they felt that we were about to take off and start something new. They had written a piece and wanted me to set lyrics down (that's actually the song Blackout #2 on the "Faceless" LP). Frank that fucking dick (hahahaha), pulled me aside to talk after maybe the third time we jammed as a four piece without Mario still (mind you I was stoned and not ready for this at all!). He asked me what our intentions were being the three of us had already been in NJBL. I told him we were trying to do something new. He replies with, "I like that band, I thought I was joining NJ Bloodine". I'll never forgive him for it, nor will I ever stop thanking him for it at the same time. Ray and Mario worked together at the time and began arguing at work, so Ray left. Ian had just left Fat Nuts, and I was asked to sing for Fat Nuts at the same time (Seth was both singer and drummer Fat Nuts, so it was either get a drummer he could work with or a singer that would entertain). While we got Ian into learning the old material, we really weren't playing, so it made sense me being in Fat Nuts. Well with Ian being added to the band, there was the "Be Afraid" lineup. This lineup had the same soul, but with a lot more high level violent energy. The stuff they were writing was intense and it got me going. I found the raw screaming power and added it to my style. The first show with the new lineup was chaos. People that had seen NJBL before expected 1993. They got not only that but the five faced demon we turned into. We went a year just gigging and finding and tweaking the exact new sound before the infamous "Red Tape" aka "Be Afraid" was finally released. The next couple years changed us all, and Mario eventually left about 9 months after "Be Afraid" came out.

Almost all the NJBL stuff was released on vinyl. Of course in the 90's it was still the standard, but the Faceless album is available in vinyl version too. Do you prefer vinyl to cd?
Vinyl is always something collectable. Chris Rykers knew Frank, Joey, and I would love to have Faceless on vinyl because we're old farts. It was necessary to put out a 7 inch for us just to have, and also to just release something that had 666 limited copies. Also the fact that people approached us and said they wanted to release vinyl for us, and it wasn't out of our pocket. The entirity of "Be Afraid" was never available on vinyl, nor was the "93 demo". Vinyl to me was always something collectable only. It was really a pain in the ass dubbing it onto tape. The standard for me was always cassette (through the 80's and 90's) because you can't carry a record player on the train or on your skateboard. Not to mention the cd player in my car skips every so often when riding over a speed bump, imagine a fucking turntable in your center console. When we released the cassette version of "Be Afraid", it was meant to be the last great "tape". I wanted it mastered and laid out like a late 80's major label release on cassette, and I specifically wanted it to be a clear red tape like Iron Maiden's "Stranger in a Strange Land" cassingle/7 inch. If you take a listen to the cd version of "Be Afraid" it actually sounds like shit in comparison because it was specifically mastered for cassette, The moron who mastered it for cd when RPP released it didn't read any of the instructions we sent, and the guy who did the layout ignored our instructions and the specs we sent him as well. WE EVEN SENT HIM THE LAYOUT SPECS IN METRIC!!! That pissed Frank off more than any of us because he's the one who went to art school and the one who did the artwork. So to sum it up we're into how our releases look and sound. It should be a total experience when you get a new cd (maybe because I'm a stoner and do bong hits while listening to music in my apartment all alone, reading the lyrics, and peeping the artwork).Vinyl's always the collectable memoribilia thing, but really not that important to me. I personally am all about the presentation of the entire package. Isn't that what you're actually paying for?


NJ Bloodline was / is a big band and has a thick following, but always stayed 'underground'. I mean you never got like Madball or Terror. What do you think of this?
Well, we ran into too many obstacles when the actual opportunity to make a serious run at doing NJBL for an actual living. The reason for that I think as well is that even though we had already been around for a substantial amount of time, a lot of kids were just starting to catch up with what our older material was all about. What amazes me is even while we were broken up and up to as recent as maybe a week ago, I've read e-mails from people just finding out about NJBL now. They say it's good to hear some fresh new shit that's hard as nails, or just say shit that implies they think we're a new band. It'd be great to break large and have the opportunity to do this full time. Who wouldn't want that? That's why I get a little angry when people hate on bands that have blown up or that are currently blowing up. I'm content though just as long as whoever gets into us really feels that shit!Over time it may actually happen where our stuff becomes cult status and we get to that point in popularity. I just hope if it ever happens, we're not too deteriorated from years of playing shows and partying to fully take advantage of it.

Next to the musical variation another element which is, to me, typical to NJ Bloodline is humor, how do you see this?
If you never laugh, you never live. Sarcasm makes for great lyrics and has always been part of some of my favorite songs. Old hardcore bands I still love to this day like D.R.I., the Beastie Boys, the Dead Kenedys, and Murphy's Law all have plenty of funny stuff in their lyrics and liner notes. I actually think the abrasive styled humor people find in my lyrics is misunderstood most of the time, but whatever.To sum it up, we still do this because it's fun. The guys with guitar/bass/drums play what's fun to play, I can only say what's fun to say. We switch back and forth from angry to happy, then stick profound in there -a lot of times in our set. It feels good to say things the right way for each particular song. I tend to say it with shoot to kill-type comedy where noone and nothing is safe.As for the skits in between, just have to take the jokes a little further than the song sometimes or add one where it just totally doesn't belong but somehow make it work also.

There was time when you did the Kiss style make up. When and why did you do that?
Not Kiss, John Wayne Gacy the killer clown...
I did the JWG paint for a halloween show and people started digging the idea, so war paint became a little treat for the kids.
There were times I ran out of either white, black, or red paint and so I couldn't do the clown paint, so I just threw together some quick war paint here and there. Other times I'd slice my forehead open like a wrestler, I've also spit fake blood on the crowd (or bite the inside of my mouth and spit real blood too).
One show the fake blood mist wasn't mixing right so I worked on it in the back by adding some vodka, cinnamon, and orange juice, then spit that on the crowd. I let it go right into a bouncer's eyes one time, then he was all stung and blinded for a few seconds. It was kind of like the mist you see Japanese wrestlers use in matches.
I like the funny last minute theatrics like wrestling themes, war paint, costumes, weapons, etc...
I don't go too crazy with it, but there've been times we did do it and it got messy.
Some people still have the costume samurai swords I bought before our last show in 2001 before we broke up back then. I'll tell you what. That shit was violent. I had my friend throw out swords to the crowd and from nowhere was blood, lots of blood!
"Nick did we buy fake blood capsules?"
"No. Why?"
"Oh shit, people got cut already! Hahahahahahaha!!!"
"Fuck it, just keep singing!"

Next to NJ Bloodline you've also been in a lot of other bands such as Homicidal, Hoods, Fat Nuts and now Hell Brigade. How were those experiences?
Fat Nuts was just mad fun. I was helping some friends and getting in shape. Fat Nuts had a purpose according to Seth. I knew NJBL would be doing something monumental soon too. Fat Nuts charged me up I always got energized singing that stuff. Hoods and NJBL became friends right away. The bands were almost identical in regards to the members' personalities. We all got along, and we all still do. I first joined Hoods in 2001 when Benito went to prison and after NJBL played our last show. I was thinking it was just a fill in but ended up staying and eventually moving to CA for a little while. I couldn't handle living in CA though. One thing to just live on the road and see friends and family when home. Then there's live on the road with no family when you get home. It took its toll and I had to come back to NJ. I also joined them again in 2006 and helped record "Ghettoblaster". Once again it was just too difficult being that my life is here in NJ. I had so much fun with Hoods and always do whether singing or just watching. Who knows, you may even see it happen again. When Homicidal started it was a little something featuring members of One4One, Bulldoze, and NJBL. The original lineup was Frank (NJBL), on guitar, Mike the Bull (Bulldoze), Brian the Kid (SubZero), Seth (One4One), and myself on vocals. We were basically trying to do "North Jersey the right way" once again. Everybody was sick of the way that current stuff mostly sucks nowadays. Once the name Homicidal was chosen, the mission statement of that band was just more important that the band or any of the members in it. Frank and I were arguing at the time, and I decided to leave Homicidal, plus ask my friend Brian (McG) to sing. I started jamming with Tomoki (of EGH and Dyingrace) and Hell Brigade started coming together.I personally liked Hell Brigade the most because it was more something to my personal tastes and liking. It was straight up thrash punk with plenty of driving hardcore grooves. On top of the 4 song ep there are still about 9-10 unreleased Hell Brigade songs we finished up. If we ever get the chance I'd like to finally record the stuff and lay it to rest.


Being in NJBL and some other bands, for such a long time, what do you consider as the hardest part of it?
The only hard part for me is being away from home, I think that goes pretty much for the other guys in NJBL as well. To be more specific, I personally just always wish we could bring more of our friends with us whenever we go on tour for a few days. Another thing is you can only find "Taylor Ham" (aka Pork Roll) in NJ! The biggest gripe about touring especially about NJBL, we all like to cook and eat together. You seldom get to do that when on tour, but when we do get the chance we cook and eat like a band, the same way we play music as a band. Let's say Joey and I are making breakfast, Ian does the dishes. If Frank makes breakfast, Ian does the dishes. If we have one of our friends with us doing merch and they cook breakfast, Ian does the dishes. I'm not even joking, Ian always does the dishes.

Do you still remember how you got in to hardcore, and the first shows you went to?
I was always into punk even when I was young, and eventually got into thrash so I was always into hardcore music just I never knew there was an actual name for it. I was all about heavy stuff like Celtic Frost and Venom too. I was never into power or glam metal (it was garbage then and still is today) like most people my age were. Face it, that shit was awful and Motley Crue blows.Being a kid and not really knowing the difference there were just two classifications which were the bands that were corny and bands that were good. The bands that stuck out the most when I discovered them were the Misfits, Bad Brains, Dead Kenedys, D.R.I., (First Album-) Exodus, Cro Mags, etc...I started going to shows around 12 years old. First to local shows, then I'd venture into NYC or down the Jersey shore. My home was the bricks though. My friends and I were usually at the clubs in Newark like Studio One (R.I.P.) and The Pipeline (R.I.P.). There was also Connections in Clifton (good riddance) which I hated going to (mainly because it smelled like cat piss and my allergies always bothered me in that place, but they had some great shows there. Then there was the Cricket Club, which was in probably the worst area of all, right down the block from Chris Bulldoze's house in Irvington.By that time I was deeply into the music and certain bands made it impossible to stay home. I loved walking into shows and having the sense of fear hanging over the entire place. It wasn't fear of getting beat up, it was fear of the place just erupting into chaos and getting trampled or just watching someone pull off an impressive move then getting clobbered in my amazement.

Which were the best hardcore shows you've seen?
Leeway, Suicidal Tendencies, Kurbjaw @ City Gardens in Trenton, NJ. I think 94Biohazard and Wrecking Crew at Studio one in Newark. 1992 or 93 not sureAlive and Well festival in Asbury Park either 96 or 97Leeway, Mucky Pup at the Cricket Club in 91Cro-Mags reunion where MCA got up and played bass when they covered Right Brigade hmmmmm-95-96Last August -Bad Brains in the parking lot of the Fastlanes in Asbury ParkToo many to try to remember right now.

Being in the hc scene for such a long time now, do think that a lot has changed? And would this change be for the better or for the worse then?
What I said about that pure element of fear when walking into shows in that last response, is missing nowadays. Now the kids fear not fitting in, or fear not being assimilated. Everyone looks the same. The people on the floor all do the same shitty moves without any regard for rhythm. I remember the crowd being a mix of skins, punks, metalheads, skaters, and just people that didn't fit in a specific category years ago. A lot of the bands nowadays sound the same and most of them suck. I liked how bands really didn't sound very similar when I first started going to shows. Every group I'd actually take time to go check out had something distinct about them. Sorry, but I'm being dead honest here. Also I just pretty much go to death metal or goregrind shows. Funny but those are the bands that are interesting to me now, and those are also the bands sound more like good heavy thrashing dancy hardcore, while "hardcore scene" bands just sound like bad and severely abridged metal. I mean don't get me wrong, there are still alot of bands that are putting out well written hardcore with a serious fire. Hoods always does that well, Homicidal is coming on strong, Billyclub Sandwich is amazing, The Ice (Germany), NTB (no matter what style they do they do it well), Lose None (BRUTAL!!!). Just have to look a little more these days. There are more bands now, that's great. There's more kids and bigger crowds now, that's amazing. I just think that musicians who are trying to put out inspirational hc music need to try a little harder. HC heads were always "picky" I think that should be one thing that remains.

So I guess you ain't the biggest fan of what is called 'metalcore' nowadays?
I like brutal hybrid metal hardcore, but screamo tight pants dyed black haired flay C chord crap is the enemy. There is already a Hatebreed and already a Converge. Also, there are a lot of bands that do metalcore the right way and the rough way, that should be getting more attention. Metalcore is a natural progression that just has too many people thinking it's easier than it should be. Too much of it is redundant and lazy sounding. Also too many singers are concentrating on how they say things, not what they're actually saying. That's a big thing about hardcore in general, the lyrics are the voice of more than just the vocalist.

Hardcore speaking, are there still some bands you think we should check out?
Oh yeah, Lager (NJ), Everyday Dollars (NYC), Jerk City (featuring Danny from Shattered Realm), Suffer the Living (NJ). I mentioned a few before as well. Like I also stated before, just have to look around for those bands that move you.

You've been in Europe, and played shows here. How did you like it? I'm sure you know a couple of good European hardcore bands. What do you think of European hardcore and the scene here in general?
The European scenes are pretty cool. I myself would prefer to hear more European bands' lyrics in their own language(s) though. That would sound and just all in all be more something authentic. Aren't we describing the experiences of our lives in lyrical format? Come real, use your own slang. I know that English is a common factor when crossing regional borders, so everyone just speaks English anyway, but I'd like to actually go in depth and read something in the pure form from the mind of the lyricist.
I love St. Hood (Finland), they're fucking HARD as nails. Punishable Act are just classic Berlin hardcore with a distinct style. Kickback is definitely in the top rung also. No Turning Back, as I may have said before are just great with whatever approach they come with. Black Friday 29 are good classic style. I could go on forever too.

Something completely else now, how did you actually get the nickname 'Wreak Havoc'?
My name's actually "Enrique", and since 6th grade people have shortenend it and called me "Rique", then eventually it was shortenend furthermore to "Riq". I can't even come close to remembering exactly when it started to stick but just once the first NJBL recordings were done, it was final.What some of my close friends say that "Wreak Havoc" is almost like an articulate well spoken Mr. Hyde or the Hulk, while "Rique" is still a nut just a little more passive and polite. At the reunion show in 2006, I remember going outside for some air about 10 minutes before our set, and hearing people say, "He's going to go transform right now, watch when he gets back!".


Thanks for the interview! If you got anything left to say, go ahead.
Let me shout out Waking the Cadaver (they're fucking sick!). Thanks to everyone we've met and will meet. Anyone who's bought, downloaded, or stolen any of our cd's or 7"s. See you all in Sept hopefully.

Check out the band yourself:

www.myspace.com/njbloodline
www.njbloodline.com

Everyday Dollars

I don't even remember anymore how I got my hands on the Bumps, Bruises and Ballantine demo, but I do know I like that shit from the beginning. When the 7" got out, I ordered a bunch of them to sell to some friends (most of them were forgotten on a train), and now the first album by this New York band is out. Knowing that these guys are all in their mid thirties and have been involved in hardcore since a really long time, you just know they have a lot to say. Here's an interview with Sean.

Who is Everyday Dollars, who is in the band, when did you get together?

Everyday Dollars is me Sean Money on guitar, Rob Daly vocals and Rich O'Brien on drums, Take plays bass and Tomoki plays guitar. Me, Rob and Rich got together in the fall of 2003, with Sean O'Brien on bass and started playing the style of hardcore punk that we all grew up listening to early Agnostic Front, Warzone, Cro-Mags, Side By Side. We recorded the Bumps, Bruises and Ballantine demo in our practice spot and in Robs apartment and started selling it in 2004. We also recorded a Necros cover that didn't make it onto the demo but it did make it onto the 7inch that came out on A389 Records in 2004.

What does the name Everyday Dollars stand for?

Everyday Dollars doesn't stand for anything in particular, it can have several meanings though. Rob actually came up with the name, and I thought it was cool and kinda different.

Though the music is not that original, it sounds fresh and intense. What is the sound you wanna have?

I want our stuff to sound raw like the original Warzone 7inch "Lower East Side Crew." or Agnostic Front's "Victim In Pain". Although we did spend some money in a nice studio my favorite track on the cd is "YouthFight" Live at CBGB's. Also because I have so many fond memories of CBGB's. That was the ultimate club for hardcore shows. Every show that I ever went to at CBGB's was a memorable show.I've seen all my favorite bands there. I really miss that place.

You must really miss that place? Was it an honour to play there?

Yes I really miss CBGB's. That place was an institution, it was home. It definately holds a special place in my heart. The sound in that place was better than any place I've ever been that featured punk and hardcore bands. There will never be another CBGBs ever. I have been going to CB's off and on for over twenty years. It was an absolute honor to play CBGB's. To walk on that stage and know that just about every one of my favorite bands had played on the same stage was a great feeling.

Which were the best shows you've seen yourself at CBGB's?

I can't pinpoint one particular show that was better than others, but some of my favorites were 7 Seconds, Token Entry, Pagan Babies in the summer of 87, as well as YOT, GB's, and Side by Side that same year. The numerous Cro-Mags shows over the years, Agnostic Front was always special at CB's, of course Warzone, Underdog, Super Touch, Maximum Penalty, Krakdown, Sheer Terror, Murphy's Law, The Icemen, Raw Deal, Killing Time, Leeway, Breakdown, Dmize, Madball, all the benefit shows over the years were special, Absolution, I can go on and on. The Bad Brains. The Bad Brains were fucking dope at CB's. Like I said before there will never be another CBGB's period. At any point you could walk into a CB's matinee and see a bunch of old heads, newer kids, just a fuckin dope mix of hardcore history.

So how old are you guys? In which bands have you been before?

We are all in our mid to late 30's. Take and Tomoki were in Hell Brigade, Tomoki was also in Homicidal, Richie is in Darkside NYC, Rob was in The uprise, and me (Sean$) and Rob were in Brickhouse.

What's the goal with this band?

The band wasn't really started with any real goals in mind, we just wanted to have fun and write the kind of music that we grew up on. Me and Rob hadn't played in a hardcore band since Brickhouse broke up in 1991. We actually recorded a Brickhouse song ("No More Favors") on Before the Supply... As long as its keeps being fun we'll keep playing and recording. We are not about following any trends and we aren't trying to do anything that hasn't been done before. It would be cool to maybe tour Europe or Japan.

NOW IT'S TIME is a great song, and the Warzone reference matches perfect. What's this song about?

I've enclosed the lyrics for Now It's Time. Rob and Raybeez were good friends when Rob was in the Uprise, around '87, and they stayed tight over the years. He, like all of us, were very upset when Ray died and I think Rob just wanted to give some props to him and he actually sampled him on our cd. We played a Raybeez tribute show in this passed year to honor Ray, he died in 1997 and a lot of the bands who played were younger bands who didn't know Ray but were influenced by him and it was cool cause Rob actually was boys with him and Rob shared his memories of Raybeez before almost every song.

NOW IT'S TIME

Now it's time

I've got a powder keg here

And the while I've just been sittin in gear

And all I hear is

"Always keep the faith"

Now it's time

I've got nothin

and all the while you know there's somthin'

and all I know is go-go -go -go!

Two black eyes, but I'm still believing

Beaten down, but I'm never leaving

Now's the time--as good as any time

I've got-- two black eyes, but I'm still believing

Beaten down--- I'm never leaving

Now's the time--as good as any time

Now it's time

I've got a powder keg

And the while I've just been sittin'

And all I hear is

"I can't take it no more, I'm buggin out"

Now it's time

And I've got one more to go

and the while -just another show

and all I know is go-go -go -go!

Two black eyes, but I'm still believing

Beaten down, but I'm never leaving

Now's the time--as good as any time

I've got-- two black eyes, but I'm still believing

Beaten down--- I'm never leaving

Now's the time--as good as any time

Days, into weeks, into months, into years

It keeps goin, and, goin and, goin and goin, and goin--HEY

Drip to a trickle to a stream to a flood

It keeps flowin, and flowin, and flowin, and flowin, and flowin

What's up with the label Satan Wears Suspenders.

Satan Wears Suspenders is a label out of Brooklyn and the brainchild of our drummer Rich O'Brien. We decided to go with Satan Wears Suspenders because it allowed us the freedom to do what ever the fuck we wanted with the music and the artwork. Also we knew that every cd would be accounted for and we weren't gonna get fucked. Satan Wears Suspenders has an impressive list of releases planned including Darkside NYC, The Uprise discography, Devils for Islam black metal from Yemen, the Confusion discography, and the next Everyday Dollars release, "The Age of Demand". We are currently writing new music for that new cd. You check Satan Wears Suspenders at www.myspace.com/SatanWearsSuspenders

Tell me about Brickhouse

Brickhouse formed in 1989, it was me Sean$ (vocals), Rob Daly (drums), Dan McGinnis (guitar), Chokes (guitar), Sauce (vocals) and Tweets (bass). Rob was in The Uprise and Dan was in The Pagan Babies, and me (Sean$), Sauce and Tweets roadied for the Pagan Babies. We got cool with The Uprise guys because Pagan Babies played with the Uprise a bunch of times, and played City Gardens a bunch also, and that was The Uprise's home base and The Uprise played Club Pizzaz a bunch and that was our home base in Philly. We were all boys and Brickhouse was all about having fun and hanging out. We played a handful of shows, it was a real tough time for hardcore because violence was everywhere, there were hardly any shows in Philly and NYC was just crazy violent too. There were just nowhere to play. We recorded a demo and a seven inch that came out on Street Level Records, I think there were like 500 of them, not sure. Everyday Dollars actually covered a Brickhouse song on "Before the Supply..." called No More Favors. We played with Killing Time, Jaw Box and some other bands that I can't remember.

Ok, we're going back in time, but who and what were the Pagan Babies?

Pagan Babies were a hardcore band out of Philly that were around between 86 and 89. They were and still are good friends of mine. They had a seven inch record that came out on Positive Force Records and a full length that came out on Hawker Records. They had a solid following when they were around and they toured across the country in the summer of 1988. I roadied and sold merch for them. They played with all the bands that were around at that time, Raw Deal, YOT, 7 Seconds, Uniform Choice, The Exploited, Token entry, Gorilla Biscuits, Warzone, Operation Ivy, etc. They did a reunion show this passed summer and it was a blast. You can check them out at www. myspace. com/paganbabieshardcore

There's a lot of bands playing this NY style of hardcore these days. Do you follow some of those bands?

I don't know if I agree that there are a lot of bands playing this NY style of hardcore. I see a lot of bands playing a lot more metalcore than what I'd call hardcore. I have friends that say that hardcore died in 86. I don't agree with that either. I say it started to change around 89 and I think a lot of bands started to become influenced by metal. Bands like Leeway, Raw Deal/Killing Time, Breakdown took hardcore to another level of musicanship, and then in the 1990's bands like Bulldoze, Fury of Five, Merauder, and All Out War took it even further towards a metal sound and now I think a lot of bands are influenced by that style of hardcore/metalcore, than by the earlier stuff that we are influnced by like Necros, early AF, Warzone etc.

A lot of bands are doing reunions these days. How do you like that?

I think its cool if it's done right, there's nothing worse than seeing a band do a reunion show and sucking. When a band does a reunion show after not being around for awhile it gives the younger kids a chance to see bands that they were probably too young to see the first time around. Some of the more notable reunions in last few years or so were Sheer Terror, Negative Approach, Killing Time, Leeway. It bummed me out when Reagan Youth did a reunion show in the summer of 2006 because they dragged the name through the mud. I'm not crazy about seeing a band do a reunion show with a different singer either. It will be cool to see Breakdown and Fahreinheit 451 at the Super Bowl this year.

What are the future plans for the band?

Right now Everyday Dollars is in the studio recording our second cd, "The Age of Demand." It's all new songs and maybe a cover or two and it's all gonna be recorded this summer as opposed to "Before the Supply..." which was recorded over a couple years and had various tracks from other releases. We have some shows lined up this summer, the biggest probably will be with Have Heart and Killing Time in Philly. We'll see how things pan out with upcoming shows and recording and we'll take it from there. We would love to come to Europe, and we would love to play in Japan, but since we do everything ourselves, no booking agent, no management that might be tough.

Any last words, shout outs?

Yeah 2009 is gonna be the year for Everyday Dollars! We'd like to shout out to Wim and The Hardway Zine, Emmanuel and Hardcore For Life Magazine in Puerto Rico, Doll Magazine in Japan, Bader Super Hero Records in Germany, Mike Awake Strong, and anyone else that gave a fuck and reached out to us.

Check out the band at:

http://www.myspace.com/everydaydollars

Bulldog Courage

DEATH IS STARING ME IN MY FACE AND LIFE'S TOO SHORT FOR ME TO WASTE. I WON'T LET MY LIFE PASS ME BY. I'M GONNA LIVE BEFORE I DIE

If you don't know this band from upstate New York yet, check them out. A great mix of hardcore, punkrock and oi. And if there's one thing that can be said about this band: they're REAL. Here's a talk about hardcore, fighting, tattoos, hating cops and most importantly: having a good time at hardcore shows.

The interview was done with Bulldog Courage's singer Shane.

Introduce the band
Bulldog Courage is myself (Shane) on vocals, Justin King and Buddy Armstrong on guitars, Joe Hallmark on bass and Jameson Muller on drums. We started the band about 2 years ago in Albany New York. We play a good mix of old school hardcore and punk rock. We draw from a lot of influences from both genres of music so we basically just write and play the kind of music that we like to listen to.

What's up with the name?
The name Bulldog Courage, that was pretty much Justin's idea, it's the name of an old cowboy movie I think. All and all I think it describes us pretty well. The name stands out and seperates us from a lot of the other bands out there. I think people who like us (regular blue collar types) can relate with it, ya know? There's nothin flashy or pretty about bulldogs and there certainly isn't about any of us either. And a bulldog doesn't ever run from the fight... That's what Bulldog Courage is all about to us.

You mention Blue Collar, what jobs do you guys have?
Well right now I work at club/bar in Albany, NY in various capacities like security, bartending, and booking shows with a co worker and good friend of mine. Buddy, Jameson, and Joe all work in the print shop for Equal Vision Records, and Justin, well I'm not sure what you'd call his job. Seems like whenever I talk to him at work he's not workin Haha. I have worked and done so many crazy fuckin factory jobs and kitchen jobs I couldnt even begin to tell you about all of them. I was raised in a very blue collar family, my Ma took care of the kids and house and my dad worked 12-hour days for the Railroad in Pittsburgh PA. All my friends' parents were the same, working either for the railroad or steel mills. We didn't mingle much with kids from the suburbs who had money and cool stuff.

So would you say you had a tough youth?

I would hate to say I had it tough as a youth, because allthough my family wasn't perfect... we did love and support each other. My parents we're very good to us, and my siblings were always there for me. I guess things didn't get tough for me until I had to make my own decisions... I made alot of bad ones and it's taken me a long time to come back from them, but I am and will continue to.

Do the lyrics reflect this?
All the lyrics I write are about people and things I've come across in my life. We try not to get political and stuff, the songs are more about good times and bad times, friends and family, love and hate... things that anyone, black, white, punk, skin, hardcore kid, or just your basic run of the mill person can relate to. Hating cops is about as political as it gets....haha and who can't relate with that, right?

Did any of you had some issues with the cops?
Who hasn't had problems with the cops? I'm not sure about everyone else but I do know that my best friend is doing 15 years on some bullshit charges and some very shady witnesses that the police came up with, and 3 of my friends were arrested for a murder that they werent even around for, they eventually were freed but it was the cops that coherssed witnesses and threatened kids into saying they were there. I just beat an assault case for a fight i didn't start, but the cops took one look at me and locked me right up. Yeah so fuck the cops.....A.C.A.B.

So the question is, did you win the fight, and how fucked up was the other one?
Well, in my expierience no one loses a fight and goes to jail Haha, I'm not sure what he looked like after....the cops told me it was pretty bad....and my lawyer laughed when he saw the pics they took in the emergency room.

Let's talk about the music again. Which bands do you consider as an influence on BC?
There are alot of bands that i think influenced us, ranging from punk rock bands to hardcore bands. I'd say Blood For Blood, Sheer Terror and even H20 are prolly three of the most obvious influences. I'm not sure why i say H20 but i think the catchieness of some of the songs is reminicent of them. Somebody at a show told us that if Cock Sparrer and Blood For Blood made a record together it would sound like Bulldog Courage... wich is funny as hell to me because thats what I said about Wisdom In Chains when I first heard them.All in all I'd say we were influenced by all the great New York hardcore bands, like Agnostic Front, Madball, Sick Of It All... and you can hear a lot of that if your really listening.

So were any of you guys in other bands before?

Yeah, we've all been in bands before. Most notably Buddy was in Stigmata for years. Justin and I were in a band called Only Revenge right before BDC started. Jameson has been in a few bands and so has Joe.

What have you released so far?
We've put out 2 demos, "Always Down, Never Out", and "Old Friends Die Hard". We are finishing up a full length right now to be titled "From Heartache to Hatred". It should be done by Spring I guess.

The working title for the album was "Live Before I Die", why did you decide to change it to "From Heartache to Hatred"?
Well first of all I wanted to kinda stay away from actually having a "title track" as there is a song called "Live Before I Die" on the record. I think it puts too much pressure on that 1 song, you know, and the title "From Heartache to Hatred" really gives a good description of what the record embodies: true stories of everything from, loss, friendship, love, hate, revenge... all of it. The actual term comes from a friend of mine who told me "that's what I've always loved about you Shane, you can go from heartache to hatred in no time at all never sticking around to sulk....just getting right to it like a robot". I'm not sure if that says anything good about me really, but I guess in the end I don't really care Haha.

Did you already play a lot of shows, do tours?
Yeah, we've played alot of shows, we havn't done any real touring just because of schedules and stuff, Buddy and Justin are both pretty serious family guys and have kids so it's tough, but we've got some things worked out for that now so we will be hopefully. But yeah, we play alot of shows and we travel and shit to play, we've played with a lot of awesome bands, we did a few shows with Ramallah when they were still playing, we've played with Death Threat, Agnostic Front, the U.S. Bombs, Ducky Boys, Shattered Realm, Death Before Dishonor, Cheech... but hands down to our favorite band to play with: Wisdom In Chains, we've played a good amount with those guys and it's always awesome.

What do you like most about playing live? What makes a show a good show for you guys?
Well there are 2 things to me anyway that I always want to see...
1. is that people are into it and having fun, not just standing there staring at us, haha.2. is that people stay safe, and that nothing crazy happens. Unfortunatley we played a show in New Jersey a little over a year ago where some sort of fight broke out near the front of the club while we were playing and some dude ended up getting killed from a blow to the head or somthing. That was a very fucked up situation, cops, detectives... The whole nine yards, and they wouldn't let us leave for the longest time, it was crazy. I mean we try to keep things a little comical and light hearted, joking around a lot on stage, maybe poking fun at people we know in the crowd and what not... it's generally a good time and that's all we really can hope for ya know?

How do you see the band evolve. What are your ambitions with it?
I guess we just wanna keep doing it, we're all having a great time and it's a really non stress situation for us, we've all been in bands before and i think it's pretty much unanimous with all of us that we all feel more comfortable in this band than we have in others.After we replaced our old drummer and bass player, things have been awesome, not to say those dudes weren't good dudes but they just kinda brought a feeling of what next? You know, like you never knew if Mike (bass) was gonna show up for practice or Christian (drums) was gonna flake out and let stress get the best of him. That whole situation put things on hold a bit but now with Jameson and Joe that feeling is never there, we just keep getting better and things keep looking up for us.

When you speak about WIC being good friends. They are a well known BFL band. Is BC affiliated or part of this or any other crew?

Bulldog Courage is not affilitated with any crew....well, let me rephrase that....we are part of a world wide crew in our eyes, Punk Rock and Hardcore! We are all in the same boat 3 letters will never stand between what society thinks of us all as a whole. I (Shane) am actually a respectfully retired member of FSU New York, and have nothing but love and respect for FSU to this day. With that said, let me shout out to all my friends and family from FSU nation, BFL, and DMS... I love you all and Bulldog Courage supports all of you openly and as proud as it can be said... hardcore will never die as long as there is people to defend it.

How do you retire from a crew man?
Well I was In FSU for 10 years, and am well respected for the things I did and acomplished in that time. So when things in my life changed and I couldn't give FSU the time and dedication that I always had, I felt like it was time to move on, because of my long standing good relations I was respectfully retired. I dont regret ever being part of it, and I still stay in contact with many of my brothers and wish them the best always.

You got quite some tattoos. What do you all have on your body, and what does it mean to you? Who did the tattooing?
Ha... yeah, I got a lot of tattoos, they all mean something to me. I got a lot of words and what not tattooed on me, a lot of tributes to dead friends and family too. Let's see, well clearly I have revenge under under my right eye and a snake over that eye, I have a heart with soulles on my neck, I have a Misfits themed tattoo on my left inside forearm, Mom and Dad roses on my hands. I'm working on getting a tattoo of Darth Vader on my arm finished. My favorite tattoo was done by Dustin Horan at Dead Presidents in Albany NY. It's a snub nose .38 pistol with a banner that reads "I am the enemy". Most of my work was done by Horan and Dan Belcher at Dead Prez, and Cindy Maxwell at Albany Tattoo, but I've been tattooed by about 13 or 14 different people over the years.

The revenge tattoo is very visible, what made you decide to have it tattooed there?
Well I certainly have my reasons for having the tattoo there, unfortunately they are very personal. I thought long and hard before I got the tattoo done, like for 4 years I thought of it. I guess what finally made me mind up my mind was that I didn't care what society thought of it. I don't consider myself part of everyday society anyway, I've never lived my life to be accepted by anyone. People can either take me or leave, it doesn't matter to me at all. As far as other tattoo, as long as I have room I'll keep getting them. Who know what's next. Haha.

Anything left to say, shout outs?
Shout Outs...yeah, Wisdom In Chains, Db4d, Tried And True, Mahoney And Thunderhog, Cheech, Shattered Realm, Aces High Merch And Mike 335, All Our friends and fans...and big thanks to all the people booking hardcore and punk rock bands everywhere, you guys keep this shit alive-thanks, BDC.

Check out the band yourself:

http://www.myspace.com/bulldogcourage