Inner Rage Records

Inner Rage records from France, I'm not even sure if it rings a bell to the new kids out there, but it is legendary. My favourite releases on the label are the Fury of V Telling it Like It Is 7", the Starkweather 7" and the Five Minute Major album.
I never knew Jean Marc during the life span of the label, or during his Drowning days, but everytime he shows up on a show, I always end up talking with him, as he has this huge knowledge about NYHC, and he is a nice guy to talk to. When you know that he is involved in the movement as from the 80's on, you know he is interesting to speak with. So here it is, a talk about Inner Rage records, Drowning and hardcore.

Let's go the beginning immediately: how, when and why did you start Inner rage records?
From mid to late 80's I started to get into underground music, I was previously into Punk rock, Oi! and some metal but then I started to get into more aggressive stuff. There was a lot of tape trading at that time too, so I discovered a lot of hardcore and some death metal demos, live tapes...The French scene was a bit late at that time but some local bands started to get influenced by American punk hardcore. Everybody was also into ordering new demos, new EPs, I was giving ideas to guys that started labels in like 88-89 then I thought it would be cooler to start my own label. I contacted a few bands, I was looking for some hard stuff and choose Dare To Defy for the first EP. That was in late 1990.

How did you manage to do this back then?
Well staying in touch wih bands whthout internet was not always easy of course, you could have contact with a band for a time, then the guy left the band or just didn't answer anymore, now the easy thing with the net is that you know faster if you can trust a band or not. It was just a matter of luck to keep in touch with a band for a long time and then be able to work with them. The thing is that in the early 90's US Hardcore bands started to have more people interested in Europe than in America, Hardcore was considered dead at that time. People there were more into all the post Hardcore stuff like Quicksand or more of the Sub Pop thing. There was also lotsa problems with violence in the East Coast at Hardcore shows. So Hardcore got banned. That's when a lot of European labels started to sign US bands.

Did you go to the Eastcoast to visit shows in the early 90's too? If so, was it really that crazy / violent as is being told?
Well I went for the first time in New York in 1991, I saw a few good shows at the time, the first one was a l'Amour in Brooklyn with Cro Mags, Leeway, Biohazard and Type O Negative, I saw Cro Mags at CBGB's a few days after that and Breakdown in a bar. All of those shows were really impressives, and crazy but I didn't see any violence. The craziest show was whithout a doubt the one at CBGB's, the crowd was mostly scenesters, friends etc... Most of the people knew each other so the atmosphere was great, it was one of the best shows I have ever seen.

Looking back at the releases you've done, which is your favourite one?
Whithout a doubt I would say the Starkweather 7". I honestly don't like everything I released on Inner Rage but there's a few that I'm proud of. The Fury of Five and Overcast 7"s are also pretty good I think, Stormcore/Krutch was cool, well I won't name all the stuff I like in the back catalogue but besides 2 or 3 releases I'm not ashamed of what I did. I like the CDs I released too."

Bands like Starkweather, Fury Of Five and Kickback became pretty big bands. Did it make you pride to have them released as the first one?
Well sure I'm proud of what these bands did and still do. That's the main reason of why I started the label, first release records I would have liked to buy, and secondly discover bands. so the fact they became big after they had something out on Inner Rage is a reason to be proud for me

What's the reason that Inner Rage didn't continue with these bands? Like grow together with these bands, release their LP's or something?
When I first started the label I did it alone so it was really impossible for me to see it become a lot bigger so I guess I wasn't really able to release albums, promote and sell them properly. In 1998-1999 I was joined by two friends who did more than help, but before that it wasn't the time to do it.

Some of the IRR bands are still active, like Kickback and Starkweather. Do you still follow up on them and check their new releases?
To be honest I never listened to the whole last Kickback album. Just heard a couple of songs here and there. About Starkweather I love everything they did since the demo. I went to see thm when they played in Belgium on the last tour. They were amazing. They are my favorite band released on Inner Rage records ever

If there was one band known not to be fucked with it had to be FURY OF V. How was it to work with these guys?
Fury of Five was some of the coolest guys to work with. They exactly knew what they wanted so when there was something they didn't like they were straight to the point and the problems were solved fast. I worked on the 7" mostly with Jay and it was really easy and cool. It was so cool to meet them when they finally came on tour in Europe. I can only say great stuff about Fury Of Five.

Did you also join them on the tour?
I went to see them a few times durings their European tours, went to see them during the first one with Integrity. The first time I saw them in person was in Rennes. I saw several other shows during that tour in Belgium. Then I saw them during the next tour in Paris and in Belgium. It was fun anytime. Plus they were a tight and powerful on stage. I met them in the US too but never saw them live there.

What is your favourite FO5 record? I'm always in doubt whether it's the 7" or their latest This Time It's Personal. The 7" definitely got some of the hardest songs ever made on it.
I will not be too original but I have to say that my favorite release is the 7".

There were also European bands, like you did the Kickback 7". How was it to work with these guys back then?

Sure some European bands started at that time, I guess all the Dutch, Belgian and German bands started at that time, of course this is talking about the more NY influenced hardcore bands, there was hardcore bands way before that of course. I guess first generation of bands influenced by american hardcore came from Italy, the Holland, UK and Belgium.Well, working with Kickback was kinda natural at that time, we were going at shows together etc... It was pretty easy to work with them at that time"

A lot of people will know Kickback, but not too many know that 7". If you listen to it know, how do you like it?
Well, honestly I didn't listen to that 7" recently, but I did enough time. I think it sounds typically like what was around in the New York hardcore scene at that time, not bad for a French band I guess. It was really influenced by stuff like Confusion, early Merauder, Cro Mags, Biohazard and Sheer Terror. About how I have been attracted ? Well that was just natural thing, we knew each other, shared the same musical tastes and there was not so many labels around, they had the choice between Inner Rage and a German label which I can't remember.

Stephan from Kickback also had a label, Hardway records. It's like France had all the top NY bands! Was there ever any competition between the two labels?
There wasn't any competition really !!! We started around the same time and at the beginning we were even discussing on who we planned to contact for upcoming releases. There's a few bands that I contacted that I was close to have a deal with and unfortunately it didn't work out. I guess those bands would have made Inner Rage even more recognized than how it is now.

Tell us, which bands are we talking about here. What went wrong?
One of the first bands I asked for the label was Fit Of Anger from New York, The label didn't even have a name at that time. Inner Rage was a Fit Of anger song. They split up around the time I was in contact with them, they started Cold front just after that. Some other bands I was close to release on Inner Rage were Darkside and Enrage. Nothing went really wrong but I guess it was easier for them to sign on a label from their area at that time.

So what is the current status of the label now? Its been a long while since something came out?
Even if you can never say never, I really doubt there's gonna be another release on Inner Rage Records. But who knows. I guess I'm tired of all the boring work of the label, being in contact with bands and all that part was cool, but the promotion and all that work was boring.

You were also the singer for Drowning. Tell us, how and when did Drowning start?
We started Drowning around mid 1996. That was when a lot of american hardcore, Metalcore bands started to tour Europe. We were into the harder, heavier stuff and that was what we wanted to do. The main thing we wanted to accomplish with Drowning was simply to play as many shows as possible and have fun. We wanted the crowd to feel that we were having as much fun as them. I guess it worked a bit and as far as I'm concerned, I'm proud of what Drowning did when I was in the band. Sure we did some bad shows, some recordings that were not perfect but I still like anything we did.

So what did you actually record with Drowning?
I did a first demo with Drowning that consist of one studio song and a few live songs recorded from the soundboard at one show in Beauvais in the North of Paris. Then I also recorded 2 songs for a split 7" with Queens, NY band Restrain for Back Ta Basics records and 2 other songs a french hardcore compilation with bands like Stormcore, Kickback, Primal Age, Right For Life and a few others.

When and why did you quit the band?
I played my last show with them in May 1998 in As, Belgium. There was a lot of bands on the bill but as far as I can remember Bloodlet, Better than a Thousand, All Out War, Sportswear and Liar also played that show. Well it was a mutual decision, I wanted to quit and they also wanted me out because I wasn't good enough for the new direction they wanted to take and I also didn't like that direction so it was inevitable. Drowning is only good memories, I met a lot of people that I'm still friends with from that time.

Drowning was a band which had the crowd totally in hard dancing. How did it feel to see all these people dancing crazy on your shows?
That was always great thing to see, but as hard as i gets it was never in a bad way. We were always having fun on stage, even laughing and smiling at times. Even if we were playing hard music, we were not acting hard or pretend to be. We though that there was enough people pretending to be asocial and hating the world while they're actually nice guys, we were nice guys and didn't want to look differently.

And what about you moshing? Which were your favorite bands to slam on? What was your style?
Well for the violent aspect of ot, i loved All Out War, Fury Of Five, Next Step Up and above all these, the Cro Mags. But I would say the best band ever to dance to, whithout a doubt, Leeway. Well about style, it depends on the music, you don't dance the same way to Underdog, Leeway or All Out War. But my favorite is the floorpunch. I used to like the windmill etc... I don't dance much these days but sometimes, when I feel it...

Which is your top 5 hardcore records?
I guess it's almost impossible to only name 5 records. Anyway there's Leeway Born To Expire, Cro Mags Age of Quarrel, Outburst Miles to go and then I can give an hundred more like Negative Approach, Sheer Terror, Crown Of Thornz, Merauder, Jerry's Kids etc... It just depends on the mood. I like almost all styles of hardcore from early really fast stuff, to some tough guy metalcore, oi or punk rock.

Talking about NYHC, what is that attracts you in this specific genre?
NYHC always had it's difference, I guess in the early 80's when everybody was into DC or Boston, New York was trying to have their own sound. I'm also into DC, Boston, California hardcore etc... but there's something I like about New York hardcore. Probably the groove, the beat, the mosh part. Plus there was a lot of bands from early to late 80's and then a few others in the 90's. Urban Waste, Cro Mags, Underdog, Leeway, Breakdown are some of my favorite bands from New York.

What do you still expect in hardcore? Any band you still would like to see? Or any genre of band that schould come back?
I just expect from hardcore to be like hardcore. It's just fun, aggressive and powerful and the most important thing, honest. Doesn't really matter how it sounds like. Sure I do have my preferences but that's not important.
There's always a lot of bands I'd like to see like Cold World, Government Warning to name a couple of current bands and tons that I never had the chance to see. About a specific genre of band I'd like to see back ? My favorite style is mid 80's NYHC but there's a lot of other I'd like to see.

Thanks for the interview!

Inner Rage discography, from old to new

Dare To Defy - st
Test Of Time - Refugee
Kickback - No One Gets Out Alive
Subjugator - st
Garden Of Silence - st
Judgement Day NYC - Mind Over Matter Of Fact
Starkweather - The Divine Art
Overcast - Stirring The Killer
V/A - Harder They Come Harder They Fall
Fury Of Five - Telling It Like It Is !!!!!!
Krutch / Stormcore - S/T
One Last Sin - The Fall Of Darkness
Beneath The Remains / Underground Society / Face Down NJ / Knockoutz - A 4-way split CD
Five Minute Major - When It Ends
Fury Of Five - Telling It Like It Is !!!!!!
Wake Up Cold - Deliver Me From Evil

Visit Inner Rage's website: http://districtproductions.online.fr/

5 years of dedication

On their latest release they have a song called '5 years of dedication', and this title sums it up, because dedication is what this band is all about. Five years ago I was there when they recorded their first demo. We helped them out with the backing vocals, and I even did some guestvocals for a song. It was all basic shit, recording it in someone's garage, without great material or the best sound quality, and even the songs might not have been the best ones ever. But which was very clear at that moment, was that this band was stoked about what they were doing, they loved it, they were there for a reason!
In the meantime some faces have changed in the band, they played hundreds of shows, they got dozens of people knocked out in the pit, released an EP, a split EP and 2 full lengths. And they did all this DIY, you still know what that means? They didn't took shit from anyone, didn't suck any dick, and took all the risk.
And now, everytime when I see these guys enter the stage, they're up there with the same dedication and passion as five years ago, and always, whether a crowd of 50 or 300 they're giving all the energy they have. Respect to who respect is due, and my boys in PTF definitely deserve a lot of it.
Here's a talk with my man Bert, vocalist of Pushed Too Far.

- Bert, since when is the band around? How and when did you start it?

Hey Wim, What's up? Ok here we go : In the summer of 2003 it all started, but not easy, no not easy at all! In the first place we were with 2 singers and we played something like metalcore. But actually nobody liked it, After a few months we were with 1 singer, 1 guitar player, a bass player and a drummer. In that line up we made 6 songs and we played our first gig in the summer of 2004. But Derwin never moved on like the rest of the band had in mind, so we kicked the guy out. And then there was Jef. Once Jef was in, everything was going very quickly. Recording our demo, doing a lot of shows, recording our mcd and our full cd. After we recorded our full cd we wanted more power on stage. Bart from Lost in Rhone joined us, but less than a year later he decides to quit and we find Nicho. There were plans for a new full cd, so we were writing new songs, 5 days before we hit the studio, Roel decides to quit PTF. So on the record Nicho has played the bass. After 2 weeks we found a replacement in Gert Ooms, the motherfucker rocks the bass like no one else! So right know we have a steady line up! Jefcb and Nicho on the guitars, Krisje behind the drums, Gert rocking the bass and me destroying the microphone.

- I guess things have changed quite a lot since the beginning?

Some things have changed; like the line up, new guitar and bassplayer. But the music is still the same, some people tell we have a new sound and stuff, but I can't really say it because we made the songs. So I don't hear the difference. To me it's old school with some moshparts you wanna kill a bitch on! The lyrics are a little more mature, but hey, I'm getting older you know. But some are the typical PTF lyrics. The cd we recorded at CCR studio in Zulte and it was mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music in America. We are pretty stoked about the quality and the cd! The artwork is done bij Serch. Cool shit! We like it a lot.

- Do you still remember how the demo recordings were?

Yeah man it was so much fun, everything sounded bad, but it was cool! I'll never forget that day in the garage. The singalongs were with so much violence, I like that. There was some kid, that was so stoked about our stuff that he almost moshed the garage away, hey that kid was you.

- You have released all your records yourself? Why have you done this?

Because it felt right. In the beginning we have sent out our demo, mcd and stuff to the labels, but only one out of 10 reacted. So we were sick of doing that and it felt good to do it yourself! It's not that easy to promote your record but we do our best! And with all the love for the music. Maybe someday some record label picks us up, you never know. But it's cool the way we do it now, and we can ask less for a cd!

- In the grapevine it was told GSR was interested in PTF, but that Rob really didn't want to work with you guys. What's the story with him?

No clue? Got no issues with that guy, he fixed us some shows and we know Theo appreciates our work. However, we're doing fine ourselves, but honestly GSR actually is a great label. But what can we say? We work hard and we'll get what we deserve, I guess.

- So you never had problems selling your stuff?

These days it's very hard to sell your shit, 16 year old kids don't understand that releasing a cd costs a lot of money, and they just copy or download those cd's. It's good that kids know the songs and stuff. But like i said, it's a lot of money and if everybody copies the cd's we cannot bring out cd's anymore in the future. But hell, it's all good!

- But I guess selling merch compensates this.

Yeah, the kids buy a lot of merch, and because of that we can break even. But we also keep the prices low, like 10 euro for shirt. We don't wanna sell out to the kids. Sometimes we sell no merch and 10 cd's sometimes we sell 40 t-shirts and no cd's! Its always different. But if they like our music they support us!

- You've done a lot of different designs. How many by now, which people have designed shirts for you?

We have done a shitload of designs because we want to have differend things because everybody has a different taste. I don't know how many but if you take everything we have 20 designs I think. Spoiler, Harai Tatoo, Lucky One tattoo, Famooze, Michiel artwork, ... and of course our own Jefcb. I like as good as all our designs, but especially the one Michiel did, we also have our backdrop with that design.

- PTF has not yet done a lot of touring. How was the previous tour. And do you plan new tours in the future? With which bands you'd like to tour?

It's not easy for a band like us to tour, because we do release everything on our own label and it's not a big label. So it's difficult to do tours. But for this summer normally something bigger is coming up! The previous one was with our buddies from Point Of View. The tour was sick, cool shows and cool hang outs. Our "tourmanager" was drunk everyday, he crashed at every show under a soccer table, he threw up blood. But it was because of the long distances, for every show we had to drive around 10 hours. We have learnt our lesson about that!

- You don't only release PTF stuff. So what's up with the label?

With Clenched Fist records we want to help begining bands, because it's not easy to print a cd without knowing how! Much shit with sabam, especially if you don't want to be a part of their game. And I think for the bands it's great if we can help them out because finding a label is not easy these days! This year you can expect our new full cd "Fools Never Move On" coming out on 22 march, Tear It Down MCD coming at you at 1 march and Johnny Unstopable coming on 11 april. It will kill all you niggas.

- Which bands do you see as an inspiration to PTF?

Our biggest inspiration is No Turning Back. What they do is so great! Man, they do it with some much love and strenght! But we have more bands we look up like Death Before Dishonor, Kickback,... But we want to have our own sound, something different than the rest. We hope it worked out well. Next to bands, anger, love, hate, pain, everyday bullshit, arrogance,... is also our inspiration!

- So which are your favourite bands to play with?

Every band that plays from the heart! And every band with a frontman that means what he says! Not a bullshit band that comes to play for 1000 euro, with the same songs like 5 years ago. And only do it for the money. Our a fucking American band, who on stage pretend to have invented the wheel and who is crying backstage how they want to go home!

-What would be your dream line up to play with?

I definitely wanna play with Stout and Homicidal. But every show is a dream for me! All the energy from all the bands and the crowd. I think I'm addicted.

- You've also done some covers. Which songs have you played so far? Why did you chose those songs?

We have played in the past 3 coversongs. We choose these songs because they fit our music. In the beginning we played Sick Of It All with Injustice System, great song with good lyrics and a fucking great vibe. Than we did Bulldoze with Our Way, another great song, with a fucking hard mosh part. The way we like old school beatdown! And the 3rd song we did was Kickback with Be My Guest. Very good lyrics and very heavy shit. Fucking in ya face style! Now we don't play cover songs anymore, maybe in the future? You don't know!

- Andries from TSU helped you writing a song for the new cd. How did you end up working with him together?
Man, it was so cool. He came in our rehearsal room and rocked his balls out, the same as in the recording room. He was rocking from beginning till the end. I just love this guy! We just had the idea to make a song once, and we just did it and it ended up very cool! And the song fits in our album:) Mayby we do another thing together in the future, you never know!

- Your shows are hard, and people get hurt from time to time, but to me it seems there's always a positive vibe. Do you think it is important to keep it positive?

Our shows are hard and that's the way it should be! We bring hardcore not some random pussyshit! But we always have a smile on our face. We sing about anger, hate and stuff but some time a joke is in the right place. And we do it that way because some people take our lyrics and stuff TOO serieus. They really believe if i say I'm gonna kill somebody, I'm actually gonna do it. And for that kind of people sometimes I do some sketchy ballade on stage of some kind of that! But I don't care about positive of negative, for me it's all hardcore. The 25 minutes on stage I release all my anger and hate that I have built up during the week! I always feel pretty good after a show, I feel free because I have done my thing you know?

- So what's been some of the craziest shit going on in the pit and on stage during your shows?
Everytime there is some thing else: broken noses, people knocked out, blood all over the place, chairs getting involved, the last time we played, there were a lot fights. And that is not cool, we like fucking hard dancing, but fighting with no reason is not cool! Sometimes it is necessary, but without a reason? It just sucks, then you can better fuck off! Last time we played 3 girls were stroking my knee, they were like fucking 14 years old. I still don't understand! That was also the show were 3 fight brokes out, 2 people got knocked out. It was weird I guess.

- Still a lot of people don't understand the dancing or the band in general. When you play a show with different kind of bands, you are sure to read some shit on PTF and your crowd on some messageboards the next day.
What do you think? Messageboards are the opposit of what we call hardcore, so we don't give a fuck. I tought hardcore was all about being a pain in the ass and saying fuck you to the latest fashionhype. As long as I feel we do that our own way, people can go all gay on Myspace as much as they like. And I'll live it in real life just like I always did. So, we do this shit for 5 years now and we still love it to be hated, and lately we're even loved for what we do. We try to bring you hardcore, grinding hard on the edge of the core.

- How was the release show?

It was a fucking blast man! More then 300 people paid at the door. Every band gave the best they got, and the kids seem to like our new songs. We have selled more cd's than we did with the Anger. Now we hope the kids know the new songs and go crazy on the new ones too! There was a lot of sing a long, mosh, dives, it was just crazy. We can't say how satisfied we are. We put many effort in the releae show and the new cd, and if you get a response like that, than it's worth all the work!

- You're finally playing the Ieperfest. It took a while before you could play there, what took you so long?

Ypresfest is a big fest, a group of people are doing hard work each and every year to get it going. But that also means, they all have to agree about the bands, and some of them can even say NO WAY to a band. There's some people outthere who where supporting us from the start, but God knows why somehow they turned against us. Dunno why, maybe they rather support their friends band and don't like it when we're getting more shows than those bands. But Bruno always helps us out and he is a good friend of PTF!

- PTF always has been a band some people talked shit about. How do you feel about this?

I really don't care, but if I say that I'm lying. Because you put all your effort in the band, all your energy, all your time, and always there are loosers that say this and that, about your band, but have never seen us. So I don't get the point why they talked shit, if you don't know, don't fucking judge. But if they have seen us and then talked shit, I don't fucking care. We do what feels right for us and what we like! But after five years, the people who always talked shit, seem to like us these days, and that's cool of course! But there are always stupid fucks who have no own opinion and just say what the group want. Like 2 years ago, some guy always moshed in front of us, always said cool things, now he is with a group and never checks us out anymore, talks shit and never says hi, haha, what a fucking loser!

- What does hardcore means to you? And what has attracted you to hardcore? What makes a band a hardcore band in your eyes?
It's my life, I'm lost without it I think. It has thaught me to think, that I can speak my own mind, that I must come up for myself, and not care about what others think of you,... The dedication of many people is wat attracted me the most, the passion and the love! In my eyes a hardcore band is a band that mean the things they say on stage. Do the music with all there love and passion and not sell out themselves!

- You got the OSB thing going. What's up with that? What's your opinion on crews in general?

Jef has started the OSB thing, so I give the question to jef, our guitarplayer: We started out OSB as a joke, just to see how long it takes before people put that in their nicknames, considering theirselves part of that "crew". Haha. It didn't took long, we had a laugh. Crews... never understood why 30 year old men get in front of a christmastree in a crew-shirt, to take some homie pictures to put them on Myspace. People also seem to like to come all alone to a show.. in a crew shirt.

- How do you see the future of the band?
Now we are going to start to promote our new cd. We have made new merch, posters, stickers and so on... To promote the new stuff. Hopefully kids pick it up and like the new record. We will do a tour in the summer, so that everybody gets to know our music. And we hope we can push our band to the next level. Of course we're gonna write some new songs etc.. But we're defenitlely heading towards the next level.

- You used to organise shows yourself. What's up with that now?

Pushed Too Far and the label ask so much time of me that I have no more time to do big shows, sometimes I organise shows like our cd release, but nothing big anymore It's too much work! I have done shows for bands like, Kickback, Do Or Die, Backfire, Justice, No Turning Back, Settle The Score, Morda and many many more.

- Any last words, shout outs?
Wim, thank you very much for letting me speak my mind. Don't be afraid about 'de kempen' check out bands like : Brickbat, Angelskin, Pushback, Trail Of Hope, Tear It Down, Homicide, POV, Johnny Unstopable,...

Also check http://www.myspace.com/pushedtoofar and http://www.myspace.com/clenchedfistrecords. Buy cd's don't download! (only if it is a band with a lot of money) Buy zines, shirts, suport your local bands! Mosh hard don't be a winer. And last but not least FEET FIRST IS THE LAW! Thank you