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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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