Superbowl of Hardcore, NY, May 15

It was the third time for me being at the Superbowl, and again, it was great. Personally the line up didn't appeal to me as much as the previous editions, as I already saw most of the bands playing in Europe in the last couple of months. I don't want to sound disrespectful to any of the bands who played, or to be the kinda guy who is only into the older bands, but what can I say, I guess Black 'n' Blue spoiled us with the previous editions.

I never thought to see bands (again) like Fahrenheit 451, Crown Of Thornz, Breakdown, Stigmata, Setback, Killing Time, CIV, Terror Zone, Bulldoze, Second To None. Many of these being exclusive reunions on 2008 and 2009 edition.
But we knew we'd have a good time anyway, so when the date was announced, the plain tickets were quickly booked. And with Yuppicide and Supertouch added to the bill, BnB managed to make it something special again.
Since I have already read a dozen of reviews, I'm going to do a full one here. I just wanted to share a couple of pictures I took.
Best set I have seen was Skarhead, I dug the ghetto blaster to start with. Good set, and nice to see Puertorican Mike back with Skarhead, and the stage being packed with DMS heads definitely made it impressive. There was also a really good vibe going on the crowd, hard dancing, but just as many singalongs, stage dives... Everyone was basically just having a good time. Oh yeah, Eddy Leeway was going berzerk. When JJ and his band did the Rise & Fall intro, I was still hoping to see Eddy come out again to do something crazy, but no.
Though, I expected more from Supertouch, it was definitely worth having seen them once. Same for Yuppicide.
From the younger bands, TUI made the best impression on me. I'm still bummed out to have missed H8 Inc, but the burritos before the show took us too long.
I really liked the venue as well. The ones who were there the last years definitely remembered Studio B in Brooklyn being packed and extremely hot. The Ritz was perfect, more space, rooms from the balconies, re-entry, good sound... and it has the history.

Looking forward to next year's edition!

Skull Crusher: live in Brooklyn May 14

I only heard Skull Crusher once before, in a car coming back from a North Sea swim in January. I do remember asking, 'hey, what band is this, sounds tight'. I didn't follow up on them, but in the meantime they released their first 12", Blind By Illusion, on Livewire and Reflections Records.
When we were in NY last week, we somehow found out they were playing their first show. So we headed down to Brooklyn to check it out.
The show was really low key, it's even better to call it a try out, before they will share the stage with Breakdown, Wisdom In Chains and Reign Supreme May 23. No real promotion was made (I'm not even sure how we found about it), and not too many people showed up. Anyway, it was good see that the Skull Crusher guys didn't care, as they were stoked to play!

Already during the intro it was clear that Skull Crusher sounds tight live, which is no surprise as none of the members is new to the scene, and the fact that they already recorded their 12" before playing any concert.
Musicwise, Skull Crusher plays a cross over between hardcore and (trash) metal. It's always difficult to make comparisons, definitely as they already have a style of their own, but one should think of bands like Cro-Mags, Leeway, Judge... I dig the double bass drum parts!
They played the complete 12", to finish with a Judge cover.

I didn't pick up the 12" itself, so I can't give you a full review, but from what I've already seen and heard, you definitely need to keep your eyes open for this band. Looking forward to seeing these guys play again in Europe. Make it happen!

I'm not the best photographer, and the pictures are just taken with a very modest camera, but anyway, I added some pictures here.

Oh yeah, on a sidenote, respect to the female DJ to play Neglect's 'the LSS' straight after Skull Crusher!

Find out more about Skull Crusher:

http://www.myspace.com/skullcrusherapocalypse
http://www.livewire-records.com
http://www.reflectionsrecords.com

I just wanna see a street fight

Breakdown is one of those bands which has at the same time lyrics which genuinely express the hardships of life, but on the other hand lyrics which are a bit, well let's say, tongue in cheek (a fact which later got confirmed by Jeff Perlin's lyrics for Slumlords).

One of those lyrics which always got me confused, where the words for Streetfight. Musicwise this song is close to perfect, but it was always hard to me to take the following serious:

"I like to see a street fight especially when it's on a weeknight. I dont care who's wrong or who's right. I just wanna see a street fight. Walking down the street with my Big Mac out of nowhere someone gets whacked.
I dont care if you're white or black. Start the violence. Fuck the facts. I don't care who's wrong or who's right, I just wanna see a street fight"

On a random note, it was really funny to see Breakdown live in New York last year, and when performing Streetfight kids were moshing with Bic Macs in their hand and offering them to Breakdowns vocalist.

However, wisdom comes with time, and yesterday night it came clear that the above lyrics are amazingly true to me.

Breakdown live at the Superbowl of Hardcore, NY, 2008

Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kinda guy to start a fight or anything, but I have to say, to see some random violence on the street always gets me siked.
So, I was going to take the subway, and while taking the stairs I already heard some stuff going on, but when I was at the tracks, I saw kids bringing da motherfucking ruckus. Imagine a dozen of youngsters brawling, kicking eachother to and on the ground, mixed up with some hysteric girls screaming at their boyfriends to stop, and more people crossing the tracks to get some as well. It must have been looking pretty bad to the subway drivers as well, as they just didn't stop anymore. I don't know the exact reason for the whole fight, but it was probably related to alcohol and a broken heart, which got mixed up with some racial tensions. But as just said before, fuck the facts, I don't care who's wrong or right, I just wanna see a street fight.

Anyway, the whole scene got my blood pumping, knowing that everything can go wrong at any time, seeing rage in people's eyes, seeing people being fucked up, and the general hysteria linked with it. It was at that moment, I truely understood Jeff Perlin's words. I took my Ipod, changed the music to Breakdown, got out of the subway again, and continued my journey through the snow with a big smile on my face!

Breakdown: www.myspace.com/breakdownnyhc
Slumlords: www.myspace.com/slumlords
Black and Blue: www.myspace.com/blacknblueproductions

Older, colder stronger

KICKBACK - no surrender cd review

Ask around and you'll hear everyone having an opinion about Kickback: the older guys will always be saying nostalgically how much harder the band was in the past, the younger kids will be jocking the band and saying how hard they are, and a lot of people will call Kickback just a bunch of fools or will simply be hating the band. Whatever you think of it, Kickback managed to get their name out and never gave a fuck about your opinion anyway.

It took nine years since the last album before No Surrender was released, that's a long time, even longer than the average career of kids in hardcore. In the meantime Kickback had been cancelling shows, playing fucked up shows, causing trouble, changing line ups, causing kids to cause trouble and luckily, playing some shows which were beyond hard! So, it's not a big surprise that to some Kickback became somewhat of a parody, instead of a band to really take serious.

However, one should not forget that this French band is one of Europe's longest existing hardcore bands, being around since 1991. Before releasing the, now classic, album Forever War, they already released two demos, a 7" and a full lenght. Also taking into consideration that Kickback's singer Stéphan released on his label Hardway records bands like Bulldoze, All Out War and Confusion, it is clear that Kickback has meant a lot to the (European) hardcore scene.

But now it was about time to let music speak for itself again, so let's talk music. With every new album Kickback succeeded to evolve as a band. The Cornered album was more of a classic NYHC album, Forever War became more of a crossover album mixing classic NYHC with metal and the Les 150 Passions Meurtrières album took the nihilistic, sick approach a step further. So what about the new one?

Never Surrender definitely is not a reunion album, going back to the early days, but is a logic continuation of Les 150 Passions Meurtrières. Never Surrender is a more complex album, adding some new elements to the well known Kickback sound. I'm hearing some people saying how Kickback added black metal riffs to their songs, could be, but this basically is still a hardcore band, which you might put in the same category with bands like Integrity, Starkweather, Ringworm, All Out War or Catharsis. I'm hearing the same rhythms than on the previous release, but additionaly to this, I hear a lot of noise and dissonant guitars. There's a good combination of compact, fast songs with some lengthier, drawn out songs. The vocals became even more high pitched, which all ads up the tension and sick athmosphere of this album. It's hard, it's mean, it's aggressive, let there be no doubt about that, but due to these new elements in the music this will never be my favourite Kickback album. And not to confuse you, that's a good thing, cause if it was, it would probably just mean that they recycled their old stuff. Here, they really took a step forward and extended their musical limits.

www.myspace.com/kickback

www.gsrmusic.com

oh shit, you know what this is? it's a motherfucking bloodbaaaaaath

It's been a long time since I posted anything on here. But don't worry, I'm still around. My man Pete sent me the new Setback record already a while ago, and it has been played a lot since! I have been planning to write a review since a long time, but never got to it. Here it finally is.

SETBACK - Unfinished Business

Setback was a band from the nineties coming from Queens New York which have released only one record called No Hope on the legendary Time Served records run by Bulldoze frontman Kevone. They broke up in 1998, its member kept on hanging around in the scene, and they are now back together with a new record on Crash Course Records. For those who wonder what this label is all about, it's about a hardcore principle called DIY: Setback released the album by themselves.

When I went to the Superbowl in 2008, I was really stoked to see this band, and let me tell you, I was right to be so. Initially they only planned to do a one time reunion at the Superbowl, but already at this show Setback busted out some new songs, which made me really looking forward to the new album.

I could keep it short here and just say, if you like genuine NYHC, you will definitely love this record. But let me explain a bit. The NYHC style is very popular at the moment, there's bands from all over the world playing a NY influenced style, and as much as I love many of these bands, most of them miss something. Somehow, what these bands are playing, I don't know, it's not the same as it was. It's a different sound, different attitude, different songs, and somehow, all of these bands have the hardest breakdowns in their songs, and sometimes it evens seems that the breakdown is the main element of the songs (especially when seeing these bands live).

It's hard to explain, but when I'm moshing to the new Setback album, I just hear the difference. It's the difference between a band playing NYHC and a genuine New York band. Somehow it's a good thing Setback had a break for over 10 years, because listening to this record it seems that time stood still for these guys and they didn't listen to any new albums released since 2000. Also none of the members have played in an other band since they broke up. This record brings you straight back to the nineties with straight up hardcore. Also production wise it's a pleasure to listen to 'Unfinished Business'. The record sounds like a hardcore record should sound like, raw, unpolished and pure. I especially like the bass sound which vaguely reminds me of Breakdown's bass sound on the Blacklisted album.

Lyrically nothing changed either with songs about surviving, sticking up for yourself and of course, taking care of business. Just to give you a quote "you know you fucked up and now you'll pay, you're out time, your ass is mine I'm out of control".

I said I could keep it short, so I'm gonna keep it short. Check out the record and start moshing.

Check out the band, listen to their songs, buy their record, and while you're at it, buy some merch:

http://www.myspace.com/setbackdms357

For the Europeans, the album is available at:

https://www.hardcore.gl/

http://www.filledwithhate.com/shop
http://www.lightthefuse.nl

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