DEMONWARP

DEMONWARP is one of the most absurd movies ever made.

This is quite a statement to make and I am sure you have heard this all before so just hear me out. I 1st watched Demonwarp on USA's Saturday Nightmares as a kid. I remembered that is was a total monster-mash but not much else. As an adult I re-watched it and my mind was completely blown.

80's horror does not get much wackier than this so buckle your seat belts! We start off with a space ship crashing on earth some 100 or so years ago and some kind of religious guy stumbles upon it. Fast forward to now (which was then 1987) and man (George Kennedy) is in a cabin with his daughter when all of a sudden Bigfoot shows up and takes her away. Next we get a carload of teens going to the same place (did I mention the place is called DEMON WOODS?) trying to investigate the strange goings-ons they had heard about and they run into Mr Kennedy who is roaming the woods in search of the monster that took his daughter. Turns out that Bigfoot is really one of the teen's uncles who disappeared in Demon Woods some time ago and he was turned into Bigfoot by an alien who lives in his crashed spaceship in a cave. Said alien has a robot arm and a scorpion tail and lives in a garbage can (it is supposed to be some robot body I think, but it is obvious it's just a garbage can) and is worshiped by a Satanic priest who sacrifices people to him and feeds it their hearts and then turns the victims into zombies who work on repairing the spaceship. Oh, also if the alien stabs you with it's scorpion tail (which sticks out a slot in the bottom on the garbage can) you turn into a Bigfoot!

Absurdity reigns supreme but this movie is watchable. The sheer volume of things going on is enough to keep you watching till the end. The effects are poor at best with a raggedy Bigfoot suit and sub-par gore. There is also an abundance of naked broads around with bouncing boobies. The end, where the alien is revealed, must be seen to be believed.

This movie is one of my favorites for obvious reasons. It is just so silly and combines so many different aspects into one movie: Bigfoot, Mutants/Aliens, Satanic Sacrifice, The Evil Dead/Cabin In The Woods, Zombies, and more! Sure to grab even the shortest of attention spans, this is one of the most watchable "terrible" movies ever made.

Here's a site that I think you can get the movie from:
DEMONWARP DL

Here is the original trailer for DEMONWARP:

JAPANESE HARDCORE

In the US we tend to think that our HC is superior to HC in all other nations. Many Americans discount bands form Europe, Japan, or any other country other than the US. But over the years there have been many great bands from other Continents. Today I am going to focus on bands from Japan and introduce you to some bands you may have heard of, and others you may have never heard of. I am going to focus more on the bands which have a modern or NYHC sound. Sure, there are many thrash bands (Lip Cream, etc, etc) which are well known, but many of the bands I am mentioning have a different style and sound which is overlooked in the US for the most part.

NUMB this is Tokyo's longest running and most respected HC band. Starting in the mid 90's, NUMB has held it down in Tokyo and is the premiere HC band. They play a heavy 90's type NYHC sound (think Merauder). Numb has shared the stage with mnay American HC legends over the years. Singer SENTA is well known for his collection of HC shirts... one of the biggest in the world, you name it, he's got it. I have seen magazines which feature him and his shirt collection. I got a book of photography which features fliers form Numb's history, as well as top notch live photography from their shows which is a great documentary book that chronicles the band's music, legacy, and impact on the Japanese scene and even art (their artwork is always top notch). The book is called TIME HAS COME, if you can get a copy, it is a wonderful piece of HC nostalgia which will give those unfamiliar a great look into the world of Japanese HC.

NUMB'S MYSPACE

Here's a video which is a preview of the NUMB THC ART BOOK mentioned.


TJ MAXX (aka TERMINAL JUSTICE MAXX) is another of Japan's oldest and most respected HC bands, starting in the early/mid 90's. A staple of Japanese HC. They play a traditional heavy NYHC sound with some more skinhead aspects mixed in some of the material. To Americans the name may sound silly, but their material and legacy speaks for itself.

TJ MAXX'S MYSPACE

TJ MAXX "HARDER THAN THE CORE" VIDEO


CREEPOUT is Japan's Holy Terror inspired band. Kunhide (aka Japanese Clevelander) is credited with "bringing Cleveland to Japan". Heavily influenced by Integrity and One Life Crew as far as sound goes. They have come to the US to play a few shows the past 2 years and have made an impression on all who have seen them. For those who are into the Clevo sound, this is a band which has more influence musically form OLC than Integ, but still keeps that Holy Terror vibe.

CREEPOUT'S MYSPACE

CREEPOUT "MURDARIO STOMP/CREEPOUT" LIVE VIDEO


ETERNAL B is a band out of Tokyo with a really raw early MADBALL/AF mixed with BREAKDOWN feel. Lots of great artwork too... really mixes modern hip hop type stuff w/ traditional NYHC/skinhead imagery to create some great stuff. I was floored when I was given a copy of their LP. Their sound is really angry and raw. This is one of my favorite bands from Japan.

Eternal B's My Space

ETERNAL B LIVE




There are MANY other great bands from Japan. I only highlighted a few. There are bands that p;lay super heavy beatdown HC like DOMINATE and ROCKRIMAZ. There are other traditional sounding bands like GORILLA CROWZ, STILL YOU ALIVE, FACECARZ, LOYAL TO THE GRAVE and many many more bands which are working and playing hard buillding and supporting their scenes in their home towns. Please check out these bands as well as bands form other countries and continents. Like Raybeez sd "UNITED: WORLDWIDE!"

IVAN of UNFORGIVEN Interview

Ivan is a guy I met while he was touring with Dead Wrong. I was excited to hear his new project UNFORGIVEN. The Ep "LAST OF THE FEW" was solid. Their track on the Reaper Records "MERCY FOR NONE" 7" comp was def the stand-out track. Here are a few questions I asked Ivan for your enjoyment:

Assault: For starters, tell us about Unforgiven. Who's in the band? What past bands were they involved in?

Ivan: Unforgiven is Me, Ivan Murillo who sang for Dead Wrong, Jay Aust from With Honor/Ambitions/Hamartia on Guitar and Sean Martin on bass, who also plays in I Rise and the Risk Taken and Greg Thomas on guitar who has plays in the Risk taken and has played in Zombie Apocalypse and Shai Halud. We are in the midst of trying to find an edge drummer right now but Jon, who plays guitar in Crowns of kings and Joe from Pale Horse has been helping us out as of late.

Assault: So is the band a "Straight edge band"?

Ivan: Yes, wed like to keep it that way but if we dont find an edge drummer soon, that may have to fall by the wayside.

Assaalt: What are the main messages you hope to convey with your band? Lyrically, musically, and live?

Ivan: I think our lyrics convey everything from personal experiences to current events to things we find wrong with the scene. We run the gamut.

Assault: As far as the HC scene goes, what do you feel are major differences between 2009 and 1997?

Ivan: Well, the advent of filesharing, e-stores and the like have made being a HC kid in 2007 easier for sure and some of that definitely has its pluses and minuses. Im not gonna come out and say that "my time" was better because there is alot of good shit going on in 2009 and HC kids of today have there own preferences and stuff. Somethings have changed for better and for worse.

Assault: What was the 1st HC show you ever attended

Ivan: the first HC show I ever attended was in 1994 at the Tune Inn in New Haven Ct. Integrity headlined and I saw two awesome local bands Jasta 14 and Mindwar. I missed Integrity because my friends older brother who took us there said that had a penchant for no showing, so we wound up leaving early. At the time I was just a young buck who had no clue about what I was missing. Looking back on it now, I cant believe I missed a chance to see classic lineup Integrity! So close yet so far!

Assault: Connecticut seems to have a large group of people who loved/were influenced by Clevo HC. Why is that?

Ivan: Hmmmm thats a good question. I think we have impeccable taste in music haha who knows? I remember when Fear Tomorrow came out and was really doing the Integrity sounding stuff that it just kinda snowballed from there.

Assault: If you had to choose an restaurant to eat your final meal at, which restaurant would it be and what would you order?

Ivan: Wow thats a tuff one! Either Roy Rogers, the meal would be 2 roast beef sandwiches, a holster fry, a 3 piece chicken and a large coke. Or it would be at a good Italian restaurant like Tony Dinapolis in nyc and it would be a huge plate of raviolis and a coke.

Assault: Being from CT, and doing a release/being involved w/ Stillborn Records, you had an opportunity to be close to/watch the rise of Hatebreed from just another band on local shows to the biggest band on earth. Any good stories of early Hatebreed shows/dealings with the band/etc?

Ivan: Seeing the rise of Hatebreed from local heroes to International stars was very cool. As far as stories go, there is a great many to think of let me think. Well there was the time at the Webster Theater in Hartford ct in 1997 that they played a show with Earth Crisis and it erupted into a huge riot. The bouncers were being dicks and the kids and the band, Especially Boulder RIP, weren't having it. Next thing you know, total chaos. 10 cop cars out side of the club. The SDS chant from the Death Threat Last Dayz cd is taken from a video of that show. There was just so many Hatebreed gigs that would erupt into violence. It was a scary/fun/exciting time. There was also the time myself and Jay Reason were driving them to the airport to go on their 1st European tour and they missed the flights and wound up cancelling the tour. But before they cancelled they tried to make a run at going so myself, Jay Reason and the band and all there luggage crammed into Jay's Chevy Blazer and it was just dudes sprawled out everywhere. I remember Boulder was behind the wheel and in front it was Jamey with Jay pretty much sitting on his lap. Every time I get the picture in my head of that situation I cant help but laugh haha.

Assault:You recently got married and had none other than THE IRON SHIEK come to your bachelor party. What was it like to meet the Shiek? What kinda things did he do at the party?

Ivan: It was cool to meet the Iron Sheik. He told some stories and would curse out people on the phone for you if you asked him too. His handler was there with him and didnt let him get too ill, unfortunately. The best part was when Sheik was reading the raffle numbers. He would just repeat the number his handler told him to say and the way hed say the numbers......you really had to be there but it was a riot.

Assault: As far as current bands go, what bands do you feel are relevant bands at this point in time in HC?

Ivan: Id say some of the more well known bands like Blacklisted, Have Heart, Death Before Dishonor, Mongloids,Shipwreck, Mind Eraser and Cold World are all relevent and great. I think there is alot of bands that seem to slip under the radar because kids dont think they are cool enough like Living Hell, Fired Up,Crowns of Kings, Shoot To Kill and COA. Im not saying those bands are not popular because they definitely do good but there is no reason why they shouldnt be up there with the first bands mentioned.

Assault: If you had to choose your favorite "type" of pornography, what would it be? (ie: gang bangs/big tits/trannny/cumshot/etc etc)

Ivan: Hahaha great question! I like pretty standard shit. My prefrences are the more amateur low budge style shit. I dont need no storylines or production values ya know? I like pretty standard shit.

Assault: What would your wife say if she saw you say that?

Ivan: Hmmmmm I dont know. She would prob not be suprised. I mean Im a dude we all take a peek at porno every once in a while.

Assault: Amen. If you had to choose one CT band as your all time favorite which would it be?

Ivan: Id probably go with Hatebreed. The old Hatebreed shows are some of my fondest memories of Hardcore.

Assualt: If you could bring one historical figure to modern times via time machine (ala Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure), who would it be and what would you want to do with said person?

Ivan: That is a great question. I think I would bring back Ben Franklin and just have him tell me about all the shit he did. The guy was a jack of all trades.

Assault: You just met a kid who knows nothing at all about HC. What would be the 1st record you would give to them to introduce them to the world of HC

Ivan: I would give them Black Flag- Damaged. That was the 1st HC record I ever heard and to this day remains my favorite record ever. It is hard, angry and abrasive, which is everything good HC should be.

Assault: What do you think about the current state of Straight Edge? What has changed about it since you 1st became involved in it?

Ivan: I think the current state of Straight Edge isn't that great. But there are a lot of great edge bands doing there thing but it seems nowadays compared to when I was younger there are less Edge kids then there has ever been. I'm sure there will be an Edge resurgence at some point. Seems these things always go in cycles.

Assault: Dead Wrong is doing a show coming up. Dead Wrong's "Hellbomb" is a great early 2000's album. It is currently out of print and difficult to find. Any plans to re-release any of that Dead Wrong material?

Ivan: We would like to re-release it and there have been talks but its been put on hold for the time being. We actually planned on recording a couple new songs for the discog and we will probably do so if it ever happens. We are probably going to play a couple more shows as the year goes on too.

Assault: Is there anything else you'd like to say? Upcoming shows/releases/shout-outs/disses etc?

Ivan: Unforgiven has a new song on the Mercy For None comp that just dropped on Reaper Records. It has some great newer bands like Bad Seed, Brick, Alpha and Omega and Naysayer on it. Check that shit out if you can. Also everyone should check out Blackened, Crowns of Kings, Living Hell, Coldsnapct, Phantoms, The Risk Taken and Hostage Calm, who are all from CT if they havent already. Also, Feb 21 and 22 in Waterbury Ct we are having a benefit show for our friend Rob Lotzko who is serving some jailtime right now on a bullshit charge. It is going to be sick. Also wanna shout out to you and Crowd Deterrent and the whole SOSF family. No disses, I gotta keep my shit positive! PMA!

Check Out the following links:

UNFORGIVEN'S MYSPACE

DEAD WRONG'S MYSPACE

GRIZZLY

Saturday afternoons were made for trashy movies. When I was a kid I watched every Saturday and saw all kinds of horror movies from the 70's and 80's. One of the movies I remember vividly was GRIZZLY (1976). Not to be confused with NIGHT OF THE GRIZZLY (another Cable TV classic).

Grizzly was one of the many movies that were released following the success of JAWS. These horror movies featured monsters that were really just everyday animals. This genre is often called "Nature On The Rampage" or "Nature Run Amuck" or something like that. This genre was a fun one indeed. There were many other great movies like ALLIGATOR, PIRANHA, DAY OF THE ANIMALS, FROGS and many, many more.

The one thing about Grizzly that makes it great is that it is so over the top. The gore is decent for the time, but it is still so unbelievably fake that it is still fun. Most of the movie features attack by a fake bear arm that rips off limbs of it's victims, later scenes feature a real live action bear. In one scene a horse's head is even ripped off! And in a really low scene (even for a movie like this) an innocent little boy (who is playing w/ a bunny) is mauled and has his legs ripped off (ouch!). Usually little kids are at least spared... but not in grizzly! The saving grace I guess is they say that the kid lives (at least "part of him") but it was still pretty low considering. The end takes the cake as a park ranger shoots the 18ft tall bear with a bazooka which blows it up! Whoops! Guess I gave it away... but you probably wanna watch it even more now that you know there's a bazooka involved.

Here's the original trailer for the movie for you to watch if you've never seen this movie before. For those who have seen it, a trip down memory lane. Movies like this are still a great way to kill a boring afternoon. I can't wait till my son is old enough for me to share this junk with him just like my dad did for me. Enjoy!

LET'S GO TO THE RECORD STORE!

This last weekend I was in NW Indiana visiting in-laws for the Holidays and I took an hour drive into Chicago to go to Reckless Records. I always look forward to visiting Reckless Records because I always seem to find some gems and it's always worth the drive/time.

It reminds me of being a teenager and taking the trip to Cleveland or Pittsburgh (whenever we could find a ride) to go to the record store in the 90's. This used to be an epic event, one that I always looked forward to. I would take whatever $$$ I had and hope that I find something good. Usually we found some real gems, but sometimes we found little or bought some stuff that completely sucked but that was all part of the fun! If you found good records/CDs/cassettes then that hour + drive was well well worth it, if not at least you got to take a trip/hang with your friends. It seems funny, but finding CRUMBSUCKERS "Life Of Dreams" used on cassette was like hitting pay-dirt and was something that made your friends green with envy (I still have and listen to that cassette!).

I feel this experience is something that is all but missing form today's generation. With all the music available at the click of a button online why would today's generation want to waste that gas $$$ and take a trip to search for anything tangible? Gone are the days of having to trudge your way into the real world and do some digging/work to find out about new bands, or finding an old gem that you never thought you'd never find, or even better, taking a chance on something you had never heard of before and giving it a chance based upon the cover art, name of the band, or the record label it was released on. To me, that was always the most exciting and I found out about so many great bands this way. Sometimes I found greatness, other times I found garbage. But to me it was rewarding regardless because I had invested not only my money for the purchase price, but also money for gas as well as a good chunk of my time. Often I was torn between buying one release or the other because my finds would force me to choose. Would that CD still be there the next time I came back? It may be months... this may have been my only chance to find that rare record!

Another great joy at the record store was finding that gem before anyone else could and your friends would be so pissed. "You're dubbing me that on cassette!" they would say. Often, this would be your one and only chance to snag a rare record/CD/cassette. Amazon.com and Ebay didn't really exist yet, so finding an out of print copy of something you had been searching and searching for was really something to get excited about or in some cases, jealous!

Some of the record stores I liked most are the previously mentioned RECKLESS RECORDS in CHICAGO, CHRIS'S WARPED RECORDS in LAKEWOOD (also about a block down the street was B-WARE VIDEO the only all-Horror video store... RIP!), ULTRASOUND RECORDS in CLEVELAND, BRAVE NEW WORLD in PITTSBURGH, IDE'S in PITTSBURGH and KIND SOUND which was right here in YOUNGSTOWN and was open for about 2 years while we were still in High School, but while Kind Sound was open we all scored some great rceords! I got ONE LIFE CREW "CRIME RIDDEN SOCIETY" there and KILLING TIME "BRIGHTSIDE" LP (original) for $5! The label on it sd "NYHC FORM WHEN THAT MEANT SOMETHING". The guy knew what he had, and he wanted to make sure someone who would appreciate it got their hands on it. And someone did! I even saw shows @ Ultrasound Records. We were sad when that store closed. What a great place!

Today's HC education can be administered in the comfort of one's home over the course of an afternoon. You can find any of these releases online I am sure. But finding a real copy... at a steal of a price, that to me is much more satisfying. It's all about the hunt and knowing you invested your time and your money into something. To me that meant something. Don't be lazy. Take a trip out into the world and do some digging. Take some chances. Invest your time and your money into something and maybe it will mean something more to you. And just maybe you'll find something exciting and have a fun time with your friends!

Here are the items I got at Reckless this past weekend... all for $25 total! ICEMEN "re-issue 7"", UNDERTOW "At Both Ends", GUT INSTINCT "Discography", ENDEAVOR "Crazier Than A Shithouse rat", FARENHEIT 451 "If I Knew Then What I Know Now", and TAD "Infared Riding Hood"

HOLIDAY OF HATE

Last night we did our Holiday HC show @ Mr Roboto Project in Pittsburgh. it was just a small show w/ 4 local/regional bands: UNREAL CITY, ENEMY MIND, DEATHRIGHT and our band CROWD DETERRENT. Me and Rob decided this would be a free show for all and we paid the venue out of our own pockets.

We showed up and it looked bleak. When we showed up no one was there @ the advertised start time. Perhaps it was because the show was on a Sunday? Maybe it's because it was literally 5 degrees out? Maybe everyone was busy with Christmas stuff? An hour passed and Roboto began to fill up. By the time we started to play there was probably about 100 people in there and we were relieved.

All the bands killed it and everyone had a good time. People even drank the egg nog (and custard nog!) I set out and some adventurous souls even ate the awful fruit cakes. I got very sick to my stomach before show's end... thanks to an ill advised combination of egg nog and mosh. There was a nice crowd of diverse people who got to see some of the Pittsburgh area's best bands for free. I feel this area is growing stronger and we now have a crop of bands that are just as good as anywhere else in the country. I am pleased with how it turned out and would like to thank the people who came to the show and the bands who played for free.

Have a happy Holiday of Hate!

SATURDAY NIGHTMARES!

As a kid in the late 80's through the early 90's I eagerly awaited Saturday nights. I would camp out in the basement and sleep on the fold out couch and watch USA SATURDAY NIGHTMARES and then USA UP ALL NIGHT which ran till 5am or so showing some really trashy T & A movies. I saw some of the best (and worst) horror movies of all time and this sparked my life long love of horror movies.

I have posted the intros and some of the promos from USA SATURDAY NIGHTMARES below. I wish TV shows like this still existed where you could see movies like BASKET CASE, DAY OF THE DEAD, THE OUTING, DEMONOID, VICE ACADEMY, BIKINI CAR WASH COMPANY and much much more. They just don't show movies like that on TV anymore!

Check out the videos posted and enjoy! If you watched these shows this should be a trip down memory lane... if you are too young then please take the time to experience Cable TV when it was at it's finest! USA Network today should hang it's head in shame. All they show is Law & order and Monk... get that shit outta here! Bring back Saturday Nightmares and quality Cable TV!!!

FULL INTRO w/ "THE BROOD" PROMO

"HELLO MARY LOU: PROM NIGHT 2" PROMO from SATURDAY NIGHTMARES

USA "UP ALL NIGHT" BUMPERS

TRAPPED UNDER ICE INTERVIEW

Interview conducted via e-mail with TUI vocalist Justice. Questions in bold marked ASSAULT. Answers in plain text marked JUSTICE.

Trapped Under Ice is one of the few more recent bands that excite me. They have impressed me on all 3 of their 7" releases as well as the times I was lucky enough to see them live. They are one of the most relevant bands in HC today. I am no Dan Rather, so some of these interview questions are serious and some are not so serious and just for fun. Hope you have fun reading it!


ASSAULT - Tell us what TRAPPED UNDER ICE is for those who may be living under a rock.

JUSTICE - trapped under ice is a hardcore band consisting of 4 gentleman, including myself, from baltimore; and as of a few weeks ago, one gentleman who resides in richmond. together we take influence from what, to us, are the most entertaining aspects of punk rock and hardcore music, to write and perform hardcore our own music.

ASSAULT - You have toured the US and Europe extensively. What were the major differences regarding the US and European HC scenes? What were some of the better bands you saw/played with in Europe?

JUSTICE - as much difference as there is playing in europe, its crazy to see how similar hardcore is. however, they definitely do some things differently over there. they always feed the bands in europe. while in the US its a cool bonus, but rarely happens. i would also add that US hardcore shows can be a little more violent.. maybe? but i guess that all depends on where you go in the US.

ASSAULT - Do you feel that people in the US give proper respect to international HC bands like ones form Europe and Japan?

JUSTICE - I dont think they do. like almost at all. which sucks. europeans seem to be aware of a lot of music all over the world. definitely not the case here. people should definitely check out creepout and numb from japan. they are incredibly heavy. it seems that they have a good thing going on over there in tokyo, i cant wait to check it out. also, as far as europe goes, there is some hard shit coming from that way too - born from pain, cheap thrills, cold snap, knuckledust, ninebar, six foot ditch and way too many more to name. we just released a split 7" with a band called dirty money from london. they took us and LOJ on the road with them in europe and they're a great band. they'll be visiting much of the US with us, reign supreme, and full blown chaos in january.

ASSAULT - You recently did a bigger US tour w/ Terror and some other bands in a package. Were there differences in this tour form the ones you have done when you would just go out alone for a weekend or week?

JUSTICE - the line up was terror, death before dishonor, the warriors, and cdc. it was definitely a lot different on many levels. bigger stages, bigger audiences, a load in time that we actually had to adhere to!! that's some new shit that we werent use to. also, 2 months is a long time on the road. our equipment that we actually did bring broke in 2 weeks, and we would have been fucked but everyone looked out for us. but even with these large differences, one thing remains the same and that was the hardcore mentality that all the bands maintained. all the bands looked out for us in every way. this was our first big thing and we learned a lot, but if we weren't on tour with real hardcore bands we'd have been stuck in the dessert with no van, no equipment, no hope of playing any shows regardless.

ASSAULT - What was the best show on that tour?

JUSTICE - Honestly i would say cleveland was in the top 3. some, not all, of the cities we played before cleveland were a little rough and i kept telling everyone that it was going to change in ohio. i was definitely right. shit was madness. to add to it we have a lot of really good friends in ohio that made the experience that much better. i couldn't pick a single best show.

ASSAULT - What was the most memorable eating establishment you ate at on tour?

JUSTICE - Mikey hoods took us to this incredible spot. i wish i could recall the name. its funny because EVERYONE in california claims to know where the best burritos are, and they're typically wrong. mikey hoods was definitely correct. his spot ruled. otherwise, i mean, not that i need to tour to go there, but chipotle. thats my favorite. we eat there like 3-4 times a week on tour.

ASSAULT - Has anyone in the band ever shit or pissed their pants on tour? If not, any close calls? Graphic detail please.

JUSTICE - best questions. shit happens. i mean its happened on tour. ill have to save the details though!!

ASSAULT - What do you think is the most negative aspect of the current US HC scene?

JUSTICE - kids who dont get out of the house to actually experience hardcore. kids who pretend to be jaded because they think it makes them look cool, because they saw a cool guy on a messageboard and he was hating. must be what cool kids do, right? kids who talk shit on the internet all together. shitty promoters who bail on shows, or dont pay bands. fools that try to make some money for themself for not doing shit. closed minds

ASSAULT - What do you think is the most positive aspect of the current US HC scene?

JUSTICE - having a place to go and learn new things about the world and people. kids who use the internet as a way to promote true hardcore. good promoters, who book reliable gigs and take care of bands. people who contribute. open minds.

ASSAULT - What ONE band has had the most influence on you musically?

JUSTICE - crown of thornz. i think this is kind of an obvious one. its been my favorite band in the world for a decent amount of time now. consciously or not, a band that means that much to you will have a great influence on your music

ASSAULT - Baltimore is one of my favorite places to play/attend a show. For those who do not know, please tell us about the current HC scene in Baltimore MD.

JUSTICE - we've got a good thing going in baltimore. lots of diverse bands. solid venues. young new kids coming out as well as a lot of the guys who've been into it for a while. what i think is cool about baltimore is it seems to breed hardcore kids with open minds. kids will check out and show respect to any bands that are doing there thing. you'll see a lot of the same people at a stout show that you will see when ruiner plays.

ASSAULT - If you could go back in time and score with ANY chick in history, who would it be? Explain yourself!

JUSTICE - tough question. maybe marilyn monroe? she was such a babe. typical answer i guess.

ASSAULT - What do you hope people can take away form your music whether they are listening to your music or seeing your band live

JUSTICE - hardcore lives!

ASSAULT -What is the most difficult aspect of touring in an underground HC band?

JUSTICE - being broke as fuck and coming home to the reality that you're still broke as fuck.

ASSAULT - Do the current economic woes have an effect on your band?

JUSTICE - well obvious shit like gas prices and such. luckily gas has gone back down a bit. but definitely the economy effects each of us as individuals, and thats what we are. we're 5 individuals who, as long as we can afford to, come together to write music and play it everywhere possible.

ASSAULT - How do you feel about the current economic & political atmosphere in the US?

JUSTICE - sometimes i feel like i dont have a lot to look forward to in the future. just more obstables in between me and "normal" life. though, i could be ok with that. atleast at 22. not forever.

ASSAULT - If you had never discovered HC music, what do you think you'd be doing with your life right now?

JUSTICE - construction. id like to pretend i would have went to school, but i would have probably quit that regardless.

ASSAULT - What is your all time favorite breakfast cereal?

JUSTICE - lucky charms yo!

ASSAULT - What do you hope to accomplish with TUI in the future?

JUSTICE - one of our main goals when we started this band was to not limit ourselves musically, but take aspects from everything we like to branch out and spread the hardcore message. i dont mean playing pop and playing it off like were still a hardcore band; but having something for most everyone that could be attracted to hardcore music.

ASSAULT - Any last words/shout outs/etc? Say whatever you'd like

JUSTICE - shout out to reaper records, a389, dead and gone records. thanks to KM at rock vegas and mission merch for looking out since day 1. ohio has some of the best spots to play hardcore music in 2008. all my homies in richmond. computers are cool but give them keyboards a break every now and again, and give the mosh pit some special attention. and everyone keep an eye out for that new NAYSAYER shit.

Please be sure to check out TUI when they are on tour. Also be sure to pick up any/all of their releases. If you are into straight up/NYHC it will not disappoint. Baltimore HC has been pumping out some of the best bands in HC for some time... please do some digging to find any/all bands mentioned in this interview and all the others that may not have been mentioned!

LIVING BULLDOZER

I can remember being 16 and in a sea of people. Wearing my gardening gloves w/ an X on them in clothing that was ill-fitting at best. Weighing all 145 lbs (if that) just waiting. Waiting for the band to walk on stage. Waiting for them to hit that 1st note. Waiting to explode. As soon as the band hit that 1st chord, I was off along with many of my peers. We were pushing and shoving with all of our might like human bulldozers to clear out space.

Space for what?

Space to dance!

Once there was enough room to move around freely, it was time to do our hardest and most intimidating moves (or what at the time we thought was intimidating) to make sure that wall around the dance floor did not cave-in. If it did, it was time to put your back to the living wall, spread out your arms, and push backwards with all of your strength.

This is something I rarely see at shows nowadays. A decade or so ago, if you went to a Snapcase or Sick Of it All Show, these actions were the norm. Now the dancefloor is already cleared... usually all the way to the very back wall of the venue. There is no more circle to mosh in, and no more work to clear out said area. Now it is usually just a huge open space in which no one makes any contact... unless they are hitting the person standing 50 feet across the room from them backed up against a wall. Moshing has become much more violent in general which is the main reason for this.

Things will be how they will be, though. Times have just changed and there are kids today who will never really get to experiance what I have described above. I always enjoyed that rush when the band 1st came on stage, and the battle to be able to do your dance moves. There were many shows where I recall having conversations with my peers as to whether or not we'd be able to dance, and we'd all get together in the center to clear out a space before the band got on stage. Some shows, the crowd was mostly punk/metal types, or other outsiders, esp at larger shows. At this time, there were a lot of people who were still in the dark as to what HC was and what HC dancing was. Often the push-mosh would over-take the dancefloor (the push was your enemy), or the crowd would swallow-up any space to be able to move and all your hard work was swallowed-up.

Often, fights would occur, usually with one of the outsiders or someone not very well versed in the ethics of the dancefloor with it's arms being thrown and kicks being spun or the process of keeping the floor open. As I recall, most fights at shows were with/against outsiders, and usually not between people within the scene. Sometimes some kinda beef would emerge between regulars, but not often.

To be able to dance was often an effort which took many people, some of whom you knew well, others you did not, but you always at least recognized their framiliar faces, and real always recognized real, which put you on the same team with the same goal. The mosh today is easily had. The battle for the dancefloor no longer exists... for better, or worse. But I will never forget the rush of my years as being a Human Bulldozer and the friends I made in the process. Many of whom I probably would never have met otherwise.

Asian Invasion in Retrospect

It's been about 2 weeks now since our 16 friends went back home to Tokyo, Japan. If you read my previous blog, you know who and what I am talking about. From Thursday Oct 9th until the night of Monday October I spent countless hours (and well over 1000 miles) driving my old minivan (which was dragging on the ground in the back) along with many other friends who drove 16 Japanese friends from Cleveland, to Baltimore, to Pittsburgh, to Cleveland (again) back to Youngstown, and then to Cleveland (again).

Thursday Night (the 9th) we drove up to Cleveland Hopkins Airport where we picked up 11 Asians. We were excited to see our friends whom we had met before: Kunhide, Dr Feelgood, etc etc. Also just as exciting was meeting some new faces. After a short mishap with some missing luggage, we loaded up our cars (and I mean LOADED) and drove back to Youngstown. On the car ride back we talked and the language barrier (which was very difficult the 1st time) was much easier for everyone. We got home and everyone went to sleep. The next day would be a very long one...

Friday we loaded up and headed to Baltimore. It took about 6 hours and we arrived on time. The show's line-up was STOUT, TRAPPED UNDER ICE, CROWD DETERRENT, BACKHAND, CREEPOUT and NUMB. Our friends from Baltimore (Danny/Charles/Backhand) had picked up 5 more Asians at the Baltimore airport who would join our cavalcade of minorities and foreigners. The show's attendance was great. Numb set up and walked on stage. They started playing and everyone was eager to hear them... they played sloppy and shouted to the sound guy to fine-tune the sound in the monitors... after 2 sloppy songs and a lot of fine-tuning... Numb walked off stage, much to the confusion of everyone at the show. Was THAT their set??? No, it wasn't, because in Japan, hardcore shows are a much more professional ordeal than it is here in the US with bands doing a real rehearsal/sound check before the show. In American all you do is tap the mic and rip into your set. I ran back stage and told Senta "You have to go back out there! You only have like 15 minutes left for your set time!" they seemed a little confused since American shows are not run quite like Japanese shows but I got them ready to go back out and announced to everyone on the mic what had happened. Numb walked out and ripped into the intro to the Cro Mags "We Gotta Know" and then ripped through the rest of their set. This was my 1st time seeing them, as well as everyone at the show. Numb had never played in the US before, but they have been playing in Japan since 1995. They were incredibly hard and tight, people went off. it was refreshing to see people give such energy to a band they had never heard before... but I have to admit, it would be difficult not to be motivated to move for that band because they were really one of the more solid bands I have ever seen. Creepout got just as good of a response. People went off and sang along. STOUT and TRAPPPED UNDER ICE both killed it as well, the Japanese guys were very excited to get to see both of these bands in their hometown of Baltimore.

After the show we decided to drive about an hour towards Pittsburgh and find a place to crash... this didn't work out too well. Turns out that along rt 70 there were no hotels available because some wacky festivals or something were going on that weekend. So we just kept going to each exit, hoping to find some rooms. We all ended up getting separated and my van load crashed at 5am with 11 of us in 2 rooms. Rob's load of 10 people tried to cram into 1 room at a hotel across the street, but were kicked out in no less than 5 minutes. No one slept very well that night.

The next day we drove to Pittsburgh and all met-up at Pittburgh Mills Mall and then our friend Mike's house. We got to the show @ Roboto at 7:15. The show was supposed to start @ 7:00 and was way overbooked. We had to rush to get everything set up. UNREAL CITY, AMERICAN WEREWOLVES and STEEL NATION kicked off the show and were both A+. This show's turn-out was great as well. NUMB and CREEPOUT took the stage and blew everyone away for the 2nd night in a row. Roboto was wild and violent as usual, Senta from Numb commented on it being one of the most violent shows his band had ever played. We capped the night off by hanging out at the famed Wall across form the O at Pitt University. There were about 50 or so people hanging out eating pizza, and the cops decided to park their cars right on the sidewalk in front of us to make sure we didn't cause any trouble...

That night we drove back to Youngstown. The next day we hung out and grilled, and everyone relaxed. We took the Asians to WORK WEAR DEPOT where they had a field day. Dickies, Carhart, and the like are all very expensive in Japan (they told us Dickie's pants run $50 a pair!). They all loaded up on flannel shirts, Dickie's pants, and all manner of rugged American work wear. Later we loaded up and drove to Cleveland for the last show. The turnout was far better than expected (we thought this would be the dud of the 3 shows) and once again, NUMB and CREEPOUT blew the roof off the place.

The last day we took them to a hotel in Cleveland by the airport so they could grab a shuttle there in the morning when their flight left. Some of them cried tears as they said goodbye. Our journey was over. We were all sad to see them leave.

The weekend was refreshing. We gave all the $$$ we were paid for the shows to CREEPOUT and NUMB. Our goal was to bring their music to the US, and we succeeded. Releasing their songs, as well as bringing them here to play live was our goal, and both were accomplished. it was great to see people mosh and sing for NUMB, a band they had never heard of before seeing them. This is rare today, most people do not even give their energy for bands that release easily accessible records here in the US. It was a great display of the attitude and spirit that 1st got me into HC when I was a teen. People of all races, people from the other side of the earth, people in different states... all coming together to have a good time and support some strangers they had never met before.

I was greatful to see all my friends form there again, and meet new ones like Senta, Ill-T and the rest. I am glad Kunhide, Dr Feelgood, and the others got to meet my son Bruce. I wish Japan wasn't so very far away. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year!