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!
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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!
ting 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.
nly 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!
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.
