Onward - Survive Death

A couple of days ago Oslo City Straight Edge band Onward did a reunion show together with Supertouch.
Anyone who knows his classics, must agree that Onward was one of the few bands keeping the spirit of youth crew hardcore alive during the midnineties. Besides Mainstrike and Mouthpiece there weren't that many bands playing this kind of music and especially not many bands doing it as good as Onward. Check this clip and get the These Words Still Pray record.

Right Idea interview part 2 of 2

After talking with drummer Nate Hough-Snee overhere it's time to see what vocalist Jeff Hess has to say about Sportswear, potential friends, Straight Ahead and the Right Idea.

Soon you will embark on your first European tour? What are your expectations? What do you look forward to? Have you or other guys in the band already toured Europe before? What tips did other guys gave you who already toured Europe?

My only expectation is to meet people who can be potential friends, and catch up with some old friends I hardly get to see or have never seen at all but have written or emailed over the years. Would love for kids to have fun at our shows and stagedive if given the chance, but am just fortunate enuf to be able to reach out to new people through our music and words. I think I’ve gotten too much do’s and don’ts over the years about Europe but I’m just hoping I can take in as much of the experience as I can while I am over there. Would love for anyone to show us around their cities too, European history has always fascinated me.

You're releasing a new 7" and a discography both on Refuse. Why did you choose to work with that label again? Most bands who release a discography are on the verge of breaking up, is that also the case with Right Idea?

I just want to point out that like 2 years ago we recorded Straight Ahead’s unrecorded “Knockdown” and it is finally seeing the light of day. John did a pretty cool job with the solos in it. Still not sure if we should have released it, but def a great singalong song….if only more people knew it! Obv the lyrics change in that throughout SA’s live sets, but these are the lyrics Craig Ahead had and are closest to their live recorded Albany set. Also, we do have a new comp song coming out on Crucial Response records aside from all the stuff on Refuse.


Lots of bands nowadays are very around online with myspace, facebook, twitter etc. So far the only thing I can find from you guys is the blogspotpage. Are you just lazy, don't you care about the use of internet to promote the band?

I dunno if we all agree on the corporate entities thing as much as just walking our own path, but agree it lets the music speak more for itself than the list of friends or even the individual band members themselves through comments. We each have our own lives and views but when we come together to share some common beliefs on stage, that is what is represented in Right Idea.

I know you had Mainstrike over when they toured Europe. So what is your experience with eurobands. Which bands from here do you like, have you seen?

Let me say up front that I would be the first guy in line for a Sportswear reunion, easily one of my fave bands from that era…not many of the bands from the late 90s held up well over time but Sportswear is an exception. Hell I even wrote a piece for Look Beyond Fanzine (rip) that was based solely on their opening track choice for each release, silly yet awesome of me to do.

It was def cool hanging with Mainstrike, Jigs and Johan and Suzanne Reflections for a few days and I have some great/fond/hilarious memories from our time together but that could be a whole other entry.

I have liked many a band from Europe over the years, it doesn’t matter to me where a band is from, if they are good then they are good simple as that. Some standouts I guess for me would be obv Sportswear –all, Mainstrike, H-Street demo, the criminally underrated Abusive Action s/t, Insurance Risk for sure, Final Exit, True Blue, early World Collapse when they had the website with the piano music only and released like 1 song every two years ha, Tiebreak, Oil’s first 7” I used to play a lot and would chuckle as I looked at my record collection, Damage Control, Strength Alone, Onward, Reaching Forward tape, tons more. Some stuff didn’t hold up as well as others but Europe always seems to have a lot going on for themselves in the style of hardcore that I find myself continuously attracted to over the years.

More recent bands like Dead Stop, Common Cause, True Colors, early One Voice, Justice, Loud and Clear, Balance, Regulations, Times Together, early Restless Youth, BOAF, etc have all got fair amounts of play in my house or car.

Excited to play some shows with some newer bands from Europe too, always cool to hear a new band you like. Sorry if I carried on with this one, I can talk about this one for quite some time. I am a big fan of art too, Europe has had it’s fair share of great artists in the hardcore scene.

Right Idea plays straightforward oldstyled hardcore, does that also mean you'll only listen to old bands in the tourvan? What will be your toursoundtrack?

My playlist is all over the place. In the car now it’s a collection of all newer bands, but usually on a tour I prefer some comfort I can find in the older stuff. That can range from Turning Point to Carnivore, Altercation to the Abused, Breakdown to early Shelter, YOT to Cro Mags, Raw Deal to later Unity, Agnostic Front and Warzone to Toots and the Maytals, Confront to Gut Instinct, BOLD to Suicidal Tendencies, and on and on…oh and the Spits.

Straight Edge is it a foundation, a way of life, something that comes natural?

Honestly, I only know I’m straight edge these days by others telling me or talking about it in my day to day life. It’s been so long that I don’t know any other way and def don’t want anything else interfering with my ability to soak in everything that is the life around me, there are already enuf distractions. Some of my closest friends are far from edge and some even seem to be living life to the fullest so to each their own, but I’ve seen enuf misery and stagnancy to know that any other way than straight edge is not for me. Like the new song says, “my mind is FREE TO THINK!”.

Voice Of A Generation fanzine #3

Here it finally is. The third issue of Voice Of A Generation fanzine, comes as always with a great 7".

Let's talk about the zine first. Voice Of A Generation #3 features a lengthy interview with Abusive Action singer Rob. This is an interesting read as Rob is very clear about the history of Abusive Action and his current view on hardcore.

The zine also features an essay on Bold, two pages of record reviews and lots of great pictures of legendary bands.


The main reason for most people however to pick up this zine (as I don't think lots of people are still into reading zines) is the Abusive Action demo on 7". These songs were good then and still hold true today. Fast aggressive straight edge hardcore. Very straight forward.

Voice Of A Generation is made by Peter Hoeren, also known as the man behind Crucial Response Records so you know layout and all is of high quality.

The only negative thing I can say about issue 3 is that I would have liked more pages filled with photos and interviews. I heard issue 4 is in the works.

Oh here is some footage of Abusive Action doing a Judge cover:

The Defense - Statement - 7"

Let's go back in time somewhere in '97 I think when the Ieperfest was still an indoor festival in a old ramschackle shed. Youth Crew was still on it's way up and kids were eager to see Eyeball and Mainstrike perform.

During that festival I met a guy called David who was the singer for a Spanish band called Refraining. He visited us in smalltown Nieuwkuijk and accompanied us to the Guiding Line release show.

Fastforward to 2003. I was on a holiday in Barcelona and met up with David. Catching up on old times and talking about our current bands. (Afterlife for hime, Heartfelt for me)

Last year Crucial Response Records released Statement the new 7" of David's current band The Defense. It's great to see that almost fifteen years later Im not the only one who stuck to his opinions and favorite music to play. Just like Refraining and Afterlife The Defense is a melodic youth crew band with insightfull lyrics.

'Answers' the first track reminds me a bit of early Trial stuff where as ' The Process' and 'Hard To Find' are two solid youth crew songs. However ' EVP's' is the standout song on this 7". David really sings on this one and the music is one of the most melodic things the band has written. If you like Good Riddance you'll surely love this song as well. The 7" ends with ' Statement' which is a bold and strong song on still being straight edge and believing in choices made.

Though this 7" is pretty good I can't help but thinking that The Defense should concentrate even more on the Good Riddance sound of 'EVP's' because that is a sound in which they standout from most other bands in the genre.

As this is a Crucial Response ep you just know that layoutwise it's looking impressive as well. Nothing original, yet really good.

Myspace: The Defense

Commitment Crew - What Are You? - lp

I guess I don't have to tell you the swedish hc/punk scene is rocking with bands like Anchor, Stay Hungry as well as Masshysteri to name but a few. Commitment Crew is from the Goteborg scene and another prime example of good Swedish hardcore.

The band is an odd one on the Crucial Response roster which is mainly known for it's youth crew orientated bands. Like Insurance Risk Commitment Crew also take their influences from an earlier era in hardcore or should I say Oi!?
Because Commitment Crew sounds more like early Oi! influenced Agnostic Front with a burly singer whose voice at times reminds me of the guy from Brotherhood and on other songs of No For An Answer- era Dan O' Mahony.

With twelve solid songs on stupid television shows, having no goals and feeling alienated 'What Are You?' goes over fast, but the songs are divers enough to want to put the needle on the record once again. Especially since some songs are so damn catchy you automatically raise you fist and want to circle pit.

Another reason to get this record is the artwork by Henrik Skog, it really makes the record unique and reminds me of the classic early Underdog-s/t record. Instead this time it isn't a crowd of people around the corner but a bunch of moshing and diving creatures from hell.

Commitment Crew - What Are You just might be the surprise record of the year.

Commitment Crew

Insurance Risk - Violence In Our Minds - lp

I remember there used to be some controversy arround this Norewegian band. When they were scheduled to play in Tilburg some people were talking about a boycot, this was during the end of the nineties when the scene was still way more politcally correct than it seems to be nowadays.
The problem was Insurance Risk had a song called ' We don't care' with these lyrics:
'You take it up the butt
Suck it like candy
Think you're a man
You're a fucking sissu

Do we offend- we don't care

Friday night is here
You wanna get fucked
But you don't want no pussy
You wanna butt-fuck

Do we offend - we don't care!'

Here was this band in the middle of the youth crew revival playing tight as shit early Boston hardcore and with lyrics like this. Some people didn't understand how Crucial Response, the label that released ManLiftingBanner could also release Insurance Risk.

However the show went on without incidents and Insurance Risk turned out to be decent fellows. Fast forward three years and another Insurance Risk is released by at the time legendary MY WAR records, again full on Boston hc with simple lyrics that could have been on any early SSD or Project X record. Both 7" sold out pretty fast and were never repressed.

Fast forward to 2009. Crucial Response had all the songs remastered and releases both 7" on one lp. With a suitable layout and an explanation by drummer Ollie Anderson on the origins of Insurance Risk and why they wrote the controversial song. Looking back I'm amazed how good these songs actually sound. At the time I paid more attention to the controversy around the band than to the music itself. So it's great that Crucial Response made these songs available once again.