This Routine Is Hell

They're Dutch, they're the kind of band most moshers will think way too fast and politcal. They should be the band everyone talks about on the Bridge 9 board. Their record is everything you look for in a hardcorerecord. They're This Routine Is Hell. After delevering one of the best records of the year and being featured in the NY Times, I thought it was time to send singer Noam some questions.

There’s a Paint It Black vibe all around the new record. Is that band a big influence on you?

Ever since the first demo people have compared us with Paint It Black. Musically and lyricswise Paint It Black has been an influence. Yet while writing the record we tried to get a sound of our own, in which I think we succeeded.
Paint It Black is an influence because their music is progressive but stays within the borders of hardcorepunk. They have the right attitude which combines aggression with intellect. This shows in the way the band goes about and is something we try to do as well.

Where does the name This Routine Is Hell come from?

It’s about the majority of people who live their lives without passion, always taking the easiest way. Never thinking about the consequences or the possibilities of their lives. It also represents the danger of how easy it is to live such a life.
We play in this band because we want to do something that goes beyond established paths. Creativity and constructivism to fill the routine’s void. Yet one can wonder if the current hardcorepunk scene with it’s myspace, facebook isn’t part of that establishment.

Even before your recordrelease show you offered it online as a free download.

During our talks with Shield Recordings, who released the vinyl, we told them we wanted to put the record online. We have always been a ‘try-before-you-buy’ band. And it is fair since we all have a lot of records on our iPods as well.
A lot of records are available online anyway. Doing it ourselves enables us to be sure that the quality is allright. This way we also were able to enclose the lyrics.
I don’t think it will reduce the sale of ‘The Velvet Crusade’ in the end.


What is the story behind the song ‘Tied Down’?

How easy and the amount of joy with which people choose to spend their days before the television, accept a life full of work and the total depression and passive society we’re all a part of.
Mass culture, mass production and mass entertainment make it possible to live a ‘great’ life without ever having to really try and make something special of it.
For me it was an important decision when I realized that I don’t want to become a part of it. I want to inspire myself and others to be special.


You just got back from Africa. What have you done there?

For two months I have worked in a remote area of Rwanda, trying to get local highschools connected to the internet. One of the goals of the project is to bridge the big communication gap between the big city and the rural areas. To school the youth and make them less depended on the agrarian culture.
It gave me a good view on their lives and made me think about the positive and the negative sides of development aid.
The song ‘Crooks & Robbers’ is about the IMF and the Worldbank passing out the wrong loans which don’t fit in the economical structure of third world countries. As a whole the western economical policy destroys more than it builds.

Myspace: This Routine Is Hell

Paint It Black 2009 Interview

I think aside from Anti-Flag Paint It Black is the band I have interviewed the most. Being really into their 'Amnesia' ep, I thought the time was right to speak to the band once again. So here it goes:

Releasing a 7” was new for this band. ‘Amnesia’ is out for a while do you see differences between the release of that one and previous full lengths. Or is releasing a 7”the same as releasing a full length.
Releasing a 7” was something different for us. We had been focusing on albums for so long we forgot what it was like to be able to write a song and have it recorded and released in a matter of months. So, the main differences are the rate at which we can release music, and the pacing of the records themselves.

Albums usually have a lot emotional nuance, they wax and wane in intensity and tone, but with 7” EP’s we have a choice of being relentless or being more subtle. I feel like “Amnesia,” the first 7” has lot of variation between pure hostility and melody, and builds up to a real emotional peak, but the “Surrender,” EP just pounds relentlessly from beginning to end.

Up until now Dan Yemin has mostly worked with Jade Tree records. So is releasing a 7”through Bridge Nine and Fat a whole new experience for you? Why didn’t you decide to release two 7” on Jade Tree instead. And why did you chose for Bridge 9 and Fat Wreck in particular?
We just focusing on 7” gave us an opportunity to see what it was like to work with other friends in the punk and hardcore community. Dan’s been putting records out with Jade Tree for 14 years, with our decision to express ourselves through a different format (the 7” EP), trying different working relationships also made sense. It’s been really interesting and a lot of fun working with Bridge Nine and Fat Wreck.



All the songs of the 7”we’re recorded at the same time, is their more material of the same session waiting to be released? Do you have new releases scheduled and if so will that be another 7”. In fact will Paint It Black ever do a full length again?
There’s no more material from this recording session, but we do plan on putting out more 7-inches in the future. I can’t reveal when or with who at this point. I would be happy to never release a full-length again, but I can’t predict what will happen in the future.

Is Paint It Black going to do a split-record in the future and if so which band would you all like to be on the other side.
I would love to do a split EP with Ceremony, but I think that they have a rule about not doing splits, so I can’t really say. I would do a split with Career Suicide if they were willing...

I have the feeling that the songs on ‘Surrender’ are your most experimental and hard ones yet. Do you see the band evolve more into that direction?
Paint It Black has always been a band that’s evolving in many directions at once. “Surrender” gets into some of the most furious music we’ve ever made. But remember, on the “Amnesia” EP the song that closed the record explores melodic territory that we’ve never explored before.

You went on tour in The Uk for a couple of weeks, why did you decide not to cross the sea and do a couple of shows in Europe as well? Do you have any idea when the band will be back on European soil.
We’re headed to the UK to play 12 shows. We’ve always wanted to do that, and we’ve been talking with Ceremony about it for months. Trying to get around Europe in the short periods of time that we’re available to tour can be really stressful, and we just wanted to focus on having fun with our friends and not dealing with crazy overnight drives. We’re grateful for the opportunities we’ve had to tour Europe, and for the hospitality we’ve received, but this time we’re just keeping it simple.


You guys did a tour with Propagandhi and are now going to do a tour with legends Naked Raygun is touring with such different bands a way for you guys to keep doing shows interesting and also your way to expose Paint It Black ‘fans’ to other bands that you think people should know about.
I know that punks aren’t supposed to have heroes, but I need to say it: both Naked Raygun and Propagandhi are heroes of ours and huge influences for us. Naked Raygun has always inluenced our music, and Propagandhi our politics.

We like to play with a wide variety of bands, instead of only playing with angry hardcore bands all the time. Paint It Black is an unusual band in that we never really fit in anywhere in any simple way, because we play hardcore punk that is both very belligerent and very melodic.

We can tour with Leatherface and Dead to Me one week, Ceremony and Sabretooth Zombie the next, but it all makes sense to us. I’m afraid it confuses people a lot of the time, but its the only way we’re comfortable being a band.

To answer the last part of your question: Naked Raygun is coming to our part of the country for the first time in 20 years! If we can expose people to this band that have never heard them before, that would be a privilege.

How hard is it to maintain both the band and keep your career/work going at the same time. And has there never been a time that you wanted to make Paint It Black a full time band. Or is doing the band the way you are doing it now one of the things that keeps you motivated and interested in doing the band.
Sometimes its really hard to balance the band with work, but the hardest thing to balance is band and family. It definitely takes a toll emotionally and physically. There are times when its really frustrating not to be able to spend more of the year touring, especially when we watch our friends doing it, but several of us have lived the constant touring life too when we were younger, and we’ve seen how much that changes your experience of making music, not always in a positive way. At this point, we’re grateful not to have to rely on our band to pay our rent.

Being around in the nineties, how do you look upon the whole revival of nineties hardcore, what was so good about those days that we seem to have lost right now. Or are things always better looking back and will one day someone also write about the heyday of hardcore 2009?
We’re not really interested in nostalgia. I’m not sure exactly what type of 90’s hardcore is being revived, but I’m afraid that it wouldn’t have anything to do with what we’re interested in.
If by “90’s hardcore” you mean Born Against, Rorschach, Heroin, Assfactor 4, Torches To Rome, or Deadguy than that might be really exciting. If by “90’s hardcore” you mean Outspoken and Chorus of Disapproval, than not so much. I would say that things are pretty good right now from a musical standpoint. The thing I miss the most about the 90’s is that people seemed to have more of a political sensibility.

Propagandhi:Supporting Caste interview

To be honest I admire Propagandhi more for their lyrics and the way they do things, than for their music. Still when the opportunity did arise to interview them on their new album 'Supporting Caste' I didn't hesitate. Bassman Todd Kowalski was kind enough to answer my not that great questions.



Why leave Fat and decide upon Smallman? Was it time for something different? So far how do things work out on a ‘smaller’ label well at least from a European perspective?
Yeah, we wanted to do something different. We are friends with everyone at Smallman and they are from our hometown of Winnipeg so we thought it would be a good idea. In Europe the record is on Hassle and Hotel Van Cleef which is run, in part, by our Friend Marcus who we've known for years and years. He's a great guy! It all seems to be working out well. Why ship our records all the way across the world and have them sold as imports? Now they are domestic releases. Our friend in china might even be releasing the cd.

As punkrock veterans do you keep up with new bands and if so which new and old bands do you like and are an inspiration?
I always keep up with a lot of new bands. I really love a lot of metal bands like Cynic, Immolation, Necrophagist, and Krisiun, I like some new punk bands but don't listen to them too much at home simply because some metal bands are scorching the earth right now! I Love old bands like Born Against, Manliftingbanner, Sticks and Stones, MDC, Voivod, Razor, Crucifucks, man I could list a million of them! I'm still into it all 100%.

First you released the news you would stop with the G7 label, now the new record is partly released by it. What happened? Why did you come back on that decision?
We flow like the mighty river! We never know which way it will turn. We just figured it would be another good G7 release. Why not? Ha ha.

Can you tell me where the song Supporting Caste is about. And if it is about the Indian caste system do you really think a song by a Canadian band will change anything about that?
The song is not specifically about the caste system in India although it includes that as well. there are tonnes of unwritten caste systems in every country and between many types of people. The song is really about all the people who through history will never have their story told or acknowledged even though they did profound or powerful things, or perhaps suffered immensely for Kings, generals, saviors, etc.. to have their place of esteem and glory in the history books. the supporting caste is the majority of people working hard and keeping the world afloat.

How do you avoid simply sloganeering punk rock criticism and also do something about the topics you discuss in your songs?
We avoid sloganeering by playing and writing from the heart. We just say what's truly on our minds. We don't try to be part of some made up "revolution" or something. We're just writing songs about our day to day experiences and things that move us the same as someone writing love songs or something. Our music is fast and heavy, when I hear these sounds it does not move me to write love lyrics in the typical sense. It is truly an outlet for our frustrations in the world. I know every metal band has said that since the dawn of time, but it's true. it's hard to live in and accept a world that seems so at odd with what we believe to be fair and just.


You’ve toured the US with Paint It Black recently. How was it to share the stage with a band that everyone sees as the best thing in hardcore since a while. How did the tour came about and did you guys have late night discussion with Dr.Dan?
We live in Canada and don't read music magazines or blogs so I was unaware that they were thought of like that by the masses before we went on tour. I can see why they are so highly regarded. They are a great band and great guys. Dan has great and thoughtful lyrics and always has something to say. I was trying not to talk to much on tour to save my voice but I did talk to Dan and he's a very, very nice and good guy. the tour came about by someone suggesting some bands. We checked them out and liked Paint It Black and thought they'd be good to have along. It was a good choice. I have only good things to say about them.

What excatlty has Bill Stevenson done in the studio that made you sound better than on previous records?
I think a lot of people don't know that Jason Livermore at the Blasting Room is the guy who also does a lot of tracking and almost all the mixing so he should get a lot of the credit. They are very meticulous with the playing and tuning down there . they work very very hard to make sure everything is on the right track. We were in there for hours. Then they work very, very hard on the mixing process. Jason was seriously in there for hours and hours, and hours at a time with no breaks. I couldn't believe it. I've never seen someone work so hard on a record in my whole life. He deserves a shitload of credit for his efforts.

Fast times at the Reflections sale

Reflections Sale 2008
Originally uploaded by xroldx

Reflections Records, one of the best hardcore labels around held their second annual house sale this weekend. Without thinking twice my wife and I put our kids in the car and drove up to the Reflections office in Arnhem to go through the boxes with records and shirts.

Little Jelle had a great time running around the place and playing with magnets, me and my wife had a good time catching up with Johan and Suzanne.

Of course I also 'needed' to buy some stuff. The Radio Silence book (great more on that later), the HostageCalm record and another Paint It Black eurotour shirt for only 5 euros. Johan gave me the latest Trash Talk record for free as well.

I'm already looking forward for the next sale!


Go here for some more pics of the Reflections office.

Bruises everywhere: Paint It Black redux

Paint It Black, ZXZW, 20-9-08
Originally uploaded by xroldx

If one thing this weekend has made it once again clear that nothing gives me more energy than good music. I prefer a great show over all the energy drinks out there.
The weekend kicked off with State Of Affairs playing a show on this two day mainstream festival in a big park in Breda. Though circumstances were very different and I felt akward on stage we did pretty well. Some punks came to me afterwards and tell me how much they liked it. It's always weird playing hardcore for a crowd that doesn't know about Minor Threat or Youth of Today, but I think we got the message across anyhow.

Than it was back in the train to Tilburg to see Paint It Black, with Dan on vocals. The band also played as part of this big underground festival (ZXZW) with over 275 bands, so I was uncertain of the crowdreaction. After taking some pics on my mobile I went upfront and quickly things got going a bit with Frankie Deny (from Heartfelt and Cracks In The Wall) doing weird moves and runs, some stagedives and lots of singalongs. My throat is still sore and I've bruises everywhere. The show was one rush, at least for me.

I didn't plan to go and do much on sunday. That was until Sjarm 13 (formerly Modern Life Is War) dropped by to see our new girl. He was going to see The Real Danger at ZXZW. Since the weather was good I put my son Jelle in the buggy and walked together with Sjarm and his girl to the venue. On arrival more and more people showed up and Jelle had a great time running in and out of the venue. Climbing on benches and whatnot. So I stayed till The Real Danger started. I guess Jelle likes punkrock cause he didn't want to leave. He was crying for a while on the way home.


That night when the kids were asleep I went into the centre one last time. C'mon it's not everyday you have the opportunity to watch a legendary punkband for free in your own city. So I went out to see Wire. Though I find some of their records pretty boring, their liveset was great. It's always inspirational to see really oldschool punks still making music and still playing tight. They didn't play 12xu but the other songs didn't disappoint me.

Next year I'm going to try and see more of the ZXZW fest. This time I missed out on Trash Talk, Blacklisted, Vogue, Sick Mormons and more.


Click here for more pictures of Wire, Paint It Black and State Of Affairs.

Paint It Black replaces singer

Paint It Black - Arnhem - 12-09-08
Originally uploaded by xroldx

So I was looking forward to seeing Paint It Black again for a long time. You bet I was dissapointed past friday when I found out Dan Yemin wouldn't be singing.
Apparently Paint It Blacks guitarplayer was so smart to wash his passport and wasn't allowed to leave the country. So Dan had to play guitar and this dutch guy Nico (from the Hunger) was found to do the vocals, the new unit only had time for one rehearsel. Still Nico did a pretty good job, considering how difficult the lyrics and songlines of Paint It Black are. Nico also went with the band to Sweden to do another show, the guitarplayer however should be in Europe right now, getting back on tour, which means Dan will be back on the mic. I hope to see that myself when they visit my hometown next week.


You can read Dan Yemin's account of what happened here.


Oh besides Paint It Black, Trash Talk played as well. I've never seen that band before but damn they blow everything away. Somehow it reminded me of the first time American Nightmare played in Europe. Citizens Patrol was also on the bill and did a great job as ever. Our own set didn't go as good as I think we can be. It was sloppy but people seemed to like it fair enough.


Click here for more pictures of this show.

The New Lexicon according to Dan Yemin

Yes, I should have posted this one ages ago. But I didn't. Still it's here now for you all to enjoy. A short interview by mail with one of hardcores' nicest and smartest Mr. Dan Yemin.

-New Lexicon is the first PIB record on three labels, why did you chose to release it on Reflections and Rivalry as well and why these labels?
We were really excited to have a label represent us in Europe, and who better to do the job than Reflections? Johan and Suzanne are already friends of ours, and I’ve been following their work since the days of Reflections Fanzine. They’re great people, & they’re also serious old-school punks, which is important to us, and I trust them to do a great job. It’s great to work with people that have similar histories and reference points as us. We’re really proud of this record and we want people to know about it. “New Lexicon” will definitely get the attention it deserves in Europe with Reflections promoting it. As far as vinyl goes, Jade Tree (our U.S. label) is no longer really committed to doing vinyl and keeping it in print, and we had the freedom to work with another label as far as vinyl goes. We chose Rivalry because I like a lot of the music they’ve been putting out lately. I met the guys who run the label a couple of years ago and was impressed with their taste and their work ethic.

-The record release shows were sold out and it seems to me that PIB is gaining quite a following during the years, do you notice that as well that more and more people get into the band.
It does seem that the longer we keep at this, the more attention we get. At first I think people had a difficult time appreciating us because we don’t fit neatly into a stereotyped genre of hardcore. It seemed as if a lot of the hardcore kids thought we were too melodic and didn’t have enough “brutal breakdowns,” and a lot of the punks thought we were too hardcore. I’ve been stuck in that position before with my previous bands, and I think that if you’re persistent, develop your own identity, and aren’t afraid to take risks, your band will earn loyalty with a larger group of people.




- New Lexicon was the first record without Dave on drums, with whom you have been in bands for a long time, is it different working on a new record without him. Did getting Jared in the band change the way songs evolve and the sound of PIB. If so in what way?
Of course, it’s a different experience writing and recording with a different person. We also have Josh in the band playing guitar, which makes a huge difference. We worked a lot harder and with considerably greater focus on this record. In the past we were unable to get people to commit enough time to really work on arranging songs creatively, and that was always really frustrating. This time around we spent so much time exploring dynamics and tightening up as a band and making sure we hadn’t taken any short cuts in the arranging process. It was really liberating and I felt that the band was so much better prepared when we got to the studio. This album was much more of a collaboration, as opposed to how we worked in the past, when I basically wrote and arranged everything and told everybody what to play. The drumming is also pretty insane. Jared came up with some amazing stuff.

-What exactly did Oktupus do on the record, who is he and why did you ask him to collaborate?
Oktopus is the person responsible for crafting the beats for the indie hip-hop powerhouse Dalek. He does all their production, mixing, and recording, and if you’ve never listened to them, you really need to. Their albums are on Ipecac, Mike Patton’s label, and they sound really dense and apocalyptic. The best way to describe their music is a combination of Public Enemy’s kinetics, Swans droning low-end, and My Bloody Valentine layering and texture. I just really wanted to bring a different perspective to the recording process, and Oktupus also has a history in Punk and hardcore as well. We thought it was appropriate for the songs to combine something familiar with something that involved taking more of a risk, so we recorded the basic tracks with J. Robbins at his studio in Baltimore, and then brought them to Oktopus’ studio for post-production and mixing. We know J. really well and have recorded with him before, but handing the music over to Oktopus was an act of faith, because we had no idea what would come out of it. He added layers of sounds and samples and atmosphere, and sub-filters as well, so that at certain points it sounds as if your speakers are straining to keep up with the bass frequencies. Almost everything he did was built out of samples of our source tracks, modulated and chopped and looped. There are also some found sounds and field recordings, again modified, distorted, filtered. Most hardcore records sound heavy because there are 6 guitar tracks on it. “New Lexicon” is heavy because the bass is in the forefront, and because there are layers of other sounds that are mixed in the background and that complement the guitar, bass, and drums.

-Is PIB your way of venting anger, cause there's a lot of frustration there in the lyrics? Does the band work as a catharsis?
There is an element of catharsis to my role in the band, and so there is an avenue for me to vent a lot of frustration, fear, regret, resentment, and anger. But more importantly, it’s a way for me to access hope. At the end of the day our music is about hope.

-Are there plans for a new eurotour and if so when and with which bands would you like to come over?
We will be over in Europe some time in the summer of 2008. My dream would be to play with Ceremony, from California, and Deny Everything from Germany. My dreams don’t come true that often unfortunately.

-How do you find the time to do PIB, Lifetime and be a psychologist. Do you still have time to spend with friends and family?
I feel like it’s a delicate act of balance sometimes. Family and friends come first, and then after that, my psychology practice and my bands are equally important in terms of time and commitment.

-Has signing the Fall Out Boy-label made you rich or was that deal as good as the deals you have with Jade Tree and not so spectacularly different and is Lifetime ever coming to Europe again?
We didn’t get any money from Decaydance or Fueled by Ramen. It’s the same deal as with Jade Tree. There was just a larger budget for recording and promotion. I can’t really say whether Lifetime will make it to Europe. Everyone in Lifetime except for myself has children at home, and its very difficult for some of us to take time off from work.

-Somewhere I read the main theme on Paradise was your divorce. Is there an undergoing theme on New Lexicon and if so what is it?
My divorce was one of the main themes on “Paradise” in addition to the illegal U.S. war in Iraq. This time around I’m exploring the idea of faith, and how it can be a source of transcendence but also a tool of oppression. I’m also looking at some of the same issues as on the first two records: my stroke, my divorce, the war, growing up without selling out, and just sort of asking the question, “how do I integrate these traumatic events into my life and my identity two years down the road?” I’ve become accustomed to having had a cerebral vascular accident at the age of 33 and feeling like my head is a ticking time bomb, and taking medication that puts me at risk for a whole series of other life-threatening problems, but sometimes I’m still so fucking scared that all I can do is get the fuck outside and run and scream and cry, and at those times I feel pretty crazy, and pretty fragile, but also relieved that I can feel everything so intensely. The same sort of thing happens with other experiences of loss, but its not as intense because they’re not such life-and-death issues. Also, the war and the political/economic situation here still gets me so angry that I feel like breaking things.

-The whole world is following the US elections, which candidate is your favourite and why.
I like Barak Obama, because he’s smart, and although he’s somewhat less experienced, he doesn’t have that same slippery air about him that the more seasoned politicians have. Clinton has a wealth of experience, but I don’t entirely trust her. Although any the fast-talking centrist snakes in the democratic party would be better than the best of the devils in the republican party.