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.

Happy New Year and Stay Hungry

Let's start 2011 with an interview with one of the best European Straight Edge bands around at the moment: they're from Sweden, they're hard, they're hungry: Stay Hungry. Staffan Snitting was kind enough to answer some questions.



First of all how does it come that hardcore and punk are such strong scenes in Sweden. People all over the world know bands like Refused, Millencolin and Satanic Surfers. Right now there seems to be a whole new generation of good bands coming from your country like Atlas Losing Grip and yourselve.

First of all I have to say that I can't think of any other country in Europe that has the same level of quality and quantity when it comes to bands as Sweden at the moment. Finland is great as well right now but don't have as many bands. We most definitely have a large amount of bands that are amazing. Punk rock bands, fastcore bands, NYHC-type bands, crust bands, early 80s hc bands, straight edge bands... There is a lot of diversity and for some reason the quality is high all over the field right now. It's hard to say why, or at least I don't have an answer to that. Except for the fact that we have a lot of people in different cities that are working hard as hell to make it happen.

'Against The New Wall' is the new record. In my opinion it's more varied, melodic and a bit less fast. What do you think are the main differences between your debut and the new record?

Is it really not as fast? Hell, we should do a bpm check. Personally I am sort of a speed freak (I once walked into a tattoo studio in San Francisco to get "play fast" done on my knuckles, thankfully they had no open slots that day). There are surely some really fast songs on the first 12" but I think tracks like "Dedication", "Disgust" and "Ingen plikt" are just as fast. Out of the 14 tracks on the new LP, including the intro, 10 are one beat fast ones, that is OK in my book haha.

But to answer your question, I think the main difference is that the small metal influences on the 12" are gone with the wind. We actually stole riffs from black and death metal bands on that one and twisted them around a bit to make it sound HC. Nothing new, Slapshot has done the same. It might be true as you say that it's more varied, but we did work hard to make it a more genuine and focused hardcore record. In that process we scrapped a bunch of ideas and whole tracks that didn't fit in. It's more Floorpunch and less metal, I guess.


Am I right in thinking Against the Wall is also some kind of tribute to older bands I mean titles like 'Against The Wall' and ' Something Must Be Done' sure remind me of other bands. As well as your songstructures which have more in common with bands like Judge than a new band like Defeater.

The idea when we started the band was to do a fast one beat in your face straight edge band in the vein of Internal Affairs. I guess we are closer to that now than before actually. But yeah, there are loads of references to more or less old hardcore in the lyrics at least. Some more obvious than others. Uniform Choice, Minor Threat, Antidote, Battery, Youth of Today... I personally like stuff like that, such as when Skull Crusher used a line from Judge on their 12". As for the music, I think we just went in to do a fast hardcore record without pretentiousness or metal influences. "Against the wall" is what came out.


Are you the kind of older guys who tend to dwell in the past or are you as stoked on newer bands as well and if so which newer bands do you really love?

Nah man I wouldn't say so. Sure we all love the old stuff and most covers we have played are so to speak semi old (as in late 80s, Citizens Arrest, Chain of Strength, Project X etc) but we all follow new music quite a lot. I can't say I enjoy everything that comes out, but who can?

One of the things I have enjoyed a lot the latest couple of years is the new wave of straight edge bands in the US that have sought their way back to the roots of it all, to hardcore PUNK and all that comes with that both sound and attitude wise. I'm talking about Black SS, Blank Stare, Sick Fixx, Coke Bust, Poison Planet... Awesome stuff.


What is the Swedish song on the new record about and why did you decide to keep that one in Swedish.

"Ingen plikt" can be translated to "No duty" and is about people who consider drinking to be their personal business even though it makes them a part of a social problem in society. It's not meant to throw punches at alcoholics and people that have real problems that they need help with, but rather all the people that get pissed on weekends, glorify drinking and refuse to acknowledge that they're a part of the problem. We decided to do a short and really fast song in Swedish and I think it turned out really cool.

I think a lot more people recently got interested in your country since the popular books of Stieg Larsson as well as the whole story about the mystery sniper. Sweden doesn't seem to be the peacefull quiet country were all is good, which I imagined it would be growing up. So what is the situation in Sweden like at the moment? How is it to grow up there?

Well I recently sat down and discussed drug policy with the guys in Coke Bust, who are from Washington DC, and our opinions definitely clashed but we also realized that our perspectives vary due to our radically different environments. They spoke of a "murder rate" and I mean...

Sure people get murdered here as well, but nowhere near that level that they are used to. Anyway, this will be an answer that reflects my opinions since we all don't see things the same way in the band.

Sweden is still a very good country to live in. For sure. But like any other western country we have seen the public sector and welfare system being slaughtered the last three decades. It's a horrible and tragic development that escalated with the membership in the European Union in the 90s. The thing is that the Swedish working class has been completely defenseless against the attacks of the right wing, big business and so on.

Which is a bit ironic since our unions are famous for being large and strong with massive organization levels. The thing is though that it all rested on a system of class cooperation between labor and capital. And when capital ended their part of the cooperation, starting in the 70s and accelerating in the 90s, the main labor organizations just continued dwelling in the past. Absolutely no attempts whatsoever to counter the massive attack on all the things the workers had gained during half a century of positive development. These things take forever to build up and seconds to destroy.

I've witnesses this first hand as an auto worker in the Volvo factory in Gothenburg, where we had to battle both the company and the union sitting idle, silent and obedient in their lap. A couple of months ago the right wing government that has been sitting since 2006 got re-elected.

The political climate it so perverted that the conservative party campaigned as "the new worker's party" and such nonsense. Anyhow, long story, but all this has led to drastic widening of class differences and injustice, which in turn leads to social unrest of a spontaneous and unorganized fashion, especially in areas of the larger cities dominated by immigrants, who rightfully believe they have been left outside in the cold. This election also saw the entrance of a right wing populist party into the parliament, for the first time in Sweden really.

There was one party in the early 90s but it was a one time thing and they didn't pose a threat like these assholes are doing. Unfortunately some workers fall for their crap. I see co-workers sometimes with their party logo. It's very disheartening. But to sum up and return to your question, I think you need to look upon the recent shootings in Malmö through this perspective, even though I am quite sure the guy responsible is more of a looney than a political strategist.

Sweden is getting more and more segregated, the welfare state is dismantled, more social unrest is around the corner. My only hope is that the latter will take a positive form.


You were supposed to do a eurotour with Skull Crusher, why didn't that happen?

That cancellation was a pain in the ass to go through with. We were really looking forward to touring with Skull Crusher, their 12" is amazing. Basically, we had to make some tough decisions when Reflections pulled out of our LP. They were supposed to do the record but in the end had to face the fact that they had too much going on right now.

So all of a sudden we stood there with a recorded LP, a tour booked and no one to release the record. We decided to release it ourselves, which feels great, along with our friends Daniel from Green Menace Records and Dave from Get This Right Records.

Obviously it felt shitty not to have the LP on Reflections, as we truly felt at home there and Johan and Suzanne are just the greatest people alive more or less. But we decided not to whine about it, but rather make the best out of the situation. But with this new development we realized that it was highly unlikely that the LP would be out in time for the booked tour. And we just can't tour without the record being out. We have jobs and stuff and when we take days off, we need to choose the opportunity wisely. So we cancelled, and it turned out to be a good choice since the LPs arrived several weeks after the tour was due to start.


What's the story behind the new swehc website?

We originally started talking about doing an online blog where we could post articles from out of print issues of Law and Order zine, which I am involved in. Then my co-editor Fredrik (of Law And Order Records) started planning a (more or less) free sampler CD of many of the most interesting Swedish hc acts together with Daniel from Green Menace Records. These two ideas sort of merged in Fredrik's head and swehc.com is what came out of it.

It's mostly done by the three editors of Law and Order zine (except for me and Fredrik, there's also Marcus) but we are hoping to get help from more people. We will post news, short interviews, video clips etc that for most of the time have some sort of connection to Sweden and hardcore. Apart from Swedish bands it can also be foreign bands touring Sweden, old video clips that were filmed by Swedes and haven't been seen online before etc. It's a way to cover hardcore and support the Swedish scene that is meant to complement the zine, which is the main focus still, at least for me.

What are Stay Hungry's plans for 2011?

Well we just got the LPs last week and all the pre-orders have been shipped. We're also working hard booking a tour for April. We will do 16 shows. A lot of it is already booked but anyone interested in helping out can get in touch, we still have slots to fill. We are booking this tour by ourselves so our whole operation is pretty DIY now which feels cool. It's been totally mind blowing how helpful people have been so far. So the main focus now is to spread the word about the LP and finish booking the tour.

We also just added our friend Johan on guitar, so we are now a five piece. We have done two shows with him so far and having two guitar players is a big step forward for the band, without a doubt. I guess we will start looking at new material next year. We live in different cities so we have to sort of focus on whatever lies ahead and is the most important task. Right now that is obviously to get ready for the tour, new songs is kind of secondary I guess.

Abandon - The Death Of Urgency - cd/lp

The year is 2010. The early big three of Victory (Earth Crisis, Strife, Snapcase) are all doing shows again. Unbroken finally gets to play London. 108 breaks up again. It's like living in a time warp.

Enter Abandon a fairly new band from California who cover Morning Agains songs and release a record with a hooded guy with a backpack. Record opener 'Walls' could be a song from Unbroken's Life.Love.Regret. and the other songs breathe a similar nineties metallic hardcore feel.

That doesn't mean Abandon is your next Unbroken copy. If anything the band even reminds me more of Belgium heroes Kindred and the early stuff from Germany's Veil. Both bands I loved when they were around in the mid nineties. And I admit both bands at the time were also compared with Unbroken.

'The Death Of Urgency' is a solid hardcore record with a nineties feel, but with lyrics and music that are still relevant today.

Myspace: Abandon

Book on European Straight Edge -Update

"THE PAST THE PRESENT 1982-2007: A HISTORY OF 25 YEARS OF EUROPEAN STRAIGHT EDGE" BOOK (Marc Hanou, Jean- Paul Frijns)

"The Past The Present" vinyl also including the book "The Past The Present – a history of European Straight Edge 1982-2007". 108 pages, and over 250 photos documenting the straight edge scene in Europe.

Straight Edge is a powerful subculture of a subculture. Punkrockers that don’t smoke, don’t drink and don’t do drugs are the outcasts of the outcasts. By following a timeline from 1982 to 2007 the straight edge authors tell the narrative of the European straight edge with the oral history from those who were there and from those that are still there, the people that made and still make it happen. The particular development of the European straight edge is described by five Dutch bands, each representing a different era. Starting with Lärm’s Do It Yourself punk ethics the straight edge scene in Europe has developed itself towards political activism of all sorts with a strong emphasis on vegetarianism and veganism as Eye of Judgement shows. Capturing the immense energy of a vibrant and vivid scene, The Past The Present contains stories from entire Europe, from Sweden to Spain and from Portugal to Poland.

A document for anyone interested in hardcore or straight edge.

authors:

Marc Hanou (1967) discovered punk in 1981 at age 13 and saw Lärm play at age 14. He became straight edge in 1985 and vegetarian in 1986. He played in BTD, Betray, Dance Cleopatra, Longshot, Blackheads and in Twin Cities outfit In Defence. Currently he plays bass in Nixnieuwz and guitar in Birds Of A Feather. He had a straight edge radio show between 1988 and 1994 on radio Patapoe, Amsterdam, did Revelation Records Europe from 1990 to 1994, booked dozens of shows at the Dirk and the Maloe Melo, both in Amsterdam, and booked shows in Europe for dozens of bands as well, from Green Day to Born Against.

Jean-Paul Frijns (1973) heard punk for the first time on a new-wave compilation tape that someone made for him during the end of the 80’s. Skateboarding and magazines like Thrasher and Maximum Rock ‘n Roll got him more involved in punk and hardcore. It introduced him to straight edge and inspired him to start his own zine Value Of Strength, that is still around today. He organized the ‘Geleen Festival’ during the 90’s and booked shows in the southern part of the Netherlands. He interned as a graphic designer for Victory records and lived in Chicago where he picked up the bass guitar. Currently he plays bass for Birds Of A Feather and books the occasional show at the Maloe Melo.


also involved:

Andreas Gruter, Germany ("Vengeance" zine, worked for Crucial Response Records)
Atanasoski Vasko, Macedonia (F.P.O.)
Bart Griffioen, Holland (PROFOUND, COLT TURKEY, MANLIFTINGBANNER, DEADSTOOLPIGEON
Bruno Miguel Piairo Lopes Teixeira, Portugal (NEW WINDS, THESE HANDS ARE FISTS)
Bruno Pires, Portugal (NEW WINDS)
David Leon, Spain (AFTERLIFE, THE DEFENSE)
Fausto, Spain ("AHC" zine)
Hans Verbeke, Belgium (RISE ABOVE, BLINDFOLD, SHORTSIGHT, SPIRIT OF YOUTH, NATIONS ON FIRE, LIAR)
Inti Carboni, Italy (show promoter)
Jasper, Holland (A STEP APART, EYE OF JUDGEMENT)
Jennifer Ramme, Poland (Emancypunx Records)
Jeroen Vrijhoef, Holland (MAINSTRIKE, Coalition Records)
Jimmy Jensen, Denmark (STRUGGLE AGAINST)

Johan Prenger, Holland (Reflections Records)
Johnny van de Koolwijk, Holland (MAINSTRIKE, REACHING FORWARD, DOWNSLIDE)
Jos Houtveen, Holland (LARM, SEEIN' RED, STAATHAAT)
Jose Saxlund, Sweden (ABHINANDA, Desperate Fight Records)
Lord Bigma, Holland (MANLIFTINGBANNER, MAINSTRIKE, NO DENIAL, STRIKE FIRST, BIRDS OF A FEATHER)
Lucas van Heerikhuizen, Holland (EYE OF JUDGEMENT)
Mario Tucman, Croatia (VASELINE CHILDREN)

Marcus Erricson, Sweden (EYES SHUT, LAST HOPE, DAMAGE CONTROL, ANOTHER YEAR, ANCHOR, "Soulcity" zine)
Mark Schenk, Holland (EYE OF JUDGEMENT)
Michiel Bakker, Holland (PROFOUND, COLT TURKEY, MANLIFTINGBANNER)
Olav van de Berg, Holland (LARM, SEEIN' RED, PROFOUND, COLT TURKEY, MANLIFTINGBANNER)
Patryk Bugajski, Poland (SUNRISE, DAYMARES)
Paul van de Berg (LARM, SEEIN' RED, PROFOUND, COLT TURKEY, MANLIFTINGBANNER)
Ram, Denmark (artist)
Rat, UK (STATEMENT, UNBORN)
Ricardo Dias, Portugal (TIME X, DAY OF THE DEAD)
Rob Beekmans, Holland (ABUSIVE ACTION)
Robert Matusiak, Poland (Refuse Records)
Robert Voogt, Holland (Commitment Records)
Roel, Holland (EYE OF JUDGEMENT)
Willem Jan Kneepkens, Holland (INSULT, EYE OF JUDGEMENT)
Yann Boisleve, France ("International Straight-Edge Bulletin")

The book comes together with the vinyl version of Birds X Of A Feather, the Past the Present:

LP version of "The Past The Present" coming out in a gatefold w/ the book in a few pressing versions - check below for details. Pre-order version is hand numbered and available on brown vinyl and limited to 100 copies:

Birds Of A Feather LP first pressing info:

Test pressing: 25 copies, exclusive cover with different artwork, black vinyl, the book signed by the authors

Pre-Order version: 100 copies, brown vinyl, white labels stamped and numbered

Limited color version: 122 copies, orange vinyl

Regular 1st press version: 278 copies, brown vinyl

contact, ordering: refuserecords@​gmail.​com

Book on European Straight Edge

While a large part of the worldwide hardcore scene is still stoked about the Burning Fight book and shows another promising book seems to slip off the radar. The book on European Straight Edge written by BirdsXOf A Feather members Jean-Paul Frijns and Marc Hanou should come soon. I'm eager to read it (as well as the Burning Fight book).

Reflections Records

The fact that (what I think) one of the best hardcore labels has moved to my hometown Tilburg from Arnhem is awesome. (Though my wallet might think otherwise) So why did Reflections Records moved to Tilburg and what can we expect from the label in the near future? Time for labelboss Johan to fill me in. Now I know Johan for quite a long time. I remember Reflections Magazine being one of the first zines I read, and a major inspiration for me to start a zine myself. Which eventually led to a career in journalism. So let's have a word with the man in charge:

You've participated in some big hardcore festivals in Arnhem. Most Reflections band also played a show there? Can I expect the same thing happening in Tilburg?
That's something we will start working on in the future. Tilburg simply has a better climate for loud music and more opportunities than in Arnhem. The coming months we will try and participate with others to get more promotion for hardcore and punk in Tilburg and have more bands play here.

Besides the label you also have an online shop. Do you think you will become a competitor for recordshops in Tilburg?
The online shop is as important as the label. Still I don't think and don't hope we will be a competitor for recordshops. So far too many recordshops had to stop. As a musicfan and self-employed person I think it's a shame. Besides we are very underground and mostly sell vinyl.
The other side is that lots of recordshop owners complain about mailorders and say that internet has taken away their business. Personally I think that has more to do with illegal downloading.

Is doing a recordlabel still relevant these days?
I think it is and I hope it is. I know there are people who say you don't need recordlabels anymore. But a lot of people forget recordlabels have the network, ways of distribution and promotion to push a band to the next level and get more people into them. Labels can help bands get on tour and in touch with promoters. If a band joins a label like ours they immediately get more attention because we are kind of well known in the hardcorepunk scene.


How do you still manage to sell enough records despite all the illegal downloads?
The only thing you can do is release good records that look good as well. We sell enough records to keep our head above water and make the profit we need to release another record. Fact is that where three, four years ago we were able to sell twothousand cd's from one band, nowadays we often sell less than a thousand. Vinyl sales has increased the past few years and that makes up for a large part. But illegal downloads affects us as a label. That is certain.


Why did you move the label from Arnhem to Tilburg?
For a long time we wanted to get out of Arnhem. With the birth of our son Jules it would be more practical to have the label and mailorder in house once again. Tilburg was a logical choice as Suzanne (Johan's wife) got a new job here.

What can we expect from Reflections in the near future?
Though it is not made official yet we're going to release a record by a new US band called Worship. As well as a 12-inch by Stay Hungry from Sweden, they're over thirty and still all about straight edge. We're working on some new things with our sidelabel Monumentum and of course No Turning Back is still playing all over the world and will release some new stuff this year. We will continue for more years. Especially now with a new office in a new town I'm all inspired to do new things.

Best European straight edge band

I have this poll running on Twitter but thought it would be nice of other people could speak their mind as well:

Favourite Carry On records (according to Twitter)

Once again I used Twitter to come up with some sort of list of favourite Carry On records. Now this question was kind of hard on some people as not everyone seems to know exactly what Carry On has released.

1. A Life Less Plagued (2001, Bridge 9 Records) The most favourite record for a majority of people on Twitter. Also the record that put the band on the worldwide hardcore map. Though I love most of the songs on this one and admire the transition that Carry On made in their song and lyricwriting it's not my favourite record. I miss the positivism and youth crew sound of their earlier records.

2. Roll With The Punches (2000, Teamwork Records) Teamwork was known for putting out classics like Floorpunch and Atari. This Carry On record was another 'hit'. It's aggresive and straight edge. And easily one of the best 7" to come out after the youth crew revival. Cause the thing with Carry On is, they just missed that boat. Another thing about this record is the 'Fuck Your Politics' song and the flyer that came with it. At the time the hardcore scene was way more pc than now and Carry On made the daring stance to say they we're there for the fun, not for the debates. They were a bunch of guys who like hardcore, nothing more.

3. The Line Is Drawn (1999, Youngblood Records) My personal favourite. When I first heard it, I was blown away. To me Carry On were the new Insted. The same positive, Californian vibe. The artwork is awesome with all the live pics. I still regret selling the shirt that I ordered with the record.



A lot of people mentioned It's All Our Blood (2001) which is a collection of the Roll With The Punches and The Line Is Drawn 7" so I left those unaccounted for.

Not surprisingly no one mentioned the first Carry On record: Stabbed In The Face (1998) which is a very bad record from a band still finding it's sound.

My hearts is true to

Tomorrow: Promises Kept

Lyrics | Champion lyrics - Promises Kept lyrics

Lyric of the week: Trial - This Is Not A Trend

Staying with the lyrics about straight edge theme, Here is one by Trial. Since I discovered Wait In Vain I also went back to listen to my Trial records. Damn that band was good and had something to say. They plan on doing shows again this year and I hope to catch them live if only to singalong to this song.

Its so much more than just a slogan or a mark drawn on my hand
Not a market to be exploited or a fashion statement
Represented by a brand
It's a feeling and it can't be sold
And I'm bound by my word
To stay true to what I know to be real
Because no one else can tell me what it means to be Straight Edge
So don't ever try to purchase me or downplay what I feel
Because this commitment is not a passing phase
It's for myself that I've made this choice
It's for life that I embrace the edge
It comes from deep in my heart
I live to oppose their intoxication
My source of inspiration is threatened now by a false embrace
To be diluted and absorbed without a second chance
But standing defiant I won't let it end
So don't ever try to purchase me or downplay what I feel
Because this commitment is not a passing phase
Don't plan for me to sell out or expect to pull me down
These days will turn to years as you wait for us to fall
Because we will rise!
This is not a trend
Times will change but my spirit remains
Times will change but my feelings won't fade
Times will change but the spirit remains
Times will change but the truth is the same
This is not a trend.

Common Cause - The Power Change

I know this record is out for a while. Still I wasn't able to get it until I was at the TeenagexLust release show last weekend. Damn did I miss out on something. 'The Power To Change' is right up there with the releases of The First Step and True Colors.
Just awesome, inspiring, generic youth crew to singalong with and do some dancing on. Don't expect posthardcore influences, hatebreed mosh or gaslight anthem rock. Just classic '88 style hardcore. Something that isn't played too often anymore nowadays. Fans of the genre pick this up cause WE HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE!

Oh did I say the band features exmembers of Eyeball, Damage Control, Sportswear and Onward?

Myspace: Common Cause

Earth Crisis

I had the chance to interview Karl Buechner, singer of Earth Crisis, a couple of weeks ago when he was on tour with his other band. Though I was never the biggest fan of Earth Crisis I always appreciated their message and I must say the new record 'To The Death' is on high rotation at the moment.




So why did you decide to write a new record after doing some comeback shows?
We had an awesome response on our reunion shows. It felt so natural doing the band again and a new album seemed like a logical next step.

During the time Earth Crisis concluded we had Path Of Restistance to carry the straight edge vegan torch. With our other bands, Ragmen and Freya, we have been able to do and accomplish things Earth Crisis never did. Make videos, play other countries.

Now it seems to be a good point in time to use the technology and knowledge available to start Earth Crisis back up.


It also seemed like there weren't any other bands carrying the vegan message while Earth Crisis was away. Was that one of the reasons to start again?

I don't know if there weren't any vegan bands around. I do know that we're still all about the vegan straight edge and will always be about that.

There's a sample on the new record that states that drugdealers kill more people in the states everyday then Al Qaeda so far. Do you think the US government should spend more money on the war against drugs instead of the war against terror?

I think we need a people's uprising against the narcoterrorists. It happened in Columbia where a group of citizens called Los Pepes revolved against druglords and it worked there. The whole world needs to revolt against drugs.

I live in a quite liberal country. Do you think the Dutch system of legalization of soft-drugs is better than the system in the US?

It would be a good idea if drugs were legalized in one state of the US. Like in Nevada prostitution is legal. That way all the people who would like to indulge themselves in a lifestyle of drugs could go there. The government would be far better able to control things if it happened in one state and they would get rid of the illegal aspect.



The band recorded the new record themselves and had Tue Madsen do the mastering. Why?

We've always intended to do Earth Crisis again. So now the time came but we all live in different parts of the States. Fortunately some members have their own recording facilities so we send music back and forth till the record was done. Than the whole thing went to Tue because we thought he was the best man available to put a modern touch on our sound.

All of the bandmembers got older and some have children. Are they raised vegan as well?

All our children are vegan. But we never push them. The vegan diet is very healthy and we're straight forward with our kids. They are far more sensitive to the cruelty against animals so they choose themselves. It's never been a problem.

Are you proud of the legacy of Earth Crisis so far? Without a doubt your band is responsible for the fact that lots of hardcorekids went vegan.

I've seen a lot of changes over the years. For example vegan people from the hardcore scene make up the bulk of who runs Peta2. There are vegan bakeries and restaurants all over the US. People who became vegan through Earth Crisis started these businesses. Some of these people came up to me and actually told me so.

So yeah it's amazing to see how inspiring we were. I hope to be as much of an inspiration to a new generation of people.


Most bands with a straight edge message usually tune down their words or have members selling out. How come this never really happened with Earth Crisis?

I think in all the years we worked with Earth Crisis and Path Of Resistance it's a way of life for us. Straight edge and veganism never was an experiment it was a commitment from the start. It's in our blood.

Lyric of the week: Mouthpiece - Left Of You

Many straight edge bands write songs about people changing, and them staying the same. Most come out pretty generic. Somehow Mouthpiece's Left Of You does work, no matter how many times you hear it. Great song, great lyrics.

What it means, and what it meant, nothing's changed in me.
I look around, the faces change, few remain,
I guess to some it's nothing more than a song,
But not to me, so I move on.
I keep it all in my head, I take what's left,
Never forget, I never break.
There's so much more than you'll ever know.
This means more to me than you'll ever see,
Can't take it away, can't kill what's inside of me.
I'll take this with me till there's nothing left of me.
You can't turn this around, you can't keep me down,
And when you're gone, I'll move on, I will continue.
I am what's left of you

Lyric of the week: Earth Crisis

After interviewing Karl Buechner last sunday about the new Earth Crisis record entitled 'To The Death' which will be out in april, I dug back in the archives and started listening to the early ExC stuff up until 'Gomorrah Season Ends'. I must admit the band had some great lyrics on straight edge in the past. And they have again on the new record. More on that later. Now here's my lyric of this week.

From the core of my being comes this promise to myself
that I won't break my honor before all.
A one-way mission through life, I won't change my course.
There's far too much to experience and accomplish to waste a precious
second drunk or hazed. An effective revolutionairy through
the clarity of mind that I've attained. I see it all for what it
is as Gommorah's Season Ends in the grave.
So many have become demoralized that now a change must be forced or all will
perish in the lunacy once it befalls.
Parasites gnaw at the basis, their vulgar ways bring pointless ends.
Perpetuating the degeneration.
In this self is all I need with this oath that keeps me free.
To this I am forever true. I am straight edge.
I am straight edge. I am straight edge. I am straight edge

Mouthpiece - Can't Kill What's Inside

Finally the Mouthpiece discography has seen the light, and it's final resting place is Revelation Records.

If you're into youth crew/straight edge hardcore Mouthpiece definitely is one of the bands you should check out. They kept the flame burning when big shots Youth Of Today and Bold threw in their towels. In fact they were one of the few bands playing this sound when everyone went metal.

Still I have mixed feelings about this release. One the one hand the booklet looks amazing, and the songs are awesome. But that's the negative aspect of it as well. If you're into the band you probably already have most if not all of these songs. The three previously unreleased bonus tracks don't add much to that catalog as they are livesongs. The sound quality isn't all that and the third song is an instrumental outro entitled 'Massive Outro'.

I would have like to see more information in the booklet as well. Maybe liner notes on the songs or short interviews with the members. I mean a full list of all Mouthpiece shows is nice and all but they never played in Europe. And I don't want to be remembered about that.

The (International) Noise Conspiracy/ Refused

This interview was already published on Asice late last year. Since I did it and I kinda like how the whole thing turned out, I decided to republish it here. Refused were a big influence on me when I first started listening to hardcore so it was nice to talk with Dennis Lyxzen about his old and his current band.

So are you happy about the collapse of the economical system in the USA and worldwide. Because both Refused and The (I)NC always had an anti-capitalist stance? And aren’t you out of topics to sing about now that you were proven right?

Well, I’m not going to be all like ‘hey, I told you so’. And though the collapse proves me right, there’s nothing to be happy about. If anything it will make the situation worse for a whole lot of people who lose their jobs and their houses. I always thought the capitalist system would fail in the end because it’s not based on morals, it’s inhuman. Karl Marx already predicted it’s failing two hundred years ago. The worldwide crisis doesn’t solve anything I’m afraid. It will only set up a whole bunch of new problems. As a band we still have a lot of things to sings about I think.


What’s your opinion on Obama as the man who will save the USA and the world?

I think with Obama instead of curing the disease only a part of the disease is cured. I admit it’s interesting that a conservative nation chose a black person for president. And he’s more progressive than any of the presidents before him. But he’s still the president of The States. He’s not going to drastically organise social welfare. He’s not going to take power away from the big industries. Simply because he’s only one man.

The (I)NC has a lot of criticism on the United States. But who are you to judge another country? Wouldn’t it be better if you stick to problems in Sweden or is everything all right there?

Lately things in Sweden are very bad. The right wing is in control. As a band we have set up these sort of rock against… concerts in Sweden, so we’re active in our own country. We also walk in protests and stuff and when we play in Sweden I address local topics on stage. Yet as a band we try to reach as much people as possible. That is why we called the band the International Noise Conspiracy. During the year we spend our time all over the world. So the topics of our songs are international as well. It’s just easier for people anywhere to sing ‘Washington Bullets’ instead of ‘Bullets on Saab’ or ‘Bullets on Bofor’ the two biggest weapon industries in Sweden.

Refused had a clear straight edge and vegan message something that seems to be all gone in The (I)NC. Why?

Both Refused and The (I)NC are anarchist bands. But with Refused we were put in the vegan edge scene, that’s also where we started. We were way more political than a lot of those bands and the scene became narrow-minded over the years. We wanted to talk about other things besides veganism. That’s also one of the reasons why Refused broke up. We felt imprisoned in a way. With The (I)NC we’re not part of any scene. You see punk kids, hardcore kids, rock kids and political kids at our shows. That’s what we want. I’m still vegan though and as of lately I do address the meat industry once again. It keeps getting more clear that this industry is the biggest polluter of our planet. The biggest benefactor or global warming is the meat industry. But that’s not a topic many politicians want to touch.


Has Refused’s ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ become a burden for you as the record is seen as a milestone in hardcore whereas the records you’ve made with The (I)NC so far haven’t received that kind of recognition?


I still think it’s quite of ironic that the record we wrote as a big fuck off to the scene, is seen as a classic. But the record isn’t a burden. ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ made me see what I wanted next, which became The Noise Conspiracy. I also think that the records we make with The (I)NC are less easy to label therefore they won’t be seen as a milestone of any scene, because they don’t fit in a scene. When we started the Noise Conspiracy people tried to place us under garage rock, but we’re way too political for that. Now we’re just The Noise Conspiracy.

Have you never thought about spending the energy and time you now put in the band in a political career? You might achieve more doing that.

Oh no. Music got me into politics. Not the other way around. I could never be a politician. As a musician you can exaggerate on stage to set people in motion. As a politician you always have to make compromises. I’m not very good with that.

Some people say you’re full of words but lack on action.

Only idiots say things like that. In my opinion individuals all fight their political struggle in their own way. I choose to do it through the band. We play numerous of benefits every year. We support Swedish left wing groups. We are part of demonstrations and visit areas like Palestine to help out. However most of these things we do as individuals. We don’t brag about it, because it’s just what we want to do.

You said that music got you into politics. Which bands are responsible for that?

Before I learned about hardcore I found out about punk. Bands like The Clash and Dead Kennedys got me interested in left wing politics. But it wasn’t till I found out about Born Against and most importantly ManLiftingBanner that I really became more political myself. Especially ManLiftingBanner was a big influence to Refused, most people don’t seem to know that. But to hear of a European straight edge band with communist ideas, that was so inspiring to us. That really fuelled me and the other guys to do a band as well.

Lions Den - s/t cd

The water in Sweden must be polluted cause here's another great hardcore band coming from that country. Where Go For Broke and Balance fit in the youth crew box I love so much, Lions Den plays hardcore that usually is a bit out of my league.
We all know Terrors' Lowest Of The Low is a modern classic that influenced a lot of other bands. Most of these bands exaggerate the metal riffs though and end up as a fast but lame version of Hatbreed. Lions Den however mainly uses the anger and rage we all know from Terror and combine it with songstructures which could've been on early Blacklisted and Guns Up! records. This formula combined with a personal message pretty much sums up Lions Den.
The record sounds very hard and tends to get on my nerves because I like a little bit of melody every now and then between the fast riffs and moshparts. That said Lions Den proves one of the worthy successors to Terrors' thrown and is one fine more example that straight edge hardcore still lives.

Myspace: Lions Den
Label: Ugly and Proud Records

Straight Edge book club

I admit I love reading. And what's better than reading about your own culture: straight edge? So I have been a Shelfari member for a while now and I thought it would be time for a straight edge book club to talk about books like Radio Silence, Dance of Days and the upcoming book on 90's hardcore.

Please come and join me on Shelfari here and search for straight edge. Than add.

Broken Distance

Broken Distance is one of the newer bands keeping European straight edge alive. Singer Dave used to be in well known band Pointing Finger and also runs Take The Risk records. Reasons enough to ask the guy some questions.

You were a member of Pointing Finger and now sing in Broken Distance, do you consider this band to be more 'your band' because you sing? And was it always something you wanted to do, sing in band?

Yeah, I definitely feel this is more 'my band' because it kinda started off that way. I was doing PF at the time and I felt I wanted to do something different, still hardcore, but something more personal, where I would have more control over things.

I started this project called Get Lost, which was the first version of BD. Me and Bones, our drummer got together and wrote a couple of songs and recorded a demo. We played a few shows but then we decided we wanted to start everything all over again so as to finally try and do things right. So we changed the name and worked on the new songs a bit more and that's how the BD demo and 7" came to life more or less.

I was really used to just play guitar or bass in a band so at first it was kinda scary to just stand there with a mic in my hands with everyone just looking at me, but then it all just came naturally.


How did you get involved in hardcore and how have you seen the portugese scene change over the years. If I remember right from when I was in Portugal with Reaching Forward the scene was pretty political is that still the case?
That's not the case at all right now. When I first started to get involved in hardcore in 98/99 the scene was really politically influenced, I mean, almost everyone in the scene was straight edge and vegan. Bands all had political lyrics and used to talk a lot in between songs during their sets. There were loads of fanzines being published as well. I can say those were some pretty fun times.

I'm not going to say that right now the scene sucks and that it was so much better in the good ol' days. It's not the case. People change and the scene changes too. Most kids that were around in those days have moved on, some are still around but aren't that active anymore. But sure there are still a handful of kids out there passionate enough about hardcore and straight edge that still try and keep the spirit alive hehe!

Right now with the internet and myspace kids have everything available and that can be good and bad. The good thing is that they can get easily exposed to punk/hardcore but on the other hand it just makes it just another musical style they can get bored off after 6 months and can move on to the next trend. But I'm still hopeful the scene will keep on going strong.

What really bothers you about todays'scene and what are you really positive about?
It really bothers me the lack of interest kids have in records nowadays. They just download the records and that's it. We need to make record collecting cool again haha!


No but seriously, it sucks that most kids are just content with having tons of mp3s and not a single record to show for it. I still love to get a package and explore the whole thing religiously man. Putting the record on my turntable, looking at the kick ass photos on the sleeve, reading the lyrics. You can't replace that with mp3s man, never!

I'm still positive about a lot of things in the scene, there are always good bands commin' up and new releases, new shows, tours. It's all still exciting for me and helps me keep positive about the scene.


Pointing Finger received quite some recognition over the years. Now you have to build that all back up with this new band is that a challenge or a struggle. Did you learn from the time in Pointing Finger so you do things differently this time around and if so can you give some examples?

Yes, it sure is both a challenge and a struggle. With PF I was already used to touring and being pretty easy getting a show because kids more or less knew us either by name or from a previous tour, so it was really hard to do it with BD this time. But it's something your have to expect when you start something new. The first year of shows kids didn't really pay much attention to us and now we've been playing some really cool shows.

Of course there are things I learned from the mistakes made with my time in PF, like not have a 50 song discography heheheh!! I mean with PF we used to play everywhere and most of the times the money we got didn't cover the costs we had. With BD were being more selective when it comes to that. We no longer want to have to pay to play.

Also we're taking things slow with writing new songs. We used to almost write a song every practice with PF and we're not doing that with BD. But there are still things I wanna do with BD and I think the band still has a lot to offer.

The lyrics of Broken Distance are more personal than those of Pointing Finger is that your way of writing, the things you want to express or also because these type of lyrics fit better with the style of music you play?

I guess it's a little bit of both. Diogo wrote the lyrics in PF so I guess we have different styles of writing. It doesn't mean that what I wrote in BD couldn't be done with PF just because we played a different style. Just check out the last Battery LP. The sound is still the same and the lyrics are really personal and aren't the typical youth crew lyrics.

Those were just the things I wanted to write about at the time. I don't usually start out wanting to write about a specific topic. I just sit down and write what comes to my mind at the time. Sometimes I have a feeling about what I might want to express with a certain song that has a specific riff. But I don't think it's something pre-determined.

What are your futureplans with the band and the label?

Well we're still writing songs for our future release. We still haven't decided if it's going to be a LP or another 7". I think right now were starting to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to have something new coming out and that's not doing us any good.

I felt that sort of pressure before and that's one of the things that killed PF in the end, so we're just taking things slowly and we'll see what happens.

With the label we're going to release the Rat Attack CD early next year. That's the only release scheduled right now.

Myspace: Broken Distance
Take The Risk Records