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That you should be aware of

My Top 10 Records of 2008

In alphabetical order

Blacklisted- "Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God"
Ceremony- "Still Nothing Moves You"
Cold World- "Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First"
Cruel Hand- "Prying Eyes"
Extortion- "Sick"
Lone Wolf- "Hallucinogenic Fate"
Nick Cave & Bad Seeds- "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!"
Santogold- "Santogold"
Terror- "The Damned, The Shamed"
Trapped Under Ice- "Stay Cold"

This is the first time ive tried doing a top 10, and now i know why, its too fucking hard, here are some that just missed the cut.

Bitter End- "S/T 7"
Coldplay- "Viva La Vida"
The Cure- "4.13 Dream" (This is one of my xmas presents, it may just make the top 10)
Down To Nothing- "DTN/50L Split"
Fucked Up- "The Chemistry Of Modern Life"
Have Heart- "Songs To Scream At The Sun"
Internal Affairs- "Guilty Til Proven Innocent"
Kings Of Leon- "Only By The Night"
Nails- "Obscene Humanity" (Its not out yet so this will be on my 09 list)
Rhythmm To The Madness "Weltschmerz"
The Smiths- The Sound of The Smiths"
Violation- "Devoured"
White Male Dumbinance- "Forced Vengeance"
50 Lions- "DTN/50L Split"

When i started compiling this list i was hard pressed to think of many records that actually came out in 08, but looking at that list it wasent a bad year at all.
Iam looking forward to 09, new records by Moz, Rise And Fall, Nails and iam sure a whole fucking bunch more that ive forgotten.

Random Thoughts

People still havent got back to me with their "Checking In With... 's" and i dont have any time to do some fresh 5q's, so here are some random thoughts.

-Gorilla Biscuits tour was awesome. It was great to meet and tour with dudes from Gorilla Biscuits, Youth Of Today, Project X, Civ, Quicksand, Side By Side, Schism Zine, Token Entry, Underdog, Warzone, etc. Some fat fuck dived directly onto my head at the first Arthouse show though and i fucked my neck/back. Take note people, DONT stage dive onto ONE person when they are not looking! Especially if you weigh over 100kg's!

-Singing "Dance Floor Justice" most nights was pretty fucking crazy, 2 of those dudes were actually in PX, thats just weird.

-I dont get people (Billo!) that say they "didn't get" GB, whats not to get? What should i expect from people that like a band like Ruiner though?

-As cool as it was to be back touring i realised that its not the life for me anymore, waiting around for 7 other people all day everyday is not my idea of fun.

-Parkway Drive are the biggest HARDCORE (yep) band in the world. I love them, they are fucking killing it and the dvd is going to be awesome.

-New 50 Lions sounds awesome, 09 is going to be their year, fuck "bringing back the mosh".

-Hardcore in Australia is looking good, although some of the older bands have either broken up or are not doing that much, there are a bunch of new bands in every state that are coming up and are going to be the next bands in Australia to make some noise.

Here is my list for those interested.

Perth- Blkout!, Bridge The Gap

Adelaide- Infection, Cant Relate

Melbourne- Iron Mind, Ire

Sydney- Persist, Ill Brigade, Had It, Smash

Newy- White Male Duminance, The Hollow

Brisbane- Vaules Here

-NAILS is going to blow people the fuck away

-IA in Australia, its happening

-Iam going to see Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 3 days before my wedding in Adelaide, i love when things like that work out.

-Iam getting married in January

-"Personal" blogs fucking suck, no one gives a fuck what you had for lunch or what shoes you are wearing, stop wasting space on the www.

- Why are guys dressing more and more like girls? Cut off tight jean shorts dont look good, and neither do those gay little fucking slip on boat shoes you are wearing.

- While iam at it, whats up with all the fucking flannel shirts at shows? This is not the 90's and we are not in Seattle, and you sure as fuck arent a lumberjack, take those stupid fucking things off!

- Ill leave you with a photo of my brother(from another mother) Peter Bursky, mediatating high in the forrest somewhere in Vietnam. I love you Pete.

SMASH

Fuck it, i've done it again.

After not being in a band for less than 2 weeks, i've started another one already.

I think i have problems.

Add us

SMASH

The song up was recorded in 2007 and appeared on the AHC Compilation, for those playing at home thats Pete (the other one) and Jiggsy singing when the first verse repeats.

Demo coming soon.

Hold Your Ground

Ill be on the GB Australian tour starting this Sunday.

2 shows have been added, another show at the Arty on Saturday the 12th and a show at Hermann's (yep, crazy right) in Sydney on Monday the 15th.

If you haven't got tickets yet, get them now.

Iam pretty fucking siked.

Checking In With ... Corey Williams

Yo Corey I.A. checkin in....

Life is a mess at the moment yet it is still so good. I have never been so broke and homeless yet I still find ways to smile at the end of the day.

With the passing of Internal Affairs I have put my energy towards a new band, Absolute Madness. I actually play guitar this time around cuz I'm so fuckin tired of the microphone. I teamed up with So Cal's number 1 asshole in the pit Alex Vaz. He will be on the mic and treating kids like they are punching bags. He is the guy with all the rings that either shattered your jaw or knocked you the fuck out. Also have Manu Midget from Holier Than Thou on guitar, Nick Trujillo from Snake Eyes and Donnybrook! on bass and Face from Life and Death on drums. AM is a crossover hardcore band influenced heavily by mid '80's venice style hardcore. We have a song on the Reaper Records Comp "Mercy For None" that will be out around the end of the year. Demo songs to be expected around the same time.

Back to Internal Affairs. Yes its true we are breaking up and thats that. Last show will be in So Cal at the end of February, details will be on our myspace. There is a time and place for some bands and I believe that our time has past. We appreciate all the support and requests not to break up but its best to end on a good note. I would hate to have to call it quits cuz we were a joke. Fuck we might be and I just don't know it yet hahaha.

Thats about it at the moment. I'll be seeing my Australian friends at the beginning of the year and all my east coast friends at the end of January. Can't wait!!!

C Madness signing off...

Cruel Hand - Prying Eyes

Wow, take note people, this is what hardcore should sound like.

Sure there is going to be comparisons to Ill Blood era No Warning, but fuck it, this is great.

Life In Shambles is a fucking ripper, but every other song is not far behind it.

5 q's or a checking in with ... Nate their guitarist up soon.

Go buy this record!

The End (for real)

It sucks, but one of my favourite bands in hardcore right now, Bad Blood, had to pull out of our last show. A young band who is turning heads, The Hollow has replaced them, iam looking forward to checking them out for the first time live, the demo rips.

And in other news, my good friend Martin Stewart from one of the realest (again, is that a word?) hardcore bands to ever exist, Terror, designed this sweet shirt for us.

There will only be very limited numbers of these and they will ONLY be available at the show.

Checking In With ... Sam Trapkin

Checking in today we have Sam Trapkin guitarist from alot of people's (including me) favourite current core band Trapped Under Ice.







Yo! So we've been home for about a month now after a very busy summer. Everyone's been readjusting to living at home, back to work and everything... Justice is keeping the venue of Sonar as secure as possible, Ben's interpreting heart monitor readings, Klipa is making that bankroll at Andy Nelson's BBQ (where does it all go?....oh yeah, beer & weed), I'm doing freelance design work right now, and yo...we got a new bass player. Richmond VA's Jared Carmen, certified bass ripper/professional diver from Down to Nothing joined about 2 weeks ago. We've played 4 shows with him since we've been home and it's been awesome. He can shred and is a lot of fun on the road.



We've played about 5 shows since the end of September, and gotten to play with some awesome bands including Numb (from Japan), Creepout (from Japan), Stout, Terror, RazorBlade HandGrenade, Face the Panic, On Broken Wings, Rhinoceros, Crowd Deterrent, Backhand, Gaining Ground, Backtrack, and Suburban Scum to name a few. We've also been real busy writing. We're working on songs for an LP that we're hoping to have out sometime around April of 2009. We have a good amount written now, and are hoping to record early next year. Everyone has been contributing to the songwriting and riffing out non-stop. We'll be putting it out with Reaper Records. Patrick Kitzel has always held us down and we're all very happy to be working with him and the Reaper team.



Future Plans:November 28,29,30- Weekend with Forfeit/Mongoloids to NJ/Boston/CTDecember 12,13,14- Weekend to VA/TN/NC January- US tour with Dirty Money, Reign Supreme, and Full Blown ChaosFebruary- hopefully recordSpring/Summer 2009- tour to promote LP



Thanks to everyone that has helped us/continues to. We're all looking forward to getting back on the road next year and putting out some new shit. And thanks Pete! this blog rules.

Russ Rankin (Only Crime, Good Riddance)

1- Firstly, how stoked are you that Obama got in? What do you think this means for your country?

I didn't vote for him (I'm a registered Green Party member) but I am happy that he won. My big problem is with our entire election process and the fact that we don't have a free press in the U.S.

2- Good Riddance was a band for good on 14 years, you guys did alot, what are some of the ups and downs that come to mind when you think of the band. And what do you think of a couple bands around right now (not mentioning any names) that sound pretty much exactly like GR, but are playing stadiums and getting played on commercial radio?

There were tons of highs and lows - we were so unprepared for what we became and the work it took and the toll on our personal lives. It was, however, a tremendous opportunity and a rewarding experience that I'm sure enriched all of our lives in various ways. As for bands who "sound" exactly like us who are playing stadiums I really haven't heard any.

3- Only Crime, 2 records down and a whole heap of tours, hows it all going? Do you ever look back at the drums when your playing live and think, "fuck, iam in a band with Bill Stevenson"!?

Only Crime is slowly gathering new material for or 3rd album and will be touring Europe in Jan/Feb 2009 with No Use For A Name. And yes, I have caught myself doing that many, many times.

4-What not many people may know about you is that you are proudly straightedge and vegan, which i always think is fucking cool when an "older" (sorry, haha) dude sticks to his beliefs, in a scene that is filled with people that change trends with the wind. Have you ever x'd up? and what band, if any, prompted or helped in your decision to go straightedge?

Haha... I used to X up all the time when I was going to the hardcore matinees at Gilman Street in the late 1980's. I'd go see bands like Rabid Lassie, Unit Pride, Hard Stance, No For An Answer, Insted, Youth of Today, Bold and countless others and I'd X up and then wake p the next morning with big X's on my face from sleeping on my hands.

5- Coffee or ice hockey, if you had to pick one, as in you were never allowed the other as long as you lived, which one would it be, and why?

Hockey because it is the greatest thing ever GO DEVILS!!!!!

Straight Edge Revenge!

Fuck yes.

Checking In With ... David Foster

I wanted to let the awesomeness(is that a word? it is now) of Sweet Pete's i/v sink in for a few days, but iam excited on some new ideas and couldn't sit on this.

I am going to introduce a new segment to this blog (fuck i hate that fucking word) called "Checking In With ...". Basically what ill be doing is checking in with friends from around the globe whether they be on tour, in the studio, at home, on holidays (vacation for you American fucks), etc, etc, and seeing what they are up too.

Iam excited about it and i think it will be cool.

So to kick things off we have David Foster, guitarist in Blacklisted.

Here Goes

We are over halfway into the Have Heart,Ceremony,Blacklisted,Let Down _U.S takeover. Tonight while in the middle of a 20 hour drive from Seattle to Denver we found out that Barack Obama has been elected into the office as President. This is a major historical event for a number of reasons. Pretty exciting day for America. The tour thus far has been a major success on all realms, getting to see some of the best bands in modern hardcore nightly. As Pat Flynn of Have Heart stated, its almost like a buffet of modern hardcore. I'm not sure if I wouldve phrased that the same way, but the point was understood. We played a few great california gigs at the famous chain reaction and gilman st. The first was on halloween. Let Down had some great,creative costumes, I had my good friend Slash guitar tech-ing for me, even though he was later found wasted in the dressing room, and Have Heart came out as the Blue Man group, full bald wigs painted blue. Toast from ceremony was charles manson. The next night at gilman was a riot, capped by Davey Havok of afi doing project x's straight edge revenge with ceremony. Tour has been fun so far and should continue. We have chicago's convicted joining us soon, then get back to the east coast. Life is good. No complaints apart from the van's new found oil leak. PEACE!

Sweet Pete (In My Eyes, Boston Straight Edge)

1- Ok, In My Eyes, you guys did what not many hardcore bands can pull off, skipping the EP format and going straight from doing a Demo to an LP(The Difference Between), which ended up being one of, if not the best core records of the 90's. Was this a conscious decision, and a firm belief and confidence in what you guys were doing? or was it just that you had enough songs and thought lets do it?

I am glad you asked this. We wanted to do a 7” first, but Revelation asked us to do an LP as the 7” format is hard to make money back on. We were a little hesitant to do an LP as we did not have enough songs, but we got talked into re-recording some of the demo songs for the LP. In hindsight I wish we did not redo those demo songs as I feel they’re much better on the demo than on The Difference Between. The one thing I hate the most is my voice on the version of ‘This is Our Time’ on the redone version on the LP. That was the last song we recorded vocals for and it was 3am and I had been singing all day. I really just wanted to go home and do that song later, but we had to have it done that night, so I just said “Hit record and I’ll do it in one take and that’s that.” If your readers do not know or have not recorded, you usually do ‘punch ins’ on vocals that do not sound right or you actually do a few lines at a time and then take a break and do more so that you do not have to just belt out an entire song at a time. I was so tired and wanting to go home that I just did that song all at once in one take and did not even listen to it as I just went home. When I heard the vocals I was pretty upset with how weak they sound, but it was my own fault for being stubborn/tired and wanting to go home.

2- I remember when "Nothing To Hide" came out, hearing stories of a backlash of sorts from kids in the states saying that "the mosh parts" were gone and that it was a "rock" record. Is there any truth to that?

Nothing to Hide is a 100% Straight Edge HARDCORE record. People can have their opinion on if there is enough MOSH or if it is ROCK, and that does not bother me. We (IME) set out to write a record that we liked and would listen to. We did not set out to write a ‘rock’ record or let’s lose the mosh. We just ended up with songs that we liked and put it out there with no expectations. We knew it sounded a little different than our other stuff, but we never thought it was so far off that people would say it was not a hardcore record. We heard a little here and there about it being too melodic, too little mosh and whatnot, but it was 95% positive response we got for the LP in reviews and live when we played the songs. To this day it is almost split 50/50 between people telling me that The Difference Between is better than Nothing to Hide and vice-versa. Mostly people tell me that they love both LPs, but they like ___ one better. I am happy with everything IME put out and I can say it was always Straight Edge Hardcore no matter if it’s the demo, TDB or NTH.

3- Looking back at the legacy that In My Eyes has left are you 100% happy with everything that you achieved? Are there any regrets? and would you do another band again? or is it true what you told me that you would never do another band again because nothing would be as good as your time in IME?

I am 100% satisfied with what IME did. Could we have done more? Sure. Could we have done another record? Sure. Do I have any regrets that we did not? No. We started out 5 friends playing straight edge hardcore and ended 5 friends playing straight edge hardcore. We toured as much as we could, made some good (subjective) music, met a lot of cool kids all over and I made friendships that last until this day. Kids still email me, talk to me at shows about IME and I see IME shirts being worn all over the world. That blows me away and the kids have no idea how happy that makes me. I am not jaded like “Oh, that little band I did 10 years ago *yawn*” I will talk about IME to any kid that wants to as it was a big part of my life and one I am proud of. There are still tour stories from IME that to this day I can think back about and laugh or enjoy retelling to anyone who wants to hear. I still talk to all the guys from IME from time to time and we are still friends to this day. That is the most important thing. As far as doing another band that is pretty much out of the question. I loved doing IME and think I did and said what I wanted in a band and now it is time to go back to just being a kid at shows. I was into HC for over 10 years before IME started and it is coming up on almost 10 years since IME broke up that I am still involved in HC. I just really have no desire to be back on stage. I never really miss it as being in a HC band is not like being a rock star, so I get the same feeling of being at a show as I did on stage. Singing along in the crowd or stage diving is the same to me as being on stage with a mic in hand. I love touring and have been touring the world since IME broke up with bands like Mental and Have Heart. I have toured more since IME broke up than I did when we were around. I love going around the world and meeting hardcore kids as we all share a special bond that can not be described to the outside world.

4- Have Heart, the younger generation of Boston Straight Edge keeping the flame alive. When you’re on tour or just at a show with those guys do you feel like a father figure? haha or just another one of the guys?

I just feel like one of the guys. They never treat me any different or like an elder. I not only tour with those guys, but they are some of my best friends and I hang out with them in Boston all the time too. I may be way older than them, but when we hang out it is not different than peers hanging out. Have Heart are not only a great band, but great kids too and for anyone who may wonder if they live up to what they portray in their music, I can 100% tell you they do and then some. They are some of the most sincere and genuine kids I have ever met in hardcore. I can’t say enough good things about this band and what they have done for Boston hardcore and straight edge hardcore in general.

5- You’re an older guy(sorry, haha), but you are still siked on the edge and core, what keeps you involved in this crazy thing that is the hardcore scene? and how long can you see yourself at shows stage diving?

Hardcore was and is my family. I feel in love with hardcore at a very young age and growing up without a dad and then having my mom die when I was in my teens it made me turn to this alternative family that was the punk/hardcore community. I still get the feeling inside seeing a good band play today that I did when I first went to shows in ’83 and ’84. As far as straight edge is concerned I just see what drugs and alcohol does to people and I want no part of that in my life. I have no problem with people doing what they want, but being drug and booze free just works for me. I was into hardcore for a few years with the message of straight edge around me before I really thought about it and decided it was for me and the way I wanted to live my life forever. How long do I see myself stage diving? Hmm….well, I hope forever. Shit, I will be 40 in January and don’t see myself ever stopping going to shows or stage diving. Hell, I had a kidney transplant in 2006 and my doctor told me that I should not skate or have any hard contact (sports) for a few years. I was skating and stage diving again 3 months later. It was to the point where Pat from Have Heart and Sean from Verse took me aside and were like “Dude, we know you love to stage dive, we just don’t want to see you die at one of our shows” You can’t keep me from stage diving for 2 years. Fuck that! I’d rather die at a show doing a dive than sit around and feel the music inside and not get that release of diving. Most people think I don’t mosh anymore and sure, I am not on the floor as much as I used to be, but if you catch me in the right mood I can and will hit the floor. I have pretty good cardio and can mosh a whole set for a band if the mood is right.

XXX

I'am an Artist

So, last night i did my first tattoo.

I think this is the beginning of big things for me in the industry, but you be the judge from the finished product picture. (more pics up one day)

Luke "Crew" Dolan (White Male Duminance, The Dead Walk, Life Love Regret, Arms Reach, X-Claim, Pitfall)

1- NCHC, as in Newcastle Hardcore, not the other one, haha,you were there from the very beginning. How awesome was it to be a part of something that you and your friends created and watched grow? What were some of the bands that you first think of when you think NCHC? And also what were some of the questions that a very young straightedge youth crew you and Chippa asked Ian Mackaye when he came through Newcastle with Fugazi?

When I first started going to shows in 93' there were no hardcore bands in Newcastle, let alone a "scene". I mean there were bands that had HC influences and a few older guys that collected records and stuff, but the closest thing we had to HC were melodic punk bands like No Reason and Big Men Fly, or thrash metal bands like Angry Earth Mutha. It was a really small and tight knit underground scene, where these bands would play with grunge bands, ska bands, or garage rock type bands, simply because there weren't enough people to splinter off into different scenes. Me and Chippa would go to these shows and dream of doing a straight up HC band, something really in your face and unapologetically HARDcore. We didn't want to fit in with the long hairs and pseudo rock gods, we wanted to emmulate our idols Minor Threat and Youth Of Today! Occasionally bands from Sydney like Minute Minder and Toe To Toe would play Newie and we got to be mates with a couple of the guys in Minute Minder. We would jump up and sing Side By Side covers and stuff with them which inspired us to start jamming with a few skater mates from school. That band became what I consider the first ever NCHC band, Disengage. Originally it was going to be me and Chippa on dual vocals but I got booted out before the first show haha. Anyway Disengage started playing and me, Craig Edge, and a couple of my other mates from school would go to shows X'd up, heads shaved & moshing like lunatics haha. The older punk crowd didn't know what to make of it but we didn't give a fuck and it slowly started to catch on with the younger crew. New bands started forming like Pitfall, Shutdown, Anomie and Nihilst and a true hardcore scene emerged when we started to put on our own shows, make up our own demo tapes, do our own zines etc. It's fucking rad to look back on it now and have people acknowledge that we started something, a self sufficient HC scene that's been going strong for almost 15 years now. As for what we asked Ian Mackaye when Fugazi played Newcastle in 93', well the photos on the White Male Dumbinance myspace say it all... how could we ask him anything with a mouthful of his nuts??? hahaha

2- Pitfall was def one of my favourite bands as a kid, and Ben from Parkway still has his signed Pitfall shirt, haha.What does that band mean to you now thinking back on it? And how awesome was that last show at the Black Box? My leg almost fucking snapped in 2 when the biggest dog piles occurred directly on top of me! haha

Pitfall will always mean a lot to me as it was my first band and I had been busting my balls to sing in a band since day one. I'll never forget how stoked I was when Rod Pack told me they kicked out their old singer and asked me to do it after a Poison Bruno gig in which I jumped up and sang their GB "Hold Your Ground" cover. The first show I did with Pitfall was at the Hunter On Hunter with maybe 25 people there haha but I wouldn't have cared if there was 2 people there, that first night I sang with my own band it was a dream come true... and I've been an addict ever since. I'm proud of what Pitfall did in terms of putting NCHC on the map Australia wide and we were also one of the first bands to have outspokenly straight edge lyrics in a time long before SXE was remotely cool or trendy. The last show was actually at Hardcore Superbowl 97' at the Iron Duke in Sydney and the Black Box show was a reunion maybe a year or two later? Anyway yeah the Black Box show was off the hook with kids traveling from all over just to jump on top of each other and heckle my crooning during "Torn Between" haha.

3- Whilst in Arms Reach you became quite politically correct, haha, even saying some things in zines that got you into a little hot water. Do you look back now and think what was i so wound up about? Or is it just one of those things that happen when you are growing up and doing bands?

The first 2 years or so of Arms Reach was great, we had so much fun and managed to find a balance between politics and balls out hardcore without shoving our views down peoples throats. The last year of that band is difficult for me to recollect because somewhere along the way I lost my fucking mind and became a self righteous cunt haha. I think what happened is hardcore became an unhealthy obsession for me, I mean I had nothing else going on in my life and the band became a vehicle for my growing closed mindedness and blind ego. I had this distorted view that you could talk shit about your friends bands and make fun of them but at the end of the day everyone would still be cool and want to hang out with each other haha. I mean yeah part of it is just growing up and trying to figure your own shit out and I think I expressed that in songs like "Seasons For Growth" but then you have songs like "Run For Your Fucking Life" what the fuck is that about? haha. I'm in two minds about that era, part of me is still that shit stirring, arrogant cunt which can be healthy in such an arse kissing, non threatening environment that is hardcore today but you have to have the tact and wisdom to pick worthy adversaries if you're gonna choose that path, not just being a prick for the sake of it which is just boring and lame.

4- Life Love Regret was fucking intense, everyone knows what the band was about, and the first few shows i saw you were fucking INTENSE, but do you think due to the lyrical content the band had an expiry date from the start? Also,The Dead Walk has now finished up after a solid 4 years as a band, what are some highlights from both bands?

LLR definitely had a pre-determined shelf life and unfortunately we stuck around a little past our use by date haha. In truth I could've quit the band after the first few shows and been completely satisfied as nothing could match the intensity and validity of the first few shows we played. LLR was like the closure of a fucked up chapter in my life (that incidentally started in the later AR days) and the highlight of that band would easily be the first show we played at Hornsby PCYC. To be singing those lyrics for the first time in front of an audience was such an incredible emotional and spiritual release I remember being on such a high that I couldn't sleep that night. The Dead Walk! was a long overdue fuck you to all the prolonged self pity, indulgence, and inner band turmoil of later day LLR and was all about bringing it back full circle to embrace and celebrate fun, simple hardcore. The culmination of this was definitely the tour we did with Ringworm and Mindsnare which was basically a bunch of old fuckers playing hard and partying harder every fucking night... definitely one of the most amazingly fun and wild couple of weeks I've ever had.

5- Fuck iam just thinking you have sung in alot of bands,haha, but your newest band, White Male Dumbinance could quite possibly be my favourite. I think it has touches of every band you and Chippa have done, plus more. What are your goals with the band, and will there be more genius lyrics like that found on " I Dont Think So Honey"? Also, like me you are getting older, haha, but continue to do hardcore bands. What keeps you involved with the core?

White Male Dumbinance is like Life.Love.Regret playing Infest covers. How long can a band like this last? Well if you were to sit in on one of our practices you'd hear Chippa and Murray argue about the price of dildos in Thailand until they almost come to blows. I'm not even kidding. I'm stoked we finally got the 7"s released and we're playing Melbourne on New Years Eve with Extortion which should be killer but beyond that, well, anything's a bonus. At 33 years old I've come to the conclusion that I couldn't quit hardcore even if I wanted to haha. I think once you've been into something for so long, for better or worse, it just becomes part of who you are. I mean I just found out today that Gorilla Biscuits are touring Australia in December and I shit you not, I put on "Start Today" and moshed around my room with my dog for the entire album. Is that normal behaviour? No, of course it's fucking retarded and juvenile but at the same time it's kinda rad that I can still get so pysched on the prospect of seeing one of my favourite bands and I'm not completely jaded.

David Wood (Terror, Down To Nothing, Murder Weapon, Game On)

1- Murder Weapon, shit was hard as fuck, blatant Set If Off rip off and all! haha. Was that your first "real" band? Did you guys tour much? 

hahaha, blatant madball and no warning rip offs. Shit was mad fun. Down To Nothing was already a band, we started in 2000, Murder Weapon started the fall of 2002. We could never pull it together to do an actual tour, but we did do a lot of weekend shows. Always some long drives because we only had 2 days to do the shows. We played some cool gigs though.

2- DTN, in my opinion "The Most" was one of the best core albums to come out in the last 5 years. You guys have done a fuckload, but recently have chilled out alot, i know that its hard now with you doing Terror, etc, but do you think DTN is done? Or will you just continue to do stuff when you can? 

Thanks man, we put a lot of hard work into that record, and into our band as a whole in the last few years. People are busy doing some other things right now, but Down To Nothing has worked to hard and come to far to just call it quits right now. We still got a lot things we want to do, and we have some new songs that are our best yet. So we're just going to play when we can right now, do small tours, and hopefully make it back to Australia one more time.

3- While on DTN, do you think you were the "wildest" core band out there? I know you got up to some wild shit on tour, haha. Name some things that you guys did that you think went a little bit too far. I can name one, haha...

Looking back at some of the dumb shit we've done, I'm gonna have to say yes. We're so stupid dude. We almost got deported from Australia for absolutely destroying our hotel. We've shot off roman candles, smoke bombs, and bottle rockets, inside of our van, with 7+ people in it, WHILE driving! Vandalized some of the craziest things, stolen the stupidest things you can imagine. I don't know how we haven't gotten our asses kicked, or put in prison.

4- Whats the deal with Richmond, until i just googled it i didnt even know where it was, haha. But all you dudes seem to love the place and every band from there writes songs about the place. More importantly, are their waves at Virginia Beach?

Richmond is a really small city with close suburbs surrounding it.Very chill place, very old, very historical. If you mixed Philadelphia PA and Austin Texas together, and then shrunk it, you would have Richmond. A beautiful river called, The James passes right through it which makes for great fun. Some of the earliest settlers to find the Americas sailed up the James..So you can imagine all the history.
Richmond is also dead in the middle of the east coast. 2 hours from DC, 4 from Philly, 6 from NY. You have to pass through it to go south too, so we get a lot of good tours coming through. Virginia Beach has small ass waves, but it's all those kids have to learn on, and they don't take it for granted, so dudes can fuckin shred from there! It's pretty though :)

 5- You are now a fulltime member of the touring machine known as Terror. When/where was your first show and how is it all going? And how stoked are you to tour fulltime and be at hardcore shows every night of the week worldwide? 

It's really a dream come true as stupid as that sounds.. Terror was one of my favorite current hardcore bands you know, and I looked up to all those guys, so it's really weird to playing with them now, but fucking awesome as well. I just finished my first tour with them, it was 2 months long, all across the States, and Canada too. My first show was in Joplin, Missouri and I was SO nervous! I played bass in Murder Weapon, and hadn't really played much since we broke up. So it was a big change going from singing back to the 4 string. I love it, we got a metal tour coming up, then some shows with Gwar, and then Suicidal Tendencies, and then Europe with Sick Of It All and H20 and a bunch of others. So pretty much I'm in Heaven right now.

Matt Miller (Most Precious Blood, Photographer)

1- MPB, Whats up? Are you still a band? New Record? Tours? Getting Ross?

Yes we are still a band. we are really spread out right now though. Im living in Atlanta GA. Colin lives in DC. Justin is holding it down in Brooklyn, Rachel is in Maryland, and i think Rob sleeps in a janitors closet at Bally's gym in either Philly or Albany.
But yes we are still a band, but not nearly as active as we were. I think our flavor of CORE was passed in the wind, and we dont fall into the all over print, flat brimmed hat mosh scene , or the black fingernail poslish stupid hair crowd, so instead of us playing shows where noone gave a fuck and getting back in the van to reflect on said shitty show for the next 6 hours till we hit the next town, we decided to not tour full time anymore. and to be honest, we havent done much since. It's hard to get all of us to take time off from work and get together and fly out to meet up and shit. Its harder being a part time band than it is being a full time rock machine i tell ya!
but yes, we are working on a new record. all the jams are tracked and we are waiting on rob to get pissed off enough to get in the studio and tell everyone in the world how much he hates them. he is a fucking animal.

2- You moved from NYC back to your hometown of Atlanta a few years back. Why was that? and what are some good and bad points of each place?

Once we decided to not be a full time band, i felt there was no reason to live in NYC. Its a rad place for sure, but you live in some tiny apartment that youll NEVER own, live paycheck to paycheck, ride the stinky subway, and eat at the same 4 spots you always eat at. i just felt like i didnt take atvantage of all that nyc had to offer. i didnt go out to bars, and i didnt really care that much about staying around. everything felt like a pain in the ass to do. like you would meet up with friends to go eat, wait 2 hours for a table, eat, then there was nowhere to go, everyones apt was too far away or too small to hang out in, so then youd just get back on the train and go home..ugh!

I moved back to atlanta with my lady who got a rad job out here tattooing at 13 roses tattoo. We bought a house , have 2 cars, 2 vegan pitbulls , and life is fucking so good! i love it here, although itd be nice to have a beach or a lake or something , being land-locked sucks!

3- Your photos are fucking awesome and your blog is cool as shit. Is there a secret to taking such good pics? Or is it just your fancy camera?, haha.

man i hate that question. people see my photos and ask...yo what camera you use....like youd ask DaVinci what paint brushes he used, and if you got those same brushes, your shit would look like his. i know that most people dont realize that its lame when you ask that, but it kind of is...haha.
but anyhow, i started creeping up on being 30 this year and i decided that i needed to get serious about some sort of career, and i knew i loved taking photos, so it was time to get serious about it. I know my craft has grown leaps and bounds in the past year or so, but the hardest part is getting paid. i never thought you had to be a business man on top of taking good photos, but its so fucking easy to get taken atvantage of. noone ever wants to pay for photos. its so annoying. gear is fucking expensive , and its really time consuming to get the right photo and to edit all them shits!
but ive been working hard at taking my photography to the next level.
if you want to take a look, check my blog.

www.thefivemilegrace.com

4- Coca-Cola, i know you are a huge fan, do you think anyone else in the world consumes as much of the product as you? and what attracted you to the company in the first place?

Man. coca cola and the South go hand in hand. i was raised on that shit. and its totally the reason that ive gotten so damn FAT! but yea, Atlanta even has a coke museum. you should come check it out! It was invented in atlanta, and the first bottling plant was here. im sure ill get a coca cola tattoo one of these days. its just so damn refreshing!!!

5- Have you been surfing much lately? You were awesome that day in Sydney when you gave me a lesson.

Oh man. I'll never forget. you woke me up so early in the moring to take me out surfing. mentioned i needed a wetsuit, and that i could wear one of yours(keep in mind im a fat fuck and pete looks like a small g.i. joe) so somehow i squish into the wetsuit and i cant put my arms at my side or bend over. somehow you shove me into the car and put the coffee table, oh, i mean my surfboard ontop of the car and we head to humiliation, i mean my surfing lesson. we get to the beach and all these dudes are shredding and come up to say hi and to gawk at my dumbass in a tiny wetsuit. we tried for a couple hours and i get nowhere near standing up on that goddamned thing. it was fun, but ive never felt more out of my element. but theres gonna be Round 2 when i come out there in October!!!

NA Last Show

Tickets are on sale now.

Adam Riser (Lone Wolf, Betrayed, Love Is Red, Traitor)

1- One of your first bands had the faggotry meter going of the richter scale straight away for me with the name, Love Is Red, haha. Judging by the kids that like that band here in Australia i would not be down. But tell me the deal and what that band meant to you.

That band matured me is so many ways as a musician, and a person. We started that band in my basement when I was 16 years old. It took us a few years and a few member changes to fully develop our sound, but in the last year or two of that band we actually were reasonably successful by hardcore standards (booking agent, headlining shows, good turn-outs, video on MTV, etc). I think we confused a lot of people with our name sounding like some pussy indie band but our music being heavier and aggressive. We weren't a youth crew band that was putting out 7" vinyl EP's, nor were we a metal band that kept it "brutal as fuck". We had a hybrid sound to our music, so our audience was always mixed and diverse. It seemed like towards the end a few more younger kids were getting into us, and many of them even after the band broke up. I'm not so sure why that was; I'm more sure of the fact that we worked ridiculously hard to be taken seriously as a hardcore band coming from the southeastern part of the United States (a region definitely not known for producing many hardcore bands) and it was frustrating for us at the time to see bands getting record deals after only being around for 2 months and not evening touring, after we had spent years touring on a demo CD and 2 shirt designs. I think ultimately we were all just burnt out on sacrificing all our time, money, and efforts into a project that couldn't sustain our needs as individuals, and as a band. I cringe at most of the music that was written in that band when I listen to it, but at the same time I'm proud to have accomplished what I did in that band at such an early age.


2- You moved from "the depth south Alabama" (said in hick accent) to the best place in America (in my brief time there i made that decision) How great was the day you moved to HB? and why is HB the best place in that crazy country of yours?

I had nothing left for me in Alabama. So in the spring of 2005, I packed up all my shit and moved to Orange County, California with no real intentions other than just starting fresh. I didn't immediately live in Huntington Beach; at first I was in Buena Park, which is the northern-most part of Orange County. Luckily after a year of living there I scored an amazing place with great roommates right near the beach. To me, Huntington Beach is the best place I could live. Everything I could need or want is super close and attainable.....beach, good waves to surf, the majority of my friends, healthy and delicious food options, affordable living, endless entertainment, perfect weather...you get the idea. It's infinitely different than where I grew up, but definitely fits my style of living much better.


3- You played in Betrayed for quite a period of time, and got to tour the world with that band, but were never really credited as being a member. How did you feel about that? Where you cool with it cause those were Todd's songs and you were just happy to be playing and touring like the secong guitarist in Green Day?haha or did it annoy you?

Todd was kind enough to let me hop in the band really without knowing me. Given that the line-up was made up of guys who played in some of my favorite hardcore bands, I was thrilled to be a part of the project. From the beginning, Todd made it clear that he was going to handle all the music writing, and that it was a band that he and Aram wanted to do as friends. I welcomed the idea of me not having to do anything except learning the songs, show up at the shows, and have fun. It was the easiest gig in the world, and I was fortunate enough to travel and see places that I'd never get to venture to without being a part of a band like that. I've been asked a lot about what's up with me not receiving much credit with my affiliation with Betrayed; it's something that doesn't really matter to me. Like I said, I knew from the get-go that it was Todd and Aram's band, and I just helped (hopefully) bring some sound and energy to the live show. I had fun and consider it a privilege to have shared my time with 4 guys who I not only have a great deal of respect for as musicians, but as people. I don't need a text acknowledgment on a record to know my own worth. I know the part I played and that's all that matters.


4- Lone Wolf, no shit, one of my favourie current bands along with TUI, IA, etc. Whats up with the record? Is it ever coming out? And will you ever tour? Maybe with different members so that its an actual possibility? Or are Mark and Martin Lone Wolf through and through?

Lone Wolf started as just a project band. Bo Thomson approached me between watching episodes of LOST, saying we should do a heavy band. I was totally down for the idea and began putting together some songs. After most of the songs (the ones appearing on our EP) were written, we solidified our lineup by adding Mark and Nick. Martin later hopped on board too. It sucks that Lone Wolf is and probably will remain a band that moves at an ultra sluggish pace. Due to Mark and Martin staying on the road with their bands and staying busy just with life in general, it makes it nearly impossible to practice, much less play shows. I make up for it in the meantime by never ceasing at writing riff after riff and song after song. I think I have enough demo songs written right now for almost 2 LP's. Now the goal is just to find the time to fine-tune those songs and get them tracked in the studio. I suppose first we should be concerned with getting our 7"/EP released. The EP, entitled "Hallucinogenic Fate", will be out in a matter of weeks on Words of War records. It will be a 7" and digital download-only release. The songs crush hard as hell, and are just a glimpse into the sonic demolition that's ahead. We're hopefully gonna do a week-long tour in January with our Canadian buddies in Modern Crimes (A Perfect Murder members).


5- Lastly, i have to talk about our day trip to "Florida" (San Diego) that day. What was meant to be a 2 hour max drive took 6 hours plus. Was that the worst day of your life? and if you had a knife would you of buried into my stomach?

Goddamn, that day was awful. It took us 4 fucking hours to navigate through a stretch of highway that should have taken us 20 minutes! By the time we arrived, I only had time to order and eat a burrito (which was might delicious, but couldn't cover up the overwhelming taste of FAILURE) and then drag your ass off the wave pool, just to turn around and get stuck in another 4 hours of traffic. And THEN drive to Santa Barbara after the show, which was another 2 hours or so. I seriously hated you for talking me into allowing us to go to San Diego, even though it made no sense to go that far out of the way. And then you had the fucking nerve to do your "vocal warm ups" sitting in the car next to me. Even if I had a knife on me, I wouldn't stab you in fear that you might actually make noises even MORE annoying than the ones you were already creating. I think the only good thing your warm-ups produce for you is the ability to call people "faggots" from the stage during your set. I thought it was cool to see Paint It Black moshing and singing along to the No Apologies set at Sound & Fury though.

I have nothing to prove.

I have been busy as fuck of late and have had no time at all for this blog.
Today was Fathers day and i ate so much at an all you can eat breakfast this morning with my Dad that i have not and wil not eat anything else today or tonight, thats awesome.
Anyway, what this blog is all about, 5 q's, there will be alot more in the coming weeks.
I have a short list of people, and they will be getting sent questions.
So i/v's will be up straight after they get them back to me.
Check your emails.

Parkway Drive Interview Part 111

Parkway Drive has now turned into your job. When was it that you actually quit your job to be a fulltime "musician"? And what kind of a feeling was that? And on a side note, what are your thoughts on the flock of bands that now start off with the objective of being a "fulltime band" by decking out their myspace, doing promo pics and printing merch before they have even played a show?

It became our job when we first went over seas. At that point it basically became impossible to hold down a job in Byron as well as doing the band and going OS. It was a weird feeling. This has never felt like a job, but to have the band become our only source of income was both a bit crazy and at the same time a bit daunting. I'm not a musician. I'm just a kid who likes playing shows and is lucky enough to be in the position to play enough that i can travel and support myself and my family.

I guess shit has changed pretty quick in this "scene" but your right, there is definitely a growing flock of people trying to make a band with the primary goal of making money. For me it’s kind of like reading the Motley Crue book, "The Dirt". They started that band to be rock stars. That’s it. To me, rock stars and hardcore are at the two opposite ends of the scale. All the promo, all the bulletins, all the merch and all the hype can never replace true substance and heart and there are so many bands that still don't get it. The sad thing is everyone can see right thought that kind of shit and more often than not it just comes back around to kick them in the face.

For me this whole experience has never been about anything more than doing what i love and having fun. I play music that i enjoy. I have a goal to express myself though this medium and live my life. That’s’ it. That’s all this is. Everything else that has happened just happened. I’m not going to complain or say that its shit and i wish we still played to twenty kids a night, because honestly, i don’t really care, i still have the same feeling playing on stage and going to shows that i did when we first started. The day that feeling dies is the day i walk away from this band.



For a fulltime band that obviously has to spend lots of time around each other, you guys really do still get along well.
I know that it would change from day to day but do you ever feel like, "fuck this" and just don’t want to get on that stage.
Like guitarists can get up and play on a night they are not that excited, but for you as the "front man" and the singer, you have to remain (at least to others) upbeat and charismatic, and put on a show for the payers.
How do you do this day in day out? Or like you said in your previous answer do you genuinely enjoy what you do?


It's actually easy. I work pretty much in two ways. Playing on stage is my outlet. It’s the only way i get all my negative, pissed, fucked up shit out of my head. The person on stage is pretty much the only thing keeping the person off stage alive and sane. Anyone that knows me knows im totally different off stage. Basically i'm a shy, anti social, misanthropist in every day life. The only way i can keep my head in line is by let the other shit out, but like i've said before, that’s what hardcore has always been about for me.


So basically there is no real need to "perform" or whatever. I get as much out of playing as people do that are watching me. Still i can't say that there has never been a time i didn’t want to play and had to. It's fucked when it happens. If my head isn't in the right place then its sooooo awkward having to play songs that normally mean so much to me but for some reason or another don't apply at that point in time.


You guys are killing it worldwide at the moment and its only getting bigger and bigger, but there has to be a time when things start to drop off a bit and crowds get a little smaller. Have you guys talked about what to do when this does eventually happen? Like i know Graham probably has a business plan for you, haha, but what i love is that you guys just do what you do and don’t give a fuck about what anyone else is doing.

Yeah we've talked about it a bit. We have plenty of theories, but it’s kind of hard to even imagine. I mean not imagine parkway going down, but imagine what we'd fell like doing when it happens. It’s weird because every day that passes, every show you rock up at you’re just waiting for the fall, because to be honest i've been waiting for it for years, but for some reason we keep going up. Its great but kind of unnerving at the same time and i guess it makes everything all the more uncertain, because the longer we spend doing the band, the older we get and the more options get shut down to us due to age, education and circumstances. It’s weird.



Your right in saying we don't give a fuck, because we never have, so i'd love to say that we'll be doing this forever no matter what, but i think travelling and being in such close confines with the same group of minds and personalities changes your perspective pretty dramatically. What was great for you last year may not be so great the next. That being said we're lucky we are all still such good friends and are still stoked on life. I still love what i do, love hardcore, love records, love shows and love my friends, and for me that's never going to change.


What would Winston McCall be doing right now if the hardcore band he started with his mates to play shows at the local Youth Centre didn’t blow up and end up taking him all over the world touring and playing shows to thousands of poeple?
And, what do you see for yourself in the future after the band is said and done?

I’d be at uni, doing god knows what and getting barrelled at tallow’s i guess hahaha, but seriously i honestly couldn't say. I can remember being at a bit of a loose end before parkway came along. Touring just gave me something to do that i wouldn't have had otherwise, and then it slowly took over.




After the band im not sure. we're going to be seriously behind the eight ball when it comes to any kind of employment qualifications. I guess we could all be pretty fucked, especially being from Byron, but we'll see what happens. I’ll start another hardcore band. Not sure what anyone else will do.


Parkway Drive, the house, and the people behind it. How big a part of the band and Byron Bay Hardcore in general has the Parkway house and The Gordon Family been? From jamming there, to just hanging out there, to even having a couple of shows there. And also housing pretty much every touring band that has been through Bryon/Qld.(As well as your parents place!)


A huge part. like I’ve said in plenty of interviews before, there is a reason we named the band what we did. That place is our home, and has been the home of many BBHC bands before us. We hung out there, jammed there, helped build what we could of it and had the occasional show there. The Gordon family have done so much for this band and the Byron scene in general, i highly doubt anyone will ever be able to comprehend it. Between the Parkway house and my parent’s house, they pretty much enabled every band that has ever come to our small little town to be able to stop and play instead of just passing through to Brisbane or Sydney.



We had some great shows in that house. I’m not sure if Restraint ever played? I think you did, but Parkway, Think Straight, Shoot To Kill, Blueprint For A Nightmare, IKTPQ, Shot Point Blank, Comeback Kid and i think some other bands all smashed that room at one point or another during the years


Jed Gordon, the man, the myth, the legend, and for the past few years your Tour Manager/Lighting Guy.
How is the Chode? Is he still hanging in there or is he hating life? And how is it to travel through numerous countries with him? and when times are tough is it easy just to write him off and have a laugh again?




hahaha ummm, maybe not the best tour to ask me that question. He's done his part in the band over the years. He's fat, he's useless, bar lights and yes we laugh at him. He’s a good mate, but a shit worker. Travelling with him is stressful, funny, and smelly. He has some foul body odours. Still mates though.



Ok, word association time. Tell me the first things that come to mind when you read these words?

Sugar- Brain

San Diego- The fucking wave house!!!!!

Touring- Heaven and hell

Home- Jess and kitten

Desmond- Jeff

Graz- Newtown


Alright, let’s finish this up. I know your memory is about as good as mine, but what are some highlights from the last few years that you will never forget? And what does the future hold for Parkway Drive? New album? DVD? Limited edition 43 colour split 7"? haha


Everything is a highlight. I never could have imagined i would have seen so much of the world or experienced the things i have. I would never have thought that i would meet some of my closest friends on the other side of the planet. Being in this band, travelling with my friends, playing shows and doing shit from the ground up, our way, has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. Sleeping in car parks and in fields. Eating nothing but raw corn for four days straight. Getting caught in floods and tornados. Living life. It’s crazy.

The future is a hard one to predict. Everything changes so quickly. I’m surprised we've lasted this long let alone still having new kids listen to us. We're just going to keep what we're doing until we breakdown completely. Releases wise we're working on a DVD documentary thing. We have filmed EVERYTHING we have experienced in the bands existence and it's pretty interesting so we're going to try and make that ourselves. Another challenge I’m looking forward to. We're also starting to write again slowly, but we're going to try to make a couple of changes to the way we write, see if we can mix it up a bit this time. 43 colour split7" fuck yeah lad hahaha. Nah seriously I’d love to release something on Vinyl, but i doubt the other guys really care hahaha. Ah well.

On the whole i just want to keep playing shows. We played ieper fest in Belgium last night and it was one of the craziest things i've ever seen. basically it just made me smile and think, i love hardore, i love playing in this band with my friends and i'm going to do this until my voice is destroyed and i can't stage dive anymore.... then I’m going to learn bass hahaha.

U.S.A

(edit- Parkway Drive are out on tour right now in the states, so instead of trying to conclude part 111 of the interview with Winston i will wait till he is home)

2 days ago i returned home from my first trip to the United States of America.
It was a pretty crazy trip, but instead of trying to break it right down iam just going to post some random thoughts and pics.
Here goes;

-Burritos are great in California, i ate alot of them.













-The flowrider is also great, if i lived in San Diego i would go there every day.
(and then maybe i would be able to actually surf the fucking thing and not have to ride a bodyboard.




-We bodysurfed the Wedge at a solid 6 foot and it was great but we got fucked up.




-The weather too was also great. i was meant to get tattooed but barred it cause i wanted to go to the beach every day.




-Sound and Fury was a long fucking weekend but some great fucking sets went down (Trash Talk, Violation, Rise and Fall, Trapped Under Ice, Terror, Alpha & Omega, Bitter End, Blacklisted and Ceremony to name but a few GREAT ones)
We got a good response but played like fucking shit and iam still pissed off about it.



-Thanks to my brother Todd, for putting my band on his fest and making me after a solid 5 years of saying "ill be there this summer" actually be there this summer

-Santa Barbara/ Carpinteria was great. Going surfing with Derek and Chris Violation ruled, even though it was tiny.

-Corey Williams, Greg Bacon and Adam Riser are men amonst men. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING.

-It was good to catch up with old friends or recently made ones

-I even met some new people who i actually got along with (Bo, Luis, Edgar, Joey, Josh, and iam sure iam missing some) which dosent happen often, if Bo Thomson and i lived on the same side of the world things would be wild.

-I enjoyed baseball alot more than i thought i would. However there was no fight or home runs hit at the game i went to. 2 things i would of liked to of seen(in that order).



-Tijuana was great. Carlos and Rene rule as do Forfeit and Foundation. I want to travel through ALL of mexico one day.



-I got my first ever razor blade shave in Tijuana and it was great!

Parkway Drive Interview Part 11

Ok, lets change pace a little here. Personally for you as a young kid growing up in the beautiful town of Byron Bay, what attracted you to hardcore? As in what bands, records, etc, and also what attracted you to the ideals behind hardcore, and further off shoots of that, straightedge and vegetarianism?

For me it came from punk, which came from surf video's and the radio. I can remember hearing these songs that were so fast and so intense that they just stood out from everything else. I started listening to the music i heard on certain surf vid's, bands like pennywise, front end loader and of course, throwdown. Then i heard bad religion. Basically i heard a band that sounded like these bands that had taken over my world, but the singer was throwing out these words and ideas and concepts that were so intelligent i just couldn't get my head around it. They made me actually want to pick up a book and have a look at the ideas they we're putting out there. I guess that's when i found the idea behind punk, and i went back and took the time to read the lyrics of these bands that i was listening to and find out what they were about. It was great to realise there was so much more than just a sound but someone that actually gave a fuck and encouraged open minded thought.

From punk my musical influence just spread and spread until it hit hardcore. Once again i started hearing these sounds that we're new to me, mainly being faster, rawer, and more intense. It was a challenge to get my head around, and i've always loved a challenge. Bands like throwdown lead to raised first, which lead to strife, which lead to new friends with a whole stack of shit i had never even heard of.

By this time i was in high school and some of life's reality’s were hitting home, especially regarding the beautiful town i lived in. Unemployment, lack of future options, racism, homelessness and street violence all of a sudden became a lot clearer to me, and i guess i found out it isn't the perfect place the tourist brochure's tell you about. I guess it lead me to ask the question, "how can this beautiful little town get so fucked up?" Basically the problem's i came up with were the same things these bands were confronting. I guess it just made me feel a little better to know that it wasn't just me that gave a fuck about a fucked up world.

Straight Edge for me came from Strife, Ten Yard Fight, Earth Crisis and Pitfall. It was something i had no idea about. How the fuck do you live without getting drunk? At the time i was 17 and i had just started drinking after years of telling my friends I'd rather be surfing. The new experience was amazing to me and i got fucked up as much as i could, which later lead to me fucking up my education and becoming very ill. I'll blame that one on my Irish heritage. Anyway i can remember laughing about it when i first heard what it stood for. Two years later, I was done with wasted nights. The idea of keeping my brain cells and memory seem too logical to deny.

I've been vegetarian since birth and i wouldn't have it any other way, except i hate veggies and they taste shit. But pasta and tofu are good.


Do you recall if it was a single show, or maybe a band's record that made you think to yourself, "hang on, i could do this, i want to be in a band"? Am i right in saying the first hardcore band in Byron was Think Straight? If not who was it? and iam sure they were friends which made the idea of being in a band of your own not seem like an impossibility, and also how supportive was the whole Byron Bay hardcore scene in these early stages?


It was a show. DOC and Mindsnare on the gold coast. I think it was 2001 but i may be wrong. Anyway, it was less of a , "hey i could do this" feeling, and more just me seeing how young DOC were and seeing how crazy Mindsnare went that made me actually "want" to do something.

Your right in Think Straight being the first hardcore band to come out of Byron, and seeing them play definitely influenced the way i saw hardcore on a whole as more accessible than any type of music i had ever heard before. The only down side to seeing my friends play was realising how shit i was at playing any kind of musical instrument (and i still am). I realised early on that all hope was lost in that department, no matter how simple the chords or beats where.
The Byron scene on a whole has always been supportive, although with all the write offs that go down i can see how people can think it appears otherwise. Back then it was very very small. One band. No venue. Halls or parties were the only places to play in Byron and not too many people cared outside of our very small community. For years it remained small, we went to whatever shows we could. Most of them Think Straight were playing. Most of them we had to sneak in somehow due to being under age. We got whatever lifts we could to get to the venues, which included Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Ipswich. It's all blown up pretty huge now. Lot's of faces i have never seen before and far less that strike me as familiar, but i've kind of noticed that nation wide.



You just touched on it, but how do you feel about the current popularity of hardcore in Australia at the moment? With bands selling out the roundhouse and other larger venues.
But with this rise in numbers, gone are the days of pulling up to a venue and playing to a room of familiar faces.
Obviously there are good and bad points from this, what are your thoughts?





I think the rise in popularity goes hand in hand with the rise of the internet and the availability of music. Before the net came along you couldn't find records anywhere other than a few select shops, therefore the amount of people listening and being exposed to hardcore outside the scene itself was tiny. Basically unless you stumbled into one of these stores or your friend showed you a band you had no exposure at all, where as nowday's records are everywhere, band video's are on TV and every man and his dog are wearing a shitty Ramones shirt. All you have to do to hear something new is browse though myspace or track down a band from a friends personal page. A bit different from mixed tapes and mail orders. To be perfectly honest i think it is only a very very small portion of kids at these giant shows that actually have a clue what hardcore is about, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure there are less familiar faces and the rooms are huge but it's like fun, and everyone knows that with the rise comes the fall. It's only a matter of time. I say enjoy something different while it lasts, cause you know when shows go back to being small rooms of friends, the kids that were complaining in the first place will be gone anyway. Plus it's only crazy for a few bands anyway. Hardcore shows still go on like usual. It's pretty simple. Parkway somehow has got to the stage where playing the arthouse just can't happen. We've thought about it and tried to work out a tour with small personal venues, but the thing is we'd have to play the same venue several nights in a row, we'd be fucked, and the shows would end up full of people saying "why is this venue so shit". So basically fuck it. We still try and play hardcore shows. We try and play the most personal venues possible for us, which these days means a barrier, which sucks, but what the fuck else are we supposed to do? And we still play with hardcore bands. In case people don't know or haven't realised yet, we are in the unique position of being able to bring bands form overseas to tour with us, which means we can bring friends and bands that kids in Australia might miss out on seeing, and for us it means bringing good hardcore bands. So there it is, there's a positive and a negative to every situation.


Thats awesome that you guys are in the position to do that, and i know that The Warriors and Have Heart have already benefited from it (as well as Her Nightmare, No Apologies, Antagonist and Break Even among alot of others). What other bands would you like to see make it to our great country. And what bands in general over the past 5 or so years have kept you siked on the core? Whether it be just by hearing their record, or seeing them play in some weird venue in Germany.




This is Hell and Rise and Fall for starters, but as you know i'm just a fifth of the band and there is a lot of difference in our musical taste. Both of the bands are really good friends and both are amazing hardcore bands so hopefully we can bring them out at some point in time, if they don't make it here by themselves firstly.

There has been too many bands keeping me sane over the years through both their music and their friendship so i'll role off a few. Internal Affairs, Down to Nothing, Have Heart, The Warriors, Rise and Fall, Knuckledust, Sick Of It All, Madball, Terror, This Is Hell, Comeback Kid, Most Precious Blood, Ringworm, 108, The Hope Conspiracy, Bury your Dead, Converge, Evergreen Terrace, 50 Lions, and god knows how many more.

Probably the best and most lasting live shows or bands i have seen have been from two bands.

No 1. RISE AND FALL

The first time I saw these guys was at Eiper Fest in Belgium a few years ago. Seriously, hearing these guys on record and seeing them live are two different things entirely. The loudest, the heaviest and the most intense band i have ever seen. We've played with them a fair bit since and they are great friends, but seriously, very time i see them it feels like my chest is about to explode. They are just so fucking hectic.

No. 2 HAVE HEART

We played with these guys in a tiny Club in Japan purely out of chance. To be honest I never saw what the hype was about with these guys. Then they played, and holy shit, what a fucking hardcore band. These guys are so young, so honest, and carry so much passion and integrity i feel very very bad for not taking the time to get into these guys earlier. Seriously good dudes and one of the best hardcore bands i have ever witnessed.

Ok, back to Parkway Drive. You guys have been out on the road for at least 3/4's out of the year for the past few years, How hard do you find it being away from your home and loved ones? I know that it must be tough, but does the one thing that helps you to get through it is knowing the fact of how fortunate you are to be in such a position to see the world for free, travel with your mates and play shows all over the place?

This year has been the easiest out of the last 3, simply because we worked so hard that we are now in the position to be able to plan our tours bit better as apposed to just jumping on whatever we can. We've tried the rough approach of month on, month off, and it seems to be working well. Up until then i was pretty much at the end of my rope. Tour is great but to be honest it was breaking me apart as a person. I love hardcore and being in this band so much, but at the same time I love my girlfriend and leaving her on the other side of the world for months on end while i go and travel just mad me feel ill. We all realise how lucky we are to be doing what we are doing, and we are all to aware that it wont last so that really does keep us running. I don't think any of us would have guessed our lives would turn out this way but it is one of those things that you have to take while the chance is there. Life is strange i guess.

Of all the places that you are lucky enough to have travelled, which are some favourites? and over the last few years what are some shows that stick out in your mind?
Also, tell the readers some things that Parkway get up to on off days.




Favourite places would be, in no particular order, Greece, Scotland, Russia, Venice, Rome, France, OC and Japan. Show wise, let me think. We've played so many its hard to pin point these days. Pretty much every show we've played in London has been ridiculous. The Underworld is probably the best venue in the world. The last show we played in Koln, Germany was completely mental. Kids jumping of the speaker stacks, a couple of girls flying into the drums and the whole kit exploding rolling stones style and kids swinging from the lighting rig. That was a good one. There was another stupidly crazy show on the last Never Say Die tour with comeback kid.we played in some little town in italy. The stage was tiled so it was like ice skating. The was about six or seven hundred kids in this tiny room and you could just roll around on top of them. Like i said it too hard to pick. Every show that kids rush the stage is crazy.We've tried to make a point of seeing as much of the world as we can through playing in the bands. The first year of touring in Europe we drove ourselves and saw and did some crazy shit. We crossed over the French alps, went thought the highlands in Scotland, hung out in Venice for a night, cruised around Rome and Athens and saw other crazy shit. Other than the standard sight seeing stuff we still try and hit the water as much as we can. We get to surf a bit with whatever boards we can. The first few times we surfed the wedge in California it was huge and we didn't have gear so we stole some food trays from Del Taco and surfed them. it worked pretty good. Oh yeah i jumped of a 40 metre bridge in the states somewhere. stoked i'm still alive. Oh yeah the other great thing is breaking into a water park in the states at midnight and turning all the rides on. That was some of the craziest shit we've ever done. We almost died.