Hey All.

The Print zine is finally done. Printed stapled, editioned and sexy.

This Zine is a long time in the making and includes writing/poetry and lyrics from:

- Adrian Jung -Vera

- Jordan Phailthorpe – The Effort

- James Matthews – More Than Life

- Danielle Allen – The Offsides

- Christian Brix – Reason To Care

- Brett Eitzen – Samsara

- Micheal Fransico – Zelda’s Dead

- Sam Provost – I Exist

- James Brown – Battle!

- Tyson Daniel – Vultures and Founder of Home Is Where The Heartache Is.

- Alfred Brown – Dangers

If you want a copy send me an email (unabletoconvey.zine@hotmail.com) with your Name and Address and i’ll send you one.

Hope you enjoy

-Hubert

I know i have been super shit and lazy. I havent sent the zines yet.

If you still want one i have the envelopes and everything ready. So if you can forgive me i would love to sent the zines out to all you lovely people.

So please hit me up at: unabletoconvey.zine@hotmail.com

Just a ZINE PLEASE in the Subject bar and included your postal address.

Once again im sorry to have taking so long!

Lots of love
-Hubert

Tell me a little about yourself? How you became involved in the hardcore/alternative community?

Hi I’m Jelena, I live in Melbourne and do vocals in Outright. I grew up with a lot of my older sister’s music around the house and was lucky enough to be taken to my first punk show when I was 10. I gradually snaked more and more of her records as time went on, and started finding my own way when I went to hardcore shows at our local youth centre when I was 12. I spent almost the entirety of my teen years working in an independent record store so this just pushed my passion further and, since I got to spend every shift researching bands and labels and sharing it with others, it made this music so much more accessible to me. We had a really DIY scene so the community itself was a huge part of what we built.

You are originally from sydney right? What brought you to Melbourne? What’s your current take on hardcore between Sydney and Melbourne ?

I actually grew up in Wollongong, about an hour south from Sydney on the coast, but ended up visiting Sydney quite regularly for shows, to buy records and to spend time with friends. Rather than head up north with everyone else I spent my “schoolies week” down south, joining my friends in Deadstare and Syndicate in Melbourne for their summer tour. Quite frankly, it changed my life. I fell in love with the city, met some incredible people and ended up visiting every few months afterwards. Once I found that I could actually study criminology at Melbourne Uni, I transferred in my second year, got a job on my second day here and the rest is history!

When I first moved down in 2002 the Sydney and Melbourne scenes were pretty distinct from each other. Sydney held tight to their old school punk roots while a lot of Melbourne bands were riding new metallic waves. I copped a lot of flack for loving both sides of the hardcore fence so it’s great now to see that there’s a broader appreciation happening nation-wide. While taste is most definitely a personal thing, I’m stoked that more and more people are now open to a wider range of different styles of punk and hardcore – why would you want to limit all that both offer? Those were some judgmental and sad times back then haha. I think the people within both scenes are bridging the gap too by strengthening friendships and ensuring that their interstate guests are always supported and encouraged, whether they are bands on tour or just mates keen to check out another city or scene. Labels are branching out to support bands from other cities as well. It rules!

You have been involved in the community in other ways can you tell me a little about those things? How you feel those contributions to the community differ, and how do these differ beside the obvious?

Early on, I used to get involved by helping put on shows and promo etc purely so I could do a little something to help keep our small scene going and support the amazing people that worked so hard to build it up. For a long time, I’ve offered a couch, a pillow, some meals and a shower to bands from interstate and overseas to make it easier for them to travel but really, this is just an excuse to spend more time with friends and make sure they’re looked after. I know they would all do the same for me, and that’s part of what makes this community what it is.

More directly, I’ve tried getting involved more proactively by putting on a non-profit vegan food stall called Bake Down the Walls. I bake from home then all the proceeds go back to the bands, the show or a valued cause and I hope it serves a purpose to demystify and encourage cruelty free living. Plus, cakes and core are so much more fun together and it’s been a really positive addition to bring the scene closer.

I suppose you could say that this initiative differs because it attempts to inject a bit more of the conscience that defined our scene early on but, to me, it’s just another part of all the creative and supportive elements that make hardcore what it is. For me, it’s been a way to give back to a scene that has offered me so much and I hope encourages others to realise that the DIY spirit is strong and is our only way of making all the changes we want to see around us.

Have/do you engage in further study if so what and does it come to pare in your lyrics?

I started a Law/Arts double degree but found more satisfaction out of transferring my law credits to major in Criminology instead. This complemented my other majors in Politics and Gender Studies and my minors in Sociology and Philosophy far better. I guess that my studies do come through in the lyrical content of our songs but I can’t help but acknowledge the fact that my general interest, compassion and curiosity in social issues was already a part of me before this, and was hugely influenced by the bands and zines that challenged and inspired me early on. The best thing about my further study though was that it taught me to research, challenge and back up my ideas so much better and, in a practical sense, has lead me to my most rewarding career now at the Department of Justice so I’ll always be grateful for that.

Who makes up outright ?

Joining me in Outright is Aaron Osborne (I Exist, 4 Dead, Slowburn) on drums, Brenton Lee on guitar and Melissa Grisancich on bass. Our friend Brad Fulton (the Gun Runners) has also just joined us to push our guitar sound even more and offer a bit of flexibility when some of us get sent away on other commitments. Stoked to be doing this with such great mates!

How did outright get started? Why did it take you this long to start a band?

Outright has been a million different incarnations and half-assed attempts over the years with really nice friends trying to help get it started but ultimately never quite working out due to timing etc. It got to the point where Aaron and I were lamenting the upcoming closure of the Arthouse over dinner. I was heartbroken at the thought that, despite my wanting to play in a band for more than a decade, I would never be able to share the Arthouse stage. Aaron cracked it, said “no way” and offered to pull his drum kit out of retirement to make it happen for us. Good dude! We then hassled Brenton to join us and it all came together in weeks!

Can you describe outright’s sound? And style ? Comparisons?

Man I hate playing the style category game! If you listened to us loosely you might hear some traditional NYC and Melbourne hardcore influences, the occasional double kick, some mid-90s crossover grooves and a few of the standard punk chords.

Tom campbell said “no feature of Human societies is more evident than thAt men – as a result of humanly contrived cultural arrangements – have an easier, more varied & better rewarded life than women” would you agree with statement in the context of the hardcore community and society in general?

I would agree in so far as some cultural mores in hardcore have demonstrated the potential to limit opportunities, variety and freedom of expression for women in hardcore. But, at the same time, I would also say that the key motivation and message in hardcore espouses the exact opposite – that this is for anyone and everyone to participate and enjoy, that we make it for ourselves and that this is our home to express a counter culture, challenge ideas and even strive to better ourselves and our world. In fact, it has been argued in some counter cultural literature that punk and hardcore is in fact one of the most relevant realms for women to do so since we experience sexism in both the mainstream society and our own counter cultures directly. If this feature was not evident I would struggle to have remained here for long at all.

Does your gender play a part in what you want your band to say? Or do you feel that it should not be a point of discussion? ie not gender specific reference such as these?

I can only speak for myself, but, as far my participation in the band is concerned, gender does not play a single part in anything I want out of doing this. Hardcore for me is the exact same passion it is for others. Music is music and my love for it and for being involved in it is not affected by gender (other than the facilitation of counter cultural ideas and activities, as above) so I certainly hope this is never judged for anything other than that. They can spare me the tokenism because it just turns the dealer into a joker – especially when many of the culprits were still in nappies when I started here. The fact that we fill a gap sought by some other women is understandable though and makes me very proud.

However, the personal is political so as long as any lyrics I write are from the heart then, yes, there will be the occasional tone of gender politics coming through in some topics. If my words can represent a voice or idea that may otherwise be missed or ignored then I’m certainly one to be vocal enough to share it. In fact, sometimes I can’t help myself so bad luck haha. Importantly for me though, my lyrics need to be representative of the entire band and, while they are always supportive of what I want to say I need to reciprocate that respect to the others as well. For that reason, I try to construct my words so as to represent an entire issue and not just speak for myself. I’m so over self-absorbed frontpersons!! A hardcore band is a unit, a team!

When I have spoken to you previously you have held great belief in the need for more women to take an active role in the community, and one not soley restricted to the supporting elements of the community. Ie take up a instrument or mic. Can you explain a little further why you feel this is important? And maybe a little why you think this has not happened thus far?

I think this is important to not only balance the composition and range of voices within the scene but also to keep it challenging and relevant. So many women come into hardcore then promptly give up feeling like they don’t belong or have a say, without recognizing that this can only possibly change when these women cement themselves in the scene through participation, and change those definitions, cultures, behaviours and standards from within.

Most importantly, I think this is vital for the women involved so we can create an environment together that is supportive and motivating and not perpetuate the alienation that so many women already feel. When women can provide this to each other and normalize and improve our own experience in hardcore then it becomes more commonplace and positive in the wider culture. THIS changes how the scene is perceived and operates and, for me, makes a difference to how both genders in general are attracted and committed to its essence.

While this has not exactly happened on a wide scale so far, it has most definitely manifested in smaller groups of women in each city who celebrate their shared experience and passion together (and with their males friends and families) and encourage, empower and motivate each other to make their scene their own. I can certainly vouch for the Melbourne women and say that this exists here and has borne an amazing and varied range of strong, intelligent and highly passionate people.

As a vocalist and writer, do you feel that your lyrics should engage with political, social, environmental issues? If so why?

I wouldn’t say that any writer SHOULD or SHOULD NOT discuss any particular issues if this is not already an inherent impulse or goal within them. Lyrics are intensely personal if produced sincerely so no single person can make that judgment or expectation on another. My experience in hardcore however, is that the bands with political, social or environmental approaches to their message not only demonstrated a sense of ethic, concern and hope that has come to define and distinguish hardcore over the years, but have also contributed to making it a culture that is more than just music. A community rather than just a crowd. This always stood out and inspired me growing up so it is not only something that feels natural and necessary for me, but is also why I look to hardcore to express these opinions and subjects in the first place. Furthermore, so many of us can say that our wider activism or consciousness in the world outside hardcore was at some point ignited from the bands we listened to. If we can reach beyond ourselves to have this effect then that is intensely powerful.

Brad Fulton! The rad dude himself has joined your band recently can you tell me a little about how his came to be? And did you recruit brad to increase punk jumps quota in the band haha

Haha Brenton already pumped the punk jump quota up pretty high – no stage is going to be big enough for these two TOGETHER!! The idea of looking around for a second/extra guitarist came about when Brenton found that his work was often calling him interstate for weeks on end and sometimes, at only a day or week’s notice. This was getting hard to organize and book shows because we could never count on the fact that we’d all be around to make it happen and didn’t want to have to decline offers all the time just on the chance. Also, there was no way that we ever wanted to have to do this band without Brenton because he’s such a great mate and awesome guitarist. Plus, what band doesn’t sound heavier with 2 shredders pumping through the PA anyway? Seriously?!

Because we all get along pretty well and have such a good time together we really wanted to make sure that the next person to join in on the fun was someone we knew to be good-hearted, relaxed, organized and just as visibly siked and passionate as we are. Any one who knows Brad knows just how easy the process and decision was to make. Plus, he has already proven he plays well in all the great stuff that the Gun Runners do so there was no question. We’re all stoked and thankful he said yes!

Another wickedly talented member of outright is Melissa, she is currently an active and talented artist, who has had numerous gallery shows in Melbourne. She is an example of when two artistic forms meet. How do other art forms, contribute to inspire, influence outright and yourself. Can you give me some examples of those influence if any? (some we maybe wouldn’t expect?)

Melissa is such a fabulous painter and illustrator. It’s insane! Aaron is a champion open-mic participant with all the fucked up stories he tells, Brad is an avid beard-sculpture enthusiast, I’m a bit of a stagedive performance artist and Brenton is a closet crochet queen – Outright doilies on sale soon hahaha! Seriously though, we all have lots of interests in street art, film, photography and a huge range of musical styles. As a band, we got hugely siked on making our own demo tapes and stenciling our CDs by hand so the DIY feel is definitely an influence on what we enjoy and what he like to produce sometimes. I love that we can combine the two.

Can you tell me about the process of the demo recording?

Recording our demo was literally this: write a handful of songs, go to a jam room, plug in Aaron’s computer, play a track each. That’s it! Aaron then took the recordings home and gradually worked through the mix on his downtime during the recording of I Exist’s second album (yeah, he’s a multi-tasking over-achiever, I know!). While that was getting finalized, our friend Patrick Galvin threw a cover design together and I went sourcing a range of coloured sleeves. Mel painstakingly recorded tape after tape in her bedroom and went all aerosol on the cassettes. I laboured for hours through 200 blank CDRs on my poor little laptop and spent 2 days drawing and cutting stencils, and hauling in some of my dearest friends for a Belton/Ironlak spraying bee in my garage. Brenton provided the laughter and wisecracks throughout.

We played two shows the following week (all 30 tapes were gone instantly) and sent some copies to our friends distros and record stores interstate and sold almost all 200 CDs within a couple of weeks. At least it was worth it!!!

As for your lyrics, how do you structure? And go about creating your lyrics, do you have a process when writing?

I keep a log of ideas, lines, concepts or opinions in my little notebook that I carry around with me. Moments of inspiration come few and far between sometimes, in amongst full time work and lots of other commitments, so I don’t like to lose my thoughts when they hit. Then when a song comes together at prac I take a rough recording of the riffs home and see which concepts might suit the tone and pace for that song i.e. a fast song will have urgent lyrics while a slower, heavy riff might crave a more intense vocal or direct lyric. Ha, well, that’s the aim anyway.

Your vocals often surprise, your vocal intensity and power catches many of guard. How have you developed this, or is it natures gift?

Haha that compliment catches ME off guard! There has been no development other than my effort to try and improve my breathing and stamina, and speed my recovery because I’m sometimes drained or ill. This is still really really new to me so I have a lot of work to do to get my voice stronger and comfortable through repeat jams or shows.

What are your hopes for outright?

That we can get a 7” done by the end of the year, play heaps of fun and varied shows, get interstate soon so we can share our songs with our mates around the place, connect with more friends and bands, maybe challenge or motivate a few minds and keep enjoying ourselves – the rest will not happen if this isn’t the case.

Any plans for touring, ep, lp, box set, greatest hits?

We will have a drunken Brenton heckle hits compilation out soon as well as a blooper video of my stage mosh accidents ready any time now hahaha. Seriously though, we will be in Adelaide in July which we’re super siked about and are chatting a bit about possibly heading up to Sydney at a later stage. A 7” will probably happen once the I Exist and Gun Runners touring machines have a break too. Fingers crossed! For now, most of our demo tracks and lyrics are available on our facebook page for free download.

Outright have had a second to none introduction to the community, with shows with, defeater, miles away, fires of Waco, shot point blank and many others as well as upcoming shows with cruel hand. How did you get so lucky, most new bands would kill for start such as outright’s.

Luck and timing and an amazing group of supportive friends have made ALL the difference. Aaron’s work through I Exist provided lots of opportunities to hop on a couple of their shows while my connection with the SPB boys and the Haiti benefit show organizers was an amazing example of supportive friends making the way for us to join in on what we thought was a fantastic cause. I have no idea how the MA/Deafeater/FOW and Cruel Hand shows appeared for us because I don’t even believe our luck with those and can’t believe we were even considered but that doesn’t take away from how hugely greatful we are!!

What are your dream bands to play a show with. Current and past?

Too hard. I hate making lists because there’s always some of the most obvious and important bands that I’ve missed. I actually started a list that included the usual Cro-Mags, Youth of Today, Trial, Bane, Indecision, Chain of Strength, Warzone, Antidote, Arms reach, Deadstare but it got too huge. I’m sorry.

Any shout outs? Random thoughts?

Thank you for asking such interesting questions, seriously, and for actually wanting to know more about us and about me too. So cool. This is going to be so lame but I personally want to thank the others for doing this band with me. I’ve wanted it for so fucking long and I love it. I’m so grateful. The bands and bookers that have helped us get started deserve a huge amount of thanks as do the bands and families we share members with for being patient. Most importantly, the amount of support and feedback from friends old, new and unknown has been overwhelming. Thank you.

Please let me know what you think about this subject? Can we as members of the community do more?

This was the Question :

Do you think punk/hardcore is suffering from a brain drain? i.e. is the community lacking intellectual growth, learning and development.

This was his answer:
As for the ‘brain drain’, I think that is the case more or less; there is a fine line between being preachy and entertaining, with not a lot happening outside of venues. There are probably a billion crusty anarchowhatever bands who can probably rehash and paraphrase the lastest hit articles from znet and probably just as many jock broseph bands who couldn’t care less aside from getting high and laid, but I think people will seek out whatever scene and attitudes they want. At least in places where there are big enough scenes so people can fragment into a bunch of neighbouring niches for everyone to drop in and out as they please.

Not wanting to make hardcore/punk seem less improtant or significant, but a lot of the politics, at least from my own experience, come from ‘flawed readings’ and understandings, ie without a relevant knowledge of philosophical or academic concepts. Now I’m all up for the enthusiasm to self-educate, but

I mean every other band quotes ‘god is dead’ and nietzsche, but few people understand the context and implications of that, at least on any real academic level. It’s usually ‘oh yeah, dude was a nihilist, fuck everything’, which is incredibly far from truth. That sort of mentality is somewhat prevalent in hardcore, though it’s not necessarily a bad thing, just revealing about the wants and hopes of the individual.

I think there is a reluctance from people in hardcore to take it more ‘serious’, since it would probably dillute the ‘dionysian’ side of things, which is just as important as the ‘apollonian’… to sound like a social studies prick. I mean, fuck, I dig all the Tragedy-like bands, but going to some of those crusty vegan anarchist animal rights parties and gigs is REAL drag. I feel like I have to apologise for every little aspect of my life that doesn’t conform to whatever it is they think it should be, every time I speak to someone. If I want some dreadlocked trustafarian to tell me I’m a bad person for enjoying a bacon cheeseburger, I’d rather they did it in a lecture hall where I can at least hear and understand everything, rather than over blastbeats and wailing guitar solos, you know? I think by the time people in hardcore start getting more radicalised, they move on to other things since it’s probably a bit futile to try to effect any real change through a music-based social structure like hardcore, punk or metal.

But ultimately this will be different in different places. In Athens there is a huge expectation for anyone involved with the punk scene to be into anarchism; sure, quite a few kids can probably quote some Bakunin or Kropotkin slogan, but I feel it has to do more with going along with the prevailing trend of ‘punks = circle a’s', rather than truly having an interest. Not surprisingly, as soon as a lot of these kids hit 25, they move onto something less ‘complicated’ and loaded with meaning. There is a more ‘trendy’ punk scene of bands that play more like the latest bands on Epitaph or Fat Wreck, but even they are going to be down with the whole DIY and squat scene.

I don’t know if I made my point clear, but essentially I think that depending on what your scene is, hardcore can potentially expose people to great ideas; what you do after that though, whether you actually get serious about exploring them in a scientific kind of way (ie being thorough, systematic and unbiased) or just take it all at face value.

I’d like to think that people do the former, rather than the later, but ultimately it suffers from the same thing every other music-based millieu of subcultural activity (yikes!) takes place; just like rock, punk, metal (especially metal), rap and every other such scene that at one point or another has had mainstream exposure and therefore been ‘co-opted’ by the forces of evil that generate mindless popular culture; namely that is that people can strip away (and add) as many ‘layers’ of it as they want and still claim to be a part of it; you can get a Good Charlotte sticker on your SUV and a faux-hawk and claim to be a punk, or you can go all the way and worship Amebix and Charlie Manson to be soooo punk rock that you don’t even call yourself punk rock.

I think because in hardcore there is a tendency to draw influence from the past, there is a tendency to idealise all that history, so just to keep up with times people end up posing a lot, to ‘live up to’ all the history they’ve made up. So I think that people get wrapped up with trying to figure out how all these exaggerated attitudes and ideas work together that they end up losing interest into the why’s and how’s of it.

Hey All.

The Print zine is finally done. Printed stapled, editioned and sexy.

This Zine is a long time in the making and includes writing/poetry and lyrics from:

- Adrian Jung -Vera

- Jordan Phailthorpe – The Effort

- James Matthews – More Than Life

- Danielle Allen – The Offsides

- Christian Brix – Reason To Care

- Brett Eitzen – Samsara

- Micheal Fransico – Zelda’s Dead

- Sam Provost – I Exist

- James Brown – Battle!

- Tyson Daniel – Vultures and Founder of Home Is Where The Heartache Is.

- Alfred Brown – Dangers

I have a very limited first run edition of 25, so if you want a copy send me an email (unabletoconvey.zine@hotmail.com) with your Name and Address and i’ll send you one.

Hope you enjoy

-Hubert

Check out Arrows new music they are radness encarnate. http://www.myspace.com/arrowsmusic

Thank you to anyone that reads anything, thinks anything, and has seen Unable To Convey!

Anyhow i have been working on (for a while) a hard copy zine. The zine concept is that rather than interview, review and hassle bands and get formulaic responses and a borin zine.  I would get the artists themselves to write something, be a poem, a lyric, a story, anything that excited or interested them. It is pretty much all collated and i am just finalising the printing and layout of the thing.

I thought I’d just let people know that. So if you’re interested in it, or getting one let me know.

Writtings from

- Danielle Allen (Offsides )

- James Matthews (More Than Life)

- Brett Eitzen ( Shot Point Blank / Samsara )

- James Brown ( Battle!)

- Adrian Jung (Vera)

- Sam Provost ( I exist / Slow burn) 

- Jordan Phailthorpe ( The Effort)

- Tyson Daniel (Vultures)

- Christian Brix ( Reason to Care)

Hope you enjoy!

-Hubert

Im very excited to have this Q and A with James from Battle! a band which i feel is one of the most underrated bands out now. If you dont know them go have a listen to them! they are great! Big thanks to James for doing the interview and putting up with me being annoying! So thanks they have a new EP out on Burn Bridges dont be shit go buy it!

Hey first of all, can you tell me who makes up Battle! And how Battle! Began?

 (Me) James, Jim, Riley, Evan, and Dave. I was living in Boston for a few years and decided I wanted to move back to Florida and start a band. This was in 2003. I asked a good friend of mine if he knew of any drummers and he introduced me to Jim. We started out as just me on guitar and him on drums but then I found Riley on the internet and asked if he wanted to jam with us. Then over the years we eventually found the right 2nd guitarist and bassist.

Why the name Battle! Does it have any meaning or back story?

Haha, it’s kind of a funny story. We were jamming for a while and had a good handful of songs under our belt and still couldn’t think of a band name.

 One day Jim, my girlfriend and I were driving by a huge horse field. She asked Jim why the horses were divided into 2 separate sections? He jokingly replied, “oh every year here in Gainesville they open up the divider and let the horses battle to the death”. My girlfriend believed him for a split second and then we all laughed. Then later that day she posted on his Myspace page a pic of 2 horses bucking/fighting each other and just wrote underneath it “Battle!” and she said, “this should seriously be your band name”.  And so it stuck.

How would you describe, your own personal music style? And how that influences your song writing? And do you have any main lyrical focus?

 I personally listen to all kinds of music. Mainly Punk Rock and Hardcore. I feel that it influences me in the sense that I remember how I felt when I first heard punk music and how different it was, the attitude, the lyrics. They all seemed to hit close to home and I could relate so much to this type of music. I guess that’s what I try to do. I feel like if anyone can take anything from our music then our work is done. I write a lot about everyday struggles I go through and some demons in my head that I deal with. I try to stay positive in my writing because I’m a pretty positive guy. I don’t want kids to listen to our records and get depressed haha.

Are any or all of Battle! Straight edge/vegetarian/vegan? and if so does that influence the band.

Me and Riley are straight edge. Jim and Evan don’t smoke or drink, they just choose not to label themselves. And Dave…well lets just say he does the partying for the whole band! Haha. Jim is vegan, Dave is vegetarian. These things don’t have any effect on our music. We are all friends and respect each others life decisions, even if they might be a bit different from each others.

What bands are of most influence to Battle! as a group if any?

Minor Threat would have to be one of my main influences. They were just one of the 1st bands that I got into. They started everything but we all listen to all different kinds of music though and there’s just way too many bands to name.

If you could play with one band, (current or old) who wouldit be? And why?

 Hmm, I have always loved playing with Shai Hulud! Such a great band and great bunch of guys!  But I’m not saying I would turn down playing with Judge or Gorilla Biscuits. haha.

Can you tell me about your new record? And how it came to be released on Burn Bridges?

Yeah it’s a 5 song 7″ called “Closer/Further”. We played a few shows with Ruiner and Stephen told us he’d help us out with his label if we ever wanted to release something, so he helped us out.

Do you or any of the other members have any other musical projects besides Battle! at the moment or coming up?

 Yeah! Me and Jim are in a fast, silly punk band called “Nerd Alert”. Riley is doing his solo blues/funk/jazz thing under the name “Riley Keene” and  Evan is in a gruesome rap group called “Tigerdog”.

What have been your most memorable shows? And why?

I would have to say one of my most memorable shows was in Bad Hersfeld, Germany with Gravemaker. We did a whole European tour with those dudes and all the shows were AMAZING! but this one in Bad Hersfeld was unreal! The second we started playing kids were doing stage dives after stage dives and swinging off the ceiling and just getting super into our music. There were all types of kids there too, Goth kids, HxC kids, Punx, Skins, and they all had a blast together. It just reminded me of what hardcore/punk should be. What a great time!

What’s been your most embarrassing moment on stage?

I would have to say 2 years ago at The Fest here in Gainesville. We have a song that I start singing and then the rest of the band comes in right after me. Well lets just say they never came in and I looked like a jackass. haha

What are Battle! plans for the next couple of months?

In June/July we’re headed back up the east coast into Canada and then back down the east coast with our friends from Massachusetts called “Road Rage”. Then in October we hopefully will be headed back to Europe with our good friends “At Half Mast”. We’re still trying to figure that out though.

Any funny tour stories you could tell me about?

Hmm, well I honestly believe I could write a novel of crazy things that have happened to us on tour! It’s so hard to remember all of them right now. We had our windshield fly up and smash our front window while we were driving. Twice! We had our rear wheel fly off its axle while we were going about 70 mph. Ugh! There are too many to list haha.

Have you toured with or seen any of the Australian bands that have been in the States the last couple years? If so how where they? Or do you know/like any Australian bands and when are you gonna come to Australia?

I remember seeing I Killed The Prom Queen years ago here in Gainesville. They put on an awesome show! I don’t really know too much about Australian Hardcore. Not as much as I’d like to. We would love to come to Australia! I guess we’ll just have to see when a good time would be and if we could afford it. We would love that!

Lastly I’m interested in how people started to listen to hardcore, and became involved. Could you tell me a little about how you started listening to punk and hardcore?

 I remember seeing a Rancid music video on TV and was super into it! I bought the cd and loved it! An older girl I knew saw that I liked Rancid and made me a mix tape. It had Minor Threat, Nofx, Bad Religion, Montley Crue, Radon, Earth Crisis, Bloodlet and Snapcase on it. There were other bands too but I remember those were the ones I liked the most. I had to look high and low to find their records, whether it was doing mailorder or driving an hour and a half to a cool record store. I kinda miss those days.

A great Q&A with Mike from Defeater and Make Do and Mend. A big thanks to mike one of the nicest guys! Anyway i hope you enjoy it and please if you have any ideas feedback or thoughts! let me know i’d love to hear them! Again thanks Mike and Defeater are on tour in europe, they have a great record out, it is seriously on of the best records!!

Hi can you tell me your name, and the name of all the members and what they do in the band?

My name is Mike and I play bass. Jay plays guitar, Andy plays drums, Jake plays guitar and Derek sings.

Well the band originally wanted to be called Repeater as a Fugazi reference but it was already taken. I think Derek accidentally called the band Defeater when he was working on the lyrics and it just kinda stuck.

Haha, well unfortunately we have to admit this every time this question comes up but before we were called Defeater we had a slightly different line up and were called Sluts. We released one self titled record that I sang on and it sucked real bad. Then we recorded all the music for a second full length and as I was tracking the vocals. It was probably about half done when I decided I wanted to move to Hawaii. So I quit the band and moved. I knew the other dudes were going to keep the band going and find another singer. Thats where Derek comes in. After a few months I had plans to come back to Massachusetts to go to a friends wedding. I got a call asking if I wanted to play bass (Sluts was the first band I ever sang for, before that I was always playing bass in bands) for Defeater’s first tour. I said yes and before I even got back to Massachusetts we had heard from B9 that they were interested in working together. The other dudes asked if I wanted to stick around and I just never really went back to Hawaii. It’s bitter sweet, really. I loved living in Hawaii but there was always that itch to keep plugging away at the touring thing, as futile as it is. haha. Anyways, thats kinda the story of how Defeater started.

As for other bands, the list goes on and on. None of us have ever really done anything worth noting. Some pop punk bands, some hardcore bands, some weird At The Drive-In type bands. Really a little bit of everything.

Hahah, no you did not fuck this interview up. That was probably an interview Jay did. I don’t feel like bands whining about unimportant things is anything new. And who are we to say that what they sing or write about is unimportant? It’s all relative.

It’s so flattering to have people say that kind of stuff about a dumb band we started in a moldy basement. I don’t think any of us thought that Defeater would play more than a few shows here and there so to be able to travel all over the world, play music and have it be so well received is so fucking rad. Honestly, I can’t tell you enough how great it is to have anyone at all care about this band. While it does add a little pressure on us to keep the song writing interesting that is not necessarily a bad thing. None of us are interested in being in a band where we are not challenged. Keeping the song writing intelligent and finding ways to tie the releases together lyrically and conceptually is a challenge that we have accepted and we plan to see it through. It’s not really the easiest way to write music or a record but at the end of the day we’re all proud of the final product and that is an excellent feeling.

You’ll have to stay tuned for next week’s episode. haha.

I know everyone in Defeater has the itch to play other genres of music but I think that shows. Maybe in other bands in the past we have felt limited by playing hardcore/punk but with Defeater we just do whatever we want. We have no problem throwing an acoustic/folk song in the middle of a hardcore record. If you dig that song make sure to check out the next release…hint hint.

That was a UK tour with Ruiner and Polar Bear Club. It was our first time overseas as a band and it was an amazing experience. I know Ruiner had been over there multiple times but I think Polar Bear Club had only been once before so we had a blast just running through England, getting in trouble and driving our drivers crazy. haha. The biggest difference I noticed between the shows in the US and the shows in England were the after-show dance parties. It seemed like all the kids stuck around after every show and the club would just start playing Blink 182 or Saves The Day and everyone would just dance and sing along. Kids in the states are way too cool for that and it’s too bad because it was a lot of fun.

Honestly, people ask us that all the time and I never know what to say. I feel lucky enough to play with the bands we DO play with. But I think the Defeater dream show would consist of Minor Threat, Bruce Springsteen, Jawbreaker, and Jimmy Eat World. Maybe some Nirvana in there too.

Well, we’re home for the next three weeks and then we leave for Europe with Dead Swans and More Than Life. After that we are taking a little time off. We all have other stuff going on in our lives that is making touring this summer next to impossible for us but it’s OK. Jay has a lot of recording projects coming up, Andy owns a van rental company and is going to be traveling with Warped Tour for the entire summer to help promote that, Derek is engaged and will hopefully be recording some of his acoustic stuff that will be released under the name Alcoa, Jake plays in another band called Dreamtigers that is going to be writing/recording/playing out while Defeater has some down time and I also play in another band called Make Do And Mend who is recording a full length and doing a west coast US tour with Shook Ones.

Where do I start? haha. Im trying to think of My cousin ran a small zine when I was 12 or 13. It was called Plague Of Kittens. I think he mostly covered ska bands but he is who introduced me to punk rock. I should try to track down some of those zines, I was probably too young and too naive to appreciate it back then. But anyway, thats really my only involvement with a zine other than doing these kinds of interviews.

Lucero-1372 Overton Park, Dead To Me-African Elephants, Colin Bugbee-Demo

Don’t worry about being the cool kids, getting on the cool show with the big hype band, just do your thing. If there is something honest about what you’re doing people will take notice. When they do, don’t become the cool kids. Help us keep punk rock full of fuck ups and awkward losers. haha

Hopefully soon! We’re keeping our fingers crossed for 2011.