RAPE REVENGE Interview (2012)

RAPE REVENGE

Hey! How are you? Please introduce yourself and the rest of the band.

My name is Samantha and I am the vocalist of the band.  Jesse is the guitarist, Ethan is the bassist and Matt is the drummer. 

Please tell something about RAPE REVENGE for the people who don´t know your band.

Rape Revenge is a feminist band based out of Calgary Alberta Canada.  We have lyrics about queer issues. Feminism, animal rights, anarchism, and sexual violence.  We have been around for about 2 years and have released a self titled 7”, a live cassette, and just put out our new Paper Cage 7” on To Live A Lie Records.  We are a do-it-yourself band and are dedicated to the all ages underground music scene.  We only play all ages shows.  We are influenced by the power violence and the riot grrrl movement, and identify as a ‘riot violence’ band.

Are the lyrics of your song "Car Ride With A Vivisection Intern" based on a real story?

Yes they are.  I was given a friend of a friend ride home and during our drive I found out she worked in a vivisection lab as a part of her summer internship for her science degree.  I wanted to kick her out of my car, but instead I just tried to make her feel like shit through blanket statements like “wow, it must be really hard on your spirit, like your sense of being a good person, to torture animals all day” and “so what are you learning from this research that we don’t already know? Oh, nothing? Hmm…..”

Please explain the Riot Grrrl Movement for people who have never heard about it

Riot Grrrl was a movement that originated in Olympia Washington US in the 1990’s.  Women and queers wanted to start making music and tear down the boy’s club punk had become.  Riot Grrrl brought radical feminism to the punk scene.  A lot of great bands arose from this movement, such as Bikini Kill, Team Dresch, L7, Tribe 8 and Bratmobile. Also a lot of women wrote really rad zines, incorporating the “personal is political” aspect of the feminist movement.  One really awesome aspect of Riot Grrrl is that many of the band were formed by womyn who had never been in a band before, and had never played an instrument.  This made punk super accessible and fun, and also resulted in some really creative records being put out. 

The movement is sort of over, but there are ‘post riot grrrls’ everywhere, like me and like the folks in The Gossip and Le Tigre.  I have noticed a really interesting shift where a lot of womyn are making feminist grind, feminist hardcore, and feminist fastcore.  It’s like the riot grrrl movement but faster and louder.  Really inspiring.  Some bands that might fall under this category would be Womb Raider from Montreal, Burn Collector from Edmonton, Death Rats, and I think we could be considered this too.

I´m sure you heard about the Pussy Riot case from Russia. What do you think about it?

I fully support Pussy Riot and think they are amazing.  SO inspiring.  Last I heard they were illegally charged and arrested?  Hooliganism?  So fucked up!  Reminds me kind of of the Gorilla Grrrls in America, but with punk music.  I was on the Radical Cheer Squad here a while ago, I think we were definitely a bit tamer than Pussy Riot, but it was similar.  They have my full support!

Do you have any future plans for releasing new records and music? Maybe some songs who reach the one minute mark? haha

We just put out the Paper Cage 7” and I think we have a song on there that is 1:30… It’s really long.  As we grow and change as a band I am sure more songs will come out that are longer.  I am really into sludge and doomy hardcore stuff like Caulfield from Sacramento and Mourne from somewhere in the US, so if things go my way we will have longer slower parts more often.  We wrote a song a few days ago that is definitely longer and slower.  It’s about women’s experience of agoraphobia and the fear of going outside being connected to women being harassed on the street daily by men. 

How do you write music? What inspires you to write that kind of music?

We write things as collaboratively as possible.  I usually bring lyrics to practice and we talk about them and sometimes change some things or add something.  The way I write lyrics is that I just write a page of “free writing” about a topic and then take what works from that, shorten it to fit in a 30 second song, and then often use the rest in the explanation of the song in the liner notes.  Sometimes I just come up with a line and think about it for days until the rest of the song sort of forms around it.  A few times I have taken a quote from someone else, like Billy Bragg of Angela Davis and used it as a starter point.

Music wise, we do everything together.  We write the songs in practice and all come up with ideas about how things should sound.  We have only been in this line up for a year or so, so we are still figuring each other out.  The guitarist used to be a bassist, and is still new to this genre of music, so he brings really fresh and interesting ideas that we all build off of.   

What does veganism and straight edge mean to you?

Veganism to me just makes sense for my body, for my life, and for my beliefs about resisting the oppression of others.  Veganism is also a very spiritual thing to me.  I never want to see an animal as food again.  I have chosen to dedicate this small aspect of my life to the dignity and worth of the lives of animals.  I also have chron’s disease and have basically cured that shit by eating a plant based diet.  I am really excited about feeling healthy and happy and am proud to say I have accomplished this through a low cost vegan diet. 

Straight edge is a personal choice for me, based on my identity as queer and the issue I take with seeing so many queers have to be drunk in order to express their sexuality.  I want to be comfortable with myself when I am sober.  My father is an addict and so also a part of my straight edge identity is about that and a desire to learn from his mistakes. 

Do you have any plans to play in Europe some day? By the way, can you tell me a good tour story?

We really want to come to Europe! We have been so lucky to have so many awesome people contact us from Europe and invite us to tour there.  We are hoping to come as soon as we can.  This year we are doing the west coast of the US, so maybe next year?

Touring is so fun and totally my favorite part of being in this band.  I guess the best story I can tell you is this time we played in a city and a girl spoke to me about being sexually assaulted by this guy that apparently was a big deal in the scene.  No one believed her and she felt super isolated.  I spent the whole night hanging out with her and talking about it, trying to support her and having her back.  She was really strong and super bad ass and I was really honored that she felt she could open up to me.  A few months later she started a really awesome band, and we are going to play with them when we are back in her town soon.

Which goals do you want to reach with RAPE REVENGE?

I think we have already reached my main goal, which was to inspire other women and queer to start heavy bands.  Lots of women who I have met at shows have now started some of the best bands out there. 

I guess another goal is just to write more, to write songs that really inspire people, that really reach out to the other people who feel like a freak or an outsider like I do. 

And the last goal is just to remain kind and caring to each other as a band.  Matt and I started this band and we lost 3 of our members after our first tour.  We just weren’t as nice to each other as we could have been.  We barely knew each other and then we were in a van for a month and it all just got fucked up.  This time around, I think we have built some really strong friendships with Ethan and Jesse.  I baked them both cupcakes for their birthdays, Ethan and I have lots of rad talks and Jesse and I share our common interest in meditation.  I think we are good to each other and I think that will be what helps us stick around for a while. 

The last words are yours.

Thank you so much, Ray, for inviting us to do this interview.  We are so appreciative of your support and for the opportunity to share more about our project.  Rape Revenge is always really stoked to hear from people, so if you want to email us send it to raperevengeband@riseup.net

TRIAL Interview (2012)

TRIAL

Hey! How are you? Please introduce yourself and the rest of TRIAL.

GREG: Hi there.  Thanks for the interview.  I am doing well.  Trial is made up of the following members: Timm plays guitar.  He runs the hardcore record label Panic Records (http://www.panicrecords.net) and a car company called Aces For Hire.  EJ also plays guitar.  He plays in about eleven different bands and is a musical genius.  His wife stars in horror movies as an actress.  Roger plays bass.  He has really good hair and he plays in a band called Braeg Noafa who are also amazing.  Alexei plays drums.  He has long hair and is a really snappy dresser.  I sing.  I just got back from my second spoken word tour of the summer in 2012 and am really happy with how things went.  I am looking forward to coming over to Europe on a spoken word tour in 2013.  I will be putting updates online at http://www.wordsasweapons.com.

Please tell something about TRIAL for people who don´t know this band.

GREG: Trial is a passionate hardcore band from Seattle WA who have written songs about human suffering and survival, with lyrics that are political and psychological.  We all like food.  We all like heavy metal.  Ronnie James Dio (rest in peace) was a genius.  We like a restaurant in Seattle called The Veggie Grill.  Its vegan.  The band formed in 1995, broke up in 2000, and started playing shows again in 2005.

Why did TRIAL break up? What were the reasons for a reunion?

GREG: We broke up in 2000 as many bands do, because of disagreements between us.  We started playing shows again in 2005 because the ideas were always very important to us and the feeling and energy never left us even though the band wasn't playing for almost five years.  We never really wanted to stop in the first place.  We just let dumb fights amongst us get in the way. WE were dumb but then we got smarter.  We're all very happy to be playing again and who knows, maybe we will even write another song or two sometime.

You write very powerful and political lyrics, I really like that. Please explain the lyrics from the song "are these our lives?"

GREG: That song takes a look at the way our lives are spent.  And I use the word "spent" very specifically here. We pay for things with money.  We trade our hours for that money.  The hours we trade for that money are hours of our lives that we will never get back again.  And sometimes we forget that the effect of that entire process comes at the expense of someone else somewhere in the world who is less fortunate than we are, and who actually works to support the lifestyles we lead...just as we work to support someone else's lifestyle.  Its a very twisted process, and the song looks specifically at a number of ways that this effects us and effects people in the world.

You did a workshop at Fluff Fest 2012 about writing more effective lyrics. That whole spoken word thing, how did that come about? (You are a great speaker by the way!)

GREG: Thank you. I appreciate you saying so.  Fluff had asked if I would come over this summer to do that workshop and I was really happy about it.  I didn't do a full tour in Europe, but I did one in the USA before and after Fluff like I mentioned before in this interview.  This is the way I described my workshop at Fluff: "For singers, lyricists, poets, and writers: come and share ideas and hear thoughts about how to make our lyrics meaningful, vital, and real.  No more boring lyrics!  We don’t live boring lives, so lets not have our words be boring either.  Lets have our lyrics perfectly reflect the fire in our hearts!”  I always want lyrics to be better....to capture my heart as well as my mind.  I thought, maybe if we can all talk about this at Fluff Fest, it might inspire some thoughts in other people about how to make their own lyrics better as well.  I think it worked!  I got a lot of feedback from people and the emails with people having new inspiration didn't stop for weeks afterwards.  The turnouts on each day were really good too.  Overall, I am really thankful for everyone supporting those workshops like that.

Fluff Fest is and always was a big inspiration to me. It also inspired me to do my own Fanzine. What do you think about Fluff Fest? 

GREG: I will tell you the truth....but you have to lean in close because I am going to have to whisper. (Greg lowers his voice to a quiet whisper)  Fluff Fest is the best hardcore festival on the planet.  I love it.  I have to whisper this because I don't want to upset any of my friends at home who put on the incredible fest called Rain Fest or my friends in Belgium who put on Ieper Fest.  Both of those are amazing too but Fluff is pretty unique in many ways.  Great vegan food, lots of different types of people coming together, all sorts of bands, and also: my friend Kucin who is always there selling these incredible handmade writing journals. Talking to him alone is worth flying over for from the USA, not to mention how great it is to see all my other European friends. (Greg raises his voice again) There you go: these are my thoughts on Fluff Fest.

What does veganism and straight edge mean to you?

GREG: I have been vegan for more than half my life.  I love it.  I think eating cheese is silly.  It’s not necessary.  And I say that knowing that a lot of my Italian friends might disagree because they love cheese and they suck it down all the time.  But I really do believe that eating dairy is unnecessary for anyone who has the option to live an alternative lifestyle.  In fact, even people who don't have "vegan products" available often find when they are educated about nutrition and new food choices that eating a vegan diet is cheaper, easier, and better for local agriculture than a meat or dairy diet.  As for eggs, eating them is really weird.  And eating meat is just barbaric.  As for being straightedge, I am straightedge because I don't think I need alcohol or drugs in my life.  Or caffeine.  These are things that make me feel terrible about myself, because I like to see the world through eyes which are as unfiltered as they can be.  We will always have filters of some kind.  And even our food affects our bodies and minds.  But drugs and alcohol affect me in ways that I don't like.  And this isn't even to mention how stupid people get when they are drinking.  Drunk driving for example is something that makes me incredibly upset.  I would love to see a world in which drunk drivers are used as targets for archery practice.  These are dangerous people and stopping them by any means necessary is entirely okay.

In my band (Charly Bone (RIP) ) we write about topics like veganism, animal liberation and other political stuff. We also do speeches on stage between our songs. But sometimes people show up and say things like "talk less - play more music". And then to me it seems like people don´t care about a message or about lyrics anymore. It’s so disappointing to here such things from so called hardcore kids. What do you think about it?

GREG: Its not one or the other.  You have to have both.  Think about it this way in terms of the word "SONG".  If you only have lyrics, or you only have music, then you either have "SO" or "NG".  But with both you have the entire word and the entire experience.  Sometimes you can find a balance, meaning maybe you say things more specifically from the stage.  Maybe you use your words more effectively.  That's one way to satisfy both the people who want ideas and the people who want to rock out.  Generally, I think its safe to say that people who yell "talk less...play more music" secretly don't care about hardcore.  They are just there to impress their friends, to look cool, and I guarantee you that every single one of them will drop out of hardcore within the next couple of years.

You founded the organization "One Hundred For Haiti". Please tell us something about that.

GREG: One Hundred For Haiti was founded just after the earthquake in January 2010. I sailed to Haiti on the Liberty Schooner, a sailboat with ten thousand pounds of medical supplies and food along with a crew of ten volunteers. After we got to Haiti, I stayed in Haiti as the boat returned to the USA. I found my friend Dr. Jacques Denis who is a doctor at a public medical clinic in Port au Prince. After the quake, Dr. Denis had been giving away medical care and medicine to people who couldn't afford to pay for it.  When I got home to the USA I founded One Hundred For Haiti to do three things: first, to provide relief to the people of Haiti overall through sending food and medical supplies; second, to support Dr. Denis in his mission to continue giving free medical care to the people he serves; and third, to support the people in a small village near Jacmel.  I started raising donations through our website (http://www.onehundredforhaiti.org) and through Facebook postings and Twitter.  At Dr. Denis' medical clinic, we also hired Haitian workers to repair cracks in the foundation and walls from the quake at Dr. Denis' clinic.  The people who live in the area served by the clinic are afraid to walk into buildings that were damaged in the quake so these repairs let the clinic continue to serve people.  You can see videos about this work on http://www.onehundredforhaiti.org and on YouTube by searching "100forhaiti".  In the last year we started a new program called "Moto Logistics" where we give loans to organizations so that they can buy motorcycles to use for transportation and also for the raising of money as most people in Haiti travel by motorcycle taxi.  We create opportunities for people to have jobs driving those motorcycle taxis and this in turn raises money for the organizations we serve.

I don´t know if you heard about the "Tierschützer Prozess" in Austria. Animal rights activists have been treated like terrorists and criminals for doing normal and legal animal welfare activism and demonstrations. The judiciary used a so called "mafia paragraph" to get some of the activists in remand and after that they had a long trial. Although the activists were acquitted of charge they got smashed by the system. Some of them lost their jobs, they lost their existence (because they had to pay charge for the trial) they got mental pressure and so on.
What do you think about that?

GREG: I think its part of a growing trend worldwide to suppress alternative voices and opinions through branding anyone with a dissenting voice as a "terrorist".  Read a book called Green is the New Red if you can find a copy in Europe.  Its written by a guy named Will Potter and it decribes very clearly the current state of affairs in the United States about this issue.  Many people have been jailed for their ideas and for speaking out about them.  And ideas - as we read in the 'V For Vendetta' comic and then saw in the movie - are bulletproof.   They tend to threaten established power structures, and since power doesn't like to lose its hold, those who run the risk of losing something if opinions change tend to want to keep new ideas out of the minds of people who might run with those ideas and ask for something new for themselves and for the world.

Any bands we should check out?

GREG: Bridges Left Burning (Germany); Wolf X Down (Germany); Braeg Noafa (Seattle, USA); Unsilent (Belarus); and of course everything ever put out by Robert from Refuse Records and also his new label Warsaw Pact Records. Robert is a genius of hardcore.  He has brought back to life bands who otherwise would have faded into history, and he brings releases to the world from bands who might otherwise never have been heard.

The last words are yours.

GREG: Go vegan, be straightedge, do something in your community to make someone's life better.  Read things from the CrimethInc Collective.  Watch the movie "Ghost Dog".  Memorize every single second of the movie "The Big Lebowski". Get a copy of the album "New York" by Lou Reed and listen to it a hundred times.  If you're in a bad relationship, get out of it today (I mean it...don't wait a single second).  Go to the Villa Borghese in Rome and look at Bernini's statues.  Try eating peanut butter with chocolate.  Go on an adventure that you think is impossible.  Make out with someone new.  Go somewhere you're not supposed to.  Hide a smoker's cigarettes and pretend you don't know where they are when they ask for them.  Don't text and drive.  Support your local hardcore scene.  I think that just about covers it.  Keep in touch anytime through facebook (http://www.facebook.com/gregbennick) or through my spoken word site Words As Weapons (http://www.wordsasweapons.com). I hope to see you on the road sometime. Thanks for the interview!

RELEASE! Die letzte Ausgabe von THE WORLDS HAVOC ist da!

Hey!

Endlich ist es soweit! Die vierte und letzte Ausgabe von TWH ist da und gibt es wie immer GRATIS!

Eigentlich sollte diese Ausgabe noch mehr Interviews und Texte beinhalten aber leider musste ich aus diversen Gründen darauf verzichten. Damit ist #4 etwas kürzer geraten als gewollt, aber was solls.

INTERVIEWS MIT:       A TRAITOR LIKE JUDAS

                                       WAR ON WOMEN

                                       EVA GENIE (ex-GATHER, RATS IN THE WALL)

                                       ANCHOR

KOLUMNEN:           "FORCED" (Track by Track - Stillborn)

SONSTIGES:              Ein tragischer Abschied mit viel Herzschmerz, hahaha!

DIY, A5, 50 Kopien, schwarz/weiß, deutsch, GRATIS!

Wenn ihr Interesse an einem Exemplar habt dann schaut doch einfach auf einer Show meiner Band STILLBORN ( https://www.facebook.com/stillbornhc ) vorbei, haltet auf diversen anderen Shows Ausschau (irgendwo werd ich mich schon rum treiben), checkt den Zine Distro von Cheating Death aus ( http://cheatingdeathzine.tumblr.com/ ) - er treibt sich auf wesentlich mehr Shows rum als ich, oder schreibt mich doch einfach an: the.worlds.havoc.zine@gmail.com

Ich möchte mich an dieser Stelle bei wirklich jedem Einzelnen bedanken der etwas mit diesem Fanzine zu tun hatte! Egal ob Bands, Künstler, Schreiber, Leser, Kritiker usw. VIELEN DANK!

some goodbyes are farewells...oder so

„Ich möchte, dass dieses Zine Freude bereitet, inspiriert, motiviert, es zum Nachdenken anregt und leider etwas vergessene Werte wieder zurück in die Hardcore Szene bringt.“ Dies war stets mein Leitfaden/Motto für das THE WORLDS HAVOC Fanzine und gilt natürlich auch für diese Ausgabe. Die letzte Ausgabe.

Nach 4 Ausgaben habe ich beschlossen das Kapitel THE WORLDS HAVOC zu beenden.

Das ist ein kurzer Ausschnitt aus dem Intro Text meiner vierten Ausgabe von TWH.
Mehr Infos gibt es hoffentlich bald! Ich bin auf jeden Fall drauf und dran die letzte Ausgabe von TWH bald fertig zu stellen!

Update!

Hey!

Lange habe ich nichts von mir hören lassen. Das Jahr 2013 hatte mich ordentlich im Griff und es hat sich verdammt viel in meinem Leben getan. (Positives wie auch Negatives)
Fanzine-technisch kann ich momentan leider auch nichts Neues bieten außer dass unzählig viele Ideen in meinem Kopf herum schwirren und ich hoffe dass ich diese Ideen so bald wie möglich umsetzen kann.
In der Zwischenzeit checkt doch einfach mal ein neues Food Zine namens "YO VEGAN" aus!

ein wirklich total cooles Zine von Yohanna aus Göteborg die sich gleich zu Beginn in einem sehr sympathischen Interview selbst vorstellt. Ich finde das Artwork auch wirklich sehr gelungen (der Gitarre spielende und singende Fisch hat es mir besonders angetan, haha!)
Auf jeden Fall auschecken! Es lohnt sich! Mit tollen Interviews, Rezepten und sehr viel Liebe fürs Detail! Für mich noch ein Zine Highlight im Jahr 2013.

Außerdem steht dieses Wochenende noch ein kleiner Weekender mit meiner Band Stillborn und unseren Freunden von Mantan an

https://www.facebook.com/events/617351654977063/?fref=ts


Das nächste THE WORLDS HAVOC Fanzine wird kommen, es bleibt nur weiterhin offen wann.
Ich halte euch auf dem Laufenden.

See ya!

"Thanks For Not Giving A Shit" Fanzine

Me and my buddy Lu (Cheating Death Fanzine) started a new Fanzine together! It´s called "Thanks For Not Giving A Shit"
It includes interviews with Sail This Ship Alone, Hieroglyphes, Tomorrow We Hunt, Still X Strong, Last Note Records, Tom Is The Bastard, The Storm.
If you are interested just hit me up: the.worlds.havoc.zine@gmail.com
Infos: DIY
         A5
         Black and White
         English
         80 Copies

STILLBORN - "CRADLE & GALLOWS"

" Tomorrow is the day of the DIGITAL RELEASE of our upcoming 7inch "Degrading Culture". We will upload all 4 songs of this record on BANDCAMP. You can stream them there for free and download them for a "pay as you wish" price. So whatever amount of money our music is worth to you, we will gratefully accept! If you are out of money you can also download them for free. In the meantime you can listen to our songs on youtube."

Quelle: Stillborn Facebook