Hardcore: The Unseen Safe House

By: Chase Langdon

A bare room with nothing in it but space in the morning. This room would most likely smell of old people or whoever used it last, maybe a birthday party of some sort. The room later that night after all the ruckus would smell of body sweat. The air would feel dense and humid and lonely once again, after all the ruckus. The everyday passerby sees the show as noise pollution. Some see it as a place where their kids would learn about fucking and drugs. This is the people that we consider to be the bad crowd. We want to keep our kids in school and church. If they aren't accepted it is their own fault for being so non-social. They use sarcasm and cynical remarks and it drives the normal kids away, this is why they are not accepted. These hardcore punk shows are just their path to self destruction, prison and suicide. That's what its told in the above ground anyway.

The hardcore scene has been alive, dead, and fighting for surviving in the minds of the American youth since the late seventies. It has always been what most people see as the junkies. Music that the criminals listen to and make. Tattooed low-lives that do nothing but scream angry songs about murder. This is so far from the truth its insane. Hardcore and punk shows have been the true safe haven of the non-socially accepted for years. The sad thing is that most teens are socially unaccepted. The even sadder thing is that allot of these kids never even hear of hardcore and think hardcore is just another word for metal and the only metal bands they have heard of is the bigger bands such as Slipknot and Disturbed which is told to them as the devil's music and such which is only a selling point for bands and most of the "nu" metal bands are just as corporate as the groups they claim to be against, but that's another story.

I'm not going to get into the history of hardcore and all that jazz. Its not the time for that. I really want this post to be more on a personally level, my own experience in the hardcore scene of the early 2000's. For me I found this music scene all own my own, with the help of some gracious friends and mostly self experience. My parents were and still are avid free will baptists and do not really listen to any music at all. I was picked on from kindergarten through eighth grade and didn't fit in at all. I didn't relate to my parents either (even though I was afraid of what hell was told to me to be and I went to church on a regular basis). I went to my first show with my friend Adrian in early 2002. The show was Zao, Unearth, and Stretch Armstrong. I saw a sort of unity in the crowd. This laid back yet energetic crowd that seemed to know each other. The bands were fine with just hanging out and drinking beers with the fans, but not as rock stars but as nearly best buds. I've never seen anything like it.

At hardcore shows it differs from rock shows and metal shows like a Pantera concert because even though some people drink, its not like everyone just go for getting plastered and acting a complete asshole and fucking some under aged slut and all her friends. You don't have to worry about some long haired drunk fuckhead trying to mosh. Rock shows seem to be these dingy nasty "sex, drugs, and rock n roll." Hardcore is "high fives, stage dives and hardcore." I have been to a few other genre shows but hardcore is where music seems to matter the most. Where music is the key ingredient, rather than just background noise to getting drunk and hitting on chicks.

Not until hardcore really did mix with metal and some of the more metal heads came out thinking it was just the same thing. The ideas clash and down hardcore went to just violent slug fests between the rival moshers. Boyfriends kick the asses of drunk old men. Straight Edgers take offence to some guy spilling been in their faces. See even the more anger fulled tough guy hardcore did seem to have this positive underline to their shows and show respect at the shows even though it was allot different from the more punk influenced "posi" hardcore of the mid to late eighties. Don't get me wrong I fucking love a great metal band as long as they are extremely talented and take the time to really think out songs. I'm really picky with metal. Bands like Between the Buried and Me who originated around the hardcore scenes of Raleigh now have tons of disrespectful drunks going to the shows and their shows get very violent and allot of fights break because of the clashing.

But now we go back, posi is seeming to be the new cool. I'm fine with that. When I think of a hardcore show I think of the good times, the sing-alongs. I think of my friends, the smell of sweat and salt. I think of how the outsiders don't get it. I think of how we are looked on as the junkies. I think of how I am not that junky. I think of how non of us are. I think of morality and respect, and how these virtues are avid at our shows. I think of how open minded everyone is, how no matter who you are, you are one of us as long as you have fun and show respect. I think of how I see people for the first time in their short lives, being themselves.

Thank you for listening.

The Contradictions of a Generation or: Why I Now Consider Kurt Cobain to be the best Anti-Hero of the 90's.

By Max Kath

I have been spending the past few weeks doing a few different things: reading a lot, going through an existential crisis of identity, going to my Grandfathers funeral, and trying my damnedest to figure out something of any value to write here in this blog that Chase has so graciously set up for me to be an editor of. And while I don't know if this can really be considered a post of any value I think I may have finally had a breakthrough in most unlikely of forms: Kurt Cobain. But before I get to that let me backtrack a little bit: most of the reading I've been doing is the book "Goodbye 20th Century: A Biography of Sonic Youth" by David Browne (which I recommend to anyone who has ever been interested in the old New York underground art movement of the late 70's through the 1980's) which has started to make me feel nostalgic for a version of the 80's and 90's that I never experienced. I grew up in the 90's and I got to hear a lot of the bands that were performing on the top 40 radio stations but I never got to experience the wonders of the grunge movement, or the excitement of going to the first Lolapalooza tour, or to listen in amazement to the sounds that Sonic Youth and Nirvana were making with their most popular albums that were coming out at that point. I'm old enough to remember all of those things, but not old enough to say "I was there when Nirvana broke big" or "My friend brought over this really good album called 'Gish' by some band called Smashing Pumpkins" but I can revel in the fact that there was this show on MTV called Total Request Live (or TRL for you purists) that boosted the sales of *NSYNC and had the number three spot reserved for the band Korn when they released their "Freak on a Leash" video.

But I digress. The other book I've been reading off and on for the past few days is a collection of dramatic work from the author Samuel Beckett. Beckett was a published poet, author, and playwright who would often write in the style of existentialism (which for those who don't know states that all things in life lead to one inevitable conclusion: death). His work has been some of the most challenging and well written things I have ever had the pleasure of reading and his philosophy is one that greatly influenced me in writing this entry (for no other reason than because I needed to find someone who could kick my lazy ass out of bed and make me leave my mark on the world). While at Target the other day I happened upon the movie "Kurt Cobain: About a Son" and decided to buy it along with the documentary "Grizzly Man" (which I also highly recommend) because I had heard good things about the movie and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Throughout the film we see numerous locations throughout Washington state and hear an audiotape of an interview done with Cobain before he died. Throughout the narration he shares many stories about his childhood and his family life and how he came to meet a bunch of people who would inspire him to form a band etc. The movie was pretty good with some moments of great insight to the man that most people have elevated to the realm of martyrdom. For the record I am not one of those people, but I can't deny that because of the Sonic Youth book my fascination with the myth that surrounded not only Cobain but all of Generation X has once again been rekindled; the idea that there was a large group of 18- 20 somethings that were so pissed off at the establishment set up by Ronald Regan and George Bush Senior (and to a certain degree Bill Clinton) that they had too find creative ways of expressing themselves to protest the bullshit that the establishment was piling on top of them (the 1960's anyone?). The reason I call this a myth is that the movement only last for about six or seven years before it imploded on itself, giving way to the whinny bitch movement of Nu-Metal and subsequent rise in pop radio hits that were so upbeat and friendly that they brainwashed a whole new of generation of kids. The people who were prevalent in the movement promised to be our undying symbols of protest and change through out the country, giving hope to all the disenfranchised youth who had lost their place in the world. This brings me to the one and only Mr. Cobain and his glorious contribution to the world.

Cobain represented, for most of the Gen-X crowd at least, someone who had grown tired of the corporate lifestyle that was taking over America's youth (and still is); the lifestyle that tells the kids how to dress, what music to listen too, where to go to get your morning cup of coffee etc. and Cobain hated all of it... especially when he became part of it. There is a classic Rolling Stone cover that has Cobain wearing a shirt that says "Corporate Magazines Still Suck," his attempt to justify being on the cover of a magazine that represented everything that he hated at that moment in time. The only problem was he probably didn't hate it that much at all, sure he was pissed that he had sunk to the low of dumbing the world down even more but at least he was getting paid to do so. In the film we hear a snippet of an interview where Cobain talks about the pressures of putting out a new record and then goes on to say that he would gladly take a check written to him by the head of the label. Granted he said that because he was wanting to put some money away for his daughters' future, but the scene acts as a glimpse into the true meaning behind Kurt Cobain: he was a human being who was no better or worse than anyone else and had been just as brainwashed as the kids who were going to see him in concert. Cobain came to represent everything he was railing against when he first got into making music, that part everyone knows, but what no one really thinks about is the fact that it happened to him in a very Orwellian way. He was systematically broken down by the very system he hated. He came to love corporate America just as much as Winston came to love Big Brother at the end of "1984." I may be exaggerating a little, but not by much, Cobain was very much the prototypical anti-hero because of what he came to represent in later years. Gen-X imploded on itself by 1998: most of the people in Gen-X were starting to go to collage or graduating from it and going out into the real world, they would trade in their flannel shirt, ripped up jeans, and Doc Martin boots for a three piece suit. They would move out of that dingy, dank apartment and move into a two story house in the suburbs with their girlfriend or fiance and have a few kids. They would go on to become successful business men or women and forget about all the idealism that they had growing up in the time of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. They would all go on to become yuppies and their kids would grow up listening to music like Korn and Marilyn Manson who will someday become the music that they look back on and wonder where all the good music went. And their martyr, their man upon the cross, the man who was the voice of a generation shot himself in the head to die for all the sins they were about to create.

And all the while I'm here feeling nostalgic for the version of the 90's that I never had, never will have, and will never exist again. Next time I think I'll talk about the nostalgia that I have for the 90's I do remember.

Q&A with I Was Totally Destroying It

By Jason Sundin

First off I saw these guys at the Cats Cradle with Cursive and they took the show best band there by far. Sorry Cursive don't get mad at me if you read this! But i had to get a chance to take to them before they are gone on the road for the summer and this is what i got. Probably one of the nicest guys I've ever got a chance to talk to.

Can we start with
your names and what you each play?

I'm John Booker
and I sing and play guitar, Rachel Hirsh sings and plays keyboards, Curtis Armstead plays guitar,
Martin Anderson plays bass, and James Hepler plays drums.


How long have you
been a band?

This band came
together in January 2007, so we've been together for about a year and a half
now. James and I had been playing together for a couple of years before that,
and the rest of the band were from some of the bands that our old band played
with at that time. When that band(En Garde) called it quits, we called on these new
friends to round out the new lineup.


I saw you guys with Cursive at
the Cats Cradle, since that show how would you say that your fanbase has grown?

Our fanbase since the Cursive
show in May 2007 has grown from "nothing" into "something"- that was our second
show ever! So we didn't really have a fanbase at all at that point, just friends or fans of
our old bands who came to the first show. It's been a fantastic year or so,
getting play with some great national acts, and all the best bands in the
Triangle. We've been lucky enough to play with amazing local acts and expand our fanbase by stealing
bits of theirs!


What would you say your influences be in the
music you make?

We all have so
many bands and artists that have influenced us- I think one big one that we can
all agree on is Superchunk. We're all big fans of the local history
of music in general- all the greats- Polvo, Archers of Loaf, Hellbender, Spatula, and
so on. I listen to SO MUCH music and it all has influenced me- some of the
biggest and most important names would be: U2, The Beach Boys, The Cure, Rocket
From The Crypt, Foo Fighters, Brian Eno, The Sea And Cake, Motion City Soundtrack, Zwan, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Jon
Brion, Spoon, The Outfield, Huey Lewis & The News, Elvis Costello, The
Pixies, Saves The Day, The Who, Motown, Jazz- that's barely the tip of the
iceberg. Curtis and James agree with me on most of that stuff- the 3 of us have
very similar tastes. Rachel is into all that, and a lot of more recent quirky
indie rock, and lots of classical music- and is also HUGE on 80's music, as am
I. Martin's faves are 70's icons like Springsteen and Neil Young. But seriously,
it goes way beyond that too- believe it or not, I listen to tons of ambient
music, krautrock,
lots of experimental weird stuff- as much as I listen to embarrassing pop hits!


When you write a song how is it done do you come up with music first
then the lyrics or do you normally have an idea for the song already in your
head?

This can get
complicated- Rachel and I are the primary songwriters- initially- and then the
rest of the band adds their spice on top of the general idea. People tell me the
way I write is fairly unusual. I used to do what most people I know do- come up
with guitar parts and riffs and throw them together and then eventually write a
melody on top of whatever you have there. I still do this sometimes, but I find
that process can make the melody suffer and seem secondary- and since we are in
a lot of ways a "pop" band, I think the melody is the most important thing. So
most of the songs I've written for this band start with me holding a guitar and
strumming a first, random chord, that fits the vibe I am aiming for at that
time. Then a melody starts coming out of my mouth and I find the chords that
follow the changes in the melody. I find the changes that please me melodically
for a verse, a chorus, a bridge, etc- and throw it all together. Sometimes I'll
write a backing guitar part that I hear melody from as well. That's generally
how I write the pop songs that I bring to the band as mostly completed ideas,
but lately it's been changing. Rachel has written a lot more songs for our
upcoming album- she is a lot more of the "normal" approach of coming up with
chord sequences or riffs and then putting a melody on top later. And some of our
best songs happen when Rachel or I have an idea we can't finish and bring it to
the other person, and it's a very collaborative effort with us finishing the
songs 50/50. Those are really the most exciting moments, and there's a lot of
those on the record we're about to record this summer.


Any funny
stories you would like to share from the band?

Hmm- none that come to
mind right off the bat- but I'm sure I'll have tons by the end of this summer-
after our 3 week US tour, recording for a month straight, and Rachel, Curtis and
myself moving into a house together next month! It's gonna get nuts!


I see you have a us tour going on now with quite a few states on the
bill how did you go about setting it up?

We decided to do a
June/July tour back in January- we mapped out how long we could be gone and
where we wanted to hit. It's a very ambitious quest for a first tour- we're
going all the way to the west coast and back in under 3 weeks. It hasn't been
easy booking it, and nothing like this ever goes exactly as planned, but we've
been really lucky with some of the shows we've gotten. Basically we just booked
it using connections we have from our past bands or people we know in the music
world somehow. Our California shows, for example, I was able to book because I
lived in San Francisco for 4 years and played in a band there- a lot of my old bandmates are still
playing there, so we're playing with their current projects, and other friends
on that coast from my time out there. Other shows we were able to hook up
through exchanging shows with bands that needed help here- we met a great band
this Spring from Idaho who needed our help with an NC show- so we hooked them up
and they are helping us out with Idaho- a state we otherwise had no idea how to
book. It's a lot of networking and just staying in touch with people you meet on
earlier tours you've done. We've been lucky to meet a lot of rad and helpful
people over our musical careers.


You are as of now unsigned is that
correct and if so is there a label that you are looking at?

Yes, we are
currently unsigned. There are a couple of beginnings of things with labels
popping up, but really nothing to speak of at this point. We released our first
album ourselves, and it was great and I've done it many times before with other
bands, but our goal is to record this next album this summer and shop it around
to record labels throughout the fall. We've got a few big names working with us
on the production of this record, and they plan to help us with the label
shopping process. Who knows how it will turn out- the music industry is very
strange right now. It'll come out at some point, even if we just end up self
releasing again, but we want to pursue these other options first and try to find
the right home.


What bands are you planing on playing with on the
tour?

We're playing with
a handful of bands I haven't heard yet, but some things we're really looking
forward to are: playing with Ryan Ferguson in San Diego- he was in a band a few
years back that we all love, called No Knife. We're also playing with our
friends Max & The Marginalized in Los Angeles, and my old bandmates goofy but
awesome new hard-rock side-project band, Leather Feather. haha. We also are looking
forward to seeing our new Idaho friends again, the band Finn Riggins. Oh, and a rad
band from Ohio called The Story Changes.

There are a lot of bands that
have came out of Chapel Hill how do you feel being kinda thrown in there with
some major bands so soon in your career how do you feel about it?

Like I said
before, we are huge fans of the history of the Chapel Hill music scene, it's
what we were raised on- Martin was so inspired by bands like Superchunk that he and his
friends started their own local record label, Trekky Records. The rest of us started bands of our
own. James and I have been playing in the scene for well over a decade- we were
lucky enough to be in cool bands in the 90's that got to hobnob with a lot of
the rad bands working at that time. And of course the tradition continues of
amazing local artists- a lot of the shows we play half
energize-me-to-play-better-and-even-more, but sometimes they make me just go
"damn, I'll never be as good as so-and-so's band!" It's a slightly competitive, incestuous,
creative melting pot and we're just happy to be a part of what's going on. I
think it's safe to say that the songs stand for themselves around here.

They are going to be playing a ton of show coming up. You should go check them out!

There Myspace link is http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=148830077