(ed. note : I would like to thank Martin Altemark for providing me with the english version of this interview for my page. He also conducted the interview. Cheers! Chuck.)
(ed. note : I would like to thank Martin Altemark for providing me with the english version of this interview for my page. He also conducted the interview. Cheers! Chuck.)
2. tell us a bit 'bout the members in State of fear.
3. You are some kind of "East coast all star band", why does all fucking
bands in the states have "famous" members? I mean, if you get a new
record
from a new band in the states you recognizes at least 3/4 of the band.
4. Why did your former bands quit? And while we're at it can Jay tell us
the
story of Disrupt not being as political as you guys seemed? I read
something about in the interview for Profane.
5. Why did Pete quit the band after the first EP, and why didn't you
stay on
Reiterate Records?
6. Jon and Fred are also working at the Profane existence collective.
How is
it doing that?
7. You live in Minneapolis, it seems to be quite a good scene there. Can
you
tell us a bit about it?
8. It seems as the "crust" scene is a bit concentrated to the east coast
(and mainly the north of it), why do you think that's the case?
8. Listening to your lyrics it seems that you guys are really fucking
tired
of cops, have you been personally harassed by cops on shows and such?
9. Lots of bands believe in peaceful protests, what do you think of the
"peace punks" contra militancy?
10. I've heard a lot about "the misery crust crew", or what they are
called
ruining concerts and stuff. Do you have some similar fan crowd? Do you
have
any problems on your gigs with violence?
11. So, now State of fear have released two EP's and are about to
release a
12" on Profane existence records. Tell us about that one and do you have
any
other plans?
12. A lot of bands from the states comes over to europe to play
(Defiance,
Misery, Resist, Pissed etc). Are you planning any european tour? And are
you
too gonna miss Sweden (It's only Defiance that have played here of those
I
wrote)???
13. What are your main influences? (I get the feeling that you listens a
lot
on scandinavian hardcore).
14. So, anything you want to add to this interview? Something you wanna
ask
me maybe?
STATE OF FEAR was started by Jay and I in the summer of '94 in
Connecticut.
Jay came to stay with me for a few months and we spent alot of time
drinking
and making up songs. Then we thought it would be cool to record them
and do
an ep. We asked an old friend to play drums, but it never worked out.
At
last minute (before Jay went back to Massachusetts and I went to Europe)
we
asked Pete from Deformed Conscience if he would play for the recording.
In
the spring of '95 Jay and I decided to move to Minneapolis and make
S.O.F. a
"real" band. At the same time, Bracken moved here and joined up with
us. We
did our first tour in June '95 with Shane playing drums. Then, during
many
drunken nights on tour, we asked Fred from Montreal if would move here
and
play drums for us. In August he did. In October we recorded our second
ep
and did another small tour with Fleas and Lice. In February-March we
did a
long tour of Mexico with Regeneracion and some of the U.S. Now it's
June '96
and we're getting ready to go tour and visit the east coast and Montreal
and
record a 12" in Boston. It's been a cool two years- loads of fun, booze
and
cool new friends!
Jay "Binko" is from Lynn Massachusetts, used to play in loads of bands
including Disrupt and Grief. He loves booze and hates the human race.
Fred
"Tits" is from Montreal and used to play in Human Greed. He loves food
and
homebrew. Bracken "B" is a philosopher from Torrington Connecticut who
loves
all cats (kias) and mushrooms. I'm from Torrington too and am motivated
by
Metallica, homebrew, barreling, and pasta.
Really? I didn't know that we were famous! That must explain why noone
ever
showed up at our gigs on the east coast (if we were lucky enough to get
gigs!). We're just four friends who play music together. We share
similar
music tastes and ideals, so that helps as well. We don't have any goals
of
being "all-stars" or "famous". Co-operation not competition!
Deformed Conscience split because Roach moved to Maine and Hoss moved to
New
York City, so we decided it wasn't worth it to carry on only practicing
once
in a blue moon. I'm sure exactly why Sasquatch split- something to do
with
our drummer. Human Greed split up for personal reasons. As far as
Disrupt
goes 4/6 of the band weren"t into the politics really,they were more or
less
just into the music. But even that changed after a while. I'm not
surprised
that that surprised a lot of people. That is why Disrupt broke up.
Like I said before, Pete played on the ep more for fun and as a favor to
us.
Jay and I were moving to Minneapolis and Pete stayed in Torrington.
About
the ep, it was originally supposed to be released by Joe from Riot zine
in
England, but he couldn't do it because of financial problems. Pete
wanted to
start a label so it worked out good- he's good friend and is keeping the
ep
in print and cheap. We did our second ep on P.E. because Fred and I
work
here, so it's basically like doing it ourselves. Originally we wanted
to
release all S.O.F. stuff on our own label, but we just can't afford it.
It
works out good this way.
It's really cool. We get to work on stuff we're into, do our own
projects,
and participate in the world D.I.Y. network full-time. It's really laid
back
most of the time- we don't have a prick boss breathing down our neck all
day
(Dan just whips us occasionally!)
Yeah, I guess there's a good scene here. Lot's of punks, bands, and
gigs.
Just about every touring band passes through. You can see a good band
1-3
nights a week by only walking a few blocks. I'm used to driving 1-2
hours
for gigs on the east coast. Their's always people to hang out and drink
with
too (maybe that's why I never get anything done!). There's also co-ops
and
autonomous book-shops. It's a pretty liberal city. Everyone hiberates
during the long icy winters, so the summers are tons of fun!
There's not much of a "crust" music scene here in the states. Only a
few
bands that fit into this genre. A few years ago in New England
(northern
east coast) there was Disrupt, Dissension, Drop Dead (still going),
Deformed
Conscience, and Sasquatch, who played loads of gigs together. There was
also
Nausea, Jesus Chrust, and Insurgence from New York. Montreal (north of
New
England in Canada) has a huge punk scene with a lot of great "crust"
bands.
I don't know why it's so concentrated to the east coast.
Loads of times! Cops fuck with you for any reason. Many of our shows
have
been shut down on tour. Parties have been broken up- people beaten and
arrested. I have stopped on the street by cops for no reason. Our
problems
with them are small even compared to others I've seen and heard of-
people
beaten in jail and even murdered. The police are a blood-thirsty lot
with
swollen heads and power-trips.
I believe in peaceful protests and demonstrations to get information out
to
people. People need to be made aware of problems like animal abuse,
police
brutality, enviornmental destruction, and poverty. People need to know
the
motivation behind direct action. But I think that you must be prepared
to
back up your beliefs with actions. That only makes sense if you're
serious
about what you speak about, I think.
All of that bullshit was going on here a few years ago before I lived
here.
I think it was just uptight people freaking out because of too many
drunk
punks together having fun. The gigs here are not usually violent.
We've had
to stop playing a few gigs on tour because of violence, but usually
people
chill out if we make a comment in the microphone or make fun of them. I
can't stand macho bullshit at gigs. Its sucks when you want to get
drunk,
watch a good band and dance like a fool, then get bashed by a macho
prick.
We're practicing like freaks for the 12" recording. We're gonna record
it in
Boston with the mastermind engineer Bill T. Miller. We'll record 14
songs
for it. I really like the new stuff, musically and lyrically. We're
gonna
play some gigs on our way there as well as some in Quebec. Aside from
that
we don't have any more plans except to get drunk have fun. Oh yeah-
tour the
states again with Diskonto!
We're planning to go to Europe in April '97! We can't wait to play in
all
the places we've visited before, met people from, or heard good things
about.
Hello to all of our friends there! We'd love to play some gigs in
Scandanavia, but we've heard it's really expensive. Is there anyone
that's
will to help us organise some gigs?!
I guess you're right! We love loads of Scandinavian hardcore punk
bands. We
also love English bands like Antisect, Anti-System, etc, Japanese (Crow,
Gauze, Lipcream, etc.), American (Poison Idea, Crucifix, Infest), Dutch
(BGK,
Disgust) and loads more from all over!
Thanks for the interview! All the answers are by me (Jon) and might not
(but
probably are) the opinions of the rest of the band. OK- a few questions
for
you: How come Swedish bands don't ever tour in North America? It seems
rare
even for them to tour in Europe? What's the best kind of homemade booze
in
Sweden? (I've heard there's loads!) Drink and be merry! Jon
