Live Grenades ***New Interview***

Based out of North Carolina, Live Grenades are exploding throughout the southern US. They have released a couple of E.P.s and a demo that is on bandcamp.com. They have had one major lineup change, which seems to have propelled them forward. No too bad for a band that is a University based band. They have an interesting live set, but then again they are still getting their feet wet, so to say. I got the band to tell their story...

Introduce yourself…
Owen Syko- the vocalist
Miguel Cohen- the guitarist
Alex Stiff- the bassist
Naji Lee- the drummer

How did the band start?
Owen: I wanted to start a punk band for a long time, and I happened to find other people interested at Wingate University. The first guy I met was the guitar player Miguel, and we started everything from there. Unfortunately, we lost our other original members but we replaced them with equally awesome musicians.
Miguel: Yeah Owen and I have been at it since the beginning, we're really fortunate to find other members with the same sort of passion.

How did you come up with the name?
Owen: Well that's actually an interesting story. First we had a bunch of ideas and tried to have people vote on facebook and we came up with some good ones, like Get Your Own Flag and A Mind of It's Own. But ultimately we couldn't decide amongst ourselves and we heard this fucking crazy story on the radio.
Miguel: So there was this Mexican band called La Exelencia, and they were playing in Guadalajara and this group of drunk guys were demanding encore after encore. The band had to eventually stop playing, but the drunks were furious and wanted blood, so they threw a live grenade on stage killing two members. The band escaped, and then the police showed up and killed the drunks, which apparently had connections to the drug cartels. So we just had to use that as a name hahaha.

Who would you say are your influences?
Naji: Avenged Sevenfold, Bad Brains, The Faceless and Deep Purple
Alex: As a guitarist Johnny Ramone, as a bassist Eddy Spaghetti
Owen: I don't really have influences as a singer, but I do as a frontman. Darby Crash from the Germs, Chris from Less Than Jake, Basim from the Kominas, and HR from Bad Brains
Miguel: Bomb the Music Industry, Dead Kennedys, Maximum the Hormone, Led Zeppelin

What is the punk scene like in Wingate?
Alex: Nonexistent! Hahaha But travel into Charlotte, and there is a pretty good punk scene
Owen: I had my first punk scene experience in London, England which was awesome but I love the scene in Charlotte which has some great veteran bands and some good young bands

Describe the song writing process...
Miguel: I wrote every song except "This Song's A Grenade" and Owen writes the lyrics, but each person covers their own part. We kinda all have different styles but we try our hardest to come together and make something unique.
Owen: I usually have the lyrics written and Miguel writes songs in response to the lyrics, but sometimes Miguel will compose something and I write lyrics for it. In fact "Man vs. Idea" started as kind of a jam song.
Naji: I have two beats for all songs, I have one alternative beat and one main beat.
Alex: Ya'll write the songs, I play it.

What have you released?
Miguel: We have a demo and a set from one of our shows. There's also a couple live videos on youtube.
Owen: The only thing we have so far to download and on CD is our first demo but we are gonna get some singles soon and eventually an album.

Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
Miguel: The Stems and Nemesis
Alex: We've got some outside shows lined up including with Biggy Stardust.
Owen: Haha well honestly we haven't played with a whole hell of a lot of bands

Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
Miguel: Small clubs
Alex: Small clubs
Naji: Small clubs
Owen: I'm gonna agree with everyone else here cos I think most of our stage presence comes from messing with people in small venues

Have you toured?
ALL: Nope but we would like to soon

Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
Owen: Well we like the Stems and Nemesis a lot who are two of the few bands we've played with so far

Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
Miguel: Tremont I guess
Naji: I like Amos's
Alex: The Milestone for me
Owen: I agree with Alex on that one just because I think that the Milestone is the CBGB's of the south. All these clubs are in Charlotte by the way.

What do you see is the future of The Live Grenades?
Owen: Well I'm really hoping that we record a good number of albums and I wanna play in as many places as possible. This band has been the best one I've ever been in so I'm hoping that we go somewhere productive with it.

How can people contact the band?
You can email us at: def.monky@hotmail.com or: alexstiff138@gmail.com
Or you can message us on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Live-Grenades/167855763265062
If you just want to hear our music we have a band camp: http://thelivegrenades.bandcamp.com/ and a youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Rispacte

Modern Pets ***New Interview***

Modern Pets are not just another awesome punk band from Germany, they are one of Berlin's best punk bands. They have released some really great stuff since 2009 with several labels here in the US and in Germany. The band has a great live set which they have brought to the US and all over Europe. They have played shows with a huge list of some of the best punk bands and even toured the US West Coast. I got Jay to tell their story...

Introduce yourself…
We are Modern Pets from cold Berlin. That´s Axel playing bass, Toby and Alvar playing
guitar and Jay – that´s me, playing drums aaaaand we all sing!

How did the band start?
That was more or less the usual thing how bands start, so it´s not that exciting…. 4 friends
who thought it could be cool to do some music together.
We all played in other bands before, so we had kind of a strong idea how the band should
sound…guess that´s all I can say here.

How did you come up with the name?
We had a hard time finding a name for all that and one day Toby came up with that stupid
idea and we were all like, “Ah, ok sounds good, let´s keep that one!” – So, no special story
behind the name, it just sounded good and catchy to us!

Who would you say are your influences?
Our personal influences are definitely too much and too different to mention it all here, but for
the band it´s definitely that kind of Punk that was played in the late 70s in the UK, as well as
the early 80s US stuff!

What is the punk scene like in Germany?
Huh, difficult question! I´d say it´s still huge if you compare it to other European countries
and there´s a lot of stuff going on! But there are also shitloads of different sub-scenes, who
haven´t that much to do with each other. If you compare it to the US, I think I´d say we have
a totally different infrastructure, cause in Germany you have all these youth centers, youth
clubs, a lot of squats and Punkhouses, social centers and so on that were grown up over the
last 30 years. Also the German Punkscene´s got a strong political tradition and a lot of people
are really serious about that.
Here in Berlin the scene is also really busy - there´s everyday like minimum 5 shows where
you can go…. So, yeah – I´ d say the scene here is definitely good, even if I get bored from it
from time to time, cause I´m doing this for 15 years now

Describe the song writing process...
Usually somebody´s coming up with an idea – a riff or a structure and then we work it out
together in the rehearsal room. But for sometimes it also happens that someone is coming up
with a ready written song…. It´s always a bit different, but I´d say the first thing I mentioned
is the way we are working best!

You first released a demo, tell us about the demo...
The demo was recorded in one night session in our rehearsal room by ourselves. Toby was
late for work the next day and got into real trouble, haha! We made about 150 tapes of it and
brought it out on F.Y.I.T.H. Records, a tape-only-label, which I run together with a friend
from Stuttgart (South Germany). Most of the tapes were sold at shows we played and a few
over mailorder. Later the demo got released as a 7” on Search For Fame Records (Ger), but
it´s long sold out now.

You then released 'Killing Sounds For Rotten People', tell us about the 7”
This one was recorded and mixed in 3 days in Berlin together with Smail from the mighty
Shocks, He´s running a great studio there! It was January 2010 and outside it was snowing
all the time. When we finished the recordings we got in touch with Prügelprinz and P.Trash
Records (both from Germany), and they both did the 7”. Peter from P.Trash Records got us
in contact with the guys from Modern Action Records and they asked us to release our stuff
for the US. There wasn´t any better label we could imagine, cause they are putting out a lot
of stuff we totally dig, so we went for that! The 7” sold out really fast, which was great….
Thanks to everybody who bought a copy!

What else have you released?
- the “Vista – Alienation” 7” (on P.Trash/Prügelprinz/Rockstar Records in Europe and
Modern Action Records in the US)
- the “Demotape E.P.” (demotape on 7”, released only on Search For Fame Records)
- “same” album (full length – LP on P.Trash for Europe and Modern Action Records
for the US // CD and Digital on Concrete Jungle Records)

and there are some new 7”s coming for 2012, also a split 7” on Doomtown Records (US) with
a band from Portland, called P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. – we will tour the Westcoast together with
these guys in June and July!

Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
Puh, there were a lot – but to mention a few only: The Damned, Cute Lepers, Zero Boys,
Total Chaos, Rejected Youth, Jello Biafra, The Adicts, Misfits, Terrible Feelings, Zack Zack,
Minus Apes, Liberty Madness, P.U.F.F. […]

Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
Small clubs! But large venues can be cool if it´s a festival or special event.

Have you toured?
Yep! A lot! – We toured Europe 4 times over the last 2 years and there´s another European
tour coming up for Spring 2012, as well as the US Westcoast tour, which I mentioned up here
from June, 20th to July, 8th!

Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
Minus Apes and Blank Pages, both Berlin bands we´ve been on tour with a lot of times!

Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
No! We play everywhere and every new place is interesting for us! I mean, we also had
some shitty experiences, but most of the times we played good shows in good venues and got
treated well, so I wouldn´t say there´s one place who´s the best or something.

What do you see is the future of Modern Pets?
For 2012 we have 4 tours, 3 in Europe and one in the US (Westcoast from June 20th to July
8th). We also just finished a bunch of new songs in the studio, which will be out during this
year as 7”s on different labels worldwide! Also we are planning to record another album in
the end of the year and then we´ll see what 2013 will bring….

How can people contact the band?
- www.myspace.com/modernpets
- www.facebook.com/modernpets
- modern_pets@gmx.de

Subculture ***New Interview***

Subculture is a long time street-punk/oi! band from the UK. The band itself first appeared on a few of the Oi! comps that we put together by Gary Bushell. The original lineup included Mark 'Captain Oi!' Brennen. Since that time the band has filled the rank many great artists. The current lineup includes Peter Matthews. I got Spider an original member to tell their story...

Introduce yourself…
Hello Spider…is this on? We’re Subculture, it’s great to be here on (fill in name of radio
staion here) ….Radio!!

How did the band start?
Dean and Phil went to school together and formed a knockabout covers band with another guy from school on drums. He was a great drummer, too good for us, and when he left to join a “proper” bunch of musicians, we struggled along with various stand-ins till we got Nigel Kimberly on drums, who introduced us to Tom Hipkin, the first singer who joined in late 1981, and then we were off…  practising in Dean’s bedroom, doing gigs at Skunkx in London the near legendary Punk club in Islington. We got off to a bit of flyer really, I think we got lucky in the early days…

How did you come up with the name?
Well we were called Subvert originally, we did one gig under that name, then when the aforementioned drummer split, we changed it to Subculture, I think it came from the 2nd Rejects lp, or it could have just come from a dictionary…Phil chose it and for sure he would have had to look up what it meant ,as UK secondary school education(high school) didn’t teach you such vocabulary…ha ha…;) If it were left to find name from what we were drilled at school we’d have been called Subservient or something, cos that’s how they made you feel…

Who would you say are your influences?
Of course the Sex Pistols, all the early covers at practice were the pistols songs, the guitar sounds still rule to this day…then of course the Clash, great words and melodies, and the Cockney Rejetcs of course who we seemed to get compared to a lot, mainly cos of Dean’s guitar style which is somewhere between Steve Jones and Mickey Geggus... two of punk’s greatest axemen, so it’s not bad to be compared to them is it!!!?

What is the punk scene like in the UK?
Well there isn’t a punk scene in the UK as such, not like it was from ’76-85 anyway, but there are a lot bands reforming and getting out there doing gigs. There are also a lot of new bands. Maybe music has come full circle in the UK; back to basics y’know, we had 20 years of dance music dominating the radios, and a few years of Simon Cowell’s sickly manufactured pop- 20 year old boys doing Barry Manilow covers, I mean that’s enough to make anyone revolt and wanna crank it up and blast something raw… pretty much the same reasons why the Pistols started in the first place…

What was it like in 1980?
My memories are that there was always good music to be found, lots of gigs to go to, even in Cambridge. From the late 70s through till 1981, we saw The Ramones, The Damned, The Clash, SLF, The Ruts, The Undertones, The Cockney Rejects, Angelic Upstarts, The Dead Kennedys when they came over, The Specials, The Jam – pretty much everyone really which is why we started the band I guess… There was less money around, no one had money for luxury stuff, if you had a phone and a vhs in your house you were doing well!! Clothes weren’t much cheaper than they are now… I remember paying 40 quid for a US army surplus MA1 jacket, the ones you see us wearing in the pics of us at Skunx. The only things that were cheap compared to now, were old guitars and amps like Marshalls, we’d get them for 80 to 100 quid cos nobody wanted them, too loud and crude. Now they are 1500 quid on ebay and everyone thinks they are the holy grail or something… and Gibsons too, Dean always got his for no more than 300 quid for
a 60s or 70s model. Dean worked in guitar shop for a while so we’d get our gear on tick, (credit) we always owed the guitar shop money!!

Describe the song writing process...
Well it used to be that Dean would write some sort of tune, then Phil would slot some words in around it… That’s how we did all the old songs like Loud and Clear. Now it’s more like we have a set of words and a melody and we work around that… We still use the old method as well but try to bounce ideas around more and stick less to just a big power chord fest of a song!!

You guys first released the 'Loud and Clear' EP, tell us about the EP...
Alan McGee was our sponsor/manager by then. This was way before he found Oasis
and Primal Scream, I think we were one of his first bands… Anyway, we sent a demo to an ad in Melody Make, a major music paper back then, and he chose us over around 200 bands. He liked the Clash style of Rogue Trooper. We had a few meetings with him and he really helped us out, he got us interviews in the major music press, and really got behind the record when it came out, but our inexperience and the way things were moving with Punk/Oi, meant he dropped us after the record had peaked and fizzled out. It did well and entered the top ten in the Indy chart at the time. I think there were 5,000 in the first pressing, and then another 2,000 for the second issue. They were sold via Rough
Trade, the biggest Indy distributor at the time. Alan only gave us one box of records each as severance pay from his contract! So in the end we got ripped-of anyway, as a box of 50 singles each (50 quid) was a lot less than the royalty on 7,000 records. Alan probably put that money into his next project –The Jesus and Mary Chain - and then from them into Creation and Oasis. We messed up by not listening to him really, given what he did after us! He could have moulded us into a decent band. I suppose the link with Alan McGee, gives us a little bit of kudos as a band now, and one that could have done a lot better than we did, but as things turned out that wasn’t going to happen. Right place,
wrong time.

What caused the band to split in '83?
Just generally bad vibes at gigs, which in turn caused a lack of gigs… Dodgy politics moving in on the skinhead scene, I’m sure know all about that. Things just became a bit hopeless really. A recording of our last gig is on the CD. It was a bit shambolic really and people were just coming to cause trouble. Kids getting punched by thugs for dancing, things like that… not fun. You can here Dean’s amp being drop kicked by some dickhead midway through a song, things like that just made us knock it on the head… We had no deal as Alan had dropped us, nothing coming up so we called it a day late 1983.

You recently released 'Herbert Street to the 100 club', tell us about the CD...
and what sparked the band to reform?
We were asked to do Rebellion in 2006, but we weren’t even a band then, so of course we said no. We had a My Space page as some sort of retro fan page, which got a lot hits and cool comments, mostly from younger kids getting into punk, and in late 2009, we decided to put some old unreleased stuff out on a CD, to tie up the loose ends left in 1983. There were a few tracks that weren’t recorded back then, plus some live stuff that was good quality and demos. We just decided to put it all on one CD, just to draw a line under the bands history, so that there was at least a CD in our own right available. We’d been on various Captain Oi compilations, but always the same tracks, .the ones off the E.P, so we just wanted to get the other stuff out for the new fans really. We’d heard other bands doing covers of our songs too, which was a bit weird to hear at first, but why not, we did, it was very encouraging really… Then when it came out, before that even, we got asked to do some gigs. At first we weren’t into it, but then we agreed to do a couple, it was fun and we’ve been going down really well, so we will carry on doing the gigs that are interesting io us until it’s not fun. Also, the political situation here in the UK is much
the same as it was in 1982; we have a Tory Governmnet again, doing what Torys do, i.e ruining the country and making the poor poorer. People are angry again. We are angry again, and our lyrics fit right in with the zeitgeist once again.

What else have you released?
Other than the stuff on Captain Oi and one or two other compliations that we never even got consulted about, we haven’t put anything else out. This is going to change soon as there will a new 4 track e.p coming out in the spring. We are working on that at the moment. We have some great new songs!

Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
All the big names from the UK82 punk period like The Business, The Exploited, Blitz, Cock Sparrer, Red Alert, Peter and The Test Tubes Babies, The Addicts, Vice Squad… We recently played with Stiff Little Fingers, which was a really good gig for us, they were nice guys too, still as passionate as they used to be. They were one of our favourite bands back then, so it was cool to play with them.

Have you toured?
No…we can’t afford to go on tour!! It’s too expensive and we have no label to fund it all for us…The same applies to playing in the US. We have been asked but we can’t fund it at the moment. Maybe we could play with Green Day? They owe us a favour for skanking our sound!!! University City?…er Green Day could ‘ve done that…

Do you prefer small clubs or large venues?
Both are good. The most we’ve played too is at the Roadmender in Northampton with SLF, it was pretty much sold out, it’a medium sized venue, so around 600 to 700 people,  which was great as the average draw for punk gig over here is about 300 to 400 in a venue like the Roadmender. I dunno though, what is a small or large venue anyway? We’d call a pub a small venue so really the Roadmender is pretty much Stadium Rock by comparison to us…ha ha.!! Pubs can be fun if the set up is good, but half the time the PA is non existent, there’s no stage, no publicity, and so 3 people and dog turn up, so we don’t do those type of gigs these days. So I suppose the answer is bigger more organized events.

Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
Not really, the one with SLF was good though and we will play with them again. As long as the bands we play with are on the same page as us, it’s fine. We are doing Rebellion this year, there is wide variety of Punk acts on the bill, from Public Image Ltd to bands like us…

Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
Not really, just as long as the crowd is good we are happy…

What do you see is the future of Subculture?
We just want play a few gigs, put out some new material and have a bit fun, we aren’t on a mission to be a big touring act or whatever, we have lives to live outside the band, and doing the band doesn’t pay the bills. It would be great if it did; I’ve always wanted to live the “Rock n Roll lifestyle”…!!! Ha ha…! We’ll have a bit of fun and see how it goes. It seems most of the UK82 bands have the same attitude about doing this again…

How can people contact the band?
We have a website at http://subculturepunk.co.uk/ plus there’s our facebook and
myspace pages still up

Captain Accident & the Disasters ***New Interview***

Captain Accident and the Disasters are a great band to come out of the UK. They have really forged themselves as a strong new member of the SKA/Raggae scene the in the UK. They have played some really amazing shows in the UK and continue to push themselves out it new adventures throughout the world. They a few releases and I see there might be more on the way. I got Adam to tell their story...

Introduce yourself…
My name is Adam Parsons - I'm a reggae/ska/soul Artist & producer from Cardiff, South Wales who goes by the pseudonym "Captain Accident". This name was actually given to me originally as a nickname, making fun of my extreme clumsiness and lack of spatial awareness. Not a day goes by without some kind of mishap caused by my blunderous ways. Some of which have actually ended up causing serious breakages to things, and bodily damage to myself.

How did the band start?
It's an interesting story.... I've always been a massive fan of reggae & ska music and while I was fronting a post-hardcore band called "My Little Murder" I was also writing and recording a bunch of my own reggae/ska songs at home, mainly to improve my production & writing/playing/vocals and to act as an outlet for my undying love of the genre. It was a massive contrast to what I was doing live and I think as the writing project continued, it became pretty obvious to me which direction I wanted to go. During a gig with "My Little Murder" in 2007 I had perhaps my biggest accident to date.... I jumped off a drum-riser during a busy show, landed awkwardly and snapped my leg, got carried off stage and straight to hospital and was rendered unable to walk for quite some time! I think this was the defining moment for me - I could no longer jump around on stage and the lack of mobility gave me a chance to concentrate on my more chilled out reggae/ska writing project! I set up a personal myspace page where I started uploading my songs and honoured my nickname "Captain Accident". I expected nothing to come of it - just a place to upload my music to - but as time went on, it seemed that the page was gaining a bit of popularity on the underground scene in Cardiff. A good friend of mine (and fellow guitarist in "My Little Murder") said to me one day "You should really consider doing this stuff live" and until that point it was something I'd never even thought about. He offered to help out by playing some of the guitar parts, I enlisted another good friend of mine and taught him the basslines and I got the drummer from "My Little Murder" to help out on the kit and I was finally able to take the project live. I later aptly named my live band "The Disasters" so as a live show, it now goes out as "Captain Accident & The Disasters".

How did you come up with the name?
I was given this name in fear of breaking my real one....

Who would you say are your influences?
My main influences vary from a lot of the early reggae artists/bands to a bunch of newer stuff from the last 20 years. I guess perhaps the biggest influence would definitely have to be Toots & the Maytals, but other influences include Desmond Decker & The Aces, Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Police, Sublime, Mad Caddies, early UB40 & a load of stuff from my vast collection of Trojan Records compilations! I like music that has a lot of soul and an infectious groove - I think reggae/ska music certainly has these qualities!

What is the punk scene like in Cardiff?
It has been great in the past and I'm certain it'll be great again in the future. When I was growing up the scene was absolutely thriving - There was punk & ska-punk music everywhere... It was massively inspiring as a young musician to see such a healthy and friendly scene and I think everyone wanted a piece of it! There are a couple of quality acts around right now - Dirty Revolution are doing some wicked stuff, there are a bunch of ska-punk bands starting to make big waves... Bass'd in Skadiff Promotions (aka Renegade Sounds) are putting on some tasty line-ups and bringing some great touring acts to Cardiff and Trenchfoot Records is definitely a label that is doing wonders for the scene in South wales right now!!

Describe the song writing process...
The songwriting process is very much a solo-based homegrown affair - I have a home studio so I record all the songs as I'm writing them. This gives me a chance to really take time and consideration over all the parts and allows me to build up the layers over time - Quite often it'll be quite an inconvenient time/place when an idea pops into my head... I may be out driving, walking home from a night out, or in the supermaket and suddenly a melody or some lyrics will come to me. Luckily with the invention of smartphones I can instantly record my ideas before I forget them and chuck them down properly when I get back. Admittedly I sometimes look a bit odd when I'm singing a melody or whistling a guitar solo into my phone while standing in the bus queue or waiting for my bill at a restaurant, so I do try my best to be a little discreet, but that sometimes makes me look even more shifty!

You first released 'Fire! Fire! Fire!', tell us about the single...
Fire Fire Fire was the first release - I put this out on a small independent label on Valentines Day 2010 which is a fitting date given the theme of the song. It's about the desparation of one person trying to gain the love of another and hiring Cupid to help seal the knot. The sad ending to the story is that Cupid's aim was slightly off target and the arrow ended up going into the wrong person, leaving the hirer in a very awkward position! The single was entirely self-produced in my home studio.

That same year, you released 'Pick up the Microphone', tell us about the album...
My debut album "Pick up the Microphone" was also self-produced at home over a period of about 6 months. I like to think of the album as a blend of reggae, ska & dub with rock & soul influences to create a dynamically diverse journey through some of the wonderfully infectious grooves of reggae and it's sub-genres. There are a few flat out fast ska tracks on there, some one-drop reggae tunes, a bit of dub and I guess a little touch on the rocksteady thing too! I've tried to vary the tempo throughout the album to keep people interested and to avoid monotony. The main emphasis is on soulful vocal melodies & harmonies, soaring guitar solo's and a groove intended to make people move!

What else have you released?
As Captain Accident, these are the only 2 releases so far. I've just finished writing and demoing the 2nd album which I'm hoping to put out early next year.

Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
The Disasters and I have been lucky enough to share a stage with many great bands & artists over the last 2 years. These include Toots & The Maytals (my all time heroes!), Neville Staple (of The Specials), Pama International, Sonic Boom Six, Yellowman, The Toasters, Mad Professor, Random Hand, Jaya The Cat, Fishbone and many more.

Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
It really depends on the occasion - who the gig is with, what city it's in, how intimite the show is etc. Although it's great to play at a huge venue with a great sound & a massive stage to move about on, sometimes it's the much smaller venues that end up being the most memorable nights. On a recent tour we did a show at a house party. It was great - by far one of the best gigs! I ended up being picked up and crowd surfed around a tiny living room full of people whilst playing guitar and then got handed the microphone just in time to sing the chorus.... all while I was still held up in the air. According to the boys I was nearly dropped on my head a number of times although my memories are vague due to the mass rum & whisky consumption on the night! Haha!!

Being the clumsy man I am, this could have ended badly, but I guess my life is probably safer in other peoples hands than my own!!

Where have you toured?
So far there has been a number of tours around the UK but I think the hope is to get out into Mainland Europe asap! Obviously it would be out of this world to tour even further afield, but that's just a dream right now!!

Is there a favorite band you enjoy doing shows with?
There are so many great bands/artists out there - it's been such an absolute honour to share a stage with some of them making this a particularly difficult question to answer! We did have a couple of massively enjoyable tours with a band called Tyrannosaurus Alan.... Those tours definitely stick out! I think having the opportunity to support some legendary names in the reggae world is always good too. So many good friends have been made along the way so far and I have no doubt so many more will be made in the future. It's just great to play with bands/artists that are up for a bit of fun and like to get to know you rather than the ones that play their set and disappear.

Is there a favorite venue you like to do shows at?
I think this again depends on the occasion, who else is playing, who is operating the sound etc. There are definitely some favourite venues though... Mr Wolfs in Bristol is always a great vibe, The Hootananny in Brixton - been dying to get back there.... Hometown shows are always brill too... I could go on all day...

What do you see is the future of Captain Accident & The Disasters?
I can definitely see a lot more good times ahead! Festivals are high on the agenda for this year having had such a great time in 2011 and there is a definite hunger to play in some new places and spread the love!! More touring is definitely on the cards too as it's always such a blast! Hard work, but massively good fun!! Having already written & demoed my 2nd album, I intend to get it released some time in early 2013. I guess the intention right now is to just keep playing, keep having a wicked time and keep meeting great people! As long as it remains good fun then I guess that's all that really matters!!

How can people contact the band?
The best contact is via email: bookings@captainaccident.com, through facebook or via www.soundcloud.com/captainaccident (where incidentally I'll be uploading some demo tracks from the new album very soon! Blatant plug....)

Rockfight ***New Interview***

Rockfight is an intense hardcore sound out of San Francisco. With many shows under their belt since 2007, they have made a dent into the San Francisco punk scene. With limited venues in S.F., they have played shows throughout California. They have an intense live set and have shared the stage with a great list of bands. They also have an intense release out. I got Rob to tell their story...

Introduce yourself...
I’m Rob and I play bass and backing vocals. John does lead vocals, Justin plays guitar, and Kent plays drums

How did the band start?
Justin and Kent began jamming together by themselves probably about 2 years or so before we all got together, which may have been in 2005, when Justin moved to San Francisco from the Boston area. John came in next maybe a year or a year and a half later and was playing bass. They were looking for vocalist and I responded to an ad and by chance I had played in punk band with john about 6 years earlier where john was the lead singer. I learned some songs on bass and john took over as the lead singer and that’s how we are aligned today.

How did you come up with the name?
When I played with John in our prior band, Public Safety, he would mention that he wanted his next band name to be Rockfight. The story behind the name is that when John was growing up in the Boston area, he and his friends were causing some mischief and the neighborhood cop caught them and told them to stop what they were doing and go have a Rockfight with each other. He always thought that would be a good name for a punk band.

Who would you say are your influences?
Kid Dynamite, Gorilla Biscuits, Sick of it All, Good Riddance, Slapshot, and Dag Nasty to name a few.

Describe the song writing process...
Either  myself, Justin, or John will bring in a song idea. It could be a basic chord progression, a riff of some sort, or more of a completed song with verses, chorus, etc. As a band we take whatever we have to work with and add more parts, alter them, develop transitions, whatever needs to be done to make it a song. Sometimes we do it on the spot during practice, other times we work on it on home and bring ideas back. Once we have the overall structure of the song down, we’ll look into adding specific guitar, drum, or bass parts to give the song more dynamics. Lastly john writes the lyrics to whatever vocal pattern or melody or cadence he has been working on while we have been constructing the song. It’s a pretty basic approach but it works for us.

You first released 'Ready, Fire, Aim', tell us about the album...What else have you released?
Currently “Ready, Fire, Aim” is the only thing we have released. Probably half of the songs on the album were written before I came into the band and they all had random song titles that meant nothing... There weren’t any lyrics, just the music. But once John became the singer and started writing lyrics, he took some of the songs, such as Crackerjack, King Calculator, and Stake and wrote lyrics based on the song titles and what they could mean. After we released the album, we were a bit slow on writing new material because our practice studio closed down so we weren’t playing together all that much since we didn’t have a place to play. Once we got into a new practice space we started working on new material and have begun recording a new EP which we hope to have out in the late spring or early summer.

Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
We have been lucky enough to play with bands that we both grew up listening such as Ill Repute, Voodoo Glow Skulls, and No Use For A Name, as well as newer bands that we all really like such as Leftover Crack and Cobra Skulls.

Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
Obviously we want to play to as many people as we can, but there is nothing worse than playing to a huge venue that is practically empty. If a 300 person venue can be full, of course we would rather play that show, but the feeling of playing a small club to 50 people packed in is just as fun, and more likely to happen, so we tend to book and play those shows more often.

Have you toured?
Unfortunately we haven’t really toured (except for going to southern California for a few shows) and honestly don’t have any plans to. We are into playing out of town shows, but it would have to be of the weekend getaway variety. We all work full time jobs and some of us have other commitments such as family and mortgages that are more important than doing a tour and playing to empty clubs and leaving with just gas money if we’re lucky… But if some huge band wants to take us out on tour where we would make some cash, we could probably make that work!

Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
One of our favorite local bands to play with is Get Dead. They are just a dirty punk band, with a little ska and rock n roll thrown in for good measure. They are like us in they don’t really try to fit into the punk scene or “look the part”. They just show up and play good punk music. The Cobra Skulls are also an awesome band, both musically and as people. As we were starting out playing shows locally, we were trying to hook up and play a show with them for a while but could never make it work. One day I emailed them about getting a contact for possibly setting up a show out of town on our own and they responded back by asking us to open for them on their Red Scare tour with the Copyrights. They could have had anyone play with them as they were really starting to get a good buzz about them at that time, but they asked us and gave us a shot and we can’t thank them enough. Now they are on Fat Wreck Chords and are doing really well and they definitely deserve the success they are having and much more

Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of venues in San Francisco that cater to local punk shows, so our options are limited. We usually play at Thee Parkside which is a dive bar/club and they do a lot of punk shows, both local and with national touring bands. Thee Parkside is where we played with Leftover Crack, No use For A Name, and Ill Repute. We also play at Bottom of the Hill every once in a while. It’s a bigger club and full tour packages come through there a bit more so it’s a bit harder to get added to a show there, but it’s a great venue play at.

What do you see is the future of Rockfight?
We are currently finishing up our new EP, which is currently untitled. It will have 6 songs and we hope to have it out in the late spring or early summer. We took a few months off during the winter to record and finish the new material so we are looking forward to playing shows again and the new songs live.

How can people contact the band?
The best way to get a hold of us is through our e-mail, Rockfightsf@gmail.com. Just like everyone else we have a MySpace and Facebook page. The entire “Ready, Fire, Aim” album can be streamed and digitally via our Facebook page. It can also be bought through iTunes, or at rockfight.limitedpressing.com, which is our band store for shirts, cd’s, etc.

Friends Like Enemies ***New Interview***

Friends like Enemies are an awesome band out of Seattle. They have an awesome live set and have shared the stage with some great bands. Have also  released a great EP. I got the band to tell their story...

Introduce yourself…
Tom King (Guitar 1): I'm Tom, I play guitar and am generally regarded as the squishy good-natured ginger kid of the band. I'd say I'm a founding member and a main songwriter but really we all put in equal amounts of work in the creative process. I'm also the designated publicity person and diplomat (read: kissass), and handle about half of the booking.
Ian Graham (Bass, lead vocals): I write lyrics, sing lyrics, whack the bass, keep time and am a professional a-hole. But there has to be one in a band for it to work. The boys affectionately call me the band dad. Not only because I'm older by a decent margin, but also I'm charged with keeping the shenanigans to a decent level. Tom says ->(band oberlieutnant for life, driving force, voice of the band, muscle for bookers and other bands screwing us over, musical fat trimmer, slappa da bass eyahn)
(since my drummer and guitarist couldn't be arsed to fill out their answers I have answered for them. love, tom.)
Kevin Hales (Drums): Kevin De Drummer handles all graphic design, created our awesome logo, wrote one of my favorite choruses and is generally my comedic foil. He also drives 30 minutes from Everett to practice twice a week and spends countless hours tightening his chops outside of practice so when he comes back to practice we're all sort of like... What the hell have you been doing? Your shit sounds rad.
Ethan Erickson (Guitar 2): Ethan has a beautiful man-voice (listen for the super-high "WHOA" during the final chorus of Leaders Among Us) and is better at filling holes than any of us. Musical holes. If there's a way to add something to a song, Ethan will find it and really make it pop. Between tending bar at a mega-trendy club downtown (ladies), he also spends hours honing his guitar chops in his closet-like apartment in Capitol Hill. I could probably take a cue from him and quit being so damn sloppy.

How did the band start?
Tom: Ian and I played in a few different bands in Bellingham, a little college town near the Canadian border starting in 2007, but aside from me playing guest guitar for Ian's band Strait A Students at a couple shows (one HUGE show at the Showbox in downtown Seattle) we never really got to be creative together. I moved to Seattle in 2008 for the express purpose of being miserable, living in abject poverty and playing in bands I didn't stylistically fit into for two years before Ian came down too, and we started writing stuff in my basement. I'll let the other guys fill in their roles in the inception of what is now FLE.
Ian: I had been in several different bands in the past, but somehow lacked something in each one. Not that any one of them weren't great, just missing something. I moved to Seattle in 2010 and immediately stared scratching out skeletons of songs with Tom. After a couple of months of trying some things, we decided it was time to finish the rhythm section. So, I asked the only other person I really knew in Seattle (my girlfriend) if she knew any drummers. Enter Kevinthedrummer... After getting some good scratch tracks in, we decided there needed to be some substance filling the cracks in our dynamics. Ethan was living in Bellingham and was planning a move to Seattle to start classes at the Art Institute. I knew he wanted to play and we needed that little extra something. He adds that in spades

How did you come up with the name?
Tom: I defer to Ian on this one since he came up with it.
Ian:  It's a name I came up with about 8 years ago and I threw up a fake myspace band page for it to save it for a rainy day. I'd been trying to get it to stick to a project and this one just fit. It's interpretive. Either you're a friend who likes enemies or you're an enemy who is like a friend. I give most politicians this title... which almost always fits.

Who would you say are your influences?
Tom: The real obvious one and the comparison we've gotten the most as a band is Rise Against. We didn't set out to sound like them, but when they're in two of the main songwriters' top 10, you'll get a little bit of the influence even if you're trying really hard not to blatantly rip them off. I've also heard us favorably compared to Thrice, Strung Out and Bad Religion, if we're talking about super-recognizable bands here. But personally, if you listen closely to some of the parts and solos I wrote (and look at my onstage rig) you can see that I'm influenced heavily by Jesper Stromblad from In Flames (for arrangements and melody lines), James Hetfield from Metallica (I will never use anything but downstrokes in a verse), Megadeth (for solo context) and (oddly enough) Hot Water Music for chord structures. But (and do not tell him I said this) Ian was actually my inspiration to switch from thrash metal to more melodic punk stuff -- and he's pretty much the only reason I do backup vocals at all.
Ian: My influences are all over the board.  Which is probably the reason it's taken this long to come up with a cohesive theme for a band. I come from everywhere. Floyd, Zeppelin, Ozzy, Crue, Green Day, Nirvana and all the stuff Tom mentioned. But I also have a large influence from classical and jazz.

What is the punk scene like in Seattle?
Tom: This is a tough one for me since I've never really considered myself a "punk," per se, more a nerd with a pointy guitar who hangs out with punks because I lack the elitism and requisite black clothing required for admission to the Seattle metal scene. And for me, I'm so focused on my own music that I don't have a whole lot of time to go to shows. I realize we're all supposed to be in this together, but getting shows in a city where 95% of people are in bands is hyper-competitive and can be pretty cutthroat at times. We've played our fair share of dead rooms but for the most part, the three or four people in those dead rooms have really liked us, and we're always cool and professional to the bands/promoters we're playing with/for rather than be a band full of surly, aloof dicks with delusions of grandeur.
Ian: From what I can see, the punk scene in Seattle is what one could only describe as "dirty". By that, I mean there are a lot of punk bands and a great majority of them are the grassroots, garage style punk bands. There are a few pop-punkers, but it's really hard to be that upbeat when you're stuck under cloud cover 90% of the year. FLE fits somewhere right in the middle of that. An edgy, dynamic sound but with a pop sensibility that gets it all stuck in your head.

Describe the song writing process...
Tom: Well, the way it started out was Ian and me writing skeletons of songs in my basement, but now the process is much more (I hate this word) organic, and now that we all have equal input we're producing much better, more cohesive and dynamic songs. We sort of just let it happen at practice and record scratch tracks  on my ancient laptop using Cockos Reaper and a single SM57 hanging from the ceiling. I've never played with a tighter group of musicians though - practice and writing still don't feel like work for me even after almost two years.
Ian: It used to be that I would write some words down and compose a song around it. After many year, I realized you don't get music from words. Rather the other way around. I find it much easier to compose lyrics when I have a rhythm and a melody. I hear myself saying "duh!" right now...

What have you released?
Tom: VIOLATION! PROTEST! EP
Ian: Just a little 5-song EP. We like it. But we release many other tunes when we play live.

Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
Tom: We've played with some great bands for sure but standouts for me are Caparza, Koozbane, Amsterdam and Life AfterLife.
Ian: Mostly local bands. Big touring bands rarely have local openers anymore. It's not like it used to be. We've played some pretty good shows with Can't Complain, The Last Great Cavalry and Fall Saves Grace

Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
Tom: They both have their merits. Small clubs are easier to pack and you can get some really good blood boxes started up if the crowd's into it, but playing a large venue full of screaming, rabid fans must be nice. I'll let you know if we get there.
Ian: I would love to play gigantic stages and arenas. But, for now, anywhere that has a decent sound system (and a good sound guy to run it), a stage and a little bit of room works for us.

Have you toured?
Tom: We just played two shows in the same week and they were in different states. That's a tour, right?
Ian: Not yet, but we're working on it. We just have to nail down 7-10 days where we can all take time off from our other obligations...

Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
Tom: I'm still waiting for the day that Strung Out, Rise Against and Story of the Year tour together and ask us to open. But as far as underground stuff, I really want to do a show with Poorsport from Seattle, The Swellers from Flint, MI or It's Only A Story from Orange County at some point... I feel like we'd bro out hardcore, and Will Gabriel from IOAS looks like my long lost twin brother.
Ian: I really would love to play with Green Day. Since they're responsible for most of my musical upbringing as a teenager, I think it would be appropriate.

Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
Tom: We just played an awesome accidental show at the Slabtown in Portland, which was apparently notorious for being not the greatest until this awesome dude Doug bought it and started turning it around. I've never heard my guitar sound so good, nor have I ever dealt with someone so professional on the booking side of things. He gave us a 30-minute opening slot on super short notice (like 2 hours before we went on) on faith that we would stick to it, and we did. I just wish I hadn't been so exhausted -- I would have put on a way better show.
In Seattle though, I think my favorite show so far has been the High Dive -- their booker Kyle "KOZ" Kauzlarich is hands down THE most organized, professional booker I've ever worked with. He sent us a show advance almost a month before the show with more details than anyone would ever need, and made sure things stayed organized day-of. That said, I've played the Showbox Market with two different bands (one was a guest spot in Ian's old band) and both times it was the best show ever.
Ian: One of my life's goals is to play the stage at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA. The view while you're watching a band there at sunset is unreal and the sound is second to none. I have enjoyed some of Seattle's venues such as The Comet and the High Dive. We really would like to get into Neumos very soon. It's probably one of the best sounding rooms in the city. That and the Showbox Market. I've played there before to a packed house and the feeling is almost indescribable.

What do you see is the future of FRIENDS LIKE ENEMIES?
Tom: Of course it's every band's dream to get paid enough money to survive to do what you love until you're physically incapable of doing it anymore, and that's the long-term goal right now. Short term, though, we're looking to cut another EP and probably do a music video really soon.
Ian: With a bit of hard work and good timing, I see us doing very well. We're just at the starting point, but what's on the horizon is very encouraging :)

How can people contact the band?
Tom: I'm all over Facebook every day, but we're also on ReverbNation and I'm sure you can hunt down my cell phone number somewhere if you want to send me naked pictures.
Ian: Facebook, ReverbNation, MySpace (if it's even relevant anymore). I think we're on Twitter. Our info is out there. Our music is out there. Just gotta get it to the masses!

the Perverts ***New Interview***

the Perverts are a crazy mix of punk from all the different genres of punk. They are a refreshing sound out of LA. I have personally been through hell to get them to play a show here in Phoenix. They actually have an awesome live set. They have an impressive resume of bands they have done shows with. They also have a great CD out. I can't wait to see these guys this Saturday at Donna Jean's Libations. I got the band to tell their story...

Introduce yourself…

Kurt Pervert : Lead Vox / Guitar
Negative Norman (Neil) : Guitar / Back up Vox
Ben   :  Drums
Martin : Bass / backing vocals

How did the band start?
Kurt: It had been a while since I had something going and was really feeling the need to start playing again. So I started writing songs and my cousin and I started jamming them. We needed a bass player so I called Neil to see if he was up to it. Right when Neil jumped on board my cousin bailed. So Neil and I got together, worked on songs and began our hunt for the people we wanted for this band.  It has always been me and Neil.  We have had a few drummer changes, but Ben has been a perfect fit. I really think he is what the band was missing. He gets what it is that we want to do with the tunes.

How did you come up with the name?

Kurt : The original name I got from a dream I had about going to see some band play in a garage. After a while, I thought the name was silly and my cousin and I started talking about new names. I had said the title of a Descendents song, don't remember what song, and then my cousin came back with the Descendents song "Pervert." We laughed and then I was like,WAIT that is perfect. It was a no brainer. We were a couple of perverts and that's what I was writing songs about. So we became The Perverts and like I said, it made perfect sense.

Who would you say are your influences?
Kurt:  As a band, our biggest influence is The Ramones, It is the one band we all agree on. And yes they have a lot to do with  what we do. They are one of the greatest rock n roll bands ever and they have a huge influence on us and on me when I am writing music. I'm also a Prince fanatic and would love to write more lyrics like him, dirty, raunchy but classy. We're also influenced by bands like The Queers, The Riverdales, The Dwarves,Sloppy seconds, Descendents, Fear, Black Flag, etc. Of course we all have our  individual influences, but that could take a while.

What is the punk scene like in LA?
Neil  : "There's a punk scene in LA?"
Kurt :  Yeah like Neil said, I don't really think there is one anymore. There are no all ages clubs anymore. It is so sad, before I started this band I never played a 21+ show and now all we play is 21 and up. No one comes to shows anymore, especially for this kind of punk. I think this is a hard sell, being in a Ramones style pop punk type band. Everyone loves the Ramones but no one is going out to see the bands that were influenced by them. Of course there is still some kind of scene, it's just real dead right now, but it will come back. Just hope I'm around for it.

Describe the song writing process...

Kurt: I am pretty much the song writer in the band. I don't know if I should be proud of that of not.  A lot of times I come up with a title first, something that is funny to me and I write lyrics around that. Then I'll either have an idea in my head of how I want the music or I'll mess around with a lot of riffs until something sounds really good. And sometimes I bring it to practice already knowing what I want the guys to do. I will show them the bass part and lead part and drum part, and other times I will write the lyrics and riff and we will work on the other parts together.

What have you released?
Kurt::  About a year ago we put out a 12 song C.D. called "Greatest Hits Vol One." We recorded it at the Laundry Room studios and released it ourselves.  None of us are happy with that C.D. at all. I mean it is okay, but it is not at all what we wanted. It was  rushed and our drummer at the time was just way faster then what we wanted on the CD. And I think our songs have just got a lot better. It took some time to really develop our sound.  We just put out our 2nd release. A 15 song green 12'' record called "Bop yer baloney" it is awesome and we are super excited about it.

Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
Kurt:  So many good bands. Just to name a few: The Queers, Kepi Ghoulie, The Riptides, Angry Samoans, TSOL, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Prima Donna, Regal Beagle.
Egg Head (NY), Jugheads Revenge, Glue Gun, The Grim and so many others.

Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
Neil: Small clubs with a lot of people.
Kurt: Both are fun. Small packed clubs are always the best. But large venues are exciting sometimes.

Have you toured?
Kurt : No real tour yet, out of town shows here and there. Maybe a small tour this summer for our new record.

Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
Neil : Kepi Ghoulie
Kurt : I dunno, there a lot of bands I like to play with. Playing with The Queers was real fun. Kepi is a blast. Playing with Prima Donna is always fun because I have been friends with all those guys forever. Playing with our friends is always a blast.

Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?

Ben: The Troubadour
Kurt: Not anymore. I miss the Fudge in Hollywood, but that has been gone for 15 years. The Troubadour is fun, great sound on stage. Backyards and halls are always a blast. The Redwood is pretty cool.
Neil : Redwood is cool cause it's small and has good sound.

What do you see is the future of the Perverts?
Neil: I dunno, We were trying to discuss that a week ago and couldn't figure it out.
Kurt : Well, we just put out a Record. We will be playing a lot, maybe a small tour. Maybe a E.P early next year.

How can people contact the band? 
Thepervertsband@yahoo.com
http://www.facebook.com/HippiesSuck
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Perverts/278842748815708