Wednesday the third |
Limburg, BE twitter.com/stevenwarson |
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NotesNew design for the Belgian homies in Blindside. Catch ‘em on tour with Cold World in April.
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Our Side Interview
Yo what’s up everybody? Check out this interview I did with Our Side. They are a sweet band from Boston and just signed to Triple B records. WIll be printed in a new zine I’m doing for tour in April;
Steven Warson -First of all, Give a little introduction of the band for people who might not know you guys yet. Who is Our Side?
Daniel Eldredge -Our Side is Andrew on vocals, Dan (me) on guitar, Brian (aka Bimbo) on bass and Matt on drums.
SW -So I just want to start off by asking you how Our SIde started in the first place. Who came up with the idea to form the band?
DE -One day, Andrew, Matt and I were at the beach just thinking of something to do. Andrew had wanted to sing for a band for a while now considering he had played in other bands before, many of them were with one or the both of us. We decided to go home, wrote two of the three songs for the demo then continued it from there.
SW -How would you describe your style of music? And which bands do you see as an influence for the band?
DE -Our style of music is very New York influenced hardcore. We often refer to ourselves as “New York Democore”. If you like Outburst, Breakdown, Agnostic Front… any of those bands’ early albums (early albums only applies to AF), you could probably dig our sound.
SW -Lets talk about the lyrics, what are they about and what are your influences throughout your writing processes? Who writes the lyrics? Do you decide as a group etc…
DE -Andrew writes the lyrics for the most part with the exception of a few minor details through helping, advice, etc. The lyrics are mostly about just what angers all of us. We live in a day and age where everyone is so concerned with their own image and who they want to be known as, that they lose touch with who they truly are, and that’s what most of the lyrics are about. There’s obviously other song meanings and stuff, but the majority of the topics are based off other peoples’ willingness to lose themselves to become someone else.
SW -You guys recently signed with Tripble B records. Congrats on that. Tell us something more about how that came together
DE -There’s a little story behind this one that spans back a few months but it never really got serious until December 3rd, on the date of the Triple B Records Showcase. We wrote the demo and kind of just sat on it because Andrew and I were doing our previous band Coke Fiend full time, Brian was (and still is) singing for a band called Caught In A Crowd (which I now play guitar in, as well) and Matt had a little project going called Estroo. We let it float around for a while and I suppose it finally got into the right hands. We talked to some people, heard a few rumors and before we knew it, we got asked about the week before to play the Triple B Showcase only three weeks after playing our first show. We opened the set, got an awesome reaction and just had a good time. I don’t know what happened in between that but our friends in Dead End Path announced that we would be releasing a 7” on Triple B Records sometime in 2012. At this point, we were all baffled. We had no idea it was happening. I was standing next to Brian and we kind of just laughed in excitement not knowing it was real, Matt was somewhere in the room doing the same and Andrew was downstairs sleeping behind a merch table. The three of them (I stayed inside and talked to people) rushed up to Sam BBB to ask if it was true, which it was… and here we are. We have a 7” coming out on Triple B Records!
SW -What’s up with the Boston hardcore scene these days? What bands should we check out?
DE -This might not be the right term, but the Boston Hardcore scene is really segregated these days. Right now, it’s more of a Massachusetts Hardcore scene than anything. There’s so many good bands out right now. There’s a punk scene, a “heavier” hardcore scene, and the “youth crew” scene. These are all obvious broad, stupid terms but that’s how I’ve come to know them. The punk scene and the “youth crew” scene mix really well, but the “heavier” scene kind of stays within itself without many people going in between them. I personally think that Boston has some of the bands out right now, whether or not people will go see Step Forward one night then Naysayer the next (this weekend’s show lineup). Some of the awesome bands right now are: Alert, The Rival Mob, The Boston Strangler, Bloodkrow Butcher, Darkwoods, Villain, Street Sweeper, Caught In A Crowd, Free Spirit, Black Sheep, Clear, Anti-Venom, Abomination… among many others. I honestly can’t think of them right now but Boston Hardcore is definitely kicking some serious ass right now.
SW -What can we catch you guys doing when you aren’t doing band related stuff?
DE -I go to school at Bay State College for Entertainment Management as well as work at Old Navy and Stockyard Food & Spirit. Brian builds some badass houses for a living. Andrew is THE photographer at Blouse House. Matt is working at The 99. We all hang out a lot outside of the band and just do stupid stuff. It’s been hard lately but we go to shows when we can as well as do other bands. Brian and Andrew have girlfriends. Matt and I are miserable lonely guys. It’s cool!
SW -What was the best show you’ve played and best show you’ve attended this year?
DE -I’m going to count December into this equation because I’ve only been to three shows total in the past two months due to a busy work schedule. The Triple B Showcase was an awesome show, as well as an honor, to play, and just go to. We all had such a blast all day being there. We were all planning on going anyway so it was just a great show to be at. Same thing with the show that we played last night (January 20th - Step Forward, Disengage, Pegasus, Free Spirit, Bloodkrow Butcher, Our Side). I personally preferred playing last night only because we had a new intro cover, a new outro cover and two new songs, which both went over surprisingly well. We covered the intro to “Toxic Shock” by Agnostic Front and the end of “CA Slam” by our friends in New Brigade.
SW -You’re allowed to start one more band, who else would you ask to play and what would it sound like?
DE -Only one? Jeesh.. You’re killing me. I’ve been going through a weird metal phase so I suppose I’d ask DFJ to drum, Andrew and our friend Dan to play guitar, and I would probably want to play bass and sing. This is only me talking… I’m probably wasting the question by not asking the rest of the guys while doing this.
SW -If you had to make a playlist for tour, Pick three records that have to be on it and explain why?
DE -This is such an incredibly hard question. Personally, I’d probably do “Dear You” by Jawbreaker (I know, I know… I’m anticipating the shit talk) just because of how much it’s helped me through such a hard time in my life. I’d probably do “Goddammit” or “From Here to Infirmary” by Alkaline Trio. Again, helped me through so much. I know it’s weird saying that I’d like to listen to two records for a whole tour that could possibly remind me of one of the shittiest times of my life, but I love both of them past it. I’d probably go with “Shed” by Title Fight for the third, too. It was probably my favorite record of this past year and it flows together perfectly. There’s definitely other hardcore records that I’d definitely listen to more often than not, but you told me three so here they are. If you had let me do five, I’d probably go with “Blacklisted” by Breakdown or the Mammoth Grinder/Hatred Surge split.
SW -If you could change one thing about your life what would it be?
DE -Another incredibly hard question. I have so much shit about my life that I’d like to change. Nothing huge… I’m not someone to go ahead and claim that my life is hard and I’m a piece of shit, because I’m not. I’ve fucked up some things with some people that I’d really like to get to redo as well as rewind and make better decisions in some situations.
SW -What three bands had the biggest impact on you live?
DE -Live? Boy. Mindset at United Blood had one of my favorite sets of the whole weekend last year. Evan (I think that’s his name) who sings for the band said some really meaningful shit and it hit home with me. I saw Bayside recently and I had never listened to them before I saw them. I’m usually kind of dopey, like not watching at all whenever I see a band that I don’t listen to, but boy.. did they put on a show. I paid attention to every second of it. I think all of Edge Day ‘10 really impacted me too. I’m not going to be the guy who says “I’ve been around for __ years so I’m better than you”, because I’m not. I’ve been actively going to shows since maybe ‘07. Edge Day ‘10 really impacted me in a sense that all the bands had something really cool to say about straight edge. Andrew, Brian and I all went and hung out, too. That being said, Our Side is not a straight edge band. Honorable mentions: Have Heart’s last show, All Pigs Must Die at the AN reunion, AN at the AN reunion… I’m sure there’s a ton more that I’m forgetting and a handful more that Brian or Andrew would like to say, as well.
SW -What’s your opinion on European hardcore. What are some of your favorite European bands?
DE -I like European hardcore. I wish more bands would play over here but I understand it’s really hard to get a tour going in the US unless you know people or are on a bigger label. I really liked True Colors, Justice and Dirty Money. I absolutely love Rise and Fall.. I wish they’d tour the US more often..SW -Describe the perfect meal. From the starter to dessertDE- I’m a pretty simple guy so I’d say just a good quality greek salad, a nice pizza of any topping and some fried ice cream after. WOO.SW -Thanks for the interview. Any last words?DE -Just everything I’ve said earlier could be my last words. Just be yourself, don’t try to fit in with anyone by changing yourself because sooner or later, you’ll lose you. Listen to all the bands on Triple B Records. Support Back to Back Records, Shoe City Records, Camp Records, Climbin Aboard Records, Caught In A Crowd, No Loss, Outlast, Easy Way Out, Sabotage, and everything far and wide that’s genuine. -
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Notes Backtrack interviewHere’s a BACKTRACK interview I did with my friend James for a zine that will come with the Blindside pre order records. Check it out
Pic by Danielle Parsons
Steven Warson -First of all, introduce the band. who is Backtrack?James Vitalo -Backtrack is Ricky and Chris on guitar, Reggie on Bass, John on Drums and I sing. We started the band in the winter of 08’, Ricky and John were in another band together that wasn’t a hardcore band and they both love hardcore so they wanted to do a band. I have always wanted to do a hardcore band too so we got together and made it happen. Me and Ricky met through mutual friends, I met John at the first practice…after a few practices we got a long time friend of mine(Chris) to play second guitar. We had met Reggie when he moved to NYC from syracuse, he had roadied for us and a bunch of our friends bands and when we needed a new bassist we got him to join the band.
SW -Can you describe the band’s sound for someone who has never heard the band before? Who or what are the band’s main influences?
JV -We are a straight up hardcore band, not trying to reinvent the wheel, just trying to keep the spirit of real and true hardcore alive. Influences for the band are all the bands from New York we grew up listening to, that is something we wanted to capture from the band, a new york hardcore sound. Some bands include Outburst, Breakdown, Killing Time and Madball
SW -How has life in Long Island influenced your music?
JV -Growing up in the hardcore scene on Long Island has definitely influenced our music. I know I can speak for more than just myself when I saw this, there was a lot of bands from Long Island that would cover older bands and that was a gateway for me to check out a lot of older bands and those were the bands I grew up on. I would see covers of bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Breakdown, Warzone, Sick of it all, Madball and after seeing those songs covered I would go home and check out all those bands.
SW -How did you sign with reaper records?
JV -We had met Kitzel a few times and he has always seemed to show interest in us and ask us about the band. When we finished our first full U.S. tour off the “Deal With The Devil” 7” we did our last show on Long Island, Buske was there and he saw the set, I remember being approached about doing a record on Reaper shortly after that. So I think it was a combination of a bunch of things but that is something that stood out to me.
SW -Friday may 13th or the ice?
JV -That’s a tough one but I’m gonna have to go with “The Ice”, the intro alone is enough to sell me on it, great way to start off the record.
SW -What does the band like to do when you’re not playing shows?
JV -It depends on the season, if we’re home in the summer there’s tons to do. We can go to the beach, play baseball or basketball, we have a sick waterpark in our area. If we’re home in the winter, we can sit at home and rot, the winter fucking sucks, we gamble a lot and that can be cool but that usually sucks too. Being home in the summer is great, the winter is horrible tho
SW -Top 3 hardest pitters from the east coast?
JV -Gary Gunwald, David Wood, Josiah
SW -What does “darker half” mean?
JV -There’s a big self-destructive part of me that I have been battling ever since I can remember. The context of the song is not letting the shitty addictive qualities of myself control my life. It’s about taking a stand in an internal battle and not letting a dark side of you takeover.
SW -If you could go back to any era and see a band live that doesn’t exist anymore who would it be and in what city
JV -Outburst at Cb’s. Outburst is my favorite band ever and Cb’s was a sick venue that I saw a lot of awesome shows at.
SW -Biohazard or LOA? why?
JV -Biohazard easily. Biohazard has two records that I love, S/T and Urban Discipline are both flawless. River Runs Red is great too, but it’s a 2 to 1 win for Biohazard.
SW -Whats your favorite tv show that you hate missing while you are on the road?
JV -That’s tough. I have a lot of Tv shows that I love but I’m always behind on that stuff. I usually wait for the box set to come out, or I will download it since I just recently got a new laptop. Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm are my two favorite shows but some other shows that are current that I watch are Sons of Anarchy, Dexter, True Blood, Weeds, Califonication, Entourage.
SW -Favorite thing to eat when in Europe and America?
JV -I had a crepe for the first time the last time I was in Europe, it was literally mind blowing. So for Europe I’m gonna have to say a banana/nutella crepe. For the U.S if I’m home, pizza if I’m on tour I usually try to hit up some decent mexican spot’s but those are always hit or miss.
SW -Thanks a lot for the interview, any last words?
JV -Thanks a lot for the interview, Blindside is fuckin’ awesome, I hope I can get in the pit some day soon. Shout out’s to all my friends, support zines, check out Down to the felt issue 2 coming out soon. -
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This is a new design in print for Blindside. Are you into it?
Its taken from an old Mullen design. Blindside skates so its legit.
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Made this one last weekend
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michelleserdons/7223825326/in/photostream
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check it
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Foundation/Title Fight! (Taken with Instagram at Mt. Fuji Styley 🗻🇯🇵)
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NOT OF THIS EARTH
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Miss my brothers. Next weekend will be awesome. Photos by @mattxmiller (Taken with instagram)
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United Youth
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We hired a new accountant.
