KHOBRETTI - Interview taken from Violence Now Zine

*Republished with permission. Interview was originally printed in Violence Now.
Interview with drummer Donnie and bassist Mark.

A friend of mine referred your band to me and I was impressed. I became an immediate fan of your old school hardcore influence. Do you draw from the classic model for inspiration?
DONNIE: Yeah, I would say so.  We definitely are inspired by the classics from Joy Division to The CroMags. I like to think we incorporate our influences into our music as well.  

MARK: I think we all draw inspiration from different aspects of our lives, but we were all influenced those old punk and hardcore classics.  For me personally, skateboarding was a big influence in my music growing up, and I have been getting back to my roots.

Let’s start at the beginning since a lot of our readers might not know you guys. How did the band come together?

DONNIE: I woke up one day and said to myself that I wanted to start an old school NY style hardcore band but wasn't sure how to get the ball rolling on that one since I live in Houston. Kind of unheard "round these parts". I said, what the hell and posted on my FB page to my local friends to see if anyone was interested and then J.R. messaged me and that was the start of Khobretti.

MARK: It's funny how things come together. J.R. and I had been talking about trying to get something going after a layoff from a previous project.  One day he told me he had an old friend (Donnie) that had posted a message about wanting to start a band and that pretty much got things going.

Your demo has an absolute vintage sound. It sounds like it could be a 7” released in the 80s. Please elaborate more about the recording.

DONNIE: Right On.  Yeah, well I don't think that is what we were going for only because we wanted something as a reference to our new songs.  We recorded live in JR's studio and a lot of what you heard was really only one take of each song too. It came out really well and we were happy to have it as a demo and have it sound like those recordings we grew up listening to. 

MARK: It is interesting how well that demo came out.  As Donnie mentioned, the recording was really more for us to get something down for our own reference.  But everything really has clicked since the beginning, and I think those recordings reflect that. 

I see that you have an upcoming 7” release. Is it being done through a label? Can you give more details of what to expect?

DONNIE: Yeah we have a split coming out with Hogs of War very soon and are stoked to have them on it.  We are releasing it ourselves and trying to be as self sufficient as we can.  The recording process has been easy for us because we rehearse in a recording studio and that makes things really easy and laid back for us.  

MARK: Since we are able to take our time recording, we don't have to settle for anything less than what we really want to put out there.  All the recordings came out really awesome, and I think people will really like what they hear.

What future plans do you have? Are there any other releases planned?

DONNIE: We have recorded a whole album worth of songs and will be releasing more of those on splits with other bands and an EP.  Not sure about a full length.  Full albums from HC bands tend to get redundant after 4 or 5 songs in IMO, but whatever the band decides overall is what will happen. So, who knows? 

MARK: We are always talking about future recordings and what we want to do. There will probably be a few surprises along the way. 

There in Texas how is the music scene? Are there lots of opportunities for gigs?

DONNIE: Yeah, the HC scene as of lately has had an awesome resurgence.  There are so many bands that we can play with and actually be billed as a HC show.  I have noticed a lot of young kids (I say that because I am 41yrs. old) keeping the torch lit with HC and bringing out punk and hc kids to the shows.  It's great to feel young again playing along side all of these great Houston HC bands. It's definitely a work out too.  

MARK: Things have definitely seemed to be picking up.  It seems that more and more opportunities are popping up to play with different bands.

What kind of stuff did you grow up listening to?

DONNIE: I personally grew up listening to all types of music.  I have to say that The Smiths and Joy Division are probably the two bands I listened to most growing up to this point.  I still listen to them once a day.  I got into punk and HC in jr. high with Bad Brains and Suicidal Tendencies and from there a flood gate of music poured in. JR and I used to frequent punk shows when we were in our teens and saw some great shows but nothing more memorable than GG Allin at the Axiom.  That was punk at its finest/worst.  I think we both strive for that in our live show when we perform.  HaHa, J/K.

MARK: Skate punk and hardcore punk was really my core music base growing up, but all sorts of fast heavy music made its way into the play list at the old half-pipe during skate sessions.  If you could skate to it, it got played.

What was the first album you ever bought and the first concert you ever saw?

DONNIE: I want to say it was Quiet Riot's Metal Health.  The first concert I saw was New Order in 88 and that was an amazing show.  

MARK: That's a good question.  I'm not sure about the first album I bought.  I do remember getting cassette tapes of the Clash and the Police for Christmas one year from my parents.  The first punk album I ever heard was the Dead Milkmen Big Lizard in My Backyard.  A friend in Junior High brought it to school one day and told be to go home and listen to it.  After hearing that I knew punk rock was for me.  My first show was D.R.I.  That had to have been around 1988.

Anything you would like to add?

DONNIE: Yes thanks for the interview. Be on the lookout for our upcoming 7” with Hogs of War. That should be out in the fall. Also we have a planned split CD with Black Coffee in the works. I’ll finish with a plug for some of the great bands around our area: Mind Kill, Shut Out, Sketch//Driven, Blunt, God Fearing Fuck, Supremacy, Forced Fem, Action Frank…honestly there are so many that I can’t remember them all. Go give us a "like" at https://www.facebook.com/khobretti