BLACK COFFEE - Houston Throwback Hardcore

I am sure this is a cliché question for you, but was your band name taken from the Black Flag song of the same title?
Yea so when Halston and I were first discussing starting this project we were going to call the band 'Gutter World', after one of our demo tracks. The name never really set well with us and 'black coffee' has always been one of my favorites Rollins era Black Flag songs both lyrically and musically, so we took that and ran with it. 

When first hearing the band’s name, my thought was that it would have a late era Black Flag type sound. However, to me, the music for the most part reminds me of Negative Approach-Government Issue style hardcore. Your thoughts?
I definitely take influence lyrically from the Black Flag song 'Black Coffee'. How it all fell together musically was basically Halston and I emailing each other back and forth on what direction musically we wanted to go with this project and what bands we wanted to take influence from. 

How so do the lyrics from the Black Flag song Black Coffee influence you? Please give some more details. Do you like the grim picture the words paint or is it something personal?
I'd say it's both. I try to be as honest and vulnerable as I know how when I'm writing lyrics, especially with Black Coffee. And I felt that was a lot of what Black Flag was doing at that time, and it really alienated them from their peers. So I don't know if I can necessarily say I like the grim picture their words paint, but I certainly respect it and at times can relate.

Throughout the Black Coffee discography, starting with the demo, your style has remained true to blistering, throwback hardcore punk. For the Livefast EP the sound changed a bit. The two tracks have a more mid tempo beat and they almost remind me of post punk. The vocals are not as aggressive and there is more experimenting with the guitars. I really liked the varied sound. Give some details on the thought process for this record.
The idea for the Livefast EP came out of our line up change at that time. Ford, our drummer at the time, was sort of on his way out and wanted to contribute more sonically before quitting. Then this Ep was also Ari, our current bass player, first recording with us. Inclusion and Mothers of the World are more of a collaborative effort. In the past it's generally been Halston bringing riffs to practice, the guys building around it, and me adding lyrics at the end. This go round each member took time to put their mark on the record.

Do you plan to continue in the direction of Livefast?
I think we're going to switch it up with the newer material. Definitely longer songs coming up, but not necessarily in the vein of inclusion or mothers of the world.

You’ve been involved in a plethora of musical projects dating all the way back to Ten Crowns. Besides Black Coffee, you are also providing vocals for Thug Boots. How did that come about and what does the future hold for this band?
Musically, Oi and RAC were definitely my first loves. I found out about hardcore through Oi/skinhead bands and had always wanted to start a meat and potatoes Oi band. Denniz and I were hanging out at a show one night and were talking about my old band Titan Blood, he said he had riffs similar to the Titan Blood demo(which was more Oi influenced) and we got together with the rest of the guys shortly thereafter. Local label Brickwall records pressed our 'elite breed' demo on CD recently and Streetrock records out of California is putting out our 7" EP 'The Justice' which should be out any day now. We're also going back into the studio late February to record our tracks for a split with Beyond Hate from Japan which Streetrock is also putting out. We're playing with Wisdom in Chains Feb 7 at the Eastdown Warehouse in Houston.

 

Doing dual duties for both Black Coffee and Thug Boots, are those both ongoing or do you take time off one project for the other?
They're both ongoing, and both fairly part time. We all have our own lives, careers, families going on and are just trying to have fun with these projects while we can.

With your split EP with Forced Fem you released a promo video for the song The Critic. I really like the video and feel that it projects the song’s chaos perfectly. I see that Denniz Polk directed it. Was it his sole concept or did the band have a particular vision?
Man that was all Denniz. I feel blessed to be good friends with someone so talented. With most projects I've worked on, I throw something his way and he just rolls with it and 99.9% of the time I love the results.

Your band blogspot used to be updated regularly with lots of interesting band information. Since then it has become dormant. Any plans on picking that back up?
Hahahahaha. Halston is the internet voice of this band and he's been ridiculously busy lately. However, he's actually working on updating and revamping the blogspot.com

Ok thanks for your time. Any final details to share?
Thanks for the interview! Our full length "For the Birds" is currently at the pressing plant. It's being released on Treaty Oak/Imbalance Arts in the U.S. and Cult Culture in the UK. Lp comes with a discography CD. Split 7" with Khobretti hopefully sometime in 2015. Check our sites for info- blackcoffeetx.bandcamp.com/ blackcoffeetx.wordpress.com/ thugboots.bandcamp.com