KEMO FOR EMO - Punk Rock that Burns a Memory in your Mind

INTERVIEW WITH SINGER/GUITARIST LARRY
Your band has been around since 2003. What have the past 13 years been like for you? What are some of the most memorable moments?

A lot has happened since 2003 and most of our stories are best kept for drunken nights.  We have experience getting signed at a young age, putting out a full length, almost getting signed with Columbia records, bailing members out of jail in New Orleans, Hard Rock Café performance, played with Dynamite Boy, The Queers, Fenix TX, Unwritten Law, NOFX, released a series of music videos, split up, got back together, made an appearance in the Pop-Punk edition of Alternative Press, played as The Ramones with an actual Ramone in the audience, met a ton of great local acts over the years and watched the Houston Punk Rock scene blossom back into something that holds some weight.  

 

You have a catchy band name. Is there an interesting story behind it?

The story behind the name has many different origins but basically it comes down to one thing; the truth.  Back in the early 2000’s we were a bunch of punk rock kids who wanted to make fun of the new rise of emo kids.  We were going to start a comedy band and write ultra-sappy sad songs.  As time went on we starting clicking and gaining momentum bringing in our actual love of pop-punk music.  We started writing the songs we wanted to write.  A few years went by, we got signed, put out an EP, a full length, and gained a following.  By that point the name was not going anywhere.  Somewhere along the way we had someone at a venue ask us if it meant, “medicine for emotion”.  That stuck with us and we often use that as a short explanation.      

 

The band has a nice clean sound, definitely a pop punk influence. When starting the group, was the initial goal to create a pop punk sound? The reason I ask is because many times when a band starts out, their music tends to sound nothing like the original idea.

Besides writing sappy mock emo songs for a short time, Pop-punk was always the obvious influence as we grew up in the Houston scene listening to River Fenix, Dig Dug, 30 Foot Fall, and Dynamite Boy.  We wanted to join the ranks and share the stage with our heroes and make a name for ourselves.  Also national acts like Green Day, MxPx, Local H, and The Offspring were in every CD binder we had so Pop-Punk was going to rear its melodic head. 

I really like your videos. Can you go through the process of how you create a concept, film and edit your videos? What kind of camera and video editing program do you use?

First off, thank you very much!  As far as music videos go, it really started off with the album concept.  The album was written based on real life events and were written in sequential order based on the way a certain personal tragedy played out.  As any Hollywood adaptation goes, we wanted to throw away the literal version of the story for the “movie” and make something that would play out better theatrically.  The characters of John and Camille were thought up and over several months the story came to life.  All 4 parts of the story were realized before we shot the first frame.  We knew exactly where this story was going to begin and end.  This was always meant to be a short film.  That is why we were able to use the actress that is in the video on the cover of the album and on our merchandise.  The entire album and video series needed to be completely cohesive.  

The first video for The Cause / The Straightline was shot with a single camera, a Canon 6D using only a handheld stabilizer (Flycam 3000) and a Jib.  It was shot 10 seconds at a time as we shot in raw format and took roughly 8 days to shoot.  Everything is edited using Adobe Premiere and I color grade using DaVinci Resolve Pro. 

We have finished principal photography on Chapter 3: No Tell and are currently wrapping up post production.  We hope to have it released within the next 4 weeks.  No Tell was shot using two different cameras.  The first was a Black Magic Cinema Production 4K camera with an EF mount.  We switched between 50mm lenses and 24-70.  The second camera used was a Black Magic pocket cinema camera.  This is a micro four thirds camera.  We used a metabones adapter to mount a 12-35mm lens for most of the shots, then an EF adapter for a 50mm Canon lens for hand held shots.  A Ronin gimbal was used for almost everything, although a Jib was used for a few of the wider band performance shots.   

L

Let’s talk about your discography starting with your current release A Picture Perfect Romance. How does it differ from your other releases?

A Picture Perfect Romance is an extremely personal record.  So personal that we recorded it 3 separate times to get it right.  From the lyrical content to the order of the tracks to the tone of the guitars, right down to the order of the kick drum hits, they were all calculated to make sure the tone and the mood of the songs were conveyed exactly the way we wanted them to be.  This album has literal blood, sweat, tears, fear, heartache, and miles and miles of living on it.  If everyone could see what life dealt out for these songs to be written, it would hit much harder in the chest.  That’s why we felt a theatrical storyline would help convey a love/loss scenario where the listener would allow the songs to sink in on a deeper level.     

Is A Picture Perfect Romance a concept album? If so, can you give more details about it? It is autobiographical?

APPR is a concept album based on reality, written from a personal place but delivered to the world disguised as a story about fictional characters.  

The lyrics, if you really listen beginning to end through the whole album will really explain what the album was written about.  Love, drugs, loss, fear, anxiety, promises.  Everything brutal that someone can go through, but not everyone comes out of.  We came out on top this time and this album is a way of, “shedding” these experiences.   Recording the accomplishments and the achievements of facing your demons head on and winning.  This was relinquishing it’s power and putting it out to the world in hopes that we will never have to relive it again but knowing we are that much stronger for making it through.   

It seems like things are going really well with the band’s popularity? Your thoughts?

As you stated before, we have been at this since 2003 and this time around we are working our butts off.  This is no longer a few kids hoping for a record deal.  This is a group of men with a proactive approach to everything and we are working 24/7 to make this our legacy.  Everything we do, we try to it as big and as best as we can.  Whether it be a cover show, or opening for NOFX, or making a music video.  Whatever we put our name on we try to make it something outstanding.  This is our passion and we put our all into it and we hope that everyone who listens, and watches can enjoy it as much as we do.  We would love to do this and only this for the rest of our lives and we are very blessed to be doing as well as we are.  We would love to get that call from Fat Wreck Chords, but right now the future looks very bright.  

Let’s finish off by giving some details of what we can expect next from you guys.

We have Chapter 3: No Tell music video coming out within the next few weeks, then we will start principal photography on the final music video of the series.  We have a show at Warehouse live on June 11th supporting our good friends Soapbox Revolution for their upcoming CD Release.  In July we will embark on a Texas tour with our friends Four Letter Language and PRP.

Thanks,

Larry Fenix
https://www.facebook.com/kemo4emo
http://www.kemoforemo.com/

KRVSHR - Disgusting Horror Hiding in the Darkness

INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST JASON
Your band has been busy spreading a hateful, dark sound around these parts. When hearing your music I imagine being in a filthy, dark place filled with disease. In my book that’s a complement. Can you tell us how the band formed and what was the goal early on?

Steven and I had started writing riffs about 10 years ago and tried to get people to jam under the name Churchburner. We all but abandoned the idea until Luke and I sat down one night and discussed starting a band. It was very important to me that Steven was involved. Met Mike through Dave Ellington. Knew Adam (first drummer) for years as well.

That first record turned out to be the soundtrack to my divorce. My wife and I have since reconciled, but that was a terrible and dark time. Mike had just gotten out of rehab and needed a good group of dudes that wouldn't push him towards living like shit.
The goal was, and is, to do whatever the fuck we want. Fuck labels. Doom. Metal. Hardcore. Whatever. It's all punk rock.

The members have all been in a variety of different styled bands in the past. How is the writing chemistry between contrasting backgrounds?
Writing works like this: I show up with an assload of riffs, we put them together. Then a song happens. Luke and I played in Pride Kills, but I was also jamming in Bowel at the same time. Before hardcore became the same thing as nu-metal, I considered it all the same. It still should be. Integrity, Burning Witch, Slayer, Goatsnake, Negative Approach, His Hero is Gone...all the same shit. None of us ever got into that "flat billed hat rapcore" shit so we don't have any hurdles there. Haha

The name Krvshr definitely complements the music. Who came up with the idea to spell it in this odd fashion?

Well we had a million name ideas that everyone had already "taken". We were set on Churchburner, but the guys from Vital Remains have a band called that. Mike grew up in a black metal scene, so KRVSHR is a nod to the cult side of music but still explains what we do: crush. He came up with the name.

Let’s talk about the Church Burner 12”. Was it all completely self funded? I believe you told me it was pressed in Europe. How was that process?

All self funded. All tracks are single take. We paid for every bit of everything ourselves. Including the dinner plate thick vinyl. Our shit got out sourced to the Czech Republic and they sent back covers that were fucking pixelated. The dude that initially recorded us fucked us around real bad, so we bought our own pre production studio and send it out to Greg at Earhammer in Oakland for final mix and master. The new shit destroys the old shit and we will be re recording hill people and soul eater.

The process of dealing with a shitbag producer is so fucking shitty and ruins the whole process. You couldn't pay me enough to deal with that shit again.

Also I know you have a split release coming out with BLK OPS. Will that be vinyl as well? When can we expect that to hit the streets?

BLK OPS split. We are label shopping right now. Not sure when it's dropping. But it's brutal as hell.

I really like the lyrics. They are simple, yet extremely dark. Can you go into detail about the lyric writing process, the themes and inspiration? What is “Hill People” about? By the way, that is my favorite Krvshr song.
Hill people is about mongoloid freaks stealing your children. Simple enough. We are currently writing a full length that contains 75% songs like that.

Besides creating brutality, you are also a tattoo artist. How did you get into the industry and what is your favorite style to tattooing?
Been involved in the industry going on 20 years. Tattooing 13 years. I prefer old American style above all.

 

Lastly, give me some final words.

Shit, no one really wants to hear what I have to say. I am currently disgusted with the state of underground music. Hardcore got ruined by paper gangsters. "Doom metal" seems to be a bunch of pg13 rehashed sabbath riffs. Metal is dominated by overproduced garbage. People love to look scary and edgy and blah blah blah, but the "heart" of it all seems to have all but vanished. Now it's the image. Stupid fucking selfies. People making tough faces. I’d love to make a funeral pyre full of flat billed hats and rock n roll vests. The only good new shit anymore is the newest Leviathan.
https://krvshr.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/feastforvulturestx/?fref=photo

FORCE FED - Longtime Austin Crossover Metal still on the Attack

Starting in 1990, it is great that long running band such as Force Fed is still active. You’ve had a history of many different line-ups with the unfortunate passing of an original member. What drives you to keep the flame lit?
 (Matt/Bass) Well, we certainly haven't kept it lit all this time. We had reunited several times in the past couple of decades; sometimes for a few shows and sometimes for a couple of years. At the beginning of this year we all decided to do another reunion show, but something about this time was different - maybe all the stars and planets aligned, maybe it's just that we're all in a place in our lives where we really want to do this again and do it right. This time, we didn't have to do anything to keep the flame lit - it seemed to flare up on its own, brighter than ever. (Scott) I think when I left to join deadhorse we were on the verge of something... getting a record deal, killing each other, imploding, something... We were getting all these offers to open for touring acts, so I felt like we were getting close. We only played Austin and Killeen, we hadn’t even played San Antonio or Dallas or Houston. We were very green and didn’t know how to take the next step. Anyhow, I left deadhorse in 96 and tried to get the original Force Fed lineup back together, but Lance bailed for whatever reasons, Matt was playing in Rubberhead or DMA...so I got my cousin Jason Feeney to play bass, and Leroy Pitman to play guitar and that was another version of Force Fed.. then we stopped around 2000 and got back together around 2004 still without Lance, and we played until I formed P.N.D. with Ronny, Greg and Kurt. Then we got back together again in 2012 with Lance, and played 3 shows...Then I approached Lance about playing the Austin RED7 show and it being our final show. He agreed. But something happened about 4 or 5 rehearsals in and we decided to keep playing and write a new album. (Matt) One of the things that helps is that we all feel like these songs sound as good now as they did years ago, and people seem to respond to them better than ever. Another thing is that we have a lot of material that we really want to record and put out there. All that makes it so that we almost feel compelled to keep this going.

I read that your name is derived from the Prong album Force Fed. I also saw that you received blessing using that name from Tommy Victor and company. How did you come in contact with them? 

(Scott) Yes, that's true. I started seeing Prong at the Backroom in 1990 during their Beg to differ tours. I went back and found their Primitive Origins and Force Fed albums and just loved the rawness, speed, gang vocals, short songs, short solos etc. We got to meet Prong in 1994 at the Austin Coliseum on their Cleansing tour when they were opening for White Zombie. We all got to go hang out backstage while White Zombie was on stage. Then we all went to the Backroom and hung out and had drinks for several more hours. We opened for Prong in 2004 i think. Over the years, Tommy Victor and I have become pretty good friends. We talk all the time, when he comes to town we usually go have dinner or drinks, He's always been super supportive of us and is just really an all around good guy, a great guitarist, songwriter... I love the guy and am happy he's still writing albums and touring with Prong and Danzig.

Your music is definitely an amalgamation of many extreme styles (thrash, hardcore and punk). You said in the early nineties people were somewhat confused about your mix of styles. These days that is no big deal, but back then the shows were definitely more separated regarding genres. Can you elaborate more on those experiences you had early on?

(Matt) In '93 and '94, when we were playing out a lot in Austin, all the bands in our scene were either Testament/Sepultura clones, shitty Orange County punk wannabes, lame pussy versions of LA glam/cock rock, or some sort of generic hardcore where every song sounded the same. Those bands all seemed (for better or for worse) to have a clear idea about what they wanted to be, and they stuck to their guns trying to sound like it. Our tastes in music were all diverse, from thrash and crossover to NY hardcore to skater punk to classic hard rock/metal to country, and I think that really came out in our songs. We didn't try to sound like anyone. Of course, at the time we weren't good enough to actually sound like anyone other than ourselves...  

The main credit for our sound and musical direction really needs to go to Scott, who was and is our chief songwriter. It would have been easy for us to write Testament songs and sound like everyone else, and we probably would have had a better reception at first, but Scott was adamant about not doing that. It took a little longer for people to get us - people generally don't like things that they don't quite understand - but once they got it, people really responded. I think we all like the fact that we can't be pigeonholed like other bands - we pretty much sound like us, and that's it. 

(Scott) I think Matt nailed a lot of it on the head. The punk crowd thought we sounded too metal and the metal crowd thought we sounded too punk. I personally drew a lot of inspiration and influence from East coast bands, especially early Prong, S.O.D. and Carnivore. I also started getting into more grindcore and death metal like Carcass and Coroner. Lance and I both loved the Venice beach bands such as Suicidal Tendencies and especially Excel. and of course Crowbar and DRI...and AC/DC, Sabbath etc...

Over the years you have played shows with some real heavy weights in the music scene (Motorhead, Prong, Crowbar, Carcass, Napalm Death, Obituary, etc). What was your most memorable show? I’m sure you have some interesting stories.

(Matt)Back around '97 we opened for Obituary at a club in Houston. After our set we were hanging out by our van drinking beer while Obituary was on stage playing their set. Suddenly, in the middle of a song, the side doors of the club burst open and the bass player, still playing the song through a wireless, comes running out with a roadie right behind him. He turned around and faced the wall (still playing), and suddenly hands the bass back to the roadie (mind you, he still has the strap on, so the roadie has to kinda reach around in front of him to grab it), who proceeds to start pounding on the strings like crazy to keep the song going. Then, while the roadie is playing, the bass player whips it out and takes a piss on the side of the building! He finishes up, shakes and puts it away, then grabs the bass, jumps back into playing the song without skipping a beat, and they both run back into the club. Needless to say, he got a standing ovation from all of us. Quite possibly the most entertaining part of the night. 

(Scott) For me and Lance it was definitely opening for Motorhead at Sneakers for their 1916 tour. It was just Motorhead and us! Lance was shooting pool with Lemmy while we were waiting on more PA to arrive from San Antonio. Motorhead’s tour manager brings Lemmy a bottle of Jack Daniels. He opens it and draws a slug of it. Then takes a shot. While he’s shooting, Lance picks up the bottle and draws back a long slug. Their tour manager comes over to me and says "does Lemmy know him? Cause he never lets anyone drink out of his bottle!” I say, well he knows him now. That single show changed everything for us. People were coming up to us and asking us what it was like to tour with Motorhead. They had no idea who we were. I'm telling people we're from Austin, we've been playing for three years!!! After that show we started getting weekend slots and started getting to open for all those touring bands you mentioned.

You stated that a new album is in the works. Can you give more details of when it will be released and what the listeners can expect?

(Matt) Right now we're in the process of deciding on the songs, arranging, thinking about the overall concept for the album, etc. If things go as planned, it will sound like us, only better. We've got a lot of material to work with (including a few covers that we do better than the originals), and we are all expecting this to be the best recording that we've ever done. We are hoping for a release before the end of the year. 

(Scott) I think you'll hear a lot of our early influences, like Sabbath, some of the slower trippy stuff. At this point we have about 8 or 9 originals were trying to button up. I think it'll blow some peoples minds when they hear it. And yes, hopefully it'll be done this year.

Do you ever have any difficulty balancing Force Fed with your other musical endeavors?

Force Fed is the only music that I’m doing right now, so it’s no problem for me. Practice time does make it hard for me to keep up with the new “My Little Pony” episodes, so there’s that…

(Scott) Not really. PND is on hiatus since DRI is always playing. Deadhorse is pretty relaxed. Greg, Argo, and Allen all have separate bands away from deadhorse too.

Thanks for the interview. Please take the final word.

It's been 25 years and Austin still can't kill us! We're like the cockroaches of metal, consistently rising from the nuclear fallout of the dead music capital of the world. Oh, and feel free to use "Cockroaches of Metal" for the name of your new band. 

(Scott) What Matt said. Thank you for taking the time to interview us.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Force-Fed/481638771873778?fref=ts

DEAD TO THE WORLD - Anthem Punk Rock like a Power Punch to the Face

Beginning in 2007, Dead to the World has had a long history with its share of line-up changes. Here in 2015 the band is not showing any signs of slowing down. After all this time, what has kept the fire burning?

DTTW has been around since 2007 with the core foundation of the brother Brandon and Blake. They were writing catchy songs and building a solid fan base in their circles.  Where the band really gets going is in the last 2 years or so when they added a second vocalist/guitarist(Steve), then Brandon putting down the bass and bringing in me(Floyd) and filling out the sound with lead guitar(Mikey).  These changes to the sound and live performances really made people take notice and couple that with some friends in the industry, we've been able to really build something.  Trust me, DTTW is just getting started.

Your live performance is definitely energetic with every member giving their all. Can you please give the readers some behind the scenes info of how you approach the live setting (mentally and physically)?

Being a band that does everything themselves, we don't have anyone pushing our music to the masses and so we have to make an impression with our live shows. If we don't leave it all on the stage, then what are we doing? That's why we make every practice like a show, whether we have one coming up or not. We setup the same and we play the set, and during these 100 degree days, that's just endurance training for us.

While on the live topic, DTTW has played many great shows with national acts. What was your absolute favorite and why?

As a band the biggest show was Bad Religion, we sold more merch there than all my shows combined. We had a line just to hang out at the table all the way through BR's set. My personal favorite, I'd say 30FootFall X-Mas 2014. It meant a lot personally to me as someone who came up going to their shows and becoming friends with them.

To me your music is the perfect mixture of melodic punk, Oi and hardcore. What really caught my attention are those catchy sing-a-long choruses. What are your influences and also is song writing a collaborative effort?

Thanks, that's exactly what we are going for in our sound.  As far as influences, everyone has their own, but the crossover for us all are definitely bands that have those sounds.

We want everyone to be a part of the music, so please sing along, and join us on stage.

The songwriting process is always evolving, Brandon likes a collaboration where he has a general idea for a song and we build it in the studio. Sometimes Steve will bring a song put together and we finish it off. I'll come in with a couple of parts and we build a song out of that.

The recently released War EP is an aggressive 3 song attack. It seems each song stands on its own in quality. Had they been in your set list for a while before recording them? Currently it’s a digital release, do you plan on doing a physical release?

The songs had been in the set for a little while. As we are growing, we are trying to move towards writing and recording before we play the songs live, or at least less time in the set before putting them out.

The digital release is an experiment based on the state of music sales.  It didn't make sense to spend a ton of money on records when we could only sell them for a couple of bucks, we'd be losing money.  We are planning on writing songs and getting back in the studio ASAP which I'd like to see on vinyl.

Besides the War EP, what else does DTTW have in store for the future?

The next step for DTTW is venturing outside of Houston.  I'll put our live show against anyone's, and I expect to have Texas in our fold very soon.  We are also talkin
g to a director for a video for "War" and hope to have that out soon as well.

https://www.facebook.com/deadtotheworldtx?fref=ts

THE BLOODY VON ERICHS: An Iron Claw - Punk Rock Style

I love your band name. Please tell me it is a tribute to the legendary Texas wrestling family.

Yes the Band name is a Tribute to the entire Von Erich Family. Loved wrestling as kids and I believe it would be our former guitarist Bird (Brent) that should get credit for the name. Although when the original crew broke up I demanded that we keep the name. The guys put it on me to establish it and that's exactly what I did.
The web site, the domain, the Name and any Logo. (Note: I've ripped off a few Logos obviously and do not own rights- it's just for test purposes only for set up.) I've worked hard for that name and to keep it.

Your style is definitely an early 80s West Coast punk rock sound. How would you describe your style?

Holy cow man, umm we are definitely West Coast oriented -at least I am. I grew up with NOFX, LagWagon and a bunch of other bands that played shows with Bad Religion and Suicidal Tends in little tiny venues like the Lompoc Theater and recreation halls in Santa Barbara, Ventura and SanLuisObispo Ca. Jake Hard leans more towards east coast hard core. Lando is deep down the hole in whatever may influence him and I actually have no idea what he listens to and will not add nor take away the recipe that he cooks with. He has an amazing way of coming up with riffs, arrangements and usually a good melody or chant as you'd have in our genre.

Please tell us a little bit about your lyrics. What topics do you cover?

Another “crap are you really asking ME that” kinda question.
Totally all heart felt songs. Ha! Most of em are and a few are just for fun. We don't care if no one likes some of those songs as long as we have fun playing em. We all write! We all contribute! It is the best way and only way for us. Multifaceted we are; I play a few different instruments and Jake is a better guitar player than a drummer by far!
Don't print that! Jk
We like to keep him banging away. As for the other guys, they are talented more than most at cranking out songs. As it is though for every 8-12 songs written only one will get a green light from us to continue with to completion. The others sit on simmer.
Topics are non conformist to non conformist.. Just being stupid... Umm we write about the same shit everybody writes about. It's all in just how you say it..
Relationships, Government, Sitting at a Bar, Sex... Whatever.

Is the 2013 EP No Holds Barred your only release? I must say it is a very smooth sounding work. The clear vocals and music complement each other well. I really like it.

We have done a Demo. (Oh the stories to tell about during those days)- Then there's the No Holds Barred which isn't even in production so we decided to do the best thing- burn the shit out of it ourselves and hand em out. And I'll probably do the free download card idea as well. We will go Self Sustained for as long as possible.
The songs are fast and end quickly on most of them you ask me but it makes no difference just ask DRI. We love the sound that we come up with and the tempos and the changes- all just for our kicks and it's amazing that other people really dig us because we just play or do whatever we want to. Like take a blues song and tear it up or recently I did a cover of an acoustic song that is sort of rockabilly but was written by a singer songwriter named D. Kensrue called “Blood and Wine.” He's a worship leader at a big church somewhere.
About the vocals, thanks I do not deem myself a vocalist. Also I would like to thank the extra voices out there donated from PRP as back ups.

What do you have planned next? I know you have to be ready for a new release.

We are working on long anticipated new material- nuff said. Just gotta wait.

I’ve been hearing quite a bit lately about your band on the live scene. Do you plan on doing any touring outside Texas?

Most likely be only Texas for another year then my West Coast buddies would like us to head that way... Let's just get past the end of 2015 and we'll change our minds like we always do.

You recently played the Houston Underground Punk Fest. What fond memories do you have from it?

So there I was b/s'n with my good friend Greg Dodson and talking about doing a big show, and it needs to be all of us playing together and bring all of our people to do it and do it all ourselves. He says to me "well why don't we just do it?" So I stood there blank and said I guess we just need a venue. So next thing I know is people contacted me and I made some calls and nailed down the venue. I was specific that it had to be a smoking allowed place because although people come out to shows; they are usually outside socializing while a band is spilling the blood on stage and nobody's watching. It made me sick. So all of a sudden we had the venue and my homie Greg got peppered with bands willing and he made some calls and then we brought in Jojo S. to help arrange things and bring it all together... So in what may have been my idea / I take no credit for what Greg and Jojo contributed. So my fond memory is a living thing because that ball is rolling and it's gonna stay that way because Houston Punk is Alive and Well! CHAOS PUNKS RULE! 

So now we welcome new guitarist Lando Valley who's live debut was a little bit rough as we did the third song into an already rough opening set & he comes in late- oops / derail! We immediately start it again no biggie... Oops derail.. I won't explain what happened next but there was broken cords a broken mic I believe and broken glass-disarray, but managed to hack our way through the rest of the set as tempers arose and embarrassment set in and a calm eye of the storm that was yet to happen in the green room. I had heard that the venue didn't want us back ever. (We trashed the green room- blood and broken glass everywhere!) Now to my surprise the owners said it was ok and did not charge us for any damages... We were so hot that night because it was a meltdown and a gross display of unprofessionalism. The next morning we hashed it out as well and by the following night we were acting like brothers once again. What people may not know is that we are working class and struggle like all of you out there. My boys donated (blood) plasma for money to get gas and make it to practice and pay the rent for studio space. Jake also had a bad back ache that night and we had not played in over a year. That all said there was mass anticipation from all around us and we crashed and burned...
Days later we are praised for one of the best punk shows and memories attached and the page likes went up and we are booking shows left and right / so much as I can no longer keep up with what the guys are doing anymore. I can only chime in and guess at what I should put on my calendar.

Final words please.

I believe I said enough- I said good day!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Bloody-Von-Erichs/951697628197400

http://www.thebloodyvonerichs.com/

  

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BARON VON BOMBLAST - A Breath of Fresh Heaviness from some Old Souls

First off, I must applaud you for a cool, catchy band name. Is it a play on the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang character Baron Bomburst or maybe a reference to the old wrestler Baron Von Raschke? Please give more details.

ALLISON: Well back in the early 90's there used to be a men's strip club called LaBare. I frequented the joint and eventually came across a young up and comer named Gregory von Bare-it-all. Well I quickly realized that Greg was never ever gonna make it as a stripper but I saw potential in him somehow and we decided to team up. I was going to become his manager but neither one of us had any talent to either manage or maintain, so we decided to form a heavy metal band. We played the Cirque du Soleil tours for a few years until we decided 2 was kinda small for a metal act and we needed a bigger sound. There were a few more discarded strippers that worked the alley behind LaBare that were so bad the club wouldn't give them any real stage time. They were basically there to take care of the horned up old ladies walking to their cars after the real men had finished their performances for the evening. Well, we figured HELL, these guys would be perfect to finish out our group! It's been 20 years now and none of us has learned to play a damn thing ....and I definitely can't sing so we have decided for sure that we are gonna go places in the world of heavy metal. I mean, we all own old ripped up denim jeans and faded concert shirts...and we've all collected a bunch of really awful black ink tattoos.....so I’m pretty sure we DO have what it takes to be successful.

GREG: What is this zine bullshit??? I should be getting interviewed by the fuckin Rolling Stone! I'm way too cool for this garage band kiddy shit. (Gets up and walks out slamming the door…can be heard cussing and mumbling down the hall)

Although your band is somewhat new, your line-up consists of music veterans from other classic groups. Can you tell the readers how this super group came about?

JOEL: Josh told me he was starting a Menudo cover band! I’m sure you could imagine my excitement! Then I get here & it was this bullshit....but I said "Whatever man, I'm here now so let get on with it." He totally conned into doing this, but I guess it turned out pretty cool......I guess....

With the many varied influences in the band, I am sure the possibilities were limitless. When starting, did you have a specific sound you were trying to create or did the music just fall into place doing early rehearsals?

JOSH: With this gaggle of dorks, the possibilities were vast. Greg had strict "No Palm muting" policy. Bullshit. But jokes aside, we've all been in projects in the past where writing fell into a habit of over complicating songs. The first time we jammed together we wrote 2 songs in one night. We are writing songs that are aurally pleasing. When you hear it, the music sounds familiar. Something that I'm sure inspired all of us in the beginning. Playing something that you hear and some kid say "I can do that." Sure, these dudes can play syncopated weird time shit. But who's ever gonna be impressed by that? Other musicians? Fuck that. We write and play because it's fun. We have jobs. Playing music shouldn't be a job. Whether I'm watching or playing. It makes no difference. I just have the chance to play with some of my best friends. And we like to share. We are very far from believing we are something unique. This is drunk rock for the people, by the people.

I caught the band’s surprise first show at the White Swan. Although a short set, the songs were very strong. Can we expect more live outings? What do you have planned?

JOSH: Expect it for sure. We have no lack of opportunities for live shows coming up. Some are even on the hush, so to speak. Expect a few Deadhorse opening gigs, naturally. Choke. The horse family is broad and us southern boys keep it in the family. I also know of this brutal noodle band named Khobretti that we will be doing a few shows with. CARDIO CORE! Hogs of War are good friends as well, and we share the same rehearsal space. Playing music with friends is where it's at. It’s a much more gratifying and fun night when you all love music and the people you choose to make and play it with. So yeah, we love to play live, so expect it.

BRIAN: Yes, more live shows with hostile takeovers by sword and submission.

This may be a premature question, but what is on the horizon for releases? I saw a video on your Facebook page of some studio tracking. Do you plan on digital only releases or doing something tangible?

BRIAN: The recording process is underway and per our agreement with the United States Government, we cannot discuss the specifics but we will advise on a need to know basis....all we can say is, it's coming.

I really like Joel’s band Skeletal Baron artwork. It definitely gives the group a face and certain style. Artistically, what else does he have planned for the band?

JOEL: The Baron Skull came about with Greg's idea of a bullet hole. I thought the idea was pretty cheesy, but I just threw together some crap around his idea and tried to come up with something fairly cool, and what you see is what happened. I promise the next piece of art will be a lot cooler, as long as I stop listening to his nonsense.

Last words. Let them rip.

JOEL: In all seriousness, I do feel honored to be playing with such a great line up (although, we have yet to do one single Menudo cover, as Josh promised)!

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FERAL NOISE Collection Book NOW AVAILABLE

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http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/947840