First off, the typical, please tell the readers how
and when the band came about.
A few of us were jamming in a couple of other bands from Lubbock and we wanted to start something new
so we just all came together and started writing.
The band name sounds as if you are a
religious band. Can you go into more detail regarding the name? The name comes from an Integrity song off the To Die For record. We're all fans of Integrity and we were having
trouble trying to think of a name. It was tossed out as a suggestion and we all
just decided to go with it. Lyrically we write a lot about religion amongst
other things but we are in no way a religious band. Although you are a hardcore band, there
are some definite thrash metal/crossover influences. Parts of your songs bring
me back to 1989. Tell us more about your song writing and influences. When we start writing a new song we usually just go into it not knowing
what we're gonna do with it. Israel
starts with a riff, Eli starts putting drums to it and we go from there. We
take influence from a lot of different bands from the 80's, 90's and today.
Probably our biggest influences though are everything Sepultura Chaos AD and
before and All Out War. Coming from Lubbock, what is the music scene like there?
What other bands reside in your area? Lubbock has
a really small hardcore scene currently. It's been all over the place. The
people that are still here and contributing work hard and give a shit about
what happens within our scene and it's awesome. It's overlooked a lot but that
just makes us work harder for what we have and it's something we don't take for
granted. We're all proud to be from here. There's not a whole lot of bands
going at the moment. Judiciary is from here and Israel plays guitar in that as
well. We have another band we jam in called Dirtnap with a couple other friends
which is just slayer and sabbath worship. We have some other bands that we've
started working on but nothing ready to start playing yet. This is all most of
us have so we just try to occupy our time with it as much as we can. Your debut release, Demo 2015, has a
powerful sound. Currently, to my knowledge, it is a digital only release. Do
you plan on doing a physical release? We're going to have tapes here fairly soon. The tape is coming out through
Wrong Ones Records from Oklahoma.
We'll have them for sale on line and at shows. They'll also be available
through the wrong ones webstore. Digitally you can listen to it at heavensfinalwar.bandcamp.com
What future goals do you have for the
band? We plan on writing more songs and getting them out as quick as we can.
Probably write a 7 inch and see where it goes from there. Touring wise we're
going to try to do as much as we can when we can. We all have full time jobs or
a family so we're pretty limited to when we can go on the road. If we could
we'd be out all year but that's just not in the cards for us currently. Thanks for the interview. Please have
the last word. Thanks for asking us to do this interview. I've never done one before so it
was pretty cool haha. We'll be playing a lot around Texas and surrounding states throughout the
rest of the year. If we're in your area come check it out and chill with us.
You can check us out on Facebook under Heavens Final War and Twitter under
@HFWtx.
Formed in 2007, your
band has quite a history. Has it been a challenge keeping the group together
all these years?
Steven: The first year we started, we hit the ground
running. We all had some extensive background in other local bands and when we
got in that room and wrote those first five songs for the J.I.O. EP everything
just clicked. After a year, more or less, supporting the EP, life just hit us
hard, It was like a freight train from hell. We suffered everything from job
layoffs to losing those close to us. The five years that we took the hiatus
were some of the roughest years for all of us collectively. But we always knew
there would come a day to bring Supremacy back and unleash all these demons
that had built up for so many years. Ultimately I would say that although we
were separated as a band during that time, our heart was always there for
Supremacy. And after adding Ron to the mix we are the strongest we've been
since 2008.
Going back to 2008,
the Justice is Obsolete EP
sounds slightly different from what newer fans would expect. That release had a
definite hardcore sound but included more extreme metal elements, including
blast beats. Tell more about the changes and evolutions that have brought you
to this point.
Ken: There are so many layers to our music and we fit
with all sorts of genres, so it’s hard to just say we’re a hardcore band. We
have many diverse flavors of musical influence. In the beginning we wanted to
meld our love for hardcore and grindcore, but as time progressed we saw our
selves leaning more towards our hardcore roots and our love for sludge metal.
We feel like the metal aspect to the new album really helped to elevate the
emotions of the lyrics, and you're able to truly immerse yourself into each and
every song on the album.
Besides having a
great sound, another reason I really like your band is that you seem to be
willing to play with any bands regardless of genre. I know the reasoning is
breaking down scene barriers, but tell in your own words what you are trying to
achieve.
David: We are trying to get people to ultimately realize
that there are a lot of other like minded individuals who are not seeing so
much in the Hardcore community, but share a common goal of bringing people
together to raise awareness, to bring up discussions about certain actions
within our city, state, country, or world for that matter. Addressing issues of
poverty, hunger, misfortune, less fortune...misguidance of our youth, but the
right family on your side to direct you to a righteous path. If we (as a music
community) could see past the labels of genres, and start to realize who is in
it for right reason and whose in it for the wrong...I believe we can achieve
much more when it comes to acting upon the topics/problems I just mentioned.
Someone once told me something awhile back that broadened my perception of what
Hardcore is....This person once told me he received countless amounts of
backlash as to why he liked to play with bands that weren't
"Hardcore".....he simply told them that their music didn't have to be
Hardcore, their state of mind was all he needed to know about giving him
clarity to who he was befriending. (Thanks for those words RTL, Brother)
Your debut
full-length, 12 Years, seems to
be gaining some momentum around Texas
. The recording sounds great with a heavy, loud volume. Origin Sounds did a stellar
job on it. Do you have any interesting stories from the sessions?
Ron: I remember us sitting down and saying "we got
two songs that are written but we've never practiced before" We were
worried about how they would come out, and we had no idea those two songs would
become two of the most popular songs on the album. Those songs are “Straight
From the Heart” and “Southpaw.”
Ken: Yeah the studio was just chill, no craziness or BS,
just work.... Lots of conversation and creative input from Craig. We have all
known Craig Douglas for years from previous bands we recorded with at Origin
Sounds, so there was no real pressure when it came time to jump in the studio.
And I have to point out that he is one of the best recording engineers in Texas.
Steven: I was so ecstatic when it came time for us to
record. Craig had such great input for our music and we were able to build on
what we had created already. We all had a great time just talking about music
in general as well in between sessions.
David: We've always been a group of guys that take our
time writing and analyzing each aspect of any particular song instead of just
mashing together what we think sounds good at the time. We all know too well
that when you've played or practiced something for so long, you tend to start
changing the pattern or tempo of its original state, or small little pieces
that help the development of a song. Luckily we had the support from Craig
Douglas reassuring us to go with the flow and to run through parts a few times
to get a solid outcome. To add, I was especially amazed on how fast we were
able to track record everything we did for the album. I'd want to say 4 to 5
days collectively
I have read that the
record is about pain and suffering, but can you go into more detail? Are there
lots of biographical topics? Also what is the meaning of the title 12 Years?
Steven: 12 Years
has several meanings for all of us, and I would say that the most distinct
meaning is life after death. But we also see it as us finally coming out from
the shadows with all our weaknesses and just letting the songs tell our story.
And to put it bluntly, it is literally a recounting of events starting from the
year 2003 until now. We chronicle life for us in a 12 year span and also touch
on some other subjects like the unnatural violence of humanity, substance abuse
within impoverished families, and the legacies we leave behind for our youth.
Keeping with your
full length, can you give some insight of the album cover? The photo creates a
grim image, but can you elaborate more on it?
Steven: In the beginning we had a totally different vision
in mind for the cover but then David convinced me to go in a different
direction. We ultimately chose to use someone who was close in our life and
shared our journey, so we chose our older brother Eugene Garza. The cover
represents all the pain, struggle, and sacrifice that has been made over the
years. And is also a sort of amalgamation of death incarnate, like we are
saying we are stronger even after death. The lyrics for every song on the album
are splayed out around him and bottles of alcohol, something our families have
struggled with in the past. We love how it all came out in the end, and if
anyone is interested in seeing how the process for the cover unfolded we have
the video on our Facebook page.
Thanks for your time.
I’ll leave the last words to you.
It’s been our pleasure. And we would like everyone to know
that the train doesn't stop at this release. We are already hard at work on a
second record for a possible early 2016 release. From what we have written so
far you can expect the music to be much heavier and to have a natural evolution
from 12 Years. We are also excited
for the second half of this year which have so many great shows in store not
just for us but for some of our fellow hardcore brethren here in Houston.
To check out some of the other hardcore bands Houston has to offer head
on over to houstonhardcoremixtape.bandcamp.com for a free download of Vol. 1
and Vol. 2
Special thanks to Daniel Austin of Die Young for keeping the
scene organized and alive, and for bringing some awesome bands to Houston for weekday beast
sessions.
You can catch us at our next show July 29th at Walters on Naylor St. where we
will be jamming with Primitive Man, Krvshr, Death Motif, Bummer, and Stress33. https://www.facebook.com/supremacytx
Every few months I take a trip up
to Austin to
visit friends and to hit record stores. This past weekend’s trip was a
successful one. End of an Ear Records was loaded with many items I wanted to
get. $200 could have easily been spent.
As seen in the photo, I got some
great books covering two of the most influential hardcore scenes, Why Be Something That You’re Not: Detroit
Hardcore 1979-1985 and Making a
Scene: New York Hardcore 1985-1988. I haven’t had to time to read them, but
just skimming through the pages was a great treat. Filled with lots of great
photos and commentary, I already know they will be winners.
Not pictured is Godflesh Streetcleaner. I owned this classic
industrial heaviness on a recorded cassette years ago but have procrastinated many, many
years in buying this on CD. Luckily I found a used copy for $5. Also a big plus is
that it’s a double disc version with live, demo and alternate mixes. The wait
was well worth it.
The other CD purchased was the
latest by Ceremony, The L-Shaped Man. That is a fantastic release! I had been a fan, but
since seeing them with the Cro-Mags a few years ago I was really won over. The
band does get some crap from long time listeners hating their style changes. However, I
like all their material, hardcore to post punk.
All that is great, but the
highlight purchase was The Class of Nukem
High soundtrack. For years I searched for those songs. I couldn’t even find
a bootleg of them. So finally, last year, The Ship to Shore Phonograph Company
and Troma gave it a proper vinyl release with download card. It features new artwork
that looks great; but I would have preferred the original movie poster art.
The download version also has some commentary tracks from Lloyd Kaufman. I
expected to hear some interesting details but to my disappointment it was just
babbling.
In 1986, I remember being an 11
year old renting Nukem High from the long dead Video Club. The punk rock look
of the film, high school partying and graphic violence went hand in hand. Although
the music is more straight 80s rock than punk, it still thrives in rebellious
leather. The most recognizable bands on the record are The Smithereens and Stratus
(featuring Iron Maiden’s Clive Burr, RIP).
Even listening to it now totally brings me back to the feeling of growing up in the 80s. With no exaggeration, the listening experience mentally threw me back to those school halls. It was a magical time discovering punk, hardcore and metal.
This genital chewing LP was
recently picked up at a Krvsher gig. “Six dudes from Texas playing evil shit” is the band’s self
described moniker. I have to say that is a pretty accurate tag. Every piece of
music always brings forth some sort of image when listening. For Krvsher, when
listening I imagine opening a door and finding people being slowly raped and
tortured with sharp objects.
In some ways the music is similar
to Eyehategod’s first record, but not totally. The album consists of 4 tracks
ranging from 4 to 10 minutes. The best description is that of a painful, mood
inducing, droning beat down. Not to rip off Phil Spector, but Krvsher truly is
a “Wall of Sound.” This record is equipped with all the brutality filled
characteristics: sludgy down-tuned guitars, thudding slow drums, shredding
noise samples and drunken, throat ripping yells.
“Hill People” is probably the most
upbeat cut of the record…and it is still moves at a pedestrian pace. From start
to finish, Church Burner creates a doomsday atmosphere and never lets up. I
really like this record a lot, but it does not replicate the sheer force and
power of seeing the band in a live environment. Live is the only way to
experience the Krvsher onslaught. Earplugs are needed!!
The band is consisted of veteran
musicians that have partaken in a variety of projects in the past. With
Krvster, all members continue their legacy. The album is available on vinyl (200
grain extra thick black vinyl) and limited edition cassette. Go check it out. www.facebook.com/feastforvulturestx
I am glad this was put to CD. It
would handsomely fit on a piece of vinyl. This collection was released a few
years back but listening to it the other day urged my realization that it
needed a plug. This totally brings me back to that time period of the early
90s. Back then, most of the HC gigs always included a combination of bands No
Solution, Tread and End Result. That was a magical time of venues such as The
Axiom and The Vatican. Shows were much more violent back then, but that is a
whole other story.
These NS tracks definitely sound
dated, and for that reason they sound even more special. The vocals have quite
a bit of reverb, which was somewhat common back then. The music most definitely
fits into the description of hardcore punk. There are no metal influences, just
pure hardcore with punk rock influences.
Also during these times, not many
bands had a quality recording. It was a big deal for a group to actually have a
studio produced demo. Recording technology was not readily available to the
average person.
This DIY release features new and
exclusive artwork. Also there is a nice array of throwback photos included.
Definitely a must have as a piece of Houston
history. I am not sure of its availability these days. However on a positive
note, I have been told that some modern NS recordings are in the works. So that
is definitely something to look forward to.
*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" athttps://www.facebook.com/khobretti
Once again,
here is another release I have been trying to find time to review. This 3-song
scorcher is pretty intense. Upon hearing the recording and seeing them live, my
first impression was that of early 2000s hardcore. I found it extremely
reminiscent to the stuff Victory Records was releasing during that time. However,
the more I listen, the more I find other dimensions to their music. Sketch//Driven
have a “Victory” influence, but that sound does not dominate their songs.
Over
all, the release ranges from slower to mid tempos. There are no fast songs, but
I don’t think they need any. From beginning to end, all songs stand on their
own with pure aggression. The barked raspy vocals are smoothly intertwined with
the music.
The opener “Twisted” has a serious
Bloodlet somber tone. The track is only 48 seconds long, but the slow brooding
approach definitely works. “Corrupted Faith” beats down the door as track two.
Some serious metal riffs swim throughout this song. “Puppet” finishes things
off. It is the most upbeat song of the release. Parts of it have an SOD flavor.
Corruption
sits nicely with the band’s already released work. It was unleashed January of
2015, so it makes me wonder when a new output will hit the streets. In the
meantime, go check it out for yourself.
First off, the typical, please tell the readers how
and when the band came about.
