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PUP

PUP has only been playing as a band for nearly five years now but managed to make it to the Groezrock line up for the second time. Armed with a new album soon to be released the Toronto outfit was set out to destroy the Watch Out Stage on Saturday. But before the madness commenced we found vocalist Stefan hanging out in the press area. So time to find out some more on the new album The Dream Is Over and where it originated from.

 

Congratulations with the soon to release new album The Dream Is Over.

I've heard it and sounds amazing. What can we expect?

You can expext a lot of touring. The new record, we kind of think is heavier than the first one. It sounds a little bit more confident. I'm excited to get back. I think it's a step forward.

The video for the new song It This Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will has been broadcasting some time now. I've noticed it's getting good reviews?

It's been good. We have a friend of ours, his name is Jeremy. He makes awesome music videos. He's one of our best friends. He's always kind of like totally got where we were going for. I think he nailed it with that one. It was really fun to shoot that one. We all pretend to kill each other in the video. It was a fun shoot and i think the reaction has been really strong. We haven't put out a record in a long time. There's just a lot of anticipation.

This is your second time at Groezrock, pretty impressive for a band that started five years ago. Anything planned for today's set?

We're really lucky. We're going to be playing some new songs from the record for sure. See how that goes.

The album title The Dream Is Over was inspired by a doctor's visit  where you heard your vocal chords were damaged. How is everything now?

PUP did 40 or 50 shows. That can be really hard on your body. We finished touring the first record, we went straight to the studio and recorded the second one. Two days after we finished recording we started a seven week tour. So it was a lot of singing for my part. The first days of touring i had to go to the doctor. Something was up with my throath. I was having a lot of health issues during the whole year. That was kind of the climax of all of that. They have a little camera that they can stick in your throat. They can see your vocal chords vibrate. And when she pulled the camera out, the words say said to me, the dream is over. Which is kind of ridiculous.

She found a cyste on my vocal chords and a hemorrage, it wasn't good. But, like i'm pretty persistent. I've been working and touring the band a long time and it seems that things are just starting to work out. Naming the record that is like a testament to our persistence.

Do you need something special for your vocal chords?

Yes and no. I kind of had the option between having a chirurgy or retraining my vocal chords. A chirurgy would mean that PUP couldn't tour for a year. That's not really an option for us i think. I've just been on some medication and retraining my vocal chords. It's going to be a long process but i'm feeling good. I've recovered from those injuries. I'm feeling pretty good.

New album, new merch. Clocks for one featuring The Dream Is Over and a genius parody shirt with the BA Baracus overall and gold chains. Who's idea was that?

That's our drummer Zack. He's a really creative, kind of visual artist. He's got a really unique sense of humour. He designs most our merch and it usually blows me away everytime i see it. He's a man of many talents.

Every tour he comes up with at least one really creative design.

Fellow label mates AJJ recently made a cover of your song Reservoir. Featuring electronic sounds and Sean's distinctive voice. How did you feel when you first heard it?

It thought it was amazing. Some of our fans were angry, because they didn't understand. The cover is kind of done tongue in cheek. I thought it was so good. It just took the song in totally different direction. Kind of poked fun at the genre at the same time. AJJ is such an amazing band, they're like one of my favorites. They're so good. We felt really flattered that they choose a PUP song to cover.

And is that the sound of a bong at the end of the song?

Could very well be.

Speaking of covers, PUP has a video where you cover the Jay Reatard song My Shadow. Any particular reason for that track?

We're all Jay Reatard fans, particulary Zack and Nestor. The drummer and the bassplayer. Just thought it was a nice song. We didn't play it live to many times. We did it on one tour. We just like covering songs that we enjoy. That record is one that we all grew up listening too.

Canada has spawned some great artists, from Leonard Cohen to John K Samson. If you could form an all star Canadian superband, who would you pick? And no Celine Dion!

Oh boy. You named John K Samson, who's i think one of the greatest songwriters in the world. I really admire him. He'd be onboard aswell as all of Rush. Because it's Rush, greatest Toronto rock band of all time. What i would like to say, right now in Toronto there are a lot of new amazing young bands that are kind of emerging. That we get to share the stage with often. I would love to put an all star band with just the kids that come from our scene. There's a band called Pkew Pkew Pkew, who are really amazing. There's Single Mothers and Dirty Nil,… there's a good Toronto scene happening now. We feel lucky to be a part of that.

Any last words?

Yeah, Our new record is called The Dream Is Over and it's going to be out May 27th. We're going to tour it like crazy, like we always done, like we did since the beginning of PUP. There's going to be live touring, we're going to be back in Europe several times.

I'm really excited to be back at Groezrock, last time we were here it was an incredible experience.

I'm looking forward to drinking a few too many beers and having a great day.

 

Photo by Jurriaan Hodzelmans
Interview by David Marote

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes

Covers, that's what Me First And The Gimme Gimmes are all about. Taking original songs we all know from the radio and spicing them up into punk rock versions. Brought to you by a super group comprised of artists such as Lagwagon's Joey Cape and Dave Raun, Scott Schiflett and Bad Religion's Jay Bentley and last but not least their crooning vocalist Spike Slawson.

When given the chance to meet up with Spike in their tour bus during their first European show of the tour at Groezrock, we at RMP couldn't resist this opportunity to hear all about our favorite coverband.

 

Welcome to Groezrock. For most of you it's not your first visit. What may we expect today from Me First And The Gimme Gimmes?

Covers, other people's shit. A couple of songs from the new record. Some ukelele songs,or at least one. Passionate intensity man.

 

You're talking about a new record?

Well, the one, the most recent record.

 

Today is the first show of the upcoming Euro tour. Looking forward to cruising the old country again?

Yes, absolutely. My back molar is loose, so if i have it taken out here it's like ten times cheaper then in the States.

 

The band is celebrating 20 years in 2016, i believe you started in 1996. Anything in the pipeline to celebrate two decades of MFGG?

Yeah. No, i guess not. The anniversary just kind of crept up on me. Nothing planned. For 25 years we'll throw something. It's a quarter of a century.

 

It all started as a fun project, all members are in touring bands that take up most of their time. So MFGG is a sort of a punk rock supergroup. How hard is it to get the band together for rehearsal or even recording?

We don't rehearse. We practiced here, no to far from here for this show. We know the songs. When we pick sustitute players or in some case the substitutes are like the players now. Like Scott Schfiflett is pretty much our guitar player now. They get it and they understand what it supposed to sound like. Without any mistakes it wouldn't be us really.

 

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes takes on punk versions of well known pop songs. Have you ever received bad reactions from the original artists?

Yeah, The Eagles didn't like it. But that was kind of a red badge of honour. To be disliked by The Eagles. I'm not covering these songs because i like them. I'm not a fan, very few of the songs that we covered i'm like a fan of. As far as i know that's the only negative reaction we got.

 

Are there particular artists that you never want to cover?

I wouldn't do R&B again, i wouldn't do Hip Hop because i like it too much. Some people deserve to have the final word on what they did. Unless you can breathe something new into it. Some artists deserve the final word. Like Prince for example. When people die, that's the perfect time not to do tribute acts of them. Keep your mourning to yourself. Otherwise you're self tributing because you want people to pay attention to you after some guy died.

Like when Bowie died, i have friends who did like 500 tributes. The first one was like a wake and then the twentieth is like this bar gets to sell more booze and this guy gets to play music before more people that pay attention because they are going to play all good songs.

No, i wouldn't cover a Bowie song because i love David Bowie, i wouldn't do that to him. He doesn't deserve that.

 

Didn't you do that with Uke Hunt?

Yeah, i would do it with Uke Hunt. I get to control more of the output. I have a little bit more to do with the finished product. With Me First i just get to sing with this band, i just sort of put the words and melodies on top.

 

When it comes to picking the songs that get the gimmes treatment, is it a group decision or individual propositions?

For a long time it was Mike. Like on The Divas record it was mainy him. He has good pop sensibility and short attention span. Which i think is weird, he's sort of like in that regard ahead of his time. He's got the attention span of a millenial, if you can make him interested then you can get a millenial interested.

 

You've covered pop songs from diva's to country, 60's hit, even Australian and Japanese songs have been 'gimmed' over the years. Any plans on new roads to explore? Maybe EDM?

No, that is really doubtfull. It was fun while it lasted. If you're going to release a full length of music then you should do something more like the best songs you haven't done yet and you think come out the best and release that. Like a theme you will always find three or four songs and then the rest is filler. In the Itunes age that business model isn't viable. Because people can buy the songs the actually like instead of the full album.

 

One of your covers was even in a hit movie, the Wolf Of Wall Street by Martin Scorcese. Sloop John B is used in the film. Hollywood is awaiting for original themesongs…

My wife and family are Italian-Americans so that earned me a lot of household capital. So to speak. I love Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Martin Scorcese, it's pretty cool to be in one of his movies. It was a good movie too. I liked it.

 

Today No Use And Friends is playing Groezrock. As individuals with your respective bands you have also participated with the Tony Sly Tribute album, can we expect MFGG on stage today with NUFAN?

I'm going to do one song with them. I hope the people like it. I've been learning it all day. That's different, that's a tribute by the people he was in the band with. It actually feels like a tribute.

And they're calling this the last one, they are going to do it and go home. I respect that.

 

You will be touring with Uke Hunt in Europe soon?

Very soon. We'll be playing Berchem (Belgium), it starts late May in Spain, we're playng four shows there. And then we go up into central Europe. We're playing Amsterdam. Check the dates out, it's late May.

 

 Any last words?

 I think we may tour the East Coast, maybe the West Coast, look for 7”s here and there. As long as people write music we'll steal it.

 

Photo by Jurriaan Hodzelmans
Interview by David Marote

Muncie Girls

Muncie Girls from the UK has been turning heads the last year with their extensive touring schedule and their latest album From Caplan To Belsize. The band fronted by vocalist Lande was one of the many nice surprises on the Groezrock line-up this year.  Nearly minutes after entering the Groezrock festival on day one we bumped into Lande and Luke from Muncie Girls and they took some time to sit down with us and discuss the new album and ongoing tour.

 

Congratulations with the new album From Caplan To Belsize, it's been out a couple of weeks now. How has the reactions been to the new album?

Lande: Crazy yeah. We weren't really expecting anything. So we're really overwhelmed. Everyone has been really nice about. Very good.

Luke: It's been really cool.  It's exceeded all of our expectations. It's really nice to have something new to go out there. It's been so long since we had something fresh and new songs to play. It's like an added bonus that people seem to have liked it.

 

You released the new album on Specialist Subject Records and Uncle M in Europe. How did this happen?

Lande: Really well. Berlin was like the first one, just like trying to get a headrun. The next day was Münster, we were sleeping like above the venue, Skaters Palace. Us and The Bennies. We just got like superdrunk and skateboarding everywhere. It was so much fun. The actual show there was loads of young people there. It was really cool.

 

The album title actually refers to one of Sylvia Platt's books and depicts a journey from one asylum to another. Could you explain this reference in regard to the album?

It's just like a bit in the book where she moves. She gets told that's she's making progress so she gets moved from Caplan to Belsize. So it's sort of like a broad kind of reference.  It doesn't mean one thing or another. It's just like a theme of our album, a bit of a journey i suppose. Also like the age that we all are, it's like innonence and a coming of age thing. Recovery in general. It's not all very specific, that's why it works for the album. Because it's not just about one thing, it's a lot of different things. It kind of encompasses the whole thing.

 

One of the tracks Learn in School is about education and the lack of certain topics like politics when attaining school. How do you feel about education and more important self education?

I think, i only know about England. It's sort of irresponsible. The currucilum that we have, they don't teach a lot of things that people should be taught. Not just politics, lots of things for example like sexual content, personal health, nutrition. Things that you actually need to like survive. Of course they wouldn't because that would defeat the whole process. If people knew how to be healthy they wouldn't rely on the drugs companies. If people knew how to use politics the goverment would be under threath. If people knew about sexual content then patriarchy would be shifted. I know why things are the way they are but it just kind of sucks. It's kind of massive, it's bigger than just school.

 

How do you feel about the internet and it's purpose to educate?

Lande: The internet is a dangerous thing as well. The best way to self educate is to like talk to people and read like good, decent books. Like go to a library when it's free. Doing that sort of stuff.

Luke: It's so tricky as well. Everybody goes to the internet for like education but there's just so much on there. A reason people would be going there to educate themself would be because they don't know about the topic, so they would be looking out and don't know what's a good source or what's a bad source.

Lande: Plus that's like the first point of news. People don't listen to the news anymore and even if they do it's biased anyway. So they wait to hear about stuff on Facebook before they look it up.

 

Muncie Girls holds deep esteem for the DIY culture and punkrock in general. This album is more political orientated than previous work. A concscious decision or organic growth?

Lande: I think it's a bit of both. Mainly has to do with the fact that when the conservative goverment got elected in. It's like the right amount of time where it's actually been able to affect us in a big way.

It's almost kind of inevatiable. Everyone has been more political and more radicalised. We have to be. Because the goverment has been affecting us. We just wanted to take it like further than just like pop songs. Obviously that's why we like music because it's catchy and like fun. Like when you have a platform and you're comfortable enough to use it, why not. Like we said people don't know where to get information from, music is like a valid way to learn things from. That's how i learned a lot of politics, like through bands.

Luke: That's the whole reason i started like thinking about it. It hadn't even crossed my mind before. Throught bands i kind of like thought. That's pretty shit and that's pretty shit. Coincidentally around the same time of that kind of happening the conservative party got in. In England for people like us life has gotten considerably worse. And a lot more things have come in that we don't like. I think it's a combination of things, just naturally getting older, you're eyes being opened because of that stage in your life and the music you're listening too. As well as that it's kind of a point in time where things in the UK have gotten more shit. I think in other parts of the world as well, politically.

 

The song Respect deals with respect for women, against the objectification of women. Would you consider yourselves a feminist band?

Lande: It's like, we have like a lot of things that we value. Like everyone does. I don't think the whole framework applies. Obviously it's feminist in the way that it's not sexist. Yeah of course. We're not in a band to preach that. That's just one of the topics that touches us. That whole rape culture especially in like universities. That's where this song came from. At that time that song got to like get written. Rather than that's why we are in  a band.

 

Did you get a lot of response to the song?

Lande: Not really, I think people just take it and just hear it. A lot of time we're just preaching to the choir.

People already know these things exist. If we manage to tap into a different audience that would be

a little bit more rewarding. I'd like when people would talk back and spark a conversation. At the moment it's like all our friends who listen to the music know that and agree with that.

 

Lande, you were featured in Kerrang Magazine some time ago. Did you notice that appearing in a 'big' magazine has brought new fans to your shows?

Luke: To some extent it has. Not like it changed our band completely. It's had some impact.

Lande: The shows are pretty much the same though. Same amount of people but maybe like a couple more per show. That's obviously amazin. I think people are quite apathic when it comes to gigs anyway. Even if there's a band they like in a magazine doesn't necesarrily mean they are coming out to a show. I haven't really noticed much of an effect. We've done like some headline shows to promote our album, what we found was that most of it was like the same support from the DIY scene that we always had. Friends like supporting us and helping us out, which has been really nice. In a way we kind of made the friends and fans that we had a bit stronger. Because they want to support us now that we get more attention.

It's not that i look at a show and see more people.

 

Any last words to share?

Lande: Not really, we're just hanging out at Groezrock, loving it.

Luke: Rock'n roll really.

 

Photo by Jurriaan Hodzelmans
Interview by David Marote

No Fun At All

No Fun At All has been exporting Swedish punkrock for over 25 years in the same style that Ikea has done for furniture. In that quarter of a century some members left, some joined and the band disbanded for a few years. Luckily they have been touring now and then for these last years and Groezrock was given the No Fun approach once again. Time to find out more about their latest endavours with vocalist Ingemar and guitarplayer Krister.

Welcome back at Groezrock. Can you still remember the first you played this festival in the '90ies?

Yeah, i remember it very well. It was not so big then. Hardly any backstage.

 

No Fun At All has a tight connection with Belgium. Your first show outside Scandinivia was in Heist op den Berg. Yesterday you played the Groezrock pre fest, 300 person capacity. How did it go?

It was good, a really good show. Good crowd.

 

Groezrock is celebrating it's 25the edition. No Fun At All is about the same age. Anything special planned from you to celebrate this year?

Not really, we're just happy to be here.

 

The band has become a hobby band, doing one off tours now and then. Probably in your vacation time from regular work. How does it feel to be playing this way?

Ingemar: Pretty much.

Krister: I think it's good. We choose our shows. We don't have to all the shows like we did back in the '90s.

When we had to pretty much everything because or record label you have to do this tour. And you have to do this and that. Now we just do things we want to do.

Ingemar: I think it's good. There's no pressure. We are actually doing everything ourselves. There is no else involved in anything. No booking agent, no record labels, nothing. We fucking book the shows with the clubs. I think that feels really great. Even though it's a hobby we are even more DIY now then we ever were.

 

It does get you places, last year you toured Japan with Satanic Surfers. Any places you'd still want to tour if possible?

We went to Japan before in the 90's. And now i had the idea that we should go back to Japan. And everything just clicked. Like this. In Japan we know the drummer, we just mailed him and said give my contacts to your promotor there. And two days later i had a mail, like yeah, of course we're going to help. And then he said maybe we should bring Satanic Surfers as well. It turned out to be a really nice tour.

 

Any other plans on Asia, maybe China?

Ingemar: I don't know. I don't know if we have the following at all. It's not impossible.

 

The band has disbanded and reconnected a few times over the years, this is the third incarnation of No Fun At All. Third time, good time?

Ingemar: If you consider when Steven came in as one. Yeah, we're down now to, it's hard to say, we're more grown up.

 

Of who does the current line up exist?

Ingemar: We are the same since we've been since 1999. It's me, Krister, Mikael, Kjell on drums and Stefan on bass.

 

Your last release was Low Rider, in 2008. Do you feel the urge to start writing and recording again?

Ingemar: No concrete plans, not at the moment. It's a big procedure to record a new album. It takes a lot of time. And we don't have it right now. We'll see what happens.

 

Last time you released on your own label. Would you do that again?

Ingemar: It would be on our own label.

 

One of the songs that always gets the crowd going is your cover of Alcohol by Gang Green. Why did you pick this song in particular?

Krister: It think it started with me being a big fan of Gang Green. I grew up with their first single. I don't really know if it's their first single. Skate To Hell and Alcohol. A 7”, i really liked the songs.

Ingemar: It's really agressive, it's so rock'n roll. So you die when you hear it. First time we tried it in the rehearsing studio it just like… fuck this is our song now.

 

You don't always play it?

Ingemar: We took it out of the set for actually quite a few years. Because we were tired of it, but now we took it up again.

 

Any last words?

Ingemar: Nah. It's good to be back in Belgium. It's really good to be back at Groezrock. I just hope we have a good as show as last time we were here. That was really good.

Photo by Gresle Photography
Interview by David Marote

No Use And Friends

No Use For A Name, one of the flagships of Fat Wreck Chords in the nineties punk revival have conquered many punkrockers hearts over the years. Unfortunately their legacy was cut abrupt in 2012 with the passing of charismatic frontman and vocalist Tony Sly. Leaving behind a big void in the heart of many punks worldwide. Almost four years after the disbanding of the band the remaining bandmembers came back for some final shows during the San Francisco performance of Fat Wreck 25 years. And since Europe couldn't be left behind the fine folks at Groezrock arranged to get No Use And Friends to their festival for a special performance. Core members Matt Riddle, Rory Koff and Dave Nassie will hit the stage once again backed by fellow friends and musicians who help out on the vocal parts. Time to speak with some of my personal heroes on a life changing band and their upcoming future and projects. Matt, Rory and Dave are still marvelling at the flyer for Graspop present at the press room and discussing the tons of great bands featured on the lineup.

Welcome to Groezrock. And a special occasion since it's No Use And Friends. Who may we expect to pay tribute to Tony and the band this evening?

Mattt: There are going to be people here at the show. We got Joey, he's in The Gimme Gimmes here. He's coming up and doing like six songs with us. And they we got Chuck from Mad Caddies. We got Spike from The Gimme Gimmes. Trever from Face to Face. I think that's it. We had John Carey too from Old Man Markley. He's working with Juliette Lewis but he had to leave early for the next show. So he's not going be able to do it. I was like 'damn'. I think that's pretty much it. And i'm singing like six of them.

 

You've done this type of performance before in San Francisco for 25 years Fat Wreck Records and took the whole crew out to Japan too. Europe is very thankful that you've decided to perform on Groezrock this year. What made you decide to come over for this one off performance?

Matt: No we didn't do Japan.

Dave: It happened in Japan but the three of us weren't in Japan when it happened.

Matt: Somebody else did it. We don't know why, but hey, that's the way of the world.

 

So now Europe.

Matt: We seriously found out like two week ago that we were going to do it. Dave Pollack, who's our booking agent over here.

Dave: Destiny Booking

Matt: He asked if we wanted to do it. It's rad, with Tony's wife coming over with the kids and all that. It's really neat. It's going to be fun.

Rory: We're thankfull to be here too.

 

Since Tony has passed away, four years soon, the band has officially disbanded. What are you currently doing, be it professional or music wise?

Matt: I'm in a band called Implants. It's great, it's fun just playing. I also do like graphic design work for like a tattoo company. That's what i am doing.

Dave: I do a lot of guitar lessons. I have been taking guitar lessons. I just have been teaching actually at home. I play in a  cover band at home, like a country cover band.

 

Do you also tour with the band?

Dave: I do play with another band, which is called Throwdown, it's like a straight edge hardcore band. Which totally fits my personality. But we played here last year, that was like the only show we did in two years. We don't really do anything.

Matt: You played Groezrock last year, that's rad.

Dave: Just been doing the lessons and that's what keeps me happy these days. And Rory is playing himself.

Rory: I'm playing in a country band now with Dave and an another project i'm working at. Otherwise i'm just attending my business at home. I'm just super happy to be doing this with Dave and Matt and the No Use guys. Just playing the songs, someone asks what are you doing…it's just us and the songs. Keep it simple, we're just super stoked to be playing the songs.

 

So you've been here from today?

Rory: We were here yesterday. We got here from the time the bands started untill they finished.

Matt: Frank Turner was really good, Rancid they are always good, Mad Caddies.

Dave: I enjoyed Hatebreed.

Matt: Less Than Jake, always rad and really cool guys.

 

Many artists and bands have payed tribute to NUFAN and in particular Tony Sly these last years, from covers to original songs, like Yotam's Tony Sly. Do you have any particular rendition or song that touches you most?

Matt: Really good friend of ours. I actually like how Yotam did it. That's kind of my thing. I actually posted it on my personal Facebook page.It thought it was so good. I really like it a lot.

Dave: I've enjoyed watching people doing the covers. There's a guy who did it, i can't think of his name. He did International You Day on  a steel like acoustic version and it's on Youtube. It's like the coolest thing i ever heard, the interpretation of one the band's songs. I enjoy seeing people do that.

It's really neat. It makes me think of what we were  doing when we practiced it. Or when Tony first played it for us. When i heard International You Day i thought about the time we were all sitting in Tony's house, i remember where he was sitting. The first time i heard that song. I like that stuff, it makes me think of the good stuff.

 

Back when NUFAN started in the late '80's, did you ever see the band evolving into such a well know and respected band inspiring many other to start a band?

Rory: It makes me feel very old. I feel really good about it. Just the whole thing. Time heals. I'm just happy to be here with Dave and Matt and just play these songs.I would have never imagined that it went on as long as it did with Tony. We're getting to have a little afterlife and enjoy something like this weekend here, i'm really proud of it. I wouldn't be doing it unless these guys agreed to doing it. It is a group effort.  Just come together, if one of us doesn't feel right about it we steer away. If we all feel good about it then it's a feel good thing. It's been such a long journey, i didn't think it would take up so much of any of our lives. It's been a great experience. We all had ups and downs with bands. Now that we've moved it and we're here. Just good vibes and good thoughts, very fortunate to be doing this today.

Dave: We were just meeting some people at the merch area and we were signing stuff and i dated something with 2016 and that tripped me out. Because i remember dating 1999, 2000,… Obviously there was a period of time i wasn't with the band, i feel very fortunate to do it.

Rory: it's very wild. I started playing with the first incarnation of No Use For A Name in 1986, we got Tony in 1989. That's how long it's been and we are not that old. It's more than half my life. It's a trip. We have all done music before and after this band and we'll keep doing it. To have this incarnation of No Use in our lives, we all feel fortunate about it. It's cool.

 

The band has been around for over two decades, the music industry has changed a lot over those years. How do you feel about today's music and the industry surrounding it? (physical releases, touring,…)

Dave: Of course. I think we slipped under the crack of the last era of bands where people bought records. We were there when it fell of.  So that's the biggest change, like watching a company like Fat Wreck go from a giant building with a bunch of employees to not being a giant building with a bunch of employees. Like we have to run this by the office, cracking a joke, could you yell that to the guy next to you. I say it in like a kind of funny way but everybody excepted it.

Matt: You also have the shows, that's what cool. Even though the music industry has changed you'll always have a bunch of kids in front of you. I call them kids because i'm almost fifty now. Anyone under thirthy is a kid. There all there in front of me, holy shit, that's still awesome.

Rory: I would like to add something to that, about the changing about the business side of the music. One thing we've gotten to see uptill now. From going to cassettes to records to CD's to digital, to pretty much all platforms. You can't sell music, music doesn't sell anymore, it's not a viable commodity, people just get it from the internet, they watch Youtube. There has been so much change. Bands that are able to keep busy and survive, keep working, it's a real challenge and sacrifice for bands to keep doing it today. You hope the band are in love with what they're doing it not doing it for the wrong reasons.For us we are just happy to be doing it for the right reasons, pay tribute to Tony and the songs. We get to do this with our group and the friends that want to join us.

 

The band has toured across the entire globe, what show will always be your most fond memory in those years?

Dave: You know what i always think of when people ask me that. The first time i played with you guys with Bad Religion. Outside in Austria before Brooks was in the band.

Matt: Oh yeah

Dave: It was a gig in Austria in an outdoor part of the venue. It was us and Bad Religion. It was my first experience playing with Bad Religion. These guys were coming up to me, look at the drummer, look at this guy. They were giving me an educational history of Bad Religion. I remember that a lot.

Matt: I think the craziest one to name is the first time we went to Japan. We had cancelled a number of tours going there, so when we finally got there the hype was so big. Me and Tony were walking around in Tokoy and kids started coming up to get autographs and stuff. All of a sudden there was like a swarm and the cops had to come and break it up and escort us back. It was weird, we never considered us rockstars in any way. It scared the shit out of me. These guys are gnarly, they really want a piece of you. So when we got up on stage and played, you always feel an energy when you are playing, but that one was really weird.

 

Are there still some unfinished songs of NUFAN laying around that could possibly ever see the daylight?

Dave: Rory can tell you about the project.

Rory: It's a whole thing, nothing has been materialised yet. For the last year and a half i have been compiling all video, pictures, everything we can. We would like to do a few things. A documentary, a story of the band. That's something that will probably happen sooner than later. We would also like to put together a boxset, a definitive collection with personal pictures. Who knows what that might entail as far as any new music. Putting something together, a soundtrack to it. There's quite a big library out there from songs that we could choose from. I wouldn't say there's one particular thing. This thing is down the pipe that we like to see done. Maybe we get lucky enough to do more shows like this. No stress situation that people want to see us and we want to do it. At this point, without Tony here, we try do to things with his consideration, with the family's consideration, with the record label's consideration. To be honest, with our own personal consideration, If it doesn't feel right, it won't happen.

Matt: That's the thing. We decided a while back not to continue on as a band. Tony's death, he died, it's the worst thing. He was our front guy, we don't just want to replace him with a guitar player and keep going. It's not what it's about. It's a tribute to him, it's a tribute to everything we accomplished as a band. It's a special occasion.

Dave: As long as it's a way of honouring him.

Matt: A lot of people would carry on like that. We can all do other things, that's fine. This kind of stuff is really fun from time to time. We're not going to go out as a touring band.

Dave: As long as it's respectfull to the family, we all agree on it and it's a way to share it with people. And if we feel that Tony would be into it.

 

Photo by Jurriaan Hodzelmans
Interview by David Marote

Yotam

Yotam Ben Horin has been conquering the world for over 20 years with his punk band Useless ID. Already armed with previous solo material and a new full album release recently titled California Sounds, Yotam is once again travelling the globe to spread his heartdriven music. Even Joey Cape of Lagwagon fame noticed Yotam's hard working ethos and enlisted him on his One Week Records team of artists. So when the One Week Records tour recently passed through Ostend, Belgium, only a day after the recent Brussels terrorist attacks, we at RMP took some time to sit down with Yotam and discuss his new album and more.

Hello Yotam, welcome to Belgium and congratulations with your latest solo album California Sounds. How has the response been so far?

It's been great. I think for this solo album, unlike the other i released on Hardline Entertainment, Distant Lover, i'm actually really out there on this album. I'm promoting the hell out of it, i'm on tour probably more than i should be. So i think people are slowly catching up on that. That they see that some guy is just out there constantly touring the States, touring Europe. Now i've been invited to tour Russia to do a few shows. It seems that it's slowly picking up. But it's very hard work, it's full on devotion.

 

Currently you are on the Stitch Puppy tour with Joey Cape, Laura Mardon and Walt Hamburger as part of the One Week Records crew. You also recorded with Joey for One Week Records recently. What may we expect?

Yeah, Joey wants to do a One Week Records with me. But we couldn't really find the right time to spend a week at his house.  I've had like a bunch of breaks in between my tours where i could go to San Francisco for like four days or three days. And everytime Joey was like working on someone else his records but he said come by and hang out. So i ended up playing shakers and tambourine on this guy Seth Anderson's record. And doing some back up vocals for it. Last time i recorded a bit for Stich Puppy on three songs. Eventually we're going to come round and record a One Week Records for me. I'm looking forward to it, i'm writing songs right now.

 

Next to your solo career, most will know you of Israeli punk band Useless ID. The band has been on a hold but i believe a new album is coming soon for Useless ID?

We prefer to keep it quit for a while. We didn't have anything really big to talk about. We're already a few years after Symptoms came out. We didn't have any tours lined up so i ended up doing the solo thing. But when i got back from the first US  tour we said let's get in a room, let's start writing, let's see what's up. We had a few songs laying around, but it was like OK. Then things started rolling really fast. We dedided to record another album at the Blasting Room. It's called Status Burning, it's going to be out later this year. We're going to be back on the map once that thing is out. We're lining up things right now but we're not talking about it untill it's like big news.

 

In the past you were active in many different projects. What are some of you current activities?

I have another hardcore band called Spit, it's like a side project with my brother. He's the singer in this band. He has a band called Mondo Gecko, it's like thrash core, i think they toured Europe a few times. And two of the other guys play in a band called Kids Insane, they toured Europe a lot.

So it's like this hardcore thing, whenever everyone is in Israel we put a few show together. It's an inside project most. That's pretty much all i have.

 

Any Israeli bands we need to keep an eye out for? Like Not On Tour…

Not On Tour are doing great. I think they are touring a lot in Europe. Kids Insane is also doing great. In Israel it's like a wave that is going up and down all the time. Useless ID used to do pretty great at shows years ago and then there was like a sudden break in interest in this sort of music. And then it came back around, and now every time we do a show in Israel it's packed. But we don't play a lot. I'd say as far as the punk scene, it's small but people know how to appreciate. It's a small scene. There's the main city Tel Aviv, there's another main city Haifa and there's Jeruzalem. There's not much of a scene going on there. They might be bands coming from ther but everyone goes to play Tel Aviv. And you don't want to play to much because the place is so small and whoever saw you the first time a month ago will be saying i saw them already. You have to spread it out a bit more. I guess that's how it goes.

California Sounds is a tribute to the Californian lifestyle and of course punkrock. But you also recorded a different version titled Colorado Sounds.

How did you hear that?

 

I noticed on your Bandcamp.

That was a joke at the Blasting Room, i recorded a version for Guy from Useless ID, after the Blasting Room he went for a vacation to Costa Rica. So i recorded a version Costa Rica Sounds just for him. And while i was recording i was like, hey Bill, i'll record a version for you. So i made up lyrics as i went along. It was like a joke and a  small thank you to The Blasting Room.

 

One of your track is titled Young Man Bones, can you define that expression?

The thing is, i'm a bit over my mid thirties right now. I thinks the more you grow up and the more you still have that inner naive thing that you are desperately  trying to hold on to. The world has it way of just ruining it for everyone, just putting you in like this cube of work and then you're just like working the whole 9 to 5 thing. So you kind of get lost in that and then you find yourself at older age and oh my god i'm an adult already. And i have to provide a family. I'm not against that way of life but for me. I kind of reached a conflict where i had a job set up for me and i was doing Useless ID tours along with that. Life was just moving, just going on. I was like, i got to stop this race. I don't want to live my life racing to pay bills and having my little fun with Useless ID and then going back to work life. I want to have fun with Useless ID then i'll do a solo tour, i'll be with my guitar untill we do more with Useless ID. With that song it's kind of my way of talking what i'm going through. I feel both inside and out that i'm not old. It's like a general feeling of myself.

I've got like friends my age that are like i'm too tired, my back hurts, i'm too tired to hang out. Many times i'm just left at home listening to records and writing, i'll totally go hang out with someone but everyone is like sleeping.

Another thing with this song is the recording of the album is like recorded through a video camera.

I just finished writing the songs and it was in the middle of a tour, so i was sitting at like 3 AM in a van. And i liked that version so much that in the studio i wasn't able to get that feeling. So i just left it the way it is. Very lo-fi.

 

My favorite track on the album is definitely Tony Sly. A fitting tribute to a great artist. How did Tony and No Use For A Name have for an influence on you and your music?

It's crazy, i discovered NUFAN around the time that Green Day blew up with Dookie. I would watch Headbangers Ball late at night and just watch whatever. And then this colourfull video comes up with this guy wearing a backwards hat and the guy with purple hair or something. I was like, wow what is this. I pressed record right away, i thought, this is great, i wonder if these guys have any more. And then Fat Wreck ut out Leche Con Carne. A lot of years later like in 2002 we did the Warped Tour and like two days in the tour i came up to Tony Sly and told him how much of an influence he was to me and how much we loved his band. He heard of Useless ID, we were about to record a new album when the tour was over. I asked if he wanted to produce it or give some tips.

He is like one of my all time favorites. Him and like Joey Cape, Elliot Smith, Kurt Cobain,…

I like to include them. They are the songwriters of our generation. Tony agreed and i worked a lot with him on the bus. We became friends, a long the years NUFAN took us on tours, always treated us great. In 2003, 2005 they also came to Israel and showed up to my 30th birthday. Tony was singing Gorilla Biscuits, we did like punk rock karaoke.

It was tragic one night, it thought it was a joke when i heard about it. It was like one Facebook post, i was like, this is like so Tony. He would totally post himself, i died. But someone called me up that Tony passed away, it's true. It was a life changer for everyone.

 

Any last words?

I'm very happy to see anyone coming out to any shows, whether it's on the Stich Puppy tour or some other place. I'm very thankfull for people liking what i do. Much much more to come…

 

Photo by Niels Duytschaever
Interview by David Marote

Petrol Girls – Some Thing

Female-fronted punk bands are quite rare nowadays, so it’s a pleasure to see that there are still some kickass ladies in the scene. “Some Thing” has a nice Tsunami Bomb-ish touch, yet I really missed the softer, more melodic vocals. Girls, you don’t have to sound like The Restarts, even though it’s hardcore punk! In general, ‘punk’ is not the best word to describe this album, because it sounds somehow dramatic. I remember punk tunes as stuff that gives you a boost of energy and inspires you to go against the flow rather than lock yourself up in your room and cry. I’m really missing that feeling on this album.

– Dana Maslykhina

Muncie Girls – From Caplan To Belsize

Three-piece punk rock band Muncie Girls from Exeter, England, has released their brand new debut album “From Caplan To Belsize”. Kicking off the album is the first track “Learn In School”, and it is clear to hear from vocalist Lande’s voice that the band’s English. She hasn’t changed her voice to fit in with the usual pop punk act. It really stands out, and gives the band a unique sound. The whole album addresses the issues of modern living as a self-aware young adult, describing everything from interpersonal relationships to politics. The fourth track on the album “Balloon” is a reflective and hopeful song, indicating a past break-up. It has a different feel then the rest of the tracks. “Social side” is a reflective song about family and loneliness, and how Lande got influenced into music from her brother. The guitar is really powerful throughout and halfway through the song, it really picks up. The best thing about the album is that there are no breaks in between each song, they just carry on playing. “Gas Mark 4” is an upbeat track with powerful riffs and a loud drum beat. Lande’s voice is strong and she sings with such passion that your ears could listen to her singing all day long. Muncie Girls are in for a very good year, especially now as they are playing this year’s Download Festival!

– Holly Reijs

Face To Face – Protection

Face To Face turns 25 so what better way to get into a midlife crisis by taking it back to the basics. “Protection” is the new long-awaited album by our favourite Californians and features melodic skate punk like it was the nineties. To bring it full circle Trevor and co even signed up with Fat Wreck Chords for the release of “Protection”. Eleven songs are all they need to convince you that this band helped define its own genre back in the days. Still remaining relevant today and touching base with hot topics in their lyrics such as stardom and fundamentalist thinking in tracks as “14:59” and “Bent But Not Broken”. Face To Face is back and here to stay, their Groezrock performance is one I'm looking forward too. Dance like It's 1994!

– David Marote

Across All Oceans – Homegrown

Five-piece emo/pop punk band from Middlesbrough, the North of England, Across All Oceans, have released a brand new six-track EP for all you pop punk fans! Having only formed in 2012, they released their debut EP back in 2014, and are releasing their brand new EP, “Homegrown” on 22nd February. The first track “Everywhere But Home”, is very energetic. Vocalist, Andrew Thomson has a very aggressive vocal style. This made me think the next tracks were going to be outstanding. “Permanence”, the second track on the EP, shows the band’s pop punk in a nutshell. The very first second of the song sounds so pop punk, you know it is going to be a standout track. Andrew’s vocals are so raspy, your ears get attracted to the sound, making you want to carry on listening to the rest of the EP. The third track “Monophobia” has some great sing-along moments. It starts off slowly with just guitars and vocals but then the band picks up the tempo slightly from an emo sound to make it a blend into a sincere punk sounded balled that can’t be avoided. Title track “Homegrown” jumps back to a more typical emo sounding sound where Andrew’s vocals are a lot less destructive. The song is about questioning where you are in your life, or where you should be in your timeline. They’re an incredible band and I can see them going far in the pop punk scene!

– Holly Reijs