Interview with Aaron Bedard from Bane

It was mentioned a few interviews back when I talked to Jim Connolly, but as far as I’m concerned, Bane is without question the most important hardcore band of our generation. If someone were to ask me what this whole thing is about, Bane is what I would show them.

My first Bane experience was at Michigan Fest in what must have been 1996 or 1997; their live set was absolutely explosive. I had been told by a friend that they shared members with Converge, so  I knew it would be good, but nothing prepared me for the type of mark they would make. After their set I went and bought their first two 7 inches which Dalbec put out on his own Life Recording Company; they had the vinyl but for whatever reason didn’t have the jackets or inserts so those got mailed out to me later.

Shortly after that “Holding This Moment” came out and it seemed like I was seeing them every six months in either Chicago or Detroit, with each show being more cathartic than the last.

Even as their recorded output and touring have slowed somewhat over the years, I always feel the same way I did when I was 18 at the prospect of hearing new material or getting to see them live.

Needless to say it was a pleasure and a gift to be able to pick Bedard’s brain over the course of the last few months as they wrote and recorded their final LP, “Don’t Wait Up”. I know I speak for a lot of people when I say it’s my most anticipated release of the year by a mile.

So you guys announced at TIHC that you'll be spending the Fall writing a new record! First things first, how is it going so far in terms of putting together the new material, how's the energy and chemistry in the practice space?

Yeah we're writing a last record. It’s getting to be time to say goodbye but we were home for 4 months this year and everyone is back living around Boston and we just figured if we want to continue to tour for another year or so we should have something to hopefully get kids psyched. It's been way too long.

The writings going well, we're excited. This is honestly the first time we've been on a steady weekly rehearsal schedule since we wrote “Give Blood” in 2001. We're getting together every week, everyone has to be there and contribute, there's definitely a sense that we want this to be special, that these are indeed the last Bane songs that we're gonna write and it's hard for that not to carry some weight.

I'm definitely psyched on what we're coming up with so far, pretty short and immediate hardcore songs, not unlike the last 2 tracks we recorded (“Non-Negotiable” and “Satan's Son”), nothing too fancy. I like the idea of them being songs that will work real well live, which for me is always the point of recording hardcore music anyway.

But I feel like there's going to be a somber, left field song or two coming down the pike here soon. I'm almost a little afraid of having to face those emotions. I’ve never been very good at saying goodbye.

Correct me if I'm wrong here (I think we all hope I am), but considering that this will be the final Bane record, how are you approaching the lyrical process this time around? Are there topics or things you've wanted to say in the past that will come out this time? Is there a sense that you have to make a "final statement" of any sort?

Lyrics so far have been more of a struggle than I expected...I keep feeling like things I write are things that have already been said a bunch of times before, realizing that I'm just rephrasing certain ideas from old songs. I'm trying really hard to break out of that.

Mainly I just want to do what I sort of always do and be honest and not play it safe since this is it. If this is the last scene I want it to be insane, I want people to leave the theatre like, “whoa... that was fucking crazy.”

Yeah I can't imagine writing the final chapter of something that has basically enveloped almost your whole adult life up to this point, it must be a little bit surreal. As you approach writing, how much are you focused on the here and now of your life and wanting the lyrics to reflect that as opposed to thinking about legacy; sort of a final letter to hardcore and all the people whose lives have been touched by the band over the years?

Yeah it's definitely been a bit daunting trying to attack this last batch of lyrics I need to write…trying not to get buried under the weight of expectations and the fact that this really is going to be IT. If there’s something I wanna say through this band I need to say it now and obviously I want to try and say it well and have it be lasting.

That's never been the most comfortable place for me, looking at the real big picture and needing to be aware that everything I put down is going to add to some legacy that I've never really spent much time worrying about.

I mean as Bane went on and on I realized that like it or not there would be one but I always told myself it would be there to reflect on after the dust settled and we were all looking back.

I’ve always just tried to stay in the now and keep moving and tell myself that the only thing that mattered was being honest and the rest would sort of fall into place. But now writing these it has been a little hard not have that blur a bit with the undeniable fact that this is indeed a very big deal. Literally the biggest and greatest chapter of my entire life is coming to an end and it's definitely working its way into the overall tone of the record.

Have you guys talked at all yet about whether you might go to Jay Maas for recording who has done the last couple sessions or to back Mcternan who did the first few LP's? What has each of those guys brought to the table both in terms of the recording process itself as well as just the vibe while you're working?

Yes, studio time is booked with Jay. We've gone to him for our last 3 projects (the two 7"s, “Non-Negotiable” and then “Satan's Son”).  We feel very comfortable with him. I like the sounds he gets, he's so patient. Most importantly he really seems excited and eager to try to make this record special.

When Brian was making hardcore records he was the best…he made the record that we're most proud of, “Give Blood”, and it would not have come out the way it did if it wasn’t for his tireless effort and focus.  He wanted that record to be special maybe more than any of us did.

With “The Note” it just felt like that urgency had dulled a little bit, felt like he was in a bit of a different place, which is perfectly natural. He had expanded his horizons, had worked with all different types of bands and here we were this fucking hardcore band still screaming and yelling and banging about. I think we might have called that record over and done with maybe just a little bit sooner than we needed to. I think all you need to do is play “Give Blood” side by side with “The Note” to sort of see the difference in total attention that was being paid to every detail.

As you think back over your time in hardcore, what have been the most profound changes you've seen over the years, whether for the better or for the worse?

That’s a question I get asked a lot and it gets harder and harder to answer cuz we've just been around so many years and so many kids and bands and ideas and trends come and go and come and go. If you make me pick the most profound one I'd say the internet has had an overwhelming influence on our scene as a sort of microcosm of a bigger picture.

It's made the world a smaller place, made touring the whole world as a hardcore band a feasible thing, and it’s allowed people to be put under a microscope on the most unbelievable level; for better or worse. Creative people, hysterical people, awful, hateful people. People and things can be so overblown now and it just trickles down and affects every detail from the way we promote records and shows to the way bands can be on top of the world one week and then completely played out the next.

I think it’s helped to make very broad statements on our culture as a whole and how like it or not we are very willing to just fall in line with what is easiest and what is safest.

It’s kind of a depressing rant but it really would be the thing that I have found to be the most striking and shocking through the years with this band. We started at a time where you still made fliers by hand, could love a band even when no one else did, and if you wanted someone to know how you felt about them you had to look in their eyes.

But obviously the internet has brought a lot of cool things to the world too…I like free comic books and flirty text messages.

So in a couple points on "The Note" ("Pot Committed" and "What Keep Us Here") you guys addressed violence in the scene; crews and things of that nature. One of my favorite things about Bane is that you guys have always very clearly spoken out against the sort of machismo that is often involved in hardcore. Given that you guys have played and traveled so widely, I'm curious if you see this as being an issue that kids are finally waking up and realizing or if you see violence at shows and in hardcore culture in general as being an ongoing, continuous problem.

I'd say violence and that certain aspects of aggression and intimidation will always be a problem in our scene. It's never going to be completely erased and has varying degrees of intensity based on where you are from, the size of your scene and what the community at large has sort of allowed or tolerated.

I still think it's important to speak out against it and try to form a counter opinion. This music brings out a lot in people; people who are wired to be angry and aggressive and who like to move in packs are able to find that in our community. Some people’s default setting is simply, attack.

That can be an intimidating thing to a young kid who’s just falling in love with hardcore. It was really scary for me at 15-16 when I first started traveling into Boston for shows and had to be around those sorts of people. When I was coming up we had a small scene and no one thought about fighting each other, beating each other up at shows.

When Bane started I still carried that attitude inside me. I wanted young kids in different places who maybe believed that dealing with violence and intimidation at shows was just something they had to accept to hear a different opinion. We all have a voice in this. Things don’t have to be a certain way just because the loudest, scariest person in the room says so.

I feel almost goofy asking this question, but another one of my favorite things about seeing Bane live and about you in particular is your dancing style, which seems to incorporate like hip hop mixed with lanky white dude mixed with just not giving one single fuck. I'm a father so seeing my boys learn new things or their eyes light up is probably my picture of joy, but I've always felt like when I watch you guys play and I see you cut loose it's one of the most pure expressions of joy I have ever seen. What goes through your mind when you're on stage?

I mean, I'm just dancing around up there. Hardcore music has always brought out a physical response in me, made me wanna move. I was always real psyched to watch  people in bands who clearly got lost in the groove of the music and just went for it.

I feel confused when I watch hardcore bands that have members that are just standing there perfectly calm, not a drop of sweat, just playing the songs, because for me the energy is so much a part of what defines the act of playing hardcore.

I spend no real time thinking about how I'm gonna move or if it looks cool up there, I don’t watch Bane videos or read what people have to say about it. It's frustrating as I get older because my body doesn’t respond the way it used to. My knees will just scream at me mid-set, "NO! I'm not doing that"

I hate having to admit that as a live band we've lost a step. I guess this many years into things it's impossible not to. But, yeah, I'm still having a total blast while we're up there and feel so lucky to still have this outlet where I get to walk on stage, say a bunch of things, scream as loud as I want, dance around and have everyone act like it's normal.

So many of your lyrics over the years have been about expressing gratitude for the people that appreciate the band, holding onto your friends, things like that. How nervous are you that when this chapter of your life is closed, that a lot of the friendships you have forged over the years might fade?

I mean I think friendships fading, people growing apart is such a normal part of life. I no longer have this romantic view of things lasting forever. Bane has had very close friendships with people who have faded away in the years we've been touring. We've been at it a lot of years. People who were having kids when we first started touring now have teenagers, people have gone from being in their early 20's and totally stoked on hardcore and this life to being in their late thirties. It's normal that the things we used to do together, the time they had to give would have changed or faded completely. I have people who live right in my home town, who I thought would always be there, and real life just got in the way.

Time is an evil thing. It takes things from you. So I know when Bane ends there's going to be some friendships that will be affected, some people who I may never see again and have to miss for the rest of my life but I've become pretty good at doing that through all these years.

At the same time I know for a fact that there will be some friendships that will transcend Bane, that will be worth fighting for and continuing with no matter what the situation or how many miles stand between us. 

The reason I write those lyrics and say that shit on stage is because friendship truly is such an important thing to me. There are lyrics on this new record that touch on why more deeply. This isn't about "oh hardcore means singing about unity and friendship so that’s what I need to do", it's about me being a person who has very little family left, someone who has very definite ideas about loyalty and honor and actually does cherish his friends in a very real way.

We did back-ups for the record the other day and I was amazed at how many people were there who I have been close friends with since this band started, friendships that have survived so many years and changes in our lives, so I feel confident that I will continue to have many of them when the band is done. They might just take a bit more effort.

Related to that, I feel like after their bands break up, a lot of people either start new bands, or start a label, a booking agency, something that keeps them connected and contributing to hardcore. I know you are still very much in the moment with writing the record and that you guys are going to tour for another year or so before Bane winds down, but have you given any thought to what might be next for you?   

I'm mean I'm sure I will continue to love, support and be psyched on hardcore. I'll stay connected just from the fact that it’s who I am, and it’s inside of me. I can’t imagine starting another band that I would take as serious as Bane or put the same expectations on that I have of us. Maybe something small and local if it seemed fun and was with people I liked a lot. I have a lot of admiration for what Pat has done post-Have Heart with just staying super active in much smaller bands but still getting to have the same creative outlet, still get to play shows, do weekends in a van with friends, record demos and 7"s. I can’t see myself going like behind the scenes to do a label or booking agency or any of that but that’s just because I have no business sense whatsoever. The only way I look at a dime and think, how can I turn this into a dollar is at the poker table.

I'll figure out what comes next. I'm excited at the prospect of finally having to be faced with that decision in more than the abstract way I’ve been doing it for all these years from the safety of being in a touring band. I'm a bright kid...I'll land on my feet.

So you guys did Europe in November, came home and put the finishing touches on the record and then just laid it down. First things first, how was Europe this time around?

Europe was fun. There were definitely a few rough shows where we started to wonder if kids gave a fuck anymore, but then there were some really surprising nights that went better than normal. That’s pretty much always been the way for Bane. We seriously have no idea what we're gonna get from night to night and as the band goes on longer and longer it becomes even harder to count on certain places.

I always have fun being over there, though. We had our old drummer Nick back behind the drums and that was a blast. He's a very unique drummer who has his own style that always seemed to kick up the energy for us a little bit. We dusted off some old songs we hadn’t played in a long, long time. Songs from the demo like “Lay The Blame” and “Scared”, “Forked Tongue”. I was hoping we might do the Bjork cover but it never happened.

Power Trip were great every night and real cool to hang with. Definitely a good tour.

Secondly, talk about the recording process. You mentioned you guys had a lot of friends come from literally all over the world. How would you describe the energy in the lab?

Recording was a long process this time around. We had more time to get things right than we've ever had before. Jay Maas who recorded it really was just determined to get every little detail right. We were able to take the songs home and listen to them all throughout the process, I kept going back and tweaking vocals here and there, trying to make things stronger. I've never really had that privilege before, to really be honest with myself and force myself to do it better if I knew I could. Usually I’m just like "is that good?" and if Zach doesn’t push me to do another take I never think about it again.

There was definitely a feeling throughout the process that we wanted this to be special, to put our whole hearts into it. We had a song that was being built throughout the entire process called “Calling Hours". When we went into the studio it was barely finished. We just knew it was different sounding than anything we'd written before and that we were going to try to have a bunch of guest vocals intertwined throughout the song. So we called on some of our faves and they were all psyched to do it, but there was so much to coordinate. The lyrics weren’t written, we had to decide what it would be about, most everyone involved is in a pretty busy touring band, we didn't know how we were going to coordinate everything.

It was a much bigger undertaking than I am usually comfortable with, I had to let go of a lot of control, another thing I'm not super good at doing when it comes to the songs. But we worked really hard to come up with a shared vision and then execute it. This literally went on through the entire recording of the record, just taking small baby steps with this one song, watching it evolve and get closer. There were times when I wanted to give up, but the whole attitude in the studio was just to work hard, to push it, so we stuck with it and just the other day we got the finishing touches on the song, the final vocal part was recorded. I compiled all the lyrics everyone contributed into one song and finally could sit back and listen to it as more than this pain-in-the-ass abstract concept we'd been tooling with since November and hear it as a real finished song. I was so psyched that we stuck with it and saw it through, cuz it's definitely one of the things I'm most proud of (and thankful for) in the entirety of this bands history. I’m very excited for kids to hear it.

We'd never done a song like that before, I don’t think we'd ever had a guest vocalist. But there are just all these people we love and admire and who we wanted to be a part of this. But Zach didn’t want it to be the typical, “this is your part- this is your part - this is your part" and to have things be a little more overlapped and conversational. I'm still not exactly sure if his vision was fully served. I think it's hard for that ever to be the case when you involve that many people, but I'm pretty sure he's real happy with how it came out in the end. Andrew Truss was sitting right next to me when I came up for the chorus for my part.

And yeah we had a huge back-up crew, friends came from all over including a very close friend who flew in from Germany on his birthday weekend to be a part of it. A lot of kids who have been riding hard for this band from the very beginning; girlfriends and wives even sang. That kind of friendship and support, looking out at this whole pack of friends screaming these words for us, it was overwhelming.

It's crazy to have the whole thing done now, we'd been working on it non-stop since basically August when we first started getting together to write and then the other day there were texts that said "there's nothing left to do". It was a wild feeling, a little sad, but we're definitely proud of what we did in there and are eager for people to hear it. It’ll be out in early May I think.

Now that the record is pretty much done, how are you all feeling about it? What would you say it adds to the Bane catalog?

I'd say it's very much the final chapter. Everyone will find their own context or meaning or relationship with it, but there's no denying that it's a record about having to say goodbye to this thing that has been everything for me.

Last question....what do you hope the legacy of Bane is, what do you want to be foremost in people's mind when they reflect on everything you guys have accomplished and meant to kids all over the world these last couple decades?

I rambled and rambled through all these questions and there are so few questions that I feel like I can’t answer in some way. But I'm afraid this one is near impossible for me to tackle because I honestly just try so hard not to think about that stuff.  It wasn't easy throughout the writing of “Don't Wait Up” to remove outside expectations or the feeling of "what will this say about us in the long run"? I really tried not to get clouded by anything that had come before, I just kept telling myself, "be in the now and be brave", I'll worry about all that “what did it all mean” shit later when it’s done and in the ground and I’m looking back.

Right now the band is still this living, thriving thing made of people I love who have given so much of their lives for it, it would feel cheap or rushed to step outside that and assess it as if it were anything other than a hardcore band made up of a bunch of stunted hardcore kids who found a place and an outlet and a community that made sense to us and who wanted to be a part of it in a very active way. Is that a legacy? Maybe that's it right there. I'd be more than happy if that could be what they say when people talk about Bane.

https://www.facebook.com/banecentral

An interview with Ronnie Navarro from A Province of Thay

Ronnie Navarro is a dude I spent a lot of time with during what now seems like a completely different chapter of my life….the time when I was maybe 19-22 and just went to shows all over the place every single weekend. He was always the biggest personality in the room, the guy everybody gravitated towards and who kept us all laughing.

Time moved on, I got married and started a family, he moved out West to Seattle and we sort of lost tabs on each other. A few years back we crossed paths via Facebook (surprise, surprise) and to my great pleasure he was still involved in music, at that time playing in the crushing Breag Naofa and now playing in the mesmerizing A Province of Thay.

This interview was sort of like reconnecting with an old friend, asking a bunch of things I always wondered about, but never did for whatever reason.

Anyway, A Province of Thay digitally released an amazing record called “The Grieving” last year which you should definitely check out. And oh yeah, as far as I can tell, Ronnie is still the biggest personality in whatever room he happens to be in, haha.  

So you grew up in a really small town in the Southern part of Michigan. What was it like growing up there and how did you eventually fall into punk and hardcore?

Growing up in a small town was awful. I moved there when I was in fifth grade. I felt alienated right off the bat. It was all white kids, and no one knew who Public Enemy was. And I’m no parent, but I’m sure the last thing you want on your hands is a bored kid, especially boys.

As far as how I got into punk and hardcore, it’s hard to say. It was like a music evolution. When I was in grade school I was glued to MTV, so I listened to a lot of new wave and pop. Anyone who knows me, knows I have an obsession with The Go Go's.

Underground music was probably something I got into around the 7th grade. Somehow a friend stumbled upon a Minor Threat tape, and I was totally appalled. I know! I hate Minor Threat! But I did love that straightedge philosophy. (Editor’s Note: Whaaaaaaaaaaa?!?!?!?!)

But I finally dove into punk and hardcore through the back door. I loved Rage Against the Machine in high school, so I got into Inside out, I loved Quicksand, so I discovered Gorilla Biscuits. I loved Orange 9mm so I would eventually read that Chaka was in a band called Burn.

I loved going to shows, in high school it was tough to find rides out to Detroit for hardcore shows, but for some reason my folks didn’t mind taking me to bigger metal shows? Weird…but when I moved to Saginaw when I was hmm…19 or 20 I met one of my closest friends I will ever meet….Josh Call.

He got me into more local shows, we would road trip to shows in Grand Rapids, Flint, Kalamazoo, Detroit, where ever we could.

We went to a lot of the same shows and hung out with a lot of the same people during that time, although I always felt like you were always more a part of things and were closer to people than I was since I had college going on and wasn’t quite as active. That said, I remember that time period fondly, saw a lot of great shows and always felt like everybody was really positive and generally in it for the right reasons. I'm curious if that's your memory/perception of it and how you remember that time?

I remember the innocence of that time. I remember the passion that kids had; the energy. We weren't lazy with music, so we felt an almost entitlement to the scene we discovered. There were no digital downloads, no online streaming. It was mail order, it was bands throwing demo tapes at you. Hardcore was still tangible.

I think that’s the main thing I remember.

Once you had dug underground, who were the bands that impacted you the most deeply at the time, and who are the bands that have stuck with you into adulthood?

There are still bands from Michigan that hold weight with me today. Kid Brother Collective from Flint was my favorite. Of course no one from Michigan can dispute Earthmover. And I pull a lot of musical influence from Small Brown Bike. As far as other bands that still move me, you know me, I'm a 90’s emo kid. Mineral, boy sets fire, Elliott, Texas is the Reason, The Casket Lottery, I still can't get enough of that.

Michigan had a lot of awesome show spaces back then and it never seemed like there were a shortage of shows. What were your favorite spots to see bands and what were some of your most memorable shows from that era?

So many cool venues. I really liked seeing shows at Pharaohs back in the day before it shut down. And for a while they were doing great shows at Mr. Muggs in Ypsilanti. Saginaw had the Olde Jamestown Hall which I made so many long lasting friends like Josh and my friend Stephanie Gunther, many others as well. One show that comes to mind was a show at the Magic Stick in Detroit. We went and saw Cold as Life and someone set off some mace during their set. I had never been maced before. I will never forget that feeling…couldn't breathe, eyes watering. Everyone was trying to leave at once but we were just trying to carry my brother in his wheel chair down the stairs. It was an eventful night.

Oh man, that must have been completely bonkers! With respect to Marc, I never asked back in the day because I didn't want to come off as insensitive or anything, but I was always curious how he wound up in a chair, if it was a condition from birth or if there had been an accident along the way at some point. Despite his physical limitations, I always would get pumped when I saw Marc at a show (playing or performing); it was great both to see him refusing to let it limit him as well as to see the people around him (you and many other friends) all pitching in to make sure he was respected and could participate. My oldest is cognitively impaired, and something my wife and I always talk about is how our other sons will process his disability and how we need to talk about it with them. What was it like for you having an older brother (he was older right?) with a disability; how do you feel like it changed your perspective and/or gave you unique insights?

My brother was an amazing drummer. When he was in grade school he was being asked by the high school to play in their band when they went down to play the Rose Bowl. He played drums for one of my bands I was in. It was a silly Morning Again rip off band, haha. But one night on the way home from a show, the driver in the car he was riding in fell asleep at the wheel, the SUV flipped several times and my brothers’ neck was broke. After that he was an incomplete quad . It took a year or two to adjust but we eventually started a new band and kept creating music. I will always have a deep connection with him, or anyone I create music with. It's intimate in many ways people will never understand.

Actually I am the oldest....but most people who met us for the first time thought the same. But I learned fast what it meant to really take care of someone. In many ways it was my brother, and some ways I developed a protective fatherly instinct with him. It made me and my mother fight a lot about our opinions on his future...looking back I wish I would have asked him what he wanted to do with his future. It was hard for him to think he could have his own life and independence. I also learned that people have a finite amount of emotion for people...I spent a lot of mine on my brother. I loved him a lot and will miss him. When I think back it's mixed with regrets and fond memories.

So you moved out to Seattle eventually after doing cosmetology school, and broke into that field. How nervous were you to head out there and kinda hit the re-set button on life, and what ultimately prompted you to take that plunge in the first place?

So nervous, I had already graduated cosmetology school in Michigan, but man I knew like 3 people in Seattle. The city was beautiful though and I was just hooked instantly. Eventually my best friend Heather would follow me out from Detroit and life was amazing with her here.

Man that's so crazy. How long did it take you to feel like you had found your niche and to feel like it was home so to speak?

When I started working for the salon I am at now, it finally felt like home. I've been here at this place for over 6 years. It's been a humbling experience all in all, but everyone should fuck up their lives a little before you get complacent

The Ronnie I knew when we were young was a Christian kid and while we went to hardcore shows of all stripes, most of our friends were believers as well. I know that over the years you've gravitated towards atheism and are one of the more humorous and sarcastic people I know when it comes to poking fun at the faith. How much (if any) of your transition to atheism was related to your brother's passing, and how much of it was already going on/had went on prior to that experience?

Well when I was younger, I guess it was common place to believe in a higher power. So before I was able to think for myself I really did have to take things on faith. I think I phased out of Christianity when I realized that I couldn't buy the idea of “unconditional love” with conditions. It was a very elementary concept complicated by organized religion. So it was a soul-searching time for a few years. In the end I was an Atheist, but I lost faith in any sort of god long before my brother passed away.

Musically speaking, were there any other projects you were involved in once you got to Seattle before you started up with Breag Naofa?

When I first moved here I joined Timm when he formed Wait in Vain. That was a fun project but it was something I felt was Timm's baby. On the side I was doing a hardcore band called Fading Fast just for fun. But that also faded fast, lol . After that I took a break for a few years.

Talk about your time with Breag. How did you get to know those guys, what was that experience like, and what ultimately lead to your departure from the band?

Breag was awesome. Roger moved up to Seattle and actually took my place in Wait in Vain. He was playing in Sinking Ships as well at that time. When those bands broke up he had approached me about Breag. It was nice because he had most of the material written for that first album. I was instantly into it.

Yeah I would imagine going from Wait in Vain to Breag was a pretty big shift stylistically. Was it a big adjustment as a musician to shift gears like that or did it feel pretty natural?

Switching from Wait in Vain to Breag felt great. I definitely have more of a knack for writing music that Breag does than what Wait in Vain was doing, so it definitely fell into place a lot smoother.

That whole band was just a bunch of jokers. It was more play than work and I loved it. But when we worked, holy shit we worked. But like all things, when you get excited about how good something can be, it can send people in different directions. Initially I think that’s what happened just before I left.

Tre, Brian, and I were having differences on where we saw the band going, and I felt bad because Roger was in the middle of that. In the end we are all good and I decided to leave the group. Brian and Tre left shortly after, but Roger quickly had members filling those roles, and Breag is better than it has ever been. I’m proud of them.

Your new project, A Province of Thay, seems to take some of the expansive, atmospheric elements of Breag and push them even further, pretty much abandoning anything remotely hardcore for something more ethereal. What was the inspiration for Thay and how did you guys (and gals) come together?

Thay was conceived at gaming nights with most of the members that are in the line up now. Tyler has been hanging with me ever since he was seeing me play in Breag. He actually helped Breag out a lot by sharing a practice space with us. So he and I decided to do a side project and the whole point of it was to embrace all the ideas we had.

Dylan, Tyler and I were the founding members, and Bobby from Breag was actually helping us write our first songs.

Later we got Gianni in the band because she and I work together. I remembered she played bass, so I was like "Hey, wanna be in a band? We wanna sound like Braveyoung!" We had her at Braveyoung.

Heather was the last to join us. She actually answered an ad on Craigslist…and we all fell in love with her personality. In fact, we told her she was in the band before we even heard her play. Plus she and I and Gianni all have the same eye glass prescription…so we can’t ignore that coincidence.

In the end we have 5 people with very broad and different tastes in music and we just throw everything from doom, to 90’s emo into the creative pool and came up with who we are today.

What was the writing and recording process like for "The Grieving"? It seems like a pretty ambitious first effort...everything from the super long songs to the fact that you guys recorded at an actual legit studio, etc. It seems like a lot of bands take 4-5 years before they get to that point, haha.

I think in a way, we have all learned that you get what you pay for. Plus, being in our careers now, compared to the shitty jobs we had when we were younger, we can afford more legit studios. We recorded our album with Derek who also recorded the Breag LP. He is a real patient man, and we needed that because we were so nervous about the short time we had to put everything together. Heather really wanted to learn the songs and keep the recording dates we had already booked just before she joined the band. In the end we were pretty stoked on how it turned out, it’s nothing I’m gonna be embarrassed about 10 years down the road.

Yeah, most definitely not, it sounds grand. So now that the first record is under your belt, what's next on the writing front? How would you expect the next batch of Thay songs to compare to the first batch?

We are writing 3 more songs at the moment in hopes of recording this Spring. They have a little more influence from bands like Lightbearer, but we still keep it dialed back enough to not let our sound escape us. Hopefully we will be putting out all the songs from the first EP and these 3 new songs together on a double LP, but we are just rolling with the punches really.

I know you guys have a little West Coast jaunt planned, what are the deets on that and what else do you guys have lined up for 2014?

The only detail I know of for sure is that we are gonna hit the road with our friends in Lo'There Do I See My Brother. But we are still working on the dates, and exact cities.

On the bandcamp you guys state that lyrically the record is about "the desperation of human nature". I was hoping you could elaborate on that a bit.....in what sense(s) would you say we are desperate, what are we desperate for?

Well here is where the plot thickens as they say. Our lyrics are based on a story I have created. So the lyrics are totally based on fictional characters, although some of the scenes are taken from personal experience, like “Legacy In The Trees”.

But the story focuses around two people who lose someone close to them. One deals with the grief by harboring regret and guilt. He only wants to forget, but finds he can’t. The other deals with the grief through physical lust, and convinces herself she is in love.

I think everyone one of us can relate to that on some level; the delusion of life. We pretend it’s a certain way, and we sweep everything under the rug in some way, hoping it will just go away. But all these things catch up to us.

Listen: http://aprovinceofthay.bandcamp.com/

A quick little Q & A with Dave Verellen from Narrows

I was pretty pumped a few years back when I first heard Deathwish would be releasing a record from Narrows, a new project featuring Dave from Botch, Rob from Unbroken, and Ryan from These Arms Are Snakes. While the first track off that record was a total banger, I must admit that I felt pretty underwhelmed by the rest of “New Distances”. Thankfully, the band returned with a couple much stronger songs on their split with Heiress, and seems to have fully hit their stride on 2012’s crushing “Painted”.

The band recently announced a new split 7” with Retox that will be coming out later this year on the legendary 31G. I was interested in hearing a little more about the history of the band as well as what’s been cooking lately, so I sent them a few questions. Vocalist Dave Verellen hit me back with some answers.  

I'm curious as to your history and connections to one another. I'm sure the Americans in the band all have long-standing relationships within the U.S. scene, but how did you guys collectively all get to know one another and more importantly, given the distance how did you all come close enough that you decided you wanted to start making music together?

True Rob and Ryan and I had all known each other from other various meetings, Sam is Rob’s good mate from San Diego and Jodie toured with These Arms Are Snakes and Ryan, so we just folded them into the mix and now we’re all super pals.

In terms of song-writing do you guys write full songs and then flesh them out periodically when you get physically get together, does everybody bring some riffs to the table and then you piece them into full songs? I'm sure given technology and recording software the distance can be mitigated to some extent, but I also feel like it must be challenging at times to not physically be in the same room together, to not be able to "vibe" off each other, as hippy as that sounds, haha.

Right, well it is difficult but that’s the challenge. We bring ideas and just lay it down and see what emerges. It’s rather unorthodox but fun for us to work out.

To my ears anyway, "Painted" sounds like a huge step up from "New Distances". For starters the production is more powerful, but mostly the songs just seem more dynamic, more well-thought out. Were you guys able to spend more time on the second LP, was it that you better navigated the time and space challenges you face as a band? How was the process of writing the second LP different from the first?

We actually had less time I believe. We had just finished a tour and Rob, Sam, Jodie, and Ryan spent two days figuring out tracks. Then Sam and Rob laid down their parts and went home to San Diego. After that Ryan, Jodie, and myself then added our bits over it. I agree that it sounds maybe more cohesive and produced but as to why…I have no idea.

You recently announced a new split 7" with Retox, which I think a lot of people will be really excited about. I'm sort of assuming that connection may have originated with Rob and Justin having worked together via 31G back in the day, but talk a little bit about how that project took root.

Well yeah, Rob and Justin were also in Some Girls together and that relationship steered us towards working with Retox and 31G. We basically felt like Deathwish had other things going on so we wanted to work with our mates and put something out. It’s just been finished so I’m excited to see what comes of it all.

I'm imagining two songs for that record.....was that recording session just to bang out the material for that split, or do you guys have more up your sleeve that might surface elsewhere?

Just that e.p. but we always have ideas floating about. I’m sure if someone wants to put out another Narrows record we’ll be happy to deliver.

Your bio mentions that the band serves as a respite and an escape from adult responsibilities, what does everybody do work-wise, and beyond that, are there spouses and children that factor into the mix as well or no?

Yes, here’s the breakdown….I’m a firefighter with a wife and a daughter, Ryan is a graphic designer and is single, ready to mingle. Jodie is a booking agent and musician lady-killer, Rob is a fraud prevention specialist and is newly engaged. Sam is a bad-ass construction worker/plumber and is locked down with his lady, and Jason (I’ll mention him since he’s been playing with us) is a clothing designer; he and his wife are expecting.

I know for me one of the things I think about a lot these days is that at age 35 with a wife and 4 little boys to raise, hardcore punk is MORE important to me now than it was when I was 18. I feel like back then I wanted to be involved, today I need to be involved, though my involvement is in certain ways more limited. For you guys, how has the role of punk in your life changed over time?

Of course. Lots of things come into focus as you get older but it’s nice how a lot of the same theme surface and you can apply all of your punk ideals into everyday life. The “civilians” will never know but we do. 

One of the things I sometimes lament is that it seems that over time things in our scene have become less idea-oriented; specifically when it comes to socio-political topics but also just in terms of the ideas, passion, and sense of honesty as a whole. While there still are plenty of bands that are inspiring and have amazing things to say, it seems like a lot of bands these days just sort of ride a wave of what's cool and have less emphasis on substance. I'm wondering if you feel this way as well, and if so, what you do you see as its causes. More importantly, do you think it's possible to re-infuse that sense of urgency into punk and hardcore?

It is important to foster that sense of urgency in music but what’s changing is not only the scene and the kids but the world and politics and the evils. The information age has spawned the age of evasion and invisibility; we don’t directly see the evils in the world today because now they know we are looking. Monsanto, Phillip Morris, the banks and such all hide behind rhetoric and clever marketing…so you don’t know who to blame.

Beyond the Retox split, what's next in terms of writing, recording, and touring?

Fuck man I hope we play a few shows but this year is looking a little slower than the past few. If kids want us to come play their town please let us know so we can work to make it happen. Thanks.

http://nrws.tumblr.com/