Interview with Demian Johnston from Great Falls (Ex-Playing Enemy, Nineironspitfire, Kiss it Goodbye, Undertow)

Demian Johnston obviously has a very long history in the realms of punk, hardcore, metal, noise-rock, whatever. While I was a little too young and on the wrong coast to fully appreciate Undertow and Kiss it Goodbye, I was lucky enough to catch Playing Enemy in probably 2001 or 2002 and have kept tabs on his musical endeavors since.

By taking the noise-drenched hardcore foundation he himself helped lay in the late 90's and fusing onto it a lifetime's worth of song-writing prowess and emotional despair, his most recent band, Great Falls, is arguably his most visceral yet. Their new record "The Fever Shed" was released late last year on DIY stalwart Init Records, and it is simply crushing.

I wanted to learn a little bit more about Demian's history and the inspiration behind the record. What transpired is below.

So obviously you've got quite a long history in music.....take us back to the beginning.  What were your early years like coming up as a kid and how did you happen upon punk, hardcore, etc.?

Well, in Junior High I started getting into skateboarding and since that’s a time in your life that you are also finding your identity, I also got into the culture of skateboarding. I would grab every issue of Thrasher and look at what band shirts dudes were wearing or what bands were on the Skate Rock compilations.

Skate Rock Vol. 7 was particularly awesome to me. That one had Insted, Brotherhood, Underdog and a few other rad hardcore bands that at the time blew me away. I was also listening to a lot of Metallica, Slayer, and various other thrashy metal bands. Oh yeah, and I was also really into the Smiths. I think basically whatever my friend’s big brothers and sisters were into I was also into. I would basically ask them to make me tapes of whatever they were listening to.

I grew up in a town called Bothell that is about 40 miles north of Seattle. It’s big and when I was a kid it was mainly trees and farms. Skating was hard to come by and punk shows were harder but there were a few and I went to as many of those as I could. After that I would try to make it into Seattle to skate and go to shows.

Around that time I got into straight edge as well. Drinking kinda scared me and I grew up with some examples of what drug addiction can do to you so I was happy to have what I thought was a positive environment. I was playing bass as well at that time and started playing with friends.

What were some of the first bands you were in? Did you do anything prior to Undertow or was that your first project?  How did those bands/that band contribute to that process of discovering/creating your identity?

My first real band, aside from jamming in the basement of my friend’s house on the main riff from “Sweet Leaf” over and over, was a band called Saidchild. It was made up of some ex-members from Undertow; Seth Linstrum and Joel DeGraff, and we were a sort of post-hardcore Morrissey-worship band. I guess it was somewhere between Quicksand and whatever was happening in Seattle rock in the early 90’s.

We had some good songs at the end when we started heading into this Rites of Spring direction but we never recorded those. We did one 7" on Overkill Records. It's out there somewhere. I have no idea how it aged. Around the time I was in Saidchild I also joined Undertow. That created some strife between the ex and current members of Undertow. That and being in two bands definitely helped me learn to collaborate and also manage different personalities. It was a full time job.

Obviously there was a lot happening in Seattle in terms of punk and hardcore as well as the emerging grunge bands who wound up getting huge. For me as a dumb 15 year old kid in the Midwest I didn't know enough to draw or identify those distinctions yet (my first show was a Quicksand/Seaweed gig, I knew nothing about GB, YOT or any of those hc connections, haha), but as someone who group up in the area, were there clear dividing lines between these bands or was it more like "hey, there's a lot of young pissed off kids who are grabbing instruments"?

Well, back in the 90’s there weren't nearly as many genres as there seems to be now. We had shows and there would be a couple hardcore bands, a pop punk band, a crusty band or two and maybe something you might call grunge. It was a small scene. You knew who was straight edge and who was a crust punk or whatever. It had those tribal barriers but there was a lot of bleed over. I think it really helped. We got a lot of musical perspectives at that time. I guess we were all pretty pissed off kids but we had a group of older people that brought some perspective and gave us some respect for what came before. Musically there is a lot of culture here and it evolves very quickly so it behooves one here to pay attention and listen an open mind.

So Undertow is obviously a band that is regarded quite highly as one of the groups that helped lay the template for early 90's hardcore. When you think back on that project, what are some of your favorite memories, and what would you say are the biggest things you've taken from that experience both as a musician and as a person in general?

I guess I learned to grow up in that band. I was 17 when we went on our first US tour. I learned a whole lot about living with people and managing personalities. It was amazing to see the country over those 5–6 weeks and meet a million new people every day. I think the connections to other people was the most important thing I experienced by far.

After Undertow you started Nineironspitfire, followed by a stint in Kiss if Goodbye, then Playing Enemy, and now Great Falls. While it’s probably somewhat unfair to lump them all together, all those bands, while still rooted in hardcore, have gone in an increasingly much noisier, chaotic, less structured direction. I'm curious what set you off on that path.

I think in Undertow I was just stoked that we were playing fast and screaming but it started to bore me a little. I think being a bass player and not just listening to hardcore my world slowly expanded. I got into Jesus Lizard after seeing them in 1993-94 and then I discovered Amphetamine Reptile and Touch & GO records and from song of those I discovered Craw and everything changed.

A couple years later I saw Merzbow and Massonna when they toured around 1995 and that blew my mind. Everything after that that wasn’t completely fucked in some way just seemed saccharine to me. As time has gone by I am more interested in some of the hardcore that I listened to when I was younger but it’s more out of nostalgia now. I still look for the next fucked up thing.

You and Shane have been holding it down together for a solid 15 years now. Talk a little bit about how you guys met and what's kept you together for all these years now.

When Playing Enemy started we had a hard time keeping bass players around. First Andrew Gormley and I had Ashli State from Guilt, Ink & Dagger playing for us. We all lived together but she had to move home. After that we had run of people: Bill Quinby (Harkonen), Ryan Fredericksen (These Arms Are Snakes), Morgan Henderson (Blood Brothers)… but then Thom Rusnak moved back to Seattle and he joined up. So it was basically Kiss it Goodbye without the member of Kiss it Goodbye that everyone liked. Heh.

Tom lasted for a while but he had a business and wasn’t able to tour and just wasn’t that into it. We did one west coast tour with Creation is Crucifixion and then Thom quit. We decided to scour the internet and we had put a call out. We knew Shane from the Relapse message board and he was one of two guys that flew to Seattle to try out. We had a tour with Converge booked and we needed someone. Shane ended up playing in a way that fit with us best and that was where it started. We needed up having similar senses of humor and we found it really easy to communicate musically so I think that is why we have stuck together so well. He is also my best friend so it makes going to practice a lot of fun.

I feel like I often read stuff where bands talk about their creative process and they say stuff like "the songs just sort of wrote themselves", which I always kind of find hard to believe, haha. Having worked together with someone for so long, is the chemistry so strong that at times the creativity really just flows like that, or is it like "fuck, we've been doing this shit together for so long, how do we pull something new and exciting out of ourselves”?

It really is all about communication. I think music affects us in similar ways and we can almost sense where we think things are going before they happen. It’s like we are expert dance partners. There are still some cool ideas that we come up with on our own but in many ways we really share a brain.

So "The Fever Shed" is a nasty, beautiful beast of a record. How would you characterize your collective headspace as you were writing and recording, and what if anything, were you hoping to achieve that was distinct from your previous material?

Well, lyrically I pull from my frustrations with my relationship. It’s not all literal or specific to me in every case but I pull from a lot of what I am experiencing. “Accidents Grotesque” was also about that so I had to build on it for “The Fever Shed”. So I guess “The Fever Shed” is sort of a “keeping up with Demian and his shitty life” type of record.

I read in that American Aftermath interview that a lot of the material on this record revolves around depression and related issues. It seems like most of your projects have definitely grappled with the darker or at least more desperate side of life. I'm curious if you'd say you feel as though your music helps you push through some of that stuff, or if the intent is more just to capture those experiences and emotions as they are.

I guess I’m just trying to take something negative and hurtful and turn it into something somewhat positive. Even if what comes from it is not really positive I think the act of creating is very beneficial to me. I am constantly making things. Whether it’s a record, print or some other sort of expression. I think, like a shark, I need to keep moving or I will drown.

In addition to Great Falls you run the label Dead Accents, teach in the visual arts field, and have a family. As a person who is also juggling family, work and a desire to keep my feet somewhere in creative spaces, I'm always curious to hear how people balance their various pursuits while at the same time hold everything together. How would you say you manage to walk that tightrope?

I barely do. I am probably moving away from Dead Accents after this KTL live cassette series is done. I am going to try to focus on family and letterpress. Music is always there so that isn’t going anywhere but every minute I am doing something is a minute I am not doing some other thing. I just need to focus. That said I have a hard time keeping myself focused so I am probably going to continue doing a little here and there until I die a frustrated and unsuccessful dilettante.

You're pushing three decades in this thing...what would you say have been the most profound changes you've noticed for the good or the bad with respect to the independent music community, and finally, what would you say keeps drawing you back in and inspiring you after all this time?

Well, I would say that technology is a big change. It’s not really for the better in all places though. Cities are becoming jam-packed with “highly skilled workers” for the tech industries and that is pushing artists and musicians out of city centers. It’s not like they are all moving together though so it seems like there are fewer bands forming. Fewer shows and fewer tours. In some ways it’s not as necessary since with a bandcamp page and some decent shares and up votes you can get your music "out there" but I don’t know if that’s enough for everyone. I do like that I can use my phone to record a live set, upload it to my laptop and tweak it until it sounds pretty good and then burn a cd-r, make a tape or upload it to a site where it can exist in a way. Something like that couldn’t have happened a decade ago, let alone 25 years ago.

There are good and bad things that come with the changes. I think in general it’s all sort of turning to shit but the little pearls packed into that shit are pretty beautiful. I think the only thing that keeps me doing this is that I can’t imagine doing anything else. I also actively hate and am repulsed by what I consider to be the other option. I’m not going to become some guy who decorates his desk with Legos (although I love Legos) and drinks only locally-sourced craft beer and artisan pretzels at the new Spam bar that used to be a noise record store. I think that is the saddest shit I can imagine.

All the Jams: https://greatfalls.bandcamp.com/

Interview with Cedric Santillan from Pulled Under

Pulled Under is a young, up and coming hardcore band from Texas. I’ve actually seen their name around for a couple years as they’ve played Michigan twice, but I missed them both times. Anyway, a couple months ago Harm Reduction posted their upcoming 7” “The Antithesis of Life” on bandcamp and I was pleasantly surprised when I heard it.

The band definitely has a lot of awesome heavy 90’s vibes going on….I’d say they sort of sound like Axis Jr., haha. If you know me then you know I think Axis is currently the best band in hardcore, so that’s definitely a compliment.

As I always do when I discover a new band that blows me away, I wanted to learn more, so I reached out and had the following conversation with vocalist Cedric Santillan. He gave a lot of very in-depth responses, which I definitely always appreciate.

The new 7” should be out at some point in the next few months via Harm Reduction, everybody should definitely check it out and snag a copy.

Alright so talk to me a little bit about your background and how you eventually started getting into aggressive music.

Word, so I'm 22 years old, the first exposure that I had to aggressive music was when I was probably in 6th grade when I was 11 or 12. I remember my parents had just gotten cable in the house and I was exposed for the first time to an endless array of channels to watch. I remember a lot of my friends at the time talking about MTV and one morning while I was getting ready for school a My Chemical Romance music video came on. It was the music video for “I'm Not Okay, I Promise”. I remember hearing the song and catching glimpse of Gerrard Way and Frank Iero and I immediately was hooked. The aesthetic, the sound, everything was what I felt at the time being a kid in 6th grade who didn't have any friends. I remember riding my skateboard to school and telling myself, I want to be like that.

So, that was like my epiphany where I realized I wanted to be a sub culture freak…later that week I ended up painting my nails and stuff. My parents ended up getting me a computer that I could use for myself and I ended up watching a bunch of music videos, mostly Jimmy Eat World, Senses Fail, Green Day, Slipknot, and stuff.

We live in the heart of the Bible Belt and Christian Metalcore/ Facedown Records and Tooth and Nail shit was really popular around here. I ended up going to a church in 7th and 8th grade and a bunch of the kids there were really into metal-core and stuff so I got exposed to bands like Point of Recognition, August Burns Red, Zao, and stuff like that. I ended up getting in to the goofy metal-core scene in like 8th grade and stuff. I remember the first show I went to was at this super Christian venue in Fort Worth and after that show I was super sucked into it.

Going into 2008 was when Power Trip was getting together and having a giant power force of a band like that from around here was really helpful toward getting me into hardcore. I ended up getting into Champion and Terror and Chain of Strength and shit like that and eventually got more into the hardcore scene.

How did you go from that young kid who was more of a spectator to feeling like you wanted to be on the other side being in a band, making music, writing lyrics, etc.?

When I was in 6th grade, my girlfriend at the time and I tried starting a band together, she plays drums and I tried to play guitar in it. It was as all elementary school bands go, not good and never anything more than making noise in a garage. I actually found a diary with a bunch of old songs I wrote when I was a kid.

Throughout middle school and high school I attempted to try to make bands, but you know how that goes. Funny thing about Pulled Under, in 2009 four out of five of us played in a straight edge youth crew band called Think Twice. We put together one song and eventually we ended up scrapping it and our guitar player Jordan ended up forming the band TRUTH (which I would later join and play bass in). I think I've always had interest in playing music and doing all of this stuff.

So how did you guys go from doing Truth which was more of a youth crew style band to doing Pulled Under? We're there particular bands or experiences that influenced you guys, or more of a general desire to do something a little different?

Well, Pulled Under started in winter of 2011 with Me, Brady, Kyle, and our original guitar player Daniel Malette. We kinda jammed around and put some stuff together and would kinda go static for a minute. I joined Truth in the summer of 2012 while Pulled Under was still kinda just a jam band. Jordan and Jerrad from Truth had a band that they were trying to put together called Forge with the singer of now Scourge which was like a Strong Arm/OKD band.

However, it wasn't working out due to distance so I decided to ask Jordan if he would have any interest playing Pulled Under. In the Fall of 2012 we got together after a Truth practice and Jordan showed us this entire song he had written…that song would become “Born Again” and after that practice it kinda just clicked.

At the time we just wanted to do something that we weren't hearing much of and we wanted to do a band that we wanted to hear which is what brought us together.

You have a couple demos and now the upcoming 7" "The Antithesis of Life" which went up a couple months ago digitally and will be out soon physically. How do the new songs compare....what was the writing process like this time around and were there any new things you wanted to capture with this batch of songs?

I want to say that the new record is a lot more mature. Jordan kind of comes to us with these songs that he has put together. I don't know much about where he draws all of these ideas from. But once he gets us all together and shows us what he's got it's definitely interesting. I will say that these new songs on this record are a lot more mature and kind of staple our desire to write something new and refreshing but still pay due homage to the sound and bands we appreciate.

Talk a little bit about the lyrical themes on the new record. Which songs would you say are the most important to you and why?

The lyrical themes of this record are all based off of the ideas of the strength of conviction. When I first started writing, I told myself I didn't want to write 4 or 5 songs based off of my own problems or some bullshit about myself. I've written my songs about my own personal self-loathing and I wanted to write about topics that I felt get swept under the rug. I wanted to write songs that would push people's thought processes on the way they viewed certain issues and maybe even bring some sort of insight to others convictions.

One of the most important songs on the record to me is “Victims of Addictions”.

“Victims of Addiction” is a song that I wrote about how being straight edge. I know that generally; when people talk about being straight edge they usually associate it with a personal choice that has no correlation to the outside world. However, I believe that by being straight edge, you choose to deny some of the most fucked up things that happen in the world. I'll give you some insight on why I believe this to be true.

When I chose to claim edge was around the time when the heat of the Mexican drug cartel was popping off. You would read newspaper articles about how a major street in Ciudad Juarez was littered with dismembered cartel members, how the death toll in Mexico was reaching to 9,000 known murders, and how Cartel members were going as far as killing dozens of innocent people for just one person.

The police in Mexico could do nothing about any of the crime and if you were a police officer trying to do anything against the cartels you would get murdered in the streets. It got to the point where you could murder someone in the streets of Mexico and get away with it. The violence got so severe that even living in El Paso, Texas meant that you couldn't go to the mall without seeing Army officers patrolling the mall with automatic weapons and even US citizens were told to stay out of Mexico as cartel members would kidnap Americans for ransom.

The only options living in Ciudad Juarez were either to be poor, born rich, or be involved in the drug cartels. Because of this harsh reality, kids as young as 14 were joining cartels and becoming mob bosses and shortly being murdered by other cartels, all before they were ever old enough to drive a car legally.

A lot of Mexicans ended up trying to flee Mexico to make better lives for themselves in America because of how dangerous things were. A lot of these poor people would end up getting trafficked into American in dangerous conditions through a group called the Coyotes. If these people didn't die or get sold off into sex trafficking they would make it in America as illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, what was fueling this war?!  It was directly correlated with America’s consumption for drugs and it gets so crazy deep that it involves corrupt police and politicians in America, murders of other American gangs, and almost every drug dealer having some hand in the cartels.

I've told myself that I wouldn't live with those people's blood on my hands and that even however small my abstinence from that whole industry is that I would always choose not to partake in something so detrimental to this world.

So the new stuff is obviously dropping courtesy of Harm Reduction? How'd you hook up with Patrick and Jami? Were you guys sending the songs out to people or did they approach you?

Jami and Pat showed interest in us after they discovered Drown/Sentenced To Burn. We kinda linked up information with them and showed them what we were about and they kinda kept around. We did some demos of the songs and sent them there way and they were about it so they put us on. I'm extremely proud to be a part of their label. It's sick to be a part of a label that backs you and believes in the things you're doing.

So you guys just got back from doing a run with Detain and my local friends in Breaking Wheel. How did it go overall? Best shows, bands that perhaps surprised you, etc.?

The tour was absolutely incredible. Being on the road with Detain and Breaking Wheel was such a pleasure and it was so sick getting to know those dudes and watching them kill it every night of tour. We've never been to the East Coast and I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the reactions and turn outs each night. The fest in Florida (FYA) was incredible and I had so much fun being a part of it.

I think one of the most surprising/sick shows of the tour was North Carolina. We played in this small living room and coincidentally the guitar player of Day Of Suffering happened to be there, he ended up having a lot of really positive things to say about our set and it was badass to receive positive feedback from someone who was around when some of my favorite bands were kicking.

Detain also played a set that night that was similar to the Billy Club Sandwich attic show (if you've never seen that video, YouTube it, it's absolutely insane). We ended off that tour on a real high note in Baltimore, which was one of my favorite cities we played mostly because I got to see the Edgar Allan Poe grave and we got to play with nothing but our friends’ bands.

We ended up having to end tour after that Baltimore show because our drummer had to be in a wedding at the end of the week so we did a 24 hour drive home from Baltimore to Dallas. It was one of the most miserable drives of my life, all of us were sick and we all decided to trek it out all at once because we're a bunch of masochists. We ended up getting home and I was so sick I was out of work and shit for like a week. To be honest, I'm still not at 100% and that was all like a month ago, haha.

What's 2016 and beyond look like for you guys? Is the emphasis gonna be on hitting the road hard to support the new record, you gonna be back in the jam space working on new material, or a little bit of both?

I'm not too sure what 2016 has in store for us. As of today, I'm still waiting on our records to get to us and I'm not sure 100% when that's gonna happen because of issues with the pressing plants. We got a few shows coming up and we're doing some small weekend stuff with a few of our friends’ bands. We've already started working on some new material we got a few songs done and we're really happy with the progression of where the materials heading. I'm sure we'll probably do some touring in the Summer and Fall.

"The Antithesis of Life": https://harmreductionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-antithesis-of-life
FYA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcguPTH6HMo&app=desktop

Lone Star Mosh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo8lF3Rh6Mo&app=desktop

Interview with Jaxon Craig from Safe and Sound

I first “met” Jaxon online hanging out on some of the FB swap groups. While a lot of the kids there seem to be pretty douchey, Jaxon seemed like a guy who was always courteous and respectful, in addition to having good taste (I think he bought a Champion 7” off me). When I checked out his band Safe and Sound’s first release “The Tides” I thought it was pretty standard…not great but also not bad for a first release, something that as a young band they could hopefully build off.

Well build they most definitely have. A few months back they released a new song called “Self” which channeled a lot of cool 90’s elements; spoken vocals, crunchy guitars, neat little harmonics, and introspective lyrics. That was followed a couple weeks ago by a video for another new song “Dream”, which deals with animal rights issues. By that point I knew I had discovered a new favorite so I needed to reach out to Jaxon to learn more about the band.

Their upcoming 7” “Embers Still Remain” will be coming out next month in the US on Life to Live Records and in Europe on Assault Records. They’ll be touring the US in March as well. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for one of the best new bands going.

Tell me a little bit about your background; your family, growing up in the Pacific Northwest, and how you first discovered art and music.

I have lived in Washington my whole life and I love it here. I have traveled to quite a few places and nothing compares to it. The Oregon coast is my favorite place in the world, I just love the beaches we have here they are mostly gloomy and surrounded by forests and that's very serene and calming for me.

I live about 45 minutes south of Seattle and have for most of my life; my family is mostly from here also. I grew up listening to a lot of music, my dad is big into hair metal and my mom liked pop music so I listened to a lot growing up but didn't get any exposure to hardcore until I was around 12/13.

What were some of the first shows you went to and bands you checked out that made an impression on you and who you'd say have shaped your understanding of punk and hardcore?

The first hardcore related show I went to was an Underoath show with my cousin when I was 13. That got my foot in the door. I used to be really into just any music that was heavy so my friends and I would go see this band called I Declare War that was a local deathcore band. When I was 14 I went to see them at the local all ages venue at the time in Tacoma called The Viaduct.

They played alongside some local hardcore bands and that's what really got me interested into coming out to local shows more often. The person that actually introduced me to hardcore and punk is not worth mentioning but the bands he showed me that really clicked were Champion, Ceremony and Gorilla Biscuits. Around the same time I found Have Heart and The Carrier on MySpace and got very into them. I love doing research on bands and topics so a lot of what I know has come from reading things online/watching YouTube documentaries or live sets/or reading zines.

Talk about the origins of Safe and Sound. How did you guys all meet, and who sparked the idea to start doing a band together?

The original Safe and Sound doesn't really exist anymore; Rusty and I are the only original members we have gone through 2 major line-up changes. The original band met through shows and Tumblr (haha) but that wave only lasted half a year or so. In the second wave we talked about tour almost off the bat and ended up doing our first one in the summer of 2013 in Western Canada.

Yeah I was gonna say, there seems to have been a huge evolution/jump forward from the stuff on "The Tides" to the new material (at least the couple songs that are streaming as of now). Would you say this is more you and Rusty wanting to try new stuff, the new members bringing different influences to the table, or a little bit of both?

I would for sure say a little of both. When we started we wanted to be a youth crew/melodic hardcore band. We always kept our own little melodic touch on things but we have just been progressing towards what we want to see being played more. We all love bands that took risks to be different; one of our major influences that we all love is Burn. They took risks musically and lyrically that we all respect so much so we have been heading down the path of a more 90's sound with our own touch on it. The new stuff is heavier also for sure which I think most people can get down with also.

In terms of message, obviously the video for "Dream" addresses the plight of animals and encourages people to consider veganism...how did you personally become inspired to go vegan? More broadly speaking, I know when I first started going to shows there was almost always a table with information on animal rights and a variety of other social/political/environmental causes, which is something that seems much more rare these days. How would you say we can get to a place where hardcore and punk can become more idea-oriented?

I have been vegetarian since I was 14. What originally made me want to make the change was PETA's "Meet Your Meat" video and also Food Inc., which was very interesting to me. Then I watched a documentary called "Earthlings" and that was what brought me to decide to stop consuming animals. What made me take it a step further was reading some vegan literature, one in particular called "Milk Comes From Grieving Mothers" that really opened my eyes to the dairy industry and how basically being a vegetarian is next to nothing in terms of actually liberating and helping animals.

The final push I needed was when I saw Morrissey live in concert for the first time. He played "Meat Is Murder" while clips of all sorts of animal exploration, abuse, and murder were being shown. The song ended with a black screen with a white phrase across it, "What's your excuse now?"

It was then and there I knew I needed to do everything I could to not take part in exploiting animals for my selfishness any longer. We have started distributing literature at our shows and we are actually all part of a vegan, straight edge, and radical politics zine press that is working to distribute literature at shows and to people seeking it.

I think we can get back to that point by educating ourselves. To become aware of what is really happening in the world, outside the walls of just our hardcore scene and to most importantly be pissed off about it. Voicing your opinion on things that you care about is one of the beauties of punk…to go against norms and to fight for things that you really believe in. Gather once said, "Punk is about doing what's right, even if it means going against the majority" and I strongly agree with that.

Aside from "Dream" what other things are going on lyrically with "Embers Still Remain"?

Lyrically the rest of "Embers Still Remain" is about turning over a new leaf. To build again when things have been destroyed. To come back twice as strong. I chose the title because even though something may have been extinguished; if even one ember remains it can spark again new life. Also the record closes with a bad ass straight edge song.

So the new record is coming out on both Life to Live in the U.S. as well as Assault in Europe. How'd you hook up with them and what else can you tell people about the release?

We did our last 7" with Life To Live and Dan is honestly one of the nicest and most legit humans ever so I was more than excited that was down to help out with another 7". Assault Contacted us after hearing "Self" when we put it online and Jan has also been really awesome about everything and I am just really glad we are having two labels that really care about our message and what we are doing and are supporting us by putting out our music.

A little more about the release, we will have a really cool recorded cover that I hope many people will dig, full streaming of the record will be coming very soon, physicals of the 7" should be available in the US by the end of February.

I know a tour is currently in the works that will bring you through a lot of the country. What places are you most stoked to play and who are you most excited to be playing with?

Very excited to be back in Texas, this time with Pulled Under who we are very excited to share some dates with, Florida will be awesome with Bind doing all of those dates and also I am very excited about playing in New Jersey with The Banner!

Bringing it back home a bit, the NW is obviously a region that has produced a lot of legendary bands. What current bands from the area would you say you consider to be your peers as well as bands from the area that inspire you guys?

A current band we did a lot with who just actually broke up was called Singled Out. We always pushed each other to do big things in and outside of NWHC. Carrying the torch currently are Red Scare and Moving On. Also continuing to carry the torch is TruexIdentity who are also doing big things with people who have done big things in NWHC before and are back for more.

Worst thing about hardcore in 2016? Best thing about hardcore in 2016?

Worst thing about hardcore in 2016 is it will be the year that we lose some great bands such as Bane and Foundation also that this will be the last Rainfest. Best thing in hardcore in 2016 so far is that Sound and Fury will be back!

Any final thoughts or parting words?

Parting words would be thanks to anyone that read this and has checked us out or will check us out because of it! Always remember your right to choose and your ability to impact this world.

Jams: https://safexsound.bandcamp.com/

Video for “Dream”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hclHfOtF_ro

Interview with Jeremy Nelson from Itto

I don't really remember how I heard about Itto, all I know is when I did I was thoroughly impressed. The 5 piece Chicago unit pretty much defies classification.....take the frantic energy of screamo, the complexity of math rock, and the ethics of hardcore, and that'll put you somewhere in the ballpark. Anyway, after snagging both their 10" and last years' 4 way split LP, I knew I needed to see them at some point, but had to miss them the last time they came through Michigan.

As luck would have it, at the end of November while in Chicago recording an LP with my band, I happened to notice they were playing  just a mile or two from the studio. After we finished tracking that night, I headed over to a house show and got to see the band in my favorite type of environment.....cozy little basement, fairly packed in, it was awesome.

I had a chance to introduce myself to both James and Jeremy that night, but I definitely wanted to know more, so I hit up Jeremy and the rest is history. The band is poised to drop their first LP this year, and it's certainly among my most anticipated releases of 2016. Don't sleep kids.

I always love to hear a little bit about people's back story, so talk to me about where you came up and how you eventually got connected to music. Were your parents, siblings, or extended family particularly into it or did you stumble into things yourself?

I actually came from actually pretty boring place. Springfield, IL. It's kinda like a suburb with no city. It's a boring place so I spent a lot of time indoors playing guitar and games. My pop was a big influence musically, he was always just playing guitar and singing in our living room. I would try to play his guitar and put it back without him noticing until he got me my own guitar. My dad has always been (and still is) in some sort of classic rock band...so def a big influence.

So how did you go from tinkering on your dad's instrument to getting into punk/hardcore/DIY? Is he excited that you've picked up his love for music, or do you get the sense that he wishes you'd play something more "normal", haha.

Yeah, we had an all ages DIY spot open up when I was in middle school. I went pretty frequently but never really understood the DIY ethos or anything until moving to Chicago. I mean, when I hear my pop talk about it, he's pretty proud that the songs are originals, LOL. My dad has heard me get into some pretty strange music so he's pretty exposed.

So how did you wind up in Chicago and what were some of the first experiences you had there where you were like "Yeah, this is it for me"?

I actually wound up in Chicago through Craigslist. I found a house and the girl on the phone said they had "shows" sometimes and asked if I was cool with that. I was desperate to move out of Springfield and I didn't really know what having "shows" actually meant. But yeah I pulled up to the house with my U-Haul and bands were loading in. The Reptilian was actually playing and they helped me bring all my shit in, LOL . That was a great night though. It was a Reptilian and Lautrec show I think. All the people there were super nice and I pretty much slammed 2 40oz and made friends with everyone I saw. I lucked out for sure.
FYI the girl on the phone was Anne and we ended up starting the band Suffix together

Damn, that is insane! So wait, did the Craigslist ad say anything about it being a punk house or hardcore kids or did the stars just literally align to where you fell in with the right people?

Yeah the ad didn't say anything about it being hardcore or punk shows at all. I think the posting was more looking for "college student" and "no weirdos". I was just looking for a cheapish place. They took me to a bunch of shows though. In like one week I had seen Couger Den, Hewhocorrupts, Native, Castevet, Locrian, Loin of the North. and a ton more. All the music was way better than music in Springfield at the time, and it seemed like every show I went to everyone was friends and there was a big sense of community.

Springfield had one place, and Chicago had like 10 places to go to for DIY shows so I was learning the city and meeting new friends super fast. Everything just kinda lined up.

So talk about Suffix a little bit. I've seen that name before but had no idea y’all were a Chicago band and have never checked it out. How was that band different from the music you'd been doing/had been exposed to growing up in Springfield? What were the highlights of Suffix in terms of shows, records, tours; just learning more about working in the context of a group of artists?

Suffix was me and some roommates having some fun. It got me hooked on touring. It was when I realized "Oh hey, all these cool people and friends I've made that have played at my house, I can like, go see them too". One tour was to Canada, that really got me hooked.

It's cool to hear you talk about community in a city like Chicago....being that it's so huge I would imagine it'd be pretty easy to feel lost and overwhelmed. How important has the underground/DIY community been for you as you've built your life there?

You are correct that the Chicago DIY community is super big, but you don't really get lost, it’s more that there are just always parts that you don't know about. And that's a good thing. There are so many different groups and new DIY spots come and go pretty quickly. I guess it just changes so much that it's always new, and gives you something to look forward to. It never seems stagnant like other scenes can get. But the scene has gave me a ton of friends, pushed me musically, took me to places all over the world, and it's something I've used as an outlet to help others.

Alright so talk to me about the origins of Itto. How did the five of you come together and what we're some of the common influences you guys talked about in terms of what you wanted to shoot for sonically?

We want people to hear us and be like "that's Itto". I was really pushing myself and the band to form our own take on hardcore. The thing I love about just dumb hardcore and pv is that all the riffs are interchangeable and most any punk band can do it.

My favorite shows in Chicago have had mosh pits and people yelling and singing along for the first band all the way to the last. And in fact it doesn't really matter who the bands are, it's just hardcore and people are having fun. That's the best part in my eyes and we really wanted to try and put that in our sound.

That being said, we still like to fuck with time signatures and sometimes just not even use one. We like dynamics and grooves, noise and feedback. So it's really a matter of combining all those things and trying to create our own sound. We don't want to alienate people, but we want to write music that challenges us as musicians.

I'm also really curious to hear about the song writing process for Itto. The songs have so much going on with dizzying guitar and drum work all over the place. I know for my relatively dumb, mostly chugga-chugga hardcore band it sometimes takes several practices to get a song where we want it, how do you guys go about assembling all the chaos you have happening?

Haha, well it's about the same my dumb hardcore band too I'd say. It takes us a while to write. Usually it depends how thought out an idea is, sometimes a riff is set in stone and everyone kinda knows what's should happen, but that's rare. Recently we've been getting more into describing a concept or feeling rather than just explaining riff frets. For example the intro to our new full length is pretty much all 2hits. The idea is to take 20 year old dumb hardcore riffs /breakdowns with different tempos and arrange them in a way that they sound crazy and new...i.e. "Itto".

Once everyone one understands the concept or idea the song is trying to get across, it's a lot easier than just showing someone where to put their fingers on a guitar fretboard. It also makes the song more than just a collection of zany guitar wanking,

That might not be the best example, but it kinda gives the idea. We've tried to take "mathy" hardcore and put the complexity in the conceptual, opposed to the technical.

Alright so speaking of the new record, when we talked a little bit in person last month you were saying it's pretty close to being done. How would you say it compares to what you guys have done before.....What new directions were you trying to push yourselves, your sound and your listeners to?

I would say this record is more intense and like our live set. The songs are more distorted, pissed off, they flow into each other, and are more dynamic. I think the above all goal was to capture our live presence, the intensity, and we're all pretty happy with it.

So you mentioned writing with a particular feeling or concept in mind, and I can't help but imagine that aside from the musical energy you are trying to evoke, that the lyrics obviously fit into that puzzle as well. That said, what sort of themes are people going to see lyrically this time around? I know the 10" seems to revolve around a lot of socio-political ideas like power, tradition, and people pushing back against that stuff....do those sorts of ideas continue to dominate or have things gone in different directions? Also, does James sort of have free reign in the lyrical department or are things more collaborative there?

James is really a part of the whole process, he's there when we're going over guitar parts and hashing out ideas, he's in on the concepts and interprets accordingly. While we're spending 2 hours on a 15 second part, he's writing lyrics down.

The new album is going to be called "Pursuant" and it's about questioning what we all are pursuing in life and the cyclical patterns that unite us.

You guys have toured a decent amount, there have been a bunch of different runs all over the place, y’all did Cali with Capacities a couple years back, etc. How would you say your road experiences have shaped Itto as a band and what sort of plans are there once the new stuff drops?

I mean we're absolutely a touring band above all. We've done the East Coast a few times, West Coast, Western Canada, East Canada three or four times, and this time last year we were on our Mexico tour...so yeah we've got all of North America checked off the list. Our goal is total world domination really....that being said, we're finally taking our butts to Europe in Spring of 2016 with the new record.

So you started this conversation talking about community.....the community you were introduced to as a young kid in Springfield and then later the community that welcomed you in Chicago.  After multiple bands, tours, records etc., what would you say it is about the punk and hardcore community that keeps you engaged, inspired, and wanting to create?

The DIY community and Chicago give me that feeling of exciting undiscovered stuff, it's like the harder I look the more cool new things there are to find. A Chicago DIY benefit just made a poster of all the DIY spots and the list was enormous, I only knew of maybe 35% of it.  You can always dig deeper, and even then the part you're used to and comfortable in is going to change. I guess to tie it up, in Springfield I thought that the little space that punk bands would play was really just that. Once I discovered it was part of this larger thing that could take you around the world, I've been fascinated ever since.

Recorded: https://ittochicago.bandcamp.com/
Live: https://youtu.be/0FlKdtmVpIY?t=2m57s