Au menu donc, BORN/DEAD, troisième passage à St-Etienne, la dernière fois c’était lors de leur tournée mondiale-marathon où ils jouaient pendant 4 mois de façon ininterrompue sur 28 pays différents. Ce coup-là, il s’agit d’une tournée d’adieu, donc les loupez pas, ça serait dommage.
Revenons à l’essentiel, BORN/DEAD existent depuis 2000, ils viennent d’Oakland en Californie et se sont formés sur les cendres du groupe NO OPTIONS suite à la mort d’un des membres du groupe. En 9 ans ils ont sortis trois albums, « Our Darkest fears now haunt us » (Prank Rds/2002), « Repetion » (Prank Rds/2005), « The Final Collapse » (Prank Rds/2007) et un split LP avec CONSUME de Seattle (Yellow Dog Rds/2003). Musicalement c’est une sorte de rouleau-compresseur hardcore-punk avec des influences anarcho-punk et crust. Comme il se doit leurs textes traitent de sujets socio-politiques, pour plus de détails voir l’interview reproduite en fin d’article.
ANTIMASTER viennent eux de Mexico, deuxième passage à Saint-Étienne alors qu’ils viennent de sortir leur premier album chez les amis espagnols de Deskontento Rds. Du crust de furax. Et puis merde, c’est pas tous les jours qu’on a des mexicains dans le coin, non ?
A l’instar de Jeanne MAS, il s’agira de la première fois pour le duo anarcho-punk liégeois SUIT SIDE VS VEDA PLIGHT, groupe formé en unifiant deux projets solo. Pour revendiquer et dénoncer, on est mieux à deux, non ?
Tout ça donc, Mardi 18 Aout à l’Assommoir Pub / 9, rue de la Richelandière à Saint-Étienne, début des hostilités vers 20h30, $5 comme d’hab’ (connait pas la crise nous)
Interview BORN/DEAD December 16th 2007 for War Magazine
WK=Will Kinser
B/D=Band
1. If you had a choice to literally dissemble the system today would you do it ? Many punk lyrics call to smash the system, smash the state. I’m curious if the button was in your hands would you press it ? Myself I’m a firm believer in my own sense of not needing authority to make me a decent person but struggle slightly with that everyone has that potential, (fuck it though I’d press the button)
WK : I personally think that America in general is not ready for an Anarchist state because of the way we’ve been conditioned to act towards one another and the absolute selfishness of the majority population. Still though, that is not a reason for not pressing the hypothetical button because change needs to be brought about whether or not people are ready for it. I think that in the short term without government enforcement there would be mass chaos but in the long term with a lot of guidance communities could stabilize and learn to work together without oppressive governments. First step is education and showing people that they have the power and that collectively they are a force that cannot be controlled by wealthy aristocrats.
2. You have used crass imagery in your art work, recently there has seem to be an resurgence in crass records work with outlets like "The
Day the Country Died" DVD, Conflict coming to America again, & I just went to a art show tonight in San Francisco with Gee Vaucher who created most the Crass album / poster art. Do you feel there work which is pushing 30 years old now is still relevant and important ?
B/D : We think that it is more relevant now than ever before. Punk should be in opposition to all governments that engages in unlawful wars, knowingly destroy the environment, and lie to their citizenry. The crass art is a statement about politics and it should remain so, although we would say that it is important to branch out in any form of art. We don’t want to be a retro band like many other bands in the SF bay area, at the time when we formed it seemed the most befitting art for what we saw as a political void in punk, we have in some ways moved away from directly using crass art, but it does influence our art direction combined with a lot of other peace punk bands with strong stark design concepts. There seems to be interest in a lot of history of punk these days, there are books coming out quite frequently about all its genres. The question is will people take the ethos of bands like Crass and Conflict and push it forward into something more updated. We can’t fantasize about living in the past, we need to create a better present.
3. Hot Topic which is a multinational retail corporation sells crass shirts, is this wrong or is it more important to have suburban kids wearing that shit so at least a few will actually read the lyrics and start there own path to inner revolution ?
B/D : We can’t say whether or not it is good or bad. It is fucked that a corporation is profiting from a revolutionary band and also from real revolutionaries such as Che or Malcolm X. Will some kid pick up this piece of merchandise and think about what it represents and then get active ? We hope so, although we see proof that in many cases it doesn’t. This just shows that the system can turn any movement into a fucking plastic shell of what it was really about. Crass isn’t selling Hot Topic these shirts and as far as I can tell most members still hold true to what they believed in all those years ago.
4. How was this last European tour ?
B/D : Really well organized and very well attended. The shows where absolutely incredible and we really appreciate the time and energy of all the people who work on them. It was our longest tour yet with 82 shows in 84 days, at times it was grueling although I think we all came away with a sense it was well worth it. We hit the road again quite soon.
5. While in Norway did you get a chance to burn any churches ? I hear the kids there walk around with goats blood spewing from there mouths, can you describe the evil ? (more descriptive / embellished the better !)
WK: : We burned churches, banks, and police stations mostly, but less for evils sake and more as a political statement (laughter). Actually the majority of burning activism takes place don a slightly less evil country of Greece. Truthfully I never saw any black metal kids in all of Scandinavia. WTF ?
6. When abroad how do people (that don’t know you) respond to you being American ? Do you ever get hostility coming from the biggest asshole on the block ?
B/D : We hope that since people know our bands political views they would be smart enough to know that we are against the government and majority of the populations world view. The truth is that every so often you get some idiot who thinks because you live here that you are personally responsible for the destruction of the earth. Usually these people are meatheads with little to no ground to stand on and you can back them into a corner verbally without much effort.
7. You are currently on Prank Records ; do you guys ever release material yourself ? Are there any bands in Europe or beyond that you would like to put out here ?
WK : We released the first EP on my label No Options Records. Prank records is a more established label though and have done a lot to really support us and we are happy with them. Actually I have plans to release our next LP which is going to be a split with Behind Enemy Lines on No Options because I feel that it will help the label at this point. I recently released an LP by Bombenalarm from Germany. There are a lot of great bands from Europe, it is always hard to gauge whether or not they will be successful here. Americans aren’t always the most open minded people even in the punk scene and sometimes the language barrier can get in the way. My plans for releases of European bands as of now are to put out an Instinct of Survival LP and a Fliehende Sturme ’best of’ Lp. Instinct is a great Crust band in the vein of Bolt thrower and Fliehende Sturme is a really melodic post punk band that sound really original, quite reminiscent of Joy Division in that really melancholy approach.
8. While your travels across the plain of this tiny snow globe have you had the chance to play shows with mixed a lineup (like metal/psyc rock/prog roc/etc) ? If so can you describe some of the reactions from a mixed crowd..?
B/D : We have played with some really strange bands such as this Jazz fusion hip hop group with spoken word and some insane man repeating James Brown over and over and some viking rock band in Finland. I guess when we have played with groups that are different styles the shows have mainly consisted of people who came to see us though. As far crowd reaction it has been by in large very good. Every place has it’s own style and reception. Some of our favorites on tour this year are Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Oslo, Athens, Belgrade, Mexico D.F., St. Etienne, Zarautz, Brighton, Vienna, Warsaw.
9. Would you say since you’ve already toured Europe prior and are now more established it’s easier getting by ? Are you now staying in 4 star hotels & drinking fine cognacs instead of squats & the local pub ale ? Can you describe the differences compared to earlier European tours ?
B/D:We still stay in squats because this is the scene we are involved in, if we had hotels tour would be boring because we usually party all night with our friends after the gigs. A common misconception about squats in Europe is that they are dirty and dilapidated, in almost all cases this is completely wrong. A lot of the people who live in squats are skilled at construction and take care of their houses more than regular homeowners.They also care about and have time to make their homes personal and comfortable. Here are some tips for bands who wants to go on their first Euro tour because it is important that people know this. First off, get a record released there before you go. A lot of bands are touring Europe before they even have a release which creates stress for venues and promoters because no one will come out to see a band they have never heard. If you can’t get a record released in Europe you probably aren’t ready for a tour there. Second, don’t go to Europe before touring the states, tons of bands go there first because they hear that it is easier to tour there which is true if you are an established band, but for bands that have never been in a van together for more than a couple days a tour like that can break them. Also think about that the fact you are not supporting your own scene when you do this.I had a lot of promoters complain to me about bands that aren’t known touring Europe because people will book the shows for unknown bands because they make the money regardless for renting the vans and equipment and it is growing problem of less attendance because people are tired of hearing third rate Ami bands who are just there for the free drinks and accommodations. Third, book your tours with someone you can trust who maybe a friends band has done stuff through, because some bands have made it out there to find loads of gaps in the tour, long drives, and band organization. We have never had a bad tour in Europe because we always followed those rules. We have learned a lot though.
10. You are flying out to New Zealand and Australia next week, how did get hooked up with these dates ? Are you stoked ? Have you heard it’s harder to travel around Australia ?
B/D : We are excited as hell about the trip. Our friends in Pisschrist actually booked the tour and have been really helpful with everything. We will be touring with them and based on previous times that we played together it should be really fun and harmful to the liver.
11. Some of your lyrics imagery deals with the contrast of being emerged in a technological world that is controlled and monitored by corporate entities, do you feel it’s still important use these techno tools for the sake of spreading the word or is it better to abstain and lead by example ?
B/D : We are not primitivist’s in any case. We should say that the evolution of technology has led us to a very sterile environment so far removed from nature that we don’t care about the damage that we are doing to the earth. We do think that technology can be used for good but only after people realize that technology must coexist with nature. There needs to be some forethought put into the uses and the possible misuses of technology. Actually just arriving back from England we where amazed by the amount of surveillance there it is almost omnipresent. This country is on the same course and it is scary, it is a complete invasion of privacy and will only lead to the destruction of civil liberties, not that there is much left.
12. A criticism that is thrown around political based punk, crust, & hardcore is that all is bleak and the future is doomed, come on. you believe in sunshine and lollipops don’t you ? maybe moon beams & candy drops ? While i believe focusing on topics that aren’t necessarily popular is positive in itself can you describe your response to using mostly dark imagery and lyrics ?
B/D : Punk/Hardcore/Crust bands have been proficizing the end times for a long while now but if you look around it is more than accurate so fuck what the critics say. I mean just in the last year we where told that global warming does exist and is propelled forward by humans, hmmm, I think I heard that in a song about 20 years ago but no one would listen the fuck up. The problem with society is that everyone wants sunshine and lollipops and they don’t want to think about the consequences of their beautiful lives. Do you think people would wear all these designer clothes if they saw the sweatshops firsthand ? Do you think that people would drive everywhere they fucking go if they could see the future, their children starving in a Siberian winter or dying of thirst in the worst drought in human history ? Forethought is all we ask for. If that ruins your fucking day it will only get worse when you reap the consequences of your selfish actions. The world is in dark times right now like it or not and that is why we use these images and lyrics. A cry of despair and a wake up call all in one.
13. My favorite thing about your music is it focus’s on the root of many of social issues, mainly the system itself. does it ever bug you about the liberal minded peeps (especially in SF) who sit on the high horse simply they hate bush when him & his flunkies are just puppets to there conservative masters, would you say your trying to expose more since your lyrics are literally more to the core ?
WK : When I write lyrics I try not to be preachy and just say what is on my mind in the most straight forward sense about social issues, depression, fears, whatever. It is just a testimony to the control and conditioning of the populace that many so called liberals believe that all of the issues that have arisen in the past decade are due to one man when it is most certainly the corrupt system itself that is perpetuating more and more control and less human rights and freedoms.
Alright here is the portion of the interview where someone eventually
is going to get beat up, arrested, or dumped by there girlfriend when
it hits the streets (it’s either you or me brother)
14. Skinheads ; Ligament working class people trying to make there way or fraternity brothers that turn boot parties into circle jerks behind closed doors ?
B/D : Some of both, we see that in all categories or genres. There are idiots in all scenes, this one just happens to have a much higher rate than some others we can think of but you won’t get a blanket statement out of us because we don’t like to categorize people based on a dress code.
15. Cocaine, Ecstasy, Heroin, Acid, Mushrooms, Marijuana, Absinth, Fernet, or Gold Paint ?
B/D : Tried almost all of those at some point save heroin but nowadays your only likely to find us with alcohol and weed, maybe some gold paint once in awhile (laughter).
Prostitution ; woman taking control of there own bodies despite what a government persecution or a misogynist underbelly of modern culture ?
B/D : None of us have ever had experience in this realm so we can’t say we would have a definite answer but it strikes us as odd that people would want to pay for sex because it is readily available to people from almost all walks of life. We don’t get the feeling that many women are really happy doing this kind of work other than maybe for the money it provides them with so we would have to go with misogynist underbelly until otherwise notified by some happy hookers.
16. Do you go to Molotov’s in the lower haight ? Is it safe for normal people ? I hear punks piss in your beer while your in the bathroom and the bar tenders will kick your ass as soon as look at you.
B/D : We where there on Friday night and it seems safe for normal people until they do something to provoke the punks then it is a different story.
WK : I stated going there about 9 years ago. I have gotten in more fights there than I can count, been there when it was tear gassed by some fucking off duty police, been there when the place was filled with smoke from the place next door burning and no one was leaving there drinks. Most of those fights where backing up that bartender from some drunk with nothing better to do than fight. Lots of fun and a great jukebox. Molotov’s, good times.
17. Seems like there has been a trend of classic punk bands like Sham 69 or Dr. Know playing shows again with little or no original lineup ? What are your feelings on that ? Does it need to be original singer or at least partial lineup ?
B/D : We are of the opinion that most of these pathetic bands are not doing it for the money but more to relive there glory days which is even more sad than if they where getting paid. There needs to be a reason why they are getting back together and a close relationship with the current scene or else it is fake and not what punkrock is about certain bands have been involved the whole time though like The Subhumans and The UK Subs.
18. Is the 2038 Born/Dead world tour with only your 4th bassist in the lineup gonna be awesome ?
No cause it ain’t gonna happen. We have learned from the mistakes of our punk fore bearers and it won’t go down like that.
Contact : Born/Dead Po Box 22285 Oakland CA 94623 USA
nooptionsrecords chez gmail.com
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