As you may know, I have been contributing to Something Awful's "Garbage Day" feature once a month for a while now. The latest installment features a dreadful Christian nu-metal band called 1000 Foot Krutch, Big Chocolate, The Audition, and my personal favorite, a new scenebro called "JJ Demon."
Here's what Andrew (the brains behind Garbage Day) had to say about it:
Either somebody already told JJ Demon that he killed hip hop, and that insult served as the catalyst for this song, or he wrote it as a preliminary strike against the likely response. Really, though, what JJ Demon (that fucking name) does has nothing to do with hip hop. "It's not rapping, it's songwriting," his handlers clarify, a haughty position to take regarding someone best known for a song-length whine about someone sending his calls to voice mail. While the claim that "his flow and syllable placement are unmatched even by the most gifted rappers" is fucking ludicrous, JJ Demon is competent, in that his lines rhyme and they're on-beat. Lyrically, though, it's the usual blend of polysyllabic nonsense (Mesopotamia/audio/Saudi Arabian automatic) and embarrassing commentary (you love hustlin' so much/why don't you marry it?) paraded by most technically decent yet clearly just-not-fucking-getting-it white MCs. However, instead of the standard facial-hair-and-hooded-sweatshirt uniform, he looks like a slightly younger Weird Al. At least in this video. In his million MySpace pictures, he just resembles a typical scene clown.
Thanks as always to Andrew and the gang at SA for having me-- make sure you read Garbage Day every week! READ MORE HERE
As my bro Justin Harder (who you may know as the director of the Kerli video ) once said, you should "make as much stuff as you can as quickly as possible." All of us here at SYWH try to stay busy, and I wanted to share some of the things our crew here have been up to. And as always, check out Eyelicker's blog Hyperviolence and YeahYouKnowIt's Tumblr, Fuck Yeah Hollywood Undead.
SUBSTREAM
I've been really stoked to write for Substream for the past couple issues. I wrote the cover story for the current issue about Of Mice & Men (started by ex-Attack Attack singer Austin Carlile). All of them were REALLY, REALLY nice dudes, so please support them, all crabcore/epic screamo jokes aside. I also did writeups on Winds of Plague, Select Start and Demolisher. The magazine is small but awesome, and they honestly cover pretty much all the bands I like these days. Pick one up at Barnes & Noble/Hot Topic, and follow them on Twitter.
Here's an excerpt for the followup interview I did with Austin Carlile:
SMP: If I was in your shoes, I'd understand but I'm sure I'd also be pretty upset. How do you feel? Austin Carlile: Um, I'm bummed out. I feel like it could have been better as far as the timing and that things happened the way they did. I wish I could have had everything done faster, gotten better, and everything could have been okay. From a business perspective, I see where they're coming from, but from a pers onal standpoint, I started the band from nothing, so it's kind of a bummer for both parties. They lost their lead singer and I lost the band I moved to California for, and put all my time, money and effort into. I moved to here because Tino and Phil were out here, and I figured it would just be best for me to move out here with them and write an album, so I packed myself up and moved out. It was a big sacrifice, but then again, every member made one in some way or anther.
New readers might not know it, but I do/did a metal blog for a few years before this (Metal Inquisition). I'm pretty tired of writing about metal on a regular basis, but I am doing some posts here and there for my bros at Metal Sucks as a column called "GREEN EGGS & SLAM." My first is about some newer slam metal I've been listening to:
You can add “GUTTURAL SLAMMING BRUTALITY” to chocolate, watches, and neutrality under the heading of “THINGS U KNOW ABOUT SWITZERLAND” thanks to Female Nose Breaker. Euros are usually shit at slam, but Female Nose Breaker brings a slight goregrind/pornogrind edge to the Cephalotripsy formula that really slaps.
Stay tuned to Metal Sucks and support them however you can! These guys are doing it fulltime now, which is pretty srs business and very cool.
SOMETHING AWFUL
Unless you suck at the internet, you are surely familiar with the legendary Something Awful. At least 75% of "funny internet stuff" originates on either SA or 4chan, and I've been thrilled to contribute to their weekly Garbage Day column for the past six months or so. I also got Andrew to write one of my Terrorizer columns the other day since I was out of ideas- thanks bro!
I stole Andrew's description of SYWH for the "about" blurb on the right because he hit the nail on the head, and he is also one of the only people who understands what I sincerely hate: indie rock and hipsters. He understands that even though I make fun of crabcore, scene kids and Hot Topic, I actually like that stuff. It's things like Urban Outfitters and Coachella that make my blood boil. For example, here's a bit I wrote about Peaches for Garbage Day:
Peaches, "Billionaire" I feel bad for Peaches. I really do. At first glance, she comes across as the latest "shrill, angry womyn," in the tiresome tradition of Bikini Kill. But she's a smart lady (it *is* a lady, right?), and I give her more credit than that. Clearly, she wishes she could be successful as a mainstream pop musician, but she's self-aware enough to realize that her "Lady Gaga after hideous disfigurement via industrial accident" looks make that dream an impossibility. Instead, she takes advantage of the low self-esteem and insecurity of fatties, freaks, losers and other outcasts to build a fanbase that celebrates horrifyingly unattractive, personally repellent trainwrecks like Peaches. It worked for Hot Topic, and I tip my hat to her for making the most of the paltry genetic hand she was dealt. You see, in the topsy-turvy world of the angry womyn, Peaches isn't hideous, she's "confronting backward, heteronormative beauty standards." She's not doing an insultingly phony version of electro, she's "defusing the power of misogynist language by appropriating hip hop culture." As for the video, this predictable series of womynist memes elicits little more than eye-rolling. An amateurish, drag-infused take on The Wizard of Oz? Snore. Some ugly broad saying "fuck" over a dull Garageband loop? Wake me when it's over. The only part I liked was remembering how grateful I am to be normal, attractive, and popular. -Sgt. D
Pierre from Washed Up Emo and I started a little Tumblr to collect examples of something both of us hold near and dear to our hearts: BREAKDOWNS!!! No weaksauce, third-rate crabcore faux-breakdowns here, either, this is only real breakdowns that will make you feel like you're at a VOD show in 1997. Here's one that made me LOL (also, YeahYouKnowIt thought the singer for Shutdown was a girl until she saw this video-- srsly!):
Shutdown - Few and Far Between
If you want the goods, head to 1:45 and Shutdown shows us this classic “you have waited the entire song for the breakdown and now are going to have the rest of the song to mosh!”. Very helpful for those timing stage dives or setting up a friend to head walk. This video PROBABLY cost no more than $10 worth of videotapes and a strobe light. Great work Tony!
Finally, we started a little Facebook page for SYWH so we can get to know our readers a little better. It's also a handy place to post stuff that's worth seeing, but not good enough to warrant a full-fledged post (like pictures of Juggalette furries, videos of Justin Bieber eating snack foods, ADTR trivia, and so forth).
What else would you like to see on SYWH? Do you have suggestions on breakdowns?? Should we start a consulting firm to offer our sage advice to up-and-coming crabcore/crunkcore labels?? Would you like to do a guest post on SYWH??
If you didn't know, I have a monthly column in Terrorizer (a metal magazine from the UK). If you don't read it, you probably should. Here's some old ones, and if you like what you read, subscribe!
This one is about self-indulgent, aging prog rocker/Emperor frontman Ihsahn
The first words in this one are, "WHITE POWER!" It is about the dull black metal band Burzum
A few weeks ago, I woke up and saw an email I never imagined I would receive: "MIKE CHEESE has sent you a message." "Mike Cheese is on Facebook?!" I asked myself, "WTF. And why in the world would he email me??" For those who don't know, Mike is the singer for the legendary West Coast hardcore band Gehenna. I interviewed him about 15 years ago for my old zine, and he wrote to thank me for it. Weird, right?? Yes, but also pretty thoughtful for the guy who would stab his mother in the face, according to the hardcore rumor mill.
If you haven't heard of Gehenna, I don't blame you. There are some bands who never sell a lot of records, play many shows, or make a lot of merch, yet somehow have a legacy much more lasting than you would think. Like Von, Havohej, Antidote, or Straight Ahead, Gehenna is one of those bands. I got their demo in 1995 or so and have listened to it consistently ever since. It's a masterpiece of pissed off, grimy, brutal hardcore that has stood the test of time in way that almost no other releases of the 90s did, but for some reason most people don't talk about that.
When you hear about Gehenna, it's usually some herbs on a messageboard trading third-hand stories about singer Mike Cheese and how "crazy" he is. "Dude I heard Mike Cheese stabbed some dude" - "No he ran him over with a bulldozer" - "Nah man, he was the guy who released the nerve gas on the subway in Japan back in the day" and so forth. My guess is that he made up half of them for a joke, and the other half are from movies or something. I am sure some of them are true, but I am old and I'm not that interested in stories about how tough or crazy people in hardcore bands are, so I wanted to talk to Mike about something different.
Thanks to Mike for answering my dumb questions in 1996, and for taking the time to answer a new set of dumb questions in 2010!
--
A newish Gehenna studio track, "Seven Crowns" (newish meaning less than 10 years old)
I first interviewed you about 15 years ago for my high school hardcore zine. Please introduce yourself and tell me what you have been up to since then. Do you remember what you thought of my stupid questions, aside from "Who is this fucking 16 year-old gaywad and why am I wasting my time on this?", and why did you email me a few weeks ago? It has been quite a while, and some things have changed, but only a few. I’m Mike. I have been involved pretty heavily in a few different musical subcultures, playing in bands, releasing records, booking shows, and working in both the wholesale and retail sides of the music industry. I been given nick names like “Cheese”, “Mike Apocalypse”, “Big Lil City”, “The Disappointer”, “Michelada Mike”, and a bunch more for reasons that evade me. But they all stick and I like ‘em so I keep using them. When you sent me a copy of your ‘zine in 1995 there was an interview next to the letter. The zine had a photo of GEHENNA on the cover, and a full page with 6 different GEHENNA pictures, that were all taken by my friend Andrew from Phoenix, yet you were from Lakewood Ohio.
One of the finest 90s hardcore records, sadly it's fucking impossible to find. You can probably download it somewhere though.
I didn’t know what to think (later that day I was told that a thing called “the internet” existed and that was how you got those flix from Andrew). I was amazed. I thought things like “A kid from Ohio who likes my band has a computer?” and “Who would use a computer to do anything but math?” “This guy must have some sort of fucking alien technology if he can send pictures and do shit like that.” I was stunned. The ‘zine was full of cool stuff like graffiti flix, and interviews with some good bands. When I read the questions I thought “awesome. Lets get everyone together after band practice and do this interview.”
When we looked at it after it was done we thought it was a good interview and it should be printed with great response. The unfortunate truth was that it may have been a little too sarcastic. It was possibly the funniest thing in the world for me to see things like “420 + 40 = Fucked Up” And “I would like to thank pot and fire and the creator of pot on fire”. We were all straight edge but that was all stuff that we laughed about. Anyhow time passed and a friend of mine that I work with asked me about that interview and who did it. I told him it was a fellow named [Sergeant D]. He asked if you were Irish and I thought I should look it up on the internet and find out (I sort of understand computers a bit better now). Then lo and behold who do I see on facebook: [Sergeant D].
THE OLD INTERVIEW (FROM 1996)
I interviewed Mike Cheese from Gehenna. He wasn’t very nice, but since I went to the trouble of writing him I guess I might as well print this anyway... I don’t think it turned out very well, but interviews aren’t very interesting to begin with so whatever.
What’s up in San Diego? It seems like the stereotype is that they’re all screamo Gravity type bands... It’s really hard to say cause we all live in different parts of the West. One in San Diego, two in Orange County, and 2 in Reno, Nevada. As far as the “scene” in general everywhere in the US sucks shit pretty much. And Southern California is no different. Stupid ass people and crumby ass motherfucking chump bands everywhere you look. Fashion rules while any real threat takes a back seat. Hardcore is shit!
How would you say the band has changed since it started? The demo is pretty straightforward HC, while the split w/ Apt. 213 is more grindy. Gehenna is a band with a sort of “revolving door” line up. Members come and go, each adding or subtracting a bit of an influence or another. But it seems to always move to a more extreme form of music every time.
How many people in the band write? (I meant write graffiti...) None of us are illiterate. But when it comes to writing letters to friends or what not, you’d think so!
What records do you still have available? I couldn’t help ya there. Sorry.
I heard you got in a fight or something in San Francisco when you played with Spazz and Fall Silent. What’s up with that? I got Terrets Syndrom and sometimes shit just goes wrong and I’ll freak the fuck out and just start doing wild shit. I don’t remember exactly but you can ask the nerd who does Monkydickbite zine. He was at our show to pretend he was punk but went outside to fag off and suck some cock to get an interview or scene points for his gay ass zine. Or maybe ask the vegan Monster Crew fag, who thought he was tough and wound up layed on his sissy vegan ass. I don’t fuckin’ know though.
What bands / records / people are you into right now? We like a ton of stuff here’s the rundown: Bands: GG Allin, The Motherfucking Titty Suckers, Avalanche Master, Fall Silent, Unruh, Apeshit, DEA, Schellar, DRI, Chain of Strength, Enewetak, the Chiefs, Catharsis, Sleep, the Police, The whole Rap-A-Lot Records family, Gehenna (us of course!), Herb Alpert and the TJ Brass, and 3 Stoned Men! Records: 7”, 12”, and misdemeanors. Felony’s (sic) are to (sic) hard to shake. People: “The 3-D’s”: Dice, Dangerfield, and el Duce.
When you hear about people in bands like Nirvana, Pennywise, etc. dying from overdoses, what’s your reaction? I hope our band end’s up like that. I couldn’t give a flyin’ fuck. Suicide is the only answer anyway’s. Just do it. Kill everybody.
Anything you want to add / thank / talk shit about? I would like to thank: Everyone who is dead for not bothering me, the inventor of pot and the inventor of fire, the inventor of pot on fire, and all the bad words that make people mad. I would like to talk shit to: Everyone alive for bothering me. I want to add: 420 + 40oz = fucked up’ 420 + 69 = party! Shout outs: “Check me out.” “That’s what men’s do.” “Sometimes I just loose my mind when I play drums.” ‘Blow me.”
Most people are going to read this hoping for some OUTRAGEOUS MIKE CHEESE STORIES. That would be a boring and entry-level angle, but what's up with that? Why are people so fascinated with telling outrageous and probably half-true stories about you, especially Euros? I mean, I'm sure you ARE fucking crazy at times, but what's so interesting about that, you know?? If you are/were friends with Levi Watson you must not be a total dickhead and you're not in prison... There are a few reasons I end up in peoples stories.
A.) My nick names. It’s a lot easier to remember something like “then this guy named CHEESE walks in the room...” rather than “then this guy who i cant remember... wait was it Tom... no... Mark.....no...”. I’m sure you understand this cause your name is [SERGEANT D]. People like names and labels for things which leads us to...
B.) Communication. I talk to all kinds of people, because I’m interested in different things (travel, film, music, art, humor, food, sports, history, fashion etc.) So folks from different backgrounds will all say things “Dude, I heard him talking to a guy about Nike’s, and then talking to a girl about death metal, and then cooking with this old lady...” This confuses people so they get upset. Our society makes us stick to the group of people we are supposed to run with.
C.) Fear. Nothing is interesting or outrageous about me, most people are just really fucking lame. They never say anything funny or smart about anything because they’re afraid they might look bad. They never fight anybody or love anybody because they are afraid to get hurt. They just don’t fucking care about life because they are afraid. I’m not. I don’t care what people think about me. I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll die, so I’m gonna do and say what I want until then. So people like myself become a focal point of stories.
Levi is a great friend and a good guy. He’s married and has a couple of real smart kids and a cool house now.. He teaches high school and won the teacher of the year award in Reno a couple of years straight. He’s a great dude and I have tons of respect and love for him.
--
My favorite Gehenna song, from the [fucking great] demo
From reading your blog, it's obvious that you are a genuine fan of music. What keeps people like us interested in music for so long, as opposed to a phase like it is for a lot of people? Not that there's anything wrong with it being a phase, I'm not pulling the gay "I'M OLD/DOWN 4 LIFE YOU POSERS!!" card-- I'm just looking for your thoughts on why you, me, and many other people we know have chosen to spend so much of our lives on this thing? I realized I went to and loved hardcore shows in 1989, 1999 and still do in 2009... I think it goes back to what I wrote in the last question...“most people are just really fucking lame.” They think of everything in life as a prop, or an additive. Music is background rather than something to be passionate about. The record store I worked at made this brutally obvious to me. There were the drones, that were coming in to buy the latest fad record from a “cool” band, and then there were the outsiders who were curious about life. Some of these outsiders were young kids who couldn’t relate to society because of it’s shallowness. Others were grown people who had spent there lives doing what they love and seeking out new inspiration. These were the people like you and I who didn’t give a fuck what people thought.
Being passionate about things has nothing to do with age. It is all based on how perceptive your senses are. I’ve seen 40 year olds rip on skateboards, and 16 year old kids praise the righteous name of THIN LIZZY. To me it seems the more passionate and perceptive a person is the more likely they are to be involved in the things that inspire them through out their lives. Weather it is cooking, or turning wrenches, or art, or music, or reading, it isn’t a phase if you love it.
Let's play What's In The Background: some girl in a 90s-style babydoll dress who appears to be trying not to fart, several dudes in giant Droors jeans, fat kid in punk vest, token semi-hot raver girl. Yep, it's a 90s hardcore show!
It's also clear that you have really eclectic tastes. I remember when I first interviewed you, I was real stoked that you were in what I thought of as a hardcore band but were also into GG Allin, Rap-A-Lot Records, and other stuff that was pretty unexpected (especially for back then when people had much narrower tastes). You also did a split with Apartment 213, which was surprising for people like me who thought of Gehenna as an Unbroken splinter band (see Javier's interview with Steven from Unbroken for details on why I thought this). What makes you appreciate such a wide variety of music? Why do some people have shitty taste and only get into 1 genre? Myself and all the guys in GEHENNA have always been into tons of different stuff. That is why we sound the way we do. We’ve never tried to have any one kind of sound. It’s more like we just incorporate all of our favorite music together and use it as a vehicle for our aggression. We never fit one type of genre because we don’t fit in any specific scene. We never have and never will. We just play the music we want to hear because we aren’t content making music for anyone but ourselves. I think we appreciate tons of different music because we are diverse and multidimensional people.
--
A classic from the Rap-A-Lot vaults: Geto Boys "My Mind Playin Tricks On Me"
When a person only likes one type of music it is usually because that genre or scene is where that boring and mediocre person has found some sort of acceptance. They use it as a sort of weapon against living. Unfortunately when they have to deal with life, they lay down their weapon and surrender and become another robot. This is when they look back at their “life before life” as a passing phase. And again...”Most people are fucking lame.”
--
Some live footage. I have no idea when this is from or who is in the band at this point other than Mike, but it's pretty good.
When I got the answers back from our first interview, I was real bummed that you were obviously not straightedge or in the Revelation/Victory, YOT/Snapcase hardcore kid mold, because that's how I pictured Gehenna based on the Unbroken connection. Why did people care so much about things like that back in the 90s? It seems like now nobody gives a fuck?? The funny thing is that we were all straight edge at the time, though you are right we were not the typical hardcore dudes. The UNBROKEN connection (which you mentioned twice now for some reason I don’t understand) was an obvious mistake on your part. Even though Steve played drums in GEHENNA briefly, there really was no direct link. We were, are and always will be a far better band, because we make music for ourselves not for people involved in a scene. I think when people need to feel accepted they do odd things. They wont say things that are deemed offensive for fear of rejection. I think it is the same now but in a different and much worse way. No one is worried about what you eat or weather or not you smoke or drink or do drugs. Now all anyone cares about is why you don’t have a twitter account, or why you don’t follow their twitter page, or why you haven’t posted a youtube video response to something no one will care about in 2 months.
I think the writing on this flyer is Mike's? Pretty tight.
I tried to ask you about graffiti back in that old interview but you didn't want to talk about it. You had some real nice 90s San Diego-style tags, what's up with that? Were you a writer or what? I still follow graffiti pretty closely, do you? I always avoid questions about legal issues. I’ve never painted with a Montana can and I never will. I still like Pilots. I never was an artist. I ruin property, and lives.
Do you listen to any newer bands? If so, who? Just curious if/how your tastes have evolved over the years. Yeah I like a ton of stuff. THE FARLEY OVERDOSE is fucking awesome! NIFELHEIM. GIVING TREE. BLIND TO FAITH. VIOLENT RULER. UN PACINO. DER BLUTHARSCH. OVERVERT. BIG KUNTRY KING. AUTOLUX. CRYSTAL ANTLERS. RASTHOF DACHAU. RUSTEE JUXX. REPROACH. MDDL FNGZ. GUILTY SIMPSON. Of course the one and only SEAN PRICE.
I don’t know about evolving taste, because I’ve always had great taste. It doesn’t get much more evolved than that. I know that sounds odd but it is true. Most of the stuff I like and most of the stuff I’ve been into for years are things that seem to challenge the listener, as well as the musician.
***
Thanks to Mike for the thoughtful and interesting responses! If you aren't already into Gehenna, definitely do yourself a favor and buy whatever you can get your hands on (or download anything that's out of print).
Back in the old days before blogs, the Twitters, Youtubes, and all that, we had something called zines. I made few different ones, starting in about 1992 and going through 2003 or so. Most of them are fucking wretched, but I found a copy of the first issue of my best zine, HATING LIFE, from 1999 or so. I had just moved back to Seattle from Cleveland, and was very influenced by Lifesucksdie, Bruce from Phobia's zine Jellobungresia, and Fat Chicks In Party Hats. Sure, there are plenty of things about it that are awful, but all things considered I think it holds up pretty well for being a decade old.
I was living with a bunch of friends from high school (including Todd from Champion/Betrayed, who I miss a lot), and basically was just real into going to hardcore shows, writing graffiti, and hanging out with girls/my mosher bros. Accordingly, it's mostly pictures of graffiti, chicks I liked at the time, and dumb shit about metal and hardcore records, and generally along the same lines at Stuff You Will Hate-- as you will see, I've been doing this kind of annoying bullshit for a long time, for better or worse. I'll post some of the most notable pages, but you should download the full zine and read it in detail. The second page of all the interviews is in the ZIP, so what better way to piss away 20 minutes of your life that you'll never get back??
First of all, note that I titled this "INTRO BUST" many years before Double Crossed. Second, the gist of it is "if chicks aren't into your band, you suck." Sounds familiar, right?? I have been beating the "don't play boring music for beardos" drum for quite a while!
At the time, The Locust were getting real popular, and they still had proto-scene hair (before entering their more recent gasmask/light-bondage phase). People still mention this page to me from time to time, so I guess it was memorable?
Some very rare mid-90s Seattle graffiti pics- WERL, SOBER, PACE, etc. The girls are my former roommate/current BFF BloodyGuts (left) and some lame chick I was dating at the time (right). On the bottom right is KERN TA aka Metal Inquisition's Skullkrusher doing a Mother's Day piece ("Feliz Dia De Madrecita").
Interview with the geniuses in Deeds of Flesh, featuring some classic lines like "I like to piss in there mudslides and piss there lemondrops."
Clockwise from upper left: "STRIGHT EDGE" tattoo; Some bitch with busted-out teeth from the then-recent WTO rights in Seattle; misc graffiti; some ORFN/SECTER doodles courtesy of CERT; a screencap from Hamtaro; my favorite piece of graffiti ever, a BW production by BISIE, WERL, SECTER and AMAZE.
Some moderately amusing record reviews, the best one probably being Creation Is Crucifixion: "The songs are all about computers and stuff." Even then I was pissing people off by reviewing Pyrexia, Hate Eternal, and Candiria alongside Home Grown, The Enkindels, and other gay poppy shit.
Clockwise from upper left: Lame chick I dated showing her tits in front of a Skarhead poster (boobies shopped out, sorry); more rare, mid-90s Seattle graffiti from the likes of BISIE US, ADEK BTM TKO 3A, SAGER LFC NCS, ABHOR KUK, and SOBER AOD LFC; Slayer ticket; funny business card I found on the ground that says "Hey black, can a nigga dick it down from the back?"; a couple other girls I dated/crushed on.
Interview with Chris Elder from Despise You/Pessimiser- I lost his actual responses so I just made up what I thought he would have said. I think I did a pretty good job!
Interview with ARES from Downset and the legendary graffiti crew CBS. He was real, real cool and super friendly. The singer, Rey, was a very fucking strange dude but also nice. I feel like this band never really got the press they deserved.
More graffiti, including MERZ's first piece, a 625 throwup I did in 1997 or so, and a picture of Jessica Alba when she was still hot. Cringing at some of the design elements.
I don't know why I included this, but I was real into the Super Robot Wars games at the time, and included a bunch of screenshots from some of the Super Famicom titles. LOL @ the mega-90s graphic design!
Moderately amusing interview with Levi Watson from the awesome Fall Silent. I hear he is a high school teacher these days; he was always a real cool, super nice guy and I wish him the best with whatever he's up to! Solid dude for sure.
Like many other 20 year-olds, I was a guitar geek. This interview with the thoroughly average grindcore band Assuck is mostly about dumb shit like what kind of pickups Steve Heritage used, blast beats, and other stuff that only stupid kids care about. They were pretty much dicks to me. That guy Kyle from Grade or whatever was there too and was also kind of a dick. They clearly thought they were The Shit despite playing a venue that was essentially a punk rock flophouse in the ghetto with 100 kids in attendance, tops. Lame band.
Back cover- a screencap from Pocket Fighter for PS1. Great game! I don't know why I blurred out the address since I haven't lived there since 2000, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry?
What do you think?? Please feel free to make fun of it, god knows I'm asking for it after mocking the creative output of many current 20 year-olds. Hopefully it will bring back memories for any oldz reading, and give you newer kids some insight into the bizarre world of 90s hardcore. Either way, hope you like it or at least have a good laugh at my expense!
Here are some videos I made a couple of years ago when I was working for this magazine called Flo. They made the rounds on Bridge 9 and a lot of other hardcore boards but I thought I'd post them all here just for shits and giggles. Apparently Roger Miret was not real happy about them because he thought we were making fun of Vinnie, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Vinnie is a hardcore legend, nice guy, and hilarious. These are tributes, not mockery. We love Vinnie, Agnostic Front and are grateful for all his contributions to music (such as arguably INVENTING hardcore).
FYI: This post is not a joke or sarcastic. I really did make these videos.
I am old and I grew up listening to hardcore and metal. Here is what my friends at Something Awful said about this blog. I like it:
The meaning of "Stuff You Will Hate" changes depending on the installment, and often during the course of a single column. It can mean "stuff I love, but that you, the reader, will dislike." Sometimes it means "stuff you will hate, and I hate it as well." And sometimes, it means "stuff you like, and I might actually like it, too, but I'm going to pretend to hate it in a way that will infuriate you because it will be written as a parody of a typical idiot hating something great, and you'll quote the fake blurb to your friends and say 'what an ignorant dick' when in reality it's intentional and now we're laughing at you, you gullible fuck."
