Top 10 - February 2011
1. I OBJECT “Save Yourself” ep (Feral Kid)
2. COLA FREAKS CD (Hjernespind)
3. NERVOUS SYSTEM “Bombs Away” ep (Ratbite / Several Casualties)
4. DFA “Discography” CD (Unrest)
5. APPARATUS “Hardcore Religion!” LP (Disarmament / Totalmangel)
6. AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED / A.N.S. “Tribute to Gang Green” 5” (Tank Crimes)
7. SICK-FUCKIN-O “Sex Cell$” ep (Regurgitated Semen)
8. 1981 ep (Passing Bells)
9. COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON “Eater of Worlds” LP (Aborted Society)
10. PARASITIC “Poison Minds” LP (Vex)
Labels:
* Feral Kid – 27 Ripley Place / Buffalo, NY / 14213 / USA / www.feralkidrecords.com
* Hjernespind – P.O. Box 2200 / Copenhagen N. / Denmark /www.hjernespind.com
* Ratbite Records – ratbiterecords@gmail.com // Several Casualties Productions – aki.tervonen@hotmail.com)
* Disarmament Records – P.O. Box 7126 / 40704 Shah Alam / Selangor / Malaysia / www.disarmamentrecords.tk // Totalmangel Records – P.O. Box 12482 / 50780 Kuala Luimpur / Malaysia / totalmangelrecords.blogspot.com)
* Tank Crimes –
* Passing Bells – Lantinen Pitkakatu 19 as. 18 / 20100 Turku / Finland
* Aborted Society Records – 1122 E. Pike Street #1377 / Seattle, Washington, / 98122-3934 / USA / www.abortedsociety.com
* Unrest Records – 10654 – 82 Avenue, Suite 239 / Edmonton, Alberta / T6E 2A7 / Canada / www.unrestrecords.com
* Regurgitated Semen Records – Strasse des Friedens 45 / 07819 Mittelpoellnitz / Germany / skrupel@web.de
Monday, February 28, 2011
Interview - Total Trash
TOTAL TRASH were formed from a band called NOISE and the break up of BORED STIFF. Forget what you’ve heard they sound like neither. Inspired by BAD CHOICE, URBAN BLIGHT, and traditional Boston hardcore, Alican writes existential lessons to these hardcore numbers. Now that they have a bass player that they can rely on in Lautaro the band is playing out more often. This interview took place live at CIUT on Sunday February 27h, 2011.
What is the song “Gregor Samsa” about?
Alican (A): I wrote it shortly after I read “the Metaphorsis” by Franz Kafka, which is about a guy who wakes up in the morning and he has been morphed into a huge insect creature and the story tells of his family abandoning him. It is about the alienation through that experience. I thought it would be a good thing to write a hardcore song about because that’s what hardcore is.
It is in essence. There is many themes about alienation. Can you guys introduce yourselves and tell us how you contribute to TOTAL TRASH?
Andy (An): I’m Andy. I play guitar.
Alicon (A): I’m Alican and I play drums according to Now Magazine or I do vocals.
Lautaro (L): I’m Lautaro and I play the bass.
Spencer (S): I’m Spencer and I am the real drummer.
Lautaro, I understand you are not the first bass player.
L: Oh no. There has been
….a string of them.
An: Lautaro is our fourth bass player.
How come you guys have such a hard time keeping bass players?
A: It’s tough.
An: They are always the difficult one. No that’s not true.
Who has been in the line up in terms of bass players. Who was your original bass player?
A: Cab.
And who is Cab?
A: Cab is the singer of WRATH RIOT. He knew Spencer and he played bass for us for about a half a year and then we went through a whole bunch of names and we finally had some material and then we got into recording and realized he couldn’t play the songs very well. So we got Connor, which is bass player number two.
Connor was in SNAKEPIT.
A: Connor was around but he didn’t have a lot of time for the band and we needed someone who could stay committed. So it was a mutual thing. And then Mike came in.
Mike the Mosher?
A: Mike the Mosher.
And how did Mike fair? I guess not well enough to stick around. What happened to Mike?
A: Basically, everything was going good. We played three shows. I was telling Hamtar for the longest time that we needed a bass player in TOTAL TRASH when Connor was around because we needed to find a new guy and Hamtaro didn’t think he would have enough time because he is in Grade 12 and he wants to go to school next year and get good marks. So Hamtaro told me he had time and he was down to play bass. We wanted to hand the torch down to him because he is younger than us. We told Mike. Mike did the same thing for my old band, NOISE. He was a true inspiration. We saw BAD CHOICE from the first show on.
So Mike was in BAD CHOICE. What about the rest of you. Have you played in previous bands prior to TOTAL TRASH?
An: I was in BORED STIFF. You knew about that one.
A: They had a “Panic Attack”.
An: We were on a “Losing Streak”.
Okay we can quote song titles all night. What about the rest of you. Were you in any bands before?
S: When I was living in Kingston I was jamming with some guys back there. We had a few songs but we never played any gigs.
A: And me and Spencer also played in NOISE. He was on drums and I was on guitar and vocals. We were just a shitty ska punk band and then I got into hardcore. I had been listening to that for a while and I got into the hardcore scene. So we recorded a hardcore demo which was alright and then our bass player moved to Ottawa. It was around the same time that BORED STIFF was breaking up. We messaged Andy and so NOISE and one quarter of BORED STIFF ended up turning into TOTAL TRASH.
L: I used to play with somebody. I’m not sure you could call it a band. We used to jam in my friend’s basement.
That is where you get the bug. If you like it and have fun you go the next step.
L: It wasn’t really a hardcore band though it was just pop music.
How did they find out that you played bass?
L: I met Alican in his last year at high school. We went to the same high school.
A: We were the two high school communists so we just hit it up.
L: He took me to FUCKED UP which was my first show last year and after that I really got into hardcore. So he invited me to play bass for TOTAL TRASH.
What opiates are you referring to in a song by the same name?
A: That is a reference to Karl Marx. Religion is the opium of the masses. So it is about religion. That song I wrote recently. I don’t even have all the lyrics for it. What I wanted the song to focus on is how I don’t believe in collective faith. We live in such an individualized world and I don’t believe that collective religion can exist. I don’t think it is possible for two people to share the same morals or values.
So are you leaving the door open for individual faith?
A: Pretty much. I am just against organized religion in general.
For the Marxian principle or for some other reason?
A: Lots of reasons and not just the Marxian principle.
Yes there is many. How long have TOTAL TRASH been together for? When did you guys originally start?
An: Come September it will be two years.
Where does the name TOTAL TRASH come from?
An: A SONIC YOUTH song.
I don’t know the song. Can you tell me how does it pertain to the band?
An: I just always thought it was a really great song. That is essentially where it comes from.
Do you inject a meaning behind the name?
An: Maybe. I think a lot of our songs point out things that are not right. A collective pointing out of things that are not right.
Sometimes I see you guys using TOTAL THRASH, making fun of yourselves.
An: We have a bunch of alter egos for the band.
A: TOTAL CASH is the hip hop group. TOTAL THRASH is the metal band. There was TOTAL ZUUL which was a really embarrassing incident. Then there was TOTAL GHOUL which was our death rock band.
And did you actually write songs for each of those bands?
A: No, except for TOTAL ZUUL which only played one show which should never be mentioned.
An: For about three minutes.
But I did hear something about TOTAL ZUUL. Tell me more about them.
A: We were playing a show at the house of everlasting super joy and two hours before the show we realized that Spencer was in the hospital with food poisoning.
An: I am on my way downtown and I get a text message from Spencer saying “I can’t come to the show tonight.”
A: So I decide that I am going to take over on guitar but I was not in any state to be playing guitar. Plus I couldn’t even properly play the songs.
An: I was going to play drums, but I was in no state to be playing drums.
No state because you were sick too.
An: No we were just drunk.
A: Then Connor showed up and he was sober which was a problem.
An: Connor is the least sober person.
A: And everything was out of tune. Mike took over on vocals for us and he didn’t know any of the words. So he just yelled stuff like “We are Total Zuul. Don’t fuck with us”. Then he started attacking the audience. This happened for about two and a half songs.
An: One and a half. We played “Gregor Samsa” and then we tried to play “Socially Fucked’ and then we tried to play it again and it wasn’t working.
I was thinking the song “Gregor Samsa” works really well as an intro because you mention the band name at that part.
A: I think you mentioned before that this was an homage to BAD CHOICE for the song on their demo. He says this is B.C.T.O. This has been a long time coming. I just thought that it was awesome so I wanted to do something equally bad ass like that.
And it worked great in the Studio 3 session because it opened up the show for us. So where did you come up with the idea to do that?
A: It started with the beat. These guys were playing it and I was just doing the BAD CHOICE thing. It was just a joke and then it turned into a part about us.
Then it became a fixture to the song. It works well. What is the song “No York” about?
A: Toronto. Basically Toronto’s old name is York. And Toronto aspires to be this amazing metropolitan world class city.
It has New York envy for sure.
A: It is basically saying this is no New York. It is just Toronto. It is what it is.
Actually that is an awesome thought. And you guys were in New York just last week.
A: Yes we were. New York. No York. We should do a split.
Who do you consider influences on the band?
An: I would like to say different parts of Boston hardcore. More pertaining towards the JERRY’s KIDS.
The bass in your sound reminds me more of the SSD / DYS thing.
An: I also hear some DOA. Maybe because one of the old NOISE songs sounds just like “Fucked Up Ronnie”. The more full guitar sound reminds me of DOA. I want to say L.A. punk like the GERMS. And then some things that are outside of hardcore.
A: Some noise rock and stuff.
I understand the drummer has a standard drum beat.
An: The S-Beat.
What is the S-Beat?
S: They just started calling it that because I always play the same beat. Apparently it comes from the D-Beat.
An: It is a play on the D-Beat standard of drumming. There is only one Spencer and there is only one S Beat.
A: And there is only one DISCHARGE.
The S-Beat works really well. Who cares. It works.
An: That is just another thing that has worked it’s way into our sound.
If you had to describe TOTAL TRASH’s sound to somebody who would you say you sound like?
An: Some dudes who play music.
For someone who knows hardcore what kind of identifiers would you use?
An: Again I would say something leaning towards Boston hardcore but also working outside of the box of hardcore.
A: I think Andy described us well once when he said JERRY’s KIDS meets SONIC YOUTH or something, but I think a better description would be Hilary Duff’s version of “Hanna Montana” but that is just me.
Yeah that is you. I don’t hear that. Did you guys go see BROKEN last night? They do a JERRY’s KIDS cover.
An: What song do they cover?
It is not “Build me a Bomb” because we were talking about SPAZM 151’s cover of that song.
An: We were actually talking about doing that song.
Well someone else does it if you are trying to be unique.
An: We have done covers before that other people do.
But one you did recently was a JOY DIVISION song. I have heard of JOY DIVISION being covered but never “Wilderness”.
An: I listened to it and I realized one day that if this was played as a hardcore song it would be really cool. With the driving floor tom and the bass line is wicked.
A: But we fucked it up so bad.
An: No it sounds cool.
I think it sounded great.
A: I wasn’t a fan.
Are you fishing for a compliment here or something?
A: No. I don’t like it.
You seemed a little uncomfortable with the lyrics.
A: Because I just started doing the lyrics in the morning.
But Andy did some good back ups for you. That filled it in a bit. The guitar in there reminds me of GANG OF FOUR. If you collectively had to pull together five punk releases that influence or drive the TOTAL TRASH sound who would they be?
A: BAD CHOICE because that is how I got into the scene and it is cool stuff and it is hard and it is good.
An: I am going to put in “Is This My World? by JERRY’S KIDS.
A: SONIC YOUTH because of our name.
An: It is hard to pick a SONIC YOUTH record.
L: I think we have an old hardcore sound like SSD and NEGATIVE FX.
An: I would like to say “Get It Away” by SSD too. That record has a little bit more rough kind of feel.
A: “Party in the USA” just like the single. Crucial.
An: That is staying on the list.
You guys get criticized for being AGNOSTIC FRONT haters. How did you get this reputation?
An: This is not all of us. This is Spencer.
Dude. I approve. That’s a good thing.
A: How?
When I was a kid I got punched in the stomach by some skinhead at an AGNOSTIC FRONT show. Then I watched them as their white power friends starting writing white power graffiti all over the club and they singled handedly ruined the one scene space that they had in Buffalo. And I saw them rip off drum equipment from one of the opening bands that loved them. That band became ONE LIFE CREW. So a lot of crappy things happened at one show. I was convinced after that. I didn’t need to see anything else. I don’t even need to read the lyrics to “Public Assistance’.
S: I actually don’t hate AGNOSTIC FRONT.
What happened?
An: It was Spoiler and Hoagie from the OMEGAS that made up this entire thing. We were talking to them about a show we did where we did a cover of “Victim in Pain” and Spencer played the drums really weird on it. They determined that Spencer was an AGNOSTIC FRONT hater.
They thought you were ruining the song or something.
S: I thought I was doing a good job.
An: No.
S: I might have just been lazy that night. I remember you complaining about that and then I heard the recording and it did sound a bit off.
Have you not done the song since?
A: We have.
An: The last time we did it was the last show we played with Connor.
A: I remember being really pissed off and we were rocking out to AGNOSTIC FRONT and none of the hipsters would sing along. Hands crossed. Too cool. Grow down a bit.
Are there any other songs that you cover?
A: “Boiling Point”.
S: “Feel Like a Man” by NEGATIVE FX.
An: We haven’t done that at a show yet. Eventually in the future we will.
Is that a new cover that you are doing?
An: Yeah. Prior to doing this session I wanted to do two covers. The NEGATIVE FX cover would have been awesome and the JOY DIVISION cover came out of nowhere.
So you haven’t played this NEAGTIVE FX song much. This is a new cover that you are doing. I wanted to ask you how many shows you guys have played so far.
A: Ten or eleven.
What was your first show?
An: January 22nd, 2010.
Who did you play with?
A: CAREER SUICIDE.
An: USELESS EATERS, URBAN BLIGHT, SCHOOL JERKS.
Where was that show at?
An: That was at the Poor Alex.
In this week’s Now Magazine, in response to the issues raised about the difficulty of sustaining all ages venues Alican is quoted as saying “Things just always mess up. House shows or shows in someone’s space can be really difficult because often people become frustrated if things get destroyed.” You sound like you are referring to some specific examples.
A: There has been a lot of venues that Toronto has gone through from house shows being broken up by police to all sorts of stuff screwing up. Rancho Relaxo is no longer doing shows. After RIVAL MOB, the owner got angry.
What happened?
L: A speaker fell. One of the speaker’s from the ceiling.
A: Too many frat boys.
An: People were just flying all over the place. I heard something about poor bar sales too.
A: There was also the house of everlasting superjoy which was a cool loft space.
Where was that at?
A: It was near Lansdowne. Just south of Bloor. It’s on Sterling.
What is the song “Violence” about?
A: It is about urban blight destruction. I got the name from Allen Ginsberg’s poem by the same name.
Is it about crappy urban planning?
A: It’s not a rant. There is no message.
TOTAL TRASH has some difficulty playing shows. Can you tell me about that? There have been at least three shows that you were supposed to play that you didn’t. What has gone on?
A: It started with TOTAL ZUUL. Over the summer we were supposed to be playing two shows.
The TOTAL ZUUL show was because Spencer got sick and you still tried to play against the odds.
A: And then we tried to play the Bridge Over Trouble Waters over the summer twice. The first time the generator failed. The second time we were supposed to play with SCHOOL JERKS and it took until 2:30am to get the first part of the equipment in. By that time everyone was really tired and really drunk and didn’t want to play a show.
L: I actually stayed that night until almost 3:00am. There was hope and the SCHOOL JERKS kept telling us they were going to play.
So that happened twice. Something happened with a show and TROOPS OF TOMORROW that involved Spencer losing a beer. What was the story?
S: It is kind of a funny story because half of TROOPS OF TOMORROW are straight edge. I know there singer is. I don’t know who else is. Right up by the stage there is a ledge and I was leaning up against it. The singer comes up to me and starts leaning on me. I didn’t know what he was doing, but then he just grabs my beer and pours it out.
A: He was being a real macho asshole that night. He came up on stage and said “I have been edge for four years. If you break edge you are a fuckin’ pussy.” He was just being vulgar and macho. The rest of the band was super nice.
S: Later one of the guys in the band came up and asked if the singer had thrown out my beer. He gave me another beer. Then the guitar player who is really hot gave me her phone number. That was a bonus.
An: I didn’t see the incident. I was talking to Ben about guitars. I wish I had seen it just to see Spencer’s reaction.
Are they from here?
A: No. DC.
An: We did an ‘86 MENTALITY cover twice. We did “Blood Red Violence”. They seemed to enjoy it. Being that ‘86 MENTALITY were from DC.
“Socially Fucked.” What is that about?
An: I wrote it about feeling over the edge. I get really stressed out all the time. It’s about feeling like you are at your wit’s end.
So it is not about awkwardness or anything like that?
An: Maybe a little bit now that I think about it.
When I think of socially fucked I think of not being able to function and being socially ostracized. Not fitting in.
An: It is kind of about that. It is mentally not feeling like you are right.
In some ways I think it is a rallying cry for punks. We can all relate to this sentiment. And sometimes we would label the assholes among us that.
An: Yes. The beer pourers.
Can you tell me about the demo? The 5 song demo.
A: It’s a cassette tape. Jonah recorded it. Mike the Mosher had actually given a copy of our NOISE tape to Jonah and Jonah actually thought it was alright.
How did he record it?
A: It was super lo fi. We had one digital four track mic. We used that to do all the instruments and then I brought it home and when my parents went out I yelled at my Mac Book for an hour. We got some vocals on it and me mixing it was with garage band and that was it. Somehow Jonah thought it was okay and he said he could record us. I almost had a heart attack. Eventually we got together and recorded the few songs we had written with the new band. We got it done in three sessions.
An: We brought Connor into the band while we were recording the demo and we were showing him the bass lines. We would practice for an hour and then we would record the bass tracks that we had just practiced.
When did you record this?
A: December 3rd, 2009 through to January.
Well URBAN BLIGHT were the same because Jonah was in and out of town. They would get him for a little bit and then he is gone.
An: We were fortunate not to have him for a couple of weeks. We were able to do the initial session in which the guitars and drums were all done and half the vocals. The only thing left to do was the rest of the vocals and the bass.
The bed tracks minus the bass and the vocals.
An: He started losing his voice during recording.
It happens, especially because you are used to screaming really loud. I think of the practice setting you have to scream over top of amps right? Usually with practice you don’t have to scream as many times. In a recording session you have to do it a few more times and your voice gives. It happened to me both times I was in bands. So how many songs did you record?
An: We did record six but we only released five.
A: There is “the Argument”.
An: We didn’t have a name for the song but Jonah dubbed it “the Argument” on his first collection of rough mixes he sent us.
Why because you were having an argument?
A: We had a song called “the Confusing song” and then there was “the Confusing song, Part 2”, which was “Sanitize me” which we don’t do anymore. We called it “The Confusing Song” because we didn’t have a name for it and Jonah just decided to call it “The Argument” because no one actually knew what the “The Confusing Song” was. Everyone had a different idea of what “The Confusing Song” was.
An: We got into a heated debate about it. Spencer and I were yelling at each other.
Was there a reason why you guys left it off? You just didn’t like it? Or was it too confusing?
A: We needed to change some things up and I hadn’t recorded vocals for it.
S: And the timing was off on a lot of it.
Was it a newer song? Was that why the timing was off?
A: Sort of.
An: You guys wrote that with NOISE before me.
So it wasn’t a newer song.
A: It was because we never actually did it with NOISE.
What is “Sanitize Me” about?
A: That’s about sitting in line waiting to go to a health care clinic and just rotting away in people’s diseases. It is an ultra sanitary environment but at the same time it is crawling with bacteria and it is a pretty gross place that seems so clean.
You often hear stories of people dying in hospitals.
An: It’s about swine flu.
A: It’s about SARS. We are putting out a 7” actually.
L: I don’t actually hate the song. I learned it but no one has practiced it.
So why aren’t you playing it anymore?
An: It was written as a filler song to begin with.
A: It seems too poppy. It just seems too happy.
Poppy? It is played with a lot of energy and you are spitting out the lyrics very quickly. I love how fast it is played. I think it has great pace to it. I understand that when you were recording the demo you were listening in on the headphones and trying to circle pit while listening. Is this a common experience?
An: We were just moshing around while Connor was recording the bass tracks so the only thing playing in the room was Connor playing bass. We were goofing around. Jonah thought it was pretty entertaining.
A: I don’t even remember that. You just bedroom mosh when you hear music.
Alican, I saw you bedroom moshing while we were recording. It is like second nature to you. So I am wondering if bedroom moshing is the standard at which a TOTAL TRASH song makes the grade or not.
A: Basically. I sit in my room and listen to it and if I can’t mosh to it I throw it out of the set.
L: I bedroom mosh to TOTAL TRASH all the time.
A: What a loser.
You guys can’t deny that you do it either. You have been caught on this show doing it.
A: I bedroom mosh so hard to “More Reality” on a weekly basis.
S: My dog bedroom moshes harder than everyone. The whole time we are practicing she chases her tail.
A: I just remember being tripped out because we would go down to your basement and we start playing this skanky ska music and all of a sudden his dog starts spinning around. I am trying to figure out what is happening.
The dog is leading the charge. She got the pit going.
A: His dog is a living circle pit.
S: We need to make a video of that. She does it while she is eating too. She takes one bite and then spins around until her face hits the bowl again and then she goes in for more food. She won’t eat her dogfood without doing that. She is hilarious.
Dogs love their tails.
L: Dogs love hardcore.
Who writes the lyrics? It sounds like Andy and Alican take turns.
An: Mostly Alican.
A: Andy writes most of the guitar stuff. I write most of the vocals.
S: Andy will bring in a guitar riff and I will play around with it. Then we all agree with it.
An: We tell Lautaro to make his bass go distorted.
Lautaro, your bass sound reminds me of URBAN BLIGHT’s sound.
L: They are a big influence on me. They were one of the first bands I started listening to.
It’s a good influence. Let me ask you about the lyrics because that’s where I started with this. What are some of the things you sing about? We have talked about quite a few songs that you have done but is there a running theme to some of it?
A: Not really. One of the principle things I want to cover with the lyrics is existentialism and that’s what “No Freedom” is off the demo.
Are you studying that in school?
A: I did this project for a writing course that I took last year and that is also where the “Metamorphosis” comes from?
I don’t know what existentialism is. You have to break it down for me.
A: It is basically this philosophy that entails that there is no meaning to anything in the world and that people have to create meaning for themselves. I think that’s what the punk scene really is. Especially hardcore. Hardcore is always the somebodys. It’s not just the street punk from the McCorner. It’s not just the guys guzzling beers and squeegeeing your cars. It’s the clean white kid who comes out of the suburbs and he is pissed off. So he lives this Johnny Be Good Lifestyle by day but by night he goes apeshit with his friends. He is pissed off. Everyone has these altering personas, but at the end of the day you have this way of seeing things and that is hardcore.
Okay so that is the filter you are running through.
A: Yeah, for the most part.
What would be your favourite TOTAL TRASH song from a lyrical standpoint?
A: I don’t know to be honest. I hate most of the lyrics I write.
So there is nothing you like more over the other?
A: “No York” is fun just because it is straight to the point.
After you explained it to me, I loved the connotation behind it.
A: I think “Gregor Samsa” is alright.
Andy, have you written more than one song?
An: I have.
Do you have a favourite song from a lyrical standpoint?
An: Not really. It is hard to pick. Most of my lyrics as I wrote them are in the process of being written. It is even like that when I wrote music. I may write half a riff but then I will need some inspiration to fill in the rest of it. My lyrics are more like that.
What about Lautaro and Spencer?
S: I would say “Socially Fucked” because that’s the only one I know what the lyrics are.
Let me ask you about the song “Freedom”. What is it about?
A: That is another book reference. That was the other book I did for my existentialism thing. That was Jean Paul Satre’s “The Wall”. That is about a Republican during the Spanish Civil War and the Fascists take him in and they are about to shoot him via firing squad and they ask him the location of his friend one of the leaders and he makes up this random place and the soldiers end up finding him there and killing his best friend. Then he is crippled with fear and terror but they let him go.
Does it have a real day application?
A: It just seemed like something brutal to write into a song. This guy awaiting death and then realizes that his best friend is being killed instead of him. It just seemed like something cool to turn into a song.
It reminds me of that experiment they used to do for psychology where you could either push the button and hurt somebody or you would take the pain yourself and people more opted to push the button. The person wasn’t actually getting pain they were just told to scream when the light came on.
A: There is no application or at least I didn’t come up with one.
One of you was telling me that this song has been recorded for a single.
An: Yes. This song and “No Freedom” were both recorded for a single.
So they almost cancel each other out.
An: It is kind of an aesthetic thing that we did there. And they are both long songs.
A: It is sort of an homage to classic Toronto hardcore. Like FUCKED UP “Pasaran / No Pasaran”. “One Snake / Two Snakes”. HAZ WAS “Pay / Don’t Pay”. “More Reality / Less Reality”.
When is this single coming out?
An: We have no idea.
Who is putting it out?
A: Buzz Records is putting it out but they are out of budget for vinyl right now so it looks like it might take up to a year.
Who is Buzz Records?
A: A local label that just sort of started. They do mostly indie / noise rock kind of stuff.
How did they pick you guys?
A: I guess because we are on the noisier spectrum of Toronto hardcore. In “Freedom” we do some more experimental things and they like that.
An: Well those guys like the punk stuff in Toronto too so they probably heard us through some of the punk bands. It might also work if we did a split release with the band to get it out sooner.
What are your thoughts on the Toronto scene at the moment?
An: It’s good. Things got quiet for a while prior to when we first started playing shows. But new bands are getting together.
A: DIRECT APPROACH.
An: It is weird to see an even younger generation of kids getting into hardcore. The scene expands.
How do you think I feel? So who are some of the bands that you are digging right now?
A: DIRECT APPROACH is the newest one. PURITY CONTROL is one before.
An: I have no issues with anybody. I like everybody.
This is almost a shout out question. You can’t cheat like that. You have to name names.
S: URBAN BLIGHT.
A: The new MOLESTED YOUTH 7” rules. BURNING LOVE rules. CAREER SUICIDE doesn’t play shows enough but they rule. I feel like this summer is going to be interesting for Toronto music because it has been so long since there has been a decent all ages place. I am hoping it will be an opportunity for DIY spaces to open up. I feel like the bar thing destroys the point of shows. You don’t have the community feel anymore.
Do you really think that there is a lack of spaces? There are some places that will do shows that kids could get in at.
A: There is hardly any for hardcore. They are doing all ages shows at the Hard Luck Bar which rules. Parts & Labour did some. I think Siesta Nouveaux started charging more for the space.
L: Rancho Relaxo used to do shows.
A: But they weren’t all ages you could just get in.
Yeah but that’s what it was like when I was a kid. I was 15 going to these bars and you just tried to look older. People wouldn’t really ask. You just didn’t offer. What are the plans for TOTAL TRASH in the next little bit aside from the single?
A: We want to do some kind of an American tour. We have a lot of good friends in Chicago and we want to go visit them.
An: We just want to hit up everywhere that we possibly can.
A: We are supposed to be putting out a 7” on Deranged hopefully. Gord messaged us and told us he liked the demo. He told me to contact him when we record more stuff.
Maybe you can ask Gord to split finance the single.
An: That is not a bad idea at all.
It is all ready to go right?
An: I need to finish the artwork.
A: Sebastian from DIRECT APPROACH did some beautiful artwork on the cover that is going to look really good.
What does it look like?
An: Some dudes getting shot.
A: It is “The Barricade” by Monet and instead of that it is soldiers shooting at civilians. He did a different version where it is the G20 riot police shooting at civilians.
An: The civilians resemble us. It is Mike the Mosher on the cover with us. I have had the art sitting at my house for so long.
How can people get in touch with you?
A: Myspace, e-mail, or just talk to us. We are nice guys. We all have phone numbers.
What about if people are reading this outside of the Toronto area.
A: Visit our myspace page and send us a message.
Do you guys have a blog?
An: noyorknoyork.blogspot.com. It is more detailed than our myspace page.
A: So if you want to learn more about our feelings you can go on to our blog.
What is the song “Gregor Samsa” about?
Alican (A): I wrote it shortly after I read “the Metaphorsis” by Franz Kafka, which is about a guy who wakes up in the morning and he has been morphed into a huge insect creature and the story tells of his family abandoning him. It is about the alienation through that experience. I thought it would be a good thing to write a hardcore song about because that’s what hardcore is.
It is in essence. There is many themes about alienation. Can you guys introduce yourselves and tell us how you contribute to TOTAL TRASH?
Andy (An): I’m Andy. I play guitar.
Alicon (A): I’m Alican and I play drums according to Now Magazine or I do vocals.
Lautaro (L): I’m Lautaro and I play the bass.
Spencer (S): I’m Spencer and I am the real drummer.
Lautaro, I understand you are not the first bass player.
L: Oh no. There has been
….a string of them.
An: Lautaro is our fourth bass player.
How come you guys have such a hard time keeping bass players?
A: It’s tough.
An: They are always the difficult one. No that’s not true.
Who has been in the line up in terms of bass players. Who was your original bass player?
A: Cab.
And who is Cab?
A: Cab is the singer of WRATH RIOT. He knew Spencer and he played bass for us for about a half a year and then we went through a whole bunch of names and we finally had some material and then we got into recording and realized he couldn’t play the songs very well. So we got Connor, which is bass player number two.
Connor was in SNAKEPIT.
A: Connor was around but he didn’t have a lot of time for the band and we needed someone who could stay committed. So it was a mutual thing. And then Mike came in.
Mike the Mosher?
A: Mike the Mosher.
And how did Mike fair? I guess not well enough to stick around. What happened to Mike?
A: Basically, everything was going good. We played three shows. I was telling Hamtar for the longest time that we needed a bass player in TOTAL TRASH when Connor was around because we needed to find a new guy and Hamtaro didn’t think he would have enough time because he is in Grade 12 and he wants to go to school next year and get good marks. So Hamtaro told me he had time and he was down to play bass. We wanted to hand the torch down to him because he is younger than us. We told Mike. Mike did the same thing for my old band, NOISE. He was a true inspiration. We saw BAD CHOICE from the first show on.
So Mike was in BAD CHOICE. What about the rest of you. Have you played in previous bands prior to TOTAL TRASH?
An: I was in BORED STIFF. You knew about that one.
A: They had a “Panic Attack”.
An: We were on a “Losing Streak”.
Okay we can quote song titles all night. What about the rest of you. Were you in any bands before?
S: When I was living in Kingston I was jamming with some guys back there. We had a few songs but we never played any gigs.
A: And me and Spencer also played in NOISE. He was on drums and I was on guitar and vocals. We were just a shitty ska punk band and then I got into hardcore. I had been listening to that for a while and I got into the hardcore scene. So we recorded a hardcore demo which was alright and then our bass player moved to Ottawa. It was around the same time that BORED STIFF was breaking up. We messaged Andy and so NOISE and one quarter of BORED STIFF ended up turning into TOTAL TRASH.
L: I used to play with somebody. I’m not sure you could call it a band. We used to jam in my friend’s basement.
That is where you get the bug. If you like it and have fun you go the next step.
L: It wasn’t really a hardcore band though it was just pop music.
How did they find out that you played bass?
L: I met Alican in his last year at high school. We went to the same high school.
A: We were the two high school communists so we just hit it up.
L: He took me to FUCKED UP which was my first show last year and after that I really got into hardcore. So he invited me to play bass for TOTAL TRASH.
What opiates are you referring to in a song by the same name?
A: That is a reference to Karl Marx. Religion is the opium of the masses. So it is about religion. That song I wrote recently. I don’t even have all the lyrics for it. What I wanted the song to focus on is how I don’t believe in collective faith. We live in such an individualized world and I don’t believe that collective religion can exist. I don’t think it is possible for two people to share the same morals or values.
So are you leaving the door open for individual faith?
A: Pretty much. I am just against organized religion in general.
For the Marxian principle or for some other reason?
A: Lots of reasons and not just the Marxian principle.
Yes there is many. How long have TOTAL TRASH been together for? When did you guys originally start?
An: Come September it will be two years.
Where does the name TOTAL TRASH come from?
An: A SONIC YOUTH song.
I don’t know the song. Can you tell me how does it pertain to the band?
An: I just always thought it was a really great song. That is essentially where it comes from.
Do you inject a meaning behind the name?
An: Maybe. I think a lot of our songs point out things that are not right. A collective pointing out of things that are not right.
Sometimes I see you guys using TOTAL THRASH, making fun of yourselves.
An: We have a bunch of alter egos for the band.
A: TOTAL CASH is the hip hop group. TOTAL THRASH is the metal band. There was TOTAL ZUUL which was a really embarrassing incident. Then there was TOTAL GHOUL which was our death rock band.
And did you actually write songs for each of those bands?
A: No, except for TOTAL ZUUL which only played one show which should never be mentioned.
An: For about three minutes.
But I did hear something about TOTAL ZUUL. Tell me more about them.
A: We were playing a show at the house of everlasting super joy and two hours before the show we realized that Spencer was in the hospital with food poisoning.
An: I am on my way downtown and I get a text message from Spencer saying “I can’t come to the show tonight.”
A: So I decide that I am going to take over on guitar but I was not in any state to be playing guitar. Plus I couldn’t even properly play the songs.
An: I was going to play drums, but I was in no state to be playing drums.
No state because you were sick too.
An: No we were just drunk.
A: Then Connor showed up and he was sober which was a problem.
An: Connor is the least sober person.
A: And everything was out of tune. Mike took over on vocals for us and he didn’t know any of the words. So he just yelled stuff like “We are Total Zuul. Don’t fuck with us”. Then he started attacking the audience. This happened for about two and a half songs.
An: One and a half. We played “Gregor Samsa” and then we tried to play “Socially Fucked’ and then we tried to play it again and it wasn’t working.
I was thinking the song “Gregor Samsa” works really well as an intro because you mention the band name at that part.
A: I think you mentioned before that this was an homage to BAD CHOICE for the song on their demo. He says this is B.C.T.O. This has been a long time coming. I just thought that it was awesome so I wanted to do something equally bad ass like that.
And it worked great in the Studio 3 session because it opened up the show for us. So where did you come up with the idea to do that?
A: It started with the beat. These guys were playing it and I was just doing the BAD CHOICE thing. It was just a joke and then it turned into a part about us.
Then it became a fixture to the song. It works well. What is the song “No York” about?
A: Toronto. Basically Toronto’s old name is York. And Toronto aspires to be this amazing metropolitan world class city.
It has New York envy for sure.
A: It is basically saying this is no New York. It is just Toronto. It is what it is.
Actually that is an awesome thought. And you guys were in New York just last week.
A: Yes we were. New York. No York. We should do a split.
Who do you consider influences on the band?
An: I would like to say different parts of Boston hardcore. More pertaining towards the JERRY’s KIDS.
The bass in your sound reminds me more of the SSD / DYS thing.
An: I also hear some DOA. Maybe because one of the old NOISE songs sounds just like “Fucked Up Ronnie”. The more full guitar sound reminds me of DOA. I want to say L.A. punk like the GERMS. And then some things that are outside of hardcore.
A: Some noise rock and stuff.
I understand the drummer has a standard drum beat.
An: The S-Beat.
What is the S-Beat?
S: They just started calling it that because I always play the same beat. Apparently it comes from the D-Beat.
An: It is a play on the D-Beat standard of drumming. There is only one Spencer and there is only one S Beat.
A: And there is only one DISCHARGE.
The S-Beat works really well. Who cares. It works.
An: That is just another thing that has worked it’s way into our sound.
If you had to describe TOTAL TRASH’s sound to somebody who would you say you sound like?
An: Some dudes who play music.
For someone who knows hardcore what kind of identifiers would you use?
An: Again I would say something leaning towards Boston hardcore but also working outside of the box of hardcore.
A: I think Andy described us well once when he said JERRY’s KIDS meets SONIC YOUTH or something, but I think a better description would be Hilary Duff’s version of “Hanna Montana” but that is just me.
Yeah that is you. I don’t hear that. Did you guys go see BROKEN last night? They do a JERRY’s KIDS cover.
An: What song do they cover?
It is not “Build me a Bomb” because we were talking about SPAZM 151’s cover of that song.
An: We were actually talking about doing that song.
Well someone else does it if you are trying to be unique.
An: We have done covers before that other people do.
But one you did recently was a JOY DIVISION song. I have heard of JOY DIVISION being covered but never “Wilderness”.
An: I listened to it and I realized one day that if this was played as a hardcore song it would be really cool. With the driving floor tom and the bass line is wicked.
A: But we fucked it up so bad.
An: No it sounds cool.
I think it sounded great.
A: I wasn’t a fan.
Are you fishing for a compliment here or something?
A: No. I don’t like it.
You seemed a little uncomfortable with the lyrics.
A: Because I just started doing the lyrics in the morning.
But Andy did some good back ups for you. That filled it in a bit. The guitar in there reminds me of GANG OF FOUR. If you collectively had to pull together five punk releases that influence or drive the TOTAL TRASH sound who would they be?
A: BAD CHOICE because that is how I got into the scene and it is cool stuff and it is hard and it is good.
An: I am going to put in “Is This My World? by JERRY’S KIDS.
A: SONIC YOUTH because of our name.
An: It is hard to pick a SONIC YOUTH record.
L: I think we have an old hardcore sound like SSD and NEGATIVE FX.
An: I would like to say “Get It Away” by SSD too. That record has a little bit more rough kind of feel.
A: “Party in the USA” just like the single. Crucial.
An: That is staying on the list.
You guys get criticized for being AGNOSTIC FRONT haters. How did you get this reputation?
An: This is not all of us. This is Spencer.
Dude. I approve. That’s a good thing.
A: How?
When I was a kid I got punched in the stomach by some skinhead at an AGNOSTIC FRONT show. Then I watched them as their white power friends starting writing white power graffiti all over the club and they singled handedly ruined the one scene space that they had in Buffalo. And I saw them rip off drum equipment from one of the opening bands that loved them. That band became ONE LIFE CREW. So a lot of crappy things happened at one show. I was convinced after that. I didn’t need to see anything else. I don’t even need to read the lyrics to “Public Assistance’.
S: I actually don’t hate AGNOSTIC FRONT.
What happened?
An: It was Spoiler and Hoagie from the OMEGAS that made up this entire thing. We were talking to them about a show we did where we did a cover of “Victim in Pain” and Spencer played the drums really weird on it. They determined that Spencer was an AGNOSTIC FRONT hater.
They thought you were ruining the song or something.
S: I thought I was doing a good job.
An: No.
S: I might have just been lazy that night. I remember you complaining about that and then I heard the recording and it did sound a bit off.
Have you not done the song since?
A: We have.
An: The last time we did it was the last show we played with Connor.
A: I remember being really pissed off and we were rocking out to AGNOSTIC FRONT and none of the hipsters would sing along. Hands crossed. Too cool. Grow down a bit.
Are there any other songs that you cover?
A: “Boiling Point”.
S: “Feel Like a Man” by NEGATIVE FX.
An: We haven’t done that at a show yet. Eventually in the future we will.
Is that a new cover that you are doing?
An: Yeah. Prior to doing this session I wanted to do two covers. The NEGATIVE FX cover would have been awesome and the JOY DIVISION cover came out of nowhere.
So you haven’t played this NEAGTIVE FX song much. This is a new cover that you are doing. I wanted to ask you how many shows you guys have played so far.
A: Ten or eleven.
What was your first show?
An: January 22nd, 2010.
Who did you play with?
A: CAREER SUICIDE.
An: USELESS EATERS, URBAN BLIGHT, SCHOOL JERKS.
Where was that show at?
An: That was at the Poor Alex.
In this week’s Now Magazine, in response to the issues raised about the difficulty of sustaining all ages venues Alican is quoted as saying “Things just always mess up. House shows or shows in someone’s space can be really difficult because often people become frustrated if things get destroyed.” You sound like you are referring to some specific examples.
A: There has been a lot of venues that Toronto has gone through from house shows being broken up by police to all sorts of stuff screwing up. Rancho Relaxo is no longer doing shows. After RIVAL MOB, the owner got angry.
What happened?
L: A speaker fell. One of the speaker’s from the ceiling.
A: Too many frat boys.
An: People were just flying all over the place. I heard something about poor bar sales too.
A: There was also the house of everlasting superjoy which was a cool loft space.
Where was that at?
A: It was near Lansdowne. Just south of Bloor. It’s on Sterling.
What is the song “Violence” about?
A: It is about urban blight destruction. I got the name from Allen Ginsberg’s poem by the same name.
Is it about crappy urban planning?
A: It’s not a rant. There is no message.
TOTAL TRASH has some difficulty playing shows. Can you tell me about that? There have been at least three shows that you were supposed to play that you didn’t. What has gone on?
A: It started with TOTAL ZUUL. Over the summer we were supposed to be playing two shows.
The TOTAL ZUUL show was because Spencer got sick and you still tried to play against the odds.
A: And then we tried to play the Bridge Over Trouble Waters over the summer twice. The first time the generator failed. The second time we were supposed to play with SCHOOL JERKS and it took until 2:30am to get the first part of the equipment in. By that time everyone was really tired and really drunk and didn’t want to play a show.
L: I actually stayed that night until almost 3:00am. There was hope and the SCHOOL JERKS kept telling us they were going to play.
So that happened twice. Something happened with a show and TROOPS OF TOMORROW that involved Spencer losing a beer. What was the story?
S: It is kind of a funny story because half of TROOPS OF TOMORROW are straight edge. I know there singer is. I don’t know who else is. Right up by the stage there is a ledge and I was leaning up against it. The singer comes up to me and starts leaning on me. I didn’t know what he was doing, but then he just grabs my beer and pours it out.
A: He was being a real macho asshole that night. He came up on stage and said “I have been edge for four years. If you break edge you are a fuckin’ pussy.” He was just being vulgar and macho. The rest of the band was super nice.
S: Later one of the guys in the band came up and asked if the singer had thrown out my beer. He gave me another beer. Then the guitar player who is really hot gave me her phone number. That was a bonus.
An: I didn’t see the incident. I was talking to Ben about guitars. I wish I had seen it just to see Spencer’s reaction.
Are they from here?
A: No. DC.
An: We did an ‘86 MENTALITY cover twice. We did “Blood Red Violence”. They seemed to enjoy it. Being that ‘86 MENTALITY were from DC.
“Socially Fucked.” What is that about?
An: I wrote it about feeling over the edge. I get really stressed out all the time. It’s about feeling like you are at your wit’s end.
So it is not about awkwardness or anything like that?
An: Maybe a little bit now that I think about it.
When I think of socially fucked I think of not being able to function and being socially ostracized. Not fitting in.
An: It is kind of about that. It is mentally not feeling like you are right.
In some ways I think it is a rallying cry for punks. We can all relate to this sentiment. And sometimes we would label the assholes among us that.
An: Yes. The beer pourers.
Can you tell me about the demo? The 5 song demo.
A: It’s a cassette tape. Jonah recorded it. Mike the Mosher had actually given a copy of our NOISE tape to Jonah and Jonah actually thought it was alright.
How did he record it?
A: It was super lo fi. We had one digital four track mic. We used that to do all the instruments and then I brought it home and when my parents went out I yelled at my Mac Book for an hour. We got some vocals on it and me mixing it was with garage band and that was it. Somehow Jonah thought it was okay and he said he could record us. I almost had a heart attack. Eventually we got together and recorded the few songs we had written with the new band. We got it done in three sessions.
An: We brought Connor into the band while we were recording the demo and we were showing him the bass lines. We would practice for an hour and then we would record the bass tracks that we had just practiced.
When did you record this?
A: December 3rd, 2009 through to January.
Well URBAN BLIGHT were the same because Jonah was in and out of town. They would get him for a little bit and then he is gone.
An: We were fortunate not to have him for a couple of weeks. We were able to do the initial session in which the guitars and drums were all done and half the vocals. The only thing left to do was the rest of the vocals and the bass.
The bed tracks minus the bass and the vocals.
An: He started losing his voice during recording.
It happens, especially because you are used to screaming really loud. I think of the practice setting you have to scream over top of amps right? Usually with practice you don’t have to scream as many times. In a recording session you have to do it a few more times and your voice gives. It happened to me both times I was in bands. So how many songs did you record?
An: We did record six but we only released five.
A: There is “the Argument”.
An: We didn’t have a name for the song but Jonah dubbed it “the Argument” on his first collection of rough mixes he sent us.
Why because you were having an argument?
A: We had a song called “the Confusing song” and then there was “the Confusing song, Part 2”, which was “Sanitize me” which we don’t do anymore. We called it “The Confusing Song” because we didn’t have a name for it and Jonah just decided to call it “The Argument” because no one actually knew what the “The Confusing Song” was. Everyone had a different idea of what “The Confusing Song” was.
An: We got into a heated debate about it. Spencer and I were yelling at each other.
Was there a reason why you guys left it off? You just didn’t like it? Or was it too confusing?
A: We needed to change some things up and I hadn’t recorded vocals for it.
S: And the timing was off on a lot of it.
Was it a newer song? Was that why the timing was off?
A: Sort of.
An: You guys wrote that with NOISE before me.
So it wasn’t a newer song.
A: It was because we never actually did it with NOISE.
What is “Sanitize Me” about?
A: That’s about sitting in line waiting to go to a health care clinic and just rotting away in people’s diseases. It is an ultra sanitary environment but at the same time it is crawling with bacteria and it is a pretty gross place that seems so clean.
You often hear stories of people dying in hospitals.
An: It’s about swine flu.
A: It’s about SARS. We are putting out a 7” actually.
L: I don’t actually hate the song. I learned it but no one has practiced it.
So why aren’t you playing it anymore?
An: It was written as a filler song to begin with.
A: It seems too poppy. It just seems too happy.
Poppy? It is played with a lot of energy and you are spitting out the lyrics very quickly. I love how fast it is played. I think it has great pace to it. I understand that when you were recording the demo you were listening in on the headphones and trying to circle pit while listening. Is this a common experience?
An: We were just moshing around while Connor was recording the bass tracks so the only thing playing in the room was Connor playing bass. We were goofing around. Jonah thought it was pretty entertaining.
A: I don’t even remember that. You just bedroom mosh when you hear music.
Alican, I saw you bedroom moshing while we were recording. It is like second nature to you. So I am wondering if bedroom moshing is the standard at which a TOTAL TRASH song makes the grade or not.
A: Basically. I sit in my room and listen to it and if I can’t mosh to it I throw it out of the set.
L: I bedroom mosh to TOTAL TRASH all the time.
A: What a loser.
You guys can’t deny that you do it either. You have been caught on this show doing it.
A: I bedroom mosh so hard to “More Reality” on a weekly basis.
S: My dog bedroom moshes harder than everyone. The whole time we are practicing she chases her tail.
A: I just remember being tripped out because we would go down to your basement and we start playing this skanky ska music and all of a sudden his dog starts spinning around. I am trying to figure out what is happening.
The dog is leading the charge. She got the pit going.
A: His dog is a living circle pit.
S: We need to make a video of that. She does it while she is eating too. She takes one bite and then spins around until her face hits the bowl again and then she goes in for more food. She won’t eat her dogfood without doing that. She is hilarious.
Dogs love their tails.
L: Dogs love hardcore.
Who writes the lyrics? It sounds like Andy and Alican take turns.
An: Mostly Alican.
A: Andy writes most of the guitar stuff. I write most of the vocals.
S: Andy will bring in a guitar riff and I will play around with it. Then we all agree with it.
An: We tell Lautaro to make his bass go distorted.
Lautaro, your bass sound reminds me of URBAN BLIGHT’s sound.
L: They are a big influence on me. They were one of the first bands I started listening to.
It’s a good influence. Let me ask you about the lyrics because that’s where I started with this. What are some of the things you sing about? We have talked about quite a few songs that you have done but is there a running theme to some of it?
A: Not really. One of the principle things I want to cover with the lyrics is existentialism and that’s what “No Freedom” is off the demo.
Are you studying that in school?
A: I did this project for a writing course that I took last year and that is also where the “Metamorphosis” comes from?
I don’t know what existentialism is. You have to break it down for me.
A: It is basically this philosophy that entails that there is no meaning to anything in the world and that people have to create meaning for themselves. I think that’s what the punk scene really is. Especially hardcore. Hardcore is always the somebodys. It’s not just the street punk from the McCorner. It’s not just the guys guzzling beers and squeegeeing your cars. It’s the clean white kid who comes out of the suburbs and he is pissed off. So he lives this Johnny Be Good Lifestyle by day but by night he goes apeshit with his friends. He is pissed off. Everyone has these altering personas, but at the end of the day you have this way of seeing things and that is hardcore.
Okay so that is the filter you are running through.
A: Yeah, for the most part.
What would be your favourite TOTAL TRASH song from a lyrical standpoint?
A: I don’t know to be honest. I hate most of the lyrics I write.
So there is nothing you like more over the other?
A: “No York” is fun just because it is straight to the point.
After you explained it to me, I loved the connotation behind it.
A: I think “Gregor Samsa” is alright.
Andy, have you written more than one song?
An: I have.
Do you have a favourite song from a lyrical standpoint?
An: Not really. It is hard to pick. Most of my lyrics as I wrote them are in the process of being written. It is even like that when I wrote music. I may write half a riff but then I will need some inspiration to fill in the rest of it. My lyrics are more like that.
What about Lautaro and Spencer?
S: I would say “Socially Fucked” because that’s the only one I know what the lyrics are.
Let me ask you about the song “Freedom”. What is it about?
A: That is another book reference. That was the other book I did for my existentialism thing. That was Jean Paul Satre’s “The Wall”. That is about a Republican during the Spanish Civil War and the Fascists take him in and they are about to shoot him via firing squad and they ask him the location of his friend one of the leaders and he makes up this random place and the soldiers end up finding him there and killing his best friend. Then he is crippled with fear and terror but they let him go.
Does it have a real day application?
A: It just seemed like something brutal to write into a song. This guy awaiting death and then realizes that his best friend is being killed instead of him. It just seemed like something cool to turn into a song.
It reminds me of that experiment they used to do for psychology where you could either push the button and hurt somebody or you would take the pain yourself and people more opted to push the button. The person wasn’t actually getting pain they were just told to scream when the light came on.
A: There is no application or at least I didn’t come up with one.
One of you was telling me that this song has been recorded for a single.
An: Yes. This song and “No Freedom” were both recorded for a single.
So they almost cancel each other out.
An: It is kind of an aesthetic thing that we did there. And they are both long songs.
A: It is sort of an homage to classic Toronto hardcore. Like FUCKED UP “Pasaran / No Pasaran”. “One Snake / Two Snakes”. HAZ WAS “Pay / Don’t Pay”. “More Reality / Less Reality”.
When is this single coming out?
An: We have no idea.
Who is putting it out?
A: Buzz Records is putting it out but they are out of budget for vinyl right now so it looks like it might take up to a year.
Who is Buzz Records?
A: A local label that just sort of started. They do mostly indie / noise rock kind of stuff.
How did they pick you guys?
A: I guess because we are on the noisier spectrum of Toronto hardcore. In “Freedom” we do some more experimental things and they like that.
An: Well those guys like the punk stuff in Toronto too so they probably heard us through some of the punk bands. It might also work if we did a split release with the band to get it out sooner.
What are your thoughts on the Toronto scene at the moment?
An: It’s good. Things got quiet for a while prior to when we first started playing shows. But new bands are getting together.
A: DIRECT APPROACH.
An: It is weird to see an even younger generation of kids getting into hardcore. The scene expands.
How do you think I feel? So who are some of the bands that you are digging right now?
A: DIRECT APPROACH is the newest one. PURITY CONTROL is one before.
An: I have no issues with anybody. I like everybody.
This is almost a shout out question. You can’t cheat like that. You have to name names.
S: URBAN BLIGHT.
A: The new MOLESTED YOUTH 7” rules. BURNING LOVE rules. CAREER SUICIDE doesn’t play shows enough but they rule. I feel like this summer is going to be interesting for Toronto music because it has been so long since there has been a decent all ages place. I am hoping it will be an opportunity for DIY spaces to open up. I feel like the bar thing destroys the point of shows. You don’t have the community feel anymore.
Do you really think that there is a lack of spaces? There are some places that will do shows that kids could get in at.
A: There is hardly any for hardcore. They are doing all ages shows at the Hard Luck Bar which rules. Parts & Labour did some. I think Siesta Nouveaux started charging more for the space.
L: Rancho Relaxo used to do shows.
A: But they weren’t all ages you could just get in.
Yeah but that’s what it was like when I was a kid. I was 15 going to these bars and you just tried to look older. People wouldn’t really ask. You just didn’t offer. What are the plans for TOTAL TRASH in the next little bit aside from the single?
A: We want to do some kind of an American tour. We have a lot of good friends in Chicago and we want to go visit them.
An: We just want to hit up everywhere that we possibly can.
A: We are supposed to be putting out a 7” on Deranged hopefully. Gord messaged us and told us he liked the demo. He told me to contact him when we record more stuff.
Maybe you can ask Gord to split finance the single.
An: That is not a bad idea at all.
It is all ready to go right?
An: I need to finish the artwork.
A: Sebastian from DIRECT APPROACH did some beautiful artwork on the cover that is going to look really good.
What does it look like?
An: Some dudes getting shot.
A: It is “The Barricade” by Monet and instead of that it is soldiers shooting at civilians. He did a different version where it is the G20 riot police shooting at civilians.
An: The civilians resemble us. It is Mike the Mosher on the cover with us. I have had the art sitting at my house for so long.
How can people get in touch with you?
A: Myspace, e-mail, or just talk to us. We are nice guys. We all have phone numbers.
What about if people are reading this outside of the Toronto area.
A: Visit our myspace page and send us a message.
Do you guys have a blog?
An: noyorknoyork.blogspot.com. It is more detailed than our myspace page.
A: So if you want to learn more about our feelings you can go on to our blog.
Radio: Sunday, February 27th, 2011
Click for download
TOTAL TRASH – Gregor Samsa (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Opiates (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – No York (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Wilderness (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Feel Like a Man (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Violence (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Socially Fucked (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Sanitize Me (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Freedom (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – Interview (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH – The Last Man (CIUT)
GOVERNMENT FLU – H&M’s Gonna Help Us Man (Refuse)
BEYOND PINK – Fattiga Riddare (Refuse)
KNUCKLEHEAD – Please Louise (Stumble)
THE REBEL SPELL – All We Want (Rebel Time)
TENPOLE TUDOR – Throwin’ My Baby Out with the Bathwater (Stiff)
PARASITIC – TV Drug (Vex)
COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON – Turn into Shadows (Aborted Society)
1981– Blind Acceptance (Passing Bells)
SICK-FUCKIN-O – By My Hand (Regurgitated Semen)
AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED - Alcohol (Tank Crimes)
APPARATUS – Agoni (Disarmament / Totalmangel)
DFA – Eat Shit (Unrest)
NERVOUS SYSTEM – Shoot Yourself (Ratbite / Several Casualties)
Demo Feature
THE BOSTON STRANGLER – Outcrowd (Self-Released)
THE BOSTON STRANGLER – The Truth (Self-Released)
THE BOSTON STRANGLER – If I Was You… (Self-Released)
THE BOSTON STRANGLER – Hit and Run (Self-Released)
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Radio - Sunday February 20, 2011
Click for download
THE LUCKY ONES – Drunken' Holiday (Stumble Records)
THE WELDERS – S.O.S. News (BDR Records)
THE ‘B’ GIRLS – Jealousy (Other Peoples Music)
ZRO4 – Dominoes (Unreleased)
THE CURSE – Switchblade Love (Other Peoples Music)
TYRANNA – I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are (Unreleased)
TRANZMITORS - Look What You're Doing (Cat Call / Ugly Pop)
OFF - Fuck People (Vice)
GAUNT - Quality of Armor (Bag of Hammers)
GENTLEMEN JESSE AND HIS MEN - You've Got the Wrong Man (HoZac)
JESUS LIZARD - Chrome (Touch and Go)
A.N.S. – Let’s Drink Some Beer (Tank Crimes)
TENSE REACTION – Pull the Plug / Full Speed to Nowhere (Bong Records)
RUIDOSA INMUNDICIA – Despierta (Heart First)
OTTAWA – Victim of Dedication (Residue)
DAYLIGHT ROBBERY – Legacy (Residue)
FAITH - You're X'd (Dischord)
BLATZ - Fuk Shit Up (Lookout)
FILTH - Today's Lesson (Lookout
VOID - Time to Die (Dischord)
PROPAGANDHI - Who Will Help Me Bake This Bread? (Fat Wreck Chords)
CHIEFS – Knocked Out (Dr. Strange)
THE STRIKERS – Kick Around (BDR Records)
THE FALLOUT – A Shot Rings Out (Insurgence)
CHEMICAL THREAT – They Don’t Care (Self-Released)
TERMINALS – Far From Home (Self-Released)
FLAMIN GROOVIES - Teenage Head (Buddah)
THE IVBIDDEN - Sick and Lonely (Norton)
THE LEATHER UPPERS - Wizard's Castle (Goner)
RAJAHTAA - Nothing to Lose (Self-Released)
RAJAHTAA - Vaihtoheto (Self-Released)
RAJAHTAA - Hinta (Self-Released)
RAJAHTAA - Terror and Violence (Self-Released)
RAJAHTAA - Pissa ja Paska / N.Y.T. (Self-Released)
RAJAHTAA - Crucified Child, Part II (Self-Released)
RAJAHTAA - Miks Haluat Tapella (Self-Released)
RAJAHTAA - Stop the Slaughter (Self-Released)
RAJAHTAA - Crucified Child, Part I (Self-Released)
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Total Trash studio 3 session
We recorded a Studio 3 session with Total Trash the day after Valentine's Day. I'm still feeling the love of the Negative FX cover. Here is the session:
TOTAL TRASH - Gregor (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - No York (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Opiates (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Violence (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Freedom (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Wilderness (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - The Last Mane (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Feel Like a Man (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - CIUT ID (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - EXD ID (CIUT)
We will be airing this material intermingled within a live interview on Sunday February 27th's show. Hope you can tune in.
TOTAL TRASH - Gregor (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - No York (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Opiates (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Violence (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Freedom (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Wilderness (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - The Last Mane (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - Feel Like a Man (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - CIUT ID (CIUT)
TOTAL TRASH - EXD ID (CIUT)
We will be airing this material intermingled within a live interview on Sunday February 27th's show. Hope you can tune in.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Radio - Sunday, February 13, 2011
Click for download
1981 – Faster and Forward (Passing Bells)
GASMASK TERROR – Hate Will Prevail / Payday (Solar Funeral / I Feel Good)
KURWA APARATA – Silent World (Scumusick)
FEJLFIX – Flugt (Spaghetti Cassetti)
GERIATRIC UNIT – Let it Rot (Boss Tuneage)
BROKEN – At the Border (Vex)
BROKEN BONES – Stop ‘Em Now (Dem Bones Recordings)
SEASICK – The Cold Tribunal of Experience / Fail.Iterate (Refuse)
SCHOOL JERKS – N/A (H.R.S. Records)
I OBJECT – Saviour (Feral Kid)
FOUND DEAD IN TRUNK – Jesus Loves Me (Self-Released)
SOCIAL UNREST – Get It Together / No One’s Tool (Dr. Strange)
CURSED - Clocked In, Punched Out (Goodfellow)
DIRECT APPROACH - No Results (Self-Released)
INSIDE OUT - Redemption (Revelation)
VIVISICK - Hatred Infection (Avail)
LOW THREAT PROFILE - One and Only (Deep Six)
THE METAL EDDIES - Rock and Roll Cougar Party (No Vinyl)
THE GIRLS - Remote View (HoZac)
TORTURED TONGUES - Let Me Down (HoZac)
HEAVY TIMES - Ice Age (HoZac)
RED RED RED - Another Plane (Big Neck)
SOME GIRLS - Mary Mortuary (31G)
BLACK FAXES - Silver Tongue (Self-Released)
LIMP WRIST - We Started this band to get Dates (Lengua Armada)
URBAN BLIGHT - Absolute Control (Static Shock)
RAPE REVENGE - More Mosh, Less Macho (Self-Released)
ANIMAL FACES - A Deep Thought (A Mountain Far)
HICKEY - Revenge of the Mole People (Self-Released)
ERICS TRIP - Warm Girl (DERIVATIVE)
NEUTRON RATS - Sick To My Stomach (Self-Released)
NEUTRON RATS - Army Life (Self-Released)
NEUTRON RATS - No Hope, No Glory (Self-Released)
NEUTRON RATS - Age of Man Dies (Self-Released)
NEUTRON RATS - Rest Your Head In The Noose (Self-Released)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Radio - Sunday, February 6, 2011
Click for download
CHIEFS – Holly West Crisis (Dr. Strange)
WADGE – Vera’s White Sands (Regurgitated Semen Records)
SICK FUCKIN-O – Always Grey (Regurgitated Semen Records)
THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE – Pest Control / Fetal Position / Sleeping with the Dead(Regurgitated Semen Records)
COMPLETED EXPOSITION – Environmental Choice / His Mouth / Words Operation(Regurgitated Semen Records)
BACKSLIDER – Nothing to Say / Vigilante Justice / Popeater / Face Reality (Blastcat)
RADAR EYES - Shakes (HoZac)
NOBUNNY - Braceface (D.M.R.)
THE CRAMPS - Love Rubbed Off (Bootleg)
THE MUMMIES - Uncontrollable Urge (Bootleg)
THE FRESH AND ONLYS - Tell Me What You Want to Know (HoZac)
HERATYS - Kiire Kiire Kiire (Not Enough)
LOW THREAT PROFILE - A Calm Within (Deep Six)
HOAX - Stuck (Self-Released)
MAMMOTH GRINDER - Societal Collapse (Cyclopean)
HUBRIS - Former Home (Self-Released)
BURNING LOVE - Gain (High Anxiety)
MURDERESS – Is This It? (Aborted Society)
COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON – Turn into Shadows (Aborted Society)
MORAX – Facade (Warm Bath)
THE CORPSE – Myseli Zgon (Refuse)
REHASHED – D-Beating a Dead Horse (Self-Released)
VILETONES - Danger Boy (Razor)
WIRE - Option R (Harvest)
GERMS - Lion's Share (Columbia)
YOUNG LIONS - Pray for Julie (Schizophrenic)
SACCHARINE TRUST - Disillusion Fool (New Underground)
XBRAINIAX - Kids Say the Darndest Things (625 Productions)
HATRED SURGE - Mood Stabilizer
MEN'S INTEREST - III
LOW PLACES - Detached
AEROSOLS - Reagan was Reagan
BRUTAL KNIGHTS - Wings (Deranged)
LTC - We are You on Fire
ENDOW - Cheap Thrills (Self-Released)
SCHOOL JERKS - Stray
AVON LADIES - Arcadia Moms (Self-Released)
AVON LADIES - Criminal Eyes (Self-Released)
AVON LADIES - Daily Annoyance (Self-Released)
AVON LADIES - Fire Ants (Self-Released)
AVON LADIES - Go Fast Go Nowhere (Self-Released)
AVON LADIES - Life Coach (Self-Released)
AVON LADIES - Today's Forecast (Self-Released)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Zine - EXD, Volume 11, Issue 1
This is Issue 1 of Volume 11 of the Equalizing-X-Distort radio zine. It came out in February 2011 and featured an interview with Grant Slavin who was the singer and guitarist in the Toronto hardcore punk band Negative Gain from back in the mid-80's. There are reviews and a Best of 2010 section in this issue as well. Click on the image to download a copy.
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