Sworn Vengeance to play Berkeley, Ca in August

It seems Sworn Vengeance is back! The band will play show in Berkeley, Ca on August, 23th. Other bands to perform are Downpresser, Twitching Tongues, Plead The Fifth and Creatures. But the good news don't stop here! As band posted on their page, "'My Friend Violence' now available for download via iTunes, Amazon and all the other good spots, as well as available for listening via Spotify, Rhapsody and a host of other services. We will be re-mastering 'The Outstretched Arms of Damnation' this winter to finalize the album the way we always envisioned and making it available to the public, so stay tuned." And On top of that, Cold Cuts Merch got some nice merch from the band! Check it out here!

Plead The Fifth Interview

Sacramento, CA-based Plead The Fifth has just recently released their new seven inch, ‘Life Sentence’, on Arrest Records which a must hear for everyone into old school hardcore sound. Definitely one of the raddest records of 2011. I have caught up with Alex, the vocalist of Plead The Fifth, to talk about the release and what the band is up to now when the EP is out. !

Sacramento, CA-based Plead The Fifth has just recently released their new seven inch, ‘Life Sentence’, on Arrest Records which a must hear for everyone into old school hardcore sound. Definitely one of the raddest records of 2011. I have caught up with Alex, the vocalist of Plead The Fifth, to talk about the release and what the band is up to now when the EP is out.

Last time we spoke it was in 2009 and it seems there have been some changes in the band since then. Can you tell us what’s been happening with the band during that time?

Since then we have had a few member changes and have played all over the West Coast a bunch. With the new members I've felt that our song writing has grown quite a bit and our current songs blow anything of the previous stuff out of the water.

Tell us something about Life Sentence? How is it different from your previous recordings and why such title?

"Life Sentence" is different in the fact that we actually took the time to write the songs and think everything out and making them good. It wasn't just writing random parts and throwing them together. I also worked much harder on my lyrics than before. I just think it smokes everything else we've done, we're all super proud of it. as far as the title goes, it comes from one of the songs on the record with the same name. The song is basically about being stuck in your own head and thinking about everything too much. Not being able to forget bad shit from my past and carrying that around with me everyday.

In the previous interview you said the message is an important part of hardcore, as well as of your music. What are some of the topics you cover in these new songs?

There are a few. Personal stuff like what was mentioned in "Life Sentence", most of the songs are about stuff like that. A couple are about things I see in the world and in people that piss me off. I don't know if there is necessarily a message to any of them, but I feel like people could relate to them.

How did you hook up with Arrest Records and how does it feel to have your music released on vinyl?

We hooked up with Johnnie and Arrest Records when he and I were talking about his band Word for Word coming out to California for some shows. I was gonna help him book the shows and we were gonna play the shows with them. Around that time we were starting to write new songs that we wanted to be put out on a 7 inch. i just asked Johnnie if he was interested and he said he was and it pretty much went from there.It feels awesome having our stuff on vinyl. Of curse every hardcore band wants that to happen and now that it finally has it's fucking awesome.

What’s your opinion about current state of hardcore? Musically, it seems kids start to appreciate raw and fast hardcore bands, judging how much support acts like Rotting Out, Backtrack or Take Offense have been getting.

I think the current state of hardcore is awesome, best it has been in years. Besides the bands you've mentioned, which are all great, there are so many more from all over the country such as Expire, Soul Search, Downpresser, Minus, Ill Intent, Truth Inside, Kicked In, Incendiary, and a ton more. I could go on forever. Hardcore is fucking awesome right now.

And beside hardcore what are your favorite tunes to bump?

Everyone in the band listens to all sorts of different stuff. Lately when I'm not listening to hardcore/punk/Oi I've been listening to a lot of hip hop.

Any new and upcoming bands from your area that we should be aware of?

Shambles from Sacramento is a really good new band. We share a couple members with them. Really rock/grunge influenced hardcore, it's really cool.

What’s the best show you played in 2011?

We played a lot of awesome shows in last year. If I had to narrow it down, it would be a tie between, the Rotting Out record release show, Sound and Fury Fest, and Trapped Under Ice/Backtrack/Take Offense at my house. That last one wasn't really a full blown set, we hopped up during our boys' Pressure Point's set and played 3 songs, but it was fucking awesome.

Finally, what are you looking forward to for the band this year?

Looking forward to playing a lot more, touring a lot more. I wanna go all over the place this year. We're also writing some songs right now that are coming out really fucking great. I'm not sure what they'll turn into but I'm really excited about them.

Plead The Fifth joins Arrest Records

Sacramento, CA’s Plead the Fifth has signed to Arrest Records! The band formed in 2007 and play bouncy energetic late 80′s NYHC influenced hardcore. PTF is currently in the studio recording a new 7″ for Arrest Records which is being recorded and produced by skinhead OG Mike from Pressure Point. Please check out their social networking site and online store below and be on the look out for their new record this summer!