Roadrunner

Roadrunner has spawned from the crowded Massachusetts scene but hold their own when it comes to dropping some seriously heavy hardcore. The band brings some awesome grooves, all big drums and down to life lyrics; 'I want kids to hear our music and realize that life is tough on all of us in all different ways, but eventually you will overcome any obstacle...'

For those unfamiliar with the band - what do you want people to know about the band and your music or message?

This band means a lot to all of us, I feel this world is a rough place and you often think that your alone in your struggle, but the truth is your not alone. I want kids to hear our music and realize that life is tough on all of us in all different ways, but eventually you will overcome any obstacle.

Massachusetts has a strong scene with a tons of good bands around so it must be hard to get your name out. How has the local hardcore scene treated you so far?

Your right, getting your name out there is a tough thing to do for a new band like us. The Merrimack Valley scene has always been a great thing. Josh Hynes runs a great venue Anchors Up! in Haverhill, MA where we have played quite a few times.

What's the toughest struggle for the band like yours? What's the biggest wall to get over?

Any group of kids with any musical talent can throw together a few songs, but I think the toughest thing is finding the chemistry between you and your band and getting comfortable with one another.

For those who have not heard anything from you how would you describe your band's playing sound?

Aggressive and Hateful. I've always been an angry kid, so it's good to be able to get on stage and just scream about what hits home the most.

What have you released so far?

We recorded our demo back in 2009(I know it's not too long ago, but damn it feels like yesterday). This past fall we recorded our new EP with Ryan Stack of Andrew Lanes Recording Company(Hammer Bros, Word For Word, The Effort). We have nothing but good things to say about him the cd came out great. You can download the 2010 EP for free on mediafire.
http://www.mediafire.com/?banm34bzglrypyc

Who are your strongest musical influences and why?

I'd say my musical influence comes from Glenn Danzig and Henry Rollins. The Misfits and Black Flag were some of the first bands that I heard that lead me to my future with hardcore/punk genre. With Danzig's dark lyrics and Rollin's crazy stage presence, it always made me want to sing for a band.

And where do you draw your inspiration from when it comes to the lyrics?

As corny as it sounds my inspiration comes from my hate of the world, the ignorance of society disgusts me. I find myself constantly writing about my anger towards others.

Tell me about band's performance element – what should kids expect from your live show?

Evil.

Tell us what you have coming up that we can check for. Plans, gigs and releases planned for the upcoming months?

We just recently parted ways with our original drummer Dan. Our friend Tom is going to be playing for us from now on. We're currently practicing and getting ready for the new year. 2011 is a new year for RoadRunner. Be on the look out for new tracks, merch, and news.

What is your favorite year/era of hardcore?

I wish I was born in the 80's. I would kill to have seen many of my favorite bands before their rise to fame.

Favorite Sheer Terror album?

I love that this was mentioned! Can't Hate Enough easily, nothing will top that in my eyes.

Any closing thoughts?

Keep your eyes open this year for us, we're hoping 2011 is going to be a great year for us. Thanks to dloo

x A Call For Revenge x

xA Call For Revengex fly the Straight Edge flag high in Mexico, which is not easy in a country so severely affected by the drug related violence. Hardcore comes from different places and bands like this one goes through a lot of shit to keep their local scene alive. So it's important that you support their shit - read the interview, check out their website, spread the word around!

For those unfamiliar with the band - what do you want people to know about the band and your music or message?

xACFRx’s message is quite contradictive in comparison with the “unity” premise that other straight edge bands promote. We do believe unity is very important, but our lyrics talk about the discipline to achieve your own expectations without relying on no one else but yourself, the willingness to fight your way through standing up by yourself without letting adversity overcome you, and assemble the strength to remain firm even when everyone had turn their back on you. We want to spread a message about the fact that nothing should be more important than committing with your own decisions and goals. If you’re pulled down during your way through and fall, you stand up and strike back with everything that you got.

How did you all meet and how long have you all been a band?

Originally xACFRx came up as a side project blending members from Wanted for Murder and xGeneracionx. WFM has been around for much longer than xACFRx and for a while I talked with my homeboy Lalo (WFM drums) about giving me a hand composing the drums for some ideas I had. The time seemed right to give the project a name when my hommie JC came from Merida (far far away from our city) to take the microphone duties, that’s how xACFRx started out in 2008. We had a couple of bass players that were really not working out, until one day we placed a bass guitar into our merch guy’s hands, and magic simply happened, that’s how Cesar came along.

JC had to move to Canada and the band entered some kind of recess for some months, until Alex came along to take the mic. I knew him from a couple of shows WFM played with his formed band. I talked with him just for a few minutes and immediately I realized he was perfect for xACFRx.

What's the toughest struggle for the band like yours? What's the biggest wall to get over?

Well, the hardcore scene in Mexico has been around for quite a while but no one outside Mexico seems to take it seriously, at least that’s my impression. I don’t know if maybe that’s because it’s something too local and people outside Mexico can’t really get it. Recently, some new school bands are taking off strongly, especially within their local venues. However, some of these great bands are not even noticed outside our country. As a Mexican band, it feels really difficult to get any attention outside our circle. We have no relevant labels in Mexico (mainly because the budget to start a formal label is none existent) and no international Labels seem to give the slightest credibility to Mexican hardcore, which is really upsetting man. There is a lot of heart in Mexican hardcore, what we do lack is production. There is not one single Mexican band promoted by any relevant hardcore label.



For those who have not heard anything from you how would you describe band's playing sound?

xACFRx’s sound is as raw as it gets. It comes out full of energy and almost instinctively, as a punch to someone’s face should be.

What have you released so far?

One single demo/promo, or as you wish to call it. There will be an EP coming out soon!

Who are your strongest musical influences and why?

We all got a great portion of metalheads inside us, so it would be fair to name Pantera and At the Gates just as much as Agnostic Front and Madball. We like lots of things old school and new school. Personally I would say Madball, the day I discovered that amazing band, and understood the attitude inherent to the music, I knew that was my thing.

And where do you draw your inspiration from when it comes to the lyrics?

Some lyrics deal with many things I learned serving in the IDF under Bislamach Brigade in Gaza Strip and Beirut. But mainly, more than inspiration, I would call it a raging derision for all this immeasurable decadence impregnated all over this city…. unrestrained impunity, corruption filtered in all branches of authority, kidnapers destroying innocent people life’s, drug addicts mugging people to buy more drugs……… and we’re sickened by the state of conformity around us. We are fucken tired of watching this crap everyday and we’re fucken pissed off.

Tell me about band's performance element – what should kids expect from your live show?

What xACFRx offers at shows is to convert the stage into a fucking battleground. We really take this seriously and we demonstrate it with tons of energy.

Tell us what you have coming up that we can check for. Plans, gigs and releases planned for the upcoming months?

We’re shooting a video for “Bringer of Deliverance” in December!! So be sure to check out our myspace and “upcoming” facebook pages, we’ll be posting news about the video and shows!!

Any closing thoughts?

Thanks a lot for your interest man, you have a great site running up. Keep up the good work and keep supporting the underground.

Check out the band at Facebook and Myspace

Blood & Ink will release Figure Four on vinyl

From the official press release: Blood & Ink Records is extremely pleased to announce we have started working on a vinyl pressing of FIGURE FOUR’s seminal hardcore album Suffering The Loss! Details are still coming together, but we plan to have the LP out in time for their planned reunion at Rain Fest 2011 in May, if not earlier. That’s right! They’ve announced plans to play Rain Fest in Seattle the last weekend of May alongside Trial, Madball, Most Precious Blood and many more awesome bands!

For those unfamiliar with Figure Four, the band still stand as one of the heaviest hardcore bands to ever come out of the Spirit-filled scene. Featuring members who would later form such fan favorites as Comeback Kid and Grave Maker, Figure Four were distinctly treading their own path with previous releases on Facedown Records and Solid State Records. Stay tuned for more details and pre-order information to be announced soon.

United Blood 2011

United Blood Fest 2011 will take place on Friday, April 1st and Saturday, April 2nd at Canal Club in Richmond, VA. Admission is $55 for a weekend pass, or $30 for an individual day pass. Go to www.thecanalclub.com to order tickets. Once they're gone they're gone. Bands announced thus far are as follows: Terror, Piece By Piece, Down To Nothing, H20, Bracewar, Backtrack, Foundation, Rival Mob, Swamp Thing, Death Threat, No Values, Dry Spell, Stick Together, Mother of Mercy, Alpha & Omega, Fire and Ice, Dead End Path, Heathens, Naysayer, Born Low, Rotting Out, Lockdown, Soul Search,
Take Offense and Mindset.

Mountain Man "Grief" pre-orders are underway

Get the limited vinyl before it's all gone! For the collector-nerds Think Fast! have discounted packages which feature all 3 of the colored-vinyl variations. All pre-orders come with a digital download coupon and a free Mountain Man poster!

Strike Hard - Demo 2010

I've posted an interview with the band couple of days ago and it's time to share their first demo now. There are 3 songs in total here with style that can be described as beatdown, but with enough twist to keep it interesting. The band acts in the mid-tempo range mainly with vocals spitting some hard and pissed off lines. There is some work to do in terms of songwriting skills and sound, but all the right influences are here and this demo is a pretty solid effort to get their name out there. Download it!

Hardside - Born To Lose

Here's the new Hardside song from the upcoming Crucified EP. This is the heaviest shit they've recorded so far and if you're into bands like Merauder or Biohazard, make sure you pre-order the new EP at at the Hellfish Family webstore.

Nervous Breakdown - Thrash FM

This is pretty fuck up mix of hardcore, grindcore, jazz and other stuff I can't even name. I don't know if I'm really this type of stuff but I'm sore someone might be. Nervous Breakdown are from Jakarta, Indonesia and already have released Never Green EP (2008) and God Save The Freak EP (2010).

Take Offense - Tables Will Turn

Here's some NYHC worship. A definite '90s Crossover feel - but more AF than Ludichrist. Leeway, Cro-Mags and Crumbsuckers nods. Then you get the '85 - '87 Suicidal Tendencies feel - direct emulation of M Muir's crooning and all. There is a SubZero influence; and the riff writing comes in straight off of an Inhuman Best "of...". So here is a band that loves its NYC Crossover. You can bang your head, you can mosh to it. All bases are covered.

All that said - you can think contemporary bands as well; Naysayer, Rival Mob, Trapped Under Ice, Alpha & Omega, Bitter End, Mind Eraser, etc. So the stomp is there. Big riffs to plod along to and a few straight ahead parts, but not two-step here *(short of a small bit in "Beware the Path" and "Can I Do It?") - fast parts are for circle pits abound! They can write a gang vocal cheer like their peers, so the kids will have a chance to finger point. But the focus is the gee-tar - with dive bomb squeals and lots of scrambling leads.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"In the Face of Disaster"
"Hand of Time" - especially with its breakdown. This is destined to be a classic.
"Beware the Path" - strongest song
"What Goes Around" Anthrax intro and all! Super tight riffing into big chords to chug to - then a solo.

FOR FANS OF:
Late '80s Crossover NYHC.
2010 American Hardcore bands that worship Late '80s Crossover NYHC.
Inhuman
Suicidal Tendencies (he sounds exactly like Cyco Myko - this is the album from 1987 that ST should have made to garner maintain HC kids' respect!)

BOTTOM LINE:
If Mike Muir sang for Inhuman.

Review by Hutch (Empty Hands blog)
Label: Reaper Records
Year: 2010
Band's website

I've Lost All Faith In Myself EP by Venia available at Blood & Ink

Venia’s “I’ve Lost All Faith In Myself” EP is now available on 7″ or as a digital download at Blood & Ink Webstore. All 7″ versions of the EP come with a download code for the four songs on the record plus one bonus outtake track as well. While there, check out new shirt designs available for Thirtyseven and Thin Ice, plus tons of new distro items (with more added almost daily)!

If the digital route is more your thing, Blood & Ink has launched a Bandcamp where you can buy the new Venia EP, as well as most of the other B&I titles (all should be available soon). Or, if you’d rather, you can buy the EP on iTunes.

During a relentless tour schedule over the past year (including runs with Bitter End, The Mongoloids, Donnybrook, Grave Maker, and Call To Preserve), VENIA crafted 4 new songs of intense hardcore that once and for all prove their genuine tenacity. Drawing influence from the likes of Buried Alive, Madball, and Merauder, this newest taste of VENIA's musical direction will impress both fans new and old. Recorded by Mike Reaves (Swamp Thing, Bracewar, Down To Nothing), mixed by Chris Dowhan (Down To Nothing, Bracewar, See You Next Tuesday, Worn In Red), and mastered by Kim Rosen (La Dispute, Capital, Jeremy Enigk, Saints Never Surrender) plus featuring guest vocals by original Strongarm singer Jason Berggren.