Genres

10 Portuguese Post-Rock Bands You Should Listen To!

Standard

The Post-Rock scene is not only diverse but extremely rich worldwide. The boundaries of this genre have been pushed far and wide over the years and Portugal was not indifferent to it. The Portuguese Post-Rock scene has grown over the years and solid acts have pushed the limits. Take a listen!

10 – Okkur
Okkur
Okkur (from Barcelos) is one of those bands that astounds you in a way that is different from all the others. The band takes some influences from bands like The Last Days and Líam. This music will speak to your soul and you will not be the same person after listening to this. Every instrument is like a perfect piece in a perfect puzzle that is not only wholesome, but also pure, raw and magical for every second of it!

9 – Cerca
Cerca
Cerca is the project and vision of Né Alves. With strong, vibrant riffs, each song is a story of its own, always surprising you, always pulling you in. Live, they are intense and unique. Like a punch in the stomach that instead of sending you to the stars, it pulls you down to the Earth and grounds you in a way you did not think it was possible. Cerca released their album VII in September 2017 and it’s a must-listen!

8- Juseph
Juseph
Juseph is a band formed in Vale de Cambra in 2009 whose discovery was quite a surprise. With a unique sound, distortion-driven guitars and wild grooves, they produce the sort of musical landscape that takes you to an alternative dimension and leaves you mesmerized with the sound. They have two releases: 2013’s Novae EP, and recent 2019 album Óreida. One of the most positive surprises that the Portuguese post-rock scene has to offer.

7 – Then They Flew

Then They Flew
Hailing from Lisbon, Then They Flew is a band that leads you to a dreamscape in which vivid imagery comes to life with each note and every chord played. Soothing melodies and intense riffs bring just about the exact intensity for each moment of each song. Their style is inspired by many artists and you will find strong resemblances to If These Trees Could Talk. They released their album Stable as the Earth Stops Spinning in 2015.

6 – Imploding Stars
Imploding Stars
 Imploding Stars can best be defined as rich melodies and emotional uplifting music that takes you to the outer reaches of space. Hailing from the city of Braga, Imploding Stars have made a journey that not only contributed for their own personal growth and definition as a band but also to the pleasure of every post-rock listener who had the grace to find their music. They count three albums in their discography and one of them was made as a soundtrack for the movie From Earth to the Universe¸ produced for Casa da Ciência de Braga.

5 – First Breath After Coma
First Breath After Coma
Founded in 2012, First Breath after Coma are a unique band. With three albums in their discography, they have risen to great heights and joined the platoon of international Portuguese bands. In March 2019 they released their last album NU, after the acclaimed 2016 Drifter. NU is an experience worth listening to. Experiencing and pushing musical boundaries, First Breath After Coma are surely bound to continue to grow and present us with amazing art.

4 – Homem em Catarse
Homem em Catarse
Homem em Catarse is the project of indignu’s guitarist Afonso Dorido. Counting with one EP: Homem em Catarse and two albums: Guarda-Rios and Viagem Interior, Homem em Catarse is the combination of Post-Rock looped guitars and the traditional Portuguese Fado singing. His latest album, Viagem Interior is a recollection of experience and lives from the rural areas of Portugal that were left behind and sometimes forgotten. It’s a journey to the deepest roots of what Portugal has to offer.

3 – Catacombe
Catacombe
Starting in 2007 in the town of Vale de Cambra, Catambe carved a journey over the years that lead them to the release of an EP: Memoirs in 2008 and two albums in 2010 and 2014. In 2013 they appeared as the surprise band in Amplifest, participating with bands such as Deafheaven, Russian Circles, Year of no Light, amongst others. They have shared the stage with other bands such as Tides from Nebula and Minsk and on the 7th of June they are going to release the album Scintilla. This album represents a journey to the origins, and as the band puts it: “Scintilla leads us back to that primordial moment when man discovers fire, so that millions of years alter a band can discover the course, or the maturity.”

2 – Before and After Science
Before and After Science
Born in Oporto in 2009, Before and After Science have made their presence known over the past couple of years. In 2013 they released the EP Vital Signs of a Fallen World and finally in 2017, their album Relics & Cycles. Taking influences from bands like If These Trees Could Talk and Russian Circles, they stand out in the Portugal Post-Rock/Post-Metal scene with their strong riffs and intense music. A band definitely worth listening to if you’re looking for heavy and powerful music that will not leave you indifferent.

1 – indignu [lat.]
indignu [lat.]
And finally, for the first place! Indignu [lat.] is one of the most prominent Portuguese acts out there. Originally from the small town of Barcelos, they released their fourth album Umbra in May 2018.  The band called Umbra “a record in memory of all the souls left in the gloom of a tragedy that raped our homeland last year. A black, painful, haunted set that describes the penumbra in which a man lives immersed in the dark chaos, in the apocalypse.”. This is the kind of band whose intense and emotional way of playing will trigger deep, strong emotions that are hard to grasp and comprehend. In September, they will be playing VIVID. a post_rock festival in Norway, with what will surely be an intense and immersive show.

João Seixo

Album Review: Pillars – Cavum

Pillars Cavum album cover
Standard

Despite having only one album to their name, Indiana post-rockers PILLARS have already built an impressive reputation for themselves. Of course, being major players behind Post. Festival certainly helps, but they’ve more than earnt their place within the scene based off their music alone.

Put simply this second album, Cavum, is worth your time.

Conceptually, the album explores the dichotomy we find ourselves in, in this current day and age. Technology connects us more than ever, yet also isolates us. Mankind is reaching all manner of pinnacles, yet depression is ever prevalent. Somehow our lives are increasingly intertwined, yet somehow many of us feel more lost than ever. I, for one, find this super relatable, and after having listened to the record a great deal, can see how the music represents both the light and the dark.

Cavum commences with a brooding riff, primal drumming and eerie swells reminiscent of the almighty Jakob. And of course, anyone even remotely familiar with the world of post-rock should know that there is virtually no higher praise than a comparison with Jakob. It builds steadily with nice pacing before the explosive overdriven phase knocks your head in. A groove laden breakdown transitions back into crescendos – and I must say, as someone who reviews a fair deal of post-rock music, I do tire of the same old crescendo cliches. But this isn’t stale, no, no. This, ladies and gentleman, is how to write a damn tasty song. It hooks you in with just enough primal attraction, and then hammers itself into your consciousness.

If that dense riffy goodness wasn’t enough for you, maybe the killer double-bass drumming and urgent guitar line that starts “Dissolution” will tickle your fancy. Heck, it could tickle your eyebrows for all I care, just get a load of the sheer power behind this incredible music. The intensity does ease off after a period, but as Sir Isaac Newton said: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. So according to that, for every quiet passage, we should get some awesome metal passage too. Is that how science works?

I’m a drummer. The drumming on this album rules. Shout outs to Zach Frizzell for being a percussive beast. Zach, I hope to meet you during my travels some day. Maybe I can come to a future Post. Festival and make a drunken scene like I did at dunk!USA. Or you could come to New Zealand and I’ll give you some home-made beard oil and confuse you with my weird accent. It’s probably best if I come meet you though, because then we can also have Taco Bell, which my country does not have (criminal, I know!).

“Black Prayer” is an absolute belter. Think along the lines of when you have a Caspian record spinning and it reaches a part that’s so good you just want to scream and thrash about, knowing that you, a mere mortal, will never be able to craft such perfection. Well goshdarnit, PILLARS just have to rub it in, because they’ve managed to reach such unobtainable heights. There’s a section towards the end of this track, where the bass cuts out, the drum sticks are rapping on the rims, the guitar line is soaring, and then everything comes back in like an angelic tonne of bricks. It somehow crushes my soul and elevates my spirit at the same time. Don’t ask me how. I’m not a priest. (Nor am I a scientist, as you would know if you’d read the paragraph about “Dissolution”). Just know that you may need to change your pants after listening to this track.

Pillars

I’m half tempted to photoshop myself into this photo to see if anyone would notice. I have glasses and a beard, and have been known to frown at times, so I think I could fit right in

Listen closely to album closer, “Coda” and you’ll hear interesting snippets hidden in the background. It’s a touching piano ballad that evokes strong emotions, especially once the light guitar swells kick in. Surprising, considering the quality, but the piano recording was done on an iphone. Marc Ertel sat down at the piano and recorded with his phone while his family made breakfast and got ready for the day. The background noises – you can hear Ertel’s children playing, and his wife washing dishes – give a nice sentimental feel that’s homely and authentic. It’s a great reflective piece to end a superb album.

So yeah, if PILLARS aren’t on your radar yet, then Cavum should see to it that they are. It’s a fine album worthy of your time. It’s a devastating monument to beauty, heaviness, and musical talent.

PILLARS links:

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/pillarstheband

Order physical copies of Cavum:

Joseph James

Live Review: Bob Log III and Labretta Suede & The Motel 6

Bob Log III Valahalla
Standard

Bob Log III Labretta Suede Motel 6 poster

Bob Log III

w/ Labretta Suede & The Motel 6

Valhalla, Wellington

Thursday 9 May 2018

Picture – if you will – a venn diagram. This diagram represents most live musical acts. In one circle there are technically proficient bands that you’d see because you can appreciate how well they play (such as an orchestra); and in the other are bands that you wouldn’t usually listen to, but you know they’d put on an awesome show. An example for the latter category is German metallers Rammstein. They sounded damn awful when I saw them play, but their notorious live spectacle of pyrotechnics and stage theatrics makes them an unmissable act.

Obviously there is crossover within this diagram – bands who play well and put on a great show (Iron Maiden being the finest example I’ve come across in both respects), but given the choice, I’ll take the option of a wild spectacle anyday.

Which is why I missed notable punk band Propagandhi last night to see some backwards sounding novelty act from Arizona.

Labretta Suede Valhalla

Labretta Suede Valhalla

Labretta Suede Valhalla

Labretta Suede Valhalla

Bob Log III Valahalla

Labretta Suede Johnny Moondog Valhalla

Opening the night was Labretta Suede & The Motel 6, an NZ band who have made the shift to the States in recent years. Fronted by the larger-than-life Mrs Suede, they offer an entertaining mix that I’d compare to a rockabilly B-52s. Boosting a recent line-up change with a fresh rhythm section, they played a fun set that got the mostly-full venue grooving.

Labretta herself was the centre of attention. She wore a bra and some high waisted shorts that did little to cover much, with a large flower in her hair. She gyrated about the stage, contorting into crazy positions and standing upon the stage rail above the crowd. To her right was her hubby, Johnny Moondog, on guitar, with long hair, sunglasses and a tassled sleeveless shirt. And to her left was the young guitarist, Tweedy Bird – a muscly hulk in a tank top. He copped a lot of flack for being the young one, who hadn’t played in any bands before, but looked like he deserved his spot – experienced or not. Visually, Boots the drummer (of Sticky Filth fame) didn’t appear to fit in with the odd band, but his beats and grooves show that looks can be deceiving.

And then we had the main attraction – Mr Bob Log III.

He waltzed in from the the rear door of the venue, dressed in a sparkly zip-up onepiece – think Elvis impersonator. His identity was a mystery because his face was covered by a motorbike helmet with an old telephone receiver attached [let’s just ignore the fact that we saw him setting up sans-costume before his set, and revel in the mystery]. Throughout the night he complained about his lack of vision due to a dark visor blocking his view, but the reason he wore the helmet is because the telephone worked as a hands-free microphone set up.

He let loose with a rough-and-ready blues number. The sound was a bit murky – probably because some idiot was perched in front of the speakers to take photographs, blocking the sound. [Full disclosure: I’m the idiot]. And the heavy distortion didn’t help. But we didn’t come here for articulate guitar virtuosity, we came to party!

After an introductory song, Log handed out a packet of balloons and asked the audience to inflate them for him. The next song involved him popping said balloons by stomping on them to punctuate points in the song.

And the interactions didn’t stop there. He crowdsurfed in an inflatable dinghy, shouting “FEET FIRST!” as the audience pushed him back onto stage the wrong way. He generously offered everyone free champagne, using a dogbowl and an inflatable duck as drinking vessels.

In a stroke of marketing genius, he invited people up onstage to sit on his knee and take selfies with him to send to their mums as he played. Way to go viral! One oblivious drunk lady came onstage and stepped all over his pedals, interrupting the song. But that just added to the wild charm of the set.

I’ll be honest: virtually all the songs sounded the same. At the start of his set he demonstrated his 8 sounds: the kick drum, tambourine, high chords, low chords, and a few other triggered pedals. The songs all revolved around filthy blue riffs with a slide, heavily muffled vocals, and looped drums that he played through the use of the pedals at his feet.

Log actually changed guitars half way through the set, and I have no idea why. Usually guitarists switch up because they need to change tunings, but he had been tuning his other guitar already, and this one looked exactly the same.

Truth be told, the sound wasn’t amazing. It was hard to tell the songs apart. But it didn’t matter. The place was alive. Everyone was dancing and drinking and hollering and choosing to ignore the fact that it was late on a Thursday night. Bob Log III promised a party, and he sure delivered.

Bob Log III throwing a balloon at Valhalla

Bob Log III Valahalla

Bob Log III Valahalla

Bob Log III crowd surfing in an inflatable Valhalla

Words and photos by Joseph James

Album Review: Undersound – No More Shooting Stars

Undersound No More Shooting Stars
Standard

Undersound is Gareth Evans, a Welsh producer bringing 90’s styled hip-hop back with latest album No More Shooting Stars.

You know the sound – funky, with DJ scratches and slower, enunciated rapping. Think along the lines of Jurassic 5.

Reading Evans’ bio reveals that he used to play in ska bands. He’s clearly put that experience to use, adding gorgeous horn sections to some of the songs. This is one of Chance The Rapper’s signature – adding trumpet to everything he touches, and Evans is wise to replicate the idea. If you browse his Facebook page you can see clips of Evans recording multiple instruments, including trombone, trumpet and french horn, as well as guitar and piano.

There’s a fair bit of variety on the album: from the eerie, mystic “Intro”; to the funky horns and jangly guitar the typifies many of the songs; to the samples and scratches of “Party Arrangements”, to the more down tempo title track that segues into a piano intermission.

In fact, this title track shows a mature aching that stands out from the more party hip-hop feel that many of the other tracks exude. Evans also sings on this one, unlike most of the other songs that he raps over.

The best track is “Another Catastrophe”, a fun number with carefree rapping that revolves around brass hooks. The slight shuffle on the drumbeat makes it feel more laid back, while smooth basslines and faint organ bring Motown to Cardiff.

Another favourite is “No More Lies”, reminiscent of Kids These Days – the under-rated Chicago group that spawned the likes of Vic Mensa and Donnie Trumpet. The laid back beat and brass section atop gospel organs and soulful singing provide a wonderful feel. Ben Thorpe helped out with trombone and singer Bella Collins sang vocals that are especially similar to the KTD song “A Man’s Medley“. 

Collins also features on album closer “Should’ve Known Better”. In fact, Evans recruits half a dozen collaborators to add different influences to the album. Some add soulful feel, like Collins and Harri Davies. Others distinctive hip-hop parts, like the scratches courtesy of MC Sober, and rapping from Redeye.

No More Shooting Stars is a fun, funk-lite throwback with good vibes. It’s hip-hop that subtly borrows from other genres to enhance the music, and works wonderfully to offer laid back listening.

Undersound links:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2QpFxtJWlWlkOJtWvYdpZY?si=b5brU8xgTm2HqNNghlT61g

NextGen music: https://www.nexgenmusicgroup.com/artists/undersound

Twitter: https://twitter.com/undersounduk

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/undersound-1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Undersounduk/

 

Joseph James

Real Fake News – An Interview With Hard Times Co-Founder Bill Conway

Hard Times by Senny Mau
Standard

I still remember when I discovered The Hard Times. It was a satire site, like The Onion, or New Zealand’s own The Civilian, but aimed at punk/hardcore culture. It was both incredibly funny and familiar. (This article hits so close to home, after I stopped working so I could join my friends Ranges on tour). As with any satire site, the humour lays in the premise being rediculous, but almost plausible enough to be true. And when you have material like ska music and straight edge to work with, the stories virtually write themselves. The Hard Times really nailed their niche, and as testament to this, virtually every article they post gets shared by my musician friends accross social media, even musos who aren’t directly part of the punk scene.

The Hard Times has blown up considerably since they began four years ago, earning millions of hits online, expanding into gaming culture, and branching into booking shows, publishing a book, a TV show, and now podcasts. I jumped at the chance to interview Bill Conway, who had co-founded the site with Matt Saincome.

Will Not Fade: Hi, how are you? I love your work and find The Hard Times hilarious and relatable. My friends and I are always sharing your articles, even the musicians in non-punk-affiliated music scenes. I’ve just listened to the first few episodes of your podcast and quite enjoyed them too.

First of all, congrats on your success to date. 2.3 million views in the space of a month is a lot of traffic. And the podcasts are great. What have been some of your highlights of the past four years?

Bill Conway, The Hard Times: One highlight was getting to go to beautiful Columbus, Ohio for the AP Awards. We were asked to write a lot of the copy for the presenters of the awards so it was a real joy to see the rhythm guitarist of some band I never heard of butcher a joke we wrote.

And at what point did you start considering yourselves sell-outs?

Once we got verified on social media, total sell out move.

But in all seriousness, I think that it’s cool, not only that you’ve got this far, bu also that you pay your contributors. [I’m not even in the position that I can pay myself!] Matt, is there a tension between freelancing for other sites, and hiring freelancers for your own site?

I’ll take this one Matt. Basically through The Hard Times, Matt developed a platform called Outvoice to make paying freelancers easier. No longer will freelancers have to beg to be paid, instead the publisher pays them as soon as an article goes live. Matt forced me to be a cheerleader for him.

You’ve had podcasts and zines and a writing career as precursors to The Hard Times. Why did you decide to take a less serious route?

You can either keep working for other people or try to carve out your own space. We didn’t start The Hard Times and expect to be “a thing” but we have been pleasantly surprised by the response and are very grateful people still pay attention to what we do.

The climate for dedicated satire sites wasn’t as prevalent back when you started. The Onion is perhaps the most well-known, but is usually fairly lame. Wunderground tackles music, but focuses on EDM. You mentioned Above Average and College Humour in a recent podcast. Were you trying to emulate any other sites when you started The Hard Times?

My teenage years were spent obsessing over The Onion. This was still when they had hard copies in newsstands and if I had a friend visiting New York I would make them bring me back a copy. I had every book they ever released and couldn’t get enough of them. That dry satire sense of humor was sort of embedded in me because of that and I think it helped us shape our own voice. I can say with absolute confidence that no other satire or general comedy sites had any influence on us. We figured out what worked as we went along.

I once wrote an article inspired by The Hard Times which involved calling my friends sellouts for writing songs that lasted longer than 3 minutes. Do you think I have potential?

As long as you don’t mention anything about “vegan pit beef,” “Keith Morris getting Locks of Love shutdown after donating hair,” or how many members a ska band has then you will be fine.

Tell me about your punk background. Who were the bands of note for you in you local scene? Who ran the shows? What were the venues like? 

I grew up outside of Boston. Matt and I have talked about the different scenes that shaped us. Boston was basically built around fighting. Dumbass rival crews and a bunch of nonsense. Every VFW hall was a venue on the right day.

How was that scene unique, compared to DC, or New York, for example?

I will just go ahead and answer on behalf of Massachusetts. I started really going to shows around 2001 and it was a great time and a horrible time for Massachusetts hardcore. You had legendary bands like American Nightmare and Have Heart, and then garbage “mosh core” bands like On Broken Wings and Black My Heart. There was a lot going on. Filling this out reminded me to go back and listen to The Red Chord, who a lot of people consider like grindcore, but man they ripped. Great live show.

I’m really interested in this because the population and geography of New Zealand means we can’t sustain strong scenes the same in the way America can. I remember reading about places like CBGBs as a teen, and was super stoked that I managed to get to a show at Triple Rock in Minneapolis a few years ago. Americans are great at doing the DIY thing, and geographically, there are so many more cities you can visit if you want to tour. By comparison, here in New Zealand, a “nationwide” tour involves a shows on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with a drive home Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, we have great bands and venues, but it just feels so limited by comparison.

Yeah man, we take everything for granted here.

Do straight-edge kids get much flack where you grew up? Here in New Zealand we tend to give them a light-hearted ribbing and repeat the same lame jokes at their expense all the time.

I am straight edge, I will always be straight edge. Nobody ever really gave me too much shit. Boston is a drinking town, normally if you tell someone you don’t drink they assume you are a recovering alcoholic and leave you be.

On a side note – I went to America for a holiday when I was 20. I went to a gig – Mark Lanegan I think – and they X’d my hands because I was underage. I thought that was so cool that there was provision for underage kids to be able to access live music even at places where alcohol was served. Here in NZ you basically just miss out until you’re 18 (legal drinking age here) because most bands play bars and pubs and there aren’t many all age venues/shows.

When I was under 21 a venue X’d my hands and on the drive home we got pulled over and the cop saw the X’s on my hands and was like “Are you straight edge?” and I said “yeah but I didn’t draw these weak X’s.” I am not sure why he asked, but at that time straight edge was considered a gang by law enforcement.

What’s your best tour story?

I personally don’t have any. I was never in bands and I like being in bed early.

Full disclosure: I’m far more involved in the post-rock community than punk. The hard style pose for group photos has really taken off in that community in recent years (probably encouraged by The End Of The Ocean). Do you see this as cultural appropriation?

Yes, I will send you my Venmo to make up for this.

Punks love DIY. From zines, to making clothing, to home job tattoos and piercings, to booking tours and printing merch. Is there anything that you think we should leave to the pros, instead of trying out for ourselves?

Dentistry, and surgery are the only two things. Everything else is far game.

I presume that you’re familiar with Penelope Spheeris’ The Decline of Western Civilization. The first and third documentaries by in that series were centred around punk music (the second focuses on heavy metal). What genre do you think Spheeris would look at if she were to make a fourth entry these days?

Probably Juggalo shit, and after being immersed in that group for more than a few weeks she would probably scrap the whole project and live out the rest of her years in solitude on a farm trying to forget the atrocities she witnessed.

I’m really intrigued by the images you use to accompany your articles. Some are clearly photoshopped. Are the rest bought stock photos? Do you photograph yourselves, or your friends? And do you ever use friends names in place of fictitious names?

A little of everything. We have a stock photo account and a photo editor that can edit things together. We also have lots of friends pose things, and recently we started a Patreon and one of the perks is at a $10 a month level you can be featured as the photo of a Hard Times article and we will tag you on Instagram and all that good stuff.

President Trump brought the concept of “fake news” to the masses, in a time when so few are critical of the content presented to them. Did you face any backlash when the concept of “fake news” came to light?

For the most part we haven’t had any backlash. The whole “fake news” thing has been weird on a social media algorithm level, because Facebook is always tweaking what people see, and satire is supposed to be “protected” content, but it doesn’t always end up working that way.

You must get a load of hilarious comments from people who think that your articles are legitimate. Can you provide some examples of your favourite responses from people who clearly didn’t understand?

For my own mental sanity I stopped reading comments. The most common thing we see is people being like “this is unbelievable” then someone pointing out the fact we are a satire site, which always prompts the original person to say “well satire is supposed to be funny.” Like we are going to get insulted by that. But I try to avoid comments sections like the plague because that is where the worst aspects of humanity goes to jerk itself off.

Are there specific bands you’ve managed to offend when running parody articles on them?

We do an article “Iron Chic Shouts Drive Thru Order in Unison” and the bass player apparently didn’t like it too much. We did a few Dropkick Murphys headlines this past week and the singer of the band tweeted at us saying he liked them, so for the most part we get positive feedback, but people are sensitive sometimes and I get that.

What have been your more controversial articles to date?

“Warped Tour Stage Moved Back 100 Feet to Comply With Sex Offender Laws” created some rumblings and we had heard the Warped Tour people weren’t too happy with us. Any headline that has to do with guns or cops usually get people fired up. Americans love their guns man.

You’ve also had some overwhelming positive responses, as indicated by the mad traffic coming to your site. Brian Baker ordered a t-shirt. Do you know of many other celebrity endorsements?

At one point Chris Rock followed us on Instagram, but he unfollowed us and I really wonder what article is the one that made him do that.

Are there any topics that are untouchable? Bands too sacred to cover? A bad taste line that can’t be crossed?

I don’t think there are any truly untouchable topics, but we want to make sure we are always on the right side of history. There are definitely no band’s too sacred, everyone is fair game. But as far as bad taste, it really just comes back to not punching down.

Skinhead punks have been associated with Nazis at times, and you’ve posted plenty of articles ridiculing Nazis on your site. Do you consider this a social obligation, or just do it because it’s funny and topical?

I would say a little bit of both. Anyone that takes themselves too seriously needs to be taken down a peg. Matt and I are both straight edge and we make fun of straight edge all the time.

You branched from hardcore/punk to gaming. Can you see yourself spreading into new territory again? I don’t think the quirky stay-at-home-mum-posting-recipes blog had become too saturated yet.

We are always looking at ways to expand. Part of it is noticing gaps in the content market, and part of it is having the right team of people to fill those gaps. Thankfully with Hard Drive we had some home grown talent that was able to use our established system and make a great product.

Why the shift to podcasts?

Pretty simple answer, Matt and I wanted to talk with cool people we like. We figured now is a good time to kind of come out from behind the curtain and let the world know who we are.

Is it a hassle pressing all the podcasts to vinyl for the purist fans? 7 inch records can’t even fit that much on them!

It can be a pain in the ass, normally an episode is about an 75 minutes long so that equates to about 8 records per podcast, it can get expensive but it is worth it.

And now a book and a TV show? At what point does your empire cease to grow?

Matt and I won’t stop until every second of every day is filled with some sort of work, because we are stupid broken people.

So when are you going to form a new political party? Will Jello Biafra be an member?

We will need more grassroots funding so we can make a run for mayor in a small market. I do not think Jello will be on board, I have heard he is not that much of a fan.

How does the booking shows fit into The Hard Times brand? I was looking through some of the gig posters and you’ve had some seriously sweet lineups.

We actually have a live events coordinator named Nick Dill, he goes by Nick Bane. He is a Bay Area show promoter and has been doing it for years. He is an old pal of Matt’s and a huge fan of the site and he puts together some great shows.

Hard Times

Photo: Senny Mau

And for some silly fun at the end:

Please list your top 5 albums that you think my readers need to know about.

In no particular order:

Minor Threat – Complete Discography

The Gaslight Anthem – 59 Sound

Cave In – Beyond Hypothermia

At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul

Saves the Day – Through Being Cool

Do you think that any of those albums would survive if we added a brass section to each?

I think Cave In has the most potential and it would sound very evil.

Do you have go-to throwdown/mosh moves? Favourite stage dive techniques?

I will be turning 35 in a few months so I have been in mosh and stage dive retirement for years, which is a good thing.

What is the best thing to use to spike your hair up?

2 part epoxy with with a bond strength of at least 3,300 PSI.

How hard are you?

Without question as hard as that one unpopped kernel in a giant mouthful of popcorn.

Would you rather fight a Danzig sized toddler, or 5 toddler sized Danzigs?

I was under the impression Danzig is already toddler sized just a bit more spooky, so I will go with the Danzig sized toddler.

Hard Times

The Hard Times links:

Website: https://thehardtimes.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehardtimesnews

Instagram: Thehardtimesnews

Twitter: RealPunkNews

Podcast: https://thehardtimespodcast.libsyn.com/

Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/thehardtimes

Joseph James