Skin Like Iron
Alex Capasso
Scene Point Blank: What are your top five albums that were released in 2007?
Alex Capasso:
- Rocky Votolato - The Brag and Cuss
- Ramparts - Whiteboys Love the Blues
- Never Healed & Violent Minds - Split 7
- Pulling Teeth - Martyr Immortal
- Pressure - Death's Head
Blaine Patrick:
- Dr. Dog - We All Belong
- Built To Spill - They Got Away/Rearrange EP
- Caribou - Andorra
- Jump Off A Building - Bird Watching in New Zealand
- Torche - In Return
Paul Ehat:
- Dr. Dog - We All Belong
- Cloak/Dagger - We Are
- Earth - Hibernaculum
- Red Dons - Death to Idealism
- Tom Waits - Orphans
Scene Point Blank: How will you remember 2007? (In terms of music)
Perhaps it's just an extension of my renewed passion and satisfaction with my own personal creativity, but I feel like music in general has really been reinvigorated over the past year. The last two or three years seemed so boring and stale, but something drew me back in this year and I caught up on a bunch of stuff that I'd missed out on previously. I'm not quite sure how to explain or describe it, but I do know that I've had way more fun attending and playing shows in 2007.
Scene Point Blank: What kind of impact do you think donation-based releases like Radiohead, Saul Williams, etc? will have on the record industry?
Who knows? It seems like a good idea, because there is definitely a market for digitally distributed music. Is it economically viable? Hard to say. Is economic viability even an issue? Unfortunately, I think it is. Music should be free, but in a world where amps, guitars, van rentals and gas aren't free, musicians will have to continue to make money anyway they can purely out of necessity.
Scene Point Blank: 2007 saw the decommissioning of two prominent file-sharing groups - Demonoid and Oink. What kind of impact will the increased crackdown on file-sharing have on the record industry? Did it personally have an effect on you?
In the past the music we were able to discover was limited by our ability to finance trips to the record store and our willingness to attend shows that we wouldn't usually consider going to. Nowadays, through message boards and file sharing, we can now hear about a band online, and quickly download their music. Eliminating the monetary risk formerly associated with taking chances on new records makes it much easier to expand your horizons, which is undoubtedly nice, but not without its downsides.
For many people, this kind of unbridled access to music simply inflates the list of bands they can name drop for cool points, and seems to be sucking a lot of vitality and passion out of music. No one seems to be a diehard fan of anything nowadays! A lot of people seem to simply cycle through the flavors of the week and never really seize on anything.
On the positive side, I can't really knock the proliferation of lesser-known artists and the general availability of obscure or out of print records to almost anyone who wants them. I have no problem with the sharing of out of print or limited records; music can't be restricted to only the people who can score big on eBay.
Scene Point Blank: What can we look forward to from your band in 2008?
A double 7" is in the works. The first 7" will feature six new tracks, and one re-recorded song from the demo. The second 7" will be comprised of two new instrumental compositions. After recording our first three tapes with Andy Kugler, we're going to work with a new engineer, Roger Tschann of Grizzly Studios in Petaluma. It should turn out pretty well since I really like the stuff he's done for Look Back and Laugh, Lifelong Tragedy, Allegiance, Never Healed, S.E.E.D. and even Tiger Army. He's got a good body of work and I look forward to working with him.
Following the release of the double 7" project, we will be heading to the East Coast for a quick, week-long tour. We're constantly writing (29 songs in the 10 months that we've been practicing), so I'd imagine we'll do another tape release before the end of 2008. The tapes would probably feature a couple of covers, and some unreleased songs we've been sitting on. We're also considering making a CD discography available as well. Lots of options on the horizon.
Scene Point Blank: What three records are you looking forward to most in 2008?
Alex C: Rise & Fall LP, Never Healed 7", and Trash Talk's "Plagues"
Blaine: Skin Like Iron - 2x7", Burzum world tour, and Letdown's Sacrifice Me
Paul: Never Healed 7", Young Offenders, and Criminal Damage
Homepage: http://www.blacksummer.com/sli/
