Raymondo (Collision Course Records)
SPB: What is your dayjob and how does it affect/influence/interfere with your label operations?
Raymondo: Well....I'd like to say I sit around in my sunglasses drinking lattes and looking at my phone all day...but running an indie punk label isn't that lucrative!!!! Soooo...I get up at the crack of dawn with my faithful partner, Daisy and we get our lattes to-go and get into the daily routine of running a window cleaning business.
The good parts??? In & out, fast, 80% of clients pay the same day, so... that helps...and the hours are whatever you make 'em. I like to wrap it up by noon. I'm happy if I'm done by 2pm & try to always be back to the base by 3pm!
That gives me time to chill, make lunch, pack orders and check emails & still get to the post office!!!
When you add in recording & playing in bands and going to see friends bands etc....it's a pretty full week!! 'cept when it rains. That's when I get to sleep in & listen to records!!!
Leo Ashline (Street Sects)
SPB: There is a fair amount of your new album that was written focusing on the subject of addiction, which stemmed also from personal experiences. Do you feel that Street Sects has aided you, in that it acts as an outlet for your emotions?
Leo: Definitely. For my end, Street Sects was created specifically to be an outlet for that negative, self-destructive energy. Abstaining from drugs and alcohol hasn't eliminated those feelings, it just helps to keep me alive and out of jail. Street Sects gives me a reason to get out of bed, to do something with my life, with that energy. I'm still a mess even without those addictions, but if I didn't have Street Sects I would probably be dead, or worse.
For the record, SS isn't a straight edge band and we aren't trying to push some kind of sobriety agenda. I get why people want to get fucked up. It feels good. But, if people who are struggling with addiction or just a general lack of self worth hear our music or read the lyrics and get something from it that maybe inspires or comforts them in some way, then that would be priceless to me. I remember towards the end of my days as an addict, when I was still drinking every day and smoking crack as often as I could get my hands on it, I read this Vice interview with Tina from How I Quit Crack where she talked about how music was the sole thing that helped her get away from using. I was at an absolute low when I read that, and it even though it took me another 6 to 8 months before I went to rehab and started getting my shit together, I never forgot that. It was inspiring. For all the negativity and self-disillusionment Shaun and I pour into this project, I hope that maybe someday, something positive can come out of it.
Andrea (Hakan)
SPB: How did you come to work with Jeff Burke on II?
Andrea: Not a very special story. We love Marked Men and Radioactivity and when we find out he was touring Europe we simply asked him if he would like to come record us, and he said "Yes."
