News / Bands

Joe Holland (Sex Rays, Violent Shifters)

SPB: Do you wear earplugs when you play? Why/why not?. 

Joe@ I almost always wear hearing protection at rehearsals, shooting range style "ear muffs" are the best, in my opinion. In most cases I do wear earplugs when I go to shows as a spectator, especially if the band is not "worth" the hearing loss. I generally do not wear ear plugs when I perform onstage myself. It looks lame and feels "risky" to me, like I might fuck up the song or miss a cue. There's no doubt I'm destroying my hearing, but I just cannot seem to perform comfortably while wearing ear plugs...

 Shannon T. Moore (Activator, lead singer)

SPB: How did you “discover” punk rock?

Shannon: I discovered punk rock on few different occasions in a few stages of my life. Starting with all of the media hype of the Sex Pistols and all of the times Sid Vicious was in the news. I remember seeing a clip of them doing "Anarchy in the UK" on Young Nation and thinking that shit looked crazy. At the same time there was The Ramones, which I mostly knew because I'm from Rockaway Beach. I had a second grade teacher who used to play that shit all the time. Second was a Record World commercial that was playing "Remote Control" by The Clash. I kept seeing it and the song stuck with me and as I began to save my allowance I bought the album. The first one with Joe, Mick, and Paul Simonon on the cover. It was the first album I ever bought. It was a cassette actually, on CBS records. I started to pay attention to other bands like Gen X and Eater but then hip-hop happened and that diverted my attention for a little while. Third, I came across an article in the Village Voice by Guy Trebay. It was on a band called Bad Brains. There was a hot girl in the picture so I thought she was in the band. Eventually I got up enough money to buy the ROIR cassette. I also realized that the girl wasn't in the band. But 4 black dudes with crazy-ass hair were. I had no idea music could be played that fast and that strong. I didn't realize it was punk at the time because I thought punk was about playing sloppy and having colored hair and shit. It still was, but this was really different. That's when "punk rock" officially entered my life. Lastly, there was the Circle Jerks Group Sex album. It seemed the very opposite of the Bad Brains album. Same fury but one was optimistic about the future through rebellion and the other had NO future. Interesting dynamic on ways to express aggression. It's the moment you realize love and hate might come from the same place. It's something that has stayed with me ever since. 

David Yow (the Jesus Lizard, artist, Qui, Scratch Acid)

Here are my answers to your two question one question.

How has aging affected your musical performance?

-Dunno if it's due to aging, but I have almost no desire whatever to play in some full-time musical outfit.

Is touring a larger physical burden?

-I haven't done any touring in a few years, but, without a doubt, touring when old is far more burdensome than when young.

Chris Pepus (Razorcake)

SPB: What is your favorite thing about working with print media?

Chris: Most of my writing appears on the web, but I still prefer to read, and write for, print. When I get a zine or a book from an independent press via U.S. Mail, the communication feels more direct than if the writing comes via internet firms or digital-platform sellers. Also, unlike digital platforms, the print platform won’t need to be updated every few years. The fewer giant corporations I have to go through to get information, entertainment, or art, the better I like it. I plan on continuing to read print and write for print until Amazon/Facebook/Google creates an army of tiny robots that invades homes and vaporizes books and magazines, along with film, LPs, CDs, DVDs, cassettes, and View-Master reels.