This was the letter that Dave K sent me with a pile of issues of Hardware #8 (?). When this came I was just about to go on vacation and I read the whole thing twice on the way up and then back home again. I got to know Dave K really well around that time and we talked on the phone a few times. We finally met in person in January of 1997 at Fieldsboro. I knew when I saw his Star Trek Deep Space Nine hat that I had a friend for life.
XClaim! were an Australian band in the mid to late nineties. I was very friendly with their vocalist Craig, who also did Talk Is Cheap and Edge Of Quarrel Fanzines. I did this interview with Craig over AOL Instant Messenger in April of 1998. We reference a tape compilation that we were trying to put together at the time. I will make a separate post to discuss that. BW: Who is all in XClaim! Craig: Terrific opening question Billy…but since you live in youth crew central, that being New Jersey for you slower people, I’ll answer this one. XClaim! is…
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It is hilarious how infamous this show has become over the years, but, uh, yeah…it was pretty good… Floorpunch came back from their European tour in the 1999 and seemed to drop off the face of the earth. They were supposed to play a gig that May with Vision and In My Eyes (where a bunch of pics from their second LP were taken. Oh, look, it’s me!) at Berkeley Heights, but dropped off (and so did Vision and I think h2o too. In My Eyes ended up headlining…I think…we will get to that show eventually) and then word seemed…
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My first show of 1997 was in Bordentown, NJ at the Fieldsboro VFW (which apparently doesn’t exist anymore?). When I began teaching at BCC in 2009, I noticed I drove near Bordentown every day on my commute and it always made me think of the shows I went to at this venue (Also, Vincenttown. Do the punks still slam there?). I missed the two other Floorpunch shows here (one with Rain On The Parade and Vision, and the other with Human Remains and Earth Crisis). I went to this show with a bunch of friends, two of which, John Piorkowski…
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I have republished the now defunct Hardware Media & Radio’s interview with me from back in 2006 about Signifying Nothing. Thanks to Dave K for letting me put this back on the Internet.
For the first time in a very long time I drove up to this show with my friend John. We hit a ton of rain on the way up but, thankfully, by the time we got to New York City it was gone besides some lightning. John and I caught up on what each other was up to and laughed at the antics of the world around us. On the way up we listened to Dave K’s 1988-1990 NYHC mix. Upon arriving in Hoboken and trying to find a parking spot for probably around twenty to thirty minutes I quickly…
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This is the interview I did with Rain On The Parade in April of 1997. Originally in What Was Said Fanzine. 1. Okay, who is in the band and all that crap? My name is Ronnie and I sing. DII plays one guitar. Justin plays the other. Matt jumps around with his bass. Chris just joined the band. He plays drums. 2. Have you guys gotten any shit for the lyrics to Body Bag? You know, with the way all this metal slop has taken over hardcore in the past few years, you’d think we’d catch some slack for writing…
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This interview was done in late 1996 for my old fanzine What Was Said. I have always been rather fond of this interview. I was interviewing Hardware! That was a huge deal to me because after having read a few issues of Hardware, these guys were legendary to me. They covered the stuff I loved the most (NYHC) and introduced me to so many cool bands like Devoid of Faith, Heroin, Mainstrike, etc. I think I first checked out Raw Power and other Italian bands after reading reviews in Hardware. If Hardware said a band was good, I had money…
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