Siege

We reprinted this one in Parade Brigade #2. Originally in Suburban Punk Fanzine.

A relatively new band on the local scene is Siege. Although they haven’t done a Boston gig yet, this intense 4 piece have been making waves with their aggressive, gripping live shows in Western Mass. and Providence. They have a 6-song demo out now, done at Radiobeat in February. Siege’s sound could be likened to a train going around a curve at top speed, about to derail but never quite going completely out of control and going off the track. Andy and I talked to Siege outside The Living Room following their gig at the Punk Festival. Siege consists of Screaming Kev Mahoney (vocals), Kurt (guitar), Henry (bass), and Rob Williams (drums).

Suburban Punk-Let’s start with a typical question–a short band history.

Rob: We’ve had this singer, Kev Mahoney, for about 6 months and that was the turning point for the band. I’d been jamming with the 2 guitarists, Kurt and Hank, for a period of about 2 1/2 years, which was shit until we got Mahoney and we auditioned him and knew he was our man.

Suburban Punk-Where you guys from?

Rob: Weymouth and Braintree.

Suburban Punk-Why haven’t you played Boston yet?

Rob: We’ve tried, but they’re unwilling to accept new bands in town. We’re doing our best. $5 for two bands at The Channel is too much.

Suburban Punk- Are you happy with the way the tape came out?

Rob: Very happy. Lou (Giordano) was extremely reasonable. He took a lot of time to make it sound good. We’re very pleased with the outcome.

Suburban Punk-“Grim Reaper” is a lot different from your other songs. Are you planning to do more songs like that in the future?

Kurt: We want to branch off a bit.

Kev: We’re basically a thrash band. We’re into power. That was something that started off experimental. We did it on the spur of the moment and it was so well received that we decided to attach it to each of our sets.

Suburban Punk- And you played sax in the studio on it?

Kev: Yeah. It was sick. I played sax in a ska band for about a year and a half.

Suburban Punk- What kind of message are you trying to put forth through your music?

Kurt: We’re trying to save the world.

Suburban Punk- A minor mission.

Rob: We think there a lot of atrocities in the world, a lot of bad shit and it looks pretty bleak, it’s out of our hands. There’s really nothing that can be done by you and I about nuclear war.

Kev: We like to speak our piece, nonetheless.

Rob: We’re holding a mirror up to society. Anything that pisses us off.

Kev: We like singing about things we hate because then we can channel the hate of the subject into the performance.

Suburban Punk- Saying it is one thing, but doing something is another.

Kev: We’re doing more than saying it…

Suburban Punk- Do you feel ambitious enough to change things you hate?

Kev: Definitely. We’re not just saying it. Every song is from our heart.

Hank: We see it happen and then we write it.

Kev: Yeah, like Kurt wrote a song, “Life Of Hate,” after he was working on a job with all these bigots, hearing racial slurs all the time.

Rob: You hear a lot of bands say shit about what their political stance is and we’re trying to breathe new life into it because, in some people’s opinion, it’s become run of the mill. We’re trying to change that with high energy live performances. We’re musicians before we’re political activists.

Suburban Punk- Why did you pick the name Siege?

Rob: It means attack. We came across it on a huge list. We sat around for 2 hours to think of the best name.

Suburban Punk- What’s your most memorable gig so far?

All: Tonight. Western Mass., too.

Kurt: I’d like to say the Western Mass scene is cool. I think a lot of

Boston kids shouldn’t stick their nose up at it.

Suburban Punk- What are your future recording plans?

Kev: Maybe vinyl by the summer if we come up with some cash.

Suburban Punk- What are your influences?

Kev: DRI, Discharge, Void, Black Flag.

Suburban Punk- Anything else you want to add?

Rob: I want to say I enjoy Suburban Punk!

Suburban Punk- Check’s in the mail!