Hey Josh,
Only took me a year to send this over. JUST noticed it in my drafts and that I never sen itt! I apologize!!It's really strange to go back and reread our answers or predictions (specifically about the D.I.Y. scene) and see how much they continue to ring true into mid-2014. Bummer haha.
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***Answered in July 2013 with a explicitly stated updates.
1) If you had to pick any two musical influences for you to be the lovechild of, which two would you pick? I’d say you have a definite hardcore sound, so something like Gorilla Biscuits, but then there is also that underlying punk factor, so maybe also Descendents?
Zach Weeks: We probably wouldn't. When we started the band, we strictly wanted to do our own thing and obviously comparisons will always be drawn because at our core we are a punk band, and that's fine. We do like Led Zeppelin, though. I think most of us would rather be referred to as a rock band. Ya don't need a specific label to start a band.
2) I lived the first twenty three years of my life in Connecticut, aka New England, and spent the past eight years in Texas. When I had lived here previously, the scene seemed to be pretty good. Now labels even like Bridge Nine seem to be going more of a style that isn’t hardcore. How do you feel the regional scene has changed within the last eight years or so? What is something positive about all this crap I’m coming back to now?
Zach Weeks: Everything is more tightly knit than ever and nothing is really happening anymore. It's hard to get people to support the scene when there's no bigger force influencing it. Or, even in the D.I.Y. scene we came up in, people just lose interest and stop coming to shows and stop caring in general. The problem is Boston is it's a very transient city. People grow up here, or go to college here, then they move away. THAT BEING SAID: there are a LOT of younger people starting bands and really being super supportive and coming out to shows, which is sick. Our fan base in Boston is predominately younger kids, and it's funny because hell, I'm only 20 (2014 edit: now 21)! Maybe they won't all move away to go to college in other states and will stick around and rekindle the flame.
The current worldwide "scene" (which could mean ANYTHING) is bizarre and the internet ruins everything, blahblahblah you've already heard it. Tumblr really ruined everything because it made everything so damn accessible to the point where people don't have to actively seek anything out anymore; it's just thrown right in their face through an internet "dashboard" and that's such a strange process to me. People "like" bands because they're expected to like them, which I suppose has always been a recurring trend, but it's interesting going to a show and seeing a bunch of people wearing a _______ band t-shirt or patch or whatever and not knowing (or even caring about) something so basic as the titles of their songs. It's more about the image you use to represent yourself than actually listening to and enjoying music, like some sort of weird contest. lovechild has received a bunch of "wow this music sucks Cerce was way better" but we're the same core group of people who wrote all of Cerce's music so... haha. I'm not bitter because I don't really care who likes US as a band, but rather confused by where the judgement comes from haha. If people are into our music and agenda and what we do, that's cool, but if they aren't, that's also cool.
Gerg Kooc: I mean Bridge 9 and the like change their ways for obvious reasons; you can’t honestly believe that hardcore will provide you a steady living. They’re just doing what any other business would do to survive. Granted, I’m so far removed from what the label has been up to, but I’m sure I wouldn’t enjoy a single band they’ve signed in the past 5 years.
The regional scene has changed greatly:
- Partially due to the fact that the police and city of Boston in general have shut down every house venue in the area as well as any D.I.Y. space. The people who are in charge of night club licensing associated with the Boston Police Department and city government have been cracking down an absurdly hard amount on the Boston D.I.Y. scene because they think it’s taking away from their shitty businesses. They try to tell promoters/kids who book D.I.Y. shows/etc that they’re running illegal nightclubs and proceed to fine and/or arrest them.
- Also partially due to the fact that children in "hardcore" these days are obsessed with pop culture and fitting in. It’s hilarious that a genre that stemmed from punk has now been overridden with kids who blow cash on trendy outfits and are willing to do whatever it takes to receive internet attention. There are still neanderthals who idolize a bunch of old washed up losers in “crews” and do counterproductive nonsense, like form their own "crews" and "gangs" as well. I’m sorry but I’m not taking any bit of advice from some ancient tattooed moron who works some crap job and lives some crap life because they were too irresponsible to make anything of themselves. Granted there’s a fair amount of young people who reject that ideology and they deserve praise, but with the influx of new people coming in who encourage backwards behavior, it’s looking grim.
3) Despite my previous question, MA still has some great bands and some of them are along the hardcore genre. Do you ever see all these bands getting together and going on tour, to take the country by storm? (Which, I know, you probably play with I Kill Giants a lot already, but still, for the country to see everyone at once I think could be a documentary)
Zach Weeks: Haha, honestly probably not. Not to mention every hardcore/punk/indie band that we’re friends with in Boston is too busy to tour full time (ourselves included!!!!!) (edit 2014: R.I.P. I Kill Giants)
Gerg Kooc: Definitely not. There’s no good sense of unity within the city for the most part. The scenes are all quite sub-divided and some people have a pretty fair share of elitism. Granted I wouldn’t know about certain kinds of “hardcore” because that scene today is such an embarrassment. Though we’d be more than pleased if we could ever work out a tour with some of our good friends in bands around here. Personally, to tour with Bloodkrow Butcher, Male Nurses, and The Combat Zone would be rather great.
4) You have a song called “4:00 am – You’re Still Alone”. The song is exactly eighteen seconds long. Is that length a nod to the infamous Wrestlemania match between Daniel Bryan (losing the title) to Sheamus? [Yeah, if you don’t follow WWE you won’t get this, but that’s okay]
Zach Weeks: I don't know anything about wrestling. Sus does, though. Could ask him.
Patrick Talesfore: that's exactly what it's about.
5) Who from lovechild has made the trip from Cerce? What happened to the other Cerce members?
Zach Weeks: Everyone except the vocalist, who was fired. Tim currently lives in Philly so he doesn't always play shows or tour with us, but he's still a member of the band and always will be. lovechild is the instrumental section of Cerce plus Greg on vocals. He is the only new member.
6) Back in 2000, I was outside a show and someone came over, knowing who I was and what I did, and handed me a CD saying, “This is my band, check us out”. Now a days, people will simply say, “Hey, here’s a link to my SoundCloud/Band Camp/whatever”. Do you feel like it’s easier to be a d.i.y. band in 2013 because of all of this technology? Does not being handed demo tapes by strangers take some of the fun out of finding out about bands?
Zach Weeks: Haha, it's definitely easier because the concept of true D.I.Y. doesn't exist anymore. Anyone who is in an unsigned band is a D.I.Y. band because of the nature of being an unestablished band is. D.I.Y. isn't photocopied CD-R sleeves anymore, but rather a Bandcamp link just like everyone else.
Gerg Kooc: It’s obviously easier to be a D.I.Y. anything at this point thanks to the internet and social networking. It’s more or less the downfall of punk and hardcore since said genres were championed on it’s strict D.I.Y. ethos. You can now book a tour just by massaging someone on Facebook, you can get signed by responding to an email, you can appear big online but only have 5 kids actually show up to your shows. There’s a serious lack of effort in the overall sense, bands and fans alike. Kids can just be content with downloading an album and being too busy to take the time to see the band who came from god-knows-where to play a show in their town. Also promoters inflate their scene by booking every dipshit band who came out with a digital release and a sense of entitlement. Due to internet hype and the on-going popularity contests that lie within, bands can blow up/receive attention solely from having friends online to say you’re “good dudes backed hard” or some bullshit. Though, I’m honestly happy I don’t have to subject myself to some weirdo trying to push their demo on me anymore. I’m very content with discovering new bands online.
7) Final thoughts, comments, plugs, news on more music, etc.??
Gallons of support for all our friends and their musical and personal endeavors. Y'all know who you are, obviously. If you want more info on those people specifically, email us and we'll tell you all about them and how much we love them.
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