Dropdead interview

What could be better than an interview with the American powerviolence (ooops, sorry, "fast fucking hardcore") legend to begin this e-zine ? Dropdead's drummer Brian kindly took the time to answer some of our question, here is the result...

cMs: Can you tell us about you and Dropdead, when you started playing music and when the band started, if you played in other bands...

Bob: Well for those who dont know... DropDead is a political hardcore punk band from Providence,Rhode Island. We formed approximately 10 years ago and for a very short time we called ourselves Hellocaust with me(BOB) playing guitar and Ben on vocals. We released a completely horrible song called "Direct Action" on the Slap a Ham "Bleaaargh" compilation. I dont know what to tell you about myself personally besides that when Im not doing my thing with DropDead, I work as a Mental Health worker helping people with various disabilities and retardation.

cMs: Can you summarize the history of Dropdead as a band ? Why did you choose to form Dropdead ?

Bob: The quick summary would be that we have released several records and have done three US/Canadian/European tours. We have also toured in Japan and Australia. DropDead was pretty much formed to play fast aggressive hardcore like the bands we were all into back in the day :Wretched,Gauze,Discharge,Siege,etc. At the time we all got together ,each of us was kind of a "Hardcore geek/record collector" and we just wanted to rock like the bands I mentioned. I guess the more political aspect of it evolved later...

cMs: What are Dropdead's projects in the near (as well as far) future ? Is a discography CD really on the way ? oh pleeeeease... Any side-projects ?

Bob: At the moment we are hoping to do a split record with Totalitar from Sweden (as they are one of our favorite bands) and also Berndt from Germanys amazing Stack has asked us to do the Jerry Kids songs for a Boston not LA tribute record. I am hoping that we can get ourselves together to also do a new 7 inch too. At the moment none of us are doing any band projects outside of DropDead although Devon(Bass) seems to be doing something with MonsterX every once in a while. I would like to possibly do something more dark and industrial in the future as a side project...possibly in the vein of a Cold Meat Industry sound like Raison D'etre or In Slaughter Natives.

cMs: Dropdead has beheld the punk-hardcore scene's evolution for a long, and of course played an active part in it. What are your views on it, and on the various "trends" like SxE, H-8000 (belgian metalcore like Arkangel, Vitality...), emocore... and of course powerviolence...

Bob: I have to be honest...I dont really listen to much hardcore these days. I got into the scene in 1984 and though I still believe in the political ideology.. but the music itself has become stagnant and repetitive. There's still tons of HC bands I respect and love , but I find myself listening to more varied music. I find the music coming out of the Industrial/experimental genre to be alot more interesting...

cMs: Dropdead is almost a legend for french hardcore fans a kind of forefigure of the powerviolence stuff; does it go the same in the US ? By the way which french band do you like ?

Bob:I guess alot have people have called us part of the original wave of "power violence"bands...as far as longevity goes...alot of people know who DropDead are...I think it would be a little conceded to think of us as legends but I am proud of what we have managed to achieve so far. I liked the french band Sickness alot...the lead singer was brilliant. Hi AnnGelle...

cMs: About powerviolence, what are your opinion about bands said to play this kind of music: Spazz, Man is the bastard, the Locust, Hellnation...

Bob:Well...they all are good at what they do...they play fast abrasive in your face hardcore...and they have all supported the scene for a long time. I think out of all the so called "power violence" bands we have ever played with...I would rank Crossed Out as one of the best (even though they never considered themselves PV).When that band played the world ended....

cMs: You shared a 7" with Rupture, which might sound strange to someone who doesn't really know this australian "brutal punk" band (such as us...) There seems to be some kind of "contradiction" between your politically envolved lyrics and theirs (which are more, erm, down to earth...) Can you tell us more about that ?

Bob: Yeah...the Rupture split was our second recording. We had heard the "Rightous Fuck" Ep and thought it was pretty mental musically but slightly dodgy lyrically although funny.But we figured it would be cool to do a record with a band whos politics clashed a little with ours but whos music raged none the less. Their later records began to get progressively more nihilistic/anti PC and I cant say I agree with alot of what they had to say...but I got to become friends with their lead singer Andrew and he was a brilliant,extremely funny and nice guy...I just think that they have a very sick/mean sense of humor when they write music and truely enjoy pissing off people who consider themselves "politically correct".

cMs: Speaking about politics, do you think music is a proper means to forward ideas ?

Bob:I think it is an excellent means to convey ideas and have fun at the same time. Its great that people can hear something important from a band AND be able to rock to it...alot of times I think if the music is powerful enough it makes the ideas/lyrics seem even more potent.

cMs: Dropdead is a vegan band, are you into straight-edge or antispecism ?

Bob: We really dont label ourselves in any way as we are four different people with individual ideas and beliefs. All of us believe that it is important to support Human rights/animal rights/earth rights in our own way...and we practice it in our everyday lives...as well as in the band forum. Devon is the only actual "straight edge" person in the band but it isnt something he wears as a banner to describe himself as a person.

cMs: Dropdead maintains a pretty well informative page on the web, do you think internet is a threat to paper fanzines ? how do you feel about this "cybertrend" ?

Bob: Well I personally think the internet is one of the most important means of communication and ideas man has ever come up with...but I dont really think it will replace "zines" in the scene as a form of information at least in the punk scene. Zines are Punk like 7 inch records are punk...theyll always be some kid in his cellar with a green mohawk doing a cut and paste job on his "zine".

cMs: A lot of small radical, autonomous groups of left-wing activists has appeared nearly everywhere in the world (anti-globalization demonstrations, Earth First!, ALF, hacktivism), how do you feel about it ?

Bob: I think it is fantastic that people are standing up for injustice in any form...I think the only problem is that many of the messages that these groups are trying to convey go unheard by the majority and go unsupported by the media....if you asked most average Americans on the street what the ALF is...they'd say it was a TV show.

cMs: Dropdead has a new bass player now, what happened to his predecessor ?

Bob: Our former Bass player Lee( brian/drums brother...) is working in a factory and spending his off hours drinking beer and eating hot peppers. I actually miss the goon sometimes...

cMs: Something more futile, what is your latest heart-throb (book, film, music...)

Bob: My favorite book of the moment is "Final Harvest" a collection of poetry by Emily Dickenson...Film would be the new anniversary release of the Exorcist with added footage...and music would be In Slaughter Natives "Enter Now the World" and Nahawa Doumbia "Yaala"... oh yeah...and Marilyn Manson "Holy Wood"! HAHA!

cMs: Conclude by saying anything you want...

*I guess I just want to thank all the people in France who came and supported us on the last tour...hopefully we will see you all again in 2001....FIGHT THE POWER!