CVLT Nation is beyond excited to bring you another ultra gnarly artist to artist interview. This time, two of our favorite hardcore bands went skull to skull: Full of Hell vs. Heartless. One of the main reasons why we started this series was to give the bands another voice though which to express themselves. Full of Hell vs. Heartless is a killer read and gives me new insight into a band that I really dig. I’m super happy we could bring these two bands together, especially being that they have an epic tour together starting Nov. 25th, so they had better get used to each other! I getting bored of my own voice, check out this real as fuck interview after the jump!
How have things been ramping up for the band since the completion of your first LP?
Things have actually been pretty chill lately. Mainly getting everything ready for tour has been our main focus. We just received the CD version of the album and should be getting the LP’s here soon. We’re really stoked for that. Tom just got back from being on the road with our friends Run Forever, so we’ve started writing/rehearsing and preparing for tour.
How has the relationship been with Southern Lord thus far?
You know, we we’re all really huge fans of what Southern Lord has been doing in the first place, so to be able to work with those guys has really been an honor. If you would have asked me when I was 16 if I thought I would ever put a record out on Southern Lord I would have laughed at you. We really have a deep respect for what those guys have done for the metal community, and what they are now doing for the punk/hardcore community. Easily one of my favorite labels as far as heavy music is concerned.
Give me a run down of the writing process for Heartless. Is it largely written by 1 or 2 members, or more of a huge collective effort?
The writing process is really quite simple. Rick, me and occasionally Tom will have some guitar riffs that we wrote at home. We jam the riffs at practice and pick the ones we like the most. We then use those as the foundation for a song. Once we get the foundation we usually just all add to it and see what sticks. Once we have a song completed we do a rough recording for Cory. He does his thing at home with the lyrics and usually by next practice we’ve got a song.
You have been booking shows in the Pittsburgh area for years now, and it seems to be pretty constant. What are your feelings on the current community?
On a local level I don’t think things could be better. In my opinion, Pittsburgh has always had a lot of great things going for it as far as punk and hardcore are concerned. We all grew up listening to Pittsburgh bands like Aus Rotten, Warzone Womyn, Brain Handle, Crucial Unit and Caustic Christ. This is where we learned about the punk rock ethos. I remember that when I was 16 I thought that the members of Aus Rotten lived in a cave. They dropped some
serious shit on me lyrically and it had a huge influence on how I lived and how I saw the world. Still to this day I am very grateful for having discovered punk and grateful for the wonderful friends that I’ve met through this community. Our once defunct DIY venue The Mr. Roboto Project is about to open its doors again after two dormant years and we can’t wait for things to take off. Currently there are a lot of great bands popping up, there are great turnouts at shows, and surprisingly an overwhelming amount of bands that want to play Pittsburgh. I’ve been booking shows since I’ve been in bands and it’s just become something that I really enjoy. I love meeting new people and checking out new bands so it works out. Joe (from Masakari) and I started Root of Evil Booking Collective as a way to ensure that bands coming through the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas are fed and given a comfortable place to crash. We treat bands with the same hospitality and generosity that we have received while on the road. Whether it’s just going to shows and supporting touring bands, or creating art/zines, or whatever it is that you do, I really believe that to get something out of this scene you’ve got to give something. This is just my small part in punk/hardcore.
You guys are leaving on a full US tour next month, any places in particular that you are excited to play?
This will be the first time for our band on the west coast and that’s always really exciting. I’m really excited to play with Thou and False in NOLA. I’m also really stoked to play with Young and In the Way in Charlotte. Cleveland show looks killer. I’m looking forward to the Sacramento show with our
dudes in Caulfield. There’s not one date that I’m not excited for. The tour is shaping up to be awesome. Stoked to see you guys tear it up every night!
What is the band dynamic like? Do you guys all get along fairly well, or is there occasional tension?
Tour for Heartless is great. We’re all best friends and we all love traveling, but like all humans we are not perfect. When you put four or five dudes in a van for a long period of time there can be occasional tension. We all have our idiosyncrasies and being in a crammed space can definitely amplify them, but this is a very small price to pay for being in a band and getting out and experiencing new things. We’re all pretty chill dudes so it’s usually a low stress situation. We all work jobs to pay our bills, but the band is our life.
The lyrics seem to be largely introspective and socially themed. Do you guys foster any particular political beliefs?
As a band we sing about the human condition, but as people we each have our own individual beliefs. I think it’s safe to say that each of us has a worldview that exists outside of any bureaucratic political system. There’s no doubt that politics shape the world around us, but as people I’d say that except on a local level we’re very cynical/skeptical of their effectiveness. I hate to bring music into the question, but I think Flux of Pink Indians hit the nail on the head with their album titled “Strive to Survive Causing the Least Suffering Possible”.
Any bands in the US or otherwise that you guys are all really excited about right now?
There are so many bands that I could mention right now, so to make things easy I’m going to keep things local. The first band to mention is the Code Orange Kids. I remember being shocked the first time that I saw this band. So much energy and so you could tell they really meant it. Pittsburgh will always be home to “The Kids” albeit their move across the state. It’s been great to watch them grow as a band and it’s incredible to see such drive in
such a young band. They have a 7” coming out soon and we all expect big things from them. Confidence Men have an early TSOL vibe going on and are easily one of my favorite local bands. Drug Lust play a noisy, chaotic style of punk that reminds me of Bone Awl or maybe even GISM. Our Sharon friends Old Accusers are absolutely crushing and self released a demo a few months ago. Really great shit if you’re into early 90’s hardcore. There’s a small town outside of the city called Braddock that has been churning up some really great hardcore; more specifically Hounds of Hate. They are reminiscent of early NYHC with maybe some early 80’s Boston era stuff thrown in there. They have a 7” coming out very soon on Katorga Works and it’s really fucking good. Drink Dust put out a really great tape a little while back and Blood Red has a record coming out sometime in the coming months. I’m also still really stoked on veteran Pittsburgh bands like Slices, Ratface and Kim Phuc. I’ll provide some links below for your listening pleasure.
http://bloodred.someideas.info/
http://soundcloud.com/confidencemen
http://oldaccusers.bandcamp.com/
http://codeorangekids.bandcamp.com/
http://houndsofhate.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2011
http://drinkdust.tumblr.com/
http://druglust.info/
What’s on the schedule for 2012? Any preliminary plans for abroad touring?
We’re working on getting something together in February and we’re planning to do some scattered weekends throughout the summer as well. Were hoping to head to Europe in either the fall or winter, but this is all still in the very early stages of planning.
Thanks a lot for the interview! Any shout outs or advice you’d like the youth of the world to hear?
Thanks for the interview. Thanks to CVLT Nation for keeping it real. We appreciate it! Up the punks!
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