Mini-interviews for Rebellion Records' "Propaganda 2017 #1"
A while back I did some interviews for the first issue of Rebellion Records' "Propaganda" folder / newsletter. The folder itself is being sent along with all orders placed at www.rebellionshop.com, but the interviews I did can be read below.
Please keep in mind that they were done for a folder, so they're short, five-or-so questions tops. Also, they've been done some months ago so they aged (but aged beautifully that is). First up are Crown Court, Discipline and Sweet FA (with some Legion 76 and Thunder And Glory thrown in the mix)!
CROWN COURT
London troublemakers Crown Court so far released a crackin’ demo and two killer EP’s, ready to go for the kill with their first full-length “Capital Offence” it is time to have a little chat with Trevor about their storming debut LP!
Hi Trevor, after an impressive and two killer EP’s, it’s finally time for Crown Court’s first full-length LP! Excited?
Mate were buzzin’ we done what we came here to do and there's no time
like the present.
Can you fill our readers in on what they can expect from “Capital Offence”?
It's the fine polished product of what we are. It's delivery is all impact no fluff. We've got Sammy Skyves the title track about a Terrace Hero from Spurs , absolute Rockers like Hated but rated. Then wait out for "thamesake" you ain't even heard that side of Crown Court. We've developed yes for sure but soften? Have we fuck.
You guys gained quite some popularity within the underground in a very short period. What is your secret and did you ever expect it?
Proofs in the pudding mate , Oi is the sound of the street and were something that shows the real side of things. Maybe no ones been doing that for a while. Plus I am blessed with 3 of the most talented geezers I know at my back. That is the truth. We didn't expect it. Certainly when the demo was released we were all proud but unaware at the time of what it was gonna lead to. I was sitting in a barracks one day and a screw come up to me asking where he could get a demo tape. We had played 1 show at the time and I was like "fuck me, it's all kicking off".
Rebellion is releasing the album in Europe, Katorga Works in the US. Are there any plans on touring the USA (or Europe for that matter) in the near future?
Yup we are in Europe all the time these days at least once a month we just need to start getting more festival type deals on the go. USA the boys wanna do so we will see where this takes us. It's been a mad ride and I ain't gonna let up yet.
Is there’s anything you’d like to add, feel free to do so! Thanks!
Yeah watch this space cause once this LP hits things are gonna start changing. Cheers mate.
DISCIPLINE
One of the surprises of this year is the return of the almighty Discipline on both CD and vinyl with the release of the brand new album “Stake Your Claim”! Still the undisputed kings of European streetrock, it was time to have a little chat with drummer Joost about the new album!
Congrats on the new album "Stake Your Claim"! It's been 8 years since the last studio-album, the collection of covers "Old Pride, New Glory". How was it to be back into the
studio again with the boys?
Thanx a lot! It was great to be back in the studio! we recorded two times more the last years, both demo material for the new record. The first time a couple of years ago with our former singer, we were well on our way for a new album when disaster struck us.... So we really wanted to have a new album out way earlier!
Can you tell a bit about the recording process? Because one day Wouter (Rebellion Records) told me he had a few new demo's by you guys and before I knew it, boom!, it went in production. Did everything really went down so fast?
We realized about a year ago that this year would be our 25th anniversary year! We realized that we really needed some new work as well. This gave us the strength and the spirit to go to work for real!! I'm not lying when I say we worked hard for this one to get it done in time for the anniversary!! Once the train started rolling.....
The laminated cover and gatefold sleeve of "Stake Your Claim" simply looks amazing. What did you feel when you held the finished product in your hands for the first time. Do you still feel proud and do you still get excited after all these years?
The title of the album can be interpreted in more than one way off course, to be honest the original idea is from the view of the humble hooligan.... and is about never leaving your mates behind when on the battleground (haha) But also tells a lot about our drive to show the world that we are not 'back after years...' but we never been away!!! It only took us quite a while to get a new album out,
reason is known... That is why maybe I'm even more proud of this album as of the earlier ones.
Over the past two and a half decades you worked with several labels from all over the world, but never before with a label from your own country (The Netherlands). Is it easier and are you happy with the way things turned out for you?
We were on Iscream before where language was dutch as well so that makes no difference. But so far we are very happy with the way things go. Because we didn't release anything for quite a while we found al lot had changed in the music/labels/internet business, we are really glad to get to work with Wouter(rebellion) who really helps us out finding our way these days! (jesus! that sounds old!)
Discipline started out as a stomping, brutal 'eurocore' band, but quickly evolved into the thunderous, terrace-chanting anthem-machine you still are today. How do you look back to this and is a 'back to the roots' kind of EP something ever worth considering?
Well we all have our personal favorite (sub)genres we like, myself I like the more punk-rock style a lot, but it has always been a natural development, never a specific choise of direction. So I think the future will bring the same mixture of styles we had for most of the albums. What we would love to do is another split with some old friends or so ;-)
SWEET FA / LEGION 76 / THUNDER & GLORY
Another release on Rebellion Records I am extremely stoked about is the debut LP of Philly’s Sweet FA! Their demo instantly impressed me, but the full-length is going to blow everyone away! Time to have a chat with Eric, who does not only play in Sweet FA, but in Legion 76 and Thunder & Glory as well!
Hi Eric, thanks for doing this interview! You must be a busy man with Thunder & Glory, Legion 76 and
now Sweet FA as well! How are things going with all the bands?
Hey Mano, things are definitely busy but busy is always good. We have releases and shows lined up for all three bands for the rest of the year. Sweet FA has an LP coming out on Rebellion, Thunder and Glory has a 10” coming out on Longshot/Contra and Legion has represses of our first two Eps coming out soon.
Thunder and Glory and Legion will be heading out to play Midwest Live and Loud soon and then all three of the bands will be playing Take This Bird And Shove It Fest in Philly in November. Throw in a few US and Canadian shows for all three bands and a European tour for Legion and that is pretty much the rest of 2016 for us.
I’ve also started to write a bunch of new songs for Legion for a release next year so we’ll be playing a bunch of those when we come play Europe in October.
With T&G and L76 you only released EP’s so far, but with Sweet FA you guys go straight from a demo to a full-length LP! What is the reason behind this?
This mainly has to do with who is writing the songs. It takes me a long time to write songs that I’m happy with so that’s why Legion has done EPs so far. I’m planning to do a 10” next year and then maybe a full length at some point after that. We’ll see what happens though.
We always planned to do smaller releases for T&G from the beginning of the band. We normally go into the studio and record a big batch of songs and then split them up over a few different releases. Part of this has to do with our schedules and trying to coordinate with everyone. We’ll have a six song 10” out in the next few months though so that’s a small step up from our last EP.
Like you said, Sweet FA is completely different. Brian prefers full lengths to smaller releases and he is a machine when it comes to writing songs so that’s why we started with the LP. We will probably have some EPs thrown in there at some point but expect a lot more songs from us in the future.
By the time this interview gets published the LP is in production, what do you expect of the album when it hit the streets?
We’re really happy with how the album turned out and we’re really excited to release it. I’m pretty sure anyone who liked the first stuff we released will love this too. Working with you and Wouter has been great so far. Looking forward to seeing the final product.
You hit Europe with L76 for the first time last March and you’re heading back this fall. Excited? What do you think of Europe and do you see T&G and / or Sweet FA perform over here in the future as well?
We cannot wait to come back in October. Everyone we have met from Europe has been amazing to us and insanely supportive of what we are doing. The amount of amazing bands, labels and festivals over there is pretty crazy. I wish we could come over more often.
I would love to get T&G or Sweet FA over there. It is a little harder to tour with T&G because of our schedules but hopefully we can come over for a long weekend or festival at some point.
Is the European scene also the reason you have worked with European labels (as far as I know?) so far?
Sure, that is part of it but it is mainly because I just want to get our music to as many people as possible. Leaving Europe out of the equation for a release doesn’t really make sense to me if you have the means to do it. Also, with Legion, we pretty much only got interest from European labels in the beginning. Eventually we saw some more interest from the US and we got our good friend Mike from Longshot Music to come on board. For me, having a foot on both sides of the Atlantic definitely helps to keep the momentum going.
Thanks, that’s it! If you have anything to add, feel free to do so!
Thanks as always Mano, appreciate the support. Keep up the good work and I’ll see you soon!
