Interview with THE STANCE

 

If you like your Oi! music raw, violent and in your face, you got to check out The Stance! A young, gritty band that released their first demo last year and that are about to unleash their second demo-cassette through SFR Hardcore - the 'demo-home' of other sick bands such as Reckless Aggression, Complete Loss and SS/Block! I had a little chat with frontman Kam to introduce the band to you all, enjoy!

 

Hi Kam, thanks for taking the time to do this interview! How are things going at the moment?
Hey! Everything has been great over here! This month has been wicked busy at work, but obviously a lot of work is better than no work and my job is cool so im happy to keep busy. Besides that just be doing the same ol’ shit! No complaints.

Your band – The Stance, is still a relatively new band out of the Boston area. Could you please introduce yourself and the rest of the band to our readers and provide them with a short biography of the band?
Sure,this is my first band. I started it initially with members of Cinderblock, The Combat Zone, Sadist…Ect, but with everyone’s prior band commitments The Stance was not able to move forward with the attention I was hoping for it to have. At the same time that I was going through that Mike and Max’s project fell apart as well, so that’s where we joined forces. I(Kam Lindsey) sing for The Stance, I grew up 30 minutes south of Boston but when I met Max and Mike I had been living out of a van in my friends driveway. I get most my ideas from staring at the wall and consider my self a pretty good scam artist. Max Duggan(drums) grew up in Boston proper  and hasn’t been able to escape the same 5 Sq. miles he grew up in. In the past Max has played in Plain Truth and Warbox, two Western Mass bands. He is now playing in a new Boston Punk band called Option. Mike Fagan(Guitar) grew up in Freakshow, Maine he’s a butcher. He played in both Warbox and Plain Truth as well. He has too many black metal projects out in Western Mass. We just found out that he has been tuning his guitar wrong this whole time, so we are going to keep running with that. Carlos Kongo(Bass)moved to New York from Columbia In 2014, he is a union plumber. He has played in a good amount of bands. Right now he plays in Los Perros, 45 Adapters and The Royal Hounds.

Last year The Stance self-released their first demo on cassette featuring five raw, in your fuckin’ face anthems – just the way I like it! How was the response from others on your first effort?
First off, we all weren’t too happy with how the first demo came out, it just didn’t sound like us. This second tape is a way better representation of us. The younger Boston scene will never except us because we don’t sound how they want us to sound, we don’t sound exactly how they do so.. we suck. The older scene respects and likes us way more, which is way cooler than a bunch of bratty rich kids whining about us. Besides that, we have had the normal good and bad feedback. Its cool to see people loving it out side of America.

One of the songs on this demo is titled “I Should Be In Jail” and just like I wrote in my review – I am buying it! Simply because that raw and in your face sound that I mentioned above usually equals to being ‘real’. Are you still on the run from the police though, or were your crimes simply never discovered?
There is no way to answer this question with out sounding like a tough guy ass hole so lets go for it, I would say everyone in the band has had there fair share of run ins with the authorities. Everyone has done things that they haven’t been caught for, but I’m not going to get into it more than that- no ones in hiding or on the run as of right now.

Although I would describe your band’s sound as rough, vicious Oi! music, you can also hear back some of that bovver rock that has made its return a while ago. What would you say are the band’s main influences when it comes down to both music and lyrics?
We all listen to a lot but we don’t have any band(s) we try to emulate. For bands that give us inspiration or bands that influence us I could give you a long , long list but I will try to keep it short and sweet. Bands like Slade, Straw Dogs, The Templars, Anti Social, The Who, The New York Dolls..ect..are all bands that play into how our music comes out.  Sometimes lines that I write come to me in dreams, I wake up and make note of it and then sneak it into a song.  I get angry a lot and most of my writing happens in a angry state of mind, that’s where the ignorant writing comes into play. I have been trying to write with more of a clear/not pissed off head and it’s a lot tougher but I am happy with how it comes out even though it takes much longer for me.

Of course we could do a whole interview about the first demo… but the release of the second tape is just around the corner! This time it’s being released by SFR Hardcore from Germany though. Are you releasing it in America on your own again, or is SFR doing it on their own?
Yes, excited to be working with them! SFR is releasing it and we may do a self release in America but it is their release. Last time we sold about 5 on our own, so if we self release this time im hoping to sell about 6 or 7 tapes.

SFR Hardcore hasn’t released that much just yet, but what they’ve released is – like Reckless Aggression, Complete Loss and SS/Block – is raging! Were you familiar with their releases already? Any favorites, besides your own obviously!
Yes I was familiar with all these releases before hand, especially Reckless Aggression.  They released their second DEMO, which was fucking awesome. If you haven’t listened to Reckless Aggression you’re missing out. One of my favorites from the last 10 years.  Meat Dog, the vocalist of Reckless Aggression rules and so does this band. Tough sounding music with tough ass vocals/lyrics.

There’s a total of four songs on your second demo, could you tell a bit about each song please?
- On The Run (Again): A stompy and chuggin’ rock n roll song about having to hit the road after doing a crime( up for interpretation)
- Another Song Called Psychopath: This song is actually the first song we wrote as a band but didn’t put it on the first tape. A classic song about loosing  your mind with a name that pokes fun at our selves. (Every oi! Band has a song called psychopath)
- Sentenced To Die: The fastest song The Stance has spit out yet. Doesn’t sound much like any of our other songs. Another song that was around when we put out the first tape.
- 2 Of Hearts: This song is our newest one we have written. It’s a mix between Bovver rock and Oi! The song is about being content with where I am at and who I have in my life, if anything were to change it might just throw things out of whack.

With the second demo yet to come out it might be a bit early to ask, but what are your plans after it when it comes down to releases, another cassette? Or maybe some vinyl? Is there anything in the works that you can tell more about?
We have been talking about a 7 inch or maybe doing a split before that but who knows.

I’m about to wrap it up, but I am curious if there are any more bands in your area worth checking out who are still in their ‘demo days’. Any recommendations?
Yes a new band out of Brooklyn, NY called The Royal Hounds. A band made up of good friends of mine. They just recorded a demo not too long ago and it should be out soon! Keep your eyes peeled!

Alright, that’s it! Thanks again. If there’s anything you’d like to add to this interview, feel free to do so below! Cheers!
Thank you for your continued support of The Stance! We really appreciate it! Everyone can keep there eyes peeled for our second tape, which will either  be out very soon on SFR-HC or it's already out depending on when this interview is put out!