Interview with the Straphangers

Hello everyone,

New for this week, an interview with Straphangers, from New York (mostly). These guys have played St. Bernard's a few times, and seriously know how to party. They've got a six-song demo out, aggressive, old school hardcore, it's excellent, fucking great, and more songs on their myspace, the address of which is at the end of the interview.

The following is an interview with the band, conducted via e-mail. Be sure to check these guys out, their recordings are super-intense, and they have a great live show.

I seem to remember at one of your past shows you mentioned that the five of you are from different towns in NY and NJ. Is this right? I mishear things all the time, but if not, how does that work as far as practicing and whatnot?

Yes, three of the Straphangers live in queens, Emily lives in NJ, while Larry travels two hours each way from Staten Island. But traveling once a week to Queens to practice is doable and when we have to bring equipment for shows someone always manages to find a ride.

Any favorite places to play? How far west have you played?

We have had pretty good responses in PA. We were in Bethlehem and Pottsville twice and had some fun times there, and Pottsville was the farthest west that we have played. And once a month we will play somewhere in the city. Most of the punk/metal venues are now in Brooklyn and Queens so there’s usually a pretty good turn out for the shows in those boroughs. A lot of the places that we started out in are closed, like Bar 131 in Queens, the Continental, Knitting Factory (closed in Manhattan and re-opened in Brooklyn), Otto’s is always a favorite of ours located in downtown NYC, but they recently had a fire so we’re not sure when we can start playing shows there again. Most recently, the best response we had was at the Hill Tap Tavern and we’ve deemed it “the best response” because three people were bleeding profusely by the end of our set.

Your style pulls a lot of from hc, punk, and metal—what kinds of bands do you find yourselves playing with? I’d imagine you could get on all kinds of different shows.

We have played with so many different kinds of bands since we started. We are always happy to cross genres and play with new and different bands, but we have also been booked on some shows where we were completely out of our genre. In those instances we either cleared out the room because we were too heavy or the place went insane because people had been waiting for an aggressive band. When playing out close to home we usually play with a lot of the Adrenaline Head bands, one of those bands is YoScunt who just played some PA shows with us back in October.

I like the artwork on the demo. You all horror fans?

Yes, very much so. We’ll even cover some horror movie theme songs so keep an ear out for those when we play.

You guys have been together almost ten years. How has the lineup changed in that time?

Straphangers has gone through many changes over the years, and the music has progressed to what it is now. There have been several guitarist changes and Mike, the drummer, left for a couple years and sang in another band, but he is now back permanently. We are all very happy with the line-up now and hopefully things will continue to progress.

What bands have you seen that have had a strong effect on you—anyone in particular who’s had an influence on your style on stage?

The local New York scene has affected us greatly. Our peers are probably the most influential components in our lives as musicians. We all feed off of each other’s energy and creativity and it has been very interesting to see all the bands that we’ve been playing with for years change and grow.

Do you have upcoming plans for touring and/or recording?

We will begin working on a full-length album in January and February and hopefully by the spring time we’ll get back on the road and start promoting the CD. We all have full-time jobs and some of us are parents so it’s hard to do long tours, but we are going to try one or two 4-5 day tours in the summer.

Since this is a Bethlehem-based blog—do you think you’ll be out this way again in the near future? The last two shows you played at the Burner’s seemed to get a pretty good response.

We definitely want to hit Bethlehem again. Probably won't return there until the spring though, after we are done with the CD. True Blue Productions hooked us up with the past two shows at the Burners so I'm sure Billy Dukes and Walt will have us out there again when we are ready to do some more mini-tours in PA.

Thanks again to the Straphangers for the interview--check out their info below, and by all means, if they're playing nearby, go see em. -- Mark Rooster

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Straphangers/123179234370450 http://www.myspace.com/straphangers/

Yeah, I was "That" guy

I know it's been a long ass time since anything that wasn't a video has been posted, and even the video posting was sporadic. Walt and Kate have a bunch of things going on, I was sick and then I was lazy, so that's why nothing has been posted. Now it's 4:30 AM on Monday morning, I can't sleep, and I have the sudden urge to write something. I'd write about the show Friday night, but I did what I swore I wouldn't do anymore, and partied to hard at the show. So much to the point that I was one of those people that were doing something other than watching the bands play (ie. throwing back beers in the bar). I feel like such a hypocrite for doing that because it wasn't that long ago that I was bitching about it on here, and then I go and do that.

I ended up only seeing three out of the six acts, and feel like a complete douche bag because of it. I was sitting down in the bar drinking a beer and Weeded Out started playing. I finished my beer and literally as soon as I got off the bar stool to walk upstairs to see them, the music stopped. They only played a few songs, and I obviously didn't drink fast enough.

I did make it upstairs to see Jabberjaw, who I was told was playing their 4th show ever. They were really fucking good. They were aggressive with heavy moshing parts. They'll be playing at the Burner's on 10/1 (with Straphangers) and I'll be there for sure.

I missed out on Contender's set because .... you guessed it, I was in the bar. The upside to this was Dave Phlegmball enlisted my intoxicated help with rhyming words for his song "You Can't Rhyme Nothin' With Orange", at least that's how I remember the song title. This is where I might normally complain that people weren't around for Dave Phlegmball's set, but since I was guilty of doing that, I'm going to keep my mouth shut (you know that saying about people who live in glass houses). His set was hysterical. There's no doubt that his lyrics were goofy as hell, but they didn't hide the fact that he is a very talented musician.

I'd like to say that I saw Get Railed play, but I was outside talking Bill Duke$ ear off about something.

However, I did not miss My Turn To Win's set. Just like last time, they killed it. They were awesome. They played a bunch of songs off the new record ("No Challenge", which I scored a 12" of), and they ended with "Best Goalie Ever", which was absofuckinglutely the highlight of my night. Walt made sure to tell Jess from My Turn to Win that I wanted to interview her for the blog while I was barely managing to stand up straight, so I've got to get my shit together and write down some questions. Look for that in the near future.

Sorry to all the bands that I didn't see play and to all the people I may have said something that was drunkenly slurred together.

Kate took a bunch of pictures of Dave Phlegmball, Get Railed, and My Turn To Win, so I'll post a link to those as soon as she throws them on her photography page

Wisdom In Chains will be at the Burner's on 9/24 so don't miss out on that (New post of upcoming shows will be up in the next couple of days).

8/13/10 Show at the Burner's

As usual, the show last night at The Burner's kicked ass. However, I made the mistake of drinking a large Dunkin Donut's Iced Latte with an extra shot of espresso in it during the show, and I've been up all night. That's not really that important, so lets get on to the good stuff. Since there were six bands that played last night, I'm going to try and keep it short and sweet (Plus I'm exhausted, running on cigs and coffee).

Ever since this show was booked (even before F.O.D. was confirmed), Walt was excited about it, and kept telling me how good Rough on Rats was. As usual, he wasn't fucking around. These guys were really good. Quick, fast, aggressive old school punk. They're definitely a great band, and I'm definitely planning on seeing them again. Check out their Myspace, and I took a couple pictures of them and they are here, on my Facebook.

When Mark Rooster and I got to the show, one of the first things Walt said to us was that Straphangers got caught in traffic and didn't leave the Holland Tunnel in Jersey until almost 7:30 pm. After Rough on Rats finished their set, no one else went on until Straphangers arrived. I'll admit, I got a bit impatient, but it was worth it. They kicked ass. I don't know what else to say. Everything about them was awesome. The female lead vocals fit perfectly and the music was tight and aggressive. I picked up their CD (and a t-shirt), so there will be a review of it coming at some point. Here's their Myspace and the pics I took are here. They have a show today at Sinix Rock Bar in Essex, MD tonight, and then several shows in NYC in September. If you have a chance to go to any of these, I highly recommend it.This is the second time that I've seen Bad American. I went into this with high hopes and expectations, and these guys didn't disappoint. Their energy level is intense and you can see that in the pics I took. Their set was tight and aggressive, the way a hardcore/punk set should be. I talked to Ray a bit before they played, and he's agreed to do an interview, so look for that in the coming days. In the mean time, if you haven't listened to them, go over to their Myspace and check them out (because you seriously need to hear these guys). Make sure you check these guys out at the 2010 Lehigh Valley Punk Rock Picnic on the 28th

Before seeing McRad, I listened to 1984's "Dominant Force" once. I basically had as much knowledge of McRad as I did Rough on Rats and Straphangers. To say I was blown away would be a bit of an understatement. Chuck Treese's musicianship is amazing. It's not hard to understand why McRad is considered a Philly Skatepunk legend. There were a lot of people at the show that were psyched to see them. I can understand that, but honestly, in my opinion, I think some of the instrumentals went on a little too long. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, it just wasn't what I was in the mood for at that point. I definitely plan on listening to more of McRad's stuff. Check 'em out on Myspace, and here are the pics.

It's becoming a trend that every time I see Ambergris play when I'm not broke, I spend a bunch of money on their merch. This time was no different, I ended up leaving with a t-shirt and their EP, This Blows (the re-recordings of their album "A Whale's Tale"). Their set was killer. If you haven't heard of them, well then you're missing out. Head over to their Myspace and to the pics and check them out. They are playing today in Newark, NJ at a benefit for Red Bull New York's Joe Vide. If you're in the area between 12 and 5 today, stop by and support the cause. They're also playing playing a pig roast next on the 21st, and also at the 2010 Lehigh Valley Punk Rock Picnic on the 28th.

When Walt told me F.O.D. was playing this show, I couldn't help but get excited. I was so impressed with them when I saw them with D.O.A. (first show I wrote about here), and I couldn't wait to see them again. They didn't disappoint. Everything I said about them 2 months ago, still holds true. They are truly intense. They play furiously, and never relent. The speed of all of their songs just completely boggles my mind. I picked up their new cd, Home Lobotomy Kit, and I can't wait to listen to it. Do yourself a favor and check out their Myspace. There are pics of them too.

I know this one wasn't as detailed as some of the others, hopefully no one minds. This show gave me a lot of stuff to do. I have 3 cd's that I'm looking forward to reviewing, and I have to get started on my interview with Ray from Bad American, so I'm done with this. Peace.