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Scotty, give us a brief history of ARMED SUSPECTS, line
up…
We formed in January of this year, 2004, with Jay on vocals, DJ on guitar,
myself on bass and Mangan on drums. We played our first show in March
with Trouble Bound, The Black Romeos, The Armedalite Rifles and Soul 4
Sale, all great local bands, in our friends' basement. We've averaged
about 3 shows a month since then. In September, Mangan left the band and
Nick is now our drummer.
What are your influences? Is there a band in particular
that makes you want to start your own band?
My personal influences run the gamut; I listen to so much different stuff,
I try to draw what I like from each style, whether it's punk, hardcore,
Oi, reggae or mod, country, rockabilly or whatever. I think that goes
for everybody in the band; we are all diverse in our musical taste that
we each bring our own influences together to the song-writing process
and we come up with our own style. As far as bands that made me personally
want to be in a band, there's so many. It's hard to choose from the Clash,
The Oppressed, Cock Sparrer, The Beltones, Those Unknown, The Hudson Falcons,
The Newtown Neurotics, The Jam, Stiff Little Fingers and all the rest.
Every time I saw someone up onstage, I knew one day I wanted to be there.
Describe the sound of ARMED SUSPECTS for those who never
heard you.
We're an Oi! band, but we bring in elements of hardcore, rockabilly,
metal and the rest of our influences to the mix. Our friend James described
us as "smart Oi!", or intelligent punk rock; we try not to follow
all the old skinhead clichés in our songwriting, and we try to
approach things from fresh perspectives. You'll just have to visit our
website, listen to the MP3s and decide for yourself.
You're from the NY area, how's the scene there now? I
guess lots of bands and shows!
We're from Orange County, NY, which is about an hour north of New York
City; we might be more famous for the American Chopper Television program,
but there are a lot of great punk bands from our area, like The Black
Romeos, Trouble Bound, The Mercy Killers and The Armedalite Rifles and
a lot of young upstart bands like Uncivil Class, Poison Youth and Class
Riot keeping it going. New York is a big place so there are a lot of great
bands like Murderer's Row, Shock Nagasaki, The Bloodstained Kings and
so many more. There's also a ton of amazing hardcore bands around the
area like our boys in Severed Ties, XclamationX, Mickeys Crew, Blackballed,
Shellshock, My Safe Haven and so many other great bands throughout the
state like Another Breath keeping it real. The scene in our area isn't
so great as far as shows, but around the state, there's a decent scene;
it just needs to come together better.
What are your lyrics about? Is there a "message"?
Our lyrics touch on a variety of topics from relationship woes (Bottle
of Whiskey) to our old hangout (O'Farrell's) to family problems (Be A
Man) to unemployment (20 Years Lost). We write a lot about personal experiences
and everything comes from the heart; there's no bullshit in our lyrics.
People from all different backgrounds and musical tastes have told us
they enjoy our music, so hopefully that says something about what we're
writing. There's also no singular message in our music; the music speaks
for itself and hopefully people will take what works for them from it.
How many gigs have you played so far? Best and worst?
We've been averaging about 3 to 4 shows a month since March so we've
played around 20 or so shows. The worst show was probably one in Pennsylvania
where we played to 3 people, but even that wasn't that bad; we went across
the street to the bar and got hammered on dollar pints. We try to make
the best of every situation. It's really hard to pinpoint the best show
we've ever played but whenever we play with any of our friends we have
a great time. Our show with Murderer's Row and Uncivil Class was pretty
awesome, and I had a great time when we played with Mickeys Crew and Blackballed;
I also had a blast playing with Deadline, The Beltones. Broken Heroes,
Weekend Warriors, Steel Toe Solution, The Krays, Demob and Hub City Stompers.
Any time we play with any of the bands I named earlier, I have an awesome
time, whether the turnout is great or not, because it's always a party.
Is it easy to find venues in the NY area?
Finding venues has never really been a problem; we've averaged 3 to 4
shows a month since we started. We play a lot around our area, but we've
been fortunate to play at the Sidebar in Baltimore, Valentines in Albany,
The Court Tavern and Connections in New Jersey and the Trash Bar in Brooklyn.
What do you think of the actual NYC Oi/HxC scene? (compared
to the early 90's when there were tons of bands)
There's still a lot of awesome bands down there and from around that
area; the Templars are still going strong, bands like Agnostic Front and
Murphy's Law have been going for over 20 years and there's still a lot
of talented music coming out of that area. The Blood Stained Kings, Skin
Disorder, Billy Club Sandwich, No Redeeming Social Value, Kill Your Idols,
Step2Far, Urban Riot and Subzero are all awesome bands from the NYC area.
I just think the scene is going through a phase where the older cats are
starting to be more involved with their obligations and responsibilities
and the younger cats that are getting into it are just too young to get
into the shows. I think in another few years, the scene in NYC and throughout
the rest of the state is going to get big again, and people will catch
on to the great things that are going on here.
Give us your opinion on the US scene? Are you in touch
with other bands?
The east coast is a bit calm right now from what I've seen and heard,
but everything I hear about the West Coast says the scene out there is
thriving really well. There's some awesome bands from out that way like
Strongarm and the Bullies that we're in touch with, and we're stoked to
be putting out a 7 inch with them. I'll let you know again after we get
to tour a bit more.
Which bands do you recommend us? (in the States)
There's so many awesome bands: Trouble Bound, The Black Romeos, The Armedalite
Rifles, Uncivil Class, Severed Ties, Murderer's Row, The Beltones, Hudson
Falcons, Flatfoot 56, Poison Youth, The Bloodstained Kings, Shock Nagasaki,
Broken Heroes, Hub City Stompers, Fighting Chance, The Krays, Cranked
Up, Strongarm & the Bullies, Mickeys Crew, Blackballed, Billy Club
Sandwich, Another Breath, XclamationX, Internal Affairs, Crime In Stereo,
Kill Your Idols, HOODS, Strength For A Reason, Pale Horse, Swear To God,
Recon, NY Rel-X... There's just too many to list them all. Trust me; if
you keep your ears open, you'll hear a lot of great stuff coming out of
the States.
What about the international scene? Do you have some
contacts outside the USA?
Deadline from England, Emscherkurve 77 from Germany, Blood or Whiskey
and Skint from Ireland as well as various bands we've made friends with
through our Myspace website. There's a lot of great bands out there.
Is there a country that you would like to play?
I would love to play anywhere, but Ireland, England, Germany, Spain,
Italy, France, Japan and Australia are all high on the list.
Have you already released something (demo, EP...)? If
not, any plans?
We released a 7-song demo in April, but that is since out of print. We're
in the studio right now recording 16 tracks for a full length and we've
been talking to a few different labels; we are also releasing a 7-inch
with Strongarm and The Bullies early next year.
Would you like to work with a label in particular?
There are so many great labels that it would be hard to pick my favourite;
Street Anthem, Insurgence, TKO and a lot of newer labels are putting out
such awesome stuff. We'll be happy with anyone who can get our stuff out
there and put the backing behind it.
We got in touch thanks to WSN (www.skinheads.net); what
do you think of it, positive and negative?
I think the site is a great tool for connecting with other people in
the scene and a great resource for finding out about upcoming gigs, what's
going on in other areas and to find out about new bands. I think Chris
Nutter and company do a good job running the site; I've met a lot of cool
people because of it, and I've been able to connect with some awesome
bands as well. Some people use it to trash-talk and remain anonymous,
but that happens with any forum such as this. I also think people take
it a little too seriously at times, and I think we all need to remember
we're all human and capable of making mistakes.
What do you think of the fact that many people on this
board put DKM down? For example, a lot of people say they're sell-outs
now. I think Matt Kelly is one of your friends (from what I read).
I've known those guys for about 6 years now, and I think they're a great
group of people. Some people may not like the direction their music has
taken, but you can't please everyone all the time. Personally I like their
stuff and I'm happy for their success. I have also yet to meet a nicer
guy than Matt; he put me and some friends up in Boston, took care of us
and is just generous and down to earth overall. He knows his stuff as
well and is a skinhead through and through; people can say what they want,
but the truth will prevail and all those people will have is their jealousy.
Give us a top ten - USA & International.
USA - Those Unknown, The Beltones, Hudson Falcons, The Templars, Blood
Stained Kings, The Bruisers, Trouble Bound (Hangmen Records - LP due out
early 2005), Broken Heroes, Whiskey Rebels and Cranked Up!
International - Cock Sparrer, The Clash, The Jam, Purple Hearts, The Undertones,
Secret Affair. The Oppressed, Angelic Upstarts, The Crack and The Newtown
Neurotics.
Are you a record collector? If so, imagine that you have
to keep only 5 records, which ones?
I do collect some vinyl, and it would be impossible to separate from
any of it, but my top 5 would be a Cock Sparrer 10 inch test pressing,
The Strike "Victoria" 7 inch EP, The Lambrettas "D-a-a-ance/(Can't
You) Feel The Beat" 7 inch picture disc, Secret Affair "My World/So
Cool" 7 inch, and The Jam "Away from The Numbers/Down In The
Tube Station At Midnight" 7 inch.
Future plans for ARMED SUSPECTS?
We just plan to keep playing out as often as possible, keep writing music
we believe in and hopefully get our music out there to the rest of the
world.
Final word.
Thank you for the interview and make sure to check us out on the net
at http://www.myspace.com/armedsuspects
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