This is Hell interview with Rick
by Joe Toeben – 2009
How’s the tour going so far?
Good, it’s been great. It’s got great bands and great people. A lot of kids are showing up because it’s 10 for $10.
So you guys make more EP’s than LP’s. Is there a reason behind that?
It’s quicker to get music out to the fans. The EP just comes up easier like if you do a split with another band. It’s just usually a fun thing.
Where does This Is Hell come from?
It’s just a lyric from an Elvis Costello song.
Now most of your albums run longer than other hardcore albums due to longer song time. Is there a reason you write longer songs than most hardcore bands?
We just wrote the songs and some of them ended up being longer. We just go with it. We are trying to expand on the sound that we had.
Did you grow up in the hardcore scene or not?
Both. I grew up in it but I gradually got into each side of it. I never stop listening to hip hop or metal or punk.
Who are your everyday influences?
It’s hard to say. Musically there are bands like Metallica, Minor Threat, Sick of It All, Cro Mags that influenced me musically.
Your new EP drops the second week of August. Where does the concept and title of “Warbirds” come from?
It pertains to touring life, experiences. Touring is hard, especially in a hardcore band. We got the title of “Warbirds” from a lyric. We just try to push this band really hard. We just like to think of ourselves as an unstoppable touring band.
Would you rather be the hardcore slam dancer or the guy on the stage directing the chaos?
There is a beauty in both. I love to be on stage but sometimes there is a band on stage that you just want to lose your mind to. I guess at this point in my life I’d rather be on stage just because I’m old and I get hurt when I mosh.
What’s the best band to share the stage with?
Sick of It All. I think Sick of It All is the best band out there in music. They are everything that is right with music today.
What’s the craziest tour story you have?
We were hanging out with some people after a show and someone suggested we go to a strip club. So we were like yeah let’s go. So we followed this girl and we’re going she said she didn’t exactly know where it was. We crossed a state line and she turns down this dark road taking a really hard left out of nowhere thinking she was going to go onto a road and she goes onto train tracks. She is flooring it trying to get off the tracks and she wrecks her wheels trying to get off, there is rocks and shit flying everywhere. She gets out and says she wants to call the cops and tell them one of us was driving since she was drunk and we were like f*ck no! Anyways we left and as we were leaving the cops were on their way and we just went back to town. So the next day we saw her and she said she didn’t get in trouble at all, that the cops just towed her out of there and everything ended up okay.
