New hardcore unit from Boise with an imminent 10-song EP "Threats Of The World", on pre-order for over a month now!
Here's some questions I sent to REJECTION PACT's singer Devin Boudreaux about the group's background and find why they are one of the main promising bands to carry on the Youth Crew in the USA!
Rejection Pact was formed by members coming from 2 distinct melodic punk bands Stepbrothers and Alone. How that came about?
Rejection Pact formed during the tail end of Stepbrothers. Charlie was the drummer of both Alone & Stepbrothers and I went on the last Stepbrothers tour doing merch. Charlie, myself, and Ralph; Stepbros bassist, started talking about how it'd be fun to start a hc band and see would come of it. I had mentioned it to my friend Nathan who had been wanting to play guitar in a band & we got together and jammed and it worked out and we meshed well and it just kinda went from there. Stepbrothers broke up in October of 2017 and we recorded our demo at our old practice space in November, played our first show/put the demo out in January & that's how we started.
Soundwise you guys are going for a modern 00's youth crew without losing its old school essence, bands from Rivalry Records and early Bridge 9 catalog comes to mind! Does growing up in the Northwest Pacific impacted directly on your creative process? What else can you tell us about the new record?
I think it does to a certain extent. I grew up in Anchorage Alaska but the first bigger hc show I went to was the last Champion weekend in Seattle and a lot of the bands I was exposed to that weekend were nwhc bands and a lot of my formative years have occurred in the NW. I just think the nw had a real lock on putting out awesome hc for a long time. Some of our favorite bands like Go It Alone, Sinking Ships, Shook Ones, Keep It Clear all come from the NW.
The new record is just something we're stoked on. Lyrically the record touches on themes of bigotry, self reflection, violence, narcissism, political division and a tricky path a lot of things are headed. I understand being a straight white dude, does anyone really give a shit my thoughts on the issues? prob not but at the same time, I dont think I'm alone in being pissed and frustrated with different people/groups/what have you thinking we need to take steps back and equality and treating people with respect and understanding. Things have never been fair or equal but it's sad and frustrating when you have old braindead weak people trying to take away the rights of groups/individuals who've never had a fair shake in the first place.
Aside from the political themes, some of the stuff I sing about just goes into how I'm a dumbass sometimes and it's hard to deal with, or I just think I'm kind of a weirdo and coming to grips with that, or maybe I'm not and everyone else? Haha who's to say, either way. Sonically, we're just trying to write the kind of hc we enjoy listening to. I dont think a ton of bands are stealing from our pool of influence since the big thing right now is metallic & taking a time warp to Hellfest. That's cool cuz I love metalcore and all of that but at the same time, that's not what I want to play and not what our band is going for. We just want to write hc that is fast, to the point, and isn't a placeholder until a breakdown or mosh part hits. We try to write the songs in a way that would be easy to sing along to and learning the lyrics isn't a chore. I personally miss the days of huge sing alongs and pile ons at shows, that is still my fav part of seeing hc live. So I guess the record is played/written a way to encourage people to sing along and to step on each other to.
Speaking of labels, how did Rejection Pact ended up on Safe Inside Records, (safely one of the hottest new labels right now)? And how was to work with Dog Years Records for the Underdogs II compilation?
With the Safe Inside deal...I dunno specifically what sparked it exactly. We played with Piece of Mind who's on the label, and we had Greg from Trial/Bystander do a guest spot on our record, and we'd tweet with their account occasionally, and I'd talked with Thomas from Dying for It a bit, but one day we just got an email from the label kinda being like "hey what's up guys, your name keeps coming up" more or less and we got to talking and now they're putting out our new 7" Burt rocks and he's super easy to work with and cares about his bands and really pushes for them. Also, I never expected anyone to give a shit about our band or what we're doing, so him having faith in our band and stoked on what were doing is very cool and putting out records in a streaming age is risky and anyone down to put their own $ into hc has my respect so props to Burt & Safe Inside Records for not losing their love for hc and supporting small/DIY bands.
Working with Dog Years for the comp was great. I've known Chris for a long time; he put out the Alone tape a few years ago, and when he was putting the comp out, we expressed that we'd want to be a part of it, and he was happy to include us. We had been sitting on a song that we'd never put out, so we recorded it at our practice space, sent it to him, bada bing bada boom.
It seems there's a new wave of straight edge bands coming and along with them a new perception of the whole movement is being set, especially around the newer kids. Do you aggre? What message/impression do you want to pass on through Rejection Pact?
I dunno really about the whole straight edge thing. TBH I'm not too involved with the whole younger edge crowd, I've been straight edge for about 15 years and it's not anything I really think about. I think bands who are straight edge aren't as in your face straight edge as some of the bands were when I was coming up. Straight edge youth crew style of hc hasn't and prob won't ever change, and I think that's the big appeal for that scene, but in a more general/broad sense, the only thing that seems diff is people are more open to people doing their own thing and aren't as judgmental, but that is just the vibe I get.
Most of my friends sold out, and when they were edge, weren't jerk offs about straight edge so I dunno. We aren't a straight edge band so we don't have any sort of message like that, but the message we want to send is it to speak your mind, don't be a dickhead, support hc, support smaller hc. Go out of your way to find new bands to listen to, don't be lazy about checking out new shit. Go to shows, tell your friends about cool shit. Hc isn't some secret cool person club, and it only survives & thrives if you nurture and support it. We're not gonna tell people how they should think or feel, but I mean if you can take something from our lyrics, it's that old yourself accountable and try to learn and grow, and question what's around you. Don't be afraid to speak up, but also, we have enough online heroes. No one cares about how you resharing a meme saying punch a nazi if you've never punched someone IRL and no one's impressed about you tweeting "Fuck you" at some politician on twitter like that helps anything? I get the frustration but also, I dunno, seems like a waste of time.
Can you rank your top 5 albums of 2018 and the best of 2019 so far? (anything goes)
My top 5 favorite albums of 2018...hmm not in any order but I loved
- True Love "The Pact"
- Lurk "Hi-Fi"
- Mil-spec " Changes"
- Drug Church "Cheer"
- Candy "Good to Feel"
Honorable mention to Pain Strikes "As Days Pass"!
The best records of 2019 so far...hmm prob the new Inclination, One Step Closer, Coolside, Minus, Dead Heat, Fury & Wildside; not out yet but Angels over Berlin and Street Action are the two best songs I've heard all year.
Thanks for getting in contact Devin and for doing this, not just the quiz but also your initiative as a band! Please leave your shouts or any message from you or any of the band members!!
Thanks for taking the time to speak with me and the interest in our band, that is cool shit! Be on the look out for the new Time & Pressure and Piece of Mind records when they drop on Safe Inside Rec. If you live on the West Coast, check our tour dates & come out! Shout out to Chris & Youth Energy Designs for doing tight shit. Listen to the aforementioned bands and continue to go to smaller and local hc shows and tell your friends/reshare the hc you're into or when bands put stuff out. The only way bands & scenes grow is with the help of everyone. Thanks!
