TINO VALPA - Live Or Be Lived All Over

Location: New Hampshire, USA

Release: Self-Released, 2022

It’s been quite a long time since I last caught up with Valentino Valpa and seeing his name recently on a streaming platform while browsing for new music brought me back a few years. More precisely to 2016 when I interviewed him for the Infernal Diatribe debut LP.

Six or so years later we are back at it again, much older and still committed to hardcore punk. Today we will discuss Tino Valpa’s newest solo effort Live Or Be Lived All Over, an album that surprised me from the get go, starting with the minimalistic yet catchy artwork. After I heard it the first time I didn’t waste time in reaching him once again.

1- Before we go over the new album Tino, can you give us the overall recap of what you’ve been up to in this time span? 2021 was a busy year for you I imagine, including new releases by Infernal Diatribe and The Cryptics that have grown into one of my personal favorite new melodic groups.

Thanks for having me back. Looks like it’s been 7 years since we last spoke. In the interim I’ve put out 2 Cryptics records, the 2nd Infernal Diatribe record, been in and out of Battalion Of Saints, Antidote, and have recently put out my first solo album at the end of last year. Yes, 2021 and 2022 have been incredibly busy working on all sorts of avenues. Glad you’ve been digging the Cryptics stuff.

That band takes up the majority of my time and we’ve been working on our forthcoming release which I like a whole lot more than anything we’ve done in the past. That’s been the most involved thing that’s been an ongoing work in progress for the past couple years.

2- Live Or Be Lived All Over is one of those oldschool hardcore hidden gems, a throwback to the early days of hardcore with a strong late 90’s/early 00’s feel. It’s hard to put my hand on it when it comes to namedrop influences, you already covered songs by The F.U.’s and The Freeze in the past but if I had to pick one it would probably be Nerve Agents, which rules as I don’t see that happening often, or at all. Tell us, how did this album come to fruition?

I was playing in Battalion Of Saints in 2017-2018. I wrote us a new full-length album but the band ended up breaking up after a US and European tour. I recorded the drums, bass, and guitar parts in a west coast studio. No vocals got written or recorded and the album was abandoned once the band split. I liked it and really wanted the songs to see the light of day. I couldn’t get the recording properly from the studio and I wanted to do it better anyways so I completely re-recorded it here on the east coast. I wrote lyrics and decided to make it my first full-length solo album.

Outside of those couple 7” EP’s I did in 2010/2011 I never got the chance to actually do this project for real. I haven’t had any time to. I still don’t really have time but it’s now or never and I choose now.

3- For the uninitiated, Tino Valpa is roughly a 13-year-old project but it seems you wanted to give the solo project a fresh start, your pages related to Tino Valpa don’t mention the previous works. What was different this time around? This also gives me the sense that we won’t have to wait another 8 years to hear more of this.

It is definitely more of a fresh start approach. I more or less consider this project really starting in January 2023. I still recognize those first two EPs but I barely did anything in the way of live. I hardly pursued it and now is my chance to make that all happen. As far as what was different this time around I’d say the sound of the record and me as a person. Sound-wise it’s more than just 25-30 second punk songs. There’s a bit more to it. And for me I’m at a point where if I’m going to take the time to put out an album, I need to go all the way with touring and doing my best to get it out there. I’m not going to put something out that I don’t care about and won’t stand behind.

Yes you’re very right, you won’t have to wait another 8 years til the next release. I haven’t mentioned this but the next several things I’m doing are already completely finished. I actually wrapped them last year. I’m just mapping out when they should be released. This project will be flowing more consistently than in the past.

4- Now for the heartless question. Do you have a favorite track in the new album, or 2 or 3? I picked the first one, the album’s title track for this blog's best of the year playlist but songs like Chains Around The World and We Are At War were a close tight and the latter gave me a strong Cro-Mags and Cause for Alarm-era’s Agnostic Front vibes.

That’s a big compliment. The Age Of Quarrel is timeless to me and Cause For Alarm is such a tight record. #BomberZee. My favorite songs are The Follower, Live Or Be Lived All Over, Chains Around The World. We Are At War is a close contender too. So basically the same ones as you. Fall Of The Handshake gets the honorable mention. Fast circle pit track is always a plus in my book.

5- As a vegan straight edge individual how did you approach the lyrics for this album? In your perception animal rights and environmental awareness are becoming more relevant now than it was in the late 90’s US hardcore scenes?

I approached the lyrics on a song-by-song basis. I listened to each tune and just started writing whatever came to mind. I had no preformed plan for each track. My organic whole plant food lifestyle did leak into a few of the tracks. To my surprise, not that many though. Really just a couple. There were many other valuable themes I felt worth mentioning such as how lame people are letting electronics make them. Far too comfortable and sedentary. Also spotlighting sweatshops and globalization, and the terror it brings to the workers in China, Haiti, Honduras…. You name it. While we chill over here and pretend like nothing is happening.

Yes I think environmental awareness is becoming more of a thing. Not as much as it needs to be, but it has increased. I’ve heard countless physicians and scientists repeatedly point out that even if you add up every car, plane, ship in the world, it doesn’t even remotely come close to how much greenhouse gas emissions are put into the environment via animal agriculture. This message needs to get louder and louder.

Animal rights I feel like are about consistent with where they’ve always been. That approach will never get masses of people to choose plants. But what could is the health approach. People don’t realize that when they kill an animal it kills you back. You’re eating something that vastly increases your risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, inflammatory diseases, depression and the list goes on. It’s not worth it at all. You either consume animals which destroys the planet and you from the inside out or you consume plants which rewards both parties. Objectively the correct choice is loud and clear. But, food addiction is powerful. Food is emotional. Tradition is instinctual.

People also don’t want to feel like a fool. Some want to resist the fact that they’ve got played their entire life with health doing something they were taught was healthy when all this time it was the opposite. People don’t want to think that their family members, friends, relatives died from food-related causes. It may make them feel stupid, weak, and angry because it’s something that could have been so simply turned around but none of us knew about this. And that’s all understandable. We’re living six feet deep buried by lies. It’s up to the people with the knowledge to grab a shovel and start digging everyone else out one by one. Once the ditch is dug, the person needs to be brave enough to crawl out and start a new life. It’s up to each individual to unlearn their habits. Those with open minds that are willing to make progress will be the ones on top in this world. The choice is yours to make.

6-  In the previous interview you touched on an important and interesting matter regarding the sub-divisions inside the punk scene or micro-scenes surrounding punk. After the pandemic, where people got deprived of social contact for 2 years, do you see that going in which direction? As for myself I always hoped that the metal and punk scenes were one and the same but that’s just fantasy.

It took a while for things to really come together after the pandemic. Really up until this past year. But I will say that I have seen some of the youngest most diverse crowds at shows than I’ve seen in the past decade. It’s been really cool to go to hardcore shows and see all these random younger people checking out the scene. All sorts of backgrounds just finding commonality through punk rock. I’m liking what I’m seeing.

7- I always find the artwork a very important part of a band’s message/vibe they want to come across. For Live Or Be Lived you chose a minimalistic yet appealing piece of art (and I think it worked pretty well btw). Who was behind it and what you were aiming for?

Thank you. I like how it came out too. My friend Tim Rummo I’ve been working with for years. We’ve been friends since childhood and played music together since. I’ll give him a general theme and many times he just nails it. To me the album cover represents the internal combustion going on in nearly every American household as we destroy ourselves from the inside out with processed food, animal products, sedentary lifestyle. It’s a simplistic and direct symbol for what is going on every day. Something that the average person can’t even see.

8- A Midwest Tour is set-up and ready to kickoff this thursday (23)! Who’s joining you on the line-up and what people can expect for Tino Valpa live performances? Thanks for finding the time to do this Tino, already excited to hear the new stuff, please give us your final thoughts and shouts!

I’m answering this from the middle of the tour. It’s going well so far!

Lineup for the tour:

Me - Vocals

Frank Nordaby - Guitar

Tom Barvick - Guitar

Nate Garcia - Bass

Mark Geanakakis - Drums

These are all my homies from different stages of life. So having them all in one place at the same time is a real treat and has been so much fun. I knew this run would be a blast before it started. The new album “Live Or Be Lived All Over” is streaming everywhere. Grab a physical copy and all other merch at tinovalpa.com Thanks for taking the time to do this!

X X X

REJECTION PACT - Threats Of The World [interview]

Location: Idaho, US

Release: Safe Inside Records, 2019
Artwork: Youth Energy Designs

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

1. True Love "The Pact"
2. Lurk "Hi-Fi"
3. Mil-spec " Changes"
4. Drug Church "Cheer"
5. 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!

PRE-ORDER [out 26th april]

DOWNLOAD [Promo + Demo]

B'URST! - Grim Machine [INTERVIEW]

Location: São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Release: Assurd Records, 2016

Old school or B’URST! After a few months of delay their second EP was finally pressed into vinyl. Together as a band since 2013 with members hailing from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Here is a brief interview I did w/ Menezes about GRIM MACHINE and The Iron Squad’s background:

1. LIVING FAR FROM EACH OTHER, HOW THE BAND GOT TOGETHER? WHAT OTHER PROJECTS ARE YOU GUYS AFFILIATED WITH (PAST AND PRESENT)?
M- Actually, the band got together because of Rafael Madeira (Pointing Finger / Pressure / Disxease), believe it or not, hehehe! The first place he lived upon arriving in Brazil was my place in Rio, where we start talking about doing a quick project in the vein of Victim in Pain, early Youth of Today and WarZone. The idea was just jam a couple times, record a DT and maybe play one or two shows. That project ended up evolving into a full-blown band with the add of JayPee and Junorz. The line up today consists of me, Menezes, on vocals, JayPee on Bass, Pedro and Junorz on the guitars and Punkids on drums.

Bands we´re affiliated to are just so much to pinpoint, but I would say Reajuste, Newspeak, I Shot Cyrus, Futuro, Direct Shot, Static Control, Black Coffins, Infamous Glory, Power Abuse and WereWolf.

2. EVEN THOUGH THE NEW EP TOOK A WHILE TO COME OUT YOU GUYS ARE KEEPING A GOOD PACE OF NEW MATERIAL OUTPUT, WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE WRITING/RECORDING PROCESS IN GRIM MACHINE AND THE DEAL WITH ASSURD RECORDS?
Well, on the DT as well as in the first EP I was responsible for all the material, riffs, lyrics and all. I would think of something, play it on my bass, recorded, send it to the guys via facebook for them to learn, and then we jam just a couple times before recording it. A pretty fast and straight to the point deal, actually.

With Grim Machine the process was kinda the same, but Junorz and JayPee had a lot more input in the songs, coming up with ideas for riffs, changing structures and things like that. But so, once again, we rehearsed just three or four times together before entering the studio, hehe! We were kinda on a hurry because the band was on hold for almost a year, since Rafa’s departure and JayPee living in Spain for good part of 2015, and also because Paulo (former Institution and Still Strong, who was the drummer for this session) had a tight schedule before moving to Philly.

The deal with Assurd was pretty much the same with Criminal Rights. They wrote me asking if we would be interested in having our next material released by them… We said yes and then start moving our asses in order to have something to be released, hehe!

3. LAST TIME YOU COVERED SFA AND GOT A POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM THE BAND THEMSELVES, ANY REASON FOR PICKING PUBLIC OPINION FROM URBAN WASTE THIS TIME?
I’ve always loved Urban Waste since the first time I listened to them on that old Sunday Matinee compilation. And I thought the lyrics for Public Opinion just matched the overall feeling of the other lyrics on the EP.

4. THE NEW ARTWORK LOOKS DOPE, IT MATCHES THE BAND’S SOUND IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE AS IF IT WAS ALL CONCEIVED IN THE 80’S, NOT DIRECTLY RELATED BUT IT REMINDS ME OF B.SABBATH’S MOB RULES LP. WHO DREW IT?
Thanks, dude! Yeah, Mob Rules, I’ve never thought about it, but now that you pointed out, it really carries a strong resemblance, haha. The artists were two very talented Italian lads, Paolo and Alberto, and actually it was Alessio’s (Assurd Records owner) idea to work with them. We had the same references and it just clicked from the get go. I’m very proud of the work they did.

5. WHICH BANDS FROM RECENT YEARS ARE CACTHING YOUR ATTENTION THESE DAYS, EITHER FROM BRAZIL AND ABROAD?
Oh dude, A WHOLE FUCKIN LOT! Here, the first ones that came to mind are Dedication, Violent Stomp, Dash (a new project from the guys in Guast!), Static Control as well as Velho, Whipstriker and Tyranno from Rio. Also the new Futuro LP is a killer and everything Veneno Lento put out is great, although I wouldn’t consider them new. From abroad, I was just stoked with Firewalker, Anarquia Vertical and Line of Sight last year. Malcontent and Warfare is pretty damn great as well, but what I’m listening the most these days is Eternal Champion, the new Magic Circle album and that promo from Rival Mob.

6. IN AN INTROSPECTIVE VIEW, “OUR SCENE” SEEMS MORE FRAGMENTED NOW THEN NEVER, HATE IS WIDESPREAD. TRUE DIY HARDCORE SHOWS ARE NARROWING TO A FEW ATTENDEES, THE MAJORITY ONLY CARES ABOUT BIG TOURING BANDS AND NARROW-MINDED BEATDOWN ACTS.
ON THE OTHER HAND I NEVER SAW SO MANY BRAZILIAN HARDCORE PUNK BANDS TOURING AND RELEASING MATERIAL IN UNITED STATES AND EUROPE LIKE LATELY. IS THAT ONE WAY TO FASTEN THE CYCLE BACK TO NORMAL OR ARE WE JUST POSTPONING THE INEVITABLE? (DOOMED TO JUST EXPORT MUSIC NOW AND THEN).
I think hardcore is for few people, and it’s just the way it has to be, period. Also, I rather be in a room with 50 strong reliable people than with 200 bandwagoners who just gonna listen those bands for one or two years and then split for whatever will be trending and hip. Man, I came from Rio and here the hardcore scene is pretty much dead and buried since 2006, hehehe! It’s just that washed out third generation of christian beatdown metalcore or some cringeworthy anemic melodic/emo hardcore, so I couldn’t care less for the state of the current “scene”.

I just try to focus on my peers and which bands I think are putting out good music, and these bands happens to be my friend’s bands and the same ones who are being released overseas, hahahaha! I can’t lie, I’m really proud of all of them. DisXease, Dedication, Futuro, Violent Stomp, they’re all great and deserve the recognition. And if you take a closer look, you will see that the people in these bands are the same ones keeping the things going, be it organizing shows, putting up tours for international acts, releasing another bands material, doing zines or just creating a bunch of other side projects. So I think things gonna keep this pace for a while around here, with hardcore returning to be kind of our secret little club.

7. FINALLY, WHERE AND WHEN SOUTH AMERICANS CAN GRAB THE NEW 7”? AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR B’URST, AN EUROTOUR OR A FULL-LENGTH PERHAPS? ANY LAST WORDS?
September, if you just don’t want to buy straight from Assurd, haha! Our good friends in Violent Stomp will bring us the goods after their tour, long sleeves included for you fuckers who just want to appease your merch fix.

Well, we’re now in process to write new material for a full length and we have this project of recording a bunch of covers from bands we like, hardcore or not (mostly not). And since now for the first time in three years we have a stable line up, yes, we do think about touring. Nick Tape talked to us about playing Damaged City, and also Athos (Broke & Infamous) said he can arrange something in UK for us, but nothing serious so far, we’ll see, there’s a lot of places here in Brazil that we want to go, like BH, POA and CWB, before thinking about touring overseas.

My last words, citing the mighty OVERDOSE, are “enquanto aquela estrela brilhar no azul do céu, o heavy nunca vai parar de rolar!”. Send your hate mail and anonymous threats to xmenezesx@hotmail.com and drop by our bandcamp page, even though the music sucks, it’s for free.

PURCHASE 7"/MERCH

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INFERNAL DIATRIBE - Admission Of Guilt

Location: New Hampshire, US

Release: Pine Hill Records, 2016

Last weekend, looking through my CD stash after some fast music I ended up picking Graves from THE NASTY, it's been years I didnt listen to it. Got my copy directly with Johnnie Limit through myspace and the whole catalog available at the time of his label (Arrest Records) back in 2009.

Listened the record twice in a roll, I didn't remeber it was that good, so I went to look up about the band's current status and couldn't find anything. Then I did some research which led me to Valentino Valpa, the only remaining original member. Turns out they recently changed the bands name to INFERNAL DIATRIBE and the release show of the first LP happened last weekend!

For better understanding I asked Tino Valpa some questions about this transition and other related stuff: 

1- To make a fresh start you buried The Nasty and moved on with a new name. Did the belgium band (with the same name) influenced your decision in any degree? It did originally, yes. Because a few labels that were considering putting out Admission Of Guilt did not want to run the risk of any confusion between the two bands. In the long run for many other reason I am very happy we made the decision to the change the name.

2- Infernal Diatribe has a classic powerviolence/fastcore feel but with your own thing going. How would you describe its music and whats the message behind lyrics? Musically: It’s pure aggression and hardcore punk influence from a lowdown, grim perspective. I’ve never tuned my guitar to B-standard before. I’ve always tuned to E-standard. I absolutely fell in love with this new tuning and the songs started belting out quickly. I think I finished writing the whole album in under 2 weeks, just working on a little bit each day. It’s hard to describe the whole record in one subgenre. Looking at it from an outside viewpoint I’m hearing influences of Cro-Mags, Dropdead, Disfear, even Black Flag. Which are all bands I like a lot, so I guess it makes sense.

Lyrically: I only wrote the lyrics to “Admission Of Guilt.” The rest of the lyrics were written by the original Nasty singer Tim Rummo, who actually recorded vocals on this album but left the band abruptly before recording our music videos or playing any shows. His vocals can be found on the physical copies of the LP and CD. His lyrical style has remained consistent over the years. Dark, pessimistic, anti-religious, hatred towards…everything. I’m down with it, he’s a very talented lyricist. We are not considering him part of the original ID lineup. Cam Garnett, who retracked all the vocals, is in the music videos and all the ID audio you’re hearing online is now our singer and should be considered the original ID vocalist. I’m excited to work with him, he has killer energy on stage and no one has been more true to our local hardcore scene for the past almost decade.

3- What can you say about your other bands? in the solo project you recorded all instruments, do you play live with it? The latest album sounds like a mix of 7 Seconds and Dead Kennedys, am I tripping? It seems you took all the aggressivesness left on Tino Valpa and injected on Infernal Diatribe. My solo project is currently my least involved endeavor. I did a 7” in 2010, 7” in 2011, and full-length CD in 2014. The early stuff is straight oldschool hardcore. The latest CD has more to it, and I take your description of it as a compliment because I love both 7S and DK very much. This project does play live, but maybe only 1-3 times per year.

The main thing I’m busy with is The Cryptics. This is the band that takes up most of my time and where I put most of my energy into. It’s nowhere near the sound of ID, or even the solo material. It’s punk, but definitely on the melodic side. I like everything, not just hardcore. The Cryptics have toured with Dead Kennedys, Angry Samoans, and just got back from a tour recently with Guttermouth. That band keeps me very busy but when I’m not doing that, Infernal Diatribe is definitely my next priority. No matter what type of music you play, there is absolutely nothing like playing in a hardcore punk band. I will never abandon heavy music. It’s also my only opportunity to play drums so that’s a huge plus.

4- Name 5 albums released in 2015/16 you've been listening the most: Peter Hook & The Light – So This Is Permanence? [The Complete Works of Joy Division Live]
That’s it for that time frame.

5- As a dweller, how's life in the City of Dover, NH? and how do you feel about today's hardcore punk local scene? I will always prefer the way this city was in the 1990’s but I will say I’m still very content living here. It’s always nice to come back here to my true home after a long tour. We have a small but tight scene locally. The faces change like crazy over the years, but a few solid people have stuck around. One major issue in our town which I see happening all over the US on the road is that there are now 10 different fucking punk scenes in each city.
In Dover alone there’s a “scene” of strictly hardcore kids, crust punks, skinheads, punks, etc. and everything is split up to the max. If everyone just dropped their stupid clique for the greater good of the scene, each show would be fucking packed. But no, we’ve got to keep it as subdivided as possible. It’s the silliest shit on the planet. I don’t give a fuck what useless clique is presenting the show, if it’s good I will go see it. We all share a common interest in some form of punk rock and that’s the bottom line. Friends that were in bands in the 80’s always tell me “back then, you were either punk or you weren’t punk.” There were no further subdivisions and separates scenes. I wish people were as open-minded as people were back then. 

6- Thanks for everything Tino! Feel free to write anything: recipes, advices, shouts, you choose: Thanks for being into our music. Glad you found us from so far away. Infernal Diatribe begins our US tour May 7th through 31st, more tour plans to follow 2016. Keep an eye out!

Buy “Admission Of Guilt” at PineHillRecords.com/Shop
Download it at any price at InfernalDiatribe.bandcamp.com

 

Check out the first single from the new album RATHER NOT (STUCK):

WILDFLOWER - 2 song Promo

Location: België

Release: Powertrip Records, 2016

Powertrip put out last december a taste of whats to come this current year by this ultra cool label: an all killer no filler european hardcore Sampler, bands to watch closely with no exceptions! The newest amongst them is WILDFLOWER whose full demo is yet to be released, which should happen around April. Their high developed and rich groove sound in such an early stage as a band impress even the pickiest motherfocker.

I sent a few questions to find out more about this project and get a fresh look on the belgium scene:

1- As a new band, wildflower already sounds tight! did any of you guys played in a band before? can you drop a few names that influenced your music? Thanks man appreciate it! The 2 guitarist played in Grim, and the drummer and bass player play in Pulse. I kinda think the influences are a bit different with each member but it surely isn't a coincidence that we cover who's to blame from Leeway... but we try to just do our own thing.

2- Around 2007 Belgium was the booming place for the coolest new bands in Europe, how do you feel about it and how do you see the local scene nowadays compared to 10 years ago? belgium defenitly had some cool bands in the past, 2007 era sure wasn't a bad year. The scene over here was dying out a bit the past 2 years though, but with a lot of new upcoming bands it'll change for the better soon I can tell.

3- Can you name other new rad bands hailing from your area? any shout outs? be sure to check Mindwar, Escape, Absolve, Pulse, Devour and Destined to Burn. Shout out too all the promoters in belgium for sure! Crowfoot bookings, damage bookings,... and the guys involved with wildflower! Special one for Hannes from powertrip records.

DOWNLOAD

COLD & DISTANT - S/T EP [+ interview]

Location: Charleston, US

Release: D2C Records, 2014

COLD & DISTANT is a recent band hailing from West Virginia, they put out their first EP last year and has another one coming out soon. I sent these questions to know more of the whereabouts of C&D. 

Is the S/T EP really the band's first record? It sounds very solid, any of you played in a band before? It is our first recording as Cold & Distant. However, we have been in multiple bands over the past decade within the same hardcore/metal scene. This band started in the winter of 2013 and we've been writing nonstop since.

The EP came out on very limited quantities through D2C Records, right? Whats the history behind it and who runs it? Yea, Louis who owns/operates D2C actually contacted us offering to do tapes and we took him up on the offer. The limited amount is basically because we do everything ourselves and with the help of awesome people.

New full-length is almost done? What can expect from it? Well first off it isn't an actual full length record. This is going to be another five songs of pure aggression that we want you to bang your head to. It's definitely heavier and more metal/thrash influenced than the previous recording.

What are the highs and lows of Charleston (WV), either as in life in general as in the underground music scene? The main high point would be the people who you come to know and spend your time with. The lows would be the poverty and ramped drug use. You're born here, you get hooked on drugs, and you die here. That's why we turned to hardcore and the music scene to escape from that bullshit. 

Name at least 5 records you've been spinning on regular basis lately:

Foreseen - Helsinki Savagery 

Cro-mags - Alpha Omega

Bitter End - Illusion of Dominance

The Beautiful Ones - Jaded Love

Eternal Sleep - Belief In The Truth of Nothing.

Do you keep a collection of any sorts? Three out of four of us collect comics and records. We as a band collect as much musical equipment as possible. 

Thanks for answering and for participating in this blog's 2015 Sampler. Feel free to give shout outs! We want to give a shout out to all of our family and friends. We would also like to give respect to all the bands that came before us and created this outlet for us to share our lives.

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IDENTIDAD - Demo 2015 [+ interview]

Location: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, España

Release: DIY, 2015

IDENTIDAD is a fresh Youth Crew band from Spain with veterans behind it and as of last month their first demo is online.

DOWNLOAD

I asked a few questions to Carlos (vocals) about this new project and the Canarias Straight Edge scene:

What was your involvement with hardcore before Identidad and how was the scene in the Tenerife area 10 years ago compared to nowadays (amount of local bands, foreign bands touring by, trends…)? I've been in another Youth Crew band called Pollution since 1999 to 2007 and the hc scene here is very small but very active the last years. There were many bands like Goodfellaz, Frontside, En La Distancia, Wreckage, 466/64, Milk Fiction, Pollution... Actually there are some active bands like The Hollowmen, Bonestorm, Reacción (all Identidad's members playing 80's HC like Abused, SSD, Agnostic Front...), Identidad and others projects without name. In Canary Island there aren't many foreing touring shows, its very expensive to come here, we organize shows for spanish bands the last one was Constrict, it was insane.

Is there any specific reason for choosing to sing in castellano? Yes, because is our mother language and we speak english or another language very bad, haha.

The demo will get a physical release? Yes, will be edited in 7" for a new Canary label called 3DB Records and another label called In My Heart Empire. Maybe will be edited in South America, not confirmed.

Name 10 records you’ve been listening a lot lately:
Pure Disgust – Chained
Fury – Kingdom Come
Adventures – Supersonic Home
Violent Reaction – Marching On
Digress – The Seventh Day
Glue – s/t
Whirr – Sway
Bonestorm – Life is poison
Nada Surf - The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy
Concealed Blade – Demo 2015

What can we expect from IDENTIDAD in 2015/2016? I hope some tour, new records and more hardcore!

Please feel free to give shout outs and tips on what to listen from other current local groups. Thanks for your support and I recommend you these local bands: WRECKAGE, BONESTORM, GOOD FELLAZ.

RUNNING THIN RECORDS

New label in town! Actually in 3 different towns: Pittsburgh (US), Boston (US) and West Mids (UK). This brit/north-american joint released a compilation last year entitled A SHOWCASE OF TUNES TO 'FUCK WITH' SAMPLER VOLUME 1, comprised of very promising new groups under their roster. It features all sorts of styles: youth crew, 90's emo, hip hop and other variations on the good ol' hardcore punk. 

I made an interview with two of them (Daniel Murtagh & Steven Kenyon) and here's what we got:

3 FRIENDS, 3 DIFFERENT CITIES. HOW DOES IT WORK? ANY OF YOU WERE INVOLVED IN A LABEL OR BAND BEFORE?
Dan: We got me here in Boston, Steven down in Pittsburg, and Roscoe over in the UK. The whole idea for this label came from a conversation Steven and I had after Damaged City Fest last summer. He expressed an interest in starting a label, and I said I wanted to do the same thing. With a need for a logo, Steven reached out to Roscoe, and he came up with the running man design. After a few more requests for art, we just figured it would be fitting for Roscoe to come on board too. The label works very smoothly with all three of us being able to split up the work load and take some of the pressure off each other. Everyone has really showed their A game so far, and I credit that cooperation and dedication to the music for the small success we have seen so far. I haven’t been in any bands before, but Steven had fronted Instigate prior to the label, and Roscoe is in Gravity Grave, which was called Middle Child to begin with.
Steven: I've been in a band or two before nothing serious, played some shows here and there, weekend tour once. I've schemed a label a bunch of times I've just never had anyone I'd want helping me with it. Dan and Roscoe are a wonderful pair of dudes to run a label with. Us being all over the world just means we can show people in different areas the love we have for music. If you want some stickers to slap around your town hit one of us up. I love seeing our name anywhere people wanna throw it up.

THE BANDS ON RTR GOES FROM HIP HOP TO POP PUNK AND HARDCORE PUNK, WHICH IS VERY AMUSING BECAUSE YOU ARE DOING THIS SINCE THE EARLY STAGES OF THE LABEL. THE MAIN GOAL IS TO SUPPORT LOCAL UNDERGROUND PRODUCTIONS OR JUST MUSIC YOU’RE INTERESTED IN?
DO YOU THINK PEOPLE NOWADAYS ARE MORE OPEN TO OTHER GENRES INSTEAD OF STICKING IN HIS OWN CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE? LIKE HIP HOP KIDS LISTENING TO HEAVY STUFF AND VICE-VERSA?
Dan: With our first discussions about starting a label, I expressed my desire to NOT have this label be strictly hardcore. I didn’t want us to get lumped into any specific genre because that’s not all we listen to. Obviously we all love hardcore, but we all have our own interests, Roscoe for instance, he loves him some Oasis and Stone Roses, but he also rocks Wu, then you got Steven who pretty much is a walking hardcore dictionary, but he’ll jam hip hop, stoner metal, whatever, he just loves music so much. Then me, who you can catch playing anything from Clancy Brothers, to Miles Davis, to Tom Petty, to Lee Perry, to Bulldoze. If it sounds good to us, we will listen to it. But that kind of all over the place taste is something I personally think makes hardcore tick. You look back at a lot of the older NYHC bands, and they were doing some cross genre type shit years ago. For instance, Biohazard and Onyx, clearly Public Enemy and Anthrax. Shit, not sure how many people even remember KRS-ONE doing a shout on a SOIA album, but it happened. They also had House of Pain on a track too. Besides hip hop, you have a lot of hardcore guys doing some softer stuff, whether it be folksy type stuff or straight rock n roll, or Oi, or even metal, so this mixture of styles we are releasing just seemed fitting right out the gate.
Steven: I'm just happy to see people support music; no matter the genre. Music might be the only consistent thing I've had in my life. Honestly, I just love music. I love hardcore, I love punk, I love rap and hip hop and I love helping bands/artists music out to the world. Even knowing one person enjoys the band enough to buy a tape or a shirt from us to support the band is an incredible feeling. We started somewhat as a hardcore label but we didn't want to just hardcore or punks bands. We've released a hip hop artist so far and I do believe another hip hop group in the unseen future. We've released a pop punk band so far, that kinda just happened out of the blue when a good friend of Dan and I's came to us to release his band; he's a great kid so we were more than happy to oblige. We've got a bunch of hardcore bands with releases on the labels; most of them are actively playing shows and working on new music for sophomore releases on the label. We did have a few bands on the label break up this year. RIP Step Off. RIP True Worth.

8 RELEASES UNTIL NOW, ALL IN TAPE FORMAT (AND DIGITAL), VINYL IS INCLUDED IN LABEL’S FUTURE PLANS? WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU ARE FACING SO FAR TO RUN A LABEL IN 1 YEAR OF EXISTENCE?
Dan: All our releases so far have been tape format, not for any specific reason, it’s just what the bands wanted so far. We do have a HUGE vinyl release coming soon, one I’m particularly excited for. Oxnard’s own Retaliate!!!! The record is gonna slam man, I can’t wait to have this release come out. We also are re-releasing the Uprising AD cd very soon. Uprising AD, one of the best Tijuana bands there was. Those two releases have me pretty excited for 2015 so far. We haven’t really faced too many challenges, as all our bands are fucking great dudes and easy to work with, and the three of us communicate very well and handle our business.
Steven: There's been some hardships with getting releases out. Some production issues with the production of tapes. Dan and I both had moved at some point over the last year and settling in is always a little difficult with communication. So we did have a little and I mean little point in time where we were at a standstill.

ANY BREAKING NEWS OF UPCOMING RELEASES IN 2015?
Dan: We have some good shit coming out this year: the Retaliate and Uprising AD releases that I already mentioned, Rage – The Midwest Straight Edge tape, Different Face – Demo 2014 tape (split release with Criminal Rights Records), Clandestine AD – Demo tape, new Coolside, Reunion, and a few I’ll keep for a surprise.
Steven: Step 4 Change, Urgency, Rage, Clandestine AD, Crossface and Different Face all have demos coming on the label this year. We've got some bands doing sophomore releases on the label. Reunion's debut 7" will be out on the label sometime this year. COOLSIDE has something in the works. Hopefully we'll be doing a lot of cool releases this year. Also, the I Against I demo will be dropping very very very soon.

WHAT IS YOUR TOP 6 LIST OF WHATEVER MUISC GENRE WAS RELEASED LAST YEAR?
Dan: My top 6 for 2014 (in NO particular order)
1- Sheer Terror – Standing Up For Falling Down (just a great album from these legends)
2- Cold World – How the Gods Chill (these guys just rule, and I’ll always support bands from my birth town of Wilkes Barre)
3- Ghostface Killah – 36 Seasons (instant classic)
4- Wu Tang Clan – A Better Tomorrow (does anything really need to be said about this? It’s the Wu!!!!)
5- FM359 – Truth, Love and Liberty (it’s Mike McColgan, it’s a great album. This dude has one of the best voices there is)
6- Wisdom In Chains – We Never Sleep (they will make my Top List every year they release anything, they are just bad ass)
I also have to give an honorable mention to The Eulogy 7”, they missed 2014 by 6 days, but that 7” is by far one of the best 7”s I’ve heard in a long time.

Steven: BIG TAKEOVER - BIG TAKEOVER DEMO Big Takeover's Demo was one of my top picks last year. Late 80's NYHC tribute at its finest. Breakdown 87 has been resurrected.
TRAVIS SCOTT - DAYS BEFORE RODEO Travi$ Scott's Days Before Rodeo mixtape was personally my favorite hip hop release last year. He's got a great flow and the work he's done so far has not disappointed me.
DISENGAGE - S/T 7" Disengage's new Self Titled 7" blew me anyway. It made me so proud to be straight edge, such a driving release with a lot of songs about STRAIGHT EDGE PRIDE.
SPOOKY BLACK - LEAVING EP Spooky Black released one of most calming releases I've ever heard. A major R&B/Hip Hop vibe with a very dark twist.
SELF DESTRUCT - DEMO 14 Self Destruct put out seriously one of the craziest demos I heard last year, it just makes me want to jump off things and flip tables. Definitely suggest checking it out.
SNAILS PACE - SNAILS PACE DEMO The Lockin Out supergroup featuring members of Mental, Cold World and Free Spirit. This demo was pure gold to me. Great lyrical content. Incredibly catchy riffs and a lot of skank worthy parts.

FEEL FREE TO GIVE AWAY ADVICES OF ANY KIND, THOUGHTS AND SALUTATIONS.
Dan: My advice to anyone reading this would be to just give it a shot, whatever it is that you want to try and get started, be it a band, label, clothing line, booking agency, whatever, just do it. You aren’t going to regret trying nearly as much as you’ll regret sitting on your ass and not trying.
Steven: I want to thank everyone that's ever supported any endeavor that I've loved even if they were short lived and stupid. I want to thank Dan and Sarah for helping this label more than anyone knows. Dan is seriously the older brother I never had but always wish I did. I want to thank Roscoe for everything he's done for the label. Great dude even if he is a limey. I want to thank my girlfriend Kaitlyn who's always supported me endlessly no matter how broke or down and out I've been, I love her to death. I want to thank all my friends, their bands, their labels, their pets, their mosh style and their families. I want to thank RJ Loegsky for ever getting Dan and I together. I want to thank RC Cola for being the greatest Cola ever. I want to thank Tom Brady / Bill Belichik and the 4 Super Bowl rings their wearing. I want to thank whoever numbered Rob Gronkowski 87 because the 87 demo is gospel. I want to thank every band I've ever seen or moshed to. I want to thank anyone who's ever helped me out with my Lockin Out collection. I want to thank Greg Willmott / AJ McQuire for helping me out with my collection. I want to thank my cats; Nonstop, Brady, Gandalf, Gemini and Izzy. I want to thank the man that wrote My Name Is Earl.
I want to thank THE STRAIGHT EDGE.

HOW COLD IT IS TODAY?
Dan: It’s freezing here, says 9 (Fahrenheit) but -12 with the wind chill. And more snow this weekend to add to the nearly 100”s we’ve gotten so far. And on that note, I’m gonna get outta here and go shovel a new path for my dogs. Shout out to the 836 homies back in Illinois and Colorado, my buddies in San Diego, Retaliate, Uprising AD, Take Em Out, Holistic Hip Hop, and all the bands on the label. Huge thanks to my wife, my dogs, Steven and Kate, Roscoe Rickers, and thanks Zack and Rick for the advice. And most importantly, thank you to everyone who has supported us through this first year, it means the world to us and we cannot express our appreciation and gratitude enough.

Now, for an audio experience, I selected some current and upcoming releases from the RTR family:

First, the californian in COOLSIDE offers a fresh youth cru with dat Youngblood recs sound. From the demo EP "Own The Zone" they are getting ready for a new album, the Self Help EP!

DOWNLOAD Own The Zone EP + New Single

Another cali group, the REUNION made a big step forward on their crummy sound in their latest recording: the Summer Demo '14, that will get a proper release soon on RTR.

DOWNLOAD Summer Demo '14

From Washington, STRIKEFORCE brings the heavy side to the label, 4 stomps in the vein of Expire and Cruel Hand. New demo The End almost accomplished.

DOWNLOAD Substance EP

These bands are rather new therefore I never heard of REBOUND before and I gotta say, they do deliver! Their Hard Luck Demo is a full-bodied mosh and their new 2-song EP adds a notch up! Fast to mid paced hardcore with an awesome flow. 

DOWNLOAD Restraints EP + Hard Luck 

Orange County Hardcore in da house! Newest effort by I AGAINST I is pretty good and fun to listen throughout with speed and aggressiveness at the right levels! 

    DOWNLOAD Stuck At The Bottom

Please visit the label online for more releases and goods:

facebook.com/runningthinrecords

www.runningthinrecords.com