Rations

Rations may be from Long Island, but the band has a sound that is heavily influenced by early Jawbreaker, Fugazi, Crimpshrine and other early to mid-90’s bands. A sound that relies on musical urgency, half time tempos and raspy, emotive vocals that sings and shred at the same time. Where there is a melody mixed with distorted guitars and a drumbeat that continually pushes ahead. Where as Jawbreaker would give the songs time to expand, Rations packs everything they needs to do in a short periods of time true to punk tradition, but not in traditional fashion.

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Brian, Wells, Social Dee, Tia

Where is the band from?

Brian: We're all originally from the North Shore of Suffolk County, Long Island, NY. We're currently all living in different parts of Suffolk County. I'm the only one who has defected to the South Shore. 

Wells: It's a whole different culture down there. Gargoyles.

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?

Wells: Deirdre plays drums and sometimes other percussion stuff like glockenspiel. Tia plays bass and sometimes sings. Then Brian and I play guitars and sing. On this last EP our buddy Beaker and I also used an Atari Punk Console for some of the noise stuff between songs.

How did the band start?

Brian: The idea to start this band came up during a BBQ at Wells’ house. We thought it would be fun to start playing again, after not having played together for awhile. Gradually, it became a bit more serious and we hooked up with Dee and then Tia and started playing shows and releasing records.

What bands did you have in mind when starting this band?

Brian: (Young) Pioneers, Jawbreaker, M-Blanket, Splurge.

Wells: Brian seems to have forgotten our time as a Screeching Weasel worship band. Our motto was "Aim for Anthem. Settle for Wiggle."

How does the songwriting process work in Rations? The listener can hear band influences ranging from early Jawbreaker, Fugazi, 90’s East Bay to bits of Born Against (in guitar sound not song speed).

Wells: It's always a bit a different, but typically either Brian or I come to practice with the rough idea of a song already made up. 

Brian: Everyone kinda writes their own part from that and we arrange it all together. We have always followed the rule that whoever writes the song has to sing it. 

How is the Long Island punk scene different from NYC punk scene? Why the decision to stay in Long Island? How has it changed over the years?

Brian: I lived in NYC for close to 10 years. Back then I think NYC was more dominated by hardcore. I've always felt a greater sense of community with Long Island punk.

Tia: The Long Island punk scene feels more like a giant family than a bunch of kids enjoying music. There is just complete support, acceptance and passion for the right things. NYC is so vast that even though you may see some of the same people, it is not as tight knit as the Long Island scene is.  It can seem as if people are at a show for the beer. There's a great group of bands and friends on LI doing really cool things!

I was reading that 30 different labels in 11 different countries are releasing the Martyrs and Prisoners 7 inch. How much coordination and cooperation does this take and why the decision to do release the 7 inch through so many different labels?

Wells: It's definitely been a lot of work and coordination but I think it'll be really gratifying when it's done. We're really lucky to have a lot of great contacts around the world that are down for this kinda stuff. We did our "How Much Land Does A Man Need?" 7" EP in 2011 the same way - 10 labels in 6 countries. At some point I got it in my head to see just how many labels we could pile in for this one. I aimed for 20 and wound up with 30! We wanted to use the opportunity of releasing the record to demonstrate that international DIY punk and hardcore really operates as a 'network of friends'.  From a practical standpoint putting it out this way allowed us to defray the manufacturing costs across 30 different entities and get our music into 30 different scenes across the globe. I think it was a neat experiment and on the whole I think it worked out pretty great.

50 years ago people used to buy music and get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for free. How do you think this affects bands and labels in any way especially considering Wells owns and operates 86’d Records?

Wells: I've always done bands and record labels as a hobby - either breaking even or losing money. So, from that perspective it doesn't really phase me. I like the idea of free culture and a robust public domain. Our new record is being licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. As far as for-profit water, I think that's insane. Via Campesina, which is an international peasant's organization that we had some information on in our last record, has some powerful perspective on this. 

In the Brainstorm article, Brian was talking about “writing stuff that sounds ‘Long Island’ is almost impossible not to do.” What is the Long Island sound? Are there any particular bands that really epitomize that sound?

Brian: Splurge's "For Huey With Love and Squalor" is the final word in Long Island punk.

Wells: I didn't tell anyone I was doing it, but "For Huey" is etched in the runout on the A side of the new record. "For Love, Squalor" is etched on the B side.

Where can people hear the band?

Wells: We've got a website up at rationsband.wordpress.com. That's a pretty good place to start. Our new EP "Martyrs and Prisoners" will be available for download at the Free Music Archive starting July 2nd, 2013.

What’s next for Rations?

Social Dee: We're really hoping to get a band practice together before the end of the summer.

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The Condors

As one of the founding members of the iconic magazine Flipside, Condors frontman Pat DiPuccio has been to his fair of classic shows where the bands weren’t afraid to mix styles to create their own sound. In contrast many of today’s bands are all to happy to pigeonhole themselves within specific genres, The Condors, on the other hand, stick to an older musical code of keeping no divisions between subgenre musical styles. This code is readily apparent on 3 Item Combo, which is a healthy mix of Graham Parker, Plimsouls, Kinks, Byrds and American power-pop style melodies and songcraft with a helping of Rock ‘N’ Roll and blues to top it all off.

Interview by Ed Stuart

Who’s answering the questions?

Pat DiPuccio (aka “Pooch”)

Where is the band from?

Los Angeles, California

Who is in the band and what instrument do they play?

Pat (guitar/harmonica/ld vocals)

Mark (drums)

Mario (bass)

How did the band start?

It grew out of the remnants of a band called Piggyback (with ex-Fuzztone Mike Czekaj).  The Condors were formerly known as the Spitfires.  Once the Canadian Spitfires released their disc, the L.A. band changed its name to the Condors.

In an interview with The Music Korner, Pat talked about “When we started FLIPSIDE . . . the division between the terms ‘Punk’ and ‘New Wave’ was practically nonexistent. A gap grew between the meanings of the two terms in the years following. I tried to keep the original concept alive in The Condors.” This seems apparent on 3 Item Combo where the band isn’t afraid to mix genres. Why was this important during the early development of The Condors to have this attitude?

It shows depth when a band is able to cull from a variety of styles while retaining the elements that make that aggregation unique.  The bands I like keep things interesting by throwing a few curves to the listener on their albums and in their live shows.

Following up with that statement a lot of bands used to be happy to label themselves into a box, but it seems more and more bands are less content to do that? Have you noticed that at all?

No. Actually, I find there are just new terms for styles of music.  As long as people can compartmentalize art, they’ll do it.  It makes it easier for the consumer if they can grasp a concept right away, even if it doesn’t exactly fit the artists involved.

In the same interview in The Music Korner, Pat mentioned, “I’ve seen, and heard, a lot of music, and I’ve witnessed some amazing, and terrible, acts. I try to remember what I liked best about certain artists, and consider that when recording, or performing. Also, of course, I respect anyone with chutzpa enough to publish, or write for, a ‘zine, run a radio program, record a disc, or play live. It’s not easy, as anybody who’s done it knows.” What are some of the amazing acts you have seen?

Wow, um…The Stones (of course), Alice’s Billion Dollar Babies tour, The Dictators’ “Manifest Destiny” tour, The Jackson Five, the Kinks, a particular Starwood show with the Pop and Plimsouls,  XTC’s “Black Sea” tour, The Replacements at the Palladium, The Zombies’ 50^th anniversary show in London, The Clash’s “Black Market Clash” Roxy show, Gang of Four at the Whisky (first tour), D-Generation at the Viper Room, Radiohead at the Whisky (first tour),  The Parliament/Funkadellic P-Funk Earth Tour,  Rancid, and, of course, Bruce Springsteen.  I know there are more, but those were pretty memorable gigs.  Between playing in bands and Flipside, I was out four nights a week, two-three venues a night, for over two decades.  I was bound to see some cool stuff somewhere.

Following up on this quote, how tough do you think it is as a band, when a song, LP or a band can be decided on the basis of 30 seconds in this short attention span world instead of listening to a full LP or live set? Does this attitude affect The Condors at all?

It really doesn’t affect the band that much.  I’ve always liked songs that could grab you right away.  Many of the artists I enjoy make albums that serve as a collection of singles.  A&R folk have always been particularly quick with their assessments of artists based on an analysis of a song, or group of songs.  That short attention span plays a big part in deciding who gets signed and promoted by their label.

How do you think The Condors are doing with a resurgence of power pop bands coming out both new and older bands?

I think we’re able to play alongside live, and on air, with power pop bands of any age.  We’re older than the newer groups, but we’re not mired in the past, so that’s a nice edge to have. 

How do the Condors feel after being on so many best of lists for 2012?  Any plans to get back in the studio quickly after all the positive reaction to 3 Item Combo? In the past, there have been a few years between each release.

Yes, we have one song already recorded, and I’ve been in the studio with our producer, Steve Refling, laying down guitar tracks with scratch vocals to make it easier for the others to learn the songs and record their parts.  With the other three discs, I had to wait until the band was ready to record.  Naturally that took time. The next disc will be assembled piecemeal, without having to wait to record in the studio as a unit.  That option offers more flexibility and hopefully a leads to a faster recording process.

50 years ago people used to buy music and get their water for free. For Pat, who was one of the founders Flipside, how do you think this transition from LP’s to CD’s to digital only release to internet downloads to (arguable) vinyl rebirth affects music in any way for The Condors and other bands?

For the Condors, I don’t see it affects the music much.  I sequenced “Wait for it” as if it was a disc with two sides anyway.  I mean if you put out an album, you always have an option to listen/tape/download your favorite tracks, anyway.  The creative process shouldn’t change, nor should the total music experience inherent in a piece of work.

If you could only own one of these classics bands, Nerves, Plimsouls or The Beat releases which bands would you own?

The Plimsouls were a far better live band than the other two acts, and they had a pulse on the city of Los Angeles. I consider Peter Case an elite songwriter, and he’s continued his craft on his solo discs.

What bands have directly influenced The Condors in sound and/or songwriting?

It varies disc-to-disc and member-to-member.  I listen to a variety of styles on my Sirius radio when I’m driving.  On 3 Item Combo, for instance, the song “Holiday” is my Ray Davies homage, “Angry Little Man” echoes Wilko Johnson’s attack, “Full Blown Love Attack” is Fleshtones inspired, while “Zzyzx Road” has an intro melody before the song kicks in, the way Cole Porter would often do.  There’s a bit of Steve Earle that shows up now and then, too.

Where can people hear the band?

Right now, on our CDs and through the usual online channels and sites.  We’re taking a break from playing live to concentrate on the next release.

What’s next for The Condors?

Write new songs, put out the follow up to 3 Item Combo, and then play live behind it.

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