by marcs77
NYC's hardcore punk finest H2O celebrates this year the 20th milestone since band's first toddling in the hardcore punk scene and as the title of their 2008's full-length goes the foursome got really nothing to prove; to themselves, to their loyal fan-base they worked their asses off to build and to those who may perhaps criticize their beliefs and what H2O stands for, you know, there are always some.
A few minutes after a sweat-soaked and very intense show they played in a small warehouse venue located at the south borders of Milano I hooked up with a bit out-breathed Rusty Pistachio (guitar) to talk about hardcore punk or better say “What Happened?” to the hardcore-punk.
gan: I'll be going random picking some questions already arranged. First off, can you please introduce yourself to the readers of gotanerve-zine?
Hello, I'm Rusty Pistachio and I play guitar in H2O. Me and Toby (Morse -vocals) are the family members in H2O.
gan: In the track “What Happened?” off your more recent full-length you sing the following lines: "What happened to the passion? (passion!) What happened to the reason for screaming? What happened to the music and the message that I love?" It was 2008 and I wanted to express some feelings about hardcore music and the scene. Have something changed since then?
Over the years we have seen so many chances. The first bands we saw were Minor Threat, Dag Nasty and that was D.C. hardcore and that was hardcore punk and since then you had many offshoots of hardcore-punk, metal came into hardcore and then you had hip-hop bands and you had some different styles that came out of hardcore punk. So when we wrote “What Happened?” I think there was more or less a lot magazines that were putting new bands in the magazines that had fringed hair and really tight jeans and it seemed they were trying to pursuing a career in modeling as opposed to playing music and we were talking about the things we've grown up on. We've grown up on D.C. hardcore which was more like political or even social. Bands like 7-Seconds were talking about sexism, racism, fascism. So when we did “What Happened” it was kind like we were wondering what happened to the music which a lot more meaning or lyrics that said more than I wanna dance, I wanna fuck, I wanna drink and party like its 1999. We appreciate the dance music and everything has a place. For us we're just curious as we get older we see a lot new bands show up and they dress like the punkrock but they don't have the punkrock mind. You go buy your clothes at malls, Hottopic, you know, very safe stores and their came from a very safe occupation and when we were growing up you couldn't buy your favourite bands t-shirts, you had to make it. It was fun. I think it's maybe an older person perspective on what happened to those fun things we used to see and are now so hard to see. The band Government Issue from D.C. they would sing when they saw the things change, they would sing that more sport type people were coming in. They just would wanna fight, they would attack each other, they would dance hard and the singer said “there's a hole in the scene where the brain used to be”. So this was their message and we understood. When you did go to D.C. punk shows you'd know about politics of the day, you'd know about the topics and you very socially conscious. You know if there is oppression, some people who have no voice you wanna talk for them if that make any sense...
gan: I think I'm not wrong stating pretty much everything can be labeled as hardcore today.
Yeah a lot of things are hardcore now...
When we were writing “Nothing To Prove” I think a lot of the songs, the music and the ideas were from past. We were trying to push what we know is hardcore, it was like we were writing our first records again because we turned the light on the old style and deal with social politics instead of saying “you stupid motherfucker stop fighting like you are hardcore when you're fucking fashioncore”. Instead of yelling at people and saying “you” and pointing finger we were saying “What Happened?”. We ask the question. It's not like saying “you guys don't have that” it's saying “where is it?” show to us. Where it is and if there's still someone else who believes.
gan: Sometime some lyrics dealing with specific messages or about ethics like straightedge can sound self-righteous and can be cause of some misunderstanding among the kids. They perhaps get to think the band is pointing the finger to them...
You know usually everybody has an opinion and the people who don't have an opinion they're looking for something to grab on to and I think a lot of time it's funny because the video for “What Happened?” we had Lou from Sick Of It All in the video, we had Matt Skiba so we have an old NYHC band we have a newer emo Chicago singer who, you know, does dress kind of fashion so it was like we were not trying to say “don't do these kind of things” we were saying “what happened?” but it's funny because everyone, whenever you're trying to be ironic and make a point, sometimes it's a fine line and sometime it falls on this side where you wanted it falls on that side. It's easy for people to misinterpret... “You're trying and tell me what to do but you have this guy in the video who's all about fashion?. How can you say what happened to the passion and you have Matt Skiba? And it's like for us we're not questioning what happened to the passion. We know where our passion lays. We have been doing this band alone for 19 years...so most of the people who criticizes that song don't know we've been playing music since before they were even born.
gan: You just mentioned that your band has been around 19 years. Would you ever think to go this far when you started out?
No, we always had music in our life, you know, we listened to music while growing up and I think everybody in this band, even if it wasn't H2O, we would be involved in music one way or another or involved in the message. Toby does speakings in Middle and High School about PMA (positive mental attitude), Adam plays bass and guitar and he's always learning, he tries blues, tries rock, tries different new things and he has nothing to prove. He wrote a lot of the songs on “Nothing To Prove”, the first time in his career with our band where he had a strong hand writing a lot of songs. So it cool lasted this long when most bands last 2 to 5 years.
We had highs and lows but it's never been so low we wanted to walk away.
gan: Are you guys gonna celebrate the 20 years anniversary?
Oh yeah we're gonna do something in 2014. I think the next record we do that would be a 20 years anniversary release and on the next touring cycle we will have to do something with the 20 years. We made two decades being a band. I turn 50 in August. By most standards, specially by hardcore-punk, I see young kids play, they walk up and they would be like “hey you're older than my dad!”...hehe...and I say “yeah I'm”...there are some people they don't realize because you're jumping around with the guitar...then they look you and think “he's old than my dad...” and say “You say something right, I agree with you...the music that I like...” ...so it kinda test the age of...
gan: So I guess you don't find it difficult to relate to younger people coming out at your shows...
No, no...I think it's funny because a lot of touring with other bands, you know, and stay in tune with the time, be interested enough in music. If somebody hands it to you...you go look for it. There are so many younger bands like Stick To Your Guns or even a bit older like Saves The Day or New Found Glory we've toured with...New Found Glory's Chad he also produced our record and before he was a producer for our band he was a fan, a H2O fan and we were label mate on MCA, at one point we were on a major record label for one record...
On our we have young kids along with their parents hehe...and it's cool to see that. Maybe when I was younger I thought that's weird but now that I'm older...we played in the UK and we had a father, a son and then a gran kid...it was three generations all at the show and were all fans. That's what happen when you're together for almost 20 years.
Toby comes to pick Rusty up saying that their gonna move and hit the road. I thanked him so much for taking the time and before say goodbye he gently asked to email the interview for him to check out.
Check: www.facebook.com/H2Ogo
pic by Rudy De Doncker www.rudysphotos.com
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