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| 1. History of the band, members, how did you start the band and why? (Tom) Well it all kind of started out of coincidence I was at the time in a band called Crucial Conspiracy when I met Redge at one of our shows. My band at the time later broke up and so me and Redge decided to try to find some other people who�d be interested in starting a band. I suggested Andy be our guitarist, since he was an old friend of mine who I knew would be interested. We met up with him and talked our politics over and decided that Andy fit the picture. So all we needed was a drummer. We later met up with Brandon �our first drummer� and decided he was a good match. Time went on and we signed to propagation records from Sydney Australia and recorded the self titled album. (Redge) Yeah I was back in Idaho after doing work with various political and anarchist groups in the North West. For a while I�d been burnt out on the punk scene. But hanging out with tom made me realize that there were still folks who cared� So then Brandon had a wife and kids and needed to focus his attention there, which is revolutionary itself. We asked John from at that time the Deceived If he wanted to fill in, he said no, he wanted to do it permanently 2. Tell us about the Issues Covered in your songs. (Redge) We write songs that channel the frustration we feel into a proactive and productive message by trying to educate and inform people about social/political, and environmental ills, (�Uh what was the question again?�) 3. What is your opinion about the diy scene in your town and in the U.S in General? We live in three separate towns, (Tom) The Small town I live in (Burley Idaho) has absolutely no seen whatsoever. There are maybe 6 Diy kids I know there. It�s always nice going to places with good diy scenes because more people get involved not only on the dance floor but actively as well. (Redge) I think smaller political punk scenes are way cooler than large ones. In small scenes you really have to do it yourself, you can�t just wait for some other punk to make some patches or set up shows. Pocatello is tight, we�ve got a bigger more active scene than some of the other cities that I�ve lived in. The U.S scene is strange we�ve got more resources and money than many punks in other countries, yet we do less. We as anarcho-punks live in relative poverty but we act poorer than we really are sorry if that pisses anyone off, but we really are weak as a movement here. (Andy) In the town I live in the diy scene is pretty nil. I mean a few kids set up shows but have no interest in D.I.Y. They set up shows to be popular or just to get money. And the bands that are from twin falls Are non-political and sing about nothing of any sort of importance. But from what I�ve seen the D.I.Y. scene is pretty much dead there. 4. What do you think about Globalization? (Words by Redge feelings shared by whole band) Hey there�s a Starbucks in the Forbidden City in china now, so it�s not that bad��� Seriously though, Globalization fucks people world wide. Jobs move overseas (From the U.S) to 3rd world countries whose people lose the ability to take care of themselves. They can�t grow their own food, lands are stolen and given to corporations, who then destroy them. It�s hard to write about such a huge problem in an interview, to try and cover every negative problem�.. The U.S is the consumerist culture that creates the problem though. 5. How do you see the conflict in the middle east, especially Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan? (John) All of it is a waste of Beautiful lives they had nothing to do with the greed and slaughter that President Bush Inflics upon the world. When all he cares about is oil and money and kills more people than Saddam has (I�m not saying saddam�s any better) what we are left with is the rich getting richer and the innocent dieing. (Andy) The war is totally backed by the Bush family in Particular George SR. He failed so his son continued his fathers Crusade and murderous legacy the whole idea behind war is to get the nation under attack to submit under the lie of patriotism. (Redge) Word. The war in Iraq was contrived. They started talking about weapons of mass destruction but then when they new no weapons existed they changed the message to Iraqi freedom. Democracy by force isn�t freedom. In Afghanistan we removed a horrible regime that we put there to fight the soviets, they had a horrible human rights records for two decades before we, as a society, cared. And Palestine just got fucked and is still getting fucked. The Wall is separating families and communities under the guise of safety for Israel and Palestine, but the truth is that Israel is using it to physically and psychologically control people with a legitimate aspiration for self determination. (Tom) War for Freedom is like fucking for virginity. How can people in the U.S and around the world be so apathetic to believe that this war is justifiable? Especially since the people blamed for 9/11 didn�t have shit to do with Iraq or the Iraqi people. Not even to mention the fact that there have been more Iraqi Civilian casualties than U.S., or Iraqi Military Casualties. The U.S. Military is killing innocent people in Iraq everyday and getting away with it by telling those who are brave enough to ask that it�s what we must do to stop terrorism, BULLSHIT! 6. What is your opinion of the patriot act? (Andy) Just another reason/lie to put American people under control and take our freedom away. All these patriotic gung-ho Americans don�t seem to see that this country is becoming a police state. Sort of what Germany was back in WW2. (John) It�s taking away our first amendment by having us oppressed and labeled as �terrorists� for protesting against what we feel is wrong. Like the things Corporations and Government are doing to our forests, animals, and our environment! They keep people in complete utter fear to try and control us with this police state country (Tom) It�s simple really, just another way of silencing those who have opinions in America. The only way to change it is to organize but if you show any sign of organization they�ll throw your ass in jail. It�s their way of keeping us in line. (For a perfect example of what the patriot act does look up some information about the case of Sherman Austin) (Redge) I�m not a patriot, so this doesn�t apply to me : ) 7. What can you tell us about animal rights and human exploitation? (Andy) Animal rights - I mean to put it plainly, its wrong. We�re all animals one way or another. Animals are innocent. I can go on and on. Human exploitation - is happening everyday from McDonalds to Burger King by hiring the handicapped to do work that nobody else will do such as cleaning bathrooms and cleaning up the mess that there co-workers leave behind. I guess all corporations exploit humans in one way or another. Bottom line is that all lives are equally important. (Redge) Not to sound clich� but what we do to the earth we do to ourselves. The conditions that animals are housed in are horrific in slaughter houses. Large feed blocks also destroy the surrounding environment through contamination. I�m not opposed to killing animals to survive, but to torture an animal before its death is appalling. Human rights are being violated everyday the U.S. is the biggest violator of human rights protocols set up but the U.N. under the Geneva Convention. (Tom) I personally believe that a life is a life. Whether its human or animal its still living, breathing, thing and all are equal in importance to kill a single animal is one step closer to that animal�s extinction, and when all the animals are extinct humans are bound to follow. 8. What was your experience participating in the benefit show for Carlos. (John) I really enjoyed it. It�s nice to see people who do care about our fellow anarchists. It looked like everyone had a great time and I enjoyed playing with All Systems Fail and Repeat Offender. The show started a little late because the van�s alternator went out half way to Salt Lake, so we had to cut All System Fail and No More Existence�s set short, but everyone stayed and waited for us to show up and it looked like no one was disappointed at all. There were even a couple of girls from Pocatello who rounded up 25 dollars from their high school to give to the fund for Carlos, which I think is very awesome in many aspects! (Andy) I thought the bands were good and the people were cool as well. Also the money went to an awesome cause. (Tom) It was an honest pleasure. It was great knowing that the bulk of people who showed up were there to support Carlos and help raise money for him. All the bands were awesome and it was a fun night. (Redge) I love doing benefits, and I think that the movement to free prisoners is one of the most important movements going. No one is safe from the arbitrary ability of government to take away our family, friends, and ourselves. They have the law and money on there side, and we have to reject the notion that anyone is �definitely guilty.� 9. What are your projects in the future as a band? We have a few projects coming up actually. There are two tours with No More Existence, on this spring (March 17-24) on the west coast, and a U.S. Summer tour which we have no dates for yet. There is also a split 7� with No More Existence we have planned to try to release by the end of 2004. We are also trying for a Mexico tour with All Systems Fail sometime in 2005. 10. I know you guys formed a collective in Pocatello, can you tell us about it and who participates in the collective and also the contact and name with this collective? The AARGH! Collective was started as a way to take our politics one step further. It isn�t really related to the band, but we are acting in it. Its primary purpose right now is educating people about revolutionary politics and why revolution is necessary. We distribute music and Literature, silkscreen, set up shows, doing a zine, and other events. We hopefully will expand to do skill sharing, Food not Bombs, a TV show, and other community-centered events. We are recently formed and need whatever help we can get - ideas, supplies, and donations are all appreciated! Contact: [email protected] - http://www.aargh.tk 11. Tell us about recordings and merchandise you have for distribution. We have an 8 song CD out on Jornalero and Propagation records. Buttons, Stickers, and patches all in which are available through our site http://www.harvestofdiscontent.tk 12. As I told N.M.E. every time you interview somebody it seems like you never have enough room to ask more questions (or brain?) but please use this space to say anything that was not covered on the interview and you would like to say use as much room as you want. (Andy) Thanks to all who show up at the shows and support their local scene. (John) Don�t give up fighting because it only makes the system stronger! (Tom) Every Problem we face here in the United States and in any other country is created by too different causes, Environmental problems are always traced back to human convenience and governmental problems are always traced back to the class structure. If you care and plan on trying to make a change in your country/society boycott these two things. Being an activist isn�t an easy thing so keep your heads up and know that your not alone. (Redge) FIGHT BACK! 13. Write all your contacts and tell us how we can get your records and merch. If you�d like any merch or to even just say hi, you can contact us at http://www.harvestofdiscontent.tk Or snail mail us at: Harvest of Discontent P.0 Box 513 Paul, Idaho 83347 |
| Interview taken from Exhortacion Zine Due out by the end of Febuary |
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